Yes, You can still enjoy your favorites the low-carb way!

You have decided to go low-carb, and you miss having a super dish like the picture above. By the end of this post, you will have your dish back!

We are so hung up on carbohydrates, we actually think that we cannot live without them. We are taught that we need at least 8 to 10 servings a day, or all hell is going to break loose on our bodies.

Carbs are cheap. You could live on them alone if you had to, if you don’t mind the sugar spikes, crashes, and eventual diabetes. I lived by carbs for a whole year and a half. I ate in one night what should serve a whole family.

The irony is that the cycle continues as you eat more. You need more, and then your body tries to cope, which in turn makes you want more.

Carbs are the heroin of the food world.

It’s not over though. I love Asian food. Hell, I work in a hotel that has a Pan-Asian restaurant with food that is seriously off the hook. The key is to rethink and re-create the dishes.

Beef broccoli is a dish that has a million variations. I have seen everything from Hoisin to ketchup.

What makes this dish different is it is an American-Chinese dish with authentic Asian ingredients. You will not be able to find some of these ingredients at your local supermarket. You will need to brave the ChinaTown of your area.

That is a good thing.

Chinatown is like a treasure island. When you go there, there are lot of things to discover.

Today I am going to get into exactly how we pull this dish off, then the recipe will follow.

First thing that we will need is broccoli. You will need to use the whole stalk. What you do is cut out the fleuerttes, peel back the skin of the stalk and slice it thinly. Now for the tricky part.

If you just throw your broccoli into the stir-fry, it will not be cooked by the time everything else is. You need to help it along. I am going to introduce you to a technique known as “Blanching and Refreshing“:

You can't just throw in the broccoli and expect it to cook. You need to help it out.

Bring your water to a boil, then pour it into the broccoli. Let it steep for 5 minutes.

Pour the boiling water to cover; steep for 5 minutes.

After the 5 minutes are up, drain the hot water, run the broccoli under cold water to stop the cooking. The broccoli should be tender-crisp, not limp, and should be a nice green.

Now you are "refreshing" the cooked broccoli. It should be tender-crisp! Look how green it is!

The other two stars to this show are the beef and button mushrooms.

Rib eye steaks were on a super special, so I just had to get them. I consider a rib eye to be superior in flavor to a tenderloin. Honestly, the mushrooms needed to be used that day, but I got them for super cheap.

Great news about mushrooms is that they are basically “free” on the carb scale, and are a great vehicle for flavors.

Look at that steak, and those mushrooms rock as well!

That leaves us with the rest of the ingredient that tie everything together:

Soy sauce, Oyster sauce, and 5 spice powder are easy to get. Black vinegar and Shaoxing wine require a trip to ChinaTown. It will be worth it though, I promise!

Of course, you need something to sweeten the dish up, that will counterbalance the umami of the soy and level out the acidity of the black vinegar. We are going natural and low-carb, so it is Stevia to the rescue:

Our secret weapon for the sauce.

Now, we separate the fat from the meat, and cut it into chunks. Fear not though, throw the fat into the pan over low heat to render it out.

While that is rendering out, pour a splash of Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and sprinkle a good amount of 5 spice onto the beef. Mix it up well, and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Once you have a decent amount of fat rendered out, crank up the heat and sauté the beef.

Saute the beef over high heat. You can almost see it jump!

Place your beef aside, and pour your mushrooms in the pan, and saute them. You will find that they will soak up the fat. That is a good thing.

These mushrooms are a sponge, and a vehicle for the flavors.

Once the mushrooms have softened a bit, add a splash of Shoaxing wine and cook it down. Add a good amount of oyster sauce, and thin it out with the black vinegar.

Sprinkle the stevia over the top and mix it in.

Finally, add the broccoli and the beef back to the mix, taking care to pour in any juices that have dripped off the beef.

Stir, and serve.

Now, does that look good or what?

Now, you can eat it just like that, or you can serve it with rice. I find that eating a salad on the side is more than enough.

5 Spice Beef and Broccoli

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 600 grams beef (I used ribeye that was on special)
• 600 grams broccoli (about 1 head) chopped into fleurettes, stalk peeled and sliced thinly.
• 4 liters boiling water
• 250 grams button mushrooms, quartered

Marinade:

• 10 mL 5 spice powder
• 30 mL shaoxing wine (or you could use dry sherry, but it is just not the same.)
• 30 mL soy sauce (the best money can buy!)

