Home-made Beef Dumplings

Living in Taiwan, dumplings are all around. We can buy cooked , frozen, and freshly made. Wrappers (dough) are also available. Around the world, I know there are also Asian Store selling dumplings. But there are people prefer to make by themselves.

Out of curiosity, I made dumplings today! It was really a struggle making the dough and shaping it into a circle. In the beginning, I used dish to cut the edges. I think I made too thick, at the end everything stick to each other. I have to repeat the process by making it a little bit smaller and doing it one at a time. The stuffing inside is a little bit dry, but the  taste is good! Next time I know how to do it better!

200g flour
1 cup cold water
1 cup ground beef
2 scallion (chopped)
25g baby ginger
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
drop of spice oil (I used olive oil)
chili powder (optional)
pepper powder

Chop scallion and ginger. In a bowl, combine ground beef, scallion, ginger, and seasoning well.

Combine flour and water, knead into smooth, set aside for 10 minutes. Divide into small pieces, roll each dough into flat.

Place a teaspoonful of stuffing in the middle of the wrapper. Fold it into a dumpling,or put a loophole at both sides.

In a pan, heat 2 tablespoon of oil and fry the beef dumplings for about 4 minutes or until both sides golden brown.

Dumpling has something to do with New Year

(more fortune)

Happy New Year to All!

Food Trip Friday

Food Friday

Pancit from Susies

Luscious Saturday

Yummy Sunday

Sent from iPhone

Beef Teriyaki with Rice and Vege

Foodtrip Friday
Food Friday

Sent from iPhone

Weekend Food Tour: Duke's Deli

Afternoon Tea @ Duke's Deli

Freshly brewed cappuccino

Yummy Cheese Cake

Most of all, free WIFI

Busy, busy, busy!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
I'll be in the Philippines for Christmas, yipee!

Food Trip Friday

Food Friday
Luscious Saturday
Yummy Sunday

Simple Coconut Lamingtons

Sponge cake rolled in dark chocolate and coconut. My first time to make lamingtons, and I think I like this kind of cake because I can adjust the sweetness oficing and I can put more of coconut for coating. I adapted the recipe from Mmmm... Baking Cookbook.

For sponge cake:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 cup (150g) butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoon milk

1/2 cup coconut (dried)

For icing/coating:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used dark chocolate from Godiva)

1/2 cup boiling water

5 tablespoon butter

2 cups dried coconut

Pre-heat the to 180°C (350°F).  Grease the square cake pan. In a large bowl, stir in the flour and baking powder. Add the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Beat well until the batter is smooth, stir in the milk and coconut. Place in a cake pan and smooth the surface with spatula. Bake for 30-40 mintues or until the cake is risen and golden brown. Let it cool. When the cake is cold, cut into squares.

Fo the icing, stir in sugar and chocolate powder in a bowl. Add hot water and butter and contunue stirring until smooth. Spread out the coconut on a large plate.  Dip each piece of sponge cake into the icing, then toss in coconut to cover. Place on a sheet of wax paper (parchment paper) and let set.

Tasty Tuesday

Tasty Tuesdays Blog Hop

Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays

Tuesdays at the Table

Sauteed Fresh Corn in Butter

Sent by iPhone

Nothing fancy, I found this fresh corn in traditional market.

I sauteed in butter, then seasoned with salt and pepper.

Have a great week ahead!

My Meatless Monday

MM Meatless Monday #11

Mellow Yellow Monday

Straight Out of My Camera Sunday

Weekend Food Tour: Grilled Salmon Soup Rice

I'm not cooking lately, busy with everyday errands. For this weekend tour, I'm sharing what I had for dinner when I was in Hong Kong last month. I forgot the name of this Japanese Restaurant, it's located in iSquare Mall. I had this salmon in rice with soup + green tea.

The appetizer/side dish - tofu in sesame sauce and cucumber

the soup...

grilled salmon and rice

the mixture...

yum...

for only HK$95 :)

Happy Weekend!

Weekend Food Tour

Luscious Saturday

Yummy Sunday

Easiest Shrimp Wanton

I guess this is the easiest way to prepare shrimp wanton. I just sauteed shrimp in sesame oil, seasoned with salt and pepper. Using wanton wrapper, I wrapped the shrimp individually. Boiled water, drop the wanton until they float.

They looked darker because I accidentally dropped soysauce in hot water :) Just prepare sauce of your choice.

