glass_icarus | Entries tagged with foodporn: recipe

I made red bean soup (紅豆湯) for a potluck before coming home from Montreal! Recipe per my mom's instructions:
- 1 bag dried red beans (azuki beans)
- orange peel, dried or fresh
- 1/4 cup sugar (my mom said "some"; this is the amount I went with)
- a pinch or two of salt
- ginger (my mom doesn't use this)

Rinse and soak the red beans overnight. Drain and add water to cover the beans- I didn't measure, but I added about the same volume of water again on top. Put in the orange peel. My mom recommends the peel of one orange, I added extra because I was trying to finish the two oranges left in my fridge. I also added a piece of ginger because it's winter and I needed the boost. Boil the beans until soft - I did this in my rice pot, but it can be done on the stovetop. Add sugar and salt after the beans are soft and breaking apart. Boil (or simmer if on stovetop) again and stir to dissolve. The proportion of sugar can be adjusted to your taste, but I really dislike soup that's TOO sweet- it ruins the nice flavor balance. I used 1/4 cup, which was just a bit sweet for me but worked well for everyone else. If you do add more sugar, you should also add more salt to balance it out. You can also add more water if you feel the soup is too thick. Remove the orange peel before serving.

If you'd like to make things a little more interesting, you can add some tangyuan (wiki: 湯圓)! Since they're generally available frozen, I would boil them separately unless you're doing the red bean soup on the stovetop (in which case you can toss them in the pot during the last ~2 minutes probably). I like black sesame tangyuan best, but there are other varieties... including red bean, if you're the kind of person who likes red bean with your red bean. :P

I just got my mom's recipe for beef stew! Writing this down for future reference :)

Ingredients:
- ginger
- stew beef
- tomatoes (a lot)
- a drip of honey
** Optional:
- soy sauce
- vinegar (or wine)
- five-spice or star anise
- onions
- black and/or chili pepper

Boil a pot of water and blanch the stew beef. Discard the water. Saute ginger (and five-spice if using) in a frying pan, then add blanched beef to cook. Add tomatoes (and onions if using), cook down, then add just enough water to cover everything. (Vinegar, soy sauce, and star anise can be added here if using.) Add honey, then simmer on the stovetop for about an hour to finish cooking.

Like all of my mom's non-baking recipes, the proportions here can be adjusted to your liking and seasonings can be added to taste. You can also experiment with other things you like - the optional ingredients are ones I specifically asked about because I currently have them or usually add them (I add pepper to nearly everything, I like spice). Using just the base ingredients is totally fine too though; my mom usually makes the base version of this stew and it's delicious. The trick is apparently to use REALLY A LOT of tomatoes, lol.

Rather than look up a recipe (because lazy), I decided to just eyeball everything. According to my sister's research, the key ingredients are soy sauce, star anise (or five-spice, which includes it), and tea. I estimate that I used about half a cup of soy sauce and maybe 2 tsp of five-spice? for six hardboiled eggs, and enough water to completely cover them. I was loath to waste the good looseleaf my parents got from Taiwan, so I put in used black tea after I made several brews this morning.

I cracked and only partially peeled the eggs, getting rid of the membrane under the peeled bits for better absorption. Leaving them in my rice pot (not cooking, but warming) for the day; I'm curious to see the results!

Super cold weather this week makes me want to bake, so I decided to play around with this chocolate peanut butter cupcake recipe! Modified as follows:

1.5 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 c sugar (approximately)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c lukewarm coffee (mine was instant and on the warmer side, oops?)
1/2 c milk (I used my roommate's extra 1%)
1/2 c creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
splash vanilla extract (I didn't measure this; 1-2 tsp?)

I mixed the dry ingredients and then added in the wet until everything was combined, no separate-bowl-mixing because I'm too lazy for that (same reason I used my cake pan instead of my cupcake tin, lol). I embedded 4 chunks of Trader Joe's 70% dark chocolate into the batter before I put it in to bake. My devil oven means that I play temperature/bake time roulette every time, but my best guess for people with temperature dials that actually correspond to their oven temperatures would be somewhere around 40 minutes at 350F? Once the toothpick came out clean I crushed a couple of dried Thai chili peppers on top.

