Steamed Chinese Rice Rolls...

Breakfast at my house has always been things like pancakes and fruit, oatmeal, French toast, eggs, bacon and toast, and the occasional smoked salmon on bagels which we all adore. Very western items which I don't stray far from although I am very Chinese. Until the morning I couldn't resist steaming a package of springy-to-the touch fresh rice rolls I got at the supermarket instead of making a lunch stir-fry, it quickly dawned on me how come we haven't been savouring this dim sum favourite... like all the time?! Better late than never right? In Asia, rice is eaten religiously as the first meal of the day-- eaten with fish and side dishes (in Japan), cooked up into congee (rice porridge), in soups with rice noodles (like Vietnamese pho) and this very simple steamed rice roll made from rice flour (popular in Hong Kong as a snack and at Chinese dim sum). The rice rolls are usually filled with shrimp, beef or BBQ pork. You may have to dine out to enjoy these specialties but you can also make a very simple and cheap version at home. 

Prepared rice rolls come plain or with dried shrimps embedded. All you do is steam them and serve with sweet soy sauce and a bevy of toppings you like. We've had it a few times now and we're hooked! Seems like a breakfast for champions to me cause I certainly feel like a champ after my kids eagerly polished them off... like hot cakes! :D 

Steamed Chinese Rice Rolls
Makes 4 servings

1 pkg. (550 g) fresh rice rolls (in or near the refrigerated section of an Asian supermarket- if super fresh you can find them on a table nearby)

1/4 cup sweet soy sauce (I use Pearl River Bridge's seasoned soy sauce for seafood) or make your own mixture with 2 Tbsp. soy sauce, 1 Tbsp. Chinese cooking wine, 1 Tbsp. water, and 1 tsp. brown sugar.

2 green onions, chopped

1/4 cup oil

cilantro, stems removed and leaves chopped

hot sauce (I like brand Koon Yicks chilli sauce)

preserved pickled radish (sold in jars)

Serve with cooked Chinese greens (such as yu choy or snow pea leaves)

This is a reason to bust out your Chinese bamboo steam basket or use a regular steamer basket. I suggest placing a piece of parchment paper for easy clean-up. Cut a piece of parchment paper into a circle the size of the steamer bottom. Place it in and poke holes to let the steam escape inside to cook the rice rolls.

Trace a circle to fit the steamer.

Cut rolls in half (this will help with placement and easy eating). Separate each rice roll and place side-by-side and in layers in the steamer. The bit of oil coating on the rolls will prevent them from sticking to each other.

Cover the lid. Place over pot filled with 1/3 water, big enough to anchor the steamer basket. Steam should not rise out on the sides, and pot should not be too small, otherwise condensation from the steaming will cause water to leak out on sides of pot. Bring water to boil and let steam for 10 to 15 minutes without lifting the lid.

Meanwhile, prepare your toppings and vegetable dish (optional). For a quick Chinese greens stir-fry such as snow pea leaves, bring a skillet with a little oil to medium-high heat, add the greens with 2 Tbsp water. Cover and let steam for a few minutes until crisp-tender about two to three minutes. Remove lid. Add one chopped garlic and stir-fry for one minute. Season with salt to taste.

Stir-fry green onions in oil for 30 seconds until fragrant for a delicious aromatic topping.

The rice rolls can be served straight in its steamer basket on a plate along with the toppings and condiments.

Happy campers! Who wants more slurpy rice rolls?

Add a dollop of cooked onion oil and a drizzle of sweet soy sauce. Hot sauce adds piquancy and preserved radish adds savoury crunch! Sweet, savoury, spicy and crunchy all rolled into one lovely Chinese morning breakfast! Jo Sun :)!

Nummy!! Ho Ho Sic!

Pan-Seared Lemon Butter Sea Scallops...

Love me 'em scallops but always order them off restaurant menus and don't cook them at home. Maybe it's the fine line to overcooking, but being attentive to the short searing time, they really are so darn easy to do!!! Just a simple shake of salt and pepper on both sides, seared in butter over a hot pan and you are in tender sea-bite oceanic heaven. To jazz it up, you can simply whip up a lemon butter sauce to spoon over. It took treating ourselves with my annual end-of-year Loblaws grocery points with something different and gourmet, to get a bag of jumbos to serve with grilled steaks surf and turf-style! Glad I did, cause we loved them juicy succulence, bringing the elegance of restaurant-dining home. 

To start off our low-key family New Year's Eve dinner, hubby and I shared a platter of malpeques!

Of course, he shucked while I watched and salivated waiting, sipping a glass of wine :)

Pan-Seared Lemon Butter Sea Scallops
Makes about 20 scallops to serve 4 to 6 

1 pkg. 400g frozen jumbo sea scallops, thawed overnight in fridge
Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter

For the lemon butter sauce:

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup white wine

juice of 1/2 lemon
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley or basil leaves (optional)

Lay thawed scallops on paper-lined towels on a plate and pat dry. Season scallops with salt and pepper to taste. 

