“The Best” Banana Bread or Muffins

More than one person has told me this is the best banana bread they’ve ever had. My Mom told me the secret is to use ultra ripe bananas. The kind that are so ripe you would choose not to eat them.

Strawberry Pie

My family’s strawberry pie recipe was given to my mother by her very dear friend “Aunt” Barbara Schuh, sometime in the mid 1960’s.  I’ve only known one person who ever didn’t like this decadent, delicious pie. It wasn’t what he was expecting, because it’s “different” for several reasons. One, the strawberries are not cooked. Two, it has dairy. Three, it’s cold. And not too sweet. And delicious.

Bourbon Salmon

I like this recipe a lot.  It’s not overwhelmingly strong or soy-ish like a lot of other recipes, and the mango really brings out the flavors nicely.  To read how to make it, …

VEGAN CHILI

If you want a vegan chili that’s rich, tangy and satisfying, you’ve found the right recipe to try, right here!

Cashew Pineapple Pork

I was just looking back through old photos from my time living in China.   One of the delightful things about living in China was the confluence of other cultures and the exposure to many different types of cuisines.  This, in turn, influenced my own cooking palette.  After having this dish, not only did I make it myself, I decided it was good enough to document by way of photos.  Since a picture is worth 1000 words, I will post the photos and explain how I cooked it.  Because there are no quantities for ingredients and no specific cooking techniques, I suppose this is an intermediate rather than a beginner recipe.  Also, I imagine it goes without saying that this dish can be made vegan by leaving out the pork.

Lib’s Fourteen Day Pickles

Lib was my grandmother, and this recipe was handed down to me by her.  You can’t buy pickles like these in a store.

Fresh Gingered Cranberry Sauce

Thanks to Tracy from North Brookfield Mass for use of this image from Wikimedia Commons!

 

Growing up, I took my mother’s home made cranberry sauce for granted at Thanksgiving.   Pork was always served with cooked apple or pear, and turkey was always served with fresh cranberry sauce.   It wasn’t until we moved to China that I learned that cranberries and

Vegan Broccoli Casserole

2 January 2010

I was clearing my desk off (New Year’s Cleaning) and found this recipe.  I didn’t make it this season, so I’m just going to type what I wrote last year. 

Ingredients:

• 10 buttery crackers (like Ritz brand)
• 2 packs of frozen broccoli (or 2 lbs fresh)
• 1/2 onion or shallot
• 1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise (e.g. "Follow Your Heart" brand veganaise)
• 4 oz. shredded rice cheese, cheddar flavor (e.g. Galaxy International Foods brand Cheddar flavor "pasteurized process cheese food alternative")
• 1 can sliced water chestnuts
• 1/2 cup oat milk (may substitute non-sweetened soy milk)
• 2/3 cup white flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 vegan mushroom soup (e.g. Imagine brand Portobello Mushroom soup)

 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Microwave or steam broccoli and onions together until the broccoli is tender enough to smash it with a fork (about 6 minutes).  Remove from heat and smash with a fork.

Mix oat milk, mushroom soup, salt, pepper, and flour together.  Use a wire whisk to mix and get all the lumps out of the mixture.  Place this over medium heat, stirring frequently.  There are two objectives to stirring:  (1) make sure the mixture doesn’t burn on the bottom, and (2) make sure it cooks evenly so that the flour doesn’t clump together and form lumps. 

When mixture has thickened, stir in the shredded cheese gradually, allowing it to melt.

Once cheese has melted and the mixture is like a thick gravy, add the broccoli and onion mixture.  Then, add in the water chestnuts. Stir gently so that the mixture is uniform.

Pour the mixture into a casserole dish.  Last thing, crush the cracker crumbs and sprinkle the crumbs on top of the casserole as a garnish.

Heat at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until hot, or about 30 minutes.  (Since there are no eggs, the casserole will not thicken any additional amount; the purpose of heating is just to heat it and brown the top a bit.) 

Collard Greens With An Asian Flair

31 December 2009

Happy New Year 2010!     

Where I live in the “Deep South,” there is a special meal that everyone eats on New Year’s Day:  collard greens, black eyed peas, and corn bread.  There are different reasons given for this meal, all having to do with good luck.  (Don’t ask too many questions about these reasons, I can’t answer them!) 

