The Way Rice Should Be: November 2015

Saturday, November 21, 2015

The Flakiest Pie Crust

With the holiday season upon us, I thought I'd share with you my trusty flaky pie crust recipe which can be used for both sweet dessert pies or savory meat pies. This pie crust is so flaky I've even had people think I used filo dough for my crust. One of our friends who is born and raised in the area once told me that with a pie crust like this one, you can win anybody's heart from Maine.

I know pie crust can be a scary thing to make if you don't bake often, but you'll be really surprised at just how easy it is to make a delicious and flaky pie crust with only three ingredients. I call it my 3 2 1 recipe.

Ingredients:
Yield for one 9 inch double crust pie or two single crust pie

3 C AP flour
2 sticks salted butter
1 C cold water1 egg for egg wash
Raw sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Directions:
The number one key to getting a flaky pie crust is to have cold ingredients. The first thing I always do is cut the butter into cubes and pop them in the freezer for 10 minutes. In the meantime, measure out the one cup of cold water and 3 cups of flour separately and chill them in the refrigerator.

Once all of the butter has chilled, toss them in the chilled flour. The second crucial step to having a flaky crust is to never work it too much or else it will develop too much gluten and create a tough dough. Use a wire cutter and cut the butter into the flour until you have a somewhat coarse-looking dough. This will only take two to three minutes. You want to leave some butter in bigger pieces, which will create some pockets in the pie crust as it melts while baking. That's what's going to make the pie really flaky.

Now pour in the cold water in batches while you gently stir it in the flour and butter mixture using the wire cutter. I always try to challenge myself and see how many times I actually touch the dough with my hands. For this you don't even necessary need to mix it into an actual dough. Once all of the water is mixed in, just transfer the dough onto a parchment paper or a plastic wrap, gather and squeeze the crumbs up in to a pile, wrap it and chill it in the refrigerator for an hour.

Once the dough has chilled, you will see that they have formed into a more solid dough itself as it was resting. Now cut the dough in half and place the other half of the dough back into the refrigerator until you need to use it.

Now very gently form the dough into a disk; this way it will be easier to roll out.

Roll the dough out. You will see some of the bigger pieces of butter and that's exactly what you want.

The easiest way to pick up the rolled-out dough is to use the rolling pin.

Gently unroll the dough onto the baking pan.

Using a pair of kitchen scissors, cut off the excess dough, but leave about half an inch around the baking pan.

For the lattice pie crust top, roll out the other half of the dough and cut it into strips. You can skip this step if you are making a regular pie top.

Now place the fillings in the dough. Here I'm just making a very simple old fashioned mock cherry pie.

Place half of the strips parallel to each other.

Starting from the middle and work your way out. Fold up every other strip and start weaving though the dough horizontally across the pie.

Keep weaving until you've covered up the whole pie.

Cut off the excess strips and leave half an inch around the pan. Tuck it in and fold it around the bake pan.

Pinch around the edges of the pie crush to seal it. You can use the back of a folk as well.

Brush on a layer of egg wash and sprinkle some raw sugar on top, this will give the pie a beautiful golden color and a nice crunchy texture on top.

Bake in a 400 F preheated oven for 45 minutes until the top is golden brown. Let the pie cool for an hour before serving.

Bake a pie for the holidays and win the hearts of your family and friends!

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Taiwanese Beef Stuffed Scallion Pancake

My home country of Taiwan is known throughout Asia for its bustling night markets and the amazing street food. Every night at 9 p.m. in the evening you will start seeing food carts, stands and trucks setting up on the streets of Taipei. And that is also the time when many people come out to get their xiao yieh which means night snack. For many Taiwanese, xiao yieh is an important meal because it’s a chance to go out with family and friends to unwind after a busy day. Street food is a huge part of our culture and it is also one of the things I miss the most about Taiwan. This week I want to share with you one of the most popular street foods from Taiwan, the Taiwanese beef stuffed scallion pancake.

