Banh Pateso - Pate Chaud

My husband is one of those who can't live without breakfast and i once made this recipe for a change , it immediately becomes one of his favorites . I know it because he called and thanked me after having it and oh ...that makes me feel flattered . 

And again ,this recipe is real simple , its puff pastry filled with meat , and yes , you can use any kind of meat you want : chicken , turkey , beef , pork ...or even crab meat ..and mix it with any veggies you like . This time im using ground pork that i have left from the freezer :) 

Ingredients : 

Ground pork 

Sesame sauce 

Garlic powder , ground black pepper 

Oyster sauce 

Chopped yellow onion

Pork Pate ( optional )

Mix the filling :

Store bought  Pastry Sheets 

Thaw pastry sheets for about 10-20 minutes or as labeled  on the box
You can cut the sheets in anyway you like .

Because there's yellow onion in the mixture that tends to leak lots of juices that would make the pastry soggy ,  So , i microwaved the filling for about 3 minutes and let it cool a little bit before scooping some onto the sheet
You can see that i was able to stuff quite a lot by cutting the sheet this way

Brush a little bit of egg white around the edges and just fold it in half , use the fork to seal the edges together

To dress up the cakes : mix 1 egg yolk + 1 teaspoon water + 1 teaspoon sesame oil :  Lightly brush the egg wash on top

And these smaller sized cakes make great after-school snack for my baby :-)

I make a bunch of these and store them in the freezer , bake them from frozen for a picnic or quick snack or great appetizers

Preheat oven to 350 F and bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden  brown . Serve warm or room temperature 

Thanks for reading and happy cooking :)

Banh deo - Snow skin Moon Cakes

I couldn't even remember the last time i celebrated this festival . I've seen my mom making a lot of moon cakes when i was little  but never thought of making ones myself until this year . This year ,i  wanted  to do something to  introduce my daughter one of a very special  traditional events for kids in September that i really loved when i was little  -the Autumn festival ,  and making the non baked cakes seemed to be a good idea .

These are not  like the baked traditional ones .The outer skin is soft ,sticky and a bit chewy and since its made from cooked wheat starch and cooking syrup ,  it tastes very sweet and sure that makes very special treats  for my little one  .
I got to move the work from the counter to the floor to make it easier for Adele to play with the dough , here you can see  how much she got crazy about being a part of the team :)

The fillings i made were green tea , taro  and.....fresh durian  ... aaarrrggg ... i hate its strong smell but hubby is the opposite , he is so fond of it  :-~  so with a mask on , i made it ! 

 I used 1 bag of cooked flour mixing with 5 1/2 cups cooking syrup ( i made my own syrup using organic sugar + water + 2 teaspoons lemon juice  ) to make about ...20 of 200gr sized cakes !  Had i known it turned out that many , i would have made only half of the flour .. 

Finally , we had a chance to use all the cake molds that my mom bought looooong time ago . I bet she would be happy to know .
Take 100gr of a dough and roll it flat  , put 100gr of filling right in the middle and gently wrap around  it .  Press it into the mold by using your fingers and gently remove it ...

tada....look at my little  cake . She looks pretty impressed herself ;-)

and  my 1st time cakes , aren't they lovely ? I put a little bit food color just enough to identify different fillings insides , yellow for durian , green for green tea and very light pink ( Adele's pick ) for taro paste .

It turned out not too bad for a first attempt  . I'm happy at least we dared to venture into using our hands to make them and the great thing about the homemade ones that you know what's in there : less sugar , no preservatives or " weird stuff " added like the store bought ones . Unlike the baked ones , these can be done in a shorter amount of time , you'd surprise how fun and easy it is to put together , especially when working with your loved ones .

Happy Moon Festival  ,everyone :)

Banh' chuoi' hap' - Steamed Banana Cake

 Just a few bucks for bananas and there we have a very quick and healthy dessert that everyone in the family  loves .

I can't just believe how much she loves being with me in the kitchen and so far , she's never turned me down 

Here's how she tries to show off her work :)

" how much sugar for these 7 bananas mommy?"
"..about 2 tablespoons , honey "

" So what about flour mommy ? how much do we need ? "
" we need 1 1/2 cups tapioca flour baby "

Then she starts counting , it takes her 30 spoons to finish the flour . There we have a fun time learning numbers and cooking at the same time . I couldn't think of a better way :-)

we have this mixture done within 15 minutes then transfer it to the steamer ...

 steam for 50 minutes and its all done , but for my taste , i put it in the oven and broil for another 5 minutes to get the smell of baked bananas ...wow ...the whole house smells  so good ;-)

For coconut milk , i like to put a few of pandan leaves in there , mix 1 can coconut + 1/2 cup water + a few spoons sugars and a bit salt , thicken with a little bit of the mixture of tapioca +water 

Wait until the cake reaches room temperature to cut . Serve with coconut milk and roasted peanuts .

Asian baked Salmon

Adele  is a very picky eater . She doesn't like eating fish , but grilled/baked salmon is a the only one that makes her come back for more :)

Wash ,pat the salmon dry with paper towels ,and place it on aluminum oil . Sprinkle with black pepper and garlic powder .

In a small bowl , 2 tablespoon soy sauce + 1 tablespoon honey + 1 tablespoon Korean BBQ + 1 tablespoon non-spicy sate ( use spicy one  if you wanna turn up the heat )  stir well until everything dissolved 

Refrigerate  for a few hours at least

Preheat oven to 375F , bake uncovered salmon for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily
Served with rice or vermicelli rice noodle like my bowl in the picture , or making rolls by using rice papers wrapped with veggies and rice noodle , dipped in fish sauce like my husband's ( not pictured )

Happy cooking :)

Just another blessing Sunday .

