Easy Chinese Steamed Snow White Rice Cake...

I'm dreaming of a whiiite... rice cake 🍚❄🎵🎶 Soft, bouncy and springy... oh my!! A snow white cake for a snow white kind of day 🌨

Traditional Chinese rice cake (aka white sugar sponge cake, Chinese honeycomb cake) is not made like your typical baked cake. It is steamed. White rice flour and white sugar is cooked over the stove with water, cooled then set aside to ferment with the addition of yeast until the batter surface is bubbly. The activated yeast creates a spongy consistency with a honeycomb look after steaming. It is very simple to make at home with four ingredients.

The flavour is mellow sweet with a bit of pleasant tang due to the fermented batter. The blend of rice flour and yeast is similar to nostalgic sweet Chinese rice wine and a taste I love. But the real beauty here is all in the bounce #beautybounce #squeezeworthy #whitedelicious #snowwhitebeauty

They say it is best served warm, but I love it cool- it has this refreshing flavour that makes your taste buds crave for more... bite after bite 😋

Chinese Steamed Rice Cake
Makes 1 size of 9" pie plate

200 g rice flour (not glutinous)
110 g sugar
350 ml water
3 g yeast
30 ml warm water

Prepare The Batter by adding rice flour, sugar, and water in a bowl. Whisk until smooth (the batter should be smooth and thin without any lumps).

Place the bowl in a pan with water and heat over medium-low heat for five minutes. Whisk continuously without letting the flour thicken on the bottom. The viscosity should be medium smooth. After heating, remove it from the pan and let it cool.

Combine the yeast with warm water in a bowl and mix well. When the batter is cool, add the yeast mixture and mix well. Then, cover the bowl with wrap. Let it ferment at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours until tiny bubbles are formed.

Pour the batter into your heat-proof safe plate for steaming. Steam for 14 minutes on high heat (DO NOT OVERCOOK or it will turn out dry and hard). After steaming, remove from heat and allow it to cool well.

Cut the rice cake into your desired size and shape. Enjoy! 🤤🥰

Chinese Steamed Rice Cake (Full Recipe)

Makes 1 size of 9" pie plate

200 g rice flour (not glutinous)
110 g sugar
350 ml water
3 g yeast
30 ml warm water

Prepare The Batter by adding rice flour, sugar, and water in a bowl. Whisk until smooth (the batter should be smooth and thin without any lumps).

Place the bowl in a pan with water and heat over medium-low heat for five minutes. Whisk continuously without letting the flour thicken on the bottom. The viscosity should be medium smooth. 

After heating, remove it from the pan and let it cool. Combine the yeast with warm water in a bowl and mix well. When the batter is cool, add the yeast mixture and mix well. Then, cover the bowl with wrap. Let it ferment at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours until tiny bubbles are formed. 

Pour the batter into your heat-proof safe plate for steaming. Steam for 14 minutes on high heat (DO NOT OVERCOOK or it will turn out dry and hard). After steaming, remove from heat and allow it to cool well. 

Cut the rice cake into your desired size and shape. 

Waste Not. Use Up What You Got...

"We must preserve and respect the very food that fuels us. Waste not. Use up what you got!"-- Susan

Save Food. Save Lives. It's Out 🤗... A cookbook on sustainable and cultural food recipes has been published that culminates a year long effort on fighting climate change by reducing food waste in food workshops conceived by The Arab Community Centre of Toronto in partnership with the LiveGreen project at the City of Toronto. 

Here are a few excerpts from the cookbook including my recipe pages.

Last summer, I was invited by @acct_savefood @acctonline to host a Food Waste workshop incorporating tips, recipes and creative leftover ideas from Asian cultures. This initiative aimed to build community and teamwork around cultural and knowledge exchange on curbing food waste. An important topic dear to my heart. 

When I think about Asian cuisines and our behaviours around food, it is the epitome of nose to tail eating. Eat everything. Waste nothing. Cheap off-cuts are available in Asian markets, meat is often extended to feed and give more and leftovers are repurposed for another delicious dish. 

In my menu, I offered various techniques to encompass this philosophy. 

To talk about preservation, we made Korean cucumber kimchi using ingredients such as fish sauce and salted shrimps to ferment and flavour. Everyone got to take home a little jar as flavours optimize after a few days of melding.

Too much herbs? Make it last longer by wrapping in a damp cloth, placing into a bag and into the crisper. Make a sauce with a bunch of chopped cilantro, mixed with fish sauce, garlic, chillies, lime and oil for a table condiment. Save the stems for soup. 

