Mom's Kitchen: Chinese Egg Custard Dessert

Between our recent trip to Hong Kong, a broken toe, and craziness at work, I've been rather absent in the blogosphere.  I hope to regain normalcy soon!

Whilst I get back on my feet (literally and figuratively), I'd like to share another Mom's Kitchen recipe.  This one is inspired by all the egg custard desserts I had in Hong Kong.  :)

Prep Time: 5-10 min

Cook Time: ~15 min on low heat

Ingredients: (2 servings)

• 2 whole eggs or 4 egg whites (shown here measured out to be ~100mL)
• 150 mL Milk (for the 4 egg whites)
• 4 tsp Sugar 

Directions:
Start by boiling water in your steamer and then simmer on low heat.  If you do not have a steamer, you can also use a lidded pan and add a metal rack like this one.  You can then place a plate on your rack to hold your cups of custard.

Combine egg whites, milk, and sugar in a bowl.  Beat.

Strain your mixture to ensure smoothness and pour into your custard cups.

Place your cups on your steaming rack.  

Put foil over your cups either individually or my lazy-cover-everything way :)

Let steam over low heat for about 15 minutes.  When done, the egg should appear jiggly but set similar to soft tofu.  Serve hot or cold.

Enjoy!

Mom's Kitchen: Easy Chinese Salt & Pepper Chicken

A long-time favorite, Salt & Pepper (Jiao Yan) anything is a big hit with the family.  It complements a simple bowl of rice or a plate of salad.  The typical chicken preparation for this uses chicken wings or dark meat, but the kids and I are lazy about bones and prefer white to dark meat.  Feel free to use what you like!

Prep Time: ~15 minutes 

Cooking Time: ~15 minutes

Ingredients: 

• 1 Chicken Breast (or chicken wings, dark meat, etc.)
• 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
• Cooking Oil (enough to submerge your chicken)
• Corn Starch (enough to coat your chicken)
• Dried Chili Pepper
• Salt and White Pepper
• Sprinkle of Chinese Five-Spice Powder
• Green Onions (optional)
• Fresh Jalapeno (optional)

Directions:

• Coat your chicken using a mixture of corn starch with dashes of salt and pepper.  Coat evenly.

• Heat up your oil.  Once hot, toss in your chicken to fry.  Do not stir!  Wait until it looks like the batter has solidified, otherwise your coating will fall off.
• Once evenly fried (~5 min), let chicken cool a little bit on a paper towel.  After a few minutes of cooling, place it back in the oil for a quick flash fry.  This ensures it will stay crisp throughout the meal.

• In a pan, heat up a little oil.  Saute garlic and green onions.  Toss in your seasonings and chicken. Stir well to coat.

Enjoy!

I'm thinking about uploading cooking videos on YouTube - is that preferable to pictures / text?

Mom's Kitchen: Chinese Cucumber Salad

Last week was sweltering and our house does not have air conditioning (I'm told the temperature never used to exceed the 70s out here).  Whilst we tried to cool ourselves with innumerable fans, Mom made this salad and I fell in love with how refreshing it was.  Even better was that the prep only took 10 minutes and no cooking was required.

Prep Time: ~10 minutes 

Marinating Time: ~30 minutes

Ingredients: 

• 1 English cucumber
• 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
• Dash of Sesame Oil
• 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Chili Sauce (we use Sambal Oelek, amount is really up to you and your preferences)
• Sesame Seeds
• Salt and Pepper
• Green Onions (optional)

Directions:

• Combine garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, chili sauce, salt, and pepper in a bowl and mix.

• Lightly peel your cucumber (optional) and cut in half lengthwise

• Smash your cucumbers by placing a knife over top and lightly tapping the flat part of the knife with your palm.  This allows the marinade to soak through more thoroughly.

• Cut into bite-sized pieces and toss into bowl.
• Add sesame seeds and green onions.  Stir and let sit in refrigerator for 30 minutes or more.

Enjoy!

Mom's Kitchen: Salted Egg Yolk Crab Recipe

On one of my visits to Hong Kong as a kid, we once tried Salted Egg Yolk Crab (called Golden Crab there) and LOVED it.  Fast forward a couple decades to San Francisco where I delighted in finding it at Hakka Restaurant.  Mom, I can never say enough about this woman, decided to find a way to make her own version because she knew how much I craved it.

Prep Time: ~20 minutes (not counting the crab chopping time)

Cook Time: ~10 minutes

Ingredients: 

• 1 Dungeness Crab 
• 2 Salted Eggs - steamed 
• Corn Starch
• Cooking Oil 
• Salt and Pepper

Directions:

• Heat up your wok on medium with about 3/4 cup of oil 
• Let's assume your crab has already been chopped (sorry, squeamish)
• Clean the crab and lightly dust with corn starch (enough to cover all the crab pieces) and salt.  The coating should be very light - not like a batter.  This is enough to give it a bit of crispness and allows the yolk to stick.

• Toss the crab into the wok and let cook a few minutes.  Do not stir at this time or all the coating will fall off.

• Flip after cooking for a few minutes

• Once fully cooked, place crab on a rack to allow any excess oil to drip off

• In a separate pan, heat up a little more oil on medium
• Place your 2 steamed salted egg yolks (this won't work with regular egg yolks) into a pan and mash

• Toss the crab into the yolk mixture and coat.  
• Once coated, you're done.  It's time to eat!

Enjoy!

Mom's Kitchen: Chinese Rice Dumpling Recipe + Wrapping Video

Jean has already shared delicious photos and her family recipe here for zongzi, so this post, admittedly, is a bit duplicative and more for documenting my Mom's methods than anything else.

Mom's Chinese Rice Dumplings

Prep Time: ~1 hour + marinate and soak overnight 

Cook Time: ~1.5 hours

Due to the number of pictures, please see rest of the recipe after the jump.

Mom's Kitchen: Easy Lo Mai Fan (Chinese Sticky Rice)

As mentioned before, I'm trying to learn how to cook my favorite childhood meals from my amazing mother.  Today, I'll be sharing Mom's Lo Mai Fan (Chinese Sticky Rice).

Mom's Lo Mai Fan 

Per Mom, there are 2 main ways you can cook this.  1.) Toss raw rice into a wok and stir constantly until cooked or 2.) Soak rice overnight prior to cooking.  Mom, always looking for ways to simplify things, does it a 3rd (fast and easy) way - cooking the rice in a rice cooker before stir frying it with other ingredients.  This may sound obvious, but sticky rice is strangely temperamental.  Cooking it on its own usually results in either a goopy mess or partially raw rice.  The trick is to mix regular rice along with it to get the perfect level of "doneness."

Prep Time: 40 minutes 

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Due to the number of pictures, please see rest of the recipe after the jump.

Mom's Kitchen: Baked Pork Chop Rice

My Mother is amazing and among her many talents, she is also a fantastic cook.  I learned to sew from her and now I'm hoping to expand my skills in the cooking arena.  Perhaps you'd be interested in joining me in this journey as well? :)

Baked Pork Chop Rice

Prep Time: 30 minutes + marinate overnight

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Due to the number of pictures, please see rest of the recipe after the jump.