Bossam (Boiled Pork Wraps)

Ingredients
For cabbage
1 pound napa cabbage leaves, washed and drained
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
3/4 cup water

For the meat
2 whole fresh pork belly about 3-inch wide cut (about 2.5 pounds)
1/2 medium onion
2 - 3 white parts of large scallions
7 - 8 plump garlic cloves
1 inch ginger piece, sliced
1 teaspoon whole black peppers
1-1/2 tablespoons doenjang (fermented soybean paste)
1 teaspoon instant coffee (or a cup of brewed coffee)
1 teaspoon salt
2 bay leaves
10 cups water

Instructions

1. Bring the water and all the brine ingredients to a boil over medium high heat, and continue to boil for 5 minutes.
2. Add the pork belly and boil for 20 minutes, uncovered. Reduce the heat to medium low, and cook, covered, until the meat is very tender, 40 to 50 minutes. Turn the heat off, and cool the meat in the cooking liquid. This will keep the meat moist.
3. Thinly slice the meat and serve with the salted cabbage (or lettuce), saewujeot, and musaengchae.

For cabbage

1. Combine sugar, vinegar, salt, and water in a large bowl. Mix well until it turns into a clear pickle brine.
2. Add the cabbage and mix well by hand.
3. Let it sit for 15 minutes, then mix well and turn it over so the leaves pickle evenly. Repeat this every 10 to 15 minutes for 1 to 2 hours until the cabbage gets soft and withered.
4. Squeeze out the excess water and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes
Keep any leftover meat in the cooking liquid. Boil the meat in the liquid to reheat. This prevents the meat from drying out.

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Baked Sweet Potato Chips

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Yield: 2 to 3 serves

Ingredients: 
360 gm gold sweet potato
1 Tbsp raw sugar
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp ground paprika
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Method: 

1. Place a baking tray on the middle rack of oven. Preheat the oven at 220C/428F.
2. Peel the sweet potato, or keep the skin if you like. Cut into strips, about 2 to 2½cm in thickness. Transfer into a large bowl. Add sugar, ginger powder, paprika, salt and oil. Mix well and coat the sweet potato evenly.
3. Remove the preheated tray from the oven. Quickly arrange the sweet potato onto it. Put it back into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, take the tray out and turn the sweet potato to the other side. Continue to bake until cooked through and evenly brown.

Notes：

• I didn’t rinse the sweet potato. If you’d like to rinse the sweet potato, make sure to wait until it dries completely before moving onto cooking. Otherwise, the sweet potato chips would become mushy.
• Pre-heating the empty baking tray will help the surface of sweet potato chips turn brown and crispy.
• The raw sugar will help add a caramelized flavour to the sweet potato after baking. You might skip it if you want.
• Ground paprika is not hot after all, just help enrich the taste of the sweet potato.
• The ginger powder goes so well with the sweet potato. You might adjust the amount to your liking.

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Mung Bean Filling (For Mooncakes)

Prep time: 10 mins （plus soaking time）
Cook time: 60 mins
Yield: about 600 grams

Ingredients:
200 gm peeled split mung beans
100 gm caster sugar
80 ml coconut milk
70 ml vegetable oil
1/8 tsp salt
1½ Tbsp wheat starch

Method: 

1. Rinse mung beans. Soak over night or at least 4 hours.
2. Transfer the mung beans into a large shallow pan. Cover the mung beans with boiling water with 1cm depth. (Note: The beans will continue to absorb as much as water along the way of cooking.) Steam in a wok over medium high heat, about 25 to 30 minutes, or until it’s easily smashed with your finger tips.
3. Drain beans out and discard excess water. Use a large spoon to press through a fine sieve. You’ll get very smooth mung bean puree.
4. Transfer the puree into a non-stick frypan. Add sugar, coconut milk, oil and salt. Combine well. Cook over medium high heat until moisture is reduced by two-thirds. Sift in wheat flour in batches and stir to combine well between each addition. Reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened, stirring constantly, about 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer into a large bowl and let it cool down completely. Follow instructions of mooncake recipe to divide into portions, then shape into ball shapes. You can make mung bean filling one or two days ahead. Wrap it in plastic film and store in fridge.

