Tom Yum Nam Khon

Our main course tonight is going to be a Thai-flavoured slow cooker beef, and I love Thai soups, so here it is.

I'd actually wanted to make tom kha gai, but after some researching, it turns out that that is chicken galangal soup, and I don't have galangal on hand. Nothing wrong with tom yum. I just love coconut milk.

This is completely bastardized, I'm sure. Tom yum nam khon is usually made with shrimp, but I'm mildly allergic. I'm also cheating and using tom yum paste.

Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk
1-2 tbs tom yum paste (I used cock brand, found in a jar at T&T)
1 can straw mushrooms (buttom mushrooms if you don't like straw)
1 green pepper, sliced
1 chicken breast, cut into strips or bite-sized pieces


Method:
In a pot, bring coconut milk, 1 can of water, and tom yum paste to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium, add in mushrooms, chicken and pepper and cook until chicken is done, and peppers are to your liking.
Serve alone or over rice.


Comments:
I LOVE THAI SOUPS!

This can be an easy main. Just add more chicken/protein and less water.

I was very pleasantly surprised that the paste really didn't need any embellishments. However, as with all mass manufactured foods, it had MSG, and preservatives. I tried to pick the one with the fewest, but still. You can expect a recipe from scratch in the future.


Verdict:
YUM! ^^

Baked Tapioca Pudding (焗西米布甸)

Here goes nothing! Cindy suggested I give this a try, and helpfully said to search sago pudding, rather than tapioca. Almost all of the recipes called for custard powder, much to my frustration. I don't need any more powders and mixes in here, so I had to kind of improvise. From what I've read, custard powder is mostly cornstarch, flavour, and colour. There's not much I want to do about the colour, and I'm decently sure that flavour is really coconut milk and vanilla, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Ingredients (makes 8 100mL servings):
1 cup small white tapioca pearls (may be labelled as sago, but comes from cassava starch, ingredients might say "manioc")
1 can (400mL) coconut milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup cornstarch
4 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
finely grated zest of one lemon


Method:
Boil pearls in lots of water for 10 minutes, then turn down heat simmer until the majority of pearls are translucent.
Rinse with cold water, drain, and set aside in a bowl.
On medium-low, heat coconut milk, and sugar to just boiling.
In a separate bowl, whisk water into cornstarch and add to cream mixture.
Heat until thickened.
Remove from heat and whisk into eggs in a steady stream.
Strain to remove lumps.
Whisk in vanilla and lemon zest
Mix in tapioca.
Spoon the mixture into 8 115mL ramekins.
Bake at 400F on the middle rack in a hot water bath for 15-30 minutes until set.
Use a torch to caramelise sugar to the top if you wish.


Comments:
Every recipe called for butter, but I'm thinking that it was mostly for the fat content, so I left it out. I figured it wasn't for structure, since it's a warm dessert, and the butter would be all melted anyway.

I wasn't sure how it would turn out, so I didn't use red bean paste (it'd be a tragic waste if the pudding turned into an abysmal failure).

It wasn't sweet or flavourful enough, and it was too thick, so it needs more sugar, more vanilla and less cornstarch. It'd probably be better to just yolks, rather than whole eggs, but it just seems so wasteful.

Verdict:
I'm glad it set and worked. I'm tabling it until I have the right proportions.

Daikon and Carrot Pickles

I LOVE this stuff! Conveniently found a recipe here.


Ingredients:
Daikon, cut however you like
Carrots, cut however you like

2 parts water
1 part white vinegar
1 part sugar
salt



Method:
Over low heat, mix water, vinegar, sugar and salt until dissolved.
Place veggies in a glass container with a cover.
Pour liquid over veggies.
Refridgerate overnight.
Enjoy!



Comments:
Make as much liquid as you need to cover the veggies. It is best to submerge the veggies to get the best pickling action. Use a bowl on top of a dish if you need to weigh it down.


Verdict:
LOVE IT!

Nem Nuong (Grilled Pork Patty)

Something about Vietnamese-style meat appeals to me, and this is one of my faves. I suspect it's the sweetness. When you go out to eat, these are sometimes listed as "pork hash", and are most noticeable as the hot-pink slabs of apparently ground meat. Sounds suspect, looks weird, but tastes great. Wandering Chopsticks has a great blog, and here's the recipe.