Scallion pancakes, which originated in the Shan Dong province of northern China, have become a well-known dish around the world. Some people even call the flaky flat bread layered with fresh scallion a “Chinese Pizza.” In fact, my mother used to make pizza with a scallion pancake crust instead of regular pizza crust which is absolutely delicious. Scallion pancakes are tasty on their own as a snack or topped off with a fried egg for breakfast. In the night market it is also commonly stuffed with some spicy steak along with a sweet soy sauce paste.

You will need:

Ingredients

(Serves 3-4 people)

For the scallion pancake dough:

2 cup all purpose flour

2⁄3 cup hot water

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1⁄2 tsp. granulated sugar

pinch of salt

scallion fillings:

5 scallions finely chopped

11⁄2 tsp coarse salt

1⁄8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

For the beef:

1 lb. thin steak

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp ginger

1 hot pepper

2 scallion

11⁄2 tsp. cooking wine

3 tsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. Chinese five spice

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil +

2 tsp. for frying

For the sweet soy sauce paste:

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

11⁄2 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 Tbsp. AP flour

2 Tbsp. cold water

Other:

3 fresh scallions

Hot sauce of your choice

Vegetable oil for pan

frying

Directions:
Start by marinating the beef, then roughly cut the thin steak into large pieces, about the size of your palm. Mince the garlic and mix it in with the steak along with the cooking wine, brown sugar, Chinese five spice, 1 T vegetable oil and 2 tsp soy sauce. Let it marinate for at least 30 minute to and hour.

Now mix the dough and kneed it for two minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover it up and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl, mix the scallion fillings. I’ve added 1 tsp fried shallots in my mix which is optional. You can get them at the Chinese grocery store.

While waiting, we can make the sweet soy sauce paste. Using a small stainless steel pan on medium high heat, whisk together the vegetable oil, soy sauce and brown sugar until the sugar dissolves and starts bubbling. Mix in the flour and keep whisking until the flour dissolves, about 30 seconds. Quickly whisk in the water. Once the sauce has thickened up into a gravy consistency, remove from the stove and transfer into a bowl. Any of the soy sauce paste not used can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. You can use it as a spread on any Chinese buns and even mix it in noodles.

After the dough has rested, roll it into a log shape and cut it into 6 to 8 pieces.

Then roll the dough out individually and spread a layer on the scallion filling on the surface.

Roll it into a log shape again, starting from the bottom to the top.

Then roll the log into a spiral, making sure to tuck the end into the bottom to prevent it from unrolling. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes. The relaxed dough will make it easier to roll it out flat for frying.

After the dough has rested, use your palm to press down the dough.

Now, very gently roll the dough out. Don't worry too much if some of the scallions runs out.

Use a non stick frying pan on medium high heat fry the pan cakes individually along with a little vegetable oil. Once you see the pancake's surface starts bubble with air pockets, it's ready to flip sides. Fry until both sides are golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side.

After all the pancakes are cooked, turn the heat up to high and toss in the remaining ingredients for the beef: vegetable oil, soy sauce, ginger, hot pepper and scallion. Sauté for a 20 seconds until you can smell the spices intensively in the air. This process is called “bao xiang,” which literally means explosion of flavor and is an important step in almost all Chinese cooking. Next, add the steak and cook for about 4 minutes until the it is fully cooked.

Now it's ready to assemble.

Spread a generous amount of the sweet soy sauce paste on the pancake and place the steak, fresh scallion and hot sauce on top.

Roll it up and it's ready to serve.

Enjoy!

For more Asian recipes visit www.thewayriceshouldbe.blogspot.com

Monday, November 9, 2015

Pantry Essentials

I try to only use ingredients that I can find here in the midcoast for my recipes I've been sharing here on the blog. Our local grocery store here in the midcoast does carry a lot of ingredients to make pretty many kinds of cuisines from all around the world. But whenever I have a chance to make it down to Portland, I stock up on all kinds of spices and specialty food at the Asian grocery stores down there.

A few days ago, I went on a huge shopping spree when we went down the Chinese, Korean, Thai, Indian, and African grocery stores in Portland. I thought I'd share with you some of the things I've got which are basically my pantry essentials. For those who want to really get into Asian cooking, here are some of the ingredients that are just always useful to have on hand:

First Stop: the Indian grocery.

