The Vietnamese Xoi Chien Phong..a fried "sesame ball" with one BOLD statement~!

From the north-eastern corner of China, to the southern parts of Canton, it was the Vietnamese version of the fried rice balls (known to most as sesame balls) that challenged the stretch of my irises for my macula to absorb it all!


Speaking of indulgence during Thanksgiving, the fried sesame balls are the Asian version with a festive origin, though similar to the perfectly roasted turkey, these fried treats have also managed to trickled into the repertoire of the daily menu. From the corner congee shop to an extravagance dim sum parlour, these fragrant jewels with a unique mochi-chewy texture are here to stay, and sometimes with a hidden luscious molten surprise.


As simple and innocent as this golden gem appears, the making itself is a perfect marriage of science and art. The gleaming hot oil transfer the kinetic energy into the pocketed air within a dense glutinous dough. As the air expands in a discordance manner, this is where the artist comes in. Exercising his/her craftsmanship, the chef is able to engineer a uniform sphere with the precise thickness that brings forth the perfect union of texture, flavour, and scent. The delicate architecture of the crust comprised of a thin crispy armor, layered with a chewy comforting interior to showcased the aroma of sweet rice, without carrying the heaviness from the fried nature.


The Vietnamese version, Xoi chien phong just bring this art to a whole new horizon. It was hard to imagine with a wok filled with fragrant oil and two long utensils, the magician has managed to transform a dough of less than 5 ingredients, into a steaming alluring sculpture that is the size of a watermelon. I hope that this art will not be lost in translation, but growing enthusiastic crowd of unique dines, my fears should be nothing but a misty veil..







~ Traditional Chinese Sesame Balls ~

500g Glutinous flour
100g Water
100g Sugar
~2L Vegetable Oil
Filling is optional, but can use Adzuki paste, Black Sesame paste, Mung Bean paste, or to be more adventurous, you can try to incorporate Western ingredients like pumpkin or sweet potato puree!

1) Mix 100g of glutinous flour with 100g of water, and knead it to form a dough.
2) Cook the dough in boiling water until it floats and cooked through. It will turn slightly transparent.
3) Place the cooked dough in a mixing bowl and knead in the remaining flour and sugar, until it comes to a doughy consistancy.
4) Form dough balls with 1.5 inches in diameter. Flatten the dough and use it to encase the filling.
5) Heat the oil in a deep pot to 325oF, and using the double fried method, fry the dough balls to till it is light golden in colour. The balls should double in size. Remove them from the pot and increase the temperature of the oil to 375oF. Fry the partially cooked balls till it is golden amber.

Bon Appetit~!

Delicacies for Chinese New Year Round Three - The Overloaded Taro Cake~!

This recipe is dedicated to my family, and to anyone who is as obsessed with this purple root as we are! Just make sure you do not overload with this fragrant yet zesty tasting taro, which turns the cake into a more croquet like consistency, but still mouthwatering.


For those who might be interested in reading further on this amazing root, please check out my previous post:
"Macaron de la divinité captures the essence of this mulberry purple coloured root....~ le Macaron aux Taro~
Taro flavoured macaron filled with coconut white chocolate ganache"


~ Chinese Taro Cake - 芋頭糕~

Ingredients:

- 2 lb Taro root - about 2 medium size, peeled and cut into 1/2 cubes
- 500 g plain rice flour (粘米粉) - not glutinous rice flour
- 4 long links Chinese sausages (臘腸) - cut into 1/4 inch cubes
- 200g Chinese cured bacon ((臘肉) - cut into 1/4 inch cubes
- 4 dried scallops, 3 tbs dried shrimps, 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
(place all 3 above ingredients in a bowl and soak overnight with cold water just
enough to cover all the ingredients)
- 750mL water
- 3 tbs chicken bouillon powder
- 4 tsp white pepper
- 2 tsp five spiced powder
- 3 tsp salt
- 4 tsp sugar
- a bunch of coriander - coarsely chopped