Ingredients (makes a lot):
3 lbs lean ground pork
1 medium onion, pureed, but not liquefied
6-10 cloves of garlic, minced.
3 tbs sugar
3 tbs nuoc mam (fish sauce)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper.


Method:
Mix the ingredients together.
Take a tiny piece and cook it in the microwave for a taste test. Add seasonings accordingly.
Take a handful of the mixture, between the size of a golf ball and tennis ball and roll it into a ball.
Toss it back and forth between your hands to force out air pockets.
Flatten into a patty and set aside.
This should make 12-14 patties.
Grill on both sides until cooked.



Comments:
If you use regular ground pork, you can probably forgo the onion. It is used for moisture, which keeps the end product from becoming too tough. I personally like the added flavour.

Honey makes a nice substitute for the sugar, lending a different taste.

I found it easier to stack the patties on top of each other with saran wrap to separate the layers.

You could make the patties any size. I was just too lazy to make them smaller.

I wasn't sure how long it would take to cook, but the barbeque was around 175C. I put the patties on the grill, closed the lid, turned the heat down to medium-high and checked periodically. When it looked like half of it was cooked (judging by a side profile), I flipped them over and cooked for roughly the same amount of time.

The picture was taken as I was packing away leftovers. We had sliced them, and it served 2 purposes: to check that they were all cooked properly, and to make it easier to eat. (We were wrapping them up in rice paper)

I probably used more sugar, but use the taste test.


Verdict:
Yum!

Vermicelli with Green Onion Oil

Vermicelli is a staple of Vietnamese cuisine. The addition of green onion oil really kicks it up a notch. You have no idea how difficult is was to track down a recipe. Most of them were for the deep fried onions, where the point is to turn the onions brown, and those are only good for soup-based noodles. Granted, I could've figured it out eventually, but this recipe made it much easier.


Ingredients:
1 pkg noodles
0.25 cup vegetable oil
4 springs green onions, chopped
0.5 tsp salt


Method:
Heat oil in a sauce pan on high until hot.
Add onions and salt. Be careful of splatter.
Cook onions until fragrant. The onions shouldn't brown. Stir to keep salt from burning on the bottom (although admittedly, the crusty bit is very tasty.)
Remove from heat and let cool.

Meanwhile, boil up some water.
Put in noodles, turn heat down to medium and cook until al dente.
Rinse with cold water and drain well.

Place a serving of noodles into a bowl and drizzle sparingly with oil.
Enjoy with the main dish.



Comments:
The measurements are approximate. I probably used more of everything.

Be careful with taste testing the oil. It is hot.

The cold rinse washes away excess starch and prevents the noodles from clumping.

Use an oil that doesn't have a strong taste. Olive oil would not be appropriate as it would likely overshadow the onion.

The oil will keep for a bit if you don't use it all.


Verdict:
Love!

Vietnamese Grilled Beef

I have to say that when it comes to grilled meat, nothing beats the flavours of Southeast Asia. Since my mother is terrible with recipes and explaining things to me in general, I had to turn to the net and found this.

Ingredients (all measurements approximate):
2 lbs sirloin tip, partially frozen for easier slicing.
2 stalks green onions, minced/thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs sugar
3 tbs fish sauce


Method:
Slice the beef against the grain, about 2mm thickness if you can manage. 5mm is probably more realistic.
Using a meat pounder, pound meat to thin and tenderize it. Be careful not to beat it to the point that it breaks apart.
In a bowl, mix together onions, garlic, sugar and fish sauce.
Eyeball the sauce with the amount of meat to ensure you have enough sauce to coat the meat slices. Adjust accordingly.
Coat each slice of meat in sauce and place in a bowl. If you have extra sauce, pour it in.
Cover and let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature.
If using wooden skewers, soak about 12 long ones in water for 30 minutes, to prevent burning.
Thread meat onto skewers and grill until cooked (~8 minutes), turning once.
Serve with vermicelli/rice.



Comments:
The recipe that I saw had oil brushed on the meat. We didn't, because that would've kicked up flames and caused excess charring. If that's your thing, then by all means.

