Thursday, February 16, 2017

Tomato egg drop soup - Cách làm Canh trứng cà chua

As you can tell by now that I am vegetarian. I've decided to become vegetarian since 2010 but never make any dishes myself since I have an excellent personal chef - MY MOM - to do all the cooking. I just recently started preparing meals for myself so welcome to an amateur cooking channel


I've made this soup many times since it's so easy. You can get this done with 15 mins on a lazy day if you don't want to spend too much time in the kitchen


For the broth add 4 cups vegetable broth & 4 cups water
I got this from a local Asian market

Add 2 tsp black pepper to the broth and bring it to boil
Mean while diced 3 tomatoes
                                                Add in tomatoes when the water starts boiling
whisk the egg and egg yolk together
Add egg a little at a time into the boiling broth mixture
Egg should cook immediately and it's ready to serve your friend and family when done.


Thank you








How to cut Pineapple

                                                     

This is the way I was taught to cut a pineapple in Asia to leave as much flesh as possible. It does look like a lot of work but little will get wasted with this method

Step 1 is to get a pineapple :)
Next is to cut the crown and the stem
 
                                   Slice the skin off the sides by cutting from top to the bottom
As you can see all the eyes (brown) spots are lining up in diagonal row which will make removing them easy 
            So, to remove all the spots, make a V cut shaped along the diagonal rows on the pineapple. Keep making the same V cut to remove all the spots 


      How to cut pineapple video

VOILA DONE.
Now it's time to enjoy fresh pineapple.  

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Making vegetarian bun - Bánh Bao


This is my first attempting to make vegetarian bun (Bánh Bao) and surprise it came out well.
I always dislike working with yeast, however after making this bun I guess it isn't too bad after all.


Here is the dough recipe I got from my mom  

Dough:

Warm the milk in the microwave for 45 seconds if the milk is cold

Add 1/2 cup sugar and active dry yeast to the warmed milk and stir together.  Let the mixture rest for 10 minutes

Combine the all purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, and the remaining sugar and stir together

Add in vegetable oil and the milk/yeast mixture 

***NOTE***You can use a stand mixer: mix on low speed for 2 minutes to combine the ingredients & increase the speed to medium for another 2 minutes

Otherwise stir and combine all of the ingredients with your hands. 
***NOTE*** If the dough is dry add more water. If too sticky add more cake flour.

Once you have the sticky dough incorporated next thing is gently knead the dough

  
  Place dough into a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for an hour

Next work on filling: 


Add 2 tsp mushroom seasoning, 1tsp pepper. Mix all and set aside
Optional: 1tsp vegetarian oyster sauce

 In a pan heat 2-3 Tbsp. of cooking oil, add each ingredients & fry till soft

Green onions, onions and carrots

Jalapeno

Green Beans & Corns

Jicama

Add 2tsp mushroom seasoning & 1tsp pepper

Morning Stars: I got this vegetarian meat crumbles from local grocery store in the organic freezer aisle

Scrambled eggs was made with 2 large eggs. This is totally an optional. You can skip out the scrambled eggs
           Now let check back the dough. After an hour dough should approximately double in size
           Lightly flour the work surface. Divide the dough and then roll into even-sized balls.
Take one of the dough balls and flatten to a circle using a rolling pin
Add filling to the center and top it with a quail egg if you have it
Pinching all edges together at the top making sure to cover the filling completely.
  Twist the top of the bun to secure it &  place the bun on the liner

                        ==>To prepare the steamer by filling the bottom basin halfway                                                                                 with water and bring to boil on high heat<==

Place the buns into the steamer trays making sure to leave about 1-inch between each bun
 Add the steamer tray and lower the heat to medium and steam the buns for 10 minutes

and VOILA. READY. SERVE













Monday, January 2, 2017

How to cut burlap so it won't unravel


I purchased this burlap from Joann with a 50% coupon for around $2 a yard which is plenty for me to work with. While I was in store the customer service rep asked me if I ever worked with burlap before. Shame of me I gently reply "no". She went on explaining to me the problem you can get with cutting burlap and told me burlap can easily unravels if it isn't cut the right way. So she taught me the best way to cut burlap to avoid the problem and get straight line.
 
Pick a desire length and that will be your thread line that you want to be your edge:

With a safety pin pull on that thread until you have pulled it all the way out 

You may need to do a few times to get the thread all the way out 

And you have a long strip where thread once was so now you can cut along that line

so I have learned something new today. I guess the world of crafting is an ongoing learning :)
Happy crafting

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