Chinese Pumpkin Sesame Cakes

I saw this Pumpkin Sesame Cakes in a Chinese cooking show recently.  It was a pumpkin recipes special and it featured this and a steamed variety.  For the steamed one, the cooking host shaped the dough into a little pumpkin and then steamed it until cooked.  She served it with some sort of sweet syrup.

I was attracted to this pan-fried version as it looked really tasty.  What's more I am also a big fan of sesame seeds so of course I had to give this recipe a try.  I was also curious of how it would taste like.

I gave it a bite to let you see the texture inside of this cake.  It tasted like nian gao, since it was made of glutinous rice flour I guess.  Slightly chewy and not bad at all.  Mine was not sweet enough, I would prefer it to be sweeter.

Remember to pan-frying it in low heat pan so that you won't burn the sesame seeds.  Sesame seeds burn easily in high heat.

Before pan-frying

Method:

Pumpkin,  cut the skin off, cut into half, seeded and save the seed to roast.

Cut pumpkin into slices.  Steam for 30 minutes or until soften.  Mash with a fork. Squeeze out the juice. Mix in some brown sugar, stir well.  Then add some glutinous rice flour until a dough is formed.  In a plate, spread out the white sesame seeds.  Roll the dough into a cylinder shape, cut and slightly roll it flat with your hand.  Coat both sides with sesame seeds.  Pan fry in low heat until golden brown on both sides.  Drain on paper towel.  Serve.

2 cups smashed pumpkin , 3/4 cup (less sweet)  to 1 cup of brown sugar (sweet).  I only used 1/2 cup of brown sugar and it was not sweet at all.  I think the original recipe was made without adding any sugar.

Braised Pork with Dried Whole Chestnut and Tofu

I recently made some chicken glutinous rice and needed to add some dried chestnuts.  Since I was going to soften the chestnuts anyway, I thought I just cooked the whole packet and freeze half for later use.  I just defroze the soften chestnuts in the refrigerator overnight for this dish.  I bought this natural dried whole chestnut and thus the color was brown.  Not good looking but tasted the same and healthier since it was not whiten.

This was like a braised soy sauce pork except I added a handful of dried chili peppers (not the bird eye dried chili) for some kick.  Since my girls were eating this, so not much to create a huge kick, just a little that I didn't much notice but my little Edda said the tofu tasted spicy.  Probably because I didn't soften it in warm water first, I just added some to stir-fry with the oil.  Perhaps that was why it was less spicy.  You can certainly add more if you like it spicier.  You can also omit the dried chestnuts or substitute it with Chinese mushroom.

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless pork chops, cut into small pieces

12 dried whole chestnuts, rinsed and simmered for 1 hour until soften. (do it a day before)

1 block of extra firm tofu, cut into pieces

1 handful of dried chili

4 cloves of garlic

1 piece of ginger, smashed

1 or 2 star anise

Sauce:

LKK premium dark soy sauce, Hua Tiao Chinese cooking wine, Kikkoman soy sauce, 2 tsp. brown sugar, a little salt to taste.

Method:

1.  Heat up a cooking pot, add a little oil.  Stir-fry the ginger and garlic until brown.  Add in the dried chili and star anise.  Stir a little.  Add in the pork, pan-sealed it.  Add the Hua Tiao cooking wine, stir a little.  Add in enough water to cover 3/4 of the meat.  Add in the dark soy sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar and a little salt.

2.  Add in the chestnuts, stir to mix well.  Place the cut tofu on top, scoop some of the sauce to coat the tofu.  Cover and let it simmer for 3 hours or until the pork is tender.

3.  After 3 hours, lightly give it a quick stir to mix in the tofu, be careful not to break it.  Serve hot!

Spiced Pumpkin Walnut Cake

I cannot get enough of this cake, it is soft and moist and left you wanting more.  This is almost like my Best Ever Pumpkin Cake except it's has a little more egg with added walnut and one additional spice.  This cake is smaller and I used a 8-inch square pan to bake it.  I created this when I used 1 cup of the pumpkin puree to make the cookies and left with one more cup of pumpkin puree.  I loved pumpkin cake above all others, more than pie, cookies, soup, etc.  So of course I got to make it into a cake.

If you have canned pumpkin puree at home, give this recipe a try.  I am waiting for the Libby's canned pumpkin puree to go on sale so that I can stock up and make more of this cake.  YUM! YUM!  Oh yeah, need to buy more of the chopped walnuts too.

Ingredients:

(A)
2  large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil or other neutral oil)
1/2 (15 ounce) canned or 1 cup of pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
(B), sifted or whisked
1 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

(C)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350'F. Spray a 8-inch square pan with non-stick cooking spray with flour for baking.

2. In a big mixing bowl, whisk or beat together (A).

3. Then, add in (B) and stir together with a spatula until smooth and well blended or beat to blend well.

4.  Add in the chopped walnuts, lightly mix in.

5. Pour into the greased square pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverted to cool completely on a wire rack.  Best enjoy the next day.

Chinese Almond Cookies

I had some leftover almond that I needed to use up, about 1/3 cup of it.  Just nice that we finished the oatmeal cookies that I made for our snack so I wanted to use the almond to make cookies.  A fool proof recipe that I made before and also must be easy.  So I picked this almond sugi cookies recipe that I made dozen of times and added the chopped almond.

I really loved the extra crunch from the chopped almond and this cookie was very yummy.  So suitable for Chinese New Year too. 

