Cucumber Salad

In Northern China, cucumber salad is very popular. The way they do it though is quite unique. The cucumber is not so much cut than cracked. Whole cucumber is smashed into pieces before the dressing is added. Because the fresh crispy cucumber are cracked, the dressing seeps into it in no time and make the cucumber very tasty. Here my dressing is very simply--crushed garlic, sugar, salt, soy sauce, age shanxi vinegar and hot oil. A very refreshing side.

Reheating

Looks great, doesn't it? Just leftover reheated on top of the rice. Make the rice tasty too.

Thin Crust

Lately I have been lazy and used my bread dough to make pizza. While it is still good eating, thin crust is impossible. I decided to make a pizza dough this time. The difference is that the pizza dough is worked minimally and the rise time is only half an hour. The result is very easily stretched and rolled into very thin crust and the result is very crisp and light.

Chinese Roast Chicken

As I made a 40-Clove Chicken in a clay pot and liked it, I thought maybe I will try the technique again but with Chinese flavours. All famous restaurants in Guangzhou and Hong Kong used to each have a signature chicken dish. One of them, LeKoufu 樂口福, has a Koufu chicken which my mom used to make when she started cooking when I was very young. It consists of smearing the inside of the chicken with a mixture of garlic, ginger, Chinese BBQ sauce 柱候醬, salt, sugar and rose liquor; and the skin is glazed with honey or maltose sugar mixed in with vinegar. The whole chicken is then cooked in a hot covered sand pot, turning every 10 minutes. I did the same but baked the chicken in the pot in a hot oven for an hour. It tasted very good but very different from the original recipe. It is interesting how difference the taste can be when cooked slightly differently, even when the seasoning is the same.

Porchetta, well, sort of

Emboldened by the success of the Schweinshaxe, I thought I would make a sort of a porchetta. Here I have a piece of belly with skin still on, put it into boiling water for 10 minutes, poke the skin full of hole and the roll up with garlic, cumin, basil, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper. It is roasted at 425℉ for an hour and then reduced to 375℉ for another hour while braising with honey water.











The result is quite pretty and tasty. The meat is moist and the skin is crisp. The skin could have been a bit lighter, I think if I had cut into it and use wine instead of honey water, it would be. As it is thought, it is very good eaten as is and excellent as sandwich meat.

Just Because

There is no reason or philosophy behind this meal other than the ingredients are at hand. Just eating egg and tomato, even with a yellow pepper, seemed a bit boring. A couple pork chops were sitting there doing nothing so why not. Adding pork to the tomato mess up the freshness, so spice them up and searing them on the side they went. Well, not that bad.

40 Clove Garlic Chicken

This is the first French dish I learnt to make. My best friend from college took me home for a holiday out in beautiful but smoggy Pomona, CA. His mother made this for dinner one night and I finally ate the dish my friend talked so much about. Since then I have had this in many homes, in North America as well as in France. An ideal dish for company, minimum fuss. I have seen a lot of gourmet up recipes on the web, adding wine, cream and what not, but why mess with a classic home cook recipe. As the name suggest, 40 cloves of garlic, separated but with the skin still on, are put into a heated heavy pot with a little salt, pepper and olive oil and then a salt and peppered chicken is put into the pot. Sprinklewith a couple hand fulls of green herbs and bake at 425℉ for an hour. The result is a perfectly roasted chicken infused with mild but deep garlic and herb flavour. Sauce come naturally in the bottom of the pot and you have 40 cloves of nicely roasted garlic to boot. Alain Senderen has a similarly basic recipe in his book so who am I to argue with the master. He seals the pot with dough but I don't bother. I take part of the sauce and some of the garlic and mix them into couscous. French as can be.

Singapore Noodles...Wet

One important thing about stir-frying rice noodles, and other noodles, is to properly drain the noodles. You don't want the noodles to be dry and hard but you don't want to end up with stewed noodles either. This time, I was pressed for time and didn't drain the noodles well. The result is a plate that taste okay but the texture is not ideal. The important thing about singapore noodles is the curry powder, it has to be well toasted with the noodle to release all the great fragrance. Too make water make this impossible and the character of the curry doesn't come out as well as it should. Well, not bad for a quick meal but ...

