Archive for Food
May 31, 2008 at 3:19 pm · Filed under Food
One of my fondest childhood memories is the celebrations around Chinese New Year. This was a time of great excitement and joy, families came together, children were given gifts, and everyone enjoyed traditional New Year’s foods. Perhaps my favorite New Year food was Chinese dumplings.
Each New Year’s Eve my entire family came together to make dumplings for the celebration. Over time this evolved into a time honored and cherished family tradition. Making dumplings in those days was complicated work. The process required making dough, preparing fillings, rolling out wraps, and assembling the finished dumplings. All preparation was done by hand. We did not have food processors, dough machines, or other modern conveniences. You may think this is a lot of work but I have only fond memories of the time.
My brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, and cousins all participated in our New Year’s Eve dumpling making tradition. My mom always served as the leader and organizer. She would prepare the dough, wash the vegetables, and carefully check all the other ingredients and spices. My aunts and uncles would chop vegetables, prepare meats and carefully hand roll each dumpling wrap. During this preparation time all the family talked together, laughed and joked, and generally had a grand time. Sometimes the children were a little mischievous. When the adults were not watching we would take a few wraps and fill them with candies, salt, or hot peppers. We called these “good luck dumplings” and tried hard to make them look exactly like those made by the adults. In the evening we would all sit down to a big meal which included my favorite, Chinese Dumplings.
When I was old enough my mother passed down to me her recipe and techniques for making tasty traditional Chinese dumplings. Today I would like to share that with you.
I hope you enjoy these healthy, tasty treats. Perhaps they can become part of your own family’s tradition on Chinese New Year.
Traditional Chinese Dumplings
Serves 6 people:
• pound ground pork or ground lamb
• 2 pounds Chinese Napa Cabbage or pound of garlic chives
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
• 1 bundle green onions
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon cooking wine
• 1 pack of dumpling wraps
• Black pepper to taste
Chopping:
Wash the vegetables (green onion and Napa or chives) and allow them to air dry. After drying, chop the vegetables to small pieces approximately inch in diameter. Finely chop the ginger.
Mixing:
Place the meat in a bowl. Add the ginger, green onion, soy sauce, cooking wine, sesame oil, teaspoon of salt, and black pepper. Mix well. Add the Napa or chives and mix again.
Note: If you use Chinese Napa as the vegetable, after chopping but before mixing with the meat, season with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and let rest at room temperature about 20-30 minutes. Drain the Napa before adding to the meat.
Assembly:
Moisten the edges of the wrap with water. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the mixture into the middle of the wrap. Fold the wrap in half and pinch the edges together to form a sealed pocket. Repeat until all of the ingredients have been used.
Cooking:
Drop into a pot of boiling water and cook for about 15 minutes until they float to the surface. Be sure meat is sufficient heated to kill any bacteria.
Serving:
Serve with soy sauce or dip of your choice
Enjoy the dumplings!!
Staff Writer - egourmetstore.com
Visit us for free recipes, food photos, articles, tips and more!!
http://www.egourmetstore.com
May 29, 2008 at 5:20 am · Filed under Food
The role of a good cook ware in the preparation of a sumptuous meal cannot be overemphasized. When one consider purchasing a good cookware the first point that comes to the mind is the budget. Buying a standard cookware within one’s budget and at the same time obtaining all the pieces and features one has in mind is no simple task. If you belong to the category of people who take cooking a bit seriously you need spend some more time to look into the various aspects of a good cookware from the material from which it is made, to the number of pieces, features and the quality.
The first factor to be considered is the material in which the cookware is made. The first option is the stainless steel that is most popular, durable and convenient. It is also the most popular cookware material in North America being highly resistant against wear and tear and at the same time less expensive. It is also subject to criticism as the metals like iron, nickel, and chromium used in this alloy is said to create health hazards.
