St Patrick's Day Corned Beef Dinner

Happy St Patrick's Day to all who is celebrating.  We celebrated with our friends who is of irish decent with a corned beef, potatoes and cabbage dinner.  How else?  this is how this chinese lady celebrate any festival or events, no fuss no muss, just eat.  This chinese lady nearly did not get dinner ready in time,  i had misread the cooking instructions on the bag of corned beef,  i saw 1 hour and did not read the rest, so, i thought i just cook the slab of corned beef one and a half hour before dinner.  But, before i started cooking, i re-read and oh my, it is 1 hour for every pound of corned beef and i have 3 pounds!!!!.  So, think fast,  ok, out came the pressure cooker, my saviour,  put in 1/2 inch of water, put a saucer to raise the corned beef and pressurized the meat for 20 minutes.  The corned beef is fork tender now,  into the oven it went sitting on a bed of potatoes.  There is a chinese or rather cantonese saying, - chor yau chor cheok meaning a wrong turned for the better - I saved a couple of hours of electricity.

To go with the corned beef dinner, i made Irish Soda Bread which was good with a  large dab of butter and i will post this recipe asap.  

Love Fried Rice For Valentine's Day

According to Wiki,  Qixi Festival (Chinese: 七夕), also known as the Qiqiao Festival (Chinese: 乞巧節), is a Chinese festival that celebrates the annual meeting of the cowherd and weaver girl in Chinese mythology and this festival is the chinese Valentine's Day.  Although the chinese does not celebrate Valentine's Day like the West does by giving flowers and gifts, they demonstrate their love by cooking their favorite foods.  and since rice is a symbol of life itself, to the chinese, and we have all heard the line that “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”  For sure, who doesn’t love a great meal, especially when someone cooks it for you?  You do not have to spend alot of time and money, just fry these simple fried rice following these recipes.  I have shared 2 ways and these ways are the simpliest ways to good fried rice.

Please give me a feedback if you should woo your love ones if you should cook this,

 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY.

Popovers

Can you believe the end of the year is already here? It has gone by so quickly, with a blink of an eye, a few pinches of this, a handful of that and lots of sprinkles with  garnished passion, this year has gone by under my nose, but a new year of hope and prosperity awaits.  A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR to all family and friends.

I find that making POPOVERS at the end of the year is appropriate, POP the old year and bring OVER the goodness to the new year to come.

The popover is an American version of Yorkshire pudding in England. These impressive popovers have only a few humble ingredients - eggs, milk, flour, salt and butter and they make your meal special.  Made well they should have large crowns, lightly crisp. golden brown exteriors and tender, moist, airy interiors crisscrossed with custardy webs of dough.  This recipe is adapted from America's Test Kitchen and unlike most popover batters, this one is smooth, not lumpy.  HIGH HEAT is crucial to the speedy, high rise of these popovers. 

Siew Cheong a.k.a. Roasted Sausages

Ah posting!!!!!, I am sure that you all realsied that my postings are crawling, I know, you know.  I need to feel passionate about what I post but i am in a bit of a slump.   It is easy to post a slumpy one but who wants to read it.  Well slumpy or not, this posting might not be worth the reading but the recipes that follow have been in my mind to share for the longest ever. 

I have been wanting to eat these Siew Cheong/Roasted Sausages and not being able to get them here in the States, have to copycat and make some.  It has been so long that i have tasted these sausages and can only recall that they are delicious.  Strangely, i have not eaten these sausages on its own but always come as an accompliment to a large bowl of soup sa hor fun with pork square balls.  Craving for this bowl of soup sa hor fun can only be satisfied by first, making some siew cheong, second, is to make The Square Pork Balls, of which i will share 'How To' in my next posting, then lastly will share how to put them all together, for the most craved bowl of soup sa hor fun.  The siew cheong turned out pretty similar to the real mccoy in taste but no so in size, the sausage casings that i have are for chinese lap cheong, so they are very much thinner.

Shark Fin Soup With Crab Meat

 

According to Wiki, Shark fin soup dates back to Ming Dynasty, China and is considered by Chinese as one of the eight treasured foods from the sea.  This delicacy was coveted by emperors because it was rare, delicious, and required elaborate preparation - i can relate to this cos i just had the chore of preparing a box of dried Shark Fins which costed $134,00 usd. Holding both culinary and symbolic significance, this dish is a staple of gourmet Chinese cuisine which symbolizes wealth, power, prestige and honor. 

