Mugwort Rice Cake (艾草粿)

This is a traditional Hakka (客家) pastry, a savory rice cake with truly unique flavors when using the fillings described below. It stands nicely side by side with the Taiwanese Turtle-shaped Red Rice Cake (紅龜粿), a sweet pastry we posted in early December.

Ingredients

Rice Flours- Glutinous (Green)

1. Glutinous Rice Powder, 2 cups, plus an extra 1/4 cup set aside for later use, in [Methods III-Step 6] when kneading the dough (available from any Chinese Market, use the Green Bag shown in the product package picture). 
2. Rice Powder (regular, non-glutinous) 1/2 cup (use the Red Bag in the product package picture).
3. Sugar, 1/4 cup.
4. Mugwort powder, 2/3 Tbsp (艾草粉, available from some Chinese Herbal Medicine stores, 参茸行; see product package below). Note- Mugwort is a weed-like plant that's grown around the world, including Southern California. We finally got hold of the plant. Here is how to process fresh Mugwort: Pick some mugwort leaves, rinse thoroughly, cook in boiling water till soft, drain all the water, squeeze into 2" balls, and freeze for later use. When ready to use, defrost a single ball, grind it into paste form with a food processor (or mince finely with a knife), then mix the mugwort paste into the water that's used with the rice powder below, in Method III.

   

   Mugwort Powder

5. Banana Leaves (available in a frozen package from some Chinese Markets).
6. Vegetable oil, and a brush
7. Internal Fillings I- Dried Turnip Slices (菜脯米), 2 cups. Note- ~6 lbs of Turnip, rinse and brush thoroughly (no need to peel, trim off both ends), julienne-slice into thicker slices, sun-dry or oven-dry into thin slices as shown in the picture below. Note- It takes ~3.5 hours in the oven at 300-degF (spread 6-lbs of turnip slices out onto two half-sheet baking pans, stir and turn with a spatula every 30 minutes till the thicker turnip slices turn into ~1 lb of thin slices, in golden color, ~3.5 cups). According to several online recipes (written in Chinese), it takes 2-3 days under full sun to make this ingredient, a much more energy efficient approach (will try in the summer, and update).

   

   Dried Turnip Slices

8. Internal Fillings II-  Ground Pork ~1/4 lb (Marinate 30 minutes, with cornstarch/1 tsp, rice cooking wine/1 Tbsp, soy sauce/1 Tbsp).
9. Internal Fillings III- Reconstituted Dry Mushroom (10-12 dry mushrooms soaked in water for 1-2 hours, and mince), Dry Shrimp (15-20 small-sized dry shrimps soaked in water for 1-2 hours, each chopped into 2-3 smaller pieces), Shrimp Shells (1-1.5 Tbsp of shrimp shells soaked in water for an hour, and mince). Note- shrimp shells are actually tiny shrimps with virtually no flesh (hence the name, shrimp shells, see product package below). 
10. Internal Fillings IV-  Fried Shallots, 2 Tbsp; Soy Sauce, 2 Tbsp; Rice Cooking Wine, 2 Tbsp; White Pepper, 1/2 tsp; Salt 1/2 tsp; sugar 1 tsp.

    

    Shrimp Shell

Methods I- Prep Work

1. Defrost the banana leaves. Cut banana leaves into 10-12 ovals, each slightly larger than average palm size.
2. Setup the steamer pot, with two layers of steam baskets.
3. Add 1-2 Tbsp of veggie oil into a small plate. Brush a thin layer of veggie oil onto the banana leave ovals, and set them aside.
4. Set the veggie oil and brush aside (to brush on the surface of the rice cake after steaming).

