Sweet Red Bean Soup (紅豆湯)

A favorite of mine during the winter time, this warm sweet red bean (aka 紅豆 or azuki bean) soup with homemade glutinous rice balls (小湯圓, made pink and white just like ones you can buy at the store!) reminds me of the cold winters when I was young, and brings a smile to my face... probably due to the side effect of a slight sugar high!

Sweet Red Bean Soup (紅豆湯)

Ingredients
Soup:
- 1/2 cup dried red beans, rinsed
- 3 cups of water for boiling the beans; 2 cups for the soup
- 2 blocks of Chinese brown sugar

Glutinous Rice Balls:
- Two 3/4 cup of glutinous rice flour (糯米), separated into 2 bowls

- 1 tsp red food coloring
- warm water

Steps
1.  Rinse the red beans and place beans and 3 cups of water in a pot to boil.  Once it boils, bring the heat down to low and let it simmer for about 2 to 2.5 hours (yes, these darn beans are super hard and takes a long time to cook!).  Stir beans occassionally.  Note: ensure water is not being boiled off too quickly!

2.  Meanwhile, make the glutinous rice balls by placing 3/4 cup of glutinous flour in a bowl.  Do this again for the second bowl. 

3. Make the white rice balls first by placing about 1 Tbsp of warm water in the bowl and mix with a spoon.  Mix well until a dough forms.  Add flour or water, as needed.  Pinch a small piece from the dough and rub softly against the palms of your hand to roll into a small ball.  Place the ball on a floured plate, separated out and not touching each other.  Repeat until all dough is used to make small rice balls.

4.  Make the red glutinous rice balls by adding 1 tsp of red food coloring to the second bowl of glutinous flour.  Repeat Step 3 above.

5. Immediately place the rice balls in the freezer to freeze (still ensure each rice ball is on the floured plate and not touching each other).

(Pile of rice balls after they are frozen)

6. Once the red beans have been thoroughly cooked and is soft, add about 2 or more cups of water (a lot of the water have been cooked off, so you want to replace them).  Place 2 blocks of Chinese brown sugar (if this is too sweet for you, add some more water).  Cook until brown sugar dissolves.

7. In a separate pot, bring water to boil and toss in the frozen glutinous rice balls.  Cook until all rice balls float to the surface of the water.  Scoop about 2-3 spoonfuls of red bean soup into a bowl.  Using a slotted spoon, scoop desired amount of rice balls and place in the soup bowl.  Now enjoy!

*For the remaining rice balls, use the slotted spoon and place them in the pot of red bean soup.  The next time you enjoy the dessert, the soup and rice balls can be heated up together.

Chocolate Chip Banana Pumpkin Muffins

I like making muffins.  Lately I've been making a habit of making muffins on Sundays as a way to entertain myself (it's been "Football Sunday", which means I get the whole day to myself while the hubby sits in front of the TV from 8 am to 8 pm) and on the plus side, we end up with muffins for breakfast or a snack for the next few days.

Chocolate Chip Banana Pumpkin Muffins
adapted from http://www.cooks.com/

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
- 2 medium overripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt

Tools
- muffin pan
- mixer
- cookie dough scoop (optional)

Steps
1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

2. Mix mashed banana, pumpkin, sugar, milk, oil and egg in mixer until well blended.  Pour in the chocolate chips.

3. In a separate bowl, combine sifted flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

4. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and combine just until mixed (don't over mix!).  Spoon (use a cookie dough scoop if you have one, they are great!) into greased muffin tins.  Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into muffin comes out clean.

Makes 12.

A few tips...
...you can make mini muffin by using a mini muffin pan!  If you don't want to end up with tons of mini banana pumpkin muffins, you can reduce the recipe by half and can probably get close to about 24 mini muffins.
...you can add anything extra as desired, such as pecans, walnuts, or dried cranberry.

Banana Cake Roll

This Thanksgiving weekend went by fast (don't they all...) and I'm really dreading going back to work tomorrow.  I ate a lot, I went crazy during Black Friday shopping (10 pm on Thanksgiving night until 7 am, baby!), and I also enjoyed a few exciting cooking adventures!  I whipped up this Banana Cake Roll for a quick gathering of light eating (although that is never possible with us) and movie-watching at a friend's this past Saturday.

I followed the recipe step by step, so please click here if you want to make this.  I was a bit nervous in making this dessert because one, I suck at baking, and two, this cake calls for delicate rolling of cake.  I foresaw a big disaster coming my way (cake cracking and pieces falling, sticky cream cheese frosting all over, you get the picture...) but it wasn't hard at all!  It's a very easy and simple recipe.  And yum!

Banana Cake Roll

Just Pictures: A Six-Course Meal Deal!

Thanks to BloomSpot, we celebrated our 5-year anniversary yesterday "with style" with a Six-Course Meal for Two for $99 (valued at $170!).  We went home full but not painfully stuffed, satisfied, and happy...

 Chef's complimentary starter - Mushroom Soup and Fried Chorizo Wonton

Hokkaido Scallop Crudo (salmon tartare, crème fraiche, green apple, horseradish & lemon)

Smoke Trout (gingered beets, crème fraiche, orange)

Soup of Potimarron Squash with "Mole" Spices

Wild King Salmon (fingerling potatoes, chorizo, saffron)

Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb (pistachio polenta, lacinato kale, tomato relish, black olive jus)

Warm Chocolate Truffle Cake (condensed milk, vanilla crisp, butterscotch ice cream)

Huckleberry Beignets with Lemon Curd

Happy Anniversary to us! 
We even made a wish and blew out our candles! :))

Marche // Menlo Park, CA

Chicken Stock

Making chicken stock is like knowing how to tie your shoes or drive a car - it is a necessity to (well, for carnivores) cooking.  I use chicken stock in most of my cooking as it adds that extra flavor than plain water would, and I just love it for any Asian noodle soups.  It's easy to make because you can just leave it for hours to simmer while you go off to do something else!

Chicken Stock

Ingredients
- 2 large chicken leg quarters
- 3 quarts of water
- 1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 3 stalks of celery, cut into 4 pieces
- 1 carrot, rough chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
- salt to taste

Tools
- stockpot
- colander

Steps
1. Chop up chicken quarters into 3 inch chunks (this makes it easier to cook the meat).  Place chicken pieces in a large stockpot with enough water to cover. Bring to boil over high heat and cook for 5 minutes to get rid of blood particles. Drain, reserve the meaty bones, and rinse the pot well.

2. Return chicken pieces to the same stockpot, add 3 quarts of water, onions, celery, carrots, bay leaf, and black peppercorns.  Bring to boil over high heat, and then reduce heat to low.  Let simmer for 3 hours until around 2 quarts.  Ocassionally skim off any foam from the surface.  Salt broth to taste.  Strain and discard solids, reserving the meaty bones to pick on if desired.

Yields about 2 quarts
 
A few tips...
...cool the stock first before draining.  From experience (sadly), you don't want hot steam hitting your face if you are pouring when the stock is still boiling hot!
...if you are using this chicken stock for soup or noodle soup, reserve the chicken meat.  Peel meat off the bones and place back into the stock.  This way you can get extra protein!
...you may not be able to use all the chicken stock in one sitting, so save some in a container and put it in the freezer.  To be safe, the stock can be good up to about 2-3 weeks.  Take it out to defrost when needed.