Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Taco Truck : Soft Tacos

I was home visiting my folks this weekend and had a craving for some soft tacos.  I didn't want to drive too far so the closet place I found was a taco truck in the parking lot of Lowe's.  I order 3 steak tacos for $3.75.  Can't beat that price when you have the munchies.





Thursday, December 15, 2011

Baked Stuff Chicken Wings

If I can remember correctly, this is how I make baked stuffed chicken wings.

Ingredients:
10 to 12 Chicken Wings (de-boned) 
1/2 lb of ground pork 
1 bundle of mung bean thread noodles (soaked in water until soft, cut about 2 inches) 
1/2 tbsp garlic powder 
1/2 tbsp salt 
1 tbsp cornstarch 
1 tbsp soy sauce 
1/4 of an onion (thin slices)
2 egg 
2 piece of Mu Err Mushroom (soaked in water and cut into think strips) 

Preparation:
De-bone the Chicken Wings with a small knife and set them aside. Makes sure to be care not to cut yourself or puncture the chicken skin.

Soak the noodles in water until they are soft. Drain the noodles and cut them down to 1 to 2 inches.

Soak the Mu Err Mushroom in water and then cut them into thin strips.

In a mixing bowl add the ground pork, garlic powder, salt, cornstarch, soy sauce, chopped onion, mushroom, noodles and egg. Once you have finish mixing the ingredients, start to stuff the de-bone chicken wings.





Preheat oven to 350. Put the Chicken wings on a baking pan and bake until golden brown. Serve with sweat egg roll or nutty peanut sauce. 

Hmong Sweet Pork

One day at work, I had a craving some Hmong Sweet Pork with eggs. I search online and found a couple of different ways to cooking it. Here is what I came up with after some research.

Hmong Sweet Pork with Eggs

Ingredients:
2 to 3 lbs of pork belly sliced and cut into 2-inch cubes
1/2 cup of brown sugar
3-5 piece of star anise
1 thumb of sliced fresh ginger (peeled before slicing)
1 lemongrass bulbs (cleaned and cut into small pieces)
4 to 5 cups water
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
4 to 6 hard boiled eggs (shells removed)

Preparation:
Hard Boil 4 to 6 eggs (add more if you like eggs). In a medium to large size pot, heat the sugar at a medium-low temperature, stirring constantly until the sugar has melted. Reduce the heat and add the meat, ginger, and lemon grass. Cook the pork until the cubes turn white. Add the start anise, water, salt, oyster sauce and soy sauce. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Put a lid on the pot and cook slowly for 2 hours. Add the peeled eggs and gently stir (so not to break the eggs apart) them into the pork mixture. Cover the pot again and cook another hour, until the meat is tender and the eggs are a deep, rich, dark brown color.

Chinese Roast Pork

This will be my first attempt at making Chinese Roast Pork with the following recipe.

Roast Pork Belly

Ingredients:
2 lbs pork belly (with skin)
2 tbsp sea salt (sprinkle on the skin)
2 tbsp rice vinegar ( To be brushed on the skin)

Marinade:
3 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp red fermented bean curd
1/2 tbsp five spice powder


Clean the pork belly and pat dry with a towel. Score (both diagonally and horizontally) the inner portion of the meat. Rub the skin side with the sea salt.



Rub marinade mixture evenly into the meat and down into the scored areas.
 
Cover and leave the marinated pork belly in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or over night.

Bake the marinated pork belly with skin side up in pre-heated oven at 250C for 20 mins. Remove from oven and poke holes into the skin with a sharp instrument or like me.


Brush the skin with the rice vinegar. Put the pork belly back into the oven and increase the temperature to 300C. Bake for another another 20-30 minutes, or until you see the bubbles forming on the skin. Remove and let the pork belly rest for a few minutes before chopping it up.