Stir Fried Pickled Mustard Greens with Chicken and Pork Balls

We all try to be well-meaning with our pantries as it’s a means of survival and makes economic sense, but it always ends up with a clutter of foods.

Everyone has a pantry packed with…

Food so you don’t need to make trips to the shops all the time.

Food that you buy during a sale on the premise that you will use it but it ends up hidden in the back of your cupboard and you forget about it.

Food that you bought to cook one dish and never needed for anything else.

Food that is handy to have around for quickly whipping up a meal at anytime.

Food that is non-perishable in preparation for an emergency….an apocalypse…

The usual suspects are dried pasta, rice, lentils, nuts, spices, a range of condiments and various canned goods like chickpeas, tomatoes and tuna.

No matter how much I eat, the amount of food in my pantry is always increasing rather than decreasing. I think this is due to the fact that I like trying to cook new things and experimenting so I accumulate a lot of food items overtime. It’s easy to do a spring clean of your wardrobe and donate your clothes to the Salvos but I hate throwing out food and you can’t give away half empty packets and jars. I am working on minimalising my pantry and thinking about what I can use up when I plan my meals but there will always be items that will remain a staple and I know I will use on a regular basis.

What do you always have in your pantry that you regularly use?

I have pickles.

One of my pantry staples is pickled mustard greens. It’s cabbage like with a distinct horseradish-mustard flavour. Good for stir fries and in soups.

While pickling food was invented as a means of survival to preserve foods through the seasons, and even though it results in food with a pungent, salty or sour taste which can be an acquired taste, it’s becoming widely enjoyed. All sorts of pickles are appearing more and more on restaurant menus as appetizers, sides and condiments, adding another dimension of flavour to dishes.

Pickles are the new “it” food.

You basically know when something is an ‘it’ food when Portlandia have done a skit on it ;)

Check out the video on Youtube We Can Pickle That or pickle your website http://www.wecanpicklethat.com/.

People may make a fuss over pickled foods these days but I’ve grown up on them. It’s a key component of many Asian cuisines – Korean food would be nothing without kimchi, a Vietnamese banh mi would not be complete without pickled carrot, the pickled vegetables that accompany Japanese meal sets are mandatory and I love the mixed vegetable and fruit pickles you get as sides with Indian meals that you can mix into the rice along with the curries or slap onto some naan bread.

Pickles are essentially a cheap pantry staple, an easy way to feed a family on a budget. My mum always has a stash of pickled vegetables in the pantry to add as a side to complement meals or use in cooking a dish. It adds another layer of flavour and texture to a dish, and the acidicness enlivens the palate. A bowl of plain congee with some pickled vegetables on top is a simple treat in the morning. 

This is one of those economical simple home cooked dishes that my mum cooked frequently for the family. The dish is prepared by stir frying pickled mustard greens with chicken and sliced pork balls. 

Stir Fried Pickled Mustard Greens and Chicken and Pork Balls

(An original recipe Blue Apocalypse learnt from her mum)

Serves 4-5 with steamed rice. 

Ingredients

Notes: Quantities below are approximate. My mum would always add a bit more meat to feed a family but you can add smaller quantities of meat. Taste as you go while seasoning with the fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, salt and pepper until you get desired balance of flavour. 

•    300g pickled mustards greens (buy packaged pickled mustard greens in vacuum packs at Asian supermarkets)
•    200-300g chicken breast, chopped into bite sized pieces
•    150-200g pork balls, sliced
•    2-3 garlic cloves, sliced
•    5 red bird’s eye chillies, deseeded
•    1-2 tablespoons fish sauce
•    2-3 tablespoons oyster saue
•    1 teaspoon sugar (to taste)
•    salt and white pepper to taste
•     ½ - 1 cup chicken stock
•    ½ teaspoon cornflour mixed with a little water to thicken sauce
•    vegetable oil

 

Pork balls which can be found in refrigerator/freezer section of Asian supermarkets

Method

Prepare pickled mustard greens. Soak the pickled mustard greens for 6-8 hours or overnight in a pot of cold water (this reduces some of the saltiness/sourness). Remove and drain. Then slice the mustard greens. 

 

Soaking pickled mustard greens

Heat a little oil in a wok and stir fry the garlic and chillies until aromatic. Add in the chicken pieces and fry until nearly cooked. Then add in the sliced pork balls and fry for a bit. 

Add in the sliced mustard greens and season with fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, salt and white pepper to taste. 

Then add in some stock, bring to boil and thicken the sauce with cornflour mixed with water.

Serve with steamed rice.

