Friday's Special #7: Homemade gyoza

The first time I had dumplings or jiaozi (饺子) was in Japan, about 12 years ago.  It was during my one year stay there, as an exchange student.  I saw dumplings and the making of it in the kitchen of the hostel I lived in during that one year.

I still remember the kitchen.  It was quite spacious, for a kitchen in a student hostel.  It boasted of a refrigerator, a stove with four hobs and a working area that can fit two at the same time.  Of course it came with a sink for washing and the kitchen was also well equipped with cabinets to take in all the kitchen utensils belonging to six hostelites.  But the bonus is this.  The kitchen space was large enough to fit in one coffee table, a two-seater couch, a one seater sofa and a television set.  If I remember correctly, the television wasn't small, it was a 32-inch coloured television. 

I love this kitchen and I especially love cooking during winter.  I would always open the windows in the kitchen so that the cool icy breeze ventilates a warm and cozy kitchen, temperature raised by all those cooking a few of us would be busy with at the same time.  It was during those times that I first saw a hostel mate making jiaozi.  

My hostel mate was on a scholarship, majoring in Anthropology.  And her background was interesting to me at that time.  She is Korean, born in China and she considers herself Chinese-Korean.  She could speak Chinese of course, but I'd never heard her speaking in Korean.  And needless to say, her Japanese was marvelously fluent.

I was pretty fascinated when I saw her making jiaozi.  The skin was store-bought as she told me.  She prepared the fillings and for her, it has got to be mince pork with lots of Chinese chives and garlic.  But what fascinated me most was the speed with which she wrapped those jiaozi.  The skin appeared really flimsy, and I could see that she was holding the skin with the fillings very delicately.  But her fingers worked at such speed to make those beautiful folds, that they resembled soft fluttering butterflies landing just for a second or two on some morning blossom.  

Of course I asked if I could give it a try.  She was kind enough to let me handle her food.  I couldn't believe how difficult it was to hold the soft skin in your palms, preventing the fillings from falling off, and trying to make beautiful folds as a decoration to seal the jiaozi.  Mine was absolutely ugly, but my hostel mate did not mind.  She even let me help her with wrapping up the rest of the skin while she heated up a pot of water to boil those dumplings.  ^_^  I had dumplings for dinner that day at the two-seater couch in front of the television watching some Japanese drama.  It was simply delicious, especially dipped in vinegar and soy sauce.

Back to Singapore and the present.  The kids love dumplings, especially those called 小笼包 (I know this is different from jiaozi, but well the dough skin and fillings are similar ^_^), and I have no idea how to make them of course.  So this calls for substitution, and the dumpling wrapping skill I had barely picked up 12 years ago was put to the test.  This is the second time I made dumplings after coming back home from Japan.  The first time I made it, I used Shanghai dumpling skin (store-bought of course) which was slightly thicker.  This time, I found a type of skin specifically for making Japanese gyoza.  It was just like those skin I used back in Japan 12 years ago!  This time, I'd decided to make panfried jiaozi or pot stickers (and in Japan these would be called gyoza), instead of boiled jiaozi.

Actually I've never made gyoza before, I mean the pan-frying part.  But I've seen how it is prepared on the various food programs I love watching.  The idea is to first pan fry the dumplings with a little oil on one-side, then add some water and cover to let the dumplings steam until water is completely reduced, dumplings cooked through.  This will produce dumplings with very crispy edges and bottom, which it had been sitting on the pan, and a soft moist skin on the top, which had been steaming away.  For the combination of such texture and the way it is prepared, this is thus called gyoza for the Japanese, and pot stickers (锅贴) for the Chinese.

The feeling of accomplishment was encouraging when I dished out these gyoza.  It was of course more encouraging when the food tasting squad cleaned out the whole plate and asked for more.  The chief food-taster, aka the Hubby, noticed the dipping sauce that I had I put together.  I said "put together" because it was really just putting 3 types of aroma together to create a slightly tangy, salty and smoky dip.  I like the dip very much, and judging from the way the Hubby tried to sweep up the last drops of the dip, I think he loved it.

I am afraid I won't be able to provide specific measurements for this entry.  I had simply measured out the amount of minced pork meat that I thought would be enough for the family, using my hands.  Apparently, it was not enough.  Anyway, these are the ingredients, without unit of measurement, that I had used to make the fillings and the method to pan-fry/steam the dumplings making them into gyoza.

