Tag: #asian

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Hong Kong Pineapple Bun Bo Lo Bao

Hong Kong pineapple bun, also known in Cantonese as Bo Lo Bao is a very classic bread pastry. This bun is very popular and iconic in Hong Kong bakeries and is a perfect delight for a Fika time. Fika is a Swedish tradition for a coffee moment accompanied with cake or cookies that can serve upto seven kinds of cookies on a tray. However, Fika is not really relevant in my recipe but since my partner is Swedish, I’m using the terminology Fika all the time for every Coffee &  Pastry moment 😊.

Bo Lo Bao is soft and lightly sweet and it’s topped with a golden-brown sweet crumbly crust. The softness of the bread is created by the Chinese Tangzhong (water roux) technique of heating flour and water into a gel paste that is then added to the bread dough. This will improve the texture of bread in making the dough softer and fluffier.  

Despite the name, Bo Lo Bao does not contain any pineapple nor flavours. The name rather refers to the look of the characteristic topping crust which resembles the skin texture of a pineapple. It may sound unlogic if you can’t see the image resemblance….. me neither but just take that as historic food story.

Let me know how your Bol Lo Bao baking turned out and enjoy your Fika moment!

Baking time: ~3 hours, time includes about 2 hrs in rising the dough. Serving ~16 buns

Ingredients & Tools

  • Kitchen scale
  • Saucepan
  • Whisk
  • Small bowl for cooling down Tangzhong
  • Plastic wrap
  • Kitchen towel
  • Big bowl for mixing the bread dough
  • Big bowl for mixing the topping
  • Small bowl for egg wash
  • Mixer for dough and topping
  • Baking paper
  • Baking brush

Tangzhong roux

  • 25gr patent flour
  • 125gr water

Dough

  • 360gr patent flour
  • 70gr sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 25gr fresh yeast or 7gr instant yeast – I used fresh yeast
  • 120gr milk on room temperature
  • 1 large egg on room temperature
  • Tangzhong roux
  • 30gr softened unsalted butter

Topping

  • 125gr patent flour
  • 90gr sugar powder
  • 50gr softened unsalted butter
  • 15gr custard powder
  • 1 egg yolk on room temperature
  • 1 Tbsp milk
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp baking powder

Egg wash

  • 1 egg yolk to brush the topping for a golden-brown crust topping

What to do?

  1. ————- Prepare Tangzhong ————-
  2. Add 25gr patent flour in saucepan and slowly add 125gr water while stirring.
  3. Heat over medium-high and constantly keep stirring until mixture turns into a thick gel paste
  5. Transfer the gel paste into a small bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. This is to prevent the paste getting dry.
  6. Let the Tangzhong cool down to room temperature.
  7. ————- Prepare Bread Dough ————-
  8. In a big bowl, put 350gr patent flour + 70gr sugar + ½ tsp salt.
  9. Dissolve the fresh yeast block by crumbling in the saucepan with 120gr milk and stir on low temperature until lukewarm. If you use instant yeast, you can just pour it into the big bowl mixture.
  10. Then, add the egg and Tangzhou into the big bowl
  12. Mix the mixture on low speed for ~5min until everything is combined.
  13. Add 30gr butter into the mixture and mix on medium speed for ~5min until a soft dough forms. If the dough is too sticky, then add a bit more flour at a time.
  14. Finish the dough off by kneading the dough by hand, then shape it into a smooth big ball.
  15. Re-use the big bowl or take a clean one. Sprinkle some flour in the bowl and place the dough ball in and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Let the dough rest and rise on a warm spot, in a sunny or room temperature spot for 1 hour.
  16. ————- Prepare Bun Topping ————-
  17. In another big bowl, put 50gr butter and mix it until the butter turns into a creamy consistency
  19. Then, add 90gr sugar powder and mix until it turns into a creamy consistency.
  20. Then, add 1 egg yolk + 15gr custard powder + 1 Tbsp milk and mix all together.
  21. Then add ¼ tsp baking powder + ¼ tsp baking soda + 125gr patent flour and mix until it turns into a thick paste
  23. Put the paste in a plastic wrap and shape it into a small log, like a sausage
  25. Let the topping rest until the dough is ready after 1 hour rise.
  26. ————- Start making the buns ————-
  27. The dough should have risen. Punch a finger into the dough and it should slowly bounce back
  29. Take the dough out of the bowl and divide in equal pieces. Personally, I like smaller buns especially mini sizes. The smaller it is, the tastier it gets with an equal balance of the crunchy sweet topping 😊
  30. Gentle shape every piece into a ball and cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 15min.
  31. After 15 minutes, softly knead each piece and shape it into a smooth ball. See short video on the technique used in shaping the dough into a ball
  32. Put each ball on a baking sheet with space in between to let it rise for another 40 minutes.
  33. During the last 10min, pre-heat the oven on 175°C fan function. I use fan function as I have two trays I want to bake in the oven at the same time. If you only have one tray, pre-heat the oven on 190°C on upper & lower heat function.
  34. Then, cut the topping in equal pieces as the number of buns. Don’t throw away the plastic, I prefer to re-use it rather taking a new sheet of plastic.
  35. Shape each piece into a ball.
  36. Wrap each ball, piece by piece in the plastic and flatten into a round shape and cover it on top of each bun
  38. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk and brush the top of the bun. This will bring a gold brown crust in the baking process
  40. Bake the buns for ~15min but do check a bit before as you don’t want them to be burnt or bake it a bit longer if you like to have your buns more gold brown.
  41. For next day consumption, heat the bun short on low heat in the oven or microwave.

