Han Ju Restaurant on Kingsway, Burnaby
Ben and I went to Crystal Mall after church service for grocery shopping and lunch. We had lunch at Han Ju Restaurant. In the colder weather, we look forward to…
Gia Minh Vietnamese Restaurant on Fraser St., Vancouver
Jo invited Ben and I for dinner on a weekday impromptu.
Jo ordered a couple of appetizers. The first one was the above BBQ squid. It was tender and it came with a dipping sauce.
Jo wanted the salad roll but ordered wrongly and got the spring roll instead. The spring roll was rather skinny. I prefer those wrap in rice paper.
Jo decided to order another salad roll which she originally intended. Salad roll is more healthy without the deep frying. This came with a peanut dipping sauce. (more…)
Korean Egg Bread (Gyeran-ppang)
Ben made this Korean Egg Bread for me to bring for lunch at work.
We used a muffin tin to make four with egg filing. Since I am not a fan of egg, I asked him to made me a couple with cheese only.
We used a rectangular aluminium foil pan to make mine so that I get a bigger portion.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 7 tablespoons sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs for the cake batter, extra eggs for filing
- cooking oil for coating the pan
- Mozzarella cheese, optional
Source: this recipe is adapted from https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/gyeran-ppang
Yields: 4 rectangular bread or 8 muffin size bread
Costco Foodcourt in Bellingham
When we were shopping in the Costco in USA, we decided to grab our lunch there. There is self service terminal for ordering food here. We had the usual hotdog…
Korean Spicy Garlic Fried Chicken (Kkanpunggi)
Ben made this Korean snack food for the family. The recipe is adapted from one of his favourite youtube food blogger, Maangchi.
Our boys simply love this crunchy boneless chicken nugget with a sweet and spicy sauce.
Ingredients
Chicken marinate:
- 3 chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into bite size pieces
- 1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 3 teaspoons light soy sauce
- 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 whole egg plus 1 egg white
Spicy garlic and leek-infused oil:
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups thinly shredded leek (1 whole leek)
- 12 garlic cloves, cut into halves
- 2 to 3 tablespoons red chili flakes
Vegetables and seasonings:
- a small bunch of green onions (about 6 to 8), chopped
- 1 large sized onion, chopped
- 10 dried chili peppers
Sweet and sour sauce (combine in a measuring cup, stir and mix well):
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 6 tablespoons water
- 4 to 6 tablespoons syrup (or sugar)
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 3 teaspoons potato starch
Oil:
- 1 cup vegetable oil for frying
- a few drops of sesame oil
Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly
Ben made this Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly for dinner.
Everyone at home loves it. It is saucy and the pork belly has the right amount of fat and lean meat which gives it the great texture.
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork belly, cut into small strips
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil, optional
- 4 to 5 medium shallots, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 pieces of dried shiitake mushroom, re-hydrated (reserved soaking liquid), diced
- 1 teaspoon five spice powder
- a few dashes of ground white pepper
- 1/2 cup of white rice wine (Chinese cooking wine)
- 1/3 cup light soy sauce
- 1/3 cup dark soy sauce
- 15g rock sugar
- 1 can (395ml) chicken stock
- 300ml mushroom soaking water
- 4 hard boil eggs – as complement
- blanched green vegetable – as complement
This recipe is adapted from spicenpans.com
Serves: 5 to 6
Malay Curry House in Crystal Mall Foodcourt
After church service on Sunday, Ben and I went to Crystal Mall food court for lunch and buy groceries, killing 2 birds with one stone. We tried the Malay Curry…
Homemade Seremban Siew Bao
Ben made the Seremban Siew Bao from scratch at home because he misses it. The last time he had it was probably six years ago when he went back to Malaysia.
The Siew Bao was a success and Ben was very satisfied. He got the recipe from this youtube. We made some adjustments to the recipe to our preference like:
- darker colour filings
- darker glaze by just using egg yolk
- more liquid in the seasonings to add moisture to the filings
Ingredients
Pork Filing:
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 4 slices ginger
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 1 pound ground pork
Pork Seasoning:
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour dissolved in 3/4 cup chicken broth
Water Dough:
- 400g all purpose flour
- 100g butter in room temperature
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 180ml water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Oil Dough:
- 200g all purpose flour
- 140g butter in room temperature
Glazing and Garnishing:
- 2 to 3 egg yolks, beaten
- toasted sesame seeds
Yield: 24
Vegetarian Steamed Eggplant with Garlic Sauce
Ben made this vegetarian Eggplant as a side dish.
Ingredients
- 1 long Eggplant
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 green onions, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- chili flakes, optional
- toasted sesame seeds for garnishing
Fraser Park Restaurant on Byrne Road, Burnaby
Nanzaro treated the family with a German brunch.
Fraser Park Restaurant is located at an unassuming warehouse park at Byrne Road. It was very busy when we arrived around 11:30AM on a Saturday. Sharing table is a norm here.
Ben and I shared a German breakfast as the serving is big. It is a bed of hash brown topped with 3 eggs scrambled with sauteed onions, peppers and cheese. On top of that, there is sausage and generous amount of bacon and ham.
The German breakfast also comes with 2 toasts of your choice and a piece of fruit. (more…)