Mac&Cheese... on a stick!

Okay... before you think I've gone completely insane with the comfort food on a stick thing, I'll have you know that I'm simply making this recipe in order to enter a "Food on a Stick Contest". Actually, I've found that competitions are a great way to light a fire under my butt and spark my creativity when it comes to baking or cooking. Without a little challenge, I'd probably just stick with making the same-old, same-old foods that I've tried over and over and over again. But I digress... you guys probably just want the recipe :P

If you like the recipe, you can check it out at Instructables.com And if you really like it, please vote for my recipe. Voting begins August 22.

Macaroni & Cheese On a Stick

Mac&Cheese Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup elbow macaroni, uncooked

- 2 tbsp butter

- 1 ½ tbsp flour

- 1 ¼ cup warm milk

- Pinch of nutmeg and cayenne pepper

- ½ cup grated cheese (I used marble, but you could use any good quality hard cheese gruyere, mozzarella, cheddar)

- Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. In a medium sized pot, bring some salted water to a boil and cook macaroni as per instructions on the bag. Once al dente, drain the pasta and set aside.
2. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter.
3. Add flour to butter, whisking vigorously until mixture if of uniform consistency. Remove pot from heat, and slowly add the warm milk (whisking continuously to avoid lumps).
4. Return butter + flour + milk mixture to stove and bring to a simmer. Add cayenne and nutmeg, and continue to stir.

5. Once sauce thickens, remove pan from heat and add in the cheese. Continue to stir sauce until cheese dissolves.
6. In a rectangular casserole dish, combine the sauce and the macaroni. Mix thoroughly until all pasta is coated with cheese sauce. Cover dish, and place macaroni in the fridge for at least 4 hours (or overnight).
7. Remove refrigerated/day-old macaroni and cheese from fridge.
8. Take handfuls of mac&cheese and form them into balls ~1.5-2inches in diameter.
9. Place balls on a baking tray and return to fridge while you prepare the frying batter.

Batter Ingredients:

- 1 ¼ cup flour

- ¼ cup corn starch

- ½ tsp baking powder

- ½ tsp baking soda

- ¼ tsp salt

- 1 cup cold water (adjust amount of water to produce a batter that is not too runny)

- ½ cup bread crumbs

- ¼ cup grated cheese

- 2 tbsp parmesan cheese

- Pinch of Cajun seasoning and cracked black pepper

Method:
1. Sift together the flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. Stir in the bread crumbs, cheeses, seasonings and pepper.
3. Have cold water ready to add to dry ingredients when your frying oil, mac&cheese balls and cooking station is ready to begin the frying process.

Frying the Balls:
1. Complete preparation of batter mixture by adding the cold water to the dry ingredients. Stir until no lumps remain, and batter is nice and thick (add more flour if batter is too runny).
2. In deep wok, heat 2L of canola oil (or 2-3inches of oil) over medium until it reaches 375degrees (or batter-test the oil temperature: drop a tsp of batter in the oil and if ready, the batter should bubble up to the surface immediately).
3. Remove Mac&Cheese balls from fridge. Place one ball into the batter mixture gently. Use a spoon to coat the sides and top of the ball fully. Use that same spoon to gently drop the battered ball into the hot frying oil. Cook for 3-4minutes (or until batter is nicely browned), remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper-towel lined plate to cool. 4. Repeat step 3 for all the Mac&Cheese balls. (Note: again, be not alarmed if the balls fall apart slightly. Remain calm! Slowly scoop up the Mac&Cheese bits with your large spoon, and if the pieces are all coated in batter then the ball is remain whole once deep fried ^_^)

Mmm... nothing like Mac& Cheese with Ketchup :)

Daring Baker Challenge: Cannolis

Okay, so first off... I'm not really great when it comes to frying foods. Frying foods is just really finicky because you have to make sure you have the oil hot enough that the food will cook. My past experiences with frying have usually ended up in failure and a very inedible piece of food. The "fried" foods usually end up burnt on the outside and undercooked on the inside, or they end up soaked in oil and just soppy and gross. However, for this DB Challenge I was determined to make sure my oil was the perfect temperature so my cannolis would turn out ... edible. So, with no further adieu... here is the DB November Challenge recipe for Cannolis.

