Stir-fry Vidalia Salad Onion with Pork

When I shop at farm market ,I saw something new in the shelf.At first glance, I thought it's scallion or green onion.At close up I see it's a salad onion which was sold in bundle for $1.99 each.I never try this Vidalia onion before and would love to taste it.I thought it's must taste like regular green onion but to my surprised this Vidalia onion doesn't taste like onion at all!! it's really taste like SALAD onion!! As we know onion taste has a sharp, spicy taste that is similar to hot peppers only more bitter-sweet and lots of tang and zing.

Ingredients:
1 bundle Vidalia Onion,about 1 1/2 lb,washed and cut 2 inch each
400 gm lean pork,sliced
2 cloves garlic,peeled and chopped
2 tbsp oyster sauce
salt to taste
2 tbsp oil
2 caynee pepper,sliced
few tbsp water*optional*

Method:

1:Heat large skillet with oil and garlic at medium high heat.Fry until fragrant or lightly brown,add in sliced pork and fry for 3-4 minutes before add in Vidalia onion.
2:Add in oyster sauce and salt to taste.Add few tbsp water if necessary.Sauteed for 5-10 minutes,add in cut red pepper before dish out.
3:Serve warm immediately.

Continue to Read More..

Pan-fried Tilapia with Soy Sauce

Tilapia fish or in Chinese it's called as "African Fish" literally translated as "fei zhou ye". This small, low fat fish originally comes from Africa where it has been used for thousands of years.Recently it has become one of the most important "aquaculture" fish in the world. Tilapia are grown in large farms and produced for mass consumption here.Farm grown Tilapia is abundant ,not to said the price is pretty cheap too.I love any kind of fish.Tilapia is one of my favorite fish because it's has minimal tiny bones which it's not a hassle when consuming .If I freeze the tilapia,usually I pan-fried it,if I can get Live tilapia ,of course I steam it with ginger and scallion to get the freshness of the fish it's self...I trained Mishu to eat fish in bone since she was a toddler,so now she have no problem sharing the whole fish with me.In fact she always request me to make fish for her!! In the other hand her dad ,don't eat meat or seafood with bones attached!! No matter whether it's chicken,duck or fish..I guess it's typical American culture.They were taught from small that eating meat or fish with bones are dangerous!! For us Asian,the best fish to eat is with the bone or whole fish,right?

Ingredients:

1 whole tilapia,about 2-3 lbs
1 tbsp salt
4-5 tbsp rice flour or corn flour
3-4 tbsp seafood soy sauce or premium soy sauce
a handful cut cilantro
1 cup oil

Method:

1:Clean tilapia: remove scales by scraping the fish with a fish scale or the dull edge of a knife.Make a cut from the gills to the vent.Remove the entrails with your fingers. Check the cavity carefully to make sure everything been removed.Use sharp knife to slit in the middle of the fish on both side for easy cooking.Rinse the fish well with cold water.Then rub with salt before coated with rice flour or corn flour .( or you can use all purpose flour but the coating is not really crispy)
2:Heat oil in large pan at medium heat.Place coated fish onto the pan when the oil is hard enough.Use splatter to cover the pan to prevent oil from splatter all over.
3:Pan-fried both side of fish until cooked or golden brown.(If you don't mind to waste oil,you can deep fry the fish so it's won't splatter)Usually the oil use for fried fish,I can't really reused again.
3:Remove cooked fish from pan to large plate .Drizzling seafood soy sauce on the fish before sprinkle some cut cilantro.Serve warm immediately.

Continue to Read More..

Roast Pork and Shrimp Wonton Noodle Soup 云吞面

I like wonton noodle or we called wonton mee .I like my wonton mee with shrimp wonton and roast pork(叉烧)..Usually wonton mee sold in Chinese restaurant here (USA) doesn't come with roast pork(char sui) unless you order from Malaysia restaurant.Mostly Chinese restaurant here owned by people from China,Taiwan or Hong Kong.I guess their version of wonton mee come with shrimp wonton (dumpling) only not with 叉烧(roast pork).I recalled when I was in Hong Kong,I ordered Wonton Noodle in broth and dry version one portion each but to my surprised both order doesn't come with roast pork or cut marinated chili!! ..When I asked for cut marinated chili,the server gave me chili oil which doesn't goes well with wonton mee.Anyway long story short,I make my own homemade-roast-pork-char-siu so I decided to make some wonton noodle since I have plenty if roast pork(叉烧) available.These days making your own wonton mee at home is so easy and convenience,just get wonton broth seasoning that make the base soup and ready make wonton at any Asian market.Hooray!! You can have a nice,hot and delicious bowl of wonton noodles soup in no time!!

