Danbing (danping) = Taiwanese Egg Pancakes

When my grandma would make this for us kids, I never knew it was a legit Taiwanese dish. Like, they sell it in the night markets! Wha?! And all this time, I thought my relatives were just being creative with their fusion cuisine. Nope. This is the food of my people. (And I'm not talking about Green Max instant mixes, Jonathan McNutt.)

With the optional ingredients, it becomes like an eggy wrap sandwich. I'm not used to all that stuff in it, but Phoebe tells me it's popular to order these with ham, corn, etc.

Flour tortilla (my choice is Trader Joe's)
1 egg
1 stalk of green onion, chopped

Soy sauce

Optional:
Spinach
Sliced tomatoes
Cheese of your choice

Heat up your pan and lightly oil it. While it's warming up, whisk together the egg and as much green onions you want. I'm pretty generous with it. Whisk whisk whisk then pour into the pan. Tilt the pan to even out the egg and quickly put a tortilla over it. Lightly press down to make sure the egg coats the bottom of the tortilla. Allow it to cook all the way through, then flip and cook until this side of the tortilla gets warmed up. I like it when the tortilla gets crisp with bubbly golden pockets. You can then fold this up with a dash of salt and serve with soy sauce OR you can fill it with all your goodies and then fold.

Makes 1

Ground Pork Steamed Rice Cake

I like the idea of using actual rice instead of that boxed rice flour to make...rice cake. Hm. Why does this seem like a novel idea? The spices are ok, but not the combination I was looking for. Maybe it was because I didn't add MSG.

Of course, MSG is optional but it's also the best tasting thing on earth. I didn't use it because I couldn't convince myself that it's worth putting myself through horrible migraines and blacking out. I gotta work on my persuasion skills.

1/2 tsp oil
5 cloves garlic, crushed
150g ground pork

¼ C dried deep fried chopped garlic
¼ C dried deep fried chopped shallots
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp licorice powder
½ tsp five spices powder
1 tsp white pepper powder
(1 tsp msg)

300 g white rice
300 ml water

450ml water
1 1/2 T sugar
1 T salt
1 ½ T msg

Additional dried garlic and shallots to taste

Heat oil in a pan and sauté garlic. Brown the pork. Add the dried garlic and shallots and cook for 5 minutes or until fragrant. Add the rest of the seasoning to white pepper powder and sauté for 5 minutes, turn off heat.

Combine rice and 300 ml water in a blender and blend until grains are broken down and the liquid looks milky. Try to break up all the little pieces to make sort of a paste. This took my blender a while to do. In the book, it looked like they were using some intense grinding machine to make it look like a pasty horchata. I couldn’t get it quite like that.

Bring 450 ml of water to a boil, dissolve the sugar and salt in the boiling water. Then, pour rice mixture into the pot, whisk until thickened. Use every bit, even the little grains that were hiding on the bottom.

Pour into a metal pot without handles. I used a metal pot that could fit inside my bamboo steamer. Equally wonderful alternatives include, a big pot with a little bowl turned upside down to make a stand in water, or a steamer. Sprinkle the rice with ground pork and add dried garlic and shallots on surface.

Bring water to a boil in a steam pot and depending on thickness of the mixture, steam about 40-120 minutes. I steamed it for about an hour and it still looked wobbly. It does firm up once removed from the steamer.

Taro Tapioca Dessert

I remember first having this super chilled, sweet soup when I was a kid at Kirin in Mountain View, CA.; the perfect place for late night dining, turtle soup, and chow fun. You don't always get dessert there, and I could never figure out how the waiters decided to give it to us or not, but whoo! What a pleasant surprise when we did!

There are a two variations of this dessert here that can be served hot or cold:

Condensed Milk Way
1/2 lb of taro, skin removed, cut into 1" cubes
1/4 C dried tapioca
1 can of condensed milk

Fill pot with taro and enough water to cover. Boil until fork tender. Mash up the taro with a fork, or you can use an immersion blender.

Add the tapioca to the same pot, turn down the heat to a simmer. Stir frequently to prevent the starch from sticking to the bottom of the pan. You may want to add water as the tapioca absorbs it. When tapioca is all transparent, add condensed milk to taste. You can also thin out the soup with more water or milk.

8.8.10
Used coconut cream instead of milk because that's all I had in my cupboard, but realized that coconut cream is good for mango sticky rice and not here because it's way too thick. I had to thin it out a lot with the taro water.

