Steamed Cornbread with Dates

This is the Chinese version cornbread. As a Chinese, I do steam a lot. Baking is the least part in cooking since I didn’t grow up with oven.

Ingredients:

corn flour 200g, wheat flour 200g, 2 eggs, 200g + 90g milk, 70g sugar, 1 tsp yeast, some dates.

Please note, I used corn flour, not corn meal.

Methods:

1. Warm up 90g milk, mix with yeast, set aside.

2. Set corn flour in a bowl, bring 200g milk to boil, pour over corn flour, mix well, then set aside, let it cool down to room temperature.

          

3. Mix all the ingredients but dates together. you can barely form a dough. Set aside until the dough double the size.

4. Chop dates into small pieces.

5. Coat a cake pan with cooking oil.

I used a springform cake pan.

6. Lay half of the doug on bottom of the pan, then sprinkle with chopped date pieces, the lay the rest of the doug on top. Lightly press with hand, so the doug would lay flat.

7. Decorate the doug top with dates, then set aside, until the doug double the size.

8. Turn stove top into medium high heat. Pour some cold water into steamer, steam the cornbread for about 25-30 minutes.

You can adjust the cooking time according to doug size. The bigger the doug is, the longer you need to cook.

奶香玉米发糕

我一直都很喜欢玉米发糕。但是轮到自己做,就很郁闷,因为我一直都没有办法让发糕发的松软。

前几天在网上无意看到玉米面要先烫一下再和面,就忍不住赶紧试了一下,果然这次的发糕很成功。

材料:

200 克玉米面,200 克白面,70 克白糖,2 个鸡蛋,200 克 + 90 克牛奶,1 小勺酵母粉,红枣适量。

蒸发糕的容器,我用的是蛋糕烤盘,也可以用深一点的盆。

步骤:

1. 加温 90 克牛奶,温热不烫手就好。和酵母一起混合,静置几分钟。

2. 200 克牛奶烧开,浇在玉米面上面,拌匀,放凉备用。

         

3. 把除了红枣以外的材料混合,和在一起。面基本不成团,但是比面糊要浓稠的多。静置到面发起至原来的两倍大。

4. 红枣切成小块备用。

5. 烤盘内层刷一层油,铺上一半的面团,然后撒上红枣块。再把剩余的面团铺在上面。用手轻压拉拽,让面团平整。然后静置到面团发起至原来的两倍大。

6. 在发糕上面摆一些红枣做装饰,图案随意。

7. 冷水上屉,蒸 30 分钟左右。

时间可以自己掌握。发糕越大,蒸的时间越要久。

还可以用笼屉布做底,只用活体蛋糕圈来定型。

土豆浓汤

土豆浓汤

西式浓汤里面,这个土豆浓汤是我的最爱。

土豆浓汤材料:

4 个中等大小土豆,1 个中等大小洋葱,4 条培根,8oz 酸奶油(sour cream),2 杯牛奶,1 杯浓鸡汤,调味料。

做法:

土豆浓汤1、土豆削皮,切小块,放入开水小火煮熟。

2、洋葱切小块,放入炒锅炒软,然后倒入汤锅。

3、把酸奶油、牛奶和鸡汤倒入汤锅,烧开,然后倒入土豆块,小火煮 10 分钟。

土豆浓汤4、小火把培根煎熟,不要煎脆,用纸巾抹干上面的油,然后掰成小块。

5、把培根碎倒入汤锅,再煮 15-20 分钟即可。

土豆浓汤

Potato Chowder with Bacon

 

Potato Chowder with Bacon

I love this potato chowder. I cook it several times every year.

Potato Chowder with BaconIngredients:

4 medium-size potatoes, 1 medium-size onion, 4 strips of bacon, 8oz sour cream, 2 cups milk, 1 can cream of chicken, seasoning to taste.

Methods:

Potato Chowder with Bacon1. Chop potato into small cubes, pour into boiling water, simmer until well cooked. Drain well.

2. Chop onion into small pieces, saute on medium high heat, then transfer to sauce pan.

3. Pour sour cream, milk and cream of chicken into pan, bring to boil, then add potato cubes, bring to boil again, simmer for 10 minutes.

Potato Chowder with Bacon4. Cook bacon until it’s fully cooked, but not crispy, pat dry with paper towel, then break into small pieces.

5. Add bacon to pan, cook for about 15-20 minutes.

 

Potato Chowder with Bacon

 

Rotisserie Chicken Salad

This is actually my husband’s recipe. I kind of took it over after we were together, but he still is the one who mix all the seasoing and the dressing, I only do all the chopping. 🙂

Ingredients: 

2 pieces of rotisserie chicken breast, 3 ribs of celery, 2 medium onions.

seasoning: 6 tbsp sweet pickle relish, 2/3 cup mayonnaise, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp dried dill.

Methods:

1. Peel the skin of the chicken breast, tear of chop into small pieces, chop celery and onion into small pieces, too.

2. Put all the seasoning ingredients together, mix well.

My husband loves to use the Santa Cruz Organic Real Lemon Juice, you can find it in most of the grocery store including Wal-Mart.

If you don’t like the chicken salad too dry, you can use 1 1/2 of the seaning ingredients .