The other option for the home maker is the ceramic pottery, enamel or glass cookware. All these materials can be easily cleaned and are also heat resistant. The latest addition to this category is the plastic ware used for both cooking and storing. It has the advantage of being light weight, unbreakable and also being used in Micro wave ovens where other metals are not suitable. Cast iron cookware is normally pre coated with unsalted fat and heated to avoid rusting in the absence of porcelain coating.
The stainless cookware is to be washed in soapy water or warm ammonia with water solution. The cookware is to be rinsed and dried to obviate water spots in the cookware. Never one need use chlorine or alcohol instead only some mild cleaners. The copper cookware are to be cleaned by a commercial cleaner or a home made mixture of salt, flour citric acid, and ammonia if applied before washing would also serve the purpose. While copper cookware is highly expensive the stainless cookware with copper bottom is lesser costly. The copper bottom cookware does not spread the heat evenly and the bottom of the food gets heated faster and there are chances that the food at the bottom may get burned.
One need to buy a cookware that is less expensive, durable, and that distribute the heat evenly. Cooking pans with hot spots cooks at various speed at different spots and make cooking most unpleasant… The cookware made of cast iron, copper and aluminum may result in the food cooked to absorb the metal taste and sometimes even the metal content to get transferred to food. The fact remaining so, copper bowls are immensely useful in beating egg whites. Though aluminum is the least expensive it may cause reaction with certain type of food. If one chooses the Aluminum cookware the anodized is the best choice.
One need to remember that no cookware can be considered as the perfect and the most suitable for cooking on all occasions or for cooking of all types of foods. The ideal cookware depends on your budget, your cooking preferences and the food habits. However cookware made of stainless steel could be recommended as an ideal choice considering its price, economic life, easy cleaning, and less or no reaction with the food. No wonder it is also the most popular and sought after cookware in North America.
Linda Polansky writes about Choosing Cookware and Cookware Appliances
May 27, 2008 at 6:45 am · Filed under Food
Roasting Coffees at home is a passion with many coffee
aficionados, and there are even societies, special interest
groups and online mailing lists dedicated to this hobby. But
with so many options for pre-roasted, pre-packaged supermarket
variety coffee, why would anyone in their right minds want to
take the trouble of doing it all themselves?
First, with a little practice you can soon learn to do it just
right, to perfectly suit your taste buds. Secondly, you know
exactly what goes into your coffee, without needing to depend
upon the small print on shrink-wraps. Thirdly, there is of
course the satisfaction of being able to roast good coffee
yourself, and enjoy the rich taste of a pure home brew. Finally,
there’s the fact that green coffee beans cost about half the
roasted variety. Even if you decide to buy dedicated equipment
like a coffee popper instead of using the good old-fashioned gas
oven, you can soon recover the hardware costs with Roasting
Coffees at home.
Choosing the right beans is a very important step. There are
numerous varieties of green coffee beans available; you need to
read up a little and also experiment with different kinds before
determining what’s good for you. How much relative importance
you attach to the smoothness, thickness, weight, flavor,
complexity or body of your coffee will be the factor behind your
choice. For Roasting Coffees at home, always buy Arabica beans
rather than Robusta. Arabica, though costlier, is certainly more
savoury, and has more richness and complexity.
Depending on whether you prefer a bright, acidy taste or a
full-bodied flavor, vary the roasting temperature of your gas
oven. Preheat a perforated pan to between 500 and 540 degrees
Fahrenheit. Lower temperatures will yield more body, while the
higher range tends to produce coffee with more pungency,
brightness and acidity. Buying some sample roasted beans of your
favourite flavor is good for comparison study in the early
stages of your home coffee roasting.
Arrange the beans one-layer deep on the pan and insert in the
oven. In about 7 to 10 minutes after you begin the coffee
roasting, you should begin to hear the beans popping. Starting 2
or 3 minutes after that, keep peeping in every minute or so, to
find out whether the beans are approaching the colour and
texture of your sample variety. You’ll see that coffee beans
nearly double in size during the process, and develop an oily,
dark texture.