Verdict: halving the sugar was appropriate for my fairly un-sweet tooth; however, next time I'll add the chili straight into the batter for a more infused (hopefully) spice kick. It could also use some flavor boosting on both the chocolate and peanut butter fronts- I like the lightness of the cake I ended up with, so I'll probably just embed more chocolate chunks next time. Straight replacement of butter with peanut butter apparently doesn't give the most peanutty flavor, so I could swirl in some extra peanut butter or try using chunky peanut butter? (You could also do a peanut butter frosting or just straight up spread it on top after the cake is done, but I'm not a big fan of frostings/icings/etc.) Hmm. Worth additional experiments!

Wow, the end of the semester swamped me fast... Emerging from grading/paper/presentation doom momentarily to write down tonight's really good first attempt at fish stew:

- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 2 large cloves garlic, minced
- 3 slices ginger, minced
- 1 dried bird's eye chili pepper, crushed
- white pepper to taste
- salt to taste (I used ~2-3 tsp?)
- 1 pinch turmeric
- 1 pinch paprika
- cumin to taste (~2 tsp?)
- sesame oil
- dried shiitake mushrooms
- white fish filets, chopped (~900g, which I only know because mine were frozen/prepackaged)
- dried lentils (~1 cup?)
- 1 tomato

I threw everything except the lentils, fish, tomato, and mushrooms in the bottom of my inner rice pot* and sauteed it until the onions were cooked soft. Then I added the remaining ingredients, put in enough water to cover everything, and cooked it in my rice pot (this took maybe 30-40 minutes?). I'm sure you could also do this in a slow-cooker or on the stove, but if you do it on the stove you may want to simmer everything for a longer time on a lower heat to get more flavor into the fish (assuming you don't pre-marinate it, which I didn't).

*Mine is a Tatung rice pot with removable inner pots, i.e. the kind where cooking time is determined by how much water you put in the outer pot, so I can't be very specific. ^^;

First one in a while, which is probably a good thing? On the other hand, random impulse baking means I ended up with a pretty great modified version of these easy peanut butter oatmeal cookies.

Mods:
- used slightly less than 1/2 c sugar (certainly not packed), because
- added probably around 1/2 c dried cranberries
- melted a few chunks of unsweetened chocolate & mixed it in with the peanut butter
- added a few shakes of cayenne pepper

DELICIOUS. Also, I could've maybe done this vegan by leaving the egg out altogether- the peanut butter and melted chocolate combo seemed thick enough to hold pretty well.

The other day, I attempted yet another mod of the lime yogurt olive oil cake I love so much because I have a bag of Meyer lemons and wanted to play!

Normally when I make this cake, I halve the sugar and ignore all measurements re: lime juice in favor of juicing an entire lime, or occasionally 1.5-2 limes. This time, rather than juicing and zesting, I decided I'd just toss a whole Meyer lemon in my bullet blender along with a couple slices of chopped frozen ginger and the 1/3 cup of vegetable oil (I don't have olive oil at the moment). I used a packet of "ginger tea" (basically, really strongly flavored ginger sugar) instead of regular sugar that prooobably amounted to ~1/4 c, which is about half again what I usually do for this cake. Also, I used maple yogurt rather than plain or vanilla. (When in Canada...?)

Results: The batter came out thicker than I'm used to, possibly because a whole blended lemon changes the texture a bit, or alternately because I usually ~double the lime juice. The Meyer lemon gives a great smell but not as much flavor intensity; I think I'll double it if/when I try this again. Also, I've finally gone below the minimum re: cutting sugar; 1/4 c was definitely too little given that my maple yogurt wasn't all that sweet. What I ended up with can be more accurately described as "interesting, subtly-lemon-flavored bread" than "lemon/ginger/maple yogurt cupcakes" (I used a cupcake tin this time). xD Sticking to 1/3 to 1/2 c sugar is safest!

My hot chocolate experiment turned out really well, so I'm putting this down lest I forget.

