Pan-Fried Beef Pastry (牛肉餡餅 - niu rou xian bing)

A coworker & I were talking about delicious Taiwanese food about a month ago.  We were looking at various pictures of Taiwanese food & came across one for 牛肉餡餅 & my mouth literally started to drool.  I was hooked & decided I had to make some to satisfy my craving so here's my take on it.  Yummers!

 

 

牛肉餡餅 - Pan-Fried Beef Pastry

1 lb ground beef

6 stalks green onion, finely chopped

1 egg

1/8 cup soy sauce

3 tb sesame oil

2 ts white pepper, ground

1 ts black pepper, ground

2 cups white flour + a little extra

1 cup hot water 

Makes 8 pastries.

- Mix all the ingredients (minus the flour & water) together in a bowl.  Cover & store in the fridge overnight.

- Mix the flour & hot water in a bowl until just combined.

- Sprinkle work surface with flour, pour the dough onto your work surface & knead a few times.

- Roll dough out into a snake & cut into 8 rounds.

- Take one round & roll it out into an 8" diameter circle such that the middle of the circle is slightly thicker than the edges. 

- Place 1/8 of the meat mixture in the middle of the rolled out dough.  

- Bring all the edges together & pinch shut.  Flip the pastry over such that the pinched side is down & lightly pat the pastry such that the top is flat.

- Place a pan over medium-low heat & liberally sprinkle oil into pan.

- When the oil is hot, place the pastry into the pan.  Fry each side for about 3-4 minutes.
- Eat immediately!  

Taiwanese Stewed Pork Over Rice/Noodles (滷肉飯/麵 - Lu Rou Fan/Mien)

My blog has not been very omnivore-like lately so I have decided to remedy that with this D-E-LI-CIOUS post about one of the best dishes known to mankind.  Yes, it is that good!  This is a traditional Taiwanese meal with pork belly as the big star so readers beware - this is really fatty & not for the faint of arteries.  

滷肉飯/麵 - Taiwanese Stewed Pork Over Rice/Noodles

1/3 ground pork

1/3 pork belly, cubed

1 tb garlic, minced

3 stalks green onion, diced

4 eggs, boiled & shelled (optional)

1 cup small fried tofu, halved (optional)

4 tb soy sauce

1 tb rock sugar (can be substituted with regular sugar if rock sugar is not available)

1/2 tb ground pepper (I prefer white pepper)

1 tb rice wine

1/2 tb sesame oil

1/2 ts five-spice powder

1 cup broth of your choice

rice or noodles of your choice

Makes about four servings.

- Stir fry ground pork & pork belly until just barely done.

- Add fried tofu if you are including it.  Traditionally there is no tofu but I love it & tossed it in.

- Add garlic & green onion until fragrant.

- Add soy sauce, rock sugar, ground pepper, rice wine, sesame oil, & five-spice powder.  Mix until everything is evenly coated with the powder.

- Place mixture to a crockpot along with the broth & eggs & cook on low heat for a few hours.  You can also let it simmer on low heat on the stove for an hour or so if you do not have a crockpot.

- Drizzle mixture over rice or noodles & enjoy!

Look at those amazing bits of fatty pork belly!

I added some zucchini & napa cabbage as my attempt to even out the unhealthy factor of the fatty pork.

Spicy Bamboo & Tofu Chow Ho Fun (筍子豆干炒河粉)

I present to you tonight's dinner - 筍子豆干炒河粉!  I have been craving spicy bamboo & tofu so I was originally just going to make a side dish with that but I saw 炒河粉 (rice noodle) at the market & immediately bought it to make a main dish out of the spicy bamboo & tofu.  For those of you who are not familiar with 炒河粉, it is a wide & flat rice noodle.  This noodle is quite versatile & popular in both Cantonese & Mandarin cuisine.  I grew up eating it both ways which are both equally scrumptious.  

筍子豆干炒河粉 - Spicy Bamboo & Tofu Chow Ho Fun

2 cups fresh bamboo shoot, sliced

2 cups Chinese five-spice tofu, sliced

1/2 package chow ho fun (炒河粉)

2 stalks green onion, chopped into 1" in length

1 & 1/2 tb sesame oil

2 tb chili oil

3 tb light soy sauce

- Heat oils & soy sauce on medium low heat in a saute pan.

- Add tofu & bamboo shoot.  Stir until sesame & chili oils are fragrant.

- Add chow ho fun & green onion.  Mix until the noodles are cooked.  You can cook it longer if you'd like some of the noodles slightly crispy.

I love Chinese food!  I grew up eating this cuisine & most dishes are simple to make.   

