2014 holiday party

 中文菜谱：2014 节日PARTY

I don’t usually host big holiday party because a great party is kind of labor intensive and exhausting involving all the planning, shopping, chopping, baking and cooking.  But this year, I decided to make a change and host one. 

And I did.  It turned out great.  It was so satisfying to see people enjoy my food. We ate a lot, drank a lot of wine, and gossiped about what is new going on in our lives.  

It was just great. 

Macaroons

I made four flavors: original, chocolate, green tea and rose.  The filling was chocolate ganache.  

I have posted the recipe before：

http://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/2014/11/15/macaroons

Recipe in Chinese:

http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/11/7/2

Date Rolls and Almond Crispy Thin Cookies

Almond crispy thin cookies recipe has been posted before too.  Sorry there isn’t an English version for this recipe, but it is coming soon.

 http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/11/2/2-2

Date Rolls:

Dough ingredients：

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 to 5cold butter
2/3 egg
1/3 egg, beaten to make egg wash
white sesame

Date filling ingredients：

30 dates, pits removed
3 to 4 tablespoon honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F/ 204°C。

Combine flour, butter, salt, sugar and egg in food processor; process until smooth dough is form and it takes about twenty to thirty seconds. 

Remove the dough from processor, cover it up and let it rest for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, combine dates and honey in the food processor.  Process until the date is and honey are well combined to be date paste.

Take out the paste and divide into three.  Roll them into three rolls, half inch in diameter.

Divide the dough into three too.  With a rolling pin, flatten each dough piece out into a thin flap. Place date paste on one end, and roll it up like sushi, dough seam side down.

Brush the rolls with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame, and then cut into bite size. 

Transfer rolls dough to a cookie pan.  Bake them for 14 to 16 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

Mini rice cakes with coconut and red beans

Mini rice cake rolls with red beans

The two snacks above are adapted from my rice cakes recipe.  The English version is coming soon. http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/3qqttb1m37mtc9rm61phamsjim34rs

Almond chiffon cake with chocolate glaze

This one is adapted from the black sesame chiffon cake I posted before.  The English version is coming soon too.

http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/10/18/2-5

The entrees are BBQ ribs, teriyaki chicken, Asian style BBQ beef, and red braised pork hocks.

BBQ ribs

I kind of cheated on this BBQ ribs because I used a store bought BBQ sauce.  Who cares? It turned out to be awesome!  Everyone loved it and it was the first dish to be gone.  I was lucky enough to get a small piece before it was gone.  Yum!

Ingredients:

1 slab baby back ribs (not spare ribs nor st. Louis style rib)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
1/2  bottle Kraft original BBQ sauce

Ingredients:

Preheat oven to 375 F/ 191°C。

Thoroughly rinse the ribs and pat dry.  Trim any excessive fat. 

Combine garlic powder, paprika, black pepper and salt to be dry rub. Sprinkle dry rub over both sides of ribs. 

Line a big baking pan with one layer of foil and another layer of parchment paper.  Place the ribs in center, wrap it up tightly.

Roast for two hours. 

After two hours, crank up oven heat to 425 F/ 218°C。

Open up the foil wrap.  Brush the top of ribs with a thick layer of BBQ sauce; send back to the oven; Roast another seven to ten minutes; take it out, brush with BBQ sauce; roast again for another seven to ten minutes, take it out, brush…… well, you get the idea.  Do it back and forth four to five times until the ribs are nicely glazed and they beautifully golden brown.    

It is very tender, juicy, and off the bones.

I serve the ribs with a marble BBQ set.  It can keep the ribs hot with two burner heating the slate from below. 

Teriyaki chicken

This recipe has been posted before too.

http://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/teriyakichickenwithsnowpeas

Chinese version recipe:

http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/11/12/2

Asian Style BBQ Beef 

It is my go to recipe whenever I crave for Asian style BBQ beef.  All my friends (mostly Asians too) love it. 