Shelled malpeques along scallops ready for cooking.

Melt one Tbsp. butter in a large skillet/pan (not non-stick) over medium high heat. Working in batches, add scallops to the skillet in a single layer and cook, flipping once, until golden brown and translucent in the centre, about two minutes per side. Remove scallops aside and keep warm.

To make the lemon butter sauce, melt two Tbsp. butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about one minute. Stir in white wine and lemon juice and let simmer to deglaze the bits off the skillet; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve scallops immediately with lemon butter sauce, garnished with parsley or basil, if desired.

Surf and Turf-- got the fatty bits, ends and bones after dissecting the steaks for the kids. Just the way I like it...

Some turf parts got cooked well...oh well. But medium-rare is best!

Cheers Y'All! 

Feeling like grown-ups with bottled Mexican cola and ginger beer.

Wishing you all a HapPy NeW YeAR from our family to yours!

In much warmer times.... (Playa Del Carmen, Mexico last year )

We are always taking care of others and doing things to make people happy, but remember you need to take care of yourself #1 and make time for your own passions. I am ever grateful for another year of sharing food discoveries with you all and achieving my personal fitness goals with yoga and now kick-boxing too! Let's keep shining and reaching for the sky! Here's to continual growth, improvement & fun in 2018!  ♪٩(✿′ᗜ‵✿)۶♪   #livethelifeyoulovelovethelifeyoulive

For a Killer Kick-A$$ Combo.. Namaste with a POW POW!! 
Come and get me 2018... I'm ready for you!!!

DIY Seafood Cocktail Platter...

Impress and save $ by making your own cold seafood appetizer platter! Popular but pricey frozen shrimp rings don't cut it-- defrosted overnight the shrimps are waterlogged and their natural flavours diluted. When the occasion arise, I cook up frozen shrimps and make my own cocktail sauce, but this year for our family Christmas gathering I wanted to take it up a notch and create a variety trio platter-- tagging on mussels and imitation crab meat. It's so simple to do-- just boil/steam the seafood that requires cooking, shell the shrimps, refrigerate to cool and arrange it all on a nice serving dish. Never buy cocktail sauce, I repeat, just don't do it! You likely have the four ingredients to combine to make a wicked one, namely ketchup, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce and lemon with hot sauce as optional. Why add another condiment in the fridge? And the bill on this gourmet delight of a seafood platter? A mere $25... An extravagant offering without the extravagant cost. 

DIY Seafood Cocktail Platter
Serves 12 and more as an appetizer

2 lbs. frozen *zipperback shell-on shrimps (medium to large size). 

2 lbs. frozen half shell mussels (I used New Zealand Greenshell mussels)

1 pkg. (227 g) stick imitation crab meat (cut into bite-size pieces) or flake-style

Cocktail Sauce:

1 cup ketchup

2 to 4 Tbsp. grated/prepared horseradish (add a Tbsp. at a time for desired flavour and texture)

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

a splash or two of lemon juice

hot sauce (optional)

lemon wedges
fresh parsley sprigs and hydrated dried seaweed for garnishing

Bring a large pot of water with a tsp. salt to a boil. Bring the shrimps to a boil, and cook for two minutes until the shell is bright orange, and flesh is opaque and firm. Ladle them out into a large bowl filled with cold, cold water to stop the cooking process. Strain well. Peel the shrimps (* with slit shells you can easily “zip” off these shrimps), but keep the shell ends intact for easy holding and dipping. Lay the shrimps on a paper-towel lined bowl and refrigerate until cool.

Meanwhile, bring the water back to a boil and add the mussels. Bring to a boil and cook for two to three minutes until mussels are firm. Ladle out into another bowl with cold water. Drain the water well, and place the mussels into a bowl and refrigerate until cool.

Combine ketchup, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice, and mix well. Add hot sauce if desired. Refrigerate until ready to use.

I used homemade ketchup from RFRK with chunky bits of tomatoes and onions.

Arrange the shrimps, mussels, and imitation crab meat pieces onto a platter along with a ramekin/small bowl of cocktail sauce and lemon wedges. For the bells and whistles on presentation, add green garnishes such as parsley sprigs and seaweed tucked in and around different points of the platter. I made mine super simple-- still gorgeous no?

This is just a beauty shot portion of what I was serving at the dinner party!

Talk about impressive to bring to any gathering! Succulent, juicy and pretty sophistication!

Sidebar: Most Torontonians are familiar with the lobster mountain by now, but have you ever heard of the shrimp chip mountains? Very famous in my household :). Home deep-fried, large hand-size real shrimp chips from Vietnam, bespeckled with cracked black pepper... I often don't leave home to a party without them :).

