My favourite soup-- Hot & Sour Soup

Today, I would like to introduce and teach you guys how to make perfect Hot and Sour Soup.  This soup tastes both spicy and sour at the same time as the name. Hot and sour soup came from Sichuan of China. People who live in Sichuan need hot and spicy food to warm them up since the weather is chilly. However, this soup becomes common and popular in my hometown, Taiwan since it is easy and quite cheap. Besides, people usually have the ingredients of hot and sour soup in their refrigeration so we could make the soup effortlessly. Overall, that's why I like to make this soup and want to share with you guys.

Actually, there are various recipes about hot and sour soup. Some of them are made with pork, but I will be going over the vegetarian version today . 

Ingredient: 

                

                Ginger, julienne ----------------- 10  gram

                Carrot, julienne ------------------ 50  gram

                Dried mushroom----------------- 50  gram

                Enoki mushroom ---------------- 50  gram

                Chinese cabbage, julienne ----- 60  gram

                Soft tofu, slice ------------------- 40  gram

                Green onion, dice --------------- 0.5  sprigs 

                Large egg, lightly beaten ---------1

                Soy sauce -------------------------- 1  tablespoon

                White vinegar --------------------- 4  tablespoon

                Dried mushroom water ---------- 2  cup

                Vegetable oil -------------------- 1/4  cup

                Sesame oil ------------------------- 1  tablespoon

                Cornstarch ------------------------- 3  tablespoon

                Cold water ------------------------- 4  tablespoon

                White pepper ------------------- 1/2  teaspoon

                Salt --------------------------------- to taste 

                Water ------------------------------ 1000 ml

Direction: 

               1.  Place Dried Mushroom in cold water until soft. After that, cut it into slices. Leave dried 

                     mushroom water for  stock

               2.  Heat up a small stock pot with vegetable oil and sesame oil

               3.  Place ginger and carrots in the pot and stir evenly and until carrots are 70 % cooked

               4.  Add dried mushroom, cabbage, enoki mushroom and mix well

               5.  Pour dried mushroom and stock into the pot and wait for boil

               6.  Add soy sauce for colour, salt for taste

               7.  Mix cornstarch and cold water evenly. Pour it into the pot and stir regularly

               8.  Add tofu and slightly stir around 3 minutes then turn off the heat

               9.  Add egg, stirring gently. Turn on the heat after egg is cooked

             10.  Add white vinegar, white pepper for seasoning

             11.  Drizzling green onion on the top

 

The aroma of soup is a little bit sour and tangy. Visually it is colourful and looks yummy. What I noticed from the soup is the multi layers of taste, which includes spiciness, sourness and slight umami of mushroom. It is so palatable and satisfying. I really enjoyed the soup since it warms me up during the cool days. Besides, this soup has high nutrition containing diversified vegetable to increase in enterogastric peristalsis and tofu supply of protein, essential amino acids, iron, calcium and some vitamin. I would certainly share it with my friends because this soup is so wonderful and savoury. They all love it no matter Asian or Western. Asian are used to sour taste so they are happy with it since it is the type of food they usually grow up with.  People from the western world don’t necessarily incorporate this type of sourness into their cuisine; however, they do like it because it tastes very smooth and balanced although the taste could be quite complex.

It seems the soup is so perfect, but it is not actually excellent. How to cut tofu into equal sizes so it could be cooked evenly is a big challenge to me since tofu is really soft and it breaks easily. It probably will be improved if I use firm tofu next time. Another problem is the white vinegar; it gets its tang and it may be different depend on brand, ingredients and making methods. I learn how to control the heat when I pour the cornstarch mixture and balance  the flavours of all ingredients from this experience. I know I still need to accumulate my experience  for my future culinary technique and I also know I will grow  and obtain valuable knowledge from each experience. That will enable me to stand on vantage point and I could apply everything I  gained from every experiment to my cooking skills. Now, being a beginner, I need to learn step by step and pursue improvement in order to fulfill my culinary dreams. I also expect myself to be an outstanding chef who has the ability to create new and delicious dishes for everyone

Pickle--Green Bean

Pickling, the old generations used as a way to reserve food of out of season use such as in the winters. Nowadays, people don't need to pickle food for reserving; however, we still enjoy making pickles because of the resulting flavours. Pickles need time to process and could be made with different ingredients, such as salt and sugar, both of these have anti-oxidant efficacy that could prevent corrosive in food. We usually see pickled cabbages, pickled cucumbers, and pickled olives in markets. Actually, pickling food is not a difficult task. Therefore, I decided to give pickling green beans a try.

