Walnut Chocolate Butter

中文菜谱： 核桃巧克力酱

I stock up nuts and chocolate lately.  Someday it just occurred to me why not make a batch of chocolate nut butter?  It would be awesome for breakfast or a quick nutritious afternoon snack. 

Ingredients：

2 cups of raw walnuts
1/3 to 1/2 cup dark chocolate
1/4 to 1/3 cup honey / syrup

*****Tips:  

·         The darker chocolate is, the more smoothly it will melt.  I use 85% cacao chocolate.  They are available at Whole foods, Sprouts and Texas local Central Market.  The one I am using here is bought from Sprouts. 

·         If you don’t want to roast raw walnut at home, buy the dry roasted walnuts.  And make sure they are not salted or seasoned.  *****

Directions：

Preheat a toaster oven to 375F/ 191C

Bake the raw walnuts for 8 to 10 minutes, or just until they turn slightly golden brown. 

Add roasted walnut, honey and dark chocolate in a vitamix blender.

  I use a dry container instead of regular container because it is more convenient this way.

Turn on the machine and grind at medium low speed.  

In a few minutes, walnuts are crushed and chocolate melts. 

You would need to pause several times in between to stir the mixture with a wooden spoon. 

Keep grinding at low medium speed. 

It is getting silkier and smoother.

It is kind of shiny now.

Continue grinding for another couple minutes.

Wo-la, it is done!

Transfer the walnut chocolate butter to a glass jar.  Seal and store at room temperature. 

It goes great with a lot of things: bread, cookies, crackers, fruits, crepes, and even salad! O(∩_∩)O~

Candied Pecans and Walnuts

中文菜谱： 琥珀桃仁

Candied pecans or walnuts are very popular in China.  They can be served as appetizer, side dish or dessert.  Most of time, they are also a great snack to go with coffee or tea. 

They are sweet, crunchy, and super nutritious.  Who doesn’t love them? O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

1 cup raw walnuts / pecans
1/3 firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
toasted white sesame seeds

Directions：

Some people prefer pecans, and a lot of people prefer walnuts.  As for myself, I use more pecans then walnuts because pecans have a more delicate texture and flavor than walnuts.

Preheat a toaster oven to 375F/ 190C  

Bake the pecans / walnuts in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes. 

Please do remember to adjust the baking time accordingly because every toaster oven is different from one another.  Pecans and walnuts are so easily to be over baked.  Keep a close eye on them when baking.  Remove from oven when they turn slightly golden brown.  They will continue to cook even after being taken out the oven. 

Light or medium color brown sugar will be fine.  Don’t use the dark brown sugar.  Otherwise, the color would be too dark.

While the pecans/ walnuts are baking in the oven, prepare the syrup. 

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.  Add brown sugar and water. 

Brown sugar melts quickly and the syrup will very soon become bubbly.

Keep cooking the syrup until it darkens a little bit.  Bubbles get bigger too. 

There is a trick to test if the syrup is ready.  Drop a couple drops of syrup into a cup of cold water.  if it turns  hard and firm, the syrup is done.  If not, just keep cooking for a bit longer. 

Add toasted pecans/ walnuts into the syrup, along with some roasted white sesame seeds. 

With a spoon, gently toss everything together.  

Line up a plate or cast iron pan with parchment paper.  Spoon the pecan / walnut mixtures onto the parchment paper.   Spread them as evenly as possible. 

You have to do it very fast and quickly, because the candy syrup will begin to harden once removed from heat.

Wait for the candied pecans/ walnuts to completely cool down to room temperature.  They will be super crunchy and tasty. 

Shiu Mai with Ground Pork,Mushrooms and Sweet Rice

中文菜谱： 鲜肉蘑菇糯米烧麦

If you have been to Dim Sum place before, you might be familiar with shiu mai already.  It is made with super thin wheat dough with fillings inside.  There are so many kinds of fillings for shiu mai.  They vary from area to area.  Pork and shrimps are a very popular choice in southeast part of China.  In the north, lamb, beef, and even sweet rice can be found in shiu mai fillings too. 

Each and every one of them is very tasty.  I personally prefer the ones made with sweet rice. 

 It is quite easy to make them at home too!  With a pack of store-bought wonton wraps, we can easily make a large batch of shiu mai.

Ingredients：

1 pack wonton wraps (sold in most Asian grocery stores)
1 handful dried wild mushrooms / shiitake mushrooms
1 cup of sweet rice
100 g fresh ground pork
1 to 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon white ground pepper
salt to taste  

Sweet rice might look like regular white rice.  But they are more glutinous when cooked.  That is why sweet rice is also called sticky rice and glutinous rice.

Dry wild mushrooms are sold in most Asian grocery stores too.  They are packed with tons of earthy, nutty, and fragrant flavors; and can be used in soups, stews, or stir fries.  

They can be substituted with shiitake mushrooms too.  Shiitake mushroom is another kind of mushroom with distinctive fragrance and are wildly popular in Asian countries too.  You shall be able in find them in almost every Asian grocery stores.

Soak the dried wild mushrooms in cold water for a couple hours.

I also like to buy large pieces of pork shoulder and grind them at home using a meat grinder https://www.amazon.com/STX-International-STX-3000-TF-Turboforce-Electric/dp/B0012KJBR0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1534977533&sr=1-6&keywords=meat+grinder&linkCode=ll1&tag=yankitchentext-20&linkId=18cf3cfadc7cb6856f0f14dd0d742b33&language=en_US.

Cook the sweet rice in a rice cooker.  Sweet rice requires less water than regular rice.

Allow the rice to chill for 10 minutes or so.

Rinse the wild mushrooms under running water and drain them well.

Chop the mushrooms in a food processor.

In a large bowl, add cooked sweet rice, along with ground pork, mushrooms, oyster sauce, rice cooking wine, ginger, sesame oil, sugar, white ground pepper and salt.

Gently whisk with a pair of chopsticks.

Add a couple tablespoons of ground pork and sweet rice filling to center of the wonton wrap.

Wrap the edges towards the center.  Brush the wrap with water or egg wash if needed. 

Add a bamboo steamer lined with small squares of parchment paper.   

Repeat the process until all are finished.   The listed ingredients above yield about 50 shiu mai.  Freeze extra ones if they are too much for a single meal.

Fill a wok with water.  Cook over high heat until water boils.  Add steamer.  Continue to steam over high heat for 12 to 15 minutes.

Serve hot immediately. 

Isn’t it easy and quick?  

Sriracha sauce is great dipping sauce for shiu mai.  I also use it for dumplings too.