Matcha Mochi Cakes

To my fellow food lovers… sorry I’ve been lagging on my food posts. I am currently taking a photography workshop and will probably be uploading some of my homework photos soon! Here are some pictures of some Matcha Mochi Cakes I made for a friend’s luau party!

Zong Zi

One of my favorite Chinese holidays is the Dragon Boat Festival. Not only can you watch the dragon boat race, you can also eat an endless supply of zong zi 粽子. That is... if you're in Taiwan! I grew up helping my grandmother making these triangular leaf wrapped goodies! Every region of China has a slightly different kind of zong zi. My zong zi, my mama's style is made with round sticky rice with peanuts, shiitake mushrooms, pork belly, salted duck egg yolk.

Braised Peanuts with Soy Sauce and Star Anise

Braised Pork Belly

Shiitake Mushroom cooked in some Pork Belly Braising Liquid

I first soaked the round short grain glutinous rice over night in water. Steamed the rice in the bamboo steamer with a cheese cloth underneath it for 20 minutes.



Stir the rice with some stir fried fried shallots and dried shrimp and drizzle the soy based braising liquid from the pork belly into the rice and stir to combine.


Then comes the wrapping...


Steaming the zong zi for 20 minutes and voila!


And by request, here are some sweet potato gnocchi with green bean soup 綠豆芋圓湯, a Taiwanese dessert. The sweet potato gnocchis are made with steamed mashed sweet potato mixed with sweet potato flour.

Cooking Party

I love meeting friends that enjoy food as much as I do. Last week, a few of us decided to have a cooking party. There wasn't really a theme to it, but there was an obvious Asian theme with a few tweaks on what looked good in the market. On the menu was some Mango Salsa, Sushi Rolls, Spicy Tuna on Crispy Rice, Pickled Cucumbers, and Fish Pockets with XO sauce.

We really centered our menu around the Spicy Tuna with Crispy Rice, a recipe that I found online during my blog reading session. The Crispy Rice is sushi rice shaped into these rectangular balls and pan fried. The tuna is mixed in with equal parts of mayo and sriracha sauce. The sauce has a nice kick to it and really was super easy to make. The rice was crispy on the outside but still moist and soft in the inside. This was really yummy!

J's Mango Salsa

Spicy Tuna on Crispy Sushi Rice [J + D + A]

J + D

J's Cucumber Rolls

Tilapia w/ XO sauce

D's Cucumbers pickled with Rice Vinegar & Wasabi

There are definitely more cooking parties to come. Our next one is an American theme... Mmmm.. Mac N Cheese!

I <3 NYC

A food diary that will make you very hungry!

Eating Out: Makoto

Japanese food tops one of my favorite cuisines in the world. I especially love the traditional multi-course dinners. An array of seasonal food items prepared using multiple ways of cooking techniques which allows diners to experience a variety of textures and flavor. I took my mom and sister to Makoto celebrating my sister’s graduation and my mom’s visit. We all had the 10 course meal. It was $60 and the food was delicious and well prepared! It was not a full blown Kaiseki Ryori 懷石料理 but it had most of the components that makes up Kaiseki. I give it a 4.5/5 stars!!

course #1 : Grilled Mussels w/ Wine 

course #2 : Left – some kind of raw fish mixed with fish roe. Right – Fish cake

course #3 : Sashimi

 

course #4 : Fried Soft Shell Crab

course #5 : Steamed Scallop, Shrimp and Shiitake Mushroom w/ Umeboshi (plum) sauce

course #6 : Left – Shrimp and Avocado w/ Spicy Miso Sauce. Middle – Crab Salad. Right – Grilled Eggplant with Chive flowers.

course #7 : Nigiri

 

course #8 : Filet with Mushroom Sauce

course #9 : Soba in Citrusy Broth with Seasonal Vegetables

course #10 : Grape and Grand Marnier Granita

NRM

All of my friends have a deep love for the Chinese Beef Noodle Soup a.k.a. NRM (牛肉麵). A few of us actually went to several Chinese restaurants around the Rockville area just to try their NRM. Many of the restaurants make their own noodles and the noodles for the most part were pretty good, but somehow most of their broth lacked flavor.