Ingredient (Ann, 2013):
                 Green beans ---------------1  pounds
                 Jalapeño peppers ---------2
                 Small sweet peppers -----3
                 Garlic -------------------------1  head
                 Vinegar -----------------------1 1/4  cups
                 Water -------------------------1 1/4  cups
                 Pickling salt -----------------2  tablespoons
Tools:
                 Jars with lids and rings-----2
                 Small stock pan--------------1

Direction:

                1. Prepare boiled water in stove and place jars, lids and rings into small stock pan for

                    sterilizing.

                2. Place all green beans, jalapeño peppers, sweet peppers, garlic in to sterilized jars with

                    lids and rings. Making all ingredient tightly.

                3. In a saucepan, bring the vinegar, water and pickling salt to a boil. Then pour the vinegar

                    mixture into beans in the jars until 80% full and top with lids and rings on.

                4. Prepare water bath around 185 F degree. Place whole jars into water bath     

                    around 30 minutes.

                5. Turn off the heat and leave jars in the water about 10 minutes.

                6. Remove the jars from water bath and let the jars cold until they seal. Keep the rings

                   on for 1 day and then take off rings before storing.

Finally, I could enjoy my own pickles! Different from when the beans were still fresh, they became dark green in colour instead of bright green. Although I could smell the sourness when opening the jars, it isn’t so strong that one couldn’t stand it. This isn’t exactly surprising because it was made with vinegar. What took me by surprise was the texture of the pickled beans; unlike how I first expected, they are pretty crispy and not soft, which I quite enjoy. Moreover, it was a little bit spicy when I took the first bite but sourness and saltiness are in large part of the taste.

Now I think I am able to create my own recipe with the green bean pickles I made.

My recipe:

                     Green bean pickles ---------5 

                     Tuna in water, canned -----1

                     Red onion -------------------2  tablespoon

                     Celery -----------------------1  medium stock 

                     Olive oil---------------------1  teaspoon

                     Lemon, peel and juice ----to  taste

                     Salt / Black pepper --------to  taste

                     Unsalted soda cracker ----10  pieces 

Direction:

                1. Chop green beans, red onion and celery into dice. Grind lemon peel. 
                2. Mix all ingredients into a large bowl. Serve with soda crackers.
 
                      

I felt so satisfied and content when the mixture of food filled up my mouth. The overall taste of finished product has multi-layers of taste including the tanginess combined with the sourness brought by the pickles and lemon juice, as well as the sweetness came from the tuna. Besides, adding diced celery and red onion to this pickle dish really increased crispiness. 

Pickles are good for adding more flavours into food. Apart from sourness and sweetness, it sometimes also adds in some savoury flavour to the dish. From pickling the raw vegetables to using it in an actual dish, I consider this to be a wonderful and successful experience. However, I think I will include other ingredients, such as hot chilli pepper, to my pickled vegetables since I was expected it to be spicier. 

I totally enjoyed the entire process and am happy with the final result. I also obtain some valuable knowledge and experience of pickling vegetables. As a result, I will definitely keep the recipes in my book and I will continue to explore more varieties to further perfect my creations.

 

Reference:

Ann. (2013, n.d.). Crisp & Spicy Pickled Green Beans. Retrieved
from http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/crisp-spicy-pickled-green-beans/
  

Fruit Journey --Persimmon

Nowadays, there are various fruits around the world and they penetrate various markets in different cities. As consumers, we are given more choices. Most people could grab plant products no matter what they want or where they are. Most people are able to easily purchase fruits and vegetables. For example, People who live in Toronto could buy many diverse fruits from native markets or foreign markets such as St. Lawrence Market, Lucky Moose Food Mart and Loblaws Supermarkets mainly because Toronto is a quite multi-cultural city. People can always find and try something new. 

Remember, I had new food journey last time and it was an impressive and valuable experience. Now I am so excited to be a Fruit Hunter. Well, let's get started with Loblaws supermarket , located at the intersection of College Street and Yonge Street. The Loblaws is a pretty large supermarket and has many branches in Canada also in Toronto. There are so many categories, novel products in stores with great locations.Wow!! Guess what I found. It's Persimmon also called Oriental or Japanese persimmon, a species of tree in the genus Diospyros kaki, in the family Ebenanceae. The kaki is oldest species in Asia such as China and Japan. Nowadays, most persimmons are known as Japanese persimmons that because it is widely cultivated in Japan; however, it is planted over 2000 years in China. There are some fruits in the same family including Black Sapote (Diospyros digyna), Mablol, Velvet Apple (D. discolor), Date Plum (D. lotus), American Persimmon (D. virginians) etc..(California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc, n.d.). Persimmons become golden with orange and mature between October and February. So, what a great time right now to enjoy persimmon.