Homemade Gyoza
dumpling skin*
minced pork meat
spring onions, chopped to 0.5cm length
1-2tbsp oil
4-5 tbsp water


(to marinate the minced meat)
light soy sauce**
pepper
dash of sesame oil


Dipping sauce
ginger, thinly julienned
3 tbsp light soy sauce (use very good quality ones)
1 tbsp fruity vinegar***
1 tbsp rice vinger
dash of sesame oil


Method
1. Add the marinating ingredients to the minced meat and mix well.  Then add the spring onions.  The next step is optional but I like to do this to make the meat taste juicier and bouncier.  Basically slap the meat about.  I know this sounds strange but refer to this entry under "Notes" for brief description.  Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Okay, wrap the fillings with the dumpling skin!  This is a step that I cannot explain very well, neither do I have the courage to video it and post it here.  Because I can't do it well too ^_^!
Anyway, the idea is to wrap the fillings up with the dumpling skin and seal the edges with a little water.  The dumpling would of course look prettier if you can manage to incorporate some folds while sealing the edges.  But without it, I don't think the taste would deteriorate.
3. Heat up a frying pan and add about 1-2 tbsp of oil.  Once heated, place the dumplings neatly onto the frying pan.  It is okay not to leave any space between each dumpling, but do not pile them up on top of one another.  One side of the skin needs to touch the pan.
4. Place as many dumplings as the frying pan can hold, and let the dumplings pan-fry for about 2 minutes.
5. Then add water and cover immediately.  Let the water sizzle and reduce completely, which would take about another 2-3 minutes.  By then the filling would be cooked through, the bottom of the dumpling would be very browned and crispy, but the top of the dumpling would be soft and moist from all that steaming.
6. Dish out and serve your gyoza immediately.

To prepare the dipping sauce, just mix all the dipping sauce ingredients together leaving out the ginger.  Add the ginger only when ready to eat.


Notes
* I used Shanghai dumpling skin sometime ago to make dumplings.  It was slightly more difficult to manage than the ones I used this time.  Comparatively, it was also much thicker than the Japanese gyoza skin I used this time.  It could be the practice, but I find that it is easier to create folds using the Japanese gyoza skin than the Shanghai dumpling skin.  The former is more pliable while the Shanghai dumpling skin softens up to fast when out of the refrigerator.  Here's a picture of the packaging.

** Try to use good quality light soy sauce.  I find that good quality light soy sauce are not too salty and richer in aroma.  Make sure enough saltiness is added to the minced meat because if the filling is not salty enough, it can be quite a disappointment.
*** Actually this is optional.  I used a fruity vinegar, Golden Kiwi Vinegar, because I have it and would like to finish it soon.  Furthermore, this Golden Kiwi Vinegar is really sour, and since I wanted the dipping sauce to have some sharpness, I added this.  If no fruity vinegar is available, just use rice vinegar.

Friday's Special #6: Char beehoon

"Char beehoon" is such a common dish here.  Everyone has their unique style, must-have ingredients, and probably some must-have accompaniment, like savory chicken curry to drench the vermicelli or crispy hot spring rolls, to go along with their plate of "char beehoon".

Mum's "char beehoon" is always a colorful platter of green, red, black and white.  Generous strips of green cabbage, red carrots and dried black shiitake mushrooms are carefully tossed so that these can be evenly embraced by thousands of threads of bouncy yet softly crunchy white beehoon.  Mum's char beehoon is usually vegetarian.  No meat will be added.  We are not vegetarian, but whenever we have "char beehoon", there will be chicken curry.  These two go hand-in-hand.  They are inseparable in my family.  Vegetarian "char beehoon" offers a clean, crisp and refreshing taste when eaten with dollops of savory chicken curry.  Adding meat to the "char beehoon" tends to laden the palate with excess richness, especially if chicken curry is offered at the same time. 

My version of char beehoon

The first time I had non-vegetarian "char beehoon" was at my boyfriend's house.  It was a plate of culture shock.  Firstly, there was meat.  Secondly, it was dark brown and had a shine that I was not accustomed to.  And lastly, most importantly, there were no vegetables in sight!  How can you not have greens, I thought to myself.  For someone who grew up with more greens than meat in her plate, it was an amazing sight at that time.  It wasn't polite for me to refuse even a small bite.  But I never regretted that first bite.  In fact, I was totally smitten.  My boyfriend's mother, who is now my Mother-in-law, had used canned stew pork, thick black soy sauce and generous sprinkles of oil to create that plate of shock.  It was such a marvelous jolt that I happily surrendered to its repeated assaults.  To put it in simple language, I stuffed myself with it.

The Hubby undoubtedly adores his Mum's "char beehoon".  He asked me to recreate it shortly after we got married.  I did, but it definitely was not Mummy's "char beehoon".  For one, there were vegetables.  It was not the full meat version Mum-in-law normally makes.  I just had to ensure some form of crispy greens accompany every pop into the mouth.  The Hubby was rather forgiving and supportive; he said it was almost there and that I just needed a few more practices.  A few more practices, as advised, dutifully performed, until this final version was reached a couple of years back with resounding approval.  Of course, not without adding a touch of my own, making this my children's "Mum's char beehoon".  For them, Mum's "char beehoon" is a colorful plate of green, red, black, white and brown strips.  The final touch, the crowning glory I suppose, is strands of golden yellow omelette, for without it, Mum's char beehoon is incomplete. 

My char beehoon with garnish

Char beehoon

(A product from the marriage of two Mums' "char beehoon")

Ingredients

400g dried vermicelli, softened by soaking in water, drained

cabbages as much as you like, julienned

carrots, ditto

dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked, ditto (keep soaking water as seasoning)

1 large can stew pork ribs (or use stew pig's trotters if preferred)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

4 shallots, thinly sliced 

Seasoning

3 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

350ml water

Garnish, my crowning glory

3 eggs (or more if kids are crazy about eggs) 

dash of soy sauce

pepper

dash of sesame oil

Method

1. Prepare seasoning by mixing all the ingredients together.  If soaking water from shiitake mushroom is added, just top up with plain water until 350ml is reached.

