Five spice (anise, Chinese cinnamon, cloves, ginger, fennel)
Tea leaves (can be done with tea bags, but leaves give best result. I recommend using pu er tea)
Salt
Directions
Hard boil eggs in enough boiling water to cover. Add salt to water to facilitate peeling and to raise water temperature for faster cooking.
When the eggs are cooked, crack them all around, making sure that the cracks are deep. Ideally the cracks should be deep enough that the shards pierce the membrane of the cooked egg. When in doubt, crack harder. But make sure that the shell remains on the egg.
Prepare the broth with about a 25:1 ratio of water to soy sauce (~750 mL to 30 mL will do for about 8 eggs). Add five spice and more soy sauce to taste. When in doubt, add more five spice. Use about as many tea leaves as you would if you were brewing that volume of tea, maybe a little more if your tea is cheap, definitely more if you're using tea bags. Boil the broth until the tea leaves open and the tea aroma is infused. Let simmer.
Slow cook the eggs over very low heat for many hours (24 should do). If slow cooking is inconvenient, then let the eggs steep in the refrigerator. It will take longer.
Add onion and garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add spinach, and continue to cook until spinach is defrosted.
Remove from heat and cool. Strain excess water from the spinach mixture.
Transfer to a bowl and stir in cheese and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
To make triangles:
Melt butter in a small saucepan. Cover phyllo stack with a dampened kitchen towel.
Take one phyllo sheet from stack and arrange on a work surface with a long side nearest you (keeping remaining sheets covered) and brush with some butter. Top with another phyllo sheet and brush with more butter. Cut buttered phyllo stack crosswise into strips 2-3 inches wide.
Place a spoonful of filling near one corner of a strip on end nearest you, then fold corner of phyllo over to enclose filling and form a triangle. Continue folding strip (like a flag), maintaining triangle shape. Put triangle, seam side down, on a large baking sheet and brush top with butter. Make more triangles in same manner, using all of phyllo.
Bake triangles in middle of oven at 375°F until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool slightly.
Do ahead: Pastry triangles can be formed, but not baked, three days ahead. Arrange in one layer in heavy-duty sealed plastic bags, then freeze. Bake frozen pastries (do not thaw) in same manner as above.
Make dough by adding boiling water to flour slowly while mixing rapidly. The resulting dough should be firm but soft, and should be a consistency like dumpling wrappers or fresh ramen. Let sit for half an hour, covered.
Take out little balls about half the size of a tennis ball and roll it flat. Brush the circle with sesame oil, sprinkle salt, and spread a pinch of scallions.
Roll up the circle into a snake, keeping the roll as tight as possible. Now coil the snake into a helix fossil, or a cinnamon bun.
Roll out the coil again into a pancake, keeping the dough intact throughout.
Fry in a hot pan with enough oil to almost cover the pancake. Swirl liberally and flip when one side is fried golden brown. If there are large bubbles forming, lift the pan off of the stove a little to lessen the heat.
Serve quartered with sauce (soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar/honey, sliced ginger, scallions).
Optional Vegetables: Carrots, Zucchini, anything else you have in the fridge
Basil
Oregano
Parsley (fresh if possible, but dried is ok)
Bay Leaves
Black pepper
Crushed red pepper
Cayenne pepper
Paprika
Rice
Directions
Prepare your ingredients. Slice the celery lengthwise into long thin strips, then chop widthwise into the tiniest portions you can manage. Do the same to the bell pepper and the onions. Mix these together in a bowl. Onions, bell pepper, and celery should be in roughly equal portions. This mixture is called "the holy trinity". Finely mince the garlic. Open up the beef broth and have it on the counter ready to use. Slice the sausage into bite-sized rounds. Slice the chicken into bite-sized cubes.