Sauce:

• 60 mL shaoxing wine
• 120 mL oyster sauce
• 60 mL black vinegar
• 1 packet stevia

Method:

1. Cut broccoli into fleurettes, peel the stem and slice thinly.
2. Place all into a large bowl; pour boiling water to cover.
3. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.
4. Drain the boiling water from the bowl, and run the broccoli under cold water to stop the cooking.
5. Meanwhile, trim the fat (reserve) and cut the beef into bite-sized pieces.
6. Render the beef fat over low heat in your wok.
7. Marinate beef by sprinkling 5 spice powder, soy sauce, and Shaoxing wine. Let stand for 10 minutes.
8. Saute beef in fat over high heat until just seared; remove from the pan and reserve. (The beef should be rare at this point.)
9. Add mushrooms to the wok, saute until soft.
10. Deglaze with Shaoxing wine, reduce to 1/4.
11. Add oyster sauce, black vinegar, and the stevia packet; stir to create a sauce.
12. Add the beef and broccoli back to the pan, and heat through.
13. Serve hot.

Nothing says AWESOME like a platter of gold nuggets

Did you ever have a pork belly you just did not know what to do with? Of course not. These days pork bellys do not just pop up like mushrooms on your lawn. You go to great lengths to procure one. Items like that deserve grand treatment. I promise you this recipe does just that.

I snapped this picture just before these babies went out… and that was the last time I saw them. I sometimes have to part with greatness like that. I can say that I had satiated myself “tasting” this item before it went out.

This is a recipe that does exactly what that beautiful pork belly needs. Coddling. Let me explain:

The first part of the process is a dry rub; a marinade overnight. The flavor builds up in the pork before it is gently braised in a master stock. Then we take out the pork, and press it with weights to maintain a uniform feel to the belly.

Then we cut it, sear it, and serve it up with Hoisin sauce. The garnish you see on top is puffed rice.

Simple, right? You bet. Here we go:

Pork Belly Bites

Feeds a hungry crowd

Ingredients:

Pork Belly

• 800g (under 2 pounds) pork belly, skin removed
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 10 grams (2 tablespoons) black peppercorns
• 100 grams (1 cup) kosher salt
• 7 pods star anise
• 25 grams (2 tablespoons) mustard seeds
• 25 grams (3 tablespoons) coriander seeds
• 25 grams (3 tablespoons) fennel seeds
• 10 grams (1 tablespoon) cumin seeds
• 25 grams (3 tablespoons) juniper berries
• 10 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch fresh thyme, chopped
• 10 grams (2 tablespoons) szechuan peppercorns
• 10 grams (2 tablespoons) caraway seeds
• 1 inch ginger, minced

Master Stock

• 3 liters (12 cups) chicken stock
• 250 ml (1 cup) soy sauce
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) Chinese rice wine
• 30 ml (2 tablespoons) mirin
• 2 pods star Anise
• 2 pods Cardamom
• 2 grams (1/4 teaspoon) Coriander Seeds
• 4 grams (1/2 teaspoon) fennel Seeds
• 2 grams (1/2 teaspoon) Szechuan peppercorns
• 3 pc dried tangerine peel
• 1 inch ginger
• 2 pc Dried red chili
• 1 leaf kaffir Lime

Method:

Pork Belly

1. Combine all spices and seasoning together; rub pork on both sides.
2. Place belly on a rack over a sheet pan and refrigerate uncovered overnight. (You are looking for a tackyness to develop – this is called the pellicule.)
3. Rinse the spices off the pork belly, arrange in a pan large enough to accomodate the belly.
4. Add enough master stock (recipe below) to half-cover the pork belly.
5. Place parchment paper over belly, cover with foil and braise at 150°C (300°F) for up to 5 hours, or until the pork is fork tender.
6. Remove most of the braising liquid; save for another use. (See masterstock below.)
7. Cover the pan with another pan that fits over the top of the pork belly pan. (The cover should be able to fit inside the original pan.)
8. Weigh the top pan down with weights (like tomato cans) and place the pork belly in the refrigerator to cool for 8 hours or overnight.
9. When the pork has rested and cooled, remove the weights from the top; place pork belly on cutting board.
10. Cut pork into bite-sized pieces and sear them until golden brown.
11. Serve with hoisin sauce.

