nian gao (年糕) & homemade Chinese turnip cake (蘿蔔糕)

Yesterday was the 7th day of the Chinese New Year of the Ox which is known as ‘everybody’s birthday人日’, the day when everyone grows one year older. When I was in Hong Kong, we will say Happy Birthday to our friends, family and colleagues. You must be thinking that the Chinese New Year has so many rituals and celebrations and you are absolutely right, if I have to follow strictly the rules, there are many things that I have to abide and follow but in the modern days, most people will only follow selectively.

A major difference to the Western New Year, the Chinese New Year lasts the whole of first month 正月 of the lunar calendar. The first fifteen days are the most important. And within the first month, it is very important that no one in the family is allowed to buy any shoes, this is because shoes in cantonese sounds like sighing and we don’t want to sigh for the rest of the year. If you are interested to know more about the things that symbolize good luck or bad luck to the chinese especially in the Lunar New Year, wikipedia has listed quite many of them.

For growing kids, the Everybody’s birthday is particularly meaningful and my mom used to pan-fry Nian Gao (年糕)and Turnip Cake, (literally translation: Lo Bak Gao 蘿蔔糕) in the morning for breakfast.

‘Gao’ in Cantonese pronounces the same as the word ’height’ – 高, and by eating these chinese savoury cakes, the kids are blessed to grow faster and taller (年高). And what about adults, it also symbolize the business sales will grow more and more each day and month, the stock market index will go higher and higher, and you will get a job promotion. With all these meanings, that’s why these chinese cakes are so important in the Chinese New Year!

Nian Gao is mainly made from Glutinous rice flour and brown sugar, these days most people will not make their own anymore, as there are available everywhere, and time is very precious in particular in Hong Kong and most people are too busy, if your mom or grandma are still willing to make them for the family, you should be extremely grateful, this is because although the ingredients for making Nian Gao are very basic, brown sugar, glutinous flour and oil, the skill is all that matter to make it successful.

This year,  I was given one as a gift from my friend Carman which was not too sweet, just right for me. It was so good that I could make a live demonstration and explain the meaning behind to my family here.

Niao Gao (before panfried)

How to prepare nian gao:

• cut the cake into slices
• whisk an egg in a small bowl
• Heat up a flat pan or wok to medium high heatand add a little cooking oil
• coat the nian gao by dipping the slices of nian gao into the egg
• place them to the pan one by one and
• pan-fry them immediately until they turn soft and slightly crispy on the outside
• serve immediately with some chinese tea (to help digestion)

