Making ham and cheese bread

Everyone who grows up in Taiwan knows this style of bread -- golden brown on the outside, slightly sweet, soft, and incredibly tender on the inside. This is why I was a bit shocked when I first encountered European style bread with the hard crust and chewy interior. There are reasons to like both styles. But the Asian style bread is very popular and indeed versatile for many variations. It can be used to make savory treats like this one with ham and cheese. But more often it is used to encase red bean paste, sweet ground peanuts, and other sweet stuffings. There are quite a lot of different recipes for this dough, but the main ingredients always include flour, yeast, sugar, water, butter, and milk powder. Not sure why the milk powder, but it is a common ingredient in Asia. Many of the recipes call for "starters" or pre-ferment, which basically requires the making of some of the water and flour and yeast 1-2 hours in advance, before adding the rest for another cycle of mixing and proofing. I'm seriously too lazy to do that. From what I can gather, the use of pre-ferment makes better texture, the bread stays fresh for longer, and flavors might improve a little bit. Well, I wanted to just mix it all up and wait for the proofing in one swoop. So I basically substituted the recipe with the dough recipe for Challah bread (from the Best Recipe by Cooks Illustrated). It's got almost the same ingredients, and I just used milk to replace water. The result is not half bad!

starting ingredients: grated Gruyere cheese; black forest ham, proofed Challah dough

Rombo - roasted whole striped bass

I had the dish "Rombo" when I was in Venice this year. It is a roasted whole turbot, with potatoes, tomatoes, and olives. It was so fresh, simple and delicious. My boss pointed me to this recipe after we returned to the US, and I made it for Christmas Eve. It is so easy and is a one-pan dish. I got a live striped bass from Chinatown so the fish was super fresh. The recipe is from Bon Appetit.

Plum-Wine Marinated Tomatoes

This is a dish that I see in every blog post on famous sushi bars in Taiwan. It is usually served as an appetizer (using cherry or grape tomatoes) or as a dessert (using large tomatoes). The tomatoes are peeled and marinated for several days in a plum-infused wine syrup. I served it as a palate cleansing course at my summer party. I turned the marinade into a granita, and served the tomatoes on top of that. This is best when the tomatoes are at the peak production time during the summer.

Recipe: Plum-Wine Marinated Tomatoes (酒釀番茄, 漬番茄)

2 pints cherry tomatoes
6 Chinese preserved plums (話梅)
1 cup water
6-8 Tbsp of sugar (can be less if you prefer)
1 whole clove
1 Tbsp whole black peppercorn
1 cup of white wine or Rose (although some people use Cabernet)
Iced water bath

1. Lightly score the tomatoes at the bottom end with a paring knife. Take care to cut into the flesh as little as possible. The idea is just to pierce the skin about 1/2" long.
2. Blanch the tomatoes in small batches in boiling water for 30 seconds. Fish them out and plunge them into an ice water bath. Wait until cool and carefully remove all the skin
3. Place water, sugar, plums, clove, and peppercorns in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn off the flame and add the wine.
4. Use a tupperware, combine the tomatoes and the marinade. Refrigerate for at least 3 days before serving.

*To make the granita from the marinade
Strain out the spices and place the liquid in a baking pan (like a 8x13" casserole pan). Place in the freezer. Every 30 minutes take out the pan and scrape the frozen bits with a fork. After about 3-4 hours this should be fairly all frozen and scraped up into bits. Place in a tupperware and store in the freezer until ready to serve. This keeps only for about 1-2 days. The granita will start to clump to each other over time and become not as fluffy.

Skins are wrinkled after blanching and they crack along the side

After peeling

This is what the Chinese preserved plum looks like
(Source: http://blog.stnn.cc/sylh/Efp_Bl_1002095216.aspx)

Fried-steamed buns 水煎包/生煎包

This is essentially the same bun as the steamed pork buns I made before. But the buns are smaller. What makes these a little better (I think) is that they are made just like potstickers and have a cripsy bottom. The uncooked buns are placed in a hot pan with oil. Then a slurry of water and flour is added to the pan. The pan is then covered to steam the buns. Toward the end of the cooking, the water is all evaportated and the leftover flour forms a nice brown crust on the bottom of the pan. I think this is somewhat of a Shanghainese specialty. I started the dough at around 9:30am. Then I started to put together the filling at 11:00. I finished cooking everything by 12:10. It actually didn't take too long.

