Archive for March, 2006

Rice Krispies Squares

A good breakfast cannot take the place of the evening meal.
~ Chinese Proverb

This week, Nanzaro wanted to make something for his brother’s birthday party and decided to make Rice Krispies Squares for him. We bought some “Christmas Special” package of Rice Krispies which comes with red and green rice krispies last Christmas and did not use it until now. Anyway, it makes very pretty Rice Krispies Squares, much better than the single brownish rice krispies.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup margarine or butter
• 1 250g package regular marshmallows
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
• 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Instructions

First of all Nanzaro melt the butter in the microwave for 30-60 seconds until the butter is melted. Nanzaro then added the marshmallows, and tossing it with a wooden spoon to coat the marshmallows with the melted butter. He returned the bowl to the microwave to melt the marshmallows for another 1-1.5 minutes. You know it’s ready when the mixture is smooth when stirred.

Nanzaro then stirred in the vanilla extract for added flavour.

Next, Nanzaro quickly added in the Rice Krispies cereals and stirred until they were all coated with the marshmallow mixture.The marshmallow will bind the Rice Krispies together. Nanzaro then poured the Rice Krispies mixture into a 13″ x 9″ buttered pan. He used a lightly buttered spatula to press the Rice Krispies firmly into the pan. The pan is then set aside to cool.

Once it’s cooled, I helped Marcus to cut the Rice Krispies into squares for serving.Allie and Helen said that they tastes wonderful … the kids just ate them and said nothing!

Popularity: 12% [?]

Dim Sum at Sun Sui Wah

Words that come from the heart stay warm three winters long.
~ Chinese Proverb

Panos slept over last night at our place and since we planned to go out for dim sum on this Saturday morning, we brought him along too. Panos has never been to a dim sum place before. We told him stories about eggs dunked in horse urine, chicken feet, beef tendon and all — he took it in good stride and told us he’ll try it all! :-)

We went to the Sun Sui Wah Restaurant in Richmond just across from the Lansdowne Mall. It’s a very busy restaurant, especially in the weekend. We went early just as it opened before the weekend crowds starts streaming in.

Dim Sum is a Chinese light meal or brunch, eaten sometime from morning-to-early afternoon with family or friends. Dim sum consists of a wide spectrum of choices, from sweet to salty. It has combination of meat, vegetables, and seafood. It is usually served in a small basket or on a small dish, depending on the type of dim sum. Dim Sum is a Cantonese term, literally translated as “choose heart”, meaning “choose to one’s heart’s content”. It may also be derived from the words “yat dim sum yi“, meaning a “little token”.

Dim sum dishes can be ordered from a menu or sometimes the food is wheeled around on a mobile cart by servers. Traditionally, the cost of the meal is calculated based on the number and size of dishes left on the table.

Char Siew Pau

Dumplings

Chicken feet and Beef tripe

Some modern dim sum restaurants record the dishes on a bill at the table. Servers in some restaurants use different stamps so that sales statistics for each server can be recorded.

Guess what? Panos took a couple of bites of some of the stuff and he gave up! He ended up eating only the Char Siew Paus and Char Siew Baked Buns — guess it looks more like burgers to him. We teased him and asked him to order toasts, eggs and bacon from the server!

The service was excellent and the quality was very good. Why, they even change our plates for clean ones every now and then. It is one of the more expensive places for dim sum. Expensive but still highly recommended.

Anyway, he said he really wanted a Big Mac and so we walked over McDonalds just across the street to get a Big Mac for him. Norm and Marcus wanted fries too.

I guess dim sum is an acquired taste to many people. To Panos, burgers are still the best!

Popularity: 8% [?]

Frosted Cupcakes

Words are sweet but they can never replace food.
~ Nigerian Proverb

Norman’s birthday coincidentally fell on spring break. He invited a few friends over to celebrate his birthday with him. So, instead of buying a cake from the bakery as we normally do in the past, I baked him some cupcakes instead. Cupcakes go very well with kids celebration like birthday parties or classroom celebrations. Because they are baked in a paper cup container, they do not require plates or utensils for serving — no dishes to wash!

BTW, do you know that cupcake is also known as fairy cake?

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup canola or corn oil
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream

Instructions

First of all, I sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set it aside. The sifting will airate the flour and also helps to mix the ingredients well.

