Cream of Mushroom Soup

Here is the Cream of Mushroom Soup requested by a pregnant woman and a mother of two (ladies, you know who you are.. ) This soup recipe is for approx. 8 servings.

Ingredients:
2 lbs of fresh mushroom diced finely ( I used button, crimini and portobello mushroom). Any kind of fresh mushroom will work.
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
Salt and Pepper to taste

For roux:
100 g of butter
8 tbs flour
4 cups whole milk or 2% milk
some water or vegetable stock

Directions:
1) Melted 100 g butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Saute the diced onion until they are soft then add in the mushroom. Contiue to saute the mushroom for about 5 minutes or until they are tender. Set the mushroom aside

2) Use the same sauce pan to make the roux. Melted the butter over medium heat, add in flour. Stir the mixture until they are well incorporated or no more raw flour taste.

3) Important step: Do not add hot water or hot milk into the roux. This will make the mixture very lumpy. Add small quantities of cold milk at a time to the roux while stiring. This will ensure smooth and creamy base.

4) Add mushroom into the creamy soup base. Add in salt and pepper to taste. Cook and stir until the soup is thickened (do not boiled the soup). If the soup is too thick, add in some water or vegetable stock. Reduce heat and let the soup simmer  (uncover) for 20 minutes.

5) Enjoy!!

Ginger Beef

Ginger Beef is one of my all time favorites. This dish is so easy and simple to make plus you only need a few ingredients only. So are you ready for this? Put on your apron and follow me to the kitchen and let’s cook.

Ingredients: (4 servings)
2 lbs (1kg) sirloin steak cut into strips, thinly
3 table spoons of light soy sauce
2 table spoons of dark soy sauce
2 table spoons of corn starch
1/4 cup of julienne fresh ginger
3 stalks of green onion cut into 1 1/2 inches long
3 table spoons cooking oil

1/4 cup water

1)Marinate the beef with cornstarch, dark and light soy sauce for 15 minutes.
2)Heat wok/frying pan. Add cooking oil into the pan.
3)Fry ginger until light golden brown.
4)Add beef into the pan. Stir fry for 2 minutes and add in the water. Cook the beef for a few minutes or until the beef is done.
5)Turn off the heat and add in the green onion. Serve with rice.

Because this dish is so easy to prepare, therefore, I'm submitting this recipe to September Weekend Wokking, a world-wide food blogging event created by Wandering Chopsticks to celebrate the multiple ways we can cook one ingredient. MomGateway is the host for this ingredient -- Ginger.

Enjoy!!

Refreshing Summer Corn Salad

Tired of pasta salad, potato salad or coleslaw for your summer picnic? Then you should try my new creation of this Summer Corn Salad.

Made this last weekend and I was suprised how good the salad was (Ok ok.. I am not trying to praise myself here but the salad is really really good... ;)

This is a super easy recipe. Fresh corn or frozen corn can be used in this recipe. However, always try your corn first before you add in all the sugar call for in this recipe. Why has to taste the corn first? Because fresh corn kernel is usually sweeter than the frozen corn.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
2.5 lbs thawed frozen/fresh corn
1/2 lb diced cucumber
1/2 lb diced tomato
1/2 lb diced yellow onion
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup vinegar (I like to use sesoned rice vinegar)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tbs salt
1 tsp black pepper

Directions:
1) Combine corn, cucumber, tomato and onion in a mixing bowl.
2) In a separate bowl, combine sugar, vinegar, oilve oil, salt and pepper together and whsik it for a few minutes.
3) Pour the dressing into corn mixture and chill the corn salad in the frdge for a few hours before serving.
4) Enjoy your corn salad!!

Yumm...Yumm...

Vegetarian Tofu Pancake

What can you do to turn a plain and tasteless tofu into a wonderful dish? Here is a simple and easy solution to make that tasteless white tofu into a delicious pancake.

The ingredients are simple and the dish is even simplier to make. It only take approximate 30 minutes to make this dish.