2. Canned stew ribs/pork must be processed ahead of time.  This means that meat has to be de-boned, excess fats removed, excess oil floating on top of the sauce scooped out.  Set the sauce aside for use later.

3. Prepare garnish.  Beat the eggs together with the rest of the seasoning.  Heat wok with some oil, wait till the wok is slightly smoking before adding the egg mixture.  Swirl the wok about to spread the egg mixture.  Quickly flip the omelette to the other side and brown it slightly.  Dish out and cut into strands, or any other sizes preferred.  Sometimes, I just chop the omelette into small bite size before dishing them out.

3. Heat up about 3 tbsp of oil (depending on the amount of vegetables used, discretion is necessary here), fry chopped garlic and sliced shallots until lightly browned and fragrant.

4. Add the shiitake mushrooms, fry for about 1 minute.  

5. Add the carrots and cabbage and fry until slightly softened.  Season lightly with pepper and salt.

6. Add 2-3 ladles of seasoning mixture (Step 1), bring to gentle boil, add the whole lot of softened vermicelli.  Toss all the ingredients together slowly and gently with chopsticks.  Toss until moisture has dried up.

7. Continue to add seasoning mixture, a couple of ladles each time.  Repeat Step 6 until vermicelli is almost cooked.  

8. At this point, add the sauce from canned stew ribs from Step 2.  

9. Continue to toss until all liquid dries up.  Can be served immediately, garnished with omelette. 

Notes:

- using chopsticks to toss the ingredients together keeps the strands of vermicelli long and intact.  Frying with a wok spatula only tends to break the strands up.  Usually, I use a combination of wok spatula in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other.  I find this a good combination as the spatula works at scooping those vegetables at the bottom of the wok, while the chopsticks works at loosening the vermicelli gently so that the vegetables can be incorporated evenly.

- seasoning liquid control for this one pot dish is important.  Though a total of 350ml of liquid is specified, sometimes more is required, while at other times, not the full amount will be used.  It differs from time to time really, so testing the done-ness and softness of the vermicelli nearing the final stages is important.  

- the same discretion is necessary when adding the canned stew ribs sauce.  What I found is that the vermicelli should be about 90% cooked/soft before adding the sauce.  The effect of adding this sauce is to increase the flavor and richness of this dish, and complete the cooking and softening process for the vermicelli.

- It really takes a few practices before finding that right amount of liquid to incorporate to achieve the level of softness you like.  So have fun trying and failing until you can say "Bull's eye"!

Friday's Special #5: Pasta with mini chicken-pork patties

This was meant to be that something special for dinner two Fridays ago.  But it was not to be  as we had an invitation.  So I made this last Tuesday and post it this week ^_^  I wonder if my new year resolution should be "I will not procrastinate posting in my blog".  And look at when I am making my new year resolution? February!?  Well, better late than never, as the saying goes.  Anyway, on with this special.  Usually, I make meatballs instead of patties, and it will be full pork meatballs.  The first time I made meatball pasta was about two years back.  Before that, I will always be frying up my minced meat before emptying a 575g of store-bought chunky tomato pasta sauce.  Two years ago, I bought a recipe book that offers 100 ways to make pasta.  Meatball spaghetti is one of them.  Ingredients are pretty easy to procure, and so I decided to try it out on the kids.  I don't make this very often, but whenever I make it, the kids are always pleased by this deviation from the daily stir-fries I place before them for dinner.  After two years of not so frequent meatball spaghetti, I thought it is time to do things slightly differently.  That's right, a change in the meat type and the shape of these meaty morsels.

I have to confess, first and foremost, that this recipe will be a "guess-timation" with regards to the weight of the meat.  I usually buy my meat from the wet market and the quantities there are usually not in grams or kilograms but how many pieces of chicken breasts deboned and how many dollars of meat to grind.  I'll be providing measurements such as "feels like 300g of such and such..."  And I've never weighed out the other ingredients like onions, or measure the amount of mixed spice, pepper and light soy sauce used to season the meat.  These vary all the time, depending on the amount of meat.  This is really a "play by the eye" type of cooking.  I suppose most cooking will be such. 

To be honest, I have never made chunky tomato pasta sauce from scratch, even though it seems pretty easy when I refer to that pasta recipe book I bought.  The problem lies with the tomatoes available in the local wet market.  They did not look anything like those lusciously ripe red globes from Italy that look on the verge of bursting with sweet and tangy juice (yes, I associate pasta with Italy, ripe and beautiful tomatoes with Italy too).  The tomatoes available here always come with more tang than sweet.  More than often, they appear in shades of dark orange and deep yellow than bear any resemblance to that sunset red which tomatoes making their appearances in Asian Food Network would have.  Then again, perhaps I have not looked hard enough.  And of course what we have here are of a different species from those grown in Italy.  I suppose I could get hold of some very promising tomatoes from gourmet shops or supermarkets.  But the truth is, I am not willing to fork out that extra cash for a pot of tomato sauce ^_^  And so I have stayed faithful to bottles of chunky tomato with basil sauce from Prego or chunky Napoletana sauce from Leggo's.

