Recipe: Miyeok Guk (Korean Seaweed and Beef Soup)

This is going to be a very undetailed recipe post, I’m so sorry. I will link a few other recipes for this…I actually learned this from a friend long time ago and was amazed at how easy it is. When I make it now, I just eyeball the ingredients honestly. I don’t know if I shared but I’ve been needing to up my iron intake and this is a good recipe to do that, all that wakame and beef…they feed this soup to new moms for a reason. Get those nurtients in!

After I saute the chunks of meat for a bit of color, add water, bring the to a boil and then lower heat to simmer for 2 hours!

After the 2 hours, turn off the heat and remove the meat to cool. Once meat is cool enough to handle, shred it up! The meat is all soft and tender now.

I add my rehydrated wakame into the pot. I just buy the already cut wakame packs from the store…rehydrate in water, drain and then threw it in this broth. Added the meat back in…added the seasoning which is mainly salt, pepper, and some sesame oil and you’re all set. Oh so good. I’m sure if you wanted to add some konnyaku noodles, you can!

Jenny’s Throw Together Miyeok Guk

1-2 lb. Beef Chunk (Chuck Roast or Brisket)
1 package of Cut Wakame (2.5 oz package)
3-4 cloves of garlic, smashed
10 C Water
1-2 T Sesame Oil
Salt and Pepper
Fish Sauce

In a big soup pot, I place oil (I used avocado oil) and slightly sear both sides of the beef chunk(s). Add water and garlic cloves and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours. In a separate bowl, add enough water to cover cut wakame and let it rehydrate (2 hours is plenty of time to hydrate), drain and set aside.

Turn off heat and remove meat from stock. Once meat is cool enough to handle, shred into smaller pieces. Add wakame into stock and bring mixture back up to a boil, add meat back into pot and mix to incorporate and bring to final boil. Add sesame oil, salt and pepper to your taste. You can also adjust the salt if you want to add fish sauce or Korean soup soy sauce, just taste it as you season! Once perfect seasoning has been reached, turn off and enjoy!!

Serious Eats Miyeok Guk
My Korean Kitchen Recipe
Korean Bapsang Recipe

Recipe: Shrimp Fried Cauliflower Rice

A lot of my recipes come out of trying to clean out my freezer or fridge. As you know, I’ve been on a bit of a health kick so cauliflower rice has become somewhat of a staple in my menu. Well I decided to experiment with it to make a fried rice and it came out really good! The people I shared it with really enjoyed it too so I decided to share the recipe with you folks. The instructions are a bit casual, let me know if you have any questions.

This has become my style, adding fried garlic to EVERYTHING.

Adding the previously sautéed shrimp back into the cauliflower and garlic mixture…

Adding the scrambled eggs back in. No mix ’em too hard, I like my eggs chunky.

Shrimp Fried Cauliflower Rice

4 small bags of frozen cauliflower rice (I got mine from Costco – the entire package contains 4 small bags of rice so I used the entire package)

2 T Butter
4 eggs, beaten

2 T avocado oil (whatever oil you prefer)
1 box of Kauai shrimp (the box from Costco), thawed, de-headed and peeled (I didn’t devein because who cares)
Salt and Pepper

2 T avocado oil (whatever oil you prefer)
1 1/2 heads of garlic, minced
White pepper (optional)

Instructions

EGGS
Heat up about 2 TBS of butter, add eggs. Cook to a soft scramble, should still be wet. Remove from pan and set aside.

SHRIMP
Heat up avocado oil in pan, add shrimp, sprinkle salt and pepper (about 2 cranks each). Flip after about 2-3 minutes, add salt and pepper again and cook. I didn’t cook the shrimp completely since you’re going to add it back to the rice later anyway. I think I cooked it maybe…6 minutes? Remove shrimp from pan and set aside. 

GARLIC
Heat up avocado oil in pan (I didn’t wash the pan after the shrimp) on medium low heat. Add garlic and cook, constantly stirring. It will take a while but the garlic will turn nice and brown without getting burned. Be patient.

FRIED RICE
Once garlic has reached golden brown status, add the frozen cauliflower. The frozen cauliflower is easy to break apart in the wok. Break down rice and mix it with the browned garlic. After about 3-4 minutes, add shrimp and eggs into the rice and mix together. I try to be careful because I like my eggs to remain in big chunks. I add a bit more salt and white pepper to taste at the end. It’s really up to you for seasoning, just season to taste.

