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.

Teriyaki chicken with snow peas

中文菜谱: 照烧鸡柳炒甜豆

This is definitely a quick and tasty dish.  I always serve it with a sizzling hot cast iron plate.  Simple dish can be impressive too!  O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients:

I package of snow pea (8 oz, 227g)
1 large chicken breast or 2 to 3 piece chicken thighs
2 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice cooking wine
1/4  teaspoon ginger powder/ ground ginger
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
2 to 3 tablespoon cooking oil 

Directions:

Chicken breast is great for stir fry, but I always prefer chicken thighs which have smoother texture and can be cooked without getting dry like chicken breast meat. 

Rinse the chicken well, pat dry, remove fat and skin and then cut into bite size.  In a glass bowl, combine teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, rice cooking wine, ginger, black pepper, mix well, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.  

15 minutes before stir fry, take out chicken from refrigerator and let it rest in room temperature for 15 minutes. 

In a large wok, add oil, heat over medium high heat and then add marinated chicken.  Do not stir.  Turn the chicken over when bottom side is golden brown.  When the other side gets golden brown, remove chicken from wok.   Drain the oil back to the wok. 

Add garlic and snow peas, stir fry over medium high heat until the peas become tender and sweet.  Add chicken, add salt and pepper, and stir fry for about 1 minute. 

While stir frying, heat another cast iron skillet until really hot, top with stir fried Teriyaki chicken with snow peas.  Serve immediately.  

Remember that Applebee’s commercial?  Everybody stops talking when the sizzling hot plate comes out of kitchen.  You can have that wonderful moment at home too! 

Cinnamon sugar donuts

中文菜谱：肉桂糖霜甜甜圈

I wasn’t planning making donuts when I knead the dough.  And then I just change my mind for no reason at all.  Ha-ha, doesn’t that happen to all the women?

There were two of us, me and my husband, in the kitchen.  Coffee was brewing, music was on, and we worked on the dough together.  That made me feels happy, extremely happy.  

After the second rise, we shaped the dough into donut dough; deep fried them, glazed with icing sugar glaze, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.  It tasted like heaven!

The best thing to goes with freshly fried donuts would be one pot hot black coffee. 

Ingredients:

For icing sugar glaze:  

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoon milk

In a glass bowl, combine sugar and milk; whisk until all the sugar dissolves, and the glaze is glossy and running smoothly.

For Cinnamon sugar:

5 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoon ground cinnamon （or to personal preference）

Shift sugar and cinnamon together and transfer into a shaker. 

For the bread:

Sponge：

100 g milk
20 g bread flour

Whisk together milk and flour in a glass bowl.  Microwave the batter on high for 30 seconds.  Whisk again.  Microwave for another 20 seconds, and whisk until batter is smoothy.  And then microwave for another 15 seconds… repeat the process until you can write letters with a spoon on batter surface and those letters do go away.  

Cover up the sponge.  It can be use as soon as it cools down, but you can get better result with one day old sponge. 

Bread dough：

360 g bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
60 g sugar
10 dried milk powder
90 g milk
60 g egg
4 g salt
2 tablespoon butter, melted
oil (for deep frying)

Directions:

Add sponge, bread flour, yeast, sugar, milk, milk powder, egg and salt to stand mixer’s mixing bowl.  Turn to speed 2, knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Add melted butter, knead until the dough can make windowpane.

Cover the dough with greased wrap.  Wait until the dough double in size, punch it down and gently fold into a dough ball.  Let it rest another 10 minutes.    

Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough out into desired thickness, or about half inch thick;  cut into donut shape with two round shape cookie cutters.

Cover and rest the donut dough another 15 minutes.  Deep fry in 375F oil until both sides are golden brown. 

Remove the donuts from oil and drain well on paper tower.  Glaze with icing sugar glaze, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  

Do not waste the donut holes.  Deep fry them and coat evenly with cinnamon sugar too.  They are just awesome! 

