Tag: recipes

Monday Munchies

thehebrewhammerLeave a comment

I had just gotten home from football practice and ran to my room to grab my clothes and jump in the shower. I cleaned myself in the hot water then got out to shave my face. I was in a rush and accidentally nicked myself. Despite the blood I felt fresh in my dapper outfit, and headed out the door towards The Oak at the Ojai Valley Inn.

When my Father, my Mother and I arrived we were greeted by my grandmother and her cousin, they’re in town for the week. My Grandma hugged me and handed me an envelope, it’s a card for my birthday which is on Wednesday so that was very nice of her.

Right after we went to our table and were assisted by Danny who gave us ice waters and some warm bread and butter, which was amazing. Shortly after Tyler, our server came and I requested a Diet Coke which was brought to me. All 5 of us examined the menu and the growls in my stomach only got louder. Tyler came back and oh boy we were ready. Small but pricey was the restaurant, I ordered the Scallops, Bistro Steak, and a charred and cheesy side of Brussel Sprouts.

After I ordered we waited and waited for our food and all of had great conversation. From my school, to camping , to my parents at work almost everything was covered in that 20 minute wait for our meals. But I believe it was all worth it.

The food came and in an instant I absolutely slammed my meal, everything was so delicious I just put my head down and went to work. After I absolutely housed my food and Danny came back to clean the table Tyler brought out the check and a surprise dessert for my birthday.

The small Mason Jar was aglow on the outside patio complimented with a single spoon and a tiny chocolate with the words “happy birthday” spelt out in gold. The tiny yet deliciousness of that chocolate lavender concoction just put a smile on my face. The simplicity of the desert and presentation made it all worth it and man oh man I loved that thing.

That was my Monday Munchies and I hope you aren’t hungry reading this, because I was one happy little boy.

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Baozi Recipe (Steamed pork buns)

poofypuffyLeave a comment

Makes 20 buns

Ingredients:

For the dough: 6 cups All-purpose flour, 1 tbsp Sugar, 2 cups Water, lukewarm, 2 tsp Yeast, ½ tsp oil

For stuffing: 2 lbs Ground pork- (1.5lbs lean), 1 clove garlic, finely chopped, 1 tsp fresh grated ginger, 2 small spring onions (whites), finely chopped, Water, Soy sauce, Sichuan pepper powder, White pepper powder, Salt

Making the dough

  1. Measure out flour into a large bowl.
  2. Mix 2 tsp yeast, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1 cup of lukewarm water into a measuring cup. 
  3. Pour the water into the flour and mix.
  4. Add more lukewarm water gradually if necessary. Generally, the ratio of flour to water is 2:1, but it can vary.
  5. Begin to knead the dough, incorporating the dry flour. If more water is needed to incorporate all the dry flour, add more, but do so sparingly because the dough should not be sticky. The sign of a good dough is a clean bowl and clean hands.
  6. Coat the inside of the big bowl with a small amount of oil, to prevent sticking. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with a wet towel to preserve moisture, and put the bowl on top of a bowl or pot of hot water. Allow the dough to rise. This may take a few hours, depending on the room’s temperature. (To check if the dough is ready, poke a hole in it with your finger. If the dough bounces back to fill in the hole, it needs to rise more. If the dough deflates, it has risen for too long. If the dough does not move, it is ready.)

Making the stuffing (While waiting for the dough to rise, begin making your stuffing)

  1. Put the ground pork into a bowl.
  2. Put the chopped garlic into 1 cup of warm water to make garlic water. This will distribute the garlic flavor better. Set aside so that the garlic can release more flavor. 
  3. Add the ginger, garlic water (with the garlic), the two pepper powders, salt, soy sauce, and green onion to the pork and stir in one direction.
  4. Add water to the pork and stir.

Wrapping/steaming the baozi

  1. Take the risen dough and knead the air out.
  2. Separate the dough into 20 balls and flatten them slightly by rolling them out with a rolling pin.
  3. Roll the edges thinner. 
  4. Wrap the meat into each one.
  5. Let the baozi rest for around 1 hour, or your baozi will deflate.
  6. Steam the baozi for 15 minutes after steam starts coming out of the steamer. Remove steamer from heat and leave baozi inside the steamer until the initial hot steam is gone. Otherwise, your baozi will also deflate. 
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Photo credit: My mom