Ingredients:
+ 1 wedge Ibarra chocolate
+ 4 blocks of Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate
+ ~2-3 cups milk
+ cayenne pepper to taste
+ El Dorado golden rum cream liqueur

Let the milk simmer on medium heat and melt in the Ibarra chocolate. Melt the dark chocolate using the double boiler method. Slowly add the milk mixture to the dark chocolate and combine, then add the cayenne pepper. Pour the hot chocolate into cups, then add a dash of liqueur to each. Serves 2-3.

Notes: You can probably substitute other rums or Bailey's for the liqueur, I just used it because we had it on hand. Milk substitutions (e.g. soy milk) are probably better than water, though ymmv. I've made Ibarra hot chocolate using water before, and I definitely didn't like it as much- I found it too sweet on its own and not rich enough, which is why I decided to try this version in the first place. I also don't know how well this recipe scales up, since I was just making it for me and my dad. An experiment for another time, I guess?

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/363768.html

While I'm thinking over more drabbles (prompts still open!), have some foodporn: This tutorial on making castella cake in a rice cooker is making me regret the fact that I don't have a rice cooker that I'd be willing to bake in! ;____;

( youtube embed )

I don't understand the hat she's wearing, but the bit at the end where she's eating the cake with happy noises made me laugh a lot, heh. The recipe can also be found on the youtube page and in Japanese here, but for convenience's sake I've posted it below.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
90g (3.2oz. or 3/8 cup) sugar
45g (1.6oz. or ~1/2c) cake flour*
45g (1.6oz. or ~3/8c) bread flour (strong flour)*
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. honey
butter (to grease the rice cooker/cake container)
*you can use 90g (3.2oz. or ~3/4c) all purpose flour instead

Directions:

If using an oven: Bake at 170C (338F) for 10 minutes. Then turn down to 140C (284F) and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/352631.html

Among the things I turned up while cleaning ~~half my life~~ old high school notebooks and ALL THE DUST out of my closet were two Chelsea Market recipe cards.

( Moules Mariniere )

( Seared Scallops w/Shallots & Wine )

Being a lazy cook, I've tried neither of these recipes, but please let me know if you do!

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/350186.html

What do you guys think of first when you think of "American music"? Artists, genres, top 5 songs; whatever comes into your head.

*(This is only partly ~~morbid~~ curiosity, you understand. The rest of my objective is to gauge how much wtf face I should make. ;P)

eta; also I am spared from making smitten kitchen's salted caramel brownies only because a) I'm scared of making caramel and b) my roommate made a pan of triple-chocolate brownies the other day. >.>

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/340690.html

To celebrate finishing my biostats final, I made lemon bars last night! I used 2/3 of this microwave lemon curd recipe* (discovered via

musesfool) and my roommate and I threw together a haphazard crust using ~1.5c all purpose flour, a stick of softened butter, and some chopped nuts and dried fruit (okay, so it was really crushed/chopped trail mix *g*). This was more than sufficient crust to fill the bottoms of my 12-muffin tin; I really should've gone with the full lemon curd recipe though.

Anyway, 10 minutes of baking the crust at 350F, and then 5 minutes more after spooning the lemon curd on top, and ( voila: )

*Prep and cooking time for the lemon curd turned out to be around 10 minutes, for real- and I spent probably half that time rummaging around for a makeshift measuring cup and failing to zest the lemons properly with our grater.

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/336096.html

Awesome things about the weekend:

1. Hung out with friend M, who was visiting from out of town! I wouldn't recommend Saigon Grill (which we went to on Friday) because of its poor treatment of workers, but that one wasn't my choice. On the other hand, late-night Chicken & Rice is always satisfying, and I think Zoe's is going to be a new favorite brunch spot of mine. :)

2. ALSO (and more importantly), friends & I accomplished these creme brulee cupcakes! ( glorious foodporn & mods )

Of course now I am paying for all of these adventures with epic library time, but the lazy weekend was worth it!

