Christmas Treats

.... I am backlogged. I am just going to work from the current ones and work back. It seems much easier that way. So this time my sister and I decided to make treats to bring to coworkers and friends. Lets see whats inside! (Oh, and I'm also trying out the left alignment, but I'm not liking it too much) .

Surprise Cake balls!!

First, I'll start off with the red velvet cake. Red velvet seems like a lot of work and with so little time we decided to go with the box. Luckily we found that Duncan Hines has a boxed red velvet cake. Hooray! It was much easier than using the Betty Crocker version with red food coloring. For the frosting we used a simple cream cheese frosting.

I was having difficulty making equally sized balls. We usually make them much smaller so we were trying to decide on size.

These are the balls dipped in chocolate with three snowflakes on top. We used the red aluminum foil to wrap them in.

All wrapped up and ready to go!

Next, we have this rich chocolate cake we found on http://inncuisine.com/decadent-desserts/have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too-recipe-deep-dark-chocolate-cake/
This cake was extremely good with the frosting all by itself. That's why we kept some as cake, but we still made plenty of balls.

This time we put one snowflake on each ball. Aren't they cute?

The chocolate balls were wrapped in sliver.

Time for some pumpkin balls.

Pumpkin Cake Recipe:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups canned or fresh pumpkin puree

Directions:

1. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with vegetable spray and dust with all purpose flour. Tap out excess.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves in medium bowl and set aside.
4. In another bowl combine eggs, oil, and sugar and beat until smooth, approximately 1 minute. Add pumpkin puree and mix again.
5. Add dry ingredients 1 cup at a time and mix until blended, smooth and lump free.
6. Pour into baking pan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-45 minutes or until pick comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Cinnamon Frosting:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• water as needed

Directions:

1. Beat cream cheese and butter until creamy.
2. Add confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time.
3. Add vanilla and cinnamon.
4. If the frosting is stiff add a tsp of water at a time until you get a nice consistency.

To make the balls we broke up the cake in the food processor and mixed in the cream cheese frosting. Then, from there you can roll in to balls.

The line up (This time the balls were more uniform in size)

We dipped these first in chocolate and then half way in white chocolate.

Of course we needed gold wrapping for these balls.

Won tons continued..

So it was a success!! Hooray! I followed the basic recipe below, but I omitted the msg. I added a couple of things to spice it up. I have mushrooms and whole shrimp. Let's take a look.. So it's either really dark or bad flash.. Can't find a good spot to take pics yet.

Cooked Won tons

When I wrap I put a little meat, shrimp and mushroom.

These skins weren't the best. It would break easily while I was wrapping.. I only take one pack out at a time because exposure to the air will make the skins dry out and harder to wrap.

Won Ton

It has been a busy quarter at school.. I totally forgot about this blog.. Oops.. However, I'll try and keep this up and working next year. So this is my parent's won ton. Yummy! I plan to try this out for myself this week. Let's see how that goes.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of boneless pork leg (ground)
• half a bag of dried black fungus strips (cloud ears)
• 3 stalks of celery
• shrimp
  
• Dried shitake mushrooms
• 2 packages of won ton skins
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• Chinese broccoli
• Fried tofu
• Egg white won ton noodles
  

Directions:
Soak the mushrooms and fungus so they soften.

Peel shrimp and marinate with MSG and salt. Allow it to sit and marinate. Later, chop into small bits to be wrapped. You can omit the MSG if you want.

Chop celery and fungus.

Mix meat, celery, and fungus together. Sprinkle MSG (less than a teaspoon, and add pepper and garlic powder (Add enough so that you can smell it). Next, add about a tablespoon of corn starch and 3 tablespoons of fish sauce. Mix together and then at the top put a small spoon of oil. Let marinate for 2 hours.

Saute mushrooms adding some garlic powder to flavor, and then dice.

Peel the won ton skins. Take a spoonful of meat, mushroom, and shrimp.

