From Stove Top to the Table: Mrs. Fun’s Home Style Mapo Tofu

 







Yes, I know I have to share a recipe on soup.  That will come soon.

Yes, I know I have to talk about the Power of Flower II, that will also come soon.

I am very much pressed with my writing project.

Meantime, just a quick and yummy recipe for you all to warm your cold winter days:
Mrs. Fun’s Home Style Mapo Tofu

(You can google the meaning of Mapo Tofu if you like, no time to tell story today.)

The first trick I want to share with you though when cooking tofu in stir fry, or with thickened sauce dishes, is to get the water trapped in the tofu away, as much as possible.
See my picture here, I used my biggest and heaviest chopper and weighed down on the tofu.  This you can do at the beginning of preparing you dinner, or half an hour earlier before you cook. This way, your dish will not become watery by the excessive water coming out from the tofu.  If you want, you can squeeze some more water out by hand – gently though.

What you need is some minced meat – beef, chicken or pork, I’d say about half a pound.
Garlic and scallion, miso paste (regular or spicy), and a pack of firm tofu.  If you are a vegetarian, skip the meat.

I usually marinate my minced meat with a little bit of cooking wine, salt, soya sauce, pinch of sugar and pinch of corn starch, stir them well.

After getting most of the water out from the tofu, cut them into cubes.  Finally prepare your garlic and scallions and you are now ready to cook.

Use couple tablespoons of cooking oil and pour into a heated stone pot, or just a regular wok if you don’t have one.  If you look at the picture, I use a stone pot to cook and then serve on the table at the same time, it is just a wonderful pot to have in your kitchen.
Put in the garlic pieces and stir fry for just a minute or so, now put the meat in and stir fry the meat until cooked.  During this process, you might need to use your turner to separate the meat and break it down to small pieces.  When the meat is cooked, put in the tofu pieces.  Continue to stir fry a little bit without breaking the shape of the tofu, you will understand now why I choose firm tofu.  

Turn the fire to low or medium whilst you prepare the sauce.  Use about two tablespoon of miso paste (this is to taste, you can use more or less) in a small bowl, stir in some hot water and mix them well.  If you are using spicy miso paste, treat it the same way, the dish will of course becomes spicy.  Or you can combine some hot chili sauce with the miso, that will make the dish spicy too.  I do not do that as Fun junior is not crazy about spicy mapo tofu.  You can also add some wine, soya sauce and sugar to taste to this mixture.  If you want thicker sauce, add some cold water first to the mixture to lower the temperature, and then add one or two tablespoons of corn starch.  Stir all this very well and pour into the pot.  Gently coat the meat and tofu with this mixture and simmer for about 10 more minutes.  Check the consistency from time to time: if it is too thick, add a little water; if it is too runny, mix a little more of the corn starch mixture and stir it in.

Put some scallions on top and simmer for just one or two more minutes.  You want to just soften the scallions without cooking for too long, otherwise you will kill the fresh green taste of the scallions.  Enjoy!  Make sure you cook big pot of rice to go with it.

Feel Free to Improvise!

I was researching for my writing project and I read about the founder of the Institute of Culinary Education, Peter Kump.  In 1979, an article in Bon Appétit quote Kump as saying he hoped his students would not “leave here with a sheaf of spectacular recipes to repeat step-by-step ad infinitum. No. I want them to learn to develop taste. I want them to become free to improvise, to work without recipes. They should learn principles, the reasons for mixing and blending this with that. And techniques.”

Dear readers, therefore, if you find I did not give enough instructions in some of my posts – I strongly encourage you to improvise. (or, you can actually email me if you have any questions)

I find Mr. Kump to be most inspiring – I’d apply his principles not only in cooking but in many aspects of my life.  May you all be encouraged and stay warm – I think we will have single digit weather again tonight.  I will try to share a very delicious soup recipe soon.  Right now, it is back to writing and I do have dead line to meet.

Missus Fun’s Curry Stir Fry Vegetables

Fung Junior male is accusing me!  Mom, can you make your stir fry veggies more interesting?  I say, what do you mean?  I grew up eating my stir fry vegetables that way and I have been cooking that way for more than twenty years.

