What's that OFFAL smell?

I'll tell you what it is - beef tendon! If you've never heard the term "offal", then today is the day to learn it. According to merriam-webster.com, offal is the term that describes the internal organs, including the intestines, of an animal that is used for food. So things like the liver, heart, kidney, omasum and etc... are offal. Other parts of the animal, such as tongue, feet, tendon, ears, tail are also termed "offal". Now that we've defined what "offal" is, it's time to talk about that "offal" smelling beef tendon :).

Typically, whenever my mom asked me what kind of 'wonton' noodles I wanted, I always asked for part beef tendon and part seafood dumplings! I would gobble up all the beef tendon first, then pick at everything else! As I got older and started experimenting with recipes, I decided that I wanted to try making beef tendon. As I tried making it a few times, I learned some things about cooking beef tendon.
1) If you don't cook it long enough, it's really tough and you probably won't be able to eat it.
2) If cooked for too long of a period, they literally melt away and all you're left with is a pot of goo. You'll have maybe a few small pieces of the really tough tendon left in that goo if you're lucky!
3) If cooked properly, it is so tender it practically melts in you mouth.
And last but not least, I LOVE eating beef tendon. I will even try to eat the really tough ones that just needed a tad more time in the pot - I'm obsessed!
Now if you're curious, adventurous, have either a pressure cooker, a crockpot or just a whole lot of time, then you should try making beef tendon because they're just so yummy!
Hopefully you enjoy my picture guide recipe for beef tendon and brisket stew with daikon.

Spicy beef tendon and brisket stew with daikon recipe via pictures!

~ 2 lbs of beef tendon cut into 2 inch pieces

1.5 to 2 lbs of beef brisket cut into 2inch cubes

Blanch the beef tendon, rinse and set aside.  Repeat steps with the beef brisket.

Blanched tendon and brisket

~6-7 large garlic cloves crushed, sliced scallion, a knob of ginger, crushed

1 large and 1 small daikon, chopped into chunks

Rock sugar (amount depends on personal preference), 2-3 in piece of dried orange peel, 3 dried chili peppers, 8 or 9 star anise, cassia bark (I used 2 pieces that were about 2-3 inches long), a dash of salt, cooking wine (2-3 tbs), bean paste (1-2 tbs), light and dark soy sauce (2 -3 tbs each), 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chicken stock or whatever stock you have on hand or just water. If using just water, you might want to up the amounts of bean paste, soy sauce and salt.

Fry the ginger, garlic and scallions in the pot you're using until fragrant and slightly brown. Add the beef tendon and let brown, then add the beef brisket. Let beef brisket brown a bit. Then add the stock/water, salt, soy sauce, star anise, cassia bark, rock sugar, bean paste, and cooking wine. Add the daikon last. If using a pressure cooker, cook for approximately 40 to 50 minutes. If using a slow cooker, put it on high and cook for about 3 to 4 hours. If using a regular pot, then simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Check the beef  tendon and brisket towards the end of cooking time to see if they're tender.  

Enjoy!

 

The Picture Guide to Fish Gutting...

While you can always ask the guy at the fish counter to descale and gut a whole fish for you, sometimes you might have to do it yourself. For instance, if you buy those packaged frozen whole fish, they may or may not have been descaled and gutted beforehand. So you'll have to do it at home. Here's an easy to follow picture guide showing you the process of descaling and gutting a whole fish. It really isn't that hard of a process, it can just be a wee bit messy (and smelly) to do!

Step 1. Cut the fins - watch out, they're pointy!

Step 2. Cut the belly of the fish with scissors - starting from the back end fins towards the gills. When you cut, try to keep your scissors pointing upwards to prevent cutting the fish innards (spilling fish innards makes the fish bitter in that part). After cutting, reach into the opening and try to pull out all the innards in one shot.

Step 3. Descale the fish with a knife or with a special "descaling" tool. Note that while descaling fish, it's very likely that you'll have scales going all over the place. To reduce the amount of flying scales, you might try descaling at a slow pace and work on small areas at a time. 

Step 4. Take out the gills. Usually, you can tell if fish is fresh by looking at their gills - bright red or bright pink means they are fresh. At least, that's the general rule of thumb I've been told and now follow.

Step Five. In the end, after descaling and gutting the fish, you can sprinkle some salt all around the fish, inside and out, give it a good rub and then rinse the fish with cold water. This is something my grandma and mom do when they prepare fish, or even other meats like a whole chicken. Not quite sure why they did it, but they always said they were giving their fish or chicken a bath! So I guess salt helps with the cleansing of the meat?

Your whole fish is now ready to be cooked. Depending on the type of fish you have, you can either steam, fry, bake or grill your fish. For me, I steam whole sea bass, flounder and sometimes tilapia with scallions and ginger. I top it with a layer of fried ginger and scallions, oil, and soy sauce.  

