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!

Vegetarian Chow Fun

or... in my own pengim Je Cha Gue Tieu. Since today is the middle of the month (15th day of the Lunar calendar) my mom's a vegetarian because she practices Buddhism. So that means no meat, no eggs, no milk, and no animal products at all. That's not it... She can't have garlic or onions either. Something about not giving off any sense of smell that day. Anyways, the problem. My mom does not cook with measuring spoons, she just goes by taste.

My first recipe. YAY!



Ingredients:

• Rice Noodles
• 4 eggs
• Chopped Che Gook Chai (separating the stems from the leaves) (I don't know the name in English, but normally we use the Green Bok Choy)
  
• 2 sliced carrots
• Garlic
• 1 can straw mushrooms
• Tofu
  
• Vegetarian Ham
• Vegetarian Powder
• Vegetarian Oyster Sauce
• Corn starch
• Cilantro (to garnish)
  

Directions:
First, slice and fry the tofu in some oil unless you buy the fried tofu at the store. Then, fry the peeled noodles with vegetable oil. Fry it and open the noodles. Beat the 4 eggs in a bowl and open the noodles and pour the eggs in. Do this in different areas. Cook until done. Add Vegetarian Powder to flavor and/or MSG. When done set aside. Sprinkle on some black pepper. Set aside.



In another pan fry carrots (my mom couldn't have garlic, but if you want add it at this point too) in oil. Add the ham and mushrooms. Flavor with vegetarian oyster sauce and powder. Add the stems of the vegetable and fry. Next add the leaves. Flavor accordingly. Once done, add water to the corn starch then add it to the pan. Pour over noodles and serve.

** This is the brand of rice noodles my mom gets. Make sure that if you don't plan to cook them the day you bought it, you peel it then fridge or else you won't be able to later!

Chinese Halloween

Every so often my parents would always have these celebrations where we lay out all this food on the dinner table, bring out the incense, and basically set dinner for our ancestors. This past Saturday we did just that. When I asked them what the occasion was they responded with "Chinese Halloween." For some reason I doubted that was the real name, but it was their best attempt at explaining it to me. So I was curious to learn more

I decided to try my chances at Google. I typed in "Chinese Halloween" thinking it was impossible to even find. But guess what... I got 21,000,000 results and who was on there that immediately caught my eye? Wikipedia.. I know some do not trust wiki because it can be written by anyone, but hey, everything is written by somebody that you don't know anyways. So I gave it a try.

Wikipedia actually calls it Ghost Festival, but because of the idea of ghost and spirits it is easy to compare it to the American holiday Halloween. Thus, we end up with Chinese Halloween. However, this Halloween is not the same.

First of all, it falls on the 15th day of the 7th month on the Lunar calendar, which by the way, happens to be today. It is believed that on this day the three realms: Heaven, Hell, and the Living are open. Thus, the deceased are able to come and visit the living. The living, that's us, prepare food for out lost ancestors. There is also the burning of incense and joss paper (image at top). Joss papers are sheets of paper that are burned for the deceased that usually represent money or gold. From what my parents have told me we burn the paper to give to our ancestors as a way to wish them a wealthy afterlife. Back in the good old days, my parents used to buy and fold the paper money, but I think the fire department got called about us so we stopped.


Here is the article from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiu_Chow

You know you're Chiu Chow if...

- Your parents told you they found you in a trashcan/dumpster. They felt sorry for you and took you into the family.

- You have relatives in many different parts of the world.

- You take several minutes to explain to someone that you are Diojiu (Teochew, Teochiu, ChiuChow, etc.) and not Mandarin or Cantonese!

- You are afraid of feather dusters.

- You love mue! (aka: congee, rice gruel)

- You've got a plastic-wrapped remote control.

This list actually comes from an amazing Chiu Chow website (http://www.gaginang.org/joomla/)

Here are a couple of other good websites:

http://teochiu.tripod.com/dbgintro.htm

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/teochew.htm

Sorry but I have found very little on an audio teaching Chiu Chow, but Gaginang is making an effort to create audio/videos to teach Chiu Chow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh3ZEEf6zKM

Another problem is that since Chiu Chows now inhabit so many parts of the world they all speak with a different accent/dialect. But I'm not going to give up!

Chiu Chow, Teochew, or Diojiu?

When you say you are Chinese most people think you are either Mandarin or Cantonese, but when I say Chinese I also need to say I am Chiu Chow, then I have to go into a long explanation of what Chiu Chow is. So here goes... Chiu Chow, Teochew, or Diojiu are all the same. It's a another dialect of the Chinese language, specifically a dialect of the Southern Min Chinese language. However, it isn't that simple. I am of Chinese-Vietnamese-American descent thus, as I recently found out, I am considered a Hoa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoa) by good o'le Wiki. Hoa are the Chinese that migrated from China and settled in Vietnam. The largest group of Hoa speak Cantonese, and next is Chiu Chow.

Growing up in America has made it difficult to keep my connection to Chiu Chow, so recently I have started to make a big effort to learn the language. However, if you google or search any where to learn Chiu Chow it is nearly impossible. So with research and the help of my parents I want to share my understandings with anyone who is interested in the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Chiu Chow culture.