I love mushrooms, so does the Tiny Man.  The Hubby is neutral, anything is okay, he would say.  The problem lies with my girl.  She is totally disagreeable with mushrooms.  She would avoid them like the plague, and sometimes refusing to touch any dish that comes with a little bit of mushrooms.  I love mushrooms, and I love including tonnes of mushrooms into those store-bought pasta sauce.  I am not about to relinquish the pleasure I find in munching on fat juicy bits of mushrooms well coated with tomato sauce.  To please everyone in the family, and most importantly, the Mum (that's me), I add meaty mushrooms.  And by meaty, I really mean MEATY.  It will always be those huge king oyster mushrooms (eryngii) that resemble chicken drumstick (sometimes we call it drumstick mushroom) and fresh button mushrooms or chestnut mushrooms, and the occasional gargantuan portobellos.  Apart from satisfying my palate, choosing these meaty fungi over those more frilly and fragile types has another function.  It makes picking them out easier for my girl.  Simple as that ^_^

The day I made this dish, I could not get hold of any meaty mushrooms from the supermarkets nearby.  I was too lazy to walk 20 minutes to the other supermarket I know would definitely stockpile on these meaty mushrooms, and walk 20 minutes back home.  Of course, I have no intention of driving out just to get these mushrooms.  A compromise was necessary and so I did with a packet of those slightly frilly types of oyster mushrooms from a supermarket very close to home, wondering how it would taste with pasta and tomato sauce.  It did not taste weird.  It did not taste incompatible.  But it didn't have the crunchiness and juiciness of meaty mushrooms.
It had always been simply frying up some minced meat before dumping a bottle of store-bought sauce two years ago.  After the first attempt of introducing meatballs, I had never gone back to just plainly frying up the minced meat.  But things got a little boring, at least for me, not too sure about the kids and the Hubby.  I wanted to add some different texture to pork meatballs (and reduce the fat a little).  Adding chicken breast meat seemed to be an obvious answer and so add the breast meat, I did.  Here's the recipe, shaping the meat into balls or flat round patties is but a personal preference.


Pasta with mini chicken-pork patties
Ingredients (this amount is meant for my 2 kids and my Hubby plus me)
For the meat patties (feel free to roll these into balls)

feels like 300g minced pork (best to mince pork shoulder butt)
feels like 300g minced chicken breast (remove the skin please)
about 1 yellow onion, diced
about 1/2 tbsp mixed spice
about 1 tsp pepper
about 2 tbsp light soy sauce
about 1 egg, beaten
about 1 tsp corn starch


as much mushrooms (or none at all) as you like to eat
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 bottle, about 600g, of your favorite tomato pasta sauce
enough pasta to feed 2 large and 2 tiny being in the family (shapes of course is to your preference.  I've written before that the Hubby loves spaghetti and the kids love fusilli.  Satisfy your bosses!) 


Method
1. Dice yellow onion into about 1cm cubes, fry these onions with small amount of oil until fragrant.  Onions should be slightly browned and soft.  Set aside and allow to cool adequately.  These will be added to the minced meat.
2. Mince the pork and chicken breast meat together (or get your butcher to do it for you).  Add the onions from step 1 (after adequately cooled).  Season the meat and onion mixture with the rest of the seasonings.  Cover with cling film and let the meat rest in the fridge for at least 3 hours.  It is a good idea to prepare this the night before, provided time is available.
3. If using meaty mushrooms, process these into about 1.5cm cubes.  The juicy and bouncy crunchiness is really a pleasure.

4. When ready to prepare this dish, shape the meat into desired size and design.  Heat up some oil in a frying pan and brown your meat morsels.  I usually do not fully cook the meat at this stage.  Dish the meat out and set it aside. 
5. Add the mushrooms (if using) to the remaining oil in the frying pan, add more oil if necessary.  Fry the mushrooms for about 1 minute, if desired, more onions can also be added at this stage.  Add the garlic and fry until garlicky fragrant is detected.
6. Empty your chosen brand of tomato pasta sauce, bring it to a slight boil.  
7. Once pasta sauce starts to bubble gently, add the half-cooked meat morsels and bring to a full bubble.  Basically the meat needs to be fully cooked.  
8. Before turning off the heat, taste for adequate saltiness.  Add more salt if desired.  I will always add another generous dash of dried oregano and pepper.
9. Cook desired amount of pasta in adequate amount of salted water according to packaging instructions (^_^ can I really call this description useful instruction?).  Drain the pasta and drench them with the sauce, adding as many meatballs or patties as you like, then serve.  Tossing the pasta in the prepared sauce is another option, but I normally just ladle the sauce over the pasta.  I love to let the meat flavored liquid find its own path at dressing my pasta.