Recipe: Lu Rou Fan (Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice)

I haven’t tried this dish in a restaurant so I don’t have a great standard to compare my dish to. What I can tell you is…mine looks super dark and maybe I made it wrong a little bit…but it still tasted good! How can you go wrong with pork belly?

Pan fry the pork belly until there is no visible pink. The original recipe calls for pork belly with the skin on…mine didn’t have the skin, still works fine. Look at all that pork belly fat…

Dark soy sauce, regular soy sauce, five spice powder, water, sugar and chinese cooking wine…simmer away my love…

The recipe calls for a cup of fried shallots which you can find in the Asian grocery (I know Don Quijote has it). I didn’t have it so I just sliced up a half red onion (that’s all I had) and coated it in cornstarch and pan fried them until it got crispy. I simmered the pork for 30 minutes and then added the fried onions.

So I’m thinking I know where I went “wrong,” I simmered this dish for 1.5 hours uncovered. I’m thinking it should have been covered cause mine got reduced too much. It was a lot of liquid and if I kept the lid on, then it would have been choke liquid! I think if I make this dish again, I would simmer it for one hour covered and then uncovered for the last 30 minutes.

I love adding eggs to braised dishes but I can’t stand overcooked eggs with gray rings. So for this, I hardboiled these eggs for only 4 minutes so the whites could set…peeled them and added these eggs 30 minutes before the dish was complete. Was perfect! The yolk was just set at this point…

No gray ring!

Lu Rou Fan (Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice Bowl)

Ingredients:
2 lb of Pork Belly
1 cup of Fried Shallots OR Half a red onion sliced, coated in cornstarch and pan fried until crispy
¼ cup of Soy Sauce
¼ cup of Dark Soy Sauce
1.5 T of Five Spice Powder (Original recipe calls for 1.5 T, I will use only 1 T next time)
2.5 T of Sugar
½ cup of Chinese Cooking Wine (Shao Xing Cooking Wine)
3 cups of Water (I used 2.5 C but will use 3 C next time)
8 eggs, soft boiled

Directions:
Place eggs into pot of water and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, turn stove off and leave eggs covered on the heat for 4 minutes. Drain immediately and place eggs in an ice bath to stop cooking process. Once cooled, peel the eggs. I don’t like the eggs to overcook (no to gray rings!) so I undercook it here since it will continue to cook in the pork mixture afterwards. This method left me with eggs with just set egg yolks.

Slice pork belly into bite sized pieces. Place pork belly into a skillet pan and saute until no longer pink.

Add in soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, five-spice powder, sugar, and mix. 

Pour in 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Lower heat to medium low and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Add fried shallots (or fried onion slices) and mix. Simmer uncovered for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add peeled eggs to pan to coat in sauce, simmer uncovered for final 30 minutes (1.5 hr total simmering time) – stir occasionally.

The sauce of and pork will reduce down considerably to a dark treacle molasses like sauce (mine did). Serve over some fresh hot white rice with sprigs of cilantro and slices of cucumber. 

Inspired by:
https://tiffycooks.com/authentic-taiwanese-braised-pork-rice-instant-pot-easy/
https://thewoksoflife.com/lu-rou-fan-taiwanese-braised-pork-rice-bowl/ 

Recipe: Thai Waterfall Beef Salad

You ever go to a Vietnamese restaurant and try their lemon beef salad? I’ve found they all make it just a bit different from one another (which is frustrating!) but I like it when they serve it with the thin slices of raw beef. It’s always a guess how the restaurant will prepare it and it gets me majorly sad when the salad arrives with beef that is completely cooked. Ugh. I like this salad because it’s very fresh and refreshing and the acidity in the dressing helps to “cook” the raw beef a bit, almost like a ceviche. So far, the best lemon beef salad I have tried is from Pho 777. It is killer, highly recommended.

Anyhoo, I had the inspiration to make it myself at home. I know the recipe title is Thai Waterfall Beef Salad, but it’s very similar to the lemon beef salad. I actually made this recipe twice and prefer using lemon juice over lime juice and I omit the raw bean sprouts because I personally dislike the taste of raw bean sprouts. Check it out!

