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!

Momma, Me A Pizzeria!

Daring Bakers October challenge! This month's challenge was hosted by Rosa's Yummy Yums and the challenge was to make some basic pizza dough (see her blog for recipe), toss it (with pics/video to document it), and top with any flavors we desired but had to consist of sauce and toppings. Oh sure, pizza may seem old-hat but in the past I didn't want to even attempt tossing it because I can be a spaz when it comes to these sort of things. But surely rolling the pizza dough works just as well right?

Aside from my poor stage presence and bad form, I'd have to say I fulfilled that part of the challenge. This recipe makes 6 small pizzas and it was a good thing because I needed to have extra dough just to account for my mistakes (I actually doubled the dough recipe to account for that..). My first try ended up on the floor. Ewww. I tried another bit of dough and rolled it out instead. I was so disappointed with the lack of stretching and good shaping that was occuring so I decided to try tossing it again. I will say that it works best with dough that has been relaxed and sitting for a while, meaning, if I made a mistake and tried to work it back into a ball, it wouldn't relax enough for me to toss it. But if I made a mistake (huge gaping holes were common) then I would just ball it up again and let it sit and come back to it later and it'd be just fine.

Problem is though, with this kind of challenge there are so many possibilities that I had a very hard time narrowing down my final choices. My sweet little baby niece just had some major surgery for her hip dysplasia and came home in a half body cast and we had some family coming by to see how she was doing. We wanted to help out by providing food and so we made a big family luncheon out of this challenge. I decided on making 6 pizzas (I know, a lot) and with an audience of varying tastes and preferences, I thought that should be enough to satisfy all.

How did we fare you ask? We had 6 tasty thin crusted pizzas that were almost completely devoured by all. For the kids we did the basic red sauce/pepperoni/mozzerella. We did some basic red sauce/italian sausage/olive and a low fat Penzey's recipe using ground turkey and sausage seasonings plus mushrooms for the folks who just wanted it simple.

Now for the foodies, a Canadian bacon/mango/yellow tomato/brie pizza seemed like a good choice (no sauce on this one, only drizzled with olive oil). I will admit, I had high expectations for this one but it didn't quite meet it. I guess I was thinking there would be some fabulous mango flavor, like how pineapple tastes great on pizza, but it ended up being pretty dull. I suppose if you are in an area with access to super mangoes then you might want to try this. I guess the Midwest is not the place to shop for tropical fruits...

Everyone seemed to like this one: Neal had the idea to do a bbq chicken pizza and I came up with this awesome version, Emeril's smoked chicken bbq pizza with red onion, mozzerella, and basil. This recipe was terrific - it is at least worth it for the sauce recipe. The bbq sauce tastes like regular bbq but with a slight asian touch (uses sesame oil and fresh ginger) and while this recipe makes a ton of sauce, it can certainly be used for many other meals or as a good dipping sauce for your homemade chicken nuggets... Ah. Really, the sauce is thick and yummy! The chicken itself was rubbed in the homemade Emeril Essence Creole Seasoning (also included in the pizza recipe) and we cooked it on the grill prior to adding it to the pizza. Next time I would like to try grilling this particular pizza. Mmmm...

And then finally we made a pesto pizza with baby spinach, artichoke, red tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, and crumbled goat cheese on top. This one seemed to be the winner of the group, closely followed by the bbq one, but unfortunately we were too eager to dig in that I didn't even get a picture of it. But really, this one was very flavorful and a fun option for the vegetarian craving you know you all have at one point or another!

And lets not forget the little lady, who, inspite of being in a cast and in a perpetual squat for the next month or so, continues to have a sweet smile for everyone. What a pleasant baby! I picked up this My Little Pony stuffed doll to match her pink cast and Neal chuckled as he said, "At least she can straddle it!" Hopefully it provides some cushion for her, poor girl!

We love you!

Fortunate Event #7 - Greenfield Village

Last Monday we (myself, Aedan, Neal, and my mom) took a day to go to the Henry Ford Museum Complex in Dearborn, MI , first to Greenfield Village and it was a little boys dream come true! For those who've never heard of this place, it is the nation's largest indoor/outdoor history museum complex of what started as Henry Ford's personal collection. My next post will be of the indoor museum itself, too many pictures for one post! We definitely needed more than a day at these places and we definitely needed a stroller but oh well... Here are the highlights in the mind of a two year old:

Aedan was thrilled to meet Trevor (do I really need to explain all of these Thomas the Tank Engine names to you?)

