Seafood rolls

Some days, I have an abundance of both spirit and leftovers. So my afternoons are spent revering how to combine the ingredients to make something interesting. Here is one appetizer that tastes outstanding because of the unique blend of textures and flavors---the sweetness of sweet potato, the sourness of lime juice, the chewy fish cake, the strong salty taste of sausage, and the shrimp.

Recipe: Seafood rolls (make 4)

Ingredients:
- 1 thin sheet of fried fish cake, about palm sized and 1/8" thick
- 1 low-fat hot dog sausage
- 1/4 cup mashed sweet potato (about 1/3 a small sweet potato)
- 3 TB finely mashed chickpea, well mixed with lime juice
- 4 medium frozen raw shrimps, defrosted
- 1 TB spring onion green
- sesame oil

Procedure:
1. Lie the fish cake sheet flat on a work surface. Spread the mashed sweet potato thinly and uniformly over the sheet. Then place the sausage at one end of the sheet and roll up the sheet around the sausage to make a roll. Then cut the roll into 4 pieces. The sweet potato will not be strong enough to hold the rolls together at this point. But once the rolls are baked, they will keep their shapes.
2. Place the small rolls in a mini-muffin pan. Bake at 300F in a toaster oven until the sausage has shrunk and the fish cake sheet has shrunk to its shape.
3. Spread on each roll about 1/2 TB of mashed chickpea with lime juice.
4. Top with a raw shrimp. Bake again until the shrimps are cooked. The juice of the shrimps will be absorbed by the chickpea paste.
5. Add small bits of spring onion green at the center of each shrimp. Brush the top and side of each roll lightly with sesame oil. Bake again for a few minutes until the sesame oil is hot. Serve right away.

Hot dog rolled in a sheet of fish cake:

Baked rolls:

Chowder clam (or hard clam)

Once in a while, the international market in the neighborhood would have very interesting finds. Today, Chowder clams are sold at 3 for $1. That amounts to slightly less than a dollar a pound. This is a very good price for such big clams that are 3" by diameter. So I picked up 3 and came home to find out what to do with them. Then I found out that chowder clams are the largest of all the hard clams. Because of their size, the meat of these clams need to be chopped and cooked to help tenderize them. That's why they are great for making chowders (and thus come their name). To prepare clams, the first thing is to brush them clean in cold water. Then they are boiled in a very small amount of water for a few minutes, until the clams open up. Only then can they be chopped or further cooked. The liquid from cooking the clam is very flavorful and can be used for cooking.

Recipe: Stuffed chowder clams (make 6)

Ingredients:
- 3 chowder clams of 3" by diameter
- a little water
- 1 teaspoon (tp) butter
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- 1/2 tp garlic powder
- 2 tp low-sodium cream of chicken (optional)
- extra water to mix the filling
- dash of parsley flakes (for garnishing)
- olive oil (for garnishing)

Procedure:
1. To prepare the clams, brush the shells clean in cold water
2. Place the clams in a small pot with lid, fill the pot with just enough cold water to cover the bottom of the pot
3. Cover the pot and boil the clams on high heat for a few minutes (about 5 minutes). The clams will gradually open up. They are done when fully open.
4. Shell the clams. Remove the black grainy stuff in the center of the clam meat. Chop the muscle into small bits. The clam juice can be saved for other cooking purpose.
5. Mix the clam meat with bread crumbs, garlic powder, cream of chicken. Add water and stir until the mixture is smooth and holds together.
6. Spoon the filling into the halves of the shells.
7. Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until the fillings are slightly golden.
8. Sprinkle parsley flakes and olive oil on top. Serve hot.

Chinese eggplant fritters

When I tried to search for eggplant recipes, I was so dismayed by the way American recipes treat this vegetable. Apparently, it tastes so rubbery and strange that people have to find all kinds of ways to cover it up. So the eggplant is often very finely chopped, cooked for a prolonged time, and buried amidst many other flavorful and more appealing ingredients. I feel so sorry for the American eggplant! When I introduced the Chinese eggplant to a friend, she tried, and was totally surprised by the difference. Of course, it's largely a personal choice which one tastes better. I sometimes like to eat the Chinese eggplant as a finger food, like a fritter. Eggplant bakes very quickly in oven. When cooked, it melts into a buttery texture with a mildly sweet aroma. To make the fritter a little more crispy and less starchy, I use mainly wheat bran with a small amount of bread crumbs as the coating. 


