Red Wine & Farm Beet Marmalade | 紅菜頭甜醬

Marmalade is a type of sweet preserve similar to jam or jelly.  Other than the traditional marmalades that are made of citrus, vegetables that have sweet notes, like onion, tomato, or beet, are also getting popular in the marmalade world.  Spread it on your toast or cracker as a change for the jam and I am sure you will love it.

Red Wine & Farm Beet Marmalade

紅菜頭甜醬

Ingredients:

2 cups Red Farm Beets, grated

2 cups Yellow Farm Beets, grated

1.5 cups Brown Sugar

80 gram Unsalted Butter

1 cup Red Wine

1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar

1 cup Water

材料：

2 杯   紅菜頭，切碎

2 杯   黃菜頭，切碎

1.5 杯   黑糖

80 克   無鹽牛油

1 杯   紅酒

1/4 杯   紅酒醋

1 杯   水

DIRECTION:

Home made Spiced Salted Eggs (Chicken Egg) |自製咸蛋 (雞蛋)

To me, it is no exact measument to make salted eggs because everyone is using different container for his or her eggs.  Howerver, there are some useful guidelines:

1. The water must be sterilized and cool off before used.

2. Salt should fill 1/4 of the container.

3. Leave the eggs at the room temperature for the full 30 days before enjoying it.

Home made Spiced Salted Eggs (Chicken Egg)

自製咸蛋 (雞蛋)

Ingredients:

2 Eggs

120 gram Table Salt

2 cups Water

4-5 Star Anise

10 gram Sichuan Peppercorn

5 gram Mixed Peppercorn (white, black, pink)

DIRECTION:

Homemade Labneh Cheese

Labneh cheese, is also called strained Greek yogurt cheese.  The creation process is just what it describes - strain the yogurt.

It is important that the yogurt be stored in the fridge during the straining process.  A cheesecloth is usually considered essential equipment, but If you have a clean and thin tablecloth it will also work.

You can add fresh herbs and olives in the cheese to create a savoury taste as the video shows here, but you can also add dried fruit and nuts to make a sweet flavour.  Create your own cheese and have some kitchen fun at home.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Homemade Labneh Cheese

INGREDIENTS:

Greek Yogurt

ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS TO FLAVOUR:

Black Olive

Lemon

Thyme, fresh

Olive Oil

Salt

DIRECTION:

Steamed Egg with Tofu Egg ｜ 蒸玉子豆腐蛋

Steamed egg was one the most often seen dishes on our dining table since I was a child.  My mom needed to work, take care of us, and cook for the family.  So she always tried to look for some simple and healthy recipes, and steamed egg was just a perfect fit.

Steamed egg takes only 10-15 minutes to make from start to finish, and its texture is silky smooth and easy to be digested.  A children-friendly dish.

My son (and my husband too) loves steamed egg.  When we serve it with rice, my son puts it in his mouth spoonful by spoonful.

Adding egg tofu is a popular way to cook steam egg in Hong Kong.  Egg tofu, as the name describes, is the tofu made of soy and egg.  It brings extra texture and nutrients to the dish.

Steamed Egg with Tofu Egg ｜ 蒸玉子豆腐蛋

Ingredients:

3 pcs Eggs, large size

1 tube Egg Tofu

Salt

White Pepper

Cooked Oil

Soy Sauce

  Direction:

Egg tofu can be easily found in Asian supermarket.

1. Cut the egg tofu into 2 cm rounds.  Place them in the dish.

2. In a bowl, crack the eggs.

3. Add 1.5 times water, salt, and white pepper.  Mix it well.

4. Scoop out the foam.

5. Pour the egg wash in a dish.

6. Cover the dish with a foil.

7. Place the dish in a pre-heated steamer and cook it over high heat for 10 minutes.

8. Before serving, drizzle some cooked oil and soy sauce.  Serve it with rice.

Deep Fried Shrimp and Pork Wonton Ghost ｜ 萬聖節鮮蝦豬肉炸雲吞

When my son was still little, I used to make a lot more cute looking food for him.  Now I am always busy with school and stuff around the house.  There isn't much energy to make food fancy.

But I know Halloween is a big thing for children.  So no matter how tired I was, I made these cute little wonton ghosts for him to celebrate Halloween.  He was delighted.

My husband said the wontons looked like ghosts rather than monsters, and my son said they looked like fish.  It was so hilarious.  Anyways, I am happy to be able to come up with this healthy treat for him for Halloween. 