3. Mix all the ingredients together.

烤鸡版鸡肉沙拉

 

我去年从城里搬到了乡下,过上了远离大大小小超市的日子,日常买菜可去的就那么有数的几个超市,Sam’s Club 渐渐成为我每周一去的店之一。我老公喜欢买他家的烤鸡,便宜还个儿大,回到家可以用鸡肉做各种菜,省掉了自己把鸡肉做熟的步骤,很是省事儿。

材料:

2 块 熟鸡胸肉,2 个中等大小的洋葱,3 根西芹。

6 大勺 sweet relish(我不知道中文叫啥),2/3 杯蛋黄酱,2 大勺柠檬汁,2 小勺干莳萝。

做法:

1. 鸡肉,洋葱和西芹切碎。

鸡肉块可大可小,洋葱和西芹尽量切小块一点,口感会好一些。我个人比较喜欢多一些洋葱,如果你不喜欢,可以少一些洋葱。

2. 把剩余的材料混在一起拌匀。

我老公比较喜欢那种有机的纯柠檬汁,而不是用浓缩粉调出来的那些。图片中间的那个玻璃瓶子就是柠檬汁。Publix 和沃尔玛都有卖。

3. 所有的材料放在一起拌匀即可。冰箱冷藏保存。

如果觉得这样调出来的鸡肉沙拉太干,可以多调一些酱料拌起来。我们喜欢用墨西哥卷饼卷起来,所以不喜欢大多的酱料,因为酱料会滴滴答答的流下来。

 

Cowpea

Cowpea is one kind of the popular vegatables on Chinese dinner table. It can be cooked in different ways, stire fry, boil, salad, braise, etc. I put some in pot roast before, and it turned out very good.

For what I know, most of cowpea plants are ivy plants, but there is one kind is growing with no ivy. Unforturnately, the seeds I had for no ivy kind didn’t grow any seedling this year. Maybe I can find more seeds later to grow them.

I have to say, cowpea has a good yield of crop. You can find the seeds at Asian supermarket if you want to plant them.

For more info., please click the link below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowpea

For dishes using cowpea, please click on following links:

Cumin Flavored Ribs

This rib is one of our traditional way to cook. My husband loves it so much so I cook it about once a month.

Ingredients:

rib, ground cumin, salt, pepper, ginger powder, garlic powder, ginger root slices.

Methods:

1. Pour some cold water into a pot.

2. Chop ribs along the bone, then put into the cold water pot, add some vinegar and cooking oil, and a few slices of ginger root, medium high heat bring it to boil. Turn off heat, let it sit for about 5 minutes, take ribs, rinse off.

3. Pre-heat oven to 400°F/200°C.

4. Mix the powder seasoning together, slightly coat the ribs.

          

5. Bake for about 25 – 30 minutes, until the surface of the rib start grease bubbling.

孜然烤排骨

烤排骨里面,我最喜欢的就是这种先煮后烤的做法。这样做出来的排骨一点都不干不柴,而且肉软嫩脱骨,也入味。

材料:

排骨,孜然粉,姜粉,蒜粉,鲜姜片,盐,胡椒粉。

做法:

1. 排骨沿骨头切开,放入冷水锅,加入几片姜片,料酒和醋去腥,中火烧开。停火之后静置 5 分钟。捞出排骨用温水冲洗干净。

2. 把孜然粉,姜粉,蒜粉,盐和胡椒粉拌匀,让排骨均匀的沾上一层。

        

3. 烤箱预热 400 华氏度/200 摄氏度,放入排骨烤 25 到 30 分钟,或者直到排骨表面有些略微烤焦。

香蕉核桃面包

前段时间去买菜的时候,看到有配好的西式薄煎饼(pancake)粉,里面掺有杏仁粉。我当时就觉得这个好健康啊,于是毫不犹豫的就买了一包回家。

做好了以后,不由的又一次感慨,健康的东西咋都没那么好吃呢 ······· 我还是继续走在不健康的吃食之路上吧。

可是那么一大包的面粉,丢到垃圾箱还是怪可惜的,我瞅了瞅袋子背面印的菜谱,发现可以用来在香蕉核桃面包。死马当活马医吧,买两根香蕉回来试验了一下,然后就让我们两公婆惊艳了一把,决定可以成为我们家早餐的一个选项。

材料:

两根香蕉,1 3/4 杯薄煎饼粉,1/4 杯白糖,2 枚鸡蛋,4 大勺黄油,1/2 杯碎核桃,1/2 茶勺盐。

做法:

1. 烤箱预热 350 华氏度。

2. 融化黄油,鸡蛋打散,香蕉碾碎成香蕉泥,核桃如果颗粒太大就再掰碎一点。

我一般是用叉子把香蕉碾成泥的,香蕉泥里面还有一些碎碎的香蕉颗粒。

         

3. 把打散的鸡蛋,融化的黄油,香蕉泥,盐和糖混在一起搅拌均匀,然后拌入薄煎饼粉和核桃碎,再一次搅拌均匀,倒入刷过黄油的 8×4 烤盘,放入烤箱烤一个小时左右。

原配方要求用 1/2 杯白糖,不过我们两个都嫌太甜了,所以白糖我减了一半的份量。

我没有用那种长条烤盘,而是用了两个小烤盘,大概烤了50分钟左右。每个烤箱都是不同的,只要用来测试的牙签或者其他 tester 拔出来的时候是干净的就表示烤好了。