Category: Cooking

When the Missus saw this recipe in Mastering the Art of Chinese Cookingby Eileen Yin-Fei Lo She wanted it made immediately. It seems, the Missus doesn't just love Okonomiyaki, but all types of pancakes.

 The Missus had eaten something like this before, but balked at the addition of peanuts, so I omitted them. In order to get a nutty flavor, I added sesame oil instead. So if you want to make the recipe as written in the book, you can add 2 tablespoons raw peanuts that you dry roast. The Missus thought zucchini would be pretty bland, so we bought what She called "water squash". I removed the seeds and just used the solid portions. It did add a nice mild sweetness. I also realized that this might be a tad bland so I added a bit of salt. I would also recommend that you follow the recipe's instructions and use peanut oil. Because of the rather delicate flavor, it will make a difference. Also, 1 1/2 cup of squash isn't much bulk, so I doubled the recipe, which made four decent size pancakes.

So without further ado…..

Chiu Chow Squash Pancakes

1 1/2 Cups Squash or zucchini sliced into 1/4" strips 
3 Tb sliced scallion
1 large egg lightly beaten
1 1/2 Tb premium soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp Shaoxing (drinking quality please)
4 1/2 Tb All purpose flour
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
dash of white pepper and salt
3+ Tb peanut oil.

– In a bowl combine dry ingredients
– In another bowl lightly beat egg and add soy sauce, sesame oil, and Shaoxing 
– Add sift dry ingredients into wet and combine into a batter.
– Add scallions and squash and mix until a batter forms.
– For about 30-40 seconds, heat a pan or wok over high heat.
– Add 3 Tb peanut oil, make sure the pan is fully coated.
– Using a large spoon or ladle, scoop up half the batter and pour into the pan.
– Using the spoon or ladle, gently spread the batter until a fairly thin textured circle is formed.
– Jiggle the pan and wok to ensure that the pancake is not sticking. Lower temperature to medium.
– When you can see the edges of the pancake is brown, flip the pancake over.
– Add more oil if necessary.
– When the pancake is browned, remove to a paper-towel lined plate.

To tell you the truth, I don't really know what to call this dish. It is truly an "ABCD" – American Born Chinese Dish….. It takes a bit from a bunch of different dishes I've eaten. I'd love to call it "Gan Shao Qie Zi"(干燒茄子), dry braised eggplant, but this really isn't that either. The dish was born from necessity. The Missus loves eggplant, but at the time…. almost twelve years ago, all we had was a lousy electric stove. Also, since eggplant is a real "oil sponge" we really didn't want to use very much oil, especially without high heat.

I'm sure most of you have created your own hybrid dishes born of necessity. This one is ours. Basically, the eggplant starts in a smoking wok, but once color is achieved, the heat is turned down to medium.

The eggplant is flavored during cooking with some of our favorite ingredients. Items are added as the various liquids are absorbed by the eggplant.

Once the eggplant has been cooked as desired an additional sauce is mixed with the eggplant.

It's one of the dishes that we've kept since our apartment days…… It may seem like a lot of steps, but like most things I make, it's pretty easy.

And though I'm still not quite convinced this is worth a post, I'm tired of looking at the photos. Maybe you all can share the recipes born of necessity that you've kept from your college dorm or apartment days. I'm sure you've come up with some pretty innovative stuff and I'd love to read about it!

Chinese Style Spicy Eggplant:

1 1/2 – 2 lbs Chinese Eggplant cubed
3-4 Dried Chilies
3-4 Tb dried shrimp
5 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tb granulated sugar
2-3 Tb soy sauce
2-3 Tb Chinkiang Black Vinegar
2-3 Tb Shaoxing – drinking quality
Water if necessary
Salt and White Pepper to taste
3-4 Tb Canola Oil

Sauce:
2-3 Tb Chinkiang Black Vinegar
2 Tb Soy Sauce
1 Tb Oyster Sauce
1 Tb Hoisin sauce
1-2 tsp Chili Paste
1 tsp sesame oil

Chili oil
Cilantro

– Mix sauce ingredients.
– Heat a wok until smoking
– Add canola oil and scald dry chilies
– Add eggplant and dried shrimp and stir fry.

