Classic Chinese chicken rice with Lap Cheong (Chinese cured sausage)

We had a gentle visit by an Alberta Clipper, it was 3*F past weekend. After all these years here in the upper mid-west, I learned how to deal with it. I don't complain about the cold much any more. I choose to live it, there is nothing much to complain about. Plus it's January, it's winter

With days like this, I love comfort food. Here is a classic Chinese winter dish that my family used to make. In Asia, this would be made in a clay pot and it gives the rice that lovely slight toasty flavor. I have a couple of those clay pot, but I chose to cook the rice dish in a regular, the clean up is much easier.

I am using Jasmine rice here, you can use Japanese short-grain rice. I would not recommend using American rice, the texture is not quite right with this. You can make this in a rice cooker. Here is a little secret about me... I am terrible with the rice cooker. The rice never comes out quite right for me.   I learned to cook rice from my All-American ex-husband. When my then husband  found out I didn't know how to cook rice. He was so surprised, I still remembered how he stared at me and said: "What kind of Chinese are you? You can't make rice!!" He made me practice making rice till I get it right, he said I needed to represent my "people". He lived in Hawai'i, he learned the Asian "knuckle water measuring" method from one of his Vietnamese girlfriend...

The sausage I used here is a "lean" version. It is made with chicken instead of pork. I made a dark soy sauce to top off the rice, it's Singaporean style. You can find the sausage, dark soy in most Asian store such as United Noodles here is Minneapolis. The sausage is usually in the refrigerated case and the dark soy is in the Chinese section.

You can use different protein in this. I may make a vegetarian version next weekend since my yoga teacher is back form Hawai'i. I have someone help me eat!!

Chinese Chicken Rice with Lap Cheong Sausage

3-4 skinless and boneless chicken thigh, cleaned, excess fat removed. Cut into 1" bite size pieces
2 Chinese Lap Cheong, I am using a chicken version. Washed

1 1/2cups jasmine rice
About 1 3/4 cups water
Chicken marinade:
1" piece of ginger, peeled
3-4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine or Sherry
1 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp grounded dry ginger
salt and pepper
Sauce: 
1 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp dark soy

1 tbsp sesame oil
Garnish:

Chopped green onion
Cilantro - roughly chopped
Fried shallots

Directions:
Using a ginger grinder, grind about 3/4" of the ginger. Set aside

In small bowl, mix together the marinade,

squeeze the juice from the grind ginger in to the marinade. Discard the dry ginger.

Add the marinade to the chicken and set aside in the fridge to season for about 15-30 mins.

Cut the washed sausage in diagonal pieces

Place the washed rice in a largo pot. Add water and check the water level by the Knuckle method: Level the rice in the pot , the water should come up to the first joint of your knuckle. Same method apples to the rice cooker.

Bring the rice to a boil over medium high heat uncover. Add chicken and sausage, 

Stir the meat into the rice

Lower heat to low, then cover. Let the rice cook for about 20 mins. Turn off the heat, do not open the cover and let it steam for about 10 additional mins. Fluffy the rice with a fork.

Transfer the rice to a clay pot or casserole.
Drizzle with soy sauce, top with green onion, cilantro and fried shallots, or you can serve the garnish on the side and let everyone choose how much topping one would like!

Serve 6 as an entree

Enjoy
Aloha!

Thanksgiving Leftover Hawaiian Style - Turkey "Jook"

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and a yum yum meal. I think it is a "tradition" to have leftover. As we would make sandwiches, turkey casserole on the mainland, those of us from the Islands have our special tradition with Turkey leftover, we make "Jook"!

"Jook" 粥 in Chinese or "Juk" in Korean both mean rice porridge, or sometimes referred as congee. Each family has their own special recipe of making Jook. It is simply boiled rice in a lot of water or stock to make a rice soup. 

As many would do after the big dinner, I took the roasted turkey carcass and boil it down to make a thick stock. There is not really a recipe. I just put break down the carcass, put in the vegetable leftover that I used to roast the turkey into a big pot. Cover with water and let it cook low for a few hours. Remove all the bones and vegetable, strain the stock and store in a few containers (2 cups each is my prefernce) and freeze it. I keep the base stock simple so that I can use the stock for both Asian as well as Western dishes.