Notes:
- after all the seasoning ingredients are added to the meat, massage the seasoning into the meat with your fingers in a claw-like manner.  I find this method good in producing juicy meat that is both tight and juicy.  My Mum also taught me another method.  Scoop the whole lot of meat up and slap it back into its container.  Repeat this a couple of times.  One can detect a difference in the moisture level and tightness after a couple of slaps.
- I've specified "about 1 egg, beaten".  This really depends on the amount of meat used.  Sometimes more is required, sometimes less.  This is visual cooking at work. 

Friday's Special #4: Slow cooking cidered pork with pasta aglio olio

Slow cooking cidered pork with paster aglio olio

We had a simple affair for dinner on a Friday two weeks ago .  I'd chosen a slow cooking one pot dish to make just so that I get a little more time to relax and maybe catch up on my television watching.  From "The Complete Slow Cooker" book, I'd chosen a pork dish with an ingredient that I am totally not familiar with; it is dry cider.  I had no idea how it would taste, or what it looked like.  I had wondered if it had anything to do with apple cider vinegar.  Of course I turned to the net to find out what this was.  It's practically the one and only help I turn to every time a strange looking ingredient made me stumble and hesitate in attempting a recipe.

And so what is dry cider, and does it have any slightest connection with apple cider vinegar?  Well, yes and no.  Yes, because apple cider vinegar is made from cider, which in turn almost always comes from apples.  And no, because dry ciders are not vinegar, simple as that.  Dry ciders just meant that the natural sugar has been fermented out, which means it is not sweet, or for some brands, not that sweet.  Pardon my ignorance, but to my surprise, dry ciders actually has an alcohol content of between 5%-7%.  I'd also found out that dry ciders are usually used as a beverage rather than an ingredient in cooking.  These bits of information really aroused my curiosity about this slow cooking dish and how it might taste.  Just in case I could not find dry cider in the supermarket I had in mind to visit, I'd also found out that apple cider can be used as a substitute but there is a need to cut back on the sugar in the recipe.

I went to the supermarket which boast of its selection of imported international food products.  That means there is a high chance of finding dry ciders there.  True enough, I found it.  It came in a large glass bottle, 1 litre to be precise.  The bottle was green in color, making it look like a bottle of beer.  Naturally, I procured one bottle, got back home, poured myself a glass and took a sip.  Pondered on the taste.  Not very fruity as I thought it might be.  No subtle taste of apples, maybe my tongue was not sensitive enough for delicate things.  Bubbly, yes.  Like sparkling wine, but not sweet.  So much for my anticipation; mystery demystified.
On with putting my slow cooking cidered pork together.  I bought a large chunk of pork shoulder butt weighing about 750g from my favorite butcher in the wet market.  I love to use shoulder butt as mince meat.  I find them more juicy then using lean meat, but of course there is the fats to get rid of before using them.  For this dish, I had to curve out the fats and sinews (a bit of a tricky knife job) before cutting it into cubes for cooking.  One of the best ways to curve out the sinews is to slide the knife as close to the sinew as possible and run it along the sinews.  Something I picked up from watching Jamie Oliver cook. 

Curving out the sinew

Next is to chop up all the vegetables into bite size chunks, even though the recipe calls for the vegetables to be diced.  I didn't want the vegetables to end up losing their shapes.  Apart from cutting the vegetables and processing the meat into roughly 1.5 inch chunks, there really is nothing much to prepare to get this dish together.  The only thing left to do is to brown the meat and fry up the vegetables before chucking the whole mixture into the slow cooker.  The rest of the job, my trusty slow cooker will take over for the next 9 hours.


Slow cooking cidered pork   
(Recipe from "The Complete Slow Cooker: Packed with recipes, techniques and tips", Sara Lewis, Hamlyn, 2010)
Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable sunflower oil (I used corn oil)
750g pork shoulder steaks cubed and any fat discarded
1 leek, thinly sliced; white and green parts kept separated
2 tbsp plain flour (to thicken the liquid)
300ml dry cider (substitute with apple cider, reduce sugar)
300ml chicken stock
200g carrots, diced (I just chunk them into bite size)
1 dessert apple, cored and diced (I used red Fuji apple from China, chunked)
2-3 stems sage
salt and pepper


Method
1. Heat oil in frying pan, add the pork a few pieces at a time until all the pieces are in the pan, then fry over a high heat until lightly browned.
2. Lift the pork out of the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer it to the slow cooker pot.
3. Add the white leek slices to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes or until softened.  Stir in the flour, then gradually mix in the cider and the stock.

This is the appearance of Step 3 before adding liquid.  After liquid is added,
need to stir continuously as lumps will form.

4. Add the carrot, apple, sage and some salt and pepper.  Bring to the boil, stirring continuously.  Stirring continuously is necessary as I find that the flour formed quite a number of lumps when liquid is added.  I used a whisk to help in breaking up the lumps.

This is how Step 4 looks like.  I love the colors!

5. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker pot, cover with the lid and cook at LOW for 9-10 hours.  In the last 15 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste, add the green part of the leeks and cook until softened.