Let me know if there are any improvements can be made. Thank you & bon appetite 😊

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General Tso chicken

General Tso chicken is a very popular Chinese American dish and was invented by a Taiwan based chef who moved to New York in the 70’s. He named this dish as an homage to his Hunan heritage and their beloved general Zuo Zongtang. However, the name of this dish has no connection to general Zuo nor it’s known in China Hunan province. If you like to know more about the history of General Tso chicken dish, you can read this on Wikipedia.

The chicken is crunchy deep-fried yet still juicy and tender and has a sweet spicy flavour. My method of deep-fried chicken is slightly different than the original recipe and is mainly different in the batter. I also like to cook my choice of vegetables together with the sauce and chicken to serve it as a main (bowl) dish accompanied with steamed rice.

Cooking time: approx. 45 minutes for 2 persons

Ingredients & Tools

  • 300gr chicken thigh filet
  • 1tbsp cooking rice wine
  • Maizena or potato starch
  • Sunflower oil to deep-fry
  • 15cm Dutch type cucumber
  • 8x cherry tomatoes
  • Optional to add: 150gr bimi, broccoli or bell pepper – yellow bell pepper would bring a nice colour pallet)
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • Salt
  • Garnish: roasted sesame seeds
  • Steamed rice to accompany the chicken dish

For the sauce:

  • 2tbsp light soya and 1tbsp dark soya – or just 3tbsp light soya
  • 1tbsp white vinegar
  • 1tbsp ketchup (Heinz)
  • 1tbsp white sugar
  • 0,5 tsp white pepper
  • 2x small garlic clove fine grated or 1x big clove
  • 1x chili
  • 1tbsp fine grated ginger (~3cm)
  • 1x deep fry pan
  • 1x big fry pan
  • Sieve and/or wooden chopstick to get the chicken out of the deep-fry pan
  • Kitchen paper
  • Very fine grater
  • 1x medium bowl to marinate chicken
  • 1x big bowl to powder chicken or use a 3-5L plastic bag
  • 1x big bowl
  • 1x small bowl for the sauce
  • 1x small cup for maizena mix

What to do?

