The story behind Jianbing

I enjoy looking at how food is being prepared.  Have you heard of Jianbing?  It is a popular street food for breakfast in China.  The first time I saw this pancake being made was at the wet market in Balakong (Batu 11, Cheras).  The vendor was a lady from China.  

It also has a very interesting story on how it was first made by soldiers fighting a war in Shandong Province 2,000 years ago.  Check out how it is made by a street vendor in China:

It is a very cheap breakfast meal, which is why in the Shandong Province, jianbing (aka the Chinese crepe) vendors are on almost every street corner.  So, if you plan on starting your own Jianbing store in Shandong Province, what can you do to beat the competition and draw customers to you?  From a free course I took, sponsored by eHomemakers; "Science of Product Innovation", one of the ways, is to make your product different from others.  

Check out the Jianbing created by these innovative vendors.

What will you wrap in Jianbing to localise the flavour?  That will make it different too.

I read from Woks of Life that instead of making the batter, I can use store bought frozen pancake.  The one that I can think of is this Paratha with Onion from Kawan that I often buy.  

Oil is not require to fry this Paratha but I will add a little oil to the pan since I usually cook it with an egg and cheese added.  Here are the steps:

-cook one side on a non stick frying pan till it is golden brown.
-turn it over and spread egg over it (you can scramble the egg if you want to). 
-turn it over again to cook the egg side.
-(optional) cut a slice of cheddar cheese in half and place in the middle of Paratha.
-once the egg is cooked enough, fold the sides up to cover the cheese.
-the heat will melt cheese.
-remove from pan to serve.

If I want to make it Jianbing style, I can add chopped scallions and cilantro and spiced it up with chillie sauce of my choice.  The one used at Woks of Life is spicy bean sauce.

I read from Reddit that the traditional Tianjin-style Jianbing’s made with pure mungbean.   These are the ingredients you need if you want to make their version:

Ingredients for the batter:

180g All purpose flour
60g Millet flour
or Fine Cornmeal
1 tsp Five spice powder
1 tsp Salt
420g Water

The toppings and sauce required for Jianbing are:

8 Eggs (2 per Jianbing)
Guobie (crispy fried dough)
or deep fry dumpling skins
Handful Cilantro or Green Onion
2 Tbsp Tianmianjiang Sweet Bean Paste with 2 Tbsp Sugar added 

Optional toppings for Jianbing:

3 Tbsp Chili Sauce
Lettuce
Meat (“王中王火腿肠” from the brand Shuanghui (双汇), spam, American hotdog)
Black Sesame Seeds  

Watch their video and you will also learn about the utensils you need to make it properly.

I think if I make, it I will use the batter recipe that I have shared earlier for making Onion Paratha:

Homemade Nougat Recipe

Nougat is a chewy confection I discovered during a holiday in Australia.  I like eating it because there are nuts in the candy.  

These are the ingredients required to make it:

100g Butter 

250g Marshmallow

250g Milk powder |  (4.3 cup/6.3 oz)

30g Raisins

40g Almonds 

40g Pistachios 

40g Dried cherries (cut into smaller bites)

Here are the steps:
-heat pan to melt the butter.
-add marshmallow to melt. 
-add milk powder to blend in till smooth.
-add the nuts and candied fruits into the mixture

-refrigerate for 4-5 hours.

I read from Meaningful Eats that classic nougat is not made with marshmallow.  

You start by melting in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat:

2 Cups Granulated Sugar

2 1/2 Cups White Corn Syrup

1/4 Tsp Salt

Beat on medium-high speed for 2 minutes until starting to thicken/foam:

1/3 Cup Egg Whites (from 3 large eggs)

Once syrup mixture comes to a boil, pour 1/3 of it with the egg white and continue mixing on low speed.  Continue heating the remaining syrup in the pot before adding to the egg white to mix on medium-high speed for 5 minutes.  With the mixer still running on low, stir in:

1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

6 Tbsp Butter (room temperature and cut into small pieces)

2 tsp Flour 

Once the mixture is thoroughly blended in and has thicken, stir in:

1 Cup Salted Peanuts or nut of choice (optional)

Pour the mixture into a 9×13 pan lined with parchment paper and grease with non-stick cooking spray.  

Optional toppings for nougat:

-nuts or almonds

-melted chocolate
-peanut butter
-white chocolate chips

-mini marshmallows

Allow to cool overnight or for at least 4 hours.  Use a greased knife to slice into pieces.  Store in an airtight container between pieces of wax paper or parchment.

Put Chai Kou 杯子糕

 I am thinking of learning to make our own Put Chai Kou.  

These are the ingredients required:

I found a simpler version for making the same at Scarlet Lunar where rock sugar is used instead of palm sugar.

Mix and Match Dish with Potato

I wrote about my Mix and Match Dish earlier.  

I discovered recently that if I have leftover BBQ chicken...

...which I have reheated with my leftover bell pepper dish...

...I can enhance its flavour further by adding boiled potato which I have cut into small cubes.

Instead of boiling potato for this mix and match dish, I prefer to use those boiled in my ABC Soup.  

Airfry Puff Pastry Meals

 Do you like eating curry puffs?  This is the process for making them.