Here is how I made my tofu pancake:

Ingredients:
1 box (1 lb) of firm tofu (if you are from Malaysia buy the small square one from the wet market)
1/2 cup finely diced carrot
1/4 cup finely diced shiitake mushroom
2 table spoon diced green onion
1 table spoon sesame oil
1 table spoon soy sauce or to taste

white pepper to taste
1 cup bread crumbs or tempura batter mix

Directions:

1) Scrambled tofu in a big bowl.
2) Add in all the ingredients into the bowl except bread crumbs and mix well.
3) Add bread crumbs into the tofu mixture.
4) Take approx. 1/4 cup mixture and form into paty.
5) Pan fry the patties until they are golden brown on both sides.
6) Served it over rice.

You can eat this with any kind of sauce you would like, I like to eat my tofu pancakes with chili sauce.

白糖糕 (Bak Tong Guo) Failed

Yesterday, I tried to make the 白糖糕 (Bak Tong Guo) but failed. I believed the website that I got the recipe was incorrect. Sometimes, I think people tend to hide a few of the important steps in their recipes.


Jomel is nice enough to give me the recipe that she copied from a Chinese cook book. I am giving the recipe a try right now. I only follow the step 1 in the recipe and then put everything in the bread machine and let the dough settinng does the job. Smart or stupid move? Will find out 1.5 hrs later .....


To be continue.....

I am back

Is time to stir up the storm in my kitchen again... more recipes are coming!!

Give Instant Noodle a Makeover

Most Asian grew up with instant noodles or ramen noodles. I have to admit, instant noodle is one of my comfort food. Simple and easy way to eat instant noodle is : boil the water, put the noodle and seasoning packet that comes with it in boiling water then add in an egg. Wah lar...you have your comfort food.

When I was small, Cintan and Maggi are my favorite brands. Flavor wise: curry, chicken and mushroom are the one I like the most. However, over the years I discovered Maggi mee that imported or distributed from India and Hong Kong tasted very different than the one from Malaysia or Singapore. The noodle texture is very soggy (I did not over cook the noodles) and starchy. My cousin who currently working at Libya also agreed that Maggi mee from Malaysia and Singapore are the best too!

Maggi Mee from India

(I only tried one kind and threw away the rest of them)

However, I don't really like egg in my instant noodle, I either like to eat my instant noodle plain or go to the extreme to give my instant noodle a makeover.




Ingredients
1 package of any flavor instant noodle
Spinach
2 grilled imitation crab sticks (cut into chunks)
Fried Shallot

1) Follows the instructions on the packaging to cook the noodle.

2) Add in spinach and imitation crab leg when the noodle almost ready.

3) Garnish the noodle with fried shallot.

Simple and Easy method to make Tofu Hua (豆花)

I love tofu. I pretty much love everything made of Tofu. However, I don't really like Tofu in the soup, not sure why.

Back home Malaysia, fresh soymilk and Tofu Hua (豆花) can easily be found. Tofu Hua --豆花 or 豆腐花 is a type of Chinese dessert made with soymilk, the texture of the tofu hua is very soft and silken. Some people might call it as Tofu Pudding.

Yesterday, I was craving for Tofu Hua so much, here in US is not like I can walk down to the street to get a bowl of tofu hua. Therefore, I decided to make my own. I am sure the method that I use is not how people makeit in the old days. Hey, as long as the taste and texture close to the real tofu hua, I will be fine :)

I seriously not sure how to start at first. I kinda compare the texture of the tofu hua with the texture of the Panna Cotta (one of my fav. desserts), so I told myself, seem they both have a very similiar texture, I should use the panna cotta recipe and make my tofu hua.

This is how I made my tofu hua yesterday evening:

Ingredients:
1 envelope of unflavored gelatin
3 cups of unsweeten soymilk
1/3 cup of sugar (or less) (skip or use less sugar if using sugar added soy milk)

1) Pour 1/3 of the soymilk in bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin.

2) In a sauce pan, put the remaining soymilk and sugar and place over medium heat.

3) Cook until sugar dissolve. Once the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat.

4) Stir in the gelatin in the warm soymilk.

5) Pour the warm soymilk into a bowl. Let it cool at the room temperature, after that cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours.

Depends on which part of the Malaysia you from, I am from the southern part of Malaysia, we eat tofu hua with soymilk and ginger sugar syrup. Central or northern part of Malaysia, they served tofu hua with brown sugar syrup.