The mix of greens in this salad guarantee choke flavor. Here’s what I have in this, romaine lettuce, fresh thai basil, cilantro and sautéed shallots (it can be raw but I decided to cook it up in the steak grease because hello, yum)

The best part about making this salad at home? NO BEEF LIMIT. Go hog wild because you’re paying for it anyway. I seared the beef I had and kept it more raw on the inside. Was so good you guys.

Okay doesn’t look too impressed after it’s mixed up but you gotta believe me, it’s so good. Give it a try! If too lazy to cook, try it from a restaurant!

Thai Waterfall Beef Salad

Recipe: the spruce eats

Ingredients

  • 1 to 2 sirloin steaks (depending on the amount of meat you prefer)
  • Marinade:
  • 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
  • 2 tbsp. soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp. lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp. brown sugar
  • For Salad:
  • 6 cups salad greens
  • 1 cup bean sprouts
  • 1 handful mint (or basil, fresh, lightly chopped or torn)
  • 1 cup coriander (fresh)
  • 1 cup papaya (fresh, cubed or cut into spears)
  • 1 cup tomatoes (cherry, left whole or sliced in half)
  • Dressing:
  • 1 to 2 tbsp. fish sauce (available at Asian food stores)
  • 3 tbsp. lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 tbsp. soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp. brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp. rice (sticky variety, toasted and ground, OR 2 tbsp. ground peanuts)

Steps to Make It

  1. Mix marinade ingredients together in a cup or bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour over the steak(s), turning meat to coat. Set in the refrigerator to marinate.https://f79cc301cbc5037578578e9f2671ab8b.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
  2. For the ground sticky rice (instead of peanuts): Place 2 tbsp. uncooked sticky rice in a dry frying pan over medium-high heat. Stirring continuously, dry-fry the rice until it starts to pop and is lightly toasted. Remove rice from the pan and allow to cool slightly before grinding it up with a coffee grinder, or pounding into a powder with pestle & mortar.https://f79cc301cbc5037578578e9f2671ab8b.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
  3. Combine all dressing ingredients together in a cup or mixing bowl, stirring until sugar dissolves (adjust fish sauce according to your desired level of saltiness). Then prepare your bowl of greens and other salad ingredients.https://f79cc301cbc5037578578e9f2671ab8b.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
  4. Grill the steak over a hot grill, turning only once or twice to retain the juices (meat should still be pink in the center).
  5. If oven-broiling the steak: Set oven to broil setting. Place steak on a broiling pan OR on a foil or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Place in oven on the second-to-highest rung. Broil 5 to 7 minutes per side, or until steak is well done on the outside but still pink on the inside.
  6. While steak is cooking, toss the salad with the dressing. Taste-test for salt, adding more fish sauce if not salty enough, or more lime juice if too salty for your taste.
  7. When ready to serve, portion out salad onto serving plates or bowls. Slice the steak as thinly as you can and top each portion with a generous amount of sliced sirloin. Enjoy!

Jenny Notes:

  • Didn’t know where to find roasted rice powder so I made my own. I bought jasmine rice and slowly toasted it over medium heat until it was golden brown. After it cooled down, I ground them to a powder in a coffee grinder.
  • Play around with the salad ingredients, I didn’t put like half the ingredients she does. In fact, I named exactly what I put in the salad above. The second time I made this, I added mint and thai basil and it was delicious.

Recipe: Bánh Bò Nướng: Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake

I saw this online months ago and wanted to try it so bad. Remember the steamed Chinese rice cakes that you get from the manapua man? Man, those were my favorite. I’m so sad that Char Hung Sut is closed because they have it there and I would get it when I would pick up my gon lo mein (da best!) from them. I have my fingers crossed they will reopen but I don’t know…so sad. Anyway, this is a Vietnamese version and I loved that it has pandan flavor. I love pandan. I played around a bit with the flavoring, added some coconut extract to make it like a buko pandan cake. Recipe below!

Heat up 200 ML of Coconut Milk with 200g of Sugar until sugar has melted. Set aside and let cool to room temperature.

