Micky's Favorite Taiwanese Recipes

Cold Noodles 涼麵

2011-08-22T18:20:00.000-06:00

Description:

Ah, perfect lunch for a hot summer day!

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 2 mins

Ingredients:

a bag of thick oily noodles (you can use 1/2 a bag)

1 medium cucumber skinned and julienned

1 medium carrot julienne

1 chicken breast shredded *optional*

Sauce:

2 Tbs rice vinegar

4 Tbs cold water

4 Tbs sesame paste

3 Tbs soy sauce

3 Tbs sesame oil

2 Tbs sugar

1 Tbs minced garlic

a pinch of salt

a pinch of white pepper

1 Tbs cooking oil

Instructions:

Blanche the noodles in boiling water then remove and mix in the oil to prevent sticking.
Mix the sauce ingredients together until smooth.
Pour sauce over the noodles and top with cucumbers, carrots, and chicken if you want.

Suggestions:

Instead of chicken, you can also use sliced ham. You can also add boiled sprouts too.

Sugar Coated Fruit Sticks

2011-07-17T21:35:00.000-06:00

Description:

Mmmm yum! Love the sweet and the sour taste. This recipe should make about 10 full sticks of coated fruit.

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Cherry tomatoes, strawberries, seedless plum preserves, kiwi, etc

Shishkabob sticks

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Instructions:

Prepare the fruits by cutting off the inedible parts. Wash the fruits in saltwater, dry them off, and put them on shishkabob sticks.
Boil the water and sugar together until the sugar turns into a golden color. Be careful not to burn the syrup. You can test by dipping a spoon in the syrup and then in cold water. If the sugar hardens immediately, then it's ready.
When the syrup is ready, turn the heat to low and then take the fruit sticks and dip into the syrup. Then you can use styrofoam or similar materials to poke the bottom of the sticks so that the coated fruits are not touching a surface, or you can just put them on a oiled cutting board to cool off.

Suggestions:

Seedless Plum Preserves 化核應子
I think these are absolute perfect with tomatoes. Like Romeo & Juliet. You can't enjoy tomatoes without these plum preserves. You can get them packaged like this. Just look for those four Chinese characters. Make sure you get them seedless/pitted.

Tomato Egg 番茄炒蛋

2011-07-14T22:24:00.000-06:00

Description:

Tomato egg is probably one of the most common dish in home cooked meal. It's easy, it's cheap, and it tastes great! Every mom has her own way of making this dish!

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

5 eggs beaten well

1 large tomato cut up in medium-sized pieces

2 stalks green onion chopped

salt

pinch of sugar

oil

Instructions:

Heat up oil (a generous amount) in a pan in high heat and scramble the eggs.
When the eggs start to brown a little, add the tomatoes.
When the tomatoes become soft, mix in the salt, sugar, and green onions and then turn off the heat right after.

Suggestions:

For a richer flavor, you can replace the salt and sugar with some ketchup and chicken bouillon powder.

If you want, you can also remove the tomato skin by boiling it for a few min. first and then soak in cold water. The skin comes right off.

Egg Custer Pudding 雞蛋布丁

2011-07-01T20:42:00.000-06:00

Description:

Ah. The taste of pure bliss.

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Bottom syrup

1/3 cup boiling water

1/2 teaspoon Knox gelatin powder

4 tablespoon brown sugar

Pudding

6 egg yolks

2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup sugar

1+1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 packages of Knox gelatin powder (14g)

Instructions:

To make the dark syrup, mix the gelatin powder with the brown sugar, and then pour it into the boiling water. As soon as they melted, pour them into containers and let it cool.
For the pudding, beat the egg yolks in a large bowl.
Pour milk and water into a small pot and heat it up. When it becomes warm, stir in the gelatin powder and sugar and mix well.
When the liquid comes to a boil, turn it off and then slowly stir it into the egg yolks along with the vanilla extract.
Pour the mixture into the cooled syrup and refrigerate until firm.

Suggestions:

For a richer flavor, you can try substituting water and milk with condense milk mix with water or heavy cream.

Sesame Oil Chicken 麻油雞

2011-06-28T09:15:00.001-06:00

Description:

This is the food to eat after giving birth!

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

about 20 large slices of ginger

1/2 small chicken cut up (or equivalent in white meat or dark meat)

2 tablespoon cooking oil

1/2 bottle of cooking rice wine

2 tablespoon black sesame oil

thin fast cooking noodles (the kind that cooks in 2~3 mins)

Optional: Goji, Dried dates (presoaked), mushrooms

Instructions:

Add cooking oil then ginger to wok in medium heat. Fry the ginger until you can smell it very strongly.
Turn up the heat to high and add chicken to the wok.
Once the chicken looks pretty cooked, add the rice wine to the pot. There should be enough to cover the chicken. (add the optional ingredients if you wish) Continue to cook the chicken.
Meanwhile, boil a small pot of water. Once the water bubbles, add the noodles and boil for 2 mins then take them out and put them in a big bowl. Add a little bit of rice wine to it if you wish. Add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and mix.
Cook the chicken all the way until there's no more blood coming out, then add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and continue to boil for another couple of mins.
Pour the chicken over the noodles.

Suggestions:

Don't add any salt to the chicken or else the chicken would not be as tender. If you wish, you can sprinkle a little salt over the noodles, but traditionally, this dish is salt-free because after birth, women shouldn't be eating any salt.

Don't use sesame oil to fry the ginger because it would make the dish bitter. Sesame oil does not withstand heat very well and turns bitter fast, which is why it's added at the very end.

Cooking Rice Wine

This is cooking rice wine. It's clear in color. At the store they also sell a dark colored cooking wine. I've used both and they are both fine, but for this dish, most people use this kind.

