Been Sprouts and Chive Stir-Fried with Bean Curd (綠豆芽韭菜炒豆腐乾)

This is another simple 10 minute vegetable dish I made often, no fat, no sugar, and not much calories, should be appealing to my health conscientious friends :)

Ingredients:
Bean Spouts  1lb
Bean Curd 2 pcs (褔臨門五香豆乾）
Chives (韭菜), or scallions (1/4 bunch)
Salt, light soy sauce, and oyster sauce

Steps:
1. Wash bean spouts.  If you have time and you are a fancy cook, take off the root part of the spouts, this is very time consuming, I usually have no time to do that.
2. slice the bean curd horizontally into four slices, then cut them into small strips.
3. Wash chives(韭菜) thoroughly.  Make sure there is no dirt in between the leaves. Cut the 1/4  inch tip of the white part off (if they look fresh, just keep them), then cut them into 1.5 inch length pieces. If you don't like leeks, or you don't have them handy, use scallions, 3 pieces (3 根), slice them into 蔥絲。 First you cut the white part of the scallion into two half, then you cut diagonally to make them thin strips.
4. Heat 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil in the wok, add 1/4 tsp of salt in the oil, then add bean spouts and bean curds in.  Stir fry it for 2-3 minutes until the bean spouts turn transparent.  They should be crunchy, not soft.  Add some oyster sauce (蠔油）(1Tbsp) and some light soy sauce (1 Tbsp).
5. Add leeks (or scallions) in, stir fry for another minute.  Turn off heat, season to taste (by adding 1/4 tsp of salt a time), and serve.  Note- You don't want to over cook leek, but if it is too raw, it doesn't taste good.  When it becomes soft and the color becomes darker, it is about done.

兩道簡單的家常菜－ 番茄炒蛋 and 番茄蛋花湯

Here are two quick and easy to make Chinese dishes.  番茄炒蛋 is the first dish I taught my kids (and my husband) to make.  It only takes 10 minutes and is a perfect dish to make when you go home tired and hungry and found nothing edible in the refrigerator :)

Ingredients:
2 medium size tomatoes
4 eggs
1 scallion
a little salt, sugar, soy sauce and vegetable oil

Steps:
1. beat the eggs in a big bowl, add 1/2 tb salt.
2. chop tomotos into small 1 inch size chunks (I usually cut it in half, then cut each half into 4 or 6 wedges, then cut the wedges in half.
3. cut the scallions into small pieces (蔥花）
4. Heat 2 TB oil in the wok or a pan, when oil is hot, pour eggs into the oil and stir it quickly.  Take it out in 10 seconds (or even shorter depending on how hot your oil is) when the egg is still half running.  It is important that you take the eggs out before it become solid. 
5. Heat 1 TB oil in the wok, put tomatoes and scallions in, add a pinch of salt, stir fry them until the juice from the tomatoes come out (about 2-3 minutes).
6. Put in the eggs and add 1/2 tb sugar and 1 tb soy sauce, stir them well, take it away from the heat immediately and serve.  You have to do this step quick, do not let the eggs become solid.  The trick is to keep the eggs soft and a little running.  The eggs in the picture is already a little over done.   You may need some practice to get it right, but no matter what, it tastes good.  BTW, the suger and soy sauce is my secret weapon,  it really enhance the flavor of this dish.

Another similar dish I would like to show you (but I don't have a picture) is tomato egg flower soup 番茄蛋花湯.  This one is even easier than the one above.  You can make it in a cold rainy day, it will warm your heart.  But you probably don't want to make these two dishes together in the same meal :)

Ingredients:
2 tomatoes
1 egg (2 if you really like eggs)
1 scallion
1 can of chicken broth

Steps:
1. chop the tomatos as above, but I usually chop them in bigger pieces (save the last step)
2. beat the egg thoroughly (make sure the egg white is mixed well with the egg yoke)
3. chop scallion into small pieces
4. Heat 1 TB oil  in the wok, stir fry tomatos for 2 minutes, add 1tb salt
5. Add chicken broth and 3 cups of water, cover until it is boiling
6. pour in eggs slowly and use the 鍋鏟 (how do we call it in English?) in circular motion. turn off the heat right away
7. add scallion and some sesame oil.
Taste the soup, if it is not salty enough, you can add a little light soy sauce or salt.

肉絲炒米粉 (Stir Fry Rice Noodle)

I have a party today and I made a big plate of 炒米粉 (mi fen).  I fed 20+ guests and  everybody loved it.  The ingredients below is half of the portions I made today.  It should be good for 5-6 people as a main dish.  By the way,  everything is just estimate, you can add or reduce based on your preference.