Left to right: Ajwain seeds, curry powder, whole green cardamon, bay leaves, red lentils, whole nutmeg, hot spicy powder, cardamon seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds. Other spices that are my pantry essentials are garam masala and turmeric which I didn't get this time because I have still have two big bags of them at home already.

Most of these spices you can also find at local grocery stores in the mid coast. However, a few items you might be unfamiliar with are the Ajwain seeds, fenugreek seeds and hot spicy powder.The Ajwain seeds are a family of bishop's weed and they look just like the seed of bishop's weed. This is a common spice they use in India and you will often find them in the samosa shell. It actually tastes very close to thyme, so if you can not find them, you can substitute it with thyme. Fenugreek seeds are another spice I use a lot, but it's more commonly used in East African dishes and gives them that very distinctive scent and flavor. As for the hot spicy powder, I really just bought it out of curiosity. It's basically garam masala and also added saffron and chili powder.

Second Stop: the Chinese grocery.

Left to right: Sesame oil, cooking wine, soy sauce, white pepper, dried shiitake mushrooms, szechuan pepper, beef stew spice pack, chicken and pork stew pack and coriander seeds.

Most of these are very common Chinese ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry as well. The only thing you probably don't have are szechuan pepper corns, which is a little hard to find around here. It has a very distinct flavor. It's not very hot but it will make your tongue feel numb. It is also one of the main spices in Chinese Five Spice, so if you don't have these pepper corns, usually five spice will do. Obviously, Chinese Five Spice is another essential I always have in my pantry which I already have.

Someone had asked me before what brand of soy sauce I use. I usually stock up on Jin Lan Chinese soy sauce or the Korean soy sauce when I go to Portland. Korean soy sauce usually is very dark and has a strong and slightly sweet flavor. If I do go to one of our local stores for soy sauce I get the Kikkoman brand (not the low sodium kind) because it is the brand that has the most authentic flavor. The store brand soy sauce is what you really don't want to get because it doesn't taste anything like soy sauce to me.

Left to right: Dried mung bean, dried red beans, rice flour, glutinous rice flour, soy beans, fries shallots, unsweetened coconut flakes, cinnamon sticks, chili powder. You are probably familiar with rice flour, but are wondering what glutinous rice flour is. Glutinous rice is also known as sweet rice or sticky rice and it's what we use to make mochi rice cakes.

Left to right: dried chili, bonito fish flakes, star anise and frozen pork belly. Bonito fish flakes are great to for making the base for Japanese noodle broth, such as Udon. It's also commonly used for garnish on noodles and street food as well. I've also bought some frozen pork belly because we love pork belly but it's a little hard to get them around where we live unless get them at the butcher, which is great but can be a bit pricey. Unfortunately, you can't always depend on the English label at Chinese grocery stores...

Now I question what did I buy at the store?

Third Stop: Thai grocery.

Left to right: fresh Thai basil leaves, Pandan extract and fresh lemon grass. We usually plant our own Thai basil in the garden, but this time of the year we can only get them from the store. Pandan is a leaf commonly used in south east Asian cuisines and has a very distinct aroma. They often infuse the fresh leaves in rice and desserts. Another great Thai essential ingredient to have is obviously fish sauce, again it didn't make it on my shopping list because I still have a bottle of it in my refrigerator.

Last stop: Korean grocery.

Left to right: Nuruk power, Gochujang ( Korean chili paste), dried kelp and Korean pepper flakes. Nuruk is a starter culture for making makgeolli (Korean rice wine). Makgeolli is a milky sweet and sour rice wine that is usually home brewed which is why some call it "Korean Moonshine." It's very delicious and unique, so I'm very excited to make it myself for the first time this winter. Kombu (dried kelp) is great for making the base for Korean and Japanese broth. This variety of pepper flakes is what I used to make kimchi in my first recipe on this blog.

One more Korean cooking essential I always have in my refrigerator is Dashida (Korean beef stock).