– When the eggplant starts to color add Shaoxing and turn heat to medium.
– Add black vinegar, garlic, and sugar, and mix. Cover for 2 minutes to soften eggplant.
– Uncover and stir fry over medium heat until liquid is absorbed, and eggplant starts to turn "dry".
– Add soy sauce and keep stir frying.
– If eggplant has not softened add water 2 tablespoons at a time, mix, cover, and repeat, until eggplant is fully cooked through.
– Taste the eggplant, it should have some flavor even without the sauce.
– Using your Chinese spatula, manipulate the eggplant until the desired texture is achieved.
– Once the eggplant has reached your desired texture, add the sauce, mix quickly, and remove from heat.
– Add chili oil to taste, and garnish with cilantro.

I was surprised that a few folks wanted to know what we did with "Daikon-zilla".

 Other than a bit for oroshi, we decided to make Turnip Cakes, which well, isn't made from turnips…perhaps it once was, but nowadays, radish is used. Funny thing, over the years my post and recipe for turnip cakes has been pretty popular.

I realized after shredding the daikon, that this was going to make a whooooole lotta turnip cakes. Meet mount daikon:

 
  After simmering the daikon, and waiting for it to cool……

 

I went to owkr on the other ingredients. I decided to use twice the amount of dried shrimp and lup cheong this itme around. I also added dried shiitake mushroom that had been soaked for about twenty minutes or so.

This time, instead of soaking the shrimp in water, I started the stir fry with the sausage and shrimp in about 2 tablespoons of oil, and added a a couple of tablespoons of the mushroom soaking liquid before adding the mushrooms. Scallions go last. I stir-fried the whole thing until the liquid evaporated….

I ad the cilantro directly into the batter before steaming. Man, this made four pans of turnip cake……

We gave some of it away…. but we'll be eating this for a while.

Of course the Missus needed something for lunch…… so I made some Karei Karaage.

So easy it doesn't deserve a recipe…. potato starch, sea salt, shichimi togarashi……

Oil at 350……

Fry away……

Turn once…..

 
When the bubbling starts to slow down…..

It's ready, freddy……

I cut slits in the fish….. this allows the bones to cook, making them crunchy and edible. Afterall, one must get their calcium, right?

So what did I eat? (yes, the Missus ate both of these) I had some of the lup cheong, shrimp, and mushroom mix, and made an omelet…. man was that good!

So what did you eat this past weekend?

The Missus has been requesting these for a while, so today I thought I'd take a shot at making them.

You may not recognize the name, but once you look at them you'll realize that these are the sweet-savory-sometimes spicy potatoes that are delivered to your table as panchan.

This wasn't much of a problem as I had all the ingredients at home….. except for the potatoes. I wanted it a bit spicier than I usually get them so I added red pepper powder and kochujang. Another easy recipe, but quite good.

A couple of notes; the "mulyeot" I use is malt syrup, not colored corn syrup, which is cheaper, but at least to my palate doesn't taste the same. The Kochujang I use usually has glutinous rice powder and soybean in it. There are versions that use other ingredients.

Gamja Jorim:

2 lb russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" – 3/4" cubes, rinsed to remove excess starch.
1 small onion sliced thin
6 cloves garlic sliced thin lengthwise
Red Pepper Powder to taste (optional)
2 Tb Canola Oil
Sesame Oil to taste

The sauce

1/4 Cup light soy sauce
1/4 Cup water
3 Tb Mulyeot (Malt Syrup)
3 Tb granulated sugar
1 Tb Kochujang
3 cloves garlic finely minced

– Mix the ingredients for the sauce, and set aside.
– Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil.
– Add the onions and garlic(and red pepper powder if desired), saute until translucent.
– Add the potatoes and saute.
– When the potatoes start to brown, add the sauce and bring to a boil.
– Turn down the heat to a low simmer, and cover.Stir every 2 minutes or so until the potatoes are cooked through.
– You may add more liquid if necessary.
– When the potatoes are cooked through, remove from heat and add sesame oil to taste, and stir to incorporate.
– Cover and let sit until cool.
– Serve at room temperature or cooler.

It sure was nice to have a sunny day…… and San Diego always looks much better after a good rain has scrubbed the skies. While the Missus wanted to sleep in, I thought I'd take a drive, and ended up at Presidio Park. The Missus and I used to go there regularly when we lived in the Mission Valley area,  often packing a nice bento or sandwich lunch. Since we've moved, we haven't been back very often. But on days like today, it sure is a beautiful, and tranquil place.

Across from the park area was the location of Fort Stockton, and the monument to the Mormon Battalion.

 
Here's the view on one side…..

 

And even though the Missus decided on sleeping in, I was by no means alone……

 

It made for a nice little diversion…..

