酸菜 (Chinese sauerkraut)

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I'm not sure why, but recently I've been craving 酸菜. It is fermented Napa cabbage made in the northern China style. Cook it with green bean thread and pork in soup...yum! Anyway, I'm not much of an expert in different processes of fermenting cabbages to tell the difference between regional styles, but it is definitely not kimchee nor the Singapore or southern Chinese kind. The real stuff is really hard to find in America, so I thought I will try looking for the recipe on the internet to make it myself.

Here's the recipe I'm going to try (roughly translated, with my own notes added below):

1. Prepare a non-metallic container. (The acid released during the fermentation process will affect the metals.)
2. Get rid of the bruised leaves. When putting the Napa cabbages into the container, do your best to place them in such a way as to get rid of all the air bubbles. If you have a hard time putting them in, you may half or quarter them.
3. Add boiling water, add some salt. Place weight on top of the lid to keep cabbages from floating/exposed to air.
4. Place in an area 50-70 degrees Fahrenheit for more than 20 days. Try not to disturb it in the first few days.

Important note! The most important thing in making good 酸菜 is making sure there's no air in the container. The bacteria that ferments the cabbage are anaerobic bacteria. The ones that rots the cabbage are aerobic bacteria. Hence, we add boiling water to kill off bacteria and create an environment that only anaerobes can grow. The acid helps preserve the vegetable.


Here's a site explaining the general concepts of fermenting cabbages.

Lasagna recipe

This is the recipe I based the lasagna on with a few changes in the future.

For the meat sauce
In a big pot,
+ 1 lb ground beef
   1 lb sweet Italian sausage (may need to cook first before quartering & slicing)
   1/2 cup chopped onion (1/2 onion)
   2 cloves chopped garlic
Sweat the onions & garlic till soft. Brown the meats.

+ 28 oz crushed tomato
   16 oz tomato sauce
   12 oz tomato paste
   1/2 cup water
Stir together.

+ 2 Tbs white sugar
   1 tsp fennel seed
   2 tsp chopped fresh basil
   2 Tbs chopped fresh Italian parsley
   1 tsp salt
   1 tsp Italian seasoning
   1/2 tsp ground pepper
Cover & simmer on low for 1 1/2 hours.
Do a final seasoning.
Can be made the night before.

Ricotta mixture
   23 oz ricotta cheese
   1 container of cottage cheese
   1/2 tsp nutmeg
   1 egg
   2 Tbs chopped fresh Italian parsley
Mix with spoon.

Cook 11 lasagna noodles according to instruction.

Other ingredients
   1 lb shredded mozzarella
   1 cup grated Parmesan

Putting everything together
Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
In a 9 x 13in dish, layer (x2)
   2 cups of meat sauce
   layer of noodles (5-6)
   ricotta
   mozzarella
   Parmesan
Top with rest of meat sauce, rest of cheese.

Bake covered for 25 min.
Bake uncovered for 25 min.
Let rest 15 mins., before serving.

Serves 12 people.

What happens with too much fresh chives

Wontons is the answer. Lots and lots of them.

Went to 99 Ranch on Friday and found some incredibly fresh chives on sale. I couldn't resist so I bought some. But what to do with all that chives? I guess I'll have to make wontons! I've never made my own before, though I've had plenty of my mom's. So it's a challenge!

Sunday noon found G and I busy chopping, defrosting and mixing. Mostly chopping though. We added chives, pork, and shrimp. For binding and other flavorings: 2 eggs, rice wine, corn starch, white pepper, sesame oil, vegetable oil, garlic, ginger and soy sauce (生抽, it's less color for more saltiness). We saved the adjustment of salt level for last because neither one of us were experienced in using the particular soy sauce. We had to cook a little bit of the filling to taste whether it's salty enough. If there's one thing that ruins a good wonton, it's over salting the thing.

Then on to the wrapping!

(Paratroopers vs. militias!)

This is the wrapper I will be using the next time as well. All together, I used almost four packages for that much filling.

Remember the Panda brand!

I used a premade soup base I bought also at 99 Ranch. It comes with seaweed, flavor packet and a dehydrated packet of green onions and carrots. I used the first two, but prefer to use fresh green onions and cilantro.

With wontons:

Inside to make sure they are cooked:

They looked and tasted a bit more eggy than they should. Surprising, considering I only used two eggs. Maybe next time I should reduce that to one, or just use egg whites.

Anyway, they tasted really good. And now I have a whole bunch in the freezer. I'm quite proud of our accomplishment.

