Momofuku Gua Boas (pork buns)

Posted on by
3
pork-gua-boa

This is a post by my brother Cliff who likes to cook as much as I do, except Cliff’s food is usually a lot fancier than mines! Having recently been to Momofuku in NYC I can tell you that these pork buns are totally amazing. I am definitely going to give these a go sometime. I have the Momofuku cookbook and have made a few things from it. The recipes are long but there is nothing complex in them, you just need to plan ahead.

Yesterday I made Gua Bao with Braised Pork Ribs (those half-open steamed Chinese buns filled with pork, pickles and herbs). This is a recipe originally from Momofuku Chef David Chang via Gourmet Traveller, with some small additions of my own.

The buns are light and sweetly fragrant, the pork becomes so unctuous and rich, and the accompanying pickles, herbs and cucumbers add lightness and freshness to each mouthful.

making-gau-baomomofuku-gau-bao-dough
momofuku-porkmomofuku-gau-bao

Gua Bao with Braised Pork Ribs
Adapted from Momofuku via Gourmet Traveller
The recipe will make about 16 Bao – bank on everyone having 2 or 3. Any leftovers are delicious the following day.
They are rather simple to make – but there are several hours of (unsupervised) cooking & resting involved.
  •  
     
  • BRAISED PORK RIBS
     
  • 1 kg
    pork spare ribs
  • 125ml
    soy sauce
  • 125ml
    hoisin sauce
  • 50 grams
    brown sugar
  • 30 grams
    ginger, grated
  • 5 cloves
    garlic, grated
  • 1 teaspoon
    five spice powder
  • 150ml
    water
  •  
     
  • GUA BAO BUNS
     
  • 30 grams
    extra virgin coconut oil, plus extra for brushing
  • 5 grams
    dried yeast
  • 190 ml
    warm water
  • 35 grams
    caster sugar
  • 95 grams
    plain flour
  • 300 grams
    bread flour or high gluten flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons
    salt
  •  
     
  • ACCOMPANIMENTS
     
  • Pickled Mustard Greens – cut into strips
  • Pickled Chilli Bamboo
  • Coriander
  • Cucumber, cut into sticks
  • Spring Onions
  • Peanuts, dry roasted
BRAISED PORK RIBS
  1. Combine all ingredients in a covered ovenproof dish and bake (covered) for 2.5-3 hours, at 15°C (300°F).
  2. Remove and cool meat so you can work with it. Remove the bones and grisly bits, shred the meat.
  3. Keep all the cooking liquid – transfer to a small saucepan and keep warm. (The original recipe called for this liquid to be reduced by half, but I found mine was sufficiently thick and reduced already. I did skim off 3/4 of the oil from the top though)
  4. Add the shredded pork to the liquid and keep warm until ready to use.
GUA BAO BUNS
Traditionally, pork lard is the oil used in these buns, but I substituted coconut oil as it is lighter and more fragrant.
  1. Combine the oil, yeast, warm water and half of the sugar
  2. Combine the flours, salt and remaining sugar
  3. Add the yeast mixture and work the dough thoroughly until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes. I found the dough to be a little dry and added maybe 2 tablespoons of water throughout the working process.
  4. Place the dough into an oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with cling film and rest until doubled – 1.5-2hours — If you place the dough near the oven, you’ll find that this happens quite easily.
  5. Ease the dough out of the bowl and work into 16 balls (cut it into quarters, then quarter each piece again) I shape the balls by pinching dough from the sides towards the centre of what will be the bottom of the ball. After each pinch, I turning the dough a little and repeat, until I have gone around 360º once or twice. This forms a strong smooth surface on the top of the dough.
    (I never “punch down” – the process of working the dough again does that already). Place the balls onto baking paper and cover well – rest for 30 mins – 1 hour
  6. Roll the dough balls out into oval shapes, rub some coconut oil onto one side and fold them in half. Place them onto baking paper and cover well – rest for 30 mins – 1 hour.
  7. NOW you are ready to steam! Cut up the baking paper under each Bao and place into steamer. Steam in batches over high heat for 10 minutes. They are now ready to be filled with the delicious fillings.
COMPOSING YOUR GUA BAO

Open the steamed bun, stuff with the pork and as much of each accompaniment as your wish.
I found the best way is to lay these items out on the table and each person can create their own.

