Korean BBQ Short Ribs

Once in a couple of months, J and I would go to the local Korean restaurant to have some good Korean food. We certainly will get some bimbimbab, kalbi (J's fav!), seafood kimchi pancake and spicy seafood tofu soup (my fav!). Since we moved to the East side, we could not find a Korean place where we can grill our food on the table. We sure miss it!

Tonight, J grilled up some Korean BBQ short ribs for dinner. We bought some short ribs from the Mekong Supermarket a month ago. I marinated the ribs in the pre-made Korean sauce (time saving!) for a few hours before grilling. The grilled ribs were AMAZING! We had the ribs with steamed white rice and some home-made dumplings that I made this afternoon. What a satisfying dinner!

Fig-Berry Ginger Cookies

I came across this delicious-looking cookies on the Cookin' Canuck's blog a couple of weeks ago and had been wanting to give it a try. I made a small batch of fig spread using the figs from our tree last month. This recipe was an excellent way to use some of the fig spread that we have. For the recipe, you can refer to Cookin' Canuck's - Berry Tea Cookies entry. :)

Sardine Puffs

I made some sardine puffs using pre-made roti paratha/canai dough this afternoon. Instead of making my own dough and wrap, I took a short-cut by using the roti paratha skins. You can find Kawan brand (made in Malaysia) Roti Paratha (Indian Flatbread) easily in the U.S, particularly at the Asian markets.

The puffs came out great. It was very flaky with savory ingredients. What a perfect snack in the afternoon! J was impressed by my sardine puffs and had 2 immediately! LOL

Makes 9 puffs
Ingredients:
Roti Paratha - 3 pieces
Sardine - small can
Red onion - cube or slice
Green peas - 1/4 cup
Tomato ketchup - 2 tablespoon
Salt - a pinch
Pepper - a pinch

Method:
1) Cut 1 piece of roti paratha into 3 equal pieces
2) Spoon 1 or 2 tablespoon of sardine (mix with green peas, red onion, ketchup, salt and peper) in the middle of roti paratha
3) Seal the sides by using a fork or hand
3) Bake for 20 min at 350F

Enjoy this easy and savory snack!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

My kitchen has been closed for the last two days since J went on a business trip. When he is not at home, I usually don't make any fancy food in the kitchen... coz you know? It is really hard to make food for yourself, and all the washing after that. Plus, it is good to have J around to try my food and give compliments. LOL

Tonight when I was checking out Aunty Yochana's blog, I came across this simple recipe for chocolate chip muffins. I had just bought some cocoa powder and chocolate chips yesterday and I thought to myself... why not? Let's make a small batch of muffins tonight. I can surprise J with my muffins when he comes home tomorrow.

The recipe that I used was adapted from Yochana's Cake Delight blog. I halfed the recipe posted to make a small batch. Thanks Aunty Yochanna for sharing your wonderful recipe! My muffins came out great. It was moist, chocolaty, bitter-sweet (I used dark cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips) and all the wonderful things!

Makes 9 muffins
Ingredients:
125 gm. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
240 gm. castor sugar (I used 200 gm for less sweet)
a pinch of salt
15 gm. cocoa powder
60 gm. chocolate chips
125 ml. fresh milk (I used fat-free milk)
1/2 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla essence
40 gm. canola oil

Some extra chocolate chips for sprinkling

Method:
(1) Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda , chocolate chips, salt and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl.
(2) Pour in the wet ingredients: fresh milk, egg , oil and vanilla essence.
(3) Mix till just combined.
(4) Spoon into muffin cups, sprinkle some chocolate chips on top and bake at 355F for about 20 min

Tip: I used a spatula to mix all the ingredients together without my electric mixer. You just need to make sure everything is well blended. No need to mix them too much. :) Try it out! I am sure you will love it!

Char Kueh Kak (Stir-fry Radish Cake)

When I talked to my sister online last week, she asked me to try to make my own radish cake because the it is rather simple to make at home (even in the US). I have been craving for some radish cake dimsum or stir-fry for a while and decided to gather the ingredient to make one last week. When I was at LeeLee Supermarket last week, I accidentally came across this already-made radish cake in a package. It has radish, shrimps, mushroom, and seasoning in it. Instead of making my own, I just bought a pack of the ready-to-cook radish cake from the market.