Beef Sesame Pancake

2011-06-21T21:43:00.004-06:00

Description:

Very tasty breakfast but boy it's hard to make if you want to make it from scratch!

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 2 mins

Ingredients:

Sliced precooked beef shank with tendon

Lightly toasted sesame pancake shell

Sliced green onions or chopped cilantro or julienne cucumbers

Sweet bean paste

Instructions:

Spread sweet bean paste inside the pancake shell like you're spreading mayonnaise on a sandwich.
Place beef and your choice of green veggies inside the shell.
Close the shell and press down.

Suggestions:

Sweet Bean Paste/Sauce

There are many varieties of sweet bean sauce. The can on the right side is one type. Available at most Chinese markets.

Sesame Pancake Shell
You might be able to find the sesame pancake shell in the frozen section at a Chinese market. If not, you can substitute it with other types of pancake. I'll post the recipe for this a different time.

Beef Shank Slices
You might also be able to find the beef shank slices if the Chinese market sells precooked packaged foods. If not, go to the recipe for beef noodle soup and use the same recipe to boil the beef. The only differences are: omit the stir fry and go straight to boiling, boil the shank as a whole and slice after it is cooked and refrigerated, and omit the veggies. The more tendons the shank has, the better it would taste in the pancake, so pick one with a lot of marbling and make sure you cook it until the tendons are soft.

Cold Eggplant 涼拌茄子

2011-06-20T23:19:00.004-06:00

Description:

Quick, simple, and practically fat free. Great dish to prepare ahead of time and put in the refrigerator.

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

2 long eggplants

4 tablespoons soy paste

2 tablespoons cold water

2 tablespoons black vinegar *optional*

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon minced garlic

a little bit of chopped red chili pepper *optional*

Instructions:

Boil water to steam the eggplant (or you can opt to use the microwave).
Cut eggplants to finger-length strips.
Steam eggplants for 5 minutes in boiling water (or microwave for 5 mins. covered with wet towel)
While eggplants are steaming, mix all the other ingredients in a bowl.
When the eggplants are done, pour the mix over them and place in refrigerator.

Suggestions:

Another variety of this dish is a little more sour and spicy, which is why I had the vinegar and chili as optional ingredients.

Eggplants tend to darken pretty quickly after being exposed to air. You can soak the eggplants in saltwater for a little bit to prevent the color from changing.

How to choose eggplants

I recommend these long skinny eggplants because they will give you a more even cut and the flavor and texture would be closer to the Taiwanese style dish. Make sure to pick the firm ones, not soft because the soft ones are too old.

Kimlan Soy Paste

I recommend this brand of soy paste because of its flavor. It has a very pleasant sweet flavor versus the cheaper brands which are just bland and salty. In fact, Kimlan any sauce are more favorable in any Taiwanese cooking.

Sweet Rice Milk/Drink 米漿

2011-06-17T23:37:00.003-06:00

Description:

My childhood favorite breakfast drink next to fruity milk... it contains peanuts, which is what gives the drink a pleasant aroma.

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

1 cup of white rice (uncooked)

1~1.5 cup peanuts (shelled, deskinned)

sugar

water

Instructions:

Soak the rice in water 4~6 hours (or overnight).
Brown the peanuts on a skillet or in an oven. Careful not to burn the peanuts!
Put the peanuts and rice in a blender and blend until smooth.
Boil about 8~10 cups of water.
Pour the rice mixture into the boiling water and stir constantly so that the mixture doesn't stick to the pot.
Add sugar to taste.

Suggestions:

For a healthier version of the drink, replace white rice with a mixture of multigrain rice and add about 1/4 cup of black sesame seeds.

If you don't like any texture in your drink and your blender doesn't smooth it enough, you can pour the mixture through a mesh (cheese cloth) before adding to the boiling water.

Multigrain Rice 五穀米

You can find this at many oriental markets. There are different types of multigrain rice (different mixtures). Or you can find them in places like Central Market or Wholefoods in the grain section. Just buy different grains and mix them yourself.

News! 6/15/11

2011-02-23T22:11:00.003-06:00

I just made a Facebook fan page for Micky's Favorite Taiwanese Recipes.

Do you like the new layout?

Mullet Roe or Karasumi 烏魚子

2011-02-23T13:37:00.003-06:00

Description:

This is a Taiwanese/Japanese delicacy. It's salted mullet roe/caviar and it goes great with rice! This is a very popular gift item during the Chinese new year and is usually a side dish that goes with drinking.

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 1 min

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Kaoliang liquor (if you can't get this, regular cooking rice wine will work)

1 piece mullet roe

a few slices apple, Korean pear, Dikon, or garlic stem *optional*

Instructions:

Peel the outer waxy layer off the roe.
Heat up a medium non-stick skillet on medium heat.
Place the roe on the skillet for 30~40 sec. While it's cooking, brush or spray the top with the liquor.
Flip the roe over and repeat #3.
Slice the roe at an angle about 1/4~1/2 inch thick and serve with the slices of apples, pear, dikon, garlic stem (which ever you prefer).
Suggestions:
You can also use a few drops of cooking oil in place of the liquor to cook the roe.

Suggestions:

Mullet Roe

Good Mullet Roe is hard to come by. Wild caught ones are usually imported from China, and contains high amounts of liquid making the roe soggy. Farm raised mullet roe tastes much better.

Taiwan Oyster Omelette 蚵仔煎

2009-03-31T11:49:00.014-06:00

Description:

Hmm.... Oyster Omelette! I don't think you can find this dish anywhere else in the world!!!

