Chicken Soup with Ham, Pearl Barley and Lima Beans

I love to make soups and stews in cold winter times.  Although it takes long time than regular dishes, my whole kitchen smells really good! O(∩_∩)O~

Today I make chicken soup with ham, pearl barleys and lima beans.  The leftover ham bone is perfect for making flavorful chicken soup.  The ham bone adds tons of flavors to the soup, so you don’t need too much seasoning for the soup.

Ingredients：

1 organic free range hen (bought from Asian grocery store)
1 large piece of ham bone
1 piece of ginger, crushed
1/4 cup lima beans
1/4 cup pearl barley
1 to 2 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 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, ham bone, ginger and rice cooking wine to a large Staub cast iron pot.  Add enough water to the pot, about 3 to 4 inches above the chicken.

Heat the pot over high heat.  When the soup comes to a boiling point, allow it to keep 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.

I love my Staub cast iron pots. They are perfect for simmering.

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

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

The ham bone itself is quite salty.  Sample the soup before adding salt.  So that you can make sure it wouldn’t be over seasoned.

Serve immediately with cooked rice or steamed buns.

Lamb Soup with Diced Chinese Bread

中文：羊肉泡馍

Lamp soup with diced Chinese bread is a traditional dish in central China where wheat is widely grown instead of rice.   Because there are proteins, starch, veggies all in one bowl, a bowl of soup like this can be served as breakfast, lunch or dinner. 

Served piping hot the second right after it is cooked, a bowl of lamb soup does not just provide you energy to get through the day, but also brings you comfort in cold winter time.

The authentic way is to make lamp soup with both lamb and lamb bones.  I don’t have any lamb bones, so I substitute with a free range chicken.

And the dense hearty pan grilled Chinese bread is a must for the dish. O(∩_∩)O~

They always come with pickled young garlic and chili sauce. 

Ingredients for the lamb soup:

1 large piece of lamb leg (about 2 to 3 pounds)
1 free range chicken
1 large piece of ginger root, sliced into thick pieces
2 to 3 stalks green onion
3 bay leaves
1 black cardamom pot
3 to 4 pieces of dried rhizome/ dried ginger slices
2 star anises (optional)
1/2teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons rice cooking wine
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon  ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
water
salt to taste

For individual serving:

1/2 to 1 head pickled garlic
chopped cilantro
Chinese vermicelli (It is super fine noodles made from green bean starch), soaked in water for at least 1 hour
edible tree black fungus
chili sauce
 

For the dough:

2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup water
a pinch of salt

 

Directions：

Rinse the chicken under cold running water.  Pat dry and chop the chicken into 3 by 4 inches pieces.

Soak the lamb in a large pot of cold water for 2 hours.  Change the water two to three times in between.

Wrap the bay leaves, star anises, cardamom, rhizome, Sichuan peppercorns and black peppercorns with a piece of coffee filter.

Tightly tie it up

Blanch both diced chicken and lamb in boiling water for 4 to 5 minutes.  Drain well.

In a large Staub Dutch oven pot , add chicken and lamb.  Fill the pot with fresh boiling water.  The water should be 4 to 5 inches above the meat.  

Heat the pot over high heat until it boils.  Add rice cooking wine, spices wrapped in coffee filter paper, green onions and ginger root slices.

Reduce the heat to simmer for about 2 hours.

Discard the green onions.

Add sugar, ground white pepper and salt to taste.

Continue to cook for another 20 minutes.  Now we have a nice pot of lamb soup.  Remove from heat.  Transfer the lamb to a plate.  Allow it to completely cool down.

When the soup is simmering on the stove, I make the Chinese bread.

Add flour, salt and water to s stand mixer  mixing bowl.

Set it to speed 2.  Knead for about 10 minutes.

Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Transfer to a wooden board.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow it rest for 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6 to 8 equal pieces.

We are on a low carbohydrates diet so that I divide it into 16 pieces.  

Each piece weighs 28 grams.  I use a kitchen scale  to make sure they are all the same size.  The stand size is bigger than this. O(∩_∩)O~ 

With a small rolling pin, roll each piece flat.

