Shanghai cabbage with mushrooms

The Shanghai cabbage tastes so good when it's in season. And I'm often amazed at how cheap it is. My favorite way of cooking this vegetable is stir-frying with white mushrooms. This stir-fry brings out the sweet and crispy freshness of the green vegetable, while the mushrooms add a touch of smoothness to the texture, and act as a sponge to absorb the flavor of the sauce. I sometimes add a little dried shrimps too, to give a little chewy meaty taste to the bites.

Recipe: Stir-fried Shanghai cabbage with mushrooms and dried shrimps (for 2-3)


Ingredients:
- 1 lb Shanghai cabbage
- 6 white mushrooms, sliced to 1/8" thick
- 2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons (tp) ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon (TB) dried small shrimps (optional)
- 2 tp light soy sauce
- 1 TB hoisin sauce
- 1 tp Sriracha hot chili sauce
- 1-2 TB oil


Procedure:
1. Soak the Shanghai cabbage in water for 20 minutes to loosen any sand. Wash and rinse in water to remove all dirt and sand particles. Separate the green leaves from the stems. Then cut the stems into halves longitudinally, to yield less curvy pieces (in order to give good contact with the pan when frying). 
2. Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Add chopped garlic, chopped ginger and dried shrimps to oil. When they sizzle, add mushrooms to the pan. Spread the mushrooms uniformly over the pan to enable good heat conduction. When the mushrooms start to soften, add the Shanghai cabbage stems and turn heat up to high or med-high. As the cabbage stems come in touch with the pan, they will give out water and become translucent. At all times, do not allow the pan to dry out or to flood. When there is just a very thin film of liquid between the ingredients and the pan, stir in the soy sauce and mix. Then add the green leaves and stir. When the green leaves gives out its water, add hoisin sauce and chili sauce to mix with the liquid. Once most of the liquid has evaporated, remove all ingredients from pan and serve hot.

Though I consider this recipe to be for 2-3 persons, I can actually finish the whole dish all by myself. My husband often says that if vegetable had any calories, I'd be as big as a horse!

Meat soup with apple sauce and olive

Soup is one of the areas where wonders come in the most unexpected ways. Here is a soup that brightens up another of our dark winter nights at home. The two flavors that stand out in this soup are the apple and the olive. I like using the juices from roasting turkeys and hams to make soup (after skimming off the fat). They provide plenty of flavor. However, because they are so salty, I use them only to enhance the homemade unsalted meat stock. To give the soup a rich aroma, I use some extra herbs. Rice is added to make it more filling.


Recipe: Pork rib soup with apple sauce and olive (serve 3-4)


Ingredients:
- 2 quart of stock of pork ribs
- 1 cup of juice from roasting turkey
- pieces of meat (trimmed of fat) from the cooked pork ribs and ham
- 1/2 head of a medium cabbage, shredded
- 1 medium carrot
- 1/2 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 Spanish green olives
- 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

- 3 bay leaves

- 1 tablespoon (TB) dried herbs mix of rosemary, savory, thyme, and marjoram
- 1 teaspoon (tp) dried oregano
- 2 tp dried basil
- 2 TB cooked rice
- salt to taste (optional)
- water


Procedure:
Boil onion, cabbage, carrot, garlic, olives, bay leaves, apple sauce in pork rib stock in a 3 quart pot. for 1 hour or until cabbage is soft. Add meat, rice and the remaining herbs. Season with salt, if necessary, and mix well. When adding salt, note that saltiness should not be the dominant taste in this soup. Instead, allow the sweet and sour taste of the apple stand out. Let the soup sit for 1 hour without heat on stove top. This will let the aromas of the herbs blend in with the soup. Warm up at serving time.

shiny stir-fry

In my stir-fries, I'm exploring ways to enhance the flavor through adding a thickened low-fat gravy. Today I found a nice way to do it. The trick is to make a sauce with meat stock, seasonings and cornstarch. The seasonings and cornstarch must first be dissolved in the stock and gently heated. Then, at the end of the stir-frying, this sauce is added in small batch at a time to the pan and mixed. The sauce must thicken and evaporate before more sauce is added. This way, at the end of it, the ingredients in the stir-fry are coated with a thin glossy layer of gravy.

Recipe: asparagus and beef stir-fry (for 2-3)

Ingredients:
- 3 oz cooked lean beef, cut to thin pieces
- 10 oz asparagus, cut to 3" long sticks
- 1 TB oil
- salt (to taste)
- pepper (to taste)
- 1/2 cup beef stock, trimmed of fat
- dash of sugar
- 1/2 tp garlic powder
- 2 tp cornstarch

Procedure:
1. Mix cornstarch, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and sugar with the beef stock. Gently heat the mixture in a sauce pan on the stove. Stir frequently to prevent lumps from forming. Keep the mixture warm on stove top while cooking the stir-fry.
2. Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Add asparagus and beef. Stir fry on high heat for a minute or so. Make sure the pan is very hot, but no ingredient gets stuck on the pan. Then add the gravy mixture into the pan, 1 to 2 TB at a time. At each time, the liquid will bubble and evaporate very rapidly. Keep stirring the ingredients. The vegetable will be cooked in the steam of the gravy. Repeat adding the gravy until the vegetable has developed a gloss on its surface.  Optionally, add the remaining gravy and thicken it in the pan. Serve right away.