 

~~~~~~~

as seen in foodgawker #15088, 03.02.09 , & foodphotoblog #2533, 04.02.09

Chinese Turnip Cake, Lo Pak Gao 蘿蔔糕,  is my all time favorite, you can find this all year round in Dim Sum restaurants. Yet, you can never compare with homemade ones, as they are far more tasty than the commercial ones, the ones in the restaurants usually are rather stiff and do not have enough turnips and taste too floury.

In Hong Kong, my dad makes the best, I remembered that the family and friends liked them so much that he went and made many of them one year to give them out as gifts, but because of all the grating and chopping requires a lot of work & time standing, my dad ended up a very bad backache. We then limited him to make three cakes only the following year and only those who made New Year visits (拜年) will be able to taste my dad’s turnip cake.

This year, I dare to make it for the very first time with my visiting friend, Carman. It was a fun cooking session for us, our turnip cake turned out perfect despite we burned a little the bottom of the mixture but we were able to rectify instantly and not being affected by it.  I was so happy with the results that I had to call my parents to report our success, the turlip cakes were not too hard nor too soft. Both mom and dad said we were talented enough to be successful for the first time, as although there are so many recipes out there, a lot of people claimed this is challenging to make a good one. I hope I can be repeat and be successful next year!

How to make Homemade Chinese Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Gao, 蘿蔔糕):

Ingredients:

• 3 white radish (other names: chinese radish/ turnip or daikon) ~ 1.75kg for this time
• white rice flour 350g
• white radish : rice flour (5:1)
• chinese sausages臘腸 (mix of pork ones and the duck liver ones, usually available only in Winter) 
•  
   
   
   
   
   
   
    

   

   

• dried chinese mushrooms or shaiiake mushrooms
• dried scallops
• dried shrimps (optional)
• handul of shallots
• a bunch of coriander
• approx 350ml chicken stock
• 2 -3 tbsp corn starch dissolved in little cold water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• pinches of white pepper

Method:

1. Hydrate the dried scallops, dried mushrooms and shrimps in separate bowls of hot water for a few hours, finely chopped
2. Cut the chinese sausages into thin slices or small cubes (both are fine either way)
3. Finely chopped the shallots
4. Separate the leaves and stalks of the coriander, cut the stalks into small pieces
5. Coarsely grate the white radish, set aside
6. Heat up a wok or frying pan at medium high heat, add in the chinese sausages, stir-frying  for a few minutes, you will see some oil will come out from the sausages (like the bacon), you can then gradually add in shallots, mushrooms, scallops and shrimps, keep stir frying them for a few minutes until they are semi-cooked.
7. Boil the chicken stock  in a deep pan of another wok if you have available, and add in the grated radish, keep stirring and cook until the radish is soft and transparent.
8. Stirred in the chinese sausages mixture and coriander stalks into the cooked radish.
9. Turn off the heat, wait for a while about 5-10 mins, and pour in the rice flour and corn starch, keep stirring and then add in the salt, pepper, sugar. By this time, you will result to have a half cooked thick paste. Funny enough the rice flour can dissolve directly to the mixture without pre-dissolved in water but do prepare some cold water aside to adjust the paste where necessary, this part is the most important to get a correct consistency.
10. Generously oil 2 baking tins and transfer the paste mixture to cake baking tins (you can use the disposable aluminium ones too)
11. Steam each tin/ tray for an hour at high heat first, when the water is boiling turn to medium heat.
12. When it is cooked, remove from heat and sprinkle the coriander leaves on top as garnish.
13. Let the cakes to cool down completely before turning them to large plates.
14. Cut into slices and panfry until slight brown and crispy on the outside.  Serve with XO sauce or chili sauce if preferred.
15. You can also cut a portion in small cubes and stir fry with some bean sprounts XO sauce, I learnt it from the restaurant served as a contemporary dim sum.
16. Alternatively, if you want the panfried ones too heavy, I like cutting big cube and reheat by steaming it and pour a little dark soy sauce on it.

Note:

Step 9 is very critical and was where we did wrong, we were worried that the rice flour would not dissolve properly and thicken to a paste, so we heated it up again and all of a sudden we discovered that it was beginning to burn. And when I talked to my dad, this was almost the first thing he asked if I have done. I wish I had talked to him beforehand but luckily we solved this by not stirring too hard to the bottom.

 

Enjoy and happy birthday to you all!

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my first ‘pajeon’ (korean vegetable pancake)

as seen in foodgawker #13278, 13.01.09

Pajeon is a traditional Korean pancake which is served as appetizer. It is a savory pancake which eats with a soy sauce & rice vinegar dipping sauce.

Tonight I have made the Korean Pancakes for the first time using a pack of Korean Pancake mix I bought recently in Zurich. It turned out great! I made a vegetable version without any seafood as I had been out the whole day and have to make something relatively simple but nice for dinner. Secondly, I wanted to try out to make sure I can make it successfully for the first time. I have been thinking if I should blog this as I did not make these pancakes completely from scratch, but they turned out so delicious that I thought good things should spread out more.

Meanwhile, I may have made a mistake by adding 2 eggs to the mix but they still turned out no problem, probably because the water I added was adjusted with a few tbsp more, I think as long as I can get the right consistency, it should be fine.

Normally when I visit the Korean restaurants, I actually do not fancy Pajeon too much as there are many other dishes for me to try and I need to save my stomach for my other favorite dishes. But tonight, I made this as a main dish, I could really enjoy Pajeon more properly. My hubby and I were both amazed how this vegetable dish could taste so fantastic that we didn’t feel we miss the meat tonight and he said we must repeat this again and try other variations.

And for my first time, I have adapted the recipes from Nook & Pantry and Home Cooking Diary. Thanks for the inspiration and tips.

 

Yield 6-7 pancakes

Ingredients:

Batter:

• 300g Korean Pancake Mix
• 400g cold water
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pinches of white pepper
• 1 clove freshly minced garlic (I think the garlic made a difference especially for a all vegetable pancake)

Fillings:

• 1 50g chinese chives – cut into 5cm pieces and only use the green parts
• 1 carrot – grated
• 1 zucchini -grated

Dipping sauce:

