So here's my char siew for cheaters. It's so easy it's almost foolproof, and it tastes quite like my Popo's delicious char siew barbequed pork. I get all my ingredients at the Strip District in Pittsburgh, but if you don't have access to any Asian grocers, you could purchase them online. I've compiled a list of ingredients that I use in my cooking, together with links to where you can buy them on Amazon (my review Here).
Ingredients
Pork, 1 kg (any kind of pork will do as long as it's in even cuts but the best is pork belly. Actually you can make char siew type chicken or any kind of meat)
Thick soy sauce, 2 tablespoons
Soy sauce, 2 tablespoons
Oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon
Honey, 2 tablespoons
Sugar, 2 tablespoons
Salt, 1 teaspoon
Sesame oil, 1 tablespoon
White pepper, 1 teaspoon
Five spice powder, 1 teaspoon
Chinese wine, 1 bowl
Simply put all the ingredients in a wok, bring to a boil then simmer for about 45 minutes. After that, uncover and keep cooking until sauce is reduced to a thick goo and until the meat is slightly charred (that's 'char' siew proper). Slice, serve and enjoy! (Now could that be any easier? :))
Tender and juicy char siew is perfectly paired with fluffy white rice
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I make pizza once a week, it's cheap, easy, filling and reasonably healthy. Pizza dough from scratch is a lot easier than you may think. And it's so satisfying knowing I put all wholesome stuff in my pizza.
Pizza dough recipe (for 1 Large Pizza).
3/4 C warm water
1 T sugar
1 t yeast
1 t salt
2 T oil
2 C All purpose organic flour
Toppings:
1 small can tomato sauce mixed with 1/2 t of italian herbs
1 C mozzarella cheese, 1 C cheddar, 1 C colby/jack
Assorted cooked cubed meats and raw vegetables, 1 C each. I commonly use ground beef, pork sausage, ham, mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes, pineapple, spinach, etc etc.
Mix everything and knead for 5 minutes. The dough needs to be very pliable, almost bordering on sticky, but not sticky :)
Rest 40 minutes to 1 hour until double. Rest in a warm place.
Roll out the pizza dough to about 1/4 inch thick. I like mine thin! Place on an oiled pizza baking pan.
Preheat the oven to 500 deg F. That's VERY hot.
Top the pizza. Start by liberally coating with the tomato sauce. Then sprinkle on half the cheese. Next, arrange all the meat and veggie cubes/slices. If using spinach, put this down first, then only all the other stuff. The really juicy veggies go on the very top because these won't burn/singe when baking. Finish with the rest of the cheese.
I made this pie for Spencer. It has apples from our tree. I made apple pie filling with them and put them in the deep freeze for whenever. The pie crust is flaky and buttery, and the apple filling is tart and slightly sweet. Vanilla ice cream is the perfect accompaniment.
Apple pie with flaky pie crust and not-to-sweet pie filling
Whenever we run out of our own home made ice cream, Breyers is an acceptable substitute :p
Double Pie Crust Recipe
3/4 C butter
5 T cold water
2 C flour
1 t salt
Apple pie filling Recipe
7 C apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 C sugar
2 T corn starch
1 t cinammon
1 t salt
2 T butter
To make the pastry, rub or cut the butter into flour until you get fine crumbs (I just use my Kitchenaid Professional 6 quart stand mixer :p. I use the flat beater, cut chunks of butter into the flour, and let rip for about 2 minutes on low speed until the mixture looks crumbly).
Add water and mix until just combined, don't overwork the dough. Divide into two equal portions and roll each out between two sheets of wax paper till about 1/4 inch thickness (enough to cover the bottom of the pie dish, and also the top).
For the apple pie filling, just mix it all together, then fill into the crust. Carefully lay the top crust over, then seal and crimp the edges.
Bake for 1 hr at 400 deg F.
Try to keep yourself gainfully occupied and don't get too distracted by the delicious aroma of caramelizing apple wafting from the oven.
Hold off a little longer while the pie cools, then reward yourself with a nice warm slice topped with vanilla ice cream. Droooool.
xo Grace
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Spencer makes a sensational smoothie, hands down the best I've ever had. It's all in the ingredients, good stuff goes into his smoothies.
A Basic Recipe
1/2 cup fresh milk
1 banana
1/2 cup berries or fruit of any kind, e.g., papaya, mango, pineapple
3 ice cubes
We usually also put in a bunch of add-ons such as yoghurt (2 tablespoons), some sort of protein powder like hemp, flax, etc (1 scoop). For an extra decadent smoothie, add a scoop of ice cream....
Here's some very special part organic pineapple tarts I baked for Chinese New Year. I didn't have time or a blender to make the pineapple jam from scratch, but I bought a superb quality slightly sweet-sour jam from Bibun Bakery Supplies at Bukit Idaman. Why so special? Because each cookie is shaped like a pineapple and I use a teeny pair of scissors to snip the pineapple pattern on the dough. They take a long time to make (2 hours for 80 cookies). The crumb is very fine, buttery, melt in the mouth. From the pic you can see the ratio of pastry to filling. For me, it is just right :)
Pineapple Cookie Recipe
Pineapple jam 300 g
350 g organic flour
50 g corn starch
30 g icing sugar
250 g butter
1/4 t salt
1 t vanilla essence
4 egg yolks (2 for pastry and 2 for the egg wash)
Cloves (optional)
Roll out little oblong balls the size of your thumb (up to the knuckle). The pineapple jam should be firm enough to hold its shape.