Methods II- Make the Cake Fillings

1. Add 1 Tbsp of Veggie Oil into a flat-bottom cooking pot, turn on medium heat for a minute. Add the ground pork into the pot. Press the ground pork flat with a spatula, then stir, and press flat again. Repeat until the ground pork is no longer clumped together. Take out and set aside.
2. Add 1 Tbsp of Veggie Oil into the cooking pot again, turn on medium heat for a minute. Add  minced dried mushroom, dry shrimp, and dry shrimp shells (Internal Fillings III) into the pot, stir and mix until fragrant.
3. Add the ground pork back into the pot. Stir for a minute.
4. Add 2 cups of Turnip Slices (Internal Fillings I) into the pot, stir and mix.
5. Add all the seasonings in Internal Fillings IV into the pot, stir and mix for 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat, and set aside.

Methods III- Make the Cake Skin

1. In a large mixing bowl, add 2 cups of Glutinous Rice Powder (from Green Package), 1/2 cup of Rice Powder (regular, non-glutinous, from Red Package), and 1/4 cup of sugar.
2. Add 1.25 cup of water into a 2-cup measuring cup. Note- As a general rule, for 2.5 cups of rice powders, use 1.25 cup of water (water is half in volume).
3. Gradually pour ~1 cup of the water into the mixing bowl, while stirring the rice powder mix with a pair of chopsticks (pour up to 1 cup of water, and stop). The rice powder should be in clump form after 1 cup of water is into the mixing bowl. Now hand-knead the rice powder clumps into a dough. Add small amount of water as needed, until the the dough is smooth, and slightly hard (not soft, because more water content will be introduced in the following steps).
4. Take out ~1/10 of the dough and separate this part of the dough into 6-8 smaller pieces, each rolled into a small ball. Boil 1"-deep water in a small pot, and drop the 6-8 small balls into the boiling water. Now, cook till the balls float up. Take the balls out with a skimmer, i.e., a soup ladle with holes. Note- These boiled rice balls, called rice cake core (粿粹, in Chinese), will be rolled back into the bigger dough, to give the dough more structure, and the cake skin more texture (to function similarly as gluten in the flour).
5. Scoop ~1 Tbsp of Mugwort powder into a small bowl, add ~1 Tbsp of water, grind the the powder into the water (with a spoon), until the powder is thoroughly mixed into paste form.
6. Press the larger dough in the large mixing bowl flat, place on top of the flattened dough with- (1) the cooked rice balls (from Step 4), and (2) ~2/3 of the mugwort paste (from Step 5, need to split the paste into 4-5 small pinches). Now roll the dough (with the rice balls and mugwort pinches wrapped inside), till the dough is smooth and the surface of the dough showing tiny green spots. Add dry glutinous rice powder a little a time (up to 1 Tbsp a time), if the dough is too wet from the newly introduced water content. 
7. Separate the dough into 10-12 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball, and then, press each ball into a flat round (2-to-3-inches in diameter). Note- Cover the dough that's not being used with a damp cloth.

Methods IV- Making and Steaming the Cakes

1. Scoop a large spoonful of cake fillings onto the center of the flat round skin. Bunch the flat round tightly together at the top (like how you make Xiao-Long-Baos, with no worries about the nice wrinkles at the top). 
2. Brush a thin layer of veggie oil on one banana leaf oval. Press each bao-shaped dough portion (with filling inside) onto a banana leaf oval. Now shape the bao with your palm into an oval. 
3. Steam the oval-shaped cakes in a steaming pot, in two-layers of steaming baskets, for ~10 minutes. Note- Bring the steaming pot to boil (without steaming baskets). Then add the steaming baskets on top of the steaming pot, and bring the pot to full steam (i.e., till  you can see steam coming out of the top or the side of the lid). Now reduce the heat to medium. Steam for 4-5 minuets, take each steaming basket out and tilt it slightly to drain any vapor/water from the top of the pastry. Now swap the top basket with the bottom basket, bring the pot to full steam again, and steam for another 4-5 minutes. I use a 12-inch steaming pot. Each layer of steaming basket allows 5-6 ovals. 
4. Take the lid off right away, tilt the steaming basket to let vapor fluid flow off from the surface of the cakes. Now, brush a thin layer of veggie oil on the surface of each cake. The outcome from our kitchen is shown at the top of this post.

