Steam Eggs

Ingredients 

• 5-6 eggs
• sesame oil
• 1 stalk green onion finely cut
• white pepper
• soy sauce
• chicken stock/bouillon

Directions 

1. In a medium size bowl, beat 5-6 eggs and add 3/4 of water to the amount of eggs. Add 2 teaspoon salt and 1-2 tablespoon chicken stock/bouillon. Mix evenly
2. In a steamer, make sure water is boiling before putting the bowl in it. Close the lid and lower the heat to medium and let it steam for about 10-15 minutes or until done. You can use a small knife and puncture the egg in the middle to see if its still watery/done.
3. Once done, remove the bowl and sprinkle some green onions, a few dash of white pepper, a few drops of soy sauce and sesame oil. Serve hot

Egg Fried Rice

Ingredients 

• 3 cups of rice.
• 4-5 eggs scrambled
• 2 stalks green onion finely cut
• 1/4 julienned iceberg lettuce (optional)
• 1-2 sliced jalapeno (optional)
• white pepper
• soy sauce

Directions 

Fried rice is a very difficult dish to emulate from the ones we normally eat in a chinese restaurant or any restaurant that serves. Mainly because of the gas range fire that is used in restaurants. In many chinese food, a huge flame is required to heat the wok and also retain the heat when cooking. With a strong heat constantly supplied to the wok, it allows the food to capture a very light burnt aroma or "wok taste" which is why a lot of times people are confused with why they can't achieve the same flavors or texture from the food they get at PF Chang's or Panda Express (both of which I think is not representative of "real" chinese food).

One common knowledge that people seem to always say about cooking fried rice is using an overnight cooked steam rice. This is supposedly to create a better/perfect fried rice. True but only applies to fried rice being cooked at home. The reason this overnight rice is used is because when refrigerated, the cooked rice dries up and allows the individual rice to break up easily and also prevent burning to the wok. However, using a cool/cold rice when cooking fried rice will not provide the "wok taste" because it cools down the wok rapidly and the fire used at home isn't strong enough to raise the temperature back up.

My solution that I have found is this. When making the steam rice, use slightly less water than usual or if you're not confident on how much less, allow the rice to cook/warm a while and let it dry to reduce the amount of moisture in the rice. If possible, do not use a japanese rice as those produce a lot more moisture than most. Jasmine rice would be ideal.

1. Heat up wok with about 1/4 cup of oil until you can see a light smoke which is about 2-3 minutes. You can test by using a small piece of green onion. If it sizzles immediately, your oil is hot enough. 
2. Once oil is hot enough, add green onion, eggs and jalapeno(optional).
3. Stir the eggs like you would make a scrambled eggs. The eggs help with the rice from sticking and burning to the wok.
4. Once the eggs are cooked (not browned just fluffy), add the warm rice into the wok and mix evenly. 
5. Add about 3-4 tablespoon salt or to taste and a few dash of white pepper. Keep stirring the rice to allow the flavors to mix evenly. 
6. You may add about 2-3 tablespoon of soy sauce (balance this with salt) as you stir to give it a little color. 
7. Once everything is completely mixed, serve onto a plate and sprinkle some of the iceberg lettuce over the rice to give some texture and also flavor to the rice. Serve hot.

At step 5, before adding the rice, you may also add your choice of meat/seafood. Make sure your choice is pre-cooked/fried before adding it to the wok.

 

Misono UX10 712 Gyuto 210mm and knivess....

I recently bought a Misono UX10 chef's knife or gyuto to be precised. The price ranged between $150-$170 on several online sites which is the place that you can find unless there is a local store that sells specifically kitchen knives. I bought mine for $159 including shipping from Japan at www.japanesechefsknife.com. 

I have researched for about 2-3 months about knives before I made this purchase and believe it to be the best choice for me. I have looked at reviews for so many different knives ranging at very reasonably price to out of my budget ones and then slowly as I gained more and more info narrowed down to a certain kind of knives (8" chef knife or gyuto) price range between $120-$200. It boiled down to 3 knives which I have to decide on. MAC MBK-85 8.5", Shun Classic Chef Knife 8", and  Misono UX10 712 Gyuto 210mm. In the early stages of my research, I pretty much decided on the MAC due to a lot of good reviews for that knife. As time passes I realizes there were much more knives that I need to compare before making my decision. I then stumble onto shun's and misono knife. I eventually did a comparison of all three and decided to get the misono.

Although a knife for $159 sounds absurd for many people, which I agree, it is still not a "high-end" knife that usually cost upwards of $300. I don't advice people to spend that kind of money for just ONE knife. I would probably recommend a cuisinart knife to begin with and maybe slowly upgrade to a low end model shun or global, a wushtof or henckels. My opinion is that most home cooks do no require a commercial / professional knife. If you learn to maintain the your regular knife by keeping it clean, not abusing it, honing and sharpening it, the knife(s) will last a long long time. Also, most home cooks will not use their knives like how a trained chef or people with experiences in commercial kitchens.