Buy salmon trimmings if you don't mind picking out bones and enjoy the crispy skin after panfrying for a cheap protein dish. Extend the meat by adding crumbled tofu for a handheld favourite- salmon tofu cakes! Double the protein but not double the costs!

Salmon Tofu Cakes

Turn leftover produce bits, odds and ends into a noodle stir fry! 

Dried beans and rice are pantry staples. They store a long time. Make red bean black sticky rice coconut soup with tapioca pearls for a cheap and cheerful dessert. 

Red Bean Tapioca Dessert

Many of these ladies experienced Asian food for their first time and in unison exclaimed they will certainly be making them for their families! A Win 🥰

As part of another ACCT summer event I was invited to, was to supervise a fantastic graduation lunch cook off we had with a cohort of ladies for the 'Amal Project' (Amal=Hope)- a program designed to assist newcomer women in integrating into Canadian society and forming friendships across cultures.

Feast your senses on this gorgeous and delicious menu of the Arab and Sub-Suharan Africa. So impressed how humble staple ingredients came together to create extraordinary flavours and textures, that were taste-bud blowing 🔥! Take that Harra Osbao (translates to burned his finger) dish- it is essentially cooked lentils and pasta, pumped with cascading rows of crunchy fried pita chips, aromatic garlic cilantro oil and crispy fried onions (on repeat)... soooo 😋😋😋❤! 

Oh, and the burned finger dish name you ask?... it originated when a cook put their finger in the pot to taste it and burned his finger, hence the name "Harra Osbao" "burned his finger" 😄.

- Spinach Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

- Goat Cheese and Zaatar Fatayer

- Himbasha (Eritrean Bread)

- Harra Osbao (Syrian Lentil and Pasta)

- Roz 3a Djej (Chicken with Rice and Minced Meat Pilaf)

- Ethiopian Beef Stew and Injera

- Halawit el Jibn (Syrian sweet cheese rolls)

On the home front... with food prices on the rise, affordable hearty comfort is key for winter meals on the family table and teaching alike in my cooking program with @culturelinkto. I've been using budget proteins such as ground beef, canned tuna, and pantry and produce staples such as canned tomatoes, pasta, rice, barley, beans, pulses, and potatoes, onions and leftover veggies to cook up big satiable meals on rotation.

American Beef Goulash (Beefaroni)

Chili Con Carne

Beef Barley Soup

Lentil, Kale and Potato Soup

Lentil and Rice Soup

Tuna Cakes

What's for dinner at your house 🍽🍚?

Japanese Rice Sandwich Onigirazu...

Hearty onigirazu sandwiches cause I got inspired on a youtube vid last night and I have the ingredients on hand 🍙! And did I say how much I ❤ onigiliiii, especially squeezing these plushies? #inspiration

Instead of stuffed Japanese rice balls (onigiri) then wrapped with nori, make it easier and textural with a layered onigirazu sandwich. These ones are sushi rice bottoms and tops with flaked tuna & mayo, shredded cucumbers and lettuce in between, placed onto a nori sheet and corners fold up to form a firm parcel. Saran wrap keeps the sandwiches in place. Can be refrigerated for up to one day. Cut in half when ready to serve.

Love me 'em Japanese kewpie mayo for creaminess. 

Cute comfort lunch on a snowy day in 🌨... Oishiiiii 🇯🇵😋😋😋!

Tuna and mayo is a popular combo!

Portable perfect for the lunchbox and picnics in the future, I have my eyes set on another filling combo- runny fried egg and SPAM 😁🍳🍙! The skies the limit... #funeats

Wet your sharp knife to make slicing a cinch.

Sooo Tasty 😋✌!

You my colourful friend... will be next 👀❤!

SPAM and fried egg
Photo Credit: Youtube- Delicious Day

 

Easy Chinese Chicken Congee...

Congee "jook" for breakfast. For lunch. For dinner. For midnight snack too. This resonates true in a Chinese household. It's the ultimate comfort porridge for any time but especially when you're under then weather with a weary head and off taste buds. When the body simply craves uncomplicated nourishment, it soothes like nothing else. You can cook it plain with just rice and water to serve alongside a few salty side dishes or concoct a variety of porridges by adding meat, vegetables, mushrooms, herbs or eggs. I've always loved the classic flavour combo of pork, salted duck eggs and a thousand year old black eggs. But to make it really simple, I am going to show you how with just chicken legs so you can be on your way to making your very own chicken congee.