• 3 tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Rice Vinegar (I used the Japanese ones which is used for sushi)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp chopped green onion (optional)
• Korean Chili Sauce (Optional)

Method:

1. Prepare the vegetables as described above.
2. Prepare the batter in a large mixing bowl by whisking the above ingredients until you get everything dissolved and a thick consistency mixture.
3. Heat up a non-stick pan at medium high heat, add 2 tbsp of cooking oil to the pan.
4. Instead of mixing all fillings into the batter, use a separate medium sized bowl, pour 2 spoonfuls of batter into the bowl and then add handful of carrots, zucchini and chives into the batter and mix well.
5. Pour the mixture into the pan, shake gently to get the pancake flattened out evenly on the pan.
6. Let it cook for about 3-4 mins and then flip to the other side and cook for another 3-4 mins. The cooked pancakes should be a bit crispy on the outside. (if you have 2 pans, you can panfry 2 pancakes simultaneously)
7. Turn the pancake to a big plate and cut into pieces with a pizza cutter.
8. Serve immediately with the dipping sauce. You can prepare one spicy and one non-spicy dipping sauce for kids.

Enjoy!

I have found the following versions which I may try out in the future:

• If you like to make the batter from scratch, try this one from Korean restaurant guide
• Peter from Home Cooking Diary have enough variations to try out.
• Here is another version from NY Times

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thank you to all the readers & my top posts 2008

Having started blogging since mid 2008, that had been just a bit more than half a year. I have enjoyed this new hobby very much. Blogging has triggered me to cook more new dishes (not only chinese dishes) and has driven me to develop another new interest in photography. A nice photo speaks more than words…..

It is a very nice feeling when people comes back and tell you that they have really tried your recipe and enjoy them so much.I would like to take this opportunity to thank you those readers who keep coming back and for those who take their time to leave a comment in my blog. It was fabulous to make friends to other fellow food bloggers from all over the world in the blogosphere.

Without further ado, I would like to share my Top 10 posts in 2008 :

1. best way to preserve garden herbs: freezing method in ice cubes
2. chinese steamed fish recipe: easy to follow, step-by step
3. my best pumpkin soup ever
4. italian amaretti cookies recipe
5. more cookies on snowy days
6. perhaps the easiest way to make guotie or potstickers
7. quick and easy japanese sashimi rice bowl (kaisendon, 海鮮丼)
8. a perfect steak & mooncake on mid-autumn festival
9. cantonese stir-fried beef rice noodle, 乾炒牛河
10. easy miso ramen

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look forward to your continuous support and comments in 2009!

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my first day of 2009

 

My hands are getting itchy from not needing to do any cooking in the last days. Therefore I have offered to prepare the New Year’s Dinner at my in-laws home for the family. I have prepared Indian dishes for the main meal. And for desserts we had opa’s oliebollen (Dutch doughnuts) & oma’s appelflappen (apple fritters), so have a peek at our dinner menu at Bergweg 28:

 

Main

• Chicken Tikka Masala
• Cucumber & coriander raita
• Saffron Rice
• Naan Bread

Desserts (see pictures at bottom).

• Oliebollen: I have heard so much about opa’s famous Oliebollen, those who have tried, will never forget them. Finally I could look over opa’s shoulder to see how he made them. I have tried the ones prepared in the restaurants, although they look bigger and rounder but they are not as airy as opa’s ones.

 

• Appelflappen : Oma’s appelflappen is not the normal apple turnover you see out there, she used the same oliebollen batter mix but with some beer add to it, stir briskly to mix thoughoutly to air as much as as possible. She then coated the sliced apple  in the dough and then fry them. They can be served warm or cold.

Note: only Goudreinet apples are used in a truly authentic dutch way, the same type of apples for Dutch appeltart!!!

 

And here I would just share my experience on my naan bread, they were great success, because I don’t have my bread recipe book with me, so I did some searching and found quite a few bloggers have used Anjun Anand’s  recipe in BBC Food. Other recipes I found consist eggs but as far as I can recall,  the recipe I used consists of yogurt and no egg, so I used this recipe as the backbone and adapted it to become to the closest recipe I used previously. Anyway, this was my second time making homemade naan bread and they were awesome and even better this time after gaining some experience from my first time. And they are just so easy to make, once you have experienced the fresh ones made by yourself, you will never buy the ready made ones ever again.

 

 as seen in Tastespotting #30226, 03.01 09

NAAN BREAD

Preparation time:  1-2 hours

Cooking time less than 10 mins

Ingredients

For the dough

• 250g plain flour
• 2 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 3.5g (half pack) of 7g instant yeast
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 130g warm low-fat plain yogurt (please take note that I used gram and not ml as in Anjum Anand’s 
• 80-100ml warm milk
• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing

For variations:

• Cumin seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, chopped garlic and/ or fresh coriander
• 1 tbsp butter, melted, for brushing on top when the naan is cooked.

 

Method

1. Mix all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder & yeast) in a bowl and then transfer to a large working surface area and make a well in the middle (just like making pizza dough)
2. Warm the milk and yogurt.
3. Pour in the milk, yogurt and olive oil into the centre of the flour mixture. Slowly draw the flour from the edges of the well into the liquid mixture to make a small dough. Knead for 8 minutes until a smooth dough is formed, if the dough is a bit sticky, adjust by adding more flour to it.
4. Place the kneaded dough in a floured bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave it in a warm place for 1-2 hours, until the dough has risen and doubled in size.
5. Transfer the dough back to the working surface and remove the air by knocking the dough back
6. Divide the dough into five small doughs.
7. Preheat the grill to medium and grease a baking tray with a little oil to avoid from sticking.
8. Roll the small doughs into thin and teardrop shape, you can get this shape by gently pull on both sides longitudinally.
9. Place the shaped dough immediately to the upper shelf of the grill and heat for 2-3 minutes on both sides until they are lightly brown. You can grill 2-3 pieces at a time.
10. If you do not like plain and like some variation, you can sprinkle over your chosen topping and press into the surface of the dough.
11. Serve immediately when hot with your favorite Indian curries and raita.

 