Since Adele got upgraded with a new bike at her 4th birthday , biking had become a daily routine after our dinner .  Im glad to see that she is growing up each day and getting just like her dad , an outdoor lover .

Today , instead of biking to the playground as usual , Adele was the only one who pedaled  , and 2 of us walking her down to a small lake that is about half of a mile from our house .

we couldn't even believe this is fall ...Oh how I love this kind of weather ,  sunny  in the  daytime  and it gets chilly in the evening and its such a perfect day for walking

Its a very small , slow and quiet town that we're happy we landed  here ,and that we thank God every day for a simple , peaceful life ...

... today , Adele learnt  her big lesson : biking down the hill . It was enough for my daughter to say she was a little nervous

There was no one but us ,,,,we felt this is all ours :)

Here we comes to the  lake ...
Huhmmm.. i was really disappointed to review the pictures i took . I wonder how come they didn't turn out as good as i expected . Maybe ...a big drop few days ago caused this  ? Looks like i really need to get a new camera soon  :-P hehehe

 After 15 minutes of a quick break here , it was time to walk back home ...

Honestly , I started feeling tired at this moment , but wow ...look at the little one, she was still energetic ...such a tough cookie !

We touched the front door at  8:30pm . Did we really spend  an hour and half  !!! Time is sure gone fast with lots of fun talking and laughing along the way that i hardly spend 30 minutes of running on my elliptical at home
Such a  great way to exercise and have a good bond with my loved ones  . Now I hope this weather to stay  with us forever :)

Crispy belly pork

Homemade Roasted /Crispy Belly Pork ? Are you crazy ? I know a lot of people would think that way when it comes to making this recipe . To be honest , if you live close enough to buy it in the stores in a few minutes , then don't bother , but for us , who rather staying home and drooling , than spending 2 hour back and forth drive to the store to get it , this recipe is definitely a must try.  After browsing a few websites on the internet and a few trials ,  i came up with my own method to get a nice result within a little time and now im happy to say that we can have it anytime we crave for it :) 

As always , the ingredients  are always this simple : 

Soy sauce  , powder garlic , pure sesame sauce , sugar and five-spices 

Feel free to increase the quantity of meat in this recipe or adjust the seasonings to taste

Preparation :

Boil water in a large pot , 1 teaspoon salt ,  cook the meat for 15 minutes

Rinse and dry the meat very well with paper towels .

Use  tweezers to pull out stray hair on the pork belly skin, if any.

Use a knife to scrap the skin for a few minutes to remove impurities. 

Make diagonal cuts with the tip of a sharp knife on the surface of the skin

In a small bowl , combine : a few tablespoons soy sauce , a little bit sugar , a little bit sesame sauce ,  powder garlic and 1 teaspoon 5-spice powder , mix well

Rub this  marinated sauce all over the meat portion only. If sauce gets on the skin , make sure to rub it off with a paper towel .
Place pork belly on a plate, uncovered, skin side up like in the picture , leave it overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 350F , cover the pork  with foil  , bake for 30-40 minutes .

Take the pork out , by this time, the skin gets softened . Use a bamboo skewer,or a small knife ,poke as many holes as you can on the portion of the skin , dry the skin with paper towel , and rub another 2 tbsp salt all over the skin 

Switch oven to Broil , High level ,broil until the skin is roasted to crispy perfection.

Important : 

- You have to monitor the progress of the skin in getting crispy by looking thru the window of the oven . Mine took about 15-30 minutes , it depends on the size 

- When you  see some liquid fat building up on the skin, use  paper towels to dab it to make the skin dry . The dryer the skin , the more crispy it gets

- Don't panic to see the skin is burnt and charred, it means it's cooked all the way through and becomes dry and crispy . Use a steak knife to scrap off charred areas from the skin .

 - Allow the meat to rest for about 15 minutes before cutting.

Cleaning tip :

- Put double layers of foil at the bottom of the oven. After cooking ,  just removed the foil . No fuss in cleaning up... hehehe

 and there you have a very crispy pork  yum yummmm

 It is actually quite easy to make and costs a fraction of what you pay in the store . Not only know the freshness of the pork , you can make sure  the pureness of all the ingredients in there and its part of the reasons why this homemade version becomes one of our often- to- do food lists . Some people think it's fatty , i think  its not the recipe but the pork you're buying :) 

Happy cooking :)

Homemade dresses for little one

Adele wished for dresses for her 4th bday and i decided to 

make  some by my own hands . ...

i found it a good way to keep her entertained and teach her 

to sew at young age .. 

Let's take a look at how we did it together ...

 4 bucks for the fabric at Joann  , to make a skirt and a dress 

ooh la la ...only 1/2 way done and she got  really excited :)

                                               Momma i love them :)

 tada ....my work paid off = her priceless smile :)

This fabric was originally bought for myself  but i no longer wanted it ...



 So here's another dress  for little one

I have to say ....im pretty impressed myself to see how nice the dress looks on her

It  right away becomes one of her favorite dresses . " You rock Momma " 

          Get in style with this vintage dress , one of the hottest trends for this spring and summer :)

                    Ohh  how i love  the way it makes little one look like an angel ...

                  

        

   Again , that smile  just melt my heart ....