Dim Sum - Bok Choy Roll

Every year millions of people tell themselves that they will eat more vegetables and take better care of their health for their New Years' resolution.  Well, I have more Dim Sum for the Holidays ... this time Bok Choy Rolls.   These are even a bit healthy!

Spiced, ground chicken wrapped in bok choy (Chinese cabbage, pichay in Tagalog) leaves and steamed.  Low fat, good fiber, decent protein content ... and they taste good, too. 

Yes, these make it easier to follow your resolution to eat better. 
Bok Choy Rolls are also really easy to make.

So, good for you, easy to make, and yummy.  If pizza wasn't already Nature's Most Perfect Food, these might come close. 

Oh, who am I kidding?  Burgers, bacon, lasagna, and many other delicious foods would be higher on the list than this one.  Still, they're good! 

Ingredients

• Bok choy leaves
• Ground chicken breast
  
• Crushed garlic
• Grated ginger
• Salt
• Soy sauce
• Chopped green onion
  

Procedure

I diced up some boneless, skinless chicken breast.

I ground up the chicken breast finely in Big Iron's grinder attachment.

I eyeballed the things to add ... just made it smell good.  Normally I'm very careful about how much I add ... measuring, weighing, writing down notes ... this time I was just playing around.

I wouldn't need the filling for a few days.  So, I put the filling into a zip-top bag for storage in the deep freeze.

I took the bok choy, washed it, and cut off the ends.  I sorted through and picked the best and largest leaves.  Some of them were nearly white and I didn't want that.  I wanted green.  I think our pig enjoyed the white leaves very much.

I blanched the leaves in boiling water to soften them.  About ten minutes in the pot per leaf.

After the hot bath, into cold, cold water to stop the cooking process.

For each roll, I laid out a leaf and put in approximately one tablespoon of my filling.

I folded the end of the leaf over my filling.

Sorry about the fuzzy photo.  Didn't notice again ... my lens was a bit blurry after taking a photo of the leaves in boiling water.  Note to self: camera phones don't like steam.

Anyway, just fold over the end and roll up to seal.

Here are the little rolled beauties waiting on the baking sheet for their final dip into the hot water.

Finally, I steamed the rolls for ten minutes.

Remember: Steam is hot.  Hot hurts.  Just a kitchen tip from me to you.

Seeing all these laid out and done was really great.  I had a definite sense of accomplishment seeing 40 of these ready-to-eat.

Now, the question is ... how were they?


Test Results

Primary Test Group: Delicious! Masarap!


Test Group Rotary: Completely eaten quickly.


Potential Improvements

I'd spice them more next time.  Possibly some oyster sauce or hoisin sauce.

I think next time I'll blanch the leaves longer ... maybe steam them longer.  Make the leaves softer.

Potential Variations

Like anything wrapped, this could have just about anything inside the leaves.  I think that chicken, though, is probably the best.  Its flavor is mild and compliments the bok choy leaves well.

Conclusions

These are good.  And, as I mentioned, healthy too.  Whenever I make Dim Sum, I'll definitely make these along with it.

Dim Sum - Baked Chicken Curry Hum Bao

More Christmas Dim Sum!  A soft, slightly sweet bun stuffed with chicken curry.  A delightful, delicious surprise inside an already tasty bun.

I love these.  Baked hum bao (baked buns) are the first Dim Sum that I tried.  I fell in love immediately.  Soft, sweet bun willed with delicious Chinese goodness.

This is the food that eventually led me to loving Dim Sum and Chinese food in general.  When finding good sources of these delicious culinary treasure boxes, I ran into many other Chinese delicacies.

This recipe is from a book that's currently in print, so exact ingredients and quantities are again left out.  This is from Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch by Ellen Leong Blonder.  This is a great cookbook.  Definitely recommended


Procedure

I thoroughly diced some boneless, skinless chicken breast.

Then, I put the chicken into a frying pan for pre-cooking.  Baking these is like cooking pizza ... the meat needs to be cooked before going into the oven.  The bun don't spend enough time in the oven to cook the meat properly.