 ~~~~~

 

OLIEBOLLEN

The oliebollen were gone in minutes!

Be patient, the Oliebollen are not cooked yet!

Look at the airy texture, the tip is not to fiddle too much with the dough, spoon and fry immediately.

 

APPELFLAPPEN

 

  The apple was very soft inside : )

 

 

And here is my previous post for Grandma’s Erwtensoep (Dutch Split Green Peas Soup) if you are interested.

For more Dutch food pictures please go to my flickr!

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oma’s beste erwtensoep (grandma’s best split green pea soup) & frozen canals in Holland

 

This is my first Christmas and New Year time in Holland, and I am extremely lucky as it has not been this cold (lowest -10°C) for years since 1997 and that I can witness the great sceneries of ice crystals on the leaves and grass. frozen canals, people go ice-skating on the canals. I had a very nice walk in a Nationaal Park called De Weeribben with my family.

Hopefully by end the week, I can get my own ice-skates and experience skating on the canals (but with inevitable falling of course!)

Today, the outside temperature was -8 °C already and will even go further to -10°C for New Year’s Eve tomorrow. This week I can have so many traditional and comforting Dutch food from my in-laws: Boerenkool (Farmer’s cabbage) stampot, Rode Bieten (own grown red beets), Pannekoek, Opa’s Oliebollen on New Year’s Eve and now tonight we had Erwtensoep which is only prepared in winter. If you travel to Holland, you will see a lot of restaurants or small cafes will have Erwtensoep signs outside their places. I did have tried several of them in the past but they are never as good as my in-law’s, they are mostly too thick for me and luckily the whole family here do not like too thick soup too.  

Serves 6

Cooking & Preparation time: 3-4 hours 

Ingredients:

• 300g green split peas (wash and rinse) (Fig. 1)
• 300g pork hock or spareribs (cut into large pieces)
• 150g Dutch “sauerkraut bacon” or pork belly, it’s fresh not salted nor smoked preferably with rind (cut into pieces)
• 1 smoked sausage (Fig. 2)
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 leek, cut into small pieces
• 1 bunch leaves of Maggi Plant (finely chopped), official name: Lovage (Levisticum officinale Koch)
• 3 litres of water
• 2 cubes of chicken bouillon
• 1 pack Honig erwtensoep soup powder, optional if you can find it in a Dutch grocery shop (Fig. 1)
• Seasonings:  salt, pepper,
• Mixed spices: coriander, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, chili. In Holland, there are many prepared packed herbs & spices, this is one for use in meat. You can add pinches of the above instead of the prepared one.
• A handful of small pieces Dried or fresh chives (bieslook in Dutch)