  1. ————- Marinate chicken ————-
  2. Remove fat and cut the chicken in bite size pieces and put in medium size bowl.
  3. Marinate the chicken with 1tbsp cooking rice wine.
  4. ————- Prepare sauce ————-
  5. Use a small bowl to prepare the sauce.
  6. Put 2 Tbsp light soya and 1 Tbsp dark soya in bowl. Or just 3 Tbsp light soya if you don’t have dark soya. Dark soya has a stronger flavour of saltness.
  7. Put 1 Tbsp white vinegar in bowl.
  8. Put 1 Tbsp ketchup in bowl. Personally, I prefer using Heinz.
  9. Put 1 Tbsp white sugar in bowl
  10. Put ½ tsp white pepper in bowl and mix all the ingredients.
  11. ————- Remaining sauce preparation ————-
  12. Put below ingredients separately on the side (not in the sauce bowl) as these will used to get aromas when we heat the oil in the pan.
  13. Grate 2x small garlic cloves.
  14. Grate 1xtbsp ginger.
  15. Chop 1x chilli fine.
  16. Use a small cup to prepare maizena mix: put 1tsp maizena and 2tbsp water and mix it well.
  17. ————- Cut vegetables ————-
  18. If you do not like cucumber skin, you can peel this off. Then slice the cucumber lengthwise in 4 and remove the seeds.
  19. Then cut cucumber in bite pieces.
  20. Cut cherry tomatoes in half.
  21. Cut optional veggie of choice in pieces. Wash beforehand if needed.
  22. ————- Deep-fry chicken ————-
  23. Powder the chicken in maizena or potato starch. There are 2 easy ways to do this. Put all the chicken in a big bowl and mix the powder bit by bit in the chicken until the meat is lightly covered. Don’t use too much maizena. Or put all chicken in a 3/5L sandwich plastic bag and sprinkle a bit of maizena in and shake the bag. Repeat this until the meat is lightly covered by the powder.  
  24. Bring the oil on heat in the deep-fry pan (stand 7). The oil is ready when you see tiny bubbles coming up on the surface.
  25. Depending on the size of your deep-fry pan, you may need to fry the chicken in batches. The chicken will not deep-fry well if the pan it’s too full.
  26. Put the chicken piece by piece slowly in the pan and fry for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, put kitchen paper in another big bowl. This is to absorb the oil from the chicken after deep-frying.
  27. Fish the chicken out the pan with a sieve and/or wooden chopsticks and put in the paper bowl.
  28. Fry next batch for 3 minutes. Repeat the process if you have a lot of chicken.
  29. Once all chicken has been fried, a second round of 3 minutes deep-fry is required. This will give the chicken a crunchy texture and keeps the tenderness. The chicken should have a golden-brown colour.
  30. Let chicken rest in the kitchen paper bowl
  31. ————- Pre-stir-fry optional bimi or brocolli ————-
  32. Heat the stir-fry pan with 1 tbsp frying oil from pan or olive oil.
  33. Stir-fry the veggies for a bit. If you like the crunchiness, then only stir-fry for about max 2min.
  34. Sprinkle a pinch of salt, stir and scoop the veggies on a plate.
  35. ————- Start cooking sauce & blend ingredients ————-
  36. Continue with the same stir-fry pan. Put 1tbsp sesame oil and heat the pan on medium (stand 6).
  37. Fry the grated garlic until it’s yellow-ish.
  38. Add the grated ginger and chili in the pan, and fry for about 30 seconds.
  39. Pour the sauce mix in the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes and keep stirring the sauce.
  40. Then re-stir the maizena mix well and add in the pan while stirring the sauce until it gets thick
  41. Add all the vegetables in the sauce and keep stirring in the pan
  42. Then add the fried chicken and stir all well in the sauce for a short time and switch of the heat.
  43. ————- Finishing touch ————-
  44. Scoop steamed rice in a bowl or plate.
  45. Scoop General Tso chicken on top of the rice or on the side.
  46. Garnish your dish with roasted sesame seeds on top.

Hope you like this dish and don’t find it too much work. You may agree it’s worth the effort after you have tried it 😉

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Asian stir-fried vermicelli rice noodle dish, quick and easy

Asian stir-fried vermicelli rice noodle dish is quick and easy to make within 30minutes. I make this dish often when I don’t have much time to spend in the kitchen and have cravings for a delicious Asian noodle dish.

Ingredients to use can vary on what you have in the fridge. Meat ingredients can be chicken, pork tenderloin, frozen/left-over roasted duck or shrimps. Main vegetable can be Chinese bok choy (there are different types and each type can be used in this stir-fry dish), kai-lan or easier to get from the supermarket is bimi, broccoli or tauge (bean sprouts). Side vegetables can be carrot, canned sweet kernel corn or baby maize and spring onion for the finishing touch.

