Teriyaki tuna rolls

Sometime when I crave for sushi but too lazy to go out, I make these teriyaki tuna rolls.  They are easy and fast to make, but still very tasty! O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

1bowl of freshly cooked rice
1 ripe avocado
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 pound sashimi grade tuna
3 to 4 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
2 to 3 teaspoons toasted white sesame seeds
5 to 6 dried seaweed sheets
wasabi paste
soy sauce

 

Directions：

Defrost the tuna in refrigerator.  Cut it into small long strips, about the size of little fingers.

Peel the avocado and remove its core.  Cut it into thick slices.   Add rice vinegar and sugar.  Toss gently until they are well combined.

Place one seaweed sheet on the bamboo sushi mat.  Evenly spread a handful of freshly cooked rice over the seaweed sheet.  Add tuna strips to a end; spoon teriyaki sauce over tuna; sprinkle with white toasted sesame seeds and line up with avocado slices.

Roll it up from one end as tightly as you can.

With a sharp knife, cut it into 8 equal pieces.

Repeat the process until all the tuna and rice is finished.

Serve with soy sauce and wasabi paste. Enjoy!

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Dried Sweet Potatoes

中文： 红薯干

Dried sweet potato was one of my childhood favorites.  It can be served as a snack or a side dish.  It is sweet, soft, and a little bit chewy because of the drying process, which makes it so much joyful to eat dried sweet potatoes.

In sweet potato harvest season, most people in my hometown used to make dried sweet potatoes at home.  The homemade version is so much better than the ones you can buy from grocery store.  They were dried under the warm autumn sunshine, with the dry warm wind blowing over.  For the ten-year-old me, fall is the best season of the year. 

That is also why I still make a large batch of dried sweet potatoes every year.

Ingredients：

10 pounds sweet potatoes
water for steaming/boiling

It is super easy and fast to make dried sweet potatoes at home.  Steam/ boil them over medium high heat for 25 to 45 minutes, depending their sizes, or until a fork can easily pierce through the center.  Remove from heat and let them cool down to room temperature.

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut each into 6 to 8 halves.  Transfer to dehydrator racks and dehydrate at 135F/ 57 C for 7 to 8 hours.  The time needed is also depending on the sweet potato sizes and how chewy you want them to be.  I like mine on the soft side.  Dehydrate for a couple more hours if you prefer chewy texture.

There is a natural way to DIY dried sweet potatoes if you don’t have a dehydrator handy.  Place them on a cooling rack or any kind of racks you have, and dry them under the sun for 2 to 3 days.  It might take an extra couple days to dry if it is cloudy or cold.  Again, it is all depending on the sweet potatoes and your personal preferences.

The natural sweetness from sweet potatoes is good enough for me.  So I didn’t add any sugar.  If you have a sweet tooth, add sugar as needed when steaming or boiling them.

Here it is, one of my childhood favorites!

Soft and Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls

Unlike other baking lovers, I like to bake soft, sweet fluffy dinner rolls instead of French bread or sour dough bread.  Mashed sweet potato is a great ingredient in making dinner rolls.  It gives the rolls such pretty and bright vibrant yellow color, light sweetness and softer texture.

Ingredients：

250 g bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoon yeast
50 to 60 g whole milk
100 to 110 mashed sweet potato
1 large egg
40 g sugar
20 g butter (soften, or heated in microwave for a few seconds )
3 to 4 gluten flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
egg wash or honey + water for brushing

Note：

You can get mashed sweet potato from baked, boiled or steamed sweet potatoes.  Please remember that water content will differ greatly in each cooking ways.  You may need to adjust how much bread flour is needed here depending on the mashed sweet potato.  I get mine from baked sweet potato.

I add extra gluten flour to help with bread texture because 100 g mashed sweet potato is a lot for this recipe. 

 

Directions：

Heat the milk in microwave for 30 seconds; add the milk to bread machine container; dissolve yeast into the warm milk; and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Add eggs, flour, gluten flour, sugar, salt and mashed sweet potato; start dough cycle.  My bread machine will knead the dough for 20 minutes and proof for an hour. 

 

When kneading is done, abort the cycle; add diced butter; and start the dough cycle again. It will knead the dough for another 20 minutes, which should be able to get the dough past window panel test.

When the dough is doubled in size, transfer it to a well dusted wooden board.  Gently press down and knead for a minutes; cover and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 32 equal pieces.  Roll each piece out; and line up four together.

Roll them up from one end

Cut it right in the middle.  Now you have two yellow roses!