Master Stock

1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.
2. Simmer for a few minutes to develop flavors.
3. Use the stock over and over. When the pork bellies are done, skim the fat off the sauce, and strain the juices into the stock. Thus the term, “master stock”.

So, aside from that, the rest is literally just garnish.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I loved eating it!

Today’s Battle is of the Plum Sauces!

First off: Courtesy of FrankenFoods, we have the back label of a “plum sauce” at Wally Mart:

Of course it is hard to see with my shaking hand here: The ingredients on the back of this "plum sauce": Water, glucose-fructose, pumpkin, brown sugar, modified cornstarch, vinegar, tomato paste, plums, salt, dehydrated garlic, spices, natural flavors, citric acid

What a huge list of ingredients. Let us break it down, shall we?

Their Ingredients:

Water – The first listed ingredient represents the bulk of the recipe. So, this recipe contains mostly water. Nice start guys!

Glucose-fructose – The second ingredient is high-fructose corn syrup. Nice.

Pumpkin – What? Did you just read that right? Pumpkin? Okay, not sure what that would be doing in a plum sauce. I am guessing it is more for body and color. I hope!

Brown sugar – Okay, that is meant to be there, yes.

Modified cornstarch – There is no hard and fast answer to what this is, except it is used to thicken a cold item. See, water is not that thick, so…

Vinegar – This component is right, somewhat. Notice that there is an absence of rice vinegar here. Probably due to cost?

Tomato paste – Seriously! If they used a good amount of plums, they would not need the tomato paste. Here it is used as a thickening and coloring agent. Folks, it is supposed to be plum sauce. What are we eating here?

Plums – Finally! Plums in plum sauce!

Salt – Sure, you need it.

Dehydrated garlic – I am sure this is easier to use the real thing. Funny.

Spices – What spices??? Care to share here?

Natural flavors – What does that mean? Did you know that turd could be classified as a natural flovor?

Citric acid – This is used as a flavor agent and preservative agent. You could just use lemon juice.

Ding Ding! My version verses theirs!

Here is how we do it, and believe me, it is not hard. What you need are a few tools:

Canning pot, with the canning equipment: Ladle, funnel, jar lifter, magic wand

Food mill

Optional – a dishwasher to sanitize the jars. Keep them on dry cycle until you are ready to use them.

With all these items, you are going to make something that your family will talk about when they have your next batch of spring rolls. Let’s get started:

Start with 1.5 kilograms of plums, pitted. My recipe is in the left corner for… foreshadowing.

Add 1 medium onion, chopped

Add a knot of ginger, peeled and chopped.

Add a clove of garlic, minced

Add all of that to a pot, and add 250 mL of water. Cover, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.

Plums will be very tender at this point. Now for the fun part:

Puree the plums through a food mill with the fine plate. If you do not own one of these, a potato ricer will do the trick. Puree this right back into the pot.

This is the second part of the recipe: 200 grams of sugar, 125 mL rice vinegar, and 2 grams salt, 2 grams ground coriander, 6 cloves, 1 gram cayenne pepper, and a cinnamon stick.

Stir in sugar. Add rice vinegar after.

Stir in spices. Simmer the mixture over very low heat until it is about the consistency of applesauce. It will take around 45 minutes. Then, remove the cinnamon stick.

Ladle into jars using the funky funnel. Isn't it great?

Fill your jars to this point. That is, leave 1 CM before the rim. This is important, as the liquid will expand later on.

Seal each bottle with the heated lids, and put on the screw cap hand tight only. More will break the glass.

Place the jars gently in your canning bath.

Process in a canning bath for 30 minutes.

Lift the jars out with the jar tongs. What a handy contraption!

Place the jars upside down on a towel to cool. I learned that this method produces a better seal. I am not sure why. When you hear the tell-tale "pop", then you know you have done right.

