Dakdoritang ( Korean Stewed Chicken wt Potatoes)

Dakdoritang or Korean stewed chicken is a very easy and simple dish to cook in minimal time.The main ingredients of this dish is Kochujang.Kochujang is usually purchased in jars already prepared at Asian supermarkets and is an essential staple of the Korean kitchen. Since I'm addicted to Kdrama I try to sample all the Korean dishes by cooking myself at home. I used boneless chicken thigh,potatoes,carrot,onion ,napa and bell pepper to make this hearty delicious exquisite taste dish..

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless chicken thigh,cut cube
4 medium potatoes,peeled and cut quarter
2 carrots,peeled and cut 2 inch
2 medium onion,peeled and cut cube
5-6 leaves napa,washed and cut
1 medium green bell pepper,cut cube
--------------------------------------------------------








1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp kochujang (red chili pepper paste)
2 tbsp Dwenjang(fermented from soybeans)
2 liter water
2 tbsp sesame oil
salt to taste



Method:

1:Use a stock pot with oil and garlic at medium high heat.Saute garlic for 30 second before add in water,kochujang (red chili pepper paste) and Dwenjang(fermented from soybeans).
2:Bring to boil,add in potato ,carrot and chicken..Simmer for 10 minutes before add in the rest of the ingredients,sugar and sesame oil .
3:Cook for another 5 minutes.Check the seasoning before dish out and serve warm with steamed white rice.

Continue to Read More..

Steamed Shumai with Tobiko

Every Chinese or Asian have their own version of Shumai.Shumai is also called as Pork Dumplings .It's a traditional Chinese dumpling served special at dim sum but for folk like us who can get Shumai at any Japanese or Chinese restaurant at anytime and day..For me I like to make Shumai with my own special ingredients.. The fact is making Shumai at home is really easy and simple..All you need is some wonton skin ,minced meat ,shrimp,soy sauce,pepper powder,sesame oil ,oyster sauce and tobiko!! Viola!!

Ingredients:(A)
1 lb minced pork(30% fat and 70% meat)
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp ground black or white pepper powder
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 egg
handful of cut scallion
10 medium shrimp,de-shelled and cleaned,cut
*combine above ingredients,mix well*


(B)

2 tbsp tobiko(flying fish roe)
30 sheets wonton skin,square or round shape



Method:

1:Prepare water in steamer or wok at medium high heat.Combine all (A) ingredients in a medium large bowl.Use a wet paper towel or wet clean cloth to cover the wonton skin,prevent from drying out.
2:Center the wonton skin on your palm.Scoop 1 tsp of meat mixture onto the center of the skin,then wrap it up from center up ,try to close all the edges together.Repeat the same procedure until all the meat mixture gone.
3:Place shumai in steamer basket lined with parchment paper underneath.Space each shumai to prevent from sticking together when cooked.
4:Place shumai in steamer when water rolling boil for 15-20 minutes or until cooked.Top some tobiko on the shumai opening.Serve warm with mustard or soy sauce.

Continue to Read More..

Stir-fry Sweet Bean with Seafood

Last weekend when I was in Flushing, Queens to celebrated Chinese New Year ,I also did some food shopping at the same time in one of the biggest Asian market ..There are plenty of fresh vegetables ,seafood ,meat and fruits on sale.I almost want to buy everything on sale but I have to tell myself to stop dumping all the food on sale in my overloaded shopping cart. Yeah....I'm quite greedy!! One of the fresh vegetable I bought at the Asian market was sweet pea or some people called it's as sweet bean.Whatever it's called I find this type of beans taste really sweet ,crunchy and delicious!! For me this type of sweet bean is ideal for stir-fry only but of course ,you can use it to make fried rice,gravy and etc..

Ingredients:

1 lb sweet bean or pea,snipe both end,discard and washed
10-12 medium shrimp,de-shelled and clean
1 large white cuttlefish,clean and cut
200 gm bay scallop
1/2 yellow bell pepper,sliced
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp chicken bouillon powder
1 tbsp oil

Method:

1:Heat skillet or pan with oil and minced garlic at medium heat.Use spatula to fry garlic until fragrant,add in bay scallop,shrimp and cuttlefish.Stir-fry seafood for 3 minutes before toss in sweet bean,yellow bell pepper,oyster sauce and chicken bouillon powder .

