Three Cups Chicken Pt. 2 (三杯雞)

Hai guys. My name's Kelley. Not sure if you remember me 'cause I haven't posted in frickin' FOREVER! But that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking! I've actually cooked more in the past year than in my entire life combined (probably 'cause I've been living in apartments this year). And my cooking style has definitely developed into a more... chaotic variety. But entropy is supposed to increase, right? (or stay the same, but let's not get into thermodynamics here).

This is a recipe for Three Cups Chicken (again) but with drumsticks this time! Mini drumsticks. That were on sale at my 99 Ranch Market for 69 cents a lb. :D food on sale makes meh happy.

Oh and sorry for the crappeh picture D:

Three Cups Chicken

• 10 mini drumsticks
  
• 6 flat slices ginger
  
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
  
• 4 tbs sesame oil
  
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
  
• 4 tbs rice wine
  
• 2 tbs white sugar
  
• handful of basil leaves (that I take from pho restaurants after eating pho!)
• salt

1. Rinse the chicken and rub it with salt (to get all that gunky stuff off!)
2. Rinse off the chicken thoroughly with water. Pat the chicken pieces dry and set aside.
   
3. Heat a clay pot (or wok) on high heat and add the sesame oil. When heated, toss in the garlic and ginger and stir-fry.
   
4. Throw in the drumsticks, and stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Add soy sauce, rice wine, and the sugar. Continue to stir-fry the chicken.
   
5. Place a lid on the wok and turn down the heat to low. Let the chicken simmer for 10 - 15 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked (drumsticks are a little harder to cook thoroughly).
   
6. Toss in the basil leaves and stir well with the chicken for another 2-3 minutes.

Lu Rou Fan (滷肉飯)

Looking back on the past 5 weeks of pledge quarter, I'll admit it was fun. Hanging out with my pledge siblings, getting Korean BBQ with Peter, Laura, and Steve, and many of the PhiDE events were SO enjoyable… really. But you see, I got a strike yesterday (think 'three strikes and you're out' kind of strike). My perfectionist-self kicked in and now I am rather disgruntled.

So that was my emo rant for the day. On to the food part! 滷肉飯 is an ESSENTIAL part of Taiwanese cuisine. In order to make it true Taiwanese style though, you have to use really fatty ground pork (which I didn't, because I don't like fatty foods…). I think it's really the mushrooms that give it a deeper flavor. If you just use meat, it'll just taste like… meat. Which, if you love meat, I guess is a good thing. But come on… you have to pair tastes! Pairing tastes brings out the flavors of both ingredients. Hence, don't skimp out on the mushrooms!

Lu Rou Fan (滷肉飯)

• 6 dried black shitake mushrooms
  
• 2 tbs oil
  
• 2 stalks green onions, minced
  
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 2-3 tbs rock sugar
  
• 1 tsp five spice powder
  
• 1/3 cup rice wine
  
• 4 cups water
  
• 1 cup soy sauce
  
• 1 lb ground pork
  
• 2-3 slices ginger
  
• 3-4 tsp salt
  

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in water until they are ready to be chopped, then chop them into tiny cubes. Meanwhile, mince the green onions and garlic, and slice the ginger.
   
2. Heat oil on high heat, then add the minced garlic and half of the minced green onions, stir-fry for about 30 seconds.
   
3. Toss in the 2-3 slices of ginger, and continue stir-frying for another 30 seconds. Then add in the 1 lb of ground pork, 1 tsp of five spice powder, and the rice wine.
   
4. Break up the ground pork into little pieces, and continue stir-frying until most of the pork is browned. Pour on the soy sauce, the water, and sugar.
   
5. Let simmer for about 40 minutes, then check to see if it's salty enough. If it's not salty enough, add some salt or more soy sauce, and if it's not sweet enough, add some more sugar.
   
6. Add in the remaining half of the green onions and stir around. Simmer for another 10 minutes, then serve with rice! Or noodles, if you want.

Shrimp and Tofu (虾仁豆腐)

I apologize for the… not-so-appetizing picture. I really need to get one of those spiffy big black cameras that give great depth of field… I currently use a digital camera, which isn’t so bad for creating memories on the go, but food blogging definitely requires better pictures than a digital camera can give. I’m so jealous! My friend Jono has a wonderful camera (but then again, he’s crazy about cameras, so he deserves it). He really does take nice pictures though. If you can, you should take a look at his photo album on Picasa! He does some pretty crazy stuff with light sticks and whatnot… I’m not really sure how it works. But it’s still cool. :D

On a different note, it’s another dish featuring tofu! As you know, tofu is by far my favorite thing… ever. That and ribbons. I love ribbons. But you can’t really eat ribbons, so… tofu it is!

