"Century/Preserved Egg and Tofu" 皮蛋豆腐

It's summertime, and the weather has been incredibly hot!

One of my favorite dishes in summer is 皮蛋豆腐 (pidan tofu). I'm not sure what the exact word for 皮蛋 is in English, but it comes up as Century Egg on Wikipedia. This dish is very simple to make, and is very refreshing to eat on a hot day.

All you need is:

- 1 block of soft tofu

- ~ 2 or 3 century eggs (depends on the size or how much of it you want)

- salt

- sesame oil

- bonito flakes

All of these ingredients should be available at local grocery store or an Asian grocery store (for the bonito flakes, century/preserved eggs, tofu, and sesame oil).

First, I put the block of tofu into a bowl, and cut it up with a knife. Later, I switch to using chopsticks or a spoon to stir the tofu. My dad prefers to use a fork, which mixes the tofu and the rest of the ingredients really fine.

Second, I add in the eggs. I usually use an egg cutter to make it easier to mix evenly with the tofu.

Next, I add sesame oil, salt, and bonito flakes according to my tastes, and mix everything together again. You can experiment and see how much you need of each.

Then, you are done! It is ready to serve and to be eaten with rice!

Hope you enjoy this dish : )

Simple Tofu Cake

Last night, as I was waiting to meet with my date, I had a sudden urge to bake - since we had 1/2 of a box of white cake mix sitting on the cupboard and soft tofu tucked deep inside the fridge, I thought of the perfect recipe: Tofu Cake.

I found this recipe on a Japanese website, and immediately fell in love with it. I mean, what's not to love? The recipe is simply this: cake mix 150g, soft tofu 200g, and milk 6 tsp. Mix it all together. Pour batter into cupcake liners. Bake at 350F for 15-20 min. That's right. No eggs, no butter, no oil, none of that good stuff. No wonder the Japanese can live so long, eh?

Anyway, since I only had 10 minutes to make the batter before my date, I panicked when I found out that I didn't have enough cake mix for 580g worth of tofu. According to mommy, even if tofu is properly stored in the fridge, it will go bad if not used once the package has been opened. So it was basically use it or throw more than half of it away.

My mom told me to just make stuff up in order to use all the tofu. So I just went crazy and added random amounts of cake & pastry flour (it has leavening agents, so it's lighter and therefore mimics cake mix? I don't know), sugar, vanilla, honey, and baking powder. Due to the time pressure, I quickly whisked everything up, poured it out in a 9x13 pan, and had mommy watch the oven.

After coming back from my date, it was already late at night and I wandered into the kitchen to test try the product of my first ever improvisation.


Not bad, not bad - 24hrs later and it's already gone.

Enjoy the recipe!
Love always,
Lucy

P.S: whenever you see the word "date", add "skype" in the front ;)

Chinese Pearl Meatballs (珍珠丸子)

For our Memorial Day weekend BBQ, my mom rolled out, literally, a few dozen of her Pearl Meatballs. These little balls can be commonly found on Chinese dim sum menus. Here is a good recipe (my mom eyeballs everything, so it'd be counterproductive for me to tell you to add a pinch of this or a tad of that)

   pearl meatballs before steaming (I forgot to get an after-shot, just cash 
              into your food porn imagination depository...or Google)

The dish's namesake references the meatballs' glistening layer of sticky rice after steaming. Sticky rice (also called glutinous, sweet, mochi, or pearl rice, among others) is a type of starchy, short-grained rice that requires soaking before cooking and becomes sticky when steamed. Those with gluten-free diets rejoice! Glutinous rice is safe for consumption since it does not contain any dietary gluten, despite its name.


Dishes with sticky rice are prevalent in many Asian cultures. In Chinese cuisine, for example, zongzi (粽子) is a packet of sticky rice with sweet or savory fillings wrapped in banana leaves, which is then boiled or steamed. 

Perhaps the best known sticky rice product is the beloved Japanese sweet mochi, made from ground sticky rice paste.

 

Gyudon + Spinach = Easy Meal

On Mother's Day, I decided to cook some dishes for my mom. I browsed through several websites, blogs, etc. and I came across a recipe for gyudon from Appetite for China. Gyudon, a Japanese dish, basically means beef bowl. I decided to use this recipe since I am a beginner at cooking, and the recipe looked simple!

This recipe is taken from dianakuan's blog from Appetite for China.

Gyudon

Serves 4
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 pound marbled beef, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons mirin
2 tablespoons sake
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon white sesame seeds

Cook plain rice in the rice cooker while you prepare the beef.