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients for the red sauce:

1 Tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 Tbsp ketchup

2 1/2 Tbsp Chinese Sweet Chili Sauce

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 Tbsp peanut butter *optional*

3/4 cup water

Instructions:

Heat up a medium pot on medium heat, add the flour (dry, without anything else).
Stir the flour for a minute or two, until you start to smell the flour aroma.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients, mix well, and bring to boil. Set this aside.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sweet potato starch

1/4 cup starch (tapioca or corn starch)

3/4 cup water

pinch of salt

10 pieces of fresh oyster

2 cups chinese vegetable (napa cabbage, water spinach, your choice)

1 egg

Oil or Lard

Instructions:

In a medium~large bowl, mix the two starches, and salt in water until disolved. Set this aside for now.
Heat up a large non-stick skillet on medium-high heat, add some oil or lard to grease the pan and stir fry the vegetables until cooked. Set this onto a plate.
Return the skillet on the stove on medium-high heat, add some more oil or lard to grease the pan.
Add the oyster and stir fry a min. or two, until it's almost cooked.
Add the starch water mix to the pan and let it cook until translucent. Don't let it burn!
Break the egg directly on to the omlette and use the spatula to break open the yolk.
Flip the omelette to cook the top side, then place the omelette onto the cooked vegetable.
Pour some red sauce over the omelette and serve.

Suggestions:

If you don't like the taste of the oyster, you can substitute with shrimp.

Chinese Sweet Chili Sauce

You should be able to find this in most oriental markets. It's not very spicy, just a hint, and it's sweet.

Sweet Potato Starch

This is also quite common in most oriental markets. Although it says tapioca startch... it's actually sweet potato starch, or yam starch.

Papaya Milk

2008-12-09T22:00:00.006-06:00

Description:
I once tried to ask a smoothie place to make this, they just stared at me...

Prep Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:
1 cup cubed, extra ripe papaya
1 cup milk
2 cups of ice cubes
2 Tablespoons sugar

Instructions:

Put the papaya into the blender with the milk and blend on medium~high.
Slowly pour in the sugar.
Blend until smooth and serve.

Suggestions:
Serve immediately after making it, or it will become chunky.

Vanilla Ice Cream
Typically, Taiwanese deserts are not very sweet. You can add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the papaya milk and it will give it a rich creamy taste!

Tofu Pudding

2008-10-15T20:10:00.007-06:00

Description:
Taiwanese tofu pudding is usually eaten cold without ginger as opposed to the Cantonese ones. Since soy milk is now available in most supermarkets, this recipe is as easy as making jello.

Prep Time: 1 mins

Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:
4 cups soy milk
1/2 oz gelatin
2 cup sugar
4 cups water

Instructions:

Pour soy milk into a large pot. Mix the gelatin and stir until dissolve.
Heat up the soy milk on the stove. Stir constantly to prevent a layer on the surface hardening.
When soy milk boils, remove from heat. Once it cools, you can place it in the refrigerator.
In a small pot, pour in the 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water and heat on low heat until sugar browns. DO NOT STIR.
Once the sugar starts to brown, remove from heat. Stir in the rest of the sugar and water. Place it back on the stove on low heat and stir constantly. Ta da! You got syrup. You can place this in the refrigerator when it cools.
You can serve the tofu with syrup, but you can also add red beans, boba, boiled peanuts, etc.

Suggestions:

Soybean Pudding Powder
If you are lucky enough to have an oriental market close by, you can check to see if they have the tofu pudding powder. This would replace the gelatin and give a slightly different softness to the tofu pudding. There is also instructions on the back, but I think it's in Chinese.

The instructions goes like this:
1. Mix 1 packet of Soybean Pudding Powder with 2 cups of cold water and mix well
2. Pour 10.5 cups of HOT soymilk into the mix.
3. Wait at least 30 mins for pudding to solidify before serving with syrup

Taiwanese Fried Chicken: Secrets Revealed!

2008-10-08T14:38:00.014-06:00

Description:
Taiwanese people don't just fry their chicken... That flavor, that crispiness! Here's the secret!

Prep Time: 15 mins + overnight
Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1 egg yolk
1 cup sweet potato starch
1/4 cup corn starch

Seasoning:
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons cooking wine
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoons minced garlic
1 Tablespoons garlic powder
1 Tablespoons 5 spice powder
1 teaspoon white pepper
frying oil

Instructions:

To prep the chicken breasts, butterfly them, and pound them with a meat pounder until they're evenly flat.
In a large bowl, mix minced garlic, soy sauce, cooking wine, sugar, half of the 5 spice powder, white pepper. Marinate the chicken in this sauce overnight.
Next day, add egg yolk and corn starch into the marinated chicken and mix it well. This is what keeps the coating from separating from the chicken.
On a plate, mix sweet potato starch, rest of the 5 spice powder, and garlic powder. This is the coating for the fried chicken.
Place the marinated chicken breasts on the plate one by one and coat it completely with the mix. Let it sit for about 5 mins before frying so that the sweet potato starch has time to stick onto the chicken.
Heat a pot of frying oil under medium heat. Make sure the oil is not bubbling or else it will cook the meat too fast. If you're using a deep fryer, do not exceed 160 C or 320 F.
Fry the chicken until golden brown and remove from the oil. Turn the heat to high or around 180 C or 360 F.
Dip the fried chicken back in to the hot oil for about 10 seconds to give it crispiness.
Place it on a metal rack to drain out the excess oil, then cut it up to serve.

Suggestions:
You can use Pork instead of chicken to make the famous Taiwanese Pork Chop Rice!

