Steamed Chicken Experiment!

Today I thought we'd try to steam a chicken. Since I was at home it was a very opportune moment. Here's the spice packet used. Something hidden for a long time in Aaron's pantry.





After about 5 hours of steaming the finished result. My apologies for not showing the untouched chicken. We were very excited and only remembered to take the pictures after a very excited Aaron has started to carve the bird.




We will definitely do it again and hopefully with a fish soon too. Until then, buen provecho!

Dinnah!! Longs beans with spicy bean sauce, honey garlic chicken and egg tofu!

From Honey Garlic Chicken

Any good chicken dish starts with a good marinade. Begin by marinating your chicken in chinese rice wine vinegar, thick soy sauce, sesame oil and black pepper for a minimum of 20 minutes (a few hours is best). The vinegar will help break down the meat and tenderize it.

Side dishes are best left simple but flavorful. First we have some long beans with spicy black bean sauce. Very, very easy, throw some sesame oil on the wok, throw in the long beans and the sauce and stir fry it.

From Honey Garlic Chicken

Next with the egg tofu, same approach but a little more dressed up. Start stir frying some shallots at a medium heat until they are cooked, once they are starting to crisp up throw in the minced garlic. Once the garlic is cooked and the shallots crispy, remove them from the wok. Now throw in the tofu with some sesame oil. After the tofu starts to crisp up throw in some scallions. Once the tofu is crispy on both sides, remove from the stove, top with the shallots and garlic and add soy sauce to taste.




Finally, cut your chicken (against the grain) into thin strips so that they cook quickly. Toss them into the wok with some onion (we used red onion for a change and the flavors went well together), and a little vegetable oil. At this point we added the honey garlic sauce and stir fry at a higher temperature. That's dinner :).

From Honey Garlic Chicken

Garden update

The herb lineup next to the Begonia and the wine rack Meli found from Craigslist:

Begonia closeup:

New Cilantro:

Cactus goes on a reproductive frenzy:

Not a plant, but introducing, The Wok:

Outside:

New addition; Gardenia:

Chocolate Mint, recovering strong after its battle with the aphids:

Ants feasting on the body of a vanquished aphid:

Puerto Rican desserts: Tembleque (Coconut Custard)

From Custards

Today I felt like doing something sweet, easy and comforting to brighten up my day since there's been so much work while my friends enjoy a day out. Between work and housework life has been pretty exhausting lately. Luckily this put a smile on my face along with some lounging around with Chef Wok watching animal planet hehe. Without further ado, I give you my tembleque recipe!

Tembleque is almost like a coconut custard but it does not use eggs.

Ingredients:

15oz can of coconut cream - not milk
2 cups of milk - preferably whole milk
1/2 cup of cornstarch
4 tblsp of sugar
a pinch of salt
1 stick of cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
cinnamon powder for decoration

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl combine your milk and coconut cream until they look homogeneous. Pour about 1/2 cup of this mixture into a pot and start adding the cornstarch slowly so it doesn't clump. Once you've added all the cornstarch turn on a burner on medium-high heat and place your pot with this initial mixture over it. Stirring continuously add the rest of the liquids and then proceed to add the sugar and salt. It is very important that you continue to stir otherwise you will end up with a very weird looking ball of goo.

As the mixture heats up and begins to thicken you'll notice it becomes gelatinous, this is the consistency that we want. As it starts to boil you'll notice it separates easily from the sides of the pot. After it starts boiling continue to mix for about 2 minutes. At this point pour your mixture into a mold that has been recently washed with cold water. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top and let it chill it the refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours. Then enjoy!

Cookies and gardening

This past weekend we made a yellow cake with orange/mango frosting, oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips and walnuts (my foolproof Oatmeal Choc Chip from the Quaker oats box recipe). We also spent some time buying some plants for our garden. This is what we have so far:

- tomatoes
- sweet pepper
- thai pepper
- strawberries
- spicy oregano
- sweet basil
- chocolate mint (it smells so good!)
- chives
- cilantro
- yellow begonias
- purple/pink hydrangeas
- spider plant

They all looked much better after being re-potted. Lucky for us WalMart had some clay pots for a very low price and we were able to get new homes for all of them. Here's a few pictures from before and during re-potting and some pictures of our baking results! The cake didn't come out quite perfect as it sank in the center after coming out of the oven. We think it was because I forgot to sift the flour before measuring it - won't be making the same mistake twice!

Kung Pao Chicken, Cold Tofu, and Kat Chai Shin Mui (Asam Limau)

Hello! Today I bring you last night's meal. I did take pictures this time and they will come online after work. Sadly they are in my computer at home which cannot be accessed remotely from work :(. Yesterday was an experiment on two fronts, the Kung Pao and the Kat Chai Shin Mui (fresh lime juice with salted plums). We're pleased to announce that both came out great. The chicken was a definite success and the drink recipe will have some adjustments. Now, without further ado. Let's talk cookin' goodness!