For the wet ingredients, I used an electric hand mixer to beat the eggs and sugar on medium speed until it thickened and lightened to a cream colour. I did that for about 2 minutes.  Remember to scrape the sides of of the bowl during the mixing to ensure all ingredients are well mixed. Then on low speed, mixed in the oil and vanilla until blended. Next, I mixed in the sour cream until no white streaks remain.

The next step is to combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. I mix in the flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter is smooth.

The following step needs patience as I carefully spooned the batter into the paper-lined muffin tins. It’s because it is very drippy.It takes 2 tablespoons of batter to fill the paper-lined muffin tins to about 1/2 inch below the top of the liner. This recipe yields 21 to 24 cupcakes.

The cupcakes have to be baked in a preheated, 350 F oven, for about 23 minutes. You know it’s ready when the top feels firm and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

The cupcakes have to be cooled in the pan on wire rack for about 10 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes from the pan for further cooling on the rack before frosting them.

When the cupcakes are completely cooled, I frosted the cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  Nanzaro helped by decorating them with coloured sprinkles.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Nachos

Man is like pepper — you only know him when you’ve ground him.
~ Nigerian Proverb

I’ve never paid much attention to Mexican food. Maybe it’s because the names are so hard to remember and pronounce — or maybe there are too many syllables to those Mexican names! Maybe too, it’s because that I don’t really care much about dishes with beans. Beans makes the guys at home fart a lot!

I learn a little bit about Mexican food the past week when the Richmond Cooking Club featured simple Mexican food — salsa, guacomole, tortilla, enchiladas and nachos. This piqued my interests now on Mexican food and will try to learn more about it.

Today, I am going to blog on a very simple snack which I believe is a favourite with almost everyone. Nanchos in its simplest form is tortilla chips covered in melted cheese. You can add additional toppings such as salsa, sour cream, olives, jalapeno and what nots.

Here is an interesting story I found out about Nachos in Wikipedia:

Nachos were created in Coahuila, Mexico by Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya in 1943. The story goes that the wives of American airmen came to his restaurant after the kitchen had closed. Anaya quickly prepared the dish and later added it to his menu. The term “nachos” came from Anaya’s original name for the dish, which was “Nacho’s Especiales,” or “Nacho’s Special Dish.” Nacho Anaya’s original nachos consisted of fried tortilla chips covered with melted cheese and jalapeño peppers.

Ingredients

• A bag of Tostitos tortilla chips
• Shredded cheese
• A bottle of salsa, we prefer the hot and chunky type
• Pickle pepper, optional

Instructions

Line a baking pan with parchment paper for easy clean up. This is to prevent the melted cheese and salsa from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Then layer the baking pan with tortilla chips and sprinkle the salsa on top of the chips.

On top of that, sprinkle generous amount of shredded cheese. You should use a mix of cheddar, mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheeses.

For additional kick, you can add on some pickled peppers or jalapeno peppers.

Preheat a toaster oven to 250 Celcius. You may use the regular oven but for such a small snack dish, I prefer to use the toaster oven which requires less time to preheat and it generates less heat in the kitchen. The nachos has to be baked for 15 minutes or until the cheese melted.

Simple and quick.  Arkensen has been eating a lot of these the past few days!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Xiao Long Bao from Richmond Public Market

He who has burned his mouth blows his soup.
~German Proverb

We had earlier blogged about the Richmond Public Market. This week we went again to the Public Market to have a quick and small lunch because we had plans for a big dinner tonight.

Many of our Chinese friends had recommended that we try the buns from a stall called Tian Jing Northern Cuisine. The buns, called Xiao Long Bao (literally “little basket bun”), were very different in that it is not only filled with meat, it also is filled with broth! It’s amazing how they are made in such a way that the watery broth does not leak or absorb out. You gotta try it and see what I mean.

Xiao Long Bao are traditionally steamed in bamboo baskets, hence the name. It can be filled with hot soup and meat and/or vegetarian fillings, as well as other possibilities. The fillings are wrapped in something like a jiaozi wrapper that turns almost translucent after being steamed. Shanghai steamed buns can be recognized by their unique design, as the filled wrapper is gathered up into fine folds at the top, prior to steaming.

The buns we bought costs just $2.99 for six small buns. Just enough for a light lunch.

We were attracted by another type of buns in the same store which is called Gou Bu Li Bun — translated literally as “even dogs would not touch”!! It looks like ordinary buns.