Cooking time: approx. 30 minutes for 2 persons

 Ingredients & Tools

  • 250gr chicken thigh filet – I like to use chicken thigh or roasted duck meat
  • 100gr rice vermicelli – I prefer the brand Wai Wai because of the refine texture but any will do
  • 2x stalk shanghai baby bok choy
  • 1x carrot
  • 1x garlic clove
  • Optional: 1x chili
  • 2x stalk spring onion
  • 70gr canned sweet kernel corn
  • Seasoning: sesame oil, soya sauce, white pepper, salt
  • Oyster sauce
  • (Extra virgin) olive oil
  • Big frying pan
  • Bowl for marinating the meat
  • 2x spatula
  • 2x sieve

What to do?

  1. ————- Soften the vermicelli ————-
  2. Soak the vermicelli in cold water until it gets a little bit soft. Optional is to cut the noodle in approx. 10cm length, this makes it easy to stir in the pan and to eat. Drain the noodle in a sieve and makes sure it’s almost dry before you cook, otherwise it will become a moisty noodle dish. You can drain the noodle a few hours before cooking.
  3. ————- Cut the meat ————-
  4. Remove fat and slice the chicken in thin slices and put in bowl. If you use roasted duck, slice this in slices, not too thick and not too thin. You don’t need to marinate as the roasted the duck is marinated and pre-cooked.
  5. Put 1 tbsp sesame oil in the chicken.
  6. Put 1 tbsp soya sauce in the chicken.
  7. Put a pinch of white pepper and salt, and mix the marination in the chicken.
  8. ————- Cut the vegetables ————-
  9. Cut the bok choy in bite pieces. Rinse in water and drain in a sieve. Important is to dry the vegetables as much as possible, otherwise it will become a moisty noodle dish. You can wash it a few hours before cooking or dry it out with kitchen paper.
  10. Peel the carrot skin and cut in thin slices.
  11. Chop the garlic fine or use a garlic presser. If the latter, only do this when you start cooking.
  12. Optional: slice the chili in thin slices. Keep the seeds as well if you like a spicy punch.
  13. Slice the spring onion.
  14. Drain the liquid from the canned corn.
  15. ————- Start cooking ————-
  16. Heat the frying pan and put 3tbsp olive oil. Do not overheat the oil in the pan.
  17. Fry the garlic in the pan to light brown and add half of the chili slices.
  18. Start frying the chicken until cooked and put it back in the marination bowl. Keep the oil as much as possible in the pan.
  19. Stir-fry the bok choi in the pan, first the white stalks and later the leaves together with the carrots and corn. The stalks take a bit longer to cook than the green leaves. Don’t cook the vegetables too long if you like veggie crunchiness.
  20. Then move the vegetables on the side of the pan or make a whole in the middle.
  21. Put the vermicelli in the pan, half of the slices spring onion and stir it together with the vegetables for about 1 minute.
  22. Put 2 tbsp oyster sauce, a pinch of salt and stir everything in the pan for a very short time and serve it on the plate.
  23. Sprinkle the remaining spring onion over the noodle as finishing touch.

Hope you enjoy this easy vermicelli dish 😊

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Asian Fried Spring Rolls

Asian fried spring rolls are one of my favorite food. Spring rolls are a large variety of filled, rolled appetizers or dim sum found in East Asian, South Asian, Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian cuisine. The name is a literal translation of the Chinese chūn juǎn (春卷 ‘spring roll’).

In Chinese cuisine, spring rolls are savoury rolls with cabbage and other vegetable fillings inside a thinly wrapped pastry and are usually eaten during the spring festival in mainland China, hence the name. Meat varieties are also popular such as with pork, chicken or shrimps. Every culture makes their own variety of ingredients which make this appetizer so diverse and special.

My recipe is with chicken, but you can replace that with something else or just stay with a delicious vegetarian bite. If the latter, prepare with more vegetables and vermicelli.

Each time, I make a batch of unfried rolls and freeze them in for a next snacking moment. This would save me a lot of prep-time when I’m craving for an Asian crispy fried spring roll 😊

Cooking time: approx. 2hrs and serves ~15 rolls, including cool off time.

Tip:

  1. Make a batch and freeze unfried spring rolls in the freezer. You can fry frozen rolls easily and it taste like freshly made.
  2. Buy your dipping sauce or make it homemade: spicy sweet chili, soy sauce & rice vinegar or Vietnamese nuoc cham (fish sauce).  