 Deep Fried Shrimp and Pork Wonton Ghost

萬聖節鮮蝦豬肉炸雲吞

Ingredients:

200 gram Pork, ground

10 Shrimp

25-30 pcs Wonton Wrappers

1 sheet of Nori

7-8 cloves Garlic, peeled and minced

Vegetable Oil (for deep frying)

Marinade for the pork filling:

6 tablespoons Soy Sauce

1/3 teaspoon White Pepper, ground

4 tablespoons Chinese Rice Wine

2 tablespoons Sugar

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

Direction:

1. Peel away the head, shell, and the legs of the shrimp.  Insert a toothpick into the second section of the shrimp under the vein and gently pull the vein out.  Rinse the shrimp.

2. Cut the shrimp into small pieces.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine ground pork, shrimp, minced garlic, and marinade; mix well.  Leave it for about 15 minutes.

4. Cut the nori into about 3 cm x 2 cm pieces; set aside.

5, With a straw, cut out two small holes as the eyes.

6. Lay a wonton wrapper on a working surface.  Place a nori on top of the holes.

7. Spoon a small portion of the pork filling onto the nori.

8. Wet four edges with some water.

9. Fold and seal the wonton diagonally.

10. Wet the left and right sides with some water, and fold the edges from the far corners to the center.

11.  Gently shape the wonton into a ball shape.

The front should be like this.

12. Place the wontons on parchment paper.

13. To cook, heat up a small pot of oil over medium heat.  Add the wontons one by one.  Use a spatula to move them to make sure they are not sticking on the bottom.

14. When the wontons float to the top, let them cook for another minute before transfering them onto a paper towel.

15. Soak up the excess oil on a paper towel.

16. Serve the wontons with ketchup.

I also made a pot of chicken broth with mushroom and bok choy to serve along side.  It warms up our body while adding extra vegetables to the meal.

If you don't like deep fry, simply boil the dumplings until they are flow onto the surface and served it with warm chicken broth.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Warning: my son turned into a monster after eating the monster wontons.

Orange Peel Candy ｜ 糖橘皮

After finishing a sweet and juicy orange, don't throw away the  peel.  The peel is actually as flavourful as the orange flesh.  We can zest it and add it to salad dressing or to flavour water.

Another good way to use orange peel is to candy it.  It is a traditional preserved treat that can be eaten as it is or used in baking goods, such as cookies, cakes, or bread.

My son loves these candied orange peels.  He knows I always keep some of this candy in the kitchen and whenever his sweet tooth itches him, he will try to poke around my cupboards to look for it.  Of course I don't encourage him to "search" my kitchen, but just the  cute eager look on his face makes me smile.  I never knew that this traditional candy can catch a kid's heart that much.

Now, we both treasure any orange peels we get, and my son will remind me to save the peels to make candy for later.  "Mommy, we are using the whole orange and we are not wasting food, right?" he says with a proud smile.


Orange Peel Candy
糖橘皮

Ingredients:
1 Orange of Peel
1/2 cup Sugar
3 cup Water


How to make:

1. Slice the orange peel into segments.  With a small knife, remove the white pith that will cause bitterness.

2. In a heavy bottom pot, add the orange peels and water that is just   enough to cover them.  Bring it to a boil and then discard the water.  Repeat this process two times with two changes of water.  This steps can help to remove the bitterness of the white pith that may still be attached.

3. In the same pot, combine all the ingredients.  Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer.  Continuously simmer until the liquid reaches a syrupy consistency.  Remove the pot from the heat.


4. Place the peels on parchment without overlapping them.  Allow them to totally dry and keep them in an air-tight container.

Save the syrup for dishes like roasted radish or carrot.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Pork Belly Wraps ｜ 豬腩肉夾

This recipe is the pork belly version of Peking duck (barbecue duck) and I came up with it after dreaming about Peking duck the night before.

When I was a child, I would be so excited whenever my family was invited to a wedding.  Other than being able to play with my cousins, I was able to eat Peking duck, my favourite Chinese cuisine.

A server would push a cart in front of the table of guests.  On the cart, there were two ducks, a stack of bamboo steamers with many wrappers insiders, finely sliced scallion and leeks, chillies, and hoi sin sauce.  The staff then skillfully skinned around the duck, removed any extra fat that was attached to the skin while arranging the slices of skin on a plate piece by piece.  Finally, the staff will place the plate in the centre of the big table and put the rest of the condiments down for the guests to serve.  Usually each adult will share two servings and each child has one serving.  It is considered unthoughtful if you eat more than this portion.  So, you can see why I crave for Peking duck, right?