Ingredients:
6 pieces raw wonton noodle
1 lb petit green mustard,washed throughly
1 cup or more sliced roast-pork-(char-siu)
1 pack or 1 lb fish ball,cut halve



The Broth:

4 sachets wonton seasoning
5 liter water
1 tbsp ground white pepper
2 tbsp sesame oil

salt to taste




Shrimp Wonton:
20 sheet wonton wrapper
20 large shrimp,peeled and cleaned
some water or one egg to seal




For garnishing:
some cut scallion
some fried onion
some cut chili with soy sauce




Method:

1:Wrap shrimp wonton ahead of time.Use one shrimp in a sheet of wonton.Seal the edges with water or egg wash.
2:Prepared medium stockpot with water at high heat.When water rolling boil place 2 wonton noodle into the boiling water.Use chop stick and spider sieve to remove the coil of noodle into loose noodles in about 1-2 minutes.Remove cooked noodles immediately to a bucket or bowl of cold running water ,then sieve into a bowl,set aside.(you will have al dente noodles instead of soggy and over cooked noodle)
Use the same stock pot to cook shrimp dumpling in about 2-3 minutes or until cooked,sieve and set aside.Do not over cooked!! Use the same pot to blanch green mustard and fish ball,sieve and set aside.
3:Meantime,use a medium stock pot with water at high heat.Add in wonton seasoning ,sesame oil and ground pepper powder.Check the seasoning when the soup rapid boil.Reduce the heat to low.
4:Place cooked wonton in boiling stockpot for 1-2 minutes,immediately sieve to a serving bowl,garnish with cooked shrimp wonton ,fish ball,green mustard and roast-pork-char-siu.Scoop some hot broth into the bowl,garnish with green scallion,fried onion and serve immediately with cut chili.

Continue to Read More..

Spiral Curry Puff(Karipap Pusing)Step by Step

I always admire people who can make beautiful spiral curry puff .I tried to make spiral curry puff once but failed due to the reason not understanding the method of folding the dough. Instead of spiral design ,my curry puff turn out as flaky-chicken-curry-puff !! I vowed to myself,I'm going to try again to make the spiral design until I got it right!! ..Yesterday finally I have courage and decided to tried again!! At last I got the spiral design on the skin but the shape is not really attractive ,maybe the dough is too soft or stay not long enough cold in fridge .Anyway,I try to convince myself I will make a better one next time.

Ingredients:
Filling(A)
300 gm onion,peeled and diced small
2 lbs potato,peeled ,diced and steam or boiled
1 lb chicken breast,diced
1 cup green pea
3 tbsp curry powder(Baba's or Burung Nuri prefer)
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
2 tbsp oil

Dough Ingredients:
Water dough:
400 gm all purpose flour
2 tbsp rice flour
80 gm butter or margarine
240 ml cold water
1/2 tsp salt

Oil Dough:
200 gm all purpose flour
1 tbsp rice flour
100 gm butter
enough oil for frying


Method:
1:Peeled,washed and dice onion and potato.Boil potato until semi soft.
2:Heat large pan or skillet with oil,add in onion ,fry until fragrant then add in diced chicken,potato,seasoning and curry powder.Stir fry all the ingredients for 5 minutes before add in green pea,mix well before dish out and set aside to cool down.
For Water and Oil Dough:Use the same method but separate the portion of oil and water dough when kneading.
1:Sift rice flour and all purpose flour together.Combine well with butter,water and salt.Knead into dough.Divided each dough into 5 equal portion and wrap with saran wrap and keep in fridge for 15-20 minutes.
2:Wrap a portion of oil dough with a portion water dough in a ball shape.Then flatten with your palm before roll thin with rolling pin
3:Refer step to step method at below pix
pix #1; filling ingredients
pix#2 ;cooked filling
pix#3; oil and water dough
pix#4: water dough flatten before wrap over oil dough in ball shape
pix#5 ;flatten ball shape and roll up in oblong shape
pix #6; use rolling pin to flatten the oblong shape dough
pix#7; roll up again
pix#8 ;use sharp knife to cut the dough into 5 pieces
pix#9 ;flatten and roll into round shape
pix#10: fill with 2 tsp or more filling
pix#11:fold the edge together before crimps the edges
pix#12:place on floured tray before fry
pix#13 :fry curry puff until golden brown

Continue to Read More..