Roasted Vegetable Tomato Pasta Sauce with Fried Spaghetti

When I first mastered making fresh pasta it became the holy grail. So much so, that I invented my own principle – the Blue Apocalypse Razor. I thought that this was the best and thus, the only way you should have pasta. Dried packet pasta became downgraded to the status of canned goods. This was the attitude of the young me that was just starting to cook and intent on learning how to make things from scratch instead of the pre-made stuff. Because fresh and made from scratch is always better…right?! 

I mean, I spent so much time making fresh pasta, bruising my hands kneading the dough, straining my wrist winding the handle of the pasta machine, wounding myself cutting the pasta dough…then I have to wait and watch paint dry, wait…I mean the pasta. No pain, no gain right?!

But this way of thinking shows a lack of understanding of how pasta is used and that different types of pasta have their own unique qualities.

Comparing fresh and dried pasta is like comparing apples and oranges, they each have a different taste and texture. Fresh pasta isn’t always better, it depends on how you plan on using it, the sauce accompanying it and sometimes it's a matter of if you live north or south. Fresh pasta is lighter, tender and more delicate, making it better suited to simple sauces like cream or oil based ones such as alfredo and pesto. While dried pasta is sturdier and has a bit more bite so it can take on a thicker, richer sauce like amatriciana or bolognese. In Italy, as a result of geography, climate and history, dried pasta is commonly used it the South while the Central and Northern Italy are more known for using fresh pasta. 

Dried pasta is not just some convenient, inferior, alternative to fresh pasta. Especially when you can do awesome things to it like FRY IT!

This was a tip that I received from a friend about using dried packet spaghetti which I think is the best thing that you could ever do with it FRY IT! He told me it was an old skool Italian thing but I have not managed to find anything to confirm this so it exists as some urban legend.

Fried Spaghetti

Here’s how you do it.

Cook packet of dried spaghetti in a pot of boiling salted water until al dente, drain thoroughly. Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan with minced garlic, chillies and mushrooms. Saute the mushrooms until they are browned and add in the drained cooked spaghetti, fry for a bit until the spaghetti becomes a bit crisp and absorbs all the flavours of the garlic, chilli and mushrooms. At this point you can just eat the spaghetti but serve it with a tomato pasta sauce on top and it’s the bomb. 

As the spaghetti has been fried it now provides a textural contrast against the sauce. You also get two levels of flavour – the pasta sauce and also a flavour hit from the spaghetti itself which has been infused with the aromatics of the ingredients it has been fried with. I love the garlic and chilli hit in the spaghetti and also sauté mushrooms rather than soggy mushrooms if it were to have been cooked in the pasta sauce. 

Frying the spaghetti

The amount of garlic, chilli and mushrooms added to the frying pan is up to you. It’s best to fry the spaghetti in batches so for one serve you could have 1-2 crushed garlic cloves, 4-5 sliced mushrooms (button or swiss) and as much chilli as you can handle (I go for 2-3 small red chillies, deseeded and sliced). 

Garlic, Chilli and Mushroom Fried Spaghetti 

served with Roasted Vegetable Tomato Pasta Sauce.

Roasted Vegetable Tomato Pasta Sauce

(An original recipe by the Blue Apocalypse)

Ingredients

•    1 (400g) can of whole tomatoes
•    1 medium carrot, grated
•    1 celery, grated
•    3 garlic cloves, minced
•    1 onion, finely diced
•    2 tablespoons tomato paste
•    2 cups of stock
•    balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper
•    roasted vegetables – 1 red capsicum, 1 paprika, 2 eggplants, 1 zucchini
 

Roasted Zucchini and Eggplant

Method

To roast the vegetables

Preheat oven to 180C.

Slice the capsicum and paprika in half, place on baking tray and roast in the oven until the skin becomes browned. Remove and peel off the skin and roughly chop into 2 cm pieces.
Chop the eggplant and zucchini into 2-3cm pieces and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes. 

To make the pasta sauce

Heat some olive oil in a pot and sauté onions for a few minutes until they have softened, then add garlic and fry for a bit. Add grated carrot and celery and fry for a few minutes.
 
Add tomato paste, canned tomato, stock and capsicum, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and splash of balsamic vinegar to taste. Add the in the roasted eggplant and zucchini, and simmer for another 10-15 minutes. 

Serve on top of fried spaghetti.

DINNER! BINGO! TRIVIA! North Perth Bowls Club – Zine Launch

“If old people can play this so can I” said someone at our table as we settled down for a night of DINNER! BINGO! TRIVIA! at the North Perth Bowls Club last Sunday.

 The night was brought together by these dudes!

 

 Matt and Tristan (aka Danny Cool and Bob Dinner)

Their zines I Am Still In Yesterday’s Clothes #9: The Sports Edition! and Eggs Press #8: The Basil Zempilas Edition! combined forces for a sports themed night filled with BINGO!, trivia, ‘did Dennis Commetti say this or Kim Jong-un propositions’ and jokes like -

What lights up a soccer stadium? A soccer match.