As you have seen in one of my earlier posts, the Chinese way of preparing a stir fry vegetable dish is actually very simple.  However, my son is right, I have three full shelves of spices in my kitchen and I only use them occasionally for recipes – yes the rare occasions when I cook with a recipe.

For those people who know me well, I never will shy away from a challenge.  So here you are, I have created a stir fry vegetable dish with some of the spices that I use for cooking curry dishes – the result, a simple and quick curry vegetable stir fry which I am sure you will all love to try.

Vegetables that I used: two medium size onion, four stalks of celery, one red bell pepper and one 8 oz packet of brown mushrooms.  Cut them to small pieces or slices in the shape and way you like.

Other ingredients:  some chopped cilantro, a few gloves of garlic.

Spices and condiments: two table spoons of cooking oil; two table spoons of cooking wine; about half a teaspoon of each cumin, ground cayenne pepper, paprika and turmeric;
about two teaspoons of mustard seeds; a tablespoon of corn starch and optional half a cup of light cream; salt and pepper to taste.

I first dry roast the mustard seed on the heated pan for just about a minute or so, then I add the oil and the cumin, cayenne, paprika and turmeric.  Stir fry these spices for just about another minute, then add the cilantro and garlic.  Make sure you turn your ventilation fan to full strength now!  

Yes, it will be very aromatic but that’s what spices are for.  Next you will add all the vegetables and stir fry them for about 4 to 5 minutes, pour the cooking wine on.  Whilst the cooking wine starts to evaporate, prepare your corn starch and light cream mixture, stir it well and pour it on.  You can use just water to mix the corn starch if you are thinking of calories.  You have to adjust the thickness of the sauce though as water will not be as thick as light cream, use more corn starch if necessary.  Continue to stir fry the vegetables until you have reached the tenderness that you want and add salt and pepper to taste.  As a family, we like our vegetables to be crisper.  So once the sauce mixture begins to form thick and smooth, I will turn off the fire and spoon out the dish to serve.

The dish met with huge success with both Junior and Senior and I am satisfied that I could meet a challenge when it arose.  However, Junior will expect Missus Fung to fall back to her old way of cooking stir fry veggies as the above mentioned dish, though quite simple in nature; still causes more than double the time to cook and prepare than a regular stir fry.  Yes, life is tough, young man, and let’s face it like a man!

The Power of Flowers - Part I

Hi, everyone, how do you like my new picture?

I love African Violets!  After a few days on the road, the first thing I did was to water my plants.  Some very pleasant surprises were awaiting me – a few of my African violets are in full bloom!  Yes, even in the midst of winter.  

I guess I have this fated life long love of African Violets.  It all started when I was working in Hong Kong for its subway company.  I have a long window sill with full sun in my office, together with the window sill along my boss’ office, I grew at least 50 pots of African violets, if not more.  He thought I was crazy.  It all started with a few pots here and a few pots there.  I acquired all sorts of colors (for the flowers) – from the standard purple, pink or white to deep burgundy to black or even green, yes, and I mean the flowers were green.  

The varieties of African violets are amazing, apart from colors, there are single-layer or double layer petals; there are curly petals, there are bordered petals, etc.  By and by, I seem to have acquired some sort of magic fingers towards growing African violets.  Of course, when I immigrated to the US, I have to give away all my flowers.  I have a much smaller collections now, may be 30 pots, and less varieties; however, the magic never leaves me – under my care, they would bloom at least 3 times per year, if not four!

Talking about flowers, it is time for me to make some chrysanthemum tea.  There are so many people getting sick lately.  May be I am over sensitive, I always feel like something will come down on me soon and I always sense as if my throat is hurting (and actually it is not).  

The Chinese people love to dry the whole chrysanthemum flowers 菊花 and use them mainly for tea or as a herbal remedy.  It has anti-inflammation function and smells wonderfully fragrant.  It comes in small packets in the Chinese grocery store.  You can either buy the whole flower kind or buy the dried petals kind.  Best result is actually to have both varieties and brew them as tea.  Some people would add some honey to it.  I usually drink it plain.  I always feel refreshed and the “hotness” inside me will be gone.  The Chinese believe when your body is working too hard or you are being too stressful – there is some “fire” or “hotness” inside you, and you should calm the fire by drinking “cool” nature stuff to counteract it.  The chrysanthemum tea is also very good for young people who are prone to have pimple outbreaks, it really helps.

