Homemade Soft Pretzel

I was not a fan of pretzel before until I tasted the soft pretzel selling in the Malls. I was then hooked on this soft pretzel. Whenever I was shopping at the Malls, I always got attracted by the delicious looking large soft pretzels. With the sweet tooth that I have, I prefer the sweet pretzel. I don't know, we Asian seem to prefer sweet bread instead of salty. However, pretzel is not cheap, at almost $3 a piece, it needs some consideration on my part. Am I willing to spend that much for a pretzel? I guess occasional treat would do. But fear not, soft pretzel is not that hard to do and I can easily made a bunch for less than $3. I made mine in salty version because I thought it would be better for freezing. I didn't proof mine long enough as they were harder than my first attempt.





Adapted from Sugarlaws.

Ingredients: (Yield 1 dozen, small size pretzels)

(A)
2 tsp. active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
2/3 cup + 1 Tbsp. warm water
(B)
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. oil
(C)
3 Tbsp. baking soda
1 cup hot water
(D)
1. Sea salt + garlic powder/sesame seeds
2. Maple syrup/honey + cinnamon powder



Method:

1. Put (A) in a bowl, stir well and let stand 10 minutes, until creamy colored. In another bowl, add in (B), stir-well. Add in (A) mixture and knead until a dough is formed.

2. Transfer the dough in a greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it rest until double in size. Time needed depends on the temperature in your kitchen.

3. Preheat oven to 425'F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

4. When the dough has double in size. Cut it into half, divide into 6 balls. Take one ball and roll it into a long strand. Set aside. Repeat with the rest of the dough and continue with the other half of the dough. After all 12 long strands are rolled out, take the first one and stretch it out again and twist it into a pretzel shape (like pictures shown) and place on the parchment paper. Repeat and finish the rest.

5. Mix (C) together until baking soda is dissolved (I had a hard time making the baking soda dissolved, never completely dissolved for me). Dip each pretzel into the mixture and place it back on the parchment paper. Sprinkle the top with (D) 1 for salty soft pretzel or (D) 2 for sweet soft pretzel (brush on maple syrup/honey). Or for plain pretzel, just sprinkle with sea salt.

6. Bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Or freeze leftover for later, just microwave for about 50 seconds to reheat it.


Pretzel from my 1st attempt, nicely proofed and very soft.

Miso Seaweed Soup

My girls and I loved wakame while my husband won't touch it. He doesn't like the texture and taste of wakame at all. Oh well, more for us. :) Wakame is the edible seaweed that mostly consume by Japanese and Korean. It usually sold as dried seaweed and need to be constituted in cold water before cooking. It will expand when soak and need to cut into smaller pieces before cooking. It is green color, slightly chewy, slippery texture and taste of ocean (to me). It is very good for health, rich source of omega 3 fatty acids and has high level of calcium, iodine, thiamine and niacin. Traditionally and to this day, Koreans eat seaweed soup on their birthday. Sharing my easy way of preparing this miso seaweed soup.






Ingredients:

1000 ml water
Small block of soft tofu, cubed
1/2 cup of Wakame (dried seaweed), soften in cold water (it will expand a lot)
1 scallion, chopped (optional)
3 Tbsp. red miso paste
1 tsp. chicken stock granules

Method:

1. In a saucepan, add in water and let it boil. When boiling, turn the heat to low and add miso paste. Stir until miso paste dissolved.

2. Add soft tofu and seaweed. Let it simmer for 5 minutes. Turn the heat off and add the chicken stock granules. Stir to dissolved. Do a taste test, season accordingly.

3. Serve in a bowl and sprinkle some chopped scallion to top.

Deep Fried Seaweed Beancurd Rolls

Deep-fried food, hardly anyone can resist. Deep-fried beancurd rolls with seaweed, give me anytime! I finally bought some frozen beancurd sheet at my last visit to the Asian market and I was so eager to try this out. Of course my homemade version was not as pretty as I made the rolls too long. So, when I tried to roll the seaweed around, I noticed that it looked weird with just one seaweed wrapped around it, so I wrapped two seaweeds, one on each end with the thought that I could cut it in half and made a better presentation. And thus tada! This beancurd sheet is actually the vegetarian version of the pork fat sheet that we used to make "5 spice meat roll" (五香肉).





You can serve it with Thai sweet chili sauce, Maggi chili sauce or Japanese mayo.


Before deep-frying.

Ingredients:

(A)
Ground chicken from 1 skinless chicken breast (can process it in a food processor)
Minced shrimps from 8 large shrimps
4 Chinese dried mushroom, soften and diced
1/2 carrot, diced
1 scallion, chopped
A little ginger, chopped
Salt, to taste
Sugar, to taste
1/2 Tbsp. rice wine
1 tsp. sesame oil
Dash of white pepper
(B)
Frozen beancurd sheet, defrost, use as needed (about 3/4 sheet)
Japanese sushi seaweed sheet, use as needed (about 2 sheets)


Before cutting in half, notice that the roll with expand during deep-frying and made it tighter.

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix (A) together and stir until it bind together. Let it marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

2. Take the defrosted beancurd sheet, cut into rectangle shape pieces. Set aside. Prepare a bowl of water.

3. Dip one piece of cut beancurd sheet into the bowl of water until soften. Take it out and place some filling in the middle, roll it up and seal it. Finish the rest.

4. Take a piece of seaweed sheet, use a scissor and cut into 1 cm length. Prepare some cornstarch water as glue (1 Tbsp. cornstarch + 1 Tbsp. water). Roll the seaweed on the beancurd roll and seal the end with the cornstarch water glue. Finish the rest.

