Vegan Dumpling Recipe

During my recent Virtual Dumpling Party, a guest asked about vegetarian or meatless version of Chinese dumpling. There so many recipes out on the internet. I said I would create one and share it with her.

Whenever I feel like cooking some meatless dish, I look for what I can find in the refrigerator. I don't necessarily buying specific ingredients during my weekly grocery run.

• Question: Can you replace meat with tofu?
• Answer: Yes. But I normally use defrosted frozen tofu to create meat texture. Fresh soft tofu is mushy and fresh hard tofu is hard to mix with other vegetables. (recipe coming soon)

 

Vegan Dumplings made for Pot Stickers

Ingredients:

1 cup Black Fungus 黑木耳, finely chopped
1 cup Napa Cabbage 大白菜, finely chopped
1 cup Mushrooms, chopped (shitake mushroom is ideal, but any mushroom works)
1/2 tablespoon cooking oil to sauté mushroom
1/2 teaspoon Ginger, Minced
1/2 teaspoon Garlic, Minced
1/2 tablespoon Scallions, Minced
1/2 teaspoon Sesame Oil
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1/8 teaspoon Black Pepper

Basic Savory for Dumplings

Steps:

1. Sauté chopped mushrooms in oil over medium heat until soften
2. Remove from heat. Let cool and mix with all other ingredients.
3. Assemble with defrosted dumpling wrappers. Follow instruction on package.
4. You can pan fry like pot stickers or boil as dumplings, depends on quality of dumpling wrapper. If hard to fold and seal, cook them as pot stickers instead.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Post your comments below. Thank you. 

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.

Butter Price War

Butter. Butter. Butter everywhere for the Holidays. Butter for the pastries. Butter for roux. Butter for cakes, pies and cookies. Butter for roasted turkey. Butter on your toasts at breakfast. Go Butter!

Generic Store Brand at Kroger during Thanksgiving sale.

Did you know Americans use more butter during the holidays in a typical kitchen? November and December time is the best time to stock up this commodity.

Land of Lakes butter at Kroger during 1st 2 weeks in November.

Just watch. After Christmas, these prices will go back to normal at about $4-5 a pound. Best way to shop is buy enough for next few months and keep them in the freezer. Beware of expiration date, tho.

Brewing a Perfect Herbal Medicine

This is about how to brew Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with 啞巴媳婦 Medicine Brewing Pot. It's sold at any Chinese grocery stores. The pot has standard shape and simple instructions. Mine happened to be an used one. I don't have any instructional manual.

Here is my instruction for what I learned by trials and errors.

1. Empty the herbs into the pot
2. Add enough water to cover the herbs. At least 3 cups, it depends on the amount of ingredient. I normally add half cup extra to the soaking process in the first brew.
3. Soak for 30 minutes. 
4. Plug the power cord into the electrical outlet. 
5. I place it on my patio because it can get a little stinky during brewing. 
6. It depends on the herbs, it may take up to 2 hours to finish brewing.
7. When it's done, ready light should be lit (green). Don't let it sit on warm cycle too long.
8. Unplug the power cord and let the pot cool down before pouring the liquid into a bowl.
9. Each package must be brewed twice, unless your herbalist says otherwise.
10. There should be a 30-minute cooling time between brewing. Otherwise, the pot may crack.

Tips: I mix both brews and separate it into 2 doses for even flavor.

Some medicines can be bitter than others. I'd cool it in refrigerator to reduce bitterness. But herbalist would suggest taking them with candy or add sugar to improve the taste.

From measuring to brewing, it has been the tradition for centuries.

Originally from Wu Ja web page.
啞吧媳婦煎藥壺建議使用方法

1. 先放入藥材於葯壺內
2. 再放水於葯壺內
3. 水量約3碗半至4碗(但須看藥材多與少)
4. 水量需超過中間發熱體與藥材
5. 建議可以的話，浸泡20分鐘

煎煮完成時間大約值：
例：3碗半煎成1碗，約75分至90分，每增加1碗約15至20分。因為與煎葯壺功率，藥材本身的吸水量、比重、甚至氣溫都有關連，所以會產生時間差。

煎葯壺；煎煮注正常大帖葯，會超過中間發熱體，若是無法超過中間的發熱體，表示是小帖葯，煎煮出來 有可能葯液量會比較多解決方法

1. 若1.2碗時：可以放置磁製湯匙1至2支來增加藥材容量
2. 若1.5碗至2碗時，可以葯頭與葯尾一起煎煮，(放6碗水，煎出來時分兩次喝)

啞吧媳婦煎藥壺使用應注意事項

1. 中間內膽一定要每次刷洗因為水有水垢，加上有粘性的藥材會產生藥垢，附著在內膽，會影響煎煮的準確度
2. 煎煮藥頭不能馬上煎煮藥尾中間一定要間格15分鐘以上，否則有可能不穩定亂跳的情況
3. 煎煮出來的藥液量，會因為藥材的多寡或吸水性，而產生不同的藥液量基本上以7分至1.2碗(175cc至300cc)均屬正常範圍

Twist'n Shout Rolls

Dinner rolls are the essential item at a Thanksgiving dinner. I hate to buy the ones in the grocery store that have been prepared weeks ago. One day, out of nowhere, I thought to make our own rolls by hand. It was a lot of fun. But so much work. The benefit of baking my own bread is that I can control what goes on top and how it shows.

Ingredients:

Proofing:
1 envelope Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 tbsp sugar

Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter, softened

Topping:

Egg White, Sesame Seeds, Coarse Sea Salt

Directions:

Proofing & Mixing:

1. Dissolve Active Dry yeast in warm water with sugar in a small bowl. Let stand until the foam doubles the size
2. In a large mixing bowl, add 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, milk and butter. 
3. Beat 2 min at medium speed of electric mixer. 
4. Add proofed yeast liquid and 1 more cup flour gradually; beat on high speed of mixer for 2 min. 
5. Add in additional flour to make a soft dough. 
6. Knead the dough in the bowl to form the correct consistence.

Rising:

1. Place dough in the greased pans, turning once to coat. 
2. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 30 minutes or until doubled.
3. Punch dough down and divide dough into 12 equal pieces. 
4. Shape into balls. Place in greased 8-inch round pan. Cover with moist warm towels.
5. Leave the dough on a cooking stove near a heated source. (not touching the dough).
6. Let rise 30 minutes or until doubled for the last time.

French Curl:

1. Prepare 2 equal amount of dough and form the dough into string shape of 8 inch length.
2. On a lightly floured surface, pinch 1 end of both strings together and twist them into a zigzag. Pinch the other end.
3. Brush egg white and sprinkle raw sesame seeds and salt crystals.

Baking:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. 
2. Bake rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, or until done. 
3. Remove from pan. Serve warm.

Adopted from Fleischmann's Recipe #662

Originally posted December 26, 2013.

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.