The past weekend I decided to cook up a bunch and shared it with some of my favorite people. I would really invite more people, but my pot only accommodates about 8 servings or so.

I made NRM two ways. The first one was a ginger flavored clear soup based NRM and the second was a spicy Szechuan style soy based NRM. Unfortunately, I don't really have recipes for these cause I just added seasonings as I went. But here were the results from me slaving away in the kitchen on a Saturday afternoon... which I totally enjoyed. I find cooking a very Zen activity!!

Eating Out: Michel Richard Citronelle

I visited 'The' Michel Richard Citronelle for a friend's birthday dinner last week. At first, I was hesitant to go cause of the price, but I was pretty glad I went. It certainly lived up to its rave reviews on yelp. And quite honestly, I've probably had the most delicious dish I've ever eaten in my entire life.

I ordered the three course meal. On top of the three course, it came with three amuse-bouches and also a small dessert shooter.

Amuse-Bouche

First Course: Lobster "Begula" Pasta

This was probably the best thing I've ever eaten in my life. I would totally go back just to eat this. Luckily I found a recipe online for this dish. I will try and imitate it one day, but I highly doubt it will taste half as good as the ones from Citronelle. Funny thing was, when this dish came out... I thought it was the Caviar Penguin that had a +75 next to the dish. I almost had a heart attack. When I touched the metal container and realized it was hot and the ice surrounding the metal was fake, I had a huge relief! The black circular balls are Israeli couscous coated with squid ink. In the bottom there's lobster meat, poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. This was phenomenal!

Second Course: Chateaubriand, Tater Tots, Mushrooms, Horseradish Veal Jus

This was just an okay dish. I definitely enjoyed the combination of the different wild mushrooms, but I really thought that Chateaubriand would melt in your mouth like that aged filet mignon that I got from whole foods for Thanksgiving. But, overall it was a satisfying but not as spectacular dish.


Caramel Foam topped with Pineapples and Rice Crispies


Third Course: Chocolate Degustation

A sizable portion of dessert. My favorite was the little balls on top of what I believe is a cheesecake of some sort. Those crunchy chocolate toppings should really come in a big bag so I can munch on them during work.

I would definitely recommend this place... maybe for some special occasions! The service was awesome and portions were generous. I really thought that I was going to come home hungry, but instead I was extremely stuffed. The room had a nice ambiance as well. The coolest part is that you can see through the kitchen and see all the chefs working on those amazing dishes. I give this a 4/5 stars. That one missing star goes to the just 'blah' Chateaubriand dish.

Taste Test: Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti

I have a strange love for mushrooms. So when I saw the commercial for the Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti, I really wanted to try it out! I hardly ever buy prepared food in the grocery store since most of it consists a ton of salt, but since making ravioli would take a lot of time and effort, I've decided to try it out and give it a gourmet-ish twist. I give these ravioli a 3.5 out of 5 stars! Not bad at all for a speedy date night meal!

Cream sauce goes perfectly with any mushroom pasta dish, but since I've been watching my weight lately, it was immediately out of the window. And marina sauce is just blah... then I thought, maybe some pesto... but pesto would take a lot of time since I would need to clean the food processor. Finally, I've decided to go with a deconstructed pesto sauce. Keeping all the flavor that goes into Basil pesto without sacrificing time.


Deconstructed Pesto Ravioli

Ingredients:
1 pack of Buitoni Ravioli
1 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 bunch of Sweet Basil
1/4 cup of Leftover White Wine
1/4 cup of Toasted Pine Nuts
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Prepare the ravioli according to the package direction. In the mean time, toast the pine nuts in a saute pan. Remove the pine nuts when it gets golden brown.
Turn the stove on to high heat. Add extra virgin olive oil to the pan and add in the basil leaves. Let the basil wilt a little then add in the white wine and let it simmer for a minute. A pinch of salt and pepper, then add the cooked ravioli in. Stir and coat the ravioli with the sauce. Add in the toasted pine nuts and turn off the heat.
Grate Parmesan cheese to serve.