These buns actually is similar to the smaller Xiao Long Bao — the filling is pork meat and has broth in it too. Unlike other types of buns, you’re advised to eat these buns with a chopstick, not with your hands. It’s because the soup/broth does spill all over your hands. The soup inside is created by placing some meat gelatin inside the dumpling before steaming. The steam heat melts the gelatin into soup.

This dish costs $4.75 for six buns and comes with a spicy and sour soup.

Personally I felt that it’s really nothing special other than the fact that it is filled with soup. It’s just OK but if I want buns I will go for char siew pau anytime.

You know what? I might just blog about making char siew pau one of these days.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Cinnamon Buns

Make bread while the oven is hot.
~ Iranian Proverb

I love cinnamon buns with cream cheese frosting, so does the others in the family. Everytime I walk past the bakeries or the bakery section in grocery stores I can’t help eyeing the yummy looking cinnamon buns (WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING) on the shelves. They are too expensive and costs a dollar or more each. Naw, I can make it much cheaper and tastes just equally as good.

This is my masterpiece — looks good? :-)

It’s very simple to make … provided you have a bread machine to make the dough. If you do that manually, there is so many factors that contributes to a perfect dough — kneading, water temperature, proofing the yeast, etc. With the machine, you just need to throw in all the ingredients and let the machine spin it’s magic — all done and prep’ed in two hours. Invest in a bread machine if you don’t have one.

I make this at least once a month. Nothing beats freshly made cinnamon buns when it comes out smelling nice and the soft, fluffy insides that nearly melts in your mouth. Perfect with a cup of fresh brewed coffee.

Ingredients

The ingredients below is used to make 12 cinnamon buns:

• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, cut up
• 3 cups bread flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1.25 teaspoons active dry yeast or bread machine yeast
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Instructions

I briefly described making dough in a previous posting (refer to the blog on Spicy Pulled Pork Bun).

I used a rolling pin to roll out the dough to a rectangular shape about 12″ x 8″.

Next, I brush the rolled out dough with melted butter leaving 1″ at the edge. The melted butter will help the brown sugar stick to the surface.

I then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon powder on top of the melted butter. Use as much cinnamon powder or brown sugar as you like it to be.

Next step — I rolled up into a tight roll, lengthwise (i.e. along the wider/12″ side of the dough).

It is important that you pinch the seam tightly all round, including the two ends. You need to do this so that when you cut it into pieces they don’t unravel.

Make 12 even sized slits on the roll to form 12 pieces. One simple technique is to first make three slits (of four equal sections) and then make further slits in between them to form 12 pieces in all. You understand what I mean?

You can now cut through the slits to get 12 pieces of individual buns of about 1″ thick each. If you pinch the ends correctly, they should not unravel.

I then arrange the buns on a parchment lined baking pan, spacing them out evenly.

Brush the buns with melted butter. I think doing this will prevent a hard crust on the top. Next step is to allow the buns to rise — this takes about 1 hour. Some people place it in a warm place with a damp tea towel over it. For me, I place them in a slightly warm oven. I normally switch on the oven to the lowest heat while I rolled out the dough. When the buns are prepared, I switch off the oven and place the buns in the oven to rise.

After 1 hour, the buns have risen to double its original size and ready to be baked. I used a 13″ by 9″ pan — and once they are risen, they will touch and stick to one another. You want to have them touching and sticking to one another because this will make it form in a squarish shape instead of round.

You normally bake the buns in a preheated oven at 375 degrees Celsius. Since I used a glass baking pan, I preheat the oven to 350 degrees Celsius. Did you know that in baking, you need to lower the temperature by 25 Celsius if you use a glass pan or dark colour pans? Baking takes just 15 minutes.

Sometimes I get some buns which rises too high like horns right out from the oven.

I use a spatula to flatten those buns which rise up too high.

I let the buns cool down for about 20 minutes. I want them to cool down just enough so that the warm buns does not melt the cream cheese frosting.

I used Betty Crocker’s Cream Cheese frosting to frost my cinnamon buns. All you have to do is to stir the ready made frosting about 20 times to soften it before I apply them.

Yummy right? For some reason, cinnamon buns without cream cheese frosting does not look as inviting.

I can make this again and again. So, if any Richmond friends want to make this, call me and we can make it together. I bet everyone in your family will like it.

Popularity: 7% [?]