Foochow (Fuzhou)Taro New Year's Cake 福洲 竽头年糕

This is a Foochow specialty and the recipe is well-guarded and hard to find.  I was told by my family to only pass it on to someone who is a Foochow, but seeing the generosity of other people willing to share their own secret recipes, I am sharing it here.  Unlike regular Chinese New Year's Cake which is made with glutinous flour, this unusual recipe uses tapioca flour.

Recipe:
2 lbs shredded taro (about 8 cups)

1 package tapioca flour or starch (14 oz)
2 tablespoons glutinous flour
1 3/4 teaspoons five-spice powder
Stir together these 3 dry ingredients.

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 cup white sugar
3 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1/8 tsp salt
Bring these ingredients to a boil.

Put in taro and bring back to a simmer without stirring. Turn off heat.
Stir in dry ingredients.
Pour into well greased pan or pan lined with soy skin (this is the traditional way).
Steam for 1 hour.
Cool completely and chill.
Cut into slices and pan fry before serving.

(Note: To be authentic, stir in one cup of cooked skinless peanuts before steaming, but I always omit this to save time.)

Egg Tart 蛋撻

 When pressed for time, store bought pie crust is a quick substitute for home-made crust, but of course home-made tastes much better!

Tarts are done when crust is light brown and filling is puffed up.

Filling will settle down after it's removed from the oven.

To save time, just pour into a regular pie crust and make a big egg custard pie!.

 

Preheat oven to 375 deg.
Dough:
In Canada, you can buy ready-made tart shells in aluminium liner, super convenient.
For the dough, either use recipe below, or use a store-bought pie crust dough.
Flour the top and bottom of the pie dough. Roll out a little thinner, then use a three-inch diameter  round cookie cutter and cut out circles of dough.  Place circles in a regular size muffin pan and press to form shell. Makes 12 tarts.

Dough Recipe:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 stick butter (4 oz)
1 egg at room temp
1 tablespoon icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cream butter with egg, sugar and salt.  Add flour.  Mix to form dough, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for one hour.  Roll out dough and cut into 3 inch circles.

Egg Filling:
2 extra large eggs, beaten well
1 1/4 cups cold milk
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
a drop of yellow food coloring (optional)

Mix well, pour into muffin pan lined with dough.
Bake at 375 degrees for 25 min until pie crust is light brown and egg custard is puffy but still jiggly in the middle.  It will set as it cools.

Variations:  You can try substituting evaporated milk for the whole milk, or try using only egg whites and coconut milk for Portuguese style egg tarts.

Pineapple Tart Cookies

Irresistable pineapple cookies. These disappear in 3 days in my house, but the store-bought ones are still around after 3 weeks. They're are called "Pineapple Tarts" in Singapore.

 Cook pureed pineapple in a dry, clean wok.

 Cook till pineapple is thick and light brown in color - takes quite a while. Well, no pain, no gain.

 Roll pineapple paste into small balls.

 Cover dough with another layer of plastic wrap for easier rolling - othewise dough will stick.

 Special cookie molds bought in Singapore at a Malay market - they make an indentation.

 Make sure dough is floured on both sides so it won't stick to the mold and won't stick on the baking pan.

 Ready for the oven. Don't worry about tidying the shape of the pineapple.  They will firm up after baking and will be easy to shape again after it's baked and cooled for a minute.

 Out of the oven.

 All that work for one jar of cookies - no wonder it's sold so expensive in the stores!

Leftover dough can be baked plain.

Makes about 100 cookies.

Dough Recipe:

2 cups flour

2 sticks butter at room temp

1 egg at room temp

1 tsp vanilla essence

Either 1/4 cup custard powder Or 1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup icing sugar

Cream butter together with egg, vanilla and icing sugar.

Stir in flour and custard powder or cornstarch.

Wrap in plastic wrap and chill till firm.

Roll dough between two layers of plastic wrap sprinkled with flour on both sides.

Cut out small cookie shapes and put one piece of pineapple filling on top.

Bake cookies at 350 deg for 15-20 min till light brown at edges. 

Pineapple Filling:

Three 20-oz can pineapple chunks, drained.

Puree pineapple in blender in batches, or put them all in a deep bowl and use a hand held blender.

Stir in 3/4 cups white sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon & 1/8 tsp cloves.

Cook over high heat in dry, clean wok, stirring constantly till it turns thick and brown in color and reduced to about 1/3.  Watch out for splatters in the beginning.  This process takes about 30 min, depending on the level of heat.

Cool and then roll into small balls.

Baked Ham

Buy an unsliced ham with the bone in and with layer of outer fat. Remove ham from wrapping and wash to remove excess salt.  Score the fat on the ham with a knife in criss-cross pattern.  Brush with a mixture of Dijon whole grain mustard and brown sugar (1:2 ratio) brought to a boil.  Bake uncovered ham according to directions on package, basting with sauce .  Serve ham with extra sauce.

Silken Tofu Flower 豆腐花

8 cups unsweetened soy milk (use store bought, make your own - recipe below.)
2 tsp food grade calcium sulphate powder 石膏粉 available from Asian stores
2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
Mix calcium powder and cornstarch with water.  Place in large pot or bowl with cover.
Bring soy milk to boil in uncovered pot, watching carefully so it doesn't boil over.
Pour over carbonate mixture and cover and let stand for 30 min to set.
Serve with syrup made by boiling rock sugar with some wataer.  If desired, a slice of ginger can be added.

Soy Milk:
Soak soy beans overnight.
Put some in blender with water to cover and blend till fine. Repeat till beans are used up.
Pour some mixture into cotton cloth and wring to obtain soy milk.  Discard the fiber.
Put soy milk in pot and stir and bring to boil over medium heat.  Do not walk away, watching carefully so it doesn't boil over.
Simmer for five minutes.  Add sugar to soy milk if desired or make tofu flower with it.

Cookie Christmas Log

Made with Cool Whip and a box of thin chocolate wafers.

Century Egg Porridge 皮蛋瘦肉粥

A popular Chinese breakfast or lunch item made with preserved duck eggs that are black in color!

 Century egg porridge is usally not served with cilantro, but I love cilantro so much, I put it in mine.

One trick to unpeeling the eggs is to make a small hole at the narrow end and a larger whole at the wider end. Then blow hard through the small hole and if you're lucky, the entire egg will pop out like magic!

2-3 lbs pork bones with meat - like neck or back bones
some soaked dried scallops, shredded, or some dried anchovies
few slices ginger
Three peeled century eggs, chopped
salt and white pepper to taste

Parboil the bones to get rid of any surface dirt and smell (i.e., bring pot of water to boil, add bones and when redness is gone, drain and use)
Bring another pot of water to boil, add bones, dried anchovies or scallops, ginger, and simmer for two hours.  Use sieve to remove all solids.  Meat can be removed from bones to add to porridge later, or discard and slice some fresh pork thinly and season with some soy sauce and sugar.
Add 3/4 cup rice to liquid, simmer till rice is cooked.  Add pork, century eggs and season to taste. Simmer till porridge consistency.

Water Chestnut Kueh 马蹄糕

8 oz water chestnut flour
2 cups water
3/4 lb rock sugar
3 cups water
1 cups chopped water chestnut
1 drop yellow food coloring (optional)

Directions:
Mix flour with 2 cups water and food coloring.
Boil rock sugar in 3 cups water till dissolved. Turn off heat.
Add flour mixture slowly into sugar mixture, stirring constantly.
Stir in water chestnuts.
Pour thickened mixture into greased pan and steam 1/2 hour.
Cool completely.  Slice and pan fry till golden brown.