 

 Preparation:

1. In a large pan, bring water to boil and then add the pork hock & pork belly into the pan and let them cook for about 2 hours at medium heat. Skim off the floating scum.
2. After 2 hours, add in the rinsed peas, chopped onion, leeks and chicken bouillon, let it simmer for over an hour.
3. After the 3 hours, take the pork out of the pan, remove rind and bones, and cut it in small pieces. Return the meat to the pan.
4. Dissolve the Erwtensoep soup powder in cold water and then add into the pan, keep stirring until mixed. Would be nice if you can find one in your surrounding. It’s very popular these days as it really enhances the flavor of the soup and thicken the soup nicely.
5. Wash the maggi plant, cut and chop the leaves.
6. Cut the smoked sausage into slices.
7. 10 minutes before serving add the smoked sausage and the maggi plant and chives into the soup. Taste and season with salt, pepper and the mixed spices as described above (we have a mixed spice here in Holland specially for meat otherwise if you use the above mentioned spices it will be okay too).
8. When it is ready, serve in soup bowls.

On side:

• The traditional way is to serve on side with rye bread (pumpernickel), with slices of katenspek (Fig. 2 , it’s a type of Dutch smoked bacon) or Dutch cheese, I like Cumin Cheese personally.

Eet Smakelijk !!!!

 

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

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more cookies on snowy days

When I woke up this morning, I see everything was covered white outside. It was said that it may still be snowing for the next couple of days. Luckily my car has just got in time changed to winter tires today.

 

And I have stocked up yesterday from the supermarket so I can stay peacefully at home baking more cookies and amaretti. I am flying to UK tomorrow and will take them with me to give out to my friends.

Also I was experimenting the best baking time and temperature for my oven. And this afternoon, I think I have got the hang the best temperature for my chewy chocolate cookies, of course it’s a matter of personal taste. The best was to eat them when they are still a bit warm. Last time I said I have used 170ºC but with a few more attempts, I can’t agree more with Mrs. Field that it is better at 150ºC.  So I have amended in my recipe from 170ºC to 150ºC. Although 170ºC is already chewy but 150ºC does make the cookie even more chewy. There is no need to worry that they are still rather soft when out of the oven. They look so good when the chocolate are somewhat melted and looks a bit shining. Not only I like eating the cookies, I enjoy taking photos for my cookies, I created a new term for myself ‘food modelling’…..

as seen in TasteSpotting #28749, 11.12.08 ; foodgawker #11012 , 11.12.08; Photograzing 19.12.08

 

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italiano Amaretti cookies recipe

 

Learnt from Rosa’s Yum Yum’s post on Pecan Sandies that there is a worldwide cookie event called “Eat Christmas Cookies” by Susan at “Food Blogga” (USA), so I thought I can submit my amaretti too. This is already Season 2 of this event, you can see the round up so far here. The deadline is 21 December so there is still time to submit for all of you!

 as seen in TasteSpotting #28577, 09.12.08 & Photograzing, 18.12.08

The chewy cookies quest has got me went on to explore how to make amaretti.  Amaretti is my husband favorite, he was so happy when the first batch of the amaretti came out of the oven to be a success. I have never thought that they are so easy to make. The beauty is that I can buy the ground almond easily in Switzerland, saves a lot of time from grounding. The Swiss loves almond flavored desserts, the ground almonds was run out from Coop and I have to run to next door Migros to buy them, Migros has almost run out too so I immediately stocked up 6 packs of 100g in case I fail in my first attempt. Now that they come out so nicely, I have already received a pre-order from my in-laws to take over to Holland when we visit them over Christmas. This will keep me busy in the next days in the kitchen : )

Many thanks to Garrett McCord from Simply Recipes and ElenaC  from Comida De Mama for the lovely recipes. I have adapted and combined their recipes somewhat to the following version:

 

Ingredients

• 300g ground almond (200g blanched & 100g non-blanched)
• 280g fine sugar (confectioners sugar)
•  3 egg whites (use large eggs)
• 1 tbsp white flour
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• pinch of salt
• a little of lemon juice
• 1 tsp bitter almond essence
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• Powdered sugar for dusting
• butter and flour for baking paper

