Cloves of Garlic

Gross… right? Most people think eating garlic makes your breath smell, but it’s not as bad as you might think. Actually, the healthiest diets in the world often include garlic, which helps fight off sickness by supporting your immune system and is said to decrease blood sugar.

One way to include garlic in meals is to buy garlic bulbs at the market, then chop them into slices and then throw them into your spaghetti sauce. (Sorry, sauce pre-made with garlic and herbs is not the same).

Taking garlic pills? There are some natural garlic supplements on the market that work well but nothing beats the benefits of  a clove of real garlic! I promise that if you build a relationship with the ingredients in your meals they will reward you.

Beer Duck 啤酒鸭

Ah, it’s Summer time again! Sun, beach, and beer time has come; and nothing excites me more than beer-infused, Asian recipes! First, I love duck, although it is a bit fatty, and can’t wait to start making this tasty dish back home for my family. A friend of mine in Zhuhai suggested it while she was home for a holiday. So, this new recipe of Chinese deliciousness is based loosely on her Guangxi family recipe – so here it goes without further delay!

Stuff to Prep:
a duck, preferably fresh and chopped into bite-sized pieces.
a spoonful of Dou Ban Jiang (chinese bean sauce).
two cubes of Nan Ru (red fermented toufu).
a few spoonfuls of oyster sauce (any brand will do).
600mL bottle of beer (or two cans).
Garlic chunks and Ginger slices.
Black pepper balls (about 10), 1 Anise seed (star-shaped) (enhances flavor)
Chestnuts (optional, but awesome). Salt.
a wok or small pot.

1~ Fill pot 3/4 with water and boil. Meanwhile, clean the duck chunks and leave in a prep bowl. (You’ll boil the duck chunks soon)

2~ Prepare the bean paste sauce in a small dish. Mix together a big spoonful of Dou Ban Jiang, 1or 2 cubes of Nan Ru, and a few spoonfuls of oyster sauce.

3~ When the water boils, put all the duck chunks in and let it pre-cook. Some “pao pao” will cook out and collect on the surface. After a few minutes, take out the chunks and rinse in a strainer. Drain the water from your wok or small pot.

4~ Turn the fire on again and toss the duck pieces in dry. The duck still has oil inside, so you can let it cook out for a couple minutes. Stir with a spatula so that nothing sticks too much.

Beer Duck Steps! (Left-Right, Top to Bottom)

5~ Take the bean paste and scoop the contents into the wok. Mix with spatula.

6~ It’s crack-open-your-brew time! Pour in your beer. You’ve poured in enough beer if your duck pieces are completely floating. Spoon beer into your bean paste bowl in order to rinse out all of the paste into the pot. (None goes to waste!)

7~ Toss in additional flavorings: garlic chunks, ginger slices, 10 black pepper balls and 1 anise seeds. Stir occasionally.

8~ Leave the lid off of your pan or wok. Let the beer cook the duck and steam away. After about 10-15 minutes the liquid should become a little thick and rich.

There you have it! Awesome beer duck from the same region that is home to a Longevity Cluster,  a town with freakish amounts of people over 100 years old…

Cauliflower

Day two of my visit home and I decided to cook up something unexpected!  Big, white, fluffy cauliflower! Woo hoo! First of all, my father looked at the huge serving of cauliflower I had prepared and was anything but ecstatic. …great… Ben’s cooking dull, taste-less, rabbit food… I knew this meal could be a tough pill to swallow, so I had to take out the big guns!

To clarify, my father is a meat-lover. Most dads are. Steak, hamburger, chicken, or pork should fill the air at most meal times.  A major dish at lunch consisting of rabbit food was a little disappointing to say the least. So, I thought… if I could transform the flavor of this vege into something mouth-watering and meaty, what would it taste like?

Let’s Tarantino this recipe so that the food-drama doesn’t go to waste…

* There was silence on our front porch… a small dog could be heard barking in the distance… an orchard medley serving dish sat still, void of its contents… mere drops of flavorful liquid collected in a lonely serving spoon.  My mother had never seen this side of her husband since the day he first set eyes on… the love of his life… (that would be a pulled pork shoulder sandwich). Then, the time came for him to speak…

~

1~ Step one: Cut up your head of cauliflower into bite sized pieces. Let them sit in boiling water for a few minutes before you start cooking. Prepare sausage into bite sized pieces as well. (I used 2 thick links of spiced sausage) Prepare your garlic and ginger slices, and then put them aside.