Cook the roux (pronounced like "roo"). Pour a very generous amount of olive oil into a very large heavy stock pot. You can supplement the olive oil with vegetable oil if the olive oil alone is too expensive. You can also supplement with butter, but this is more difficult to work with because butter has a much lower smoke point. Heat on medium heat until you feel the heat on the back of your hand and you just start to see convection lines in the oil (it looks like a turtle's back). Add white flour to the hot oil and vigorously stir it until evenly mixed. If the mixture is very runny, add more flour. If the mixture is balling up and looking like dough, add more oil. To test whether the proportion of flour to oil is right, scrape the pan along the middle. You should be able to see a clean streak of metal pan, but then the roux should cover it up again after a few seconds. Stir continuously, being sure to scrape every part of the bottom of the pan until the roux starts to bubble and becomes slightly more liquid, then reduce heat to simmer. Continue to stir without stopping until the roux turns a golden brown and smells like a fresh baked cookie (about 15-20 minutes). It is important to stir continuously because it takes about 10 seconds for the roux to burn if you stop stirring.
Add the Holy Trinity. Add the Holy Trinity and the Garlic to the roux and vigorously stir them in. The pot will hiss and steam at you very angrily, so be sure to protect your hands from the hot oil. Increase heat to medium and continue to stir and cook the roux (now filled with the spirit of the holy trinity). As the trinity releases water, the roux will become very stiff, gummy, and hard to stir, reduce heat to simmer but keep stirring anyway. Cook until the roux has turned a very very dark brown, smells like it's starting to burn despite your stirring, and the onions are translucent (~20-40 minutes)
Add the Liquid. Pour in all the broth at once, and stir together with the roux. Keep adding water until the mixture is the consistency of a very thick soup. Increase heat to medium and stir about once every 3 minutes.
Add the Okra and the Flavorings. Add the Okra and all the spices. Be generous with the green herbs and very generous with the paprika (this gives it the characteristic cajun flavor). Be generous with the red pepper, but conservative with the cayenne. Add enough tomato paste or tomato juice so that it gives the broth a nice richness and darkens the color, but not so much that it tastes like tomato. If you're adding any optional vegetables, add them now.
Simmer. Once the pot starts to bubble, reduce heat to very low, put a lid on, and give it a stir once every 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the meats. In a separate pan, heat a little oil. Add the sausage and fry until it starts to brown and curls up on the edges. Lift the sausage out with a slotted spoon and add to the big gumbo pot. Put the chicken in the pan and cook until all the outer edges are white, but the inside is still a little pink. Drain the chicken and add to the big gumbo pot.
Simmer some more, and prepare the rice. Continue to cook the gumbo on low heat, stirring about once every 10-15 minutes, for approximately 2.5-3 hours. The gumbo is done when it has changed consistency (it should look soupy, not like gravy), when the oil is starting to separate out between stirrings, when it has become very dark, and when the okra is so tender that it melts away in your mouth. Cook the rice, serve gumbo over rice.
2 cups cooked chopped skinless, boneless chicken breast (1 breast half)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cups baby spinach leaves, sliced into ribbons
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
4 (10-inch) whole-grain flour tortillas
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese mix or Cheddar
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
Directions
Heat the oil in a large skillet over a medium heat.
Add the onions and mushrooms and cook until the mushroom water is evaporated and they begin to brown, 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
Add chicken, cumin, chili powder and oregano and stir until all spices are incorporated.
Add spinach, salt and pepper and cook until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes.
Lay 1 tortilla on a flat work surface and sprinkle with 1/4 cup shredded cheese.
Spoon 1/2 chicken and vegetable mixture on top of cheese, then top with an additional 1/4 cup cheese.
Top with another flour tortilla. Heat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray over medium heat.
Carefully place 1 quesadilla in pan and cook 3 minutes. Using a large spatula, gently flip quesadilla and cook an additional 3 minutes until lightly browned and cheese is melted. Repeat.
Slice each quesadilla into quarters. Place 2 quarters on a plate with 1 tablespoon sour cream and 2 tablespoons salsa.
To prepare chicken, combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add chicken to bowl; toss well to coat. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes.
To prepare sauce, combine yogurt and next 4 ingredients (through 1 garlic clove), stirring with a whisk.
Thread 2 chicken strips onto each of 8 (12-inch) skewers. Place kebabs on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side or until done.
Place pitas on grill rack; grill 1 minute on each side or until lightly toasted. Place 1 pita on each of 4 plates; top each serving with ¼ cup lettuce and 2 tomato slices. Top each serving with 4 chicken pieces; drizzle each serving with 2 tablespoons sauce.