SO DELICIOUS!!! I hope you enjoy them!

Rabbit stew

Posted on by
3

When we were at uni Mill and I had a list a of things we were going to do before we finished studying. I have no idea where this list is anymore and I can barely remember anything from it but I know one of the BIG things on the list was to eat rabbit.

Don’t ask me where this came from I have no idea, it’s just one of those random things

So one day we decided to go for it, there was fancy butcher near where we lived that sold frozen rabbit. It was a bit disturbing as the rabbit was skinned and gutted but frozen whole so it still had a vague rabbit shape to it (don’t worry there was no head). Kind of like buying a whole chicken.

We found a rabbit stew recipe that needed two rabbits so we halved the recipe to make just enough for us. We had a lot of trouble chopping the rabbit up but generally things were going pretty well. Everything was in the pot ready to start simmering when we realised we had no stock. So we shut it all down and went to the corner store to buy a pack of stock cubes (that was all they had).

When we got home we added the stock, turned the stove on and waited for the stew to do its thing..kitchen-messAnd then it was time to feast on our rabbit. Our stew was not a very pretty, it was this pale brownish colour. But that was not the problem, the problem was it was TOO salty. So salty it burned our mouths. We forgot to halve the stock when we got back from the shops, I think we were suppose to put in less than half a cube. We put an entire cube into the stew. Eeesh it was bad. We forced our way through it but eventually had to give up and just nibbled on the rabbit meat, that was pretty tasty if you ignore the burning salt flavour. I drank so much water that night.

We threw all the leftovers away and were too scared to ever use those stock cubes again. They ended up in the bin when we moved out. But most important thing is we got to cross rabbit off our list…even if we were traumatised in the process!

Rice Pilaf

Posted on by
Reply
rice-pilafThis rice pilaf uses the left over sauce from the saucy meatballs recipe, it is every bit as good as the meatballs. Even if the meatball recipe was a bit meh it would be worth making it just so you can have this rice pilaf. The leftover sauce gives the rice a delicious richy tomato-y flavour, trust me you will not be able to stop eating it. Last night I was standing in the kitchen holding my empty bowl while spooning mouthfuls of this into my mouth. I had only come into the kitchen to put my dirty dishes away!

The original recipe from All about Braising just combines the rice and the sauce to make a basic rice pilaf. Although I am sure this is delicious since the sauce is so good I have always enhanced this with extra vegetables just because I can. It means you can use up any odd bits of veg sitting in you fridge! The best part is once you’ve sautéed and simmered everything together you just put it in the oven and it takes care of itself. No constant checking or stirring. Semi-Instant deliciousness.

Rice Pilaf
Adapted from All about braising
Serves 3
This recipe can easily be scaled up to feed more, just make sure you use the same 1:2 rice to liquid ratio. I find that the 1 cup of rice is enough to serve 3 but I do add quite a bit of vegetables to mines.

You can use add just about any vegetables you have on hand, I have used zucchini, peas, carrot, celery, green beans and asparagus in the past and it was great. It’s also quite nice if you add some bacon or tear up bits of prosciutto. Anything goes!

  • 2 tablespoons
    butter
  • 2 tablespoon
    olive oil
  •  
    vegetables of your choice [optional]
  • 1 cup
    long grain rice
  • 1 cup
    leftover sauce
  • 1 cup
    chicken stock
  1. Preheat the oven at 180°C(350°F;).
  2. Heat butter and oil in a large sauce pan. If you are using extra vegetables cook the vegetable until any of the hard vegetable (like carrot) is tender. I dice all the vegetables into small cubes.
  3. Wash the rice and add to the sauce pan, sautée until any left over water is gone and the rice is coated in the oil.
  4. Add the left over sauce and stock to the pan. I like to use however much stock I have left and then top it up with stock to get that 1:2 rice to liquid ratio. I never add any salt as the stock and sauce are both salty enough.
  5. Bring the sauce up to a simmer, cover and transfer the saucepan to the oven, bake for 40 minutes.
  6. Remove from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes with the lid on before serving.

