Simple Pleasures

Mexican Style Chicken Soup 墨式雞湯

This is one of my favorite soups, traditional Mexican chicken soup calls for chicken, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, and squash.  I made this soup with whatever vegetables I have in the refrigerator.

 

Ingredients:

Homemade chicken broth

Vegetables - carrots, tomatoes, roasted chile, corn on the cob, and asparagus.

Garnish - cilantro, avocado.

Seasoning - salt, pepper, lemon juice.

 

Bring chicken broth to boil, add vegetables and cook until tender, season to taste.

Ladle soup into soup bowls, garnish with chopped cilantro and sliced avocado.

Top  soup with a slice of lemon or lime and serve with rice or tortilla.

 

 

Roasted Japanese Turnip Kabu and Carrot

Roasted Kabu and Carrot

 

Kabu, a Japanese turnip also known as Shogoin, Hakurei, and Tokyo Market in the US, a friend who lives in Japan told me this is the first time she heard of these varieties (names), they simply call it "kabu" (turnip) in Japan.

This dish is super easy to make and delicious, you might change your mind about how turnip tastes if you try this dish once, here we go:
Small JP turnips - cut into halves or quarters, some carrots (if using).

Seasonings: olive oil, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and a dash of maple syrup.

Toss vegetables with seasonings and roast at 400F until tender.

JP turnip is very tender, it cooks fast, roasting time is quite short, probably 10 minutes or less, I was doing something else while cooking and forgot how long it took, sorry folks.

 

 

 

Spinach Side Dish or Appetizer 涼拌菠菜

This dish is quite simple and easy to put together, briefly blanch spinach and mung bean noodles (if using) in boiling water, drain and squeeze dry, season with salt, white pepper, and shallot oil, garnish with crispy fried shallots.  Serve warm or cold with roasted almond butter dressing or toasted sesame butter dressing.

Ingredients for almond butter dressing -- roasted almond butter (or toasted sesame butter), shallot oil (or sesame oil), rice vinegar (or balsamic vinegar), light color soy sauce (or salt), and a pinch of sugar.  Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, taste to adjust seasoning, if the dressing is too thick add 1-2 tbsp of shallot oil (or warm water) to the dressing.

 

 

Korean Style Garlic Chive Pancake 韓式韭菜餅

 

Ingredients:

2  cups  garlic chives -- cut into 1/4 - 1/2 inch length

8  large shrimps -- cut shrimp into half lengthwise then coarsely chop/mince.

Batter:  1/2 cup flour, 1 large egg, about 1/2 - 2/3 cup of water to form a medium thick batter, salt and pepper to taste.

Korean style dipping sauce :  soy sauce, rice vinegar (or any kind of vinegar), hot pepper sauce (optional), or use anyone of your favorite conditments will do.

 

Method:

Mix all of the above ingredients together and pan fry as if you're making pancake.

Serve with dipping sauce.

The pancakes can be serve as side dish or as snack.

 

Beet Salad 甜菜頭沙拉

Yellow Beet Salad
這個黃色菜頭沒泥土味﹐很清甜﹐好吃。

Roast beets:
1. Wrap beets in foil (do not cut or peel the skin), roast at 375F until cooked through, set beets aside to cool, refrigerate until you're ready to use them.

2. To prepare for salad, unwrap foil and remove skin from the beets, slice into desire thickness and shape, serve with fresh mix baby greens, goes well with soft cheese, nuts, and toss with your favorite dressing.

 

Hot and Spicy Fish 酒釀豆瓣魚

Ingredients:

Fish -- whole fish, steak, or filet.

Homemade sweet rice wine mash 酒釀 (or purchase from store)

Minced garlic, salt, pepper, starch or flour for dusting, green onions, and Chinese hot bean paste.

 

Method:

1. Sprinkle salt and pepper on fish, dust with tapioca starch (or any flour/starch you have on hand).

2. Lightly pan fried the fish on both sides, don't have to be cooked through at this point.

3. Toss in some minced garlic, a scoop of 酒釀 (sweet rice wine mash), and some 辣椒豆瓣醬 (spicy hot bean paste), bring the mixture to boil.