Grilled Marinated Chicken (Bul-gogi)

These days I'm a big fan of Korean wave like KDrama,KPop and KFood.If you are Kdrama lover you will know how addicted you can be when you continuous looking forward for the next episode or new drama whenever available.I was introduced to KDrama by my family 2 years ago when I visited Malaysia.At first I thought my family in Malaysia must be nut ,watching Kdrama without understanding what they are talking..But I was surprised the Kdrama was dubbed with Mandarin speaking language..I vagualy remember what is the first Kdrama I watched but I do remember I watched Coffee Prince 호점 in Mandarin..Honestly speaking I still prefer the original actor or actress speak hangul(Korean) rather then dubbed in other languages.Atleast I can enjoy the original voices of the actress or actor but of course it's must come with subtitle for me to understand the story.Long story short,while watching all these KDrama I was fascinating with their food especially after watching Dae Jang Geum aka Jewel in The Palace 大長今.So when I was shopping at Asian market I look for Korean sauce or spices to make Korean food at home .One of the sauce I bought is Bul-gogi sauce for pork.Bulgogi literally means "fire meat" in Korean .Bulgogi is one of Korea's most popular beef dishes.The sauce consist with a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, black pepper, garlic, onions, ginger, wine and sugar.Since I don't eat beef I replaced with chicken.Bulgogi is traditionally grilled, but broiling or pan-cooking is common as well. This dish is usually served with a side of lettuce, spinach, or other leafy vegetable, which is used to wrap a slice of cooked meat, often times along with a dab of ssamjang, kimchi, or other side dishes, and then eaten as a whole. You can refer HERE for Bulgogi sauce recipe but since I bought ready mix sauce I just pour and use it to marinate the meat overnight.The outcome is really good!! The meat is tender soft and it's not quite spicy in taste but somewhat on the sweet side.

Ingredients:
6 or more whole boneless chicken leg,cut stripe or chunk (Beef or Pork)
1 cup bulgogi sauce
1 tsp ground pepper *optional*
1 stalk lettuce,washed
4-5 tbsp oil
Method:
1:Mix chicken,ground pepper with bulgogi sauce in a large container .Marinated for 2 hour or longer.(I prefer overnight)
2:Heat aluminum skillet or pan with oil at medium heat.Placed marinated chicken into the pan,pan-fry each side until golden brown or cooked.
3:Remove chicken from pan and serve warm with lettuce wrap .

Continue to Read More..

Lotus Root Soup with Peanut and Carrot

Whenever I make lotus root pork soup I must add in Dried Squid /Cuttlefish into the soup to enhance the flavor coz I love it's fishy fragrant .Recently when I had conversation with my mom regarding soup cooking,I did mentioned adding dried cuttlefish into lotus root soup.My mom advise me NOT to do that anymore.She told me it's not healthy and cancerous to add dried cuttlefish when cooking soup according to new researcher founded by some foundation. How come I asked? She told me last year she read from newspaper regarding the dangerous using dried cuttlefish when cooking soup coz when brewing or cooking soup it's take 2 hours or more .After 2 hours or more cooking the soup which infused with dried cuttlefish it's may be come toxin.Woohooo!! that bad...huh? Anyway,I understand or heard rumour that many vendor or hawker stall that sell fried banana ,cracker or sweet potato use plastic bag or straw together when frying the finger food.That is really scary!! Told my mom happily that I found Made in Malaysia fried onion here.Usually the fried onion sold in Asian market in NYC are from Thailand or Vietnam.I grab a pack which is 1 kilo and it's taste so crispy and fragrant but again my mom warned me that the commercial fried onion used plastic bag together when frying coz the plastic bag will maintains the crispness of the fried onion! Yucky!! what should I do with 1 kilo of fried onion ? *sigh* Well I guess these days people tend to use short cut way or unconventional way to make fast $$$ and forget about the health of the customers.OK, come back to my post..Since I didn't use dried cuttlefish into my lotus root soup,I added in extra peanut,candy date and carrot to make the soup sweeter..no other seasoning needed,just salt!!