Another popular flower for cooking and mild medicinal use is the night-blooming cereus 霸王花 and I will share a recipe the next time.  For now, it is cleansing and calming time with one of my favorite drinks, the chrysanthemum tea.

Quick Update

Hello everyone, the dramatic cook is going on an adventure for a few days!  So, I won't be able to post as much but I'll be getting back into it soon as I finish this adventure.  It's a secret!

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Don’t Forget to Brush your Teeth!

Yes, the other day I told you that I miss my mom.  She passed away in May of 2009 due to complication of pneumonia, but she had Alzheimer’s for more than 10 years prior to that.

I thought about her again tonight after reading an article called “Root Canal Cover Up’ by George E. Meinig, DDS, FACD (from the Price Pottenger Nutrition Foundation www.ppnf.org).

Root Canal infections could be the cause of many many diseases.  My mom never took care of her gums and teeth and towards the last ten years of her life or so, she gradually lost her teeth one by one.  She was a very stubborn lady who stuck to her old ways and refused to heed to our advice.  I read quite a bit about her sickness and I came to understand that dental problems could cause a lot of other issues on our health.

I apologize if the dramatic cook sounds grumpy tonight.  But since I did not do much cooking because today is Sunday and I did quite a bit of reading – newspaper, books, bills and articles – I might as well write something close to my heart.

So folks, we do need healthy teeth to consume the yummy food that your moms put on the table.  Remember, always take care of your teeth like I do – three steps before I go to bed every night – brush, floss, and rinse!

God created all the colorful and great tasting food for us to enjoy, may you all show your gratitude by doing your part – take care of your teeth and gum so you can enjoy eating – for a long time to come!

East Meets West - The Story Continues...

Fun female junior here.  I’m doing a guest post for Missus Fun because today was a leftover and eating out day and that’s never quite as interesting as cooking your own meals!

I am heading back to college soon, which means leaving a large, well-stocked kitchen and returning to cafeteria food and an on-the-go lifestyle which doesn’t allow me a lot of time to experiment in the kitchen.  So I thought I would go out with a gastronomical bang, so to speak, and have been spending quite a bit of time in the kitchen for the past week.

I’m really more of a baker than a cook, though I’m learning to expand my main course offerings (following Missus Fun’s example, of course ;)  My most favorite thing to bake and eat is The Scone.  Scones are dense and rich, somewhere between a biscuit and a muffin.  It’s common to find one or two variations at most coffee shops, even mainstream ones like Starbucks, but the “scones” you find here in America vary in quality.  I’d even characterize them as rocks sometimes.  

In any case, what I made today are lovely, moist specimens.  I used a recipe posted by one of my favorite food bloggers, Deb at smittenkitchen.com.  I made a couple of minor modifications.  I used light cream instead of heavy cream.  I also did everything by hand since we don’t own a stand mixer or pastry blender (ahem, Mrs. Fun.)  And then, I got lazy at the end and just plopped down roundish lumps of dough instead of rolling it out and using a cutter.  It does look a little better and more authentic when you take that extra step, but hey, it tastes the same!  (When I do roll it out, I use a drinking glass for my cutter.)

After the original cranberry cream batch, I decided to make another batch.  As a scone lover, I’ve tried my fair share of scone flavours - pumpkin, pear ginger, apple cinnamon, chocolate chip, oatmeal, blueberry lemon - but I wanted to try something a little out of the ordinary.  So I adapted the above recipe to create a Green Tea Chocolate Chip version.  I substituted semisweet chocolate chips for the cranberries.  For the green tea flavour, I mixed two teaspoons of green tea powder in ¼ cup hot water and then added ¾ cup light cream so that the total liquid content stayed the same.

A note about green tea powder: usually when you’re cooking with it, you want to spring for the Matcha tea powder, which is finer and more flavourful.  I used a lower grade green tea powder because that’s what we had in the house (it’s all about being adaptable!) and it tastes alright for scones.  When I’m making green tea ice cream though, I always try to use Matcha.  

Scones are easy to make and require very few ingredients.  They’re great for breakfast, tea-time, or through the day snacking!  I would of course suggest that you go all-out British and have a cuppa while you’re at it.  Black tea with a little milk and sugar is best!  