There you have it! The recipe follows:

Chinese Plum Sauce

Yield: 2 jars (1 L)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kilograms plums, pitted, halved
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 knot (5 mL) minced gingerroot
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 250 mL water
• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 125 mL rice vinegar
• 2 grams ground coriander
• 2 grams salt
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 grams cayenne pepper
• 6 cloves

Directions:

1. Add plums, onions, ginger, garlic and water to a medium-sized saucepan.
2. Cover the pan; bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Reduce heat to a simmer, cook for 30 minutes. The plums will be very soft.
4. Puree the plums through a food mill or ricer, returning the puree to a clean saucepan.
5. Add sugar, vinegar, salt, coriander, cloves and cayenne pepper to the plum mixture.
6. Simmer over low heat until the mixture is about the same consistency of applesauce. This could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
7. Stir occasionally to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.
8. Remove cinnamon stick; Fill canning jars, leaving 1 CM headspace.
9. Apply lids; screw metal bands only hand tight to avoid breaking the glass when boiling.
10. Process in boiling water canning bath for 30 minutes.
11. Lift out jars with jar tongs, place upside down for cooling.
12. When cool, you may or may not remove the metal bands *(Your preference)

The sauce will keep at room temperature for up to 6 months. How did the fight go? Who wins? Let your comments be the judge. Is there a FrankenFood you would like me to compete against? Let me know by visiting my Ask the Chef! Page.

This dish is a lovely take on the classic restaurant dish of honey sesame chicken. I got the idea from a post over on a cool blog called My Kitchen Snippets. I liked the look of her picture so much that I decided I should climb into the kitchen tonight and produce something like it. Thing is, I live in an area where there is an abundance of maple syrup. Keeping with the Asian paradigm of cooking your food with local ingredients, I present you with my take on this dish:

Chicken

• 3 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 15 mL light soy sauce, (yamasa if possible)
• 15 mL shaoxing wine (use brandy if you cannot find this fantastic Chinese wine.)
• 7 mL sesame oil
• 5 g sugar
• 15 g flour
• 8 g cornstarch
• To Taste salt and pepper

Sauce

• 45 mL sweet chili sauce
• 30 mL tomato ketchup
• 30 mL maple syrup (from Quebec of course!)
• 15 mL oyster sauce
• 30 mL light soy sauce, (yamasa if possible)
• 60 mL water
• toasted black and white sesame seeds
• green onions, bias sliced

1. Combine soy sauce, shaoxing wine, sugar, sesame oil, salt and pepper; marinate chicken for an hour.
2. Mix flour and cornstarch together; stir into the chicken.
3. Fry chicken until golden brown, drain in paper towel; remove oil from pan.
4. Combine sweet chili sauce, ketchup, maple syrup, oyster sauce, soy sauce and water; pour into the pan.
5. Bring to a boil and simmer until the sauce thickens a bit.
6. Add chicken and stir it into the sauce.
7. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and sliced green onions.
8. Serve with warm rice.

There you have it folks. Let me know how it goes with this dish. Anything you would do differently?

A few days have passed since my last post. The reason? H&M just opened up in Montreal on Saint Catherine’s Street. No, I am not in the market for a cheap pair of designer?!? jeans. I just spent the last two days helping out for the preparation of a massive (for my workplace) off-site catering contract.

Imagine, 400 canapes by 12 or 13 different types. Now you can see the logistics of what we just did. Couple that with service as usual, and you have a fun time. Tell that to the poor cooks that got to peel 4L of edamame beans. (shudder)

So, what’s this about the title, Jason? I had the opportunity to learn how to cook a superbly awesome high-grade sushi rice. Then I got to make 450 nigiri-style sushi rice balls. I earned a nickname for my efforts… snowflake. (No two are ever alike.) Finally, dumpling hell.

The first set that I took care of resembled little cat turds. *(That is how my chef put it after all…) Soon, I got the gist of the sushi rolling method down. They had started to look like square cat turds. A little adjustment, and lo and behold! Finally, there were ones that we acceptable. Only 449 left to roll!

You are wondering, where is the recipe Jason? Funny. Very Funny.

There will be no recipe for that today folks. You cannot give a recipe for sushi rice. You really have to have someone show it to you. I am not even confident enough to list out the method here for you. It is that picky.

Next up. Dumplings. Potstickers.

I love eating potstickers. Addictive, tasty, and good for you too. *(laughing) Making them? Well, that is another story.

I will start off by saying that the mise en place for this item is not so bad. Basically you have a dumpling mixture, wrappers, water, brush and a small spoon. What is so hard about that? If you are not a nut like me, nothing. Just fill’er up, fold in half, seal the edges and go.

Problem is, chances are if you are reading this, you are a bit of a nut like me. You wanted to know about the pleats, didn’t you. Oh dear. Now you are in for it. See, the stupid dumpling press does not work; looks like we gotta do this manually.