Like the spatula?  I love my silicon spatulas.  Solid, single-piece ... can take really high temperatures.  They don't get hot, either.  A very cheap luxury.  Highly recommended!

I sliced (and later diced) some carrots and onions.  The purple circles on the left are slices of a local onion.  They're quite small.  And, as you can see, the local carrots are quite large.

Diced onion, crushed garlic, and diced carrots go into the frying pan for some softening.  Oh, the smell was fantastic.

Here's the rest of the ingredients for the filling.  Some peas, curry powder (of course), salt, and a few other spices.

I tossed everything into the bowl and mixed thoroughly.

I didn't need this for a few days.  So, I put it into a zip-top bag for storage in the freezer.

I used to use tape on the bags to label them.  Now, I just use a permanent marker to write directly on the bag.  Works great.

It's now a couple days later and I'm ready to make the buns.  The dough starts out like any decent, soft, heavenly bread with some shortening and flour.  I used a pastry cutter to cut the shortening into the flour.

After cutting in the shortening, I added the rest of the ingredients to the dough ... a little sugar, salt, yeast, all the usual suspects.  I'm not a fan of kneading bread by hand, so into my mixer it went.  10 minutes of thrashing by my well-used bread hook.

Like all breads, this one needed to rise.  About an hour until the dough doubled.  Your results may vary as room temperature here is fairly warm (80F / 27C).

I rolled out the dough into a rectangle.  About twelve inches by nine inches.

I divided the dough into twenty four little pieces. I sliced it into approximately three inch square pieces.  That yielded a dozen pieces.  Then, I cut each piece in half.

I formed each piece into a small circle.  The edges of the circle I made thinner than the center.  The edges will form the bottom of the bun.  If the edges are the same thickness as the center, the filling in the finished bun will be sitting atop a large piece of dough.

For each little bun, I put a heaping spoonful of filling in the center.

I folded two edges over the filling and pinched.

I folded the other two edges over the center and pinched.

I brought the four corners into the center and pinched to seal everything.

Finally, I twisted the center to seal completely.  Sorry about the fuzzy photo.  I only noticed that it was fuzzy only long after I finished.

Twisting the bottom ensures that the contents are sealed.  It also creates some tension on the top of the bun.  This helps makes the top smoother.

I turned over each bun and placed it onto a piece of parchment on a baking sheet.

I brushed each bun with an egg wash.  Then, into the oven for about 20 minutes.

Just look at those beauties as they came out of the oven!

Here are the buns as they were packed.  Look at the golden tops, the shine.  The promise of good things to come upon biting into them.

I was so happy when these came out of the oven.  Look at the golden tops.  The bread was soft and sweet.  Just like I remembered.

Test Results

Primary Test Group:  Delicious kuya!  Marasa!

Test Group Rotary:  Eaten quickly and heartily.  Many questions about how it's made.  Requests to make again.

Potential Improvements

These turned out very well.  Unfortunately, they were a bit small.  Next time, I'll make a dozen buns from the recipe and not two dozen.

Potential Variations

The fillings for these are quite varied.  Most savory, some sweet.  One can also steam these.

Personally, I want to fill them with BBQ pork.  So very, very good.

Conclusions

I love these.  Most people love these.  I'll make them over and over.  I recommend that everyone try!

If you don't make them, at least go to your local decent Dim Sum restaurant or Chinese bakery and get some hum bao.  If you're new to eating these, start with char siu bao (Chinese BBQ pork-filled buns).  They're really the best!

Dim Sum - Rice Pearls

Christmas Day here ... outside my family is having a party.  My wife invited our workers and their families over for a Christmas Day Party.  From the laughing outside, they're having a good time.  Here, with my sore throat, I'm having not-so-great of a time ... but, I'm doing OK. 

I just plugged my phone/camera/note-taking-device into my computer for the first time in a week and realized that I had a lot of pictures in it from foods that I'd cooked.  And, I just looked at my posting history for the past couple of weeks ... dismal!

I guess that means that I'm going to have to be serious about my New Year's resolution: be more disciplined.  I'll believe it when I do it. 