Come back tomorrow for our regularly scheduled programming!

Oh, and if you want to follow my food adventures as I head back to school, follow me on Instagram (@serenetea24)!

East and West, Part II

I miss my mom!

A wonderful cook who never used any recipes, she is the inspiration of my cooking, especially when I first got married.  

However, since we were thousands of miles apart, I only imitated the dishes by memory and by adding a lot of imaginations and creativity.

One of our favorite dishes from childhood days is Sautéed Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes番茄炒蛋.  How my mom made the dish was history and since she is in heaven, I have come up with my own version.  With the special sauce that I invented, it is a true example of East Meets West.

If you look up the history of tomatoes, you may be able to understand the translated Chinese name of this vegetable – foreign eggplant!  It is a vegetable imported from the Americas and the West.  Of course, since I grew up in Hong Kong, we were fortunate to have all sorts of imported goods and we grew up eating tomatoes without thinking too much of the name.  Now China is actually the number one country in terms of growing tomatoes.

Fun junior female had a go with this dish recently in college and she had big success because she said some of her friends are asking for the recipe.  So here we are, it is my pleasure to share with you our special East Meets West recipe:

Prepare the eggs as you would scramble eggs.  How many eggs?  I usually do one for each person.  Use your cooking spatula to cut them into small pieces on the wok or pan before you set them aside, that is with the fire turned off, of course, otherwise the eggs will be overcooked.  

Use about 4 to 6 cooking tomatoes and cut them into wedges.  Then it is your choice to use either some spring onions or onions, julienne them and set aside.  To start the wok, use some finely chopped fresh ginger and garlic and stir fry in couple tablespoons cooking oil.  When the flavor of the ginger and garlic are out, put in onions and the tomatoes, stir fry them until they begin to get tender, but not becoming soggy.  

Now is the time to put in the special sauce:  a combination of ketchup and miso paste with some sugar.  Stir them well and if the sauce becomes too thick, put in some water as you see fit.  The thickness of the sauce is a personal taste.  If somehow you find the sauce becomes too runny, don’t panic.   Mix one or two teaspoons of corn starch in cold water and pour into the sauce, the corn starch mixture will help thicken the sauce.  This step is only necessary if you find the sauce too runny.  If you add just a little bit water when you stir the ketchup and miso, you should not need the corn starch mixture.

I usually work very fast but if you know you are not as efficient as me, you should turn the fire to low whilst you are working on the consistency of the sauce.  The last thing you want to see is the tomatoes and onions become a paste.  When you are satisfy with the sauce and it taste tart, savory and sweet at the same time, you can add the egg pieces and stir them well together with the tomatoes and the sauce.  Taste it one more time and if it is too tart, add a little bit more sugar.  Serve it with white rice, and I mean a lot of rice because your folks will want to mix the sauce with the white rice.  

Ah, yes, the fond memories of me fighting with my five other siblings who would be the last person to get the dish with the sauce so that we could have one more bowl of rice!  Have fun and I hope no one is fighting.  Till next time.

East meets West – Part 1

One of the greatest things living in America is the exposure to different varieties of food.  Even though we are primarily eating a Cantonese Chinese diet, I have learned to cook with ingredients found in American grocery stores, sometimes to cook the American way, but most of the time, to cook the Chinese way.  As the years go by, I have mix and match the cooking method, as well as the ingredients.

As a regular oven user, I was actually surprised many a times when my Chinese friends told me they don’t cook with the oven too much.  I found cooking with the oven most convenient and simple.  It also eases up my stove top space and allow me to steam or stir fry other dishes.  However, having an oven is really a very much Western or American thing.  Where I grew up, people usually just have stove tops or at the most a microwave.  I guess many of my friends are still sticking to the old ways.

I love experimenting cooking Chinese dishes in the oven.  Roast pork is my favorite dish to make.  If you want to have leaner meat, pork tenderloin is the way to go, or you can go to a Chinese butcher and ask for roast pork meat and they will show you what to buy.  The next thing you need is a jar of Lee Kum Kee Roast Pork sauce.  You should also purchase some aged soya sauce and some cooking wine.  Cut your pork pieces in long strips and marinate them with these 3 things to taste overnight, bake them in the oven for 45 minutes or so on 375F.  You can cover them if you want more sauce and moist meat.  Or you can uncover them at the last 15 minutes or so.  

