HappyLesson.org

Hi,

It's been a while since my last post.  Sorry for visitors who have dropped by and were disappointed by the lack of new recipes.

I have been very busy with work, and enjoying too much of the junk food that can always be found floating around the office.

Today, we received a link exchange request from a chef school called "Cook Street".  As you can see, we have agreed to exchange links, and there's a link to http://www.cookstreet.com from the side bar.  I do not think they are based locally in my area, but they do have a very neat and beautifully designed web page.    Check them out!

Now…going back to the post topic, "office junk food", what is your favorite one?   There are always those semi-professional pastry chefs who bake ooooooh….sooo good cookies and cakes.  Then there are the snackers who bring in bags and bags of chips and candies.  Both type of food are very attractive to moi.  hehe….I can never resist them.

I'm going to try to put up more good recipes from now on, so stay tuned.  You can always email us if you have questions.   chefjiang ((at)) gmail.com

This is one authentic and delicious Chinese treat:  steamed dumplings!

As you already know, every Chinese new year, the most popular celebration tradition is to have steamed dumplings!

As you see in the pictures below, the dumplings are made from scratch with fresh fillings and dough!  The dumplings are steamed in a classic bamboo steamers, making sure the dumpings carry all the yummy flavors.

Delicious fillings made from finely chopped fresh veggies, eggs (cooked) and shrimp. Please also add in salt and other spices for flavoring as desired.

Prepare the dough and nicely fold the fillings in.  You may need a detailed lesson on how to prepare the dough and especially how to add in the fillings, then fold up the seal.  Try google for "handmade dumplings".  Later on, we will try to post up detailed instructions on this site too.

And here you have the finished product!  Notice how the dumplings turn slightly golden?  They are sooo good.  I like the ones with the thin skin and lots of fillings!

With Chinese New Year approaching in less than 2 weeks  (Feb. 18th), what are you going to make to celebrate this 5000 years old traditional festival?

As always, the dough preparation is crucial!  Make sure you mix the dates chunks evenly into the dough.

Then, you shape them!  Aren't these sphere doughs cute?! 

And they're done!!!  Freshly baked ones are sooooooooo good.  If you've had these pastries freshly baked, the same-day (cooled down) ones they have in bakeries will never taste the same to ya.

A similar pastry was previously featured as part of the Danish galore post.  In this one, the cream filling has been replaced with red bean, making it one of the Chef's unique creations.  (also gives it an asian spin~)

Before

After!

It's really hard to resist your temptations to eat all of them when they smell sooooo good freshly out of the oven.

I took a lot of pictures of these freshly baked loaves of bread, making sure every element of their beauty are accurately captured. 

Red Bean and Rasin

Close up of Red Bean

Close up of Rasin

Chocolate and Dates

The chocolates and the red bean are wrapped inside the center of the dough, the round ones have the rasin and the dates evenly baked into the dough. 

To make this dish, you start with fresh raw fish.

Make sure you cut the fish into equal chunks and bread it evenly.

Prepare the frying pan and heat up the oil.

The fish heats up quickly, don't overfry them.  ENJOY!

YUM !!

The following are pictures of the work in progress.

1. Everything starts from getting a couple cans of delicious sweet peach and pear

 2. Prepare the dough. This is the hardest step.  After mixing in the right ingredients, you have to condition the dough by putting it in the freezer, re-mix and let it settle.  If any of these tricky steps are done inaccurately, the finished product won't be right.   *take good care preparing, you've been warned*

 3. When dough is ready, slice them into long pieces, then into small square pieces.

4. The following picture should clearly illustrate the next step.  Fold the fruit pieces into the dough piece, careful not too put in too much.  This picture shows the peach, strawberry and pear danish designs.

5. The following shows the star cherry fruit design.

6. The beautiful designs all displayed below.

7. AND IT'S DONE!  (it's time to start drooling…hehe)

The sphere shaped ones have pastry cream inside and white sesame on top. =)

I don't like cooked onions, so for as long as I can remember, I always avoided this dish when I was little.  However, in the recent couple of years, I gathered enough courage to try it one day AND I LOVED IT! The stir fry process removes the garlic flavors, so you can have it at social events too. =)

This is one of the Chef's original creations inspired by a oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.  These mini scones are sooooooo good, they are crunchy yet chewy, the giant sweet raisins provide the perfect final touch.  I love them!   I brought them into work with me today, my co-workers also really really liked them.   Someday, we are going to open a tea/bakery shop, I'm sure this will be one of the top selling items!  

Before: 

After:

Nice, healthy and super delicious.  The Chef is getting better and better at making American baked goodies.