Oh, Eggplants!

Perseverance pays off!

I absolutely LOVE eggplants. It's one of my favorite vegetables. After years of tweaking the way I cook eggplants, I have finally figured out the recipe that hubby would happily eat without the "It's good, but I don't like eggplant." comment. (What a backhanded compliment! Isn't that just a nicer way of saying "not good enough to win me over"?) Even J loves it. I still need to work on D, but I'm confident that he too will come around in due time. =) Now I can buy a big bag of eggplants without any guilt thinking that I was being selfish making something that only I enjoy.

Eggplant in Garlic Sauce

3 long Chinese or Japanese eggplants (about 1.5 lb)
5 oz ground pork
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp chili bean sauce
vegetable or canola oil

⅓ cup chicken broth
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp corn starch
2 tsp soy sauce
4 tsp oyster sauce

Marinate:
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp corn starch
2 tsp soy sauce
1 ½ tsp water
white pepper

Marinate the pork in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Mix chicken broth, sugar, corn starch, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Set aside.

Cut the eggplants into 2 - 3 inch long sections. Quarter each section lengthwise. Microwave them in batches till tender. (About 5 minutes on high if they are not crowded.) Drain.

In a pan, heat 3 tbsp of oil. When the oil is hot, add only enough eggplant pieces that would fit in a single layer, cut side down. Pan fry for about 30 seconds till the sides are golden. Flip the pieces to fry the other cut sides. After 30 seconds, when the sides are golden, remove and drain. Repeat with more eggplant. Add more oil when necessary.

Leave about 1 tbsp of oil in the pan. Add garlic, when the aroma comes out, add the chili bean sauce, stir. Add pork, stir till no longer pink. Add the eggplant and the sauce. Mix and stir till thickens.

Serve with rice.

Traditionally, the eggplants are deep fried. Just like carrots, eggplants can absorb a lot of oil. Microwaving then pan-frying greatly reduced the amount of oil it takes, making it a much healthier alternative.

If you are a die hard eggplant lover like me, raise the eggplant to meat ratio, and adjust the sauce quantity accordingly. If you are a carnivore like hubby, resist the urge to add more meat. Trust me, 5 ounces are more than enough.

1 tbsp of chili bean sauce is still relatively mild. If you enjoy really spicy food, feel free to add more. I often reduce it to 1 tsp, so that my kids can partake in it.

Braised Beef Noodle Soup

In Northern China, noodles are sometimes more a staple than rice. Just like Western chefs are often tested by how well they can make eggs, I always order noodles when trying out a new Chinese restaurant. What seems simple can be a true test of the chef's ability to make something ordinary extraordinary.

Having a grandma who's an expert at making all things flour, I often judge by the high standard I was accustomed to. After making my own braised beef noodle soup, I now have a new found respect for noodle making. It is so time consuming that it's probably a good idea to find a favorite noodle house, just for the sheer convenience. Don't get me wrong, the result is exceedingly satisfying and totally worth it. And when you can plan ahead, definitely give it a try. Well, since I still haven't found such a gratifying place, I will just have to continue making my own when I get the craving.

Braised Beef Noodle Soup

Braised beef (recipe below)
Beef bone broth (recipe below)
Noodles
Vegetables such as baby bok choy, or spinach

In a bowl, fill ⅓ way up with beef bone broth. Add ⅓ bowl of noodle and a couple of spoonfuls of its boiling water. Top with a few pieces of braised beef, vegetables, and a couple of spoonfuls of the braising liquid.

Beef Bone Broth

3 lbs beef bones
1 tbsp cooking wine
1 green onion
4 ginger slices

In a pot with cold water, add all ingredients, bring to boil. Continue to boil for 5 minutes till all the blood drains out of the bones. Rinse the bones clean.

In a deep pot, add the bones, green onion and ginger. Fill with 12 cups of water. Bring to boil. Then turn the heat down to low. Simmer uncovered for about 3 hours till the liquid reduces to half.

