Taiwanese-style Sweet-and-Sour Cabbage & Korean-style Chive Salad (台式泡菜, 韓式涼拌韭菜)

By chance and by luck, we found a supplier of Stinky Tofu (臭豆腐) in Southern California, the Green Cube Gourmet Food, Inc, that's cited in this well-written article. When searching for online recipes to cook the stinky tofu, we learned that it's often served with a simple salad in Taiwan, hence the first recipe below. In fact, it's quite a treat to go by itself, as a salad in summer days.  In the meantime, we also learned how to prepare a popular Korean-style salad, Chive Salad (Buchu Muchim), that's often served as a side-dish in Korean restaurants, which might be a good comparative study against its Taiwanese counterpart. BTW, both salads are quick and easy to make.

I. Taiwanese-style Sweet-and-Sour Cabbage (台式泡菜)

Ingredients

• Main Ingredients: Medium-sized Cabbage (use 1/4), Medium-sized Carrot 1
• Seasoning: Salt- 2 tsp, Sugar- 2-4 Tbsp, White Vinegar- 2-4 Tbsp

Methodthe

1. Cut a medium-sized cabbage (~2 lbs) into 4 quarters, cut out the core of the cabbage, and use a quarter (~0.5 lb) for this salad.  Hand-separate 1 quarter of  cabbage by holding the quarter with the palms of both hands, and pressing both ends of the quarter hard (see the first 2-3 minutes of this video for details).  Continue to hand-separate the cabbage into larger bite-sizes.  Place the cabbage pieces into a medium-sized mixing bowl.  Note- Taiwanese Cabbage from Chinese Markets might be significantly larger in size than regular cabbage, and requires more seasoning below.
2. Peel and Julianne-slice a carrot.  Place the carrot slices into the mixing bowl.
3. Add 2 tsp of salt into the mixing bowl.  Stir and mix.  Set aside for 20 minutes.
4. Pour drinkable water (filtered or boiled-then-cooled-down water) into the mixing bowl, until the cabbage pieces are immersed in water.  Slush the water around for 15-20 seconds, let sit for 8-10 minuets, and drain the water from the mixing bowl.  Repeat this step until the cabbage no longer has much taste of salt.
5. Add 2 Tbsp of sugar and 2 Tbsp of white vinegar into the mixing bowl.  Stir and mix thoroughly.  Note- We've been using 4 Tbsp of sugar and 4 Tbsp of white vinegar, w/o the need to adjust (season to taste) at the end. 
6. Chill in the fridge overnight, or ~6 hours. Season to taste with sugar and white vinegar (1 tsp a time).  Here is the outcome from our kitchen.
   

II. Korean-style Chive Salad (Buchu Muchim, 韓式涼拌韭菜)

Ingredients

• Main Ingredients: Chive- 4 cups, Green Bean Sprouts- 2 cups, Large Onion- 1
• Seasoning: Salt- 2 tsp, Garlic- 2-3 cloves (or garlic powder- 1 tsp), Mild Hot Pepper Flakes- 2 tsp, Anchovy Fish Sauce- 1 Tbsp, Sesame Oil- 2 Tbsp, Sugar- 2 tsp, White Vinegar- 2-4 Tbsp

Method

1. Rinse and cut ~4 cups of chive into 1" segments.  Place the chive segments into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
2. Rinse and add ~2 cups of green bean sprouts into the mixing bowl.
3. [Optionally,] rinse, slice, add into the mixing bowl, 1/4 large onion (or 1/2 medium-sized onion). 
4. Add 2 tsp of salt into the mixing bowl.  Stir and mix.  Set aside for 20 minutes.
5. Pour drinkable water (filtered or boiled-then-cooled-down water) into the mixing bowl, until the cabbage pieces are immersed in water.  Slush the water around for 15-20 seconds, and drain the water from the mixing bowl.
6. Add 1 tsp of garlic powder (or 2-3 cloves of minced garlic), 2 tsp of Korean Hot Pepper Flakes (or any Mild Hot Pepper Powder), 2 tsp of sugar, 1 Tbsp of Anchovy Fish Sauce, 2 Tbsp of Sesame Oil. Stir and mix thoroughly. Note- No need to add salt. The fish sauce contains salt. Chive itself has strong flavors.  Need to go easy on the seasoning.
7. Chill in the fridge overnight, or ~6 hours. Season to taste with Hot Pepper Flakes (1/4 tsp a time), Anchovy Fish Sauce (1/2 tsp a time), and sesame oil (1 tsp a time). Here is the outcome from our kitchen.
   