Baked Oyster Custard

Made this steamed then baked oyster dish again. I made it exactly the same way as before but broiled it a little less so it looks better on camera. When I was making it this time, I realize I was really just making a custard, much like a cream brulée. The more different things I cooked, the more they seem similar...

Pan East Asian Fish Stew/Soup

I have the stock made from the shrimp shells and heads so it is time to make good use of it. Here Korean bean paste (doanjang) and chili paste (gochijang) are dissolved into the stock and then ginger, scallion, dace paste, tofu, fresh shiitake mushroom, seaweed (wakame 裙带菜) was added and brought to a boil then simmer for half an hour. Bean sprouts and sesame oil are added at the end. A very hearty pot, particularly good with the absurdly late snow outside and take my mind off the collapsed green house, the one I just rebuilt last week...

Shrimp Season Begins

Amongst the signs of spring in these parts is the stripped shrimps. Maybe a month each year we get these pretty, nice sized and sweet shrimps live in the markets. Like most shellfish, I find it best and easiest to steam it simply. Here I have one pound in the steamer and steam for no more than 5 minutes. The meat of this kind of shrimp is on the firm side so it is best not to steam too long. After eating the meat with a little dip of light soy sauce and chili oil, I simmer the head and shells into a rich stock as usual.

Roast Pork Ribs 燒排骨

For some reason I have been using large cut of meats lately. This is maybe a third of a whole rack of ribs I got. Here is cooked it Cantonese. A paste made of pressed garlic, sesame paste 芝麻醬, grounded bean sauce 磨原豉, rose liquor 玫瑰露酒, salt and sugar was rubbed onto the ribs after some cuts were made on the surface.








It was roasted at 450℉ for half an hour, flipping it midway, and then maple syrup was brushed on for another 20 minutes until it is well browned. Typically maltose was used for the glaze but I don't have any at hand so my breakfast pure maple syrup made a good substitute. Tender and full flavour.

Roast Pork Loin

I have a whole loin that I was going to put into the freezer for another day, a rainy day, but my freezer is quite full. So, I roasted it instead. A paste made of garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, chili pepper and olive oil is rubbed onto the meat before putting it into the 400℉ oven. It is roasted to internal temperature of 160℉.













I tried to make a pan sauce with the oatmeal stout I was drinking. The result is rather bitter so I added some brown sugar and balsamic vinegar to it. After balancing it out, the taste was quite good. The meat is tender and tasty and the rice soak up the sauce very well.

Fillet Mignon

The schweinshaxe yesterday was cooked thoroughly, so today, something bloody. Along with the hock, I bought a whole fillet of beef. After cutting it into various serving sized, I thought I would have an old fashion fillet mignon. I haven't had this in a couple decades now, so it is about time. Salted and peppered and then seared in high heat. After a bit of rest and this is the result. It's texture is so different from the ribeye and striploin I usually have, it did put me off a little at first. But then it has its good points and I enjoyed it.

Schweinshaxe

I picked up a fresh ham hock just because. I could have stewed it like I usually do but decided on doing something different. I remembered a friend asked me where may she find a good Schweinshaxe in town. I wasn't able to come up with anything, German food is just not very fashionable these days, or ever. So, I thought why don't I try and see if I can do it.






After some research, I decided on following this recipe more or less. I boiled the hock for half an hour, cut the skin in diamond shapes rather than horizontally. Grounded cumin, coriander, salt, pepper and pressed garlic are rubbed onto it. I left it in the fridge over night and then roasted it the next day on top of some onion, carrot and celery at 425℉ for one hour and then 375℉ for another hour.




I didn't have any beef stock handy so I used a cup of chicken stock and some beer (I so happens to have some hefeweizen at home) a few time in the second hour. The result is very good indeed. The skin is crispy as can be and just a little desolved cornstarch and a tasty gravy is made. I think I will make this more often, and maybe I will serve it to people next time, the thing is a little big for me but I wasn't able to stop eating it...