These are the ingredients required:

You can also make this snack when you have leftover chicken curry.  This is how I cook my curry chicken:

However, if I plan to make curry puff with it, I will cook it with extra potatoes and use chicken breast instead of drumsticks.  When it is time to make my curry puffs, I will remove the leftover potato and the chicken with a tong so that I can dice them up.  

Instead of making my own pastry dough, I use the puff pastry from Kawan.  

In one packet there are 10 square pieces.  As I have a stainless steel rack, I do not have any problem airfrying all 10 pieces in my airfryer.  Once the filling is enclosed, I fold the pastry in half and press the edges together with a fork.  They taste alright without the hard boiled egg added.  I will airfry them according to the setting for baking pastry of my airfryer.  .

I can bake this at night if I have to leave the house early the next morning.  The curry puffs can be kept in the fridge once they are cool enough.  They can be eaten for breakfast after heating them up in the airfryer for 3 to 4 minutes.

There are many ways to make snacks with puff pastry.  In this video you can see other kind of fillings you can use and ways you can fold the pastry to bake.

Airfry Peanut Butter Banana Brownies

I came across this simple brownie recipe on FaceBook:

Batter ingredients:

Add these:
-1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
-1 Tbsp Peanut Butter
To mix in:
-1 banana (mashed)

Airfry the batter in a container at 160°C for 30 minutes.  Top the brownie with dark chocolate chips and a sprinkle of sea salt flakes.

Here is another way to bake it with similar ingredients: 

These are the ingredients required:

Easy Way to cook Chicken Breast

 I am not a fan of chicken breast but this looks like an interesting way to eat it.

These are the ingredients required to cook it:

These are the ingredients for the mashed potato dish:

DIY Chocolate Popcorn

I buy nuts and herbal soup from Signature Market.  Recently, I came across their recipe for making chocolate popcorn.  These are the ingredients required: 

-2 Tbsp Popcorn Kernels
-2 Tbsp Butter (melted)
-1 Tbsp Honey
-3 Handcrafted Bellagio Chocolate Beverage powder from Signature Market
-A pinch of salt

Here are the steps to make chocolate popcorn:

1) Cook popcorn kernels over fire till they pop.  Put them aside to prepare the flavouring ingredients.

2) Melt the butter and add chocolate powder to mix.

3) Add popcorn to coat.

You can use unsweetened cocoa powder to make chocolate popcorn by mixing it with sugar and melted butter.  

I read that you can make your popcorn taste even better by adding 1 teaspoon of baking soda which will form tiny bubbles in the caramel to make it airier.  If you do not want your caramel to be hard and dense on the popcorn watch this video to see how it should be added. 

Ways to Eat Nian Gao

I have shared earlier, how nian gao is made and how it can be eaten, deep fried with sweet potato and yam.  These are other ways, Nian Gao can be served.  

You can fold it in puff pastry squares and airfry them, as shown in this video.

Or bake them in an oven.

You can also wrap Nian Gao in rice paper or spring roll wrappers to pan fry or deep fry, as shown in this video. 

An interesting way to prepare Salmon

It will be easier to remove the skin of the salmon by attaching it under the pot cover and heating it over water, as shown in this video. 

I wonder if it will work just as well by placing it on a steamer try to steam.  

Also check out the tips for cooking restaurant style salmon shared in a short video by Sonny Hurrell on his "That Dude Can Cook" YouTube channel.  If you have the time, watch this video for the full recipe.

Caramel Pudding made in Airfryer

I came across this Caramel Pudding recipe on Instagram.  I like it because I can make it in my airfryer.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @world.coooking

Based on this video, you place the following ingredients in a bowl to scramble:

-2 eggs
-1 Tbsp Sugar
-150ml milk

Pour the egg mixture in tinfoil containers to airfry them at 160°C for 10 minutes.  Sprinkle the top with sugar and airfry them for another 5 minutes before serving.

In another video I saw on YouTube, you have the option to add a little white vinegar if you would like to neutralize the fishy smell in eggs.  The amount of ingredients to be scrambled in a bowl differs as follow:

-2 eggs
-100ml milk
-a little sugar
-a little white vinegar

The content is than airfry at 170°C for 12 minutes and an additional 5 minutes after topping the top with sugar.

You can still make this dessert if you do not have an airfryer or oven.  You can make it by steaming the egg mixture in ceramic bowls for 12 minutes on medium high heat, or until the egg custard is set, as shown in this video.

You can find the recipe for Steamed Egg Pudding at Huang Kitchen

Shortcut for Making One Pot Rice

Do you know that leftover rice kept in the fridge can become too dry? 

When I have to heat up a bowl of leftover rice in the microwave oven, I always add a tablespoon of water to it.  If I used leftover sauce, I will heat it up in a pot over the stove. I can add water to the sauce if I think it is not enough for the amount of rice I am heating.  Once the sauce is boiling, I will then add the rice to heat up. Once the rice is fully heated, I will taste it to see if I need to add any other sauce to enhance its flavour.  

Recently, I used the excess sauce from cooking Ginger Soya Sauce Chicken to heat up a bowl of leftover rice and discovered that it tasted just as flavourful as claypot rice.  