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Lidisano’s Cannoli
Makes 22-24 4-inch cannoli
Prep time: Dough – 2 hours and 10-20 minutes (including resting time); Filling – 5-10 minutes plus chilling time (about 2 hours or more); Frying – 1-2 minutes per cannoli; Assembly – 20–30 minutes

Ingredients for Cannoli Shells:
- 2 cups (250 grams/8.82 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp (28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
- 1 tsp (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp (~3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
- 3 tbsp (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
- 1 tsp (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup (~59 grams/4 fluid oz/125 ml) sweet Marsala or any available white/red wine
- 1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
- Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying (about 2 quarts/8 cups/2 liters)
- 1/2 cup (~62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish (optional)
- Confectioners' sugar (optional)

Note - If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).

Method:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

I decided to make the chocolate flavored cannoli shells and they turned out fantastic. The taste was not too subtle and not too bold as to detract from the filling that I was planning on using. For my filling I went very simple and used a honey-sweetened cottage cheese with mixed-berry syrup. Although the dessert tasted delicious and the frying was actually a success, I was a little disappointed with the thickness of my cannolis. While I did allow for the dough to rest for about 5 hours before rolling it out, I simply couldn't get the shells to stay thin as I rolled them onto the cannoli shaping tool. Alas, I ended up with a silly looking little cannoli taco with cottage cheese filling... oh well.

With the left over dough I decided to make a couple of those cute little twisted cookies. They were much easier to shape then the cannolis and it still packed the amazing chocolaty taste. I would definitely use the dough recipe again, although I may just use it to make cookies instead of cannolis as I'm not a big fan of the tedious nature of having to shape them. Onward to next month's challenge... I can't wait to see what's lined up for the Christmas season.

Lunch-time Delight: Cilantro Pulao

Having bought 3 bundles of cilantro and wondering what to do with them, I hit the web. And what I found was a plethora of great cilantro recipes. But which one would I choose? I was kind of craving rice and the image that popped up on the first page of "google images" was that of Sugar and Spice's cilantro pulao. The beautiful photograph had me drawn in, and reading the recipe, I was to whip up this delightful dish. It was truly amazing, the flavors that arouse during the cooking of the rice were incredible. You will probably think I'm joking, but I literally stood behind my rice cooker and inhaled the steam that was coming out of the vent :P (I'm pretty sure that ain't too healthy, but it was amazing). The rice was very aromatic and the color (although not as green as Priya's) was very inviting. Thanks for sharing your recipe, I will definitely be sharing this with all of my friends

SHF #42: Matcha Tortellini

March 29th:

Ooooo... this is my kind of event. I'm so excited to be doing another SHF, it makes me feel so creative. With the theme being 'Asian Sweet Invasion', I think I'll know my way around using some interesting Asian ingredients. The thing I have to decide on is what ingredient I want to use, and what traditional recipe do I want to play around with to make my new creation?

April 17th:

Yes! I've finally completed (well, semi-completed) my SHF recipe. It took me soooo long to decide on what I would make. I knew it would have to be something different, but not so different that no one in my family would touch it :P What would I make for the Asian Sweet Invasion? (see link: http://www.lapetiteboulangette.com/2008/03/shf-asian-sweet-invasion.html) I wanted to fuse two different types of cuisine, and I determined that Italian and Japanese were my best options. Although they are quite different in terms of style and ingredients, I knew that these two would work together beautifully. So... voila! I came up with Matcha Tortellini with Adzuki-Coconut Filling.