Foodtrip Friday

Food Friday

Home-made Dark Chocolate Truffles

OK fine, I'm a chocolate eater only if it's dark. Sometimes, I can eat a box (12 pieces) in one sitting while watching TV. It would be nice if I will learn how to make chocolate, as a start I have here Truffles. Truffles are very cheap here in Costco, but they are made of milk-chocolate. I made them into cubes instead of cirlces :)

I adapted this recipe from Famous French Dessert. The mistake I made here was I refrigerated the truffles first before I rolled in cocoa powder. That's why the outcome looks like wet.(I know better next time!)

8 oz 70% dark chocolate (break into small pieces)

1 cup cream (I used all purpose)

1 cup cocoa powder (I used Godiva cocoa)

Place the chocolate in a large bowl, then set aside. Slightly boil the cream, pour the cream over chocolate and keep stirring until the chocolates melted. Keep stirring until the gnache (chocolate mix) thickens and warm. Spread the gnache in a wax paper. Slice the gnache into a small cube. Roll the gnache in cocoa powder.

Voila! Home-made Dark Chocolate Truffles!

Note: This can be made into ball, roll it with other toppings like coconut, butter, and other variations.

Tasty Tuesdays
Tuesday Taste
Tuesdays at the Table
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
ABC Food Challenge

Simple Sauteed Beansprout

The cheapest and maybe healthiest side dish for today. I was passing by the Traditional Market and bought a bunch of beansprout for only NT$10 (3 cents). I sauteed it with leeks, seasoned with salt and pepper, dropped a little bit of soy sauce and that's it!

MM Meatless Monday #10

My Meatless Monday

Just Another Meatless Monday

Weekend Food Tour: Bei Hai Dao Hot Pot Soup

After watching Harry Potter, without second thought my friend and I decided to have Hot Pot Soup in our favorite Shabu-Shabu (Huo Guo) Place in Da Zhi.

The vegetables are set menu, there are choices for soup flavor, and noodles or rice. For the sauce, I have a mixture of onion, garlic, chili, green onion, bean paste, and soy sauce.

Some slices of chicken and beef for flavor.

Here it is, just put everything and let it boil...

Be careful, it's really hot...pot...

And for my dessert, I had this warm sweet green beans,

 there are also unlimited choices of fruits, soda, juice, tea, and coffee .

After an hour we had our Traditional Foot and Body Masage,

what a relaxing Satuday :)

Luscious Saturday

Yummy Sunday
Our Weekend Memoirs

Ordinary Buttermilk Scones

I haven't work in my kitchen for a while, I made this long time ago and here I'm sharing it to everyone.

1 1/2 cup self-rising flour (+ extra for dusting)

1 tablespoon powder sugar

pinch of salt

1/3 cup butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg lightly beaten

1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Place a parchment paper in a baking sheet. Sift the flour, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter with fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured counter. Cut out with into circles wit ay size of your choice. Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet, and brush the tops with the reserved milk. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown.

Friday Potluck

Saturday Swap

Home-made Shabu-Shabu

It's time of the year where Hot Pot Soup (Shabu-Shabu) is in season. In Taipei, mostly the restaurants offer Eat All You Can. I decided to make my own, since I have my own electric stove as shown above. The only difference is the sauce. I only have wasabi in soysauce.

Well, some of the flavored ingredients were bought that way. The base soup is just like hot water and I added some seasonings (any of your choice). For the vegetables, I have string mushroom and romaine lettuce.

It's really a comfort food for me, yum!

Food Trip Friday

Food Friday

Fat Camp Friday

Weekend Food Tour: Dried Cuttle Fish

My food tour for this week is just plain dried cuttlefish I had along the harbour in Hong Kong.

The taste is sort of sweet (Cantonese taste) and chewy

It's iron grilled, then shredded in this red machine

A famous snack for tourists

Luscious Saturday

Yummy Sunday

Weekend Food Tour

Chicken and Egg Loaf

I was busy the whole week as usual, I only had this Japanese Style Chicken and Egg Loaf that I remember how to prepare it long time ago. I have 300g ground chicken, 5 boiled eggs, seasonings - mirin, sake, soy sauce, and pepper, plus cornstarch (I only used potato starch).

Saute the chicken with seasonings until cooked. Separate the eggyolks from whites, mashed both and add salt, sugar, and cornstarch. Mix well.

In a baking dish, spread the white eggs at bottom, then the chicken, and last the egg yolks. Steam for 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Food Trip Friday

Food Friday

Note: I'm in HongKong this Friday and Saturday, I'll visit your blog when I get back, cheers!