Dad! Where Are We Going? 爸爸去哪兒

http://www.viki.com/tv/21780c-dad-where-are-we-going

This is must watch. There is full of cuteness.

How to Make Ginger Tea

http://www.tastehongkong.com/recipes/how-to-make-ginger-tea-a-chinese-home-remedy/

兰陵王 Lan Ling Wang

VIKI SUM:
Gruesome in his battle mask, General Lanling is one of the most beautiful male characters in Chinese history. A general so beautiful that his face must be hidden on the battlegrounds. A general so fierce and loved that he was killed by the emperor out of jealousy and fear. The legendary role of the most alluring general in Chinese history will finally be brought to life with actor Feng Shaofeng. Fourteen hundred years ago, the Northern war was constantly fighting, the Northern Qi Dynasty was under the leadership of the brave and skilled Warrior Lan Ling , fighting against enemies, build a strong city wall for the Northern Qi Dynasty.

LINK:
http://sugoideas.com/idol-dramas/2013drama/prince-of-lanling/
http://www.viki.com/tv/7894c-lan-ling-wang-recruiting-staff

Ariel Lin has a Taiwanese accent, so I thought it was weird hearing the accent in a historic drama at first, but I got used to it.

Sweet Mung Bean With Sago Soup

In one of my nursing class I learned the Chinese culture terms in English. Certain food is categorize into yin and yang or cold and hot food. Mung beans are cold cooling food, well that is what my mum tells me when growing up. Thus, great for summer which is one of the reason I'm making it. It's been so hot and humid out.

I used a wok to cook it. I made full wok of soup. I put in:
1 cup of mung bean
I filled the wok with water like 2 or 3 liters
sugar or rock sugar, to taste
1/3 - 1/2 cup of sago

HOWTO: Add water and mung bean in pot or wok and let it boiled until the bean split. I covered the wok during the time. And check a few times to see if the bean has splitted. It took roughly about 30-40 minutes until the bean splitted. During the wait, I looked up online recipe to this and found the link below, which I follow in how to cook the sago and wrote the top part of this post. Which made me lost track of time in checking the beans. When I lifted the cover many beans were splitted and moved to the sides, it reminded me of the top part of an explosion mushroom for some reason. Anyways, the water level reduced and it looked like it need more water, so I added more water. I stirred it and then I used the soup spoon to take out the empty shells that were floating. When there was a gentle boil I added sago and add sugar. I couldn't find rock sugar, guess we were out, so I had to do with regular white sugar but rock sugar is preferred. I also reduce the heat to med-high. I let it boiled until the sago were half translucent and turn the heat off and cover the wok and let it sit for 15 minutes. I put the soup in container and fridge it. You can eat it hot or cold.

Added more water

I added more water because from past trials the sago will thicken the soup up, also when it's cooled it will also thicken up.

LINK: http://littlebitesbigtastes.blogspot.com/2013/06/sweet-mung-bean-with-sago-soup.html

Simple Red Cooked Pork Belly

This dish was a bit sweet and not that salty. if you don't like your food sweet than add about 1 or 1.5 tablespoon of sugar. You can add more to your taste after the 30 minutes. Adding sugar makes the liquid a sticky-like consistency so less sugar would make it less sticky-like.

There is also an alternative were its the same direction, you just add vinegar and more sugar. You would add the vinegar when the liquid is about half it was before. Adding vinegar and sugar the taste would be sour and sweet, which is also pretty good. 

List:

3 tablespoon kikkoman soy sauce (or any light soy sauce)

1 tablespoon mushroom flavored superior dark soy sauce (or any dark soy sauce)

small spatula scoop of Hoisin sauce (optional)

1.5lb side pork belly cut into less than 1 inch cubes or rectangle

6 slices of ginger

roughly 2 tablespoon sugar

rice wine or any kind of cooking wine 

chicken granule bullion

water

Direction: 

boil the cubed pork in water for a few sec than drain and rinse away the foam.

In fry pan or wok add oil. Let the oil heat up. Add the ginger and hoisin sauce. Stir fry few second and add the rinsed pork. Stir it around while adding both soy sauces, sugar, and wine. Then add water until it covers the pork. Let it come to a boil for 2 minutes and turn the heat from high to medium heat with the cover on let it cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes check that the liquid thicken and sticky-like. Taste it if its sweet, salty enough. If not add a bit more sugar or salt or kikkemen soy sauce. This step is also were I add chicken granule bullion. 

