Yin and Yang Vegetable Dumplings and Sticky Rice Siu Mai

I first need to show off Aedan’s attempt at making a dumpling.  Isn’t it cute?  I wish I got pictures of him making it.  As he is a huge Kung Fu Panda fan he laughed when I said, “Have a dumpling” and “You are free to eat!” to which he replied, “AM I?!?” Maybe that is only funny to me.

I tried a recipe from Martin Yan’s China called Yin and Yang Vegetable Dumplings.  I was wanting something not too meaty and I found the way he wrapped them kind of fun and new.  Well, if you really want a recipe I can email it to you but I would recommend his book.

They were called Yin and Yang to represent the two ways you can prepare it: the yin was a steamed version, and the yang was the deep fry method. 

I love siu mai or shaomai, which is a traditional Chinese dumpling that usually contains pork and mushroom although we’ve seen other variations.  Again, I’ve been feeling a little maxed out on meat lately nd wanted something different.  I came across this sticky rice siu mai recipe that of course uses sticky rice and just a tiny bit of meat and some other goodies and I found that it was a fun change.  Not quite the same but it was fun to try.

 

Chinese New Year Giveaway

Chinese New Year is fast approaching and rest assured we will have several upcoming posts for the holiday. Since we are living in the States, this is largely a holiday celebrated with lots of food and not much else. This year in Kitchenland we will be sharing gift ideas, food adventures, kid fun, and cultural traditions with you.

To get the ball rolling, I wanted to invite all of you to participate in our Chinese New Year Blogtivity – Dim Sum Of All Fears. Not the most brilliant of titles I know but let me explain. I love to cook Chinese food of all kinds but I feel there is definitely room for improvement. There are things that I need to fine tune and there are other things that are flat out intimidating to me. I LOVE dim sum and if you’ve been to a dim sum eatery (versus one that merely serves dim sum on the side) you will know what I mean when I say that it is overwhelmingly awesome! They are both delicious and most often very beautifully presented and while I’ve made a couple types of dim sum, I’ve been too scared to really dive in and try making all of my favorites.

Traditional dim sum seems pretty loosely defined as “dishes … [of] small portions and may include meat, seafood, vegetables, as well as desserts and fruit.” (Wikipedia) The typical ways to cook dim sum are by steaming or frying the mini morsels but really anything goes here. I for one will be focusing on dim sum for the full 15 days, some will be savory, some will be sweet, dim sum for kids, a some non-food related etc. Be sure to check back often!

THE GIVEAWAY AND CHALLENGE

Let's conquer our fears together! For this challenge, we will be offering one (1) lucky winner an adorable pair of girl and boy chopstick trainers from Chopstick Kids. Really, they may seem like a kid item but I bet you know at least one adult that could benefit from these! To enter the drawing it really is too simple:

1. Leave one (1) comment below and tell me what food(s) you fear to make and why. Can be any type of food.
2. You must live in New Zealand, Hong Kong, or the US to qualify :)
3. Entry deadline is midnight February 9th.

That’s it! For a bonus entry you may do the following:

1. Make the food you fear to make.
2. Blog about it, or for non-bloggers email me (thekitchenpost{at}gmail{dot}com) between Jan 26th and Feb 9th. Include pictures and recipe if you can!

The winner will be chosen in a random drawing by judge Aedan and announced on February 10th. Best of luck and good fortune to all of you this new year!

This is me trying to look like a Daring Baker

My first month into the Daring Bakers clique has been a tasty/time-consuming one.  Maybe they are all like that and maybe that is the life of a true baker.  The question on my mind is "was it worth it?" This month's challenge was Danish Braids hosted by Kelly and Ben.  My brain had a power outage for a second or two when I realized I'd be dealing with yeast laminated dough. May I remind you that I am not much of a baker, I think partly because I have a working knowledge of the time and effort that goes into the really good baked goods. However much I wanted to back out of my first challenge, I stuck with it and am glad I did.

The dough was amazing!  Sure it takes some time folding and chilling it but when your star ingredients are ground cardamom, orange zest/juice, and vanilla bean, you'd be better off making it.  Otherwise you start thinking about it constantly.  I did - I had all month until I finally buckled down and went to work.  I ground my own cardamom seeds (hey, high-five!).  If you make this you must follow the recipe exactly - the taste is not worth sacrificing. 

