Chinese extravaganza! (now with pictures)

So here, I have a lack of friends. (Don't cry for me...COME VISIT!) But I have an 8 year old and a 10 year old kind of at my mercy. For example, on Wednesday we have the maids come, and so we like to get out of the house. This means I get to choose a museum to go to :)

It also means that tonight, when I decided I was craving chinese food, that I could force the children to make it with me!

So I made Fried Rice, ala Sister Okabe. And we made shuijiaos (swey jows)-- pot stickers! (though apparently the name shuijiao is just for the boiled kind and I fried some of them... I think the kids enjoyed it,

My dad served his mission in Taiwan, and one of the things we do on a semi-regular basis in our house is make shuijiaos. I came across this recipe recently, and it piqued my desire to make some. I talked to my mom this morning and she told me that Dad always said 1/3 lean beef, 1/3 pork and 1/3 cabbage. This recipe used 1/3 sausage rather than just pork, and it was delicious!

1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb sausage (just jimmy dean regular sausage)
1/2 head of cabbage shredded
2 cups carrots shredded
2-3 green onions
a largish scoop of minced garlic
a medium scoop of minced ginger

You mix all this together then wrap it up in wanton/pot sticker wrappers (check out the farm girl's recipe/pictures)

At home we always boiled them, for 10 ish minutes (you want to make sure they're done so you don't get raw pork...). Farm Girl give instructions on how to fry them.

Boiled

ALSO, I LOVE her dipping sauce, it way good... Just one part rice wine vinegar, one part soy sauce, and then I added more garlic/ginger, and you could add hot sauce for a kick if you want to.

B voted that he liked the boiled ones better, and I think I do too; they tasted like home. K and dad liked the fried ones.

Now I just need some dessert!

Fortunate?

This time of the year signifies the beginning of the new Chinese new year! 2011 is the year of the rabbit

This week was a little (read: A LOT) stressful and on Wednesday (?) night, to blow off some steam, I made Fortune Cookies! They were way easier than I thought they would be! My roommate helped me come up with clever fortunes. 

I got the recipe here, and the directions are pretty easy!

Fortune Cookies

1/2 C flour- If you have bread flour, use it. (I didn't.)

1/2 C sugar

1 tsp vanilla- or sometimes I use 1/2 almond 1/2 vanilla (I am in love with almond, so I did the half and half.)

2 egg whites

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend to combine. Be sure to blend till it's completely smooth!


 Place in a container and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper*(I didn't have any when I made them, but used a sprayed cookie sheet, it worked fine, but I think that the parchment would be WAY better). Draw 3-4 (3-inch) circles on paper (Here, I dipped a glass in flour and put it on the greased sheet). Turn paper over. Spoon 1 teaspoon batter into center of each of the drawn circles; spread evenly to fill circle. 

Bake at 400° for 5-6 minutes or until the cookies are brown just around the edges and a little toward the centers. Remove from the oven. Let sit for a few seconds (just a few!) before removing from pan. Working quickly, loosen edges of cookies with a spatula, and turn over.

Place fortune along the center of 1 cookie. Fold cookie over so the edges meet ; press edges together. Gently pull the ends of the cookie down over the rim of a small bowl (or jar); hold for a few seconds or until set. Repeat procedure with remaining cookies. Makes about 24 cookies.

Do you Bao?

My dad spent 2 years in Taiwan prior to meeting my mom, and came back loving Chinese food. That being said, my siblings and I have been well trained in the art of eating delicious food. At home growing up we always had a lot of rice, and delicious stir fry's. And for special occasions, we would make pot stickers. Chinese food is like comfort food to me. This Saturday my sister and I ventured into the world of homemade hum bao and spring rolls. And what a delicious venture it was! 


Hum bao are delicious rolls, either steamed or baked that can be filled with all manner of delicious fillings. I generally love the bbq pork ones, but Saturday we made sausage and egg filled and boy was that delicious.


Here's the recipe for the basic dough:

Makes about 30 palm-sized buns

3C Hong Kong flour (we just used All Purpose flour)
1 Tbsp instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp vege Shortening or vege oil (more authentic - Lard)
1C more or less water

Procedure
1. Mix flour and dry ingredients well.
2. Add fats and water to make a soft & pliable dough, but not sticky.
3. Knead till smooth and supple. Don't worry too much about developing the gluten. :)

4. Proof till doubled. (about 60 - 90 minutes)
5. Punch dough, and roll into a long sausage, dividing it to 30 pieces.
6. Flatten each piece to a disk, place fillings (see below) and gather the sides and pinching it at the top to form a dome-like shape

7. Proof till about 1 1/2 times larger. (about 20-30 minutes)
8. Steam buns for 15 - 20 minutes under mid-high heat and they'll look like this:

Or brush with an egg wash and bake at 350* for 15-20 minutes for this look:

Note: we used the steamer tray in our rice cooker and it was PERFECT!

For the filling we kept it simple-- 

1 lb breakfast sausage- regular

6 eggs- beaten with a couple tsp of water

2 green onions, sliced

Brown the sausage. Drain. When cooked, add the eggs and onions, cook till done. Then stuff in your dough, bake/steam and  viola! You have now bao'd!