Braised Mushroom with Dried Oyster and Moss

This is one of a few dishes we will always see on in laws dining table during Chinese New Year. I have known my husband for 17 years and I see this dish every year during Chinese New Years Reunion dinner. There are other regular dishes too and they are all cooked the same way every year. Even if we are having steamboat, this dish will still appear on the dining table. *giggle*

Perhaps its the reason that they are Cantonese and the ingredients used for this dish sounds very auspicious. Dried oyster sounded like 好事 (good deeds; returns) and the moss sounded like 发财 (get rich) in Mandarin. Together it will be 好事发财, lots of good returns and fortune!

I usually dont cook with the dried oyster because my son hates it. I dont like to eat it too. I just add it for extra flavours.

Ingredients:

• 8 Dried Chinese Mushroom, soaked to soften and stalks removed (do not squeeze dry)
• 10g Dried Sea Moss, soaked to soften and drained
• 4 Dried Oysters, soaked for 5 minutes

Seasonings 1:

• 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 700ml water or broth for richer taste

Seasonings 2:

• 1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• A pinch of salt and sugar to taste

How to do it:

1. Put mushroom with water in a deep pot. (Mushroom should be covered in water)
2. Add in seasoning 1 and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.
4. The water should have reduced by about half.
5. Add in the dried oyster and continue to simmer for another hour or till mushroom is tender.
6. Add in seasoning 2 and sea moss.
7. Bring to boil.
8. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
9. Dish and serve.
   

• Click HERE for printer-friendly version of an original recipe.

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Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Cranberries and Pecans

I have a bad habit not being able to follow a recipe word for word, not even my own! I always have to adjust, substitute, omit, or change something. It’s pretty ironic I keep a recipe journal (I hope I didn’t lose too much credibility there). Oatmeal craisin chocolate chip pecan cookies are my default cookie of choice. I love how there’s so much good stuff in these, there’s barely enough dough to bind everything together. It’s like trail mix in cookie form. And I have yet to meet someone who doesnt like these. The name is a mouthful but I cant come up with anything better. OCCCPC? POCCC? POC^3? Eh, med school is full of enough acronyms and mnemonic as it is. I’ve been making these cookies for years now, but the urge to change a perfectly good recipe struck again. Combined with post finals laziness, I couldn’t be bothered to measure out the 1 1/4 cup here and there so I changed everything to one cup. I was going to delete the original recipe but I’m guessing people who use the original version wouldn’t be too happy if I just overwrote it. So now there are two versions, the original and the shamelessly lazy one. Hm I’ll need to do something about that 2 tsp of vanilla, since it requires measuring twice. Next time...

Okay in all seriousness, don’t let my silly laziness deter you, these are as good as the original. It involves just a tiny bit less work and there’s a higher chocolate to everything else ratio in these but I don’t think anyone would mind that.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Cranberries and Pecans

1 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C old fashioned rolled oats
1 C toasted pecans, chopped
1 C dried cranberries
1 C semi sweet chocolate chips or 4 oz. bar of semisweet or dark chocolate, chopped
4 oz./ 1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 C packed brown sugar, preferably dark
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a heatproof bowl, pour about one cup of hot water on the dried cranberries and let them soak for 5 minutes. The cranberries will absorb some of the moisture and retain their chew after baking and won’t dry out. While the cranberries are soaking, chop the toasted pecans. After the cranberries have soaked, drain in a sieve, rinse them off under cold running water, and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined. In another bowl, toss the chopped pecans, chocolate chips, and oats together.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until fluffy, add the brown sugar and beat again. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, like frosting. Add the flour mixture and mix the dough is beginning to come together. Then add the oats, nuts, and chocolate mixture and cranberries and continue to beat until the dough is evenly mixed

I like to line my cookie sheets with parchment instead of a silicone baking mat, I find that cookies dont spread and brown as nicely on a baking mat. Scoop 1/4 C of the dough and space the dough 3 inches apart. Its easiest to use a trigger release cookie/ice cream scoop. Use your hands and flatten them slightly until they are about 3/4 inch thick and look like a hockey puck. My cookie sheet can hold 8 or 9 cookies and I like to bake only one sheet at a time.

