Bittersweet Chocolate Powder

The weather was actually "warm" today in the high 30s/low 40s despite no sun. I feel like we're in Europe! I made a short trip to Whole Foods since it's only about a 5-7 minute walk from the apartment. I did not have a list of things to get, I really just wanted to browse the aisle to see if they had anything cool, since they usually do.

I bought these "chocolate bricks" from Trader Joes and although they're great for melting, however, not so great for baking. I decided to use my Blendtec or otherwise known as, the Will It Blend (an IPhone 3Gs) Blender, to ground the chocolate to be used in other baking adventures and late night chocolate milk.

Here's the brick.



All chopped up. Although I've been told that I don't need to chop it up before I blend it, I'm still scared. My blender is LOUD!



In my Blendtec.



Voila! There are some clumps but pretty easy to break up.




In any case, I do have the picture of the dumplings as I promised. Peter enjoyed them very much. :D I made a simple soy sauce with rice vinegar, one thinly sliced thai chili pepper, and topped it with some scallion greens.

Thịt kho (Traditional Vietnamese Caramelized Pork)

This is so easy to make and the ingredients list is as short as it gets. My mother used to make this at least 2-3 times a week so this dish has a dear place in my heart. Some people use pork belly, however, I like the chopped up pork ribs. What can I say, I like the crunchy texture. All you really need is pork, sugar, and fish sauce. I added some scallions, the whites for cooking and the greens for topping, and a teeny bit of thick soy sauce for a darker color. My mother used to make her own thick soy sauce and store it in the fridge to be used in this dish. However, the store bought kind is just as simple in ingredients.

See?!



Anyway, before we get started I want to share that since I've started this blog, a few of my friends have said to me, "wow, you must have a lot of time on your hands". I do have some time on my hands in between law school classes, my internship at GBLS, juvenile defense clinic, homework, and life.

With that said, let me reassure you that cooking does not have to consume a lot or ALL of your time. I will explain how I am able to do a lot of work in between cooking great meals. For example, if you have a lot of work to do but you still need to eat well then try a gourmet roast or braise because it only takes minutes to prep and hours of unattended cook time. You simply stick it in the oven or set it on the stove then go do work for the next few hours undisturbed. If you take a break from your work, then you can go check on your braise/roast but that only takes a few seconds. I drafted a FOIA request, read my suppression hearing materials, responded to emails, and chatted with some friends while my caramelized pork was braising on the stove.


The ingredients you will need (thick soy sauce not pictured).



Dump the sliced onions and about 2 tablespoons of fish sauce over the pork ribs. Mix well.



Add about 3-4 tablespoons of oil into a medium pot. I love this pot! It's a Caphalon iron pot that was given to me by my family. I turned the heat up to a 6.5-7.



Wait until the oil is hot then add the sugar. You can use white sugar but just remember to use real sugar and not Splenda. You want to caramelize the sugar. Stir often.



Once it looks like this, you can add the pork in but just be careful because the oil is hot and might splash.



Add pork + 2-3 tablespoons of fish sauce. Sorry! The photo is a bit blurry. I'd recommend adding some water, about a 1/2 cup while it's braising, unless you like it very saucy then add more water. You can cook it like this, or...



Add 1 teaspoon of the thick soy sauce to give it that dark color that you see when you order this dish at the restaurants.



Mix well.



Cook it covered for about an hour or more. I like to cook it for longer, like 2 hours plus, so the meat becomes very tender. In any case, cook it to your liking.



Once done, top with some green scallions and serve over rice.

Dumplings w/ Shanghai Style Wrappers

My apartment smells absolutely delectable from the cinnamon bun candle I burned last night.



It is true, no pain no game, I am sore all over. Yoga is definitely a great total body work out second to swimming (I'm biased because it is the only other workout/sport that I am good at). My Potsticker is coming back tonight around 7 PM right in time for dinner and he's got some good stuff in store for him.

Diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol run in my family. So it has become very important in making my food as simple and healthy as possible while still tasting yummy. I try to buy all natural and organic as often as possible and check the ingredients list for preservatives that I don't need to feed my body. The misconception is that eating Asian foods means high MSG, high sodium, high fat, high cholesterol, etc. but let me tell you, it doesn't have to be.

I bought these Shanghai Style Wrappers at my local Asian market and they're sold fresh not frozen so it does not contain any preservatives. The ingredients are simple and what you would expect to find in a wrapper - such as flour and water. The fish sauce I used to flavor the meat is the same and contains no MSG, preservatives, or food color. Ground pork can be a bit high in fat but you can, of course, try to find lean ground pork at your local organic grocery store.

