Pumpkin and Millet Porridge

中文菜谱： 南瓜糯小米粥

Porridge, also known as congee, has a long history in China.  It was invented when the food was scarce and very limited.  People added a lot of water to the pot with very little grains like rice, barleys, or millets.  The porridge cooked this way was thin, bland and tasteless.  But it fed a lot of hungry bellies when time was hard.  

Nowadays, people continue to cook porridge for its health benefits.  By adding different ingredients, porridges can be quite nutritious and tasty too!  And the combinations are endless.  You can put pretty much anything into porridge to make it sweet or savory.  If you like dim sum, that is a great chance you have already tried some porridge or congee already. 

I recently discover that millets and pumpkin can be a really combination for porridge too!

Ingredients：

1 cup of glutinous millets (sold in most Asian grocery stores)
1 small Kabocha
water as needed

Glutinous millets are different from regular millets.  They are, well, more glutinous /sticky when cooked.  O(∩_∩)O~

Kabocha is also known as “Japanese pumkin / squash”.  They are usually small, round and dark green with beautiful stripes and dots across the whole squash.  

And kabocha usually taste sweeter, more tender and starchy than regular squash.  It is on the top of my favorite squash list.

Directions：

Rinse the kabocha thoroughly under running water.  Put in on top of a steamer in an instant pot.  Fill the pot with 2 to 3 cups of water.   set on high pressure for 8 to 12 minutes depending on the size of kabocha. 

When cooked, remove kabocha’s skin and inner seed mixture.  

Use a fork to finely smash the kabocha flesh.

Meanwhile, soak the glutinous millets for 30 minutes.  Drain well. 

In a cast iron pot, add about 1 gallon of water.  Cook on high heat until the water boils.  I am using a Le Creuset 4 quarts Dutch oven here.  It heats more evenly; can be served with pot and looks so good on the table.

Add soaked glutinous millets. 

Continue to cook on high heat until the millet mixture boils again.  Cover with lid and reduce the heat to simmer.  Do not cover the lid tight.  Leave some space on the edge so that extra moisture from the pot can evaporate. 

Stir with a wooden spoon from time to time.

The porridge would be done in about 45 minutes. 

Fold in kabocha puree with a wooden spoon.   Turn the heat back to high until the porridge boils again. 

Remove from heat and serve hot immediately.

The porridge has a silky and smooth texture.  Kabocha puree adds extra flavors to it. 

It is a bowl of sweet,  silky, and comforting porridge; just like a hug in a bowl! O(∩_∩)O~

Crunchy Soybeans

中文菜谱：

酥黄豆

Crunchy soybeans are far more than a snack to us.  They can also be used as a crunchy topping for Asian style noodle soups too, or as a topping to almost anything you like.  And be careful, these beans can be additive too O(∩_∩)O~

It is super simple and easy to make crunchy soybeans at home.  All you need is a little bit of time and patience, and of course, some soybeans!

Crunchy soybeans make perfect topping for Chinese noodles.

Ingredients：

1 cup of soybeans
water for soaking
1 1/2 to 2 cups oil
salt to taste

Directions：

Add soybeans to a bowl, along with water.  Let it sit overnight.

Soaked soybeans

Drain the soybeans.  Add to a thick sauce pan.  Add oil.  I use a 2 quarts cast iron wok which is perfect for frying small batch of meat and vegetables.

Cook over medium low heat. 

With a spoon, stir the beans from time to time to prevent uneven cooking.

A few minutes later, soybeans start to change colors.

They slowly darken the color. 

Reduce the heat to low.  DO NOT use high heat here.  Otherwise, you might end up with burnt or chewy soybeans instead of crunchy ones.

The beans have been deep-fried over low heat for almost 30 minutes.

Now the color is beautifully golden brown.

Drain the beans and let them cool down in a plate lined with kitchen paper towel.

Sprinkle with fine table salt.  Store in an air-tight mason jar up to 2 weeks after the beans are completely cooled. 

I posted how to make noodles at home before: Homemade Noodles in Thick Pork Broth  

Cook the noodles in boiling water for 45 seconds to one minute.  Add to a bowl, along with soy sauce, sesame oil, Sichuan peppercorn oil, chili oil sauce, spicy ground beef with dice tofu, finely shredded cucumber, chopped cilantro, green onion, and of course, crunchy soybeans.

Use pair of chopsticks to toss everything together.

Bon appetite! O(∩_∩)O~

Sizzling Grilled Dry Aged Ribeye & New York Strip Steak

中文菜谱：

铁板dry aged ribeye & new york strip steak 牛排

Dry aged steak is one of our favorite.  But they are hard to find on the market.

When beef has been aged in a carefully temperature and humidity controlled room for a certain amount of time ranging from weeks even to months, beef will be broken down by enzymes to produce amino acids, fatty acids and sugar.  That is to say, the beef will transform into good eats with better taste, tendered texture and intensified flavors.

It is a very expensive and time consuming process.  Besides, the beef needs to be trimmed before selling or cooking.  All costs add up quickly.  No wonder dry aged steaks on steakhouse menu are always so pricey.

Imagine how exciting I was when I found out Central Market in Houston sells dry age beef! O(∩_∩)O~

There are two types of dry aged steak available in Central market.  One is ribeye, and the other one is New York strip steak.  

Marbling is gorgeous

Price is more expensive than regular steak.  But it is quite reasonable when compared to what you paid for aged beef served in a steakhouse. 

I bought one piece of each so that it would be convenient to compare them side by side.  

Leave the steak out on the countertop for about 20 minutes to warm up to room temperature.

Meanwhile, preheat the grill to 450F/232C with 2 sizzling plates in it. 

The one on the bottom is ribeye.  The other one on top is New York strip steak.

Sprinkle with generous amount of freshly ground black pepper

Add sea salt to taste.  Lightly press down the salt and pepper.

Add to the grill.  Grill for 2 minutes.

2 minutes later, flip the steaks over and grill for another 2 minutes.

Remember, we are making sizzling steaks here.  The extremely hot sizzling plates will continue to cook the steak later.  So you don’t want your steaks in the grill for too long.

All sizzling plates are different.  Some are cast iron; some are aluminum; some are thick; and some are thin.  All of that needs to be considered when we decide how much time for steak to cook in the grill.  I am using two thick cast iron sizzling plates.  And I know from prior cooking experience that 2 minutes each side is perfect for my medium rare steaks.

Transfer the steaks to sizzling plates.

And now get the plates and steaks out of the grill and serve.  That beautiful sizzling sound is like wonderful music to a foodie like me O(∩_∩)O~

Do use extra caution because the plate is really really really hot!

This one is ribeye.

It is very tender, juicy, and buttery with an intense beefy and meaty flavor.

This one is New York strip steak.

The texture is a bit tighter than ribeye, with a nuttier and more intense beefy flavor.

The one on the left is New York strip steak, and the one on the right is ribeye steak.

The reason I love sizzling steak is that even when it comes to the last bite, it is still perfectly pink, tender and juicy on the inside.  And there would not be any unpleasant red color juicy running in the plate at all.  

Give it a try and you will love it too! O(∩_∩)O~