Two Taiwanese-style Thickened Soups, Xi-Lu Pork & Lean-Pork Thick Soup (西魯肉, 赤肉羹)

On an unseasonably warm day in early May in Southern California, we attended a Taiwanese Cuisine Demonstration sponsored by the Republic of China, in Taiwan. A young and talented celebrity chef, Chef Wen (溫國智), showed off 11 traditional Taiwanese dishes. Chef Wen added his personal touch to all these dishes and presented them as if each dish is an art piece!  In the coming days, we'll be trying our hands on some of the demonstrated dishes, hoping to make the recipes available in English, and the dishes a reality at home.

Xi-Lu Pork (西魯肉) is a traditional Thickened Soup (羹) from the northeastern Yi-Lan County (宜蘭)  in Taiwan. The version we describe below is easy to make, delicious, and a one-dish meal (with rice).  Two excellent YouTube videos (ChefWen-part1, ChefWen-part2, and, video2) serve as the baseline for this recipe, both provide great visual guidance even though  the videos come with Mandarin Chinese soundtracks. BTW, the word, 西 (Xi) in Xi-Lu Pork, is the sound in Taiwanese for the word, 絲 (slices), implying the fact that all ingredients in this dish are cut into slices.

On the other hand, Lean-Pork Thick Soup (赤肉羹) is a popular snack food (小吃) in Taiwan, available in a lot of the eateries and every night market.  The method of making this dish is similar to that of the Xi-Lu Pork, making this post a good place to see both dishes side by side.  Again, the Chinese word, 赤, is the transliteration from Taiwanese to Mandarin Chinese for the word, 瘦 (lean), implying the use of lean pork.  From the way these two dishes are named, we can see that these two dishes are quite native (and authentic?) Taiwanese dishes.

I. Xi-Lu Pork (西魯肉)

1. [Prep Work-1] All ingredients are sliced- (1) 10 - 12 cups of Napa Cabbage (coarsely sliced); (2) 6-8 oz of pork loin (or, any lean pork, slice, marinate for 30 minutes with 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of rice cooking wine and 1 Tbsp of corn starch); (3) 8-10 dry mushrooms (香菇, reconstituted in cold water for 2 hours, or in hot water for 30 minutes, then thinly sliced); (4) ~1.2 cup of bamboo shoots (筍絲, defrost, and slice); (5) ~1/4 cup of dry wood ears (木耳, reconstituted in cold water for 2 hours, knots removed, then thinly sliced). Note- Chef Wen did not use pork in his version.  Other recipes use more vegetables, such as carrots (Julianne-sliced), and enoki mushrooms (金針菇).
2. [Prep Work-2] (1) 10-12 small dry shrimps (蝦米, soak in hot water for 30 minutes, no need to slice); (2) 6-8 cloves of garlic (minced); (3) 1-2 chunks of scallions (cut into 1" segments).
3. In a large flat bottom cooking pot, add 4-6 Tbsp of vegetable oil, turn on medium-to-high heat. Add dry shrimps, minced garlic, and scallion segments into the pot. Stir till fragrant (2-3 minutes).  
4. Add slices of dry mushrooms, wood ears, and bamboo shoots into the pot. Stir for 2-3 minutes. 
5. Push all the ingredients in the pot to the side of the cooking pot, to leave an open space in the middle of the pot.  Add 2-3 Tbsp of vegetable oil, and place the sliced pork into the opening. Stir the pork slices for 2-3 minutes, then stir and mix all the ingredients in the pot together.
6. Turn on high heat.  Add the Napa Cabbage slices into the pot.  Stir and mix.  
7. Season with 1-2 Tbsp of soy sauce (light soy sauce preferred for its light color), 2-3 Tbsp of rice cooking wine, 1/2 tsp of salt, and 1 tsp of white pepper, and 4-6 Tbsp of fried shallots (油蔥酥).  Now, add 1 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of water.  Cover the lid, bring to boil, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Note- As we learned from more experience later on, Napa Cabbage produces enough liquid when cooked in pot. Adding chicken broth and water in this step (and thickening the soup in Step 9) is really NOT necessary.
8. [Make Egg Crispy, 蛋酥, Optional] While the Napa Cabbage soup is being cooked, whip 2 eggs in a small bowl. Add corn starch fluid (1 Tbsp of corn starch dissolved in 2 Tbsp of water) into the bowl.  Heat ~1/4" - 1/2" of vegetable oil in a frying plan till the oil is hot (i.e., a wet chopstick produces continuous bubbles under the surface of the oil when it's dipped into the oil).  Gradually and slowly pour the egg fluid into the oil with one hand, while stirring constantly with the other hand (to break the egg fluid into as many smaller egg pieces as possible).  Continue to fry the egg pieces till they are crispy and in gold brown color.  Drain oil and set aside.
9. Continue from Step 7, thicken the soup with corn starch fluid (1 Tbsp of corn starch dissolved in 2 Tbsp of water).  Repeat the thickening process until the soup is thick enough to your liking.  Turn off heat.  Add 2 Tbsp of Black Vinegar (烏醋) and 2 Tbsp of sesame oil into the cooking pot.  Stir and mix Season to taste with salt (1/4 tsp a time), white pepper (1/2 tsp a time), black vinegar (1 tsp a time).  
10. Take the soup out into a large serving bowl.  Top the soup with egg crispy, then place coarsely-minced cilantro or scallions on top of the egg crispy as garnish.  Ladle the soup generously on top of a bowl of cooked rice, noodle, or rice noodle (米粉), and serve.  Here is a photo of the outcome from our kitchen.  
    