Cutting against the grain helps for easier chewing, since the meat is more likely to come apart. Super important if you don't want to look like a cow, or choke on meat that won't sever.

Be careful not to overload the skewers. Folding makes it difficult to cook the meat evenly.

Holy F! The skewers were hot!

The picture's crummy. I took it as I was putting away leftovers.



Verdict:
Thumbs up!

Anko (Red Bean Paste)

Before I get into this, I just have to say that I LOVE teaching an academically-inclined, eastside school. I actually feel like there's hope for the future!


So one of my absolute favourite desserts is the red bean-matcha-condensed milk combination. It was everywhere in Japan during the summer and there's even a drink like that here, at Flo Tea, called Shrek. Way better, in my opinion, than the "3 colours" iced drink from Vietnamese restaurants (I'm not a big fan of the green jelly).


Anyhoo. Last summer, I had matcha syrup, anko and condensed milk over shaved ice. YUM! This year, I didn't have ice ready to put into the shaver, so I used green tea ice cream. Will was also saying that he'd like red bean ice, so I used coconut milk instead of condensed. I quite like it.


Anko can be purchased by the can, though it does get a bit pricey, and you can't control how much texture you want.

Ingredients (I actually didn't measure anything):
~ 3/4 cup Azuki beans (large dried red beans) to get about 2 cups paste
sugar
salt (optional; I didn't use it this time, but apparently did last time)


Method:
In a pot, soak beans overnight in lots of water.
Bring beans to a boil.
Turn down heat to medium and let bubble for 10 minutes.
Drain.
Add about 3 cups of water and bring to boil.
Turn heat to low and simmer 1 hour, until softened and breaks apart when stirred.
Drain some liquid. Add sugar and salt to taste.
Stir and simmer until thickened.
Cool and serve.


Comments:
The beans must cook at a high temperature for a few minutes to denature a toxin that's found in many dried beans.
Add sugar only at the end, as the beans will not break apart if you add it too early (or so I've read).
I used a 3L pot, I think. It helps to prevent the beans from boiling over.
If the main purpose is to make red bean ice, then don't cook for so long, and leave a little more liquid in the pot, to facilitate drinking.

Verdict:

LOVE, love, love! (But that's just me =P)

Spinach Gomae

I've always loved this, but really only ate it at all-you-can eat places because only then could I eat to my heart's content. A simple, refreshing recipe for the coming summer.

Ingredients:
1 bunch spinach
0.5 tsp sugar
4 tbs white sesame seeds, toasted and ground
1 tbs soy sauce


Method:
Dissolve sugar in soy sauce. Add more sugar if you like it sweeter.
Mix with sesame. Add more soy sauce to taste, if desired. Set aside.
Wash spinach and cut into 3 cm pieces.
Boil spinach and rinse with cold water.
Drain well, gently squeezing out excess water.
Mix with sesame sauce.
Cover and chill until serving. This step also allows the water to creep out and thin the sauce. Serve immediately if you want the sauce to stay chunky.


Comments:
It is tastier to toast the sesame yourself. Just heat it in a pan, stirring to prevent burning, until fragrant and golden.

I also ground the sesame myself, using the dry mill of my bamix hand blender.



Verdict:
We used two bunches and ate it all in one go, one bunch for each of us ^^

Japanese Hamburg Steak (ハンバーグ)

I saw on Nicole's blog that she had made these, and whilst planning for this week's meals, I realised that we had some bread that was in danger of molding, and beef that could potentially get freezer burn. Perfect.

The reason for not using her recipe eludes me, but I found a recipe for this here.

A bit of background:
This is a pretty popular dish in Japan, especially in bentos. You'll also find it in Western restaurants. It's remniscient of Salisbury steak, or a meatloaf. The sauce makes all the difference.