Methods V- Reheating the Cakes

1. The cakes can be easily stored in fridge for days, and in freezer for weeks.
2. To reheat, defrost (if frozen), and place the cake(s) on a dry frying pan (without oil). Turn on low-to-medium heat, and heat for 3-4 minutes each side.

Turtle-shaped Red Rice Cake (紅龜粿)

In ‘Chinese Snacks’, one of the well-written bilingual (English-Chinese) Wei-Chuan Recipe Books (味全食譜), the brilliant picture of a bright red turtle-shaped rice cake (紅龜粿) caught Papa’s attention and brought back lots of fond memories about the culture of making traditional foods back in Taiwan, where Papa spent his formative years. Ever since then Papa was on a quest to find a pastry mold with turtle pattern (紅龜粿模).  On a recent trip back to Taipei, a dear friend surprised Papa by making a special trip to acquire such a mold from the renowned wholesale district in the city, Di-Hwa Street (廸化街). A picture of the solid wood pastry mold is proudly presented below. The pastry mold itself is only symbolic, to express a pastry maker’s wish for everyone to enjoy longevity and long-lasting peace of mind. In fact this rice cake can be made without the mold, and tastes equally delicious, as suggested in Step 7 below.

Ingredients

1. A pastry mold with turtle pattern (see picture above).
2. Glutinous Rice Powder, 2 cups, plus an extra 1/4 cup set aside for later use, in Step 6 below (available from any Chinese Market, use the Green Bag as shown in the product package picture below).
3. Rice Powder (regular, non-glutinous) 1/2 cup (use the Red Bag in the product package picture).
4. Sugar, 1/4 cup.
5. Beetroot Powder, 0.5 Tbsp (i.e., 1.5 tsp, as a natural red color source, available online or from a health food store). Note- FDA-approved Food Color can be used to produce more vivid red color. Other untested natural red color sources might include red rice yeast (紅麴), roselle flower (洛神花), dragon fruit (火龍果), and beetroot from the market veggie section (甜菜根).
6. Banana Leaves (available from the frozen package in some Chinese Markets).
7. Vegetable oil, with a brush.
8. For the internal fillings- a can of Red Bean Paste (from any Chinese Market), or Mung Bean Paste (following instructions in this previous post).

Method

1. Defrost the banana leaves. Cut banana leaves into 6 oval shapes,, each slightly larger than the turtle shape of the pastry mold.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add 2 cups of Glutinous Rice Powder (from Green Package), 1/2 cup of Rice Powder (regular, non-glutinous, from Red Package), and 1/4 cup of sugar.
3. Heat 1.25 cup of water in Microwave for 1 minute (using a 2-cup measuring cup). Add 0.5 Tbsp (i.e.,m 1.5 tsp) of Beetroot Powder into the cup, stir and mix until the Beetroot Powder is fully dissolved. Note- As a general rule, for 2.5 cups of rice powder, use 1.25 cup of water (waster is half in volume).
4. Gradually pour ~1 cup of the beetroot water mix into the mixing bowl, while stirring the rice powder mix with a pair of chopsticks. The rice powder should be in clump form when 1-cup of beetroot mix is poured into the mixing bowl. Now hand-knead the rice powder clumps into a dough. Add small amount of water as needed, until the the dough is smooth, and slightly hard (not soft, because more water content will be introduced in the following steps).
5. Take out ~1/10 of the dough and separate this part of the dough into 6-8 smaller pieces, each rolled into a small ball. Boil 1"-deep water in a small pot, and drop the 6-8 small balls into the boiling water. Now, cook till the balls float up. Take the balls out with a skimmer, i.e., a soup ladle with holes. Note- These boiled rice balls, called rice cake core (粿粹, in Chinese), will be rolled back into the bigger dough, to give the dough more structure, and the cake skin more texture (to function similarly as gluten in the flour).
6. Press the larger dough in the large mixing bowl flat, and place on top of the flattened dough with the cooked rice balls (from Step 5). Now roll the dough with the rice balls wrapped inside, till the dough is smooth. Add dry glutinous rice powder a little a time (up to 1 Tbsp a time), if the dough is too wet from the newly introduced water content.
7. Separate the dough into 6 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball, and then, press each ball into a 2-to-3-inch flat round. Note- Cover the dough that's not being used with a damp cloth.
8. Scoop a large spoonful of red bean paste (or mung bean paste) onto the center of the flat round. Bunch the flat round tightly together at the top (like how you make Xiao-Long-Baos, with no worries about the nice wrinkles at the top)). 
9. Brush a thin layer of veggie oil on the pastry mold, and on top of the oval shaped banana leaf.  Press each bao-shaped dough portion into the mold firmly. And then place the mold on top of an oval shaped banana left, to let the now turtle-imprinted dough piece fall naturally on the banana leaf. Note- This pastry can be made without using a pastry mold. Simply press each bao-shaped dough portion into flat oval shape with your palm, and set it on an oval shaped banana leaf. 
10. Steam the turtle-shaped pastries in a steaming pot, in two-layers of steaming baskets, for ~8 minutes (NOT much longer than 8 minutes), at medium heat (not high heat). Note- Bring the steaming pot to boil (without the steaming baskets). Then add the steaming baskets on top of the steaming pot. Now reduce the heat to medium, and steam for 8 minuets. Do NOT steam much longer than 8 minutes (over-steaming will cause the pastry to soften and fall flat on its own weight). I use a 12-inch stainless steaming pot with two layers of steaming baskets. Each layer of steaming basket allows up to 4 turtles. The lower basket seems to get a lot of vapor drops from the bottom of the top basket and the turtles become flatter in shape and paler in color. The top basket doesn't seem to have this problem, from the dome lid. Note- Will try bamboo steamer baskets next time.
11. Take the lid off right away, tilt the steaming basket to let vapor fluid flow off from the pastry pieces. Now, brush a thin layer of veggie oil on the surface of each pastry piece. Here is an outcome from our kitchen-
    