II. Lean-Pork Thick Soup (赤肉羹)

1. [Prep Work-1] Cut ~8 oz of pork loin (or, any lean pork) into thick slices (roughly, 1/4" thick x 1/4"- 1/2" wide x 1"- 1.5" long).  In a medium-sized mixing bowl, marinate with 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of rice cooking wine, 1 Tbsp of corn starch, 1 tsp of black vinegar, 1 tsp of white pepper, 1 tsp of Five Spices, and 1 egg fluid (whisk the egg white and egg yolk together first). Stir and mix thoroughly.  Set aside for ~60 minutes. About 15 minutes before cooking, add 1/4 cup of Sweet Potato Powder (地瓜粉) into the mixing bowl, stir and mix thoroughly. Let the pork sit for ~5 minutes.  Add 2 Tbsp of Sweet Potato Powder into the mixing bowl again, stir and mix (to make sure the pork slices are fully coated with the Sweet Potato Powder). Note- Please take care to purchase the sweet potato powder, not the tapioca powder. Some product packages label tapioca powder with the same Chinese name (地瓜粉).
2. [Prep Work-2] (1) Reconstitute 8-10 dry mushrooms (香菇, in cold water for 2 hours, or in hot water for 30 minutes), then cut into thin slices; (2) defrost and thinly slice ~1/2 cup of bamboo shoots (筍絲); (3) [Optionally] Reconstitute ~1/4 cup of dry wood ears (木耳)  in cold water for 2 hours, remove knots, then cut into thin slices; (4) Mince 6-8 cloves of garlic; (5) [Optionally] Crack and whisk 1 egg.
3. In a medium-sized pot, boil ~4 cups of water, place the pork slices into the pot slice by slice.  Stir with a pair of chopsticks (to make sure the slices do not get stuck at the bottom of the pot).  Take the slices out when they float to the surface.  Set aside.  Note- use the remaining water in Step 5 below.
4. In a flat bottom cooking pot, add ~4 Tbsp of vegetable oil, and turn on medium-to-low heat. Add the minced garlic into the pot, and cook till fragrant (1-2 minutes).  Add mushroom slices, bamboo shoots slices, and (optionally) wood ear slices, into the pot.  Turn on high heat, stir and mix for 2-3 minutes.  
5. Add 1 can (~1.5 cups) of chicken broth and ~1.5 cups of water into the cooking pot. Note- Add another cup of water if you want more soup for this dish. 
6. Add the pork slices from Step 3 into the cooking pot.  Bring the pot to boil, and turn the heat down to simmer.  
7. Now, season the soup with 1/4 tsp of salt, and 1-2 Tbsp of dried bonito flakes (柴魚片). Use 1-2 Tbsp of Fried Shallots (油蔥酥) as a good, but not perfect, substitute, if bonito flakes are not available.  Let the soup simmer for 2-3 minutes.  Note- See nice web page for more info on dried bonito flakes.
8. Thicken the soup with corn starch fluid (1 Tbsp of corn starch dissolved in 2 Tbsp of water).  Repeat the thickening process until the soup is thick enough to your liking.  [Optionally,] gradually drip the egg fluid prepared in Step 2 into the soup and stir constantly while dripping. Note- The egg fluid tends to make the thickened soup a bit murky. We often go without the egg fluid.
9. Turn off heat.  Add 1 Tbsp of Black Vinegar (烏醋) and 1 Tbsp of sesame oil into the cooking pot.  Stir and mix  Season to taste with salt (1/4 tsp a time), white pepper (1/2 tsp a time), and black vinegar (1 tsp a time).  Garnish with minced cilantro or scallions. Serve by ladling the thick soup generously on top of a bowl of cooked rice, noodle, or rice noodle (米粉).  

