Advice on Cooking

My style of cooking; it's a very strange combination of skill and laziness.

I call it "skill" because I have watched tons of cooking shows during my 2 years of living at Gage in UBC, where I was blessed with a TV in our living room. Sad to say, now I don't have a TV and my only complaint is I cannot watch the Food Network anymore~~ Even though I'm working during the hours that my favourite shows are on, I would still like to have a TV.

And I have picked up a lot of tips from watching all these cooking hosts. Like what are the "standard" seasonings for different kinds of cuisines, important theories, what to put together and what NOT to put together, so much more! I could write an entire book on what I've learnt just by watching...

And laziness? That's pretty self-explanatory. Or you could also define it as I-am-so-cheap-I-refuse-to-get-the-expensive-ingredients-like-the-pros-do. I pretty much use whatever I have on hand, and whatever I have on hand is what I "happen" to pick up at the supermarket for that week. There are rare times where I would specially buy specific items for whatever I am making though, depends entirely on my mood.

With this combination of knowledge and non-specificity, I sometimes come up with random recipes. No actually, make that ALL THE TIME. Especially my "Chinese" cooking are the simplest things I usually cook. My usual is a tiny portion of meat, either ground or in small pieces, with a range of 2-5 types of vegetables cut up. First I fry the meat, and then toss in the vegetables. The meat may or may not be pre-marinated, but I have learned to "season every layer of the dish", but I usually put so little seasoning it doesn't really taste very strong anyway. I think this is a healthy diet, especially when served with rice. My meat-to-vegetables ratio is usually 1:3, and I'm proud of that.

When I encounter certain things I feel like baking or trying out, I hunt for the recipe on ever-trusty Google, and then I modify it to whatever I have in my fridge. Except you can't really mess with the chemistry of baking, so I don't alter proportions and try to follow baking measurements to a T. I'm a lot better now, at least my landlord has measuring cups and spoons which I can use, which I never really used in the past. The actual baking time and temperature and oven will definitely not make my baking turn out perfectly, but I have learned to live with such imperfection.

Today, I made hummus. The traditional recipe calls for chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, sesame paste and some spices. I have only the first 2 on the list. Well, I guess I can make do, since chickpeas is the key ingredient in this. I was hesitant to chop up garlic at first (because I was oh-so-lazy) but finally gave in because according to my landlady, "hummus is not hummus without garlic!"

So I blended the chickpeas and garlic together with only a little of the liquid from the can (with my lovely $7 mini food processor), and then added sesame seeds (to replace the sesame paste), and --- oh, that's about it. I added salt and black pepper, and I also decided to be brave and add curry powder. I did not add olive oil because seriously, I don't see the need for it (and I didn't want to scrub a greasy food processor). The curry powder turned out to be a great choice, and after I spooned everything into a container, I swirled in a couple drops of sesame oil to enhance the aroma.

And boy, did that taste good! So, I conclude that you really don't need all the classic ingredients to make a good hummus. And really, that applies to pretty much everything that is not baking.. I suppose if you are really professional then you can fiddle around, but I'm not there yet..

My advice when it comes to cooking: Be adventurous, be flexible, and most importantly, be LAZY! :) Happy cooking everyone!

Wonderful Day

SO SO SO SO SO tempted to bake banana muffins right now!! Found a great recipe which looks so simple.. Okay, most muffin recipes are simple.. This one calls for 2 eggs instead of the usual 1, so maybe it will turn out more rich? I can't wait to try it!!!!!

Sadly, I have to do homework.... I better get through most of it now and so I can ask residual questions tomorrow.. Muffins have to wait...

On the bright side, what a great Vancouver mini adventure it was today!!! Collecting Olympic passes, looking at downtown Olympic decorations, riding on the Olympic Line streetcar, landing up on Granville Island~~~ :D

♥ Beautiful Vancouver ♥

Bo Bo Cha Cha 101

This is my healthier, homemade version of the traditional Southeast Asian dessert.. I know it's not 100% authentic, but it was the best I could do, plus it's easy!


Step 1: Dice up yams.


Step 2: Add boiling water to tapioca flour, stir till it becomes a dough-like consistency.


Step 3: Roll out using hands and cut into cubes.


Step 4: Boil the yams and the flour cubes until cooked, and then turn off the heat and add coconut milk.


Step 5: Add sugar, stir well.


Step 6: Enjoy!


Success!!!

Spices and Herbs

I want to name my *future* 2 hamsters Cayenne (as in cayenne pepper) and Paprika. Both of them will be so hot haha pun intended. And I will name my *future* dog Cilantro. And if I get more than one dog, the other(s) can be called Basil, Parsley, Tarragon, possibily Sage.. Because I don't like the sound of Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano.. Haha I'm looking at Wikipedia's list of spices and herbs.. I will have a family of hamster spices and doggy herbs! :D

Lemon Sugar Cookies!

Lemon Sugar Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
2 eggs
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Additional granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease baking sheets. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In large mixer bowl, beat sugar and shortening until fluffy, beat in eggs. Stir in dry ingredients, then lemon juice. Mix well. Drop onto prepared baking sheets, 2" apart. Sprinkle with additional sugar. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Changes I made:

1. I replaced the all-purpose flour and baking powder with SELF-RAISING FLOUR.

2. I skipped the salt.

3. I replaced the shortening with canola oil. I think it works with butter as well, and it will just be richer.

4. Don't see the need to sprinkle additional sugar as it is already sweet enough.

5. I halved the recipe.

Result: Rather sweet, but still cookie-like. SUCCESS!


The sugar and oil mixture, looks like sorbet.


At first the sight of the dough scared me cos it looked so dry, but it was also very greasy when I moulded it with my hands..


I baked off 2 large ones for about 10 minutes and it turned out cake-y, maybe not long enough.. And then I proceeded to bake off 12 small ones, and they turned out great!!


Froze the rest of the dough for another time..

Ta-da!! Enjoy!

Chocolate Brownies!!

Brownies are by far the most decadent chocolate dessert ever!

And surprisingly easy to make!

I just followed the recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips and halved the recipe but added 15 minutes of baking time because my dish was deeper.

And it rose up like a souffle and sank back down again, lookin more like a moon crater.

I tried portioning it into small sliced but it was gooey and moist inside and crunchy on the top so basically it fell apart and I have a tupperware full of brownie mini cubes and crumbs.

And I'm finishing the crumbs on a dish. With a spoon.

Sigh it's greasy. And super chocolaty. I have to make brownies again. Note to self: Must add nuts next time.

But it will be next (school) year. Because if I open a new pack of 1kg chocolate chips I will never be able to finish it by end of April.

Mmmmm. Chocolaty.

My Famous Pork Stew

I just cooked one of my signature dishes tonight! Well, at least what I would like to think to be my signature dish!! =))

Pork Stew, can be eaten alone or with rice. I prefer the latter.

Pork cubes, potatoes, carrots, onions, dark soya sauce and water.

With just one secret ingredient!

Super easy but yummilicious.

Pork was so tender and soft and flavourful, but the potatoes were a tad overcooked since my dad was talking to me and I could not escape to look after my simmering pot. Nevertheless, melted potatoes are good!

I have to make it again, DEFINITELY!

But I need to improve on presentation. When it's done, it's usually a big brown mass of goop. Need to find a way to make it look more presentable.