I have to say I love our southern way of eating tofu hua. Nice and delicious!!!

Leena's tips: 1 envelope = 7 gram or 2 teaspoon. This tofu hua is not a traditional type of tofu hua but taste wise very close. However, you can only eat this Tofu hua in cold not hot.

Bak Chang 粽子

Bak Chang means Zong zi (粽子) in Chinese. Bak in Hokkien means meat and Chang I believe means rice dumpling.

Zong zi or ba chang is a kind of traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice and stuffed with different filling such as: pork, shiitake mushroom , wood ear, dried shrimps, preserved duck egg yolk, beans and etc then wrapped in bamboo leaves.

According to Wikipedia:

"Zongzi is traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节) which falls on the fifth day of the fifth moon of the Chinese calendar (approximately early- to mid-June), commemorating the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from the kingdom of Chu who lived during the Warring States period. Known for his patriotism, Qu Yuan tried unsuccessfully to warn his king and countrymen against the expansionism of their Qin neighbors. When the Qin Dynasty general Bai Qi took Yingdu, the Chu capital, in 278 BC, Qu Yuan's grief was so intense that he drowned himself in the Miluo river after penning the Lament for Ying. According to legend, rice dumplings were thrown into the river to prevent fish from eating the poet's body. Another version states that the dumplings were given to placate a dragon that lived in the river."

Here is how I made my bak chang (I used what I had in my pantry)

1) Soak the bambo leaves for a few hours. Or put in the boiling water for 1/2 hr until they are soft.

2) Soak over night glutinous rice or a few hours. By doing this will shorten the cooking time.

3) I only use pork, shiitake mushroom and wood ear as my filling.

4) Par-cooked the pork. I saute my pork with chopped garlic, white pepper, salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce and black soy sauce.

5) Saute the shiitake mushrooms and wood ear with chopped garlic, black soy sauce, salt and soy sauce.

6) Wash and drain the rice. Saute the rice with chopped garlic, chinese five spice powder, soy sauce, black soy sauce and salt.

7) You need some kind of skill to wrap the bak chang. I am so lazy to type out the steps, found this how to wrap bak chang from You Tube: (I wrapped my bak chang slightly different than the lady in the video. It doesn't which method, the end result will be the same..taste good)

8) After you done wrapping the bak chang, put the back chang in a deep pot and then fill the pot with water. Make sure the water is covering the bak chang.

9) Lucky me, work in commercial type of kitchen, I use the steamer instead, only took me about 1 hr to steam the bak chang. But if you are like anyone else, make this at home, boil the bak chang for arrpox 3 hrs. If you soak the rice overnight, it only take approx. 2 hrs.

So, are you up to the challenge?

Yammy....Kaya

Remember the old time? Moms and grandmas took half a day to cook kaya in the kitchen. That time no mixer yet, they had to use their hand as a mixer to beat the eggs and sugar until they turned pale yellow. Then another few hours sitting in front of the charcoal stove to slow cook the kaya. I remember my sisters and I took turn to help my mom to stir the kaya. Definately not the fun job in the world but it was well worthy.

The process of making kaya twenty something years ago sure was a long process. That's why I never try to make my own kaya. But the other day when I was sick, not sure what got into me, I decided to make kaya. Of course, today making kaya isn't that time consuming anymore. All you need is approx. two hours then you will have a pretty good homemade kaya.

Here is my version of kaya recipe:

Ingredients A

2 cups of eggs

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanila extract (if you can't find pandan leaves)

Ingredients B

2 pandan leaves, washed and knotted (optional)

2 cups of coconut milk (not thick coconut milk)

1) Use electric mixer, beat ingredients A until they turn pale yellow.

2) Add in ingredients B.

3) If you have non stick pot, you can cook the kaya directly from the stove, if not please use double boiler method to cook your kaya.

4) Cook the kaya at a very very low heat. High heat will turn the kaya into scrambled egg kaya. Don't forget constantly stir your kaya in order to get the smooth texture.

5) It wil take approx. 30 to 45 min for the kaya to thicken up.