4. Add a bit of water to the pan for sauce, bring to boil, lower the heat and cover with a lid, simmer for few minutes until the fish is cooked through (do not overcooked), taste and adjust for seasonings.

5. Garnish, plate, and serve hot.

 

Indian Aster Salad 涼拌馬蘭頭

Indian Aster, pressed tofu, red chili pepper.

Seasoning:  sesame oil and salt.

 

Frozen Indian Aster, there are many names associate with this plant,

most Shanghainese restuarants serve a dish similar to what you see here.

Sometimes it's call "mountain green" or "wild greens" on the menu,

ask for "mah lan tou" ( 馬蘭頭) the waiter/waitress would know.

 

Guilin Spicy Beef Noodle 桂林米粉

Braised beef shank, Guilin hot sauce, greens, spicy peanuts, rice noodles.

滷牛腱﹐高湯﹐米粉﹐青菜﹐自家桂林辣椒醬﹐麻辣花生。

 

 
Toss and mix all ingredients together, add broth if you like soup noodle.

壓力鍋煮牛腱不柴不爛﹐嫩嫩的﹐輕輕拌一下便碎了。

 

Mushrooms with Bean Noodle Salad 四菰拌粉皮

Mixed Mushrooms with Bean Noodles

 

Raw Ingredients

 

Saute Mushrooms

 

Ingredients:

Wide mung bean noodles -- cooked and drained, toss with some oil to prevent them from sticking together.

4 kinds of fresh mushrooms --  half raw and half sauted from each variety (enoki, oyster, white and brown crab mushrooms).

Radish sprouts, green onions, and carrots, (some cucumber will be nice, but I forgot).

 

Dressing:

Sesame oil, spicy chili oil (optional), light color soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, coarse Dijon mustard, dash of sweetener (optional).

Toss raw and cooked ingredients together with dressing, serve warm or at room temp. This dish can be used as appetizer, salad, or side dish.

 

Daikon Cake 臘味蘿蔔糕

This one is a "must have" traditional Chinese New Year savory cake.

You can tweek the recipe to your taste, here's what I put into my cake:

White daikon 6 lb -- shredded

Rice flour 1/2 lb

1 can chicken broth

1 can water

Dried shitake mushrooms -- rehydrated and diced

Dried shrims -- rehydrated and diced

Chinese sausages  -- diced

Salt to taste

 

Method:

1.  Stir fry sausages, mushrooms, and shrimps to fragrant, season the mixture to your taste, set aside.

2.  Cook shredded daikon with chicken broth until translucent, season with salt, stir in rice flour, add meat mixture and mix thoroughly.

3.  Pour cake mixture into a greased mold and steam on high (or medium high, depending on your stove) for 2-3 hours.

Cool before slicing.

 

To serve:

Slice cake, pan fry cake in a bit of oil (best use a non-stick frying pan), serve warm.  Some people serve daikon cake with their favorite special homemade sauce or condiments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Bean Cake 椰汁紅豆年糕

 

 

Chinese New Year Red Bean Cake 椰汁紅豆年糕
Coconut milk, red beans, dark brown sugar, and sweet rice flour.

Recipe:  I didn't measured anything, here is approximately what I used, the recipe makes one 8" plus seven 3" cakes.

1 pkg dried red beans -- cooked and drained, set aside.
1 1/4 pkg sweet rice flour (approx.)
2-3 hands full wheat starch (approx., optional)*
1 1/4 lb - 1 1/2 lb dark brown sugar
1 can coconut milk
1/2 can water

[Note: You can use a simple 1:1:1 ratio of sweet rice flour, sugar, coconut milk for the cake, it will turn out fine.]

Method:
1. In a sauce pan heat sugar, coconut milk, and water until sugar dissolves, turn off heat and let the syrup cool off a bit.

2. In a large mixing bowl mix sweet rice flour with wheat starch (if using), add coconut syrup, blend thoroughly.

3. Add drained red beans to the batter, mix to distribute beans evenly.

4. Pour cake batter into greased cake molds and steam on high (or medium high, depending on your stove) for about 2-3 hours. Cool before slicing.