Still raw uncooked buns

Buns cooking in the pan -- they should be covered but I lifted the lid just to take a picture.

White sesame seeds are sprinkled before the end

Success! All the buns should be linked together by this bottom crust

Recipe: Shanghainese pan-fried-steam buns 上海生煎包

Dough:
350 g all-purpose flour
7 g active dry yeast
187 g water
pinch of salt
1 tsp sugar

Filling:
2/3 lb ground pork
4 scallions minced
1 Tbsp grated ginger
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp ground pepper (preferrably from szichuan peppercorn)

Others:
2 Tbsp oil
toasted sesame seeds
3 Tbsp flour
1.5 cup water

1. Place some of the water in a clean bowl with 1 tsp sugar. Stir to dissolve. Sprinkle the yeast over the top of the water. Stir gently to combine. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast is bubbly and float to the top -- this shows that the yeast is indeed active.
2. Place all dry ingredients in a kitchen aid bowl with dough hook attachment. Scrape all the yeast mixture in the center. Operate the mixer at low to low-medium and slowly pour in the remaining water. Mix until the dough is in a ball and the bowl is clean. Hand knead the dough a little bit until smooth. Place in a bowl to rise for 2 hours. Cover with plastic wrap.
3. Meanwhile mix all the filling ingredients and stir clockwise continuously until the meat has absorbed all the liquid. Refrigerate until ready to make the buns.
4. Divide the dough into 18 portions and shape each into balls. Make sure to cover them with a wet towel. Wrap into buns (see here)
5. Heat a non-stick pan with 1 Tbsp of oil until fairly hot. Place half of the buns in the pan. Make a slurry with 1.5 tbsp flour and 3/4 cup water and pour into the pan. The water level should be halfway up the buns. The water should immediately start bubbling. cover the pan and turn the flame to low-medium. Steam for 6 minutes. Then turn the flame to medium-high and steam for another 2 minutes.
6. Lift the lid and sprinkle sesame seeds. Wait until all water has evaporated and the crust is nicely brown. Remove the buns with bottom crust, upside down in a plate.
7. Repeat with remaining buns.

Making Zong Zi 包粽子

Zong Zi is a Chinese traditional food for the Duan Wu Festival, or commonly known as the Dragon Boat festival. It falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The story behind these bamboo leave wrapped pastries goes as follows. In the Zhou dynasty, a well-respected prime minister, Qu Yuan, wrote a sincere and constructive criticism on the government, and presented it to the emperor. As with many incompetent predecesors before him (and many more to follow) in Chinese history, the empror fired him. In his dispair, he jumped into the river and killed himself. The people of Zhou made these zong zi with rice and various food fillings, and threw them into the river in the hopes that the river creatures would eat these zong zi instead of his body. I suppose the bamboo leaves act as a delivery system so the food is not instantly washed away. It is somewhat of a romantic story. But what's really important is that this is one of the time-honored traditions for family members to gather and make this once a year. Usuaully hundreds of zong zi are made, and they are given to neighbors and friends to share. Today, this tradition is quickly being forgotten by the new generations. In fact, my parents never made these, and never learned how. Some of my friends in Taiwan still were fortunate to have a mother or a grandma to make these every year. But I know of no one of my age who actually makes these at home. It is indeed much easier to buy these at the market. But it is really difficult find a tasty one with all the desirable fillings (with the right combinations) . So I thought this would be a perfect way to have a party!

Zong zi has many styles. The wrapping leaves are most often bamboo leaves, but any plant leaves, as long as they are non-toxic and can impart a pleasant fragrancem can be used. Different regions produce different shapes and inner contents of zong zi. The Hu Zhou (湖州) style is more elongated. The Cantonese version is more rectangular, and some can be made with lotus leaves to produce one as big as a serving plate! I set out to make Taiwanese zong zi. The northern Taiwanese zong zi uses no peanuts and fully cooked rice and fillings. The wrapped zong zi is therefore fully cooked and only need to be steamed to meld together the ingredients. Southern Taiwanese zong zi uses only raw or barely cooked rice. They need to be boiled to be fully cooked. This is trickier because uncooked rice is loose, and harder to wrap. Also if they are not wrapped tightly, rice will leak out during the cooking; if they are bound too tight, the center takes too long to cook.