Ingredients (Makes 6 patties):
2 cups ground beef (probably about 1lb)
1 egg
0.25 cup milk
4 slices whole wheat bread
1 small onion, finely chopped
Maggi seasoning
Ground pepper
Ketchup
Worcestershire sauce


Method:
Sautee onions in a fry pan. Set aside.
Toast the bread and break into pieces to fit into a dry mill (I have a Bamix hand blender) and process in batches to get crumbs.
In a large bowl, mix together milk, eggs, Maggi and pepper.
Mix in beef, bread and onions with your hands and thoroughly incorporate everything.
Flatten the mixture to the bottom of the bowl and make 6 equal sections.
Take a section, roll it into ball and pass it back and forth between your hands to force out air pockets.
Make a patty with an indent in the centre and set on a plate.
Repeat with the other five sections.
Heat up a fry pan and brown the patties (You'll probably have to do it in batches).
Put in a layer of hot water, cover, and steam on medium-low for about 10 minutes to thoroughly cook.
Repeat as necessary to cook all the patties.
To make the sauce, put in equal parts ketchup and worcestershire sauce into the pan, mix and heat.
Serve with rice.


Comments:
For those new to cooking, the egg helps to hold the meat together, and the bread keeps it moist.
I just have to say that while I had no problems handling the meat, I didn't like trying to wash the grease off my hand after. The fat had actually solidified under my nails, and it was a pain washing it all away.


Verdict:
Good! There's lunch for the next day.

Oyako-don (親子丼)

Before work in Japan got super hectic and I started eating at Wendy's on a far-too-regular basis, rice bowls were the way to go. When we did a foods section, oyako-don would come up as one of the easier items to make. It has taken 3 years, but here is my attempt. I shamelessly took the recipe from Nicole here. She's got the pretty pictures.


Some background: 'oyako' roughly translates to 'mother and child' interpret that how you wish =P


Ingredients (for 2):
Cooked rice
500g chicken thighs
4 eggs, beaten in a bowl
1 onion, sliced

Sauce: Mix the following together in a bowl and set aside
1.5 cups water with fish sauce mixed in
3 tbs mirin
3 tbs soy sauce


Method:
Debone and deskin the chicken. Then cut into bite-sized pieces.
In a fry pan, stir-fry the chicken until partially cooked.
Add in the onions and stir fry together until the chicken is mostly cooked.
Add in the sauce and cook until the chicken is done.
Pour in the egg, cover, turn off the heat and let sit for 2 minutes until the egg sets.
Serve over rice.


Comments:
The onions released some moisture as they cooked, so the end result was a lot more watery and watered down than I would've liked. I would use only 1 cup of water. Oh, and the water and fish sauce is my cheating version of dashi.

Preparing the chicken took bloody ages. I'm debating whether or not I should bite the bullet and buy skinless boneless.

Will was kinda put off by the fact that the egg would be half-cooked, so I let it boil a bit. The water was very aerated, which caused the egg to break apart and look kinda puke-y. A simmer would've worked better.


Verdict:
Yum!

Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐)

We've been in the habit of buying mapo tofu from a restaurant at the Village, and I thought it probably isn't really worth it, so here goes. It's also the last day before I go back to work tomorrow. I am going to miss these restful days of Spring Break. (Seriously, here's to hoping that the new schedule gets passed.)

Ingredients:
2 blocks tofu, cut into cubes
ground pork (probably about 0.5lbs)
1 cup frozen green peas
minced garlic
ginger paste
sesame oil
3 green onions, chopped
salt
soy sauce
black bean paste
chili sauce
ground Szechuan pepper (flower pepper)



Method:
Marinate the pork in a tablespoon of cornstarch and some soy sauce.
Boil a pot of water. Add tofu and peas and heat through. Drain and set aside.
Stir-fry the pork until no longer pink. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry until very fragrant.
Add beans and mash with meat to mix well.
Add chili sauce, tofu, peas and onions. Mix.
In a small bowl, mix cornstarch with water and soy sauce. Add to pan and cook until thickened.
Stir in some sesame oil to taste.
Transfer to serving bowl and top with ground Szechuan pepper and green onions.
Serve over rice.


Comments:
We did not drain the tofu very well, so the end result was a bit liquidy.

Will likes it with peas, so in they go. You, of course, don't have to.

The Szechuan pepper has a rather distinct taste. Not sure if I really like it, but it did impart that numbing sensation.



Verdict:
Not quite like in the restaurants, but good.

Red Oil Wontons (红油抄手)

These have got to be my favourite item in a Taiwanese or Shanghai restaurant. More so than the coveted siu loong bao (Will's Demon Baos) or the deep fried bun with condensed milk.

