Lobok Goh

Everybody has his own version. And this one is mine. I never measure anything so it's hit or miss, mostly hit. Because you can't really go too wrong. Notice the brand new cutting board. Isn't it gorgeous? See the first picture on top? That's a clean cut from a sharp knife. This is the first time I added some dried scallop.

For the photographer in you, more boring information: Nikon D70, Nikkor 35~105 MF, some shot in macro mode, manual focus and exposure as lens won't meter or auto focus. JPEG straight from the camera.

The Muffin Man

This post is inspired by blogger mad dog.

The (in)famous Choco-Lowfat Muffins recipe is from Hershey's, though I didn't use anything from Hershey's, the cocoa powder I used wasn't even the one shown on the picture. I bought the Nestle but I ended up using whatever I have in the pantry, some brand Jin bought from BJ's (it's not what you thought, it's Beverley Jean).

Here is the cut-n-paste recipe from Hershey's I repost here, my own comments in red:-

QUOTE
Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whatever in the pantry, whole wheat flour, tasted too healthy and weird?)
  
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa or HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa (some brand from BJ's, doesn't bother me)
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup vanilla lowfat yogurt
• 2/3 cup nonfat milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar(optional)
• (NO EGGS, NO OIL as one of the commenters from mad dog's original post pointed out .... I wonder if it would taste any better if say 2 eggs and oil are added ...)
  

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400°F. Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter, I used 3-1/2 inches) with paper bake cups.

2. Stir together flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl; stir in yogurt, milk and vanilla just until combined. Do not beat. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.

3. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool slightly in pan on wire rack. Remove from pans. Sprinkle powdered sugar over tops of muffins, if desired. Serve warm. Store, covered, at room temperature or freeze in airtight container for longer storage. 14 muffins. (I made only eight I think)

UNQUOTE

Here is my setup.
Mix the dry ingredients first. Then add the wet ingredients. Try not to overmix. (I am trying to sound professional you know)
Pour mixed batter into baking cups (lined with baking parchment paper). Put cups on a baking sheet. And slide them into oven. Now grab a beer and watch TV. Or whatever, let the oven do the work.

Voila, after some 18 minutes in a 400F over, the muffins are done.

Tasting Test: I was prepared for the worst but they turned out not too bad. They weren't as sweet or chocolate-ty as I would like them but they are definitely edible. Again, I wonder if they would taste any better if I have added eggs, butter and oil ... essentially take the low out of low fat.

[The photographer in me talking: the flash pictures are so so but that's no excuse. Shot with a Nikon D70, with a Nikkor 50mm f1.4 mounted, flash set at manual at 1/16 power. Adjust f-stop and shutter speed by chimping.]

Sunday Evening Cookout

I wasn't prepared to have BBQ in the evening but the weather was nice so I just went to the supermarket to buy some ingredients to have a quick cookout.

BBQ Whole Chicken

Ingredients:-

• One small whole chicken;
• Some sprigs of sage;
• One lemon;
• A few cloves of garlic;
• Olive oil, salt and pepper.

Procedure:-

• Wash and remove extra fat from chicken. Dry with paper towel. Put chicken into a big glass bowl;
• Roughly cut up the sage, put some underneath the chicken skin if preferred, put some inside the chicken cavity;
• Cut lemon in half, squeeze juice onto chicken. Put left over lemon halves in chicken cavity (or put some slices underneath chicken skin if preferred);
• Remove the rough ends of the garlic cloves, give a light smash with back of your knife. Put them inside chicken cavity. Don't worry take out the rough skin of the garlic (I am going for a rustic look here);
• Coat chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper with tender loving care;
• Let it seat for an hour before grilling.

Squash with Dill Weed

Ingredients:-

• A couple of squash;
• Few cloves of garlic;
• Some dried dill weed;
• One lemon;
• Olive oil, salt and pepper;
• Aluminium foil to make pouch for steaming on the grill.
  

Procedure:-

• Cut squash in 3 sections, then cut them up length wise in sticks, keep them in equal size. Not that you want to show off your cutting skills but equal size allows them to cook through at the same time;
• Cut the hard ends of the garlic out, lightly smash cloves with back of your knife, don't worry about removing the rough skin;
• Sprinkle salt and pepper, dill weed and olive oil and lemon juice (or sprinkle fresh lemon juice when serving);
• Put everything into a self made aluminum pouch to steam in the grill.

(Note: the squash looks much better if you saute this dish on a pan instead of steaming it with an aluminum pouch as the green discolors when steaming inside the pouch.)

Grilled Shrimps

Ingredients:-

• A handful of shrimps (head or headless);
• A bunch of cilantro;
• One lemon;
• Olive oil, salt and pepper.

Procedure:-

• Clean and devein shrimps, remove the legs if preferred;
• Roughly chopped up the cilandro;
• Put shrimps in a bowl, mix in cilandro, add olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, let it sit for 30 minutes or an hour before grilling.
  

Grilled Salmon Steak


Ingredients:-

• Fresh Salmon Steak;
• One lemon;
• Olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Procedure:-

• Clean salmon, and remove bones if preferred, dry with paper towel;
• Season with salt and pepper and coat with olive oil;
• Cut a few lemon slices to grill for garnishing, sprinkle lemon juice when serving.

[photography note: pictures taken with a Canon G3, manual macro focusing or something]

How I Spent My Saturday

(Or otherwise known as who the f.u.c.k cares.)

I spent about 30 minutes to prepare today's lunch. These are totally home cook dishes by yours truly. Inspired by what I had and saw before. Except baking which I prepare more like science experiments, I usually just cook by estimate.