Ingredients:

4 pound chuckeye beef, thinly sliced
2 onions, thinly sliced
6 gloves garlic, mashed into garlic paste
2 tablespoon sugar
2/3 cup soy sauce
1 balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoon rice cooking wine
2 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoon white sesame
oil for cooking

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together garlic paste, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, rice wine, tomato paste and sesame until well combined.  Add thinly sliced beef.  Mix well.   Add onion, mix well again.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap; refrigerate overnight.

Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat.  Add oil, and then add beef just enough to cover the bottom of the pan.  Don not dump the beef into the skillet all at one time.  Flip the beef when bottom side is golden brown.   Repeat until all the beef is done.

Serve in a big bowl.  A buffet warmer with stand is perfect for serving and keeping food hot.  

I also made tons of flat bread from scratch but it is too bad that I forgot to take pictures. 

I prepared six diced vegetable toppings: tomato, cucumber, green onion, cilantro, jalapeño and onion.  But onion was forgotten in the fridge.  

Take a piece of flat bread, add meat and vegetable topping.  wa-lah! 

The last entrée is Asian pan bread with red braised pork hocks.  When the guests arrived, I was making grilled bread buns.  Too bad I didn’t have a chance to take it picture for this entrée. 

It is the same as I posted before.

http://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/2014/11/24/asian-pan-bread-with-red-braised-pork-hock

Chinese version recipe:

http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/roujiamo

 Of course I made four times meat as I made before.  Apparently four times meat was still not enough, because it was gone so fast.

I started to grill the bread buns after the guests got here.  They are best when served hot and freshly grilled.  

This is the perfect way to eat them.  Slice it open in the middle like a bagel and stuff with braised pork and any vegetable toppings you like.

I made about thirty to forty buns.  They were almost all gone. 

Don’t forget to eat vegetable! There was a large bowl of salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the side.  

Happy holidays! 

Red Braised Pork Feet

中文菜谱：红烧猪蹄

Red braised pork feet. Bizarre? Check.  Delicious? Check. 

You don’t have to be Andrew Zimmer to find pork feet can be quite tasty too.  A well prepared pork feet dish (like mine, O(∩_∩)O~) doesn’t have any swinish smell or taste.  Pork feet don’t have much meat as other pork parts.  They are gelatinous because of their high content of gelatin.  The skin and tender issue are the best part.  Think about the outside skin of a cooked ham; that is what the pork feet skin taste like. 

If I have to choose between pork loin and pork feet, I will go with pork feet without any hesitation.

The way I cook pork feet this time is very similar to what I did last time with pork hocks.  The recipe link is here：http://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/2014/11/24/asian-pan-bread-with-red-braised-pork-hock

Ingredients：

1 package of cut pork feet (about 2 pounds and 4 oz)
2 to 3 tablespoon rock sugar (or regular granulated sugar)
1/4 to 1/3 cup soy sauce
1 to 2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 large piece of ginger
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 cardamoms
2 to 3 star anises
5 to 6 clovers
1 to 2 pieces of dried rhizoma
3 to 4 bay leaves
2 green onions
1/2  cup rice cooking wine
salt to taste
boiling water

Directions：

Wrap the star anises, Sichuan peppercorns, cardamoms, clovers, dried rhizoma and bay leaves with a coffee filter paper (cheese cloth works well too).  Tie it up.

Thoroughly clean and rinse the pork feet. 

Bring a large pot of water to boil with pork feet in the water together.  Cook them for 10 minutes after water boils, and then fish them out with a thong.

Put the pork feet, along with spice bag, rock sugar, rice cooking wine, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, green onions, ginger and salt into a cast iron pot.   I use a 4 and1/4 quart Le Creuset soup pot.  Fill the pot with fresh boiling water.  The water should cover the pork hocks or a little bit above them. 

Cook on medium high heat until it boils again, cover the pot and reduce the heat to simmer for about 90 to 120 minutes.