Boil water and toss in the wan ton. Do not over fill the pot. You may have to cook them in batches. When the wontons float take them out. If there is extra meat left over, throw in to make meat balls.

To make broth, boil 3 bouillon cubes in a small pot with water. When they have totally disintegrated strain out black particles with a cheese cloth. Pour into a larger pot and add water. While the soup is cooking any left over shrimp or mushrooms throw in. Cook the chinese broccoli and warm tofu in soup. When these are all warmed or cooked place on top of the noodles.

Now to make won ton noodles you must cook each bowl separately. Separate the amount of noodles per person while at the same time opening up the noodles. Bring a small pot of water to a boil, while boiling throw in noodles. Allow to cook for 25 seconds or so and quickly strain out noodles.

Place tofu, won tons, broccoli, and any extra items in bowl and pour soup once it has boiled.

* To make the dip for the won ton, mix soy sauce and red vinegar together.

Won ton noodles

Won ton skin

Mixture of meat

Uncooked wrapped won tons

All done and ready to be served!

Teriyaki Chicken Thighs

So this is a really quick and easy dish that my sister made for me. It was really good and flavorful. The corn was provided by Green Giant, but still good.

Ingredients:

• Chicken thighs
• Chicken Marinade Teriyaki Flavor

Directions:

1. Place chicken thighs in container
2. Pour chicken marinade over meat
3. Refrigerate over night
4. In the morning flip chicken to marinate other side
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
6. Place chicken in oven safe pan and cook for 1 hour or until chicken is cooked

MINTS!!!

So I heard that mints are pretty easy to grow and instead of always going to the market to buy some I decided to try this myself. From what I've read online, mints grow really well. If you do not grow them in a pot or separate them from the rest of the garden they will take over! So I grew my mints from cuttings. Basically, I bought mints at the store, used them and stuck the stems in a cup.

At first I wasn't getting any roots. I also noticed that the roots looked a little dead so I thought since they have been cut for who knows how long, so I cut them to give them fresh ends so the mints could absorb the water. In a couple of weeks I got roots!!!!!!

So this isn't the best picture(because my camera just can't do it), but I wanted to show the roots that grew. I let them grow a good amount before planting them in the soil.

Now my mints are planted and i am waiting for more to grow!

Steamed Fish (Chue Heu)

This is one of my favorite dishes. This time we had rock fish. It looks like a mess but the fish was too big for the plate so it was cut in half. But let me tell you, it was a delicious!

Rock Fish

Ingredients:

• Fish (Rock fish in this case, but you can also use catfish)
• Ginger
• Green onions
• Soy sauce

Directions:
Clean fish and marinate with salt. Bring a pot of water to a boil with a rack inside. When it is boiling place fish and cap. Let cook for 30 minutes and then check. Slice ginger and green onions at an angle to get thin strips. Once the fish is cooked place them on top. Boil oil in a small pot. Listen for the pops of the bubbles and when they stop pour the oil over the fish, ginger and green onions. Make sure to pour it all over. Tilt the plate to pour the oil back in to the pot. Add soy sauce and allow to boil. Once you hear the bubbles pour over fish.

Lotus Root Sweet and Sour Salad

It's been awhile, but school started and things are starting to get busy! So I remember I had this dish for the first time when my fourth aunt came from Vietnam. It's been awhile, so I asked my mom to make it. It is a nice and light meal.

Ingredients:

• Pickled lotus rootlets (1 jar)
• Cucumbers
• Mints (green one, purple one, and the spade leaf)
• Shrimp
• Green onion
• Red onion
  

Lotus Root

Directions:
Wash the lotus roots. Slice thinly by angling knife and rotating the root as you slice. Pour a spoon of white vinegar and let marinate. Boil water and cook shrimp (add some salt to flavor), peel and then slice in half. Slice cucumbers into strips. Cut up mints. Slice green and red onions.

Mix together and serve with Niet mam (fish sauce).

Surprise! Chocolate Cake Balls!

