Shrimp with Spicy Salt (椒盐虾)

It looks just like the 椒盐虾 in restaurants.
It tastes just like the 椒盐虾 in restaurants.
But what is different?
It is a fraction of the cost in restaurants, and you can enjoy it at home whenever you want!  =)


This dish is actually quite simple.
For the shrimp, you can purchase it anytime at the store (stock up when it's on sale!), and store it in the freezer.  Did you know shrimp stores very well in the freezer, because its shell prevents the shrimp from getting freezer burn?  
Along the same vein (teehee.  vein, get it?), if you are eating at a "Seafood" restaurant whose menu mainly consists of shrimp dish, then that most likely means that most of their seafood is NOT fresh because their shrimp are all frozen.

All you really need to do is know how to deep-fry in your home without making a god-awful mess or setting the house on fire.  
I don't usually advocate deep-frying in home cooking since you get enough grease in your meals when eating out, but I will make an exception for 椒盐虾.


Here is a quick crash course in deep-frying in your home.

• Don't waste your money on a deep fryer, unless you plan on turning into a Southerner and deep frying everything and anything.
• In a deep saucepan or wok, pour about 3/4 inch of high temperature cooking oil.  I use canola.
• When the oil starts showing little bubbles on the bottom of the pan, it should be ready.  Drop a tiny piece of flour or shrimp leg into the oil.  If it starts frying, then its ready.
• When you start adding the shrimp (or whatever it is you are frying) into the oil, don't overcrowd the shrimp because you want the oil temperature to stay hot. So only do a few at a time. 
• Drop the shrimp close to the oil, so you don't splash hot oil on yourself.  (this should be fairly obvious but I will mention it anyways. I have been "splashed" by others in the kitchen who did not follow this rule).
• I use old chopsticks as my "tongs" to fish out the fried shrimp.  But if you own some kind of tongs or net, then even better.

 Simple right?


Writing this recipe reminds me of the story of when I was in undergrad.
I lived in the apartments (a fraction of the cost of dorms), and I did a lot of home cooking because, hey, I was a poor college kid.  I made 椒盐虾 twice and on both incidences, my roommates (different people on both incidences) approached me with quizzical and disgusted looks.  
They couldn't wrap their head around the fact that:  1) You can fry foods at home.  2) You can fry in something that is not a deep fryer. 3) Yes, I cook and consume my shrimp with the head and shell still on  4). To make the shrimp crispy, you dredge the shrimp in flour.  They really had no idea why i was shoving the shrimp into flour just to place it into oil.  5) When you are done frying, you can let the oil cool then use it later in cooking.
After having to defend my both, my cooking methods and my choice in foods, I never felt comfortable to make this dish (or any other non-Westernized dish) while still living with my roommates. 


Flash forward 6 years to 2011:
I found some large head-on shrimp in the freezer.  
When I was trying to think of a dish to make for dinner that evening, all I could think of, to utilize the entire shrimp (the head and the shell), was to make 椒盐虾!!
I really do enjoy the dish, and I do order it from time to time in Chinese restaurants.  And I no longer live in an apartment with judgmental, close-minded roommates.  
Instead, I share a house with a guy that knows Chinese food and does not question or ridicule my cooking.  (his name is Jeff, if you didn't know...).

The dish was really quite easy to make, was not too time consuming (I love food that is zero prep work), and it came out tasting just like at the restaurant.


Here is the ingredients list:
- Shrimp
- Canola oil
- Corn or tapioca starch
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper.  
- Green Onions.  diced
- Jalapenos.  sliced thinly


Here are the instructions!!  
Follow closely!
1. Defrost and pat dry your shrimp.
2. Pour corn starch or tapioca starch in a large bowl.
3. Heat up your oil in the sauce pan (following deep frying instructions above).
4. Dredge each shrimp in the starch bowl, then drop into the oil.
5. When the shrimp is completely cooked, maybe about 2-3 minutes each, remove it from the oil and onto a paper-towel-lined plate.
6. When you have fried all of your shrimp, in a separate pan, heat up a little cooking oil (or you can use a little of your frying oil).
7. Add in the green onions and jalapenos until slightly cooked.  Then add in all the fried shrimp.
8. Sprinkle salt and black pepper all over the shrimp, and the turn the contents a couple of times, to evenly distribute the salt, pepper, jalapenos, and green onions.
9.  Serve it on the plate.  So pretty!  So good with rice!!  (well.. everything is good with rice).