Apple sauce

I had some apples sitting around since beginning of August when L decided to get his wisdom teeth pulled (I thought I'd make smoothies). After realizing that there was an inverse relationship between the time the apples are in the fridge and the likelihood of them being eaten, I found a recipe for apple sauce written down on the back of an envelope in my cookbook. The results were great. Sitting around the fridge dehydrating actually concentrated the sweetness. It was so sweet that I had to add juice of half a lemon to it to give it a bit more tart flavor.

3-4 lb of various apples/qt of sauce (ex: red delicious, gala, fuji, rome)
water
sugar/lemon juice to taste

1. Peel, core, and slice the apples and put in a pan.
2. + 1 in of water on the bottom.
3. Heat on high with lid on till boiled.
4. Turn the heat down to simmer till apples are soft.
5. Mash w/ potato masher or food mill.

I processed it with a blender and I think the texture was a little too smooth. I'm thinking of getting a food mill sometimes.

After I made it, I also tried canning. I steamed the jars upside down with the lids for 20-30 mins. Removed the jars when ready to pour the sauce. Closed it right away. We'll see how long that keeps. I need something to grab the hot jars.

Green onion pancake, grilled king mackerel, and cole slaw

I've been craving green onion pancakes for awhile now. I miss the delicious aroma of fried green onions when they are hot. Today I decided to make some. So I googled and found this recipe from Nook & Pantry and prepared it with some minor adjustments.

Green Onion Pancake (葱油饼)
8 4-in servings

2 1/2 cup AP flour
3/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 tsp salt +more for mixing with green onions later
~4 green onions
oil for frying and mixing with green onions

1. Combine flour and salt, add hot water, stir to combine. (The mixture will be crumbly.)
2. Let the dough cool a bit then +cold water. Knead till smooth, ~3-4 min. (The dough is pretty wet.)
3. Let the dough rest for ~1 hr in an oiled bowl, covered. (This allows the flour to really soak in the water. Did not see any significant rising.)
4. Green onion mixture: thinly cut the green onions. Add a little salt ~1/4 tsp and mix in with hand. Crush the green onion a bit while mixing. Add enough oil to coat the green onions and mix again.
5. Roll the dough into a log and divide into 8 pieces. Take one and leave the rest covered.
6. Roll the piece out to desired thickness. (The thinner it is, the more layers the final pancake will have.) Spread 1 tsp of green onion mixture on top.
7. Roll up the dough tightly and coil it. Seal the end by tucking it underneath the coil.
8. Hand press the coil to flatten it and use a rolling pin to finish rolling it to desired thickness. (The dough will stretch and break. It's ok.)
9. Repeat with the rest of the pieces.
*At this point, you can freeze the pancakes by putting them in between layers of plastic.
10. Heat the pan to medium to medium hot. Add a bit of oil in the pan and fry the dough till golden brown on both sides.

Notes: Next time I think I will probably triple or quadruple the recipe. 1 of this is enough for 2 people. However, it'll be nice to have some frozen for use during the rest of the week or have something bigger than coaster sized pancakes.

For dinner: King mackerel and cole slaw
Sprite made cole slaw last night with the goal of replicating the delicious KFC cole slaw. The vegetables soaked overnight to absorb the flavors. Turned out pretty damn close.

As for the mackerel, I was shopping at 99 Ranch when I decided why not try some fish? I'm usually not a fish person, but grilling can't be too bad. Plus, a fillet of it was only $2.50 or so. Lets try it.

I found a recipe on google. Super easy and really delicious.
Clean and season fish with salt, black pepper and garlic. While grilling, place lemon slices on top. When serving, garnish with lemon slices as well. It's good.

A note on cooking mackerel in my cast iron pan: Cook on medium. Place skin side down to cook till opaque ~60-75% through on the thickest part. Flip and cook for 2/3 the amount of time used to cook the first side. Fish, unlike terrestral meat, is ready when there's a little bounce in the flesh when pressed. This worked out well for now. Will do more fiddling with cooking time.

(I really need to take some pictures of these food.)

Trouble with me as a cook

I don't think I have a very good imagination when it comes to putting ingredients and spices together for food. I know what dishes I like, but then I quickly forget them. So in addition to my goal of buying whatever is on sale for the week and putting them together in new dishes, I am going to try to log my weekly menus so I can refer to them later by ingredients.

Tonight's dinner: Shandong ramen with bok-choy, shrimp and marinated pork slices in chicken broth.