12. The pastry pieces can be easily stored in fridge for days, and in freezer for weeks. To reheat, defrost (if frozen), and place the pastry pieces on a dry frying pan (without oil). Turn on low-to-medium heat, and heat for 3-4 minutes each side.

Beer Braised Duck (啤酒鴨)

This is a nice duck dish, a whole duck nonetheless, which might be a candidate for a holiday main dish. I read about this dish in one of my favorite novels on the net. The simplicity in its making is quite surprising and delightful, esp. when compared with how a Peking Duck or a no-frills roasted duck is cooked. There is no guess work, and no uncertainty involved in cooking this dish, which is a dream come true for Papa, a mere mortal in the cooking world. The beer-factor makes it more intriguing, but the beer serves some real purposes. It tenderizes the duck meat and makes the meat very flavorful. This recipe combines and modifies two online recipes, an excellent video and a great blog entry (both in Chinese).

I. Ingredients

1. Equipment- Need a large pot or wok that could allow a whole duck to be placed inside when the lid is tightly closed. I use a Belgique Hard-Anodized 7.5-Qt. Pot. A 14-inch flat bottom wok should also work. A nicely fit lid is a must for cooking this dish.
2. Whole Duck- A 4-to-6-pound frozen whole duck can be obtained from almost any market (call to check first). Defrost completely (36-48 hours in the fridge, or 4-6 hours when submerged in cold water by changing water every 30 minutes, see product package for more info). Empty all contents in the cavity of the duck, rinse thoroughly inside and out. Cut off extra skin from the neck area, and the end (~1.5”) from the tail. Truss the wings with butcher string (or kitchen twine) to prevent them from flapping around (no need to truss the legs).
3. 2 cans of beer- any 12-oz (360-cc) beer will do.
4. Ancillary ingredients- green onion (1-2 stalks, rinse and tie into a knot), ginger (4-6 thick slices), brown sugar (1/4 cup), soy sauce (1 cup), salt (1/2 tsp per pound of duck, up to 2tsp max). 
5. One cup of rice cooking wine, or shaoxing cooking wine, if you plan to make duck soup later 