Chinese steamed trout

Last week when I went to Costco to pick up some bagged salad and celery, I decided to go take a peek in the meat and seafood department to see what goodies they have.
Of course, my conscience told me to stay away because I have plenty of meat and seafood in the freezer so I should eat that first before buying a giant economy size pack of meat.  But I went over anyways!! 
I am SUCH a rebel, my mama would be proud. 

Boy, was I glad I went over to the meat and seafood section.  I walked down the fish aisle, glancing at the fish selection and prices.  I first picked up the tilapia filets because typically, tilapia is one of the cheapest fish at the store.  But geez, the price was $4.99 per pound!  What the eff?
Then right next to the tilapia, I saw there was a sign that said $2.99.  The $2.99 was for whole trout!  Not trout fillets, but the entire thing!  Score!
I'm Asian, so you should know that I prefer my fish intact (head on, tail on, bones still in it, the way nature intended).  The fish looked pretty fresh (glossy eyes), so I picked up a pack.
I knew immediatly what I was cooking for dinner that night:  Chinese steamed trout!

I searched high and low around Costco for green onions, and after asking a grumpy employee where their green onions were located, I leanred that Costco did not sell green onions! 
After paying at the cashier, I walked across the parking lot to the Albertsons next door to buy 1 bunch of overpriced green onions.

After driving through the snail-paced Costco parking lot, I drove through the snail-paced streets of LA to get home.
When I got home, I debated between using my gigantic Chinese steamer, or my steaming apparatus involving my wok, a kitchen towel, and a bowl.  The haphazard steaming apparatus won (ask me if you want to know details on how you can make your own steaming apparatus!).

I gathered the following ingredients for the dish:
4 whole trout
6 spring onions, thinly sliced.
2 clove garlic, sliced thinly
sea salt
(If you have fresh ginger root, you need 2 inches of it, sliced.  I didn't have any).

For the sauce: 1 clove garlic, chopped
6 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
6 tablespoons Shaosing (Chinese brown rice wine)
2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon dark soft brown sugar
2 teaspoon, grated root ginger

I think the prep work is the most time consuming part!
Pat dry the fish with the paper towel then sprinkle the fish with sea salt.  Set the fish aside for 30 minutes.
Make the sauce by mixing all the ingredients in a saucepan, and bringing it to a simmer for 5 minutes.
Set up the steamer and bring the water to a boil.  Place the garlic and ginger on the fish and place the fish in the steamer.  Steam the fish for 18-20 minutes. 
Serve the trout with the sauce poured over and garnished with the spring onions.

Enjoy it with steamed rice.  Yum.

Steak Chili

I think when most Americans think of "chili" they think of the greasy ground meat goo with mushy beans.
(and apparently, some Asians think that "chili" is synonymous with the word "spicy".  But this is not a story about Asians and their confusion with the English language).
When I think "chili" I think more along the lines of a steak chili or chili con carne, where I can actually taste the beef and bite into it.  So if I ever invite you over for a chili night, this will be the kind of chili you will be served!
And that's exactly what happened when my sister came over for dinner & movie night.  We enjoyed a hot bowl of heartwarming chili with a side of tortilla chips, while our eyes were glued to Beetlejuice.

This recipe can most definitely be made in the slow cooker, but since I had some free time that afternoon, I decided to make it on the stove top.  That way, the beans and tomatoes would still have a bite to it (rather than just one homogenous glop).

Ingredients:
2 large onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1.5 or 2 pounds of steak (whatever is on sale), cubed.
2 large cans tomatoes.  (I also added in some fresh tomatoes since I had some in the house)
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 cans white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Salt and pepper

If you are cooking on the stove top, make sure you are using a deep skillet, since there are a lot of ingredients and liquids in this dish!
You start by adding some oil in your skillet, then add in the onions and garlic and cook until browned.  Add in the steak cubes and cook until seared/browned on all sides.

Pour in the tomatoes with liquid, salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, paprika, and oregano. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.  Lastly, stir in kidney beans, and cook for another 15 minutes.

If you are cooking in the slow cooker, add in all the ingredients except for the kidney beans into the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 5.  In the last 30 minutes, add in the kidney beans.

-----
Note #1:  Enjoy the chili with sides such as corn bread or tortilla chips.  Or as some people prefer.....  steamed rice...  =/

Note #2:  Chili freezes very well!!  After we finished our dinner, I immediate placed a portion in the freezer and I gave another portion to my sister which fed her 2 more meals. 
I think in total, this dish made about 7-8 meals.