This a very simple recipe. Another way to enjoy turkey leftover... especially on those cold winter night.. (It's 34 outside and rainning) 

Turkey Jook with Lettuce and roasted seaweed

1/3 cup rice, washed, raised and drained
2 cups turkey stock
2 cups water 
1 cup bite size leftover turkey meat
2 cup shredded romaine lettuce
1/4 cup chopped green onion
Sesame oil
Salt and better to taste
Optional: Korean roasted seasoned seaweed. You can also get the sheet version of roasted seaweed at Trader Joe (it's in the snack section by the popcorn), cut it into strips or tear in up in smaller pieces

Toasted sesame seeds
Directions
Place rice in a medium size pot

Add water and stock

Bring to a boil, lower heat to med low. Cover and let the porridge cook for about an hour. Check and stir every now and then to make sure the rice is sticking to the bottom.

The porridge is ready when the rice "flower", starts to disintergrate.

Add turkey meat, stir and let it cook for about 10 mins. Check seasoning, add salt and pepper to taste.

Place 1 cup of lettuce in each large soup bowl.

Laddle hot boiling soup into each bowl

Sprinkle with green onion

Top with a handful of roasted seaweed. (I love seaweed, if you are not sure, start with less). The porridge is wonderful without the topping.

Drizzle a little of sesame

And a sprinkle of toasted sesame seed

To eat: mix everything together... Now, this is comfort food to me...
Made 3 cups, 2 dinner serving.

Enjoy

Aloha

Not Julia or Julie's Boeuf Bourguignon, but Kūlia's

Here I am... my first posting!! I would like to start with honoring one of my favorite Food author, Julia Child. Since I didn't grow up in this country, my memory of her only goes back to my college days.

I was visiting my college best friend, Matt, last weekend and we watched Julie and Julia. Matt and I used to cooked together "Julia Child's cooking show" style. 
Actually Matt was the one who encouraged me to start this blog, so this is for you too Matthew. It can't be more appropriate to post my version of Boeuf Bourguignon.

So here it is my version, I use a lot more vegetable and I don’t use pork or bacon in this variation.

Kūlia's Beef Bourguignon



• ½ bottle (about 2 cups) of good red wine



• 1 large onion, peeled and cut in quarters



• 2 carrots, peeled and cut in large chunks



• 1 stalk celery, trimmed and cut in 1” pieces



• 1 green pepper, trimmed, cleaned and cut in 1” pieces



• 1 leek, trimmed, cleaned and cut in 1” pieces



• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced



• 4 shallots, peeled and cut in quarters



• 12 parsley stems



• 2 teaspoon dried thyme



• 2 teaspoon dried rosemary



• 8 black peppercorns



• 2 bay leaf



• 8 ozs white mushrooms, cleaned



• Small jar of Dijon mustard



• 3 pounds well-marbled beef chuck, cut into 2-inch pieces



• 8 tablespoon olive oil



• ¼ cup tablespoon flour



• 2 cup stock



• salt and pepper to taste



• 1 tbsp butter



• 1 tbsp flour


• Chopped parsley leaves


Directions



In a large bowl, combine the red wine, onion, carrots, celery, 
green pepper, leek, garlic, parsley stems, 1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp rosemary, 
peppercorns and bay leaves.Add the beef, mix well. 
Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day drain the beef, reserving the marinade and vegetables 
separately. I usually separate the onion, garlic and shallots from the 
other vegetables. Discard the peppercorns, and parsley stems. 

Heat 6 tbsp olive oil in large fry pan over high heat, brown beef in batches evenly, remove beef to a large bowl.

In large pot, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat, add garlic, 
shallot and onion to the pan, saute till soften. Add beef to the large pot. 
Remove from heat

Meanwhile, add the remaining vegetable and mushroom to the pan you 
browned the beef in, cook over high heat for a few mins. 
Add the vegetable to the large pot

Add the reserved marinade liquid to the pan to deglaze. Bring to boil. Taste and season with salt and pepper. 

Add the liquid to the large pot, coat the meat and vegetable well. 

Add the remaining rosemary and thyme. 

Add in the jar of Dijon Mustard. Mix well.

Add more wine and stock if need. The liquid should almost cover 
the meat and vegetable. Bring the mixture to a boil, season with salt and pepper. 

Cover and simmer at low heat for about 2 hrs till the meat is folk tender.

Remove the stew to a large bowl. Drain the liquid, add stock or water to 
make up to about 3 cups. 

In the same pot, heat 1 tablespoon of butter, add 1 tablespoon of flour to 
make a roux. Slowly add the liquid into the roux over very low heat 
with a whisk, make sure you don’t have many lumps.

Bring to a boil and stir constantly till thickens lightly. Add the meat and 
vegetable back in and coat. 

Serve. Garnish with chopped parley. 

I love to serve this with low fat mashed yukon potatoes topped with parsley pesto on a cold winter night.

Here is my boys, sharing their TV dinner! 

Aloha & BON APPÉTIT!