Notes:

• How can you tell if the mung beans are steamed enough? If it’s easily smashed with your finger tips, it’s softened enough.
• The best mung bean filling is not too dry or not too wet. The texture should be like smooth dough, easily pulled away from pan (as shown in right bottom picture). Practice makes things perfect. You’ll get the hang of things after one or two trials.

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Pandan Snow Skin Mooncakes with Coconut Mung Bean Filling

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 60 mins
Yield: 16 mini mooncakes (50 grams each. Sized diameter 4.5cm, depth 4.5cm)

Ingredients:
55 gm glutinous rice flour
45 gm rice flour
25 gm wheat flour / wheat starch
60 gm caster sugar
190 ml milk
30 ml condensed milk
25 ml vegetable oil (such as sunflower oil or canola oil)
40 ml pandan juice
2 to 3 drops of pandan paste / pandan essence, optional
320 gm mung bean filling (To make the filling, refer to this recipe.)
2 Tbsp cooked glutinous rice flour, for coating


Method: 

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine glutinous rice flour, rice flour, wheat flour and sugar well.
2. Mix milk, condensed milk, pandan juice and oil together. Pour into the flour mixture and stir to combine. Drain through a fine sieve into a large and shallow pan.
3. Steam the batter in a wok over medium-high heat, for about 15 to 20 minutes. Try a bit of the dough. If it doesn’t have any raw flour taste, it’s cooked through. Remove from wok and let it cool down. Scrape the dough out onto a plastic board or a kitchen benchtop lined with plastic film. Lightly knead by hand until smooth. Cut dough into 16 portions, 30 grams of each.
4. Divide mung bean filling into 16 portions, 20 grams of each. Roll each into a round shape.
5. Wrap each filling ball with a dough portion. Roll with your palms and lightly coat with cooked glutinous rice flour. Shake off any excess flour. Place into a mooncake mould. Press to print the pattern. Repeat this step until finish all the dough and fillings. Store the mooncakes into an air-tight container. Put kitchen paper on top to prevent any condensed water dropped on the mooncake surface. Refrigerate overnight. Enjoy.

How to make pandan juice：

1. Rinse 4 pieces of pandan leaves and wipe dry. Roughly cut into smaller sections. Use an electric food processor to process the leaves with 4 tablespoons of water until finely cut.
2. Transfer to a filter paper. Squeeze out the pandan juice. Then measure out the amount yielded by the recipe. The rest of the pandan juice can be stored in fridge with cover for up to a few days.

Notes:

1. How to prepare cooked glutinous rice flour: Simply cook the flour in a frypan without any oil over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. When smoke releases and the flour turns light yellow, it’s cooked. Remove from the heat and let it cool down completely. Then you can use it to coat your mooncakes.
2. If you don’t have a mooncake mould, you can use a jelly mould or any other mould that comes in handy to you.
3. If pandan leaves are not available, you can replace it with milk. 
4. Add more pandan paste if you like a deeper colour.
5. When the dough is still hot, it seems to be quite oily. Don't worry. It won't be greasy at all, when it cools down completely.
6. The snow skin mooncakes can be stored in freezer up to a few weeks. Before serving, just transfer the mooncakes to fridge for about 3 hours, until they become soften a bit.