After seeing all the cute creations Bakerella comes up with my sis and I decided to try it out for ourselves.

Ooooh What's inside?

Chocolates! I mean Chocolate Cakes!

Let's take a closer look

I don't know how Bakerella does this, but she is amazing. There were a few problems when we did this, but it was our first time. One of the problems was getting the chocolate to go on smoothly.

We decided to go with a red velvet cake. Now, we have never made red velvet cake and we couldn't find a cake mix for it I found this online http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes.aspx/easy-red-velvet-cake

To make the red velvet cake you'll need:

• 1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist German Cake Mix (ingredients on box)
  
• 1 bottle (1 oz) red food coloring
• 1 tbsp of unsweetened baking cocoa

For the frosting we used this recipe I got from Bakerella.

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

I didn't fully use a whole box of confectioners' sugar so I just taste tested the frosting as I went along.

Bake the cake and let cool. When it cooled we crumpled it in to small pieces into a food processor. Then, make the frosting and mix together. Finally roll Roll ROLL! Then we let it sit in the freezer for about 10 mins or fridge for as long as we could.

Up to now everything was going smoothly. Now we needed to dip the cake balls in chocolate. We couldn't find chocolate bark at the market, so we just bought the big bag of milk chocolate chips. I don't know what the difference of bark is from the chips but we couldn't get the chocolates perfectly smooth. Then there was the problem of the chocolate hardening too fast. We didn't melt the whole bag of chocolates at once, but it was a night of running back and forth to the microwave, refrigerator, and table. Then, we ran out of chocolate so we ran out to buy more. This time we bought semi-sweet because the milk chocolate was tooo sweet for us. Another problem we had was the balls would start to soften so we needed to stick them back in the freezer. But looking at the cuteness now makes it all worth it.

Just dipped balls. We sprinkled coconut and roasted almonds to hide the mess underneath.
Blurry pic but I wanted to show the red cake inside. It turned out to be very delicious, especially the semi-sweet ones.

THANKS BAKERELLA!
check out her site at
bakerella.com

Dragon Fruit

So not only am I using this blog to post up some of my family's recipe, but to also share some of the things I learn. Thus being said, this special is on the dragon fruit or at least that is the common name. Wiki would rather call it Pitaya. In Chiu Chow my mom calls it "Che Leng Gue" (sounds to me like "green dragon fruit").

The Pitaya or dragon fruit is the fruit a cactus species. They grow in Mexico, Central and South America, Taiwan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, Australia, China, and a few other places.

So after reading the Wiki article I found out that the flower of this cactus only blooms at night. I was lucky enough to see this, since my dad is trying to grow a dragon fruit cactus. It was a pretty site.

Not the best background.

Let's take a look inside

Wow.. Pretty!

Before our dragon fruit cactus plant did not bear any fruit, but taking notes in Vietnam...

I think he figured it needed some support so he stuck it in a trash bin..

and Voila!

Dragon Fruit!

4 of them to be exact!

Now my dragon fruit was always red leafy on the outside and white on the inside. It also contains a bunch of black seeds reminding me of kiwis. There's not much flavor but when it's chilled and in hot weather it is very good.


However, I see their are dragon fruit in Costa Rica with red meat and even a yellow leafy dragon fruit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya

Fried Rice (Cha Beung)

So I know fried rice should be fairly easy, but when it comes down to it I find it very hard to find some good fried rice.

First of all, I don't like my rice mushy so you need to use at least "day old" rice. Whenever there is rice leftover, it is just compiled in to the fridge. Trust me, the texture is much better.

You can practically fry anything with rice. It usually depends what is around the house. Let's see what we found this time...


Just eggs, peas, some onions, dill, etc... My parents have some obsession with dill lately. They put it in everything.

Ingredients:

• Cooked rice
• Frozen peas
• Eggs
• Sweet soy sauce
  
• Garlic
  
• Shallot (or regular white onion)
• Green Onions
• Cilantro
• Dill

Make sure the rice is cooked and and has been allowed to harden in the fridge (day or more old is the best). Defrost the peas.