Modified 韭菜盒子- Jiucai Hezi - Chinese Chive Pastries (Without the Pastry)

One of my favorite foods is 韭菜盒子, also known as Chinese chive pastries.  The smell & taste of Chinese chive pastries always bring back such sweet memories of my grandmother in the kitchen.  I consider her to be my muse whenever I cook mainland Chinese & Taiwanese food.  I always try to make my food as good as hers but I have never managed to succeed in doing so - it must be because I'm missing that secret & awesome grandma ingredient. 

I decided to recreate a healthier version 韭菜盒子 by omitting the meat & pastry as well as replacing bean thread / Chinese vermicelli with quinoa (the leftover quinoa from my vegan sweet potato & quinoa muffin foray).  Turned out so delicious!  I will post my actual 韭菜盒子 recipe sometime in the near future.

As you all know, I am making an effort to eat healthier (of which I have failed to do on several occasions) so that I can beat my friends in this weight throwdown, gloat in their faces, & donate the winnings to Not For Sale - a non-profit organization that aims to bring awareness to modern-day slavery.  I highly recommend everyone to take a moment to educate themselves on modern-day slavery.  So many of us lead extremely blessed lives because we have the freedom to be happy but not everyone has such freedom.  We, humans, are compassionate creatures & should care for one another - not take advantage of one another for our own benefits. 

Modified 韭菜盒子- Jiucai Hezi -  Chinese Chive Filling

1 & 1/4 cups quinoa, cooked

1/2 lb Chinese chives(韭菜 - jiucai), chopped

4 squares Chinese five-spice tofu (豆干 - dougan), chopped

4 eggs, scrambled

3 ts salt

1 tb sesame oil

1/4 ts white pepper

- Saute everything together on medium-low heat until Chinese chives are fragrant.

So easy!

Chinese Egg Pancake (蛋餅 - Dan Bing)

Breakfast tends to be my favorite meal of the day - that is when I manage to wake myself up early enough to have enough time to make breakfast.  And of all the breakfasts, I love Chinese breakfasts.  I had gone to Taiwan this past October & my little tummy (which expanded quite a bit during the trip) enjoyed every moment of the trip that when I came back it had Chinese food withdrawal & threw tantrums at me.  My stomach & taste buds were not happy campers until I made Chinese egg pancakes, called 蛋餅 - dan bing.  蛋餅 is basically a savory pancake with green onion & egg.  It's a simple breakfast that is just oh so heavenly & should be shared with everyone so that they can all discover just how amazing it is so here's my version of 蛋餅.  Yummers!!

Chinese Egg Pancake - 蛋餅

1/2 cup flour

1/6 cup hot water, barely boiled

1 ts canola or vegetable oil or unsalted butter

1 stalk green onion, finely chopped

2 eggs

salt to taste

Makes 2 servings.

- Combine & quickly stir flour & water until just combined.

- Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for about a minute & let dough rest for a few minutes.

- Divide dough into two equal parts.  Take one part of the dough & roll flat on a lightly floured surface until the dough is about 1-2mm thick.

- Spread 1/2 ts oil onto the dough from end to end.

- Sprinkle salt & half of the chopped green onion onto oiled dough.

- Roll up dough into a long log & tightly wrap the log around like a coiled snake.

- Roll out the coiled dough into a flat circle until it is about 1-2 mm thick.

- Place pancake onto a heated & lightly oiled pan on medium-low heat.

- Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the pancake begins to barely turn golden & flip to cook the other side & beat one egg while the pancake is cooking.

- Take the pancake out of the pan & pour egg into a lightly oiled pan.  Quickly swirl the pan to spread the egg on the bottom of the pan & place the pancake on top of the egg.

- Cook until the egg is done then roll the pancake up, place on a plate & cut into several slices.

- Eat immediately! 

 

Spice In My Life - Mapo Tofu

It's been raining quite a bit as of late and it makes everything appear so drab and boring.  What to do when things get boring?  Add some spice in for my taste buds!  I decided to make some mapo tofu because it contains a) tofu, b) ground pork, c) spice!!  It turned out Ah-mazing if I do say so myself.  Here's a looksie and the recipe.

Mapo Tofu

Vegetable / Canola oil

1/2 lb ground pork

4 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 tb spicy bean paste (found in Asian supermarkets)  

1 package soft to medium tofu, sliced into small 1/2" to 3/4" cubes

3/4 cup broth

2 stalks green onion, chopped

1/8 cup cornstarch water

- Add oil to pan and heat on medium-low to medium heat.

- Brown ground pork, breaking it into pieces.

- Add garlic and saute until pork is completely cooked.

- Add spicy bean paste and cubed tofu and mix well.  Use 3 tb of the spicy bean paste if you want a real big kick.

- Add broth and let simmer for 7-10 minutes.

- Add green onion and cornstarch water and mix until the broth is creamy in consistency.

- Serve with rice and devour!

 

I decided to enjoy mine with a side of seaweed on the side.  D-e-licious!