What can you serve but never eat? A volleyball.

 APPLAUSE

OR

PISSWEAK?

These were all the prizes available for the taking.

It was my first time playing bingo and I didn't win anything but as Danny Cool said at the end of the night the real winner was pos vibes.

 

King of Pos Vibes

Basil Zempilas even dropped by!

Here are some people at my table who did win prizes.

Jarrad was overjoyed to have won a cricket commentary book. He told me it will be a great toilet book.

Bridget was excited with her Lynx win as she expects scantily clad women to now throw themselves at her!

Ben won an Adult Only Joke book and kids-sized medal. He also won the film Bring it On dvd. He has a winning face.

Danica and I reading the Adults Only Joke book. I think we found the only funny joke in it.
 
In between the bingo and trivia, we were served dinner. 

Everyone complains about the high price of food in Perth but for $15 we treated to a three course dinner! Score!

It started with slices of baguette brought to the table served with garlic butter containing freshly chopped dill. 

Then canteen style we lined up for our tomato soup entree. The soup has a good acidity to it and was pleasantly sour. It contained some noodles and was garnished with some basil of because everything on the night came back to Basil Zempilas!

While tucking into the soup I found out that the proper way to use the spoon is to scoop away from your body so I have been doing it wrong all my life! I tried this for a while but then I found myself scooping the soup towards myself which is how I usually eat soup and it seems more natural to me. 

Do you scoop away or scoop towards when you eat soup? 

Soup is Serious Business for a Bearded Man

I also learnt a lot about beard maintenance from Jarrad as he informed us of the challenge of eating soup with a beard because if you miss your mouth it’s like chasing an animal in a jungle. 

The main was a hearty generous plate of Moroccan stylings with beef, carrot fritter and four different types of salad – green beans with dates and almonds, tomato and pomegranate with garlic dressing, Israeli couscous with grilled vegetables and herbs, and roasted butternut squash. Everyone at my table unanimously agreed that this was a delicious homey meal. The beef had been cooked in spices until it was fall apart tender and we were impressed by the selection of salad provided. You don’t often get four different salads accompanying a dish and each of them held their own. They were simple but great concoctions with good flavour pairings providing different textures and bursts of flavour on the plate. My favourite was the Israeli couscous, it reminded me how good this kind of couscous was and I need to cook it more often. The pomegranate is often underappreciated but was a great addition to the tomato salad. I loved that the green beans were cooked just right and had a good crunch to them.

Hard working kitchen crew headed by Katie Lenanton, Joel Mitchell and Jessie Mitchell putting on a great feed for 50+ people!

The night ended with dessert of spiced pannacotta with rhubarb and orange syrup served in little tea cups or saucers. 

  
The flavour of the pannacotta was good but the texture was a bit grainy and not smooth and silky, but was still enjoyed by all, especially these guys.

 

This guy thought it was ok too!

It such a fun night, one of the best Sunday nights I’ve ever had. Great people, great food, great entertainment and now I’ve got some great reading material. 

 You can get yourself some I Am Still In Yesterday's Clothes zine action from etsy
http://www.etsy.com/listing/123773315/i-am-still-in-yesterdays-clothes-9 

Eggs Press can be read online http://eggspress.tumblr.com/archive

For more photos of the night – check out my Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueapocalypse/sets/72157633211645016/

Making dumplings in my family - pork, prawn and chive dumplings.

You can’t say no to making dumplings. 

Well not in my family.
 
There are three kids in my family. I’m the oldest and I have a younger brother and sister. When my mother decides to make dumplings, we are all expected to help like it’s a call for national service. Even my brother who doesn’t cook and never lifts a finger to do anything around the house will be all hands on deck.

And when my family makes dumplings, we make enough to feed a small army.
 
As all mothers do, overtime my mother has developed little short cuts and time efficient processes into the making of dumplings. The dumplings wrappers are store bought but many were sampled until she found one that was as good as home made wrappers. Fancy pleats are no longer required but replaced by a curry puff shell crimper. In the end it’s about being practical. Dumplings eaten at home do not require fancy pleats, who’s judging? 

Just Crimp It!

Another time saving/cleaning tip from my mother – wrap the table in cling film to save time cleaning up. 

This is why - the Aftermath

If your mother is Asian or you have friends who have Asian mothers you will know that they have a tendency wrap cling film around things to keep it clean. The kitchen countertop near the stove it a regular cling film protected area from oil splatters and the remote control is a common casualty. 

Even with all these time savers, dumpling making still takes up an entire afternoon – about an hour to prepare the filling (my mother does not skimp on the filling – she minces her own meat and uses fresh prawns, shelling and deveining at least 2kgs of it!) and up to 3 hours with as many hands on deck as possible pumping the little morsels out. 