If there is still a bit more liquid than you like and not thicken yet after 30 minuets, turn the heat back to high to quicken the process. It should take a few minutes, so keep your eye on it or it will dry out. 

笑傲江湖 Swordsman 2012

LINK:
http://www.viki.com/tv/7074c-swordsman
http://www.gooddrama.net/chinese-drama/xiao-ao-jiang-hu-episode-1

RAW ep1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_twaw_UbbxU&list=TLAve7GMCgwgo

Simple Chinese Braised Soy Sauce Eggs Recipe

My parents are going to China for 2 months so my mother came to campus, she came to get the suitcase I had and she come with food!!

Need:
hard boiled eggs
water
soy sauce - add the amount of flavor you want. I would add a bit more than usual. If you have dark soy sauce it will add to the color, dark soy sauce isn't that salty.

Crack all your boiled egg one or 2 times but don't peel the shell. In a pot add the cracked eggs and cover it with water and soy sauce. Let it boil then simmer for few hours for the flavor to soak in. You can also cook this in a crock pot if you want. You can eat it plain like that or add it to some noodles like I did.

Wonton Wrappings, 8 styles

LINK:

http://www.homemade-chinese-soups.com/how-to-fold-wontons.html
I like the style called Samosa with a twist style.

Chinese Mustard Fish Soup Recipe

Hey y'all, I was craving my mums cooking but she is at home–1.5 hours away and going to China tomorrow. Anyways last time I was home she bought a fish head the size of my hand and cook fish soup. She added mustard veggies which she doesn't usually do but it was nevertheless yummy. I had mustard fish soup before when I was in China and it can't be compared with.

I had leftovers of the mustard veggie, I ate it with rice porridge, and I was think what I should do with it and thought of my mums soup. She also semi taught me how to cook it but the fish soup was already cooked, I just need to stir fry the musards veggie and then add the soup.

I made a simple, easy and quick mustard fish soup. I didn't have tofu but I had some fried tofu my father made in the freezer so I used those.

Need:
Fillet - diagonally sliced
Chinese mustard veggie - buy in asian store
soft tofu - random slices
cilantro (optional)
oil
seasoning - mine is salt and chicken granule bullion and ground white pepper

How to:
First add oil to your pot or wok, let it heat at high and add your mustard veggie. Stir fry it. Then add water or broth to a boil then add your tofu and let it boil for a few minutes and then add your fillet slices. Oh, and don't forget to season your soup to your taste. If you add mustard and broth it would already be salty so you don't need much. When you serve you can chop some cilantro and garnish it.

Here's a video

Steamed Pork and Prawn Dim Sum

Steamed Pork and Prawn Dim Sum - Farberware Cookware
Ingredients:
18-20 wonton wrapper

Filling:
8 ounces pork loin or boneless chops trimmed (or ground pork)
7 ounces peeled raw prawns chopped
1 green onion finely sliced
2 tablespoons grated ginger
1 small carrot finely grated
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
3 tablespoons rice flour or corn starch
Salt and pepper to taste

Dipping Sauce:
2 tablespoons rice wine or sherry
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar or palm sugar
1 teaspoon finely sliced green onion

Directions
To make the dipping sauce, whisk all ingredients together until sugar is dissolved and set aside.

Dice the pork and place in a food processor. Press the pulse button until coarsely ground. Add the remaining filling ingredients and pulse a few times just to combine.

Lay a few wonton wrappers on a clean dry work surface and place a teaspoon of the filling in the centre Dampen the edges of the wrappers with water and gather the sides of each wrapper around the filling, pinching to form a shape like an open coin purse. Repeat with remaining filling and wontons.

Lightly oil the base of a bamboo steamer and place the steamer over a pan of boiling stock or water (for extra flavor, add a splash of wine, herbs, lemongrass or other aromatic).

Cover and steam the dim sum for about 6-8 minutes, or until the filling is cooked and the wrappers are tender. Serve straight away with the dipping sauce.

Soldier Sortie

It's about the lives of soldiers in China. About what they go through, their harsh training, and other ordeals. I'm not a fan of army dramas but this one is tolerable. The drama follows this naive guy who joins the army and his process in becoming a member of the top team/squad. He also lacks common sense, so some of his action is out right funny.

LINK:
http://www.viki.com/channels/311-soldier-sortie

Tofu Shreds with Chinese Chives Recipe

I learned a trick from my uncle to make the tofu shred tender. You just boil the shred in water and you add baking power or soda, either one is fine. You let it boil for few minutes and then drain it. If you don't like how long the tofu shreds are, you can tear/cut it in half or one-thirds before boiling.