Hand-rolled oat noodles: the video

I'm finally putting up a link to the video of my mom-in-law rolling out the oat noodles. I still have not tried making them myself. I will one day, maybe after I have watched the video 1000 times :p!

http://youtu.be/2VHMkqCf3b0

Enjoy!

Steamed buns （Mantou 馒头）

Mantou (馒头）or steamed buns are a dietary staple in most, if not all, of China. Simply put, mantou can be eaten at any time of day, with anything you want, steamed then fried, and are easy to make. I was introduced to mantou during my high school days when my parents began buying the packages of frozen fried mantou. If I remember correctly, fried mantou were quite popular in Flushing, NY at that time and my parents would get some whenever they had the chance. They liked to dip the fried mantou into sweetened condensed milk.

For me, however, mantou were just funny shaped bread that were bland. I didn't care to much for them whenever my parents bought them. If I had to choose, I would rather eat plain white sandwhich bread than mantou! So why am I posting about how to make mantou if I don't like them? Well, I may not like eating mantou, but my husband does therefore I decided to learn the recipe! Aren't I such a loving wife ;).

 I've made mantou several times and each time I've had a different outcome. A bunch of times the dough failed to rise and other times the final product was pretty hard! It wasn't until I got my kitchenaid and learned about tangzhong along with some tips from my in-laws that my mantou came out successfully. Hopefully, my recipe is successful for you as well!

Mantou ingredients

1.25 tsp of active dry yeast

1 tbs of sugar

1/4 cup of warm water

3.5 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp of salt

1 cup of milk

Directions

Make the tangzhong by taking 1 tbs of flour and mixing it with 5 tbs of water in a small pot over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens to the point where you can form lines in the mixture with a fork or some other utensil. At this point, turn off heat and let it cool. Activate the yeast by mixing it with the sugar and the warm water. It is ready when it becomes foamy. Mix the remainder of the all purpose flour with salt. Form a well in the center of the flour and add the milk, tangzhong and yeast. Mix well and knead by hand or with a standmixer. If kneading by hand, you'll be kneading the dough for about 10 minutes or so. With a standmixer, it'll probably take 2-3 mins or so for th dough ball to form. Once it forms take it out and knead by hand for 3-4 minutes, until you get a nice round and soft ball of dough that has a slight stick to it. If your dough is sticky (as in sticking to your hands and not coming off) then you'll need to add more flour. Place your dough in a bowl, cover it, and let it rise until it has doubled in size. This usually takes at least an hour or so. Just keep an eye on it and when it has doubled in size, take it out and you are ready to shape your dough. For the traditional mantou look, roll out the dough into a rectangular shape, with the dough being approximately 1/4" thick. At this point, I like to sprinkle raisins all around. Then, starting with the short side of the dough, roll it up and you'll have a "log". Once rolled, you want to gently squeeze and elongate the log until the diameter of the log is approximately 2". Then slice the log into 2" pieces, place on pieces of parchment paper (they should be bigger than the dough) and let rest for 30mins or until they have almost doubled in size. Now you can steam them and they'll be ready for eating in about 15 mins or so. Just rip open one to make sure it's cooked! If you can't finish them, then just freeze them. They'll last for awhile in the freezer! Enjoy!

Steamed raisin mantou

Dough, dough, du'oh!

In my most recent adventure in cooking, I've been playing with dough. I haven't quite mastered dough making, but I have definitely come along way since I first worked with it. My progress in dough making is largely due to the time I spent watching and learning from my in-laws. When it comes to making dough for Chinese noodles, steamed buns, pancakes, and dumplings, they are definitely experts. They don't even need to measure out the flour and water they need to make the dough! I certainly would like to be able to do that! At the moment, I will stick to measuring out my ingredients. Anyhow, I wanted to share some tips and guidelines that I have learned from them and the almighty internet for working with some of the bread dough.

Bread Dough for making mantou (馒头，steamed buns) or baked buns

Unlike the artisan breads, mantou and baked buns do not require the use of a starter dough, which is generally made the night before for artisan breads. However, they are sometimes made with tangzhong (water roux) stater. The tangzhong supposedly helps in making the bread soft, fluffy and moist. A general rule of thumb to making the tangzhong is having a 1:5 flour to water ratio and gently heating while stirring this mixture to the point where it is thickened such that you can make clear streaks in it with a fork or some other utensil.

 I have tried using tangzhong when making my mantous and it does seem to make difference in softness. My baked breads on the other hand, is a bit of a different story. The difference it makes is tiny. After some internet researching, and trial and errors, I've learned that if I add butter on top of the tangzhong, my bread is on a whole new level! My baked breads are now super soft, and fluffy!