Conventional wisdom has it that you need to wait for at least 4
hours (and up to a day) after coffee roasting, before you can
grind and enjoy your drink. However, fresh roasted coffee
directly from the oven is also delicious. Use a conical burr
grinder for grinding if possible, because they use an optimal
revolution speed. Other grinders that rotate too fast can
generate excessive heat, thereby compromising the taste and
flavor.
Roasting Coffees at home is easy to do, and you should get the
hang of it after only a few trials and errors. In addition to
being cheaper and more customizable than supermarket varieties,
Roasting Coffees also recaptures some of the romance about this
passion that has been forgotten since the coming of mass coffee
production and large scale advertising.
If you want to really get into roasting your own coffees, you
could purchase a Coffee Roaster. At any rate, your coffee will
be much fresher and better tasting if you choose to roast and
grind your own coffees.
May 18, 2008 at 8:08 pm · Filed under Food
John
Hussey of Sydenham, England, drank lemon balm tea with honey for breakfast
every morning. He lived to see his 116th birthday. It’s no wonder
then that lemon balm is often dubbed “The long life herb”.
Lemon balm is one of our favourite herbs. A cup of
lemon balm tea after dinner aids digestion and promotes sleep. Some folks add
lemon juice and a little honey, but I prefer mine plain. The simple, pure lemon
taste is such a delight and it needs no sweetening, especially if it’s made
from fresh, not dried herbs. However, it’s a good idea to dry some lemon balm
for the winter. If you’re wound up and really feel the need to relax before
heading for bed, just add a little Valerian and/or St. John’s Wort herbal
mixture to the tea.
Beekeepers
have grown lemon balm near hives for generations because of its abundant
nectar. There is also a legend that a hive rubbed inside with the leaves will
never lose its bees. This is why the herb is also known as “bee
balm”. The Latin name is Melissa
officinalis, so the herb is also sometimes called “Melissa”.
Indeed, the word “Melissa” is Greek for bee. Botanists have a habit
of blending the two classical languages for their terminology. Another herb,
monarda, or bergamot is also known as bee balm, but the two are not to be
confused. Monarda is called bee balm because a poultice made from the herb is
supposed to ease the pain of bee stings.
Lemon
balm is a hardy perennial that grows readily in most areas. Indeed, as a member
of the mint family it can become quite invasive, which is why it’s a good idea
to grow it in barrels.
In his excellent book, The Green Pharmacy, James A. Duke, Ph.D., lists lemon balm for the
treatment of: amenorrhea (lack of menstruation), chronic fatigue syndrome,
hypothyroidism (under-active thyroid), Graves disease (over-active thyroid),
headache, herpes virus, insomnia, shingles and viral infections.
In
Tudor England lemon balm leaves were used as a furniture polish, a tradition
carried on today in the form of lemon scented polishes. The Carmelite nuns
formulated an elixir tonic called Carmelite Water using brandy, nutmeg,
angelica root, lemon rind and lemon balm.
But it
is as a culinary herb that lemon balm really sparkles. In summer, it’s perfect
to add to cold drinks and salads. The following recipe is a late summer Pender
Island favourite, when the island blackberries are ripening and there’s still
plenty of lemon balm growing:
Pender Island Chicken Stew with Blackberries & Lemon Balm
4 boneless chicken
breasts, skin on
2 Tbsp. extra virgin
olive oil
cup of hearty red wine
cup of chicken stock
Grated rind of 1 small
orange
1 Tbsp. of freshly
squeezed orange juice
cup of fresh lemon
balm, finely chopped, plus 4 extra sprigs for garnish
2/3 cup of heavy cream
1 egg yolk
cup of fresh
blackberries, plus another half cup for garnish
1 tsp. arrowroot powder
(optional)
Salt & freshly
ground black pepper to taste.
