Clay Pot Rice With Chinese Sausages And Cured Pork Belly

I've been thinking about my childhood a lot lately. Started late last year when I had an idea about traveling to Hong Kong and just eat. Eat the food that I ate when I was a kid and to just learn more about Hong Kong food. What I know about Hong Kong food is just snippets of memories, certain things I remember eating. Most of what I know about Hong Kong food is what I grew up eating in Los Angeles and tv shows. So I decided in 2016, I want to cook and eat more Hong Kong and Cantonese food. And what's more Cantonese than dim sum and roast meats? Clay pot rice!

Clay pot rice is very simple. It's just rice and whatever veggie or meat or seafood cooked in a clay pot. It's super comforting. I have cooked this in a rice cooker many times but I wanted to do it properly so I went and spent $7 on a clay pot.

Serves 2 Things you'll need: 1 cup rice (soaked in water for 30mins and rinsed) 1.5 cup water 2 Chinese sausages 1 piece of Chinese cured pork belly Scallions Handful of muy choi (preserved mustard greens), optional Oil Clay pot rice soy sauce (which you can get in a bottle or make your own by combining light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar)

Of course you DON'T need to cook it in a clay pot. This can be done in a rice cooker or a Dutch oven.

Coat the bottom of the pot with oil.

Add the cup of rice and water to the pot. Put the lid on and put the pot on high flames to bring the water to a boil. Here's the tricky part which I didn't master. Many recipes I found online have different ways of telling when the rice is ready or different times. A person said to put the lid on and cook for 10mins while another person said when the water is about 80% gone. I feel it's hard to go by minutes because it depends on how much rice you're cooking. Also none of them were clear if I was suppose to cook it for 10mins after the water boils or 10mins total.

So I kind of went with my gut. Spoilers, at the end the rice could've used another 5-7mins of cooking. Next time...

While the rice is cooking, occasionally stir the rice. This is to prevent the rice from sticking to the pot.

When the rice is about/close to done aka 80% of the water is gone, place the sausages, pork belly, muy choi (rinsed and chopped) on top of the rice. Put the lid back on, lower the flame to low, and let it cook for 13mins.

OK, so here's a tough part. After 13mins, turn the flames to high and tilt the pot at an angle. The point here is to create the popular crusty/crispy rice that everyone loves. But to do that, you have to cook the sides as well. I found it difficult to hold the pot tilting it on all the different sides while trying not to burn my hands. Gotta figure this one out too. Online says, about 2mins on all sides.

After you're done cooking the sides, turn the heat off, and just let everything steam inside for 10mins. This is a good time to prep your soy sauce if you're making your own or for me, figuring out how to style this. Food styling isn't my strong point.

After it has been steaming for 10mins, take the lid off and drizzle the soy sauce and finish it with some scallions. I served it with some bok choy.

Of course if you're being fancy and sharing it with someone, take the sausages and pork belly out and slice them.

Hopefully you'll have some crispy rice....unlike mine.

Stir Fried Cellophane Noodles With Beef Balls

I grew up eating cellophane noodles aka fun-c in Cantonese (translates to noodle threads). It's a must for hot pot! They're awesome in soups but I really love stir frying them with shacha sauce (Chinese barbecue sauce). This recipe is super easy and quick. I prefer using the brand of noodles in the pink plastic wrap because they come individually bundled. All you need to do to prepare the noodles is soak them in water for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, drain, and pull the noodles apart. If not, they will clump together when you stir fry them, happened to me few times.

Serves 1 Things you'll need: Cellophane noodles (The package comes in 8 separate bundles of noodles each tied with a string. 1 bundle is perfect for 1 person) 1 package of beef balls (Or squid or fish or cuttlefish or slices of chicken or slices of beef or pork belly...you get the idea) Vegetables (Basically whatever green stuff you feel like eating) 1 tablespoon shacha sauce (I got mine at my local Chinese supermarket) 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 clove of garlic, sliced Sesame oil Cooking wine (Or mirin) Salt + pepper

Steps: Put the cellophane noodles in a bowl and top it off with water. Let it soak for 10mins then drain then pull it apart and set it aside.

While the noodles are soaking, prepare your beef balls (I sliced them in half) and vegetables (rinse and chop).

In a hot pan on medium heat, drizzle about 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and toss in the garlic. Cook for about 30 secs or until you can smell the garlic.

Toss in the beef balls. The beef balls are already cooked when you buy them at the store, you're just heating them back up. Cook for a minute or two then add your vegetables. I used yu choi because that's what I had in the fridge. Napa cabbage is great too! Cook for 2 mins or until the stems are tender.