And… it’s April already! I can’t believe it. My first year at UCLA is almost over, and I’m super excited for what’s coming up ahead. This past week I’ve been rushing for a pre-medical fraternity called PhiDE, and it’s been really fun. From the BBQ to the bonfire (my first ever!), I fell more and more in love with the actives, my fellow rushees, and the atmosphere in general. I actually just had my interview this morning… I was a little nervous, so I probably didn’t do as well as I could have, but I guess interviewing is just going to be a skill I need to practice. After all… practice makes perfect! Just like cooking. On to the recipe!

Shrimp and Tofu

½ pound shrimp

2 tsp rice wine

1 tbs tapioca starch

3 (12-ounce) cartons of tofu

2 bunch scallions

3-4 thin slices of ginger

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs oil

Salt

Pepper

1. Peel and devein the shrimp, if it’s not already peeled and deveined.

2. Rinse the shrimp in saltwater, then pat dry with a paper towel.

3. Pour the rice wine on the shrimp, mix a little, then add the tapioca starch. Stir until fully incorporated.

4. Let the shrimp sit. Meanwhile, chop up the scallions and slice the ginger.

5. Heat a wok on high heat with the oil. When heated, toss in the scallions and ginger and stir-fry for a minute (爆香*).

6. Throw in the shrimp, and continue stirring until the shrimp are cooked (when they turn orange in color).

7. Meanwhile, cut the blocks of tofu into smaller chunks (but not too small, or else they’ll disintegrate into a blobby mass of tofu, which doesn’t look good… but still tastes good!)

8. Take out the shrimp, and gently place the tofu blocks in. Stir around as gently as possible (so you don’t break up the tofu) until the tofu is well heated. Add in the soy sauce and continue stirring for another minute or so.

9. Add the shrimp back in with the tofu, and stir-fry everything (gently!) for another 2-3 minutes. During this time add in salt and pepper to taste.

10. Serve and eat with rice! (:

*爆香, or "baoxiang" is a phrase that describes stir-frying aromatic vegetables (garlic, onions, scallions, ginger, etc) in oil.

I-Hate-My-Life Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Sometimes you just want to smash something. Throw things against the wall. Scream. Peel the skin off of something. Chop things up and throw them into a steaming pot of boiling water. And guess what? This recipe requires all of those. (Except the screaming. And throwing things against the wall. You don't really need to scream to make mashed potatoes. But if you want to, I have no objections. To the screaming, I mean. You might not want to throw things against the wall. Your mom might yell at you.)

I never make the same mashed potatoes twice. I've made mashed potatoes with cream and salt, pepper and garlic, cheese and parsley, or simply milk mashed with potatoes. It doesn't really matter. I never make mashed potatoes with the same consistency, either. It depends how angry I am. Never mind that, though. In the end, mashed potatoes are mashed potatoes right?

I don't think you can get much simpler than boiling potatoes, mashing them, and eating them. Really. It's that simple. It's so simple I never even follow a recipe. It's also weird that I like mashed potatoes, because I normally don't like potatoes. I don't like potato salad. I don't like clam chowder (although I can make killer bread bowls). And I don't like baked potatoes. Oh well. It's one of the world's greatest mysteries. I have several other weird food habits that I will perhaps divulge in other posts, but for now, let's just put a cap on how weird I am and get to the recipe!

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

• 3-4 russet potatoes, peeled (if you want)
  
• 1 clove garlic
  
• Salt and pepper to taste
  
• 2 tbs milk or cream
  
• Anger
  

1. CHOP the MERCILESSLY PEELED potatoes into ¼ inch thick medallions.
   
2. Heat a pot of water, then TOSS the medallions INTO THE BOILING WATER.
   
3. Let the medallions boil for about 10-15 minutes, or until you can poke through the middle of a medallion easily with a chopstick (feel free to SCREAM at this point if need be).
   
4. Drain, and place the medallions into a large pot or bowl that can withstand multiple poundings.
   
5. On a cutting board, SMASH the garlic with the side of your knife and finely mince the garlic.
   
6. Take a potato masher, whisk, fork, spoon, hand mixer, or any other object and MASH THE FLOOPERS out of those potatoes. Really. Go crazy. (This step usually takes me about 5-10 minutes depending on how angry I am).
   
7. At this point, if you still have lots of pent-up anger, feel free to continue mashing the potatoes even if they're already completely mashed! I like smooshing the mashed potatoes around. It's fun.
   
8. Add in the garlic, salt, pepper, and milk and mix around with a spoon. Serve using an ice cream scooper to make it look like ice cream!

Anything Goes Salad (My Version)

Oh no. You've caught me again. I've once again come up with a recipe that isn't really a recipe (see Rainbow Salad). Oh well. This is just what I do when I'm too lazy to actually go through all that measuring and baking and eating. Oh wait, never mind about the eating. This is my Anything Goes Salad, where seriously, anything goes! Toss together anything you want. Even if it's beyond weird. Don't worry about it. This recipe makes 2 servings.