5. Heat a wok with medium heat hot oil. Test with a wooden chopstick, when bubbles, it's ready. Drop 4-6 beancurd rolls into the hot oil, deep-fry until golden brown and the filling is cooked. Can take one and cut into half to make sure it's cooked inside. Finish the rest.

6. Drain on paper towel. Cut it into half to serve. Or if you make the smaller one, just serve it whole. Serve warm with condiment of your choice!

Stir Fried Cabbage With Tofu

Another simple and healthy home cook dish from me. I would buy cabbage if I did not go to the Asian supermarket to get my vegetable for the week as cabbage has a long fridge life. With cabbage on hand, just add some colors and some tofu and oyster sauce, a delicious and healthy meal awaits you. You can't go wrong with oyster sauce, so stock up on Lee Kum Kee's oyster sauce for easy Chinese stir-fry. I don't like other brands so I always stick to my trusted LKK brand for my oyster sauce. Look for it when you shop at your local Asian supermarket next time.



Ingredients:

Regular tofu, cut
Cabbage, cut
Carrot, cut
Green bell pepper, cut
Garlic, chopped
Oyster sauce to taste

Method:

1. In a heated wok, add in some cooking oil. When hot, add in garlic, fry until fragrant but not burn. Add in cabbage, carrot and bell pepper. Stir-fry well.

2. Add in oyster sauce and a little water. Mix well. Add in tofu and fry to mix well. Serve hot!

Creamy Corn Tofu

I created this dish by accident one night. I had a block of silken tofu for dinner but had no idea how to cook it. I looked through my pantry and saw a canned of creamy corns and thought why not? It should pair well together as we loved the creamy chicken corn soup with tofu. And I was right, this dish was so easy to put together and guarantee deliciousness. Smashed the silken tofu and served the rice with lots of creamy corn sauce. You can have this dish along and be satisfied. If you don't have the chicken stock granules, you can substitute it with a little sugar. Try this dish on one of your lazy nights, hey it's healthy too.



Ingredients:

1 canned of creamy corns
1 pack of soft tofu or silken tofu, sliced in half diagonally
2 scallion, chopped
Salt to taste
Chicken stock granules to taste
1/2 cup water

Method:

1. In a heated wok, add in 1/2 cup of water and one canned of creamy corns. Stir to mix well and let it boil. When boiling, add in the salt and chicken stock granules. Mix well.

2. Then, slowly slide in the silken tofu. Scoop the creamy corn sauce on top and heat up the tofu. Let it boil for few minutes or until the tofu is hot. Turn off the heat and add in the scallion. Serve on a big plate.

Singapore Style Fried Vermicelli (星州炒米粉)

We came to know this dish when we came to America. Frankly, we were curious at first to see Singapore Fried Vermicelli (星州炒米粉) in the Americanized Chinese restaurant's menu. We were like what they know about Singapore vermicelli? So, we ordered the vermicelli and gave it a try. As you guest, it was not a noodle we had before in Malaysia or Singapore (10+ years ago). It was a vermicelli fried with curry powder and they called it Singapore style fried vermicelli. But today, I guess it's pretty wide spread, so I am curious, have you seen people in Malaysia or Singapore cooking this curry powder packed vermicelli these days? This Singapore vermicelli is very common in an Americanized Chinese restaurants today, not only that even the authentic Chinese restaurants cook this dish. For this dish, it is best to cook with the yellow Indian curry powder, not the Malaysian Baba's red curry powder. Since I only have the Baba's curry powder, I used that and the fragrant was not as great as the Indian yellow curry powder that they used here.

Ingredients: (My home cook version)

1/2 packet of vermicelli, soften in warm water, drain
Some fish balls, sliced
1 chicken breast, sliced
Some broccoli, cut
1 small carrot, julienne
2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Sauce:
Oyster sauce
Salt
Sugar
Red curry powder (Use Indian yellow curry powder if you have)

Method:

1. In a heated wok, add some oil. When hot, add in garlic and chicken breast. Stir-fry until cooked, add broccoli, carrot and fish balls. Stir-fry well.

2. Add the sauce ingredients and a little water. Mix well and add the vermicelli. Stir-fry well and season to taste. Fry until dry and dish out to serve.

(You can add any kind of vegetable you have at home and any meat you prefer)

I'm sharing this noodle with Presto Pasta Nights, an event created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week host is Heather, do go and check out Girlichef delicious round up on Friday, Oct 23rd!

Spice Chicken

I made this spice chicken as a side dish for my nasi lemak (fragrant coconut rice). Because my girls couldn't take the ikan bilis sambal (too spicy for them), so I had to come out with a side dish that they can eat with their nasi lemak. I also saved some fried ikan bilis (anchovy) for them. So, my girls version were hard boiled egg, cucumber slices, spice chicken, crispy anchovies and roasted peanuts. They loved the fragrant coconut rice so I wanted them to be able to enjoy this dish too.






Ingredients: (Estimated recipe)

2 chicken breast, sliced
(A)
2 tsp. turmeric powder
2 tsp. cumin powder
1/2 tsp. fennel seeds powder
1/2 tsp. lemon grass powder
1 tsp. coriander powder
Salt to taste
1 to 2 tsp. sugar
Oil ( You can add 1 Tbsp. of oil to keep the chicken breast moist)
(B)
A few Kaffir lime leaves

Method:

1. In a bowl, marinate the chicken slices with (A) for few hours.

2. In a heated wok, add in some oil. Stir-fry the chicken for a minute, add in some Kaffir lime leaves, stir-fry until chicken is cooked. Dish out and serve.