Month: November 2015

Thanksgiving 2015

/ CaiQinChen / 2 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Wish you and your family a happy holiday!

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https://caiqinchen.wordpress.com/2014/11/01/pumpkin-soup%E5%8D%97%E7%93%9C%E6%B1%A4/

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Sweet sticky rice 4 cups

Sugar ½ cup and 6 TBSP

Purple sweet potato 4 oz.

Japanese pumpkin 4 oz.

Pork fat 1/4 cup

Some dried fruit such as cranberries, raisin and apricots

Soak rice in water overnight

Evenly spread a thin layer of rice inside a steamer over a piece of cheese cloth and steam for 15 to 20 minutes. If you have lotus leaf at home, soak leaf in water overnight too then use leaf instead of cheese cloth you will have even better flavor rice for this dish.

Mix in ½ cup sugar and pork fat while rice is still hot. You can adjust sugar and fat according to you taste. But one thing very important here is PORK FAT, otherwise it won’t taste the same, but of course I am not saying you can’t use any other kind of oil to substitute.

Peel sweet potato and cut into small pieces. Steam both sweet potato and pumpkin in the steamer until fork tender. Smash them separately with 1-2 tbsp. sugar each.

I prepared 8 different kind of dried fruits and nuts for this dish, but then I was in such hurry, I forgot to use all of them. So at the end I used cranberries, raisin, apricot, pine nut, and boxthorn berries.

In a large deep bowl, use all the dried fruits and nuts to design your best pattern. Be creative!!!

Then add first layer of rice followed by sweet potato, rice, pumpkin then rice again until you fill everything in the bowl.

If you are ready to serve, get a plate to cover the bowl then flick over, take the bowl away, you will have this beautiful eight precious rice.

Optional:

In a small pot, bring ½ cup water, 1Tsp Osmanthus and 3tbsp sugar to boil, thicken it with some starch water, then pour over the rice.

糯米 4 杯

糖 ½ 杯 + 6 湯匙

紫薯 4 盎司。

日本南瓜 4 盎司。

豬油 1/4杯

一些水果乾，比如小紅莓、 葡萄乾、 杏乾

把米在水中的浸泡一夜

均勻的把米放在一個蒸锅裡面蒸 15 至 20 分鐘。如果你家裡有荷叶，在水里浸泡後代替布使用將使這道饭更香。

在飯还熱時拌入半杯糖和豬油。根據你的口味您可以調整糖和油的用量。但有一件事非常重要就是猪油，否則它的味道就不同了，但當然我不是說你不能使用任何其他類型的油來代替。

甜薯削皮，切成小塊。在蒸籠裡蒸甜薯和南瓜直到叉子可以轻松叉入。在每份中加1-2 湯匙糖压成泥。

我为這道菜準備了 8 種不同的乾果和堅果，，但是我匆忙中忘了使用所有材料。 所以最后我用了小紅莓、 葡萄乾、 杏乾、 松子，枸杞。

在一個大的深碗里，用所有的乾果和堅果設計你自己最喜欢的图形。要有創意!!!

加一层糯米後加甜薯、 糯米、 南瓜， 糯米直到你把所以的材料都放在碗裡填滿。

如果你準備好吃了，拿个盘子蓋住碗倒扣，拿走碗，你就可以开吃了。

也可以在一個小鍋裡，把半杯水，1 茶匙桂花和 3 湯匙糖燒開，加一些澱粉水勾薄芡，然後淋在糯米上。

https://caiqinchen.wordpress.com/2014/11/28/happy-thanksgiving-special-edition%E7%81%AB%E9%B8%A1%E8%8A%82%E7%89%B9%E8%BE%91/

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Brownie/布朗尼

/ CaiQinChen / Leave a comment

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I always wanted to bake brownie, but never had any good recipe until I tried this one from allrecipes.com. After first try, I do some changes: I added something and subtracted something else. Here is my version of best brownie recipe.