6) To get a nice brown color: Over medium heat, caramelized 1/4 cup sugar until they turn dark brown. Pour the caramelized sugar into your kaya and stir well. Turn off the heat.

Leena's tip: Try to use duck eggs to make kaya. You will be so suprise that it actually taste better than eggs.

花开福贵--Broccoli with Stuffed Shiitake Mushroom

Last week, I promised this 芒果安娣 that I would give her some ideas on Chinese New Year dishes. Since it is -25C outside (who wants to go out on the cold weather like this right?), so I decided to cook this super easy dish that looks gourmet enough to serve during Chinese New Year dinner or lunch.

Ok, here is the recipe on how to make this 花开福贵:

Ingredients: (serve 8)
30 to 40 dried Shiitake mushrooms

For pork mixture:
1 lb ground pork
1/3 cup finely diced carrot
2 stalks green onions - finely sliced
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbs soy sauce or to taste
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 tbs corn starch

For center of the plate:
2 cups broccoli florets
1 carrot thinly sliced

For sauce:
Mushroom water
Some sesame oil
White pepper
Chicken base
Cornstarch/water mixture


1) Soak dried mushroom in warm water to softern them. Save the soaking water/mushroom water for sauce later.

2) Mix pork mixture's ingredients together.

3) Cut off the mushroom stems and squeeze the water out .

4) Stuffed the mushroom caps with the pork mixture.

5) Arrange them in a steamer or a plate raised above the boiling water in a large pot.

6) Steam stuffed mushroom for 10 to 15 minutes.

7) Cook the broccoli florets and carrot in salted boiling water for one minute.

8) Arrange broccoli and carrot at the ceter of the serving plate.

9) Arrange the stuffed mushroom around the broccoli and carrot.

10) To make the sauce, heat the mushroom water in a pot. Add in a few drops of sesame oil, some white pepper and some chicken base to taste.

11) When the mushroom water is boiling, thicken the sauce by adding the conrstarch/water mixture.

12) Pour the sauce over stuffed mushroom, broccoli and carrot.

Enjoy!!

Chicken Curry Lefse Roll

Yesterday evening I was lazy to cook, so I came up with this simple and easy to make chicken curry lefse roll.

Ingredients: (3 servings)

3 sheets 10"x 6" lefse

12 oz cooked chicken breast (diced) or 1 can (12 oz) chunk chicken

1 tsp curry powder

1/3 cup mayonese or spicy mayonese

1/3 cup finely diced celery

2 tbs finely diced onion

salt and pepper to taste

1) Combine chicken, curry powder, mayonese, celery, onion, salt and pepper together.

2) Spread curry chicken mixture over each lefse sheet to within 1/4 inch of edges.

3) Roll up each lefse, starting with the short side.

4) Using a knife cut each roll into 4 slices. Serve immediately.

Leena's tip: If the chicken mixture is too dry, add more mayonese.

Lefse is a traditional soft Norwegian flatbread made out of potato, milk or cream and flour, and cooked on a griddle -- Wikipedia

Enjoy!!

Chicken Stir-Fried with Vegetables

Not sure what to cook for dinner/lunch? Here is a simple and yet delicious chicken stir fried dish that you can try at home.

Ingredients: (serve 4)

2 tbsp cooking oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 lb chicken breast (or dark chicken meat) sliced thinly

2/3 cup of green and red pepper mix

1/2 cup sliced carrot

1 cup snow peas or sugar snap peas

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp corn starch

1/2 cup of water

salt and white pepper to taste

1) Marinate chicken with soy sauce and corn starch for a few minutes.

2) Add cooking oil in a heated wok or large skillet.

3) When the oil is hot, add chopped garlic and carrot into the wok/skillet.

4) Let the carrot cook for 2 minutes, add in chicken. Stir-fry until the chicken is almost done then add in water and sugar snap peas. Cook for 1 minute.

5) Finally, add green and red pepper mixture, salt and white pepper to taste. Stir fry for 1 minute or until the chicken is done. Do not over cook the vegetables.

6) Transfer to a clean plate and serve with rice.

Variation:

This recipe may be made with beef strips (steak), turkey or pork.

Enjoy!!