Diced spinach and dried smoked tofu salad

中文：香干拌菠菜

It is a very easy and simple Chinese side dish.  The most popular versions are made with wild vegetable found in the field in spring season.  I made simpler by using spinach because it is more accessible in America. 

Ingredients：

2 pieces dried smoked tofu (available in any Asian grocery store and some American grocery stores too)
1 bunch spinach
1/3  to 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2  to 1 teaspoon sesame oil
salt to taste
water for blanching spinach

Directions：

Dice the smoked tofu into small pea size pieces. 

Rinse the spinach under running water.  Blanch it in boiling water for 5 seconds and then shock it in icy or cold water.  The vibrant green color can be kept by doing so.

Add spinach, tofu, sugar, sesame oil and salt to a medium bowl.  Mix well with a fork or wooden spoon until everything is well combined together. 

It can be served immediately, but the longer it sits, the better it gets. 

Sichuan pickled vegetable and minced pork

 中文：超下饭的四川泡菜炒肉末

Sichuan pickled vegetable is comfort food for a lot of Chinese people.  It is also the key and soul in Sichuan cuisine.  I learned how to make Sichuan pickled vegetable years ago.  But I haven’t been quite successful until I brought back a Sichuan style pickle jar from my last trip back to China.

Making Sichuan pickled vegetable is like making Korean people making kimchi.  Every family has its own secret and special flavor and taste.  I learn from the best one I know: my mother-in-law who has been making them for dozens of years.  Well, I will write another article on how to make Sichuan pickled vegetable at home.  Today, I just want to focus on this popular minced pork dish which is quite popular on my family’s dinner table. O(∩_∩)O~ 

Ingredients：

1 bowl of pickled cabbage (about 1/5 to 1/4 head cabbage)
10 to 12 red pickled chilies
200 to 250 minced pork
2 gloves of garlic
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
8 to 10 dried chilies (yes, I know, we love spicy food)
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 to 4 tablespoon cooking oil

Directions：

Dice the pickled cabbage, pickled chilies and dried chilies.  Peel and slice the garlic.

Heat a wok over high heat.  Add oil, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chilies and pickled chilies.  Sautee for a minute, add minced pork, black pepper, cooking wine and soy sauce.  Stir fry them over high heat until the pork is golden brown.  It is time to add diced pickled cabbage, sugar and salt.

Stir fry everything together on high heat for 2 to 3 minutes; remove from heat and serve immediately. 

This dish goes really well with cooked rice.  Remember to prepare extra rice when making this dish because the rice will go really fast! O(∩_∩)O~

Chicken Soup with Pearl Barleys and Ginkgo Seeds

中文： 薏米白果鸡汤

When the weather gets cold, I am always automatically set to soup mode.  And my kitchen is always filled with aroma from all kinds of soups.  I cannot go through long cold Michigan winter without a bowl of hot soup, just like we cannot tolerate the whole summer without ice cream.   How boring would life be without these seasonal delights!

I bought an organic free range hen from Chinese grocery store, and I intend to make a pot of good chicken soup with it.

Ingredients：

1 organic free range hen
1 piece of ginger, crushed
12 ginkgo seeds
1/4 cup pearl barleys
10 lotus seeds
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sugar
water
salt to taste

Directions：

Rinse the hen and dice it into 2 by 2 inches pieces.  Soak them in a large pot of cold water for 30 to 60 minutes.  Change the water twice in between.  Drain well. 

Add diced hen, ginger and rice cooking wine to a medium cast iron pot.  Add enough water to the pot, about 3 to 4 inches above the chicken.

Heat over high heat; when the soup boils, keep it boiling over high heat for 5 to 10 minutes.  Use a spoon to get rid of any impurities coming to the top.

Cover with lid; reduce the heat to simmer for 1 hour.

Add lotus seeds, pearl barleys and ginkgo seeds, and crank up the heat to medium high.  When the soup boils again, reduce to simmer for another hour or so. 

10 minutes before serve the soup, add sugar, white ground pepper and salt to taste.  Boil the soup over medium high for 10 minutes.

Serve immediately. 