Matcha Tortellini

(Yields approximately 16 pieces of tortellini + some tasty scraps)

Ingredients:

- 1 egg, beaten

- 2 tbsp water

- 3 tbsp matcha powder

- 3 tbsp confectioner's sugar

- 1 cup flour

- 1 recipe of Adzuki-Coconut filling (recipe follows)

Method:

1. On a clean surface, mix together the flour, matcha and sugar until combined.

2. Make a well in the center and add in the egg and water.

3. Use your hands to combine the egg and flour until it forms a ball.

4. Form into a square, wrap in cling-wrap and let rest in the fridge for 30mins.

5. Place dough on a well-floured surface and roll-out until very thin (1/6th inch).

6. Use a 2 1/2 inch round, pastry-cutter to cut out pasta circles.

7. Fill each circle with 1 tsp of adzuki filling, moisten edge of circle with water and fold over into a semi-circle.

8. Press the pointed edges together and voila! You have tortellini that is ready to be boiled (or fried, and had with ice cream!)

Adzuki-Coconut Filling

Ingredients:

- 1 egg yolk

- 1/4 cup adzuki bean paste

- 1 heaping tbsp coconut cream

- 1 tsp sugar

- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Method:

1. Mix filling ingredients together until they are well combined. Use with matcha tortellini recipe!

I'm planning on frying these babies tonight. I'll post the photos when I'm done indulging in my Asian Creation! Until then...

Lunch-time Delight: Korean Noodle Stir Fry

Hurrying home from my last class of the day before the Easter long-weekend, my mind was racing. Yeah! I'm finally free (well, for the next 4 days) from the burden of having to use my mind :P Well, my sisters decided that they would have cup-o-noodles today... because I "deprived" them (their words) of eating it the other day, when I prepared the soup and Sweet-potato bread. I wasn't particularly fond of the thought of eating wax-covered, styrofoam encased, under-cooked, cup-noodles so... I whipped up a creation of my own. Inspired by the thought of noodles, I decided that I'd do a stir-fry version, and I ended up with this...

Korean Noodle Stir Fry

Serves 2

Ingredients

- 150g dried egg noodles

- 2 tbsp vegetable oil

- 1 shallot, minced

- 1 clove of garlic, minced

- 2 tsp ginger, minced

- 1/2 medium onion, sliced into semicircles

- 1/3 cup zucchini, julienned

- 1/3 cup cabbage, chopped

- 1/2 tomato, diced

- 3 heaping tbsp soy bean paste (doenjang)

- 2 tsp soy sauce

- A handful of cooked shrimp (frozen & defrosted)

- 1/4 cup of sliced meat (I used pork, but chicken or beef can work)

Method

1. Boil egg noodles and cook until al dente. Once cooked, rinse under cold water, drain and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry onions, garlic, ginger and shallots until fragrant.

3. Add in tomato, zucchini and cabbage, continuing to fry until zucchini is slightly tender.

4. Add in bean paste, and stir in soy sauce. Continue to mix until well incorporated. Stir in the shrimp, meat and egg noodles; cook until heated through.

5. Dish out and serve!

This actually turned out to be an unexpected treat. I really enjoyed the fragrant taste of the soy bean paste, and it added a hint of spiciness to the dish as well. My mom came home just after I had prepared this dish (that makes plenty for 2 people) and she was starving. Yeah! The perfect person to try out my new creation. She liked the spice of the paste as well, but couldn't quite figure out what it was until I told her. Just a month ago, she had complained that we would never finish all of the paste... but using it in this dish, I showed her that we could do it!

Click on the link for more information on soybean paste (doenjang).

Asparagus Tonight

I guess my spontaneous grocery shopping disease is going around. My mom just decided to splurge and buy some asparagus!!! Yeah, I'm so super excited. It's been a long time since we've had such a treat. You don't generally hear a young adult say "YEAY ASPARAGUS" but I am seriously a green-vegetable maniac... I love asparagus, spinach, artichokes, brussle sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, zucchini, beans and peas. If it's green and is veggie in nature, it'll be in my stomach in about 2 seconds. Anywho, mom and I had no clue how we wanted to prepare this yummy veg, but we both agreed on one thing... it was going to be simple. No flambé stuff, or fancy julienned things, or deep-fried this or roasted that... just the veggie in all it's glory (plus some other stuff for added flavor :P)

Just Asparagus

Ingredients:

- 1 lb asparagus, cut into 3-inch lengths

- 2 tbsp butter

- 3 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1 shallot, minced

- salt and pepper to tast

- 1/2 tsp each thyme and tarragon

- 1 heaping tbsp parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Boil a pot of water and cook asparagus until just tender (we enjoy ours on the slightly crisp side). Drain and set aside.