2:Stir-fry or toss all ingredients for 3- 5 minutes before check the seasoning.Dish out and serve warm .*do not over fried the sweet bean if you want retain the crunchiness .*

Continue to Read More..

Homemade Pork Jerky(Bak Kwa/Yoke Gon/Long Yoke)

I know Chinese New Year is almost over in few day but I just make bak kwa or it's called as "long yoke" few days ago..I wonder why bak kwa called as "long yoke"? Isn't "long yoke" translated to Cantonese as deer meat? Pardon my ignorance.

When I was blog hopping during Chinese New Year, I saw many blogger make their own bak kwa themselves..At first I thought making bak kwa yourself at home is really hard and complex but after looking thoroughly all the recipe online,I don't think so. I would love to experiment it myself..This is my 1 st time making bak kwa at home and I found it's really easy and not complicated at all!! As we know Malaysia bak kwa selling in NYC is super expensive not to said the meat been sitting there for a while.So next time if you miss bak kwa,why not try to make yourself ..The only down side I have is to use my broiler to grill the final part of bak kwa.My new oven broiler is at the bottom of the oven which I can't see when it's grilling.That the reason why some of the bak kwa was burnt on the side.Maybe I should use my bbq pit to grill the meat but the weather outside is below 30F!! Anyway,who can beat and resist fresh homemade bak kwa ? Not me!!! I been chowing my homemade bak kwa with bread for breakfast daily..Yummy!!

Ingredients:
1 kg ground pork (50% fats and 50% lean meat)

Seasoning:

2 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
200 gm sugar
1/8 tsp 5 spiced powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp Chinese wine


Method:

1:Combine ground pork with all the seasoning,mix well.Pre-heat oven to 250 F.
2:Prepare 2 large baking sheet with parchment paper or baking sheet .Spread meat as thinly as possible to cover the whole sheet. Use spatula or flat knife to smooth surface.
3:Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until firm to the touch.Remove from oven and using a scissor or pizza knife to cut meat into your desire size or shape.
4:Turn oven setting to broil or you can use open grill to grill the final step of bak kwa.This is critical step,must watch the flame in order not to burn the meat.
5:Serve bak kwa with bread as sandwich or as it's..
#1:Combine the meat with all the seasoning,mix well

#2:spread the meat mixture as thin as you can on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper

#3:bake meat in the oven for 15 minutes or until firm

#4:remove meat from oven

#5:use scissor or pizza knife to cut the meat to your desire size or shape

#6:then use broiler or open grill to grill the meat for the final part..

Continue to Read More..

Braised Spicy Chicken Wing with Mijiu 米酒 (Rice Wine)

I always braise chicken with Chinese wine and dry pepper all the time.Some time I used Mirin and sometime I used Shaoxing wine but this time I used Mijiu.Mijiu 米酒 is the generic name for Chinese fermented rice wine, similar to Japanese sake. It is generally clear, and is used for both drinking and cooking. Mijiu intended for cooking often contains 1.5% salt and alcohol content by volume: 12-19.5%. The reason I used chicken wing to braised instead of other part of chicken it's becos chicken wing have smooth texture and I feel good when eating the tips part..On top of that the gravy have spicy tangy sweet flavor that suitable to eat with steamed white rice on a cold weather!!

Ingredients:


15 chicken wings,cut and washed
5 garlic,peeled and mashed
10 dry small pepper
1/2 cup mijiu 米酒
1 cup water
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
2 tbsp sugar
4-5 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp caramel sauce(thick soy sauce)
salt to taste



Method:

1:Heat deep large skillet or stock pot with oil ,dry pepper and garlic at medium high heat.When garlic and dry pepper is fragrant,add in chicken wings,water,mijiu,caramel sauce,soy sauce,chicken bouillon powder and sugar,mix well.

2:Simmer the chicken wings at medium heat for 30-40 minutes or until cook.Check the seasoning.Remove chicken wings from heat.Dish out and serve warm with steamed rice.

Continue to Read More..

Chicken and Shrimp Corn Egg Soup

Egg drop soup or egg flower soup 蛋花湯 is a popular American-Chinese soup that serve in many Chinese restaurant or take-out restaurant in the States.Since hubby like this Americanize soup,I will cook this soup for him but I have to tweaked the ingredients slightly to suit my strong Chinese taste instead of the infamous plain and bland egg drop soup !! As usual I like to add chicken meat or seafood into any of my cooking and this soup is not exception!! It's have tasty corn flavor and on top of that it's has yummy-delicious eggy aroma!!

