Americano Coffee

中文菜谱： 美式咖啡

Both my husband and I enjoy a couple cups of coffee together every day.  We drink decaf.  But good decaf coffee beans are really hard to find.  To my surprise, we found a good one during a visit trip to my sister and brother-in-law in Colorado.   They introduced us to a local organic store coffee.  It tastes good. So we left Colorado with six bags of these organic decaf coffee beans in my carry-on luggage. 

About two months later, they are almost all gone.  So my sister sent me more coffee beans, along with two pounds of black lentil beans we use to make lentil sprouts.  (It is posted before here: http://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/lentilsproutssalad)

Coffee time!

I didn't realize I misplaced the bottom stainless steel board until we finished our coffee。。。。。This machine has excellent reviews in amazon, see here.

My husband is making coffee, so I have all the time to take pictures.

Love the crema.

We are not that into espresso.   So we add hot water to make our favorite Americano coffee. 

It does smell and taste really good. 

Hot and Spicy Diced Chicken

中文菜谱： 辣子鸡丁

This is my number one comfort food.  As a matter of fact, all hot and spicy food can be my comfort food.  But this hot and spicy chicken gets the crown.

Chicken thighs are perfect for making this dish.  They are tasty and tender, and they don’t easily get dry when frying.   

My husband is from Sichuan, China.  That is a place most famous for hot and spicy food in China. (Yes, they also have panda there too.)  Sichuan pepper corn gets its name because they have the best quality pepper in Sichuan. 

After living together for a long time, I find myself crazily in love for hot and spicy food too!  We both learn to like what the other likes to eat.  That is good. 

Ingredients:

6 to 8 chicken thighs
1 to 2 tablespoons rice cooking wine
3 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2  teaspoon dried ginger powder/ or freshly ground ginger
freshly ground black pepper
2 to 3 cups of dried chili pepper
3 to 4 tablespoons Sichuan pepper corns
3 to 4 gloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
2 to 3 green onions; keep the white part and chop coarsely
1 small piece of ginger, thinly sliced
2 tablespoon white sesame seeds
salt to taste
oil for deep frying and cooking

Directions:

Remove the fat, bones and skin from chicken thighs, and cut into half inch cubes. 

Place chicken in a large bowl, add soy sauce, rice cooking wine, sugar, ginger, salt and black pepper, mix well, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. 

Heat a wok filled with oil over high heat.  Fry the chicken in several batches until they are golden brown.  Drain well.

Heat another wok over medium low heat; add oil along with garlic and ginger. When garlic turns slightly golden brown, add Sichuan pepper corns and dry chili peppers. Fry them in oil for 1 minute; add fried chicken; season with salt.  Stir fry chicken and pepper over low heat for 4 to 5 minutes.  Add sesame seeds and keep stir frying for another couple minutes.  Serve immediately. 

It goes great with icy cold beer!

Pork and Shiitake Mushroom Meat Sauce

中文菜谱： 香菇肉燥

I made a batch of pork and shiitake mushroom meat sauce.  It goes great with rice, noodles and stir-fry.  I once even made Chinese version sloppy joes with it, and it turned out awesome too!

Shiitake is widely popular in Asian countries.  I think it might be the most beloved mushroom there.  The fresh ones have silky, smooth texture. They are my husband’s favorite.  When cooked, they just melt in your mouth.  The dried ones have more intense aroma because of the dehydration process.  They are used in soup, porridge, and dumplings. 

This recipe calls for dried shiitake mushrooms.  They are available in every Asian grocery store.  Yes, that is how much we love them. 

Ingredients:

240 to 300g grounded pork shoulder
 1 medium purple onion, peeled and minced
6 to 8dried shiitake mushrooms
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
1 slice of fresh ginger, minced
1/4 teaspoon five spice powder (available in Asian grocery store)
one pinch of white pepper powder
2 tablespoons cooking rice wine
3 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 to 1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 to 2 cups water
salt to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons oil for cooking

Directions:

Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in water for at least 1 hour.  Drain the water through a coffee filter or cheese cloth.  Set the water aside for later use.

Chop mushrooms finely  with a food processor. 

Heat a wok over medium high heat. Add oil.  Add garlic and ginger.  When the garlic turns color, add ground pork. Stir fry over high heat for a couple minutes; add rice cooking wine and white pepper.  Continue to stir fry until the pork is golden brown. About 4 to 6 minutes. 

Add onion; cook until the onion turns transparent. Add shiitake mushroom, along with five spice powder, sugar, soy sauce and salt to taste.  Stir fry for 1 minute; add water which is used to soak shiitake mushrooms and drained before.  

When it comes to boil, cover with wok lid, and reduce the heat to simmer for 30 to 40 minutes.

Stir once in a while to prevent burning. 

