When I cook, I don’t always follow the recipes. Well, maybe the first time I will. Then after that I will adjust the cooking to how I want it to be. I always tell my friends cook however they want, after all they’re the ones eating the food. Here I am showing you the most frequently used spices/sauces for my cooking. Also the measuring cups and spoons.
Come visit my instagram to see my day to day cooking: Jennychenlovescooking
Year of Ox Scallops with greensCold dishesSteam fishTaro rolls/vegetable rollsOrange beefRice cakeSpare ribs with dried scallops and squid soupSweet rice and taro dessertPineapple shrimps
I love Chinese sour cabbage so much, but it is not always easy to find it from supermarkets. sometimes when I am lucky to find one they don’t taste quit right to me. So I started searching online for recipes. This one is easy and the result is so good. Only 3 basic ingredients: cabbage, cold water, and salt.
Quarter the cabbage, if it is dirty outside then clean it with running water. Add 2% salt (2% the weight of the vegetable), sprinkle over the cabbage. Let it marinate for 1-2 hours, water will come out of the cabbage so the vegetable will become soft.
Use a glass container with lid ( I don’t have one, so I used a big china mixing bowl), add the cabbage to the glass container or bowl, make sure add the water from the vegetable back to the container too.
If the water is not covering the cabbage, then add more water to it. Make sure add 2% of salt again to the water(2% the weight of the water). Get a big stone to press down the vegetable and leave it on top of the vegetable to make sure the vegetable is totally under the water ( again I don’t have a stone at home either, so I use a clear plastic bag to hold enough water in it to substitute it). Seal the container with the lid and leave it for 2-3 weeks in room temperature( I seal mine with plastic wrap). Depend on the temperature, the time will vary, I did it for 2 weeks and it was sour enough for me.
When it is sour enough for you, take it out of the water and squeeze the excess sour juice then put it in a zip lock bag and freeze it.
Chinese New Year is coming, so I made this pork Jerky today for the holiday.
Ground pork 1150 g (lean pork preferred)
Oyster sauce 2 tbsps
Light soy sauce 2 tbsps
Dark soy sauce 1 tbsp
Cooking wine 2 tbsps
Sugar 100 g
Fish sauce 2 tbsps
Five spice powder 1tsp
White pepper powder 1/2 tsp
Red yeast rice powder 1tbsp (optional for color)
Direction:
Mix all the ingredients together and mix in one direction for 3,4 minutes or until meat is very sticky.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour ( I did over night).
Preheat oven to 350F.
Get a piece of parchment paper the size of cooking sheet, add 1/5 of the meat to the center of the paper and use a spatula to spread it a little bit, then add a piece of plastic wrap or another piece of parchment paper over the meat. Use a rolling pin to roll the meat thinner over the paper to the size of the baking sheet.
Remove the plastic wrap or parchment paper from the top of the meat, and move the meat to a baking sheet.
Bake it in the preheated oven for 12 minutes, take it out and brush a layer of honey on the top. Go back into the oven and continue to bake another 5 minutes. （if you see broth now make sure to empty it from the baking sheet)
After 5 minutes, take it out again and flip the pork jerky to the other side and brush with a layer of honey too, also sprinkle some sesame seeds all over it. Go back to the oven for the last 5 minutes.
Take the pork jerky out and let it cool down, cut the irregular edges off, then cut them into any shape you want.
Add everything to a stand mixer bowl and mix everything with speed 4 for 15 minutes.
Bring some water to warm ( not hot or boil) and turn the heat to the lowest.
Do as below then use a spoon to scope out the meat balls to the warm water.
Don’t let the water become boil, only slowly simmer for about 15 minutes. I made about 30 meat balls.
Take the meat balls out of the water and let them cool down.
You can bring the water to boil and cook the meat balls in it now, but I find them taste much better after you refrigerate them for a couple of hours. They will become more elastic and more flavorful.
Pour all the marinate sauce into duck’s cave and make sure use your hand to evenly spread inside the duck. Use a bamboo stick to seal the open.
Bring 2 quarts water to boil, then use a big spoon to pour the boiling water all over the duck for 30 seconds.
Rinse the duck with cold water for 30 seconds.