Anyway, …  also here in the “Deep South” the deep green colored, somewhat bitter leafy vegetables called Collard Greens and Kale are about the closest I can get to one of our favorite vegetables I learned to love in China, which I just call Cai Xin (pronounced something like Ch-eye, seen).  I’ve adapted my Cai Xin recipe to create what I think is one of the best ways to serve collards.  ( It works well for Kale, too. )  In honor of the New Year, I’m posting my recipe for Asian Style Collard Greens.  Since I’m writing this from memory and not testing it step-by-step as I go along, use your best judgment as you cook. 

Ingredients:

• A couple large cloves of garlic, sliced as thin as you can slice it, to make about 2 – 4 teaspoons worth of fresh, finely sliced garlic (depending on taste)
• A piece of fresh, mild ginger, sliced as thin as you can slice it and then slivered again, to make about 2  teaspoons worth of fresh slivered ginger
• Soy sauce, to taste  
• A large bunch of collards, or two (how much is in a “bunch”? LOL)  If using bagged or frozen collards, one bunch would equal one bag.
• A large, sweet onion, sliced into lengthwise strips, if you like onion in your collards.
• A dash of corn starch, maybe up to 3 tsp.

Instructions:

Put a large pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil. 

Wash the collards.  Remove excess stems so that what you mainly have is dark leaves.  Using a knife, cut collard leaves into pieces that are a couple inches square (half the size of your hand).  Set the trimmed collards aside until the water comes to a full, rolling boil. 

While the water is heating, also slice the garlic as thinly as humanly possible.  Depending on taste, this could be one whole clove of elephant garlic or many cloves of smaller garlic, so that it’s about 2 – 4 teaspoons sliced, depending on your taste. 

Peel a piece of fresh, mild ginger that is about the size of your thumb.  In my grocery store, the best ginger is large and plump looking, and is labeled “Hawaiian Ginger”.   Avoid ginger that is thin, shriveled, and dried out looking.   After it’s peeled, slice it as thinly as you can.  Then, lay it back on its side and slice again so that it is in tiny slivers.  Set aside. 

In a large wok or skillet, heat some oil over medium heat.  When the oil is warm enough to sizzle some water that is sprinkled in, it is warm enough to cook the garlic.  Brown the garlic in the oil until it is crispy (very light brown) but not burned (not dark brown).  In my experience, it is very easy to burn the garlic, but you do want it to be crispy so cook carefully and stir often.  When garlic is done, remove it from heat immediately and set it aside. 

Next, saute the onion on somewhat low heat until it is translucent, then set aside.

Clean the wok for re-use to stir fry the collards later. 

When water is at a rolling boil, put the collards into it.  I tend to think of this as blanching the collards.  They will turn a very dark green (kale will turn bright green).  Without reducing heat on the stove, bring the collards back to a boil and let them continue to boil for about 3 – 5 minutes.  (This is not a recipe where the greens are cooked “to death,” as so many Southern cooks prepare their greens.)   If you’re not sure when the collards are done, try a sample to see if they’re still tough.  Whenever they’re tender enough to bite easily, they’re done enough. 

Now, put oil into the wok, bring to a high heat.  Corn oil will work best for cooking at high heat, because it doesn’t burn.  When the oil is nice and hot, throw the collards into it and stir fry them.  One of my Asian friends says that she loves that beautiful, loud “sizzle” sound when she throws her vegetables into the wok.  The Asian view is that the sizzle seals in the flavors.  Don’t cook the collards too long, just long enough to sear them.  Keep tossing so they brown evenly and don’t burn. 

Add the cooked onion. 

A hint to keep your kitchen cleaner is to put some old newspapers around the stove on the floor, to catch any oil that splatters and pops when you cook at this temperature. 

Now, add in the slivered ginger.  The onion and ginger should mix in with the collards as you stir them. 

Next, using your fingers, sprinkle a tiny bit of corn starch over top of the collards, as if you were putting a light coat of talcum powder.  This corn starch will thicken any water that remains from the boiling process.  Toss them around a bit to spread the thickening sauce.  Now, sprinkle with soy sauce to taste and toss a bit more.  Turn off heat. 

Transfer to a serving dish.  Sprinkle with more soy sauce if needed.  Garnish with the crispy garlic. 

Note:  if the crispy garlic is too much of a project (because it does indeed burn very easily), just saute it with the onion and use it that way.  It will give the collards a delicious flavor, along with the ginger.

When I met my husband, he wouldn’t eat greens.  Now, this is one of his favorite foods.  It’s that good.

YUM!  Enjoy! 

