Those of you who know me know I try to cook everything, well almost.  This habit probably stems out from my poor, hungry days as a home-sicked student at Smith, and even when I was at grad school at HBS, where I would whipped out rendang and nasi kunyit from my $9.95 mini rice cooker (a nod to Tigerfish’s Everything Rice Cooker although ironically her post this week contradicts my next statement!).  But there are just some foods that you just don’t try to attempt making it at home.  Bakwa, bak kwa or more fondly known as “long yoke” (translated, fox meat) for us KL-lites, is one of those things you leave to the professional.  After over 3 decades in the US, I finally found a US source for this delicacy!  Little Red Dot Kitchen‘s bakwa is amazingly authentic.  I am sure many die-hard, food-obsessed Malaysians, have, or considered doing, sneaked this snack pass customs at SFO or LAX, but now no more!  Yay!  Just love long yoke esp during Chinese New Year.

This is my first post that doesn’t include a recipe — you really don’t want to be sitting out there grinding up pork, turning them into meat leathers through smoking or slow and low fire in the oven, and then labor over a char coal grill turning out these delicious morsels that will be gone as soon as you lift them off the grill!  Based in Santa Clara, CA and only available online, Little Red Dot Kitchen makes their bakwa on-demand so you get them pretty much a day or two after they are made.   The only thing missing compared to the real stuff from home, is the smell and the rustle sound of the layers of translucent parchment paper that long yoke is traditionally packaged in.

OK, now that that’s taken care of, you will have tons of time on your hand to make a complete Chinese new year dinner.  Here are some of the symbolic foods recipes from Flavor Explosions:

Yu Sang
Jiao Zi
Radish Cake
Lettuce Cups
Steamed Fish
Chye Choy
Spring Rolls

Kong Hee Fatt Choy!

Tags: Chinese New Year.

Whenever in Shanghai, I must have xiao long bao,  Or whenever it is on any menu!  Din Tai Fung, a Shanghainese, or maybe Taiwanese chain, is able to make a fast food production out of making these delicate soup dumplings.  It is fascinating watching their staff fold these dumplings so swiftly.  One would think they pay their staff based on how fast they can churn out these dumplings.

Chef’s tip: The trick to getting the soup in the middle is by gelling up some aspic with the filling, so when you steam it, the aspic melts to become a soup.

Soup:
1 lb chicken wings tip
3 cups water
2 oz Hunan smoked pork, whole
1 stalk green onions, cut into 3 inch lengths
3 slices ginger
1 Tablespoon Chinese rice wine

Dough:
½ cup high protein/ bread flour
¼ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup + 1 Tablespoon (or more) boiling water
1 teaspoon canola oil

Filling:
1 Tablespoon green onions, white part, very finely minced
1 Tablespoon ginger juice, from 1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Chinese rice wine
½ Tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
8 oz ground pork

Napa cabbage leaves or parchment paper

Sauce:
¼ cup red wine vinegar + 2 Tablespoon water
5 slices ginger, julienned

Preparing the soup

1.     Place all ingredients in a pot. Bring to boil and gently simmer till stock has reduced into half. Cool.
2.    Remove solids and pass the soup through a sieve into a wet pan.  Chill.
3.     When soup has gelled, scrape it up and break it up with a fork.  Set aside in the refrigerator.
Preparing the dough.
4.     Combine the 2 flour together. Form a well in the center. Gradually add the boiling water, stirring until a ball forms.  Cool a little, while still warm, stir in the oil.  Transfer to a lightly floured board and knead for a few minutes until soft and smooth.  Wrap in plastic and let rest for 1 hour.
5.     Divide the dough into 2 balls. Roll each piece of dough into a 1 inch cylinder.  Cut each cylinder into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. You should have about 24 pieces. Cover as you work.
Preparing the filling
6.     Mix all the ingredients together.  Add in the crushed stock.  Gently mix together.
Making the dumpling
7.     Take a dough portion, work into a round ball, flatten it into a 2 1/2 inch round with a rolling pin.  Make a well in the center and place 1 tablespoon of filling, pat it into a mound, leaving a ¾ inch edge around.  Carefully pull up the dough edge with your right thumb and index finger to make the first pleat, while your left thumb centers the filling.  Next, gather the edge of the wrapper with your left index fingers and start to make the subsequent pleats, while your right thumb and index fingers seal the pleats that are formed.  Aim to make 18 pleats per dumpling. Pinch the top together and give it a twist to seal.  Peel off any extra dough at the top.  Placed onto a steamer that is lined with cabbage leaves.
8.     Steam over simmering water for 8 minutes or until the dumplings are translucent.
Preparing the dipping sauce:
9.     While dumplings are steaming, julienne ginger, and mix with red wine vinegar and water.  Serve with dumplings.

Serves: 4

Tags: Chinese, dim sum, Shanghainese.

Radish cake is eaten during Chinese New Year as a symbol for togetherness.   My friend, Ophelia, made the dish this year again….I wish she lived closer coz I would love to get together and have a slice delicious law bak goh!  She shares the secret from her mom — the oil keeps the batter together.  In addition, she recipe-tested my recipe and this is what she says:  “I added one cup less water than your [original] recipe – I judged it by the consistency … when it looked too watery, I added a little more rice flour.  It was 11pm by the time I was done steaming.  I decided to put the whole pan outside the door, and by the Monday it was nice and firm, ready to be fried for New Year breakfast! “  Looks like the 2010 Washington DC snowmageddon did come in useful afterall!

Anyways, I promised her if she shared the picture, the recipe will be on the blog forever so she needn’t search high and low for her copy each new year!  Here we go! Do note to add more water/ rice flour as needed.

2 lbs Chinese white radish, grated
1 cup water + about 1  1/2 cups water

4 Chinese sausages, finely diced
1/4 cup dried shrimps*, soaked in warm water with 1 tablespoon sherry, drain and chopped roughly
2 + 2 tablespoons oil
4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked, or use fresh, finely diced
2 cups rice flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon five spice powder

1 tablespoon cilantro, finely chopped
1 tablespoon scallion, finely chopped

1. Peel and grate radish. Place shredded radish in a small pot or saucepan with 1 cup of water. Bring mixture to a boil, than reduce the heat to a low and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Let cool.  Drain radish.  Save cooking liquid.
2. Pour cooking liquid into a measuring cup. Add remaining water to make 2 1/2 cups of liquid.
3. Start a steamer over a wok of boiling water.
4. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in wok. Stir-fry sausage, 1 minute.  Add the shrimp; fry 30 seconds and mushrooms, 1 minute.  Remove from heat. Set aside.
5. To the cooking liquid mixture, whisk in rice flour, sugar, salt, pepper, 5 spice powder and reserved radish and mix until consistency of thick oatmeal.  You may need to add more water or rice flour.  Add remaining 2 tablespoons of oil.
6. Add in sausage & mushroom mixture, scallion and cilantro.  Mix well.
7. Line a 6 inch by 9 inch (or a 9 inch diameter) cake pan with parchment paper and grease with oil liberally. Pour mixture into it. Place on rack in steamer. Steam over briskly boiling water 1 hour.  The cake is somewhat gooey at this stage.
8. When cold, refrigerate overnight to firm up the cake.
9. To serve, slice 1/4 inch thick, 2 inches wide, and 3 inches long. Fry slices in 1 tablespoon canola oil until golden brown. Serve hot.

Serves: 6-8

Tags: Cantonese, Chinese, dim sum.