These are the ingredients used for making a basic claypot rice.

You can see how the ingredients are prepared and cooked in this video: 

These are the ingredients I used for making my ginger soya sauce chicken.

As my family do not eat food that are too sweet or salty, I am able to double the amount of water for making the sauce.  However, should I found the sauce too bland, I can always add sugar, soya sauce and oyster sauce accordingly.  Once the sauce is boiling, I will pour the excess sauce out into a bowl for storage.  Then I continue to cook the ginger soya sauce chicken till the sauce thickens.

When I use the sauce from my ginger soya sauce chicken, I can also include the additional seasoning sauce and ingredients used for flavouring the clay pot rice which are as follows:

-Sesame Oil

-Shaoxing Wine

-Chinese Sausage 

-Fried Shallot Oil

-Tsp Sesame Oil

-Spring Onion 

-Fried Shallot

If I want Chinese sausage in the rice, I sliced one thinly to pan fry in a little oil.  Once it is ready, I add the sausage and a little of its lard to the rice.  It should taste good enough even without the spring onion and fried shallots added.

Deep Fried Brinjal

Do you like eating brinjal (eggplant)?  

I usually steam it with chilli paste, over the soup I am cooking for the day.  I came across this Deep Fried Brinjal (Eggplant) recipe on Quora which I would love to try.

These are the ingredients required to cook it.

Spending waiting time creatively

Are you going on a holiday with young kids in tow?  Note that there will be times when there are transportation delays due to the weather or traffic.  There is also a likelihood of logistical errors. It defeats the purpose of spending quality family time together if each of you are on your mobile phones to while the time away.

So, bring along colouring pens or a multi colour retractable ballpoint pen like this so you can all while away your time creatively.

You should be able to find drawing material to work with from brochures, which are blank on one side.

You can find them at the airports or shops you will be visiting.  You should not have any problem finding writing papers in the hotels you stay in.  You can also use the napkins from the restaurant you ate at.  For me, I can make use of the papers I printed the itineraries on.

You will also need a die to help you to decide what each of you should draw to create the abstract art.

If you do not have one, just do an online search for "roll dice" and you will be able to find one online to work with.  Check this link out and you will see what I mean.

Watch this video to see how you can start on this creative endeavour to while away your waiting time.

As for the patterns to work with, do a search for "play abstract Roll and Draw" on Pinterest and you will find a wide variety of patterns to play with.  Alternatively, you can get your children to prepare the patterns on a stack of playing cards that you no longer use.  In that way, you do not need a die to start.  Just pick a card out from the stack to start drawing the pattern chosen.

That should keep the children occupied and restrain them from becoming overly excited about traveling for the holidays.

Fried Corn Fritters

My daughter enjoys eating sweet corns.  Usually I prepare them just by steaming them up over the soup I am cooking for the day.  It is best to put a cover over the bowl of corns or their flavour will be lost in the liquid from the steam of boiling soup. I then flavour them with butter, which is good and healthy way to eat them.  

I managed to find another way she can eat them since she also enjoys eating deep fried food.  I found this Fried Corn Fritters recipe at Miso Jen Kitchen.  I like it because it is simple and easy to make.

There is another version from Pailin's Kitchen.  In her video she shared that the fritters are tastier if fresh corn is used.  She also shared additional ingredients for the batter to make the fritters crunchier.  There are some optional ingredients to consider adding to make them tastier.

These are the ingredients she used.

I have included dried shredded coconut and green onions as optional ingredients as they are not ingredients I commonly stock in my pantry.

Mix and Match Dishes

Cooking is like a science project for me.  

I like mixing the dishes I have cooked so that I can serve them in different flavours.  The most recent experiment that worked for me have to do with Marinated Chicken with BBQ Flavour from CP.  The two peices supplied are drumsticks.  

I usually put them, still frozen hard, in a metal container and airfry them by using the setting for cooking chicken.  Before I start, I will dribble a tablespoon of garlic oil in the container to prevent the meat from sticking to it base as it cooks.  Half way through, I will turn the chicken over to cook the other side.  They are usually not fully cooked yet but after airfrying them, the meat will be soft enough to be cut with a pair of scissors into bite size pieces.  

I will place the cut peices into a pot with half a cup of water to cook further.  This is because, most of the time, we find prepacked marinated food a little too salty for our taste.  So, it is a way for us to dilute it.  Moreover, I prefer to cook my dishes with sauces in them.  Once the liquid is boiling, I will reduce the heat and let it simmer for half an hour or till the meat is tender.  This is the time to taste it for flavour. If it is not flavourful enough, I can add black pepper and tomato sauce to it.  Other than that, I can opt to add oyster sauce and soya sauce.  

Recently, I added a bell peppers dish that I have cooked earlier.  I discovered that if too much yellow or red bell peppers are used over the green one, the dish will turn out too sweet for my husband's liking.  To solve this issue, I added it to the BBQ flavour chicken I was cooking and the flavour turned out all right.

I prefer the sauce I have created for this BBQ flavour chicken thickened by adding cornstarch slurry to boil in it.