Vietnamese Peanut Sauce

This is another easy sauce, it's not just for spring roll dipping. I also use it for cold noodles with some shredded cucumbers. Believe or not, it's quite delicious. Here is the Nước Tương Chấm recipe.

Peanut sauce made fresh from my kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 5 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 4 tbsp smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup water

Directions: 

1. Heat pan on medium heat, then add oil and garlic. 
2. Sauté until lightly browned.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients one by one and mix well.
4. Turn the heat up to medium high and bring to a boil.
5. Once it hits a boil immediately turn off the heat
6. Use a whisk to blend till smooth.
7. Remove from heat and chill, or serve right away.
8. You can add some crushed peanuts on top before serving
9. If you use sugar-free peanut butter, a tbsp of sugar would help sweeten it

Beef Liver Grill Onion

If you like beef liver, this fast dinner could be on your table in about 10 minutes. Make sure you buy fresh beef liver already sliced thin.

Slap Ya Mama Cajun spice was the best seasoning on liver

Ingredients:
2 tbsp sliced onion
10 oz sliced beef liver
2 tbsp oil
Dash of Cajun seasoning

Directions:

1. Rinse beef liver until cold water.
2. Place it on a plate and drain out excess water.
3. Heat pan with medium heat.
4. Add oil to pan and wait 2 minutes.
5. Slowly place liver in the pan and cook for 2 minutes. 
6. Place onions around liver.
7. Carefully flip the liver.
8. Stir onion until cooked to desired tenderness.
9. Remove both from pan. 
10. Sprinkle seasoning while still hot. 
11. Ready to serve.

If you don't like the smell of liver, soak it in milk for an hour.

Veggie soup with quinoa

Trying to duplicate my love with the soup at Season's Harvest Cafe in Cypress.

The only difference was the price.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup zucchini, sliced
1 cup broccoli
1/4 cup red bell pepper, cubed

Direction:

1. Cook your broth with my Chicken Broth recipe or open a can of beef broth. 
2. Boil the ingredients until zucchini and broccoli are tender.
3. Remove from heat and season with sea salt.
4. Ready to serve.

My version is good as their version.

Aromatic Tea Eggs

Egg prices went down recently in Houston. It's time for some delicious, low-cost tea eggs. When I was growing up in Taiwan, my mom made a pot of tea eggs and I could eat 7 of them in a single setting. Why not 8? No one wants to be 王八蛋 - a foul language in Chinese .

I don't add soy sauce to my tea egg recipe. It kills the aromas from tea and spices. Don't add salt until soaking cycle. (step 6)

Mmm... yummy to marble pattern.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 doz of eggs
1/2 cup of green tea leaves
6 star anise (Chinese Five Spices)
2 cinnamon sticks, 3 inch size
8 cups water, depends on the size of your pot (see step 4)

Directions:

1. Boil eggs until hard, about 5 minutes. Don't over boil.
2. Remove from heat. Soak in cool water.
3. Lightly tap the shells with a metal spoon, but not to crack open.
4. Fill water to slightly cover the eggs, put all ingredients in liquid.
5. Heat to boil, then reduce to simmer. Constantly pouring liquid to top the eggs.
6. Cook until egg shells turn brown. 
7. Turn off heat, top the lid and let soak overnight.

Originally posted on Pbase.

Pot of Greens

I love collard greens. But constantly checking on the pot over long period of 2 hour became annoying. My recent discovery with Midea Pressure Cooker saved me time and energy.

Easy greens as 1-2-3.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of collard greens, cleaned
1/2 can of chicken broth, low sodium
1 ham hock
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 poblano or green bell pepper,  chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 okra, chopped

Directions:

1. Break the collard leaves from the stems and tear leaves by hand, not knife.
2. Put all ingredients into the Midea pot and follow the safety instructions. 
3. Set to steam for 30 minutes. 
4. When ready, release the pressure and open the lid.
5. Season with salt and dashes of Tabasco  hot sauce.

BBQ Beef Ribs with Midea

Trying to cook my first beef ribs with Midea Pressure Cooker.

Ingredient lineup.

Ingredients:
3-4 lb. Beef Ribs
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup dry rub
1 tsp liquid smoke
1/2 cup BBQ sauce

Directions:

1. Rinse the ribs and pat dry.
2. Lay on a tray for dry rub. Pat down the seasoning well on all surfaces. 
3. Stack the rib pieces like a teepee. 
4. Pour broth mixed with liquid smoke in the inner pot. 
5. Lock the lid and set to STEAM for 30 min. 
6. Preheat oven to 450 when Midea says OH (done).
7. Arrange the ribs on a roasting tray and brush bbq sauce on the ribs. Bake for 10 min, then flip the side and brush on each piece. Bake for another 10 min.

Before & After of Steamed Beef Ribs. Meat felt off the bones easily.

Chicken Soup Made of Scraps

It's cold outside. My favorite comfort food is soup. Instead of spending money at the restaurants, I decided to make my own chicken soup. After learning from Ziad at Eatwell Bakery Cafe , I want to try his "nothing but chicken" recipe. Well, I had to clean up my refrigerator last night. I added some other stuff.

I striped this chicken to bones only. I used other parts for entree.