Add the cooking wine, about 2 tablespoons. Mix mix mix.

Add in the noodles, stir stir stir.

Add soy sauce and shacha sauce. Stir to mix everything and cook for another minute or so.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Panko Crusted Brioche French Toast Grilled Cheese

A grilled cheese and French toast (well more Hong Kong style French toast), yes yes. So this is what happens when you go and buy a bag of panko and would like to finish it by panko crusting everything.

This is a pretty easy thing to make. I bought a loaf of brioche from Caputo's Bake Shop in Carroll Gardens. They supply bread to a lot of the restaurants in the neighborhood. Super old school bakery. If Trader Joe wasn't so crazy on a Saturday, would've gone there and gotten their Texas toast. I love thick toast. But look at this loaf of bread. It's so beautiful. Smells amazing too.

Things you'll need: Bread (Any thick toast) Cheese (Any cheese you like for grilled cheese) 2 eggs Avocado Prosciutto (Or any cured meats) Butter Hot honey (Or any spicy condiment) Panko Salt + pepper

Steps: Use whatever bread you like but something thick and sturdy enough that will not break apart while being soaked in the egg.

Scramble 2 eggs and pour it onto a plate or anything flat. Lay the 2 pieces of bread on the egg and let it absorb the egg (just one side though). While the slices of bread are soaking, cut open an avocado, remove pit, and cut into slices.

Sprinkle a tray with panko and grate some parmesan cheese onto it. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well. Then lay the slices of bread (egg soaked side) onto the panko, press down gently.

On one slice, drizzle hot honey (I used Mike's Hot Honey) or sriracha or sambal or whatever spicy thing you like.

On the other slice, grate copious amount of parmesan cheese (or use Kraft singles or whatever cheese you like) then lay slices of avocado (season with salt + pepper) and prosciutto. Top with more parmesan cheese.

Get a pan hot and add a lot of butter (or oil). Hong Kong style French toast is basically bread soak in egg and fried. Lets say 2 tablespoon of butter. Once the butter melts, place the slice of bread with the avocado and prosciutto into the pan. Then place the other slice of bread (with the panko side facing up) on top of the other slice.

Get another pan or a spatula and put it on top of the sandwich. Press down.

Flip the sandwich once the bottom is golden brown. Then with the pan or spatula, press the sandwich down again. It's ready to consume once the other side is golden brown.

Stir Fried Bulgur With Chinese Sausage

A while back when Mile End took over the kitchen at Threes Brewing, they had a super delicious salad of bulgur and kale. I can't remember ever having bulgur before then but this really stuck on me. Then one time I found myself in Damascus on Atlantic Ave, buying a bag of lentils. And right underneath the lentils were bags of bulgur. I didn't think about what I'll make but decided to buy it anyways.

After cooking bulgur in way too many miso soups, I kind of got bored eating it and left it alone. Then one day, I had a craving for fried rice but of course I had no rice in the apartment. BUT I did have half a bag of bulgur.

So I came up with this... 1 cup of bulgur 2 cups of liquid (water, stock, whatever you like) 2 Chinese sausages Handful of dried shrimp (soak for 10mins and optional) Handful of any leafy green Couple peppers Couple scallions 2 cloves of garlic 1 heaping tablespoon of miso paste 2 tablespoons of soy sauce Sesame oil Salt + pepper

I wanted to SPICE up the bulgur so instead of cooking them in regular old water, I cooked them in miso soup.

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add a tablespoon of miso paste. Stir to dissolve the miso paste. Then add in 1 cup of bulgur. Once the liquid is boiling again, lower it to a low and let it simmer for 15-20mins, covered, or till the bulgur is cooked through. Make sure to know which type of bulgur you have. I bought the uncooked version. There are bulgur that has been parboiled already.

While the bulgur is cooking, chop and dice the rest of the ingredients. When the bulgur is done cooking, drain the liquid if there is any. Though, save the liquid, it is miso soup pretty much.

Add oil to a hot pan and toss in the Chinese sausages and dried shrimp. Cook for 1 minute and add the garlic. Stir to mix. After a minute, toss in any vegetables you like. I had couple sweet peppers and some baby bok choy. Give everything a good stir and cook till the peppers and veggies are done.

Add in the bulgur, soy sauce, dash of sesame oil, and stir. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Turn heat off and add in the scallions.

The great thing about fried rice or chow mein or stir fried bulgur is that anything can go in it. It's great to cook when you have lots of random stuff in the fridge. A little bit of this...a little bit of that.