Ham with red bean paste

Part of the fun of dinner is to find new ways to put together the same ingredients. I was thinking about heating up some ham for dinner. It seemed a bit boring. So I tried making a red bean spread and sandwich it between two layers of ham. The result was a fun dish. Since the ham is already very salty, the red bean paste does not need any salt. Adding spices and herbs to the red bean paste brings a rich flavor to the dish.

Recipe: Ham and red bean paste (for 2)

Ingredients:
- 6-8 oz of ham, in slices
- 4 TB red bean paste, made from mashing up cooked red beans
- 1/4 tp black pepper
- dash of dried onion flakes
- 1 TB parsley flakes
- 1/4 tp rosemary flakes
- 1 tp olive oil
- 2 tp shredded parmesan cheese
- small bites of cheddar cheese for topping
- thin slices of squash or asparagus for topping

Procedure:
1. Mix the red bean paste with black pepper, onion, parsley, rosemary and olive oil.
2. Spread the seasoned red bean paste on a slice of ham. Sprinkle shredded parmesan cheese. Cover with a second slice of ham.
3. Bake the ham at 375F until top side is a little dry. Flip to bake the other side until the same.
4. Cut the sandwiched ham into small pieces. Top with vegetables and cheddar cheese. Return to oven for 1 minute. Serve hot.

Savory beef black beans patties

Since the first black bean patties, I've been trying to refine on it so that it would be appealing to more people than myself. Recently I just got a breakthrough last time when we hosted guests. The direction to go seems to be to make it taste more meaty than beany. A good meat to bean ratio is 4:1. The meat needs to be well cooked and seasoned, like the lasagna filling or the chilly. Then the bean paste and flour is added to thicken it. Finally, it is rolled with oat bran for a crispy coat.

Recipe: Beef and black bean patties (make about 10 2"-diameter patties)

Ingredients:
- 1.25lb lean minced beef
- 3 cloves of garlic
- half a big onion
- 1 tablespoon (TB) oil
- 1.5 teaspoons (tp) coarse kosher salt
- 3 TB mixed herbs flakes of basil, savory, rosemary, thyme, marjoram
- 2 tp ground black pepper
- 1 cup red wine
- 1/3 cup ketchup

- 3/4 cup dried black bean

- 4 cup water

- 2 TB glutinous rice flour
- about 1 cup toasted oat bran

Procedure:
1. Soak dried black beans in 2 cups of water overnight. After the beans have expanded, add the extra 2 cups of water and cook the beans for about 5 minutes on med-high heat. Then turn heat off and allow to sit on the stove top for 1 hour. Heat up the beans again, and boil it until the beans start to flake and the liquid is reduced to barely cover the beans. Then use a food processor to grind the beans, with a little liquid from the cooking, into a very thick paste. Allow to cool.
2. Brown minced beef, garlic and onion with oil in a sauce pan. When the beef has started to give out water, add the mixed herbs and black pepper. Stir and allow the herbs to be heated a little. Then add red wine and kosher salt. Stir and cook until the liquid level is one-tenth the volume of the meat. Then add the ketchup and mix well with the minced meat. Continue heating to let the liquid thicken until almost dry. Allow to cool.
3. Mix the black bean paste with the minced beef. It should form a thick paste. Add in glutinous rice flour and stir. Adjust the amount of glutinous rice flour until the beef and bean paste can form a very sticky but loosely cohesive ball in the palm.
4. When the consistency of the paste is good, form balls of the beef and bean paste with the palms. Then roll each ball in oat bran, press down to form a patty. The patties may not hold very well together at this point, but it is ok. Carefully place the patties on a baking pan. If a patty falls apart during the handling, just put it back together by hand.
5. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes. Then flip the patties. The bottom side may be either still moist, or crispy and browned. Turn heat off and allow the patties to stay in the oven for 20 minutes. Then place them on a cooling rack. The patties will harden when cooled.

Two quick vegetables dishes

It's in one of those simple evenings, when we wanted diversity without much effort, that I tried out two quick vegetable dishes of rather different flavors. Part of the trick rested in the ham stock. The rest was about how to mix and match.


Recipe: Two red and green vegetable dishes (for 2)


Ingredients:
First dish
- 1 medium Thai okra, cut to 1" cubes
- 6 fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon (TB) ham stock (salty)
- 1-2 TB oil
- about 1/3 cup water
Second dish
- 4 oz ham, diced
- 1 small apple, cored and cubed
- 1 medium carrot, diced
- 1 TB ketchup
- water to boil the ham


Procedure:
1. Boil ham in some water to remove excessive salt. Set aside.
2. Heat chopped garlic in oil in a small pan until sizzling. Add mushrooms and allow to cook until gently softened. Then add Thai okra and stir. Allow to cook on med-high heat for a few minutes until the white interior of the okra become soft and translucent. If the mixture is too dry, add up to 1/3 cup of water and turn heat up to high for 2-3 minutes. Do not allow the Thai okra to overcook. Transfer all solid ingredients from pot to serving bowl. Save the juice for cooking the next dish.
3. The juice from the first dish should be no more than 1/2 cup. Add chopped carrot and ham into the same pot and cook in that juice on med-high heat. When juice thickens, add apple and stir for 1-2 minutes to cook the apple slightly. Then add ketchup and stir to allow all the ingredients to be coated with the thicken fruity sauce. Serve. 

Creamy vegetable soup with tofu

It's a cold and wet spring day. We snuggle up at home, trying to keep ourselves warm. So I make this creamy vegetable soup.