I set out 6 eggs to warm to room temperature, the original recipe doesn’t say you have to but I have made that a habit since I started baking. Gently break the yolks and stir 25 times…without the whisk ever leaving bottom of the bowl. You are merely mixing to get the yolk and whites incorporated, I followed the video’s instructions to a T!

Once mixed, add the cooled coconut milk/sugar mixture and lightly mix.

240g Tapioca Starch and 2 1/2 t of single-acting baking powder (I ordered this one from Amazon). Gradually sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

I even bought a bundt cake pan for this recipe. I am crazy, I know this. Anyway, the video instructed me to grease the pan and then set it in the 350 degree oven as it heated up. I did it as I was mixing the batter.

Once the oven has been pre-heated, take the pan out and pour the batter in through a strainer. There will be lumps in the cake so this step is crucial!

Glorious. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes in 350 degree oven. The video tells you not to open that oven door for at least 30 minutes into the cooking time. I always listen!

This picture makes the crust look a bit mealy, no worries, it wasn’t! I bought a cheap pan so I was afraid of the cake sticking. I used a small rubber spatula to scrape the sides but it came out just fine!

I am so amazed it came out so well. I saw so many comments saying they failed at it…like it wouldn’t have the honeycomb innards or that it would bake up flat. Whew…so glad it was a success! Was a success with my family too, it’s all gone already! I’m going to have to make one more batch really soon because this recipe only calls for half a can of coconut milk. Hello, what am I supposed to do with the other half can. Make another one of these I guess!

Bánh Bò Nướng: Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake

**Inspired by Helen’s Recipes, below is the recipe that was tweaked for my use.

Ingredients:
200 ml coconut milk
200 g sugar
1 t pandan flavoring
1/2 t coconut extract
6 eggs eggs, room temperature
240 g tapioca starch
2 ½ tsp single-acting baking powder (it’s about a single packet of Alsa brand)

Instructions:
Place coconut milk and sugar in a pan and heat until sugar has melted. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

Grease bundt cake pan with oil or butter and place in the oven as it preheats to 350 degrees.

Place 6 eggs in mixing bowl and gently break all 6 egg yolks. Mix gently (about 25 times) until yolks and whites are just mixed together. Add cooled coconut/sugar mixture and mix until just incorporated.

Gradually sift in tapioca starch/baking powder into the wet batter and mix. Add pandan flavoring and coconut extract and mix. The batter will look lumpy at first, just keep mixing!

Once the oven is preheated, take the pan out and pour the batter into the pan through a fine mesh strainer (there will still be lumps). Place into the oven and bake for 45 minutes.

Recipe: Japchae

Japchae is one of my favorite Korean foods and it’s so easy to grab from Korean supermarkets…though I never order it when I’m at a restaurant. Sure, I’ll add it to my Korean BBQ plate but never as an ordered dish. You know? Well during the pandemic (I know we’re still in it, but this is more towards the beginning of the pandemic), I had a real hankering to make it myself. Well let me tell you, it’s no easy feat in terms or prep. Check it out.

Great marinade recipe for the beef, it was delicious!

Not that I go looking for this but it was so nice to find fresh shiitake at the Korean market! I think I prefer fresh over dried.

I have one of those mandolins but I am so lazy to take it out and then have to wash yet another dish. Forget it. You can tell I chopped this by hand, the different sizes shows it was homemade with love (or with me, probably in anger but angry love)

Red bell peppers, a must have! And it gotta be red cause you want all the pretty colors!

Sliced Onions

Man, if I knew I needed spinach…I would have gotten the big bag from Costco. Here’s my puny bunch from the Korean market haha

Just a plan omelet, nothing special here. And not even cooked yet.

For inquiring minds, this is the brand of noodles I bought.

Noodles ready to go at the bottom…look at how pretty the veggies and eggs are layered on top. See why you need the red bell pepper??

Can’t really pretty up brown and brown. I just dumped the meat and mushrooms on top lol.

All mixed together and ready to eat. It’s OH SO GOOD. The marinade in the meat makes this dish all the more delish. I would definitely make and eat it again! Check out the recipe below!