Technorati Tags: collard,southern food

Spicy Chinese Eggplant

 23 July 2009

My pen pal June just put a recipe on her blog. 
Rather than plagiarize, I’m simply going to put a link to that recipe
at the end of this entry.  I highly recommend this dish!  Even if you
think you don’t like eggplant (aubergine), try this anyway!   

Let’s
put it this way.  When I first met David, he didn’t like "any"
vegetables.  Over time, he came to like certain things but eggplant
(aubergine) was certainly never at the top of our list.  But that
changed when we moved to China.   One day David confessed to me, "Ten
years ago, if you had told me that eggplant would be one of my favorite
foods, I’d have thought you were crazy!"  Contrary to all our
expectations, this dish has definitely become one of our family
favorites (except that it’s too spicy for small children). This
particular recipe Yunnan Province in Southwestern China, but I’ve had
varieties of it all over Southern China.

Aubergine is a veggie
that soaks up flavors of the food around it.  In this case, the
eggplant soaks up the flavors of garlic, ginger, pepper, and soy.  In
Guangdong Province, it often has a bit of salted fish cooked in with it
and is slightly less spicy than the dish as served further West.  No
matter what the variation, this is a delightfully spicy, flavorful dish
that definitely stands on its own two feet, but the texture is soft
with just a bit of firmness for a very satisfying texture on the
palate.  In my opinion, it must definitely be served with rice.  If you
were using a Chinese style serving method, you would take a bit of this
food from the serving dish, place it on top of your rice, and then eat
it from there.  The juices from the dish then go down into your rice
and flavor that too.  The blandness of the rice is a perfect contrast
to the spiciness of the eggplant. 

Unlike some authentic
Chinese dishes, you can readily find the ingredients in an American
food market:  young fresh aubergine, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, hot
red peppers, scallions (green onions), soy sauce and (hopefully) a bit
of sesame oil. Use young, non-bitter eggplants.  In my opinion, the
long slender, bright purple eggplants are far superior to the big, fat,
black ones I usually find in American produce markets.  If you can only
find the round variety, purchase the smallest ones you can find in the
hope that they won’t yet be bitter. 

And now (drum roll) … click here for the link to: Eggplant Cooked In Red Sauce  

Quote

Recipe: Eggplant cooked in red sauce – GoKunming: Kunming news, events, listings, travel, business,

 

Recipe: Eggplant cooked in red sauce

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Editor’s note: As interest in Yunnan cuisine increases around China and the rest of the world, GoKunming contributor Guo Duomi will occasionally offer recipes for traditional Yunnan and Chinese dishes. If there is a certain dish you would like to see a recipe for, please send us your ideas via our contact form.
Eggplant cooked in red sauce – Hongshao qiezi (红烧茄子)
Eggplant or aubergine is a staple in not only Yunnan cuisine but Chinese cuisine around the country. Similarly, soy sauce-based hongshao dishes are available all over China.
Two types of eggplant can be found at produce markets around China. The first is the plump, dark purple vegetable well known in the West, the second is a longer, thinner version with striking bright purple skin. The bright purple variant is more prevalent but it may be substituted with the other as taste does not differ between the two.
Ingredients
2 medium eggplants
5 sprigs of spring onion
2 small green Chinese capsicums*
5-10g ginger
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp black pepper
Oil for frying
* Using zhoupi lajiao (皱皮辣椒) – a slightly spicy wrinkly-skinned variety of capsicum – is recommended for this dish. If zhoupi lajiao is unavailable, you can substitute with a standard green or red capsicum.
Method
Slice off the top and then slice the eggplants into strips around 3 centimetres long. Wash and chop up the spring onion into two centimetre lengths and chop the capsicum into small pieces. Wash the ginger thoroughly and slice thinly, leaving the skin on. Peel the garlic and slice it thinly.

Heat 3 – 4 tablespoons of oil in a wok on high heat and add the eggplant. Stir thoroughly until the eggplant has taken up all of the oil, then fry for around five minutes, shifting the eggplant around occasionally but giving it time to cook without being disturbed.
Ultimately you want your eggplant to be browned on the outside and reasonably mushy, you will find it gives back a lot of the oil to the pan when ready.
Once cooked remove the eggplant to a plate, leaving the oil in the wok.
Lower the heat slightly and add the spring onion, capsicum, garlic and ginger to the wok. Stir fry them together for around a minute and then return the eggplant to the wok.
Add in the salt, pepper and soy sauce and stir to mix thoroughly. Transfer to a plate and serve.
Happy Eating!

Recipe: Eggplant cooked in red sauce – GoKunming: Kunming news, events, listings, travel, business, living