Homemade Black Sweet Rice Wine

中文菜谱:

黑糯米甜酒酿

It is a very traditional and common for Chinese people to make sweet rice wine at home.  But it is not really the clear-colored high alcohol content version of “rice wine” you are thinking.  It is non-distilled, very sweet, and more dessert like.

The most common one is made with pure white sweet rice.  Sometime people add different ingredients to make variations too.  This time I add black sweet rice.  After fermentation, it becomes a gorgeous deep purple color.

Ingredients:

1 cup of sweet rice
1 cup of black sweet rice
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of rice wine starter/ yeast, finely ground
cold boiled water
more water for rice cooking

Directions：

Cook the sweet rice and black sweet rice separately.  I use Zojirushi Micom stainless steel 3 cups rice cooker

Sweet rice absorbs less water than regular white rice.  So use a little bit less water when cooking sweet rice.  And I use “quick” setting.

The reason I cook two kinds of sweet rice separately is that I want them to keep their own colors. 

Wait for two different rice to be cooked and cooled down; add them to a large bowl; and mix gently with a spatula. 

Sweet rice can be very sticky when cooled down.  That is where cold boiled water comes in. 

Rice wine starter/yeast is very popular and common in Asian countries.  You should be able to buy it from any Asian grocery stores.  They are usually sold in a small plastic package which contains two round rice yeast balls.  Smash and grind them into fine white powder before adding them to sweet rice.

Sprinkle sweet rice mixture with rice wine starter/ yeast powder.  Gently mix everything together again.  

Pat the rice flat, leaving a one-inch hole in the center.  The hole is totally operational.  You don’t have to do it.  It is just a lot easier to observe how much rice wine coming out the rice through that hole in the center.  

Cover with lid or plastic wrap.  Store it in warm dry place for 2 to 3 days. 

At the end of fermentation time, you can test if sweet rice wine is ready or not by its taste.  Sweetness is how we tell.  The sweeter, the better.  If you get blank taste, just put it back, wait for another day, and taste again.

Sweet rice wine can be served immediately when it is completely fermented, and yes, both liquid and the rice part.  My favorite way is to refrigerate it overnight and serve it cold. 

In my hometown, people used to make pickle vegetables with sweet rice wine in old times.  But fewer and fewer families are still doing so.  Vinegar is quicker and less labor intensive. 

Sweet rice wine can be served cold and hot.  Cooking it with sweet rice cake balls is another classic way to enjoy it. 

2018 Chinese New Year Eve & Tofu Ball with Pork and Mushroom Fillings

中文版菜谱：

2018年夜饭 & 猪肉糯米酿油豆腐

02/16/2018 is Chinese New Year Day.  Family members get together on New Year’s Eve and have a big family feast together.  It is very much like Thanksgiving Day for American people.  It is all about celebrating, appreciation, families and love. 

Fish in spicy beer sauce

Steamed pork belly and taro

Steamed Chicken feet with oyster sauce

Tofu balls with pork and mushrooms fillings

Smoked pig tails

Pickled daikon

Stir-fried pea tips with garlic

Sweet rice cake with nuts and red bean paste filling

Can you believe it is tofu?  O(∩_∩)O~          

Yes, it is definitely tofu.  Chinese people invented tofu more than a thousand years ago.  We have been cooking and eating tofu in numerous different ways ever since.  Sometimes you know what you eat is tofu, but sometimes you don’t even know if you are eating tofu. 

Ingredients：

2 packages of fried tofu balls ( a total of 16)
100g ground pork
6 to 8 pieces dried wood ear mushroom
a handful of  dried shitake or regular mushroom
1 cup sweet rice
 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 to 2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
salt to taste
water for soaking and cooking

Directions：

Soak sweet rice for at least 4 hours.  Drain well.

Soak mushrooms with water for at least 2 hours.  Rinse well under running water.  Add to processor, and finely chop them.

Add ground pork, chopped mushrooms, and sweet rice, along with all the seasonings to a large bowl.  Mix well with a wooden spoon or a pair of chopsticks.

With a sharp knife or kitchen scissors, cut a small opening on each tofu balls, and then scoop out inner tofu as much as possible.

Fill the tofu balls with pork sweet rice mixture.

Add all tofu balls to a medium pot, add water.  Season the water with salt.  Cook over high heat until water boils.  Cover with lid; reduce the heat to simmer for about 25 to 30 minutes. 

Turn the heat back to high.  Cook until all the liquid evaporates. 

Serve hot

It tastes like across meat balls and sweet rice cake balls.  Dried mushrooms and pork add ton of flavors to it.  I love it not just because it tastes good, also because I grew up eating it.  (￣▽￣)”

New Year’s Eve Hot Pot

中文版：元旦火锅

Hot pot is an amazing and authentic way for Chinese people to enjoy food and life.  It is available all year around in China, but it is more popular during winter times.  When cold weather comes, hot pot is not just comfort food, but also very functional.  The pot boils from beginning to the end of whole dinner time so that whatever you eat is always freshly cooked and piping hot. Who doesn’t want that?  O(∩_∩)O~ 

There are so many ways to do hot pot.  It can be as complicated as costing you a couple days to prepare its delicious broth; or it can also be as simple as just adding water to the pot.

