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Hong Kong Baked Pork Chop

Ok. This is a really simple recipe with what I can find at home (and you should too). Baked Pork Chops are one of the dishes I order when I would dine in at an Asian Cafe in Alhambra/San Gabriel area. Why? Because it's always one of the safest dishes to order. Kind of like.. ordering Pad Thai at a Thai restaurant or Pho in a Vietnamese restaurant. Get it?

Back to pork chop.

I got 4 slices of pork probably totaling 2 pounds. I seasoned both sides with salt, white pepper and a little garlic powder. The chops were dusted light with some flour.

Heat up your pan with a few tablespoons of olive oil (or your oil of preference) and cook pork until nice and golden on each side.

For the rice portion of this dish, I made fried rice. Just a very basic garlic fried rice. I sauteed some minced garlic in the same pan as my pork (I have a large Scanpan), and dropped some white Jasmine rice that I made (3 and a 1/2 scoop was rinsed and cooked on the dryer side). After most of the moisture is cooked out of the rice, 6 eggs were beat before dousing it over the rice. The rice was just seasoned with salt, soy sauce and white pepper. Feel free to throw in some frozen peas and carrots if you have any, I was just salvaging what I had at home. 

The fried rice was cooked on high heat until the most of the moisture was gone. This is not my official fried rice recipe, so chill if you don't like this. Feel free to use plain white rice as well.

The tomato sauce was made from:

  • one 28oz (or around this size) can of crushed tomatoes
  • mixed with 1/2 a cup of ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar (the tomatoes I had were tart)
  • 3-5 minced garlic (depending on how large your cloves are)
  • 1 teaspoon of white pepper

Everything was cooked down for about 15 minutes.

Layer your fried rice (or plain rice), top with a layer of your tomato sauce, layer your pork, add more sauce, top with cheddar cheese, and then put it in your broiler for 10 minutes.

Enjoy while it's still hot!

Yes, there isn't anything crazy about the recipe. This again, is something you should be able to find in your kitchen. For the tomato sauce, you can find more ingredients to add in and the same goes for the fried rice. The tomato sauce for this is supposed to be sweet, so don't freak out. I love to add carrots to the to the tomato sauce and let the sweetness of that carry over the sauce. You can also splash a little cream in your tomato sauce to thicken it a bit as well.

Honestly, this dish is basically fried rice, with sweet tomato sauce, fried pork with cheese melted on top.

Feel free to share your recipe. I've been really busy, so a dish like this where I don't have to think hard on specific ingredients is my go to. There are many versions to make this, but I don't have time to marinade anything, and I definitely don't have some seasonings that recipes asks for... but this was comforting! So yeah, I don't care.

I have enough for lunch it it only costed be less than $10 for 4 meals. Stay tuned for a fried rice recipe.

Daiisies

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Bun Rieu

Hi Guys! It's been a while, but I am back after a busy week. If you follow my Instagram: daiisies_eat, you will see a post I made of Bun Rieu.

My mom called me on my way home from work to let me know she made some Vietnamese noodle soup for me to take home. I didn't know what to expect, but I knew I was going to enjoy it. I think when it comes to flavor, I get that from my mom. But when it comes to creativity, I get that from my dad. Because everything my mom makes, I love. My dad? I'm not sure I know where to start... but he definitely gets an A for reaching out of the box... (sorry pops!).

Upon arrival to my moms, I noticed she was lugging out this huge bag. I wasn't sure what was inside besides "Vietnamese Noodles". I kept thinking it was Pho, because... heck we are Chinese, since when did my mom know how to make anything Vietnamese?

After parking my car, I did the usual with grabbing my phone, keys, bag, lunch pale, and then the dinner my mom made. It was HEAVIER than I expected. If my neighbors didn't know who I was, they would've probably assumed I stole something with my expression.

Mystery Pot

Well, you guys already know what's inside since the post reads Bun Rieu and it was also mentioned in the beginning of this post. But, DENG just look at this. She was not kidding about dinner. It was literally Bun Rieu for days. She was smart to put newspaper underneath, because it was spilling the way that I was driving.

What's inside?! Ford wonders too.

Vermicelli noodles? Definitely not pho. My buddy boy there was intrigued with the smell too. On top of the loaded Vermicelli noodles were different herbs: mint (different kinds), Coriander, basil, and leafy romaine.

Bun RIEU!

My heart exploded. Bun Rieu is a tomato based soup with crab, ground pork and shrimp, and some eggs mixed in throughout the soup. For this soup, my mom added pork feet and pork bone.