In a large sauté pan, heat vegetable oil o

ver high heat. Stir-fry the onions until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the beef and cook, stirring, until the meat is no longer red.

Add the mirin and sake and stir for 1 or 2 minutes while the alcohol lifts up the nice brown bits from the pan. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil and let simmer until sauce is reduced by half.

Serve hot over the rice and sprinkle

sesame seeds on top.

The gyudon didn't turn out the way I thought it would. I would recommend using a lot less soy sauce, or just adding soy sauce by your own taste. I added too much soy sauce and ended up having to counter the saltiness with sugar. Despite adding too much soy sauce, the dish went well with rice. In the future, I think I would also add some freshly cut hot chili peppers to add spiciness to the dish. I personally LOVE spicy food. (Note: As you can see in the picture there are some red peppers... I added a teeny bit of left over Thai food into the dish, since it was also a beef dish. I think it was Pad Kra Prao, which was basil beef.)

Along with gyudon, I just cooked up some spinach to balance the meal with some veggies! So basically you can cook up almost any vegetable this way, and it is very easy to make. You heat up your cooking pan with oil, add some pieces of sliced garlic. Then, you add your spinach and let it cook for a little bit. Also, add a little water if the spinach seems a bit dry. Then, just add some salt for some flavor, and it's done!

So if you are ever stuck at home with some beef, onions, and green veggies. You can easily cook up a beef bowl and cook some vegetables for a meal!

A little taste of chocolate heaven

Listening to:
You make my dreams by Hall & Oates
Sky High by FreeTEMPO
The Last High by Danny Warhols
Hello by Glee Cast


Most people by now know that I adopt pretty healthy habits. Breakfast. Oatmeal. 100% Whole Wheat. Nuts. At least 2 serving of fruits a day. Water, water, water. Veggies, poultry, dairy, and all that jazz. However, the habit of eating good, healthy foods is unfortunately too often accompanied by the practice of indulging in packed with calories, heart attack-inducing desserts. Especially the kind of desserts you haven't tried in months, almost years. And the kind that are coated with chocolate.
Dear friends, I'm about to introduce you to the ever so famous Brazilian chocolatey treat that stole my heart tonight: Brigadeiro.

Oh My Goodness.

They are so good.

Brigadeiro is basically composed of 3 simple ingredients: Sweetened condensed milk, unsweetened cocoa powder, and butter. And get this: all you do is put all 3 ingredients in a small pot in med-hi heat, and STIR, BABY, STIR!!

No, seriously. That's all.

Tonight, I and Priscilla (a Brazilian family friend who is currently staying with us - I love her) made them for my friend's (Cindy) birthday get-together tomorrow.

[Note: My pictures kind of suck. It's best to Google them]

1 can of condensed milk + 1 spoonful of cocoa powder (add acc. to how sweet you like it)+ 1 spoonful of butter.
Start with medium heat, and stir in one direction.
As soon as it starts to noticeably thicken, turn it to high heat.
Don't stop stirring! Stirring is key.
Let it boil for about 2 minutes, then turn back to med.
Keep stirring. Make sure you get alll the sides of the pot.
STIR.
It's actually a pretty good arm workout.
When the consistency is thick enough, remove it from heat.
Eat.

And voila! You're done. You actually don't have to pour it out onto a plate or anything... just eating it with a wooden spoon out of the pot when it is nice and warm is pretty much the closest you'll get to experiencing heaven.

Since I'm taking it to a birthday party, we decided to roll this guy up into balls and coat it with a thin layer of powdered sugar. Usually you don't roll it in powdered sugar, but rather confetti sprinkles, which sadly, we forgot to buy =(


Anyway, they were so good.

Oh My Goodness. So good.

MMMmmmm...... for every 2 brigadeiro balls that I rolled, I popped 1 into my mouth. My taste buds had a darn good fiesta, if you know what I mean.

In Brazil, brigadeiro is a treat served at all kind of parties, from birthdays to slumber parties - it's perfect for watching chick-flicks with your girls at midnight. It is also a great comfort food for those lonely nights spent watching marathons of your favorite TV show, or when you feel like ruminating about your ex. It can also get every child in the world to obey you. Oh, the power of sugar!

Okay, I think this post will suffice for now. I really really really hope Cindy likes it!! (If she doesn't, I guess that's okay. More for me hehehe)
You guys should definitely try it some time :)

I miss you guys. I wish we were all together right now, hanging out at either Max's or Rex's, eating brigadeiro 'till we all got sick.