Sift the flour and starch together into a bowl
Sift the icing sugar into another mixing bowl, then add the softened (room temperature) butter, vanilla essence, salt. Beat with mixer till pale yellow and fluffy. Add 2 egg yolks and beat till combined.
Add in flours and gently mix with spatula till just combined. Don't over mix or the pastry will be tough.
Take a small chunk of dough about twice the size of the pineapple ball filling and shape it into a ball, then flatten with thumb in the palm of your hand till quite thin (about 2 mm).
Place the filling in the center of the pastry and fold over the edges, sealing it in. Then snip with scissors the pattern of pineapple 'eyes' onto the pastry. Stick a clove into the top of the 'pineapple' so it looks like the stalk. Brush with egg wash.
I made this as a dessert to end my birthday lunch. Good thing I made extra, because I had them for dessert after dinner too! Makes six 1.5 inch scrumptious organic kalamansi tartlets with creamy tangy filling.
Tart Shell Ingredients:
1/2 C Gluten free all-purpose flour
2 T Coconut oil (or any good oil. Coconut is great in baking)
1/8 t baking powder
1/8 t sea salt
1/2 egg, beaten
Kalamansi Lime Custard Filling:
4 T Kalamansi lime juice (about 4 limes)
1 1/2 Egg
3 T Honey
1/8 t vanilla essence
Pinch salt
What to do:
Mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Drizzle over the coconut oil and kinda rub it into the flour mixture. You'll end up with a sort of fine breadcrumby mixture.
Add the beaten 1/2 egg. It should be enough there to hold everything together, but not sticky. Might have to add more water to get the consistency right - pliable.
Divide dough into six portions and roll each portion into a ball. Use your fingers to press out each ball into a flat disc and fit that into your tartlet mould. Bake blind at 180 deg C for 5 min.
Use a fork to beat the egg and lime mixture (everything goes in) till well mixed. Pour into the tartlet shells. Bake at 150 deg for a further 20 min.
This was a perfect starter to my birthday lunch entree (Honey Glazed Beef Short Ribs). I had crisp kyuri cukes and juicy tomatoes grown in pots on my apartment balcony, and some beautiful red sails lettuce and other organic lettuces. I sliced in a bit of purple cabbage and carrot, tossed in a tangy apple cider vinegar dressing and dug in!
Yesterday I saw some amazing short ribs at Jusco and thought it would make the perfect birthday lunch paired with broccoli spears and a sweet beetroot puree. The broccoli and beetroot in the organic veg section looked super fresh and I knew they would add great flavors on the plate.
I marinated the ribs overnight with all-organic ingredients: 2 T honey, 1/2 t chilli powder, 1/2 t cracked black pepper, 2 T balsamic vinegar, sprinkling sea salt, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 T extra virgin olive oil.
This morning I laid the ribs on a glass pie dish, added 3 T water, covered with aluminium foil and oven-baked for 1.5 hr till nearly falling off the bone. Tender! I basted the ribs with the reduced sauce to keep them moist and juicy. 15 minutes before the ribs were done, I boiled the beetroot till fork tender, and blanched the broccoli spears till just cooked but not mushy. I pureed the beetroot and seasoned with a little salt and pepper.
To serve, I smeared the puree on the plate, laid the broccoli on top, plonked down a rib and spooned over some sauce. Delish!!!
Gosh, I've been wanting to blog about my favorite foods for quite a while now, unfortunately every time I make something I dig into it right away and end up with a happy tummy, but no photos of the dish! It's that instant gratification thing :). Today I delayed that gratification and here's my first food post!
This dish is healthy and delicious, with tender free-range poached chicken on a bed of organic wild rocket (arugula) and deer's tongue lettuce (or similar), and tossed in a sharp apple cider vinegar dressing that will awake your senses and leave you feeling sated but not overloaded.
Ingredients
Whole chicken (I used organic free-range young chicken)
Knob of ginger
Rocket
Lettuce, torn into pieces
Carrot, shredded through mandolin
Purple cabbage, shredded
Dressing
1 C Apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg's raw, unfiltered ACV)*
1/2 C Extra virgin olive oil (first cold pressed is best)*
1 T Raw honey (I use Y.S. Farms Raw Honey, it's so flavorful)*
1 Garlic clove, crushed
1/4 t sea salt*
Dash sesame oil
* I usually buy from Vitacost at Amazon as the prices are cheaper or comparable to what I'd find at stores. Vitacost offers free shipping for purchases above $50. And they sell Nunez de Prado olive oil, which is one of the best I've ever tasted).
Whatcha gonna do:
Poaching the chicken. Bring about 4 C water to boil in a pot with the ginger (or enough water that when you put the chicken in, the water will cover the entire chicken). Smack the ginger once or twice with the flat blade of the cleaver to bruise. Drop the chicken in gently, turn the heat down to simmer, put the lid on and let go for 30 - 40 minutes depending on the size of the bird. When done, lift out the chick, let cool. Then pull out about 1 C of meat and tear into bite size pieces. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt for flavor.
The Dressing. Mix all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and let sit.
Assembling the salad. Put all the salad ingredients into a mixing bowl. Give the dressing a good whisk with a fork and drizzle some over the salad. 2 - 3 T should do it. Toss it with a light hand, pile on a plate, and serve!
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