Make: 32-36 pieces

 

Method:

1. Line the baking sheets on the baking trays, butter and flour them accordingly .
2. If you cannot find ground almond, you will need to ground the almond (with skin removed) using a food processor. Otherwise mix the ground almond with the sugar in a bowl and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and a few drops of lemon juice until you get a dense white foam.
4. Gradually fold in the almond sugar mix, flour and corn starch using a spatula. Make sure there are no lumps, use a colander where necessary.
5. Add in the bitter almond and vanilla essence, blend well until it is throughoutly mixed.
6. You should now have a very nice almond dough. Place teaspoon size of the dough in the buttered and floured baking sheets. The doughs can be quite close together about 2cm aparts, as they will not rise much. Each amaretti will be about 5cm x 5cm. Use your finger to help shaping the amaretti a little if necessary.
7. Dust the dough with powdered sugar and leave them in a cool place for 4-5 hours before baking.
8. Preheat oven to 170°C, half an hour before baking.
9. Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 25 mins or until subtle golden brown. This will give you crispy sides and nicely chewy in the middle. If you like them more crispy, you can add a few more minutes accordingly to your preference.
10. When out of the oven, let them cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transfer them to the cooling rack.
11. Serve when cooled or store them in air-tight metal cookie tins.
12. Don’t forget to prepare a nice coffee or expresso to go with them. 

Note. My first attempt turned out to be so good that I went to make a second batch but this time I have left them overnight and it turned out that they only need to be baked for 20 mins, and they turned to golden yellow and still soft inside so I turned them to cooling rack straight away. Alternatively, you can turn the oven to 150°C  for 24 mins . It’s really a matter of adjusting between time and temperature and of course knowing your oven : )

Enjoy ;P

 

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abSoLutely chunKy cHeWy oatMeal cooKies

 

Under the influence from last week’s cookie baking afternoon at my friend’s place, it triggered me to have a cookie quest exploring a suitable chewy cookie recipe for myself, there are so many versions out there and after searching, reading and reading, I have adapted to the following recipe but the most of it is adapted from Mrs Fields’ recipe. Thanks to Annette for sharing this with me. The main adjustment I have made were using less sugar and the oven temperature. Unfortunately, seeing so many lovely recipes out there, I could not resist and  attempted to combine as much good elements into one recipe. Once you have a recipe that fits your taste, you don’t have to look around anymore, you can make all kinds of flavor by using any ingredients you like. Here I have 2 variations to share with you.

The biggest joy of baking cookies is that they are excellent gifts for kids and it’s indeed a lovely feeling when you see your cookies just disappearing in minutes.

 

Black and Whites Oatmeal Chewy Cookies

Ingredients: 

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup (225g) salted butter, softened
• 2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk (lightly beatened)
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 100g coarsely chopped dark chocolate (60% cocoa)
• 100g coarsely chopped white chocolate
• 150g oatmeal (old fashioned ones)

 

Note. If you are into oatmeal like me, you can increase up to 250g, the dough can still take up this amount of oatmeal. You can also mix the big old fashioned flake oats and the small instants ones together.

(Make: approx 2 dozen for big cookies and 3 dozen for smaller size)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150ºC.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder & salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, blend the sugar and butter together using an electric blender at medium speed until a grainy paste is formed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the lightly beatened eggs and vanilla essence, and blend at medium speed until smooth.
4. Use the blender at low speed or wooden spatula, mix in the flour, chocolate pieces, and oatmeal until everything is just combined. Do not overmix as you may get a tough cookie.
5. Using round tablespoons, drop the cookie dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, 2 inches apart.
6. Bake for 14-15 minutes depending the size of your cookies. When cooked, leave the cookies cooled for 5 mins on the tray before transfer to the cooling rack. This is because to let the cookies to further cooked when out of oven and also let them harden a bit as the cookie are still a bit soft.
7. Repeat step 5 & 6 for the remaining dough.
8. Serve when cool or when they are still a bit warm, or store in air tight cookie tins.

Tip. If you want to warm chewy cookies for all of them, instead of baking them all in one day, you can reserve the dough by keeping it refrigerated and bake the remaining batches the following day. This will surely impress your guests!