There is a lot of chopping and preparation for this dish.  So, it is a little complicated.  You don't need to use all the ingredients, or you can replace some of them based on what's available in your refrigerator.  For instance, I like to use 金針菜。Sometimes, I use onions instead of cabbage.  They all taste good.

Ingredients:

新竹米粉半包 （L&W Rice Sticks 8 oz half package)
lean pork   1/4 lb
dry mushrooms (香菰） 6-8 pieces
Wood ears (黑木耳）1/2 cups
cabbage 2 cups
carrot     1 stick
bean sprout 1/2 lb
green onion 2 pieces
chicken broth 1 can
shrimps  medium size 10-15 

Steps:

Preparation:

1. Put dry mushrooms and wood ears in water for a couple of hours until the mushrooms are soften and the wood ears are expanded. Note the wood ears would be expanded several times more than its dry form.  So, just use a small handful would be sufficient.  Wash them with clean water and make sure there is no sand there.  Slice mushrooms and wood ears into thin strips. Make 1/2 cups each.
2. Put half packages of rice sticks in a big bowl and cover it with water.  It will become soft in 30 minutes, use a scissors to cut it into half. Drain the water.
3. peel the shells of the shrimps, use a knife to cup open the top of shrimp, remove the black thing. Add some salt and wash the shrimps with water.  Pat dry the shrimps using a paper towel and put them in the refrig.
4. Slice the pork into thin strips and marinate it with corn starch, salt, and soy sauce. Put a slice of ginger.  Put it aside.
5. Remove the skin of the carrot and shred it into thin strips.
6. Cut cabbages into thin strips and wash the bean sprouts.
7. Slice the green onions side ways into thin strips.

Cooking:

1. Before cooking, add 0.5tb salt and 1tb corn starch in the shrimps and mixed them well (use your hand).  In a big (12 inch) deep frying pan, heat 1 TB oil, and stir fry the shrimps in high heat.  When the shrimps half turned color, add 1 tb cooking wine and keep fry them until all turned color.  Take them out and put it aside.
2. Heat 2 TB oil and stir fry the pork strips.  You have to use a wood spoon (鍋鏟）to separate them because the corn starch tend to bind them together.  So, be patient.  Again, when they all turned color, take them out and drain the oil.
3. Heat 2 TB oil and stir fry muchrooms and wood ears, add a little salt and soy sauce.  Stir fry for 2-3 minutes, add green onions about half way.  Take it out.
4. Heat 3 TB oil and put in carrots and cabbages and 1tb salt.  Stir fry them until carrots are soft. Add bean sprouts and keep stir frying them. Add 1TB light soy sauce.  
5. Leave the #4 ingredients in the pan, add one can of chicken broth, cover and simmer until it boils.  Finally, you can add rice noodles in and the mushroom and wood ears (#3) mix them well.  Turn to low heat, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes.
6. Add the pork strips in and check if the noodle is soft and moist.  If it is a bit too dry and all the liquid is gone, just add a bit more water.  Add some white pepper powder, maybe some oyster sauce, a little more soy sauce to your taste.  Cover and simmer for another 5 minutes.
7. put the rice noodles in a big flat pan and put the shrimps on top and serve.

 There are several tips in making this dish.  When you add the rice sticks in, make sure there is enough liquid to submerge the noodles.  Otherwise, the flavor will not get into the noodle and it will be tasteless.  Secondly, the vegetables and meat tend to fall at the bottom of the pan, you want to flip them to the top and mix them together with the noodle.   Last, I like to put the meat in at last so that it will remain tender.  If you think it is too much trouble, you can add it together with all other ingredient.  Oh, one last thing, there are two type of rice sticks, 新竹米粉 or  埔里米粉.  The first one is very thin and the second one is thicker.  You want to buy the thin one, not the thick one.  I made the mistake once and the result was very bad :)

Cranberry Biscuit

Ingredients:

4 tbsp Cranberry

2 cup Self-raising flour

1 tsp Baking powder

2 oz Unsalted butter

1 1/2 tbsp Sugar

Some Salt

2/3 cup Milk

1 Egg york

Directions:

1. Sift together the self-raising flour, baking powder, cranberry, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl

2. Diced the butter into the dry ingredients

3. Rub all the ingredients in the bowl until it resembles powder grain

4. Pour in milk gradually, knead the powder grain into dough

5. Press the dough into 1 inch thick, leave for 30 minutes

6. Cut the dough in round shape with 6cm cookie cutter (or with a glass cup)

7. Brush the tops with the beaten egg

8. Place rack in center of oven, preheat oven to 400°F

9. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the biscuit comes out clean

10. Remove from oven

11. Serve warm with butter or jam

Kahlua Cake

This is a recipe we learned from Jing-Kuan's sister from Bay Area. It is super easy so it is my type of dessert. Because of the pudding mix, it is softer and tastes like a sponge cake (海綿蛋糕）

I used a 10 inch round cake pan with a hole in the middle. But I failed to dump it out without breaking it apart. So, this picture is taken from "the other side".