1. Squeeze out the soaking liquid from the hydrated dried scallops, dried mushrooms and shrimps, and finely chop these ingredients. Reserve soaking liquid.
2. Steam the cubed taro in a even layer for 20 minutes or until all pieces have turned slightly translucent.
3. Heat up a wok or a large frying pan over medium high heat, add in the Chinese sausages and cured bacon, stir-fry for a 5-8 minutes or until most of the oil has rendered out from the cured meats.
4. Gradually add the finely chopped mushrooms, scallops and shrimps. Keep stir frying them for about 5 minutes.
5. Stir in all the seasonings and allow them to warm in the mixture for a minute. Remove from heat.


6. In a large baking pan (ideal size would be a 16 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep, or 2 9-inch cake pan would also be fine), pour in the rice flour and gradually stir in the soaking liquid and water. Mix until completely incorporated.
7. Stir in the solid ingredients from the wok and mix thoroughly, and gently fold in the steamed taro cubes.
8. Steam the cake in a large wok with consistent yet vigourous steam for an hour and a half.


9. When it is cooked, remove from heat and sprinkle the chopped coriander on top as garnish.
10. The cake can be served immediately as the steamed version,


11. For the pan-fried version, allow the cake to cool and refrigerate overnight. Cut the cake into slices and pan-fry until golden brown and crispy on each side. Serve with XO sauce or chili sauce if preferred.


Bon Appetit~!

Celebrate a decade of absence with my grandmother's famous Chinese Daikon Cake!

I often wondered what Chinese New Year is like for visitors in Hong Kong. This festival is a time for families to reunite, not only to welcome in the new lunar year, but also to feast together with home-prepared meals. Meanwhile, as the expat population flies to places like Bali or Thailand for the extended national holiday, the trains to the rural New Territories would be overflowing, while the bar-filled Lan Kwai would be partly deserted.


To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of my absence from Hong Kong during this festivities-filled celebration, I subconsciously trickle passed the fellow patrons of a local Chinese grocer, fluidly gathered all the necessary ingredients, for the making of my favourite Chinese Daikon Cake (蘿蔔糕).

Chinese Daikon Cake or Lo Pak Gao, is my all time favorite, you can find this all year round in Dim Sum restaurants. Yet, this speciality dish, similar to the Chinese New Year cake, is one that almost no commercial versions would be in competition with ones made at home, filled with joy, love, and hours of grating, chopping, steaming, and enduring the stinging sensation as the daikon juice attacks the skin surrounds your fingers....thanks dear Granny, Mum and Dad for all the decadent daikon cakes I have devoured in the past!


~ Chinese Daikon Cake ~

Ingredients:

- 6 lb Chinese daikon - about 3 large ones
- 500 g plain rice flour (粘米粉) - not glutinous rice flour
- 4 long links Chinese sausages (臘腸) - cut into 1/4 inch cubes
- 200g Chinese cured bacon ((臘肉) - cut into 1/4 inch cubes
- 4 dried scallops, 3 tbs dried shrimps, 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
(place all 3 above ingredients in a bowl and soak overnight with cold water just
enough to cover all the ingredients)
- 2 tbs chicken bouillon powder
- 2 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp five spiced powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 3 tsp sugar
- a bunch of coriander - coarsely chopped


1. Squeeze out the soaking liquid from the hydrated dried scallops, dried mushrooms and shrimps, and finely chop these ingredients. Reserve soaking liquid.


2. Coarsely grate the Chinese daikon and place the grated daikon in a strainer over a large bowl. Squeeze out as much of the liquid from the daikon, but reserve the liquid.


3. Heat up a wok or a large frying pan over medium high heat, add in the Chinese sausages and cured bacon, stir-fry for a 5-8 minutes or until most of the oil has rendered out from the cured meats.