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Beef Brisket in Clear Broth

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 135 mins
Yield: 4 to 6 serves

Ingredients:
820 gm beef brisket
4 to 5 slices ginger
4 to 5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp white rice wine
3 cups salt-reduced chicken stock
1 cup water
1 star anise
3 pieces bay leaves
20 white peppercorns
10 gm rock sugar, about thumb-sized
500 gm radish, peeled and roughly chopped
salt, to taste

Method: 

1. Blanch the beef brisket in boiling water to remove the blood. Drain well. Cut into chunks. Trim away the fat if needed. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok or large pot over high heat. Saute ginger and garlic until aromatic. Add the beef brisket. Sprinkle wine and stir to combine. Pour in stock and water. Add star anise, bay leaves, white peppercorns and rock sugar.
3. Cover and bring it to boil. Cook for about 30 minutes. Turn off the heat. Don’t remove the lid. Let the beef cook with the residue heat inside the pot for about 15 minutes. Repeat this step until the beef starts to turn soft.
4. Use another wok or frying pan. Heat oil and sauté the radish. Transfer and cook with the beef until the radish is softened and beef brisket is tender over medium-low heat. Replenish some boiling water if necessary. Season with salt. Serve hot.

Notes：

1. Beef brisket needs longer cooking time. To save energy, I turned off the stove and made use of the residue heat inside the wok/pot to cook the beef. (Remark: I often used this method to make the classic stewed Beef Brisket in Chu Hou sauce.)
2. By adding a bit of rock sugar, not only it makes the beef brisket taste pleasant, but also it helps the meat turn soft more quickly.
3. Chicken stock works perfectly as a clear soup base. You might use beef stock anyway.

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Crepes Recipe

Basic Pancakes

Makes 12 (20cm)/15 (15cm)

60g plain flour
2 tsp caster sugar
pinch of salt
250ml milk
2 medium eggs
60g butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk together until well incorporated and free of lumps. Cover and leave for 10 minutes.

Heat a non-stick frying pan and add oil, wiping off excess. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of batter into the pan and swirl evenly over the base. Cook over medium heat until the underside is golden, about 30 seconds. Turn pancake with a spatula or fish slice and cook the other side. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the rest of the batter, stacking them.

Pancakes will keep well in the refrigerator covered tightly with cling film for 2-3 days, or in the freezer sealed in a plastic bag for a month.

Lemon and sugar
Caster sugar
Fresh lemon juice

Place a pancake on a plate, sprinkle with ¼ tsp caster sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice. Fold the pancake in half and half again to form a quarter circle.

Cheese Blintz

120g cream cheese, softened
30g butter, softened
30g sugar (or to taste)
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
½ tsp vanilla extract

Beat together cream cheese, butter, sugar and salt until smooth. Beat in a little egg yolk so the mixture is lighter; you may not need to add the whole yolk. Fold in the vanilla. This makes about a cup of filling

Scoop 1½-2 tablespoons of filling onto the centre of a pancake. Fold the bottom edge over the filling, then the two sides and roll up the blintz into a parcel. Make more parcels this way.

Heat up a little oil in a pan and fly the blintzes until lightly browned. Serve with chocolate sauce, jam, or fresh fruit.
Vanilla pastry cream

Makes about 2¼ cups. Use as a filling; not suitable for frosting

Crepe Cake

30g custard powder
pinch of salt
100g caster sugar, divided
200ml whipping cream
200ml milk
seeds from half a vanilla pod or ½ tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the custard powder, salt and 50g of sugar in a mixing bowl.

Put the cream, milk, the remaining 50g of sugar and the vanilla seeds or extract in a saucepan over medium heat. When tiny bubbles begin to form on the edges, remove from heat and add gradually to the dry ingredients, whisking continuously until smooth. Pour this back into the saucepan and return to the heat. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens, about 2 minutes. Transfer custard to a bowl and place cling wrap directly on the surface. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours; it will become firmer.

Before using, whisk to soft peaks.

Assemble the crêpe cake: Place a pancake on a serving platter. Spread with 1-1½ tablespoons of pastry cream. Keep layering until you run out of pancakes or pastry cream, whichever comes first. The centre will start to dome; press down lightly to even out the filling.

Cover with cling film and refrigerate for about an hour for the filling to become slightly firm. Dust the top with icing sugar, if desired. Cut into wedges to serve.

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