Recipe: Chinese eggplant fritters (for 1)


Ingredients:
- 1 medium Chinese eggplant, about 4 oz
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1/3 cup wheat bran
- 1/6 cup fine bread crumbs
- 1 egg, beaten.


Prepare a saucer of flour, a saucer of wheat bran mixed with bread crumbs, and a bowl of beaten egg.
Chop the Chinese eggplant to irregular shapes of 1.5" long. Coat the whole surface of each piece of eggplant with flour. Then dip into egg, and roll on the wheat bran and bread crumb mix. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 375F for 30 minutes or until the sweet aroma comes out. Since wheat bran is very dry, be careful not to burn. Serve right out of oven, optionally with mayonnaise. The Chinese eggplant fritters would taste crispy outside, while soft and sweet inside. 

I think, eating is an art of appreciation. Simple food in their original taste has great appeal to me.

Stuffed baby bak choy

Baby bak choy is 3"-7" tall, with white thick, curled stems and very curly dark green leaves. It has never been my favorite because of the acidity in the stem, and the way it is usually cooked, that is in Chinese stir fry. When eaten by itself, the look and the acidity does not quite please my palates. So I decided to think of some different way to make the eating of it more pleasurable. Usually, if the leaves and the stems are cooked together, then by the time the white stems are cooked, the leaves have become slimy. So it's probably a better idea to cook the stems and the leaves separately. Here is an experiment that turns out to be pleasing to the eye and pleasant to taste. The idea is to complement the taste of the stems with something meaty, juicy and weighty. The baby bak choy stems are slightly blanched, then stuffed with a thick filling of white meat, seafood and congee. In my original experiment, I used a leftover congee cooked with rice, meat stock and seafood, which is very flavorful. Here I drafted out a recipe for the case when only cooked rice is available.

Recipe: Stuffed baby bak choy (make 3 as a light dish)


Ingredients:
- 3 stalks of baby bak choy (pick those whose bottom can stand or can be trimmed to stand)
- one long strip of salted kelp, 1/2"x6", soaked
- 4-5 oz cooked chicken or turkey meat
- half a dried scallop, soaked
- 1/4 teaspoon (tp) small dried shrimps, soaked and minced
- 2 small dried anchovy fishes, soaked and minced
- 1/2 dried black mushroom, soaked and minced
- 2 tp cooked rice, boiled in water until completely dissolved into a thick paste (or use 2-3 tablespoon leftover congee)
- a few ears of fresh sweet corn


Procedure:
1. Carefully remove the green parts of each leaf, and the core of each baby bak choy. Save the green leaves for other recipes (such as a salad). Then wash the white parts carefully, using a brush, if necessary, to remove any dirt trapped at the bottom of the stems.
2. Soak salted kelp in water for 20 minutes to remove salt. Then cut to three 1/6"x6" strips.
3. Place soaked scallop, small shrimps, anchovies and black mushroom in a saucer and steam for 5 minutes. In a small saucepan, mix chicken meat, cooked rice, sweet corn ears, and the steamed ingredients. Cook on low to med-low heat until mixture boils and becomes very thick, so that it can stand up as a heap. Turn heat down and let cool until it does not scald the hand.
4. Get a pot of water boiling. Blanch each baby bak choy for about 1 minute or until the white stems start to become a little translucent. Take out of water immediately and let cool on a plate. The bak choy will continue to cook and give out water while cooling.
5. When bak choy can be handled by handle, carefully scoop the white meat fillings into the core of each  bak choy. Then use a strip of kelp to wrap around the white stems and secure them together. Serve right away, or within 1/2 hours. Reheat in oven with water bath or microwave, if necessary.

I served the stuffed baby bak choy on the green leaves, blanched for 2 seconds in boiling water. The green leaves go well with oyster sauce in sesame oil.

Green Thai eggplant salad duo

The dainty shape of the green and round Thai eggplant and its crispy refreshing taste leads me to imagine turning it into a mini salad bowl of some sort. So I decided to try out two ideas of fillings: a tuna mayonnaise, and a chicken satay. The good thing about this eggplant is that it is easy to de-core, and it gives a sturdy bowl of very thin wall (1/8" think) and a large cavity. So each eggplant can hold quite a bit of fillings.