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Xin Nian Kuai Le, Cung Chúc Tân Xuân (or is it Chúc Mung Nam Moi maybe someone can tell me?), Happy Valentines Day, and happy President's Day, all rolled into one! That's one heckofa holiday weekend that much is for sure. As is usual for us, we're kinda laying low, and will have our big meals a bit later on….. or perhaps the Missus actually believes me when I say, "but honey, every day can be Valentine's day!" Hmmm, probably not…..

Still, the Missus gets whatever She wants to eat today, and what She wanted was a BLT with thick cut bacon and sprouts on sourdough, and a potato salad! Huh? I can however, understand Her thinking….. the temperature today was in the mid-seventies, more like late spring than mid-February weather…. so you want a BLT, fine! Of course the potato salad wasn't going to be your basic potato-mayo combination salad. The Missus was thumbing thru Wanda Adam's The Island Plate II (I really can't say reading, because She's just looking for photos), and saw the recipe for Beau Soleil's Aegean Potato Salad. Which is sorta what She wanted…. I'll say sorta, because of course there were adjustments…..

The Missus wanted to use Blue Cheese instead of Feta, and told me to lose the Italian Parsley, but add scallions. I was interested in making the salad because it used both capers….

and mint….

 
Items that I've never used in a potato salad. Also the lack of mayo was something different for me as well. In order to have a reasonable portion for the Missus and I, the amount of potatoes was cut in half, but the amounts of other ingredients have been kept the same (or increased), since the salad sounded a bit bland to me, and my hunch was right. I really enjoyed the salad, the flavor of the mint was faint(if you were a poet, you could say, it was a "hint of mint"), and if you didn't know it was in the salad, your mind might be asking you, "what is the flavor, it's familiar, but I can't place it."

What was an even bigger coincidence was that I was born and raised in Kaimuki, and I have taken food to go from Beau Soleil when it was located on Waialae Avenue! Sorry to say, Beau Soleil moved back to Manoa, then closed down a couple of years back.

Blue Cheese Potato Salad with Capers and Mint.

1 1/2 lbs red potatos cubed
4 tb Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2-3 tb Red Wine Vinegar
1/3 Cup crumbled blue cheese
3 tb capers, rinsed, drained, and coarsely chopped
1/2 medium red onion minced
2 tb chiffonade of mint leaves
4 tb chopped green onions
Salt to taste

– Cook potatoes in salted water until tender.
– When potatoes are tender enough to pierced with a skewer, drain in a colander. Rinse immediately with cold water to stop cooking and remove excess starch, and drain.
– While potatoes are still warm, gently mix together all ingredients. Don't forget to taste, and adjust seasoning. Also, remember that flavors will be more intense after the salad "sets".
– Serve at room temperature or cooler.

So while the Missus had Her BLT and potato salad….. I had me some refreshing Cold Sichuan Noodles (Sichuan Liang Mian):

And I made this…..

Can you guess what it is????

Would you believe that it's dog food??? Yes, it's true, I cook for Da' Boyz, and for the next 4-5 meals it's be lean chopped pork and carrot rice with their kibble. We've noticed that since we've started cooking rice… usually rice with white meat chicken for Da' Boyz, Sammy's fussy stomach issues have not been a problem. Of course it could be that they are Asian Mutts! Still, for some reason I find the fact that Sammy and Frankie consume Three Ladies or Buddha Brand Jasmine rice, or Koshihikari rice a bit strange……

I hope everyone is having a great multi-holiday weekend!

As I mentioned earlier, I'd made a pretty large amount of dashi around the holidays and needed to find a way to use it up. I decided on making a pretty common mixed rice dish called Gomoku Gohan. In fact, I've seen various frozen instant version of Gomoku Gohan, but making it yourself is pretty easy….. after all, it's just rice, right?

 
The basis of the dish, at least the version I make is mushrooms, and I was quite impressed with the quality of the Gobo (burdock root) available this year, so I thought why not….

 

There a couple of key points I follow when making this dish; first, for once, I actually follow the rather draconian rules for making rice. That would be rinse, then drain the rice (koshihikari in this case) for 30-40 minutes in a colander. I also parcook the vegetables in my dashi-soy sauce-sugar mixture before mixing with the rice. I do my chicken separately. This is so I can taste the simmering liquid of the vegetables, and make adjustments. The flavoring of the rice can be pretty bland, so getting the simmering liquid up to your tastes is imperative.