Taiwanese Chicken Nuggets
This is as popular as the fried chicken, and it's really not that different. Instead of using a whole piece of chicken breast, just cut it into cubes. And then just add basil into the oil along with the chicken during the last dip in the hot oil. That's all!

5 Spice Powder
This can be purchased at an oriental market. It is very important for this recipe because it contains a lot of the flavoring!

Sweet Potato Starch
Although the picture says "Tapioca starch" it's actually quite different. Sweet potato starch is more coarse, and unlike tapioca starch, it keeps the coating crispy. If you use tapioca starch or corn starch to fry, it'll become soggy very quickly.

Taiwan's Famous Beef Noodle Soup! 牛肉麵

2008-10-08T12:55:00.017-06:00

Description:
What's Taiwan famous for? Their beef noodle soup! That's right! Nothing better!

Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 1.5 hrs

Ingredients:
2 lbs beef shank with tendons cut into 1/2" slices
2 medium carrot skinned and cut into medium sized pieces
1 medium daikon skinned and cut into medium sized pieces
1 tomato cut into big pieces
4 cans of beef broth (homemade broth is fine too)
2 stalks of green onion chopped
8~10 slices of ginger
5 cloves of garlic smashed
5~8 star anise

Seasoning:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 can spicy soy bean paste (adjust the amount depending on your tolerance)
2 Tablespoons of sugar
vegetable oil
1 bag of beef soup spice pouch (do NOT open this cloth bag)

Pickled veggie side:
1 package of pickled Chinese cabbage chopped
4 cloves of garlic chopped finely
1/4 cup sugar
*4 fresh chilly peppers*

Instructions:

Boil the beef in some water for 5 mins. Pour the water out and wash the beef clean.
In a large pot heat up some vegetable oil in high heat, and add ginger and garlic, and then quickly add the beef. Stir fry for a couple of mins.
Add soy sauce and spicy bean paste. Stir fry about 5 mins, let the beef soak up some of the sauce.
Add enough broth to cover the beef. Add carrots, daikon, tomato, star anise, sugar, and beef soup spice pouch.
After the soup boils, turn it to low heat and simmer it for an hour or so, until the tendons are soft.
While the soup is simmering, heat up some vegetable oil with high heat on another stove. Add garlic, then chopped picked Chinese cabbage. Add chilly pepper if you wish. Then add sugar. Stir fry until hot. This is the side that goes with the soup.
When the soup is done, boil some noodles (and napa cabbage or bok choy if you wish) in a different pot, and then put the noodles (and veggies) in a large bowl. Add soup, pickled side, and green onions on top before serving.

Suggestions:
If you have a pressure cooker, it's so much faster! Instead of 1 hour, it'll cook in 20 mins!

Spice Pouch 滷包
When yo go to the oriental market, you may find many variety of spice pouch. Some come in packages like this, some in a box. Find the one that has a picture of beef in the front.
The important thing is, the spices are inside a cloth bag. Do NOT open this cloth bag. Just throw one bag into the pot!

Beef Shank 牛腱
You'd have to buy this at an oriental market. It tends to be on the pricy side. Lots of tendon makes it soft and tender! It'll be very hard to cut the tendons, so if you have a hard time, you can just cut into big pieces, cook it and cut into smaller 1/2" slices after they cook.

Pickled Chinese Cabbage 泡菜
At the oriental market, you'd find them in packages like this. It's yellowish-greenish and is soaked in water. The smaller picture is what it looks inside. You should wash it before using it.

Star Anise 八角
Star anise is a type of Asian spice. It also comes in powder form. You can pick them up in any oriental market.

Spicy Soy Bean Paste 辣豆瓣醬
The can on the left is the spicy soy bean paste. At the oriental market, it comes in can or glass bottle.

Daikon 白蘿蔔
These are also called "White Carrots." At the oriental market, pick the ones that are hard. The softer ones are old.

Green Onion Pancake 蔥油餅

2008-10-08T12:25:00.008-06:00

Description:
Green onion pancake is easy to make. You can keep them in the freezer and take them out to fry anytime.

Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:
1 bundle of green onions chopped
3 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of water

Seasoning:
White pepper
Salt
Crisco
Sesame Oil
Soy Sauce
Chilly sauce
Vinegar

Instructions:

Boil the water either on the stove or through the coffee maker.
Use a big bowl, add the flour, then slowly pour the boiling water over the flour while stirring. The flour should turn into bread dough consistency.
Fold the dough over and over until it is consistent. Sprinkle extra flour if it's too sticky.
Break off a handful of dough, and roll it out with a rolling pin like a pie crust. Make sure to dust the surface of the table or use wax paper so it doesn't stick.
Spread Crisco over the top of the flat dough. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and green onion over the Crisco.
From one edge, start rolling up the dough into a tube shape wrapping over the green onion (like wrapping sushi). Make sure you roll your dough pretty tightly.
With the tube-shape dough, take one end and roll it into a cinnamon-roll shape. Tuck the end into the center.
Sprinkle some flour over the cinnamon-roll shape dough, now roll it flat again. If you like the pancake thin, roll it out thin. If you like it thick, then don't flatten it too much.
Add some oil in the frying pan, use medium heat, and fry the pancake until both sides are brown and crispy.
Serve with soy sauce, sesame oil, chilly sauce and vinegar if you wish.

Suggestions:
If you have a hard time rolling, you'll have to wait til I can make a video of this process...

Hot & Sour Soup! Very Authentic!

2008-10-08T10:20:00.014-06:00

Description:
Are you guys also tired of the not-so-good hot & sour soup you get at Chinese restaurants? Boy, this is so easy to make, you would never want hot & sour soup anywhere else!
Oh and one more thing... uhm, the real authentic version contains pork blood (looks like black tofu). well, I didn't include any. But if you really really really want some... add it in with the tofu.