The Mason Bogie is one of the oldest operating steam locomotives in the U.S.

So we took a ride and loved it up until Aedan got scared of the loud noises.

We had to calm ourselves by having lunch. We just had to pick up a hobo lunch for Aedan!

DT&M Roundhouse and turntable where Aedan met several other trains (which we also gave names to among them Mavis and Toby and Old Slow Coach for those of you who know your stuff). There were workers there and one even looked like Sir Topham Hatt and when I told Aedan that was who he was Aedan was in awe. I am loving the little boy stuff!

This was his Gordon.

We would have loved to see the turntable in action. But alas...

Thomas Edison's laboratory stuff. Don't know exactly how it all works but it is certainly impressive!

And they actually give out Model T rides (ours is a 1919)! Aedan is really into Disney Cars stuff and once we told him he can have a ride on a Lizzie car he was sold. We really had fun and the nice old man driving was more than happy to tell us all about everything and anything to do with this little car! I thought it was especially fun that they had only old men driving these vehicles around, whether they are trying to relive the glory days or that is just park policy, I thought it was cute anyway.

It just so happens that I found a Lizzie car when we had to go to get some medicine for Aedan after his ER visit. So we gave him Lizzie as a souvenier and he was so excited about this "grandpa car" and I had to explain to him that Lizzie is a girl and it is a "grandma car". He was a little disappointed because grandpas to him are the ultimate cool. I talked to him about how much fun we had with his grandma riding trains and riding in the Lizzie car and he suddenly realized grandmas are pretty cool too so now she is a "grandma car".

Nothing of Supreme Importance

I was hoping to sneak by without posting for a while (only a week, come on!) but it seems that you know me a little too well and some were beginning to get worried... Rest assured that we are doing relatively well! Actually, a whole lot of nothing has been going on for us. I just don't think I can bring myself to write about each little thing so I'll give you some big ol' pics and you can feel free to imagine the details.

If I'm feeling generous this week I might submit some of these recipes....

Ok the above movie posters are sized to our/my preferences: big = totally rocks, not so big = not sure if we will ever see again but not bad ... I should add that not all of these are new to us but these are all ones watched recently and/or abundantly.

Finding My Noodles

I've been keeping myself as busy as I can in the kitchen lately - the reason being that it is officially blueberry season and we are trying to use up as much as we can. However this post is not about my blueberries, as yummy as they are.

No, I'm excited to tell you about my latest find at an asian grocery store. No matter which asian grocery store I turn to, in the States and out, they always feel the same. Oh sure, they have their differences but it is the subtle similarities that make me smile. From their overpacked shelves and aisles to the way they bag the groceries by tying the handles in a knot for you, it amazes me that there is so much continuity when it comes to customer care. When I was very young, my mom or grandma would take us kids to a Chinese grocery store called Chao's (not chaos as my baba would say) and the owner was (in my opinion) an old man who loved, and I mean loved, to pinch my cheeks and say, "Oh pretty girl!" I got pretty scared of him for a while there and would hide in my mom's overcoat whenever we'd go in just to avoid the pinchers. Later in life I would shop there on my own and the old owner would give me the same sly look and say the same sly thing but without the pinching (that would have been ackward). If ever I brought a guy in with me he would shout out, "Who's the lucky man?!?!" Well I'm glad to say that since then I've been able to bring in my husband to show who the "lucky man" is and have already exposed my child to the cheek pinching experience.

There is an asian/korean grocery store we go to every now and then when we are in St Louis . We used to go solely for their blueberry marshmallows but they no longer carry them and believe me when I say that it took great effort on my part to continue shopping there after our favorite treats were taken from us. However I am very glad we continued to go there as the lady who owns the store is very darling and she is always ready to share with me something new, and it turns out, something that's always delicious. This brings me to my finds...

Citrus Seasoned Soy Sauce and Brown Rice Vermicelli

The lady at the store was so excited to tell me about her salad recipe involving these items. While soy sauce and vermicelli are not new to me, I have never even heard of citrus flavored soy sauce and was very excited about the brown rice option for rice noodles. She quickly told me what to throw in the salad, and as most good asian cooks will do she never had specific measurements to give me. Oh well. I don't suppose I could get away with doing that to you... If you have trouble finding the above items, you can do this with plain soy sauce and rice vermicelli.

