Pressure Cooker: Chicken Congee (Porridge)

This is a keeper. It's easy and tasty. Great for when you want a soupy rice. Perfect for when you want comfort when you are sick, etc. Love this!!

Chicken Congee
Prep Time:  5 min      Pressure Cook Time: 30 min
* Note: It will take a while to get to pressure since there is more liquid in the pot.

Ingredients: 
1 cup jasmine rice
7 cups water
1 tbsp sliced ginger
2 cloves garlic
2 lb chicken (preferably bone-in but not necessary)

salt (to taste)
sesame oil (to taste)
green onions

Directions:
Rinse rice. Put rice in the inner pot with ginger, garlic, and water. Place chicken on top. Close the lid and make sure your pot is on "seal". Set manual high pressure for 30 minutes. NPR.

Shred chicken and add salt/sesame oil to taste (about 1/2 tbsp). Top with green onions, etc. If you want, you can put chicken congee in bowl, then salt/sesame oil to taste.

Enjoy!!

Chinese Lion's Head Meatball

Chinese Lion's Head Meatball is one of my favorite dishes. My grandma would make this for me every time she saw me since she knew that I loved it that much. Funny that I've made Italian meatballs but not the Chinese kind until now. It is just making meatballs with asian seasonings.

Traditionally, these meatballs are supposed to be as big as possible like a lion's head; however, I like to make them smaller since cooking time is shorter for browning them.

Chinese Lion's Head Meatball (Soup)

Prep Time: 20 min     Cook Time: 

Ingredients: 

1 lb ground pork

1/4 tsp white pepper

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

2 Tbsp cornstarch

2 green onions

2 tsp ginger (minced)

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp cooking wine

1 egg

sesame oil (or peanut oil)

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, put the ground meat in. Add salt, white pepper, sugar, cornstarch, cooking wine, soy sauce, green onions, ginger, and 1 beaten egg. Mix in a circular motion until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Wet your hands, then form the meatballs into the desired size. Traditionally, the lion's heads are to be as big as you can get it. However, it will take more time to cook if your meatballs are too big. I like to keep it to roughly 1.5 - 2 inches in diameter. 

In a pan, pour a couple teaspoons of sesame oil (usually it's peanut oil, but I don't have it on hand). Place the meatballs in the pan after you heat the oil. Brown the meatballs on all sides which takes about 10 minutes. You do not have to fully cook the meatballs since you will be braising it with the napa cabbage later.

To make the soup:

Put two cans of chicken broth in a big pot. Add as much napa cabbage as you like. I put in a whole small head of napa cabbage. Place the meatballs on top of the napa cabbage. If you would like, you can add other things. I cut some bamboo shoot to throw in along with some ginger to for the soup also. You can put mushrooms, etc. Braise on medium heat for about half an hour.

If you would like glass noodles, soak the clear noodles in a bowl with water for half an hour. Drain the noodles. Add them last when you are about done cooking.

 

I used lean ground pork. For a more authentic Chinese Lion's Head Meatball, use fattier meat. 

Enjoy!!

Simmering Chicken in Soy Sauce

This is a simple recipe that produces moist, flavorful chicken.  Personally, I don't like my food too salty.  That is why I add so much water in my recipe.

Simmering Chicken in Soy Sauce:
Prep Time: 5 minutes        Cook Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
8 Chicken Drumsticks (You can also use thigh, breast, etc.)
1 cup soy sauce
5 cups water
1/2 cup cooking wine
scallions (optional)
ginger (optional)

Directions:
Grab a big pot with a lid.  Add the water, soy sauce, and cooking wine.  Place the chicken in the pot also.  (You can more than 8 drumsticks.  Chicken should be immersed in the liquid.  If it isn't, don't worry.  Halfway into cooking just flip the chicken so that the other side has its share of flavor.)   If desired, chop the scallions or slice ginger before adding it in the pot.  Heat on high with lid for about 45 minutes.

Transfer cooked chicken to a plate/bowl.  That's all there is to it.  Smells and tastes delicious!  I like to eat my chicken with brown rice.  Usually, I will cook a simple veggie dish to hit another food group.