You want homemade congee that is glossy with a thick viscous texture for heartiness and oomph. The secret is to use three varieties of rice for their unique textures. Glutinous or sweet rice gives the porridge the stickiness texture (1 part); Jasmine medium grain rice gives the porridge “volume” (2 parts); Japanese or Korean short grain rice gives the porridge the shiny and glossy texture (1 part).

Easy Chicken Congee
Serves 6

1-1/2 lbs. bone-in chicken legs (skinned, cut into thigh and drumsticks (about 3), rubbed with salt and white pepper in fridge for one hour)
2 slices ginger
1 green onion, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 cups rice (1/2 cup glutinous / 1 cup jasmine /1/2 cup short grain rice), rinsed
12 cups water
Salt to taste

After rinsing rise, soak the rice with water to cover for one hour if you have the time. If you don’t, don't bother and skip this step.
Soaking rice speeds up the cooking by kick-starting the absorption of water.

Marinating skinless chicken pieces with salt and white pepper for at least one hour in fridge.

Bring a pot of water to a boil with a tsp. of salt, ginger and onions. Add the chicken pieces. Bring the water back to a boil and cook on medium heat, uncovered. 15 mins. later, add drained rice, stir and continue to cook for 45 mins (total one hour). Stir, pot bottom up every 15 minutes to ensure it doesn't stick.

Cook's NOTE: Add 1/2 cup of water during the last 15 mins. Of cooking if the congee is too thick. Add more water to get the desired consistency. 

Remove chicken at the end of cooking time; shred the tender chicken off the bones with two forks. Return to pot and mix with congee. Season to taste. Serve hot.

At the table, set ground white pepper, salt, sesame oil, sliced green onions, cilantro, shredded ginger and preserved spicy radish as classic garnishes to jazz up your congee.

Here, I have spicy chicken gizzards and lotus root as sides too.

Oh and don't forget those dual fried dough crullers pronounced as Yau Tiew in Cantonese (meaning oil sticks) which are a must companion! Dunk the stick to eat or slice into thin pieces for a crunchy topping. You can pick this up at your Asian supermarket in the bakery or hot table section, especially if that counter is a dim sum one. Just pop it in the oven to warm up.

Always a welcomed hearty pot in our house!

Jook time! 

Full Recipe: 

Easy Chicken Congee
Serves 6

1-1/2 lbs. bone-in chicken legs (skinned, cut into thigh and drumsticks (about 3), rubbed with salt and white pepper in fridge for one hour)
2 slices ginger
1 green onion, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 cups rice (1/2 cup glutinous /1 cup jasmine /1/2 cup short grain rice), rinsed
12 cups water
Salt to taste

After rinsing rise, soak the rice with water to cover for one hour if you have the time. If you don’t, don't bother and skip this step.
Soaking rice speeds up the cooking by kick-starting the absorption of water.

Bring a pot of water to a boil with a tsp. of salt, ginger and onions. Add the chicken pieces. Bring the water back to a boil and cook on medium heat, uncovered. 15 mins. later, add drained rice, stir and continue to cook for 45 mins (total one hour). Stir, pot bottom up every 15 minutes to ensure it doesn't stick.

Remove chicken at the end of cooking time; shred the tender chicken off the bones with two forks. Return to pot and mix with congee. Season to taste. Serve hot.

Cook's NOTE: Add 1/2 cup of water during the last 15 mins. Of cooking if the congee is too thick. Add more water to get the desired consistency. 

Chinese Chicken and Veggies Stir-fry Vermicelli...

The end of the week is perfect for using up those leftover veggies, odds and ends and bits in your fridge.  Stir-fried noodles is a quick no-frills all-in-one-meal to make with protein and vegetables that will surely please everyone. It really is an excellent way to use up leftover ingredients to customize your own "chop suey" noodles with whatever you have in the fridge. I had steamed chicken drumsticks leftover from dinner, so it was easy to whip up another meal the next day or two- creative leftovers! I had pantry-friendly packaged dried vermicelli, but use any noodles and dried long pasta you have. Give this a try with your own favourite variations cause who doesn't like noodles 😋?!

This is a recipe I have done in the past. It is different to the ingredients I used this time. But goes to show you that you can use just about anything you have. Cook the meat and mushrooms first, then set aside. For the rest, as a guideline, just ensure the veggies that take longer to cook goes in first and add each type one at a time while stir-frying with the fastest to cook items tossed in at the end. 