Let me forget about calorie count for a moment and indulge in this guilty pleasure.  O(∩_∩)O~  

Stir-Fried Asian Aged Pork Belly with Dried Daikon

中文菜谱： 腊肉炒萝卜干

Asian aged pork belly is actually a great way to preserve pork when meat was scarce and nothing went to waste.  Fresh pork belly is marinated with spices and alcohol and then air-dried for a month or longer.  It is the fermentation process that gives Asian aged pork belly a distinct and unique aroma and taste. 

When I was a little kid back home in Southern China, making Asian aged pork belly and sausage was like a traditional winter event involving the whole family’s effort.  Aged pork belly is easier to make because it doesn’t require chopping and stuffing like the sausage.

Pork belly meat is my favorite when making aged pork belly.  But it is not easy to find in this small northern American town I live.  My husband and I drive to a nearby town where there is a newly opened Asian grocery store. I get my pork belly there.

For all those who don’t want to make Asian aged pork belly and sausage from scratch, they are available in frozen section in most Asian grocery stores.  Dried daikon can be found in pickled vegetable section.

Since I made my own Asian aged pork belly a month ago, I have been waiting so anciently to try it.  I also made some dried daikon a couple days ago. The newly made aged pork belly goes great with dried daikon.  

Ingredients:

1 piece aged pork belly
2 cup chopped dried daikon
1 cup dried red pepper, cut into half inch pieces
1 to 2 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1/3 to 1/2 caup chicken broth/water
2 tablespoon soy sauce
3 to 4 tablespoon chopped green oion
2 tablespoon cooking oil
salt to taste

Directions:

Rinse the aged pork belly thoroughly with water and pat dry. 

Steam the jerky for about 20 minutes, and then thinly slice them. 

Dried daikon are chopped into small bit size too。

In a large wok, heat the oil over medium-high heat, along with garlic, Sichuan peppercorns and red peppers.  Add the sliced aged pork belly; stir fry for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the daikon, stir fry for a couple minutes.

Add chicken broth, soy sauce and salt.  Stir fry over medium-high heat until all the liquid evaporate.  Sprinkle with green onion, stir them well. Serve hot. 

I made 5 pieces this time.  After sampling this dish, my husband decides we will definitely make aged pork belly more next time.  

ESSENTIAL TOOLS

Baked Potato with Bacon and Cheese

中文菜谱： 培根奶酪烤土豆

Potato is an awesome food source.  You can cook it whichever way you like and it will always turn out tasty.  This time I simply just baked it, and then top with bacon and cheese.  Tasty!  I love it so much majorly because they are the ones I grew and harvested in my own backyard garden. O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients:

4 medium or large size baking potatoes
4 to 5 tablespoon bacon bits
6 to 8 tablespoon crumble cheddar cheese
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
chopped green onion /chives（optional）
4 tablespoon sour cream (optional)

I skip the sour cream this time because my husband doesn’t like it.  However, I have to say that sour cream makes it tastier!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F/ 191°C。

Clean the potatoes with a brush and rinse thoroughly.  Poke each potato several times with a fork to prevent explosion during baking.    Place them on a baking pan, about I inch apart from each other.  

Bake 60 minutes.   Bake 10 to 20 minutes longer if you have really large size potatoes.  Gently compress the potatoes with your finger; if they yield to the touch, they are ready. 

Cut the potatoes right in the middle from the top and then squeeze the ends towards one another.  The potatoes should pop right open.  Sprinkle with salt, black pepper, cheese, and bacon, bake another 2 minutes or until the cheese melts.  

Top with sour cream (optional) and green onion/chives.  Serve hot. 

There is nothing but sand in one corner of my back yard.  I planted a couple potatoes there in the spring; didn’t expect anything at all because nothing grows well in that corner.  But it surprises me with almost a bucket of potatoes!   O(∩_∩)O~

In the summer, potato flowers bloomed. 

When it got cold, we went to check the potato field. 

Surprise, surprise, and surprise!

Tah-dah!!!!