Korean BBQ at Home

I was craving for some Korean BBQ at home, so I just made it.  It's easy to make it at home.  You just have to marinade the meats a day before and then prepare some side dishes to go with the meal.  I was grilling with an indoor grill.

              Short ribs and spicy chicken

                                 Japchea 

           Shrimps and veggies pancakes 

Ground Pork with Flower Chives

During the summer break, I was given some home grown flower chives and zucchini.  The owner was sharing this method of cooking the flower chives and it sounded delicious so I was trying out her recipe.  She used the black bean sauce to cook this and since I only have the bean sauce, I used that instead.  It turned out great and it was well received by both of my girls!  As for me, I have found another way of cooking the flower chives! :)

Siew York (Baked Pork Belly) with Chive and Onion

I remembered eating the leftover siew york in sweet dark soy sauce when I was little.  It was either a leftover Chinese New Year dish that my late grandma used to make or from my mom.  So, when presented with a leftover siew york or charsiew, I would think of this dish.

You can buy the siew york or char siew at the Asian supermarkets or restaurants, but if you want to make your own, why not?

Vietnamese Style Grilled Beef

I don't buy pork and beef in my house anymore.  As you can see in my blog, I hardly have any new beef and pork recipes posted in recent year.  I bought some recently because my husband wanted to eat grill beef when we go camping.  But since I hardly ever buy beef, I had no idea which cut of beef to buy or which cut is good for which.  Anyway, that picture was taken when we did the Korean style BBQ on our campsite.  But we had Vietnamese style grilled beef and Malaysian style satay chicken instead. :-)

Easy Stir-fried Leeks with Beef

Cooking doesn't have to be difficult, this super easy stir-fried leeks with beef is an example.  Minimal ingredients used yet super delicious.  I used leftover beef here but you can use a small piece of beef and thinly slice it and marinate it to make this a quick stir-fry.

Leek is in the Allium family, together with onion and garlic.  Not only it is low in calories, anti-oxidant but it also provides lots of health benefits and vitamins and minerals.  I don't buy leek all the times because lots of veggies that we eat are also very nutritious but I certainly include leeks occasionally into our diet.  I am thriving for a variety of vegetables that have different health benefits and try to mix and match them every week.

Pan-Fried Stuffed Lotus Roots

Eating lotus root is auspicious for Chinese as we believed that eating it during Chinese New Year will foster the grow of your new venture or business.  When I saw this dish on Chinese T.V. cooking show, I thought that it would be perfect for Chinese New Year.  And then I saw a similar dish at a Taiwanese cooking show, was it asking me to make it?  Haha...  Anyway, it looked delicious and I couldn't wait to try it myself.  Sharing here is my version.  I served it with a sauce so that the stuffed lotus root remain crispy.  A bit time consuming to make this but the result is well worth the effort.

Today is also 人日.  The 7th day of Chinese New Year and also everyone birthday.  祝大家人日快乐!! This day people normally celebrate it with longevity noodle, tang yuen (glutinous balls), yee sang (raw fish salad) and another great feast!

 
Crispy stuffed lotus root drizzled with scallion garlic soy sauce.  Click next for the step-by-step pictures guide.

I am also sharing this recipe with Aspiring Bakers #15: Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen's Delight.  The deadline for submission has been extended to Feb 6th, the last day of CNY.  So go see the roundup on the 7th!  :-)

Merdeka Open House 2011: Makan Through Malaysia: Klang Bak Kut Teh

Bak Kut Teh or 肉骨茶 or "meat bone tea" is a mixture of complex Chinese herbs, garlic and spices pair with pork ribs and simmer for hours.  Tenderloins, pork intestines, mushrooms, fried tofu puffs are sometimes added.  A handful of lettuce would be added into the soup just before serving.  It is believed that Hokkien preferred saltier food and thus more soy sauce was added and created the darker soup base.  Another variety is Teochew which has the lighter soup base and more white pepper is added (Singaporean seem to prefer this).  As for Cantonese, they loved a stronger flavored soup by adding more medicinal herbs into their bak kut teh.   The well known condiments for bak kut teh are red chili, chopped garlic in light or dark soy sauce.  Chinese fried dough stick or yu tiao can be ordered as side.  Hot water and tea would be offered along side to wash down the oily broth soup.

The history of Bak Kut Teh as quoted in wikipedia, "Bak kut teh was introduced to Malaya in the 19th century by Chinese coolies and workers of Hokkien origin. The dish is reported to supplement the meager diet of port coolies and as a tonic to boost their health. The Teochews came later and the main visual difference between the Hokkien and Teochew version of bak kut teh is that the Hokkiens use dark soy sauce and thus the soup base is characteristically darker in colour." 