1 bag of chicken, 8lbs or so, chopped into bite sized pieces
15-20 cloves of garlic, chopped into medium sized pieces (not minced)
2-3 ginger roots, cut into thin slices (not strips) [optional]
1.5 cup sesame oil
1.5 cup rice wine
1 cup of dark soy sauce
3/4 cup of light soy sauce
8 tbsp sugar
2 handfuls of thai basil (not the usual basil!)
2-3 stalks of scallions (spring onions), chopped [optional]
Directions
Put the chopped chicken in a large container.
Pour the soy sauces, rice wine, and 1 cup of sesame oil into the container. (if at this stage the color of the chicken is not too dark, then there is not enough dark soy sauce)
Grab roughly half of the chopped garlic and sliced ginger and put them in the container. Also put in the sugar.
Stir thoroughly using your hands, marinating the meat. Once evenly marinated, leave aside.
Heat the remaining 1/2 cup of sesame oil in a wok at medium-high heat.
Once hot, stir-fry the remaining garlic, ginger, and scallions, until fragrant. (~3-5 minutes)
Turn the heat to high. Add the marinated chicken, and stir vigorously at the beginning for a few minutes, evenly distributing the heat.
Once most of the chicken has been seared, turn the heat down to either medium-low (A) or low (B).
Cover, and let the chicken cook, stirring periodically.
After about 10 minutes, chicken should be fully cooked. Thicken using corn starch pre-mixed with COLD water in a 1:1 ratio.
Leave for longer and let the sauces reduce, till the sugar caramelizes and the flavours become more complex. There is no need for corn starch in this case.
Peel, cut, and boil the sweet potatoes until tender.
Dice the onions and the garlic (a lot of it) and cook in olive oil on low heat until soft and translucent.
Pour the onions, garlic, and sweet potatoes into a bowl and blend with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
Stir in herbs, a little brown sugar, a little balsamic vinegar to taste
Mix with ricotta cheese in 1:1 ratio
Make the pasta:
Mix together 1 part white flour and 1 part semolina flour
Make a well in the center of the flour and pour a little oil in
Crack a couple eggs into the center of the flour. Break the yolk with your fingers and mix the egg into the flour with your hands. Keep adding eggs until it can be formed into a ball.
Knead the dough until it's elastic (~5 minutes). Cover in saran wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
Break off dough into manageable portions and roll into super thin sheets (if you're using a wooden surface you should be able to see the grains of the wood through the pasta). Cut into a rectangle. Repeat so that you have a second equally sized rectangle. Place little dollops of filling about 1 inch apart on the rectangle. Brush the pasta around the filling with water using a pastry brush. Place the second rectangle of pasta on top of the first rectangle. Seal the pasta between the fillings. Slice into individual ravioli. Repeat until you run out of pasta dough or filling
Cook the pasta and the sauce:
Get a large pot of water boiling
Mince the sage really small
In a separate sauce pan melt the butter
Add the sage to the butter and cook until it smells delicious
Throw the raviolis in the boiling water. They should sink. They're done when they float. When that happens, drain them and put in a bowl
The sauce is done when the sage turns brown and starts to smell a little burnt. Pour over pasta.
Stir eggs, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, 3 tablespoons olive oil, parsley, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt and pepper in large bowl to blend. Add ground beef and mix thoroughly.
Form mixture into 1 1/2-inch diameter meatballs.
Pour enough oil into heavy large skillet to coat bottom; heat over medium-low heat.
Working in batches, add meatballs and fry until brown and cooked through, turning frequently and adding more oil as needed, about 15 minutes per batch. Transfer to plate.
3 whole star anise (if not, 3 tbsp of five spice powder, more if the 'fragrance' is not enough)
3 tbspns dark soy sauce (more if the color is not dark enough)
1/4 cup Shaoxing wine or Mirin (something fruity)
1.5 cup stock (from parboiling)
Directions
In a large pot of boiling water (with some salt to increase the boiling temp), put the uncut thawed pork belly in. Make sure the water covers the pork belly and the water is continuously boiling at medium heat.
Continuously skim off the scum formed.
Boil for 15-20 minutes, remove the pork belly, and save the broth.