Fold it in the middle.

Roll up from one end all the way to the other end.

Repeat the process until all the pieces are finished.

With your palm, press them down and then roll every single one into flat disc shape.

Heat a cast iron skillet  over medium low heat. 

Add the bread dough pieces.  Cover with lid.  Cook each side for 2 to 3 minutes until they are golden brown.  if you are doing larger dough pieces, remember to extend the cooking time accordingly.

All done

The traditional way is to break them apart with finger tips.  I just find it more efficient and easier to dice them up with a sharp knife.

Slice the lamb

The correct way is to fill each individual bowl with dice bread, wood black mushroom, green bean noodles and lamb.

Add 1 to 1 1/2 lamb stock to a small soup pot.  Heat over high heat until it boils.  Add what is in the bowl to the pot.  Cook for about 1 minute. Remove from heat.  Transfer everything back to bowl.  Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.  Add pickled garlic and chili sauce on the top.

Serve it hot immediately.  The lamp soup goes really well with cilantro and pickled garlic.  Try not to skip them because it is the most authentic way to enjoy it.  O(∩_∩)O~

I made the pickled garlic from what I harvested from our backyard vegetable garden. 

The recipe was posted before.

They get better when sitting longer in the sugar vinegar brine.

And yes, I made my own chili sauce too.  The recipe is here.

 

Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce

Pancake is always a popular weekend breakfast choice in our house.  And the top pancake choice is of course, blueberry!  Every summer we go to blueberry farm and pick buckets of blueberries.  After making blueberry jam, cakes and other delighted desserts, I pack extra blueberries in zip-loc bags and store them in freezer so that they last through winter until the next summer comes.

We always do the pancakes DIY style.  A large griddle is set on the breakfast table, with pancake batter, toppings, jam, honey or syrup and spatulas on the side.  Both of us get to cook our own pancakes the way we like! O(∩_∩)O~

 

Pancake ingredients:

1 cup of all purpose flour
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 to 2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon cooking oil

Blueberry sauce ingredients：

2 cups of frozen blueberries
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (use more if you have a sweet tooth)
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon corn starch

Directions：

First we prepare blueberry sauce.

In a small soup pot, add blueberries, lemon juice, brown sugar and water.  Heat over high heat until the mixture comes to boil.  Reduce the heat to medium or medium low.  Cook for another 7 to 9 minutes until the sauce can thinly coat the back of a wooden spoon. 

Whisk together the corn starch and 2 to 3 teaspoons water. Add to the blueberry sauce while whisking. Cook for another minute.  Remove from heat.

I like my blueberry sauce a little thin and runny so that it can be poured over the pancakes like syrup.

Now, we can get started with the pancake batter.

Shift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.

In a medium bowl, add eggs, buttermilk and oil.  Whisk together.

Add shifted flour to the egg milk mixture.  Whisk just until the dry flour is gone.  Don’t over mix because the more you whisk, the more gluten will form, and the chewier your pancakes will get.

Heat the electronic griddle to 350. 

Add batter.  We are using a non-stick griddle so I skip oil spray.  If you use a cast iron griddle or stainless steel pan, oil spray will be a life saver! O(∩_∩)O~ 

Let them cook on one side until you see a lot of bubbles, flip the pancakes.  It takes about more or less than one minute.

Both sides are golden brown.  That how you know they are ready.

Top with blueberry sauce.

Ok, a lot of blueberry sauce….O(∩_∩)O~

Time to enjoy!