1. Prepare the pork by slicing and marinating in soy sauce, starch and sugar to taste. May add garlic and ginger if available.
2. Defrost shrimp.
3. Clean the bok-choy. Tear in half the bigger leaves.
4. Get the chicken broth boiling.
5. Cook noodle according to instruction. Rinse with cold water and set aside.
6. Add green onion to saute pan and saute the shrimp till cooked about half way on one side, then flip. After it is opaque through half way, take it out and let the heat to finish cooking it.
7. Saute the pork slices. Cook until 3/4 done. Flip and finish when cooked on the other side. Take out and set aside to finish cooking off-heat.
8. Add a bit of oil to the chicken broth and drop in the bok-choy. Cook for a few minutes and turn off heat.
9. Putting all ingredients together and voila! Deliciousness.

I hate tough to chew meat or shrimp and am trying to figure out ways to cook them so they are still juicy and tender. I think I've succeeded this round. It's always a balance between tenderness and possible e. coli poisoning. =)

I still haven't quite figured out the correct salinity of the soy sauce I have, so it still tastes a little salty when I cook or marinate with it.

Reviews from both: it was pretty good and worthy of serving to guests.

Tomato soup recipe

Just wanted to jot this down as both Sprite and I love this soup.

1 lb or so of tomatoes

1 celery stalk

1 carrot

1/2 onion

2 cloves of garlic

olive oil for sauteing

1 cup of chicken broth

2 bay leaves

1/4 cup of fresh basil

1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

All ingredients can be roughly cut to size. Everything is going to be blended anyway, so whatever fits the blender.

1. Saute the onions and garlic.

2. Add celery and carrots.

3. Add in tomatos, cook until soft.

4. Add chicken broth and bay leaf. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

5. When almost done, add basil.

6. Blend in blender till smooth.

Alternative if using canned tomatoes:

Reserve juice. Spread tomatoes in pan, drizzle with olive oil. Place in 450 degrees oven for 15 min until caramelized.*

*Haven't tried that since it's summer and there no need for canned tomatoes really.

Sweet rice wine (酒酿) Experiment 1, Day 1

On the subject of cooking, I think I am a good cook, since all you really need to do to become one is the ability to read and follow directions. However, I am not particularly imaginative when it comes to putting novel flavors together. Thus I want to learn about "basic" (only in the sense that it is common) dishes so I can more accurately learn and judge the different flavors.

Along similar lines, I also want to learn basic skills that I am afraid might not last past my generation, making things such as 酒酿 (sweet rice wine), 汤圆 (ball made from glutinous rice flour, can be sweet or savory), 粽子 (stuffed, or not, sweet rice wrapped in lotus leaf), and 红烧肉 (beef or pork cooked in some type of soy sauce base). (Please excuse my complete lack of translating abilities.) For most of those, one can purchase them at the supermarket. For some, I am not even really fond of it. However, just because I don't like them does not mean others do not. One of my philosophies in life: it's always better to know how to do something and choose not to do it than to not know something and have that prevent you from doing what you want. Not very pithy. I'm working on it.

Based on the temperatures we've had the past few days, I decided it's the perfect weather to ferment some 酒酿. I obtained the recipe from internet considering my usual go to, mom, has about a 30% success rate with this. So here goes. Today is my very first day, ever, making sweet rice wine, a childhood treat that can only be had once to trice a year.

Because the first time is an experiment, I cut the recipe in half so as to not waste the sweet rice just in case it failed. I soaked the rice for around 16 hours because I felt too lazy to cook it in the morning. It smelled the teensiest strange and had some tiny bubbles floating on top when I rinsed it, but I think it's ok. Then I steamed it in the little pot lined with cheesecloth that I borrowed from Kat for about 25 min. At first not much steam was rising to the top. So I had to move the cheesecloth a little to uncover a small hole to let the steam up. When it was done, it looked translucent and is not mushy at all. Whew, first stage complete.

I let it cool completely wrapped in cheesecloth so as to not let it dry out. Then rinsed it and set it in the strainer to drain.

Crush the yeast ball to as fine of a powder as possible. I added some flour to kickstart the yeast and because I like the rice wine to be on the sweeter side.

Put the rice in a mixing bowl and pour in yeast and flour, mix. Hands will be extremely sticky. Have the bowl that will hold the rice for the next week or so as well as the rinsing water next to me before starting. When well mixed, put the rice in the container and pat down. Make a well, or in my case, I made a cone. Rinse hand and pour liquid in well/cone.

Now the bowl is in a plastic bag wrapped comfortably in my big comforter on the couch in the living room. The recipe calls for me to keep the rice on top moist by opening the container and spooning liquid on top of it. However, I remember someone's advice to absolutely not open it for the next 72 hours. For the sake of ease, I am going to follow the latter advice and not touch it.

Fingers crossed! We'll see how it goes.