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:
1/2 lb lean pork cut into strips
1 small carrot skinned and grated
1/2 cup of of shitake mushroom sliced
1/2 cup of wood ears sliced
4 ~ 6 cans of chicken broth depending on the amount of soup you want to make
*1 package of julienned preserved mustard (Zha-Tsai 榨菜)*
*1 can of sliced bamboo shoot*
*1 package/can of needle mushrooms(Jin-Zhen Mushrooms 金針菇)*
* cilantro or green onion chopped*
1 box of soft tofu cubed
1 egg beaten
1 cup of corn starch or tapioca starch

Seasoning:
soy sauce
white pepper
*for extra spicy, you can also add chili oil. Some white pepper comes in extra spicy*
sesame oil
vegetable oil
vinegar
salt

Instructions:

Boil the chicken broth in a large pot.
Marinate the pork slices in a little bit of soy sauce, white pepper, and sesame oil.
In a frying pan, heat some vegetable oil, add pork and stir fry until cooked.
Add the rest of the ingredients into the pan EXCEPT: tofu, egg, starch. Stir fry until hot, then throw them all into the boiling chicken broth in the big pot.
When the soup boils, add the tofu.
Add vinegar, white pepper, salt and taste it until you are satisfied with the flavor.
Add some water to the corn starch to make starchy water, and then slowly pour it into the pot while stirring the soup.
Remove from the heat, and then slowly pour in the egg while gently stirring the soup.
You can add some chopped cilantro or green onions before serving.

Suggestions:

Needle Mushrooms, Jin-Zhen Mushrooms 金針菇
This type of mushrooms really doesn't have much taste. People like it because it's stringy and chewy. You can buy this from any oriental market and it usually comes in a can, or fresh in a package. But if you get the fresh package, make sure to chop off the root where there is a lot of dirt.

Preserved mustard, Zha-Tsai 榨菜
This is a very salty vegetable. You can buy this from any oriental market and it usually comes in a package, 2 or 4 for $1. It comes in spicy and regular, you can use either one.

Shitake Mushroom
This is the most popular mushroom used in Taiwan. They have a stronger aroma than the regular mushrooms and usually come dried in a package that you can pick up in oriental markets. To chop them, simply soak them in warm water for a few mins and they'll turn soft. If you absolutely can't find these, you can replace them with any other mushrooms.

Wood Ear
It's actually a type of mushroom. It provides a bit of a crunchy texture to the egg rolls. You can pick this up in an Oriental market. They come in chunks like this or pre-sliced, but they're dried so you'll have to soak them in water for about 15 mins to soften them.

Tofu Brand: This dish doesn't taste as good if the tofu is not soft enough. The brand that I found the best comes in a box that looks like this

Lo Ba Bong! Stew Pork Rice

2008-05-27T14:20:00.014-06:00

Description:
Personally, I think don't think this is healthy... But heck, it's very very delicious and irresistible! The history of this dish actually came from mixing lard over rice :) to fill the bellies of poor farmer kids. It's evolved into a delicacy!

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:
1/2 lb of fatty pork chunk, (looks like bacon chunk).
*substitute: 1/2 lb fatty ground pork
2 Tablespoons fried red shallots
2 Tablespoons of minced garlic
6 cups of clear broth
2 star anise
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup cooking rice wine
2 Tablespoons of sugar
1 cup soysauce
*1/4 cup shitake mushrooms*
*hardboiled eggs*

Instructions:

If you're using ground pork, you can skip the next step. But you'll have to prepare 6 cups of clear broth.
Boil the pork chuck until fully cooked. Dice into tiny pieces. Save 6 cups of this broth and set it aside.
Add oil to pot and turn on high heat.
Add garlic and dried red onions, then sugar, soy sauce, wine, and broth into the pot.
Once the broth boils, add the meat and shitake mushrooms. Simmer for about an hour. You can add the hardboiled eggs about 30 mins after the meat.
At this point, there should be a layer of oil on the surface of the stew. Scoop this out, it's yucky.
Serve over a bowl of rice along with a stewed egg and even a Chinese pickle.

Suggestions:

Fatty Pork Chunks 五花肉
This type of meat is really just Bacon, but in bigger chucks. If you use bacon, it's sliced too thin. Some oriental markets have these chopped, some don't. If you can't find them chopped, just buy a chunk of fatty pork (the kind with many layers of fat that looks like bacon in a big chunk) and chop them yourself or use a food processor, but don't grind them too much!

Shitake Mushroom
This is the most popular mushroom used in Taiwan. They have a stronger aroma than the regular mushrooms and usually come dried in a package that you can pick up in oriental markets. To chop them, simply soak them in warm water for a few mins and they'll turn soft. If you absolutely can't find these, you can replace them with any other mushrooms.

Star Anise
Star anise is a type of Asian spice. It also comes in powder form. You can pick them up in any oriental supermarket.

This is fried shallot. It is a very important ingredient in this recipe because of it's flavor and armoa. You can buy this from any oriental market and it usually comes in a plastic can. However, if you keep this too long, it will start to smell like old oil. So you can try to use it up by sprinkling some in any Chinese soup.

Simple Sweet Eight Treasure Congee

2008-03-16T19:10:00.008-06:00

Description:
This is actually a traditional Chinese herbal food eaten to improve health and this recipe will actually make a pretty big pot. It can be served hot or cold. Enjoy.