Gomoku Takikomi Gohan:

3 Cups Rice, rinsed, drained in a colander for 30-40 minutes
1/3 lb bones skinless chicken thighs cut into small cubes
1 medium carrot julienned
1 Gobo, skin scrapped off, julienned
4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in 1 1/2 cups hot water, sliced.
1 cube of konnyaku, quickly "rinsed" with boiling water to remove smell, sliced

For the vegetables:
1 1/2 Cup dashi
1 Cup mushroom soaking liquid
3-4 Tb Shoyu
3-4 tsp White sugar
1 Tsp Mirin
Salt

– Place the liquid in a pot, add vegetables and simmer.
– Add 3Tb Shoyu, 3tsp sugar, and mirin and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
– Taste and adjust flavors. Add salt to taste.
– Place a sieve or strainer over a large bowl or pot.
– Pour the contents of the pot into the strainer, letting the simmering liquid drain into the bowl.
– Let everything cool completely.

For the chicken:
1 tsp sake
1 tsp soy sauce

– Rub the chicken with sake and soy sauce and let stand for 10 minutes.

Put it all together:
– Place the rice in the cooker.
– Add the vegetables and chicken, and mix lightly with the rice.
– Pour the simmering liquid into the rice pot, until the correct liquid level is reached. Use dashi if more liquid is required.
– Once rice has cooker has turned off let the rice stand covered for 15-20 minutes.
– Mix the rice well before serving.

Top with green onions, sesame seeds, nori, etc, etc,……..

I gotta say, that the first time I had Chao Nian Gao(stir fried rice cake), I wasn't too impressed. It was kinda sticky-gooey, and sank to the bottom of my belly and seemed to "camp out" for a good long period of time. It was interesting, because I'd never had rice cakes prepared in that manner. I did however have Korean Ddukbokki many times. Over the years, it has grown on me, and now I try to order Nian Gao whenever I see it on the menu. I usually see it on Shanghainese menus, though I recently had a version from a Yunnan Restaurant (post coming soon) that I thought was excellent. 

On a whim, during a recent visit to 99 Ranch Market, I picked up a package of dried Nian Gao disks, you can also find the rice cakes rolled into a rod like form, and cut your own, though you can substitute Dduk….. So I purchased my Nian Gao, and did nothing with it. Finally, the Missus, tired of waiting, told me to make the darn thing…tonight….

The problem being that the instructions say you need to soak these for at least 16-20 hours. So it was going to be a looooong wait for dinner to get on the table.

I decided to go ahead and soak these overnight…. which became two nights when we got occupied doing other things. On the third day I figured I'd better get round to making these. What follows is a basic outline of what I did, not a proper recipe. I used only what was on hand in the fridge and cupboard.

I had just finished off my Oxtail Soup, and had leftover greens.

 

They call these "Shen Lee" at 99 Ranch Market. They have a mild bitter-mustardy flavor.

We usually don't have pork on hand, but always have dried shrimp in the refrigerator. We will use shrimp as a pork substitute in many of our dishes like Dried Fried Green Beans 干煸四季豆. It handles heat well, and will crisp up, tasting like shrimp bacon. So I used a couple of tablespoons of  dried shrimp.

 

Instead of the standard lighter Shanghai version, I went with three types of soy sauce for flavoring, a dark, dark mushroom, and premium light soy sauces because, well, I just felt like it. 1 tsp each dark soy sauces and about 2 Tb light soy sauce. I also added a dash of white pepper. In retrospect, I should've also added some Sichuan Preserved Vegetable, but forgot I had some in cupboard.

And of course the Nian Gao:

Which had been soaking for 60 hours or so! I used half the package, a bit over 8 ounces dry. I made two batches of Chao Nian Gao over two days.

The cooking technique used is, of course Chǎo(炒), a method of stirfying. As mentioned above, I made two batches of Chao Nian Gao. On my first attempt, I cooked on the stovetop to allow for mistakes and adjustments. Here's how it turned out:

Good but a bit more chewy then I would have liked.

On my next try, I broke out my Big Kahuna (now why does that sound so wrong???) and let her rip at 55,000 BTUs. What came out was delicious…….with some decent "wok hay":

Man, this was good. It had turned out better than I thought it would. It was still pretty heavy stuff, it fills you up pretty quickly and you'll stay full for a while. I guess I'm adding this dish to my Big Kahuna Files. It is as a whole just a basic stir-fry, and quite easy to make.

In fact, I just bought another bag of Nian Gao. This one says to soak for only two hours…….