Authentic Spring Rolls Recipe

Ingredients:
400g lean pork
100g Shrimp (shredded)
500g cabbage
2 sticks of carrots
20 pcs spring roll skins
6 cup Vegetable oil
1/2 T soya sauce (to marinate pork)
1 egg beaten (authentic super glue!)
Cornstarch


Procedure:
1. Marinate pork with soya sauce and a pinch of cornstarch.  In another bowl marinate shrimp with cornstarch.
2. Shred cabbage and carrots into string shapes .
3. It is important to prepare the filling.  Heat the wok and add 5T of vegetable oil, stir fry the pork about half minute, drain and put it aside.  Use the same oil and fry the shrimp until well done.  Remove to bowl with pork.
Add the shredded cabbage and carrot to the frying pan stir and cover with lid.
4. Place 2T. filling at the lower third end of the spring roll skin.  Making sure the skin is placed diamond shape.
From the bottom corner of the spring roll fold into the centre of the skin,  then fold the two sides.  Roll till you have about five cm of open space to add the beaten egg to seal the spring roll. Spread the beaten egg with baking brush.  Secret:  Before you add the filling onto the skin make sure you drain the filling completely of the "sauce".  Having "wet" filling will damage the skin and thus difficult to manage and seal the skin.

5.  Heat the wok and deep fry the spring rolls. Fry for one minute, then remove the spring roll out of the wok and then return to wok to fry again this time to a golden brown.  The double frying technique is learned from a friend and this makes the spring roll crispy.  Serve with some soysauce or spring roll sweet and sour sauce.

Authentic Spring Rolls

Pix Teaser

This is almost the final stage of rolling the Spring roll.

The story behind the making of these delicious spring rolls in Sevilla.
Well, it was more than a year ago when I made some spring rolls and had it for lunch at work.  I allowed one of my colleagues to taste it and she loved it and concluded that it was way better than the ones they served in the Chinese restaurants.
About a month ago, she commissioned me to make them for her brother who had heard about it.  I don´t remember if I had given her a batch to bring home for her birthday last year.  Her brother was the one who pleaded with me to make the spring rolls.  So here goes.  Authentic spring rolls compliments of a lady called Pei Mei.

Beef Broccoli additional photo

Beef Broccoli additional photo

If you don´t want a strong ginger taste reduce the ginger to half. 

Beef Broccoli

Today Iam going to feature our family favorite  Beef With Broccoli

Ingredients: 
300-400gm Beef steak (chuck)
300gm    broccoli
1 large carrot
1/2 large onion
1 T chopped garlic
1t corn starch in 1/2 cup cold water 1cube chicken stock dissolved

Marinade for beef
2-3 T oyster sauce
chopped garlic
2-3 T sesame oil
ginger to cover beef cut to strips
1/2t of pepper
2T rice wine
1t of baking soda

Preparation:
1. Cut beef steak into thin slices and then marinade for at least two hours with above. Sprinkle baking soda to tenderize the beef.  (This is the secret!!!)  Add a dash of soya sauce (1t approximately,optional)
2.Cut the broccoli to bite size, and the carrot into strips.  Cut the onion into slices. (See photo)
3.  Add 3T of vegetable oil to a hot wok and fry the marinaded beef with chopped garlic. Set aside.
4.  Fry the carrots and onion together.  Then fry the broccoli for three minutes.  You don´t want to overcook the broccoli.
5.  Now add the beef with the veges.  Stir and fry for two minutes.
6.  Add the corn starch bring to a boil.  Serve with steamed rice.

Additional help and links

http://www.ehow.com/how_4581648_rice-water-ratio-cook-rice.html



http://foodgawker.com/


http://www.tastespotting.com/
Thanks to by brother, Seng for sending me the above link on how to measure water to rick ratio..  Very helpful.


Thanks also to July of Utah for her insights on Basmati rice and the other lesser known rice.  The other links are food related sites.


And to my dear friend, Scott from Seattle, who travels to China.  Lucky guy gets to taste all the various Chinese dishes from different provinces.  Thanks for sharing the rice noodle recipe.  Commonly known as "Bee Hoon" in Hokkien or Teochew.


In the meantime, please be patient with my posts. 

Recipe KeeperOur Family's Favorite Recipes: A Create-Your-Own Cookbook

Fried Rice Sevilla Style

Herewith my first recipe:

3 cups of rice
1 can or 200gms of ham (preferably barbecued pork)
1 small can green peas
1 carrot
half onion
20gms shrimps
2 pieces garlic
2 large eggs

Preparation
1.  Steam the rice the night before and let cool and refrigerate.  Take it out and warm in room temperature 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Dice the carrot and onion and then mince the garlic as shown in the attached photo.
3. Beat the eggs in a bowl.
4. Heat the wok and add 3T of vegetable oil.
5. Fry the egg and tilt the wok to make a thin  omelette. Set it aside let it cool and cut into strips.
6. In the wok add 3T of oil and stir fry the carrots,peas and onion together. (3 minutes.) Set aside.
7. Fry the shrimp and then add the ham. Watch the shrimps turn pink and white. Set it aside.

