January 8, 2011: Basic Scrambled Eggs

Scrambled eggs is one of those dishes that can be simple, but many people have their variations on the recipe. This is my take on scrambled eggs.



The ingredients are simple - eggs, butter, salt and pepper. Added ingredients range from water, milk, heavy cream, sour cream, creme fraiche or nothing at all.

I opt for simplicity where I generally use milk, water or nothing.

Another variation between recipes is cooking time where recipes call for cooking anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes.

I believe that in a heated pan over medium heat, scrambled eggs should cook in under 1 minutes once the beaten eggs is poured into the pan. Any longer you run the risk of ending up with dry eggs.

Basic ingredients (Scrambled eggs for two)
3 large eggs (beaten/whipped for about 1 minute)
1 T Milk
A little salt
Butter for cooking


My YouTube Video below

Enjoy!

January 5, 2011: Lumpia Shanghai

I'm been trying to recreate a lumpia (Filipino Spring Roll) that I remember from my childhood.
My first attempt was September 12, 2008: Lumpia and Pancit.

This recipe is an all meat filling recipe. All meat filling is similar to what my Filipino friends and classmates made.



Filling
(Adapted from the Lumpia Wrapper Package)
1 lb Ground Pork
1/3 C Water Chestnut, chopped
3 Shiitake Mushrooms, chopped
1 t Salt
1 t Soy Sauce
1/2 t Garlic Powder
1 Egg

As with my previous posts, I'm starting to use YouTube a lot more.

I even tried CC (Close Captioning) this video.
Enjoy :-)

January 3, 2011: Pork Chops on YouTube

Happy Belated New Year!

I'm starting to post my food adventures on YouTube under the name, "eat4f1".
This was one of the first I created where we all made a pork chop dinner.

Enjoy :-)

Dec 25, 2010: Merry Christmas!

Today we're having dinner with my brother's.

My contribution is red-cooked (or red-braised) spare ribs.

Red cooking is basically braising meats in a soy sauce based liquid. The soy sauce colors the meat which gives the meat it's "red" color.

Typical recipes call for fresh soy sauce (light soy sauce - not to be confused with the light, low sodium soy sauces) and aged soy sauce (dark soy sauce). The aged soy sauce is what provides a majority of the coloring.

This recipe is adapted from Fuchsia Dunlop's, "Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook."
What caught my eye with this recipe is the use of caramelized sugar instead of aged soy sauce.

Braising Liquid Ingredients
1 slab Pork Spare Ribs (about 2 to 3 lbs)
2 T Brown Sugar
2 T Oil
Ginger (about 5 to 6 quarter size slices)
1/4 t ground cinnamon (or 1 stick)
1 Star Anise
1 Green Onion
1 Clove Garlic
Water or Broth (enough to almost cover the ribs)

The rest is on YouTube.

Enjoy! :-)

December 22, 2010: Winter Solstice Tong Yuan

Yuan (or Tong Yuan which is similar to Mochi) is a glutinous rice flour "dumpling" soup we ate during the Winter Solstice.

I remember asking my dad why we ate this soup. His answer was "Yuan represented snowballs that occurred during the Winter."

As I grew older, I asked myself, "They lived along the coast in Guangdong, China. It snowed in the Tropics???"

Wikipedia's explanation is the round dumplings represent togetherness and family unity.

Togetherness and family unity. Isn't that's why we all gather around the dinner table?

I digress. Back to the soup...
The soft, chewy dumplings are served in a rich savory broth.

Basic Recipe
1 lb Glutinous Rice Flour
1/4 lb Tapioca Pearls (Soaked overnight, at a minimum, and drained)
1/2 t Salt
Water to form a soft dough (about 1 cup, but add water slowly as you knead).

The key to making the little round dumplings is to keep them small, about 1/2 inch in diameter. Too large... you end up with a large bland, chewy mochi ball.

Also, the tapioca pearls help reduce the chewiness. (A family secret... lol!)

The YouTube Video...