Recipe: Creamy vegetable soup with tofu (for 2-3)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup meat stock
- 1/2 can of cream of chicken, Campbell's healthy request
- 1/3 package of soft tofu, drained and cut to 1" cubes
- 1-2 oz ham pieces
- 3 TB sweet corn kernels
- 1 TB onion, finely chopped
- 2 baby bella mushrooms, chopped
- 1/3 cup celery leaves, finely chopped

Procedure:
1. Mix cream of chicken with meat stock until fully incorporated. Then add onion, mushrooms and ham pieces to the liquid and bring to a boil. Add celery leaves and boil for 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring the soup to a boil again. Serve hot.

Note that tofu gives out water to thin the soup.

Beef salad materials

I was trying out something with fried beef. It was a beef, first fried in sweet flour paste, then coated with oat bran. After a taste of it, I also made some sliced spicy cucumber. Then it dawned on me that these two ingredients could make a wonderful salad, along with some peanuts, wasabi peas, and a few other chopped vegetables.

Recipe: Spicy and sweet beef salad (for 2-3)

Ingredients:
For the beef
- 4 oz lean beef, very thinly sliced to 2" big
- 1/4 cup oat bran (or toasted white sesame seeds)
- 1.5 tablespoon (TB) sweet flour paste
For the cucumber
- 1/2 cucumber, quartered lengthwise, then very thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons Sichuan chili paste
Other ingredients
- 1/4 cup lightly salted shelled peanuts
- 1 TB wasabi peas snack
- 1/3 medium carrot, cut to 1/4" slices
- 1 Thai eggplant, cut to 1/4" slices

Procedure:
1. Using a non-stick pan, spread beef slices evenly in a thin layer on the pan. Allow to cook on med-high heat until beef starts to give out water. Then add sweet flour paste and mix slowly with the liquid in the pan. Turn heat down and stir the beef to coat all sides evenly with the paste (taking about 1-2 minutes). Do not allow the pan to go completely dry. Add 1-2 teaspoons of water if necessary to keep the ingredients slightly moist. When the beef is fully cooked, turn heat off. Allow the pan to cool down for 1-2 minutes. Then sprinkle oat bran and mix well with the beef. The beef should be very slightly moist so that the oat bran can stick on its surface. Set beef aside.
2. Mix cucumber slices with Sichuan chili paste and set aside for 10 minutes. Drain any liquid afterwards.
3. At serving time, mix cucumber with other chopped vegetabless first. Then toss in the beef, the peanuts and wasabi peas. Serve at room temperature.

root vegetables salad

Recently, I have been exploring the potential of root vegetables. Their unique flavors do not make them easy goers like lettuces. Their change of taste and texture with heat invites all kinds of imaginations. But down to the root, there is something about their rawness that begs for attention. So I am trying out a root vegetables salad.

Recipe: Root vegetables salad (for 1)

Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup beets, diced to 1/2" cubes
- 1/4 cup canned rutabagas
- 1 TB sweet corn kernels
- 2 TB carrot, finely diced
- 1 tomatillo, sliced
- 1/4 cup boiled potato or bread crumbs
- 1/2 pear or peach, diced to 1/2" cubes

- 1/2 head of romaine lettuce heart, finely chopped

Dressing
- 1 clove minced garlic

- 1 tp honey (optional)

- juice of 1 key lime

- dash of salt
- dash of pepper

Procedure:
Mix all cubed vegetables and fruits. Toss with dressing. Then serve on top of romaine lettuce. If bread crumbs are used, sprinkle on top. Serve right away.

beet and pork rib pot

I saw some large bunches of beets in the market. I've never cooked beets before, and have always heard that they are so sweet that they can be used to make sugar. So I came home with a bunch of three big beets. Then, I thought it'd be nice to try out a recipe that could benefit from the sweetness of some beets.

Recipe: Beet and pork rib pot (for 4)

Ingredients:
Main ingredients
- 1 lb pork ribs, trimmed of fat, cut to 2-3" pieces
- 1.5 beet, peeled and chopped to 1" cubes
Seasonings

- 2 TB cooked lotus seed

- 2 TB green olives
- 1/2 tp caper with juice
- 1 tp garlic powder
- 1 tp dried oregano leaves
- 5 bay leaves
- dash of cumin
- 2 tp parsley flakes
- 3 TB white wine
- 1 tp lemon or lime juice
- 2 tp red wine vinegar
- 1 tp olive oil

- 1/4+1/8 tp kosher salt (to taste)

- 1/8 tp black pepper
- juice of 1 key lime
Side vegetables
- 1-2 cups chopped celery leaves

Procedure:
1. Mix all the seasoning ingredients together.
2. Place the pork ribs and the chopped beets in a pot with a lid. Add all the seasoning ingredients. Bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes on med-high heat. The liquid should come up to about 3/4 the height of the meat and the beet. Add some water if necessary to bring the liquid to this level. Cover lid and allow to cook on low to med-low heat for 30-45 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure that the meat above liquid level does not dry up.
3. Allow to cool on stove top for 2 hours or chill overnight. Reheat the whole pot at serving time.
4. Remove bay leaves. Take the meat and the beet out of the pot. Thicken the liquid by heat if necessary. Cook chopped celery leaves in the liquid. Serve hot.
5. Squeeze into the pot the juice of a key lime and mix just before serving.