Ingredients

1. 1 package of yellow cake mix
2. 1 package of chocolate pudding mix (5oz)
3. 1/2 cup butter or oil
3. 3/4 cup of water
4. 3 eggs
5. 1/4 cup Kahlua
6. 1/4 cup Vodka

Steps

1. Preheat over to 350 degree

2. Melt butter and mix all the ingredients well (you can use a electronic mixer)

3. Grease a 10 inch round baking tray, sprinkle some flour. Pour the batter into the

pan

4. Bake for 35 minutes. Note if I use a baking pan without a hole, it will take much longer to cook, probably over one hour. You have to use a toothpick to test it. If it does not stick to the toothpick, it is done. If I use the one with a hole, the cake will raise up over the rim of the tray. So it wont be flat when you flip it over. So, sometimes, I will only pour 3/4 of the batter into the tray, and make a smaller one using the remaining batter.

5. Cool it for 10-15 minutes, flip it over, then sprinkle some powder sugar for decoration. (I tried to flip it this time, but the buttom stuck to the pan and it looked ugly, so the picture is the upside when it was baked.

Napa Cabbage Gratin (烤白菜)

Ingredients:
2 lb Napa cabbage
1 box (8 oz) Freeh mushroom
1 can (10 ¾ oz) cream of mushroom
2 pieces Dried scallop (or cooked crabmeat or dried shrimp)
Cheese, American or Swiss or Mozzarella. Some to broil.
3 tablespoon oil

Seasoning:
¼ teaspoon salt
Black pepper

Steps:
1. Cut cabbage into small pieces.
2. Put dried scallop into warm water to soften it and then stem it with wine and ginger for 30 minutes. Tear into slices. If you use dried shrimp, put them into warm water for 10 minutes to soften them.
3. Sauté cabbage with oil till softened. Add fresh mushroom and continue sauté for 5 more minutes to make mushroom soft. Drain the water.
4. Pour cabbage and mushroom into a baking pot. Add scallop slices, cream of mushroom.
5. Season with about ¼ teaspoon of salt (might run without salt. Taste after mixed with cream of mushroom) and black Pepper. Mix the ingredients thoroughly. Top with cheeses.
6. Put into oven preheated to 400 °F for 30 minutes till top becomes golden.

Chinese Style Russian Soup (羅宋湯)

Ingredients:
¾ lb stewing beef (牛腱 shank or short ribs)
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 carrot, peeled, cubed
1 onion, chopped
1 potato, peeled, cubed
1 small cabbage, cored and cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions
1 tbsp chili powder
2 or 3 tbsp ketchup
Thumb-size root ginger
Wine

Seasoning:
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Sugar

Directions:
1. Cut the beef into pieces and parboil for about 2 minutes
2. Throw away the water, wash the beef cubes
3. Place the beef, green onion and ginger in a pot, add water (cover the ingredients to about 50% higher than the surface of the ingredients) and wine. Cover, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer 1 hour, or until meat is tender. Remove green onion and ginger
4. Sauté garlic, onion, carrot and tomato
5. Add #4 and the cabbage to #3, add water if needed
6. Add the remaining ingredients except potato. Bring to boil, cook for about 1 hour
7. Add potato, cook another ½ hour or until potato is soft
8. Season with salt, pepper and sugar (adjust the amount of seasoning according to your preference)

蛋黃酥

Though not very healthy due to butter, shortening and yorks, it is really tasty. Once a year, should be a good treat to everybody.

The recipe is for making 24 蛋黃酥

油皮:

1 ½ cup all purpose flour
3 oz Crisco shortning
3 oz water
1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

油酥:

1 cup cake flour (低筋麵粉)

1/3 cup Crisco shortning

餡:
1 can red bean paste (紅豆沙)
12 cooked salty egg york

製作程序:

油皮部份:

(1) all purpose flour篩勻放在桌上,中挖洞做粉牆,中央放入油,鹽,先拌合.

(2)水慢慢加入鹽油內,用手拌成糊狀至油水全部混勻成糰即可.

(3)將麵糰放置醒30分鐘,即可分成24份.

油酥部份:

(1)低筋粉篩勻與shortning拌勻成糰,即可分成24份.