Ingredients & Tools

  • 250gr chicken (thigh) filet or ground chicken meat
  • 8-10x shitake mushroom
  • 2x garlic clove
  • 2x medium size winter carrots
  • 4x stalk spring onion
  • 1–2 chili, depends on if you like a spicy punch to it
  • 100gr or 1 piece rice vermicelli, you can buy this in an Asian store.
  • 1x egg white
  • Seasoning: sesame oil, soy sauce, pepper, salt
  • Optional: romaine lettuce to wrap spring rolls for a refreshing taste
  • Sweet chili sauce for dipping
  • Spring roll pastry sheets ~20x20cm, you can buy this frozen in an Asian store. Unfreeze the pack and try splitting the pack in batches or in half. Use 1 batch and put the rest back in the freezer for the next time.
  • 0,5 – 1 litre sunflower oil, depends how big your deep fry pan is. No need to fill it up, you just need a layer for about 5 cm up from the bottom.
  • 1 big bowl
  • Grater for carrots (thin slice grater)
  • 1 big frying pan
  • 1 big pan to deep fry
  • Frying plier or long chop sticks
  • Sieve
  • Deep bowl and kitchen paper
  • To keep extra spring rolls in the freezer, required: airtight bags or box and baking paper.

What to do?

  1. ————- Soften the vermicelli ————-
  2. Break the vermicelli in ~4cm length and soften it in hand warm water until it gets a little bit soft. Then drain it out in a sieve.
  3. ——–Cut ingredients & Pan fry ——–
  4. Cut the chicken filet in very thin sliced pieces (simpler way is to use ground chicken meat) and put in the bowl. Personally, I like to use chicken thy because its more tender.
  5. Season the chicken with a sprinkle of soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper and salt.
  6. Chop mushrooms in thin slices. Put in the bowl.
  7. Mince 2 garlic cloves. Put in the bowl.
  8. Grate 2 carrots. Put in the bowl.
  9. Slice the spring inion and put in the bowl.
  10. Optional: slice the chili very thin and put in the bowl including the seeds.
  11. Mix all ingredients in the bowl and add a pinch of salt.
  12. Pan fry all ingredients on medium heat until the chicken is cooked. Then switch off the heat.
  14. Mix the vermicelli in the pan to make it softer by the heat.
  15. Let the ingredients cool off in the pan.
  16. When its cooled down, scoop the ingredients back in the big bowl.
  17. ————- Start rolling & Heat the oil ————-
  18. Beat 1x egg white.
  19. Heat the sunflower oil at the lowest stand.
  20. Take a sheet, put a layer of ingredients close to a corner and start rolling towards to the opposite corner. Important is to roll the ingredients tight in the sheet and there should be no empty spaces in between. Use the egg white as glue by closing the sheet end. Watch the video here on how to roll a spring roll.
  21. Storing spring rolls in the freezer: layer the rolls on a baking sheet with at least ½ cm distance from each other, the sheets should not touch each other. When you lay an extra layer on top, put a baking sheet between the layers. This is to avoid spring rolls sticking on each other.
  22. Put a kitchen paper sheet in a deep bowl. This is to drain out the oil after frying.
  23. Heat the oil up until you see little bubbles in the oil. Lower the heat stand a little bit, the oil must not overboiling.
  24. Gently put the spring rolls one by one in the oil pan. Do not fill the pan full as you need some space in turning the spring rolls with a frying plier or chop sticks.
  26. Fry the spring rolls until the sheet is hard and light brown, approx. 3min each side.
  27. Take the spring rolls out of the pan and let it drain upright in the deep bowl
  29. Leave it for 3-5 min and layer the spring rolls flat on a plate.
  30. ————- Ready to Eat ————-
  31. Dipping sauce, most simple is to have a bottle of sweet chili sauce at home.
  32. Wrap a spring roll in a lettuce leaf, dip it in the sauce and bon appetite.
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Sticky aromatic rice dumpling Zhong

Sticky aromatic rice dumpling Zhong is a delicious festive snack. My mum made these little treats when it was “Dragon Boat Festival” which falls each year on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar, approx. late May to mid-June.