Homemade sun-dried raisins

Spring has come. There have been a few days of unusual warmth and sunshine. So I decided to try sun-drying some grapes. I take them out in the morning, to be dried under the sun, covered by a thin layer of cheese cloth. In the evening, they come back indoor. If I happen to have used the oven. I'd allow the oven to cool down to just below 150F, and then leave the drying grapes in the oven for 2 hours or so. Then I leave them on the counter overnight.

They taste really good as raisins after 10 days. In fact, I think they taste better than the commercial ones.

Pork chop in almonds, bar berries and saffron

Oh! It's so good! Like Heaven! My friend cooked a Persian stuffed chicken dish at my visit. The stuffing is a mix of onion, rice, almonds and bar berries fried with saffron. The stuffing is so good that I keep wanting to do it myself. Here is my first attempt, inspired by Firoozeh's recipe. This is such a fun time for me to try out slicing up re-hydrated raw almonds and grounding mustard seeds. It's really exciting!

Recipe: Almond barberry pork chop (for 2)

Ingredients:
- 2 lean pork chops, 3/4" thick
- cumin
- garlic powder
Side
- 1/4 cup raw dried almonds, soaked overnight
- 1 TB bar berries, soaked for 1/2 hour and drained
- 1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup cooked chickpeas, drained
- juice of a lime (optional)
- 1/4 tp saffron, soaked in hot water for 1/2 hour or more
- 2 TB oil for cooking the side
- 1/2 tp salt
- 1/2 tp sugar
coating
- 1/2 tp freshly ground mustard seeds
- 1 tp olive oil

Procedure:
To prepare the side:
1. Peel the soaked raw almonds. Then slice them thinly.
2. Fry chopped onion and garlic in oil. Add sliced almonds and drained bar berries to the pan. Stir to fry for a minute or so. Add chickpeas, salt and sugar. Allow to fry until fragrant. Add saffron water. Continue frying to bring out the aroma of the saffron. Set aside when done.
3. Sprinkle garlic powder and cumin powder on pork chop and brown both sides.
4. Place pork chop in a baking pan. Spread the side ingredients on top and in the gaps. Cover with foil. Bake at 275F for about 1 to 1.5 hours. During the baking, the pork chops will give out a lot of water. Uncover when that happens. Turn heat off. Allow the pan to sit in the oven until the water slowly dries off by half.
5. When the water dries off by half, flip the pork chops and let the almonds, onions, etc be at the bottom of the pan to be hydrated by the liquid.
6. Mix freshly ground mustard seeds with olive oil. Brush on top of the pork chops. Allow the pork chops to be heated in oven at 275F for 5 minutes.
7. Serve hot. Sprinkle lime juice on top when served.

Wow! So yummy! The pork has a fine flavor of spices while the side ingredients are very rich in the flavor of saffron and seasonings. We finished all of it, to the very last bit.

Cultured buttermilk

The cultured buttermilk surprises me. I thought it's going to be a sour thin liquid, plus I got it non-fat. But it turned out to be a thick creamy milk, almost like a yogurt drink. In fact, it thickens with time. I really like its taste too. Buttermilk powder is very good for baking bread. I drink the milk with a few bites of frozen pomegranate seeds. It is totally refreshing!

roasted beef

I seldom handle large chunks of meat. The sheer size bothers me. But this week I managed to pick a small piece of beef for pot roast at $1.79 a pound. The cut was quite lean. So I came home and tried to cook it in a medium pot. It turned out really good, especially when served with gravy in a sandwich.

Recipe: Pot roasted beef

Ingredients:
- 2 lb choice beef chuck, boneless eye roast cut, about 2 inches thick
- 1 glass red wine
- 1/2 can guinness
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon (tp) red chili flakes
-  6 dried bay leaves
- water to cover the beef

Procedure:
Place the beef in a pot that just fits it (note that the beef will shrink with cooking). Add water to nearly cover the beef. Heat the water to a boil. Add in the wine, guinness, and all the other seasonings. Turn heat down to low or med-low. The pot should stop boiling. Very small bubbles may surface once every few seconds. Allow the pot to sit on this heat for 2 hours. The pot should be hot but not burning the hand when touched. When done, take the beef out and allow to sit on a plate for 5 minutes. Slice and chill.

This roast beef tastes very good in a sandwich of hearty whole grain bread.

Instant oat bran vegetable soup

Never thought that oat bran could make such a wonderful soup in 10 minutes! It almost makes a porridge. The oat bran has a rather nice chewy texture which goes very well with the canned cream of chicken. It's fast too. I made it with a steak, and thought that it might be too much. But my husband finished the entire bowl. He really liked it. That's how I get him to enjoy fiber---lots of vegetables in a juicy meat stock.

Recipe: Starchy vegetable soup

Ingredients:
- 3 cups strong homemade meat stock
- 1/2 can of low sodium cream of chicken soup
- 2 cups kappa cabbage leaves, chopped to 1"x1" size
- 1 can mixed vegetables (potato, beans, celery, carrots, corns) no salt added, drained
- 1/4 cup oat bran

Procedure:
1. Mix the cream of chicken with meat stock in a pan. Heat to boil. Add oat bran and kappa cabbage leaves. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add canned mixed vegetables. Stir and allow to heat to boil. Serve.