Click this link for the recipe I used, except I double the recipe and added 1/3 cup of whole almond, chopped.  Need to double the recipe because of this shape, it's a much bigger cookie.  For the shape, just pinch a bigger dough, roll into ball and flatten it and lightly press it on the parchment paper.  For the almond essence, I did not double it.

The baking time is the same and use a scraper or frosting knife to remove the cookies to cool on the wire rack.  This cookie is pretty fragile but absolutely yummy!

Stir Fried Pumpkin with Eggs

Never did I know that stir-frying pumpkin can be so scrumptious.  I saved some of the pumpkin fresh from a pumpkin that we carved earlier.  I had pumpkin porridge before and I really liked it as it was sweet and filling.  But I know my girls don't really fancy porridge so I thought I would try something different.

I stir fried zucchini with this recipe and we all loved it, so why not try it with pumpkin.  It was my first time cooking a stir-frying pumpkin and it was so yummy.  The fish sauce gave this dish an extra boost.  If you have extra fresh pumpkin at home, give this dish a try!  I took this picture at night, so it did not look very appetizing, but don't be fooled by it's look, this is a dish I will make again and again.

Ingredients:

1/4 of a medium Pumpkin, julienne

1/4 cup of dried shrimps, soften in warm water and drain

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 large eggs, beaten and seasoned with soy sauce and white pepper

(A)

Fish sauce to taste

Salt (optional)

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. chicken stock powder

Method:

1.  In a heated wok, add in some cooking oil.  When hot, add in the beaten eggs, stir-fry until cooked.  

2.  Scoop the eggs to the side of the wok, add in garlic and dried shrimps in the remaining oil, stir-fry until garlic is slightly golden and dried shrimps are fragrant.  Add in pumpkins and mix all together and stir-fry well.

3.  Stir-fry until pumpkin is cooked and soften.  Season with (A).  Serve hot!

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Braised Chicken with Mui Choy

This was actually a remake of a leftover mui choy (preserved veggie).  My hubby ordered a "mui choy gau yook" from a friend and we finished all the "gau yook" (5 layers pork/ fatty pork) and left with lots of mui choy.  It was too salty and the spices were a bit too strong for my taste.  Our friends suggested me to make soup with the mui choy but I thought I would make a chicken dish with it instead.

All I did is chopped some drumsticks, added in a little oil in a pot and gave the mui choy some quick stirs.  Then, added in the chicken, stir a little.  Added in water to cover half of the chicken and a tablespoon of dark soy sauce and let it simmered in low heat for an hour.  Lastly added in a little sugar.  It turned out to be a delicious chicken dish.  What a great use of the leftover mui choy!

Stir fried Spicy Cabbage

I always stir-fry my green cabbage in a non-spicy way.  Stir-frying it in a spicy way never cross my mind until I saw the Chinese cooking show where the chef cooked it with some dried chili.  It gave me the idea of trying something new.  This is a new dish for me and we liked it!  I will certainly make this version more from now on.

I realized that the green cabbage sold in the Asian market is easier to stir-fry than the green cabbage I bought at the American supermarket.  The one at the American supermarket is tougher and harder even after the longer time I spent stir-frying it.  Definitely prefer the texture of the green cabbage I bought at the Asian market, not to say cheaper too.

Ingredients:

1/4 of one green cabbage, sliced

A little diced carrot for color (optional)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. of black bean in chili oil

Salt and sugar to taste

Method:

1.  Heat up your wok.  When heated, add in a little cooking oil.  When hot, add in minced garlic and black bean in chili oil and stir-fry until fragrant.  

2.  Add in cabbage and stir-fry until soft.  Add in diced carrot (if used).  Stir-fry well and season to taste with a little salt and sugar.  Serve hot!

Stir Fried Ramen

Need a quick meal and yet wanted it to be balance?  I was left with two pieces of chicken strips and I had to make it into a meal that could feed three.  I bought those Maruchan ramen when it went on sales for 10 cents each for stir-frying.  I did not like the seasoning that came with it so I either made my own soup base or save this for stir-frying.  With the protein and carbohydrate readied, all I needed was some vegetable to make it complete.  Just checked the refrigerator for whatever veggie you have and you can cook up this delicious ramen dish in less than 10 minutes.

I'm sharing this noodle with Presto Pasta Nights, an event created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast.  This week host is Ruth herself! Check out her delicious round up on Friday Nov, 5th! 

Ingredients:

3-4 packets of ramen, cook ramen as directed by package, drain and rinse with cold water and set aside.

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 carrot, julienne

1/8 head of green cabbage, julienne

1/2 of yellow onion, julienne

Seasonings:

Fish sauce, to taste

Oyster sauce, about 2-3 Tbsp.

Sugar, about 1 tsp.

White pepper, dashes of

A touch of sesame oil in the end of cooking

Method:

1.  In a heated wok, pour in some cooking oil.  Add in garlic, stir-fry a little, add in onion, stir-fry until soften.  Add in cabbage and carrot, stir-fry until cooked.

2.  Add in cooked ramen and seasonings except sesame oil.  Stir-fry well and do a taste test to see if you need to adjust the seasonings.  If not, turn off the heat and lastly add a touch of sesame oil.  Stir-well and serve on the plate.

3.  Toast the chicken strips until warm, slice it and place on top of the stir fried ramen to serve.