I usually go with homemade broth.  Whenever I want to save some time or simply don’t feel like cooking, I buy hot pot kit from Asian grocery stores.

Pick any vegetable and meat you like.  Clean and chop them into small size for easier consumption and faster cooking.  We like thinly sliced beef and lamb, shrimps, Tofu, lotus root, bamboo shoots and snow pea tips. 

This is my go-to spicy hot pot broth base.

I usually prepare two kinds of broth.  One is spicy while the other is not so that everyone will be happy around the table.

Sichuan style dipping sauce usually includes minced garlic, cilantro, green onion, salt and a little bit of oyster sauce.

Everything is ready

Now let’s eat!

Happy New Year everyone O(∩_∩)O~

White Bread Loaf

中文菜谱：白面包吐司

Haven’t baked any loaf lately since summer is here.  One day, out of nowhere, I had a sudden strong desire for a piece of soft and warm and fluffy freshly baked bread.   O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

350 g bread flour
1 teaspoon yeast
40g sugar
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
150g whole milk
35g melted butter

Directions：

Microwave the milk for about 15 seconds.  Add 1 teaspoon sugar and yeast.  Whisk and allow them to sit for 5 to 8 minutes.

In the stand mixer mixing bowl, add bread flour, sugar and salt.  Whisk the dry ingredients together and then add milk and yeast mixture along with an egg. 

Start stand mixer and set speed at 2.  Knead for a couple minutes.  Everything should come together at this point.  Add butter while kneading.

Continue to knead at speed 2 until the dough can pass window panel test.  There is no time set here.  All you need to do is to check from time to time.

Cover the bowl with lid.  The dough will rise double in size in about 50 to 60 minutes depending on the room temperature.

Transfer the dough to a large dusted wooden board .  Punch down and shape into a ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

Equally divide the dough into 4 pieces.  With a rolling pin , roll each piece thin and flat.

Roll them up

Place them side by side in a loaf pan with lid

Wait until they double in size again.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375F/190C

Cover the loaf pan with its lid.  Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

Unmold it as soon as it comes out for oven.  Cool on a cooling rack

Now it is time to enjoy!

The warm doughy scent when the bread is baking is so comforting that I think I can stay in the kitchen the whole day O(∩_∩)O~  

My favorite way to eat freshly baked loaf is to tear it apart with fingers and then enjoy it piece by piece.  Forget the bread knife.  This is I think the best way to enjoy this soft and fluffy bread. 

Homemade Noodle in Pork Broth and Chili Oil

中文菜谱：猪骨汤面

As an Asian, I love having noodles.  And I love making them at home from scratch too. 

For pork broth：

4 pounds pork back bones
5 quarts water
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 large piece of ginger root, smashed
2 star anises
2 to 3 tablespoons rice cooking wine
4 to 5 dried chili peppers , cut into small pieces
2 to 3 bay leaves
1 black cardamom pot
2 to 3 cloves
1/4 teaspoon Sichuan pepper corns
2 to 3 pieces of dried rhizome/ dried ginger slices
1 teaspoon sugar
salt to taste

For homemade noodle：

250 g bread flour
a pinch of salt
90 g water

Directions：

Wrap star anises, dried peppers, black peppercorns, dried rhizome/ dried ginger slices, Sichuan peppercorns, black cardamom pot, bay leaves and cloves with a piece of coffee filter paper and tie it up.

Pork back bones are different from neck bones because they are from different parts.  I prefer back bones and leg bones when making pork broth. 

Fill two pots with water.  Heat both of them over high heat.  Add back bones to one pot.  When it comes to boil, transfer the bones to the other pot along with spice bag, rice cooking wine and ginger root.  Discard the water where the bones were previously cooked.

Cover the pot with lid.  Reduce the heat to simmer for 3 to 4 hours.  I use a 5.75 quart Staub cast iron pot which is super great for making stew and broth.

Add ground white pepper, sugar and salt to taste.  Cook for another 15 and 20 minutes.

Add flour and salt to Philips pasta maker

I love thin noodles, so I always use Tagliatelle Pasta Disc

Cover with its lid.  Start the machine and slowly add water on top.

It will automatically knead the dough and squeeze the thin noodles out. 

There is a trick here for better textured noodle/pasta.  You can replace the water with egg + water mixture.  Or you can pause the machine for a few minutes after it kneads the dough so that the flour and water in dough can combine better.

Cook the noodle in boiling water for 45 seconds to 1 minute.

Doesn’t it look good already?

I prepare diced bamboo shoots, soft boiled egg, chili oil, chopped pickled daikon, chopped peanuts and chopped green onion as toppings.

Soft boiled egg is my new favorite as noodle topping

Add pork broth and toppings to the noodle.  A bowl of freshly homemade noodle in pork broth and chili oil coming right up! O(∩_∩)O~

Bon Appétit!