Korean cabbage and beef mix

In search of new ways to eat vegetables, I keep asking myself the question: what makes a dish special. It could be some flavor that is homogenous in the whole dish, or it could be a mix of many flavors, some mild, some sharp. So I decide to try out a mix of flavors. Vegetables often taste nice when mixed with bites of meat. And the dish would be even more exciting if the meat and the vegetables have contrasting tastes. So in this dish, I make a combination of beef that is sweet and salty, with Korean cabbage that is mild, celery that is crispy, and a preserved turnip that has a distinctive salty surprise.

Recipe: Korean cabbage and beef mix (for 5-6)

Ingredients:
- 6 cups of shredded Korean cabbage
- 2 stalks of celery
- half a small onion, thinly sliced
- 6-8 oz cooked beef, cut to small strips of 1" long
- 1 salted turnip, soaked to reduce its salt content, and then coarsely chopped
- 1-2 teaspoons (tp) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon (TB) light soy sauce
- 2-3 TB oil
- about 1/4 cup meat stock

Procedure:
1. Dissolve the brown sugar in soy sauce. Mix the sauce with the cooked beef. Allow the cooked beef to absorb all the sauce.
2. Then place the beef on a non-stick pan. Set the pan on medium heat and let the beef sizzle until the sugar and soy sauce has caramelized. Remove the beef from the pan and set aside.
3. Fry the chopped salted turnip and sliced onion in 1 TB oil until both are lightly browned. Set aside.
4. Add the shredded cabbage into the pan and allow to soften by the heat of the pan. Stir frequently. Add 1-2 TB meat stock if the pan becomes to dry. Once the stock is added, stir quickly so that the cabbage can be cooked in the steam of the stock.
5. When most of the cabbage has freshened up, add in the celery. Add 1-2 TB oil and stir fry the mixture until the celery freshens up. Return the onion, turnip and beef to the pan. Stir to mix. Then serve right away.

Light spring mix salad

Among so many vegetables, one of my very big favorite is the spring mix salad. It's really simple to the point that I don't think any recipe is really needed. But then, I still like to keep a record of it in its very basic form. This salad is a real treat for vegetable junkies like me.

Recipe: Spring mix salad (for one)

Ingredients:
- 1 pack (about 6 oz) of spring mix salad
- 1 tablespoon (TB) of dried cranberries and dried longan mix
- 3 TB blueberries
- 3 TB walnut small pieces, or pine nuts
- 4 low sodium triscuits crushed

Dressing:
- 1 teaspoon (tp) red wine vinegar
- 2 tp lemon juice
- 2 tp olive oil
- 1/2 tp maple syrup
- dash of black pepper
- dash of salt

Procedure:
Mix all the ingredients of the salad, except the triscuits, in a large bowl. Mix the ingredients of the dressings thoroughly, then pour into the bowl and mix well with the salad ingredients. Finally, add the croutons on top and mix again. Serve right away.

pork meatballs with water chestnuts and mushrooms

My experiment with meat balls moves in the direction of elasticity. Like bread, the elasticity of meatballs comes from the nesting of protein. In bread, this comes from the gluten. In meat, it comes from the protein. To develop this nesting effect, the primary trick is to stir and stretch the protein. In the making of meatballs, this can come from stirring the ground meat. To improve on the texture of the resultant meatballs, I use glutinous rice flour, which both helps to hold the balls together and to give a chewy feel. With steaming, since some of the flavor of the meat will be lost due to water loss, it is necessary to use extra seasoning.

Recipe: Glutinous rice pork meat balls with water chestnuts

Ingredients:
- 1.5 lbs lean ground pork
- 1/4 cup of water chestnuts (fresh or canned), finely chopped
- 1-2 TB of finely chopped baby bella mushrooms

- 2 stalks of green onions, finely chopped

- 1 tp kosher salt
- 1 tp white sugar
- 1/2 tp black pepper
- 1 tp garlic powder
- 1/4 cup glutinous rice flour

Procedure:
Mix chopped water chestnuts, mushrooms and green onions together. Add all the seasonings. Stir well. Then add in the ground pork. Stir and mix until the chopped vegetables are uniformly distributed in the meat. Then add in about 1/4 cup of glutinous rice flour. Stir well until the meat becomes stretchable and elastic. Chill for 1-2 hours. Steam on high heat for 12-30 minutes.

sweet and spicy chicken drumsticks

There is a combination of spices, similar to the "5 spices", that I use specially for lean meat (though it's originally for fatty meat). This combination is star anise, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, hua jiao peppercorn, fresh ginger and fresh garlic, along with xiaoxing cooking wine, salt, black soy sauce and a very little bit of sugar. What I usually do is to cook 1-2 pounds of chicken feet in water and these spices and sauces. Allow the pot of ingredients to boil for 5 minutes. Then let it simmer for an hour. I often soak the chicken feet in the pot for half a day before serving. Then, the stock used to cook the chicken feet is saved separately from the solid spices. The solid spices can be chilled and reused 2 to 3 times before discarding. The stock can be frozen or chilled in small jars to be used as gravy. Because of the bones in the chicken feet, the stock becomes a very thick gel once it's cooled. This stock comes in very handy when I want to cook a meat dish. Here is one recipe.