Recipe: Green Thai eggplant salad appetizer (make 4)


Ingredients:

- 4 medium round green Thai eggplants, pick the fresh and sturdy ones

For tuna mayonnaise filling:
- 2 tablespoon (TB) mayonnaise

- 3 TB tuna flakes
- a few drops lemon or lime juice
- 2-3 cranberries, cut to small pieces
- 2 teaspoon (tp) finely chopped purple and white onions
- 1 tp finely chopped celery
- dash of pepper


For satay chicken filling:
- 1 TB satay sauce
- 2 tp sesame oil
- 3 TB chopped cooked chicken meat
- 2 tp coarsely ground cashew pieces
- 1 tp chopped purple and white onions
- 2 tp chopped green onions


Procedure:
Cut each eggplant at about 4/5 of its height from the bottom. Use a corer to remove seed pod and leave a shell of about 1/8" thick. It takes some patience. If desired, save the seeds to be mixed with the salad filling. Mix the ingredients of each salad separately, and stuff the eggplants.

The tuna mayonnaise salad has a good mix of fresh vegetable and fruit taste, which blends in smoothly with the crispy, unassuming texture of the eggplant. The satay salad has quite a bit of a crunch and a spicy sweetness unique to the Southeast Asian cuisines. These two salads go very well with the Thai eggplant, and make a wonderful duo appetizer. 

Thai eggplant fritters

When I heard that the round little green Thai eggplant could be eaten raw, the first thing I did was to give it a bite. Chump! Indeed, it's like none other eggplants that I've eaten. It's so crispy, fresh and even a little juicy! I toyed with one of the eggplants and discovered how easy it was to dig out the seed pod. The hard shell that remained could make a great container for filling or sauce. It's really fun. I heard that the Thai people don't eat the seeds, but I liked the crunchy feel of them. With a little thought, I decided to try giving the eggplant a light coat of spices and match it with a dip of some Southeast Asian condiments. 

Recipe: Crispy Thai little eggplant


Ingredients:
- 3 Thai eggplants, sliced to 6-8 pieces each
- cumin powder
- dried basil flakes
- paprika powder
- 4 tablespoon (TB) flour for coating
- 1 egg
- 2 TB oil


Dip ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon (tp) Sriracha hot chili sauce
- 1/2 tp fish sauce
- 1/4 tp vinegar
- 1/4 tp or less of sugar


Procedure:
Mix cumin, basil, paprika with flour and set in a plate. Beat an egg. Dip eggplant slices into egg, then roll in flour to coat thinly. Heat oil in a flat pan on medium heat. Lightly fry all the flat sides of the eggplant slices. Once all sides are golden, take out the eggplant. Cooking longer will cause the eggplant to soften. For the dip, mix all ingredients and serve.

Tiny lovely Tindora squash

Nature is full of wonders. Today when browsing around in the market, I discovered some very tiny Indian squashes, about the length of my little finger. They are called Tindora squashes.  So I decided to bring home a handful to experiment with them. I halved them and then broiled them on 450F in oven. It took roughly 10 minutes for them to be done. After cooking, the taste and the look of the Tindora squash really reminded me of pickles and mustard. So I pulled out the condiments and herbs in the pantry and tried out some toppings for it.

Recipe: A Tindora squash appetizer

Ingredients:
- Tindora squash, halved and broiled
- Dijon mustard
- olive oil or roasted rosemary oil
- bacon bits
- a little of the following finely chopped vegetables and herbs:
* parsley
* spring onion
* white and purple onions
* celery
* carrot

Spread a thin layer of Dijon mustard on the seedy surface of the broiled Tindora squash. Top with a mix of all vegetables, herbs and bacon bits. Sprinkle a few drops of olive or roasted rosemary oil.

Bringing forth the best of a rye cracker

I bought a pack of plain rye cracker without knowing what it was. After one bite, I told myself there must be some delightful way to break the boredom of plain fiber. I decided to paint a galaxy of tastes and textures on this rye canvas.

Recipe of a delightful snack of prosciutto, cheese and rye cracker


Ingredients:
- 2 small slices of prosciutto, about 1 oz
- 1 TB cream cheese
- 2 plain rye crackers
- small pieces of orange sweet pepper
- a few leaves of chinese or italian parsley


Procedure:
Spread cream cheese thinly on rye crackers. Trim prosciutto of fat. Roll into cone and put on top of cheese. Garnish with sweet pepper and parsley leaves. Serve chilled, especially great as an appetizer for a husband that just comes home from work.

After trying this combination, I realized that nothing could make the base of this snack half as well as plain rye. Other crackers simply bring in too much of themselves.