 

Cranberry, Walnut Oatmeal Chewy Cookies

Everything same as above except replace the dark and white chocolates with:

• 100g dried cranberries
• 100g dried walnuts (bashed into smaller pieces)

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the best Shanghai crab specialist (大閘蟹) in Hong Kong & how to prepare & eat them

Having left Hong Kong, my home town for 3 years, it’s the first time that my recent visit fell into the Shanghai Crab season.

 

Background

Yangcheng Lake (陽澄湖) and Tai Yu (太湖) are the most famous areas producing Shanghai crabs (literally meaning Big Gate Crabs). Each year from September and December is the best time for Shanghai Crabs.

Perhaps eating Shanghai Crabs are really time-consuming and a lot of foreign people may think it is tedious and skillful to eat them. Meanwhile if you are a crab lover, it would be worthwhile to try at least one time in your life time. There was one time some years ago that my ex-colleagues and I paid a visit to Shanghai and enjoyed eating the Shanghai crabs directly caught from Yang Cheng Lake. The whole dinner was just eating Shanghai crabs, it was really a lifetime and memorable experience, I hope I could repeat this trip again in the future.

The most common and easiest way to prepare the Shanghai crabs is simply by steaming. It is more enjoyable eating at home and at the same time much cheaper than in the restaurant. What’s more important is that, although it’s easy to prepare the crabs but it is very critical to buy the crabs from a reliable distributor. I was introduced to Wah Kee Wing Cheong Ho (華記永昌號) many years ago at work and I have bought Shanghai crabs from them ever since.

Main retail shop address:

G/F, 460 Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Although I have not been their real frequent customer but they were so friendly and helpful this time as always that they had chosen the best quality crabs for me and my family was very happy and satisfied with the crabs.

Later I found out that their crabs are also distributed to c!ty’super (a high-end supermarket and retail chain in Hong Kong. They have a flyer which teaches people how to buy, choose and cook these crabs, very good resources that I have taken a copy, adapted and now share with you.

 

Characteristics

Usually in a slightly square shape which is about the size of a human palm. They range in color from olive green to dark brown and their golden brown claws are distinctive for their thick, dense covering of hair. The legs are about twice as long as the body. I prefer male crabs than to female crabs as the roe is much softer and tastier. Roe, 蟹膏 is the delicious yellow fat that makes Shanghai crabs so tasty.

              

 

Buying Tips

1. To check the crab’s freshness, simply knock on the crab’s shell. If its eyes respond and move, then it indicates freshness. The best crabs’ outer shells usually are dark green in color, and have a clear sheen.
2. To distinguish the crab’s gender, turn it around and look at its abdomen. Female crabs have a round belly whereas male ones are recognized by its pointed belly.
3. Buy crabs that have nice and firm legs as that generally indicates a meatier crab.
4. The ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar is the best time to eat female crabs as they are full of protein and roe, while the tenth month is better for male crabs as they are full of roe and milt.

 

 

Cooking Tips

Shanghai crab is usually cooked by steaming.

1. Wash the crabs in tap water by brushing briefly the legs and shell using a small brush. Keep the strings on the crabs, do not remove them!!!
2. Boil water in a wok or steaming pan. Place the Chinese Dried Shiso leaves (紫蘇葉) into the the boiling water, this is to minimize the coldness (寒 涼), see also below and to get rid of the seafood smell from the crabs.
3. Roughly steam the crabs for about 18-20 mins, depending on the size of your crabs. You can ask the shop assistants, they are always happy to explain you the instruction.
4. Place on a plate with the abdomens facing upward, this is to avoid the yellow roe from losing from the crabs.
5. The cooked crab should be a bright shade of red and is delicious when served with minced ginger, Chinese raw brown sugar and vinegar.
6. Do not eat the crescent-shaped lungs or intestines.
7. A Shanghai crab meal is better accompanied by warmed Shao Hsing wine (紹興酒) with a plum (話梅) added to the wine to enhance the taste.
8. It is said that the Shanghai crabs are rather cold (寒 涼) (Chinese medicine) in natural, this can be balanced by having a hot ginger tea which is simply cooked by boiling slices of fresh ginger and brown sugar.