Recipe: sweet chicken drumsticks with spices (for 2)

Ingredients:
- 1 to 1.5 cup of the stock of spices
- 1-2 tablespoons (TB) brown sugar
- 1 to 1.5 teaspoons (tp) kosher salt
- 1 tp crushed chili pepper
- 2 fresh chicken leg quarters, skinned and trimmed of all fat

Procedure:
1. Use a pot that can fit 2 drumsticks lying flat on the bottom. (Best to use the tightest fitting pot.) Melt the stock with brown sugar, kosher salt and chili pepper in the pot. Then place the drumsticks on the bottom of the pot. The liquid should cover up to half the height of the drumsticks.
2. Set the liquid to boil. Then cover the lid and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes, flipping the drumsticks every 10 minutes. Then turn heat off and allow the pot to sit on stove top for about 40 minutes.
3. 20 minutes before serving, bring the pot to a rolling boil. Allow the liquid to boil off gradually, while flipping the drumsticks every few minutes to allow both sides to be coated with the sauce. When the sauce starts to get very sticky, the sugar caramelizes. Turn heat off. Place the drumsticks on a serving plate and pout the thick sauce on top. Serve right away.

The leg quarter is very tender in this recipe.

An 11"-pan like this would cook 4 leg quarters in one go:

Egg congee

Porridges and congees are great for breakfast, especially before charging out of the house into a cold winter day of work. I once improvised on an egg congee that warmed my stomach so much that it simply made my day! 


Recipe: Egg congee (for 1)


Ingredients:
- 1-2 oz cooked pork or ham or sausage, cut to bite size
- 1/4 cup cooked rice
- 1/2 cup fresh sweet corn kernels
- 1 egg
- dash of paprika powder and parsley flakes
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 cups water


Procedure:
Boil meat with rice in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes on medium heat. Add corn kernels and olive oil. When the mixture boils again, beat an egg and stir into the liquid to form a cloudy fluid. Turn heat off and serve right away, with a sprinkle of paprika and parsley.

Mushrooms egg soup

A good meat stock goes a long way in making a winter evening warm. In one of the stormy snow weekends, when we find ourselves short of appetite after being locked in for too long, nothing satisfies us half as much as a light savory soup. In today's soup, our theme is mushrooms. The black shitake mushrooms have a bold aroma and strong flavor, while the enoki mushrooms have smooth and white, noodle-like texture. They go well with white meats such as chicken/turkey. Along with them, I add a few other ingredients to build a complex composition to the soup. The cabbage, in particular, gives the soup a solid feel, while the egg drop makes it a little thicker. Silken tofu gives a smooth bite. Sweet pea add some small packages of sweetness to it. The sesame and black pepper brings forth a different dimension of comfort.

Recipe: Mushrooms egg soup (for 2)

Ingredients:
- 3 large dried shitake mushrooms, soaked to rehydrate
- 1 pack (about 4 oz) fresh enoki mushrooms
- 1/4 cup wild rice
- 1/4 package of silken tofu
- 2 cups cabbage, thinly sliced
- 4 oz cooked turkey white meat
- 1/4 cup frozen sweet peas
- 1 egg, beaten
- 4 cup turkey/ham stock (salty)
- 1 teaspoon red pepper for garnishing
- dash of black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Procedure:
1. Cook wild rice and cabbage in stock for 1/2 hour on medium heat. Add shitake mushrooms and allow to simmer on low heat for about 15-30 minutes. About 15 minutes before serving time, add sweet peas, enoki mushrooms, tofu and turkey meat. Bring to boil again. Add egg and stir gently for a few seconds. Turn heat off. This gives very thick egg drops. If a fine egg drop texture is desired, then add egg after turning heat off, and stir more, but not over vigorously.  Place in serving bowl, and garnish with red pepper, black pepper, and sesame oil.

Long beans in herbs and spices

In making a richly flavorful dish, the trick is often not in the salt and sugar, but the spices and herbs. Here is a dish that I tried out, testing how the variety of spices and herbs can combine to build a rich taste for a vegetable. Long bean is a great flavor absorber.


Recipe: Long beans in herbs and spices


Ingredients:
- 10 oz long beans, cut to 2" long sticks
- 3 oz minced 85% lean beef 
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 3 tablespoon (TB) Hormel vegetarian chili
- 1/2 teaspoon (tp) basil flakes
- 1/4 tp cumin powder
- 1/2 tp turmeric powder
- 2 tp pepper flakes
- 1/4 tp tarragon flakes
- dash of thyme flakes
- 2 tp onion powder
- 2 cup water


Procedure:
1. Use a pot that can just contain all the long beans. Place beef in a pan along with garlic, cumin, turmeric, onion and cook on medium heat. Break beef into fine bits and let the spices cook in its juice. When beef is cooked, add Hormel chili, basil, pepper, tarragon and thyme. Let it heat up and allow chili to cook for a few minutes until its aroma has developed. Add water. Let boil. Then add long beans to cook in the liquid for about 15-20 minutes (Note: long beans need to be cooked thoroughly to remove its toxin). Make sure the liquid level almost covers the long beans during the cooking because the long beans need to absorb the flavor from the liquid. When the long beans are cooked, take them out of the pot. Use med-high to high heat to reduce the liquid to about 1/4 cup of thick sauce. Add long beans back to the pot to be coated with the sauce. Serve hot.

Beef and long beans in sweet flour sauce

Sweet flour sauce (甜面酱) is an richly flavorful sauce of fermented flour. It's not just sweet, but also very salty and sticky. Some use it for Peking duck. It's good with beef. Because of the strong flavor and the thick flour and oil contents in this sauce, when using this sauce in stir-fry, I do not marinate the beef at all. The sauce is added very early in the cooking process to coat the beef and create a tender texture.