Those spotty blobs you see in the picture to the right are actually rice pearls.  Sorry about the bad picture, I had to take it very quickly while serving them at the Board of Directors meeting for my local Rotary club. 

December was my turn to sponsor the food.  I brought Dim Sum.  If it didn't turn out well ... well, the food was free for them.  Grin and eat it.  Haha.

Apparently, the food wasn't bad as all but four small pieces were eaten.

This recipe is from the Smith Dim Sum book that is in print.  So, I'm not going to list the precise ingredients.

Ingredients

• Ground lean beef
• Pilit (sticky rice)
• Tapol (purple sticky rice)
• Chinese spices
  

Procedure

I took the two kinds of rice and boiled them separately for about 10 minutes to briefly pre-cook the rice.  Not completely cooked, though.

I mixed the rices together.  Not completely as I wanted the colors to have nice areas.

I mixed together the ground beef and Chinese spices.  I made little meatballs, about one tablespoon each in size.

I rolled each meatball in the rice.  Using my hands, cupped to form a crude sphere, I molded each into balls.  I put each molded rice pearl into a steamer on parchment.

Steam for about 30 minutes to cook everything thoroughly.  When you remove the rice pearls from the steamer, remember this one little fact: live steam is really, incredibly hot.  Don't ask me how I know.

Serve with some kind of sauce.  I happened to like them with a sweet chili sauce.

Test Results

Primary Test Group:  Good, tasty!

Test Group Rotary:  No direct comments.  However, all but three were eaten.

Potential Improvements

I would steam them longer.  Maybe 45 minutes to an hour.  Make the rice more tender.

Conclusions

These are good.  They make great h'oeur deurves.  If you make these, make sure you serve them with some kind of sweet sauce.  They're fantastic that way.

Dim Sum - Mini Hoisin Ribs

Wow, is the time shooting past right now.  Christmas is coming soon and you know what that means: DIM SUM!  Yes, Santa will bring delicious little bits of Chinese goodness to all the good little culinarians out there!  Those who are bad will be forced to watch and eat Vienna sausage (if you like Vienna sausage, please, seek professional help).

Oh, look at those little ribs to the side there.  They were gone so fast.

This is from a cookbook in print.  So, I'm not going to list exact ingredients or measurements.  Still, there are no surprises here.  If you're familiar at all with Chinese cooking, the ingredients are all pretty obvious.

The cookbook in question is  Dim Sum: Delicious Finger Food For Parties by Fiona Smith and William Lingwood.  I like this book.  It has gorgeous pictures and the recipes are definitely delicious.

Ingredients

• Pork ribs, cut in 2" pieces
• Hoisin sauce
• Other Chinese ingredients
  

Procedure

The first step here is really at your butcher.  Buy the ribs and have them cut them into 2-inch lengths.  Be sure to have the butcher remove the membrane on the bottom of the ribs before cutting.

I mixed all the ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl and let is all marinate overnight.

When I was ready, I covered the dish with foil.  Then, put it all into the oven at 350F (175C) for 90 minutes.

Done.  Yes, it's just that simple!

Test Results

These were devoured.  Didn't get much feedback.  But, I presume they were appreciated.

Potential Improvements

Cook longer to more tenderness.  I think next time I'm going to cook for a full two hours.

Potential Variations

Can't really think of any here.  The name makes them fairly specialized ... Hoisin mini ribs.

Conclusions

These are tasty and easy.  Just toss them into a dish overnight, cook them for a couple of hours, done!

I'll make them again.  Most definitely!

Long, Long Week

This week I've cooked a lot. Nothing was done, though, until last night. I served seven different Dim Sum dishes. I have a lot of pictures and am starting to bring everything together now.

I was happy with most of the results. Good for a first try at many of the dishes. The baked hum bao were a wonderful surprise. Got good reviews.

My experiment with the Nor Mai Gai went wrong. Too salty. I'll stick with my original recipe. Everyone said that was much better.

Anyway ... lots of pictures coming up soon! Here are some shots of the results ...

Char Siu Pastries - First Draft

Besides Nor Mai Gai and Baked Hum Bow, Char Siu pastries are one of my favorite Dim Sum dishes.  Since I already know how to make decent Nor Mai Gai, I thought I'd try out making Char Siu (Chinese BBQ pork) pastries.