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup chopped walnut

1table spoon rum

1 table spoon Kahlua rum and coffee liqueur

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8-inch square pan.

In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, baking powder， rum and Kahlua rum and coffee liqueur. Spread batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.

我一直想要烤布朗尼，但從來沒有過好的食譜直到我試過 allrecipes.com 的这个。自从第一次嘗試后，我做了一些改變: 我添加了一些東西，又減去了別的東西。這裡是我觉的最好的布朗尼配方版本。

1/2 杯黃油

1/3 杯白糖

2 個雞蛋

1 茶匙香草精

1/3 杯無糖可可粉

1/2 杯麵粉

1/4 茶匙鹽

1/4 茶匙泡打粉

1/3 杯切碎核桃

1 汤勺朗姆酒

1 湯匙甘露朗姆酒咖啡酒

烤箱預熱至 350 華氏度 (175 攝氏度)。喷一点油在8 英寸的方形盤的四周。

在一個大鍋裡，融化1/2 杯黃油。關火，然後拌入糖，雞蛋和 1 茶匙香草精。1/3 杯可可粉、 1/2 杯麵粉，鹽, 泡打粉, 朗姆酒和甘露朗姆酒咖啡酒。 麵糊倒入烤盤。

放入烤箱烤 25 至 30 分鐘。不要烤過頭。

Apple Roses/苹果玫瑰

/ CaiQinChen / Leave a comment

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My recipe is based on  http://tiphero.com/baked-apple-roses/?ref=cmts

2 apples

Water 2 cups

½ Lemon juice

Apricot preserves 3TBSP

Water 2TBSP

Puff Pastry 1 piece

Cinnamon powder 1TBSP

Preheat oven to 375F

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Apples cut in halves, trim both ends, remove the stones, cut into thin slices.

In a big container, add 2cups water and lemon juice and soak sliced apple in it and microwave for 3 minutes then drain.

In another container add 2TBSP water and apricot preserves and mix well.

Roll the defrosted puff pastry a little bit then cut into 6 even strips

On one of the strips spread some of the apricot mixture evenly, then sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon powder, then lay about 7 slices apple on one side of puff pastry. Flick over the other side of pastry, and then roll it from one end to the other. Put the apple rose in the muffin tins.

Bake the roses in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Sprinkle the powder sugar when serve.

蘋果 2个

水 2 杯

檸檬汁 ½

杏酱 3 湯匙

水 2 湯匙

酥皮 1 片

肉桂粉 1 湯匙

烤箱預熱至 375F

蘋果切半，切掉兩端，挖掉果核，切成薄片。

在一個大容器裡，加 2杯 水、 檸檬汁和蘋果片微波3 分鐘然後滤掉水。

在另一個容器中加入 2 湯匙水和杏酱，拌勻。

酥皮解凍壓平再切割成 6 条

在酥皮上抹一些杏酱，然後撒上一点肉桂粉，然後在同一側放大概 7 片蘋果。然後把另一端翻过来， 之后从一端开始卷过来。把蘋果玫瑰放在松餅模中。

在預熱烘烤裡烤大概35 到 40 分鐘。吃时撒粉糖。

Pork Chop With Lemon Grass/香茅猪扒

/ CaiQinChen / Leave a comment

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One stalk of lemon grass

Boneless Pork chops 500g

Light soy sauce 1TBSP

Oyster sauce 3TBSP

Cooking wine 1TBSP

Honey 1 TBSP

Chicken powder 1/3 TSP

This recipe is similar to other dish I cooked before, but this one is simpler.

Use a meat hammer tenderizer to make the pork thinner. Roughly chop the lemon grass.

Marinate the pork chop with all the rest ingredients (overnight recommended)

Heat up a skillet really hot then add 3 TBSP oil, pan fry pork chops for about 3 minutes each side ( it depends on the thickness of your pork, I used the hammer tenderizer to make mine really thin).