Recipe: Beef and long beans in sweet flour sauce (for 2-3)


Ingredients:
- 4 oz thinly very sliced lean beef, cut to 1" small pieces
- 1 lb long beans, washed and cut to 3" long
- 2 tablespoons (TB) sweet flour sauce
- dash of hot chili powder
- 1 cup meat stock


Procedure:
1. Boil long beans in water sufficient to cover all the beans, for 10 minutes to remove toxins. Drain water.
2. Mix beef with chili powder. Heat up a non-stick pan on med-high to high heat. Add beef and let sizzle for a few seconds. Once the beef starts giving out a little water, add the sweet flour sauce to pan. First, let the sauce heat up and soften in its own oil. Mix in with the beef gradually. Keep the mixture in a paste form as the beef cooks. Add small amount of meat stock to dilute the paste whenever it seems to thicken rapidly. When the beef is cooked and nicely coated with the sauce (about 30 seconds), take out the beef. Add stock into the remaining sauce in the pan and dilute it into a gravy. Let boil and thicken a little. Then add in the long beans, stir to coat with the gravy. Finally mix in the beef and serve right away. The cooking time in step 2 (this step) is very short, about 6 minutes. Great care is needed handling the sauce in the hot pan.

My first successful clam chowder!

Today I found chowder clans at 3 for a dollar again! Incredible price. I carried 9 home, weighing over 5 pounds. Thus came my experiment with clam chowder. I've not had much success with thickening my own soup so far, always relying on condensed soup, and always fearful that my own roux would go wrong. This time, the clams simply pushed me forward to brave it. Throughout the afternoon the smell of clams filled my husband's empty belly with anticipation until dinner time.

Recipe: Clam chowder (for 2-3)

Ingredients:
- 9 chowder clans, meat weighing 1/2 pound when cooked
- 1 stalk of celery, cubed
- 1 carrot, cubed
- 1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
- 1/2 medium onion, cubed
- 1 clove garlic, chopped or minced
- 3 bay leaves
- a pinch of thyme or italian seasoning mix
- 4-6 cups meat stock
- about 1.5 cup clam juice from cooking the clam
- 1 dried scallop or 1-2 oz ham
- 1/3 of a half-pint package of heavy whipping cream
- 2 TB to 1/4 cup of cornstarch (depending on how thick one wants, I think 3 TB will be optimal)

Procedure:
1. Scrub the clam shells carefully to clean off all dirts.
2. Soak the chowder clams in clean cold water for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Replace the water a few times. This cleans off the sands and dirts in the clams.
3. Boil the clams on high heat in a small amount of water, just enough to cover the bottom of the pot. Once the clams open wide, take them out to cool. Some clans may take longer to open, and may take longer boiling.
4. Once the clans are cooled, remove the shells. Trim the muscles and save them. Carefully cut open the center part of the clam to remove the dark brown soil-like matters. Then chop all the meat and muscles into fine pieces.
5. Allow the clam juice to cool and set. Then filter off the sediment.
6. Place all the vegetables in a medium pot with the meat stock. Bring to a boil. Add all the herbs, ham/scallops, and the clam meat. Add the clam juice to taste. Then allow to simmer on low heat for about 20-30 minutes.
7. About 20 minutes before serving, take out about 1/3 cup of the broth and allow to cool a little. Mix in about 2 TB to 1/4 cup of cornstarch with the cooled broth.
8. Bring the broth close to a boil on medium or med-low heat. Slowly stir in the cornstarch mix. Stir the broth to make sure no lumps form.
9. Then stir in the whipping cream.
10. Allow the soup to heat up on medium heat. When it heats up, it will thicken gradually. Takes about anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. Gradual heating seems better.
11. Ready once the soup has thickened.
12. Serve with dash of parsley flakes. Season with salt, pepper and bacon bits.

Minced beef in satay sauce

Satay is a flavorful sauce popular in Southeast Asian dishes. It's a paste made of peanut, coconut, sesame, shrimp, garlic, onion, soybean oil, turmeric and some other spices. The particular satay sauce I bought from the market is much sweeter than the ones usually found in the Southeast Asia region. I think that's why my husband enjoyed it so much when I cooked a minced beef with this satay sauce. This is a good reason for me to journal down this recipe. This recipe does not need extra oil because there is already sufficient fat in the beef and the satay sauce.

Recipe: Minced beef and vegetables in satay sauce (for 2)

Ingredients:
- 8 oz minced beef 80% lean
- 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas
- 1 small carrot chopped to the size of chickpeas
- 1/4 cup festival squash, chopped to 1/2" pieces
- 1/4 cup Shaoxing cooking wine
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons (TB) onion, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup LKK satay sauce
- dash of salt (optional)
- about 1/3 cup of water

Procedure:
Brown the beef with garlic in a pan on med-high heat. Then add chopped squash, carrot, chickpea, onion, along with cooking wine. Allow to cook until the vegetables are slightly soft. The wine should evaporate on heat and give out its characteristic aroma while the vegetables are cooking. Once the vegetables are slightly cooked, add in the satay sauce and mix. Add water if the mixture is very dry. Once the sauce is well mixed into the ingredients, turn heat down. Allow the pan to sit on low or med-low heat for about 10 minutes, then serve hot. (Garnish with 1 stalk of chopped spring onion if desired. Spring onion goes very well with satay sauce.)