Put these babies together and you get:

The pork meat balls were mixed with shrimp. The soup had a strong crab shell flavor (Amazing). The pork feet has a nice gelatinous texture that I love. No it is not disgusting. I grew up eating this and probably had some when I was in my mums belly. I slurred in some thai spicy chili garlic paste to excel the flavors. It was a super hot day from what I remember. If I closed my eyes, I could swear I was in Asia. With the sweat dripping down my brows, the bubbles of sweat coming out of my back saying hello... and the awesome sweat stash that is haunting me for days.

Oh crap I just remembered that my mom made me wontons as well! I will update this with the recipe once my mom decides to teach me.

Now... go call your mom, and tell her you love her.. so she will make you some dinner.

Happy slurping.

Daiisies

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Mini pounder with macerated strawberries and lemon cream

I must be crazy to bake in 99 degree weather. But we all need to satisfy our cravings somehow. I wanted to find a simple pound cake to use for this recipe. Unfortunately, the world currently loves pumpkin, banana, and zucchini pound cake at the moment, because I could not find any plain loafs. I decided to make my own, and if you have a local bakery near you that serves awesome pound cake, feel free to use that.

Recipe Pound Cake (2-3 servings):

  • 4 tablespoons of butter. Softened / room temp.
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup of flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons of cream
  • snibble of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

I used my Kitchen Aid mixer for this. I creamed together the sugar and butter. The egg yolks are then added followed by the cream and vanilla. All the dry ingredients can be mixed in a separate bowl to be poured into your wet ingredients. Once your batter is finished, pour in a small baking dish that's been buttered.

Depending on your oven, this was baked for 30 minutes at 350 in my Breville Smart Oven (best oven ever).

Recipe Lemon Cream:

I used the pastry cream recipe from my Pear Tart. With that recipe, I added 1 tablespoon of lemon zest, and 1 whole juicy lemon. (The lemon flavors will be reinforced with the macerated strawberries). The pastry cream recipe will make more than you will need, but I like to keep some laying around to make quick tarts or vanilla wafer dishes.

Macerated lemon strawberries Recipe:

  • 1/2 a lemon of juice
  • Zest 1 tablespoon of lemon
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • 1 cup of strawberries (tops removed and halved).

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and let it sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.

I'm not a professional baker and mostly create random things on the go. I'm sure there are plenty of delicious recipes out there, but these are quick, easy, and ingredients you can probably find in your kitchen.

Happy Baking! Just one more week of heat before it cools down!

Daiisies

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Holiday Cheer

2015 is almost over. Yes we are barely in October, but I'm already listening to Christmas songs on Pandora. The weather in Los Angeles hasn't been the greatest, and it really feels as if the fall spirit is gone. I need the holiday weather to happen now so all the fun stuff can fall into place. But of course, since I am already listening to Christmas songs, you can guess I'm already jumping ahead.

I made a pear tart the other day because there was finally rain... at least for 10 minutes or so. But I went on a cozy-comfort food-holiday cooking splurge.

Velveeta Mac n Cheese-Jalapeno-Bacon-Mapled

Recipe:

  • 1 Box of Velveeta shell cheddar Mac n Cheese
  • 1/2 a Jalapeno (depends on how spicy your Jalapeno is and how spicy you want it to be)
  • 5 strips of bacon. Because bacon is always good.

Preheat the oven at 400 degrees layering your bacon on a sheet pan (I line it with parchment). At 10-12 minutes, take a peek to see how your bacon is doing because all ovens are different. Once your bacon start crisping up, I take maple syrup and drizzle it on 2 strips of bacon. As it sizzles, remove the 3 bacon without the syrup and let it soak on some paper towels. The other 2 in the oven with the syrup, make sure to keep an eye on because it can burn quick. I sprinkled just a little kosher salt because I used low sodium bacon. Flipped the bacon and added a little more syrup with just a hint more salt.

I chopped up the 3 strips of bacon and mixed it into the Mac n Cheese with the Jalapenos. (The Mac is made standard according to the box). I got some panko bread crumbs, tossed it with the bacon fat and let the heat toast the crumbs before putting them on top of the dish. Layer your mapled bacon and there you go! comfort Mac Bacon Cheese Jalapeno something!

** So yummy. I don't recommend you sticking this into the fridge to preheat it in the oven because the cheese does dry out.

Chile/spiced rubbed chicken

Find the recipe HERE.