Coconut Milk Way
1/2 lb of taro, skin removed cut into 1" cubes
1/4 C dried tapioca
1 can of unsweetened coconut milk
1-2+ large blocks of rock sugar, or about 1/4+ C granulated sugar

Boil taro until tender, do not drain.

Boil tapioca in a different pot according to package directions until translucent and drain.

Bring to a simmer the coconut milk in another pot and dissolve the sugar in it (to taste), finally add taro and tapioca. Once again in this recipe, you may want to add more water (using the taro boiling water), or milk to thin out the soup, but if the tapioca is drained well enough, the starch from it may not thicken the soup.

Serves 8

Filipino Garlic Rice

Mmm!!! Great with those little Filipino sausages. First tasted this at Lumpia Palace (a.k.a. Gemmae Bake Shop). Sooooo flavorful and garlicky! Haleen showed Anna this summer, and Anna showed me. What a treat! I can't believe it's so simple. I can't believe I don't eat garlic rice at every meal. Or even instead of a meal! Thanks, Haleen.

If using regular Asian rice, you can cook it straight out of the rice cooker. If using jasmine or basmati, it's better if you allow it to get cold or if you use it a day old. Maybe it's because they're thinner grains and pan frying would overcook them?

Oil
One whole head of garlic, or 3/4 of it, minced (the more, the better I say)
Cooked rice
Salt to taste
1 Tbsp fish sauce (I haven't tried this but I read it in another recipe)

You basically heat up the oil (a couple of tablespoons at first) and cook the garlic until softened and a little golden. Season with a little salt and fish sauce. Then add the rice. Heat up until the garlic is golden, but not dark brown otherwise you've burned it. But that's ok, it's still good. A little bitter and a little carcinogenic, but still good.

That's right, girl. More garlic.

Pao de Queijo

My favorite Brasilian breakfast food! Perfectly chewy, crusty, cheesy, and warm (usually). Oh, even when it's cold it's divinely delicious as long as it's not day old. Then, it's disgusting. Universally liked as my Jaru team can testify--Russia, Puerto Rico, Texas and California were represented in an unofficial pao de queijo study and the results were unanimous--yum.

If mochi and cheesy biscuits could have a baby, this would be him. I like to bake them at 350 degrees for the last 10 minutes so they're more biscuity on the outside. You know, for that contrast of textures I love so much.

The recipe below is adapted from a recipe from a sister in Uberlandia. All measurements are according to what it looks likes and how it feels, as is the norm with home cookin'. Joanna Yang did her best to quantify the recipe. I only adjusted it a liiiitle bit since I wasn't actually there to watch the sister make it.

Look! Joanna made them soooo perfect.

1 C water
1 C milk (whole is preferred but I used 1%)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C canola oil (she said about 80% of 1 C which made my first batch oily)
2 C mandioca flour
2-4 large eggs (depending on consistency)
1/2 C parmesan cheese
1/2 C powdered Mexican Cotija cheese

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Boil the water, milk and salt and remove from heat. Add the oil and whisk together. Remove from the heat and pour in the Mandioca flour. When cool enough to touch, mix in the eggs. This is what it looks like when it is a little too wet:

Stir in each egg and check it out. It should resemble mash potatoes, but not be super greasy. Add in the cheeses.

Oil hands and roll into 1" balls with less than 1" apart. Bake for 30 minutes. Be patient. They're hot. Let them cool on the tray.

This makes a full cookie sheet of more than 2 dozen

All Veggie Quiche with Avocado Crema

Next time, I'll try adding 1/2 C chopped tomatoes.

1 (9 inch) baked pastry shell

1 cup chopped onion (half of a large one)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C poblano chile (or 1 medium green bell pepper), seeded and chopped
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
3/4 C baby spinach

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Paprika sprinkled on top for color

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large skillet, heat olive oil and saute the onion until soft and translucent, add garlic. Add all the spices, then add all the vegetables and cook well until all water has been cooked out.

In a bowl, beat eggs. Add the milk and 3/4 of the cheese; mix well. Carefully pour over vegetables. Bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and paprika. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting. Serve on a bed of mixed greens and serve with...

Avocado Crema
1/2 of avocado, mashed
dash of powder garlic
1 Tbsp sour cream or yogurt
dash of salt and pepper
a little bit of minced cilantro (to taste)

Serves 4-5

Mrs. Cowper's Buttermilk Pie

The top of the filling turns out crunchy, like the caramelized crust of a creme brulee, but with a more eggy portion on the bottom much like an egg tart. TOO SWEET. The ingredients on the left is what I used today, but I put suggestions (in the parentheses) for improvements. Definitely an easy way to use leftover buttermilk.