I invited a few friends over to make these. After 1 or 2 we all got quite proficient at making zong zi. But we made quite small ones. It will take some practice to make bigger ones! I decided to make the southern style zong zi -- the rice has been stir fried with fried shallots, dried shrimp, five spice, and soy sauce; the filling includes chestnuts, peanuts, pork, and dried shiitake mushrooms that have been cooked and marinated with star anise, sugar, and soy sauce. Finally each zong zi has a quarter of a salty duck egg yolk. Yum!

Recipe: Southern Taiwanese Zong Zi

40 bamboo leaves
thin kitchen twine
600 g long grain glutinous rice
4 Tbsp of oil
2 Tbsp dried shrimp, rehydrated with rice wine
1/4 cup fried shallots
200 g pork boston butt or other fatty cuts
10 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated with cold water for 30 minutes
20 toasted and peeled small chestnuts
1 cup raw peanuts
5 salty duck egg yolks
salt, white pepper, star anise, five spice, soy sauce, sugar to taste

1. Soak the peanuts overnight. Drain the water and add soy sauce, water, sugar, salt, star anise, and simmer for at least 30 minutes until slightly cooked. Chop mushrooms into halves and add them to the peanuts. Also add chestnuts. Cook everything for another 30 minutes. Set aside and let them marinate overnight.
2. Soak the rice for 3 hours. Drain completely.
3. Chop the pork into bite size. Brown all side quickly and add soy sauce, sugar, salt, star anise, and rice wine to taste. Cook for 5 minutes and set aside.
4. Wash all bamboo leaves. Boil them and the kitchen twine for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
5. Drain the shrimp and mince. Heat oil in a wok and stir fry the shrimp and fried shallots until fragrant. Add the drained rice and stir until well coated. Add the liquid from the peanuts and pork mixture but no more than 2/3 cup. Stir fry until liquid has been well distributed and absorbed. Take out the rice and let cool.
6. Making zong zi (watch instructions here or here). Start with some rice, some peanuts. In the center cavity, add one chestnut, 1/4 of salty duck egg, 1/2 of mushroom, 1 or 2 pieces of pork, then cover with more rice and peanuts.
7. After all have been wrapped, boil them for 40 minutes. Check for doneness. Either eat right away or let them cool over a cooling rack completely before storing in the fridge or freezer.

Flounder fish balls (Quenelle, take 2)

I tried to make French quenelle from the Gourmet cookbook a while ago, but they came out really unsatisfactory after a lot of work. The Chinese style fishballs we can buy from the market usually contain quite a bit of starch, some pork lard, and eggs. The texture is that of bounciness and "Q" -- a term we use in Taiwan to describe an elastic, toothsome crunch. I suppose this is the style from the south, i.e. Fu-zhou style (福州). But I have also heard that the Shanghainese style can be very different -- tender, fluffy, and fragile. This is what I wanted to achieve.

The recipes for typical quenelles or fish balls usually call for fish flesh, some starch, and egg white. The egg white provides albumin proteins that act as a binder to hold everything together. A common mistake of making fish balls is to process the meat for too long in a food processor. The ground mixture can become too hot from the blades and their proteins get "cooked" -- i.e. the proteins are fully denatured and set. If this happens, the fish balls will not be able to hold its shape. The egg white is added to ensure enough raw protein is present to perform this function. But I think the addition of egg white stiffens the fish balls. So when I made it, I only used fish and starch, but no egg whites. The result is really excellent.

Recipe: Fluffy and Tender Flounder Fish Balls 龍利魚丸

1 lb flounder filet with bones removed (weighed after bone removal)
2 Tbsp potato starch or tapioca starch
3 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine
3 Tbsp mirin
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground white pepper

1. Finely dice the fish filet. Place in a food processer and pulse to grind in small batches until just ground. Make sure the temperature does not rise during grinding.
2. Place the ground fish in a large bowl. Add the starch, salt and pepper and start to mix a wooden spoon clockwise. Mix until thin strands of fibers can be seen.
3. Add the liquids one tablespoon at a time. Mix clockwise after each edition until the liquid is fully absorbed. Place the mixture in the refrigerator.
4. Boil a large pot of water. Use two spoons to form ping-pong ball size meat balls and place them in the boiling water. When the fish ball float to the top, remove them with a slotted spoon. They are now cooked and can be placed in stews or soups.