Sauté both sides of the chicken breasts in the olive oil
over medium heat sufficiently to seal in flavor, about five minutes each side,
then transfer them to a casserole dish. Add the wine, chicken stock, orange
rind and juice and lemon balm to the sauté pan, stirring while bringing it
slowly to the boil. Add the salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Pour
over the chicken and bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Blend the cream with the egg yolk, along with about half-cup
of liquid from the chicken that you’ve allowed to cool. Along with the
blackberries (reserving some for garnish), stir this back into the casserole,
cover and bake for another 10-15 minutes. If a thicker sauce is desired, remove
half a cup of liquid from the casserole, allow it to cool, blend in the
arrowroot powder and stir back into the sauce.
Garnish with the rest of the blackberries of lemon balm
sprigs.
For
dessert, try the following:
Berry Balm Crunch
2 cups
of blackberries, raspberries or blueberries
3
tablespoons of lime juice
2/3 of
a cup of packed, brown sugar
1/3 cup
of unbleached white flour
1 cup
of quick cooking rolled oats
1/3 cup
of shredded coconut
cup
of butter, melted
1 tsp.
cinnamon
1/3 cup
of finely chopped fresh lemon balm leaves
Mix the berries, limejuice and lemon balm in a bowl, then spread this mixture
in an eight-inch square buttered baking pan. Mix the rest of the ingredients
thoroughly and pack over the berries. Bake at 375F degrees for about 30
minutes, or until crisp and brown. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream or whipped
cream with a garnish of fresh lemon balm leaves.
April 14, 2008 at 11:14 pm · Filed under Food
“Thicken”, or “Thickening” is a very common technique used in both Chinese restaurants and household kitchens. It is very easy to prepare, but if not used properly, can really mess up the presentation. Below is a brief description of “Thickening”. You can learn more about other Chinese cooking techniques in the Techniques section of our website.
Technique: Thicken
Thicken, or thickening, refers to the use of cornstarch as a part of the process of preparing a Chinese dish. Cornstarch is a very commonly used condiment in Chinese cooking. When used properly, it can really make your presentation stand out. Below are two important pointers:
- Follow the recipe as given
Too much cornstarch can make the dish too pasty. Too little would make it too thin. After cooking a particular dish the first time, you can use the original recipe as a guide to increase or decrease the amount of cornstarch to add to your dish to your liking the next time (even though we are confident that you’ll love the recipes we have on our website :).
- Watch the timing and stir appropriately
Do not add cornstarch (and water) until the dish is cooked. You must also stir gently and quickly once it is added to the dish, as it tends lump up if not stirred immediately.
Pretty simple, right? Now, you can check out our recipes section and find a recipe to practice it on (wink).
Helen Fan grew up in a family that has owned various Asian restaurants all over North America, from Vancouver (Canada), Houston (Texas), Decatur (Illinois), to Chicago (Illinois). She, and the rest of the Fan family are now sharing their decades of knowledge on the art of Chinese cuisine at http://www.ChineseHomeCooking.Com
You can learn more about other Chinese cooking techniques at http://www.chinesehomecooking.com/techniques/techniques.htm
April 8, 2008 at 11:18 pm · Filed under Food
Trapped in the frenzy of searching endlessly for a last-minute gift? Perhaps a special occasion is coming up - a birthday, an anniversary, a graduation. Or maybe you’re looking for a holiday gift - Christmas, Hanukah, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, etc. Or perhaps you’re looking for a unique gift for a spouse, significant other, or a friend or relative. Maybe it’s a get-well present that you are considering. Whatever the occasion, a gift basket is always appropriate.
After all, few people can resist delicious Cookies, scrumptious Wholesome Treats, Chocolate Mini Bites, Wholesome Granola, Chocolate Fudge, Buttery Sugar Pops, and… need I say more? Let friends and loved ones know you cared enough to give them the very best. Remember: Gift baskets are always a splendid gift idea!
About the Author
Tom is the owner of Splendid Gift Ideas.
