Yum! Cake!

Saw this at a pretty disappointing bakery the other day. Yum! Cake! Sadly the baked goods weren't so hot, and my recent attempts at cinnamon rolls were also a disaster. Baking is really rough in China!

Beijing Onion Soup

Cooked in a wok, this soup is this is not-so-French, but still tasty.

Ingredients:

2 gigantic yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced.

2 tablespoons margarine

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup red wine (I used some Great Wall)

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced.

1 bay leaf (optional but really good)

rosemary (optional but really good)

powdered chicken broth





1) Sauté the onions, margarine and sugar in a deep wok. This is a good time to learn if one side of your burner heats faster than the other. The onions cook down so don't worry if the pan seems really full when you start.

2) Add garlic, rosemary, bay when the onions are translucent and brownish.

3) Add wine, and allow to thicken.

4) Add chicken broth powder and water.

5) Cover your wok, turn down the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.


Serve with toast and cheese, but it's also good plain. Next time I think I'll spring for the better wine.

Hutong Kitchen

Onion Pasta Sauce

I saw this on Orangette, and I made a few adjustments. Instead of Madeira, I used about 1/2 cup of that Dynasty red wine. Of course, I had to skip the cheese as well.

Braised Onion Sauce
Adapted from Beard on Pasta, by James Beard

James Beard’s commentary on this recipe reads, “Long-cooked onions have a naturally sweet taste. This is a substantial sauce, and I like to serve it with a pasta that has body, something like bows or wagon wheels or wide ribbons or macaroni.” I served it with shells.

8 Tbsp. (4 oz., or 1 stick) unsalted butter
1 ½ lb. yellow onions, halved and sliced about ¼-inch thick
1 Tbsp. sugar
¼ cup Madeira
¾ lb. hot cooked pasta
Salt, for serving
Grated Parmesan, for serving

In a large (12-inch) skillet, warm the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and translucent. Stir in the sugar, reduce the heat to low or medium-low – keep an eye on your stove and see what seems best – and cook the onions very gently for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. (Do not cook them too quickly or over too high heat, or they will get dry and papery.) As they cook, they will become meltingly soft and juicy, and they should caramelize to a deep shade of amber. Stir in the Madeira, cook for a couple of minutes to combine, and then add the pasta to the pan. Using two large spoons, toss the pasta well with the sauce.

Serve with a generous sprinkling of salt and some grated cheese.

Chinese Katsudon

Another find from RiceAgain! This one is a recipe for katsudon.

INGREDIENTS:

Two large rice bowls 2/3 full of quality steamed rice
2 pieces breaded pork of chicken fillet
1/2 an onion
1-2 cups of chicken broth
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirin
1 tsp sugar
2 eggs

1. Heat some vegetable oil (enough to cover what ever you will be frying) in your wok until it spits back when you flick water at it. I think it’s supposed to be 180 degrees celsius or something, but how the hell are you going to measure that?

Add the breaded meat fillets and deep fry until golden brown and crispy.

Remove, drain oil and slice the fillets into strips.

2. Mix mirin, soy sauce and sugar with the broth in a Wok of Skillet. Simmer.

3. Slice onion thinly. Add to the simmering sauce. Simmer for 4-5 minutes until onion is soft.

4. Add deep fried meat strips and simmer for a further 3-4 minutes making sure they are totally covered by the sauce.

5. Beat your eggs and pour into the sauce stirring as you pour.

6. Serve over steamed rice.

I make this one with mushrooms instead of meat, and no mirin (never heard of it until I saw this recipe!). Just fry the sliced mushrooms in with the onions, and add some chopped scallions.

PS If you like this, here are the rest of the tasty recipes on RiceAgain.

Hardcore Polenta

This one is so easy and goes with everything else.

Get some of the medium-ground cornmeal... your local veggie market should have some in huge bags. Boil some water in saucepan, add the cornmeal slowly, and add a little salt. Boil until the cornmeal can't absorb anymore water. Polenta! Tastes like home, but made from easily available ingredients! What else could a China expat want?

You can eat it right away, but I stick the polenta in the fridge to solidify and then fry it up with veggies and/or cheese.

Tomato-Egg Mush

Rice Again explains how to make tomato-egg mush. (he uses a different 4-letter word here). Now, I don't recommend making this, I recommend walking into any restaurant in the Middle Kingdom and getting a bowl brought to you. Seriously, they all serve it. I'm really just posting this so that in a few years, when I'm no longer in China, and I really want to eat some Chinese food, I can make it.

Ingredients

4 Large ripe tomatoes
4 Eggs (from Chickens, believe me in China you should specify)
Spring Onions
MSG* or Salt
About a heaped tablespoon of Corn Starch

Preparation

Finely chop your garlic and spring onions. Quarter your tomatos. Beat your eggs in a small bowl adding a pinch of salt to bring out the flavour.

1. Add a generous splash of oil to your wok and heat until it spits back.

2. Pour in your eggs as if to make an omlete. This part comes down to personal taste. Some people like their eggs in chunks others like it more scrambled, some even like to add the eggs after the tomatos so they mix in with the juice while they cook for a more sloppy mixture. Personally I like to add the eggs first, slowly turning over a high heat as the eggs cook. The idea here is not to make an ommlette but to allow the eggs to stay together into sizable chunks. I like to keep cooking until they are almost browned.

2. Next add the spring onions and stirfry with the egg quickly followed by the tomato pieces. The juice will ooze from the tomatos as they soften. Add a sprinkle of MSG* to bring out the flavours.

3. Take your cornstarch and mix in with about 2/3 cup of hot water stir out the lumps and add to your tomato-ey egg mixture in the wok. The diluted cornstarch mixture will thicken the tomato juice now in the bottom of your wok.

4. It’s at this point that you may decide to add some water for more sauce and MSG, or Salt to taste.

Not-So-Swedish Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 can of tuna
cooking oil or butter
chicken broth (instant comes in a yellow packet called Maggie's, with no surprise ingredients in the chicken broth!)
breadcrumbs (Western store only, try Parkson's or Carrefour)
pasta


Drain the tuna, and mash it up with a fork. Add one egg, and mix well. (If you have some basil or some Bell's seasoning from home, you can add it now.) Add breadcrumbs until the mixture is just moist enough to make balls, not sticking all over your hands. Make the tuna mixture into meatballs, and fry them lightly on all sides. Turn off the heat under the pan, then add enough chicken broth to almost-cover the meatballs, and put it back on to simmer. it's done when the the meatballs are soft and the chicken broth has thickened.

Cook and drain the pasta -- which in my case happens in the microwave since I only have one burner -- then serve with the meatballs and sauce on top.

Verdict: You could say I got Stick ready for this with ground-turkey Swedish meatballs back home, but it turned out well. No leftovers!

What is Rice-Cooker Gourmet?

Rice-Cooker Gourmet is all about cooking in China! Cooking in China presents it's own special challenges. Bread and cheese are rare luxury items. Meat comes in a cow, not a plastic package. And my kitchen consists of a gas ring and a microwave.

The one compensation for this is the fresh, cheap, delicious produce of all kinds.

I've been looking for vegetarian recipes, but I seem to keep finding recipes that involve opening a packet of tofu chicken or the use of a food processor.

Rice Cooker Gourmet is about my adventures cooking in China!