2. Place butter in non-stick pan and fry over medium heat until melted. While butter is melting, add in the herbs (if you want the flavor to be more infused, whip the herbs with the butter about 10minutes before cooking). Add in garlic and shallots, continuing to frying until just fragrant. Add in the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste.

3. Place the cooked asparagus in serving dish, and then drizzle the garlic-parmesan butter over the vegetables. Lightly toss the sauce and asparagus, being sure to coat all the vegetables.

Wow! This impromtu recipe was a stunner, I must say. My dad was amazed by the mere auroma coming from the kitchen as we made the garlic-parmesan butter. One bite into the crisp green asparagus and we were not ready to stop. My sisters on the other hand, like many young children, were disgusted by the strange green spears and would have no part in our culinary adventure :( Hopefully their tastes will change... and I'll remember to re-prepare this recipe, just for them (oh, and maybe for me and my parents as well!)

Lunch-time Delight: Random Rice

Another lunch-time rolls around and I am completely unsure of what to make for myself. Usually this doesn't matter, because I can just microwave leftovers and eat whatever. But since school's not in session, my sisters are home with me and I must prepare for them a fine meal with all the ingredients necessary to nourish young growing girls. Hmm... let's see... I felt really ambitious, but knew that I couldn't screw this up. Kids can be very finicky sometimes and you have to tailor your food to their tastebuds. And so I settled on a variation of mexican red-rice... an asian variation... Sweet-'n- Sour Rice (that's red)!

Sweet-'n- Sour Rice

Ingredients

- 4 cups of leftover, steamed white rice

- 2 tbsp chopped garlic

- 1 onion, diced

- 1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil

- 1/2 cup ketchup

- 2 tbsp soy sauce

- 1/3 cup citrus juice (I couldn't find orange or pineapple, so I used peach :P)

- 1 tsp worcestershire sauce (or more to taste)

- 2 tbsp rice vinegar

- 3 tbsp brown sugar

- 1/2 cup frozen vegetables

- 1 chicken breast, grilled and chopped

Method:

1. Heat vegetable oil in a deep-sided, non-stick frying pan and add in garlic. Fry over medium heat until fragrant. Add onions, but don't let them reach the transluscent stage.

2. Add in the ketchup, soy sauce, juice, wocestershire sauce and heat through.

3. Add in the rice, breaking up any large chunks. Add in the vegetables and the chopped chicken. Continue to fry over medium heat for 3 minutes.

4. Remove from heat and serve.

The prep time actually took longer than the cooking time. I had made enough rice for our lunch, while still having a ton left over. Needless to say, this dish was a hit... with my sisters and my parents. I'm not sure what they liked about it, only that they said it was really good. When they asked me what the dish was called I couldn't think of a good name for it, so I replied "random rice". It truly was, I just added a ton of ingredients that I knew tasted good together and voila! Enjoy

Lunch-time Delight: Pierogies

Scouring the internet for the perfect pierogi recipe sure isn't easy. After a while on the web I decided upon this recipe from about.com. I thought to myself, "I haven't really been steered wrong with any of the recipes from this site... so I'll give it a go." The pierogies didn't turn out completely aweful, in fact they were really tastey. The problem was that the dough was a bit too... how shall I put it, DOUGHY. Okay, you may be saying to yourself "That's what dough should taste like, right?" Well, I guess so... but I was really yearning to sink my teeth into some pierogies that had a dough that more resembled a pasta. Kind of like an oversized, overstuffed ravioli *drool*.

Making pierogies wasn't a first for me. I had done it in Home Ec. class on a number of occassions (after taking the course for 5 years in a row, I guess they end up repeating the recipes :P). Usually I make the dumplings by hand, but this time I was prepared. I had purchased a dumpling press from the dollar store, and I must say it did the trick. All the pierogies turned out perfect and it saved me a lot of time.