Basically this recipe is Costco's Iceberg Lettuce Mix married to Rainbow Salad. I know, ingenious right? Yes, that's because I snuck went into Costco yesterday, and bought a giant bag of Iceberg Lettuce mix! And then I had to call my mom to come pay because I don't have a Costco card. As for the lettuce, apart from those icky purple things (which is one of the three ingredients of the mix), I like it, but it's too plain. So I decided to spruce it up with random fruit from my refrigerator topped off with several dollops of vanilla yogurt! Truth be told, I hate vanilla yogurt. So you might be wondering why I used it in a salad? Well, that's because I hate vanilla yogurt! It's never going to get eaten if I just leave it in the refrigerator, so might as well use it in something and hope I still like it. If that logic doesn't make sense to you, don't sweat it. It doesn't make sense to me either.

Anything Goes Salad

• 1 cup watermelon chunks
  
• 1 yellow nectarine, cut into chunks
  
• 1 cup grapes
  
• 3 cups Costco's Iceberg Lettuce Mix
  
• 1 container (Light) Yoplait Very Vanilla Yogurt
  

  
  

1. Cut everything into chunks (except the lettuce mix and yogurt, of course).
   
2. Toss fruit with lettuce mix.
   
3. Pour, douse, throw, or simply plop the yogurt onto various parts of the salad.
   
4. Present it to your sister who will "ooh" and "aah" at your genius.
   
5. Take it back if your sister doesn't marvel at your genius.
   

Calories (1 serving): 160

Rainbow Salad

Oh please don't look at me like that. I know what you're probably thinking: "why is Tofu posting up a recipe for something I could easily come up with myself?" Yes, I know. It's just that… I have never thought of this recipe until just this afternoon. I'm so ashamed. It just hit me when I opened the refrigerator and discovered the wide variety of fruit I have. I don't even know how they got there (the fruit fairy?). Nevertheless, an idea just popped~! into my mind, because there were so many colors and so many different fruits. What could you do with all these fruits? Fruit salad, of course!

There are so many varieties of fruit salad. Tossed with yogurt, drizzled with honey, sprinkled with roasted almonds… But, I always believed the simpler the better. Therefore, my favorite type of fruit salad consists of just plain… fruit!

My tolerance of food varies widely based on my mood, but my love for fruit never changes (similar to my love for tofu). Plus, I wanted a light and healthy lunch, since I'm going to Olive Garden tonight for a farewell dinner with my fellow girl scouts. I know that everyone else in the world has probably already re-invented a fruit salad recipe in a million different ways, but just for the record, I'd like to add my name to the list. Feel free to take out/add in anything and everything you want. Makes 2 servings.

Rainbow Salad

• 4 large leaves of crisphead lettuce
  
• 1 cup strawberries
  
• 2 mandarin oranges or tangerines
  
• 1 lemon
  
• 1 cup blueberries or blackberries
  
• 1 cup cherries
  

1. Wash the leaves of lettuce, then submerge in ice cold water (or submerge in water and put in refrigerator). Leave for at least 10 minutes to allow the lettuce to become crisp.
   
2. Rinse the strawberries, tangerines, lemon, blueberries, and cherries in a large bowl.
3. Cut the leaves off the strawberries, and quarter them. Place in a bowl.
4. Peel tangerines and separate them into sections.
   
5. Cut out four slices from the lemon.
   
6. Place blueberries and cherries in a separate bowl.
   
7. Toss everything together except the lemon, which will be used as a garnish (or you can arrange it according to your aesthetic tastes).
   
8. Serve with pride!

Calories (1 serving): 135

Liang Ban Tofu (Cold Tofu)

I like soymilk. I also like soybeans. I think it's a fact that I like anything with soy in it. And although tofu doesn't have the word "soy" in it, I like it anyways. In fact, tofu is made by coagulating soymilk and then pressing this curd into block-like shapes. Eww, right? NO! Tofu is the best. It doesn't matter if it's curdled soymilk! Tofu is delicious, creamy, light, and suitable for any dish. I think they should make tofu ice cream. Okay, that might be going a bit far. But they make wasabi ice cream, don't they? Why not tofu ice cream?

There are so many kinds of tofu, and an infinite number of ways to prepare them. The kind I use is fresh tofu. There is also fresh soft/silken tofu or fresh dried tofu. Use tofu in soups, stir-fry them with shrimp, with beef, with pork, or fry them. Or you could just eat it straight out of the carton. Plain cold tofu is actually very delicious (like unflavored custard!). Although that may not appeal to you very much, you could very easily drizzle some honey or syrup over it and eat it like pudding. You can basically tofu ANYTHING.