Basically, follow the recipe in the link, minus the honey and lemon.

I oiled a baking dish with 5 cloves of smashed garlic. A little salt was sprinkled as well. After patting dry and layering the chicken (about 2-3 pounds) I sprinkled the rub on top followed by some olive oil. Massage the rub and oil onto the skin.

The chicken was baked at 375 for 40-45 minutes and I will gradually increase the temperature to 400 at around 30-35 minutes (depends on your oven and chicken size). Don't be intimidated by the crust, it is just blackened and it is delicious.

A simple store bought coleslaw mix was served with this meal. I had hearts glowing all over my face.

Are you ready for the holidays? We wait the whole year for this! why not start early?

Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy COoking!

Daiisies

 

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Pear Tart

It's finally raining and cooling down out here in Los Angeles. Well I wouldn't really call it rain since it stopped for a few hours, but I am anticipating a lot heavy pours this year *fingers cross*. I've been almost indoors all day with the exception of getting some groceries. Cooking and baking becomes so enjoyable in this weather. I am loaded up with a lot of coffee to not get sucked into this hibernating weather. It's so tempting to grab my cat, Ford, and snuggle with him under the sheets. Yeah he will try to fight his way out, but sooner or later he gets tired and just lays there, and tells me he hates me and how much I smell like bacon.

I decided to bake today. Just to remind you guys, I am a terrible baker. To follow recipes step by step is such a task for me. I don't think I've ever made a sweet baked dish that came out exactly what I wanted, because I would miss a step.... or 6...

Tornado Pear Tart Recipe:

Crème pâtissière (sounds sexier than Pastry Cream):

  • 2 Cups of whole milk
  • 1/4 cup + 1/3 cups of sugar
  • 1 Egg + 2 Egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
  • 2 Tablespoons of butter
  • 1/4 cup of flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon of Baking Powder

Heat the 2 cups of milk with the 1/4 cup of sugar on medium high heat and stir occasionally. In a separate mixing bowl, I mixed the eggs, 1/3 cup of sugar, a pinch of salt, and the 1/4 cups of flour (make sure to whisk until smooth).

When your milk starts to simmer, I removed it from the heat and ladle very slowly into the egg mixture while whisking at the same time. Because I'm paranoid, I slowly added about half the milk and whisking it like crazy before putting it back into the pot. I then put the pot back on the stove, but on medium low. The creme is whisked until it gets to a thick-gloopy consistency. Like this:

Crème pâtissière

When it gets to a thick yogurt consistency, I then add the 2 tablespoons of butter and the 1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract. Whisk again and pour it into a bowl with saran wrap on the cream so it does not form a layer. After the temperature drops a little, stick it into the fridge to cool before using.

Crust:

  • 1 Cup of flour
  • 1 stick of butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup of sugar
  • pinch of salt

With a food processor, I put all the dry ingredients and pulsed a few times to mix them evenly. Next I would drop the egg and pulse (you will notice the dough turns into little pebbles). I got the butter, chopped a few chunks, and pulsed it into the flour until it formed a dough. The dough is very soft and a little hard to work with, so I would kneed a little more flour (about 1/4 cup) before forming it into my tart pan.

My tart pan was buttered slightly. I layered the pastry cream on top followed by canned pears I drained and sliced.

SO. Since I suck at following the rules of baking, I totally forgot to pre-bake my stupid tart. Don't forget to do this. Freeze your crust for about 30 minutes so the dough can come back together (Basically fast chilling it). Take a fork and poke your crust a few times allowing steam to escape. After you bake your crust for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees, take it out to let it rest a bit before layering the cream.

About 1/2 the pastry cream goes into the tart. Layer the pears and let it bake for 40 minutes on 350.

Tornado Pear Tart

Ok I think I'm calling it a tornado because my kitchen was a mess afterwards. Since I didn't bake my crust first, I was kind of surprise that it was still passable. I actually roasted the tart in the oven for about 15 minutes, before switching it over to baking. Because when you roast, the heat generates more so from the bottom of the oven, which is what I needed since I'm anticipating the bottom of the crust will be the most difficult to cook.

I added a little sprinkle of sugar around the crust 5 minutes before removing it from the oven. Let it cool for about 15-20 minutes before removing it from the tin (HOT). Slice it and serve with some coffee or tea.

Please don't go nuts on me with the steps that I took to make this. I've already forgiven myself for the crust...

Happy baking!

Daiisies

 

 

 

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