Alternately, you can bake the cake in a 350-375F oven until it's done (approximately 1 hour).

* Wheat starch provides structure and less stickiness to the finished product.

 

 

Rice Noodle Soup with Roasted Duck and Pickled Mustard Greens 酸菜鴨湯米粉

Simple easy mid-night snack from odds and ends in the refrigerator.  The soup is made from roasted duck bones, spinach from the garden, pickled mustard greens from store, and leftover duck from dinner.

 

Custard Baked in Butternut Squash

Simple easy custard baked in butternut squash.

Custard :  eggs, sugar, pinch of salt, milk.

Pour custard filling into squash cavity and bake at 375F until done, approximately 45 minutes depending on the size of squash and amount of custard filling.

 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

 

 

 

 

Kabocha Squash Salad

Roasted kabocha squash, spicy sunflower seeds, cranberries, and mix lettuce, toss in raspberry walnut vinaigrette dressing.

 

Roasted kabocha squash @ 400F --- olive oil, salt, pepper, mayple syrup or honey.

 

Homegrown lettuces --- merlot, Korean green, mizuna red and green.

 

 

 

 

Stuffed Kabocha Squash

 

 Kabocha squash stuffed with couscous.

 

The stuffing tastes good as is, it goes well with chicken or fish.

 

Ingredients:

1 small kabocha squash -- cut off top, remove seeds, scoop out some flesh from the cavity and reserve for filling later.

1/2 cup couscous

1/2 cup water

pinch of salt

Olive oil or butter

Squash flesh -- finely diced

Onions -- finely diced

Red peppers -- finely diced

Green beans -- finely diced

 

Method:

1.  Brush squash cavity with oilive oil, bake at 400F for about 15 minutes or until soft, do not overbaked.

2.  In a small sauce pan bring water, salt and oilive oil/butter to boil, add couscous, stir, and remove from heat, cover couscous with a lid, set aside.

 3. Saute diced squash, onions, peppers, and green beans in a small frying pan until soft, season to taste.

4.  Fluff the couscous, add cooked vegetables, toss and mix everything together.

5.  Spoon couscous mixture into the baked squash, garnish with minced parsley.

Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Note: The baked squash and fillings can be made ahead and refrigerated separately.

 

 

 

Baked Okinawan Sweet Potato 烤紫薯

Baked and Mashed

 

Raw

 

Grown in Container

自家種的

 

Spicy Bitter Melon With Beef 三色苦瓜牛

3 bitter melons - thinly sliced

1/2 lb beef filet or flank steak* - thinly sliced

Red chile peppers - chopped

Fermented black beans (or black bean sauce)

Ginger & garlic - minced

Salt

* Can substitute with chicken or pork.

1.  Sprinkle some salt over the sliced bitter melon, mix and set aside for 10-15 minutes; rinse off salt and drain.

2.  Marinate beef -- soy sauce, mirin (opt), pepper, garlic salt, tapioca or corn starch.

3.  Stir fry beef quickly in a hot frying pan and set aside.

4.  Heat some oil in a frying pan, saute ginger, garlic, red peppers and black beans until fragrant,

5.  Add bitter melon and saute for couple minutes, sprinkle a pinch of sugar (opt) over the vegetable. 

6.  Add the cooked beef and couple tablespoons of water if the mixture is dry.

7.  Adjust seasonings, stir fry meat and vegetables together -- plate, and serve hot.

Chayote Shoots 龍鬚菜

Stir fry chayote shoots with minced garlic, salt, and pepper  清炒龍鬚菜

Remove the tough tendrils you get these tender shoots to use as any Asian green

This is what the shoots look like when they came off the vines.

Most people know about chayote 佛手瓜 and know how to use the fruit, but not many people know how to use the shoots 龍鬚菜.  Most southern Chinese grow chayote for the shoots and not necessary for the fruit, whereas other cultures prefer the fruit over the shoots, I am getting a little dizzy here between shoots and fruits or fruits and shoots, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I'm no expert in this subject, I just want to eat the shoots.