Our dearest friend, Belinda celebrated her birthday last weekend and to show respect and honor, i prepared this Shark Fin Soup With Crab Meat for her and her guests as an appreciation to our dear friendship. 

Luckily this soup is not a staple food and only served on important occasions otherwise i will be going around with pruney fingers.  I had to blanch the dried shark fins in hot water  and this process was repeated 3 times.  Then the blanched shark fins had to be soaked,  of which the soaking water was changed several times a day for a whole week.  After soaking the translucent gelatin needles have to be separated from all impurities - this was so laborious and where pruney fingers were possible, i spend more than 4 hours doing this process.

Pineapple Pork

Pineapple is a remarkable delicious tropical fruit,  it is not only sweet, it also offers many benefits to our health.  It may be one of the most healthful foods available today, valuable for easing indigestion, arthritis or sinustis.  One of the juiciest fruits that is absolutely a delight to eat and the best part is that it is loaded with nutrients and beneficial enzymes, which ensures that you not only have a healthy body but also a glowing complexion.

Cooking with fruit is a great way to make sure your family gets their recommended daily requirement and this dish is one of them.  The family licked the platter clean and if the pineapple skin could be eaten it would have been devoured too.

Shitake Dongpo With Mui Choy

Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner is the most luxurious meal of the entire year and is about Family and good wishes for the coming year.  The new year spirit is of renewal, new beginnings and is a rich fabric of symbols weaved into the Chinese New Year traditions. The traditions are a mix of belief, folklore and custom with the intention to influence the future, encouraging happiness and wealth into their lives.  Since auspicious food is about sustenance, health, abundance, home, family, wealth, sharing and preparing for the future, it has a subtle yet strong presence to represent positive things in life that give you energy, warmth and hope.  This dish that i am sharing is abundantly prepared with the best Shitake, the most evenly layered of lean and fat piece of belly pork and the sweet mui choy.  This is a spin-off from Dongpo Pagoda With Mui Choy 

Napa Delight

Chinese New Year is around the corner and i have been trying to put up the menu for the Reunion Dinner and found this delicious and easy dish. Napa cabbage, also known as Chinese cabbage, has crunchy leaves that are more elegant and delicate than regular firm-headed green cabbage.  The Napa Cabbage is a sign of prosperity in China and this dish will certainly adorn your reunion dinner table with richness.  

Beef Stroganoff

Renee, my grand-daughter, loves pasta in any shapes or form and she loves eating beef like in slices or in a piece of steak, but she will not eat a beef burger.  I thought that she does not like ground beef but she will eat ground beef in the Bolognese Sauce.  So, it must be the burger that is not appealing to her cos she will not have a chicken burger too. 

I know that she will enjoy this dish, Beef Stroganoff and it did.

According to  Wiki, Beef Stroganoff or Beef Stroganov (in Russian: Бефстроганов Befstróganov) is a Russian dish of sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with smetana or sour cream. From its origins in 19th-century Russia, it has become popular around the world, with considerable variation from the original recipe.

Chocolate Souffle Palo

 

 

I would like to wish all family and friends, a HAPPY NEW YEAR.  A very sincere THANK YOU to all readers and fan who continue to come and read my humble postings.

Last year, Sandra ate at Palo, an adults-only restaurant on Disney Wonder Cruise, she raved about the Chocolate Souffle and when we ate at Palo in Disney Fantasy,  i can understand her raving.  Now I can chime my own praises and am so inspired that i have to bake them.  I found the recipe for Chocolate Souffle from Palo Disney Cruise Line and followed the method to the tee.  It was magical,  the souffles turned out airy, rich with creamy center and this complex confection rounded out our dinner with perfection.  My family an friends have not stop talking about this chocolate souffle.     They commented that i was really inspired cos i even made the cookie spoon which Palo used to garnish.  I  do regret that i did not make any chocolate sauce to go along with the vanilla sauce.  Well, will make chocolate sauce the next time around and will remember to sprinkle confectioner's sugar before serving(Was so excited to take the pic for posting that i totally forgot about the confectioner's sugar, thinking that the souffle will deflate, but it did not, it held high and made me brimming with pride)

Greek Olga Bread

We had a family outing to the zoo and had lunch at a Greek Restaurant nearby.  What do you eat in a Greek Restaurant?  Gyros with Pita/Olga Bread of course.  The grandchildren loved the Pita/Olga bread so much that i had to make some for them at home.