Love always,
Lucy

East meets West

I found myself unconsciously clicking on the Serious Eats blog icon as I took a short web-browsing break from finals studying. An article of unusual ingenuity popped up that turned my short break into a prolonged attempt to share my epiphany as to how to go about reconciling the irrelevance of my PB&J post to the 2 Asians, 1 Wok blog.

And the answer?!

            
                            Peanut butter and Jelly Sushi !!!!!!!!

Tasty Thai Food

Recently, I've been crazy about Thai food and have been trying out several different restaurants around the city of Richmond.

I began exploring the restaurants near VCU.

Elephant Thai:
This was the first restaurant that I ever tried in rVA. The first time I went, I thought it was pretty good. However, after comparing with other restaurants, I wasn't satisfied with Elephant Thai anymore.
1.

2.

3.


1. The Thai Iced Tea $1.95. Delicious, but I think they all taste about the same at each restaurant. If you haven't tried Thai Iced Tea at any restaurant, I recommend trying it.
2. Fried Calamari appetizer $5.95. This appetizer is served with some shredded carrots, lettuce leaves, and some sort of sweet chili sauce to add more flavor to the calamari. Not bad!
3. Basil Beef $7.95. I wasn't too pleased with this dish. I would have liked it more if it the hotter. The dish seemed to be warm, not so fresh. Also, the beef was tough, not tender.

Thai Diner Too:
This restaurant is located in Carytown, which is about a 20-30 minute walk from the VCU campus. Also, this place is pricier than Elephant Thai, but it is also better!

1. Basil Pork this time. I don't remember how much it cost, but it was really good! Also, you can ask for the level of spiciness you want your dish to be. Mine was deliciously spicy!
2. My friend got the Mussamun Curry. Compared to the other restaurants, this is the best Mussamun Curry she's had!
















Ginger Thai Taste:
This restaurant is also located in Carytown. I think the dishes here are slightly more pricey than those at Thai Diner Too, or about the same. Nice thing about this restaurant is that you can dine indoors or outdoors. The first time I went, my friend and I chose to dine outside since the weather was so nice!

1. Basil Pork...again! It's one of my favorite dishes, as you can see... I thought the Basil Pork at this restaurant was even better! The pork very tender, good portion size. This restaurant also allows you to choose your spiciness. They have American hot, Hot, Thai hot, and Make me cry. I chose the Make me cry... It was SOO HOT, but SOO GOOD.






2. This is the Pad Phrik King, which is sauteed green beans and chili paste. Also delicious, but I regretted ordering the Make me cry level of spiciness. It was so hot that I got full from drinking water. Also, I was only able to finish 1/3 of the dish. When I brought my leftovers home, my mom tried remaking the dish. However, it turned into a hotpot, and it was still spicy!




Ginger Thai is really good, but pricey. I recommend coming at lunch time, since the lunch prices is cheaper than dinner prices. Lastly, I felt that they are inconsistent with their levels of spiciness, since the first time, the Make me cry was perfect. So I recommend sticking to Hot or Thai hot.

While you are in Carytown...I definitely recommend stopping Galaxy Diner for some desserts!

Galaxy Diner:
I recommend getting Fried Oreos, especially if you haven't had them before. When I first heard of them, I thought Fried Oreos sounded disgusting. I decided to order it anyway, and now it's one of my favorite desserts.
They give you 4 fried oreos with a scoop of ice-cream in the middle topped with whip cream, chocolate syrup, and a cherry on top!










Lastly, the most recent Thai Restaurant I've discovered is located in Mechanicsville.

Pad Thai Restaurant:
The appearance and the location of the restaurant may be deceptive, but the food is absolutely wonderful. I haven't had the chance to take pictures yet. But I will definitely be going back to this restaurant in the future!
The first time I went was with my family around 7pm, and the restaurant was packed! People had to wait outside for seats. It was definitely worth the wait though. Also, I think the price is reasonable and not as pricey as Thai Diner Too and Ginger Thai. The price range is similar to that of Elephant Thai, but the food at Pad Thai Restaurant is definitely much more delicious!
Here is a link to their menu.

Hopefully, I will be able to learn to make a few Thai cuisine in the near future!
If you are ever happen to be in Richmond and craving for Thai food, I hope my recommendations help you decide which restaurant to eat at. If you have any other recommendations or suggestions, feel free to share!