Chinese Chicken and Veggies Vermicelli Stir-Fry
Makes 6 servings

1 pkg. (454 g) vermicelli noodles, cooked according to package instructions
2 eggs, beaten, cooked into a thin crepe; let cool and slice into short strips (optional)
1 lb. meat (thinly sliced chicken, pork, beef or shelled and washed shrimps)
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated if dried in water to cover for four hours, drained, stem removed and sliced
2 Tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
1/4 cup sliced Szechuan preserved vegetables, in water to cover (this really gives the dish a lot of flavour)- optional
2 green onions, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cabbage, thinly sliced
2 carrots, cut into match-sticks or TIP: peeled into strips with a peeler
1/2 pound baby spinach or torn spinach leaves, stems removed or Chinese greens
2 Tbsp. oil, divided
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tsp. soy sauce

Here I have leftover steamed chicken drumsticks, hydrated shiitake mushrooms, snow peas, green onions, carrot, celery and yu choy.

I wash my vegetable assortment in a large basin, changing the cool water a few times placing all ingredients into a colander to drain. 

The flavour of dried shiitake mushrooms is super concentrated and imparts intense umami to soups and sauces. I prefer the dried format to fresh as it's convenient to have on hand stored in its package that lasts a long time. Always hydrate with water to cover for at least four hours to overnight with 1/4 tsp. of sugar to gently sweeten the earthy 'shrooms. After they plump up, take each one and rinse under cool water to remove excess debris from its cap and interior gills. Reserve the liquid for adding flavour to the stir-fry.

Cut off the hard stem before slicing.

For Chinese vermicelli I like Kong Moon's Double Swallow brand which has been around for a long time. Look for the double swallow logo as some copycat brands piggyback the double swallow label with a different graphic such as a single sparrow or another. I've tried other brands when they are on sale and the strands break easily and turn mushy.

Always prepare all your ingredients first so that cooking is a cinch!

Leftover chicken gets sliced off its bones ready for stir-frying.

Work those knife skillz! 🔪

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in wok or skillet on medium-high heat. Stir-fry mushrooms and meat with half the garlic, and preserved vegetables if using until meat is just cooked through. Pour in the cooking wine around the skillet side and let sizzle. Set aside.

Heat the other 1 Tbsp. oil on medium-high. Stir-fry green onions first to impart flavour, then add your longest to cook vegetables first (here I add in celery, yu choy stems) for a minute, then carrots, yu choy leaves for another minute, lastly snow peas and remaining garlic for another minute. 

Remember that umami mushroom liquid? Carefully pour in, without the debris at the bottom. Add the chicken and mushrooms back.

Now add your cooked vermicelli or noodles. Add oyster and soy sauces. Toss well to incorporate all the ingredients. If you need some more moisture, add some water.

I love Lee Kum Kee's premium oyster sauce!

Dinner is ready! Serving the noodles with a side of nutritious kimchi!

What a great meal to use up those leftovers... 🥢

Full Recipe:

Chinese Chicken and Veggies Vermicelli Stir-Fry
Makes 6 servings

1 pkg. (454 g) vermicelli noodles, cooked according to package instructions
2 eggs, beaten, cooked into a thin crepe; let cool and slice into short strips (optional)
1 lb. meat (thinly sliced chicken, pork, beef or shelled and washed shrimps)
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated if dried in water to cover for four hours, drained, stem removed and sliced
2 Tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
1/4 cup sliced Szechuan preserved vegetables, in water to cover (this really gives the dish a lot of flavour)- optional
2 green onions, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cabbage, thinly sliced
2 carrots, cut into match-sticks or TIP: peeled into strips with a peeler
1/2 pound baby spinach or torn spinach leaves, stems removed or Chinese greens
2 Tbsp. oil, divided
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tsp. soy sauce

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in wok or skillet on medium-high heat. Stir-fry mushrooms and meat with half the garlic, and preserved vegetables if using until meat is just cooked through. Pour in the cooking wine around the skillet side and let sizzle. Set aside.

Heat the other 1 Tbsp. oil on medium-high. Stir-fry green onions first to impart flavour, then add your longest to cook vegetables first (cabbage) for a minute, then carrots for another minute, lastly spinach or other greens and remaining garlic for another minute. Add the chicken and mushrooms back; toss and pour in the shiitake mushroom hydrating water.

Now add your cooked vermicelli or noodles. Add oyster and soy sauces. Toss well to incorporate all the ingredients. If you need some more moisture, add some water.