I had shrimp so I used it in cooking but it's not necessary. Just chives and shredded tofu is yummy buy themselves

Prepare:
Asian chives cut in stripes
bag of shredded tofu (bought in asian store)
shrimp (optional)
white pepper (optional)
butter or oil
salt and chicken granule bouillon

Cooking:
I added butter in my pan to stir fry the shrimp, when it was a nice pink color I added the chives. Stir it around with your chop stick or utensil until the chives are wilting. Then add your shredded tofu. Add your seasonings to your taste and also add a cup or half of water. Stir it a bit then cover the pan, let it steam for a few minutes. Taste to see if seasoned enough.

Preserved Duck Eggs recommended product brand

I recommend this brand of duck eggs. This one is the best I have tasted. The other brand didn't have the nice gooeyness in the middle and outer firmness. I usually dislike eating these eggs but this brand of eggs I love, I can eat it whole with soy sauce.

I think there were 6 eggs in there own vacum sealed.

Chinese Egg Tart

LINK:
http://herfrozenwings.blogspot.com/2011/08/flaky-egg-tarts.html


Water Dough
230 high protein flour, sifted
10gm custard powder, sifted

100 margarine/butter
4 tbsp castor sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
4-5 tbsp water

Oil Dough
150g plain flour, sifted
100gm shortening

Filling:
240ml boiling water
120gm castor sugar
3 eggs ( size A)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp vinegar ( helps to set the filling)

Method:

Filling: Add the castor sugar to the boiling water, stir to dissolve the sugar and leave aside to cool.

Water dough:  mix flour and custard powder together and rub in butter/margarine until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add in the sugar, mix well and put in the egg and 4 tsps of water, mix all with hand until it forms into a dough. Knead the dough by hand, will take several minutes to knead until it becomes a smooth dough.( i used food processor to make this dough, add in all the ingredients except egg and water, put on pulse to achieve breadcrumbs alike consistency, add in the egg and water and pulse again until it forms a pliable and smooth dough.). Leave the dough aside or put in the fridge.

Oil dough: Mix the flour and the shortening until it comes together. ( it's a little tough to form into a dough, just keep gathering the flour and rub in shortening till it forms a rough dough ). Let dough rest for 10 minutes.

Preparing the pastry

pic 1: water dough ( yellow dough) and oil dough

pic 2: Flatten water dough. Place oil dough in the center of water dough and wrap oil dough in water dough as shown in pic 3.

pic 3: Oil dough wrapped in water dough.

pic 4: Roll the dough flat into a rectangle shape.

pic 5: Fold one end of the dough up to 2/3 of the dough.

pic 6: Fold the other end of the dough ( remaining 1/3 )on top of the folded dough.

pic 7: from the side, the dough will look like this.

pic 8: Turn the dough 90 degree .

pic 9: Flatten the dough once again and roll into a rectangle shape. Repeat these steps ( pic 5- pic8 ) 2 times more.

a) Put the dough in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, you can make the fillings. After the sugar solution has cooled down, add in the eggs, vanilla essence and vinegar . Stir to combine well and sieve the fillings. Discard remaining egg whites left on the strainer. Leave it aside.

b) after 30 minutes, take the pastry out from the fridge, if you find it a little hard, you can thaw it for 10 minutes before shaping the tarts. Roll the pastry out to a big dough with a thickness of 0.3cm. Use a round cutter ( slightly bigger than your tart ) to cut the dough out. Place the dough onto the tart case, pressing the bottom and gently pressing the sides of the tart. Repeat until you finish lining all the tarts. Preheat the oven at 200C

c) Pour the filling about 70% full and bake for 25-30 minutes. Pls check the appropriate temp for your oven, it's really hard to advise. I baked mine at 200c for about 25minutes

Lost On Journey 人在囧途

My mum was watching this movie and was laughing her butt off. I also joined her and was laughing my butt off too.

filmbiz.asia SUM:
Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, just before Chinese New Year. Though his mistress Manni (Li Man) wants him to spend the holiday with her, Li Chenggong (Xu Zheng), CEO of United Doll Culture Group, feels he must visit his wife Meili (Zuo Xiaoqing), young daughter and sick mother at their family home in Changsha, 1,200 kilometres south in Hubei province. Arriving at the crowded airport, he finds he's mistakenly been booked in economy class, where he sits next to first-time flyer Niu Geng (Wang Baoqiang), senior milker at Happy Dairy Farm, who's also flying to Changsha and is owed back wages by his manager. After taking off, the plane has to turn back because of heavy snow at Changsha airport, but Li manages to acquire a train ticket from a tout. On board, he finds he's been sold a fake one - and for the same seat that Niu has also bought. Next morning, when they have to leave the train in the middle of nowhere because of a landslide, Li and Niu find themselves travelling the remaining 490 kilometres together as one after another mishap overtakes them.