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/331265.html

Wow, this is the first time I have actually had a class canceled! In celebration I had a glorious two-person dumpling party and, er, started inhaling notes for Monday's midterm. Which I need to get back to, actually! Therefore, some randoms:

» I'm not sure I made it clear in my last post that yes, I have watched (and rewatched and rewatched) the first Korra ep! Proper discussion will have to come post-midterm, though. In the meantime: ( CAPSLOCK SPOILERS )

» Check out ( Janelle covering Jimi Hendrix! )

» a number of recipes I am planning to try:
- the single lady pancake
- eggs in bell peppers or onion rings
- eggs in avocado slices
- guac omelette

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/314907.html

Last ~5 hours for Kaleidoscope treats, guys! (Or you can check out the countdown clock if you want to be precise.)

And, for those of you not biting your nails over Kaleidoscope:
&hearts

starlady's put up a delicious looking port balsamic cranberry sauce recipe that I want to try. *_____*
&hearts SIGNUPS FOR THE

white_lotus LUNAR NEW YEAR EXCHANGE ARE OPEN!! *\o/* which I will properly flail about later, I promise!

And now I am going back to ~~writing my paper~~ - okay, ogling the request list to see if there's anything my brain will wake up to. >.>

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/301805.html

1. We can almost map out our family history with food. Some of the first memories I have of Taiwan are of sitting at my 外婆's kitchen table, eating 絲瓜 and 番薯 and pan-fried fish, sharing cans of shu pao in front of the living room fans to cool down, and how it was so different to eat the same things in my ama's house in 鳳山 with my dad's family. My dad will reminisce at night about 宵夜 with ama, my mom still drools over the 牛肉麵 she used to eat with her college friends, my sister adores 鹹魚茄子煲 (which I think she first had with our cousin), I still remember the time I woke in the night at my 三姨媽's house and stumbled into the kitchen to find her and 二舅母 in front of the fridge with a just-opened box of creampuffs.

2. When I got sick when I was little, my mom used to stir glasses of Sprite until the carbonation disappeared and give me a couple of slightly crumbled Saltines at a time whenever I woke feverish and nauseous. If I could keep those down, I could have 稀飯 with a little bit of salt the next morning, or- if I was feeling even better than that- with 魚鬆. This led to some perplexity when my non-Asian school friends told me about BRAT diets years later, and also some relief; I have never been particularly fond of applesauce, though I'll eat it.

3. An incomplete list of things I've developed cravings for over the years: 玉米 (so NOT the same as stateside corn), 芭樂, 蓮霧, 蚵仔煎, 烏魚子 (which I didn't like at first, and can still only take about two slices of at a time). Those cravings can't be completely fulfilled even by going back to Taiwan, simply because three of my grandparents are no longer there to share them with.

4. Living in Manhattan during and after undergrad was a great way to expand my culinary horizons, but it also made me recognize just how integral food is to my concept of home. I didn't actually move very far, and I've had countless amazing food adventures with friends (late-night Chicken & Rice treks, bo ssam at Momofuku, Picnic Garden in Flushing, brunch at Popover Cafe, and my former roommate R's quest for the best sushi in Manhattan, just to name a few), but sometimes what I wanted the most was my mom's haphazard noodle soups or experimental casseroles thrown together from a random assortment of things in the fridge.

5. I've realized that I don't so much rely on specific foods for comfort as I do on cooking and eating with specific groups of people. 火鍋 with my immediate family is different from 火鍋 with my relatives in Taiwan is different from hotpot with all the different permutations of my "usual suspects," friends from ballroom/undergrad. Dim sum with my "American grandma" is different from dim sum with my Chinese family friends (where there's never any explanation involved but the check-grabbing fights remain the same). Making far too much frosting with R- and burning my fingers on his molten chocolate cupcakes- for a birthday party we threw for a friend was different from my current adventures in baking, now that I'm living alone. These days it's not that the easiest cake ever is fast becoming a comfort food for me; it's comforting to make it even when I'm the only person eating it because I know I share that experience with so many of you.

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/282927.html

Slow day + gorgeous weather = SO DISTRACTED OMG. Freedom, so close I can almost taste it!! Kind of like the ~~awesome cheese* &~~ blueberry liqueur we're going to share in a bit, ahaha. (Yes, at work; yes, our collective foodie tendencies are ~amazing~.)

