Photo Credit: http://www.dinnercakes.com/2009/05/baked-ziti.html

My family doesn’t like to eat an abundance of cheese unless there’s the word cake after it but there are just those times when I’m craving American food and I have to be considerate of what my family is willing to eat. Usually baked ziti contains mozzarella, paramesan, and ricotta cheese.  But let’s really face it, we’re lazy and who has all the money to buy all that cheese. Cheese is expensive you know. 

For 3 servings

Chicken Fennel Sausage Baked Ziti

1 ground chicken breast with skin

1 T of fennel seed

salt and pepper to taste

2/3 box of Farfalle or whatever pasta shape you have

1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce

3 cloves of garlic, minced

olive oil

1 cup of shredded mozzarella

Boil a pot of salted water for your pasta. Use a food processor to grind the fennel seeds or at least bruise the seeds. Then take cubed chicken breast with skin and ground it up with the fennel seeds. Salt and pepper the ground chicken and pulse once or twice to get it mixed. Sautee the chicken fennel sausage on high heat making sure to break up any big chunks. The idea is for the chicken to become a sort of meat sauce mixture for the ziti. Once cooked through, scoop it out onto a plate and set aside. Add more olive oil to the same pan you cooked the chicken and toss in the minced garlic, let it sizzle for a few seconds in the pan to bring out the aroma of the garlic. Do not let the garlic brown! Immediately after a few seconds, pour in the jar of tomato sauce. Let it simmer for a few minutes on medium high heat. Drain and drizzle some olive oil in your pasta. Toss to coat. Now add the cooked chicken in the sauce and dump the cooked pasta in the sauce too. On low heat, mix all the ingredients together. If your frying pan is oven proof then sprinkle some mozzarella on top to cover the pasta and stick it in the oven at 400 degrees until top is melted and slightly browned or do what I did and stick it in the toaster oven for 5 minutes. Out comes a super flavorful and deliciously quick meal.

Taiwanese Salt and Pepper Pork with Swan Tsai and Rice

This is a staple dish in Taiwan. I’m just going to recreate the Salt and Pepper Pork. You can find the Swan Tsai recipe here: http://www.foodmayhem.com/2008/12/pickled-mustard-greens.html

Ingredients

Pork Chops

1/2 C Tapioca Starch/ Corn Starch

1 T Salt

2 T Pepper

Directions

1. Mix salt, pepper, and starch together
2. Dredge your pork chops and let them sit for a few minutes. This will allow the starch to adhere to the meat and not burn in your pan
3. Put some oil in a frying pan and fry the meat on medium heat for about 4 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the other
4. Serve with some hot white rice and chopped up Swan Tsai. The sour/sweetness/coldness of the Swan Tsai perfectly matches the hot crispness of the pork chop and the rice, well, is always good with anything

This is a semi-spicy dish but is perfect when you’re starving and want a filling meal.

Ingredients

Pork chops or Pork Loin

Hand Pulled Noodles

Chicken broth

Scallions (optional)

5 cloves of Garlic

Cornstarch

Zha Chai/ Preserved Vegetable 

Directions

1. Start a pot of water to boil for your noodles
2. Heat your chicken broth if it isn’t already hot
3. Wash off the red spice on the preserved vegetable
4. Dice the preserved vegetable into matchstick sized sticks
5. Soak the vegetable in water because it’s really salty if you don’t. Change the water twice. Soaking the vegetable for 5 min at a time and dumping the old water.
6. Slice the pork into matchstick pieces too
7. Marinate the pork in some water and cornstarch
8. Peel garlic and mince it 
9. Your water should be boiling by now, put your noodles in and follow the instructions for when they should be al dente (KEEP WATCH! Mushy noodles ruin the dish)
10. Grab a frying pan, pour a oil down and wait a few seconds for it to get hot. Throw in the garlic and let it infuse into the oil for a few seconds. 
11. Now toss in the pork marinated in the cornstarch and water. Be careful as the oil might pop at you.
12. Stir fry the pork until it’s cooked through
13. Drain the preserved vegetable and toss it in to cook. Once it’s hot turn off the heat.
14. Put some noodles into a bowl. Put a heap of pork and preserved vegetables and then ladle chicken broth the top. Really great meal.

This is a traditional low-cost comfort food. It’s great to eat this when you’re sick or it’s super cold outside.

The ultimate mix is when you get “You Tiao” with the congee and some sweetened soy milk. 

Ingredients

2 cups of rice

1 pot of water

4 thousand year old eggs

2 pork chops

Directions

1. Wash the Rice
2. Debone your pork chops
3. Fill your soup pot half way with water and pour in your washed rice and pork chop bones
4. Cook for 30 min on medium high heat, stir occasionally. If rice gets too thick, feel free to add cold water to thin it out
5. Meanwhile, take the meat of the pork chops and salt it very generously. Let it sit for 15 min.
6. Pour out the liquid that seeps out of the pork and then slice it into strips. Salt generously again and let it sit for 5 min.
7. Once your rice is congee smooth, toss your salted pork strips into the congee and stir until all the pork is cooked through.
8. Now peel and slice your thousand year old eggs and toss it into the congee just as you’re about to serve it.
9. Put a freshly fried You Tiao on the side and viola! Delicious warm and filling meal.