          

   

 
The taste of Fuyu persimmon is so sweet although it has a firm surface like an apple. Just like label describes, "Eat hard like an apple". Now, you probably have an imagination as to know how crispy the Fuyu persimmon is when you take the first bite. Besides, it is kind of soft inside. Therefore, it creates a fully multi-taste. The only  set back from buying this fruit is that it's somewhat expensive for me. However, the most important reason why I chose it to be the lead in my fruit journey is that I really miss my hometown taste. Furthermore,  I do like persimmons since it can not only be a fruit but also ingredient of dish. 

Now, I would like to introduce my creation- sautéed white fish fillets with persimmon in Japanese house dressing,serving with risotto.

Main Recipe : 

                          Basa fillets -----------------1 piece       

                          Fuyu persimmon ---------1               

                          Garlic, Chopped --------- 2 cloves      

                          Butter -----------------------1  tablespoon 

                          Parsley ---------------------2  sprigs         

                          Salt and White pepper 

Sauce Recipe (Bella,2010): 
                         Onion- Brunoise --------1/4  cup 
                         Ginger- Brunoise --------- 1  tablespoon 
                         Garlic- Pureed -------------1  tablespoon      
                         Celery- Pureed ------------1  tablespoon          
                         Olive Oil ------------------ 1/4  cup  
                         Wine vinegar -------------- 3  tablespoon  
                         Lemon juice ----------------1  tablespoon   
                         Soy sauce ------------------2  tablespoon 
                         White sugar --------------- 2  teaspoon  
                         Ketchup -------------------- 1  tablespoon  
                         Water ----------------------- 1  tablespoon   
                         Salt and white pepper ---to taste

Risotto Recipe:
                        Carnaroli rice ---------- 200 gram 
                        Shallot -------------------- 10 gram
                        White wine --------------- 60 ml
                        Chicken stock --------- 700 ml
                        Butter --------------------- 65 gram (40 gram / 25 gram)             
                        Parmesan ----------------30 gram
                        Salt and white peeper -to taste

Direction:
               1. Drizzling salt and pepper on the fillets and sit it for 5 mins
               2. Heat sauté pan with butter and chopped garlic and then place seasoned fillets
                   on until 80% cooked
               3. Add persimmon and Japanese House Sauce and mix together. Then place
                  mixture into a dish
               4. In a sautoire over medium heat, melt the butter add shallots and sweat
                   until translucent
               5. To the same pan add rice and toast until rice is coated in butter and hot to
                   the touch
               6. Add the white wine and reduce by half
               7. To this add 300ml of stock and let it simmer
               8. Gradually incorporate the remaining stock one ladle (4 oz.) at a time, seasoning
                   periodically during the cooking process
               9. Repeat this process until all stock is incorporated
             10. Remove from heat. Fold in the remaining butter and cheese.
             11. Place fillets mixture on to Risotto

It is surprising that the dish tastes so smooth, flavourful and graceful. I personally think persimmons enrich this delicacy since it brings natural sweetness which makes daintier. Moreover, the sauce brings into full play in the course because it is not too strong and exactly blended with different ingredients. This is a wonderful journey and also opens up new horizons not only discovering fruit but also creating your own recipe. After all, I realized that learning should be by experience, not only by rote. Discovery makes your life colourfully and it will always be astonishing to you.

Reference: 

California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. (n.d.). PERSIMMON. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from 

    https://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/persimmon.html

Diospyros kaki. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from 

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diospyros_kaki

Persimmon. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from  

     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon

Bella. (2010, September 15). 和風沙拉醬 Japanese House Dressing. Retrieved from 

     http://dana5825.pixnet.net/blog/post/16036187-和風沙拉醬-japanese-house-dressing

A New Food Journey

As I mentioned from last article that I lived in Taiwan, the food is among the world's richest and most varied sine the country had been colonized by Netherlands and Japan; moreover, many people who live in Taiwan came from other countries and make multiplicity of creation; even so, there are still a lot of food I haven't had a chance to try. Now, being a student of Chef School, I should start exploring new ingredients and really learn from that experience to enrich my creativity for my future career. 

All right！Let's get started with Blue Cheese, an excellent ingredient. It is quite a peculiar food no matter taste, smell and appearance. I also found a recipe for blue cheese which is "Blue Cheese Columbine Dip"(Blue Cheese Columbine Dip (n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2015, from http://cheese.food.com/recipe/ blue-cheese-columbine-dip-21131)  and made it by myself.