Bring the crispy water to boil then use a big spoon again to pour it all over the duck for another 30 seconds.
Hang the duck and let dry for 4 hours with a fan on ( it is winter now, so I hang it outside)
Brush the skin paste all over the duck and let dry then repeat it one more time.
Brush some oil all over the duck before you put it inside the preheat 380F oven.
Roast it with breast side up for 30 minutes then turn the duck and roast for another 30 minutes. Turn the duck one more time with breast up for another 20 to 30 minutes or until the thickest part of meat’s temperature reaches 165F.
Let the duck rest for 15 minutes before you cut it.
Pour everything together in a big bowl and use chopsticks to mix until you don’t see any liquid. Knead the mixture until everything comes together. Leave it inside the bowl and cover with a damp cloth.
15 minutes later, take the dough out and knead for 10 minutes until the surface is smooth, leave it in the bowl again and cover with the damp cloth for about 1.5 hours to 2 hours until twice in size (depend on the temperature).
Take the dough out and roll it to a long roll and cut it evenly to 6 pieces.
Take one piece out and knead it about 10 times, then roll it into a round ball. Then do the same for the rest of them.
Take the first ball out, use a rolling pin to roll it out to a oval shape, brush/spread some oil on it then fold it over.
Use a cake scraper to lightly cut some liners on the top then use a chopstick to fold the edges a little to make it look like leaf.
Use a damp cloth to cover them up and let rest for 30 minutes.
Bring some water to boil then steam the buns over the water in a bamboo steamer for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes turn the heat off then leave them in the steamer for 5 minutes. ( don’t take the lid off right after you turn the heat off)
Stir the tangzhong ingredients in a small saucepan and cook to a paste like form. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Put all the main dough ingredients except butter in a stand mixer and stir for 15 minutes with speed 3.
Add the butter and continue mixing for 15 minutes. (During the mixing, be aware that the temperature of the dough should not exceed 28C, if the temperature is high then refrigerate for 10 minutes to let it cool down before mixing again)
At this time take a little bit of dough out to see if you can pull a basic film out. This bread doesn’t need the dough to form a very thin film.
If there is no film formed yet continue to mix about another 5 minutes or so.
Roll some balls and Put in a glass or plain baking tray with a second fermentation of about 45- 60 minutes or twice the size.
Brush the egg wash over the dough and sprinkle some sesames on the top then bake for 20-23 minutes in the preheated oven.
Add salt to the flour and mix, pour the hot water to the flour and use chopstick to mix them.
Knead the flour together to form a dough ( check the temperature before doing it, it can be hot)
Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let the dough rest for one hour.
Cut the dough into 4-6 even pieces.
Take one and roll it out to a thin pancake with a rolling pin, spread a little bit of pork lard over the surface of the pancake. You can add the thin sliced scallion now if you want it to have scallion flavor. ( I make one with Asian basil really good).
Please see below pictures on how to roll it up to make a pancake.
Add a tiny bit of oil in a non stick pan and pan fry the pancake until the color turns clear with a little bit of golden brown color on the surface.
You can eat the pancake just like that, or make a egg pancake by adding an egg to the pan, then add the cooked pancake to the wet egg and pan fry for 2 minutes. Or to be really fancy like to picture above, add cheese, vegetables, ham or anything else you would like to eat with it. Be creative!!!
Instructions Checklist Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Spray a 6-inch cake pan with oil. Cut a sheet of parchment paper large enough to line the inside of the pan by a few extra inches. Press it into the pan, flattening any major creases. Trim away any excess paper from the sides until you have an inch or two of overhang.
Combine cream cheese, sugar, salt, and flour in a bowl. Stir and smear together with a spatula until very smooth and creamy. Add vanilla extract and 1 egg; whisk to combine. Whisk in remaining egg, Pour in heavy cream, lemon juice and zest and mix until smooth.
Pour batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pan against the counter to burst any excess air bubbles.
Bake in the preheated oven until puffed, very well browned, and nearly burned on the edges, 30to 35 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 10 more minutes.
Let cheesecake cool to room temperature, at least 25 minutes. Lift out onto a plate and peel back parchment paper. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. overnight preferred.