II. Method

1. Immerse a whole duck in water in a large pot (see Ingredients-1), add the green onions and ginger slices from Ingredients-4 into the pot, bring the pot to boil, and reduce the heat to simmer for 30 minutes. Close the lid tightly. Turn the duck every 10 minutes (let the water flow into the inside chamber of the duck). Note- This step renders most, if not all, of the duck fat under its skin. Add one cup of rice cooking wine (or shaoxing cooking wine), if you plan to make duck soup later.
2. Take the duck out, rinse out any debris from the duck, inside and out. Let the duck sit on a cutting board. Pour the fluid out of the pot carefully into a smaller soup pot, to save for a duck soup, if desired (see the last step below). Set the green onions and ginger slices aside. Rinse the pot to rid of all the debris. Note- Remove the debris from the surface of the leftover fluid as well, if making a soup later.
3. Put all the rest of the Ancillary Ingredients (see Ingredients-4) into the pot. Turn on medium heat. Stir and mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Place the green onions and ginger slices back into the pot (or use fresh green onions and ginger slices).
4. Place the duck inside the pot. Pour in the beer slowly. Bring the pot to boil at medium heat, and let simmer for 60 minutes with the lid tightly closed. Turn the duck every 15 minutes (to cook and color both sides evenly). Note- I turn the duck with two strong angled-wood-spatulas, as the pot is filled with steaming-hot beer sauce and the duck is a bit unwieldy from its weight and size. 
5. At the end of 60 minutes, take the duck out, place it on a large plate, ladle the sauce on top, and serve. Note- It's quite reasonable to carve the duck into 2 pieces of leg and thigh, and 2 pieces of duck breasts, and then slice the duck meat delicately at an angle, garnish and serve. Search "How to Carve a Duck" to see how a duck can be neatly cut.  After carving, what's left of the duck can go into a pot with the fluid drained from Step 2, and be made into a tasty duck soup (season to taste with salt).

Celery and Jelly Fish (西芹海蜇)

This simple cold dish is delicious, and often appears as one of the appetizers in a banquet.

Ingredients

1. Celery, 3-4 stalks. 
2. Jelly Fish Heads (海蜇頭), 14oz (see product image- it’s key to get jelly fish heads, in nodules, not the jelly fish, in sheets). Note- bean-curd-slices (干絲) works well as a substitute (need to blanch for 15-20 minutes till soft, or immerse in baking soda water first, then blanch for 2-3 minutes, stay tuned for update on this).

   

   Jelly Fish Heads

Method

1. Immerse jelly fish heads in water until they no longer taste salty (6-8 hours, change water 3-4 times, every 1.5-2 hours). To taste, wipe the surface with your finger, and take a quick lick at the finger.
2. Chop the jelly fish heads into bite-size pieces. 
3. Chop celery into bite-size chunks. Blanch in boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Take out and set aside. Note- Many recipes advocate peeling fiber from the celery stalk.surface, by cutting a stalk halfway in depth on the concave side of the stalk, at the half-length point, then separating the stalk gently while peeling the fiber off from the convex side of the stalk. Papa thinks blanching alone is sufficient (fiber is good for our digestive system after all).
4. Let the boiling water (used for blanching celery chunks) cool for 2-3 minutes (for the water temperature to go down to ~180 degF).
5. Place the jelly fish pieces in a strainer, and let the strainer sit over an empty large ceramic bowl. Now pour the hot (but no longer boiling) water slowly into the strainer (with the water being collected in the ceramic bowl).
6. Leave the jelly fish pieces sit in the hot water for ~10 seconds (but not much longer). Pick up the strainer and set aside the jelly fish pieces. Note- Jelly fish pieces will shrink and harden if left in boiling water, or hot water, for too long.  
7. Place the celery chunks and the jelly fish pieces in a mixing bowl.  Stir, and mix, then season to taste, starting with salt/0.25tsp, light soy sauce/1tsp, sugar/1Tbsp, and rice vinegar/1Tbsp. The outcome from our kitchen is at the top of this post. Note- Use light soy sauce only, in small quantity. Keep in mind that this is a light-colored cold dish.