Japchae (Seonkyoung Longest)

INGREDIENTS

For the Beef
½ lb beef, cut into 3″ long thin strips (such as sirloin, chuck, short ribs or tri-tip)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
½ tbsp sesame oil
½ tbsp mirin (Seasoned rice wine, if you don’t have it, leave it out)
1 clove garlic, chopped

For Vegetables & Egg Omlet
2 eggs, lightly beaten
½ medium size onion, thinly silced
1 ¼ bell pepper, fine julienne
½ large size carrot, fine julienne
5 shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced (You can substitute to any other mushrooms)
12 oz spinach (1 large bunch), cleaned well
salt and vegetable oil

For the Noodles
14 to 16 oz Korean sweet potato noodle, Dangmyun
For the Sauce
⅓ cup soy sauce
⅓ cup sugar, honey or agave nectar (if you are using agave, add additional 1 tbsp soy sauce)
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS
Combine all ingredients for beef in a medium mixing bowl. Let marinate while preparing other ingredients.

Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add 1 tsp oil; swirl to coat. Add beaten eggs swirl skillet to egg covers surface in a thin layer. Cook until it’s just set, about 2 to 3 minutes, then flip over and cook for another minute. Slip omelet onto a plate and let it cool.

Heat the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp oil and sliced onion. Season with a pinch of salt, sauté 4 to 5 minutes. Remove onion from pan, keep warm. (Place on a plate or a bowl where you are going to mix whole entire japchae.)

Add 1 tsp oil to the pan and red pepper with a pinch of salt. Sauté 1 minute. Remove chili pepper from pan, keep warm. Add 1 tsp oil to the pan, carrots and a pinch of salt. Sauté 2 to 3 minutes. Remove carrot from pan, keep warm.

Wipe off excess oil from the pan and add mushrooms. Sauté 2 tp 3 minutes. Remove from pan, keep warm.

Add 1 tsp oil and add marinated beef to the pan; sauté for 2 to 5 minutes or until beef is cooked through and all moisture has evaporated. Remove from pan, keep warm.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add generous amount of salt. Add the spinach, cook about 10 seconds, not much longer. Move spinach from the boiling water to ice water immediately. Squeeze out water from spinach gently. Set aside with other veggies.

In the same water, cook the Korean sweet potato noodles. Boil noodles according to package directions or 6 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile the noodles are cooking, whisk all ingredients for sauce in a bowl, set aside. Slice cooled egg omelet into thin ribbons and set aside. Drain the cooked noodles and place in a large mixing bowl.

Cut the noodles as needed, if you prefer. Pour 2/3 of the sauce into the noodles and gently mix until noodles absolve all of the sauce. Add the noodles into the vegetables and beef, toss gently to combine everything with your hand or/and tongs.

Garnish Japchae with some additional sesame seeds as desired. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!

Recipe: Origami Onigiri

How do I title this post? This is quite embarassing. I am huge on TikTok videos and I have been making choke recipes based on videos I have watched. I don’t really want to name my posts after TikToks so I’m just going to cop to it when I’m writing out the posts. This one is old now but if you have been on TikTok, you saw the origami posts. First it was with a tortilla that you cut up and then fold strategically.

I didn’t take step by step photos of my folding up my tortillas but this is what I have been packing up for lunch almost daily. It’s so much easier to eat right when I have food ready to go. It’s much too tempting when I have to go out to eat.

Well, before you know it, Asians came through and came up with the origami onigiri which of course is superior. Check it out.

Yes! Okay, I go show the step by step with this one.

I don’t know if you can tell but you cut a line in the bottom middle of the nori…

Fold the left bottom section up…

Then you fold the left part to the right…

And then fold it down and you got em…ready to eat. I’ve learned since then as I mastered this for tortillas that it’s actually better to fold both bottom sides up and then fold them together.

Play with the ingredients! Who wouldn’t want egg in their spam musubi? Enjoy!

Recipe: Hokkaido Milk Bread

Here I am. First recipe post after talking about healthy stuff and I am posting about bread. I just had to, Jalna has been posting about making bread so how could I forget my bread making adventures a few months ago? Remember when yeast was harder to find than clorox wipes? Well, somehow I found out Elvin’s Bakery was selling both bread flour and instant yeast, it was fate. I watched many videos of people making Hokkaido milk bread and I just had to try it myself. My first try? Complete failure, I had to throw it out. Then I got the hang of it…biggest difference? Measuring ingredients in grams and using a kitchen scale. I’ll post the recipe and then some step by step photographs…hang with me to the end…for the most satisfying bread pull (well satisfying for me).