Japanese Cheesecake (日式起司蛋糕)

A newly opened bakery in a nearby shopping mall is literally "selling it [the Japanese Cheesecakes] like hotcakes" :-).  Pa Pa's interest in making it at home was perked up, partly because grandma likes it a lot, partly because it tastes quite like the Italian Sponge Cake and Swiss Roll he made in a previous post.  His interest was finally set into action when we saw the price tag in the mall the other day :-).  BTW, most, if not all, Chinese bakeries sell Japanese Cheesecakes, a fact unknown to Pa Pa until recently, because buying cakes wasn't on Pa Pa's "Honey-Do List" in the past 3-4 decades :-).

Lots of recipes for Japanese Cheesecake are available online, most in English, almost all using similar methods (see link1, link2, link3 as examples).  One excellent page stands out as it comes with a great troubleshooting guide, a lifesaver for mere mortals like Pa Pa.  We also received great recipes from friends, one from Master Pastry Chef Shirley, the other from a good friend of our daughter's, Vickie. To our surprise, both recipes from our friends use cornstarch only, without adding any cake flour (unlike the online recipes cited above).  We followed this practice below, which yields silkier and smoother cake. The method used here is quite similar to that used in the previous post on Italian Sponge Cake and Swiss Roll, except for the water-bath baking at the end. 