1 C sugar (but I suggest cutting it down to 3/4 C)
1/4 C butter, melted
3 large eggs, lightly beaten (4 eggs to make it less sweet)
1 Tbsp flour (I'll try 2 Tbsp next time)
1/2 C buttermilk (also try 1 C buttermilk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 unbaked 9" pastry shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs slightly and add sugar and flour. Then add melted butter and mix well. Add buttermilk and vanilla and mix.
Dust the unbaked pie shell with a little bit of flour. Pour batter into shell, and then sprinkle a little more flour on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes and then decrease temperature to 325 and bake until the custard is set, approximately 1 hour.
Serve at room temperature. When it's straight out of the oven, the crust is soggy and soft but as it cools, I guess the shortening/crisco solidifies?

Makes 1 9" pie

Pork Adobo with Sue Tan, April DeVeyra, Shilo Joy Chiu

Sue was missing Filipino food and I've always wanted to cook Filipino food. That's how all four of us found ourselves running around Ranch99 and cooking one Monday afternoon. These girls are so fun and so crazy! I love them. They were telling me about all the tropical fruits they eat back home and the excellent all-you-can eat buffets. (In addition to dirt cheap cell phone service!) Uh oh. Sounds like the Philippines is calling my name!

The longer they cooked the pork, the more tender it got, but I enjoyed the pungency of the vinegar and the different flavors. The salted duck egg was authentic, but I'm not sure if I could handle the saltiness of it all the time.

Dark Soy sauce
White vinegar
Sugar
Cornstarch (if you would like the sauce to be thick)
Salt and pepper
1 pound pork leg (1.99 at Ranch99) cubed a little smaller than 1”

½ medium red onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 laurel leaves
1 T Whole peppercorns
Maybe a couple of hardboiled eggs, they recommend

Serve with
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
Chopped salted duck egg
White rice

Combine 5 T soy sauce, 4 T vinegar, 2 T sugar, maybe 1 tsp of cornstarch and salt and pepper together with water. Enough to dilute. Marinate the pork for 30 min-1 hour.

Heat oil and garlic and onions. Then the pork without the marinade. When browned, add the sauce and cook on medium low until tender. Serve with tomatoes and salted duck egg with vinegar drizzled on top of white rice.

Blueberry-Coconut Tart

One of the best things I've ever made and oh-so easy too! Not too sweet and fresh! Frozen blueberries don't quite cut it as they tend to bleed and get watery when baked. Definitely Carolyn Chu's favorite.

5 T unsalted butter
1 1/3 C graham cracker crumbs (1 clear package inside of the box)

1/3 C sugar
2 large eggs
½ C heavy cream
1 pint fresh blueberries, picked over for stems
1 C and ¼ C sweetened flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter, then combine with graham crackers. Press mixture evenly across the bottom and all the way up the sides of the 9” tart pan, packing it tightly with your fingers so it is even and compacted.

Whisk together the remaining 1/3 C sugar, the eggs, and heavy cream in the other bowl. Stir in 1 C coconut and gently stir in blueberries.

Spoon the filling into the tart pan, top with ¼ C coconut. Bake until mixture is slightly bubbling and browned, 45-50 minutes. Let cool completely on the rack before removing the sides of the pan and serving.

Makes 1 9" tart, from Instant Gratification

I had to steal this photo before anyone else devoured the rest of this pie. Ugly, yes. Tasty, yes.

Wela’s Red Bean Rice Cake

Finally! I have a recipe for this delicious baked mochi cake with red beans! 1 C of sugar sounds like a lot, but it makes a lot so it's actually not that sweet.

Before Wela became baking queen, she used to say this was the only thing she could bake. So simple, yet so delicious. I've used all sorts of rice flour, but most people like this one:

1/2 can of sweet red whole beans (Morinaga Ogura-an Sweetened Red Beans, Mashed) resist adding more
1 (16 oz) box of sweet rice flour/Mochiko (Koda Farms Brand)
3 eggs
2 C milk
1 C vegetable oil
1 C sugar
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together all the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk all the wet (not including the red beans). Add the dry to the wet, then stir in the red beans.

Bake for 55 minutes in a larger than 13x9x2” pan, sprayed with oil. I don't know what the exact dimensions are...if you don't have this sort of pan, distribute batter.