Been meaning to try to make them for a long time, and Nicole emailed me three recipes a while back, and after a bit of googling, I found a very similar one to the easiest one here. (I was too lazy to post the email here. Linking is so much easier =PP)


Ingredients:
Wontons:
wonton wrappers
ground pork (probably about 0.5 lbs)
1 egg
sesame oil
salt
ground black pepper


Sauce:
chopped garlic
chopped green onions
peppercorn chili oil (red oil)
Chinese sweetened black vinegar
soy sauce
ground black pepper



Method:
Wontons:
Beat the egg with a fork. Mix with the seasonings. Add pork and mix well.
Put a small amount of pork in the centre of the wrapper and bunch the dough around it.
Boil a pot of water with some oil to prevent sticking.
Boil the wontons until they float, then leave for 2 minutes to ensure thorough cooking.
Drain and set into a bowl.


Sauce:
Mix everything together in the proportions that you like.
Pour over the wontons.


Comments:
I know, this was a horrible 'recipe'. But I was being really lazy and really based it on taste.

The amount of pork was way too much for just the two of us. We froze some for later.

I added in a bit of tahini (sesame paste) for texture. I don't think it contributed much to taste.

I also think I should've bought the chili oil with the ground chili bits, rather than the pure oil.


Verdict:
The wontons were overcooked, and the sauce, while good, was not quite right.

Bulgogi (불고기)

A while ago, Will's mom gave us a bottle of Sempio Bulgogi sauce. Eddie has since told me that it's good stuff. Seeing how I am still procrastinating about buckling down and lesson planning, more cooking (and therefore blogging) is in order. (Don't worry; I am ready for Tuesday, but not yet Monday.) The bottle came with a handy-dandy mini-booklet of recipes, making life easier. As usual, adjustments were made to what was on hand.

Bulgogi traditionally has been an open-flamed beef dish. It is now commonly stir-fried, and that's my route.

Ingredients (serves 2):
0.67 lbs thinly sliced beef (rib eye was on special at T&T)
1 onion, sliced (280g)
325g sliced mushrooms
1 red pepper, sliced (320g)
Bulgogi sauce

Method:
Place all the solids in a large bowl. Mix with enough sauce to coat everything. We used about a 1.5 cups)
Marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Heat a fry pan and cook until meat is done. It took us 3 batches.
Season with pepper as needed.
Serve with rice or noodles.


Comments:
To help things cook faster, we covered the pan to trap in the steam. This led to the entire thing being rather liquidy, after the mushrooms cooked. It would probably be better if the mushrooms were cooked separately first, then added back into the mixture after everything else was cooked, just to incorporate.

I would also marinate the meat separately. There was no way to make sure that the meat was really coated when it was in with all the veggies.

The onion and pepper also needed to be more thinly sliced. I'm not a huge fan of peppers, so I should've only put half of that pepper in. (The peppers were massive, and that was the smallest available. Sad.)
It needed zucchini. I LOVE zucchini.

A properly smokin' wok would've given it loads of flavour, but that can't be helped =P

Verdict:
Ok. It'd probably be a lot better with the above adjustments.

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き)

Okonomiyaki's dear to my heart, as it was one of the funner lunch choices available during my stint in Japan (the frequent choices being Wendy's (regrettably cheap and the nearest shop), donburi, and whatever was on sale at Seiyuu).

Some background:
Okonomiyaki is a specialty of the Kansai region in Japan, which encompasses Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It is often described as a savoury pancake, or a Japanese pizza (a total misnomer). The basic ingredients are cabbage mixed into a batter, then fried with whatever other ingredients you like. The name actually means "as you like."


Ingredients (makes 4):

2 cups flour
1 cup water
fish sauce
0.5 lb thinly sliced pork
1 smallish head of cabbage, about 2lbs, coarsely shredded by the v-slicer french fry insert
3 green onions, chopped (sprigs? stalks? including the white part)
4 eggs

Okonomiyaki sauce
Japanese mayonnaise
Katsuobushi (bonito flakes, dried fish shavings)
Dried seaweed flakes


Method:
Mix flour with water to get a thick batter. Add more water as necessary.
Season with fish sauce or salt.
Let rest in the fridge for an hour (optional).
Fry the meat flat. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix a quarter of the cabbage, green onions and batter together.
Create a well in the centre of the mixture, then crack an egg in and mix together.






Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat.

Place a few strips of meat in the pan. Pour the batter on top and shape into a disc.
Cover and cook on medium until the bottom sets (~5 min).
Flip it, flatten it a bit, and cook until the centre sets (~5 more min).

Transfer to a plate and top with sauce, mayo, bonito and seaweed.









Comments:
We couldn't find aonori, which is seaweed sprinkles, so we used larger flakes of nori instead. It still tastes good, but it has a tendency to stick to your utensil.

If you don't have okonomiyaki sauce, a sweet barbeque sauce would do. You could also make it with ketchup, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and sugar.



Verdict:
Yum! Takes a bit of patience, though.

Mushroom Tamagoyaki

Tamagoyaki is a super popular dish in Japan. We ordered it almost every time we went to an izakaya. It's basically a sweet omlette, but with thin layers rolled up. It's fairly easy to make, and I decided to add mushroom because we love it around here.

I didn't have dashi (fish stock) on hand, so I cheated and used fish sauce with some water.

Ingredients (makes 2 rolls):
4 eggs
3 tbs water with a 2 splashes of fish sauce
2 tbs sugar
150g mushrooms, sliced


Method:

Sautee mushrooms and set aside.

Beat eggs in a bowl.

Add water, fish sauce and sugar and mix.

Heat a non-stick pan on medium.

Pour some egg in the pan and allow it to spread evenly.

If you are using a circular pan, spread some mushrooms along the diameter.

Fold the egg over and roll to cover the mushrooms.
Move the roll to the far side.

Pour some egg, lifting the previously cooked egg so a new layer will cook under it. Roll the egg towards you. Repeat as needed to make a smooth, egg roll.

To serve, cut thick cross sections.

Optional: Swirl some Japanese mayo on top. Soy sauce, and ground daikon also make great condiments.

Comments:

If you use a regular pan, be sure to oil the pan before each egg pour.

There's actually a special rectangular pan to make this. Makes it easier, and prettier.

I clearly don't know how to use blogger, so these pics'll hafta do.

Verdict:

A bit sweet, so you can cut down on the sugar.

Mama Grewal's Butter Chicken

One day during work, the tantalizing aroma of Indian cooking wafted up into my third-floor classroom, and after some chatting, I got this from the Home Ec department.

Here is the original recipe. Eddie and I did quite a few things differently.

For 2:
25 mL vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 skinless, boneless chicken thigh, diced
2 mL cumin
1 mL pepper
1 mL ground ginger
2 mL curry powder
125mL diced tomatoes with juice
50 mL milk

Sautee garlic, add chicken and brown slightly.
Stir in cumin, pepper, tumeric, ginger and curry powder.
Add tomatoes. Mix thoroughly. Cover and simmer 10-12 minutes.
Add milk and heat thoroughly. Serve.


Sounds simple, right? Here's what we did:

Ingredients (for 8-10):
olive oil
2kg boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
3 tsp pre-chopped garlic
3 squirts of ginger paste
1tbs (probably) ground cumin (using mortar and pestle)
ground tumeric
curry powder
2 cans (800mL each) diced tomatoes
ketchup
sugar
cayenne powder
milk powder (we were out of milk)
flour

Method:
Start heating tomatoes in a large pot on medium heat.
In a pan, sautee 1 tsp garlic in olive oil. Add a third of the chicken and brown slightly.
Add in a squirt of ginger and some spices and sautee for a bit longer. Mix into the pot.
Repeat until all the chicken is done.
Cover the pot and simmer, stirring occasionnally.
When the chicken is cooked, taste and add ketchup, sugar, milk powder, and cayenne powder until desired flavour and colour is achieved.
Simmer on low, uncovered, until tomatoes fall apart. Stir occassionally.
When ready to eat, taste and adjust, and if the mixture is too soupy, add flour mixed in water to thicken. Heat through before serving.

Comments:
As you can see, we were not very rigorous with the recipe. It was pretty much all taste and adjust. We probably spent a good 5 minutes mixing and tasting and mixing and tasting.