I used to see my mother use this brand of fish sauce for cooking (not for making the dip) and I now also use it. It is pretty high in sodium so when I use this, I don't add salt to the dish.




Anyway, onto the fun stuff. A pound of ground pork. I'm playing around with smaller photos. What do you think?



A bunch of chives. Remember to cut the ends and toss them. Slice them finer than you would for a stir fry.





The ends (white part) of scallions. Yes, just that part. Trust me. Slice them as thin as you can.



Grab some oyster mushrooms. You can use other kinds too if you like. Remember, don't wash mushrooms just wipe off the dirt with a paper towel. Slice then mince them.



Now, throw all the chopped up ingredients in with the ground pork plus an egg. Then add 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and mix well.



Doesn't it look so good already?!



Dust a plate with some flour. This way, when you're placing your dumplings on the plate, it won't stick.



In a small bowl, add 1 tablespoon of flour and 2 tablespoons of water. Mix well. You're going to use this mixture to seal your dumplings. Or you can just use an egg yolk.



Take a wrapper (I used Shanghai Style Wrappers, which are best for steaming but not so much boiling) and place it in your hand - just like the photo. :) Then use the measurement spoon to ball the meat into the center. You can use a spoon, a melon baller, whatever you like. I like my measurement spoons.



Then dip your finger into the flour mixture and lightly wet the edges of the wrapper. I find doing it halfway is good enough but you can wet the full circle, if you feel that's necessary.



Fold it in half. You can leave it like that or make pleats.



To give it a nice pleat, all you have to do is just fold in small areas of the edges of the dumplings. If it doesn't hold then just lightly wet the edges with some more of the flour mixture. How pretty?



Place it on your flour dusted plate but don't let them touch. They're pretty sensitive and will tear as you try to separate them once they stick together.



You can now set up your steamer. I usually steam them in a med-high heat like around a 7. It should take about 10 minutes. You can also always take one out and cut it half to see if the filling is cooked. I'm not cooking mine yet since I'm waiting for the Potsticker to get back. Just wrap them up airtight and freeze them! They freeze very well so feel free to make a ton, cook some, and freeze the rest.



I'll take a picture later after I steam them. Also, use any dipping sauce you like. Enjoy.

Chinese Egg Custard w/ Nutmeg!

Gloomy Saturday. Sigh.

I finally woke up early enough (and determined enough) this morning to go to my 10:00 power yoga class at Healthworks in Back Bay. It was my first yoga class in four months! Let's just say, I got my ass kicked this morning. I could barely raise my arms after it but I am definitely planning on going back to yoga regularly this semester.

I did not have time to eat breakfast this morning so I was really looking forward to having dim sum ("yum cha") later in the afternoon with one of my best buddies. We've known each other since I was 13 and due to work, school, life, we haven't seen each other in a while, so some catching up was much needed. Instead of going to Chinatown, fighting over parking, and beating the crowds - we went to the China Pearl in Quincy. The place is huge, has plenty of parking, and no wait!

But all I could think about was the egg custard pastry... I remember always wanting one every time we were in Chinatown so today, I am taking on the mission to make some w/o the puff pastry. It's healthier. :)

The ingredients are simple. You will just need milk, egg yolks, and sugar. Just make sure everything is at room temperature so let the milk and eggs sit out for a bit, if not, the custard will break. However, I'm always on the more daring side and added a pinch of nutmeg and vanilla extract to my custard. My apartment smells amazing right now.



Okay, go pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees STAT!



Pour two cups of milk and a dash of vanilla extra into a sauce pan and turn up to medium heat. I turned mine up to a 4. You want the milk to be warm to the touch, not hot.



My measuring spoon says, "just a pinch", how cute.



Separate 6 egg yolks from whites. This is usually how I do it but you can also run it through your fingers or use an egg separator, if you have one.



Egg whites! Sweet. I am going to freeze this and use it some other day.



Add sugar and just a pinch of nutmeg. Yes, I am still using the splenda/brown sugar blend. Whisk until smooth but don't over beat.





Test your milk. Turn off heat. It's okay to leave the pot on the warm stove unless the milk is really hot, then take it off.



