Oatmeal Chia Cup

Easy overnight oat to serve as breakfast. You can be creative for the topping. 

Ingredients

Old-fashioned rolled oats - 2 TBSP

Chia seeds - 1 TBSP

Milk - 1/3 cup, could be non-diary milk

Yogurt - 1/3 cup, any kind

Fruit - 1/4 cup blueberries, sliced strawberries, raspberries, or other chopped fruit of your choice

optional Honey - 1 tsp, or other sweeteners of your choice

optional Dried fruit - 1 TBSP raisins or other

optional Nuts - 1 TBSP, chopped or sliced almonds, cashews, walnuts or other nut of your choice 

Steps

1. Combine the oats, chia seeds, and milk in an 8-ounce or larger jar. Stir to mix the ingredients together. Let stand for 10 minutes to allow the mixture to thicken slightly. 

2. Once the chia and milk mixture has thickened slightly, top it with layers of yogurt, honey (if using), berries, raisins and nuts. 

3. Cover the jar with a cap and refrigerate until needed, or for up to 5 days. 

4. Eat your breakfast straight from the jar, mixing everything together as you go, or pour the contents into a bowl, if you prefer. 

Smoked Pork Belly - Hunan Style(湖南腊肉)

Smoked pork was a way to preserve meat, and then became a signature dish in Hunan cuisine . The smoking process is the key for its the special texture and flavor.

Steps:

1. Rub pork belly strips with salt, and powder of Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum 花椒). Cover and leave in refrigerator for 2-3 days.

2. Rub the marinated pork belly strips with hard liquor, and then hang outdoor to be air dried for 2-3 days.

3. Smoke with wood chips in smoker for 6-12 hours, depends on the size and temperature.

4. Let the smoked pork belly cool down and store in refrigerator or freezer.

You can steam the meat and serve as appetizer, or stir fry the meat with vegetable or rice.

Homemade “Panko“

Panko is a Japanese-style breadcrumb traditionally used as a coating for deep-fried foods. “The biggest difference between panko and standard breadcrumbs is that panko is made from bread without crusts. Panko’s crust-less bread is coarsely ground into airy, large flakes that give fried foods a light, crunchy coating. The flakes tend to stay crispier longer than standard breadcrumbs because they don’t absorb as much grease. ", according to Internet. Since I just need some crunchy crust for my baked Mac and Cheese without a grocery store run, this homemade recipe will do.

Ingredients

1 loaf white bread or other bread

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Remove the crusts from a loaf of bread.
3. Gently crumble it into coarse crumbs either with your hands, or a food processor.
4. Spread crumbs onto a cookie sheet.

5. Dry bread crumbs in the oven 7-10 minutes stirring after the first 5 minutes.
6. Cool completely and store a cool dry place for up to 3 months.

Strawberry Jam

Ingredients

Fresh Strawberry - about 2 lb
Sugar - 1 cup
Lemon - 1
Corn starch - 1/4 cup

Steps

1. Rinse strawberries and soak in lightly salted water for 15 minutes.
2. Clean and remove stems from berries. Halve the berries.
3. Marinate strawberries with sugar for 10 minutes, then pour in the bread machine, add corn flour, squeeze in lemon juice.

4. Put bread machine in JAM mode. You can jam additional 1 or 1/2 cycle if you want the jam to be thicker.
5. Put in clean glass container and store in refrigerator.

Pickled Cucumber (酱瓜)

Home made pickle to serve with porridge.

Ingredients:

Soy Sauce - 3/4 cup
ChinKiang Vinegar - 2/3 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Cocktail cucumber - 1 bag, 1.5 lb

Steps:

1. Wash and cut the cocktail cucumbers in small chucks about 3/4 inch long.

2. Put soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar in a sauce pan, and bring to boil. Then add the cucumber. Wait for the sauce to boil again (about 3-4 minutes). Then fish out the cucumbers to spread them on a tray. Cool the cucumber quickly in the refrigerator.

3. Repeat step 2.

4. Once the cucumber pieces and sauce are both cool. Add the cucumber pieces to a clean glass jar, then pour in sauce to immerse all the cucumbers. Cucumber is ready to serve after two days.

Chopped Hot Red Pepper (剁椒)

My neighbor Ivy was making chopped red pepper as seasoning for cooking, I followed suit. This is Ivy's recipe.

Ingredients

For each pound of pepper
Fresh red pepper - 1 lb ( I used red Fresno pepper this time)
Sea salt - 45 g
Chopped ginger - 1 TBSP
Chopped garlic - 1 TBSP
Sugar - 1 tsp
Black bean sauce - 1 TBSP
Hard liquor - some

Steps

1. Wash the red peppers, and let them air dry.

2. Remove the green stems, and chop the red peppers using a food processor or blender.
3. Mix in sea salt; then mix in ginger, garlic, sugar, and black bean sauce.

4. Scoop into a sterilized glass jar, seal the top with a layer of hard liquor. Then cover the jar with shrink wrap, and close the lid tightly.

5. Place the jar in refrigerator. It will be ready to use in 7-10 days.

Steamed Tofu with Chopped Pepper

1. Slice tofu and layer on a plate, put generous amount of chopped pepper on top.

2. Steam for 10 minutes

3. Pour out excessive water, then sprinkle some soy sauce, chopped green onion on top.

4. Heat up some oil and pour on top before serving.