There was a bitter finish to the sauce, which really bothered us while we were cooking (It wasn't as noticeable when served with rice and bread). It could have come from a number of factors:

• Possibility of burnt garlic (we weren't too careful about scraping off everything in the pan before browning the next batch of chicken.
• Cumin: we ground the cumin because we didn't want to chew on whole cumin seeds, so I probably could've used less. I also didn't measure out the cumin.
• In browning the chicken with the spices, we could've burnt the spices and not notice.

This was a lot simpler than my first recipe, which is not posted here.


Verdict:
Decent, but it didn't have the depth of flavour that I'm used to with Indian food. On a side note: Eddie makes a good sous-chef. Thanks for helping!

Oxtail and Root Vegetables Soup

After noticing that we have not made much by way of soup, a special trip to Chinatown was in order.

Will did most of the work for this one. Except for the potatoes, cuz he doesn't like peeling them.

Ingredients:
1 oxtail, cut into discs (let the butcher do it at the shop)
2 jumbo (and I mean JUMBO) carrots, cut into large chunks.
1 large daikon, cut into large chunks
2 onions, cut into wedges
2 lb potatoes, cut into large chunks


Method:
Throw everything into a large stock pot, add water, and bring to a boil.
Simmer for a few hours.
Season to taste.
Enjoy!


Comments:
We actually forgot to buy onions and emptied a mostly-full bottle of onion flakes into the pot. Worked quite well, but probably not the best in terms of health =P

I wasn't sure how much potatoes we used; I just finished what was left of a bag from before.

If you want a really pretty soup, boil the bones in a smaller pot, strain the stock through a sieve into the big pot, rinse the bones, put them into the big pot, then add the veggies and more water if needed and cook on low. Straining and rinsing will get rid of the foam and blood. Slow-cooking will prevent the potatoes from falling apart. As you can tell, we weren't so diligent =P


Verdict:
Yum! And only lasted 3 days. Oxtail's really tasty for soups!

Borscht - HK Style

With half a head of cabbage just sitting in my fridge, and cubed beef from the beef stew possibly in danger of freezer burn, it occured to me that borscht would be a great way of using it up. Hot soup during the winter sounds mighty good to me!

Since I had Russian borscht not too long ago, I went with this. (It's also cheaper)

Ingredients (fits 8qt pot):
2 onions, cut into 1" squares
4 tomatoes, diced
2lb beef bones
1lb beef
Maggi seasoning or soy sauce
2 russet potatoes, 1" cubes
half a head of cabbage, cut into 2" squares
1 small can tomato paste
salt
hot sauce
pepper


Method:
Marinate the beef with some Maggi.
In a pot, boil the bones in about 4L of water. Skim off the foam as it appears. When the foam formation has slowed, add beef. Continue to skim off fat and foam while it boils. Remove from heat when the foam formation slows considerably.
In a larger pot, sautee the onions and tomatoes until cooked. This is the soup pot.
Transfer the beef bones to the soup pot, taking care not to transfer cooked blood and crud.
Mix, so most of the bones are on the bottom of the pot.
Strain the beef broth into the soup pot.
Take the beef, rinse with water and cut into 1" cubes. Add to pot.
Add all other ingredients except for salt, hot sauce and pepper.
Bring to a boil and then simmer for at least 2 hours.
Taste and season.


Comments:
The 2lbs of bones is a guesstimate. We had some leftover from when I made pho.

You could make the soup stock ahead of time.

You could cook the beef bones with all ingredients, but it'll look rather nasty. 

I put the bones back into the soup, but it's not necessary. I just don't think you can get all the flavour with just a quick 10-minute boil.

Some people like to rinse the bones before putting them into the soup pot. Entirely up to you. I don't do it because it means washing yet another bowl.

I season at the end because the cooking/simmering process often reduces the soup, and therefore increases the concentration of the seasonings.

Other veggies often seen in this are celery and carrots. I was so fixated on the amount of cabbage we had that I forgot about them.


Verdict:
Good, and much better the next day.

