Stewed chicken and mushroom in wok "remains" of Momofuku style XO sauce!

After making momofuku style XO sauce, the remains on the wok appears flavoursome and instead of washing the wok, I can't help but used the`remains to cook up a simple dish for my lunch box for work - LOL.  Not many ingredients really, I used whatever I had at home.  Used just 3 ingredients and thats it.  Recipe as follows - enjoy:

Ingredients:
4 chicken drumstick
1 cup of sliced mushroom
A handful of Coriander, chopped

Method:
1)  Heat up wok on medium high with remains of momofuku style XO sauce.
2)  Saute chicken in the wok until slightly brown on both sides and chicken is coated with XO sauce remains.
3)  Add mushrooms and again saute until it is well coated with XO sauce remains.
4)  Reduce heat to low and cover wok with lid and let chicken and mushrooms to simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes.  You should start seeing juices from chicken and mushrooms.  Open lid and stir chicken and mushrooms.
5) Add about 1/2 cup water (more if its too dry for you), stir to incorporate.  Cover lid with wok and let it simmer for another 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked and tender.
6) Add coriander and let it simmer for another 10 minutes.  At this stage, you will have a finished product where chicken is tender and well coated with the sauce and there should not be much liquid remaining.
7)  Serve warm on a bed of cooked rice and sprinkle some XO sauce on it - ENJOY!

Momofuku style XO Sauce - versatile on anything:)

A couple of months back, bought a copy of Momofuku recipe book by the famous Korean American chef David Chang and co written by peter meehan.  Lots of the recipes are pretty interesting and not over complicating.  One that I have longed to try for a very long time is the XO Sauce.  However, living in Wagga Wagga, a couple of the ingredients was not easily available (they do sell XO sauce in a bottle but that does not help really lol) especially dried scallops and dried shrimp.  Hence, on my recent trip home and to Sydney, I made sure I got those 2 ingredients. 

For those unfamiliar with XO sauce, its a very concentrated sauce pack with lots of flavouful ingredients such as dried shrimp, dried scallops, ginger, garlic and some commercial brands out there do also sell Salmon XO sauce which I have not tried.  It is very versatile on anything, a tablespoon on stir frys, fried rice, seafood etc makes a world of difference.  It can be stored in a container and kept in the fridge for over a month.

Anyways, recipe as per below, do give it a try:)

(Adapted from MOMOFUKU recipe book by David Chang and Peter Meehan - modified slightly)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried scallops (Can be bought at asian dried seafood stored.  It is rather pricey hence use them sparingly)
1/2 dried shrimp (Can be bought at asian grocery stores)
1/2 cup peeled garlic
1/2 cup peeled ginger, sliced
1 cup chopped country ham or chinese sausages (you can substititute with other ham type which I did if you can't find country ham)
1/2 cup grapeseed oil or other neutral oil
1 tablespoon crushed dried red chille


Method:
1) Place scallops and shrimp in a bowl, rinse them and soak them in water overnight covered.
2) Place garlic and ginger in a food processor, pulse on and off until finely chopped, place in a bowl.
3) Discard water from the soaked dried shrimp and scallops and place in food processor, again pulse on a off until it is finely chopped, placed in bowl.
4) Placed ham in food processor and mince till fine, placed in a separate bowl.
5) Heat oil on medium high heat in wok for 1 minute
6) Add ham into oil and fry till browned and crisp (around 5-10 mins)
7) Add dried chille and fry for another 2-3 minutes.
8) Turn heat down to very low and add rest of the ingredients.  Let it simmer for about 45-55 minutes.  Stir it a couple of times in between to ensure that ingredients does not stick on the base.  It is ready when the garlic and ginger is dirty blonde in colour.  Can be used immediately once ready or stored in a container and refrigerated for a month or more.
(p.s.  After finishing this, the wok will have flavourful remains of the XO sauce.  It would be such a waste to just wash them off, hence look out for next blog write up on Wok "remains"of XO sauce stewed chicken!)

Enjoy!

Daring Bakers Challenge Oct 2010 - Old Fashioned Buttermilk Cake Doughnuts with Chocolate and Flake Almonds topping!

The October 2010 Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up.  Lori choose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts.  She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

My last posting before this was a month ago.  How time flies!  Have been very busy travelling the last couple of weeks including weekends.  Was starting to get a little worried about not being able to complete this challenge.  Furthermore, have not made a doughnut before and was pretty excited about this challenge.  Finally had time last Sunday and first thing I did when I woke up was to get a start on this.  I was pleasantly surprise that it did not take me long to do this.  Was rather messy but all in all it took me about an hour and viola, I had warm doughnuts for brekkie on a beautiful Sunday morning:)  There was several recipes attached for this challenge, but  I decided to do the Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Cake Doughnuts, and instead of sprinkling the finished doughnuts with icing sugar, I decided to topped them with 2 of my favourite ingredients which was melted dark chocolate and almond flakes.  Anyways, below is the recipe, enjoy:)

Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Cake Doughnuts:
Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 25 minutes
Cooking time - 12 minutes
Yield: About 15 doughnuts & 15 doughnut holes, depending on size

Ingredients:
Sour Cream ¼ cup / 60 ml / 60 gm / 2 oz
All Purpose Flour 3 ¼ cup / 780 ml / 455 gm / 16 oz + extra for dusting surface
White Granulated Sugar ¾ cup / 180 ml / 170 gm / 6 oz
Baking Soda ½ teaspoon / 2.5 ml / 3 gm / .1 oz
Baking Powder 1 teaspoon / 5 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz
Kosher (Flaked) Salt 1 teaspoon / 5 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz (If using table salt, only use ½ teaspoon)
Nutmeg, grated 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / .3 oz
Active Dry Yeast 1 1/8 teaspoon / 5.6 ml / 3.5 gm / .125 oz
Buttermilk ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoon / 210 ml / 225 gm / 7 ¾ oz
Egg, Large 1
Egg Yolk, Large 2
Pure Vanilla Extract 1 Tablespoon / 15 ml
Powdered (Icing) Sugar ¼ cup / 120 ml / 65 gm / 2.3 oz (Used for decorating and is optional)
Directions:
1. In a small stainless-steel bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water, heat the sour cream until just warm.
2. Heat the oil to 375°F/190°C.
3. Over a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg; make a large well in the center. Place the yeast in the well; pour the sour cream over it. Allow it to soften (if using packed fresh yeast), about 1 minute.
4. Pour the buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla extract into the well. Using one hand, gradually draw in the dry ingredients. The mixture should be fairly smooth before you draw in more flour. Mix until it is completely incorporated. The dough will be very sticky. Wash and dry your hands and dust them with flour.
5. Sift an even layer of flour onto a work surface. Don’t be afraid to use a lot of flour. You don’t want the doughnuts sticking to your counter. Scrape dough out of bowl onto the surface; sift another layer of flour over dough. Working quickly, pat dough into an even 1/2-inch (12.5 mm) thickness. Dip cutter in flour and, cutting as closely together as possible, cut out the doughnuts and holes. Place holes and doughnuts on a floured surface. Working quickly, gather scraps of dough together, pat into 1/2-inch (12.5 mm) thickness, and cut out remaining doughnuts and holes.
6. Drop three to four doughnuts at a time into the hot oil. Once they turn golden brown, turn them and cook the other side. Cooking times may vary, but with my oil at 375 °F/190°C, I found they only took about 20 to 30 seconds per side.
7. Once cooked, place on a baking sheet covered with paper towels to drain.
8. Sift powdered sugar over doughnuts and serve.