Braised Beef

2 ½ lbs brisket (and or tendon)
2 tbsp oil
5 garlic cloves, peeled
1 green onion, 2 inch long sections
5 ginger slices
1 tbsp spicy bean paste
8 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp cooking wine
1 tsp white pepper
1 oz rock sugar
2 dried red chili peppers
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
5 Szechuan peppercorns

Put chili peppers, peppercorns, star anise, bay leaf, and cinnamon stick in a sachet.

Cube the beef. (You can dice them small for easy serving to children, or cut into large chunks like restaurants do.) Blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds to 2 minutes depending on the size.

Heat oil, add beef. Stir for a minute till the outside are slightly seared. Remove the beef and set aside.

Add garlic, green onion, and ginger to the remaining oil. Stir till the garlic and green onion become yellow. Add bean paste, stir till the aroma comes out. Add the beef back in. Add cooking wine, soy sauce, white pepper, and enough water to almost cover the meat. Bring to boil. Transfer to a clay pot, add the sachet. Simmer for 2 hours till the meat is tender.

Add rock sugar, simmer for another 30 minutes to an hour.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE tendon. So I used a mix of brisket and tendon. Raw tendon is extremely difficult to cut, either have your butcher cut it or leave it whole and cut it when cooked.

I couldn't make this too spicy for little kids. You can adjust the amount of increase the chili bean paste to 2 tbsp, and add more chili peppers and peppercorns if desired.

Black Sesame Sticky Rice Balls

Oh, all that glorious sunshine, isn't it wonderful? It's no longer dark and grey at noon. Isn't it alluring? Isn't it misleading? It looks like spring is already here. But, oh wait, it's still really cold out.

I may be biased, but on a cold winter night, a bowl of Chinese black sesame sticky rice balls are the best kind of dessert. Like many Chinese/Asian desserts, it's sweet, but not tooth-achingly so. The dough is soft and chewy. When you bite in, it bursts with hot (be very careful =) sesame filling that warms you up inside and out. I often drink the broth too, even though hubby and the kids rarely do.

Chinese New Year is coming up fast. (It's February 3rd this year, in case you didn't know.) Most of Chinese holidays revolve around food, like Zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Jie), mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhongqiu Jie), etc. And the sticky rice balls are for the Lantern Festival (Yuanxiao Jie). There are tiny solid ones, and bigger ones filled with a variety of fillings such as red bean paste, peanut powder mix, etc. Our favorite is black sesame.

Black Sesame Sticky Rice Balls
Makes 20

1 cup gluten rice flour (about 125g)
½ cup hot water
120g Black Sesame Filling (recipe below)

Add the flour in a medium size bowl. Add ¼ cup of water to the flour, mix with chopsticks or a spatula. When not hot to touch, knead with one hand for a minute. Add a little bit of water at a time, continue to mix and knead until all the flour is incorporated into one smooth ball. (Be careful not to add too much water, or the dough will be too sticky. It won’t affect the taste, but it’s frustrating to work with.) Separate the dough into 20 equal-size small balls.

Work with one ball at a time. Put the unused balls back in the bowl, cover with a damp towel.

Put the dough in the cup of one palm, and push up the edges with the thumb of the other hand to create half a ¾ inch diameter sphere on the bottom with ½ inch tall cylindrical walls on the sides. (Alternatively, you can roll the dough out to a 2 inch round circle. But I found the sphere-and-cylinder-shaped dough much easier for adding filling.)

Add about one tiny spoonful of filling at a time, total 6 g. Pack down the filling each time. Close the dough on top, roll it gently to a smooth ball. Repeat with the rest of the balls.

In a medium pot, bring 2 inches of water to a boil. Add the sticky rice balls. Stir once to prevent them from sticking to the bottom. After all the rice balls float, boil for another 2 minutes until the dough gets a little translucent.

Serve while hot, in a bowl with the hot water.

Black Sesame Filling
50 g sesame powder
50 g sugar
25 g fat (such as unsalted butter, or lard, or shortening)

Mix all the ingredients together.

You can use this filling for the buns too. Fill each bun with about 16 g of loosely-packed filling.