This recipes is for my all-time favorite comfort food: simple, light, and super quick cold tofu! No cooking needed! This recipe is perfect for that hot summer day when your brain is so fried you just can't bear the idea of turning on the stove to cook (like today).

Liang Ban Tofu (Cold Tofu)

• 1 package fresh firm tofu
  
• 1 tsp water
• 2 tbs soy paste
• 4 tbs oyster sauce
• 2 tbs scallions (green onions), chopped

1. Take tofu out of package, rinse with water, and drain. Pat dry with a paper towel.
   
2. Place the rectangle of tofu onto your opened palm, and cut it lightly with a small knife into small square or rectangles of desired size.
3. Place the tofu onto a plate. You can keep it in its box shape or just toss it onto the plate (I keep it in its box shape because I think it looks neater that way). Put plate with tofu into the refrigerator.
   
4. Meanwhile, mix the water, soy paste, and oyster sauce in a small bowl. Feel free to use a different combination of sauce according to your tastes.
   
5. At this point, if the tofu is cold enough to suit your tastes, take the plate out of the refrigerator and drain any fluid that might have accumulated at the bottom of the plate. Pour the water-soy-paste-oyster-sauce sauce onto the tofu and spread with the back of a spoon or a mini spatula.
6. Sprinkle the chopped scallions over the tofu and sauce. Go ahead and make designs. Make a smiley face or a heart. Really. Go crazy with those scallions.
7. When you're done creating an aesthetically pleasing piece of art, eat it!

Finished tofu with a bowl of cherry tomatoes in the back (home-grown!)

Calories (entire recipe): 140

My Mother’s Curry

This morning I was going to make karepan, or "Curry Bread". I woke up at 11:00, thinking today would be a relaxing day. You know, a blissful day dedicated to Me, Myself, and I. And the karepan, of course. My brother/dad or both (it's a conspiracy!) decided otherwise. Today in fact was not allowed to be a Tofu-day. It was a whisk-Tofu-off-to-Dad's-warehouse-to-perform-manual-labor-by-packing-14400-(literally)-bouncy-balls-into-boxes.

Oh my goodness. There were so many. 400 boxes of 6 cartons of 6 bouncy "Comet Balls". That had to be taken out of the boxes, checked (for quality control), placed back into the boxes, taped together, and then stacked against the wall. 400 times 6 times 6 = 14400. My arms hurt. And guess what? NO PAY! Well, they did buy us lunch. Ah well, that's what family is for… right?

Correction: my dad gave me and my brother $70 to go buy Bin Bin Konjac coupons. yay!

And so, this post concerns my mother's curry. I love her curry. In fact, I ate it for lunch yesterday. My favorite is CHICKEN CURRY! But sadly, we only had beef in the house when I was making this curry. Therefore, this is beef curry. Please feel free to use chicken instead of beef~! Also partly inspired by my friend Austin, who likes curry with large chunks of potatoes in it.

My Mother's Curry

• 2 medium sized onions (or 1 large onion)
  
• 1 large potato
  
• 4 relatively skinny carrots (or whatever suits your taste)
  
• 2 cups ground beef (or chicken, roughly cut into quarter-sized chunks)
  
• 1 package Vermont curry (I use mild with a touch of honey and apple)
  
• 1 tbsp rice wine (if you have it; if you don't, don't worry about it)
  
• 6 cups of water (more or less)
  
• honey (optional)
  
• apple (optional)

1. Mix the rice wine with the ground beef/ chicken pieces. This gets rid of that icky raw meat smell. Sauté the beef/chicken/whatever on a pan until mostly cooked (the outside should look cooked, but don't worry if the inside is still partly raw). When done, put the beef/ chicken onto a pan and set aside. (leave the fire on and don't wash the pan!)
   
2. Meanwhile, peel onions, potatoes, and carrots. Roughly chop them and place them in separate bowls.
   
3. When the beef/ chicken is done, toss the onions, potatoes, and carrots onto the pan and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add 1 or 2 cups of water into the pan, so that the vegetables are partly simmering in the water. After 10 minutes, pour the contents of the pan into a larger pot (the one you want to cook your curry in), and add the rest of the water.
   
4. Boil the vegetables for another 10 minutes.
   
5. Meanwhile, open the box of curry and take out one of the packages. Open it, and chop it into 6 pieces (or more if you want to; this helps it dissolve faster into the water).
   
6. When the vegetables are done, add the curry sauce chunks into the water + vegetable mixture. Cook over a low fire for about 10 minutes, or until you can poke a chopstick easily through a large potato or carrot chunk. Add two tablespoons and the grated apple if you want to at this point.
   
7. Throw in the relatively cooked beef/chicken into the pot, and stir until mixed. Keep cooking until the curry is the desired consistency, then turn off the fire and eat with a heaping bowl of rice!