Ingredients:
1 Chicken back and bones from breast part. Don't remove skin. That's for flavoring.
2 Carrots, medium size
1 Celery, stalk
1 Cucumber (I hate to waste a freeze-burnt veggie.)
1/2 Onion
1 piece American Ginseng (optional)
1-3 tbsp Salt, after the soup is done

Procedure:

1. Put everything in the pot and fill with water to cover the ingredients.
2. Set Midea Electrical Pressure Cooker to SOUP setting for 33 minutes.
3. Follow instruction to start the process.
4. When done, release pressure and discard all vegetable solids. 
5. Remove soup and meat from the pot, season with 1 tbsp salt to taste.

Fresh chicken is on sale 58¢ per pound at H-E-B on Beechnut. Time to make some good soup at home and save my money for Houston Rodeo next month.

Beef Stew from Midea Cooker

I thought to give this piece of chuck roast a try after I found a recipe online. I modified to my Midea cooker's requirement. It's easy to follow and delicious.

One-pot cooking. Enjoy it with steamed rice.

Stuff you need:

2 - 3 lb boneless chuck roast. (the marble ones are tender)

1 cup flour

1/2 cup olive oil or cooking oil

1 cup onion, chopped 

1/2 cup celery, chopped 

1/2 cup carrots, diced

2 cups potatoes, cubed

2 tbsp garlic, sliced

5 cups water (just enough to cover the meat)

1 package Beef Stew Seasoning Mix

Do you have these ingredients in your refrigerator?

Direction:

1. Cut the meat into 1 inch cube. It's easier to cut when halfway defrosted.
2. Place flour and cubed meat in a zip lock back and vigorously shake the bag to coat all pieces.
3. Prepare a separate pan or pot to sear the meat 
4. Add oil to medium heated pan. Add meat pieces and turn frequently until all sides are seared.
5. Add onion, carrots, celery and garlic into the pan. Toss until onion is translucent. 
6. Transfer everything from pan to the pressure cooker's inner pot.
7. Fill with potatoes and water. Don't overfill and watch the maximum line. 
8. Cover and set to SOUP for 25 minutes.
9. Follow the standard procedure during and after cooking. 
10. Let stand for a least 30 minutes while release pressure.
11. Uncover and stir thoroughly. Season to taste with hot sauce or pepper.

Note:

Some recipes want you to sautée in the inner pot. But that would ruin the pot's luster. I prefer to use a separate pan, because I used so much oil and trying to cook in a small pot on my first try.

My Midea Pressure Cooker

This is a review based on my recent purchase of Midea Pressure Cooker. A similar review is also posted on BestBuy.com (4-star review).

My golden pot. No, it's not made of gold.

Before I bought this pressure cooker, I had a quick search online. I didn't see any negative review about it, although there isn't many. The price was so good and I took the chance. I didn't regret buying it because I've been using it twice a day during my first week of "trial".

I have tried every setting on this pressure cooker. My favorite is the Soup setting. The pressure builds up and the time starts to ticking. There is an internal weight measuring device to know how long it will need to cook. This 10-cup capacity for rice cooking is huge. So, I don't plan to replace my current 4-cup rice cooker. The rice came out really airy but needs to be consumed within a day. The rice quality degrades after being refrigerated after 2 days.

Below is my breakdown on each setting:

• Brown Rice - 18 minutes to start with 3 cups of rice
• Steam - default at 30 minutes, can be set at 1 to 60 minutes
• Soup - 20 to 45 minutes
• Slow Cook - 8 hours and can't adjust. Not sure if it's defective
• Beans - 30 to 60 minutes

After my first week of trial, I began to find Midea products online. It's a popular brand for kitchen appliances in Hong Kong. I also read the blog about their pressure cookers as well as learned some history and tricks in cooking certain type of food.

My only pet peeve was the instructional manual being highly inefficient and translated badly. There isn't any real recipe on there, only how to get started. I was overwhelmed with warning phrases. Yes. It's really dangerous if you don't obey. But it's far safer than the stove top pressure cooker. I'd rather unplug the cooker to release the pressure than using the lever.

Here are some of my recipes - http://loucancook.blogspot.com/search/label/Midea%20Pressure%20Cooker

I made Dim Sum

Not really. Whenever I have the crave for some dim sum, I steam these ready-to-cook dim sum pieces. They came out just like in the restaurants, without the hassle of driving somewhere to wait in line. Best of all, you cook what you want to eat.

The important thing is buying the correct items. Kimbo Dimsum Hap and Wei-Chuan Pork Mini Buns can be found at Viet Hoa International Market. They can be kept in the freezer for a few months.

Steam these ready-to-cook dimsum pieces bought at Viet Hoa International Market.

Easy steps:

• Traditional flavor is to cook them in bamboo baskets. Alternative is using stainless steel steam pot.
• Wet the baskets and follow instruction on package for water amount.
• Line the baskets with vegetable leaves to prevent sticking and food fall into water. I used bok choy. Alternatives are Napa cabbage, green leave lettuce, kale or waxed paper.
• Steam over high heat for 10 minutes, or directed by the manufacturers. Don't over cook the sticky rice wrapped dim sum. They will not retain the shape when mushy.
• When done, remove baskets from the pot and place on plates. 
• Ready to enjoy.