Another of my favorite roast pork dish is the Orange Roast Pork (橙汁豬柳) which I made tonight.  A true East meets West dish.  

Sauces for marinate:  soya sauce, cooking wine, orange juice and orange marmalade
Other seasoning: garlic, ginger, rosemary and cilantro, all chopped to very fine

Marinate your port tenderloin at least overnight if not for two whole days, bake at 350F for at least an hour covered.  You can uncover it at the last 10-15 minutes or so.

Preview for tomorrow’s recipe: my very own Egg & Tomato stir fry, a Fun household signature dish and a true East meets West gem.  Till then – happy henna-ing!  (Missus Fun and the two juniors are all covering their heads with strong herbal green stuff at this moment – wondering what will the ultimate color be?)

Love and Relationships – Live a life of no regrets!

Read an article today on the ”Top 5 Regrets of the Dying” and just want to sum up those points here.  It is a great reminder for me because for the past year, our family has been facing many changes and uncertainty.  This article reminds me when in the end, the most important things that left are love and relationships.

1.  Live a life true to yourself – don’t live according to other people’s expectations and don’t be afraid to fulfill your dreams.

2.  Don’t work too hard – find time to spend with your loved ones, nurture those who are entrusted to you, don’t miss all the windows of opportunities.

3.  Have the courage to express your feelings – speak honestly instead of suppressing your feelings.  You may loose some friends along the way, but those who appreciate your honesty will have a healthier relationship with you.  It’s a win-win situation.

4.  Stay in touch with your friends – don’t let the busyness of life bog you down and let friendships slip.  

5.  Let yourself be happy – don’t be afraid to laugh and be silly sometimes, happiness is a choice!

The dramatic cook took a break today.  Breakfast and lunch were prepared by Fun junior female.  Dinner was at Fun Auntie’s house:  Steam Roast Duck by some intelligent cooker with sticky rice stuffing, pumpkin soup, vegetables in creamy sauce and special roast game hens for Missus Fun because she actually does not eat duck (ahem, remember now).  Dessert was cheese cake from the Cheese Cake Factory – I am sure I will be dreaming about that.

Love and relationships, we sure experienced a lot of those today.  May you all do the same and as often as you can.

Love Starts from the Kitchen

The Fun Household’s famous Chinese Potato Pancakes 薯仔餅

It almost sounds like bragging, but I am blessed with a husband who is willing to cook and can cook really well on certain dishes.  This version of Potato Pancakes is my family’s tradition.  I taught it to Fun Senior when we first married, and since then he has mastered it so well that I only need to place my order.  Fun junior female placed the order last night and here you are, it’s my pleasure to share with you our family famous recipe:

Prepare your potatoes either by a food processor or by hand grating them to coarse julienne pieces.  A few hours ahead, soak about half a cup of dried shrimps (found in any Chinese grocery store) with warm water.  Chop the softened dried shrimps into very fine pieces and add to the potatoes.  Add some finely diced spring onions in the mix too, the more the merrier, this is a personal taste thing, as long as they don’t overwhelm the potatoes.

Then you have to marinate the mixture with some oil, salt, white pepper and some corn starch, best is to mix them by hand.  If the mixture becomes watery, pour out some of the juice.  However, if you can stand the juice, it will be slowly absorbed as you pan fry the pancakes, so it does not really matter.  The stickiness nature of potatoes might call for slightly more oil than usual for pan frying, you have to adjust it as you go along, have Fun!

As you can see from the picture, you can make these pancakes into pretty big ones.  It is entirely a personal thing how big you want them to be.  Of course, it also has to do with your ability whether you can flip pancakes well.  Just go ahead and experiment with them.  The only problem is, I have not made this dish for so long, I cannot share with you on tips.  I had tried to ask Senior to write today’s blog but he has politely declined it.  If you do encounter any questions when you make this dish, please drop me a line.  We also talked about whether we can bake them instead of pan frying last night, anyone wants to take up that challenge?

So as you can see, there are a lot of good cooking going on in our household and sometimes I just got to eat without doing the work.  There are many reasons why I love Fun senior so much and the fact that he is willing to cook makes him so much more lovable.  If you are a guy reading this blog – remember Love starts from the kitchen!