Making a good radish cake stir-fry takes some good cooking skills. Which, I haven't master. I just know that people have been saying that you need to use high heat to do stir-fry to get the 'heat' of it! I took this dish rather seriously as I already put myself up to a very high expectation and anticipation of a good plate of radish cake. I gathered all the necessary ingredients and gave it a try this evening. Viola! It came out great. J gave a pretty good compliment!

Ingredients:
Radish cake (cut in cubes)
Garlic - 4 cloves
Chinese chives - 1 bunch
Chinese sausage - 3-4
Egg - 3
Shrimp - ~10
Salty radish (dry) - 3 tablespoon (finely chopped)
Dark soy sauce (to taste)
Chili paste - 1 tbsp
Cooking oil

Method:
1) In a wok/deep pan, saute garlic. Add sausage and salty radish and saute for ~3 minutes
2) Add shrimps to the wok, mix well with 1)
3) Add eggs to the wok, stir-fry for 1 minute
4) Add seasoning - dark soy sauce and chili paste and mix it well
5) Add radish cake (in cubes) to the wok (in high heat), stir well until everything is well-blended for a few minutes
6) Before serve, add chives into the radish cake and mix it well

Enjoy!

Pandan Butter Cake

Growing up, we always have at least a pot or two of Pandan plants at our backyard. Pandan is a type of plant where you use the juice of the leaves to add color and fragrance to your bakery or cooking. You can also put a stalk of Pandan leaves in your dessert (or tong sui) to add some flavor to it. It is a very common Southeast Asian plant in cooking and baking.

It was a challenge to make anything with Pandan in the US. I wasn't able to find Pandan leaves until last week at LeeLee's Supermarket. Yipee! I was so thrilled when I found it at one of the frozen sections. Together with the Pandan leaves, I also bought a little bottle of Pandan flavoring (paste). Since I had everything on hand, I made a Pandan Butter Cake this afternoon. I refered to the Yochana's Cake Delight website for the recipe.

The cake came out fabulous! The smell of Pandan, butter and coconut was irresistable. Of course, the taste of the cake was excellent as well! We plan to make a cup of Vietnamese condensed milk ice coffee tomorrow with a slice or two of the cake. Yummy way to enjoy our weekend. ;)

Panko Chicken Breast with Couscous

TGIF! It is Friday again! I wanted to pamper ourselves tonight to celebrate the beginning of the weekend. Though it is just a regular 2-day weekend, it is better than none right?! ;)
I bought a bag of couscous on sale the other day and some panko bread-crumb from the Asian market. Panko fried pork or chicken was my favorite dish when I lived in Japan. It will be great to be able to make some at home.

Ingredients:
Panko Chicken Breast
Chicken breast - 2 pieces (I used a small pan to pound the breast into a thin slice for easy cooking)
Egg - 1
Panko crumb - enough to cover
Salt - a pinch
Pepper - a pinch
Oil - enough to fry

Couscous - 1 cup
Water - 1 1/4 cup
Olive oil - 2 tsp
Garlic - 3 cloves
Brocolli
Green peas - 1/2 cup

Method:
Making couscous
1) Boil water with 2 tsp of olive oil (you can substitute with butter), then put 1 cup of couscous into the boiling water
2) Stir the couscous to prevent sticking at the bottom of the pot
3) Immediately remove the pot with couscous away from the stove. Put the pot cover on
4) Let the pot with couscous sit for 5-10 minutes to absorb all the liquid
5) Use another pan, slightly saute garlic, broccoli and green peas for 5 minutes
6) Mix 5) into the couscous

Making pan-fried panko chicken breast
1) Dip chicken breast into the beaten egg with salt and pepper
2) Cover the chicken breast with panko crumbs (generously)
3) Use medium heat, slowly pan-fried the panko covered chicken breast for ~5-10 minutes
4) Cool it on a piece of paper towel after the chicken breast is done cooking

Viola! Another simple and delicious meal for dinner. Hope you enjoy it!

Bun - roti

I made some buns today using My Kitchen's recipe. I actually divided my dough into two batches, one was just the plain bun, the other type was mixed with walnuts and prune. It came out soft and fluffy as expected. I used bread flour this time instead of the regular flour! Results was amazing.