It goes great with almost everything.  My favorite choice is a bowl of freshly cooked rice. 

Mung Bean Starch Noodle Fishes

中文菜谱：麻辣凉粉鱼儿

Mung bean starch noodle fishes, what a cute and lovely name for this dish!  It is another traditional Chinese dish served cold. It is very popular in summer time because it is refreshing and the hot chili sauce is very appetizing.

Don’t be surprised if they don’t look quite like tiny fishes.  I don’t have the special tool to do this at home.  So I use what I have to improvise.  Well, the taste and texture is great. I can promise you that. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mung bean starch
3 cup water
3 to 4 tablespoon chili oil sauce (available in Asian grocery store.  I use homemade sauce.)
1 teaspoon Sichuan pepper oil (available in Asian grocery store)
2 to 4 tablespoon soy sauce
3 to 4 tablespoon aged rice vinegar or aged balsamic vinegar
2 to 1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 to 2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon sesame paste
1 to 2 tablespoon garlic water (minced garlic with water)
4 to 5 tablespoon diced dried pickled daikon (available in Asian grocery store)
2 to 3 tablespoon crushed toasted peanut
chopped green onion
salt to taste

Directions:

Mung bean starch is different from mung bean flour.  You need the starch one for this recipe.  FYI, sometimes the package may say green bean starch.  It is the same thing as mung bean starch.  Don’t get confused.  It is not the same green bean we buy from fresh produce section here. 

Mix starch with 1 cup of water; whisk until well mixed. 

Fill a large glass bowl with ice and water.

Bring the other 2 cups of water to boil.  Reduce the heat to medium. Whisk and gradually add starch mixture.  Keep whisking until the whole batter turns transparent and big bubbles keep coming up from the bottom of the pan.  It takes about 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Drain the cook batter above the iced water through a big spoon or whatever you have with peanut sized holes in it.

When hot starch batter hits the icy water, it transforms into little cute fish shaped noodles.

Remove the ice.  There they are at the bottom. 

Drain them well and place them in another big blow.  Add hot chili oil sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, sesame paste, garlic water, diced pickled daikon, green oion, crushed peanut and salt to taste. 

Mix well and serve immediately.  

Spinach Cavatelli Noodles with Pork and Dried Daikon

中文菜谱: 菠菜猫耳朵面

There is about 1/3 bunch spinach left in the refrigerator.  It is not enough to do any stir frying, so I make some spinch cavatelli noodles out of it.

As a matter of fact, in Chinese there is another cute interesting name for noodles in this shape: cat’s ears.  Those pointed tips do look like cat’s ears.   

Ingredients:

1/3 bunch spinach
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cup bread flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 cup water
boiling water and a pinch of salt (for blanching spinach)

Directions：

Fill a large bowl with water and ice.

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add a pinch of salt and spinach.  Get the spinach out as soon as the color turns dark green, and shock it with iced water.

Drain the spinach.  Place it to vitamix (from amazon) container; add water and blender until smooth; the smoother the better.  

Add flour, salt, spinach mixture and oil to a KitchenAid mixing bowl (from amazon).

Turn on stand mixer, and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. 

Place dough on a board dusted with flour; shape it into a ball; covered and let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes. 

With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch in height. Cut it into thumb nail sized squares. 

Divide them and dust with flour again.

On a gnocchi paddle (from amazon), push down those tiny dough squares and push forward at the same time. You will get those little cute cat ears with marks. 

Dust with flour so that they won’t stick together. 

Every time I make them, that sensational scene from Godfather comes to my mind.   Vincent Mancini and Mary Corleone were making gnocchi.  

It is really nice to cook and enjoy a lovely dinner with your loved one, isn’t it? 

Ok, let’s get back to our cat ears.

Ingredients:

1 piece pork shoulder, (3 to 5 oz) , thinly sliced
a handful of dried chili pepper, cut into halves
1/2 cup dried daikon (available in Asian grocery store), diced
1 teaspoon Sichuan pepper
2 to 3 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
2 gloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced or minced
2 to 3 chicken stock or water
freshly ground black pepper
1/4  teaspoon sugar
salt to taste
2 to 3 tablespoon oil for cooking
water (for boiling noodles)

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add a pinch of salt and spinach noodles.  Cook until they float, about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain them well.

Heat a wok over medium high heat; add oil, garlic and Sichuan pepper corns.  When garlic turns color, add pork, salt, black pepper and rice cooking wine.  Stir fry over high heat until the pork is golden brown.  Add spinach noodles, salt, soy sauce, sugar to taste.  Stir in chicken stock, and cook together for another 1 or 2 minutes. 

Serve immediately. 

Freeze any extra raw noodles and store them in a sealed Ziploc bag. 

Just love the color and taste.