Note #3: The cost of the ingredients came out to around $7, so its ~$1 per meal.  Way cheaper than eating out AND you have enough food to last you a few days.  So you can spend your time doing more important things... like watching Beetlejuice

Homemade chicken pot pie (but not the crust)

A few weeks ago, a made the wonderful decision to make chicken pot pie at home.
Unfortunately, I also made the terrible decision to double the recipe and make TWO chicken pot pies.
(see exhibit A on the right).

We ended up eating chicken pot pies for every meal for over a week, that I think it's safe to conclude that we won't be eating chicken pot pies anytime in the near future.

The ingredients inside the pot pie are typical ingredients that I usually always have around the house:  chicken, carrots, potatoes, celery and onions.
The stuff I had to buy especially for this dish was the half&half  and the pie crusts. 
(When it comes to me and pies, i ALWAYS buy the pie crust.  I am no good when it comes to making dough, and I really don't think that the time and effort that goes into making pie crusts is worth.  When does someone ever eat a pie and say "this crust is spectacular.  Much better than store bought" ?  Exactly.


Making the actual filling is very easy.  And the entire pot pie is not hard at all, just kind of time consuming since you have to make the filling on the stove, then bake the entire thing in the oven.  I typical prefer cooking meals that requires only 1 heat source (the stove only, or the oven only).  But hey, its chicken pot pie, so.... gotta make some exceptions  :).

Here are the filling ingredients:
    1 cup potato, diced
    1 cup onion, diced
    1 cup celery, diced
    1 cup carrot, diced
    1/3 cup melted butter
    1/2 cup all-purpose flour
    2 cups chicken broth
    1 cup half-and-half
    salt and pepper
    3 chicken breasts.  cubed

In a skillet, with a little bit of oil, cook the chicken breasts until fully cooked.  Remove the chicken then in the same pan, saute the onion, celery, carrots and potatoes in the butter for 10 minutes. Add the flour to the skillet, stirring well, to cook out the raw flour.  Add the broth and half&half to the mixture and cook until bubbly.  Stir in the salt and pepper and chicken and stir well.

Here is the fun part!
In your handy dandy baking dish (pyrex), add 1 pie crust then pour in the chicken mixture. Then lay the 2nd crust on top and make sure that you make the edges of the pie crust stick together and look pretty! Cut slits in the crust to allow steam to escape, then place the pie into your 400 degree oven.  Bake for 40-50 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.

Grilled Chicken Breast with Cilantro Butter

Now that I have more free time, it makes a great opportunity to eat better.
At the store this week, boneless skinless chicken breast was on sale for $1.99 per pound!  Too good to be true.

Of course, one of the best ways to enjoy chicken breast is grilled, but I always get so wary that I would overcook the breast and make it dry like cardboard  (since poultry always needs to be cooked completely).  Then I thought "I know how to avoid that! I will use a food thermometer so I know exactly when to take the meat off the heat".

When I got home, I sprinkled salt and pepper on the chicken breast, and grilled the chicken breast on the grill pan.  (I really did not want to drag the backyard gas grill out from the garage).

I grilled the chicken on each side for 5 minutes then stuck in the meat thermometer.
The outcome?
Nothing!!
The meat thermometer arrow did not move!

Apparently, the last time Jeff used the meat thermometer (which was actaully the 1st time we used it), Jeff dropped it, leaving a crack in the glass on the thermometer display.
I thought "a crack on the display. no biggie. it should still work"
But no, the entire thing was broken.

So I had to do it the old fashioned way -- make a cut into the chicken breast to see if the meat was still raw.  (I hate doing this method, because I feel like too the juices are lost when the meat is poked while it's still cooking).

Apparently, 5 minutes on each side was too little, as the meat was still raw, so I had to cook the meat for an additional 8-10 minutes.

The meat did not come out too bad; it was still moist with some juices (phew), but I made sure to get a meat thermometer next time I'm at the store.

Right before the meat comes off the grill, you need to make the Cilantro Butter!
For the cilantro butter, I combined 1/4 stick of butter (not margarine), 1 tsp of minced garlic, 1 tbp of freshly minced cilantro, and some salt and pepper.

As the grilled chicken comes off the grill, place a small pat of the cilantro butter on the chicken breast, and let the butter melt all over.  mmm.

Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork

The last time I made pulled pork in the slow cooker, I remember it being very difficult because I avoided using bottled bbq sauce, and instead, tried to add in all the flavors myself using all sorts of herbs and spices that I can no longer remember.  All I can remember is, the entire process was so difficult!

This time, I decided to try slow cooker pulled pork again, but using bottled bbq sauce.
Not only did it come out tastier, but it was also more moist and just so much easier than my previous attempt at pulled pork.  Moving forward, I will only do this following method:

Ingredients:
1 bone-in pork shoulder, skin and excess fat removed
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 bottle barbecue sauce
2 tablespoons mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Salt and pepper

Instructions:
Scatter onion over bottom of slow cooker and place the whole chunk of pork on top. Add broth, cover and cook on low until very tender, about 8 hours.
When the 8 hours is up, remove the meat and onions into a seperate bowl, and discard the bone.  Discard the liquid in the slow cooker.
Get 2 forks, and pull the pork apart into shreds, discarding any fat you find.
Return the pulled pork to slow cooker and stir in barbecue sauce, mustard, honey and soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 1 hour on low.

Sorry for no pictures!
The day I made this dish, I made it for a pot luck lunch at Jeff's company, and I had to cook the pork during the middle of the night, pull the pork at 8am in the morning, and let it cook for the last hour while I ran off to a doctor's appointment.
After rushing back from the doctor's appointment, I hastily poured the pulled pork into a glass tupperware and sent it off to work with Jeff.
It felt like the longest morning ever!
So that was why there was no time for a picture.  =)

Jeff reported back saying that a lot of people enjoyed the pulled pork.  horray. 

Home made char siu pork > bottled marinade char siu pork

If you remember from a few posts ago, I wrote about marinating pork chops in bottled marinade.
That dish came out OK, but not very close to the REAL char siu pork that you get from the cantonese reastaurant.

I finally took the time to make my own char siu marinade and took my sweet time basting the pork in the oven over and over.  All that time really paid off.
My  char siu pork was so flavorful, so moist, and the best part is: it tasted like the real thing for the fraction of the price!!!

The only change I would make the next time I make this, is to do a better job removing the fat off the pork chops.
I usually just buy whatever pork is on sale at the store, and remove the fat myself, which is fine and all, but I should have done a more thorough job.  The fat really put a damper on my experience. 


Your ingredients:
Pork- remove the bone, remove the fat. Buy about 2.5 or 3 pounds.
Hoisin sauce - 3/4 cup
Soy sauce - 1/2cup
Rice wine - 1/2cup.  I don't have any so I used xiao xing cooking wine.  good enough.
Honey - 1/3 cup
Sugar - 1 tablespoon
Minced ginger-1 tablespoon 

Instructions:
Slice pork butt into strips. Mix together all the ingredients in a gallon ziploc bag and place the pork strips into the ziploc bag. Let it marinate overnight (the longer, the better). 
The next day, heat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Place a rack on top of a lined baking sheet and pour water onto your baking sheet.  The water keeps the meat moist and the baking sheet will catch all the drippings.
Place the strips of pork on the rack, then roast the pork for 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to 325 degrees Farhenheit  and roast for another 40 minutes, turning and basting 3-4 times with the remaining marinade.
Cut the pork into bite-sized pieces and serve.

Frozen Tilapia is not so bad afterall

Apparently I am very behind on my food blog, so lets see how many posts I can get up today!

I was always afraid to buy frozen fish from the seafood section because it's simply not fresh.
You can smell and taste that fishiness, and let me tell you something:  FISH SHOULD NOT SMELL AND TASTE "FISHY".
When you pick up a fish and smell it, it should smell like water. 
When you eat it, it should taste mild.
So I've been afraid of frozen fish because I have smelled that fishy smell before.

Well, on a trip to the store, there was a lady that was cooking fish and handing out samples, and let me tell you.. that fish tasted pretty DG (damn good)! 
I was really surprised to find out she was using frozen tilapia filets.

Skeptical, I bought 1 pack of the frozen tilapia.
When I got home, I found that each filet was vacuum sealed.
I took out a few filets and marinated it in a little soy sauce, garlic, and xiao xing cooking wine.  Pretty basic stuff.
I heated up my skillet with some veggie oil (to give the meat a good sear), and cooked the filets a few minutes on each side.
I was so surprised how the fish came out:  Not fishy at all, mild tasting, and moist.
It was lovely.

Does this mean I can bring frozen fish back into my life??


(by the way, if you have any questions about how to pick fresh fish and other sea foods at the market, ask me!)