Most of the time I just stir fry the them with some freshly minced garlic, salt ,and pepper, sometimes I get lazy and throw the shoots into a simmering broth.  Once in a blue moon I get creative and do something else with it, don't ask, I don't know what I'm doing next.

Enjoy this simple dish, it will be a while before I have time to food blog again, if you're wondering about what I'm so busy now-a-days come visit me in my garden.

Stir Fry Garlic Scapes 炒蒜苔

Simple side dish for grazing in dog days of summer.

Main character --- garlic scapes from our garden

Supporting cast --- onions, peppers, braised shitake mushrooms, add some pressed baked tofu would be nice, but I don't have it on hand.

Seasonings --- olive oil, salt, oyster sauce, or whatever you like.

Stir fry each vegetable separately then toss all of them together, finish with a dab of oyster sauce (opt).

Happy Mother's Day 祝各位母親節快樂

Saute Pea Sprouts With Minced Garlic

This dish is a mixture of  pea sprouts and pea shoots from our garden, the greens are simply saute in a hot frying pan with olive oil and minced garlic, season with Kosher salt.  

To see a tutorial on how to sprout peas go to my garden blog High Desert Garden.

Stir Fry Spring Leeks 蒜炒臘腸

Simple and easy dinner tonight, homegrown leeks from our garden to table in less than 10 minutes.  This is a quick saute dish, the Chinese sausages were steamed in the rice cooker while the rice was cooking, when the rice is done so are the sausages, cut the sausages and stir fry with leeks, that's it!

Shrimp Potstickers 蝦鍋貼

Ingredients for shrimp potstickers:

2    pk   potsticker wrappers

1    lb    shrimp

6    oz   garlic shoots (or garlic chives)

1    pk   enoki mushrooms (7 oz)

1    lg    egg white (keep the yolk for later)

Seasonings:

Kosher salt

Ground white  pepper

Sesame oil (opt)

1.  Wash and clean shrimp, pat dry with paper towels, then coarsely cut shrimp into small pieces.

2.  Marinade shrimp with salt, pepper and egg white, add few drops of sesame oil if using, mix thoroughly, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes or longer to firm up the shrimp so it would not be too soggy.

3.  Coarsely cut garlic shoots and enoki mushrooms.

4.  In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients together including the egg yolk, toss and mix everything together.

5.  Put about 1 tbsp of filling into the middle of potsticker wrapper, fold into half and seal edges with egg white. 

6.  Pan fry the potstickers in a non-stick frying pan with some water, cover with lid, cook at medium low heat until all of the water has been absorbed.  In case there are some water left in the pan, remove the cover, turn up heat until all of the water evaporated and the potstickers are crispy brown at the bottom.

Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce.  I simply mix together some light color soy sauce with few drops of malted rice vinegar (or balsamic vinegar), and some hot pepper sauce.

Check out A Growing Tradition, Thomas has an excellent step-by-step tutorial on how to make potstickers and orange ginger dipping sauce.

Honey Yuzu Marmalade (柚子蜜) and Meyer Lemon Marmalade (檸檬果醬)

 

The lemon marmalad is the same recipe that Thomas used for his marmalade, Thomas' post detailed how to make the preserve with step-by-step photos, it is much better than what I can explain here.

Honey yuzu marmalade also know as "Citron Honey Tea" in China, Japan, and Korea. This marmalade is used as "tea" in Asia, and it is not intended to use on toast or crackers, but you may use it anyway you wish, no law says you cannot spread it on toast or anything else, I've used it to marinade or glaze BBQ pork, ribs, and chicken, they all turned out delicious.

I made my yuzu marmalade this way:

1         cup   thinly sliced yuzu (about 1/2 lb)

1 1/2  cup   water

1         cup   honey

1         cup   sugar

1/2      tsp    salt

1.  Combine yuzu and water in a sauce pan, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer 5-7 minutes.

2.  Add honey, sugar, and salt to yuzu, bring to boil, lower heat continue to simmer 8-10 minutes, stir and skim foam as needed.

3.  Pack into sterile jars, refrigerate or process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Makes 2 cups or four 4 oz jars.