Green Onion Buns

I'm in love, in love with bun-making that is. Maybe it's similar to people who love making bread. I get a sheer joy out of watching the dough rise and the sweet yeast smell in the air. Today, I didn't feel like making any red bean paste, so I made green onion buns instead (HuaJuan). (OK, you caught me, it's not that I didn't feel like having some red bean paste, it's just this was a last minute thing, so I didn't soak any beans last night. =P)

Green Onion Buns

Makes 8

3 green onion, finely chopped
½ tsp salt
oil

Dough
300g flour (about 2 ½ cup) + more for dusting the working surface
pinch of salt
1 tbsp + 1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry active yeast
150g warm water (100F - 110F)

You make the doughs just like the Red Bean Paste Buns.

Work with half of the dough at a time. Roll the dough out to a rectangle about 9-10 inches wide, 12-13 inches long, ⅛ inches thick. Brush with a little bit of oil, sprinkle half of the salt and green onions evenly. (Use the salt and oil sparingly.)

Fold the dough along the width to thirds, forming a long 3 inch wide strip. Pinch the seam. Cut along the length to 8 1½ inch sections. Stack 2 pieces together, seam side inward. Using a flour-dusted chopstick, lengthwise (cut sides facing out) press down hard in the middle of the dough without cutting through. Pick up the dough, pull the two folded sides down, and pinch together at the bottom.

Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Let the buns rest for at least 30 minutes. Steam for 15 minutes.

There are many ways to shape/fold green onion buns. You can roll. You can twist. I found this method quite simple with nice results.

Sticky Rice in Bamboo Leaf

I'm going to Taipei tomorrow, ALL BY MYSELF! This is my first trip to Taiwan, I'm so excited! Not to mention that I'd be seeing my friends A, J, their toddler N, and meeting their baby R for the first time! AND I will get to have some real Taiwanese food! (Can you tell that I’m excited with all those exclamation marks? =)

I'm a little worried about what hubby and the kids are going to eat though. So I've been planning their menu and making tons of red bean paste buns (my kids love them!), and sticky rice in bamboo leaf which can be frozen for months and eaten whenever they like.

Sticky rice in bamboo leaf are called Zongzi in Chinese. There are many different kinds of Zongzi throughout China. The most common variation that you can find in the US is the Cantonese/Hong Kong style dim sum sticky rice in lotus leaf (Lo Mai Gai). In Southern China/Taiwan, you will find lots of savory Zongzi with sausage, pork, and shrimp, etc. Many would also include boiled peanuts, chestnuts, and salted duck eggs, etc. In the North, most Zongzi are either plain or filled with red bean paste or green beans, eaten dipped in sugar as a dessert.

Hubby isn't a big fan of the Northern style, so I always make the savory meat ones. Growing up, I (and everyone I know) loved salted duck egg yolks. Even though, the salted duck eggs here don't taste nearly as good as the ones in my memory, I still think they are a treat. So the first time I made Zongzi, I also included a duck egg yolk in each. Unfortunately, the kids didn't like them; even hubby thought the yolks were an acquired taste. (I ended up eating one Zongzi and three egg yolks that time. All those cholesterol!) I no longer add the egg yolks, but if you share my love, by all means, add a yolk!

Sticky Rice in Bamboo Leaf (Zongzi)

Traditionally, Zongzi are made with reed leaves. My dad grew up with fields of bamboo trees near and behind his house. He told me that even full grown bamboos don't have leaves that big, what we bought as "bamboo leaves" are truly reed leaves. I don't know why they are labeled as "bamboo leaves". I will continue to refer to them as bamboo leaves so there is no confusion, but keep in mind that they are really reed leaves.

Makes 10

15 oz glutenous rice (sticky rice)
20 bamboo leaves, bottom 1/2 inch clipped
10 1 - 2 ft long twine
10 pieces of braised pork belly (such as the Taiwanese Style Spiced Pork), about 3/4 inch square cross section
10 pieces of Shiitake mushroom cooked with the pork belly
1/2 cup of meat sauce from the above braised pork belly
10 salted duck egg yolk (optional)
white pepper (optional)
boiled peanuts (optional)
12 roasted chestnuts (optional)
12 - 24 soaked dried shrimp (optional)
raisins (optional, about 5 per Zongzi)

Rinse the rice 2-3 times. Soak overnight.