LINK:
http://www.gooddrama.net/chinese-movie/lost-on-journey

Fried Man Tou with sweet condense milk

by newyork.seriouseats

I had this dessert for the first time 2 summer ago at a Korean restaurant in China. The inside was soft and fluffy while the outside was crunchy. And dipping it in sweet condense milk made it heavenly yummy.

Okay I was looking for the recipe and it's really simple to produce.

Method:
Make the mantou from scratch or buy the frozen ones at the asian store; then steam it. Then fried it to a nice golden brown. You can buy sweet condense milk or make your own, you just need milk, sugar and butter, here are some links:

http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/recipes/healthy-homemade-sweetened-condensed-milk-without-powdered-dry-milk/

http://www.justasdelish.com/homemade-condensed-milk/

http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-sweetened-condensed-milk-14062

Water Chestnut Cake

BY: tastehongkong

I had this in a seafood buffet, but didn't know what it was called. My mother love the taste of it and the water chestnut's crunchiness. I can't wait to make this.

Ingredients:

70g water chestnut powder
4 pcs fresh water chestnut (or from canned) – here is another recipe for using water chestnuts
70g rock sugar
2 cups water
2 tsp custard powder (dissolved by 2 tsp water)
These portions of ingredients altogether fit well into my rectangular baking dish of 17(W)x11(D)x4(H)cm

Custard Powder is Optional:
I like to have this firm-jelly-like water chestnut cake looked translucent and slightly yellowish, therefore rock sugar (for transparency) and custard powder (for the yellow color) are used. If not, just omit the custard powder and substitute rock sugar by brown sugar, which will give the cake a brownish appearance.

Preparation:
Grease the dish for steaming. Wash water chestnuts; peel and dice them right before cooking, if not, soak the peeled water chestnuts in water to avoid turning rusty.

Dissolve water chestnut powder with one cup of water (cold water). Put diced water chestnuts, sugar with the remaining one cup of water into a pot, bring to boil.

As soon as the liquid boils and the sugar dissolves, turn off heat. Immediately, stir in the dissolved water chestnut powder and custard powder. Like using corn starch for thickening, if the powder settles to the bottom, give it a good stir before mixing it into the hot water. Stir well with efforts to achieve a lump-free and pasty mixture.

Pour the mixture into the dish, flatten it into the same height.

In a wok, set up a rack to hold the dish above 4 cups of water, cover and steam for 15 minutes over high heat. To make sure if it is perfectly done, insert a toothpick to see if it comes out clean.

Serving the Cake:
Steaming : After steamed, let cool the cake for about 10 to 15 minutes before slicing. After stored in fridge, steam the cake again if to serve hot again. Or, it is also good to serve cold.

Pan Frying : After cooled and sliced, they can be re-heated and caramelized by pan-frying. And this is the way the famous Cantonese dim sum – pan-fried water chestnut cake – is prepared. If it is the first time you pan-fry chestnut cake slices, try to do it with a small portion first and see how it works out in your pan. Their sugary content can cause easy sticking, but a decent pan that is heated hot enough shall help. Adding corn starch (about 1/10 of the total powder) shall make the cake firmer and easier to fry, I didn’t do this because I love to have the pure taste of water chestnuts.

Homemade Pickled Swatow Mustard Green

BY: tastehongkong

I love this snack. When I vacation to china, I go and buy a jar of pickled swatow. It's crunchy, juice and sour the way I like it. It's awesome. I would  eat it plain like that or it is usually a side dish for rice porridge.

Ingredients:
1 swatow mustard green, ~500g
1 tsp sea salt

Solution for pickling:
100g rock sugar
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tsp sea salt
2 cups water


Method:
Soak the vegetable in a basin of water for about half an hour. Cut the vegetable vertically into two equal portions (trim away any brown spots) and wash it under running water until clean. Make sure the areas in-between stems are also washed.

Massage the mustard green (especially on its cut surfaces) with 1/2 tea spoon of salt and let it stand for about an hour. This helps draw out bitterness from the veggie.