Watercress Soup

This is one of those soups that I'm sure everyone has had in one form or another. Soups are a huge part of the Chinese diet for its nutritional value. Watercress is 'cool'; apricot kernels help relieve coughs; the luo han guo helps to remove phlegm, while preventing dry throats and lungs, and has also been found to be an anti-oxidant. My mother also claims that luo han guo is good for getting rid of bad breath.

T&T has a soup package for this, but I find that it's not enough flavour, and the price tag puts me off.

More about the fruit at ChinatownConnection and The Chinese Soup Lady


Ingredients (fits an 8L pot):
2 lbs pork bones
1 small luo han guo 羅漢果 , halved
1 tbs apricot kernels 南北杏
1 jumbo carrot, thickly sliced
watercress 西洋菜


Method:
Fill the pot with enough water to cover the bones.
When the water comes to a boil, blanch the bones for 5 minutes.
Drain the water and rinse the bones with water. Quickly scrub the pot to remove residue.
Replace the bones into the pot.
Fill the pot to 3/4 full with water, add the luo han guo, apricot kernels and carrot.
Boil for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat and simmer for at least an hour.
Before serving, add the watercress and bring to a boil.
Add salt as needed.


Comments:
The 2lbs of bones is a guesstimate. We had bones on hand, so I just used it.

It is not necessary to blanch the bones, but it improves the taste and appearance of the soup by removing excess fat, blood and bone shards. Often, crud will float to the top of soups, and you'd want to skim it off. By parboiling, you end up with a clear-looking, clean-tasting soup. Some argue that you lose some of the pork flavour, so it's up to you.

I am not sure how long you need to boil the soup for, but too many raw apricot kernels is potentially toxic. It doesn't matter if you don't eat the kernels, but I do, in large quantities if it happens to be there.

If you're going to make a smaller batch of soup, consider using only half the luo han guo. It's quite sweet.

I didn't give a quantity for the watercress because we probably use a lot more than most people since both Will and I like to eat the choi.

I only filled the pot 3/4 full to mitigate the risk of the soup boiling over.


Verdict:
Pretty hard to screw up, so it definitely gets my stamp of approval.

Baked Chicken with Tomato Sauce

So I was thinking about making HK-style baked pork chop on rice. Two problems:
1. Will doesn't like pork, and would rather not have it if there is an alternative.
2. I would've had to deep fry the pork, and that's plain messy.

I found the recipe on bakedporkchopguy's blog, and adapted it for my own use.


Ingredients:
5 chicken legs with backs
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
oil for frying
4 tbs ketchup
1 tbs Worcesterhire sauce
1 tbs sugar
0.5 tsp salt
pepper
Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb seasoning
flour to thicken


Method
Rub chicken with seasonings and arrange in a deep baking dish.

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Sautee the onions until partially cooked. Add in the garlic and sautee until fragrant.

Add the tomatoes and let cook until falling apart.

Mix ketchup, Worcestershire, salt and sugar together and add to pan. Mix well. Taste and adjust as needed.

Pour the sauce over the chicken and bake for 1 hour.

Remove from oven and take the chicken from the sauce and set aside.

Remove excess oil that has floated to the top of the sauce.

Sprinkle flour onto the sauce and mix to thicken.

Crack some pepper on top and serve with rice.


Comments:
I'm not sure why I have a 'comments' section as well as 'next time', when they could be combined into one. Anyway...

I used 5 legs because that's how many came in the tray.

I obviously was not thinking when I made this. Before starting on the sauce, I should have seared the chicken to seal in the flavour and to drain it of fat. The skin would've brown nicely to give it flavour.

You can use whatever you want to marinade the chicken. I was just going for the quick and dirty by sprinkling on Mrs. Dash.

I would probably use fish sauce instead of salt for more depth of flavour.

I kinda forgot to add in the flour to the pan, so that's why I did it at the very end. It probably worked out, since so much fat floated to the top. But next time, with the searing, I would definitely thicken the sauce a little bit first, though it might burn onto the baking dish.

We needed more sauce. I'd say 1 tomato and 1 tbs of ketchup per chicken leg. Plus one more tomato and tablespoon of ketchup for the pot. More, if you like to have lots of sauce on rice.


Verdict:
Yum! Just make sure you're not uber hungry, because the bake time takes a while.