Soak the bamboo leaves in warm water for at least an hour till they are pliable.

Steam the rice for 40 minutes till it’s cooked.

Mix the rice with the meat sauce. Mix in the white pepper if preferred.

Take 2 bamboo leaves, line up, bottoms facing out, overlapping about 3/4 way through. Fold at the middle to form a triangle at the bottom, and overlapping the leaves away from you. Fill with a scoop of rice, make a well in the middle. Sprinkle on a couple of raisins if using. Add one piece each of the pork belly, mushroom, and duck egg yolk, etc. Add another scoop of rice on top. Sprinkle on a few more raisins if preferred. Shape the rice to a tetrahedron shape. Fold the leaves over. Tie with twine.

Steam for 30 minutes.

Serve while hot.
(If frozen for later consumption, steaming is still the best way to reheat. If microwave is the only resort, heat in one minute intervals, and check and turn the direction in between.)

If your first attempt didn't resemble a tetrahedron shape, don't get discouraged. Practice makes perfect. My first dozen or so didn't look any good either. =)

Buns Buns Buns

Everyone knows that Asians eat a lot of rice. In Chinese, "Let's eat." is the same as "eat rice" that's how fundamental rice is in Chinese cuisine. But in the north, we eat just as much flour-based food as rice, such as dumplings, wontons, noodles, pancakes, the list goes on. Of course, there are also buns, red bean paste buns, sesame paste buns, pork buns, and so on. Basically, the dough is the same, and you can fill with whatever you desire, be that pork and cabbage, or all veggie, or sweet bean paste. If you don't feel like adding anything to the dough, that's OK too, that's called Chinese bread (Mantou).

Red Bean Paste Buns
Makes 12

2 cup flour (240g) + more for dusting the working surface
pinch of salt
1 tbsp + 1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry active yeast
120g warm water (around 100F)
1 1/2 cup of red bean paste (recipe below, or whatever filling you'd like)

It's important that the water isn't above 110 degrees, or the yeast would die. Yeast loves sugar, so that helps to get things going.

Mix the flour, salt and 1 tbsp sugar in a large bowl, set aside.

Mix yeast with 1 tsp sugar. Add the warm water to the yeast, soak for 5-10 minutes, sprinkle over the flour mixture.

Knead the dough for a few minutes into a somewhat smooth ball, cover with a damp towel. Leave in a warm spot to rest till it doubles in size, may take 40-60 minutes depending on the temperature. Punch it down, knead a few more times, let it rest again for about 30 minutes till it's back to the double size.

Dust the working surface with some flour. Separate the dough into 12 equal size pieces. (Work a few at a time, put the unused ones back in the bowl under the damp towel.) Roll into circles about 1/8" thick, 3-4" in diameter. (Edges should be a little thinner, but not the center.) Fill with the about 2 tbsp of filling, pinch the edges together. Flip it over, so the folds are on the bottom, cup the bun at the bottom with the side of both hands, rotate the bun to make it perfect round. (Alternatively, pinch the edges a little at a time as you turn the bun to create a twisted look on top. This is often done for meat/veggie-filled buns, whereas the folds-on-the-bottom style is normally for sweet buns.) Let the buns rest for 15 minutes.

Steam for 15 minutes.

It's very important that the flour to water weight ratio is 2:1. If you use too much flour, the buns wouldn't be fluffy. If you use too much water that the dough is too sticky to handle, the buns will practically melt. (I'm not kidding!)

Adding a little bit of white vinegar or lemon juice to the steam water will make the buns whiter.

Red Bean Paste
Makes 2 and 1/2 cups

1 cup red beans
3/4 cup sugar

Soak the red beans overnight.

Cover with water by about an inch, bring to boil. Turn down the heat, and simmer for an hour.

Mash the beans to the texture you like. (If you like it super smooth and creamy, you can puree then strain it. I like them with some small bean bits, so mashing with a spoon for a few minutes is sufficient.)

Add the beans, along with water into a non stick pan over medium heat for 20-30 minutes till the water is mostly gone. Stirring frequently. Add the sugar, mix and stir for another 10 minutes or so.

