new year, new resolutions

This past week I’ve had a cold and I went back to work. It seems as if those two items combined make it impossible for me to blog or even think about it (the robot shot above captures my feelings of the past week). But I’m feeling better and it’s the weekend so here I am. During the holidays I really enjoyed doing more than one book and hope to review at least two every month. This month I’m doing something a little different.

Every New Year I start with resolutions on reducing stress, eating better and getting in shape. I always start with the best of intentions but no plan. Without a plan I find it difficult to focus. This year Martha Stewart’s Whole Living magazine outlines a simple action plan for both mental and physical wellbeing for 28 days. I can do 28 days! So that’s the New Year resolution, 28 days to a purified me.

The first week is a reduction of common allergens and other bad things (good-bye added sugar, you’ve been a dear friend). Gluten/wheat is back out as well. With that in mind I decided that I would try Flying Apron’s Gluten-Free and Vegan Baking book. Seemed like a good match to Whole Living’s plan. I seriously love me a baked good so I’m going to be realistic and try to do more responsible baking. Wish me luck I’m may be a little crazy after a few days of no added sugar…

But before I do that I have one more Kylie Kwong recipe to review.

I love noodles. We grew up not knowing the true name to any dish referring to them as the big flat one, the one with soup or the worm one; the worm one being a particular favourite. That was why I decided to do the Hokkien Noodles Stir Fried with Chicken. Once again it was a blend of different sauces to create an easy to make dish that was rich in flavour and delicious. Before I got this cookbook I didn’t really know who Kylie Kwong is and now I’m sorry I hadn’t been introduced to her sooner. She’s definitely sparked my desire to learn how to cook Chinese food and furthered my appreciation of the food my dad just whips up in the kitchen.

full steam ahead

One of my favourite Chinese food utensils is the bamboo steamer. We bought one ages ago and have rarely ever used it. Luckily for me J kept it in the move. I busted it out for my next 2 recipes from Kylie: steamed fish fillets with ginger and spring onions and steamed silken tofu with ginger and spring onions. Both were very similar in technique and had the signature Chinese flavours of ginger, spring onions and soy sauce. Both were light and tasty but the fish was definitely an eye opener for me more than the tofu. The tofu was a bit plain.

I live in the burbs so finding a good fishmonger can be hard and then you throw in the Sustainable Seafood Guide and you choice of fish becomes even more limited (for the better of course). The local Chinese supermarket has an excellent fish counter but I have a thing about live fish. When I was in grade 7 my parents took us back to Hong Kong to visit the Motherland. My grandma hustled my sister and I out to the Chinese market to buy the freshest of ingredients. Amongst the squawks of the chickens and the yelling of the stall vendors were rows of fish all iced. I believe the vendor meant to show us how fresh everything was but instead he traumatized me. He grabbed a live one, sliced it in half as if it was paper and splayed the fish out for all to see. The organs were still moving. I have avoided fish counters at Chinese supermarkets for that reason, although I doubt that behaviour would be permissible in a suburban supermarket. But with my new attempt at cooking I needed to overcome that. But this recipe was not the one to alleviate my fears. I ordered a nice little fish no head this time and headed home. The recipe was easy since it was filets. Hey i'm working in baby steps people.

Kylie's book is filled with amazing how-to images and it's good for a home cook. The instructions are simple and easy to follow. It helps that that book is larger than most cookbooks and the paper is amazing. This is how all cookbooks should be made.

There is one major thing I learned from this recipe: the heating of oil. After everything is cooked you plate your food then heat peanut oil in a small frying pan until moderately hot. Then you pour it over the fish releasing the flavours and giving it an extra punch. It was a revelation for me and when I mentioned it to my Dad he shrugged and said that's how it's always been done. Now I happily carry this tip in my heart as a sign that I'm finding my way to my inner Chinese cook. A for the fish, a B for the tofu.

more chicken...

We've been eating a lot of chicken. Mainly because I've tried to minimize the red meat in our life and because J likes meat with dinner. Simple Chinese Cooking offers tons of protein options and categorizes them into separate sections. I thought I would try the stir-fried chicken filets with cashews. Kylie says this is frequently ordered in Chinese restaurants but I'm not entirely convinced as I don't remember ever eating this.