Chicken and Brown Rice Vermicelli Salad with Citrus Soy Sauce Dressing

Salad:

1 chicken breast

1/2 package Brown Rice Vermicelli

1 bunch Romaine lettuce heart, chopped into bitesize pieces

1 small carrot, julliened

3-4 mushrooms, sliced (I prefer baby bella)

raw cashew pieces, toasted

toasted sesame seeds

Dressing:

1/2 cup Citrus Seasoned Soy Sauce

1/2 cup Sesame Oil

1) Grill or sautee chicken breast until cooked through. Slice into bitesize strips and set aside.

2) Soak vermicelli in hot water and let sit until noodles have softened through. Drain the noodles. Using kitchen shears, cut the noodles into smaller, more managable pieces (noodles in salad is strange enough without having to twirl it onto your fork so I just cut it smaller, less hassle).

3) Mix together the dressing - may need to put it in a shakeable container to ensure better mixing.

4) Lightly flavor the noodles with some of the dressing mix.

5) To assemble salad, place lettuce on the bottom, then the noodles, then chicken/carrots/mushrooms, then sprinkle cashews and sesame seeds on top. Pour dressing over salad and serve.

Serves 2 big salads. (noodles should be cool)

We're so happy on our little piece of bread!

I think I mentioned this before but my boy is a picky eater - not in the same way other kids are picky though. His royal mouth can only handle the gourmet tastes. Case and point - he has never been a big fan of beef until this past Valentines Day dinner when we grilled some expensive tender loin beef steaks. Well, as I've said earlier, this is good because he enjoys quality foods but it is bad because he doesn't go for simple as often as I would like.

All kids like PBJs right? (I love this PBJ song, get their CD, you wont be disappointed I promise) Well he never has developed excitement over them and for a while now I have suspected a few reasons why. But today my worst fear was confirmed - up until now I have mostly used store-bought bread and when I made some bread today and used it to make him a sandwich, he thought they were "all up ons" and demanded more, more, MORE!

I will be the first to admit that I am not a baker (I'm a stove kinda gal). I've been thinking about joining The Daring Bakers clique for some time now but I haven't felt too 'daring' in the world of baked goods so I've put it off for now. Baby steps, Jackie.

However, I do have the materials to bake and they have to be used at some point. I have been looking for recipes that use wheat berries because I make a crockpot full of berries to slyly slip in meals (although Neal is catching on) and what can't be used right away I put in the snack size Ziploc bags and freeze for later use.

So I find a recipe, make and bake. Off goes the loaf's crusty end because I remember that that is Neal's favorite although I forget that he wont be here to eat it. We peer inside to see the bitty berries and pluck one out to sneak into our salivating mouths. The wheat berry gives a soft satisfying pop but a slightly nutty flavor. A single thin slice is cut and is shortly slathered with some creamy Peter Pan peanut butter and some homemade black raspberry jelly that was gifted to us by one of Neal's lab mates. Note to self: I want to have a 'vineyard' with black raspberries someday. The slice of bread is folded in half and Aedan tentatively takes a nibble and, shockingly enough, proceeds to wolf down the rest of the sandwich.

The dark jelly marks his face as if to say "Black raspberry was here. And here. Here too." A second sandwich must be made and he smiles as he awaits round two.

Sigh... how can I turn down such a happy sandwich-eating boy now? Do I really have to bake? No. But his excitement tells me I should. So I will. And maybe someday I can join the baker ranks... if only they would accept a bit of charcoal every once in a while :)

Wheat Berry Bread

from Wheat Cookin' Made Easy

1 cup cooked wheat berries

2 cups warm water

1/4 cup honey (we use wildflower or buckwheat honey)

1 pkg. yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)

2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup powder milk

1/4 cup vegetable shortening, melted

4 1/2 - 5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Pour warm water into a medium mixing bowl. Stir in honey and sprinkle yeast over surface. Set aside 5 to 10 minutes until foamy. Add salt, powdered milk, melted shortening, and 3 cups of whole wheat flour. Stir well, then beat until smooth. Add in cooked wheat and remaining flour and stir to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto a floured surface, cover and let rest for 5 minutes. Knead dough 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. You may need to add surface flour to prevent sticking. Place dough in well-greased bowl and turn dough to grease all sides. Cover and let rise until doubled in size. Punch down and divide dough in half, roll out on floured surface into a 7" by 14" rectangle. Beginning at short side, roll tightly like a jellyroll. Pinch edge and ends to seal. Place dough in 2 greased 9" by 5" bread pans seam side up. Turn dough placing the seamed side down, cover and set in warm place to rise above top of pan.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake about 25 minutes or until browned. Turn out of pans. Bread should sound hollow when tapped on bottom. Cool on a rack.

Makes 2 loaves