Deceptive those little bastards. I will overcome them though. I could *pwn* these freaking things, right? A quick trip to google, videos, then Youtube, and I got myself a couple of cool videos to look at. *(Side note ~ after an infuriating amount of time looking at expert village’s minute long segments on the art of dumpling making set out for ADHD sufferers, ne relâchez pas, there is hope, just more search-fu.)

A couple of good videos to be had:

How to Make Goyza ~ A great gaijin, but the best close-up I could find.

How to Make: CHINESE DUMPLINGS ~ Not great for pleats, but a real treat with the accent and all. Dumprings! I think that the accent is very cute.

The key here is that a person has to practise. Fortunately, I have my recipe for dumpling mix right here:

Pot Sticker Recipe

• dumpling Dough (Freezer section in asian markets)
• 4 cups celery cabbage (Napa cabbage)
• 1 pound lean ground pork
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions, with tops
• 1 tablespoon chinese wine (or white wine)
• 2 tbsp low-salt soy sauce
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp sesame oil

1. Cut the cabbage across into thin strips. Steam cabbage for two minutes until tender.
2. Cool cabbage; squeeze out the excess moisture.
3. Mix the celery cabbage, pork, green onions, wine, cornstarch, the remaining 1 teaaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and the white pepper in a large bowl.
4. Place 1 tablespoon pork mixture in the center of the circle.
5. Lift up the edges of the circle and pinch 5 pleats up to create a pouch to encase the mixture.
6. Pinch the top together.
7. Repeat with the remaining slices of dough and filling.
8. Place on baking sheet with parchment paper; freeze until solid.
9. Place into ziplock bag in the freezer. (The dumplings will keep for 1 month, if they last that long.)

Want to cook some dumplings? Here is the method:

1. Heat a nonstick skillet until very hot.
2. Add 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil, tilting the skillet to coat the sides.
3. Place 12 dumplings in a single layer in the wok and fry 2 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown.
4. Add 1/2 cup water.
5. Cover and cook 6 to 7 minutes, or until the water is absorbed.
6. Repeat with the remaining dumplings.
7. Serve with Ponzu dipping sauce. (Available at the sushi counter at your local big huge grocery chain. Fads are great, aren’t they?)

Well, that has been a good look at the art of sushi and dumplings. For the last couple of days, they have been my world. I am slowly getting better. Practice makes perfect right? Right? Anyone? *(Crickets chirping)

Well, that’s that then.

Cooking is always an adventure. It is important that when you choose this profession, you are always learning and experimenting. The alternative is you are serving that “same olde chicken”. I have a proposal for you: let’s hop on the mind-plane for a quick trip to Japan. Introducing a preparation that is to die for~ Karaage chicken. What’s that? Karate chicken? No!!! That’s Ka RAH! gay chicken! What the heck are you talking about there Jason? Quick definition: (Paraphrased from the almighty Wikipedia

)

Karaage refers to fried meat, japanese-style. Small pieces of meat are marinated in soy sauce, garlic and ginger. They are then floured in a light flour mixture, then deep fried.

Wait a second there! Don’t the Japanese people eat healthy though? Deep fried meat? How is that healthy? Hey, unlike these guys’ claims to “healthy fast food”, this preparation is okay to eat, if you do it like the Japanese. Eat. In. Small. Amounts. So, here is what I call a good preparation for you to try out:

Karaage Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 500 g chicken thighs, boneless
• 2 pieces green onions, chopped finely
• 45 mL (3 tbsp) light sodium soy sauce
• 30 g (1 1/2 inch piece) ginger, grated
• 15 mL (1 tbsp) sake (or sherry)
• 60 g (1/2 cup) cornstarch
• 60 g (1/2 cup) flour
• Peanut oil for deep frying (veg oil if you do not have peanut oil)

Method:

1. Cut the chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces.
2. Place chicken pieces in a bowl with grated ginger, soy sauce and sake; mix well.
3. Marinate for a minimum of 1/2 hour, and up to about 1 hour (not too long or the salt in the soy sauce will toughen up the chicken.)
4. Heat the oil to about 150°C (300°F.)
5. Mix cornstarch and flour together.
6. Coat chicken pieces with flour mixture; shake off excess.
7. Fry the chicken pieces a few at a time until a deep golden brown.
8. Drain well, and eat with a squeeze of lemon juice.