Homemade UDON Noodles

I don't know if you have noticed that the prices for frozen udon noodles have gone more than double and it is time that i have to replicate it by making them at home.  I have been using udon to fry my Kuala Lumpur Black Hokkien Mee and I am feeling homesick for this comfort food.  

In fact i have many times failed to get the texture of Udon to be like the store bought ones, which is bouncy and chewy.  Following the authentic Japanese recipes on making udon, which use only flour, salt and water, does not help, blame it all on the flour and everything else except my own lack of 'khoong fu'.  I have kneaded, banged, smashed and even stepped on the dough but the result of the udon, has always tasted like 'mein fun koh'.  I want bouncy and chewy,  so i am going to use more,  much more than expected , TAPIOCA STARCH and the ratio of 1:1 to all-purpose flour.  Why????, all purpose flour and not bread flour?  I have read that it was impossible to achieve a good Udon using American flours(no wonder) and that the Japanese Flour has a lower protein/gluten that will have a better result.  So I used bleached all-purpose flour and alot of tapioca starch to further reduce the protein/gluten content. 

With the flours issue off my mind, i have to think of an easier way to knead the dough mixture to death, to obtain as smooth a dough as possible.  I am definitely not sacrificing my KitchenAid Mixer and know that the Breadmachine will do the work.  But, with the Breadmachine, the blade was so short that it was not able to draw together the dough to make into a ball for kneading.  I had to help by pushing the dry dough and this is too tedious.  So, for the next batch of dough, i changed the procedure.  First, i put in the water, salt and then the bleached all-purpose flour, start the dough function and let the machine churn it into a batter, then i added the tapioca starch, oh yes, this is so much easier.  The machine can now knead the dough like it would for a bread dough.  My breadmachine does not have a only kneading function, so i have to remove the kneaded dough just before it starts to proof.


I have also found that the water i used to cook the Udon has to be salted and that makes alot of difference to the taste, the udon does not taste doughy at all and this is how i like the udon to be.  I do not care if this is not authentic Japanese Udon or perhaps i should rename this noodle to 'Fat noodle'. 


Lets make some 'Fat Noodle':

Red Fermented Bean Curd/Lam Yee Char Siew

Everytime i cook with red fermented bean curd/lam yee, i was asked, what is it?  First we must know what the original Fermented bean curd also called sufu, fermented tofu, tofu cheese, or preserved tofu/cantonese fu yee/腐乳 is?.  It is a form of processed, preserved tofu,  the ingredients  typically are soybeans, salt, rice wine and sesame oil or vinegar.   Red fermented bean curd/南乳(Cantonese - Lam Yee)(Chinese  紅腐乳/南乳 pinyin hongfuru/nanru), is fermented bean curd incorporated with red yeast rice for a deep-red color.   Now that we know what they are and what ingredients are used to make these 2 types of fermented bean curd, do you know that these humble cubes can impart distinctively thickened flavor and aroma to any dish cooked with them?. 


I have been making Char Siew following this easy recipe and everyone who followed this recipe gave a very good review, but i am always game to try something new.  I was intrigued with this new recipe as EGGS are used together with Lam Yee in the marinate, I had to give this recipe a try.  The Char Siew was so well flavored, full aroma of Lam Yee and the sauce so thickened - must be the presence of the egg.  I had to share with all of you.

Dongpo Pagoda With Mui Choy

This weekend would be the last weekend to celebrate the Chinese New Year. as the 15th day falls on Feb. 6th 2012  What celebration??????  What is in store for my family and friends tomorrow would be "eating" of course and since it coincides with Super Bowl XLVI, the male friends and family will be glued to the TV enjoying the beers and all the good eats - you know what they are - chips and dips, buffalo wings etc.  We, the asians, wives and friends will be in the kitchen preparing our banquet and this is one of the dishes that i will be serving. 

Christmas Star Bread

Christmas has come and i would like to thank all my family, friends and readers for their support. I have baked a Christmas Star Bread as the Christmas Star is so very special and magical. Although this bread does not shine but it does light up my heart to see the smiles in the family when it was presented to be shared. Thank you Feeding My Enthusiasms for your inspiration.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.