I made pasta aglio olio to go with this slow cooking meat dish.  I had intended to spend a bit of time catching up on my television programmes, I had opted for a simple carbohydrate dish to accompany this meat dish.  The ingredient for this accompaniment is very basic and easy to gather.  Olive oil, good quality, if it can be afforded.  I just use extra virgin olive oil bought from my neighbourhood supermarket.  Garlic, chili (I used chili padi) and pasta.  Actually, so much being said about wanting to keep things easy to give myself time to stay attached to the goggle box, I just wanted to try out a recipe in another of my list of cookbooks ^_^  For the pasta shapes, I used a mixture of two types of pasta: fusilli and spaghetti.  The Hubby likes spaghetti and the kids love fusilli, they think spaghetti is boring.  The pasta tasted okay, the chili gave it a bit of heat which proved a little too spicy for the kids.  And after eating the pasta, I think salt has to be added in the process of making the olive oil sauce.  It tasted too bland and the amount of salt added to the water to cook the pasta was not enough.  


My Pasta Aglio Olio
(adapted from "Pasta with garlic, chilli & pine nuts" in "Pasta: 100 Great Recipes", Jacqueline Bellafontaine, Silverdale Books, 2005)
Ingredients
400g pasta (mixed shapes)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 red chillies, seeded and chopped 


Method
1.  Cook the pasta in plenty of lightly salted boiling water according to cooking instructions on the pasta packaging.  I like mine al dente, so I normally cook my pasta for about 8 minutes.
2. In the meantime, heat the olive oil and saute the garlic for 2-3 minutes.  Before turning off the flame, sprinkle in the chilli and stir around a couple of times.  I do it this way to prevent releasing too much heat from the chilli, I just wanted a hint of heat but this is still a little too spicy for the kids. 
3. Keep about a small cup of cooking liquid before draining the pasta.  Add the pasta into the frying pan of garlic and chilli infused olive oil, toss to coat evenly.  If it is a little dry, add 1-2 tbsp of the cooking liquid.  
4. Serve immediately.

See the mixture of spaghetti and fusilli?
Just to satisfy the Tiny Man, the girl and the Hubby.

Notes:
* Next time I make this pasta again, remember to add in some salt to the oil as it tasted pretty bland apart from the garlic and chilli.

Friday's Special #3: Sukiyaki

Steaming hot pot of sukiyaki!

Once again I was tempted by what I see on "Morning Market" on NHK.  That morning I was watching the section called 産直日本 ("Japan's Local Produce") and it ended with the announcer enjoying a piping hot clay pot of sukiyaki.  It had been a long time since I last had sukiyaki with the Hubby.  As children came along, there really wasn't any opportunity to dine out slowly (and serenely) before either one of the kids decide to end the dinner abruptly with some kiddie fuss.  And so it was decided that we will be having sukiyaki as our Friday's Special, last Friday.  

Not being too sure about the sukiyaki sauce, turning to the net is the immediate thing to do.  The search turned out recipes for the sukiyaki sauce and the song itself.  There were the English version of "Sukiyaki" but I clicked on the original Japanese one, 上を向いて歩こう by 坂本九 (Sakamoto Kyu).  I knew that there was an original Japanese version, but never knew the actual title and the singer.  Listening to the song and watching the video was nostalgic.  Not that I was old enough to enjoy this song as a popular culture back then in 1961 (I wasn't even born yet).  But it's a kind of nostalgic feeling I get whenever I listen to Japanese songs.  I've got this collection of songs from the 1960s, songs like 花嫁、小指の思い出 (the youtube for both titles had been taken off)、逢いたくて逢いたくて and　虹色の湖.  Listening to it also brought back memories of the short but wonderful period when I was living in Japan.  Writing this and searching for these oldies on the net also gave me an opportunity to look at old footages of artistes performing these songs.  Had an enjoyable time switching between the different footages on youtube.  This is something I will never do if I had not started this blog. 

On with the food then.  If it had been about 2 months ago, I guess I would not have been so quick in making the decision to make sukiyaki.  The kids did not seem to like beef.  Even though thinly sliced pork belly would make an acceptable sukiyaki, I suppose it's got to be beef if one's looking for authentic flavors.  It was during one of our dining out session that I introduced beef to the kids.  I gave them beef without telling them what it was.  They liked the meat pretty much that they asked for a second helping.  It was not until the end of that dinner that I revealed that it was beef.  It was a relief when they actually said that beef taste good!

Using my trusty clay pot, the one that I used to make my Claypot rice, I made the sukiyaki on the stove top before transferring the whole clay pot unto a large hotplate to keep it warm.  The hotplate is those type that can be used as a barbecue and steamboat combination.  I supposed the more authentic way to eat sukiyaki would be to cook and eat at the dining table at the same time, much like our Chinese steamboat or the Japanese shabu-shabu. Well, doesn't matter for this instance (except the beef though, which I shall insist). The kids were pretty thrilled to be eating out of a steaming claypot, fishing for beef, vegetables and mushrooms.  I gave the Hubby a raw egg, beaten, so that he could coat the sweet, salty beef pieces into the egg before popping it into his mouth.  But this time, he chose to coat the beef and cook the egg a bit.  For me, I cannot tolerate raw eggs, the texture, the taste and the smell. It is too fishy for me.  So no eggs for me.  The kids on the other hand, took after their father, they were crazy about dipping the ingredients in raw egg.  Both of them made the Hubby really busy with coating the ingredients with egg and returning them to the sukiyaki clay pot to warm them up again.  Finally, this was one dinner I could enjoy in peace.