Discard the green onion.  Cook on medium high heat again.  Cook until the sauce thickens up.  Stir gently to prevent meat getting burnt.

When the pork feet are all beautifully coated in red-golden brown caramel like sauce, remove from heat and serve immediately. 

Go grab a couple cold beers and enjoy！

Clay pot rice with Asian sausage, pork jerky and shitake mushroom

中文菜谱：腊味香菇锅仔饭

It is called clay pot rice because the traditional version is cooked in original clay pot.  I don’t have one.  Well; I used to have several, but I broke all of them.  Rice cooked in clay pot is definitely the best I have ever tasted.  However the clay pot is kind of hard to take care of.  After I switch to sturdy stone pot, everybody is happy.

My husband and I made some traditional style sausage and pork jerky last month.  After air dried and fermented for about a month, they are ready to eat.  And they taste great!  I am so proud of myself, haha …

For all those who don’t want to make Asian pork jerky and sausage from scratch, they are available in frozen section in most Asian grocery stores. 

Ingredients:

1 piece pork jerky
2 piece sausages
6 to 8 fresh shitake mushroom, thinly sliced
1 cup rice
a few drops of oil
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 to 3tablespoon soy sauce
1 1/2 to 2 cup chicken broth / water
salt to taste

Directions: 

Rinse the pork jerky and sausage well, steam for about 20 minutes and then thinly slice.

Add the rice and oil into a stone pot, (a small cast pot will be good too). Whish the rice and oil together until the rice is evenly coated with oil.  Add chicken broth/ water, soak 10 minutes and then heat over medium-high heat.

After the broth boils, reduce the heat and bring to a simmer.   In 15 to 20 minutes, top the rice with one layer of sliced shitake mushroom, another layer of sliced sausage and pork jerky, cover, and cook until the rice is cook through, about another 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk soy sauce and sugar together until sugar melts.  Sprinkle the soy sauce over cooked rice, mix well and serve immediately.   

The aroma from sausage, pork jerky and shitake mushroom are so comforting that it reminds me of my grandma’s kitchen.  The soy sauce goes a long way in the whole pot rice.

Mix well in the pot and then serve individually in regular bowls.

Stone pot is so thick that it stays hot for a really long time.  Isn’t it a nice feature during winter? 

Spicy peanuts

中文菜谱：辣味花生

I like to make my own spicy peanut which goes well with popcorn and soda or beer, the perfect snack combination for stay home movie night.   O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients:

1 pack dry roasted peanut (1 pound)
1 to 2 tablespoon peanut oil
2tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns, crushed
a handful dry red chili pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
salt to taste

Directions:

Rinse well the dry red chili peppers, pat dry and cut them into small pieces with scissors.

In a large wok, add oil,  Sichuan peppercorns and chili pepper and; cook over medium  low heat.   After they are well toasted, add peanut, sugar and salt. 

Cook over low heat all the time, which doesn’t burn the peanut.   Stir frequently, until the peanut becomes shinny and golden brown and evenly coated with seasoning.   

Because I use dry roasted peanut which doesn’t require long cooking time. Raw peanut should be roasted first before added to the wok.   

Peanuts will become crunchy and crispy after they cool down. 

A perfect snack for movie night! 

Hot milk tea

中文菜谱：奶茶

Nothing can beat a cup of hot milk tea in a cold winter night! O(∩_∩)O~

This is a very quick and easy way to make hot milk tea I learned from Weixin circle.   

Ingredients:

1 black tea bag
1 to 2 tablespoon sugar
1 cup whole milk

Directions:

In a large glass bowl/ cup, add tea bag, sugar and whole milk.  Microwave on high for a couple minutes until the milk boils.  Mix well and microwave another 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Discard the tea bag and enjoy!  

Milk tends to bubble vigorously when heated.  Please do use a large glass bowl or cup.  And stay close.