Since I decided to go on a Dim Sum kick, I purchased a half-dozen cookbooks on the topic.  One of those cookbooks was Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch by Ellen Leong Blonder.

So many great look dishes in this cookbook.  Fortunately, the recipe for Char Siu pastries is one of them.  Woohoo!

Since this is a recipe from a cookbook that's still in print, I'm going to skip my usual ingredient list.  Instead, I'll recommend buying the book.  There are no pictures but it has some very nice illustrations showing technique.

I've purchased many cookbooks that I've regretted.  This is one I'm very glad to have.

Procedure

This is a long process, so I recommend getting something nice to drink and get comfortable.

First, I started out making the pastry dough.  Ice water and the usual ingredients for a flaky dough.

Using my pastry cutter, I cut in the lard until the dough resembled round pebbles.

I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and formed it to the size of about half a piece of paper (8.5" x 11" or A4, take your pick).

The recipe calls for a second dough.  Slightly different ingredients (larger amount of shortening compared to the flour content).  Again, I cut in the lard until I got a crumbly, pebble-like consistency.

The second dough is wrapped in plastic and formed into a 3" x 4" piece.  Both doughs get put into the fridge for a few hours to ensure that the shortening doesn't melt.

After their time in the cooler, both doughs are pulled out.  Here they are ready-to-go.  Rolling pin, dough, flour to roll out, and a half-sized pastry piece of parchment folded in half length-wise to use as a ruler.

I placed the small piece of dough on top of the larger one.  Really, what's going on here is similar to making puff pastry.  The small dough has more fat in it and will be used to make layers.

Fold the larger dough's sides in and seal around the smaller dough.

Roll the whole thing out to approximately 6" x 18".  As you can see, my rolling pin skills need improvement.

Once rolled out, fold into thirds.

Then, wrapped in plastic again and back into the fridge.  Again, trying to make sure that the fat doesn't melt which makes the dough tough.

A second and third time I pulled the dough out of the fridge and rolled it out to 6" x 18" in size.  After each time, I folded it in thirds and put it back into the fridge.

Now that the dough is in the fridge and resting, I turned to the filling. I pulled out a piece of my char siu pork.

Gave the delicious pork a nice dicing.

Here are the ingredients for the sauce.  Nothing secret here.  Just the normal Chinese sauce ingredients (again, not going to be precise since this is from a book in print).

A little time over the stove and the filling is born!

I put the filling into a Pyrex measuring container and put it all into the fridge.  I wanted nice and cold filling.  Easier to work with and it won't melt the fat in the dough.

Now that I had the chilled filling, I pulled the dough back out.  I attempted to roll it out to about 12" x 12".  Unfortunately, the dough was showing signs of stress.  I just didn't want to behave.  I think I overworked it and I also think I blew the ingredients a little.

I cut the rolled out dough into little 3" x 4" pieces.  I had a bit of a problem as the dough was being uncooperative.  It just didn't want to heal, so my pieces weren't exactly works of art.

Down the center of the piece of dough, I put about a tablespoon of filling.

Folded the dough over like a piece of paper ... and sealed it up.

I turned the little packet over so that the seam-side was down.

I painted an egg wash onto each pastry and sprinkled them with sesame seeds.

Here are my little pastries all laid out and ready to go into the oven.

Now, the pastries came out of the oven not flaky ... a little bit tough.  Still quite tasty.

Test Results

Primary Test Group:  Delicious!

Test Group C:  Oi!  Bring more ... and don't talk while I'm eating!

Potential Improvements

Definitely need a better crust.  I'm pretty sure that I screwed up it by overworking the dough.  I also think I added slightly too much water to the large dough.  And, I think I messed up by using lard that was at room temperature rather than cold lard.

Potential Variations

All kinds of great fillings can go into a pastry-like dough.  Still, my favorite is char siu.

Conclusions

I'm pretty sure that I'm on the right track here.  I just need more practice working with this kind of dough. 

I'll try this one again soon!