I know very well about the difference between duck and pork.  However, if you don't want to marinate and roast your own duck, pork belly is a very convenient ingredient to serve the purpose and I found fatty pork pairs with hoi sin sauce very well.

To wrap the meat, I chose wonton wrappers and perilla leaves.  One brings you substantial feeling and the other brings the fresh herby flavour.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you like this recipe.

Pork Belly Wraps ｜ 豬腩肉夾

Ingredients:

1 lbs Pork Belly, skin on

10-15 pcs Perilla Leaves (can be found in Korean supermarket)

10-15 pcs Wonton Wrappers

1 Leek, white part only

1/2 Cucumber

1-2 Red Chill

1 bowl of Cooked Rice (optional)

1/3 cup Hoi Sin Sauce

White Pepper

How to make it:

1. Place the wonton wrappers on a dry pan.  Heat both sides on low heat until slightly brown.  Cover them and set them aside.

2. Rinse of the leek.  Cut the white part into slices and soak them in the water for about 5 minutes; drain well.

3. Cut the cucumber in half and remove the seeds.  Cut the cucumber into sticks.

4. Slice the red chilli; deseed it if desired.

5. Slice the pork belly into about 1/2 cm pieces.

6.  Bring a small pot of water to a boil over high heat.  Add the pork and white pepper.  Let it come to a boil again and cook for another 5 minutes.  Scoop out the foam on the top.  Drain the pork.

7. To serve, dip the pork belly in the hoi sin sauce and place it in the centre of the wonton wrap, followed with leeks and red chilli.

8. Or, you can add some rice with a perilla leaf.

Hickory Nuts Cookies (wild edible) ｜ 山胡桃曲奇

Late October is a good time for foraging nuts.  Not only for squirrels and chipmunk, but for us too.  We've picked acorns to make cookies, but our favourite nut is hickory.  Hickory nuts contain a high amount of "good fat" and their taste resembles something between a pecan and a walnut.  When it is freshly cracked and baked into cookies, it is an enjoyable moment to just sit and savour the flavour.  You will be amazed how nutty it actually tastes.  I would say it is even better than peanut.

You can buy hickory nuts at the store, but they usually lose the profound flavour and some of the good fat content after the prolonged period of storage.

Picking hickory nuts in the wood and sensing the small animals watching me.

Hickory Nut has two layers of hard shell to protect the delicious flesh.  The outer layer is green, but later it will turn into a deep brown colour, and then it will crack open to expose the second layer of the shell.

The second shell has a much lighter brown colour and it is the layer we need to work on if you want to get to the flesh.

  

In the woods, most of the hickory nuts I found were already out of the outer shell so all I needed to do was just to pick them up and put them in the backpack.

Hickory nuts in their shells.

Hickory Nuts Cookies

山胡桃曲奇

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Hickory Nuts

1/2 cup Butter, softened

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

a pinch of Sea Salt

How to make it:

1. Rinse the hickory nuts a few times to remove the dirt that sticks to the shells.

2. With a nut cracker, crack open the hickory nuts.

3. Use a sharp tool to take out the flesh.

Or you can use any method that works best for you.  A hammer, perhaps?

It was the result after I worked for three hours.  Eating wild edibles is not always easy, but the fresh nuts was a wonderful trade off.

4. Place the nuts on a foiled tray, roast it in the pre-heated oven at 360 F for about 10 minutes, or until they are nicely browned and fragrant.  Be careful not to burn it.  They burn fast because of the high fat content.

5. In a mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, and vanilla extract.

6. With a fork, mix the ingredients until well combined.

7. Add flour.  Combine and roll it into a dough by hand.  If the dough is too dry, add a few drops of water.

8. Add hickory nuts.  Continuously knead the dough until it is well combined.

9. Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper.  Roll it out into a 1 cm sheet.

10. Cut out the shape with a cookie cutter and transfer it onto a lined baking tray.

11. If you're not up for shaping the dough, just simply roll the dough into many small balls and press them down with a fork.  (my favourite way to make cookies)

12. Bake the cookies in the pre-heated oven at 360 F for 12-15 minutes and they are ready.