From Kung Pao

** This was Aaron's (who I now call Chef Wok hehe) front so this is the first revision, he shall correct any mistakes made. Keep in mind, we also adjust veggies/flavors to our taste, feel free to play around and add those that you enjoy :D. **

Shopping List:
2 large chicken breasts (cut them into bite size pieces)
4 cloves of garlic (mince it)
1/2 cucumber (cut in small pieces)
2-3 stalks of celery (cut small as well)
1 green bell pepper (small cuts here too!)
1 yellow onion (I prefer larger pieces of onion)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
dried chilies (to spicy tolerance limits)
sesame oil (as much as you need to lightly coat the bottom of your wok/pan)
Chinese Rice Wine (to taste)
Rice Wine Vinegar (to taste)
sugar (a pinch)
1tspn cornstarch

Preparation:
If you have a wok super easy and extra yummy! Thaw your chicken breasts, use the microwave if needed, a properly used defrost function delivers acceptable results. Just be sure to know or have a good estimate of the amount/weight of the chicken you are defrosting. Also, make sure you flip the chicken when the microwave beeps. It is not beeping half through just to let you know it is still going, this is a signal that you should flip! This way you'll avoid the nasty effect of the meat starting to cook that drives everyone away from defrosting in the micro.

First prepare the wok for the cooking session by warming it up and giving it a coating of sesame oil. Don't need to go crazy on the oil, just use as little as you can to get away with coating all of the cooking surface by swirling it in the wok.

On medium heat add the onions and cook until translucent.

Then go ahead and add the rest of the ingredients and keep showing off your wok flare, mixing and moving everything around to the best of your ability. While this finishes off....

Cold Tofu

From Kung Pao

1 pack of soft/silken tofu
4 garlics
2 shallots
soy sauce (to taste)
~1tblsp sesame oil

Preparation:

Add sesame oil to wok/pan on medium heat.
While this heats up, drain your tofu and place it whole on a small serving plate.
Cut some slits into your tofu for the soy sauce to seep into. A grid pattern is just fine.
Once oil is hot add shallots, grab those chopsticks, keep them moving!
When the shallots start looking cooked add the garlic.
Keep them all in motion until lightly brown. At this point they are crispy but not burnt!
Top the tofu with the garlic and shallots. Pour soy sauce over it and done!



Notes:
Last night we discovered that if the tofu you happen to use it not very wet itself you should hold back on the soy sauce or it'll taste too salty. We tried a different brand and expected the same consistency/wetness and got surprised with a block of tofu which was a little stiffer than our usual and a lot drier.

Kat Chai Shin Mui

From Kung Pao

(This made about 2 large glasses, 16oz each I think? Yeah some of our glasses are huge!)
2 cups of water
4 limes
2 tblsp of sugar (I like using organic cane sugar)
4 dried salted plums

Preparation:
The original recipe I followed says to prepare and serve. It seems that this would benefit from an overnight soak instead.

Start by making a simple syrup.
Heat up the water (placing a pyrex measuring cup in the microwave for 2 mins works fine).
Add the sugar and mix until dissolved.

Add the dried salted plums to the syrup and let sit overnight (move this mix to the fridge once the water is at room temperature).

If you have a large container (or if your measuring cup was more than 2 cups!) squeeze the limes into it and mix it thoroughly. Otherwise split the syrup between 2-4 glasses depending on the amount you would like to serve and squeeze the limes evenly. Then mix every glass thoroughly and you're done!

Great refreshing and fun summer drink. Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!

Taiwanese Cold Sesame Noodles

This is one of my most favorite things to eat during the summer. Back home we have very few cold dishes (surprising for a country in a hot climate!) so it seemed unlikely for me to become so enamored with this dish. Luckily by recommendation of my friend Shirley (if she says it is good I will at the very last try it) I tried these noodles a while back at a Taiwanese restaurant and since then I was hooked! They serve them with sliced ham but we made some ground pork to go with ours.

The recipe came from a very cool cooking blog I discovered recently (http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com). Although this recipe is very, very good the sauce comes out a little too dense for my personal taste. Therefore the quantities for denser ingredients will be reduced next time this dish comes to life.

On this occasion we had our good friend Irene come over to help us cook and eat :). She's Taiwanese and give some very enthusiastic approval to the outcome. We serve it with some cold tofu and some stir fried baby bok choy. Hope you all enjoy!

Shopping List:

1 pound fresh or dried medium-wide plain wheat Chinese noodles
1/2 cup carrots, peeled and cut julienne
1/2 cup cucumbers, peeled, seeded and cut julienne
1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallion tops

For the Sauce:

2 tablespoons toasted sesame paste
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter (all natural or Simply Jif)
2 tablespoons minced scallion, white part only
2 1/2 tablespoons finely minced fresh garlic
1 tablespoon finely minced cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons chicken or vegetable stock/broth
2 tablespoons light or thin soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon Shao Hsing wine or dry sherry
3 teaspoons chili-broad bean sauce/paste
1/4 teaspoon toasted and ground Sichuan peppercorns (or black pepper to taste)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2-3 teaspoons honey or raw sugar

Instructions:

If you are using dry noodles cook them just like you would cook pasta making sure not to over cook the noodles. Also, don't go al dente since Asian noodles are not meant to be served until thoroughly cooked. If you are using fresh noodles remember to fluff them before putting them in the pot or they will all stick together. After the noodles are done, rinse them with cold water to remove the starch and place them in the fridge to cool off.

For the sauce is a simple throw it all together in a blender or food processor. The blog quoted at the top recommends an immersion blender but if you don't have one of those don't worry. I used my mini 2-cup food processor with good results :).

The ground pork is extremely easy as well. Throw it in a pot/pan with a little bit of oil and season it to taste with salt/pepper. Most of the flavor will come from the sauce in the noodles. Cook it until it is thoroughly cooked and then keep on the side.

At this point bring out your cold noodles, and mix veggies, sauce and noodles in a big mixing bowl. Place the noodles on their plate and top them off with some of the ground pork. Use some crushed peanuts and some of the extra veggie and some cilantro to plate it and there it is, a very refreshing and healthy summer treat!