Spice it up. Not your regular watermelon soju

As most of my friend know, I am somewhat of an alcohol fanatic. I also want to experiment with cocktails but haven't stock up enough in my liquor cabinet to do that. But this cocktail I tried in Hong Kong was not a difficult mix at all.
Watermelon soju has been a popular thing among my friends especially during summer months. This cocktail is let's say a more complex version of it, flavor wise.

I don't really like to measure when it comes to alcohol. Be more free spirited and taste test while mixing it.

Ingredients:
watermelon juice (I used one mini watermelon and blend everything)
vodka/ soju
fresh lime juice
lemongrass (i didn't have fresh lemongrass so I used frozen ground lemongrass)
honey syrup
thai chili

With half of the watermelon juice, I mixed 2 shots of vodka, half a lime, a tsp of lemongrass, a squirt of honey syrup and half a thai chili.
Everyone likes this drink differently so you are in control of your own drink. Cheers and have a sweet hot spicy night ;)

Bring home to me. Shanghai Vegetable Rice

Home is far for me. Home cooked food is even further. My cravings are the motivation for me to cook these dishes and this shanghai vegetable rice one that I also crave and therefore always make. Although I have to admit that, my mom's rice is also unbeatable and the best I have ever had.

With the help of a rice cooker, everything is so much easier these days. This dish is the same.

Ingredients:
Shanghai bak choy (those with milky white stems)
Chinese sausage
Jasmine rice
Salt

First wash the rice and measure the amount of water. Put in a little less water than usual because there will be water in the vegetable and you don't want your rice to be soggy.

Then wash the bak choy and finely chop them. You would want at least a bag of vegetables. It will look like a lot but when you cook it they will shrink.
Heat the wok, add a little more oil than usual.  Put all of the chopped vegetables in. Add a handful of salt. Remember this will be mixed into the rice so you should definitely over salt them.
Water stored in the vegetable will be forced out when you cook it. Once the vegetables are all wilted, pour them into the rice cooker including the vegetable juice.

Start the rice cooker. Halfway through the cooking process, put in the Chinese sausage. This adds flavor to the rice. Let the rice cook through and your vegetable rice will be done!
Easy peasy :)

Hope all of you who are living far away from home can feel the love during the process of cooking some traditional homemade food you had at home.

Nothing beats homemade soymilk

Everyone buys soy milk at supermarket but the hard work you put in when you make your own changes the flavor of the ultimate product.
So here you go, homemade soy milk. Silky and delicious.

It's a two day process. First sock the soy beans overnight so they grow in size.

The next day pour the soy bean into the blender. 1:1 ratio. Start the blender until smooth. Strain the pulp and milk with a cloth bag. You can find these at asian supermarkets. People usually use them for making fish soup.


Use all of the strength you got to squeeze all the juice out of the bag. Then put the remaining pulp back into the blender. This time adding half the water. 1:.5 ratio. You don't want to put too much water because it will dilute the final product. Repeat the squeezing part.

Now all the liquid is in a pot, turn on the stove and give it a boil. THIS WILL SPILL so watch the fire. Let it cool and there you go. Homemade soy milk. You can make a batch and put them in small jars ready for your morning commute.

                 

     

Pickles

These days I have been obsessed with pickles. The process of pickling was used as a way to preserve food but then people enjoyed the resulting flavor and nowadays people from all over their world have their own style of pickling.
Koreans is one of the Asian country that has a lot of preserved food. This recipe is one of my favorite and also the easiest.
Chayote is a plant that belongs to the gourd family. In Chinese we call them "buddha's hand" since it has a shape of a close fist. I have also used it to make soup until I tried a pickle chayote at a Korean restaurant.
**One thing you need to know about this plant. It's slimy after you peel the skin off. The sap from the plant dries out the water on your fingers and your hands will be super dry. Some people will even have allergic reaction to it. Try to use gloves when you cut them**

For the pickle, we do not need to peel the skin, but we need to take out the center white part of the plant. Cut them into cubes and find a tight jar for you to store them.

Now the brine. It consists of 1:1:1 sugar, soy sauce and white vinegar. Put them all in a pot and bring it to a boil. Watch the fire because the brine will over boil very quickly.
Once it boils up, pour the brine into the jar of raw chayote.
They float so in order to let it soak up the brine, place a few rocks or something heavy to push them down. Seal the jar.

Let the jar sit in room temperature for  a day or two then you can put it in the fridge.

For a kick, put in a jalepeno (poke a few holes in the pepper). That should give you a sweet sour spicy delicious pickle. ENJOY!

**You can reuse the brine. Just add extra soy sauce and vinegar and give it a boil. Also use hot brine so the chayote cooks a little in the brine but remain crispy.**

Bottomless Brunch Part 2: French Toast

This is not some ordinary French Toast. This is the Hong Kong style French Toast!
You usually find them in local restaurants that serves a vary of breakfast food, milk tea and a rice plates. This is one of my favorite afternoon tea snack when I was young. 