Hokkaido Milk Bread

Makes one bread in a 5×9 inch loaf pan

Tang Zhong:
35 g (1/4 cup) Bread Flour
175 g (3/4 cup) Water

Prepare the Tang Zhong:
1. In a non-stick pan combine bread flour and water.
2. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until the mixture thickens into a pudding-like consistency, or reach 65°C-150°F.
3. Transfer into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and cool down at room temperature.
4. You can use it when cool down or, better, refrigerate it overnight: use it at room temperature!

Milk Bread:
Bread Flour 340 g (2+2/3 cup)
Salt 3 g (1/2 teaspoon) 
Sugar 30 g (2 tablespoons)
Active Dry Yeast 5 g (1+1/4 teaspoon)
1 Medium Egg (about 40 g), room temperature 
Whole Milk, lukewarm, 140 g (1/2 cup+1 tablespoon) – microwaved for 1 minute
Tang Zhong (about 155 g)
Unsalted Butter, cubed and softened at room temperature, 40 g (3 tablespoons)
Extra bread flour for the working surface
1 Medium Egg and 1 T Whole Milk mix for brushing the top

Prepare the Milk Bread:
1. In a large bowl mix flour and salt.
2. Add sugar, dry yeast and combine.
3. Add the egg (beaten), lukewarm milk and start to combine with a spatula.
4. Add the Tang Zhong and combine with a spatula until reach a very sticky dough.
5. Add the butter (room temperature) and combine with a spatula.
6. Sprinkle the work surface with at least 3 tbsp of flour and start to knead the dough with your hands; if you have a stand mixer you can use it, since the dough is pretty sticky.
7. Incorporate a little flour until knead the dough, but don’t add too much flour: the dough have to remain very soft and slightly sticky*

*NOTE: The consistency of your dough may vary depending of your flour. If your dough seems too wet, you can add up to 1-3 tbsp more flour until the dough comes together but consider that this is a pretty sticky dough. You can use your scraper instead of your hands to help you kneading.

8. Knead for about 15 minutes or until the dough will be smooth and elastic.
9. Form into a ball, place it in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
10. Let it rise in a warm place** for about 45 minutes or until triple in size: the dough will be ready when you poke it and it will maintain its shape.

** I preheated oven on 170°F (lowest my oven would go), turned it off after 5 minutes. Placed dough to rise in the warm oven, opened the oven door after 10 minutes because I was afraid it would be too hot in there. 

11. Transfer the dough over a silicone pastry mat or a floured surface and split it into 3 equal pieces.
12. Roll each piece into a ball and cover every ball with plastic wrap.
13. Use a rolling pin and roll one piece into a long oval shape.
14. Fold the right third of the oval over the middle, then fold the left third of the oval over the middle.
15. Turn the packet and roll it into a rectangular shape.
16. Roll the rectangular from the bottom to get a fat roll.
17. Cover the roll with plastic wrap and repeat with the other 2 pieces of dough.
18. Arrange the 3 rolls of dough into a greased 11,5×22,5 cm – 4,5×9 inch loaf pan. (I have a 5 x 9 and it worked fine)
19. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until the dough reaches the rim of the loaf pan.
20. Brush the top with beaten egg + milk.
21. Bake in a preheated static oven at 350°F for 25 minutes.
22. Cool down for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool down on a wire rack
23. You can store the bread into a paper bag and place the paper bag into a plastic bag for about 1 week.

Recipe from: How Tasty

Making that tang zhong…
I actually make this the day before and chill it in the fridge.
Butter diced into cubes and weighed exactly, ready to go!
Wet dough waiting to be kneaded
Arm workout done, now it is time to rise…
Thar she blows. (Sorry)
Measure the dough into three equal parts and start the rolling and folding…fold up!
Then down…
Flip!!
Roll into rectangle shape, fold up…
Fold down…
Pinch the seams!
Gotta do this three times and line them up in your bread tin! Ready for the last proof…
Kaboom! Proofed, ready for egg wash and the oven!
Look at that…like magic…bread!
WATCH MY BREAD PULL…!