The Hubby busy warming some egg-coated meat for the kids...

I didn't really have to ask my family how the sukiyaki tasted.  They kept saying it was delicious.  Especially the Hubby, he said it voluntarily, throughout the dinner, about five times, and even on the next day...  ^_^  

Sukiyaki

(put together after consulting various recipes over the internet, modifying ingredients and sauce to suit our preference)

Ingredients

500g thinly sliced beef

600g Chinese cabbage

5 pieces fresh shiitake

250g enoki mushroom

300g radish

1 large beancurd

Sukiyaki sauce

100ml Japanese soy sauce

100ml mirin

3 tbsp Shaoxing Huadiao wine

5 tbsp sugar

200ml water

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients for sukiyaki sauce and set aside for use later.

2. Shred the Chinese cabbage into 5cm thickness, separating the leaves from the tougher stems.

3. Peel the skin off the radish and cut into 1.5cm thick, 5cm long sticks.

4. Divide the beancurd into 6 square pieces.

5. Heat up some oil (about 2 tbsp) in the clay pot.  Add about half of the sliced beef and fry quickly until no longer pink in color.  Push the beef slices to one side of the clay pot, add in the radish sticks, the Chinese cabbage stems, beancurd pieces and shiitake mushroom.  Place these ingredients as neatly as you can possibly manage. 

6. Pour the whole content of the sukiyaki sauce into the clay pot, cover and bring to the boil.  Once boiling, lower the flame to medium low and simmer until the radish sticks and Chinese cabbage stems are softened.

7. Add in the enoki mushrooms and Chinese cabbage leaves.  Ensure that these newly added ingredients are pushed into the sauce to soak up the flavor.  Cover again and let the whole content simmer for about 5 minutes.

8. Finally add in the remaining beef slices, cover to let the added beef pieces cook.  Once the beef slices lose their pinkish tint, it will be ready to serve.  

9. Transfer the whole clay pot unto a hotplate to keep warm, enjoy with a bowl of Japanese gohan.  Sprinkle a little toasted sesame seeds and some nori over the rice, yummy! 

Notes:

- one common ingredient in Sukiyaki, shirataki or ito-konnyaku, is omitted when I made this.  I couldn't get hold of any.  I found ito-konnyaku in Cold Storage, so next time I make sukiyaki again, I'll definitely add this in.

- Another ingredient, shungiku (春菊), is not available in the supermarket in my neighbourhood, so I omitted this too.  But this particular vegetable has a similar taste as our Chinese "dang-orh".  Must remember to use this next time if I see some in the wet market or supermarket.  Chinese New Year is approaching, I think this vegetable will be available soon.

Friday's Special #2: Slow cooking Easy sausage and beans

My first slow cooker was a lucky-draw gift that I had won at my Hubby's annual company dinner.  That was at least 7 years ago.  It is a 1.5L cute little cooker, small enough to simmer soup for two.  That is exactly what I did with my prize.  Made soups and the occasional dessert of white fungus, pears and almonds.  But as the family got bigger, my prize cooker could not handle the amount I needed to make.  So I bought another cooker, a whooping 5.2L at Hubby's suggestion.  His rationale is that it is better to get something bigger.  There will be more space to make more.  This will come in handy when the kids grow older and need to eat more.  But the problem with slow cookers is that the inner pot has to be at least half filled for best result.  Can you imagine the amount if this 5.2L is filled to half its capacity?  It proved to be too spacious for a family of four.  Because the 5.2L cooker is wider in circumference, I find that my ingredients always looked like they are having a swim in a giant pool.  The kitchen counter top looked pretty crowded too.  
I have finally settled on a 3.2L slow cooker, and had made simmered soup many times, much to my girl's delight.  She loves soup, and the white fungus with pear and almond dessert. However, I felt that I could make better use of this slow cooker, apart from just making soup and the one and only dessert. 

Yes, I know that the slow cooker comes with an operating manual and a couple of recipes.  The problem with me is that I basically ignore all forms of operating manuals and that inevitably included the recipe.  It was not until recently when I chanced upon a book called "The Complete Slow Cooker" that I realized that you could cook up a feast with a slow cooker.  Of course I borrowed the book.  How else would I be able to make something out of it and share the recipe here?  But this "discovery" (a bit late isn't it, but better late than never, I'd like to think) led to another.  I finally pulled out the operating manual and flipped to the recipe portion.  They looked do-able; in fact I tried one earlier in the week which I'll be putting that up later.  But since it's Friday, I reckon I should do Friday's Special first before it joins the queue in the draft list.

