Glutinous Rice Balls Stuffed with Purple Yam (紫薯糯米糍)

This is my favorite dish from Mom's tea party. It still taste great after a couple of days. You just need to microwave it for 30 seconds.

Ingredients:

Purple yam - 4-5 medium size
Glutinous rice flour - 260g
Powdered sugar - 50g (~1/4 cup)
Oil - 40g (~3TBSP)
Sweetened condensed milk - 4 TBSP
Water - 150g (~2/3cup)

Dried coconut (fine) - 3oz (3/4 bag of 4oz)
Yield about 1 dozen

Steps:

1. Peel and steam purple yam.
2. Blend the purple yam and sweetened condensed milk.
3. Knead glutinous rice flour, powdered sugar, water and oil into a smooth soft dough.

4. Portion the purple yam filling into round balls.

5. Portion the dough into balls bigger than the purple yam balls. Use the skin dough to wrap around each purple yam filling.
6. Put rice balls in steamer and steam for 10 minutes.

7. Roll the cooked rice ball in coconut shreds while it is still hot. Enjoy the rice ball hot or cold.

Homemade yogurt

Yogurt is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. I experimented fermenting my own yogurt at home.

Ingredients:

Yogurt - prefer plain yogurt. 1 pack is about 1 cup. The yogurt needs to "Contain active yogurt cultures"
Milk - 5 cups
Sugar - optional, add whatever to your taste. I added about 3 TBSP

Steps:

1. Set yogurt out in room temperature.
2. Boiling all parts that will touch the yogurt mixture to sterilize them - that include the container , any teaspoon or spatula used for scoping and mixing.
3. Boiling milk in sauce pan and add sugar. Let milk cool to 113°F (45°C), then mix the yogurt with milk. Stir well.

4. Put the mixture in sealed container and keep it warm. You can wrap it with blanket. I put it in a Thermos. Inside the Thermos, I put in some hot water to keep it warm.

5. Overnight, the yogurt will solidify. The longer you keep it warm, the thicker the yogurt will be.

6. When you are satisfied with the thickness, put the yogurt in refrigerator to stop the fermentation.

Curry Beef Jerkey (咖喱牛肉干)

Ingredients

Beef shank

For each pound of meat

* Soy Sauce (老抽) - 2 TBS

* Salt - 1/2 tsp

* Sugar - 3 TBS

* Cooking wine - 2 TBS

* Curry powder - 2 TBS

* Chili powder - 2 TBS (or less depends on how spicy you prefer)
* Citrus powder (陈皮粉) - 2 TBS

Steps

1. Cut beef shank in halves and blanching in boiling water. 

2. Cut meat to 1/2 inch cubes; put in cooking pot; add all other ingredients, and boil for 10 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F.
5. Spread the cooked meat cubes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in oven for 20 minutes, or until the cubes are dried to your preference.

Bean paste cake (绿豆糕)

1. Prepare green bean pastry filling and red bean pastry filling.

2. Portion and roll them into small balls, and wrap the red bean filling in the green bean paste.

3. Use a 50g moon cake mold to press them in shape. Keep refrigerated.

Green bean pastry filling (绿豆馅)

Ingredients:

Dried peeled green bean - 1 bag, 14oz (400g)
Butter - 45g
Oil - 45g
Sugar - 0.5 - 1.25 Cup (your preference. I use 1/2cup)
Sweetened condensed milk - 4 TBSP
Corn starch - 3 TBSP

Steps:

1. Add dried peeled green bean in about 4+ cup water, Boiling until the beans are soft, about 30 minutes. The cooked beans is easy to stick to the bottom. Make sure there is enough water. After cooked, drain excessive water if possible.
2. Beat the cooked green bean with a electrical mixer to make sure it is smooth. Stir in sugar, oil, sweetened condensed milk.

3. In a large fry pan, add butter. When butter is melted, pour in the mixture from 2. Simmer under low heat, gradually sift in corn starch with flour sifter until the mixture can be folded with spatula easily.

4. Take mixture out of fry pan and let it cool down. Chill it in refrigerator. If you do not plan to use it within a day, you can put it in sealed container in freezer.