For me, the decision came because I felt that I have outgrown my regular made in china knife which I still very much like. When using the misono gyuto, it feels extremely comfortable on my hands and it allows me to cut at speeds and precision that I am looking for although initially I was very careful with its sharpness as I was not used to a knife like this. After using it several times and as I use it more often, I feel a lot more confident and in tune with it as though like an extension to my hand.

If you read on any trained chef's blog or any reviews they will always mention that a sharp and good knife is much safer than a dull one. I totally agree but I think I have never come across anyone saying that when a trained chef / industry people handles their knives, they treat it with utmost respect almost like a god but without realizing it. You will never see them play around with their knives or mishandle it or not cleaning it after use.

In conclusion, I do no recommend most people spending a lot of money on knives until they feel that it is time and that I SUPER LOVE MY NEW GYUTO!!

Claypot: What to do?

When buying claypot, make sure you get the size that fits your cooking style. For example in my case, I have a problem cooking in small quantity hence I got the biggest one out there which was about 10-12" diameter. Ideally, a medium size probably around 8" will do for most people. At the store, make sure to check for cracks and most importantly that it has a steel wire caging the pot. This provides a better support for the pot according to many of my sifu (cooking instructors).

Once it gets home, immerse the claypot completely in water for at least 15 hours. Ideally would be 24 hours. If you observe carefully, you will notice little bubbles rising from the pot. Before any use of the claypot, heat up the claypot with water filled up 1/4 way at low heat. The first few times (make it 5) should be used at low or medium low fire. Once it has "broken in", you may abuse it with high heat but its always best to heat up the pot slowly treating it almost like an oven.

Do not soak claypot in soapy water as it will absorb some of it. I've read in some websites to use salt to clean it. I personally soak the pot in hot water to allow the "burnt" stuff to soften up and then remove it with a steel scrubber. Once all the sticky stuff has been removed, I quickly was it with some dish detergent and rinse off immediately. Eating soap won't kill you not in small quantity.

Claypot Chicken Rice

Ingredients 

• Claypot (may use rice cooker but there's a huge difference in flavor)
• 2 piece chicken breast cut into cubes or a bunch of boned-in chicken or both
• 4-5 cups of rice pre-cooked
• 8-10 pieces black mushroom soaked for at least 2 hours and halved
• Salted fish pan fried until light brown
• Chinese Sausage (optional)
• 2 stalks green onion chopped
• 2 piece ginger julienned
• 3-4 cloves garlic chopped finely
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1.5 cups water
• 10 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 5 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 5 tablespoons light soy sauce
• white pepper

Directions 

1. Preheat claypot at low heat. Mix chicken with some corn flour and salt.
2. In a saucepan or large wok, heat up some cooking oil at high heat.
3. Add garlic, ginger, mushrooms and half the green onions. Cook until fragrant and add oyster sauce, dark and light soy sauce, and a few dashes of white pepper. Add chicken and cook until done.
4. Add 1.5 cups of water and if required a little more dark soy sauce to make sure the sauce is pretty dark.
5. Transfer the cooked rice into the claypot and then add everything from the wok/saucepan into it and mix around evenly. Add chinese sausage and salted fish on the top and cover. Let it cook on medium heat.
6. About every 5-8 minutes, stir the rice. Once the sauce is dried up, turn off fire and serve with the claypot and garnish with some green onion. 

Note: Make sure the when cooking the chicken, it is a little more salty so that when you mix in with the rice it will carry the flavors through. Don't worry about too much salt as the rice will absorb a lot of it and it will be tastier. Of course as usual, use your brains!

Pot Stickers

  Ingredients 

• 6-10 pieces dumplings
• Cooking Oil
• Frying pan

Directions 

The dumplings can be self made which I will leave it for another time when I figure out how to do it or you can simply buy it from stores that sell it in packets. Make sure to buy the ones with a thicker skin. I like to buy the ones with pork, mushroom and chives although there are many variance and definitely up to your palette.

1. Fill a small pot with water halfway and heat it to a boil. Add the dumplings and cook it completely. Once cooked, remove and allow the water to drain and the dumplings to cool a little.
2. In another medium size non stick frying pan, add about 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil at medium to medium high heat. Add the dumplings flat face on the pan.
3. Allow it cook before moving it around so as to not tear the skin wrap when removing it. Once the flat face turns golden brown and looks slightly charred, removed and serve.

Dipping Sauce

• 4-5 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 2-3 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 whole garlic chopped finely
• 1 stalk green onion chopped 
• Pinch of salt and a few dash of white pepper
• Red chilli paste

Fill above ingredients into a small bowl which should fill about 1/3 to 1/2 of it. Fill remaining bowl with hot water. Add more water if too salty.