4. Gradually add the finely chopped mushrooms, scallops and shrimps. Keep stir frying them for about 5 minutes.
5. Stir in all the seasonings and allow them to warm in the mixture for a minute before adding the grated daikon. Stir-fry all the ingredients for about 2 minutes and remove from heat
6. In a large baking pan (ideal size would be a 16 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep, or 2 9-inch cake pan would also be fine), pour in the rice flour and gradually stir in the reserved daikon juice and soaking liquid. Mix until smooth.
7. Stir in the solid ingredients from the wok and mix thoroughly.


8. Steam the cake in a large wok with consistent yet vigourous steam for an hour and a half.


9. When it is cooked, remove from heat and sprinkle the chopped coriander on top as garnish.
10. The cake can be served immediately as the steamed version,
11. For the pan-fried version, allow the cake to cool and refrigerate overnight. Cut the cake into slices and pan-fry until golden brown and crispy on each side. Serve with XO sauce or chili sauce if preferred.
12. It can also be transformed into the famed dish in HK XO sauce stir-fried daikon cake (XO 醬炒蘿蔔糕). Cut a portion of the cake in small cubes and stir fry with finely chopped garlic, bean sprouts, sliced red and green bell peppers, eggs, and XO sauce.

Bon Appetit~!

The Sticky-Sweet New Year Cake....it was love at first bite!

From an elaborate two-day production to the lightning-fast microwave approach, the methods of preparing Nian Gao may have changed across generations of the Chinese families, but the sticky-sweet New Year's cake is still a savory culinary project within my household, embracing my grandmother's recipe.


Nian Gao, or Chinese New Year’s cake, is sweet and sticky and represents family cohesion and rising fortune. Nian is a homonym for both sticky and year, and gao is a homonym for cake and to rise up. It is a must at Lunar New Year’s time to wish for a family that is stuck together and for good luck in the coming year. As for me, "nian" in this cake also carries one of the most memorable textural experience within my culinary memories, one that I do not ever wish to live without.

Made from glutinous rice flour (preferably the Three Elephant brand from Thailand), and a pair of dedicated hands, this light and delicate flour is kneaded together with sugar, coconut milk and water. The victorious steam creates a veil within the wok as the prized cake rises and transform. As 200 minutes slip away while the master carefully monitors the degree of the steam, the almost 4 hour process has miraculously evolved the velvety fluid batter, into a dense cake that is heavenly soft, creamy, yet carries a multitude of chewiness, an indescribable texture that surpasses any mochi in my opinion. As a bite of the newly made cake dances between my jaw, the prolonged disintegration allows a proper chemical interaction between my senses and the aroma from the coconut milk, as well as the sweetness from the flour and sugar. This texture is well ingrained in my childhood memories. The new year cake should be sticky between your finger tips, but not your razor-sharp teeth.


~ Chinese New Year Cake - Nian Gao ~

- 500g sweet glutinous rice flour (preferably the Three Elephant brand)
- 454g sugar
- 250mL coconut milk
- 150mL water
- vegetable oil - for glazing the pans


1. In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the glutinous rice flour and sugar
2. Mix in the coconut milk in a slow and gradual stream. The mixture will be sticky.
3. Begin to knead and work the mixture until a dough is formed, and the consistency is uniform.
4. Slowly incorporate the water into the dough, a few tablespoons at a time, until you reach a velvety fluid batter consistency
5. Generously glaze with oil a 9 inch baking pan that is at least 4 inches tall. Pour the batter into the pan but not higher than 2/3 of the way up.
6. Place the pan in the steamer and steam for 3-4 hours, over medium heat or a setting that would ensure consistent yet vigorous steam. Make sure the water level does not fall below the bottom of the pan, or over.
7. When the cake is done, remove from the steamer and allow cooling to room temperature.

To serve, simply slice into wedges and serve in a plate. For those who prefer a soft texture, microwave for 20 seconds or steam on boiling water for 5 minutes until softened to the desired consistency.

It is a tradition in my family to pan-fried the new year cake (煎年糕), which is enveloped in a thin layer of crispy savoury egg and served to our guests. When fried, it is slightly crispy exterior complements the magnificant texture within....

Bon Appetit~!