Was thinking of a random last-minute jaunt out of town, but since I literally just had one last weekend, a staycation seems to be in order this time. Currently I have no plans other than catching up on sleep/picspams/writing, doing some cleaning & errands I haven't got round to for a while, and hitting the library if it's nice out so I can spend hours reading in the sun (or stay indoors/at B&N if it ends up raining). Oh, and treating some family friends to this lime/yoghurt/olive oil cake if my first attempt tonight comes out successfully! :3 *crosses fingers*

How are you guys? &hearts

*foiled re: cheese, alas! blueberry liqueur = &hearts &hearts &hearts, however. /post-drink eta

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/282427.html

There is officially Too Much going on and I'm still trying to finish this write-up, so have some links!

+

wistfuljane put together an awesome 2PM primer! :D
+ This year we have REMIX MADNESS, FUCK YES!!!

3w4dw-spam:
+ Link roundup from livrelibre and a disability-themed roundup from

rydra_wong.
+ My (Iku/Doujou, insubordination) Toshokan Sensou prompt was filled over at the anime/manga/manhwa/manhua fest! N'awwww. &hearts
+ Speaking of the fest,

ephemere coded up the shiny list of prompts and fills, WHICH EVERYBODY SHOULD GO FORTH AND OGLE. *g*
+

inkstone did an awesome FONSFAQ post for my Filipino folk dances prompt! *\o/*
+

troisroyaumes is hosting a FONSFAQ for manhwa!
+ Some foodie posts:

were_duck is looking for vegan recipes, and

meloukhia has a What's That Recipe? post! NOM.
+

ephemere did a FONSFAQ for her favorite Filipino musicians!
+

vi drew an adorable comic: Two of a Kind. &hearts

And now that I've run out of exclamation points, a poem:

( The Rune of St. Patrick )

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/278501.html

» random links;
+ Via

musesfool: Mark Watches Avatar!
+

oyceter: Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven
+ Bruce Lee made from metrocards
+ Poem for the day: On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City, by Sherman Alexie
+ The Female Character Trope Fest now has a prompts masterlist and a fanworks post!

» 3w4dw!
+

torachan: Transfic Mini Fest Round 2
+

littlebutfierce is hosting the fantastically awesome 3W4DW anime/manga/manhwa/manhua drabblefest!
+ The FONSFAQ project is really taking off! Also,

fonsfaq has been created for those who don't wish to host in their own journals.
+

ephemere has posted glorious cupcake porn!
+

azuire is hosting a non-fannish subscribe-a-thon!
+

inkstone is once again hosting the Small Fandoms Subscription Meme!
+

vi posted a recipe for doughnut muffins. *____*!!

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/277739.html

For the first time in a long while, there are thoughts whirling around the back of my head that could become stories and/or actualfax posts, but I have racked up too much sleep debt to pin them down! (And also to actually tackle some other writing commitments, oops.)

So instead I shall ask: what would you do with any of the following, aside from incorporating them into a VERY EPIC VERSION of the easiest cake ever?

- a bowl of slightly overripe cherries
- a box of (shortly to become?) overripe blueberries
- a pomegranate
- frozen blackberries & strawberries
- Granny Smith apples (4)
- navel oranges (6)
- rapidly softening grapefruit (A HEAP)
- half a gigantor jar of honeyed kumquats
- lemons (6)

(Why yes, I do have too much fruit and not enough time/opportunity to demolish it at a spoilage-avoiding rate!)

Crossposts: http://glass-icarus.livejournal.com/265727.html

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then there are blackbirds

in a heaven of blackbirds

Entries tagged with foodporn: recipe

紅豆湯

February flying by

first attempt at tea eggs!

chocolate peanut butter cake

o/

late-night cooking spree

experimental kitchen: more baking notes

success!

castella!

fancy recipes

curious george is curious*

lemon bars!

weekend food accomplishments!

class-canceled linkspam!

zomg

comfort fooding [potluck #2]

long weekend ahoy!

placeholding for actual content

monday linkspam

a bear of little brain again