The other similar dish I cooked before, I minced the lemon grass, it had more flavors, but some of the lemon grass stuck inside the pork and make it hard to eat. So this time I only roughly chop lemon grass. Also make sure you pick the lemon grass out before cooking. Without honey this dish will not be the same, but adding too much of honey will make the cooking harder because the pork will burn easily.

You can eat the pork with a few pieces of cucumber and slices of tomatoes. Yummy!

一根香茅

無骨豬排 500 g

醬油 1 湯匙

蠔油 3 湯匙

料酒 1 湯匙

蜂蜜 1 湯匙

雞粉 1/3 茶匙

這個食譜類似于我以前燒過的一道菜，但這个更簡單。

使用肉錘使豬肉变薄。香茅稍微切碎。

用以上所有其餘配料醃豬扒(推薦过夜)

平底鍋加熱後添加 3 湯匙油，煎每一側豬排 3 分鐘左右(這取決於你的豬肉的厚度，我用肉錘把肉錘的很薄)。

我之前煮的时候，把香茅切的很碎这样它有更多的风味，但一些香茅夹在豬肉中吃的时候不方便。所以這次我只是大致的切一切香茅。此外請在烹飪之前把香茅挑出。沒有蜂蜜的话這道菜會失色很多，但加太多的蜂蜜將很難煎因為豬肉將很容易焦。

你可以加幾片黃瓜和切片番茄一起吃。

Seafood Rice Cake/海鲜炒年糕

/ CaiQinChen / 1 Comment

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Rice cake 125g

1 Crab

Squid 3,4 pieces

Jumbo shrimp 3 pieces

1 scallion

One small piece of ginger

Green Chinese vegetable 1 cup

Cut crab into small pieces. Devein the shrimps and marinate with little salt, white pepper， cooking wine and sweet potato starch.

In a saucepan bring a few cups of water to boil, then add the vegetable and cook for 1 minute then rinse with cold water.

Add the rice cake in the boiling water and cook for 4 minutes or until they are tender enough for you. Take them out of hot water and set aside.

Add the shrimps into the boiling water until the shrimps turn pink, take the shrimps out of water right away.

Same for the squid, cook in boiling water for one minute and take them out right away.

Heat up a skillet then add 2 TBSP vegetable oil stir fry the shredded ginger and crab for about 3 minutes.

Add in the white part of scallion then vegetable and sautéed with crab for 2 minutes, and then add the rest of ingredients alone with 1.5 TBSP oyster sauce, 2 TBSP cooking wine, 1/4TSP chicken powder and a little bit of white pepper.

Pour a few drops of sesame oil and add the green part of scallion at the end.

Below is my favor rice cake, unlike the Korean rice cake which is too chewy or other brand of Chinese rice cake which is too mushy, this brand has the just right texture for me. Love it.

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年糕 片125 克

1 只蟹

3，4 片 魷魚片

去壳大蝦 3 只

1 只蔥

姜一小塊

中國綠色蔬菜 1杯。

蟹切成小塊。蝦仁去虾线加鹽、 白胡椒粉和，料酒和红薯澱粉醃一下。

在一鍋裡煮开幾杯水，然後加入蔬菜煮 1 分鐘後用冷水沖洗。

在滚水中加年糕煮4 分鐘或直到他們变软。捞出，待用。

把虾加入滚水中煮直到蝦变粉紅色，捞出，待用。

同樣煮魷魚，在滚水中煮一分鐘，馬上捞出。

燒熱油鍋，然後加入 2 湯匙植物油炒姜絲和蟹約 3 分鐘。

加蔥白然後蔬菜和蟹一起炒2 分鐘，然後添加1.5 湯匙蠔油，2 湯匙料酒、 1/4 茶匙雞粉，一點點的白胡椒与所有其他材料全部一起炒。

最后倒幾滴香油和蔥段部分。

上面是我最喜欢的年糕，它既不像韓國的年糕嚼劲太足也不像其他品牌的中國年糕太爛糊，這個品牌對我來說口感恰到好處。太愛它了。