I hope this blog will give you a little guide for what you can have in your pantry if you are interested in cooking Asian meals.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Xinjiang Lamb Rice

Rice is such a staple dish at our house that we eat it for almost every single meal. But recently it dawned on me that I have not shared a rice recipe yet, despite the name of this column. It’s time to change that! - See more at: http://freepressonline.com/Content/Top-Scrolling-Area/Top-Scrolling-Area/Article/The-Way-Rice-Should-Be-Xinjiang-Lamb-Rice/126/724/42203#sthash.IHkvmDBw.dpuf

Recently, I have been exploring a lot of Western and Central Chinese cuisines. One of the cuisines I fell in love with is the food of Xinjian, a land-locked region located in the heart of the silk road and bordering nine different countries including India, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. With its long history as a route for the spice trade, it’s no wonder Xinjiang’s food is so unique and flavorful. This week I’d like to share with you a very delicious Xinjiang dish that I’ve been making and absolutely loving this fall. Xinjiang Lamb Rice is a very simple rice dish with meat and vegetables and it’s perfect for those evenings when you feel like just throwing everything in one pot.

You will need:

Rice is such a staple dish at our house that we eat it for almost every single meal. But recently it dawned on me that I have not shared a rice recipe yet, despite the name of this column. It’s time to change that!

Recently, I have been exploring a lot of Western and Central Chinese cuisines. One of the cuisines I fell in love with is the food of Xinjian, a land-locked region located in the heart of the silk road and bordering nine different countries including India, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. With its long history as a route for the spice trade, it’s no wonder Xinjiang’s food is so unique and flavorful. This week I’d like to share with you a very delicious Xinjiang dish that I’ve been making and absolutely loving this fall. Xinjiang Lamb Rice is a very simple rice dish with meat and vegetables and it’s perfect for those evenings when you feel like just throwing everything in one pot.
- See more at: http://freepressonline.com/Content/Top-Scrolling-Area/Top-Scrolling-Area/Article/The-Way-Rice-Should-Be-Xinjiang-Lamb-Rice/126/724/42203#sthash.IHkvmDBw.dpuf

The Way

Ingredients (Serves 3-4 people)

1 cup basmati rice
2 cup water
1 large red onion
1 large carrot
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp. ginger
1 lb. lamb shoulder chop
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1-3/4 tsp. course salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/8 tsp. black pepper
3/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. coriander seeds
3/4 cup raisins

Directions:
Start by soaking the basmati rice in the water. Let it soak for 20 minutes

Meanwhile, cut the onion and carrot into thin slicks.

And mince the garlic and ginger.

Cut the lamb into small bite-size pieces and season with 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. white pepper and 1/8 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper.

Using a deep pot on high heat, brown the meat along with 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil for about 1 minute until the meat is golden brown on the outside. The meat will not be fully cooked at this point.

Take the meat out of the pot and turn the heat to medium then toss in the onions and carrots. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent.

Now throw in the minced garlic, ginger, ground cumin and coriander seeds. I prefer using the coriander seeds because I like the crunch. But if you don’t have them, you can also use ground coriander seeds. If you do so, I’d suggest only using 1/4 tsp. instead of 1/2 tsp. Cook and stir for a minute. Then pour the meat and any excess juice back into the pot along with the remaining salt and vegetable oil. Cook for another minute. Don’t worry about the bottom of the pot browning — that’s just the vegetables and meat caramelizing. Once you pour in the rice and water, it will all be deglazed.

Now pour in the soaked rice along with all of the soaking water into the pot. Keep stirring until it comes to a boil. Then turn the heat to low, cover the pot up and let it cook for 20 minutes. Check the rice after about 15 minutes to make sure the bottom is not burned, but try not to stir it too much.

Once the rice is cooked, turn the heat off and stir in the raisins quickly but very gently. Cover the pot up with the lid and let it sit for five minutes to allow all the flavors to infuse. I used a variety of regular and golden raisins here. The raisins not only give the rice an extra layer of sweet and tangy flavor, but they also balance out the greasiness from the meat.

After the rice has sat for five minutes, crack the lid open slightly and let it sit for another 5 minutes right before serving. This will allow the steam to escape and dry the rice out a little bit.

Serve it warm in a bowl.