Ingredients:
1-1 1/2 lbs pork in bone(not ribs which have lots of fats)*ask butcher for pork in bone for soup if you have no idea which part*
3 canes of lotus root,peeled ,sliced and washed
1 handful pitted red date,about 1/2 cup,soaked
2 candy date
1 cup raw skinless peanut
1 large carrot,peeled and cut 1 inch
5 or more liter water
salt to taste
Method:
1:Washed and cut all ingredients,set aside.Prepare 5 quart or larger stock pot with some water at high heat.When water rolling boil add on pork in bone for 3-5 minutes to wash the excess fat away.Remove pork from heat and wash with cold water again.
2:Combine all ingredients and 5 liter water in the stock pot at high heat.Cover the stock pot with lid.When water rolling boil reduce heat to medium,let the soup simmer for 1 hour or until the color change to pinkness.Add 1-2 liter of water if necessary.Continue simmer for another 1 hour.
3:Add in salt to your taste.Let it cook for 15 minutes before remove from heat and serve warm.

Continue to Read More..

Stir-fry Chicken with Taro(Yam)

Most of the time the taro(yam) I bought will just sit in basket until rot.Whenever I shop at Asian market I'm sure grab one or two taro back with me.Well,usually I said I want to make some taro appetizer or taro cake but it's never happen.So instead of letting the taro goes bad,I better use it for my cooking.I like taro flavor and texture especially if the taro have the creamy firm texture..

Ingredients:

1 medium tuber taro,peeled and cut cube
1 whole breast boneless chicken,cut cube + 3tbsp corn starch and 1 tsp salt
1/2 bell pepper,washed and dice
1 stalk scallion,washed and cut 2 inch each
1 large tomato,washed and diced
4-5 cloves garlic,peeled and chopped
enough oil
2 tbsp premium oyster sauce
2 tbsp premium soy sauce
1 tsp white pepper powder
Method:
1:Steam cube taro for 20 -30 minutes or until cook in steamer .Removed and set aside.
2:Heat large skillet with enough oil to fry chicken breast coated with corn starch.Fry for 5 minutes,then dish out set aside.Do not over fried chicken ,it's tend to dry out.
3:Use the same skillet,remove the excess oil,add in chopped garlic,fry until fragrant,then add in taro,bell pepper,tomato and fried chicken breast.
4:Add in seasoning,mix well until all combined.Stir fry for another 5 minutes .Check the seasoning before sprinkle with scallion ,dish out and serve warm.

Continue to Read More..

Stir-fry 3 Grain Organic Tempeh with Shrimp in Sambal

I was looking for tempeh for months but seem can't find in any Asian market in NYC or local supermarket.I guess tempeh is not popular among the western people but I was again surprised why major Asian store in NYC doesn't carry tempeh at all..Recently a new Whole Food store open in our neighbour and at last I found tempeh!! Not only regular tempeh but different kind of grain and flavour organic tempeh available there!! I can't really remember when is the first time I tried tempeh but I remember the last time I tried tempeh was at Bali.On our last day of vacation our private tour guide bring us to a Balinese restaurant for dinner.They served us fry tempeh with dipping sauce on the side.At first I thought tempeh must smell like Stinky tofu 臭豆腐 but I was dead wrong.Tempeh is nothing like stinky tofu in fact it's has great health benefit to us.Tempeh is a wonderful, high protein, southeastern Asian treat. Not only does this collaged cake of fermented soybeans have a distinctive nutty taste but its nougatlike texture readily absorbs the different flavorings with which it is cooked. Tempeh is typically made by cooking and dehulling soybeans, inoculating them with a culturing agent (like Rhizopus oligosporus), and then incubating the innoculated product overnight until it forms a solid cake.

Ingredients:

1 pack 3 grain organic tempeh(can use any regular tempeh),slice or cut small
1 pound head on shrimp,washed
3 tbsp sambal-belacan-paste or more if you like spicy(or use sambal olek)
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp tamarind powder
1/2 cup water or more if you like extra saucy
1 tbsp oil
1 stalk scallion,washed and cut 2 inch




Method:


1:Heat large skillet or wok at medium high heat with oil .Place cut tempeh onto the skillet,fry for 1-2 minutes before add in sambal-belacan-paste and shrimp.
2:Sauteed all ingredients well combine before add in salt,sugar ,tamarind powder and water.Stir-fry for another 5 minutes or until it's cooked.
3:Check the seasoning before remove from heat.Sprinkle cut scallion in before dish out and serve warm with rice or noodles.

Continue to Read More..