The doughy pierogi skins

The cheesy, potato-ey filling

A plate-full of pierogies ready to be boiled and fried :)

My sister even tried her hand at shaping some pierogies, after a couple of faulty starts her pierogies looked almost as good as mine :P After cooking all the dumplings, both Janessa and Jacqueline were ready to chow-down. Jacqueline likes hers with bacon bits, Janessa prefers hers with sour cream, and I simply could not eat a pierogi without sour cream, bacon bits and fried onions... Yum!

Note: Incidentally, before my search for the perfect pierogi recipe, I had never known that there were so many spelling variations for this potato filled dumpling. Maybe I'll try this recipe next time... it looks like a winner.

Corn-doggies

Alright, so they're not the most nutritious lunch in the world... but corn dogs are super tasty and bring back a wave of childhood, fair-ground memories. They also solve that age old question "What to do with extra hot-dogs, since they's sold ten to a pack when buns are sold eight to a pack?" <-- corn-dog 'em of course!

I got the recipe off of allrecipes.com, the reviews were right on the ball. I omitted the bacon fat (because I didn't have any) and used chicken dogs instead of pork dogs... still the recipe was a success. These corn dogs turned out nice and fluffy, with the perfect sweetness and a wonderfully moist texture. After dipping in the hotdogs I had quite a bit of batter left over, so I ended up making a couple hush-puppies. These also turned out fantastic, and I couldn't resist gobbling up a handful.

My sisters hadn't eaten corn dogs in a long time, and the Pogo brand ones sold in the grocery stores are quite pricey. Seriously, it is better, cheaper, more fun and tastier to make your own corn dogs than to spend your money on them (and at $7 for a package of 10, they aren't too cheap). My sisters approved of this recipe, so I think it's safe to say that kids will love you if you prepare these corn dogs. I love mine with mustard, and my sisters had their's with ketchup... but any way you dress them up, they're delicious!

Lor Bak Koh... almost

I wanted to use up the remaining 2/3rds of my acorn squash (left-over from my japanese-inspired dinner) but was having a hard time deciding what to prepare. Then I remembered a while back, when my family went out for dim-sum at Neptune in Richmond (see post here) we ordered this pan-fried pumpkin cake. Noting that my acorn squash and pumpkin are from the same "squash" family I decided that this would be the recipe I would whip up. You can find the recipe at Jo's Deli & Bakery... this site has some really great recipes for Southeast Asian favorites. Couldn't find any dried shrimp in the house (Note to self: I must go out and get some for future recipes) so I just increased the amount of lap cheong in the recipe. After steaming, cutting and frying this dim-sum treat I ate it with some of Yeo's Sweet Chili Sauce. If you have not tried this chili yet, you must... it goes with everything: char siew bao, zongzi, ham sui kok and all the dim-sum treats!!! Sorry, about the tangent... sometimes I get off track. My pan-fried acorn squash cake was very tasty and had a perfect texture. Soft on the inside and crisp on the outside, truly the only way all "Lor Bak Koh" are meant to be eaten!

Japanese Dinner

I guess that bento making has caused me to expand my cooking repertoire... that's a good thing right? Of course it is! Today's dinner would be japanese-inspired. Here's all the stuff I whipped up!

#1. Chicken Katsu

#2. Various Tempura-Battered Veggies

#3. Tempura & Panko-crusted Shrimp, Cucumber Rolls and Tuna Salad Rolls


1. The chicken katsu recipe can be found on allrecipes.com and is really simple. Being a KFC employee you'd think that I'd be sick of fried chicken... well, I'm not and don't think I ever will be. Even my boss isn't sick of chicken... I don't think it's possible to hate chicken, not when it's soooo goood! The katsu turns out nice and moist, not too greasy (unless you fry it wrong :P) and with just the right saltiness. I also made my own tonkatsu sauce by following this recipe. Eaten on a bed of rice with home-made tonkatsu sauce drizzled on it, this chicken katsu is actually a meal in itself... if I had known I probably wouldn't have made so much stuff for dinner... oh well :P

2. The batter I used to make the tempura was really simple (from chooseveg.com) and it even has a video showing you how to make the tempura. The vegetables I used were: carrots, zucchini (my family's favourite... we always fight over these ones, so I made extra), acorn squash, broccoli, sweet potato and some onions.