I often found the store bought red bean paste too sweet. You can control the sweetness of this home made version. Yay!

Asian red beans are a bit smaller than the red beans you find at other grocery stores. (The ones on the right are the regular red beans.) Sure, you can make a red bean paste out of the other kind, it just tastes slightly different.

Wintermelon Meatball Soup

I can't say that I was a good eater growing up. One of the vegetables that I didn't care for is wintermelon. Despite all of its medical benefits, like being a water retention remedy, an anti-inflammatory agent, a detoxificant, and a diuretic, it would even help you rid of body fat, I had no desire for the mushy texture and bland taste. Being a summer vegetable that would keep till the winter when stored properly, it was certainly a popular ingredient. Oh, how I dreaded those days! As I'm getting older, I started to appreciate different tastes. This might shock my mom, but today I made a wintermelon meatball soup for my kids. And I have to say that my kids are much better than I was - they both liked it! =)

Wintermelon Meatball Soup

1/4 wintermelon (Donqua/DongGua) about 3 1/2 pounds
2 bunches (2.6 oz / 75 g) bean thread noodles
3 qts water
2 tbsp chicken bouillon
salt

Meatballs:
8 oz ground pork
1 green onion, finely chopped
1 tsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp cooking wine

Soak the bean thread noodles in water for an hour.

Skin the wintermelon using a knife. Remove the seeds and the pulp. Cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inch cubes. Set aside.

Mix all the meatball ingredients. Form 1 inch balls, about 20.

Boil water. Add wintermelon and chicken bouillon, bring back to boil. Turn down the heat, and continue to boil till the wintermelon is tender. Add the meatballs, stir and boil for a few more minutes till meatballs are no longer pink. Add the drained bean thread noodles, boil for one more minute. Remove and serve.

You don't want to add the bean thread noodles too early, or they'd practically melt into the soup.

Quack, Quack, Quack...

With the flock of duck lovers I’m breeding, it's only a matter of time before I attempt to roast a duck myself. Normally I have very low expectations of Chinese cookbooks. The ones printed in Chinese, well, most of them only list the ingredients, and don't specify quantity. How is one supposed to follow a recipe like that?! The ones printed in English, well, most of them are so Americanized, that I think they barely qualify as Chinese. So I was a little skeptical when I checked out The Chinese Kitchen and The Food of China from the library. They each included a Peking Duck recipe, which are quite similar.

With a duck defrosted in the fridge, even though I was doubtful, I had no alternative but to proceed. The end result? It wasn't bad at all! Of course, my pancakes weren't even close to the paper thin ones we had in China, but they are much better than tortillas. The duck itself was quite tasty too. A traditional Peking Duck gets hang-dried for days, then air-pumped under the skin, and finally, hung in the oven and roasted. All of these created that super crispy and tasty skin. Just like you need a perfect oven for a pizzeria, you need a special oven to make top-notch Peking ducks. I, of course, don't have the place to hang a duck for days, or a pump to inflate and separate the skin from the flesh, nor do I have an oven big enough to hang a duck. Given these limitations, I think the duck did pretty well. =) Yes, the skin got really dark, but it wasn't burned or anything. In fact, J and D kept on asking for more skin. (The whole duck was a little unsightly. So I'm going to skip that picture.)

Peking Duck
adopted from The Chinese Kitchen and The Food of China

Next time I will lower the temperature by 25 degrees. Hopefully then, I won't have to worry about whether my duck was burning, and get a glistening reddish brown bird emerging out of the oven. The Cantonese roasted ducks are served with hoisin sauce. (Both of these books used it too.) In Beijing, we use sweet flour sauce instead. Unfortunately, I found my bottle of sweet flour sauce too salty, so I mixed it with hoisin sauce in 1:1 ratio.

1 duck (5 1/2 lb)
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp white rice vinegar
salt
water

Mix the honey with vinegar, set aside.

Boil lots of water in a large pot.

Clean the duck, remove the extra fat, rinse inside and out with cold running water. (Removing the feather stubs might take quite a bit of time.) Sprinkle the outside with salt and rub it in. Rinse off the salt. Let the water drain.