Cut the pork belly into 1.5 inch cubes after it is cool enough.
Put the sugar and oil in a wok. (do not heat yet)
Turn the heat to medium high, and mix periodically to caramerlize the sugar, for 3 minutes.
After 3 minutes, the oil should be hot enough, add the pork belly cubes. The oil should splatter, so be careful. This sears the pork skin. Coat the pork belly thoroughly with the melted sugar, for about 8 minutes.
Put the rest of the ingredients in, cover (with a small gap) and simmer at low heat for 50-60 minutes, stirring the meat every 10 minutes. make sure that there is sufficient liquid to cover the meat initially - otherwise, the wok is too full.
After 50-60 minutes, the sauce should have reduced to a thick consistency. Remove cover, turn heat to medium high in one last attempt to render that fat out of the pork belly. Cook for 10 minutes, and serve.
1 (8 oz) can pineapple chunks, drained with juice reserved
2 tbsp brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp Sriracha
1 tsp soy sauce
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp butter
1/4 cup chopped green onion (white part only)
2 tbsp chopped green onion tops
Directions
Cut tenderloin into 4 pieces. Arrange in a single layer between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet until each is about 1-inch thick. Generously season with salt and black pepper.
Whisk ketchup, rice vinegar, reserved pineapple juice, brown sugar, garlic, hot chili sauce, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Set aside.
Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over high heat. Place pork in pan; reduce heat to medium. Cook until browned on both sides and cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
Return skillet to medium heat. Stir butter into hot pan. When butter melts and starts to brown, stir in pineapple chunks. Cook, stirring, until pineapple is golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes.
Stir in ketchup mixture and 1/4 cup green onion (white parts). Reduce heat to low and simmer until garlic and onion have softened, 5 minutes.
Return pork to skillet; cook, stirring, until pork is heated through. Garnish with 2 tablespoons green onion tops.
10-12 tbspoons white sugar (more if sweeter is desirable)
2 tsp salt
corn starch to thicken
Directions
Preparation of mangoes:
Handle your mangoes carefully, desert mangoes bruise easily. Peel the skin off them.
Cut off a small bit off the bottom of the mango so that it stands on end. Then, very carefully, slice the flesh off the seed of each mango, so you get two large slabs of mango. (the seed is large and flat so you want to cut along it, not in it!!)
Further cut the two large slabs into halves, and cut each half into bite sized pieces. For presentation purposes, do not separate the pieces.
The seeds (with some flesh still attached to them) can be eaten, or the flesh carved off, if desired.
Each serving will have one such half of mango slab (effectively 1/4 of a mango) - display nicely on a small plate or alumnium foil.
Rice and coconut milk must be prepared simultaneously.
Preparation of rice:
For best rice, soak rice before hand for at least 1 hour in cold water. (But I always forget).
Put drained rice in a pot, and add water in a 1:1 ratio. Cover and cook at low heat (can turn the heat to medium initially to get the temperature up).
When water has soaked into the rice, and rice is plump and soft but still wet, add 1 cup of boiled coconut milk (detailed below)
Stir the milk into the rice, and cook for a further 15 minutes, to let the rice soak up the coconut milk. Stir periodically. After 15 minutes, the rice should be clumpy, and plump.
Preparation of coconut milk:
Put coconut milk, sugar, and salt into a pot and heat till boiling.
1 cup of of the milk will be used in the rice.
For the remaining 1/2 cup, continue heating and thicken using pre-mixed cornstartch-water mixture in a 1:1 ratio. remove from heat once thickened.
Putting it all together:
Spoon desired amont of rice onto the plate / aluminium foil, with mango slices surrounding the rice
Drizzle the thickened coconut milk over the mango and the rice
Garnish with some toasted white sesame seeds if desired.
In a large bowl combine flour, brown sugar, ¼ cup sugar, cinnamon, salt and oats. Using a pastry blender, a fork or your hands cut in butter. Keep cold until ready to use.
In a large bowl combine berries, ½ cup sugar, and cornstarch; toss to coat. Pour the fruit mixture into a greased baking dish. Top with crumble topping. Bake until top is golden and fruit is bubbly, about 35 minutes. Serve warm.
