Fig Berries Cream Cheese Loaf

I came across this fabulous cream cheese loaf recipe this afternoon from My Kitchen Snippets. The recipe is so easy that you can really make it in less than 5 minutes (pre-baking)! Since I have some figs, blueberries and strawberries in the fridge, I decided to throw everything together in the loaf!

The results was wonderful. It will be a perfect afternoon tea snack for both of us or even breakfast!

Ingredients:
5 oz of low fat cream cheese
1 egg - yolk and white separated
2 tbsp of powder sugar (use more sugar if you have sweet tooth ;) )
1/2 cup fresh berries (use blueberries, strawberries) and fig
1 (11 oz) tube of bread stick dough (Pillsbury)

Glaze
1/2 cup of powder sugar
2 tbsp of lemon juice

Method
1) Preheat oven to 350F
2) Mix together cream cheese, powder sugar and egg yolk
3) Unroll breadstick dough into a rectangular shape (you need to press the seam together - tightly!)
4) Spread 2) mixture on the center of the dough
5) Put berries and fig over the cream cheese evenly
6) Start from the top and bring and braid dough strip to cover the filling
7) Beat the egg white and brush it all over the loaf. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool the loaf.
8) Combined the powder sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle all over the cool loaf before serving

Hope you enjoy it!

"Lion's Head" meatballs - 狮子头

I knew nothing about "Lion's head" meatballs before I met J. Ever since I met him, he has been raving about this particular dish that he had when he lived in China a few years ago. After he talked so much about this dish, he finally took me to a Shanghainese restaurant in town a few months ago to try it out. Well, I have to say that my first Lion's Head dish didn't leave any particular impression on me. Probably because we had a table fulled of wonderful dishes at that time. :)

I have this lovely cookbook from Williams Sonoma - Savoring China with Lion's Head recipe in it. I gathered all the ingredients needed last weekend and decided to give it a try tonight! Actually I would suggest you to try it when you have at least 1 1/2 hour. I made it in a rush tonight as I didn't start until ~6pm (after work).

My Lion's Head dish came out as yummy as what I expected... The meatballs were well-cooked with Chinese rice wine, soy sauce and the chicken stock. The napa cabbage's sweetness complimented the savory taste of the soy-sauce coated meatballs. Yum... It was delicious.


Adapted from Willian Sonoma - Savoring China cookbook
Yields ~10 medium size meatballs
Ingredients:
1.5 lb minced pork (preferred fatty pork)
1/2 cup finely chopped green onion
1/3 cup finely chopped water chestnut
2 tablespoons of finely grated ginger
2 tablespoons of finely chopped garlic
cornstarch
soy sauce
3/4 of medium size napa cabbage - roughly chopped
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups chicken or beef stock (heated)
1/4 cup Chinese rice wine
salt
pepper

Method:
1) Combine and mix well ground pork with chopped green onion, chopped water chestnut, ginger and garlic.
2) Add 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce to 1). Mix thoroughly.
3) Divide the mixture into ~10 medium size meatballs.
4) In a bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to make a creamy paste, adding water if needed.
5) In a deep pan (preferred wok), heat the oil. One at a time, coat the meatballs in the soy sauce-cornstarch mixture and slip into the hot oil. Fry, turning as needed until the surface is lightly browned. Transfer the balls to a plate.
6) Add the napa cabbage to the hot oil and fry briefly just until wilted.
7) Add meatballs to the wok with cabbage.
8) Add heated chicken or beef stock, rice wine, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and a dash of pepper.
9) Cover with a lid for ~30 minutes in low-medium heat
10) Before serving, add a teaspoon of corn starch to the wok to thicken the gravy.

Serves ~4-8 ppl

Shrimp Summer Vegetable Wheat Pasta

Yesterday I went to the Sprouts and spotted some fresh summer vegetables such as zucchini, yellow squash and some sweet corn. I bought some of them! On one hand I am happy to enjoy summer fruits and vegetables, on the other hand I am not very thrilled about the summer in Arizona. It has been in at least 110F in the last 2 weeks. This weekend the weather will be at 115F. I am telling you... 115F is like the tipping point. After 115F, it goes from hot to hell. Argh, the summer. You got to love the heat to live in AZ. LOL

I made my tomato-based sauce from scratch today. I cut up a few medium size shrimp, some garlic, 4 medium size tomatoes, one small zucchini, and a couple of carrots. I didn't make my pasta (;P of course not, otherwise dinner won't be ready by 7pm and I didn't get back from work till ~6:15pm) but used half of pack of the wheat pasta from store. Oh yeah, my friend - Giuseppe brought me a piece of the Parmesan cheese from Italy in May! Thanks G! I grated a bit of the Parmesan on top of the pasta and served it hot.

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!