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 1 ~ 1.5 hrs

Ingredients:
2 cups mixed wild rice
1/4 cup long grain sweet rice
1/4 cup barley
1/8 cup red beans
1/4 cup dried lotus seeds
1/8 cup mung beans
1/8 cup dried longan
1 cup of sugar
*Starch water*

Instructions:

Wash all the ingredients (except dried longan)
Soak all the ingredients (except mung beans, sweet rice, and dried longan) in twice as much water overnight. Keep in the refrigerator. For the first time, you may want to soak them separate so that you can add the ingredients one by one.
Next day, boil the soaked ingredients in medium heat for one hour. You may want to start with the lotus seeds because they are harder and may take a little longer to cook. And then add the red beans, then the wild rice.
When the red beans are almost ready, add the mung beans and sweet rice. Continue to boil for another 15 mins, until mung beans and sweet rice are ready.
If the congee is not thick enough, you can add some starch water.
Stir in the dried longan.
Pour the sugar over the surface of the congee and close the lid. Let it sit for another 10 mins or so. This will allow the ingredients to absorb the sugar.
Serve it hot or you can leave it in the refrigerator over night and serve it cold.

Suggestions:
As far as ingredients, you are free to change it up. If you like a certain ingredient more, you can add more, if not, don't add it.

The cook time for different types of beans, seeds etc in this recipes may vary depending on the brands. What you will have to do is test cook all the ingredients (may be a few of each) and boil them to see which ones get soft first, so that next time you will know the order to add the ingredients to the congee.

These are dried lotus seeds. When you buy them from the store, check in between the two halves to make sure that it doesn't contain the germ in the middle (it's greenish in color). It is very bitter.

These are dried longan.

Tasty Fried Rice

2008-02-25T09:51:00.022-06:00

Description:
I've received many compliments on my fried rice. I'll post my secrets on here :)

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:
1 cup rice (raw)
1~2 eggs beaten
1 cup of any type of chopped meat (shrimp, chicken, beef, Chinese sausage)
1/2 cup of frozen mix veggies
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 stalks green onion chopped
1/4 stick of unsalted butter chopped
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of white pepper
1+ teaspoon of salt
*1 Tablespoons of bonito flavoring powder or 2 Tablespoons of fish sauce*

Instructions on cooking rice:
The secret to good fried rice is that the rice is not sticky. Therefore, it's best to use long grain (Jasmine) rice. If you use short grain (Calrose) rice, cook with less water. You have to stir fry with cold rice, therefore you can cook the rice the night before, mix soy sauce, white pepper, bonito powder (or fish sauce) with rice. Then chill it in the refrigerator overnight.

Instructions:

In frying pan, heat some oil in high heat and scramble the eggs.
When the eggs begin to brown, add the frozen veggies and stir fry. Remove the eggs and veggies from the pot and set them aside in a large bowl.
Add some more oil, add the garlic, and then the meat and stir fry until meat is cooked. If using Chinese sausage, you won't need to add the oil because the sausage will produce a lot of oil.
After the meat is cooked, add rice and stir fry. You have to be fast because the high heat might burn the bottom, but do not use low heat since it will make the rice too sticky. Using a wooden spatula makes the stir frying easier.
Once the rice and meat is evenly stir fried, add the eggs and veggies, butter, and green onions.
Season with salt according to your taste.
Continue to stir fry another few mins. Once the rice is brown and is not sticky, it should be ready.

Suggestions:

This is Chinese sausage. It's somewhat sweet and has a very good aroma after frying. It can be obtained in most oriental markets in packages.

Egg Roll / Spring Roll

2008-02-25T08:32:00.010-06:00

Description:
Actually, egg rolls aren't that popular in Chinese families, at least not as much as we think in the United States. But they are delicious and much healthier if you make them yourselves!

Prep Time: 45 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:
1 package of 50 spring roll skin
2 lbs ground pork
1/2 of a cabbage
1 cup carrots grated finely
4 stalks of green onions chopped
4 heads shitake mushrooms chopped
6 heads of wood ears sliced
4 Tablespoons peanut butter (preferably not too sweet)
2 Tablespoons sesame oil

Instructions:

Cut up the cabbage into chunks and put them into a blender
Fill up the blender with water
Add 2 Tablespoons of salt
Chop up the cabbage in the blender and then pour into a big bowl
Repeat until all the cabbage is chopped
Let the chopped cabbage sit in the salted water for 10 mins
Drain the water, and squeeze out the rest of the water in the cabbage before putting them into another bowl. This is because cabbage contains a lot of liquid, and we don't want too much liquid in the egg rolls when we fry them. The salt gets the liquid out the the cabbage
Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl and stir in one direction for a few mins until all the ingredients are well-blended
Fry the egg rolls in medium heat and serve immediately

Suggestions:
You can make a lot of egg rolls at one time, and store them in the freezer. Whenever you want more, just take them out and fry them.

This is a wood ear. It's actually a type of mushroom. It provides a bit of a crunchy texture to the egg rolls. You can pick this up in an Oriental market. They come in chunks like this or pre-sliced, but they're dried so you'll have to soak them in water for about 15 mins to soften them.

Mochi - Sweet Rice Balls

2007-09-28T10:28:00.007-06:00

Description :
The Taiwanese traditional mochi requires pounding cooked sweet rice into dough, and that is just a pain to make. The Japanese style mochi are similar enough and just as delicious. Taiwanese kids love them as well!