Klang Bak Kut Teh or 巴生肉骨茶 is a popular Malaysian breakfast.  I remembered my dad would drive us all the way to Klang for its Bak Kut Teh every Sunday morning.  The place that we frequented many years ago situated behind a Chinese temple (I later learned that it was a Hokkien Association Building) in an enclosed open area.  It was run by a husband and wife team.  I am not sure whether it is still there or not after almost two decades (can anyone confirm?).  The business was good back then and it served the Hokkien version of Bak Kut Teh (one with dark soy sauce).   My dad would bring his own tea leaves.  And it was our ritual to watch my dad carefully used the hot boiling water provided to clean the tea pot and each tea cups before pouring us our tea.  My dad would order the fried Yu Tiao (Chinese fried dough sticks) for us to dip into the soup and we would be really disappointed if they ran out of yu tiao as it was our favorite.  Another thing we liked about this place was they served with dark sweet soy sauce along with soy sauce for the chili and chopped garlic as condiment.  We fell in love with the sweet soy sauce condiment and even now I want my bak kut teh with sweet soy sauce.  Here, I served up my Klang Bak Kut Teh as I remembered it, with fried yu tiao, chili, chopped garlic in sweet soy sauce.  Alas!  I forgot to prepare a cup of green tea to go with it!

I am gladly submitting this post to Babe in the City ,who hosts the yearly Merdeka Open House on August 31st.  Feel free to click through the below link for more information.  All Malaysians, local or abroad are eligible to participate.  If not, go there on the 31st for the full roundup feast! 

2-2-3-4-5 Sticky Ribs

 

I was bad at cutting through the bones, that's why my ribs were in big pieces.  I tried to cut it into half but my cleaver just won't cut through.  So, I gave up before my cleaver ended out with more teeth.  LOL!  Anyway, I bought some ribs when it was on sales and I wanted to try something different instead of cooked it with Bak Kut Teh and I remembered this 2-2-3-4-5 Braised Chicken dish that I cooked before which I adapted from a ribs recipe.  So, since I had some ribs now why not gave it a try and this dish was born.

When this dish was cooking, it didn't smell too good in the house because of the vinegar.  But once it was cooked, I couldn't taste the vinegar at all.  Tasted pretty good to me.  But since it was cooked in an hour to an hour and half, the meat was not fall off the bones tender.

Lastly, Happy 4th of July to those who celebrated!!!

Stir Fried Burdock Root with Pork

This was my first time buying a Burdock Root or Gobo (in Japanese) and stir-frying this dish.  Lots of times, I would buy food that was said to have medicinal benefits and this was one of them.  You can read more about Burdock at Wiki.   I heard people used this to make soup but I have yet to try it.  I should have do a search but I wanted to make this dish first.  My friend gave me this recipe and I also had a privilege to try it at her house.  I quite liked it and thus prompted me to buy the Burdock root in the first place.

This root was quite harsh and fibrous and I didn't do the step as mentioned in wiki, "Burdock root is very crisp and has a sweet, mild, and pungent flavor with a little muddy harshness that can be reduced by soaking julienned or shredded roots in water for five to ten minutes."; perhaps that's why.

When my husband first saw this, he asked, "Are those gingers?"  HAHAHA.... Looked similar to ginger right?  I bet it will be delicious with ginger but probably use less than half of the amount.  This stir-fried burdock root was a bit hard to chew but I loved it though.  My girls couldn't eat this and my hubby didn't like it, so I "sapu" (finished) all. 

Lettuce Wrap

~Old Post~

This is one dish that I must cook every Chinese New Year.  What I enjoyed when I was little visiting grandparents' houses and what was the favorite food that my mom cooked on reunion dinner that seem to be stuck in my memory is this dish.  My mom would roast a chicken or buy the roasted pork from the vendor and made her own chili to go with this lettuce wrap.  It was always so divine that I just had to cook it every year.  Of course the meat served in my house would be different as I often too lazy to roast a chicken and also too lazy to drive so far away to the Asian store to buy the roasted pork.  So, I made an easy stir-fried marinated chicken to go with mine.
 

A piece of romaine lettuce (you can use green leaf, red leaf or Boston lettuce too).  Spread the "mung kuang char" (stir-fried jicama) on top, top with chicken and a little of the chili, wrap and enjoy!

This is what I called yummilicious!!!

Now that I thought about it, I can even wrap some rice in and eat it together eh?  Did you eat this dish during CNY?

Braised Pork with Dried Whole Chestnut and Tofu

I recently made some chicken glutinous rice and needed to add some dried chestnuts.  Since I was going to soften the chestnuts anyway, I thought I just cooked the whole packet and freeze half for later use.  I just defroze the soften chestnuts in the refrigerator overnight for this dish.  I bought this natural dried whole chestnut and thus the color was brown.  Not good looking but tasted the same and healthier since it was not whiten.

This was like a braised soy sauce pork except I added a handful of dried chili peppers (not the bird eye dried chili) for some kick.  Since my girls were eating this, so not much to create a huge kick, just a little that I didn't much notice but my little Edda said the tofu tasted spicy.  Probably because I didn't soften it in warm water first, I just added some to stir-fry with the oil.  Perhaps that was why it was less spicy.  You can certainly add more if you like it spicier.  You can also omit the dried chestnuts or substitute it with Chinese mushroom.

Braised Five Layers Pork with Extra Firm Tofu

I made the above to bring to a friend's potluck gathering.  I took a chance and bought the Five Layers Pork to make this.  Honestly, it was the best thing to do as the fat would melt-in-your-mouth and blended so well with the meat and oh so good.  Yes, I know it was sinful but I never buy this for our own family consumption so this was just an indulgent once in a blue moon.  I actually threw away some extra fat while slicing the meat which I kind of regretted because the other party really liked it.  Oops!

I used the extra firm tofu to braise with the sauce and it turned out so well marinated as the flavor of the sauce all went into the tofu.  Since I simmered the tofu in the sauce, it turned soft and oh so flavorful.

The recipe of this braised dish can be found here.  I had made this numerous times and it was all good.  I started to miss this dish already.

Pork with Marinated Bok Choy

I was given some marinated bok choy from our friend who owns a Chinese restaurant.  This marinated bok choy was prepared by the head chef in his restaurant.  I saw this dish prepared by the head chef and it looked really appetizing and I was trying to replicate it.  Typing this post now I just realized I forgot to add red pepper flakes and I shouldn't add water (as the bok choy will release water when cooking).  The head chef version was dry and his pork was sliced really thin and small.  Not sure what was his seasonings though, probably just salt and MSG?

Anyway, this is my version without the MSG.

This was the marinated bok choy that I received.  I used this to cook porridge and it was really good. What do you call this?

Merdeka Open House 2010: Tamarind Stew Pork with Daikon/ Chinese Radish

I have been participating in Merdeka Open House hosted by Babe in the City since the very beginning, so of course I cannot left this year out.  This year theme for Merdeka Open House 2010 is Food From Our Hearts.  A local dish that I love and is lovingly prepared by my loved ones and tell a story about it.  My mom is the cook in the family so of course I had to pick my mom's dish.  The most memorable dishes that I missed from my mom are Acar Hu (Pickle Fish) and this Tamarind Stew with daikon.  I really like her Acar Hu but I never made it before because of the limited fish choices over here.  This Tamarind Stew can be made with chicken which I did a while ago over here or pork which I did for this year open house.

I really have no idea where she learned this dish from or it is a pass it down recipe.  The taste just stick to me because I like the spiciness from the dried chili, the sourness from the tamarind juice, the sweetness from the brown sugar, the softness of the daikon, and the tenderness of the pork, it just blend so well together.  When I came over to the U.S. this was one of the dishes I missed so much that I had to call and ask my mom for her recipe so that I could enjoy this dish here.  I hardly cook this dish though because my hubby and daughters do not like Chinese radish or daikon at all, thus every time I cooked this, I was the only one who ate the daikon.  Well, actually more for me because I do enjoy the daikon very much.

When I was stewing this dish for this post, my husband came home from work and said something smell like shit in the house.  I had no idea why this dish smelled like shit to him because it smelled fragrant to me.  He had the hesitated look on his face.  But guess what, he ended out enjoying this dish, even came back for second and third.  See, never judge a dish when you haven't tasted it!

There is still time to participate in this event if you or your spouse is a Malaysian, just go to visit Babe KL's blog for more details.

Pork in Hoisin Sauce

I had this dish in one of the authentic Chinese restaurant in Memphis 10+ years ago.  They prepared it without the carrot, just the pork and fresh scallion and it was simply divine.  I tried to recreate it here and it was not bad too.  Except my girls won't eat the fresh scallion as predicted.  I knew they won't eat it so I added the carrots, well at least they will have a little vegetable in their diet.  Of course I cooked another veggie dish to go with this.  In my house, there will always be a veggie dish, in fact, I prefer more veggie in a meal.  My veggie dish will only be veggie but my meat/seafood dish will be paired with veggie as well. 