Ingredients:
3 liter water or chicken broth
1 cube chicken bouillon or 2 tbsp chicken bouillon powder * (do not have to add this if use chicken broth or soup)*
1 can creamy sweet corn(15 oz)
1 tbsp ground white pepper powder
1 piece boneless chicken breast,cut small cubes,250 gm +1 tbsp corn starch
10 medium shrimp,shelled and deveined
4 large eggs,beaten
4 tbsp corn flour + 4 tbsp water(corn starch mixture)
salt to taste
handful cut scallion
Method:

1:Prepare medium small stock pot at high heat with water or chicken stock.Bring broth or water to boil,add in chicken bouillon powder,chicken mixture and creamy corn.

2:Reduce heat to medium,boil for another 5 minutes before slowly add in corn starch mixture.Keep stirring with ladle while pouring to keep the corn starch from forming gluey block or pieces.When the soup become smooth thicken,add in eggs,keep stirring the eggs with ladle until it's look like flowers.Add in pepper powder,shrimp and salt to taste..

3:Boil for another 5 minutes before remove from heat.Scoop the soup to individual bowl,sprinkle with cut scallion before serve warm or hot.

Continue to Read More..

Gong Xi Fa Cai:Happy Chinese Lunar Rabbit Year!

Wishing all my dear readers,friends and family a Happy Chinese New Year!!..Gong Xi Fa Cai..May this Rabbit year brings happiness and prosperity to you and family!!
恭喜发财，新年快乐！

Continue to Read More..

Mini Peanut Puff (Kok Chai)

Mini Peanut Puff or in Cantonese we called as "Kok Chai" is a must to have cookies for Chinese New Year and it's taste heavenly good!! In fact I tried to make some kuih bangkit but the cookies came out so hard.One word for it: failure!!! that why I don't dare to post it here..I think I over fried the tapioca flour.My mom said when the tapioca flour is ready I should hear the sound from the wok "pop,pop"!! but I didn't hear any sound at all. Anyway I will try to make this cookie again at my free time until I get it right!! Since I still have some fried crush peanut available why not make some mini peanut puff,right? I do have 2 mini peanut puff mould but I dunno how to use it.Whenever I fold the puffs with the mould the pastry won't hold the edges together and burst all the filling out!! Lastly I decided to use my own skill to crimps the edges.I think crimping the edges myself is better and faster then using the mould bcos when frying the puffs filling won't burst open into the hot oil..Well,the photos of mini peanut puffs that I shoot here deceived your eyes(look huge) but the actual size is about 2 -2 1/2 inch each..
If it's not CNY or CNY over you still can make this puff yourself at home if you're keen on trying or experiment.It really not really hard,I think..Actually I think it's worth your time trying if loves this gems!! it's taste absolute great!

Ingredients:
For the Dough:
250 gm all purpose flour,sifted,plus extra for dusting
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick or 8 tbsp or 110gm unsalted cold butter
4 tbsp cold water

Filling:
1 cup roasted coarsely crushed peanut
1/2 cup granulated sugar

2-3 cups canola oil for frying

Method:

1:Rub butter into flour and salt until it's resembles into bread crumbs texture.Add in water and mix to form a pliable dough.Cover and leaves to rest for 30 minutes.
2:Dust the counter with some flour before roll out pastry with rolling pin into 2 mm thick and use small round cookies cutter about 3-4 inch to cut the round shape out..
3:Combined crushed peanut with sugar,mix well.Scoop 1 tsp into the center of round shape pastry,fold the edges together before pinch or crimps the edges to make decorative edges..If you have the mini mould and feel it's easier then manual crimping then use it..it's save time from crimping...Place mini peanut puff on a floured tray..Repeat until all done.
4:Heat fryer or medium size aluminium stock pot with oil at medium heat. When oil at 350 F or 170 C,place mini peanut puffs into the hot oil.If the fryer or oil is too hot,reduce the heat to low flame.Do not over crowded the fryer.Fry the mini puffs until golden brown.
5:Remove puffs onto a paper liner tray to absorb the excess oil.Let's it cool completely before stock in container.

ready to fry
I love crimping the edges

Continue to Read More..