Needless to say this appealed to me because I love cashews and I had a cucumber in the fridge. Done and done. I followed the directions religiously (a first for me) and found this very simple to do. It's a little greasy because it's stir-fried but greasy Chinese food doesn't bother me. Some of my favourite dishes have had that glossy oil shine.

When all was said and it done it looked fantastic but when we went to eat it, it was super salty. Thinking I might have read it wrong I tried it again a week later. I reduced the 2 teaspoons of salt asked for by half but It was still salty. I'm still working it out. Luckily the rice cut the salt down but it still needs to be tweaked to reduce salt and grease. Despite all of that it still tasted delicious, like a greasy spoon meal with a Chinese twist. This recipe gets a B.

poaching a chicken

When it comes to Chinese food I have a few comfort foods that remind me of home. This soy sauce chicken is one of them. I had conquered my fear of cooking the whole chicken a year a go when I did Gluten Free Girl's rosemary-lemon roast chicken. In fact I found it easier than cooking chicken pieces and very satisfying as you pull the lovely golden chicken out of the oven. I had never poached a chicken before but I thought it couldn't be harder than roasting a chicken. I was wrong. First of all you need a HUGE pot to put a whole chicken in and you have to be more precise. Precision is not really my thing. But this recipe was pretty straight forward. You poach for 40 minutes and then you steep it in the pot for 3 hours! I had visions of salmonella dancing in my head.

In addition to trying this new technique the recipes requires you to make a stock in which you can use over and over again. In fact it says the sauce will become "deeper and richer" with every additional use. I'm going to be honest here I work on a food magazine and we are often confronted with food safety warnings. I strongly doubt this recipe would pass inspection.

Never did I imagine that so many sauces and elements needed to go in to create it something I thought was so simple. Kylie asks you to arrange a variety of ingredients to create this master stock but I think it was worth it. After my 3 hour wait I pulled it out and it was beautiful and delicious. Plus I was able to follow the book's amazing visual step-by-step to chop the chicken Chinese-style. Thank goodness I had the Chinese kitchen staple: a cleaver (thanks Grandma)! This chicken wasn't exactly like home (too much star anise), but it was a nice start for my Chinese cooking repertoire. I give it an A.

double bill

I've been negligent with my writing. With the holidays and work everything gets so busy and it's so much easier to do take out instead of actually cooking. To make it up I will do a double bill and we're half way through the month. In conjunction with Kylie's Simple Chinese Cookimg I will also do Nigella Christmas. Nigella and I go way back to when I picked up her cookbook How to Be a Domestic Goddess. I was intent on making her fairy cakes, but ended up making her lava cakes which I still make to this day. I have a few of her books Feast and Nigella Express. I love that she loves food and doesn't care if it's bad for you plus her food always tastes delicious. With all the new cookbooks out there I have kind of forgotten about her but this holiday I am bringing her back in all her glory. There truly is no better time to indulge than the holidays and there is no one else I'd rather do it with than her.

returning to my chinese roots

I was raised on homemade Chinese food. My dad would come home after work and whip up a simple but delicious meal. I never expressed any interest in what he made as I was growing up and at times wished something other than rice. As I have gotten older I have begun to appreciate the meals he made, the simple yet intricate flavours but I never made any effort to learn how he did it. When I finally asked him to tell me how he did it I realized that he made everything freestyle. He could open the fridge and whip up something, the recipes were burnt into his memory and that he never made anything the same way.

I am ashamed to say I don't really know how to make anything Chinese food related. I grew up complacent about it and thought it would just come naturally to me after watching my Dad all these years. Reality is that this type of cooking does not just spring from my mind and despite the fact that I have the trappings of traditional Chinese cooking (large cleaver, wok, bamboo steamer, rice cooker) I have no idea how to go beyond making rice or stir fry. I am determined to change that with the help of Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking.

This book is big and beautiful, the recipes are simple and familiar. It also comes with a good Chinese food primer. Armed with the book I went to T&T and picked up bottles of soy sauce, vinegar and cooking wine I am ready to return to my Chinese roots.