Technique: Reheating a Chinese Glutinous Rice Tamale (粽, Zung3)

This posting was updated on 07 Feb 2016. The title and opening text were changed.

This is not a recipe, but a technique to reheat a Chinese glutinous rice tamale. I’ve also heard it referred to in English as a dumpling, but it’s too huge to be called a dumpling!

So what is a Chinese glutinous rice tamale? Unlike the tamale you’re probably familiar with consisting of corn husks wrapped around masa with a meat filling, the Cantonese version consists of bamboo leaves wrapped around glutinous (sticky) rice with pork belly meat, Cantonese pork sausage, and a salted duck egg yolk. In addition, you can also find mung beans, peanuts, chestnut, dried shrimp, Shiitake mushrooms, and other goodies in the tamale, depending upon the source (usually homemade). There are many other Chinese regional tamale variations, as well as sweet versions. Whether or not you’re lucky enough to know someone who makes the tamales themselves (homemade always being the best) or if you buy the tamales at an Asian market, you’ll need to reheat them. Here’s a (relatively) fast method to do so.

Enjoy!

Braised Pork Spareribs with Fermented Bean Curd (腐乳排骨, Fu6 Jyu5 Paai4 Gwat1)

This recipe was updated on 07 Sep 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed.

This is another favorite pork sparerib recipe using fermented bean curd. Since I like the taste of fermented bean curd, I use a lot. Unless you’re familiar with the taste of this ingredient, you might want to use less until you’re comfortable with the taste.

Black or wood ear fungus are available either fresh or dried, and either whole or sliced. The dried version needs to be rehydrated with hot water and the volume expands greatly, so don’t be deceived by the seemingly small amount of the dried version. The fresh version needs to be washed. The hard inedible stems should be removed from both versions. Whole or sliced cloud or wood ear fungus works well in this dish. If you can’t find cloud or wood ear fungus at your local Asian market, there’s really no substitute for this ingredient.

Enjoy!

Steamed Fish (蒸魚, Zing1 Jyu6)

 

This recipe was updated on 18 Aug 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

When I was a small child, I didn’t like fish. Now that I’m and adult, it’s one of my favorites. Whenever my family gets together at a Chinese restaurant, a steamed whole fish is almost always on the menu. Whenever I prepare fish at home, a whole fish is usually too much (food), so I get a fish tail, in this case a black bass. The advantage to getting a whole fish is that you get the freshest fish (since you pick the fish from the tank to be dispatched) and you get to eat the fish cheeks (the most delectable part), while with the fish tail, the fish has already been dispatched and prepared some time before. While the best tasting fish is “freshly dead” (for you Young Frankenstein fans), almost “freshly dead” isn’t too bad. Regardless if the fish is whole or not, the cooking technique is the same.

 

I’ve always steamed the fish and just left it in its juices, but after looking at the Steamed Fish Recipe at Rasa Malaysia, removing the fish from cooking juice before serving is a better method. This also makes for a better presentation, since you can steam the fish in one plate and then place it on a platter with freshly cooked vegetables if you choose to do so. The recipe’s steaming time is for 8 minutes, which seems like a short amount of time since I’ve always steamed fish for 15 minutes, but 8 minutes works great. Now I steam fish for 8 minutes.

The fish is always finished with heated oil and a soy sauce mixture. You can use a small pot or a wok to heat the mixtures, but I’ve been using the microwave to heat the soy sauce mixture. As always, you need to be very careful when you pour heated oil and liquids on the fish, as the hot oil and liquid will pop and splatter off the fish. Finally, the fish was placed on a bed of baby bok choy. This is optional and while it does make for a good presentation, you need to precook the baby bok choy before putting the steamed fish on it. Again, I use the microwave to zap the baby bok choy on the presentation plate.

Enjoy!

Grilled Saffron Chicken Breasts

My sister gave me some saffron from Indonesia and I’ve been wondering how to use it since it’s not a familiar ingredient to me. The local newspaper published a recipe for Persian Grilled Quail that uses saffron, lime juice, and olive oil as a marinade before grilling, which can also be used for chicken. I adapted the recipe to also use saffron as the brining spice before marinating and grilling the chicken. Cook’s Illustrated has a good guide for brining, where I used the high-heat grilling instructions for the quantity of water, kosher salt, and sugar. I used enough brine to fill a glass bowl with the chicken breasts.

Enjoy!

Mexican Pulled Pork Enchiladas

 

This recipe was updated on 28 Oct 2013. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

This pork for the enchiladas is from the Mexican Pulled Pork (Carnitas) recipe. Since the pork preparation takes time, I always make more than is needed in order to make other dishes. Homemade salsa is used as part of the filling for the enchiladas, and the pickled vegetables (in this case carrots and onions) and chopped cabbage are the accompaniments to this dish. The enchiladas themselves don’t take very long to make, but if the Mexican pulled pork and/or the homemade salsa is not available, substitute another available ingredient.

Enjoy!

Mexican Pulled Pork (Carnitas)

This recipe was updated on 13 Aug 2013. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

This recipe was adapted from the Mexican Pulled Pork recipe at America’s Test Kitchen. Their original premise was to develop a recipe that did involve lard or deep frying to produce the carnitas’ crispy outside. Their solution, after oven-braising the pork in a Dutch oven, was to use the broiler after coating the pork with a reduction of the remaining liquid and fat. The method works great and I’ve modified their technique to use the barbeque grill instead of the broiler to get a smokier flavor incorporated into the pork. I also use beer and tequila, instead of water, and adjusted the spices to braise the pork. Any leftovers can be used to make Mexican Pulled Pork Enchiladas.

The resulting carnitas are soft on the inside and a crispy brown on the outside, with that distinctive smoked flavor from the grill. Homemade salsa and pickled vegetables (in this case carrots and onions), and chopped cabbage are the accompaniments to this dish. This is an all-afternoon type recipe, but the results are worth it.

Enjoy!

Salsa

This recipe was updated on 20 Jan 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Homemade salsa tastes best with homegrown tomatoes and hot peppers, but store-bought tomatoes and peppers work well too. The heat of the salsa will depend upon how hot the peppers used in the recipe are, which means that you can never tell until a batch of the salsa is made and tasted. The recipe below is for a “normal” batch of salsa to be used with the Mexican Pulled Pork (Carnitas) recipe. I actually made a huge batch of salsa because I intended to also use the salsa as a part of the filling for the Mexican Pulled Pork Enchiladas recipe. You actually can’t make too much salsa since it goes well with tortilla chips.

Enjoy!