Ingredients:

              1/2 lb     Blue cheese,crumbled 

              1/3 cup  Red  onion,Chopped

              1/3 cup  Olive oil

               1   tbp   Lemon juice 

               1   tbp   Red win vinegar

              1/2 tsp   Garlic,crushed 

                1  tsp   Dry mustard 

              1/4 tsp   Black pepper

              1/3 cup  Fresh parsley,chopped 

                            water crackers

Direction:

              Set blue cheese aside. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl. Add blue cheese. Cover and let stand at room-temperature 2 hours. Serve on crackers.

Hui-Ling,Yu.Blue Cheese Dip.2015.Photography.Toronto

I noticed there are some special traits of this type of cheese. First of all, it's highly brittle and a bit of moisture when I took it out of plastic wrap. The aroma is grassy, rotten and tangy like vomit. In addition, it has a soft cream-coloured pasted moderately veined with blue-green mold so it tastes salty, gritty, moldy, and intense. This is a flavour that I can’t get used to without any dressing, honestly. Besides, I didn't find any similar flavour like this and that's why it is unique.

Well, let's move to the recipe. The overall taste of the finished product tastes better than the cheese itself. It is smoother and well-balanced and I think it is partially because other ingredients, such as parsley and a bit of lemon juice, balanced out this savoury dish and convert the sour moldy taste into creamy and spicy. The complex taste definitely impressed me although I still can't fall in love with it.

So, what experience do I gain from this trial? I got to explore different taste! For example, the fifth basic taste, Umami, which means delicious or yummy and could be found in meat, cheese, and mushrooms. However, I still wouldn’t consider Blue Cheese to be delicious. After all, we all have our own preferences and we might prefer some tastes over the others. But fortunately, depends on how the ingredient is processed, the taste and/or texture could be altered drastically to suit everyone’s interest. This is also what I learned from this trial. Now I know the taste of blue cheese could be changed when incorporating other ingredients. 

Don't be afraid to try something new. It will be a great opportunity to grow and gain valuable knowledge just like what it did to me this time. Although blue cheese is still not appealing to me, at least I know what it taste and smell like right now. Perhaps I will try it again with another recipe. And who know? I  might end up really enjoying it this time!

About Jessica YU

I am Hui-Ling,Yu and also go by Jessica. I come from Taipei, Taiwan. I came to realize what I wanted and that is I am keen on culinary and baking arts after I had worked at insurance company for approximately 10 years in my hometown. So that is why I study at George Brown College, a famous chef school in Toronto. I am excited to learn new techniques but also a little bit sad at the same time since my family is far away from me. However, I know this experience will make me a stronger person.

I currently have a part time position at Chatime,which is a famous Taiwanese bubble tea shop in Toronto. I want to be a chef because I enjoy the process of cooking and/or making desserts, as well as creating new idea about food. I think I will be proud of myself if customers like and enjoy my creation. That's why I started to learn how to decorate cakes. Although the course is quite expensive, but I knew this is the path I have to follow in this stage of my life. Fortunately, I really gained a lot of new knowledge and got to polish my skills from the course.

Hui-Ling,Yu.PME Royal Icing and Piping.2014.Photography.Taiwan.

Often times, after watching a TV program or an online video about cooking, I would get inspired and encouraged to keep pursuing my passion. Meanwhile, this also prompted me to think my philosophy of cooking is. I believe healthy food can still come with big taste. Modern people suffer from many diseases partially because their eating behaviour is not correct. I hope while people enjoy my food, they will also live a healthy life. Below is one of my favourite quotes: 

"If you only design menus that are essentially junk or fast food, the whole infrastructure supports junk." -- Jamie Oliver 

 Jamie,Oliver. Jamie Oliver Facebook Fan Page profile picture.2015.

                     

I do agree with Chef Jamie Oliver since he only promotes the right concepts and makes constructive opinions on his website/blog. I could access his website/blog to learn plenty of knowledge or ideas. However, it will be better if he could add the instruction video on the same page of the recipe instead of a separate one so the visitors will know exactly how to do it.

Nowadays, digital technology has become vital to the society since people can easily get a lot of information. In other words, owning a website has become common for everyone. I hope people could give me feedback after they visit my blog to help me improve the site or add anything that they are interested in. This blog is my first one and I hope it will become a great platform for me to convey my feeling in words or pictures, and then let more people know and understand who I am and what I do.