Dunk the duck in the boiling water for a few minutes till the skin darkens and tightens. Remove, drain, and dry thoroughly. While the duck is still warm, brush the honey vinegar mixture all over the duck. Let the duck air dry for at least 6 hours. (If you have a cool airy place to hang the duck, it would be the best. Otherwise, dry uncovered in the fridge overnight.)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put a large roasting pan with at least 1 1/2 inches of water on the bottom shelf. (The purpose of this is to catch the fat drippings.) Roast the duck, breast side down for 20 minutes. Turn the duck over, and roast at 425 for 50 minutes. Remove and cool for several minutes before carving.

Serve with 2 inch long thinly shredded green onion and sauce, wrapped in Chinese pancakes.

When slicing the duck, it's important to get a little skin, fat, and meat in every piece. I heard that the most famous Peking duck restaurant in China can get 108 pieces from every duck. My slices were not even close to being neat. Maybe I should call it hacking instead of slicing. =) Hey, it's the effort that counts. =)

Chinese Pancakes
adopted from The Chinese Kitchen and The Food of China

Next time, I'd use less water. These were quite sticky, I had to keep adding flour when rolling which left some powdery spots on the pancakes. I'd also roll them out a little bigger.

1 3/4 (210 g) cups flour
3/4 cup boiling water
sesame oil
extra flour, for dusting

Place the flour in a bowl. Slowly add the boiling water, and stirring in one direction. Once the water is absorbed, and the dough is cool enough to handle, knead into a ball on a floured surface till the dough is thoroughly mixed. Place in a bowl, cover with a damp towel to rest for 30 minutes.

On a floured surface, roll the dough into a log, then divide into 12 pieces. Flatten each piece into a disk with your palm.

Work with 2 pieces at a time. (Put the rest back in the bowl, under the damp towel.) Brush one dough disk with sesame oil, place another on top. Dust with flour whenever necessary. Roll the dough into a 7" round circle.

Heat a pan (the recipe called for a wok, but I used a non-stick pan) over medium-low for 1 minute. Put the rolled dough in the hot dry pan for 1 minute, until it starts to bubble up. Turn it over and cook until a few brown spots are visible. Remove and separate when it's cool enough to handle. Fold each pancake in half, cooked side facing inward. Cover with a damp towel. Repeat with all the dough.

To serve, steam for 7 minutes.

Green Onion Pancake

OK, my obsessive tendency is getting out of hand. After the successful green onion pancake, I wanted to try out another type on my guinea pigs. In Chinese cooking, there are quite a few type of green onion pancakes, the ones using yeast, the ones with cold water like what I made previously, or the ones (I decided on today) that's kneaded with hot water. It was a big hit too! Yay, I'm on a roll! I don’t think we’ve ever eaten this much green onion in this household this quickly. =)

Green Onion Pancakes

1 cup of AP flour (about 4.5 oz)
1/4 cup of hot water (about 2.7 oz)
2 green onions, finely chopped
salt
oil

Sift flour with a dash of salt.

Mix in hot water. Wait couple of minutes, when the water flour mixture isn't too hot, knead with your hand till smooth. Cover with a wet towel, let it sit for at least 30 minutes till the dough is smooth, and bounce back when pushed down with a finger.

Divide into 4 balls. Flour a smooth surface and a rolling pin. (Continue to flour the surface and the rolling pin during the process to prevent the dough from sticking.) Roll a piece of dough into a circle about 1/16" thickness, about 8" in diameter. Brush with oil, sprinkle a thin and even layer of salt, spread 1/4 of the chopped green onion on evenly.

Roll the dough up from two opposite ends till they meet in the middle. Close the ends. Twist the dough like a rope. Roll the dough into a disk, tug in the end on the bottom. Push down on the dough. So it becomes a flat disk. (This roll, twist and roll process will create lots of layers in your already very thin pancakes.) Repeat with all the dough pieces.

Roll a dough disk into a circle about 1/8" thickness, about 6" in diameter. Repeat with all disks. (If the green onions popped out like some of mine did, just tuck it in.)