Now pour in the egg yolk mixture slowly and whisk at the same time. Sorry, I couldn't take a photo of my pouring and whisking. I tried, it just wasn't possible. :( Just imagine here that I was whisking at the same time that I was pouring that in.



You want to whisk constantly but lightly until the mixture is blended and smooth. Remove any bubbles. You want to do this for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is nice and warm.



It should look something like this once you're done. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before baking.



Set up two baking dishes and pour about a 1/2 inch of water into them. You can use muffin tins, custard cups, whatever you like, to bake the custard. Just place those cups in the baking dish and cover it in tin foil. Then bake for 20-30 minutes depending on how thick you pour it and to what consistency you prefer. You can take them out after the 20 minute mark to check on the consistency then decide whether or not to cook more (if you want to cook more, remove tin foil) or not at all. I baked mine for 30 minutes.

If you like the custard to brown like what you sometimes see at the bakery then bake it uncovered.



I like it better cool so you can refrigerate it for a bit before you serve it. The little specks are from the nutmeg. You can get the yellowish color by adding food color.



Enjoy!!!

Peanut Sauce Pasta w/ Tons of Veggies!

My stomach was growling all through bar prep class and instead of focusing on torts review, I kept thinking about what to eat tonight. My better half is traveling, again, so I will be cooking for one tonight. However, that does not mean I can't still eat well! I have been trying to eat more greens and cooking it in ways that incorporates lots of it but still tasting ridiculously yummy. Peter will eat any vegetable, even the ones he hates, as long as I top it off with peanut sauce. But since it's Friday night, I'm adding white wine to it and drinking a glass with dinner also. :) So here it goes...

Feel free to play around with the recipe. I used these vegetables because I had it in my fridge from a recent trip to an Asian market but if you have other greens and roots - use it! I used chicken, again, because I had it but if you wanna' use beef or salmon, go for it. However, I don't recommend white fish like tilapia because it is way too delicate and flaky and will not hold well.

The whole recipe takes less than 10 minutes to cook on med-high heat and about 7 minutes to prepare. Enjoy!!!



Shallots. Slice them. Then mince about half of what you sliced. Remember to have your thumb on the blade when you're chopping because this will give you maximum control over your knife.





I love fresh spinach. Frozen ones are good too but fresh spinach is just extra delicious. Make sure you rinse it well then drain it. No chopping involved.



Halves the carrots times two (quarter it, and in other words, could dice them if you like). Then cut it in half into about 1.5 inches in length. Now put the chopped carrots in the microwave and allow it to nuke for about a minute. This will help it cook faster. BTW, I am against skinning carrots.





Yay, Napa! Peel a few, set them on top of each other, and slice it.





Eggplant. Peter hates this thing but he will eat it, all of it, without issue, as long as I cook it in peanut sauce. Same deal, I like to dice, so slice, layer it, then dice them!







Chives. I love this guy also. I usually add it in my spring rolls. Tastes great raw or cooked. Just clean it well and chop it up.





Apple. Yes. Trust me, adding some apple will give the sauce a nice sweetness and texture without the need to add sugar. Slice thinly, layer, slice into shoestrings, and then dice it!





Of course, we're going to need a couple of red Thai chili peppers. Chop them up nice and fine.



Chicken. Dice them also. You get the drift.



Add some oil to your pan. Turn the heat up to a med-high. I turned mine up to a 7.



Wait until the oil is hot then throw in the shallots, both the sliced and diced. Stir a bit.



Add in the chicken. Stir it a bit. Then add a dollop of hoisin sauce. Stir it a bit. See the nice brown color?







Add carrots and eggplants. Stir.



Add chives and napa. Stir.



Add a cup of water.



Add white wine. About a cup is good.



Now add the spinach. I saved it for last because I don't like super cooked spinach. Spinach only takes 1-2 minutes to cook in hot a pan like this.



Fun part time. Add about 3 tablespoons of hoisin sauce and about 1.5 tablespoons of peanut butter. I like the extra chunky kind but feel free to use whichever kind you prefer. Also adjust as you go - you might want to add more of either the hoisin or the PB depending on how you like it.



Throw it the diced apples. Cook for a few minutes, take off heat, serve over pasta.



I did not feel the need to show you how I cooked my pasta but just imagine that I did... I like to mix different types of pasta to entertain Peter. :) I used all wheat BTW.



Voila! How yummy does that look?! It's also healthy (notice the theme). I rarely add extra seasoning such as salt and sugar when I am cooking with sauces but of course adjust the recipe to your liking.