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. 

Square Pork Balls

If you are older or as old as i am, it is better not to make promises, either you forget to keep it or multi-tasking is harder and chores are taking too much time to complete.  Anyway, i did try posting it sometime back and somehow it was so frustrating as the whole post just vanished without a trace, all my effort for nothing but frustration.  This is not an excuse, a promise is a promise and it has to be kept however or whatever and here is how to make these Square Pork Balls.  I do not mean to confuse the name of this recipe, it is so strange, balls are always round or olive-shaped but these are square, so, since these are to eaten and not to play with, it is fine to be square, agreed?????

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.

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.

Loh See Fun From Scratch

This has been my quest, to make loh see fun from scratch.  Many hours have been spent trying to get the right texture - one that is chewy, slippery and firm to the tooth without using any chemicals.  Getting the texture  to what i wanted it to be was not that difficult as i know that with a ratio of 3 : 1,  - 3 of rice flour and 1 of tapioca starch should be correct.  How much of liquid is the difficult part of the whole process as the dough has to be of the correct consistency to be able to press out of the cendol press or a potato riser with ease.  Looking for  the utensil with the correct size holes has been a long search, until today, am not able to find any..  I have tried using a large perforated ladle and even found a perforated flat plate which i thought would be it.  No, they were  not, the holes were too big and a good practice of how to push the dough through these holes was needed.  What a mess i made??????

The final play was the return of the cendol maker and it did make loh see fun with pointed tails.  What actually happened was, i have learned to recognized the consistency of the dough - water should be added in, a little at a time so the the dough turned into whipped cream/ or buttercream like, then it will be pushed out of the cendal maker with ease.

I have tried with 2 types of rice flour,  one is the Erawan 3 elephant rice flour from Thailand and the other is a rough textured rice flour from Vietnam.  Both of them make pretty good textured loh see fun, only the rice flour from thailand needed to be dry steamed for an hour before using while the rice flour from Vietnam, i used it straight from the packet.

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.

Smacked Cucumber Salad

Cucumbers have not received as much press as other vegetables in terms of health benefits, but this widely-cultivated food provides us with a unique combination of nutrients and are a valuable source of conventional antioxidant nutrients 


While there are literally hundreds of different varieties, virtually all can be divided into two basic types: slicing and pickling. 


Two common questions about cucumbers involve consumption of their skin and their seeds. There are several facts you need to know before making your decision about consumption of cucumber skins and seeds. First, it is important to remember that the skins and seeds of cucumbers are both rich in nutrients. In fact, the nutrient richness of both plant parts is significantly higher than the flesh. But???????  Both conventionally grown and organically grown cucumbers may have been waxed!!!!! However, the only waxes that can be used on organically grown cucumbers are non-synthetic waxes, and these waxes must be free of all chemical contaminants that are prohibited under organic regulations. Conventionally grown cucumbers may be waxed with synthetic waxes that contain unwanted chemical contaminants. For these reasons, it is recommended to leave the skin of organically grown cucumbers intact regardless of whether the organically grown cucumber has been waxed. For conventionally grown cucumbers,  removal of the waxed skin is recommended. I really do miss the white skin cucumber in Malaysia and i don't think that they are waxed, unlike the green thick skinned cucumber sold here, so...... waxed.  As for the seeds, asian pickling recipes call for removal as the seeds will be soft and asians like the crunch.  The seeds are left on for sliced cucumber but when the cucumber is matured, the seeds are not good eats.


After all the complicated recipes that i have attempted and shared, i would like to share a simple and delicious salad which needs only a few ingredients and a nice big chinese cleaver.  The name of this salad might sound rather uninspiring and it is so called because of the unusual method used to chop the cucumber but the smacking does help with releasing some tension.

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':

Smile Pau/Bao

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile, even though it's breaking
When there are clouds, in the sky, you'll get by
If you smile, through your fear and sorrow
Smile, and there'll be tomorrow
You'll see the sun come shining through
If you'll....


Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear, may be ever so near,
That's the time, you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile,
If you'll just....


Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear, may be ever so near,
That's the time, you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile,
If you'll just....


Smile

I hope you all enjoyed this video and sang along with the lyrics as the lyrics of yesteryears are so meaningful.  Smile is a very powerful tool, even a pau/bao that smiles will make your day.  It is easier to make me SMILE but not so easy to make the pau/bao smile.  It took me 2 days and many paus/baos after, to be able to make them Smiling.  It is not the recipe, any recipe will work if we are able to recognize the function of each ingredients in the recipe.  I have edited this recipe and omitted the wheat starch and replaced it with pau flour as i have found that too much starch makes the dough tasted gummy and stick to the teeth.  The wheat starch write-up is for your knowledge only.

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.

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.

Brined Pork Chop Dinner

Thanksgiving is around the corner and i have been so caught up with whatever??????? and you would not believe me when i tell you that i have not even bought 'The Turkey' - a must have for Thanksgiving.  Renee and Alexander are very optimistic that they might win a turkey AGAIN this year in their school Turkey Pokey.  They confidently told me the other day when i mentioned that i have not bought the turkey yet - they said - Popo don't buy, we MIGHT come home with one from the school's Turkey Trot.  I was so happy that they showed so much enthusiasm, i love all three of my grandchildren as they are such good kids - The chinese saying or rather my saying - "Ah po has no naughty grandchildren until they lau kei".  So, for all those people who have not bought the turkey, please do so today cos these frozen birds take awhile to thaw and the clock is ticking fast to Thanksgiving Day.  In the meantime, we all still have to dine and since the mind has been refreshed to BRINING,  i would like to share a BRINED PORK CHOP dinner which has never failed to please every member of the family including yours truly.  I have never cooked pork chops without brining since i learned how to and you too can learn about it from HERE. 


The recipe i am sharing is from Alton Brown,  the  regular recipe stated 1 cup salt but I cut it down to 3/4 cup you could even reduce the salt down to 1/2 cup but go ahead and use the 1 cup if you wish, remember kosher salt ONLY or you will not be able to eat the chops, and only brine the pork for 2 hours, NO MORE than that! If you HAVE to use table salt, use half of 3/4 cups.You can use less than 5 large thick-cut pork chops or you might be able to fit more pork chops than five, just make certain that the meat is completely covered with the brine.

BTW, when The Turkey is bought and thawed, learn how to BRINE it from HERE

Braised Beef Shank

I love this beef stew with daikon/radish.  It is a Cantonese favorite and it's usually eaten with egg noodle soup and tasted just as delicious with white rice.   I like mine with lots of beef tendon, so i cooked this dish with beef shank instead of the usual beef brisket.  Adding Daikon /radish to this stew is a must as beef and daikon/radish together is a marriage made in heaven..  Daikon/radish is bland by itself but will taste very distinct and tasty after it has soaked up those wonderful flavors of this stew. How to choose a good daikon/radish?  As with any root crop, look for one that are free of growth cracks and bruises with firm and crisp roots. It must be heavy as a light one will be dry and hollow which is not good eats.  Chu Hou Sauce is made from soybeans, garlic, ginger and sesame seeds,therefore a convenient cooking sauce for braising meats and vegetables.  It brought this stew totally to another level  and i consider this sauce as an important ingredient.