This slow cooking meal was meant to be a hearty start for the day: breakfast. But most of the time, we do not take heavy breakfast.  So I've decided that it will be our dinner.  I chose it because I think my kids will love it.  It has baked beans, 2x410g of baked beans (that's two cans)!  I think they will go crazy at dinner time.  Actually, though the recipe said baked beans, I am not sure if it meant baked beans in tomato sauce, like those we have here in Singapore.  For me, baked beans in tomato sauce is the only type of baked beans I know, so this is it for me. 

See the frankfurt at the back?  It's only 250g so I added
some Japanese sausages that is rich in smoky flavor

Frankfurt is another ingredient that got me scratching my head.  My hubby asked me if I could use hot dogs.  And my reply was: "I don't think it's hot dogs, like those that we wedge between a hot dog bun.  I think it's those raw sausages."  ^_^  Country bumpkin I am!  Frankfurt is hot dog!  A search on Google yielded results showing images after images of hot dogs of various sizes.  Okay, hot dogs it will be.  At least this country bumpkin learned something.  At least I know the country of origin is Germany...
It's a slow cooking dish, to be simmered on LOW for 9-10 hours.  Yup, eyes not playing tricks there.  Nine to ten hours.  Remember, it was meant to be a breakfast dish.  Prepare it the night before, whack the whole thing into the slow cooker and forget about it until you wake up the next day.  Sounds like a good deal doesn't it?  The heat is low and gentle, no danger of liquid boiling over or scorching while you visit dreamland.  The main ingredients, baked beans and frankfurts, are already cooked and ready to eat, there is no danger of under-cooking.  I put the whole dish together this morning, left it in the cooker and went about my chores.  Went out to get some bread as I intended to pair this with some toast.  Came back with a country loaf, as I loved the rolled oats dotting the whole loaf.  Think I'll toast this, drizzled with some olive oil and a sprinkling of dried oregano.  Maybe some coleslaw would be good, we need vegetables.  There are some cabbage, carrots and apples waiting to be used in the fridge...


Easy sausage and beans
(Recipe from "The Complete Slow Cooker: Packed with recipes, techniques and tips", Sara Lewis, Hamlyn, 2010)

Ingredients
1 tbsp sunflower oil (I used corn oil)
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (I omitted)
2 x 410g cans baked beans
2 tsp wholegrain mustard (I used fine wholegrain mustard)
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
6 tbsp vegetable stock (I just used water)
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped (I used about 10 cherry tomatoes, halved those large ones)
1/2 red pepper, cored, deseeded and diced
350g chilled frankfurters, thickly sliced
salt and pepper


Method
(Note: Some slow cookers need to be preheated, do so if necessary, check manufacturer's handbook for information)
1. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and fry, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened and just beginning to turn golden.
2. Stir in the paprika (if you are using) and cook for 1 minute.  Mix in the beans, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and stock (I used water, about 90ml).  
3. Bring to the boil, then stir in the tomatoes, red pepper and a little salt and pepper (I did not add in any more salt as I felt that the baked beans is adequately salted).

This is how my bean mixture looked like.

4. Add the frankfurters to the slow cooker pot and tip the baked bean mixture over the top.  Cover with the lid and cook on low for 9-10 hours or overnight.


That will be all for the time being.  Will be back to add more photos of the end result plus my coleslaw and toasts.

28 Oct 2011, 15:50hr

The frankfurts and beans had their full 9 hours.  Time for the unveiling.  This is how the dish looks like.

  

My photo-taking skills cannot do justice to the flavor of this dish.  Despite being subjected to heat (albeit at a gentle temperature), the beans did not turn mushy, the tomatoes and red pepper are soft and juicy.  I was afraid the long hours of simmering would make the frankfurts soft and soggy.  I should have more faith in the recipe and the wonderful gentle heat of slow cookers at LOW.  The frankfurts still retain a slight crunchiness and remained filled with smoky flavor.

For the toast that I mentioned earlier in the day, I simply drizzled them with some olive oil and sprinkled on dry oregano before shoving them into a hot oven at 220degC to toast for about 5 minutes.  

When I was toasting them, I got the kids to help with setting the table.  Both of them walked into the kitchen and ran out into the dining area excitedly: "Mummy! Mummy! The kitchen smelled like pizza!" said the Tiny Man.  The girl shared his observation.  I walked back into the kitchen and almost burst out laughing.  They were right. The kitchen did smell like pizza baking away.  The scent from the mixture of olive oil and oregano heating up in the oven is irresistible.

Coleslaw was prepared about 30 minutes before our dinner.  I used a quarter of a head of cabbage, slicing it very thinly.  One small carrot coarsely shredded and two small Fuji apples, cut into very fat match-stick size.  The dressing is equally simple. 

Coleslaw dressing

3 tbsp low fat yoghurt

1/2 tsp fine wholegrain mustard

1 tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

a tiny bit (okay, about 1/2 tsp) maple syrup, this is optional  

I love the color of this coleslaw, a tinge of green here and there amidst a generous sprinkling of orange.  The apples offered additional sweetness and refreshing crunch.

Assembling all three dishes together, this is what we had for Friday's Special tonight.  The hubby had 3 helpings.  I guess this is the best indication that this slow cooking meal is a keeper and a success.

28 October 2011, 21:25hr