It is like liquid gold on top the chicken soup.  All the aroma and fragrance come from that thin layer of golden chicken fat. That tells you this is a pot of good chicken soup.  And it is exactly the chicken soup I had when I was growing up in southern China. 

Daikon Kimchi

 中文： 萝卜泡菜

It is some sort of tradition for most Chinese families in our town to stock up on napa cabbage and daikon before winter comes.  We get them from a nearby farm where a Korean/American family grows and harvests Asian napa cabbage and daikon ever year.  They are fresh and taste so much better than the ones you can get from regular grocery stores.   

There are so many ways to cook them.  They both have a mild nutty grassy flavor, so they go well pretty much any other ingredients. 

My top three favorite ways to Daikon is making soup with them, stir-frying with pork and of course kimchi!

Here is a stir-fried daikon with pork recipe I posted before. 

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

And now let’s make some Daikon kimchi. 

Ingredients：

1 large Daikon (weighs between 3 to 4 pounds)
2 to 3 tablespoons salt
3 to 4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 head garlic
1 large piece of ginger root
1 small bunch of green onions
2/3 to 1 cup Koeran chili powder
2 to 3 tablespoons crushed red peppers (optional)
2 tablespoon fish sauce
4 to 5 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions：

Peel the daikon and dice it into half inch cubes.  In a large bowl, add daikon cubes, salt and sugar.  Mix well and let it sit for 2 to 3 hours.  Drain the extra liquid.

Peel the garlic and ginger; chop them finely. 

Coursely chop green onions. 

Add ginger, garlic, green onion, chili powder, crushed red peppers, fish sauce and soy sauce to the daikon.  Mix with a wooden spoon until everything comes together. 

Store in clean glass jars.  Cover tightly and allow them to ferment for a couple weeks. 

Flower Shape Pastry Cookies with Red Bean Filling

中文：豆沙菊花酥

Pastry cookies are very traditional Chinese snacks.  They come in different shapes, sizes, flavors.  But there is always one thing in common: they are always flaky, crispy and rich in flavors.  

For the cookies:

150 g all purpose flour
105 g lard / butter / shortening / vegetable oil
40 g powder sugar
70 g water
110 g cake flour

For the filling：

1 pound Red bean paste (homemade or store bought from Asian grocery store)
egg wash
white sesame seeds

Directions：

Preheat the oven to 375F/190 C.

Although you can use lard / butter / shortening / vegetable oil to make the cookies, lard is always the preferable choice because it can make the cookies flaky and crispy like no other oil can do.

Warm up the lard a little bit.  It is easier to work when it is liquid.

In a medium bowl, add 55g lard, all purpose flour, powder sugar and water.   Whisk with a wooden spoon or chop sticks until all ingredients come together.  Knead with hands until the dough is smooth and elastic.  This is dough NO 1.

In another bowl, add 50 g lard and cake flour.  With a wooden spoon, mix flour and lard until they are well blended.  This is dough NO 2.

Divide dough NO 1 into 20 g/ each; dough NO 2 into 10 g/ each; and red bean paste into 30 g/ each.  Roll each of them into small dough balls.

Take one piece of dough NO 1; press it down with your palm; wrap it around one piece of dough NO 2; seal the edges; and roll it into a ball shape again.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough ball into 3 mm thin, roll it up from one end, cover with plastic wrap and repeat the process again 10 minutes later.  It is kind of similar to making croissants.

Press the dough down a little bit with a rolling pin or your palm.  Fold two ends towards center.  Press it down again and then roll it into 1/4 inch thin.  Place a red bean paste ball in the center.  Wrap it up and seal the edge with your fingers.  Roll it into a round dough ball.  Repeat the process until all the dough balls is pressed down, wrap around red bean paste, and roll again.

With your palm again, press down the dough balls a little bit.  Cut each piece into 12 equal parts from the center towards the outside edge.  Leave the center part intact.  Each part will become a pedal.

Twist each pedal 90 degree up.  Brush the center part with egg wash, sprinkle with white sesame seeds. 

Transfer them a baking pan lined with silicone baking mat or parchment paper. 

Bake cookies in the oven for 20 to 22 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown.