Ginger Ale

My first taste of ginger beer was on exchange in Copenhagen when my friend had ordered one and asked me to try it. I wasn't a big fan of ginger at the time so i was very skeptical about it. I did anyway and was immediately converted. It's so fresh and amazing, very different from those bottled soda you get at the supermarkets.

There are many recipes floating out there but this recipe is from Alton Brown. It's interesting creating soda water from yeast, almost like a science experiment. You need to let it sit for 48 hours so that the yeast can do its magic. I also took the liberty in shaking the bottle every time i walked past it, just to make sure the yeast was working properly. Big mistake because when I finally got to open it, it exploded everywhere.




What you'll need:
a 1.5 or 2 L bottle
4-5 tbsp ginger depending on taste
1 cup of sugar
6 1/2 cups of water
1.5 tbsp lemon juice and some more for later

Combine the 1/2 cup of the water with the sugar and the ginger, then set it on medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Take it off the heat and cover the mixture for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, juice half a small lemon so you have about 1.5 tbsps of lemon juice. Set aside.

Strain the ginger mixture into a pour-able container. Add in the lemon juice.

 Pour the mixture into the bottle along with the yeast. Add in the remaining 6 cups of water. Shake it furiously for 2 minutes to dissolve the yeast.

Let the drink sit for 48 hours then enjoy! I recommend it with ice and some more lemon juice. You may adjust the amount of ginger based on you liking, but generally I like it with lots of pungent ginger flavour.

Chicken and Spinach Pizza

Some people are intimidated by homemade pizza because it may come across as a lot of work that produces somewhat of an imperfect result. Let me tell you 2 tips to a great pizza that never fails me: a great dough and a perfect balance and proportion in the filling. It sounds obvious but I'll try to explain it a bit further.



Most people would say that they enjoy what is on the crust more than the crust itself, so when it comes to homemade pizza, they overload the pizza with lots of ingredients. Just because you enjoy the crust a bit less doesn't mean it doesn't contribute to the overall flavour of the pizza. You'd be surprised how important the dough is, and how amazing the pizza tastes when the dough is done right.

2 tsp yeast
1 1/2 cups of water
3 3/4- 4 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine the 3 1/2 cups of flour, sugar, salt and the yeast in a mixing bowl. Microwave the water for 50 seconds until it is luke warm. Add the oil into the water, stir, then pour into the flour mixture. Mix on low until all the flour is incorporated then add in the remaining half cup as needed. Knead on medium for 8-10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Take it out of the mixer and mix by hand for a minute then place in an oiled bowl. Let it proof for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.

When the dough has doubled, punch it down. Separate it into 2 equal parts and place in 2 oiled bowls to rise again. Work on the filling while you wait for the 2nd rise.

My favorite pizza toppings are spicy salami and bacon. I had either on hand so I made a chicken and spinach pizza instead. Not that this is inferior to bacon and salami, but I like my pizza with huge flavours and chicken deliver as well compared to the other two. To make up for the flavour, I sprinkle on a few pinches of garlic powder, hot sauce, salt and pepper.

Marinara sauce or spaghetti sauce
2 chicken thighs (per pizza)
2 oz of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1.5 cup of grated or cubed mozzarella
optional:
Frank's hot sauce
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper

You can use any kind of left over chicken. I didn't have any so I cooked some chicken thighs. I just fried them for 3-4 minutes on each side then finished them in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes. Pull the meat off and cut them into bite sized pieces.

Check on your dough after a couple of hours to see if it has doubled. Most recipes will tell you to punch it down at this moment, but don't. Working the dough now will just make it hard to roll it out. And by rolling out, I don't mean a rolling pin.

While the dough is still in the bowl, flour the top really well. Invert it onto your hand and flour the other side with your free hand. Place it on your work top and press the middle with your fingers, making dimples all over. 

When it takes on a round and flat shape, pick it up with your hands then slip your hands under the dough in the form of fists. Using your knuckles, stretch the dough then rotate, stretch and rotate. If the edges are too thick then pick up the dough at it's edge and stretch just that part of it.

Either way, make sure you stretch and rotate at a fairly fast pace. I've never had dough break on me before, and you shouldn't if the dough has been properly kneaded and rested. It should be a perfect round when you are done with it. 

(I'm using pictures from summer 2011 since I had no one to take pictures for me this time.)

Use about 3-4 tbsps of marinara sauce and spread it all over the pizza. Sprinkle on hot sauce, salt and pepper, and garlic powder. I also put a layer of cheese at this point for no particular reason.

Place your chicken and spinach evenly on top.

Cover with more cheese. I also added some Parmesan for flavour.

 Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, rotating half way.
The best pizza is made from a combination of good dough and filling. Once I get the proper ingredients, I'll post my favorite topping recipe. Enjoy!

Chinese New Year Dumplings!

Happy Chinese New Year! CNY is unusually early this year so I wasn't even aware that it was coming up. But never mind that, let's do some dumpling talk. I've had tons and tons of different kinds of dumplings growing up: fish, pork, beef, chicken. There are a billion occasions for eating them. Chinese new year is one, and the other is when someone is about to go on a trip, the family makes "kick-you-out" dumplings the night before.



Although I have participated in the assembling part of the process, I never paid attention to what goes into the actual filling. To make sure I get it right, I called my mommy for her recipe.

Dough:
My mom said her dough ratio is 2 parts flour and 1 part warm water and it works every time. Somehow it didn't work for me. I started with 2 cups of flour and 3/4 cup of water, but the dough was so sticky that I must have added another 1/2 cup of flour to pull it together. So I'm gonna say my ratio is about 3:1.

Once the dough comes together, knead it for 5 minutes then wrap it in plastic wrap until needed.

Filling:
4 cups very finely chopped napa cabbage
1 tbsp of oil
1 lb ground pork
2 tbsp soy sauce
1.5 tsp salt
1 pinch sugar
1.5 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 tsp pepper
3 sprigs of green onions finely chopped
1 cup of diced raw shrimp
1 tbsp corn starch


 First, chop up the napa cabbage really well. Take portions of it and squeeze out the water so that the filling doesn't become too watery later. It's difficult to extract the water without salting it first, but we don't want any extra salt in the filling. Pour the oil over the cabbage and mix it well. The oil will act as a barrier against any water that wants to sneak out once the cabbage is mixed with the pork.

Put the pork, onion, ginger, soy sauce, and salt in a large bowl and mix well.

Add the shrimp and corn starch then mix again.

Once both parts of the filling are ready, move onto the dough. Divide the dough into thirds, take a third and cover up the rest. Roll it into a log and cut it into small, equal pieces.

Then take a rolling pin and roll it out to a thin wrapper. As you can see, I don't even have a proper rolling pin so I used a PVC pipe instead. Roll over one edge of the dough and rotate the dough counter clockwise with your other hand. Now a different edge should be facing you. Repeat the rolling and rotating until the dough is than 1/16 inch thick.

Once you have a few of the wrappers rolled out, combine the cabbage and the pork mixture. To assemble, take a heaping tsp of filling and place it in the center of the wrapper. Take 2 opposing sides of the wrapper and pinch it together in the middle. Then pinch the 2 sides close.

Let it cook in boiling water for 3-4 minutes until it floats to the top. Scoop it into a frying pan with oil and fry it on medium until the bottom is golden brown.

My mom loves to serve these with malted vinegar, which is the traditional Chinese way of serving dumplings. I don't remember liking it that way ever, instead I eat mine with soy sauce and hot sauce.

Frozen Yogurt

This is a really quick recipe on how to turn plain/natural flavoured yogurt into ice cream.

1 tub of yogurt
3-4 cups of frozen mango or a preferred frozen fruit
1/3 cup of honey

In a food processor, finely chop/blend the mango until they are in tiny pieces. Add the yogurt and blend until almost smooth, but still a little bit chunky.

You need to blend the mangoes first before adding the yogurt or else they will just float around in the yogurt. Add 1/3 cup of honey, more or less to your liking. You can enjoy it right away as a smoothie, or put it in the freezer for 2 hours to firm up.

Hotdog Buns

The difference between a soft bun and a loaf of bread is in the use of milk as it's main wet ingredient. Milk keeps the bun fairly moist so the product is spongy and soft. It's very rude of me for displaying pulled pork on 2 slices of bread instead of a real bun, so I have set out to correct it.



I made another pork shoulder roast yesterday and this time I didn't have a pressure cooker like I did in Vancouver. Instead, I put the pork in a deep stock pot, covered it, and weighed it down with a dutch oven. The steam will still escape so be sure to check it once in a while and add water to the pot if needed.

After I made my first loaf of bread I swore never to buy bread again. After trying these buns I don't think I'll ever go back to making loafs again. These take longer to dry out (just a theory for the moment but we'll see in 2 days time) and they are already individually portioned.

1 1/2 cups of warm skim milk
4 cups of flour
2 tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
4 tbsp room temperature butter

In a bowl, combine 1 cup of flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Microwave the milk for 45 sec until it is luke warm, 120 degrees. Add the milk into the flour mixture and stir to combine. Add in the egg and mix well.

Slowly add in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time. You want the dough to be soft but manageable. if it's sticking to the side of the bowl then add a bit more flour. Knead it for 8 minutes until the dough becomes elastic.

Add in the soft butter, 1tbsp at a time. This process is time consuming because it takes while for the dough to absorb all the butter. You could add the butter at the beginning in its liquid form, but it may keep the gluten from developing properly. If you have a stand mixer then I highly suggest adding the butter at the end.

Knead the dough for another minute or two, shape into a round ball then transfer to an oiled bowl. Let rise for 1.5 hours. When it has doubled in size, punch it down, form it into a ball and let rise again.

After the second rise, divide the dough into 12 portions. Start by pinching 2 opposite edges of the dough into each other. You'll to form a smooth side and a seam side. Keep pulling up more dough from the smooth side and pinching them together until you get tight roll that's about 5 inches long. Place it seam side down on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Alternatively, you could roll them on the cutting board into long logs. Place them 1/2 inch apart and let them rise for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the buns for 20 minutes, rotating half way.

I'm proud to say that the texture is pretty close to the real thing :)

Building my sandwich: Layer on sliced pork roast. That was the same roast as the pulled pork but I left half of it as a roast and made pulled pork with the other half.

Pile on some pulled pork and sauce

Add coleslaw of thinly shredded cabbage, carrot, mayo, mustard.

Hot sauce is optional but highly recommended! 

Pulled Pork

Pulled pork can be time consuming, but so good if it's done right. My family had it for dinner with tortillas the first night, then used the left overs for sandwiches. I suggest making a big portion to make the process worth while. You can use the pork for lunches or dinners throughout the week and they freeze well if you don't think you can use them up fast enough. This time I'm using the pressure cooker to finish it off, and I really liked the method because it produced a really tender and moist meat.

Spice rub:

1/3 c sugar

1/3 c brown sugar

1/4 cup paprika

1/3 cup salt

2 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp garlic salt

1 tbsp pepper

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp oregano

1 tsp thyme

1tbsp cayenne

The pork I used was about 8 lbs, bone-in pork shoulder roast.

Rub it all over the pork and place in an oven preheated to 325 degrees.

While the pork is in the oven, make the BBQ sauce.

1/4 cup of the spice rub

3/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
2 tsp W-sauce

1/3 cup maple syrup. 

Mix well and brush it over the pork every 40 minutes for the next three hours. The pork should be fully cooked by then. 

Cut the pork into large pieces so that they fit into a pressure cooker. Add in all the juices from the pan as well as what is left of the BBQ sauce. Finally, add a splash of orange juice, about 3/4 cup. turn on the pressure cooker and cook for an hour and 10 minutes. I have one of those electric ones that looks like a rice cooker and it made my life a lot easier.

After the meat is tender and falls off the bone, remove it into a large bowl and shred it with 2 forks. Place back into the pressure cooker and mix with all the fats and juices. It should be able to absorb a lot of it.

 To make the slaw that goes with the sandwich, I used 1/8 of a cabbage and a tiny bit of red onion. Chop them up into thin slices and toss with mayo.

The pork can be enjoyed warm or cold.

French Croissants

This is a pretty instructive recipe and it's gonna be a very long post with lots and lots of pictures. So! Croissants, one of the most intimidating and time consuming things to make, but that's why I love it. I started at 8pm and ended at 2:30 am, but most of which are idle hours. If you are smarter than me, you would start earlier in the day, do other things during idle hours, and go to sleep on time.



4 cups of flour
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup hot water
1 1/2 cup half and half
3 tbsp butter, room temperature
3 sticks of butter, room temperature

Combine the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a bowl and stir for a few seconds using a dough attachment. In another bowl, combine the half and half with hot or warm water until the mixture reaches 110 degrees. With the motor running on low, slowly pour in the milk mixture. Let the mixer go for 10 minutes until the dough is soft and smooth. Add in the butter 1 tbsp at a time. It takes a little bit of time, but I help it along by picking up the dough and rotating it every once in a while.

After the dough has come together, pour it onto your work surface and kneed it for a few more seconds. Form the dough into a rectangle, wrap it and put it into the fridge for 30 minutes.

1 pkg of butter is 4 sticks so I usually buy a pound/pkg of butter then divide it my self. For this recipe, I cut the butter side ways so that 1 stick is actually a square that's about 1.5 cm thick. Take that slice out and you'll end up with 3 sticks worth of butter.

Place the butter between 2 plastic wraps and hammer it with a rolling pin to flatten. My butter wasn't completely at room temperature so I microwaved it for 5 seconds and did some hard core smashing. Be very careful not to melt the butter in the microwave, you'll end up with a mess.

After the butter has softened, roll and form it into a rectangle. If the shape is off, just pinch some of one side and fill in another. Put it into the fridge to firm up.

To assemble, roll out the dough into a large rectangle thats about 1.5 the size of the butter. Place the butter on the dough so that it is covering 2/3 of the dough. Fold the uncovered third over once, then make another fold with the other side on top of the folded third.

Roll it out again and fold it in thirds again. Put it into the fridge for 30 minutes then repeat the roll and fold twice more. You know you have enough layers when you can just barely see the butter through the dough. If you go any further than that, the dough will break.

Let it rest one last time for an hour and roll it out as far as it can go. Take a pizza roller, cut the dough in half length wise, then cut each piece into triangles.

Cut a little slit in the middle of the triangle so you can stretch out the corners.

Turn it so the wider part faces away from u, roll it towards you with your palm while pulling on the tip of the triangle with your other hand.

Place it on a baking sheet and pinch together the corners. Let it proof for 2 hours. I made the mistake of letting it sit in a warm oven. Usually it's perfectly fine to proof dough in a warm oven, but since there was butter in this dough, it would melt under anything above room temperature. Mine did melt slightly but it wasn't too bad.

After it's risen, place it in a 435 degrees oven for 22 minutes, rotating half way. The corners came apart for some reason. I think it might be because it was too fat and not long enough. I'll probably cut the triangles shorter and fatter next time.