Fry the eggs thinly, almost like a pancake. Then slice the eggs in to thin strips.

In a pan fry the garlic and shallot in oil. Add the rice. Pour in the soy sauce to flavor (taste accordingly). Mix the rice so that the soy sauce is spread throughout. Add chicken bouillon to flavor. Add the peas and eggs. When the rice is hot, add the green onions, cilantro, and dill.

Rice Noodle in Chicken Soup

Tofu goes a long way. That one pack of tofu I fried is still being used in this recipe. Just fry it and keep what you don't use in the fridge.The shrimps are actually left overs from the spring rolls. Got to be resourceful.

So I tried cooking something similar at my sis's house, but it just didn't turn out the same. We over cooked the chicken so the meat was too soft. However, if you're lazy you can just buy the whole cooked chickens at those Asian stores.

Rice Noodle in Chicken Soup (Goi Gue Tieu)

Ingredients:

• Whole (fresh) chicken
• 2 Chicken flavored bouillon cubes (it comes in a pack of 4)
  
• Rice noodles (1 bag makes about 5 bowls)
  
• Green onion
• Onion
• Fried tofu
• Shrimp
• Cilantro
• Preserved cabbage
• Bean sprouts
  

Bouillon cubes make cooking so much easier!

Directions:
Peel the noodles

To make the soup, cook the chicken in a pot of water. In a separate pot boil two bouillon cubes. Once the cubes have totally disintegrated strain it so that there are no black specks at the bottom. Pour this pot into the pot with the chicken. When the chicken has finished cooking, take it out and shred the meet. Cook the shrimp in the pot and take them out when done. Let the fried tofu warm in the pot.

Slice the green onion and cilantro. You will need about half of the onion. Thinly slice it.

Bowl water and blanch the bean sprouts. Then use the boiled water to cook the noodles. These noodles cook really fast. Separate the noodles in to the bowls to serve. In the bowls, put the bean sprouts first. Then put the noodles on top. Add the green onion, onion, cilantro, preserved cabbage, shrimp, and shredded chicken meat. Sprinkle with pepper. Once the soup is hot pour it over the noodles making sure to take out the tofu as well. Don't leave the tofu in there!

Peanut Sauce for Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

• Peanut butter
• Hoisin sauce
• Lemon or Lime

The ratio of peanut butter to hoisin sauce depends on each individual. Start off with about with the same amount. Add lemon juice to taste. If you want it to be more pea nutty than go for it! If you don't have a lemon/lime then you can substitute with white vinegar.

Spring Rolls

I always thought that spring rolls was specifically part of Vietnamese cuisine, but as it turns out it can be found in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. I usually eat it non-fried. Since my parents know Mandarin, Cantonese, Chiu Chow, and Vietnamese I learned certain things in each language.. However, it is mainly in Chiu Chow or Vietnamese, with a couple of words of Cantonese I just realized.

Anyways, I learned this is called gỏi cuốn. We change this recipe up a bit by using different meats. This time around we used nem noung. This pink meat patty... Here's the recipe. It's mainly prep work and then you roll them yourself.

Ingredients:

• Nem Noung
• Fried Tofu
• Shrimp
• Green leaf lettuce
• Cucumber
  
• Mints
• Rice paper
• Rice vermicelli
  

Directions:
Peel and cook the shrimp. Cook the noodles. Fry the tofu. Clean the mints and lettuce. Thinly slice the cucumber into small strips. Bake the nem noung in the oven till cooked. We used the little conventional ovens.

As you eat dip the rice paper in a bowl of water, just to get it wet. Take it out and lay it on a plate. When the skin is soft, wrap in the ingredients so that they are closed in. Then dig in. You can use the fish sauce or the peanut sauce.

Nem Noung

Cucumbers

Rice paper

Cooked Shrimp


The making of a roll...

Ta Dah!