Shrimps with Scrambled Eggs.
Ingredients:-

• 3 eggs, scrambled, add salt and pepper to taste
• a handful of shrimps, peeled and deveined, roughly diced or served whole
• Some onions, wedged and peeled
• Some chives, chopped in inches
• Some olive oil

Procedure:-

In a hot cast iron skillet (10 inch), add olive oil, saute onions until translucent, then add chives and shrimp. Stir until shrimps are cooked. Add a pinch of salt. Stir in the eggs, move eggs around. Don't overcook the eggs. Turn off the fire once eggs start to curd.

Sauteed Sliced Chicken with Okra In Brown Sauce
Ingredients:-

• Chicken breast, sliced. Marinated with salt, black and white pepper, some olive oil, some soy sauce or whatever turns you on. Some corn starch if you like.
• Fresh okra, washed and cut off stems. Cut lengthwise then halve. You may put them in water to cut down on the slime factor.
• Some minced garlic.
• Brown Sauce, a teaspoon of cornstarch in a small bowl, add some cold tap water, add some soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, some white pepper which goes well with the chicken I think, some oyster sauce if you have it. Mix them well.
  
• Some olive oil.

Procedure:-
In a hot cast iron skillet (those cheap ones), add olive oil, then chicken, add half the minced garlic, cook till barely done then remove. Clean skillet (or not).
Add olive oil, add the okra, add the minced garlic, saute until is done.
Add the prepared sauce, cook to boil in high heat, return chicken to coat.

Sauteed Watercress
Ingredients:-

• A handful of watercress.
• Minced garlic (don't tell me you don't know how to mince garlic)
• Some olive oil

Procedure:-
In a hot cast iron skillet, add olive oil and garlic then the watercress. When wilted, in two minutes or so, add salt and pepper to taste.


After lunch we drove to the Barnes & Noble in Bayside. I always enjoy spending some time at B&N, flipping through books and magazines. And sometimes even buy myself a cup of coffee. I haven't had a Starbucks for a long time so I decided to treat myself one. I ordered a small one and the price was 1.70 + 0.14 sales tax, a total of $1.84. On the receipt it says Coffee Tall. It didn't look tall to me. I am no expert in coffee but it didn't disappoint. I don't know or care enough that Starbucks has its own set of coffee size vernacular, tall is small, grande is medium and venti is large, a testament to my Starbucks ignorance . Anyone who wants to talk the Starbucks talk can use some help from this page, I especially like the fact that the graphics link is broken, it looks so early 90s, Web 0.0 ....

In the end, Mr. Alex bought 2 Pokemon related books and Mr. Harry being an ardent fan of bodily functions jokes chose a handful of Captain Underpants, in the end we talked him down to buying just two as for the others we either actually have them at home or read them before from the library.

How to make Lo Bok Goh or Chinese Turnip Cake

I wouldn't call it a recipe but the word recipe probably helps me land some ads. Here is my experience with making Lo Bok Goh. All ingredients are estimates which will ultimately renders a nice Lo Bok Goh in a 8x8x2" Pyrex glass baking pan. Ingredients

• 1 Lo Bok, or what I believe is also called white Chinese turnip or what the Japanese call Daikon. You want to get one that is about the size of my forearm or slightly smaller, I am about 6 foot tall;
• 1 or 2 Chinese sausage;
• 2 or 4 dried Shit...ake mushroom;
• some dried shrimps;
• 8 ounces of white rice flour, give or take, I got 1 pound plastic bag, made in Thailand one, use about half; (EDIT 1/30/2022: 1lb of rice flour to 3lb of Lo Bok, 1:3 ratio)
• salt, sugar, and soy sauce;
• optional toasted sesame seeds and some cilantro

Prepare the rice flour

• Put only the rice flour into a big enough pot( big enough for all the ingredients);
• Add water and mix until flour turns into a nice batter, not too thick and not too thin, thick enough to coat the back of a spoon I guess. Add 2 teaspoons of salt;

Prepare the dried shrimps, mushrooms, and sausages

• soak the dried shrimps and dried mushrooms, then dice them when they are soft, safe left-over liquid;
• dice the Chinese sausage;
• pan fried the diced ingredients in high heat in a cast iron pan until you feel right, say 2 minutes, finish by stirring in table spoon of soy sauce and a touch of sugar; turn off heat.

Prepare the Lo Bok and put everything together

• Peel and then shred your Lo Bok into a some big enough cooking pan, no need to be fine;
• Turn on the fire and cook it in medium heat say 10 minutes, add a teapoon of sugar, don't add salt, the Lo Bok may turn bitter;
• Pour the cooked, still hot Lo Bok together with any liquid and the left over liquid used for soaking the dried shrimps and mushrooms, into the rice flour batter, fold them well, add the pan fried diced ingredients, mixed well. Adjust batter consistency by adding either more flour or water;
• Pour them into a 8x8x2 Pyrex glass baking pan or whatever you have in the kitchen that's right for the job.
• Now transfer the baking pan into a "steamer," you can make your own steamer by using a big wok or pan, fill it with some water, cover the wok or pan. Just make sure don't let the water dry out. Put two nickels or pennies into the steamer so it makes some noise when there is boiling water and quiet when it's bone dry. Let the Lo Bok Goh steam until firm, at least an hour or so.

Dust it with toasted sesame seeds and garnish with cilantro, let it cool completely and refrigerate. Slice and pan fry to golden brown. You may enjoy them with oyster sauce or chilly sauce or both or even more soy sauce if you are into soy sauce like I do... Original recipe from my Mom.