Chives and Prawns

You can tell a lot about someone by how they make dumplings. My mum is methodic, fast and efficient, much like her approach to everything else in life. She somehow always gets the right ratio of filling in so that the dumplings turn out perfectly stuffed everytime, not too little and not too much.
 
I, on the other hand, always take a few to get into the rhythm of things. I initially try to be fast as I think I know what I’m doing but it appears that the gap in time between dumpling making makes me a little bit rusty. I end up stuffing up and always overfill the dumplings. Or worse I will try to underfill them a little just to be on the safe side but no no this will be no good for my mother, every bite into the dumpling must burst with filling (I only try doing this when my mother isn’t looking but her eyes seem to have 360 degree vision). My mother will scold me, telling me I’m working too fast, always putting in too much or not enough, I need to take my time and think about what I’m doing more. Sometimes I’m not sure if she is referring to dumplings or life. But after a while I get into the rhythm of things and my dumplings start to look a bit more consistently regular.
 
The good thing about making dumplings at home is that you know exactly what goes into the filling and you can alter the seasonings to your desired taste until you find the perfect balance of flavour. My mum likes to put in a heap of chives and also be generous with the prawns.
 
My Family Dumplings (makes 300+)

Recommended store bought dumpling wrappers 

In a large pot (about 6 litres) add in -
•    800g - 1 kg Chinese garlic chives, chopped into 2cm lengths
•    2kg of prawns, shelled and deveined leaving about 1.2kg of meat, roughly chopped
•    1.5kg of pork mince
•    2 inch piece of ginger, finely diced or grated
•    3 eggs

In a small bowl mix together the seasonings –
•    4 ½ teaspoons salt
•    4 teaspoons fish sauce
•    5 teaspoons sesame oil
•    4 teaspoons oyster sauce
•    1 teaspoon chicken powder
•    4 teaspoons cornflour
•    2 tablespoons water
 

Chicken powder (!) what’s that? An appropriate name for it would be “I can’t believe its not MSG” because it’s basically used as a substitute for MSG and viewed as a flavour booster. It’s something that you’ll find is a staple in a lot of Asian households. I’ve seen it listed in the ingredients in a few Chinese cookbooks and there are constantly commercials for it on TV when I’m watching TVB (aka Asian Foxtel) at my parents. The truth is that MSG has always been a part of Asian cooking, but the bad rep it has received even though there is no evidence to support the claims against it, has given it a negative image so that people have overtime become more wary over the use of it. Thus, companies have acted to develop products that act in a similar manner to MSG but it’s not MSG. Got it? My mum always likes to add a little bit of chicken powder into the dishes she cooks to give everything a little oomph. 

 

Punch and Knead

Pour the seasoning mixture into the pot with the filling and combine everything together, kneading the mixture for 10-15 minutes until it develops some elasticity.

Refrigerate for at least half and hour.

While it is refrigerating, prepare dumpling making station – have ready the curry crimper, a container of tapioca starch, plates for putting the finished dumpling, eggs for sealing...
 

Take a dumpling wrapper and put about half a tablespoon of filling in the middle, brush a little egg around the edges, fold over and seal the edges. Dust the whole dumpling with some tapioca starch, fit into the curry mould and crimp. Dust the dumpling again with more tapioca starch (this will prevent the dumplings from sticking together when stored). 

Eat immediately or freeze. 

 Ways to cook dumplings
 
If cooking from frozen defrost first by leaving dumplings in the refrigerator for a few hours or leaving out at room temperature for about ½ hour.
 
Method 1 – Boiling

This is the usual method of cooking dumplings.

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add dumplings and cook over a medium heat for about 8 minutes. When they float you know that they are ready.

Serve with your favourite chilli sauce.

 

 

 

Method 2 – Steaming

You can also steam the dumplings. As easy way to do this at home is use a pasta cooking pot with a strainer insert.

Bring water to boil, line the pot with a piece of greaseproof paper (with holes poked in). Place dumplings on top of the greaseproof paper, cover and steam for 10 minutes.

Serve with your favourite chilli sauce.

Method 3 – Pan fry + Steaming (the Pot Sticker method)

Heat a little oil in a non-stick frying pan to medium high. Add dumplings and fry each side for 2-3 minutes until crisp, turning over the dumplings at regular intervals so that they colour nicely. Add ½ cup water into the pan and cover, lower the heat to medium-low and let the dumplings simmer for 4-5 minutes or until the water has evaporated. Uncover the dumplings and if necessary cook for another 1-2 minutes.

Serve with Chinese red rice vinegar 

Note: I’ve found that boiled and steamed dumplings taste better with chilli sauce and fried ones are better with vinegar!

 

 

 

 

Related post - Mushroom and Tofu Pot Sticker Dumplings