餡部份:

(1)將紅豆沙分成24團揉成圓型

(2)將半個蛋黃塞入紅豆沙中包好，再揉成圓球，擺在一邊待用

油皮酥部份:

(1)拿起一顆油皮, 壓扁後將一顆油酥包在裡面，然後將它像包包子一樣捏起來。每一顆要按照順序排列

(2)等到包完全部油酥後，回到第一顆油皮酥, 用桿麵棍桿成”牛舌餅”型狀。然後從長邊捲起來,接口朝上輕輕壓一下，然後從旁邊往中間折三折, 再按照次序排好

(3)最後將已經折成三折的皮放在桌面，用桿麵棍桿成圓型。桿到比水餃皮稍微再大一點後，就可以把餡放在中間包起來。將包好的成品底朝下的放在桌上，雙手半包住左右搓動，讓它變成比較可愛的圓型擺在烤盤上, 均勻刷上蛋黃汁, 點綴一點芝麻

(4)烤箱預熱至375°F, 然後將成品送進烤箱大約烤二十分鐘，或等到顏色變成金黃色，就可以出爐了。

台灣油飯

When I told Jennifer about our new recipe blogger.  Her first reaction was "your fist posting is Apple Pie???  Where is your Chinese food recipe? " 

Since I have the picture in my photo album and I wrote the recipe for the kids several year's back, I decide to post it as my first entry.  (The apple pie was Li-Chin's and Nuts and Fruit Cake was from Chen Chen).

This is a perfect dish for parties.  My kids and my young friends love it.  Don't be scared by the steps, it is super easy.  You just need a stool so that you can sit and rest while tending the rice.

Ingredients:

sweet rice 4 cups (圓糯米), this is the cup we use for the rice cooker, smaller than the regular measuing cup
lean pork 0.5 lb (you can replaced it by BBQ port, 叉燒肉, or no meat for vegetarians)
black mushrooms  10 pieces (乾香菰）
dry shrimps (small ones)  2 TB （蝦米，I like the small ones, it too big, chop them)
fried green shallot sliced 2 oz  (油蔥酥）（you can by it at the Chinese market, a small package)

Preparation:

1. Submerge rice in water overnight (or at least 4 hours)
2. Soften black mushroom in warm water (2 hours)
3. Soften dry shrimps in water (1 hour)
4. Cut pork in thin strips and marinate it using corn starch (1TB), soy sauce (1 TB), salt (0.5 tb) and a little vegitable oil (20 minutes)
5. Take out the stem of the softened mushrooms, and cut them into thin strips, keep the water (I was told not to use the mushroom water because of the pesticide, so you decide to use it or not)

Steps:

1. Heat up 3TB vegetable oil in a non-sticky 12-inch wok and  stir fry port strips.  Flip it to separate the strips apart.  Take it out when it changes color. (or cooked)
2. Heat up 4TB vegetable oil and put in mushroom strips and dry shrimps (drain out the water), add 1tb salt, 2TB soy sauce for 3 minutes, add the rice (drain the water and put the water together with the mushroom water). 
3. Use medium heat, stir fry the rice and add the water saved earlier whenever the rice is dry for about 20-25 minutes, or until they are cooked.  (You can get yourself a stool, so you don't get tired by standing so long)

You can add 0.5 cup to 1 cup water at a time, stir fry it frequently so that it does not burn or stick at the bottom of the wok. If the water dries up too quickly, turn down the heat.  You can cover the wok and let it cook for a couple of minutes, then stir it again.  The total process takes about 20 to 25 minutes.  After 5 minutes into the process, add soy sauce  (2 TB), black pepper and a little salt.  The rice's color is kind of solid when it is raw, it turns more transparent color when it is cooked.  You don't need to wait until all the rice turn transparent.  If you see about 70% change color, it is about done.  The best way to check is to taste it.  You don't want to add too much water either because it will be too sticky.  You want it taste "Q", it is a subtle feeling you can only learn by experience :-)  The total water you need to add is probably about 4 cup.  When the rice is almost done, add the pork and mix it with the rice. After that, add the fried shallots and mix it.

When you serve, you can put some 甜辣醬 on the side, or some cilantro leaves on top to add some color.

Apple Pie

Li-Chin got some apples from her friend's apple tree. They are a little raw so she decided to make an apple pie with Peggy and Chen Chen. We found a recipe from grandma Ople's apple pie. We made some minor modification and it turns out great!






Ingredients:
2 uncooked pie crusts
6 media size green apples (e.g. Granny Smith)
1/2 cup butter
3 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoon cinnamon

Steps:
1. Melt butter in a saucer, stir in flour, sugar, water, and cinnamon until everything mixed well.
2. peel apples, remove cores, and cut them in thin slices
3. Preheat oven to 425 degree
4. pile the apples in the pie crust.
5. Pour the #1 mix on top of apples evenly
6. cut the second pie crust into 3/4 inch slices, and weave them into lattice pattern. Use a fork's back to press the edge of the pie crust.
7. bake the pie in the center of the over for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degree and bake it for 35 minutes.
8 Remove it from over and let it cool for 10 minutes before serving.