Seafood medley served straight out of the toted plastic tupperware no frills-style at my parents' place! Thank goodness for thinking ahead with my white platter home beauty shots!

The Festive East meets West spread as usual with my extended family!

What did you EAT to celebrate Christmas Day?

Season's Eatings...

From Our Home To Yours....

Enjoy the Festive Celebrations!!

Profiteroles (Cream Puffs)...

Ahhh profiteroles-- those cute tender-crisp hollow airy puffs filled with creamy vanilla pastry or as my Montreal-raised husband has been chiding forever, ice cream. "Restaurants don't make proper profiteroles anymore. They do it easy with prepared crème glacé." In his mind, every part of a profiterole takes a skillful artisan to dole out-- the understanding of food science inner workings between flour, water, butter and eggs to produce the fluffy choux pastry shell (the same dough that makes beautiful éclairs) and having the patience and masterful technique to whip up a luscious cream filling. In the spirit of a workplace cookie exchange, this prompted him to roll up his sleeves and attempt to uncomplicate his favourite classic treat with a nod to la belle province. 

As a starting point, we know we just can't go wrong with recipes from Mr. Montreal food pro himself, cookbook author and TV food host & personality Ricardo. Following his measurements and recipe instructions to a tee (recipe was quadrupled for the exchange needs), will my husband eat his words or will he and everyone else eat his profiteroles???

This hefty batch looks pretty good huh?

Success-- YAY! This was indeed a fantastic fool-proof recipe-- just make sure you follow each step by step (I've added some tips and watch-outs along the way).

Profiteroles (Cream Puffs) (adapted by Ricardo)

Makes 16 profiteroles  (double or triple the ingredients to feed a crowd)

1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 tsp. of sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
4 eggs

Choux pastry: 

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet or two with parchment paper (if using two make sure they fit side-by-side in oven). In a saucepan, bring to boil milk, water, butter, sugar and salt (mixture has to come to a rolling boil-- this helps the pastry's aeration). Remove the pan from the heat and you must add the flour all at once (this helps the starch swell and absorb the liquid so the dough has structure). Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a smooth ball that comes off the pan sides. Put the pan back on a low heat and cook stirring the dough for about two minutes. Remove from heat and let cool a few minutes. 

Add the eggs one at a time, vigorously beating with a wooden spoon or electric mixer between each addition, until the dough is smooth and homogeneous. Eggs are a leavening agent and the yolks add fat for a tender and light texture. Egg proteins add to the structure of the cream puff.

Using a pastry bag or large plastic freezer bag with a 1 cm (1/2 inch) round tip filled with choux pastry, emit 16 mounds the size of a golf ball leaving 1-inch in between on the baking sheet (they grow). Or use two spoons to set. Flatten the tips with a finger dipped in a bit of water. Bake in the centre of the oven about 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven, and cut a tiny slit in the side of each puff to let some of the steam escape. This allows the inside of the puff to dry out, stiffening the structure. 

To make it easy, we used two spoons- one for spooning and the other for swiping the pastry onto the baking sheet.

Voila Magic-- light, airy and fluffy little hollow balls!

Cut a tiny slit in the side of each puff to let some of the steam escape so the insides will dry out, and create a firm but tender-crisp shell. 

Now for the pastry cream... Does it really take that much effort and skill?

Vanilla Pastry Cream (adapted by Ricardo)

2/3 cup sugar 

1/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour 

2 eggs 

2 cups milk, warm 

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 

In a saucepan, (not on heat) combine the sugar and flour. Add the eggs and whisk until the mixture is smooth and even. Add the hot milk gradually while whisking. Bring to a complete boil over medium heat, whisking constantly and scraping the bottom and corners of the pan. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes over low heat. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir until thick. To prevent the formation of a skin on the surface of the pastry cream, place a plastic wrap directly on the hot cream. Let cool. Refrigerate until completely cool, about three hours. 

Not bad right to make a classic profiterole cream filling? 
Ok, No excuses restaurants!  Even my 6-year old was helping good ol' dad out :D

Whisk, whisk baby!

Add the hot milk and whisk, whisk baby!

Pastry cream is ready when it thickly coats the back of a spoon.

Fill each choux pastry with some cream. You can pipe it in or spoon it if the slit is big enough.

Wow, I am impressed honey! Way To Go!! A+ for effort and originality!

The cookie exchange with my husband's 11 colleagues went deliriously super! Everyone baked up about 72 pieces and exchanged six of their own sweet offerings with others times 11 :D. And he said his delicious pastries were an original with the staff admiring the cuties. 

Here were the eye-popping variety of beauties that came back in nicely packed boxes!

Sweet treats for a week! Where to begin?

What are you baking up to celebrate this season?