Coconut Yellow Split Pea Cake 馬豆糕

For some unknown reason, yellow split pea is called horse pea 馬豆 in Cantonese. I guess it may have been with which they used to feed horse once upon a time. But there were not a lot of horses in Guangdong, so who knows. This dessert seems to be out of favour a bit lately but it was one of my favours when I was a kid. Not hard to make. Boil some yellow split peas for half and hour or so until it soften but not mushy. A can of coconut milk, ¾ cup of milk, a cup of water, ¾ cup of sugar comes to a boil and then the peas are added. A cup of cold water and a cup of corn starch are whisked together before slowly whisking into the hot liquid until it achieve a thick porridge. Pour into a mold and chill until set and you have a nice summer dessert.

Another Roast Chicken

I do like roasted chicken a lot, because it is so easy to make, it can be seasoned in so many ways, and it always taste so good and comforting. This time the seasoning is a little different. Since I reorganized my spice cabinet recently, I used more spices and less herbs than usual. Coriander fennel and cumin seeds are toasted in a pan before entering the mortar to be pounded with garlic, salt, pepper, fresh thyme. After they are all well pounded, paprika, chili powder, lemon juice and olive oil are added. The whole thing is then rubbed into the split chicken. After resting for an hour or so, it is roasted in a 450℉ oven for about an hour.

Looks good but not entirely homemade

The roasted pork is store bought of course, but the rice is very well made, I can say. A blend of Thai jasmine and Northern Chinese short grain make a great blend, best of both worlds. Boil the rice and water at high flame until steams holes form and turns it medium, put the meat on and give it another 15 minutes or so to make a good crust underneath.

Steak Frites

I pounded a sirloin steak, seared it and made a black pepper sauce for it, very old fashion. I was feeling nostalgic, I suppose. The sauce is made by pouring red wine into the pan and reduced with chopped shallot and crush black peppers and then finished with a little butter. Some oven fries is just the classical accompaniment.

Singaporean Curry Chicken

A friend brought me some Singaporean curry mix from, well, Singapore. I followed the instruction by adding the spices to the water and oil, bring to a boil add chicken pieces and cook till chicken is done then add coconut milk for a few minutes. I added some frozen peas on my own and voilà! It is quite good because it is just spices without other additives. It is quite expansive though (I know because the price is still on the box--20 Singaporean dollar for 4 50g packages). It has chickpea flour in it and I think it is a good thing to use in my own mix...

Why Cook with Sand Pot

Cantonese, at least, consider the best way to cook rice is using sand pots. One of the reason is what's in this picture. The sand pot seems to allow for higher flame when cooking rice without burning it. I bring it to a boil and then reduce to medium heat. Usually this is too much and the bottom of the rice would burn. With the sand pot, the rice become crispy without burning instead. This impart a nutty flavour to the rice and a light and crispy layer at the bottom. After the rice to taken out, leave the pot on medium low heat for a few minutes to completely crisp up and it is quite a treat.

All Safe, Old and Young 老少平安

There is this dish that kids love and parents love to cook for them. It is called "Safe for Old and Young 老少平安" with dace paste mixed with tofu and sometimes egg then steamed. Because there is nothing to chew and very nutritious, good for young and old, that is why the name.









It is however a little boring for grownups. I thought why not bake it and spice it up a little? Here I sautéed a little shallot and dried cured Chinese olives 欖豉 and then put it in with tofu and dace paste, salt and pepper it a little bit, mixed with an egg and then put it in a hot oven for half an hour. The result is rather like a soufflé.

White Radish 白蘿蔔

Some call this daikon but it isn't. They look almost identical but daikon is from Japan and this is Chinese. Chinese white radish 白蘿蔔 tends to be sweeter and less shape then daikon. This is a family classic--dace fish paste is made into a pancake and then cut into stripes like the radish and cooked together with a little ginger, salt and water until the radish is sweet and tender.

Fine looking chop

Picture perfect, isn't it? Simply seasoned with salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, coriander and just a touch of brown sugar and sautéed in a pan over medium high heat. Crispy, tender and tasty.

Chili

I have some canned tomatoes left with all the juice so I thought chili is just the way to go. A little garlic, a little onion, a little roasted cumin, coriander, chili powder, cayenne pepper and paprika, cook for a while with some lightly browned lean ground beef and here is a pot of tasty chili. I added some eggplants at the end too, just because I have them. Over rice with a little cucumber salad to calm the heat.