On Wikipedia, there is a great write-up about the tradition of making Zhong. In short: this Chinese historical event began with the Duanwu Dragon Boat Festival and the making and eating of zong zi are seeped in love.  A loyal senior state office named Qu Yuan (340-278 BC) of the kingdom of Chu spoke out to his leader about his truthful views about how to lead the kingdom.  However, others were jealous of him and turned the leader against him.  Qu Yuan was banished and eventually the kingdom fell to outsiders.  Qu Yuan, in his grief, committed suicide by jumping into a river.  

The common people loved Qu Yuan so much that they rowed out to try to find the body.  When they could not find it they wrapped rice with bamboo leaves and threw it into the river to distract the fishes from eating the body.  And thus began this now ancient yearly love memorial from the Chinese people:  the dragon boats racing through the rivers and the wrapping of the bamboo rice dumpling.  

Zhong (in Cantonese), is a Chinese traditional festive food made of glutinous rice with different sweet or savoury fillings wrapped in bamboo leaves. After being cooked in water, all the ingredients stick together and stay in a particular shape when unwrapped. In the Western world, they are also known as rice dumplings or sticky rice dumplings.

This aromatic and flavoursome treat involves a tremendous effort and specific preparation but definitely worth than buying as the ingredients you use at home are better in quality and in taste. The filling used and wrapped shapes varies from region to region.

I make my Zhong on my preferred ingredients which does not come from any specific region… at least I think. It’s all about what you want to eat right 😊

First time making Zhong might take quite some effort and time in tying the Zhong in the bamboo leaves. I really thought, never again but until the moment I had my first bite on my very own wrapped Zhong… I loved it! All my childhood memories being together with my mum overflood me with emotions and joy. The second and third time went much smoother as the process and skillset was apparently still there while I haven’t wrap it for a long time.

You can store the Zhong for a few days in the fridge after it cooled down from the cooking process or store in the freezer for each time consumption. Re-boil in a pan of water or steam the Zhong for about 20-30min. In my opinion, the latter taste better. The structure and flavors remain well contained in the wrap for a delicious snack bite.

Cooking time: approx. 3,5 – 4hrs and serves ~20 portion bites

Ingredients & Tools

  • 40x bamboo leaves, take extra leaves in case some will torn during wrapping
  • 1kg glutinous rice
  • 3x Chinese sausage
  • 10x Chinese/shitake mushroom
  • 8x dried scallops or handful dried shrimps
  • 400-500gr boneless frozen roasted duck (defrost before cutting) or chicken thy fillet with skin. Do not remove the skin because the fat will give some extra aroma. In general, pork belly meat is being used.
  • Optional: 200-300gr mung beans
  • Chinese five spices
  • Soja sauce
  • Rice wine
  • Sugar
  • 2 big bowls
  • 1 big plastic tray or something to put the bamboo leaves on
  • Aluminum foil
  • Sieve
  • Some smaller bowls to put the ingredients in
  • 1 large soup pan
  • Natural (cotton) strings
  • Scissor
  • 1 Tbsp = table spoon
  • 1tsp salt in the soup pan when you start boiling the Zhong

What to do?

  1. ————- Prepare ingredients overnight – 30min ————-
  2. Soak the bamboo leaves in water. This will make them soft for wrapping. You can put the leaves alongside in a big pan
  4. Soak the rice in water in a big bowl.
  5. Soak the mung beans in water in a big bowl.
  6. Soak the scallops or dried shrimps in water in a bowl.
  7. Roasted duck: cut the duck in small chunks or pieces and put them in a bowl.
  8. Chicken thy fillet or pork belly: cut the meat in small chunks or pieces and put them in a bowl.
  9. Add 1 Tbsp rice wine to the meat bowl.
  10. Add 2 tsp sugar.
  11. Sprinkle a bit of soja sauce (2 Tbsp) and add 2 Tbsp Chinese five spices and mix the meat with everything in the bowl.
  12. Cut the mushroom in thick slices.
  13. Cut the sausage in thick slices.
  14. Cover the bowls with aluminium foil and store in the fridge.
  15. The rice and bean bowl can stay on the kitchen table.
  16. ————- Prepare ingredients next day ————-
  17. Take the bamboo leaves out of the water and drain it upright.
  18. Drain the water out from the rice and mung bean bowls. You can use a sieve to catch up the rice/beans.
  19. Drain the water out from the scallops or dried shrimps.
  20. Lay out all the ingredients on the kitchen table.
Top left to right: sticky rice, mung beans, Chinese sausage, dried scallops, shitake mushroom, duck meat, bamboo leaves
  1. ————- Wrapping 45min/1hrs ————-
  2.  Please check out my video on YouTube on how to hold the bamboo leave and how to wrap the Zhong.
  3. Put each wrapped Zhong in the big pan.
  4. ————- Boil for 2hrs ————-
  5. Put 1 tsp salt in the pan.
  6. I pre-boil water in a water cooker at 70C. What temperature is your own preference and is not a must.
  7. Fill the big pan until the last layer of Zhong. Do not overfill, especially not close to the lid edge. While boiling the Zhong, boiled water might overspill from the pan.  
  8. First boil 20-30min on medium heat, then lower the heat with the lid on.
  9. Check from time to time that water is not flooding over or drying out. You can refill water if needed as the Zhong need to be covered in water. The longer you boil, the softer and stickier the rice get.
  10. Take all Zhong out of the pan and let it cool down or start enjoying your hard effort of work 😊
  11. ————- How to eat ? ————-
  12. Cut the string off from the Zhong.
  13. Unwrap the bamboo leaves.
  14. Dip with a little bit soya or spicy sauce for extra flavors.