Heat the pan on medium, once it's hot, turn it down just a tad (still above medium low). Add 1 tsp of oil, spread the oil by twirling the pan. Add one pancake, 3 minute on each side.

Serve while warm.

This doesn't reheat well, so make only enough for one meal.

More Mu Shu

As much as I’ve been trying to eat and cook new dishes every day, some of the dishes are just too much to finish in one day. Sure I could reduce the portion to half, but it gets difficult when I start to reduce the measurements to quarter or eighth. My Mu Shu dishes are definitely the first to fall in this category. Luckily, everyone likes it. So, more mu shu, please. =)

Mu Shu Chicken

20 oz boneless skinless chicken breast, fat trimmed, julienned
20 oz cabbage (about 1/2 head, cored, shredded)
5 dried Shiitake mushroom
20g dried tree mushroom
1 oz dried lily flower
3 oz bean thread noodles
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 tsp minced ginger
oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tsp corn starch
1 tsp sugar
black pepper

Marinate:
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
2 tsp corn starch

Soak the mushrooms, lily flower, and noodles in warm water in separate bowls. The tree mushrooms are best soaked for 2+ hours, Shiitake and lily flower 1 hour, bean thread noodles 30 minutes should be enough.

Marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for at last 30 minutes.

Mix the soy sauce, cooking wine, corn starch, sugar and pepper. Set aside.

Drain the mushrooms, lily flowers and noodles. Shred the mushrooms. Most lily flowers would still have the ovary, some even the pedical. Remove the pedical/ovary, and try to pull out the filament and style as well. Cut the lily flowers in halves.

In a large pot, boil 4 quarts of water, blanch the bean thread noodles for 30 seconds. Remove, rinse in cold water, drain, then mix with 1 tbsp of oil.

Blanch the lily flowers and tree mushrooms in boiling water for 1 minute. Remove and drain.

Blanch the cabbage in boiling water till tender. Remove and drain.

In a large non-stick pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil. Add chicken, stir till cooked. Remove and drain. Wipe the pan clean.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in the pan. Add green onion, garlic, ginger, and Shiitake mushrooms. Stir till the mushrooms are cooked. Add the tree mushrooms and lily flowers, stir for 1 minute. Add the cabbage, stir and mix for 1 minute. Add the bean thread noodles and the sauce, mix and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken, mix.

Serve with hoisin sauce, and Chinese tortillas.

Note: Chinese tortillas are much thinner than flour tortillas. But if you really can’t find any, you can substitute with small flour tortillas or spring roll wrappers.

Pork, beef, and vegetarian versions are just as tasty.

Normally there are also scrambled eggs in mu shu dishes. Due to D’s allergies, I omitted them. Feel free to add 2 scrambled eggs when adding the bean thread noodles and the sauce.

Chicken, chicken...

My Mom often thinks that I cook too much. Both the upside and the downside of that being there would always be leftovers. My latest effort is to reduce the leftovers, and cook a new dish everyday. Well, this is all good. As indecisive as I am, deciding what to make has become a big chore. =) When I still can’t decide, chicken is the easiest decision, as that’s hubby’s favorite meat.

Sauteed Chicken

12 oz boneless skinless chicken breast, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 green onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp finely minced ginger
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp corn starch
1 tsp Chinese vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp chicken bouillon
1/4 cup of water

Marinate:
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tsp corn starch

Marinate the chicken in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

Mix soy sauce, cooking wine, sesame oil, corn starch, vinegar, sugar, chicken bouillon, and water. Set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a non-stick pan, stir fry the chicken till cooked. Remove and drain. Wipe and clean the pan.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil, add ginger, green onion, and ginger, stir fry until fragrant. Add the sauce, simmer until thickened. Add the chicken, toss to coat.

Plated over a bed of sauteed spinach. Serve with rice.

I want green beans!