French toast was created in European and until this day, there are still French toast served in Europe. This specialty food was brought to Hong Kong during the colonial years under British rules. It became a popular afternoon tea choice and is now part of the distinct Hong Kong food culture. 
The Hong Kong style French toast uses two slices of white bread instead of French baguettes. The most popular filling is peanut butter or jam. After deep frying the French toast, people usually add a slice of butter, syrup, honey or condense milk. 
The Asian white bread is comparatively softer and fluffier. These breads soak up the eggs a lot quicker than French bread. The Hong Kong style French toast is therefore like a deep fried scramble egg filled with melting peanut butter. AMAZING. 

Ingredients:
Asian white slices bread (you can keep the sides or cut them out)
Eggs 
Peanut butter/ Jam
Oil

This time, I did not deep fry the French Toast but instead pan fry them for a healthier version. I also cut them into small cubes and served them as an appetizer for my boozy brunch.

1) Spread peanut butter on both slices of bread
2) Cut them into 4 small cubes
3) Soak them in the egg wash 
4) Heat the oil and put in the cubes
5) Flip them till both sides are golden brown
6) Drizzle syrup or condense milk

Voila!

Bottomless Brunch

How to host a bottomless brunch party

Ingredients:
Unlimited bottle of prosecco /champagne
Juice (grapefruit, orange etc.)
Liquor (Elderflower) (optional)

Unlimited cold cuts (prosciutto, salami etc)
Crepe batter 
Cheese and ham for filling
Nutella and banana if you want sweet crepes
French toast

Conclusion: unlimited supply of drinks and food

First up: Crepe

This is the best crepe batter ever. It is chewy and thin and the smell of milk and egg is absolutely divine. 

1 cup flour

2/3 cup cold milk

2/3 cup cold water

3 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for brushing on pan

Directions:

1) Mix all ingredients until smooth in a blender or with a whisk. Refrigerate. I put it in the fridge overnight.

2) Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Brush with melted butter.

3) Pour in 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter into the center of the pan and then tilt the pan in all directions to cover the bottom evenly. Cook about 1 minute, or until browned on the bottom. Turn and cook briefly on the other side.

4) You can then put in the cheese (i used Havarti) ham and arugula or the sweet ingredients in the crepe and fold them in half and then in a quarter. Now that is ready to be served.

I will be posting the Cantonese style french toast (西多士) on the blog tomorrow.

A year later, piggy blog revives: Budae Jjigae

A year later, a lot has happened. Friends moved, friends get married, new friends made but what ties us all together are still the love for food. Not just any food, but great homemade food. 

Summer is over and fall foliage is close to the end. With the drizzling rain in Boston, the one thing you think about is a pot of boiling hot stew. Budae-jjigae also named the Army Base Stew is one of my favorite stew. The flavor of spam and the spicy soup base with some flavorful rice cakes and ramen warms your body and your heart. Of course you will need good company but that pot of stew. THAT POT OF STEW! It makes it much better since it is very easy to prep and make. 

Broth: 

• 2 Tbsp fish sauce
• Hon dashi ( I ran out of anchovies and kelp but this works just fine)

Seasoning Paste for Soup Base

• 2 Tbsp red pepper powder (gochugaru 고추가루)
• 1 Tbsp red pepper paste (gochujang 고추장)
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp Mirin (sweet cooking wine)
• ¼ tsp black pepper

Ingredients:

• 1/2 onion cubed
• 2 green onions 
• 1/2 pound pork butt (marinate in mirin and gochujang)
• 1/2 cabbage
• 1 can spam
• 4 sausages
• 1/2 pack Soft Tofu
• 1/2 cup of fermented kimchi
• 1 bunch watercress
• 12-16 Korean sliced rice cake (optional) (presoak them in cold water before you put them in the pot)
• 1pack ramen (optional)
• 1 Handful of cheese (optional)

Prepare the broth and turn off the fire when it boils. Mix all the seasoning paste in a bowl and set aside.

Arrange all the ingredients in a shallow pot. Layer the cabbages, onions, green onions and watercress on the bottom. Add the kimchi and pork and also the spam and sausages. Put the tofu and rice cake last since the rice cake tends to stick to the pot and will easily burn the bottom of the pot.

Add the seasoning paste and add 3-4 cups of soup till it barely covers the rice cake. 

Use a portable burner so you can enjoy the hot boiling soup while eating with friends and family around the table. 

Let it boil for 10 minutes and it is ready to serve! You can lower the fire to prevent it from burning.

I like to add the ramen later because I will have more space after I had some of of delicious food in the pot.

Enjoy this Budae jjigae in this upcoming cold harsh winter!