Repeat the process until all dough pieces are turned into roses.  Place them cut side down in a greased baking pan; cover; and let it proof again for another 30 to 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400F/204 C.

Brush the bread with egg wash or honey + water.  Bake for 14 to 16 minutes.  Cover the bread with a large piece of foil if necessary to prevent dark color on top.

How beautiful they are!

STIR-FRIED SPICY PORK AND DAIKON

I posted this recipe before.  It is so good that I just keep cooking this dish.  I just bought a large box of daikon so that I don’t have to worry about running out daikon again.  O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

1 piece of pork belly (about 1 1/2pound)
1 1/2 cup dried daikon (also available in Asian grocery store)
2/3 cup dried red chili peppers
2 teaspoons Sichuan pepper corns
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1 to 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
3 to 4 tablespoon chicken stock/ water
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon sugar
freshly ground black pepper
chopped onion
2 to 3 tablespoons oil for cooking
salt to taste

Directions：

Dried daikon is available in Asian grocery store.  You can also make it at home.  It is very easy.  All you need to do is to peel the daikon, cut it into string cheese size pieces and then air dry in a food dehydrator and under the sun.  I prefer to air dry daikon pieces under the hot summer sun.  It takes two to three days to get dried inside and out.

Keep any extra dried daikon in Ziplock bag and store in the refrigerator.  It should be able to last a really long time. 

Two hours before cooking, soak dried dakai in water.  After it is totally rehydrate, rinse a couple times under running water.

Thinly slice the pork belly.

Dried red chili peppers are sometimes covered in dust.  I like to rinse and drain them and then cut into pieces.

Heat a wok over high heat.  Add oil, and then add sliced pork belly.  Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.  Stir fry over high heat until the pork turns slightly golden brown.  Add garlic, Sichuan peppercorns.  Stir fry until the spices are toasted with pork fat.  Add daikon; stir fry for another couple minutes; add chicken stock/ water, oyster sauce, rice cooking wine and salt.  Continue to stir fry until all the liquid is absorbed by pork and daikon.  Sprinkle with chopped green onion and transfer to a big bowl or plate.  Serve immediately. 

Sweet rice cake balls with black sesame and purple sweet potato

Purple sweet potato is one of my favorite.  Unfortunately we don’t usually see them in American grocery stores.  I will stock up on them whenever I drive to Detroit area where there is a big Asian grocery store that sells all kinds of Asian goodies. 

You can steam, roast, bake or even grill them.  Whatever you can do with pumpkins and sweet potatoes, you can do it with purple sweet potatoes.  Purple sweet potatoes have a denser texture than regular sweet potatoes.   They are starchier, sweeter and I guess healthier. 

I make some sweet rice cake balls and put some purple sweet potatoes.  Ta-dah!  I have a bowl of gorgeous sweet rice cake balls! 

Ingredients for sweet rice cake balls：

1 cup of sweet rice flour
1 teaspoon oil
1 tablespoon sugar
water
1 medium size purple sweet potato, steamed
1/2 cup fermented sweet rice (homemade or available in Asian grocery store too)

Black sesame filling：

1/4 cup toasted black sesame seeds
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons honey
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoon butter

Directions：

Add black sesame seeds and brown sugar to a coffee grinder.  Grind for 20 to 30 seconds.

Microwave the butter on high for 20 to 30 seconds to melt it.  Add honey and ground sesame; mix well and refrigerate until it hardens.   Equally divide them into 20 or 30 pieces.  And roll each into a ball shape.

Peel the purple sweet potato.  Use a fork or food processor to puree it.

Combine sweet rice flour, oil and sugar in a medium bowl.   Gradually add water while whisking with chopsticks or a wooden spoon.  Stop when there is no dry flour left.

Equally divide the sweet rice dough into 20 to 30 pieces and roll each piece into a ball shape too.

Press down sweet rice cake ball with a thumb, add sesame filling, wrap it up and roll into a sweet rice ball again.  Repeat it until all sweet rice cake balls are finished.

Bring a large pot of water to boil on high heat.   Add sweet rice cake balls.  Cook until they float to the top.   Stir gently occasionally. 

Reserve about 2 to 3 cups cooking water.  Add purple sweet potatoes puree and sweet fermented rice.  Cook on medium high heat until it boils.  Serve it immediately with cooked sweet rice cake balls.

Both purple sweet potatoes and fermented rice are quite sweet.  I don’t need extra sugar here.  If you have a sweet tooth, add more sugar to the sweet potato puree.

Isn’t it beautiful?  The black sesame filling inside is a really nice touch. O(∩_∩)O~