Of course, J doesn't eat everything, but compare to other 5-year olds he isn't a particularly picky eater either. He used to pick pepper, onion, etc. off of his food. A few months, he became very conscious about what food was good for him. He would eat all the veggie that he used to despise and say "I don't like it, but it's good for me." Yay! When I was in LA for the girls weekend, hubby drove the kids to MacDonald's. J said "Baba (Chinese for daddy), MacDonald's is fast food. Fast food isn't good for you." So hubby asked him if he wanted to go somewhere else. J tilted his head, thought about it for a second, said "It's OK for today." (!! Is that a 5-year old?)

A few weeks ago, when I took J grocery shopping, he asked for green beans. What a shocker! I was only too happy to oblige. Since then, I made a point to buy green beans every couple of weeks.

Green Beans with Ground Pork

1 lb beans
1/2 lb ground pork
1 garlic clove, minced
1 green onion, minced
1 tbsp ginger, minced (optional)
salt
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp cooking wine
2 tbsp oil

Marinate:
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp cooking wine

Marinate the pork for 30 minutes.

Break the beans to about one inch long segments. Blanch or microwave till almost tender (about 5 minutes). (Traditionally, you'd fry the beans. But that's a lot of oil! Definitely not healthy. =)

Heat 1 tbsp oil, add garlic, green onion and ginger, once aroma comes out, add pork, stir till no longer pink. Remove and drain.

Heat 1 tbsp oil, add beans to the pan, stir frequently till tender (about 1 minute). Add cooking wine and soy sauce, season with salt. Add the meat back in. Stir to mix.

Alternatively, you can use strips of ham, or slices of Chinese sausages, then no need to marinate or cook the meat first.

Yum Yum Fat

Even though I've never been to Taiwan, I think Taiwanese food is best known for its savory snacks, night market food, etc. (I've been meaning to go for years, just haven't had the chance yet. Can't wait to try all those good eats when I go!) The first time I had the spiced pork stew over rice, I fell in love. The fat from the pork belly all disolved. It wasn't greasy on the tongue at all. So yummy. The sauce was salty with a little sweetness, full of spices. Perfect mixed with rice. I would start drooling every time I thought about this dish. Couple of months ago, I decided to try it at home. It was such a hit! D would eat not 1, not 2, but 3 bowls of rice mixed with sauce! (I'm still puzzled how he can fit all that food in his little body.)

Taiwanese Style Spiced Pork Stew

1 lb Pork belly
1 shallot
2 dried Shiitaki mushrooms
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp minced ginger
2 eggs, hard boiled, peeled
salt
oil

Sauce:
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
4 tsp rock sugar
4 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp five spice powder
1/2 tsp chicken bouillion
1 star anise

serve with:
4 baby bok choy, sliced in halves, boiled in lightly salted water
rice

Soak the shiitaki mushrooms in warm water for 1 hour.

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce, set aside.

Thinly slice the shallot, deep fry in oil till golden and crispy. Put on paper towel to drain the oil. After cooling, put in a zip lock bag, crush with a rolling pin.

Wash the pork belly, blanch for about 5 minutes (turning over half way through). Dice after it's cooled down a bit. Alternatively, you can dice first, then blanch for 30 seconds. (I have found it's easier to cut after blanching.)

Dice the mushroom, reserve the water.

Add a little bit of oil to the pan, when hot, add garlic and ginger, stir till golden, add mushroom, stir a few seconds. Add pork, stir until the meat is white. Add the sauce and deep-fried shallot pieces. Stir for a minute, till everything is well mixed. Add the mushroom water till it covers the meat. (Add additional water if necessary.)

Bring to boil. Transfer to a clay pot, add the eggs. Simmer on low for 2 hours. Season with salt after an hour if necessary.

Serve with baby bok choy, halved egg, slices of pickled radish, on top of steamed rice.

Note: If you don't want to fry shallots at home, you can buy packages of fried shallot pieces at Asian supermarkets, use about 1-2 tbsp. Or use half a small sauteed onion, but it doesn't taste as good.

It's best to buy the pork belly with skin on from Asian markets. (I once bought some from Whole Foods, not only it didn't have skin, it was way too fatty, more fit for curing.)

Tip: Sometimes the eggs would stick to the bottom of the pot, you can lay a lettuce or cabbage leaf in the clay pot before pouring in the meat mixture to prevent this.