Try this easy dish for yourself.  Just a few ingredients with sauce you have at home.  Preparing dinner doesn't have to be difficult and a delicious and healthy meal will be your reward.  I am someone who will prefer Chinese food (no butter, heavy cream, and cheeses) over American food because it scream healthier to me. I guess it still fall on what you order on your plate.  Even in Chinese food, if you order crabs, lobsters, prawns, squids, coconut laden curry or dessert, fried food, beef and pork dishes all the times, you will end out with high cholesterol too.  I know in Chinese culture, when you eat out, you are obligated to order a variety of seafood and expensive items, as it to show your social status or whatever.  But I think we should eat for our health first and indulge only on Chinese New Year or special occasions.  Order healthier food actually cost less on your wallet too.
 

Golden Ingots

 

Sorry for the bad pictures because it was taken at night.  I saw this Golden Ingots at Daily Affairs and decided to give it a try.  It was really an interesting idea and very suitable for Chinese New Year.  The bottom layer was fried beancurd puff (taufu pok) and topped with meat ball of sort. 

I prepared it in the afternoon and took an un-fried version.  The natural lighting made the food looks so good.  Too bad I was just too lazy to fried some just to take the finished products for this post.  I used ground pork and water chestnut for mine with my own seasonings.

Bak Kua (Chinese Pork Jerky)

Bak Kua, my all time favorite when I was a kid and now too.  Love to sandwich it in bread and have it as breakfast.  This is also one favorite for Chinese New Year, people give this as gift in Malaysia.  They also served this for people who visits their houses.  When I moved here, bak kua was non-existence.  All I found that was similar to this is American beef jerky which I couldn't stomach.  Then, four years ago, I found a very easy bak kua recipe shared by a fellow blogging friend.  I tried it and loved it and have been making it all these years.

 

This recipe is so easy to make and trust me it is really good.  The above has about 1lb. of ground pork, I thought I might be able to share with my friends until my hubby spotted it.  He never dared to try the bak kua I made all these years (he thinks it was yucky so more for us) and suddenly he came and grabbed a piece to try and kept coming back for more and more.  Needless to say, any food that he set his eyes on, will be gone in no time.  He only left few pieces for my girls and I.

Stir Fried Roasted Pork Belly with Dark Soy Sauce

My mom used to cook this for us with the leftover roasted pork (siew york) when we were little. This is definitely a childhood memory dish for me. I love love roasted pork belly when I was young, I remember whenever we go to the chicken rice stall, I would request for siew york. And then when I was in my teenage years, I started to be more health conscious and hardly ever touch any pork fat and chicken skin anymore. And when I moved to the States, in a small town with hardly any Asian population, there was no roasted pork belly in sight. It was something that you couldn't buy with money. Luckily now I live an hour away from Denver, so roasted pork belly is selling in most authentic Chinese restaurants and easy to come by. We still eat it sparingly as frankly it is not a healthy food choice at all. But it is a childhood dish so once in a very long time is acceptable for me. Recently my hubby bought a big slab of roasted pork from Denver and we had some leftover, so I slice it thinly and made this delicious dish.

Note:
Yeah I don't know why the people don't know how to slice the roasted pork like in M'sia/S'pore. We sliced it so nicely thin and arrange it so nicely for the customer (we can see the roasted skin, layers of fat and meat). But here, they just simply chop it however they want and in disorganized big pieces that I couldn't see all the layers and meat. Now I know, we have to cut it ourselves when order it again.

Vietnamese Fried Springrolls (Cha Gio)

We loved Vietnamese fried spring rolls (Cha Gio). I loved the texture and crispiness of fried rice paper, it added a touch of difference from the usual fried Chinese spring rolls or egg rolls. It was quite pricey to order it in a restaurant as it costs about $2 a piece. So, I decided to make it at home. I got to put more ingredients in my filling as usually what we got at a restaurant was filled with minimal ingredients. It was definitely a treat but I hated that my hair smelled of fried oil afterward.

Stewed Pork with Nam Yee

Recently I bought a small bottle of Nam Yee (fermented red bean curd) to make chicken biscuit. Besides chicken biscuit, Nam Yee can be used to make fried chicken/ wings, steamed pork ribs, "Chai Er" (a vegetarian dish which I love and would love to try) and stewed pork. Below is my version of stewed pork with Nam Yee and wood ear fungus or black fungus. The picture did not turn out too appetizing but it tasted a lot like the steamed pork ribs dish served in the Dim Sum restaurant.