8. Now with a clean wok add 3T of oil fry the garlic till it is golden brown.  Add in all the ingredients and finally add the steamed rice.  Stir and fry for five to six minutes add 1t of salt and 1t of soya sauce. Taste test to see if it is just right if not adjust be adding a little more salt.

9. Garnish with the fried egg and chopped green onions.

Note: There is nothing like good barbecue pork called char siew, but a good substitute is luncheon ham.

Bad Lunch

My colleague treated me to lunch yesterday. She ordered Chinese take out. At first I wanted to politely turn down the treat but finally gave in because she said, "I am treating." So I ordered fried rice, spring rolls and fried won tons. After tasting the food, I had to finally give the score at best a 3 out of 10, which means this restaurant failed to impress me with their food.

The won tons were really skimpy. The skin was really thick which the filling was hard to find...

The Spring rolls were a disaster. Tons of veges and little meat and shrimp. My colleague agreed with me that the fried rice was good enough for the rubbish bin.

So if any of you in Sevilla hava a good Chinese restaurant please let this author know. There is one called the Hong Kong Restaurant... don´t let the name fool you. It is not even close but I guess it is close to the acceptable mark.

This brings me to conclude that there is not a really, really good Chinese restaurant here. After living in Singapore and travelled to Thailand, Hong Kong, United States, and New Zealand, I have come to conclude that Hong Kong is way up there. My best meals were tasted in Hong Kong and Singapore. After having been fed by my mom´s cooking and eating noodles and rice for most part of my life, by sure bet is that good food can be found especially in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Heavenly Rice

Perhaps it is time now to discuss the preferred rice of choice. There are four kinds of rice that we Asians consume almost on a daily basis. The Orientals consume lots of long grain rice, we also eat short grain and glutinous rice. Besides that my Indian friends would consume basmati rice a soft fluffy rice, that goes with any vegetable dish. Basmati rice taste a lot better when eaten with our hands.

Many years ago, on my trip to Bangkok to visit the sites I stumbled upon two kinds of rice.

The little Thai language that we knew allowed us to taste steamed Jasmine rice and fried eggs. But it was the best most fragrant rice I have ever tasted. So, nowadays, here where I live which is Sevilla, Spain, we treat ourselves to wonderful Jasmine rice.

Another trip to Thailand this time with polytechnic students for a field trip. We stumbled upon freshly cooked glutinuous rice. While our tour bus was travelling down through the padi fields, our guide stopped the bus and ordered everybody off the bus. Then he stopped a vendor and ordered rice for everyone. The vendor took out some bamboo and split them in the middle. In the cavities of the bamboo were cooked glutinous rice. It was tasty. He explained that the rice harvesters cannot stop their work in the middle of the day and eat at home. So, this was the best way to eat the rice and the sticky rice would maintain their energy all day long.

Which one is the pinky.

Sorry, the pinky is the last finger.

How to steam perfect rice everytime.

Obviously, if you are going to eat rice almost everyday, then it would be wise to invest in a rice cooker. The advantage of the rice cooker is, it does everything for you. If you are constantly having guests over... the rice cooker would take care of the rice.

Anyway, for those who occassionally want to fix some chinese food or asian food, steaming rice is essential. Lets say, if I want to have a quick meal, I fix rice enough for two. Whereas the rice cooker can take care of a party of ten adults.

For Asians, rice is a staple and since young my mom taught me how to fix rice without any form of exact measurement. Her rule of thumb is using the little pinky.

So, with a sauce pan pour in one and a half cup of rice. Wash the rice once, thus keeping in the nutrients. Then filll the sauce pan and measure the water level from the level of the rice to the first line of your pinky. Starting from the nail the level of the water should reach approximately three quarters of an inch of water.

Cook the rice with medium heat for 15 minutes, then cover. Turn off the heat and let the steam cook the rice for five more minutes. You will have fluffy rice everytime.

Second day of blog writing

Just discovered the button to add images to my blog.

So here is the teaser... Guess what popular chinese food will I be preparing.

To begin with I need to mention that my cooking blog is for beginners who are adventuring into cooking chinese food.

Can I really cook?

Can I really cook? Let me introduce myself. I was born in Singapore, went to school, national service, work and then continued my studies in the United States. I have lived in Hawaii and Utah. While studying in Hawaii, I have had opportunities to taste the different kinds of food offered. From Polynesian to Western and Asian as well. Along the way, I have picked up some secrets of how to prepare traditional dishes . I have also picked up some cooking tips from a lady who owns a chinese grocery store in Provo, Utah. Then finally, all the little tips my mom showed me.

So come on board and I will share with you some Chinese cooking tips and along the way, some interesting Hawaiian dishes. So here goes. By the way, I am a beginner with the blog so bear with me and lets have a cooking adventure.