Let me know if you like my Zhong or share your view on where I can improve my wrapping skill.

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Japanese braised Kakuni Aubergine

Japanse braised Kakuni aubergine is soft with a savory and spicy flavour. I had this dish in a Japanese restaurant which I cannot forget, and they call it ‘eggplant nanban’. But after searching online for the recipe I got many different results that didn’t match what I ate at the restaurant.

I got so confused with the Japanese sauce or type of cooking methods like nanban, agebitashi and kakuni. After some research on these different cooking styles, here a brief summary on what each means.

Nanban means deep-fried and common accompanied with tartare sauce. Ingredient is usually deep-fried chicken in batter. Agebitashi means deep-fry and soaked in sauce or broth. Kakuni means stewed cube. Ingredient is usually pork belly cut into large cubes.

After some home cooking attempts and the flavours I remembered (well… I went back to the restaurant a few times), the closest style is Kakuni pork belly but then with aubergine. You can eat it cold or warm as appetiser. If you serve the aubergine cold, the flavours are denser and superlicious. For example, you can eat it with rice or as topping in your soup noodles.

Cooking time: approx. 30-45min and serves 5-6 persons

Ingredients & Tools

  • 6x Chinese aubergine
  • 6x Tbsp cooking sake
  • 6x Tbsp mirin
  • 3x Tbsp grated ginger
  • 4.5 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 150cl water
  • Optional: 2-3x thin sliced medium-hot chili
  • Garnish: sesame seeds and/or thin sliced spring onion
  • Olive oil
  • Grater
  • Frying pan 24-28cm diameter, not too big because you want to braise the aubergine in the sauce
  • Cut baking paper to use it as lid on the pan
  • Small medium bowl
  • Big bowl

What to do?

  1. ————- Aubergine ————-
  2. Peel the skin in ‘zebra stripes’ down the aubergine.
  3. Cut aubergine into 2-3cm cubes
  4. Soak the cubes in big bowl for 5min in cold or hand warm water. This is to decrease the bitterness of the aubergine.
  5. ———– Kakuni Sauce ———–
  6. Mix in bowl: 6x Tbsp sake, 6x Tbsp mirin, 4.5 Tbsp soy sauce, 150cl water, 3x Tbsp grated ginger and optional 3x thin sliced chilli
  7. ——— Cooking Process ———
  8. Cut the baking paper round, 3-4cm bigger than the pan size and cut a small whole in the middle.
  9. Heat the pan with a splash of olive oil.
  10. Put the cubes in the pan on low/medium heat.
  11. Pan fry the cubes, turnaround and sprinkle extra olive oil if needed
  12. Once your aubergine gets a bit soft, pour the sauce in the pan.
  13. Let it braise for 20min on low heat and cover the pan with the baking paper lid
  14. Turnaround the cubes from time to time during the cooking process.
  15. When the cubes are soft, near to mushy, it’s time to serve.
  16. Garnish with some sesame seeds and/or with thin sliced spring onion.

I hope you like this homemade Kakuni style aubergine, itadakimasu 😊

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