We were allowed to be creative with our fillings and the first thing that came to mind was my long-standing unfulfilled craving to make a peach melba pie.  I had gone for quite some time under the delusion that the original Peach Melba had alcoholic origins but was pleasantly surprised to find out that is not the case.  Wikipedia says: "The Peach Melba is a classic dessert, invented in 1892 or 1893 by the French chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel, London to honour the Australian soprano, Dame Nellie Melba, the stage name of Australian opera singer Helen Porter Mitchell (1861 - 1931). It combines two favorite summer fruits: peaches and raspberry sauce accompanying vanilla ice cream.  He had heard Nellie Melba perform at Covent Garden one night and was inspired to create a dessert just for her. Rumour had it she loved ice cream, but did not dare eat it often, believing it would affect her vocal cords. Escoffier created a sauce of raspberries, redcurrant jelly, sugar and cornstarch. In Peach Melba, the ice cream, being only one element in a whole, would not be as cold and thus not harm her vocal cords. He served it at a dinner she was hosting, presented in an ice sculpture of a swan inspired by the performance of Lohengrin he had seen." Hhhmmm... it makes no mention of a love affair but why else would you make such a lovely dessert presented in an ice sculpture for someone?  This same chef also made the Melba toast for her and "the term is thought to date back to 1897, a year when the singer was very ill and this kind of toast became a staple of her diet." 

Well, so really the only Melba thing about this was the fact that I used peaches and raspberries. I sweetened it with brown sugar, and added a little nutmeg for fun.  I attempted to thicken the juices and where it would have worked wonders in a pie setting, it was still too runny for a braid filling, giving my dainty braid a bleeding effect. 

The recipe makes enough dough for two braids and I had some apple pie filling I had canned a few years ago (yes, still good) and that worked out really good.  The glaze was very much needed and I think if I were to do it again I would go a nutty route, at least on the top.  The dough was nice and flaky and I really liked doing the fruit filling. 

 the apple filled braid

the peach melba filled braid

The dough recipe can be found here and I would have to say it was worth the effort but it is definitely a once or twice a year recipe for me as I just don't have two days to spare very often.  We usually do cinnamon rolls for General Conference weekend and I just might have to work this one into the rotation.

Family, Fun, Food, and... Fonics

Okay so I am pushing it with the title but I'm a sucker for alliteration, even at the expense of proper spelling. I posted a project idea a while back in which I am going through the letters of the alphabet with Aedan. We basically look for things around the house that begins with the given letter and slap it on a piece of paper in the shape of the letter it represents. Well, here is a progress report:

Here we have almonds, beans, Cheerios/cereal, duct tape, Easter eggs (double e double points!), feathers, grass, hand prints (we have too many of these in the house), and ink (stamped on). I have found that the food items are a little more fun because we snack and craft at the same time. He loves making these crafts and they are very quick which is just right for his attention span. I have some tricky letters on the horizon though so we will keep you posted... I will move these to his room to make a border on the wall near the ceiling until they either fall apart or gross me out.

Here are some more recent efforts to fill his cranium:

I just purchased a Melissa and Doug Magnetic Chalkboard/Dry Erase Board at a local bookstore and it comes complete with some wooden alphabet and number magnets. I'm not sure who is more excited about this, him or me. I've wanted a little board to be able to do some story telling pieces with so this should be fun. I might actually wait to give it to him on his birthday so, shh, don't tell him!

I was inspired by a suggestion found in the December Family Fun magazine however I'm sure I'm not the first to do this. We had alphabet pancakes today with, you guessed it, mangoes and strawberry fruit "confetti". Even though Neal wasn't there to partake, we felt we should make one for him too because we miss him.

I am a pancake person and Neal is a waffle person. Aedan prefers not to take sides on the issue. My mother-in-law makes a fabulous whole wheat blender pancake/waffle but seeing as I am currently blenderless I turn to The Pancake Handbook for inspiration. I thought these turned out rather well and yummy AND healthy to boot (but with lots of butter...). This is also among my many attempts to use wheat in my cooking (gotta love those big buckets of wheat that we so ambitiously snagged for our food storage) so I might as well share the recipe if you are in the same boat.

Oatmeal Pancakes

(originally oatmeal-raisin but we don't do raisins in pancake)

from The Pancake Handbook, Specialties from Bette's Oceanview Diner, Second Edition

about 16 (4-inch) pancakes or at least the entire alphabet plus some random numbers

serves 4

1 1/2 cups all-purpose or whole-wheat flour (can do a mixture)

1/2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup chopped walnuts* (optional but highly recommended)

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (except nuts). In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs, milk, and butter. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once, stirring just to blend. Fold in the walnuts. The batter should be slightly lumpy. Let the batter rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or heavy skillet over medium high heat. Portion 1/4-cup measures of batter onto the hot griddle, spacing them apart - if doing letters, use a spoon to "write" the letters with batter on the skillet. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles cover the surface of the pancakes, and their undersides are lightly browned. Gently turn them over and cook for about 2 minutes more, until the other sides are browned.

Serve with real maple syrup, apple butter, or fruit spread. Garnish with small pieces of mango and strawberries (opt.)

*A tip with the nuts, if your kid is picky and wouldn't go for big chunks of nuts, I recommend chopping them a bit finer in a food processor. That way you still get the lovely taste the nuts lend but without the extra crunch. I, for one, am in favor of the crunch.

Thanks to Kristy, I now have this picture curtesy of an Einstein chalkboard generator