Kelp and shrimp soup

Spring is near. I decided to have a light seafood soup dinner using salted kelp. Kelp is a type of seawood that is rather big. Its texture is like gelatin, but with a distinctive flavor of the sea. The longer it is cooked, the more it softens. I prefer it a little crispy. Here is the recipe that seems to go well with tofu. The sweet peas, squash and carrot add a little bit of sweetness to the otherwise salty soup. In cooking this soup, the ingredients are added in the order in which they take time to cook. It takes about 20-30 minutes, depending on how much one wants the noodles and the vegetables to be cooked. The shrimps are cooked last because they only take seconds.

Recipe: Kelp and shrimp soup with mung bean noodles (for 2)

Ingredients:
- 1 oz mung bean noodles
- 4 cup meat stock
- 1/4 cup salted kelp, rinsed, soaked and drained to remove excess salt
- 1/2 pack tofu
- 1 tablespoon (TB) sweet peas
- 1 TB carrots sliced
- 1/4 cup raw acorn squash
- 8 medium shelled raw shrimps
- 1 cup Korean cabbage
- a few drops of spicy sesame oil

Procedure:
Boil cabbage and kelp in meat stock for 20 minutes. Add the mung bean noodles, acorn squash and carrots. Boil for another 10 minutes or until noodles are soft. Add tofu and sweet peas, and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. Lastly, add the shrimps and serve once the shrimps turn pink (about 30 seconds). Sprinkle a few drops of spicy sesame oil on top.

Cooked ham broccoli slaw

Again and again I find myself drawn to the weekly sales items in the grocery store. This time, it's the broccoli slaw, which I normally care very little about because I always prefer whole vegetables. And then, at dinner, I found myself totally stuck in front of my bowl of broccoli slaw. It felt like straw. Eventually, I brought the whole bowl of straw back to the kitchen, pour it into a sauce pan with some olive oil and give it some softening heat. It tasted so much better afterwards! The conclusion today is that broccoli slaw really needs some mild cooking before it's edible to me.

Recipe: Cooked ham broccoli slaw (for 1)

Ingredients:
- 2 cup broccoli slaw from package
- 1 tablespoon (TB) chipotle salad vinegar (a mix of chipotle pepper, rosemary, herbs and balsamic vinegar)
- 1 TB olive oil
- 1/4 cup cooked ham, sliced

Procedure:
Warm olive oil in a pan. Add broccoli slaw and salad vinegar. Stir on med-high heat until broccoli slightly softens. The shredded broccoli should soften very quickly (in about 1-3 minutes). It should be only very slightly cooked. Serve right away.

pork and salted fish balls

At a recent dinner gathering, a friend brought to the table a plate of her meat balls, made with pork and glutinous rice. It was chewy and yummy. So I wanted to try something like that too. Here is my version, not with the glutinous rice, but with the glutinous rice flour.

Recipe: Steamed meat ball of pork and salted anchovies

Ingredients:
- 1 lb ground lean pork
- 2 tablespoons (TB) small dried shrimps
- 2-3 fillets of salted anchovies in olive oil
- about 1 teaspoon (tp) olive oil from the salted anchovies
- 1 stalk spring onions, finely chopped
- 1/2 tp garlic powder
- 1/2 tp salt
- 1/4 tp sugar (optional)
- 1/4 cup glutinous rice flour
- about 1/4 cup cornstarch for dusting

Procedure:
1. Use a fork to break the anchovies into very small flakes. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together except the glutinous rice flour. The mixture should be a very thick moist paste. Stir in one direction for 5-10 minutes. Then place the mixture in the fridge to chill and rest for 15 minutes.
2. After resting, add glutinous rice flour (up to 1/4 cup) and stir until a glue like texture has developed.
3. Take pieces of about 1-2 TB, and form balls with the palms. Dust with a little cornstarch to prevent sticking. Set on a metal steaming plate with holes for drainage.
4. Steam the finished meat balls on high heat for 25-30 minutes or until done.
5. Serve hot, or freeze for future use in soups.

Pork and eggplant with BBQ sauce

One afternoon, I was feeling rather bored. As I worked on the household chores, I started praying and told my Lord that, whatever I'd been feeling up to that hour, I wanted to dedicate the remaining hours of the day to His service. My passion on life was rekindled as I remembered the preciousness of each moment. I finished my chores, and then started cooking. Dinner came, and I found myself setting a full table of lovely dishes without much thought. My husband looked at all the dishes with smiling eyes. His senses had long been awakened by the smells from the kitchen. It's such a joy to live to the Lord, and see Him working out wonders in daily life. 


Recipe: Sweet and spicy pork and eggplant fried with BBQ sauce (for 2)


Ingredients:
- 8 oz pork, cut to 1" pieces of 1/4" thick
- 1/2 eggplant, sliced very thinly (1/8" thick)
- 1/2 small onion, sliced very thinly
- 1 tablespoon (TB) BBQ sauce
- 1 teaspoon (tp) light soy sauce
- 2 TB chipotle oil


Procedure:
Marinate pork in 2 TB chipotle oil for 10 minutes. Warm pan on medium heat. Spread pork evenly on pan. Separate any attached pieces. Turn heat up to med-high to high. Let sizzle for a few minutes. Turn pork to cook all sides. Lower heat to medium when the pork starts giving out water. Add onion and eggplant and make sure they cook in the juice of the pork. Stir to ensure thorough cooking. When water dries up in pan, mix BBQ sauce and light soy sauce with 2 TB water. Add to pan and stir until the liquid dries up, at which point, the BBQ sauce will give out its best aroma. Serve hot.