In addition to butter plus tangzhong, the liquid to flour ratio also plays a role in creating super soft and fluffy baked breads. In comparison to noodle dough, I was told that you need a softer dough for bread than noodles, which is achieved by adding more water or liquid to the dough. In my trial and errors, my baked breads that came out soft and fluffy were the ones where my liquid to flour ratio was about 1:2, perhpas a little bit more on the liquid portion. My had just the slightest amount of stickiness to it. One thing to remember is that if using whole wheat flour, you do want to use more water/liquid than if you were using regular flour. This liquid to flour ratio also applies to makin mantous too.

In addition to reading about butter and tangzhong, I have also learned a bit about proofing as well in my bread making adventures. Regardless of whether you are  making steamed or baked breads, overproofing can cause your dough to have a bit of a sour (or odd) taste to it and underproofing will lead to non-rising bread. I've  done both and have learned my lessons. It can be hard to say exactly how long you need to proof your dough because the time is affected by the temperature of your enviornment! A warm enviornment requires a shorter proofing time than a cold enviornment. However, I think it is safe to say that you will need at least an hour of proofing before steaming or baking your bread. After the hour is up, make sure the dough is double its original size. Sometimes if my dough has risen, but it' has not doubled in size, I'll just take it out, shape it and then let it rise for another half hour or until it's doubled in size again. 

When it comes to kneading, my father in-law told me to start with more water than flour because you can knead the dough easily while adding flour. In my experience, he is most certainly right! 

I hope these little tips can help you in your bread making adventures! I'll be sure to post some of my bread recipes that have been somewhat successful soon! 

Successfully steamed mantou!

It's pretty fluffy and soft inside :)

My baked bread

Hot and Sour Soup

Hot and sour soup, is one of my all-time favorites! Whenever we went to the Woodbury Commons Outlet stores in NY, we end up getting lunch at my Uncles' restaurant and I would always ask for hot and sour soup. Even though I could not really eat, let alone drink, spicy foods, I just had to have it. I can't exactly explain why, I just really enjoyed it. When I got older and started my attempts at cooking, one of my mom's friends gave her a bunch of recipes, which she then handed over to me. I went through them and saw the recipe for hot and sour soup! I was so excited, I told her she must get me the ingredients so I could make the soup! Boy, was I demanding! If I remember correctly, the first time I followed the recipe and made it, I think it came out pretty good. The only issue was, some stomachs didn't quite agree with either the soup or the combination of soup and whatever we had for dinner that night! Since then, I've made some of my own adjustments to the original recipe and haven't had any disagreements :P. I didn't think of this soup until now, since I was searching for a recipe to add to a friend's bridal shower recipe book! So now that I've typed it all out for her, I can also share it on here! When I decide to make it again, I'll take a picture and post it ;).

Hot and Sour Soup:

3-4 dried Shiitake mushroom
3-4 dried wood ear mushrooms/black fungus 
3-4 dried lily buds
Sliced bamboo shoots (can buy the smallest can of sliced bamboo)
Thinly sliced tofu (half a box of firm or silken tofu works)
1-2 lightly beaten eggs (1 egg is enough for a 3 qt sized pot of soup)
1 stalk of green onion, chopped (mainly for garnish)
1-2 tbsp of corn starch (amount really depends on how thick you want the soup to be)
3-4 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp of dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Sesame oil
1-2 cans of chicken broth (or 5 c of chicken broth)
Dried whole chili peppers (how spicy do YOU want it to be?)
Water
Chinese vinegar (not red wine vinegar) The amount depends on personal taste - generally I just pour it in and guesstimate the amount. As a starting point, you could try 3 tablespoons, but beware, Chinese vinegar has a pretty strong taste, so 'a little goes a long way'! 
Optional:
Thin slivers of pork or chicken meat - I generally use one small pork chop or thin chicken breast

Directions:
For the mushroom, wood ear and lily bud ingredients, you'll need to rehydrate, rinse them thoroughly, and then soak again in water. I usually put them in water over-night to rehydrate, but you can just use warm water and leave them in there for about 20 mintes or until they're soft. Afterwards, I wash and clean them and then soak them for another 10 minutes. Save the soaking liquid and slice the mushrooms and wood ear for the soup.
If meat is being used, marinate with soy sauce, corn starch and  a bit of sugar (approximately 1 tablespoon) for 10-20 mins prior to making the soup.
Heat your soup pot and add sesame oil. Stir fry the Shiitake mushrooms, wood ear, bamboo shoots, chilies, meat (if using), and lily buds for 1-2 mins. Add a dash of soy sauce or salt and fry for another minute or so. Add the dark soy sauce, the reserved soaking liquid, chicken broth, and additional water to fill the pot to about 1-2 inches below the top of the pot. Add vinegar and light soy sauce - adjust to taste. Bring to a boil, add tofu and reduce to a simmer for about 30 mins or so. Combine cornstarch with a bit of water to make a roux (pasty mixture), add to the soup and stir. Add in the slightly beaten egg and let simmer for 1-2 mins. Serve while hot! Garnish with green onions.