Mix salt, sugar and water for pickling in a pot, swirl over heat to melt them down completely. Remove from heat, let cool and mix in vinegar.

Bring about 3 to 4 cups of water in a pot to the boil; put the salted mustard green (but discard any juice) in the pot to blanch. The water shall stop bubbling as soon as it is loaded with the vegetable. Wait till the water boils up again, about 1 to 2 minutes, then dish up the mustard green. Drain excess water, let cool and cut each half vertically into two equal portions.

Get a sterilized bottle or jar (with cover) which is large enough to contain both the solution and vegetable (mine is about 1 liter in volume). Plunge in the cooled mustard green into the bottle, and pour in the solution. Make sure the vegetable is fully submerged in liquid. Cover.

The mustard green shall turn yellowish the next day. Wait another 2 to 3 days at room temperature for the flavors to develop further before serving (see below). For storage, transfer to fridge.

Tip:
Make sure every thing used to handle the boiled vegetable is cleaned, or you may found molds growing with the pickle.

You may check the taste of the pickling solution before filling it into the bottle to see if it suits your taste.

Crispy Roast Pork Belly

BY: noobcook

That looks so good.

INGREDIENTS:

750 grams pork belly uncut slab
2 tsp sea salt divided
1/2 tbsp five-spice powder
1/4 tsp white pepper powder
water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Use kitchen tweezers to pull out stray hair on the pork belly skin, if any. Use a knife to scrap the skin for a few minutes to remove impurities. Rinse pork belly stab and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Holding a small knife in a stabbing action, make short diagonal slits with the tip of the knife on the surface of the skin (but not cutting into the meat) at random. I asked the market butcher to help me with this step when I bought the meat.
3. Combine 1 tsp salt, 5-spice powder and white pepper in a small bowl. Rub the marinade all over the meat portion only. If any marinade gets on the skin, rub it off with a paper towel.
4. Rub the remaining 1 tsp salt on the skin. Place pork belly on a plate, uncovered, skin side up and let it marinade for a few hours or preferably overnight in the refrigerator. The purpose is to dry the skin thoroughly and also to allow the marinade to seep into the meat.
5. When ready to roast, first place a ramekin in the center of a semi-deep roasting tray (I am using a bread tin). Fill the tray with some water and place the pork belly on the ramekin. Be careful not to let the skin get wet, if that happens, pat dry with paper towel.
6. Bake the pork belly at preheated oven of 220°C for 30 minutes to get the blistering on the skin started.
7. By this time, the skin will be softened and you can see some blistering on the skin. Using a bamboo skewer, poke as many holes as you can on the portion of the skin which is still soft.
8. Return pork belly and roast at 200°C for another 90 minutes, or until the skin is roasted to crispy perfection. At every 30 minutes interval, top up the water in the tray and poke holes with a bamboo skewer on the portion of the skin which is still soft.
9. Place the cooked pork on a wire rack and allow the meat to rest for about 15 minutes before cutting.
10. Scrap off charred areas from the skin, if any, with a knife. Place the meat on a chopping board, skin side down. Slice a strip of pork, and further cut the strip to smaller, bite-sized pieces.

NB'S Cooking Notes:
1. Tips for getting perfect crispy skin:
- The skin has to be very dry and hence it is recommended to dry it in the refrigerator for a few hours, preferably overnight.
- The slits and holes made on the skin (not so deep that it cut into the meat) helps it to crackle, so make as many as you can but do not cut into the meat.
- Roast the pork on a higher rack closer to the heating coil.

2. The water helps the meat to be tender and moist, while allowing the oil to drip directly onto it for easy cleaning.

3. Before the meat has been cooked, the skin is very tough and it is difficult to make cuts on it. Some recipes suggest blanching the meat first but I find that after blanching, the meat will not absorb the marinade well. Hence I use my method of first making slits on the raw skin with the tip of the knife by holding the knife in a stabbing action (I saw my butcher doing so). After the meat has been roasted for 30 minutes, the skin will be soft and it will now be very easy to poke holes on the skin using bamboo skewers.

Painted Skin 2011

RAW LINK:
http://www.viki.com/channels/9656-painted-skin-2011

Okay I finish watching this in 2 days max – I fast forward many parts – and I like the story. It made me cry for the demons' love. I felt like this drama was an exploration of love, if there is true love for unconditional love for who they are and not their appearance. Well that was the message I got from the drama