Link: How to cook Shanghai Crabs (Chinese Version) 

 

 

Eating Tips

1. There are no specific steps or rules to follow when it comes to eating a hairy crab. Yet the clever way is to remove the crab legs by twisting them until they come off.
2. The bits that look like chrysanthemum petals are the crab’s lungs. Discard.
3. The meat inside the claws can be removed by breaking the joint on the top with a pair of crab crackers.
4. Under the yellow fat you will find a hexagonal white pump. It is the heart of the crab and is considered to have a “cold” nature (寒 涼) in Chinese medicine. Discard.
5. Use both hands to open the crab shell and enjoy the delicious crab roe and crab paste.

 

Wine Pairing

Typically, Shanghai crabs are best served with good quality Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Wine (紹興花雕酒), namely vintage 10 years and onwards. Don’t drink the ones for cooking.

Enjoy !!!

 

Information source and adapted from: Wah Kee Wing Cheong Ho & C!ty ‘Super

Thank you !

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street food experience in basel herbstmesse (autumn fair) 2008

Peterplatz, from the outside

Basel Herbstmesse or Herbschtmäss in Swiss German (Autumn Fair) is the oldest and largest fair in Switzerland (this is the 485th times this year). It is an event which not only kids look forward to but also for those who are young at heart who wants to have a bit of fun, go for a few rides, scream when coming down from the Power Tower; and for those who like street foods and local produce.

Being a non-Swiss, I am curious to know all kinds of food selling in the market stalls. This year I got to taste a few more things that I have not tried before. Thanks to Carmen for showing me all these goodies. So apart from just having sausages, raclette, Gebrannte Mandeln (almonds roasted in sugar), glühwein (mulled wine), Apfel most (Freshly non-filtered apple juice, warm or cold) and Magenbrot (spicy sweet bread), I have discovered a few more things this year.

Fresh Magenbrot (Fresh Stomach Bread) contains stomach-friendly spices, such as cloves, cinnamon, star anise and nutmeg flowers, it is said this is good for your body after having the heavy food from the food stalls and help your digestion.

 

Gebrannete Mandeln (Almond roasted in Sugar)

 

Beckeschmütz, these are the softest marshmallow in the world and my favorite. They are softer than you imagine. There is one stall where you can get white chocolate coated. They have to be consumed within 2 days maximum. I like buying a few home and eat as desserts.

 

Frisch Wacker Rosenkiechli, these traditional cakes are in the shape of roses, they are very light in texture and sprinkled with icing sugar. I tried it 2 years ago but not this year, it’s not even possible to try a round of everything. Too heavy!

 

Kokosmakrönli (Coconut Macaroon)

 

Schoki Bananen, these are chocolate coated bananas, you can choose milk chocolate or white chocolate coated. This stall uses Lindt chocolate. The base of these bananas are coated with a layer sesames, they are simply lovely.

 

A cheese stall, small production not mass production cheese

 

Kartoffelpuffer (Potato pancakes), this is a traditional snack originated by the Germans, Czechs and Austrians. I found several recipes in the internet which you can replicate at home.  A portion comes with 2 big pieces, make sure share with friends. There are 2 sauces you can choose to go with them: apple sauce or garlic sauce. I chose apple sauce. They were really crispy, tasted like a bit of my mom’s potato cakes (chinese version) that was the smell which had attracted me to try.

This is how the Kartoffelpuffer look like.

 

Kääskiechli (Swiss quiche), I was told this one is very good, the size per piece is not too big so you can save up some space in your stomach to try other things

Schùnggegipfeli (Left) & Èpfel im Schloofrògg (Right), more pastries, these are for next year to try out.

 

If you want to try more different types of food, you will have to visit the fair several times as one or two food items can fill you up very quickly. My excolleagues always get together at least one lunch gathering in the fair each year and have some fun together. It’s very refreshing to get some fresh air before getting your heads down again.

There are 6 places where the fair is happening at the same time but the one in Peterplatz has the longest history and I found the foodstuff there are better than the other sites. If you want to go for a few rides, then Messeplatz will fulfill your appetite. One thing I have noticed here is that most of the market stalls get the same spot each year, this makes it very convenient for us as we would know where to find our favorite stalls the following year.

There are just a few more days until the Herbstmesse ends this year, however, by the time you read this post I should have arrived Hong Kong and will stay for 2 weeks seeing my family and friends . So will have to wait until next year to discover more things …..

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