We had these beef rolls in Taiwan that were so good that my brother wanted two more orders! The idea is very simple, take a scallion pancake, lather down some hoisin sauce and wrap it in sliced beef with some thinly sliced scallions or cucumbers. DELICIOUS!

Here’s the recipe I use for scallion pancake:

1/2 c boiling water

3 t cold water

1 1/2 c of all purpose flour 

4 scallions thinly sliced and chopped

salt to taste

1/3 c canola oil

1. Take the boiling water and pour it into the flour and mix until well incorporated. 
2. Pour in the cold water to stop whatever the hot water is doing to the flour. I don’t know the science but it does something!
3. Flour your kneading surface and your hands and begin kneading the dough for about 5 minutes or until its smooth and satiny
4. Put your ball of dough back into the bowl you mixed it in and cover it with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for about 30 min.
5. Knead the dough again for about 5 min.
6. Once it’s nice and smooth feeling cut the dough into four equal chunks
7. Use your palms to roll each chunk into a round ball
8. Put three balls back into your bowl and cover with damp towel or plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out
9. With the fourth ball, roll it out into a thin circle and dust your board and rolling pin with flour as necessary
10. Once you’ve rolled it out, drizzle oil over the entire piece of dough. 
11. Then sprinkle scallions over the dough
12. Salt the dough
13. Now roll the dough up like a cigar
14. Then roll the dough again into a cinnamon roll like shape
15. Use your rolling pin again the flatten out the cinnamon roll shape into a pancake (This is how you get those flaky layers)
16. Pour some oil into a frying pan and put the pancake in it. The oil should have been heated for 20 seconds on high heat. Once you’ve put the pancake in, reduce heat the medium. Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until golden brown and then flip it the the other side and wait for the other side to turn golden brown
17. Slice marinated beef very thin 
18. Spread hoisin sauce on scallion pancake
19. Layer the beef on and put in single strand of sliced scallions or cucumbers
20. Roll it up! and slice into three or four portions on the bias
21. LETS EAT!

When we went on vacation in Taiwan, we rented out these huge mansions for my ENTIRE family 40+ people to live in and the people who took care of these mansions would drop off breakfast for us in the form of these little cute tea sandwiches. They usually consisted of egg, sweet Japanese mayo, cucumber slides, ham or rou xiong or loose pork that has been somehow processed into tastiness. Sometimes I just crave that buttery bakery bread with warm egg and a cold slice of ham with refreshing cucumber perfected with that Kewpie Mayo. Delicious!

Now I just need to find a shop that sells Kewpie. Nom Nom Nom. 

We made potato salad last summer for our annual barbecue but my mom was completely surprised that nothing went into the salad besides onion, mayonnaise, and dill calling it the “American” kind of potato salad. She said the Chinese kind is better because it has alot of stuff in it. I remember eating the Chinese kind during church outings and barbecues. REALLY GOOD 

We’re having a barbecue for the 4th of July and I’m definitely going to try out this Chinese potato salad recipe from FoodMayhem.com…

Chinese American Potato Salad
about 8 cups

((Click on the picture above for the link to foodmayhem.com))

• 1 1/4 cup peas (freshly shelled or frozen)
• 3/4 cup diced (1/4″) carrot
• 1 whole apple or crisp pear diced
• 3 cups diced (3/4″) cooked russet potato
• 2 cups diced (1/4″) ham
• 3 large hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon honey dijon mustard
• kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

Instructions -

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, set up a bowl of salted ice water on the side.

2. Put peas into boiling water for about 2 minutes, or just until tender but not mushy. Scoop out with strainer and set in ice water immediately. Set aside to drain thoroughly and cool.

3. Bring water back to a boil, making sure you have ice water reset. Cook carrots for about 4 minutes, or until tender. Place in ice water immediately. Drain thoroughly and set aside to cool.

4. Before you assemble, make sure all ingredients are dry and cool. You don’t want excess water and you don’t want the ingredients to be warm.

5. In a large bowl, toss together peas, carrots, potato, ham, egg, mayonnaise, and mustard. Season to taste. Serve as is or in a sandwich.

Storage: Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

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There are several different versions of this salad and my mom personally likes to put in a crisp apple or pear diced. I’ve also had seedless grapes halved in other Chinese mom’s potato salads. They’re all really good. 

Cornbread Croutons

Got stale cornbread just sitting there ready to be thrown out? WAIT! DON’T DO IT!

Just melt 3 tablespoons of butter and toss them in some old cubed cornbread. Put that into a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes and viola! Cornbread Croutons.