Steamed Purple Yam Rice Cake (紫薯凉糕)

This is recipe from Junsome's blog. It tastes best after it is chilled in refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

Ingredients

Purple yam (peeled) - 150g

Lotus root powder (藕粉) - 75g

Rice flour (粘米粉)- 50g

Wheat starch (小麦澄粉)- 25g

Sugar - 75g

Milk - 210g

Water - 210g

Dried coconut shred (幼椰丝)- for coating
* This makes about 16-20 pieces

Steps

1. Chop the purple yam in big chucks and steam until soft. It takes about 15 minutes.

2. Use a blender to blend all ingredients, except the coconut shred, together into a smooth mixture.

3. Coat a container with corn oil or cooking spray, then pour in 1/3 of the mixture. Steam on high for 10 minutes

4. Steam on high for 10 minutes, then add another 1/3 mixture, steam another 10 minutes. Finally pour in the rest of the mixture, and steam for 15 minutes.

5. Take the container out of steamer and chill it in refrigerator. After the cake is cooled, it should be easy to remove it from container.

6. Cut the cake into serving size, and roll each piece in fine coconut shred to make sure it is coated on all sides. 

The cakes should be consumed within 1-2 days. Keep refrigerated.

Blueberry Mousse Cake

Summer is the season for blueberries. I can eat blueberry for a meal. It is great for Mousse Cake also.

PART A: Make Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

Egg - 5 Large
Cake flour - 85g
Oil - 40g
Milk - 40g
Sugar - 60g for egg white
Sugar - 30g for egg yolk

Steps:

1. Follow the same steps in Chiffon Cake to bake two 9" cakes.  Adjust baking to 340°F, 25 minutes
2. After cakes are cool, use the heart shape mousse ring to mark the cakes and trim them in heart shape.

PART B: Make Sugar Water

1. Boiling 75g water and 38g sugar until the sugar is fully melt. Set aside to let it cool.
2. Mix in 1 TBSP Brandy or Rum

PART C: Make Egg Yolk Cream

Ingredients:

Egg yolk - 94g (about 5 large egg yolks)
Sugar - 126g
Milk - 172g
Gelatin - 2 packs (~ 15g)
Brandy or Rum - 1 TBSP (~14g)

Steps:

1. In a mixing bowl, add egg yolk and sugar, use a mixer to beat it.

2. Pour milk in a sauce pan, add gelatin powder, mix and cook the mixture over low heat .

3. Pour half of the milk mixture to the mixing bowl, mix well, and then pour all content of the mixing bowl into the sauce pan.
4. Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. It should leave a path on the back of a spoon. Don't let the mixture boil.

5. Take the mixture out and let it cool. Then add Brandy or Rum.

PART D: Make Mousse

Ingredients:

Fresh blueberry - 560g

Heavy whipping cream - 1 and 1/2 cup (~336g)
Powdered sugar -  2-3 TBSP or to your preference
Egg yolk cream - from previous step

Steps:

1. Puree blueberry with blender.

2. Add the egg yolk cream slowly and mix well.

3. Beat the heavy whipped cream and powdered sugar into whipped cream.
5. Fold the blueberry mixture to the rest of whipped cream.

PART E: Assembly and Chill

1. Set cake ring on top of a cake board.
2. Put first cake inside mousse ring. brush the cake with sugar water.

3. Pour in mousse to fill the gap around the cake, and make a thick layer on top of cake.

4. Place the other cake on top, brush the cake with sugar water.
5. Pour in the rest of the mousse. Flatten the cake surface.

6. Put in refrigerator for 1 hour or so, then take it out to place blueberries on top so that it will be stay cemented on the cake top after chill.

7. Put in refrigerator overnight.

PART F: Make Glaze

Ingredients:

Jam - 2 TBSP (Prefer blueberry jam. I used strawberry jam.)
Lemon juice - a few drops (use water if you do not have lemon juice)

Steps:

1. Put jam and lemon juice in small sauce pan over low heat. Keep stir until the jam is soften and well mixed. Add some water if it is too thick
2. Use a filter to filter out lumps.

PART G: Final Decoration

Brush a layer of glaze on the blueberries.

With the cake trims and a small mousse cake mold, I made a mini cake too.