2~ Cook the sausage pieces in water, turning them often, until they are mostly cooked (brownish). Add water if it gets too dry. After a few minutes, toss in the garlic and ginger.

3~ Then, strain out the water from preboiling the cauliflower and dump them into the pan. They need color, so you could pour some soy sauce over them while constantly turning them with a spatula.

4~ The SECRET: Scoop out nearly 2 big spoon-fulls of Lee Kum Kee’s Char Siu Sauce. It will seem jelly-like, so we’ll need to mix water in with it. As it liquefies, keep mixing the sausage and cauliflower over one another. Cover with a lid.

5~ Cauliflower is thick, so it needs to simmer a while like this. My dish, which consisted of 3/4 head of vege, took close to 5 minutes of simmering with occasional stirring. The sauce should fill about an inch of the pan or wok.

~

Cauli-Sausage

* “Wow” was all he said. Just “wow.” But it wasn’t like the wow you say to make someone else feel good about a cool story they just told you. It was more like the wow you say when you witness a grand slam at Fenway. It was more like the wow you say when watching a human-fish win 8 gold medals in Beijing. Wow.

And that is how you make cauliflower with sausage – a dish inspired by real Chinese cooking.

Ribs, Toufu, and Greens

It’s nice to be home! And I’ve been cooking various dishes to show my family that it is easy to cook healthy Asian food, one of the purposes of creating AsianLiving.me!

The first lunch I made included my now infamous Pork Ribs with Garlic and Black Bean Sauce, with spicy Toufu, and Spinach Greens. It was the first time my family had tried these dishes made at home, rather than at a restaurant.

The spicy Toufu was a little new for me. (It’s hard to do Toufu right!) So, let me summarize this basic recipe here:

1~ Put your oil of choice in a pan. Less fragrant oil is better; like vegetable or peanut oil. At the same time, prep your toufu by cutting it into small cubes, if it isn’t already cut. (Harder Toufu, which can be purchased at a local supermarket in the US, is easier to control and doesn’t break apart)

Toufu Cubes

2~ Dump your toufu in and stir continuously with a spoon or spatula (2-3 minutes). Brown your toufu by adding some soy sauce. This is also a good way to salt your food, so you don’t need to add any later.

3~ Toss in slices of green pepper and onions. Add scallions for additional color if you want. Stir around.

4~ Add chili powder to taste and a couple pinches of sugar. Keep stirring! *If the toufu is not too brown, feel free to splash some more soy sauce.

The final result is a spicy, savory toufu dish! People who aren’t health nuts can appreciate this dish along with those you just want to eat healthier meals. Add a meat of your choice if your guests need a little more convincing!

NEXT ARTICLE: Summer Cooking 2010: The Best Cauliflower Dish in the World? (coming soon)

Eggplant

One type of cooking that has always worried me is “steamed” anything! I know white rice is steamed, but how do I actually steam food without another special machine. If you are like me, read about using your rice cooker as a steamer for dishes first, then come back and follow these easy steps.

PREP: Finely mince 2-3 cloves of garlic and put them aside. Keep bottles of sesame oil, vinegar, and soy sauce handy. Salt too. (See image below) Also, use a steamer or your rice cooker.

1~ Slice up the eggplant in half, then into 1/2″ thick strips-lengthwise. This can be altered as you do the recipe more often and develop a preference.

2~ With your cooker/steamer warmed up, place the raw, sliced eggplant strips into the steaming tray. Let them steam for 5-10 minutes.

3~ Pull tray out of steamer carefully… let the tray sit on a cooling rack or kitchen counter. Sprinkle salt over them. After a minute, start pulling the eggplant into strings with chop sticks or a fork. You’ll notice that water is pulled out of the eggplant by the salt.

4~ After draining the water out, you’ll see the resulting mushy stuff that is in the image below. Let it cool for about 5 minutes before adding about a tablespoon of vinegar, a teaspoon of sesame oil, a splash of soy sauce, and the minced garlic. Mix completely.

Nearly finished product

* This dish is best served cool. You should be able to taste the fragrant sesame with a twang of vinegar.