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:
1.5 cup sweet rice flour
1.5 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup regular flour
coconut flakes

Stuffing choices:
red bean paste
peanut powder with sugar
black sesame powder with sugar

Instructions:

Mix the sweet rice flour with sugar in a large glass bowl
Add water to the mixture and mix until it turns into a sticky dough
Cover the glass bowl with a moist towel and microwave for 10 mins
The dough should turn semi-clear.Let the dough cool
Dust your hands with flour and start wrapping the dough over a tablespoon of stuffing
Coat each mochi with flour, or coconut flakes, or peanut powder

Suggestions:
To differentiate the different stuffing, you can coat the mochi accordingly, or simply place the mochi on color coded paper. You can even add food coloring to the mochi before cooking to color code them. For example, red mochi is stuffed with red beans, peanut coated mochi is stuffed with peanut powder, coconut coated mochi is stuffed with sesame, etc.

For purchasing ingredients at the Oriental market, it's best to ask for help. Let them know that the ingredients are for making mochi, and they should be able to show you the correct ones, since many of them are labeled in Chinese.

The sweet rice dough hardens overnight, therefore make and eat them right away! It's even fun for the kids to make them!

Jiaozi - Chinese Dumplings

2007-02-17T22:12:00.009-06:00

Description:

Chinese Dumplings is THE food to eat for Chinese New Years... Why? Because its shape resembles a Chinese golden nugget, or ancient money (Yuan Bao), lucky food for the new year!

Prep Time: 1 hr

Cook Time: 10~15 mins

Ingredients:

1 package of premade dumpling skin (from the grocery store)

1 lb of ground pork

1 bundle of green onions chopped

5 head of shitake mushrooms chopped (if dried, soak in warm water until soft then chop)

a small block of ginger chopped (good for digestion)

1 cup of dark soysauce (or 2 cups of lite soysauce)

2 tablespoons of white pepper

*2 tablespoons of sesame oil*

For veggies, you can choose:

Finely Chopped Cabbage (crispy) - 1 head

Coarsly Chopped Baby Bok Choy (crispy and stringy) - 5~6 stalks

Chinese zucchini aka bottle gourd (stringy) - 1 stalk

Skin, then grated (coarse and long strands)

Discard the core with the seeds

Vegetarian Stuffing:

1 pack of dumpling skin

1 pack of firm tofu

1 head of napa cabbage shredded, salted, and squeeze out water

1/2 a package of mung bean noodles cooked and cut

1 large carrot skinned & grated

1/2 package of dried woodears, soaked & sliced

1 bundle of chopped scallions

1 stalk of finely minced fresh ginger

4 egg whites or 1/2 a cup of corn starch

2 tablespoons of white pepper

1/4 cup of soy sauce

*dried shrimp skin*

Homemade skin:

Mix water and flour to a dough consistency similar to bread-making dough.
Roll out the dough and cut into small balls about size of a marble, diameter of about a quarter
Use a roller to flatten out each ball

Instructions:

Mix all the ingredients into a large bowl, stir only clockwise (or counter clockwise) so that the meat stays together.
Prepare a bowl of water
Take a piece of skin, brush one side with water (this will help the skin stick together)
Put 1 tablespoon full of stuffing onto the same side of the skin with the water, and then fold it in half and press firmly. You can fold layers on the top to make it look pretty, but it's not necessary for the taste.
Important: make sure the edge are sealed. If not, put more water and press the edge together firmly. If it's not sealed, the dumpling may break apart when cooking.
Bring a pot of water to boil and throw the dumplings in. About 5~8 mins later, when the dumplings start to float on the surface of the water and the skin turns translucent, they are ready. Take them out and serve with soysauce and vinegar.
You can freeze the rest of the dumplings and cook them later.

Suggestions:

You can also make pot stickers

Instructions:

Mix a cup of water with 1 tablespoon of flour
Heat some oil in a pan then place the dumplings. About a min or 2 later, the pan should get pretty hot, pour the flour water mix into the pan and cover it immediately.
Wait another 2~3 mins, open the cover, the skin should turn translucent from the steam. Leave the cover off and let the rest of the water evaporate and then turn the stove off.
Serve immediately with soysauce and vinegar.

Cooking Rice - too difficult?

2007-01-08T09:46:00.011-06:00

Cost of rice cookers...
Asians use rice cooker to cook rice. Now, purchasing a rice cooker can be expensive. A good one can cost up to $200 ~ $300!!! But I did find an oster rice cooker at walmart for around $10! It's like the one in the picture except it's red, and it cooks 10 cups of rice. While brands like Salton and Kenwood might be cheaper, I only recommend either Japanese brands (Hitachi) or Oster, because many of the other brands tend to burn the rice.

Now what's the difference between the rice cookers...
There are mainly 2 types of rice cookers, automatic and traditional.

Automatic Vs. Traditional

Automatic rice cookers are used only for cooking rice. There is a pot inside the rice cooker where you put the rice and water, put it into the rice cooker, press the button, and that's it.

Traditional rice cookers are more flexible as in they can also work as a steamer, slow cooker, etc. The only difference is that you have to add water into the rice cooker before you put the pot in, so there's water outside the pot as well.

How to cook rice with a rice cooker...
It really depends on the type of rice you are cooking. Typically the measurements are: 1 cup of rice add 1 cup of water
Now Jasmine rice (long grain) is less sticky than Calrose rice (short grain), it takes a little less water. Brown & wild rice require presoaking for 1/2 a day before cooking.

Put the amount of rice you want into the pot
Wash it under tap water (fill the pot with water, wash, then pour out starchy water)
Measure the amount of water you need and pour into the pot.
Put the pot into the rice cooker and press the button. If it's automatic, dry the outside of the pot before placing it in. If it's traditional, fill the rice cooker with 1 cup of water before placing the pot in.
When the rice is cooked, the button will click and the light will go from red to orange. Let it sit for another 5 mins before opening the lid.

Suggestion
If you add a few drops of oil and vinegar to your rice (before cooking), your rice would turn out sticker and more chewy.

