Scallion Pancake - Cong You Bing 蔥油餅

Hello! Last post was 5 years ago!! The 2020 Pandemic is upon us, so let's make the best of it with some mouth-watering cooking! Nom Nom

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Scallion Pancakes

If you've ever ordered this at a restaurant, they were probably skimping out on the scallions. Make it yourself, and get the full scallion experience! 

TCM Properties: scallions are warm and acrid; enter the Lung and Stomach; moves yang qi; disperses internal and external cold 

Ingredients (makes one large pancake)

-1c flour (+ some) 

-1/3c hot water

-scallions - finely chopped and generous (probably 2-3 stalks) 

-salt

-neutral oil 

*Variations: my mom is known to substitute part of the flour/water with steamed pumpkin/yam etc; and she also adds in sesame seeds!  Very tasty :)

1. Mix in the hot water to the flour with a spoon 

2. Knead into a soft, but not sticky, dough; add more flour as needed. 

Let dough rest for at least 30 min.

3. Roll out dough as thin as possible;

spread a thin even layer of oil on top;

sprinkle scallions over evenly;

season with salt (and sesame seeds too if you want) 

*more salt if you plan to eat it as is, less salt if you're accompanying with something else, or prefer to dip in soy sauce 

4. Roll up

5. Create a spiral like this;

roll into a thin pancake. 

*if you plan to freeze, you can wrap each individual ball in plastic wrap

6. Heat up a well oiled pan; bring the temp to a low/medium; 

flip regularly to keep it fluffy and allow for even cooking; 

Cook until well browned on both sides 

*secret is to use more oil. I never seem to use enough! 

7. Slice and enjoy! 

*serve with a soy sauce/sesame oil dipping sauce if you wish!

Hot and Sour Soup

Hot and Sour Soup
Restaurant style is always too thick, and contains barely any veggies, etc. In less than 20min, you can easily create a pot for the whole fam!

Ingredients

-onions, thinly sliced

-garlic, minced

-ginger, grated

-cabbage, thinly sliced

-carrots, shredded

-black wood ear (hei mu er), thinly sliced

-tofu, small rectangled 

-egg, scrambled

-broth

-water

-dark soy sauce

-rice vinegar (white or dark)

-salt

-white pepper

-starch (corn, or other) thickening agent

1.     Saute onions and garlic and ginger

2.     Add water, broth, cabbage, carrots, black wood ear mushrooms, and tofu

3.     Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes

4.     Bring back up to a boil

5.     Add soy sauce

6.     Make a roux with cornstarch, or other thickening agent, to your desired thickness

7.     Drizzle the scrambled egg in to make ribbons, just before turning off heat

8.     Add vinegar and white pepper to taste, or have each individual add to their own serving to taste.

Liang Mien "Cold Noodles"

Liang Mien "Cold Noodles"

A nice simple summer meal! Cucumbers are refreshing and in season, especially in this dry heat...in Seattle....

 Ingredients

-noodles

-shredded carrots

-julienned cucumbers

-cilantro

-sesame oil

-peanut butter

-soy sauce

-rice vinegar

-minced garlic

-sugar

-salt

1.     Cook noodles as directed. Rinse with cold water. Add a little sesame oil and salt

2.     Sauce: Add some hot water to the peanut butter to thin out. Mix in soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, minced garlic, and salt to taste.

3.     Boom. That was easy! 

Baked Daikon Pastries - Luo buo si bing 蘿蔔絲餅

Baked Daikon Pastries - Luo buo si bing 蘿蔔絲餅

Makes about 10

Filling:

• one medium sized daikon
• green onions
• dried shrimps (or bacon)
• salt and pepper

dough part one:

• 3/4c flour
• 4TBS oil
• 4TBS water

dough part two:

• 2/3c flour
• 3TBS oil
• pinch of salt

Grate daikon, salt, let sit and squeeze out excess water.

Slice green onions
Soak shrimps in water to soften and finely chop

Briefly stir-fry shrimp until aromatic

Mix daikon, green onions, shrimp, more salt if needed, and pepper

Make the two doughs by just mixing all the ingredients together.
Separate each dough into 10 pieces
wrap the doughier one around the oilier one, creating a ball

Flatten and roll up

Flatten again, and roll up in other direction (we're creating a flaky pastry!)
Flatten one more time, and create a circle

Enclose filling

so cute!

Brush with egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds on top
375 degrees F, 25 minutes or until golden brown!

Enjoy!

Dumplings

Dumplings  - Today's recipe

When cooked in water: shui jiao

Or when Pan Fried = Jiao zi

Ingredients:

-Meat of choice (tofu works too)

-Shrimp  -deveined and chopped

-Chinese chives (grows very well here! Or something aromatic)

-Chinese cabbage - blanched, chopped and squeezed 

-Carrots - shredded 

-ginger - generous and grated

-soy sauce

-wrappers - store-bought, or handmake (Never have made gluten-free, but if you do, let me know how it goes!!)

1. Mix meat, ginger, soy sauce, and water (or excess water squeezed from chopped blanched cabbage) in one direction until sticky

2. Add chopped vegetables - Chinese chives, blanched cabbage, shredded carrots...

3. Wrap like this, or whatever works - as long as it's well enclosed 

Shui Jiao: 4. Add dumplings to boiling water. Medium heat. When water comes back up to boil, add ~ 1 cup of water. Do this 2x total. Total cooking time ~10min. 

OR-

Pan Fried: 4. Fill well-oiled pan up with dumplings. Add ~ 1 cup of water. Cover. Let all the water evaporate, and then cook a bit longer until bottom browns nicely. 

5. Dipping sauce: Some combo of sliced garlic, soy sauce,  rice vinegar, and sesame oil

...and Siracha on the side 

Enjoy :D

Daikon Congee

Tried making the daikon rice cake "luo buo gao" with Bob's rice flour, and unfortunately the texture wasn't quite the same. No worries -  turn it into daikon congee! Just add water :)

Steamed Eggplant, liang ban qie zi

Ingredients

-Chinese eggplant ( not American - the
skin is too thick)

-Chopped cilantro

-Chopped garlic

-Chopped green onions

-Red pepper flakes

-Soy sauce

-Sushi vinegar
-Sugar (if using regular rice vinegar, or optional)

-Salt (if using less soy sauce)

TCM Properties

Eggplant - sweet, cooling, clears heat, moves blood

stops bleeding, reduces swelling. But once steamed, it 

is more neutral

1. Steam eggplant until soft, about 15-20min

2. Peal open eggplants with fork
 ("Mom, is this how you always make it?
Well,  sometimes I use chopsticks" ...I was referring to the method of  preparation).

3. Add chopped cilantro and garlic

4. Heat up a little oil, add red pepper flakes and green onions, just for a moment until fragrant

5. Turn off heat, and add soy sauce, sushi vinegar, 
and sugar (optional) to dissolve.

6. Pour oil/sauce over eggplant, mix, let sit for a few minutes
before serving