2 cups flour plus extra to add (around one pound total)
1/3 cup granulated sugar plus another 1/2 for the filling
1/3 cup butter plus an extra 1/2 stick for the filling
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk plus extra for glaze
One packet of yeast
1 to 2 tbsp cinnamon
At least 1/2 lb powdered sugar
Plastic baby
Food coloring
Optional Fillings: cream cheese, Nutella or any decent fruit preserve
Directions:
In a medium sized mixing bowl, stir together 2 cups of flour with the yeast
Meanwhile, in a saucepan over low heat, stir together 1 cup milk, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1/3 cup butter, until butter is almost melted. The liquid should hot but warm enough to keep your fingers in indefinitely (i.e. if you can take the heat, so can the yeast)
Add both liquid and eggs to the dry mixture.
Add as much additional flour as needed (2 cups minimum) and mix with a wooden spoon until mixture no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.
Turn onto a floured surface. Knead and add flour until you have a moderately stiff dough (about 7-10 minutes) you will be able to feel when the dough is stiff, trust us.
Melt some butter in the bottom of a large bowl (microwave it if you can because it will warm the bowl as well). Place dough in the bowl and roll in the butter. This will stop it from drying out while rising. Cover and let rise in a warm, preferably humid, place for about an hour. You'll know it's ready if when you poke it the dough doesn't bounce back instantly.
Punch the dough down and divide into two equal pieces. Roll each out into a rectangle. The rectangle should be as long as possible, but not very wide (6 inches wide is about the maximum it can handle). The thinner that you roll it out the more layers you will have.
Melt about half a stick of butter. Mix half cup sugar and 1-2 tbsp cinnamon together.
Using a pastry brush (or a spoon if you don't have one), spread the melted butter over the entire rectangle, leaving about an inch of dry dough along one long side.
Pour cinnamon-sugar over the butter and rub it across so that it is spread evenly, like spreading peanut butter on a sandwich
If you are adding a filling, spread the filing along the long end that has butter (not the dry end). In the case of cream cheese, roll the cheese into a rope with your hands and place along the buttered long side. If you want filling to be in every layer of dough spread across entire rectangle. We almost never use filling but if you're ambitious knock yourself out.
Place the baby somewhere on the buttered long side. Remember where on the cake you placed it, so that you make sure not to eat from that part of the cake so that you don't have to make/buy the next cake!
Starting on the buttered and babied long side, roll the dough up. Place the roll on a buttered baking sheet so that the seam of the roll is on the bottom. Roll into a donut shape, placing one end inside the other end. Take one end, squeeze it and put it into the other end so that you seal the cake into a complete circle. Wet your fingers and use them to wet the dough underneath the seam. When the dough is wet, it will stick to itself, so you can use this to seal up all the seams.
Cover and let rise on the baking sheet for about 20 minutes
Heat an oven to 350 degrees, and bake until golden (about 20 minutes). Let cool completely on a wire rack. Then again, if you have company over that is clamoring for cake, you can cool it for just 10 or 15 minutes
When you're almost ready to eat, make the frosting. Put several cups of powdered sugar in a bowl. Add a tiny bit of milk and mix. Keep adding milk and mixing until you have a thick glaze. Pour over cake.
Now make the colored sugar. Fill 3 bowls with granulated sugar. Add a few drops of food coloring (normally about 5 drops), making one bowl yellow, one green and one purple. Mix with your fingers until sugar is evenly dyed. Sprinkle over the cake.
Enjoy and make sure to warn your guests about the baby, you don't want anyone to choke!
Whisk egg whites with a pinch of cream of tarter until white and foamy.
Slowly add granulated sugar and keep whisking until it holds stiff peaks.
While it whisks, mix almond flour with confectioners sugar and put in food processor until fine.
Add half of flour mixture into egg white mixture and fold in slowly. Add more flour mixture until consistency is thick. Add food coloring and/or other flavorings if desired.
Cover baking sheets with parchment paper and pipe mixture onto paper. Slam baking sheet on a table several times to remove air bubbles. Let set for 10-30 minutes.
Bake at 325 degrees F for 10 minutes or until slightly browned on the bottom.
In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.