Sweet Mung Bean Dessert!

2007-01-08T00:10:00.008-06:00

Description:
Kids love this desert on a hot summer day! It's not too sweet, and it helps prevent pimples and nose bleeds!

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:
One package of mung beans washed
1 package of rock sugar

Instructions:

Pour the mung beans into a large pot and add water (enough to cover the beans by 1").
Boil it for 10 mins and then turn off the heat.
With the lid on and stove off, let the mung beans sit in the water for 10 mins.
Fill the pot with as much water as you want and then bring to a boil. Turn off the stove as soon as you see the skin of the mung beans cracking open. This is so that you won't over cook it.
Add the sugar into the pot and stir it.

Suggestions:
You can eat this desert hot AND cold. In winter time, eat it warm. In the summer, add ice cubes to it.

Rock Sugar
This is the type of sugar that's more preferable in making deserts in Taiwan because it's not as sweet.

Taiwanese Comfort Food - Congee!

2007-01-07T23:35:00.009-06:00

Description:
What do all Taiwanese people eat when they're sick? That's right! CONGEE! It's the real food given to Taiwanese babies to help them grow strong bones! This is also what Taiwanese people like to eat for breakfast... not cereal!

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins ~ 1 hr

Ingredients:
2 large bones (pig or cow, for the broth)
1 cup of rice washed
4 cups of water
1/2 lb ground pork
2 stalks green onion chopped
3~4 heads of Japanese Shitake Mushrooms chopped
1/4 cup carrots finely chopped
1/4 cup ginger finely chopped

Instructions:

Boil the bones in water until bone marrow builds up. Scoop it out of the stock and continue to simmer for 1 hour. You can use a slow cooker if you wish.
On a separate stove, add a little oil and stir fry the ground pork, carrots, ginger, and mushrooms.
Once the broth is ready, pour in the cooked pork and veggies and rice. Boil until soup thickens.
Add salt and white pepper for taste.
Top with green onions before serving.

Suggestions:
You can substitute most of the ingredients, such as replacing pork with fish and add celery. It's usually whatever you have in the refrigerator. Another option for broth is to buy them from the store, it's less healthy, but you don't have to spend time cooking it. I buy the free range chicken broth with no MSG and less sodium from Central Market.

Shitake Mushroom
This is the most popular mushroom used in Taiwan. They have a stronger aroma than the regular mushrooms and usually come dried in a package that you can pick up in oriental markets. To chop them, simply soak them in warm water for a few mins and they'll turn soft. If you absolutely can't find these, you can replace them with any other mushrooms.

Tea Egg 茶葉蛋

2007-01-07T23:08:00.009-06:00

Description:
A great breakfast OR afternoon snack. They sell this at every single 7-eleven in Taiwan! You know what they say... 2 eggs a day, 100 on tests all the way!!

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr +

Ingredients:
a dozen eggs
1/4 cup of dark soy sauce
1 large tea bag (black or green)
2~3 star anise

Instructions:

Put the eggs in a pot and fill it up with water.
Pour the soy sauce, tea bag, and star anise into the pot and bring to a boil (put cover on the pot so that eggs will peel easier).
Boil for 15 mins or until eggs are mostly cooked.
Take each egg and crack the shells with a metal spoon. This will create the pretty lines on the eggs and help flavor them.
After all the eggs are cracked, put them back into the pot and continue to simmer for 1 hour.

Suggestions:
You can keep the pot of tea eggs for weeks! Just reheat it daily or twice a day. You can even add new eggs in anytime. The more you cook them, the better they taste!!

Star Anise
Star anise is a type of Asian spice. It also comes in powder form. You can pick them up in any oriental supermarket.

Easy Egg Drop Soup

2007-01-06T22:21:00.009-06:00

Description:
Want to make tasty and healthy AND fast and easy soup? FYI: Taiwanese people usually have soup AFTER they eat.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:
5~8 cups of water
1 can of healthy chicken broth
1 cup of frozen corn (healthier than canned corn)
1 cup of corn starch dissolve in water
2 eggs beaten
2 stalk green onions chopped
*1/4 cup ham diced*

Instructions:

Pour water, broth, ham and corn into a pot. Bring to a boil.
Add salt according to taste.
Slowly pour well-mixed starch water into soup.
Bring to boil again, then turn off the heat, remove pot from stove.
Wait about 5 mins for the soup to cool a little, then stir in the eggs slowly (don't stir too much). This is so that the eggs don't over cook.
Sprinkle green onion and serve.

Suggestions:
Chicken broth can be replaced with 1 Tablespoon of Bonito Flavored Soup Stock.

Bonito Flavored Soup Stock
This soup stock is in powder form and it really adds flavor to everything! Most of them come with MSG but I managed to find those without. They come in different packages.

Chilled Silken Tofu - side dish

2007-01-06T10:55:00.012-06:00

Description:
This is a typical cold tofu dish served in Taiwan along with rice soup and an egg cooked overeasy. YUM!

Prep Time: 2 mins!

Ingredients:
a box of silken tofu
2 Tablespoons Soy sauce
1 teaspoon Sesame oil
*1 stalk of green onions chopped*
*Japanese Bonito fish flakes*

Instructions:

Take the box of silken tofu out of the refrigerator, cut open the box carefully and put the tofu onto a plate
Cut them into smaller pieces
Pour the rest of the ingredients onto the tofu

Suggestions:
To make rice soup, boil rice in water (1 cup of rice with 3 cups water) until thickens

Tofu Brand: This dish doesn't taste as good if the tofu is not soft enough. The brand that I found the best comes in a box that looks like this.