Snack, Snap, and Bite

Let’s see a show of hands – how many of you can go through a whole day without eating a snack, or stealing a bite?  

The definition of the word snack shows the word might even be a derivative of snap, so it must mean something really fast, quick, yes – right now – because I am starving, low on energy or simply craving for a bite!  I have been in all these situations and yes, a quick snack will save the day and will keep me going.

I don’t know about you, but my mind will wander if my stomach is empty and I simply cannot function well.  I may also be suffering from some low degree of low blood sugar and there are times I would feel drained and if I don’t eat something right away, I might even faint.  Of course, there are times I simply just am itching for a bite to satisfy the craving.

Fun Senior and Fun Junior male of course are faithful fans of snacking.  They are the savory sort, and Fun Junior female and I are more on the sweet side.  Recently, I have learned to pan roast different kinds of nuts to provide some healthy alternatives for the two boys.

It all started when my friend brought me shopping at Subzi Mandi one day.  Subzi Mandi is a chain of India grocery stores in New Jersey.  They opened a huge one near my home lately.  I am surprised to see a lot of bulk raw food available and at very reasonable prices, for example, I bought a 3 lb bag of raw peanuts for just $3.99!

I would not have bought it unless under my friend’s encouragement.  Now I know roasting peanuts is a breeze and I do not need to feed my money to Planters.

What you need to do is just spread a thin layer of nuts to cover a heated pan, keep the fire to medium or so, stir the nuts consistently and constantly to avoid them getting burned.
I do this to peanuts for about 5 – 7 minutes.  For seeds like sesame, it will take even shorter time.  Sprinkle liberally some seasoning, stir them some more and let them cool on metal pans.  Store them in glass jars and enjoy, or they would be snatched away and consumed in no time.  After you have tried these home roasted fresh and crispy nuts, you will save a lot of money from buying the store bought ones.

Bon Appétit!  (Have you been watching Julia Child?  Off I go now, until next time…)

Comfort Food

Senior Fun is not feeling well!

The mother nature in me kicks in, yea, right, of course, I am the Mom!  And the official Fun cook in this household.

Lunch was chicken noodle soup.  What else?  The American standard of comfort food. Do you know the Chinese standard of comfort food?  Cup noodles!  That must rank number one amongst a lot of Asians.

My version of comfort food for dinner is also a dish that is the simplest to make and I’d love to share with you all.

“Steamed Egg Custard”蒸水蛋

There is only one ingredient – eggs! However, you do need a steaming facility like a steaming wok or pot.  

For a family of four, I usually use 4 eggs.  Add water.  The ratio of water to egg is about 1.5 to 1.  If you have more people to feed, you can stretch to 2:1.  Whisk the eggs well till it starts to bubble slightly.

 

Pour the mixture into a pre-oiled round glass pie dish.  Bring the water in the steaming wok to boil.  

 

Now put the pie dish to the wok and pay attention to this particular trick: do not cover the wok fully, put a wooden chopstick between the wok and the cover and turn the fire to medium or medium low.  This is to avoid the condensation from the steam pot to be trapped inside and drip on the egg surface, instead we let the steam “escape” through the crack.  Steam the dish this way for about 20 minutes or so whilst you prepare the rice, or other dishes for your dinner.

 

Your egg custard dish will come out super smooth without the sign of any wrinkle.  Pour some soya sauce over it to taste and it is ready to serve.  It goes super well with steamed rice and will sooth any infirmed person who still has an appetite.

 

This recipe can also be adapted as a dessert by simply putting some sugar and grated ginger when you whisk the eggs （燉蛋）.  You can also experiment it if you are avoiding egg-yolks, by substituting the yolks with some milk（燉奶）.  For desserts, you should then be using smaller bowls when steaming to make it more individualized.  In Hong Kong and in Macau, these two desserts are very popular.  

I should really devote another blog to discuss some Chinese dessert dishes which are usually on the much lighter side sans the cheese and the cream.  Till then, hope everyone stays healthy and well!

P.S. Sorry everyone I know I don't usually use the font to be centered but today the Blog format wants to be angry with me so what can I say? Enjoy! ~ Missus Fun