Hot and Spicy Braised Chicken with and Potatoes

中文：大盘鸡

This is one of the most popular dishes in my family.  Every single time I make it, the whole dish would be finished really fast.  The traditional way to enjoy it is to serve the chicken in a large bowl first; and when chicken is half gone, toss the remaining spicy sauce with wide and thin homemade noodles.  It is so good that right now I am literally drooling when I am typing the recipe. O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients:

1 small/ medium size chicken
3 to 4 medium size potatoes
4 to 6 jalapeno peppers (substitute with 1 green bell pepper if you are not into spicy food)
4 to 6 fresh chili peppers (optional)
4 to 5 tablespoons Pixian spicy fermented bean paste (available in most Asian grocery stores)
1 to 2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns (available in most Asian grocery stores)
1 1/2to 2 tablespoons sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 can room temperature beer
1 handful of dried red chilies
2 gloves of garlic
1 small piece of ginger, thinly sliced
1 to 2 star anises
2 to 3 pieces of dried rhizoma
2 to 3 clovers
5 to 6 tablespoons cooking oil
salt to taste
 

Directions:

Pixian spicy fermented bean paste is one of must have key ingredients in Sichuan style cooking.  You should be able to get it from Asian grocery store.  The most authentic ones are produced in Pixian area, Sichuan province, China.

I grew my own fresh chili peppers in the summer time.  Can’t wait for the next summer!

Directions:

Rinse the chicken and dice it into 1 inch pieces with a sharp cleaver.

Peel the potatoes or brush them thoroughly if you would like to leave the skins on.  Cut each potato into 6 or 8 pieces. 

Coarsely chop each fresh pepper to 3 to 4 small pieces. 

Peel and thinly slice the garlic. 

Rinse the dried chilies and cut all of them into halves.

Heat the wok over high heat.  Add cooking oil, and then sugar.  When sugar turns into golden color syrup, add chicken and stir fry until chicken is golden brown too. 

Add ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, dried chilies, star anises, dried rhizome and clovers.  Stir fry for a couple minutes.  Add Pixian spicy fermented bean paste. 

Stir fry for another couple minutes.  Add beer.  When the broth boils, cover with lid and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add potatoes and jalapeno peppers.  Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. 

The Pixian spicy fermented bean paste is usually quite salty, so I don’t add any extra salt. 

I need my wok for another dish.  So I transfer the chicken to a Le Creuset cast iron pot to finish cooking.

Serve immediately. 

The most authentic way is to serve it with broad thin freshly made noodles.  I skip it this time.

Jujubes and Sweet Rice cakes

This snack was crazily popular about a decade ago in main China.  Jujubes and sweet rice are among Chinese favorite dessert ingredients.  When you combine both of them together, magic happens.  They taste so good with each other.  The jujubes have a unique sweetness.  The mini sweet rice cakes are soft and slightly chewy.  They are also thinly coated with rock sugar syrup which complements the sweetness from jujubes, bringing the whole snack to a new level.

Ingredients:

14 to 16 big dried jujubes
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
4 to 5 tablespoons whole milk / water
2 to 3 tablespoon rock crystal white sugar
3 to 4 tbalespoons water
water for soaking and steaming

Directions：

Soack the jujubes in warm water for 2 to 4 hours to rehydrate the jujubes.  Change the water twice in between to keep it warm.

Drain the jujubes.  With a small sharp knife, cut each of them open and remove the cores.  Be careful not to cut the date in halves or cut yourself. O(∩_∩)O~

In a bowl, combie sweet rice flour and milk / water.  Whisk and then knead with hands unitl it forms a smooth dough ball.  Sweet rice has no gluten.  So it is normal that the dough might fall apart during kneading process.

Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces.  Roll each of them into a small log and cut each of them into 4 pieces.  So we should have 16 pieces, each for a jujube.

Stuff each jujube with a piece of sweet rice cake.

Place them on a steaming rack.

 Steam on medium high heat for 20 minutes.

When the jujubes are be steaming, I make rock candy / sugar syrup.  Rock candy is made from cane sugar.  It is further exacted and processed so that it is crystalized and has a better sweet flavor.  That is why it is called rock candy / sugar.  It is also a stable and important ingredient in Asian desserts.

In a small pot, combine rock candy / sugar, heat on medium heat until it can thinly coat the back of a spoon.  Stir from time to time to prevent burning. 

Toss the steamed jujubes in rock sugar syrup so that they are evenly coated.

You can serve the jujubes hot or cold.  I personally prefer cold ones.  The sweet rice cakes in the middle develop become more chewy when cooled to room temperature.  I just love to enjoy them that way.

They go well with eithertea or coffee.