1. [Prep Work] Take 6 eggs and 1 pack of 8-oz cream cheese out of the fridge, and leave them in room temperature for 30 minutes. Line the bottom of an 8" (8x3 round) cake pan, or two 6" (6x3 round) cake pans, with parchment paper (lightly oil the side of the pan with shortening or vegetable oil).  Take the cream cheese out of its 8-oz package, place it in a microwave-safe medium-sized glass bowl (e.g., Anchor Hocking 7-cup Glass Bowl), heat the cream cheese in microwave for 30 seconds, whisk, heat for another 15 seconds and whisk again.  Now, separate 6 egg whites from egg yolks (place egg yolks into the glass bowl with melted cream cheese, and egg whites into the bowl of a Stand Mixer).  Note- Do NOT use springform bake pan, because it’s very hard to make the pan waterproof for water-bath-baking later in Step 7. Consult this YouTube Video for more info on separating egg whites. 
2. Add 1/4 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of cream (or, 1/2 cup of Half and Half), 1/4 cup of veggie oil, and 1/3 cup of cornstarch, into the glass bowl with cream cheese and yolks. Whisk vigorously for 2-3 minutes (with a balloon-shaped whisk), until there is no clumps in the glass bowl. 
3. [Whip Egg Whites to Stiff Peaks] Turn on the Stand Mixer (using a Wire Whip), at low speed (Level 2-3 out of max-10), till the egg whites start to bubble, then to foam (1-2 minutes). [Optionally, but preferably,] add 1/2 tsp of white vinegar or Cream of Tartar.  Start to gradually add 1/2 cup of sugar (1/3 cup if you're sugar-conscious :-). Now, increase speed to 8 (max-10), if you want to speed things up a bit, till the egg whites show stiff peaks (~1.5 - 2 minutes.  Stop the mixer every 30 seconds or so, to check on the stiffness of egg whites with a spoon).  Note- Whipping to Soft or Soft-to-Medium Peaks works equally well, if not better (the stiffer the peaks, the more air whipped into the egg white, the thicker the cake after baking, and the more likely for the cake surface to crack during the cooling process). Cream of tartar helps in stabilizing the whipped egg whites in the baking process. Consult this YouTube Video for more info on separating and whipping egg whites. 
4. Scoop ~ 1/4 - 1/3 of the whipped egg white (with a spatula) into the glass bowl with cream cheese, egg yolks, and cornstarch (Step 3).  Stir and mix thoroughly (with a silicone spatula).  Note- This is to incorporate air bubbles into the egg yolk mixture, essential for the next step. 
5. Scoop all the mixture from Step 4 into the Stand Mixer bowl with the whipped egg white.  Use a silicone spatula to gently fold the egg whites up from the bottom of the bowl, to mix the whipped egg white with the egg-yolk-cornstarch mixture. Gently fold, in broad motions, until thoroughly mixed.
6. As part of the Prep Work in Step 1, we've lined the bottom of  an 8" cake pan, or two 6" cake pans, with parchment paper, and lightly oil the side.  Pour the batter (from Step 5) into the cake pan(s).  Gently spread the batter to the side of the pan and even the surface (with a spatula).  Shake the pan horizontally a fi iew times to further even the surface.  
7. [Water-Bath Baking] Preheat oven to 350-degF, and boil ~1 liter (i.e., ~4 cups) of water in a teapot.  Place the circular cake pan(s) in a 9"x13" (or larger) rectangular baking pan (with at lease 2.5" in depth).  Place the 9"x13" pan along with the cake pan(s) into the oven, at the bottom rack, and carefully pour the boiling water into the rectangular pan (now, the circular cake pan(s) is sitting in a water bath).  Bake until the surface of the cake turns slightly golden (~20-25 minutes). Decrease the ovenFor  temperature to 300-degF, and bake for another 45-55 minutes (after lowering the temperature down to 300-degF).  Cover the baking pan(s) with aluminum foil once the cake surface turns golden brown (to prevent the surface from turning out too dark).  Note- For two 6" cake pans, we baked at 350-degF for 25 minutes, and 300-degF for 55 minutes.  For one 8" cake pan, 20 minutes at 350-degF and 50 minutes at 300-degF.  As the online troubleshooting guide (cited above) and other experts suggested, under-baking might be a main reason for this cake (or any cake) to deflate, and for a cake's surface to wrinkle, after cooling off.  Try not to under-bake (err on the over-baking side!).  To check if the cake is done, gently press (or tap) on the cake surface with the fleshy side of a finger (i.e., the finger pulp).  The cake is done if the cake surface bounces right back to its original position. Otherwise bake 3 more minutes and check again. This is as reliable as, if not more so than, the "inserted toothpick coming out clean" test.
8. [Cooling down the Cake Gradually inside the Oven] Cooling down the cake inside the oven with the oven door closed for 20 minutes, and then, with the oven door ajar slightly (by inserting an oven glove between the oven door and the oven) for another 20 minutes. The cake surface might show wrinkles if it is cooled down rapidly. Take the rectangular baking pan out of the oven carefully, along with the circular cake pan(s) still sitting in the very hot water bath.  After further cooling of 15-20 minutes, take the cake pan(s) out of the water bath.  Leave the cake(s) in the fridge overnight, or 6-8 hours.  Before serving, separate the cake(s) from the side of the pan(s) with a thin knife, then flip the cake out of the cake pan(s) onto a flat plate, slowly remove the parchment paper from the bottom.  Flip the cake(s) again onto a serving plate. Cut and serve. Here is a picture of the outcome from our kitchen (with two 6" cake pans sitting in a water bath).