Bake for 10 minutes then rotate the sheet, and continue to bake for another 5 to 8 minutes. The cookie edges should golden brown but the center will look a little underdone and still gooey and doughy in the middle. Remove the tray and let the cookies set for 1 minute on the sheet tray then using a spatula, slide them onto a cooling rack.

Makes 16 cookies.

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Mushroom Dried Scallop XO Sauce 香菇瑶柱XO酱

My husband had to go China every month for their companys new project and half a year ago, one of their partners in China gave him a big pack of Dried Scallop and Dried Shitake Mushroom each.

Dried Mushroom                             Dried Scallop   

One of the stuff I have been experimenting using them is the XO sauce. Its an great condiment to have. We love it with fried rice and I add it to some of the dishes I ate for dinner too. As much as I like ready-made XO sauce, they are either to spicy or too strong for the kids to handle. Its best if you can made your own XO sauce adjusted it to your own taste.

There isnt any hard and fast rule on my homemade XO sauce. If you prefer it more oily (ingredients will be softer soaked in oil), add more oil during cooking. If you want it hotter, add more Dried Chilli.



Im using the Happy Call Pan to do this. You can use a regular non-stick pan too. The biggest difference is that the HCP cooks faster and is more moist. I used the HCP to steam cook the dried scallops too. If you do not have the pan, you will have to soak the dried scallop and steam it for an hour before you can shred them.

Ingredients:

• 60g Dried Scallops, soaked with 4 tablespoon water


• 1 1/2 tablespoon Dried Shrimp, soaked to soften and chopped


• 3 Red Chilli (replace with Dried Chilli if you want it spicy)


• 3 tablespoon Chopped Garlic


• 3 tablespoon Chopped Shallot


• 5 Dried Shiitake Mushroom, soaked to soften and chopped


• 5 Dried Shiitake Mushroom, soaked to soften and sliced


• a dash of Pepper


• Sugar or to taste (optional)


• 4 tablespoon Oil

How to do it:

1. Pour dried scallops with water into the pan after soaking it for 15 minutes.


2. Close pan and cook it in medium low heat for 4 mins or till water is almost dry.


3. Use the back of the spoon to press the dried scallops. They should be soft enough to break into pieces. If not, add a bit more water and cook longer.


4. Remove the dried scallops, tear into smaller shreds if necessary or give it a pause in the blender and set aside.


5. Heat oil in the same pan in medium low heat but not smoking.


6. Add in the garlic and shallot and saute till fragrant.


7. Add in the rest of the ingredient except shredded dried scallops.


8. Saute till fragrant by covering and shaking for 2 minutes.


9. Add a tablespoon of mushroom water.


10. Cover and continue cooking for another 2 minutes.


11. Add in shredded dried scallop.


12. Stir-fry till mixed well.


13. Cover and continue cooking for 4 minutes, shaking the pan to prevent burning. I open the pan occasionally to give it a good stir too.


14. Add pepper and sugar to taste if necessary, stir-fry to mix well.


15. Dish and store for later use.

Note:

• The dried scallops I used are very small (pls refer to photo above). Hence, its easier and faster to steam and shred it. If you are using larger one, you might need a longer time to soak and soften it.


• The mushroom I used are slightly larger than a 50cents coin. If you are using larger one, you might want to reduce the number of mushroom.

My simple fried rice with homemade XO Sauce for extra flavours

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Rye bread with hazelnuts raisins and dried cranberries

Ive been baking my own naturally leavened (aka no-yeast) rye bread again, using just rye flour, and Im very pleased with the results. I always make two large loafs - one plain (well, I do add caraway seeds and linseeds to the dough), the other flavoured. Last weekend I added some hazelnuts, dried cranberries and raisins to the mixture. Absolutely delicious!

Let me know if youre interested in the recipe.

EDIT 8 July 2009: Well, looks like Ill need to post the recipe indeed :) Its a longer post, but Ill do it a.s.a.p.!

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