Wela Wong in action.

Tar Heel Pie

“As I was perusing in a gourmet market here in good ole cackellackey, I came across this postcard and thought of you! (Can’t wait to taste it!) Anyway, even though we won’t be roommates this term, let’s try to still spend time together. I’ll be sure to stop by 2120. ☹ This will probably come after the training starts, but anyway, keep eating Christ—it’s the way!” Amen, my darling sister Phoebe Wang. Amen!

Definitely not the most attractive dessert in name nor appearance but really rich and tasty. Kind of like a fudgy brownie in a crust with pecans. I was really pleased with everything. Ahunna says it should be illegal. I’m sure she almost died.

1 C chocolate chips
1 stick butter, melted

1 C chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla
½ C plain flour
½ C white sugar
½ C brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten

6 oz (it says 1 ½ C but I weighed it out) flour
½ stick unsalted butter, chilled
2-3 T water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Pour warm butter over chocolate chips and stir. Blend all remaining ingredients and stir into chocolate chip mixture. Pour into the unbaked pie shell and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Makes 1 9" pie

Macadamia Nut Tart

11.14.07 Made for the Adamos' Thanksgiving Dinner, which was ham AND turkey, and all the fixin's. Oh! How we love them! They are so sweet and cherishing!

I thought the crust was too egg-y, but I think that's because I used Xtra Large eggs and not large. Also, the nuts were wayyy salty. When they say unsalted, they mean it!

2.4.09 Jen's Baby Shower! This time, I made it in a 7" tart pan and there was leftover crust, filling and nuts but that's ok. Crust was not eggy but must remember to cook thoroughly until a nice golden brown otherwise, it will feel soggy later when you put in the filling. In response to Susanne and others who might be wondering: corn syrup is a must for that solid chewiness and how golden? Well, maybe like the top of the tart in the picture.

1 1/4 C flour
2 T brown sugar
1/4 t salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter
1 large egg yolk

1/2 C packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 t salt

2 T unsalted butter, melted
1/4 C light corn syrup
2 T dark rum
1 1/3 C unsalted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 375°. In a food processor, whirl flour, 2 tbsp. brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Add cold butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg yolk and pulse to combine. Add 2 tbsp. ice water, pulsing until mixture begins to come together in a ball.

Press into 9" round tart pan with 1" sides, prick bottom with a fork and chill in freezer 15 minutes. Bake until medium golden brown about 25-35 minutes, remove from oven.

Meanwhile, mix 1 egg, 1/2 C brown sugar and salt until pale and ribbony, 7-10 minutes. Beat in melted butter, corn syrup and rum. Pour mixture into tart shell and sprinkle with nuts.

Bake 25 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean and cool on wire rack for at least 1 hour. Serve with vanilla or ginger ice cream, if desired.

Makes 1 9" tart, 12 servings, from Sunset

Brigadeiro

This popular Brasilian dessert is so fun to make...and so easy and so yummy! I recently found these photos...they're actually kind of old, from when Susanne used to live here. Oh! It feels like forever since she's been in San Diego!!!!

1 can condensed milk
1 T butter
3 T cocoa powder
cocoa powder, sugar, powdered sugar, or sprinkles to roll in

Cook condensed milk and butter until bottom of pan shows while stirring. Stir in the sifted cocoa powder. Pour into wax lined pan to cool and refrigerate. If you don't let it cool, this will happen to you:

Roll into small 3/4", or really any size you want, balls and coat with your choice of coatings.

My first experience eating brigadeiro with two of the silliest Brasilians I know

Mung Bean and Rice Ball Soup Dessert

I learned this from my dad. This is also the basic rice skin for stuffing with a sweet sesame paste or a sweet peanut filling and then boiling. Those are sooo good. He seems to love making rice based desserts and food. I especially like the chewiness. Mmm!

The above picture is actually what it looks like before you boil it. Can you believe I rolled each one of those teeny tiny little balls with my paws?!??! Not so useless now, are they Vicky??

1/4 C mung beans (or red beans) soaked in warm water 4-6 hours or overnight
1/4 C rock sugar, or sweetener of your choice (agave nectar, honey, sugar)

1/8 C boiling water
1 package of glutinous rice flour

Discard the bean soaking water and fill a medium pot with the beans and water till it's a little more than halfway full. Bring to a boil, add the sweetener, and then lower heat to medium and let them cook until the beans are soft.