Recipe: Fried Garlic Fried Rice

That title is not a a mistake. I am making fried garlic…fried rice. I love the taste of fried garlic and decided to play it up with fried rice one day. I’ve come to the conclusion as of late that simple fried rice is the best. Enough with throwing everything you have into the fried rice. One of my favorite fried rice dishes is just egg and rice tossed together and seasoned with some salt. That’s it. Anyway, this isn’t much of a recipe. I don’t have detailed notes but if there is interest, I can try to type some instructions up.

Garlic is always the star of the show

Spam (optional)

Scrambled 4 eggs until about 80% done

Fry up the spam until crispy

Here comes the best part. Make sure the heat is on medium low, add oil and the garlic. It will take a while to get there but you have to make sure the heat remains low so the garlic fries up not burns up.

Golden morsels of goodness

Add the rice! Look at it…just look at it!!

Add the eggs and begin the breakdown…

Mm hmm mm hmm!

Oh yes. I learned from another recipe that if you want to add sheen to the fried rice, you add just a bit of oil at the end and fry it together. Oh this fried rice was delicious, if you enjoy garlic. It reminded me of the garlic served with the garlic shrimp plates from the North Shore. No need shrimp for me, I could have done without the spam myself but it’s good either way!

Recipe: French Onion Bac’n Spinach Dip (Vegan!)

I think I have mentioned this before, I have a vegan worker in my office and it has helped me to push my limits in cooking! I really enjoy feeding people and always try to make dishes that everyone can eat. Well, here is a recipe that was totally sparked through curiosity. I can make choke vegan baked goods but I wanted to serve up a savory dish. So I got the idea for this dip and served it up with crackers/ruffles chips.

How did it go? Surprisingly well, the office folks certainly ate it up. What did I think? Ehhh…I gotta say, I am not a fan of the “fake” bacon bits and to me, that taste overpowers in this dish. I think if I tinkered around with this recipe, I could find a dip I like. Minus the bacon bits…and minus the french onion soup mix. I know I know, that’s not selling this huh? I think the recipe for the sour cream is solid so that’s a good start. Heck, I even give you the recipe for two different vegan sour creams! See below…

First recipe uses raw cashews, gotta be raw!

Gotta soak the cashews at least 4 hours so it’s soft enough for the blender
2nd sour cream uses silken tofu as a base…
Vegan Sour Cream (Silken Tofu Base)
Vegan Sour Cream (Raw Cashew Base)
Ugh!
Started with the cashew sour cream and one mix packet
Added a cup of cooked spinach, water squeezed out

Then I got loopy because it was late at night and didn’t know what I would do with a whole thing of silken tofu sour cream and threw it in…oops

Which then led me to adding another soup packet since I had so much sour cream now…

French Onion Bac’n Spinach Dip (Vegan!)

Ingredients:

32 oz. Vegan Sour Cream (Two recipe versions following this recipe)

1 C chopped spinach and squeezed (heaping cup).

2.2 ounces McCormick Bac’n Bits (bottle sold is 4.4 ounces, I used half a bottle) 

2 packets Lipton Recipe Secrets Soup & Dip Mix Onion (usually two packets come in a box)

Directions:

Mix the sour cream and soup mixes together until blended (by hand). Add spinach and bacon to mix. Best served chilled. 

Notes:

  • Spinach – I used fresh but one package of frozen chopped spinach would be fine. Thaw out the spinach and squeeze out additional water!

Vegan Sour Cream Recipe 1

1.5 c raw cashews (soaked 4 hours)

3/4 c water 

1.5 T lemon juice

1.5 t apple cider vinegar

1/2 t salt

1/2 t Dijon mustard 

Blend all ingredients in blender until creamy, scraping down sides of blender as needed. Produced about 2 cups of sour cream (16 oz.)

Note: My taste preference is for the cashew sour cream.

Vegan Sour Cream Recipe 2

1 package 12 oz. Silken Tofu (soft)

1.5 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1-2 Tbsp. water to get to the desired consistency

Blend all ingredients in blender until creamy, scraping down sides of blender as needed. Use in recipes such as Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff, or serve on baked potatoes, tacos, or enchiladas. Produced about 2 cups of sour cream (16 oz.)