Enjoy!!

Chao Nian Gao (炒年糕)

For Chinese New Year's Dinner (January 23, 2012), I made several dishes.  The most traditional is to eat Chao Nian Gao for good luck because of increasing prosperity.  My previous post was about Nian Gao, the sweet dessert. Chao (炒) means to cook (or to stir fry).  Nian refers to the stickiness of the rice.  This type of  Nian Gao consists of oval slices of rice cake, commonly referred to as ovalettes.  The closest thing that Nian Gao can be described as is Chinese gnocchi.  These bags can be found in the refrigerated or frozen section in Chinese or Korean Supermarkets. 

My Chao Nian Gao is less oily and less salty than that of Chinese Restaurants.
This is the advantage to cooking at home.  (You can vary the vegetables and meat. Usually, it is made with mustard greens and shredded pork but I like to use cabbage. Some people like their nian gao with fish cake or dried shrimp instead of pork.)

Chao Nian Gao
Prep Time: 30 minutes          Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
24 ounce bag of Nian Gao (Oval Rice Cakes)
8 pieces of Napa Cabbage (roughly)
5 shittake mushrooms (5 - 8)
6 ounce bamboo shoots
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp cooking wine
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp minced ginger
1/2 lb of ground pork
1 tsp sesame oil (or oil of your choice)
1/4 cup of chicken broth
fresh ground pepper
white pepper

Directions:
Soak the oval rice cakes for at least two hours by placing it into a bowl with water.  (If you buy it from the refrigerated section, there is no need to soak them.)

Meanwhile, wash your vegetables.  Slice your napa cabbage, shittake mushrooms, and bamboo shoots.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the following:  2 tsp soy sauce, 2 tsp cooking wine, 1 tsp sugar, and some fresh ground pepper.  This will be the marinade for the ground pork.  Next, put the ground pork and marinade together.  Mix well.  Keep the pork in the marinade for about twenty minutes.

In a huge frying pan (on medium heat), heat about 1 tsp of sesame oil.  Toss in the minced ginger to lightly brown.  Empty to bowl of ground pork in marinade into the pan. Cook the ground pork.

Once the ground pork is cooked, add the big bowl of vegetables (Napa Cabbage, shittake mushrooms, bamboo shoots) into the pan.  Keep mixing the ground pork with the vegetables.  Drain the oval rice cakes.  Add the oval rice cakes to the pan with a fourth cup of chicken broth.  Sprinkle white pepper to taste.  Stir fry everything together.  It takes approximately five minutes to stir fry the oval rice cakes al dente.  It should be soft but not mushy similar to cooking pasta.

ENJOY!!!  =)

Tip:  I like to add hot sauce (Yank Sing Chili Pepper Sauce) to my Chao Nian Gao.

Happy Year of the Dragon 2012!!! =D

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!

May the Year of the Dragon bring LUCK, PROSPERITY,  and GOOD HEALTH to you and yours.

Note:
These daffodils from my backyard only bloom once a year during Lunar year.  I potted it as a gift.

A traditional dessert is sweet rice cake (nian gao).  I plan to make my own in the future but this time we were gifted Red Bean Nian Gao.  It has a soft, chewy consistency.  You could either microwave it for one minute (covered) or pan fry it (directions below).  I sliced them into rectangular pieces of about 3/4 inches in height.

How to Pan-Fry Nian Gao (Dessert): 
-- with two eggs and rectangular pieces of sweet nian gao

Whisk two eggs in a separate bowl.  As a little girl, I was taught to whisk by using my chopsticks in a vertical circular motion.  Dip each rectangular piece into the egg wash.  Make sure you flip it over so that both sides have the egg wash.  It's similar to how french toast is made.

Place a frying pan on medium heat.  Put a couple pieces in the pan carefully so that none of the other pieces touch.  Cover with a lid.  Cook three minutes per side.  Serve immediately.

ENJOY!!!  =D

Note:
There will be egg wash left.  I would recommend making french toast with it by adding 1/2 cup of milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon to the egg wash.  Dip bread and pan fry as per the directions above.  (Or you can cook the egg wash as scrambled eggs in a pan.)