Recipe: Fish ball noodle soup 魚丸羹麵

Fish Stock
Fried shallots
Chinese black vinegar
Dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in cold water for 30 min
Dried lily buds, soaked in colder water for 30 min
carrots, cut into thin match sticks
cooked meat balls
Salt and white pepper
Potato starch
Garlic, minced or through a garlic press
Cilantro, roughly chopped
Celery, roughly chopped
Chinese noodles

1. Slice the re-hydrated mushrooms into strips. Squeeze dry the lily buds
2. Bring the stock to a boil. Cook the mushrooms, carrots, and lily buds in the stock. Add fried shallots to taste. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and vinegar. Thicken slightly with potato starch.
3. Add the fish balls and simmer for another 5 minutes until everything is warmed through. Add the raw garlic to the soup at the end.
4. Meanwhile, start another pot of boiling water to cook the noodles.
5. Place in each bowl the noodles, top with the soup. Sprinkle cilantro and celery bits.

Making red bean Chinese New Year cake

紅豆年糕

This is a must-have cake during Chinese New Years. I suppose most Chinese families were probably poor in the past and even eggs are considered luxuries. This might be why I hardly see any Chinese dessert recipes that contain eggs. Americans tend to turn their noses at desserts made with beans, rice, and other odd legume or grains. But these are common ingredients in Chinese diet that most people can afford. Rice is therefore made into a variety of products -- steamed as usual, fried into crispy cakes, long-cooked into congees, powderized and made into all sorts of pasties. Also, the Chinese medicinal thinking dictates that all that we eat influences our bodies. All foods are considered to have medicinal values. Certain foods are eaten during holidays and are very seasonal. Red beans, or azuki beans, are commonly used in desserts for the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans.

For the cake, one must first make the sweetened red beans. This should be distinguished from red bean paste. The former is not filtered. the beans are still mostly holding their shape, and their integrity is largely intact. The latter is passed through sieves to rid of the shells, and usually heated to get rid of the water, and lard/oil added.

Both recipes are from 阿芳的糕與粿

Sweetened red beans (makes about 3 and 1/2 cups)

600 g red beans
600 g light brown sugar
1 tsp salt

1. Place red beans, not washed, not soaked, in a bowl and add enough water to cover the beans. Bring to a boil. Discard the liquid and any floating beans. Drain the rest of beans completely.
2. Add 6 and 1/2 cups of water. Place into a rice cooker. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water in the outer pot. Start the rice cooker. Wait 5 minutes after the switch is tripped. Use a chopstick to stir the beans a bit. Add another 1 cup of water to the outer pot. Cook again. Wait for 10 minutes after the switch is tripped. Check to ensure beans are cooked
3. Add sugar and salt. If there is excess water, place in a pot and cook over low/medium flame to evaporate the water until rather dry but not burned.
4. Place in a tupperware and let cool.

Red Bean Chinese New Year Cake

1 and 1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 cup water
300 g glutinous rice flour (水磨糯米粉)
1 and 1/2 cup sweetened red beans
parchment paper
1 tsp oil

1. Mix sugar and water well in a big bowl. Then add rice flour and the red beans until well incorporated.
2. Place a 6-inch mold in a steamed. Press the parchment paper into the mold. Pour into the papered mold the batter.
3. Steam over medium flame for 1 hour.
4. Check with a chopstick to make sure the middle of the cake is cooked. Uncooked batter is opaque while cooked cake is translucent.
5. Brush the top surface with oil. Let cool to room temperature and then refridgerate overnight to harden.
6. Slice into 1/2" inch slices. Coat with a beaten egg or any desired flour batter. Pan fry until the cake is soft and outer surface is brown. Serve immediately.

A perfect fit

Isn't it nice when things just fit each other perfectly without any planning? I totally did not plan to fit this melon half into this glass bowl.