3. We just happened to have a sushi roll mat in the house, so I decided to try my hand a making both cucumber rolls and tuna-salad rolls. The cucumber rolls were basically made with sushi rice, nori, mayonnaise and thin cuts of cucumbers. The tuna-salad rolls were made with sushi rice, nori and tuna salad. Sushi making is so fun and simple. My sisters really enjoyed the sushi and my parents loved the shrimp. The panko-crusted ones tasted like popcorn shrimp from DQ (only better :P) and the tempura ones were also very tasty.

Gyoza

Inspired by Florence's beautifully crafted gyoza, I decided to try my hand at making these cute dumplings. I always remembered the way my mom and her friends would sit at the kitchen table and prepare wontons and other dumplings for soups and for frying. Those precious memories of the past are sadly faded away, nowadays we usually purchase the gyoza/wontons from T&T or from Hon's. We don't even by the wonton skins from the grocer anymore! So in rememberance of thos moments I decided we must continue on the tradition of home cooking (okay, enough ranting).

My sister isn't a big fan of green onions and is allergic to prawn/shrimp. So I made her a batch of gyoza with only beef... she appreciated it. As for the rest of the gyoza I decided against using mushrooms (since I didn't have any on-hand) and added in garlic, ginger and carrots.

Fried Ginger + Pork Gyoza

Filling
Ingredients:
- 1 cup raw pork, minced
- 1 knob of ginger, minced
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup carrot, grated
- 1/4 cup green onion, chopped

- Salt and Soya sauce, to taste

Method:

1. Fry pork, ginger and garlic together until pork has turned brown and no longer pink.

2. Once fragrant, add in the green onion and carrots.

3. Continue to mix and drain away the fat. Add in the salt and soya sauce to taste.

Gyoza Skin

Ingredients:

- 1 cup plain flour

- 2/3 cup tapioca starch

- 100ml boiling water

- 40ml cold water

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/3 cup shrimp, deveined and cooked

Method:

1. Combine the 2 flours and salt together in a mixing bowl.

2. Add in the boiling water and stir with a wooden spoon (or chopstick) until they resemble small flakes.

3. Incorporate the cold water and knead into a pliable dough.

4. Roll onto a floured surface and divide the dough into small (ping-pong sized) portions.

5. Use a rolling pin to flatten out dough. Use a small bowl to create circular gyoza skins (10cm in diameter).

6. Place a shrimp in the middle of the wrapper and then continue by adding the filling.

7. Fold wrapper in half and close edges (to prevent the filling from spilling out)

8. Heat some oil in a frying pan and cook gyoza until nicely browned.

9. Eat with japanese vinegar, dumpling dipping sauce, chilli... basically whatever you wish.

I rather enjoyed eating these gyoza. They turned out very crisp and flavourful, unlike the frozen ones from the market. It seems that when you thaw the frozen dumplings and then fry them, they retain some liquid within the dumpling and turn out mushy, soggy and just plain gross. Homemade dumplings are seriously the way to go... try it and you'll be impressed.

One yummy lunch!

Ooooo, check out those ingredients. What could I possibly be making? I wonder. Just this week I developed a hankering for some green onion pancakes. My dad said that they were a bit to expensive in store and to wait for the price to drop before we bought some. But being one of the most impatient people ever, I decided to make some of my own. We had some green onions hanging around the house (leftover from the jamaican rice night) all chopped up and ready to be used for something... why not use it to feed me?

I just couldn't wait, I took a couple big bites from my pancake before I remembered that I was going to take a picture. Oh well, it just proves to you how delicious it was.

I followed the recipe from Cafe of the East, it's very simple and doesn't utilize any confusing ingredients... I guess that's what attracted me to this recipe. That and the fact that "Cafe of the East" provides you with a step-by-step guide to properly forming the green onion pancakes. It was so much fun making them, but even more fun was the eating part!