While that's cooking, mix together the hot water and 1 C of rice flour with a wooden spoon. Turn out onto the counter (I use a silicone baking mat for easier cleanup) and knead flour in until it's pliable and not sticky anymore. It should feel like silly putty, firm yet yields slightly.

Roll into little balls, whatever size you like. I like it when they're the size of marbles. Store them in a bowl with some rice flour in it. (Or, you can roll them into bigger balls, roll them out into a 3" circle and stuff some desired filling in it like peanut butter, canned red bean paste or canned black sesame seed paste, seal it up and boil!)

When beans are about ready, boil another pot of water and add rice balls to the boiling water. Don't add so much that they crowd. Let them cook until they float up from the bottom and then sink back down. Test so that they are squishy, not chalky and then they're done! Drain and add to the mung bean soup.

Serve hot or chilled.

Avocado Smoothie

YES! We've conquered the system! Even with avocados costing $1.50 at the store, we'd still be saving money! Goodbye Tapioca Heaven, Hello Susanne & Diana's In-house Boba Shop...Spectacular!

I know avocado smoothies sound disgusting (and I'm sure this picture doesn't help) but trust me--they are oh-so creamy and sweet!! Honestly, you haven't lived until you've had one. I mean, Ben and Jen Gallarda and Erica love them too! It's not just some freaky thing only Susanne and I like....

1/2 avocado
1/3 C condensed milk
1/2 C milk
8 ice cubes (approximately 1 C ice)

**You can also substitute the condensed milk for sugar.

Blend everything together. You can thicken or thin with more/less ice, more/less milk, and sweeten/thin with condensed milk to taste. Should be served with boba.

Serves 2

Toasted Coconut Haupia with Pineapple

My favorite at luaus. I've only been to a few on college campuses and once in Hawaii, but I was 6 when I went to Hawaii and can't remember anything other than the discovery that men with beards have scratchy faces, and the song:

Just hang loose
Just have fun
Sippin' at the beach
Laying in the sun.
Don't try to hide
It ain't no use
Cause when you're in Hawaii, you just wanna hang loooose!!!

This is like a coconut jello/custard.

1 can (14 oz) of coconut milk
1 C of milk
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C cornstarch (if pudding consistency is desired, 3/4 C if you want a solid bar)
pinch of salt

1/2 C chopped pineapple
1/2 C toasted shredded coconut (just put the coconut on foil and toast in the oven at 350 or in a toaster oven)

Stir 1 C of coconut milk with 1 C milk and boil on the stove till hot. While heating, whisk together the sugar, remaining coconut milk, salt and cornstarch to make a paste. Add to the pot and stir over medium heat until thickened, lower heat and continue for 10 minutes.

Stir in pineapple and spread into a 8x8" pan. Top with toasted coconut and then cool a little before refrigerating. Refrigerate until set and cut into squares.

Fresh Fruit Pie

First dessert for the College Meeting! It was pretty tasty--Manny tested and approved. The crust is easy to stretch out resulting in a shrunken crust, so be careful. Let the dough rest and don't roll too thin.

Crust
1 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C flour
2 T sugar
1/4 t salt
6 T butter
1 egg yolk
3-4 T cold water

Filling
1 8 0z. package of cream cheese
1/4 C sifted powdered sugar
1/4 C whipping cream (maybe substitute with milk next time)
1 T orange juice
1 t vanilla

Fruit Topping
3 kiwis cut into wedges
1/4 C blueberries (if frozen, defrosted and drained)
2 peaches cut into wedges
you can also use: raspberries, papaya, orange wedges, strawberries...anything citrus or berry like.

2 T apricot preserves (or marmalade)
1 t orange juice

Pastry
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Stir together flours, sugar, salt. Cut in butter with 2 knives or a pastry blender until it looks like course crumbs. Stir in egg yolk and then enough water to moisten and form a cohesive ball. Knead lightly a couple times, then roll out on a lightly floured surface till it's 12" in diameter for your 9" pan.

Trim pastry to 1/2" beyond the edge of pan, fold under, crimp as desired. Generously prick bottom and sides. Line with foil, bake for 10 min, then uncovered for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Filling
Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar until combined. Add whipping cream, or milk, oj, and vanilla beat until combined. Spoon into cooled pastry shell, cover and chill for at least 1 hour.

To serve
Arrange fruit on top of filling. Heat up the preserves and oj then drizzle over pie. (I just threw it in the microwave, but you can heat it in a saucepan).