Saucy meatballs

Posted on by
6
saucy-meatballsThis recipe comes from a surprise cookbook from Mat, recommended in the Braising episode on Spilled Milk. The book is called All about Braising and it’s filled with some pretty exciting looking recipes. When I told my friends about it the first question they always ask is ‘What is braising?’

To quote the hosts of Spilled Milk Podcast “braising is basically browning some kind of food and then cooking is slowly in liquid …but the browning part is optional” It’s a good quote no?

Now that we all know what braising is lets move on to GIANT MEATBALLS. Yes! As soon I saw this I knew I had to make it. What could be more exciting than GIANT MEATBALLS? Plus the recipe looked pretty easy – you make a tomato based sauce and while the sauce is simmering you make some giant meatballs, drop them in the sauce and 45 minutes later you stuff your face.

The recipe says to use a 1/3 cup measure to form the meatballs. When I got the measuring cup out I was a bit disappointed – it looked like these meatballs would not be as giant as I was lead to believe. But then I made the first meatball and it was HUGE. I was so happy. Mat was helping me with the photos and he was worried about the size of the meatballs, he offered to get me the 1/4 cup measure and was convinced I was twisting the recipe to make extra giant meatballs. But no, this is how big they are suppose to be.
egg-ricotta-breadcrumbsmeatball-mixtureform-giant-meaballbraising-meatballs

The meatballs were so big I had trouble fitting them into the saucepan, but once it the meat started to cook everything moved around a bit and it was all fine. The book says you have to be to be very gentle with the meatball so they don’t fall apart however I found the meatballs quite firm and they held together very well.

The meatballs were fantastic everyone loved them and tried to eat more, but they are so giant ‘just one more meatball’ is like having another meal! The tomato juice sauce is delicious, the meatballs are tasty and incredibly tender. I want to throw a dinner party and feed everyone these meatballs – they are that good. And the best thing is there is a delicious rice pilaf that you make out of the left over sauce which is just as good.

Saucy meatballs
Adapted from All about braising
Serves 4
This recipe will take about 75 minutes from start to finish but there is a fair bit of simmering time in that. The sauce needs to cook for almost 30 minutes before you add the meatballs so definitely make that first.
  •  
     
  • SAUCE
     
  • 1 large
    onion
  • 1 stick
    celery
  • 3 – 4 cloves
    garlic
  • 3 tablespoons
    butter
  • 2 cups
    tomato juice
  • 2 cups
    chicken stock
  •  
     
  • MEATBALLS
     
  • 1 cup
    breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup
    milk
  • 1 cup
    ricotta
  • 1/3 cup
    grated parmesan
  • 1/4 cup
    parsely
  • 1
    egg
  • 1 teaspoon
    salt
  • 1 teaspoon
    pepper
  • 750 grams
    beef mince
  1. Dice the onions and celery into 1 – 2 centimetre cubes, heat butter in big saucepan on medium low heat, sautée onion, garlic and crushed garlic until soft (do not brown) about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper but don’t go nuts on the salt, the tomato juice is quite salty.
  2. Add the tomato juice and stock and simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes.
  3. While the sauce is cooking prepare the giant meatballs, in a large mixing bowl combine breadcrumbs and milk to soak for 5 minutes.
  4. Finely chop the parsley and add to the mixing bowl with the ricotta, parmesan, egg and salt and pepper. Stir until well combined.
  5. Gently work in the mince, do not over mix or the meatballs will be tough.
  6. Using a 1/3 measuring cup measure the mixture for each meatball. Form into giant meatballs.
  7. Once the sauce has simmered for the 15-20 minutes gently drop the meatballs in using a spoon or spatula to gently move the meatballs around to make room. Don’t worry if some of the meatballs are not fully submerged. Once they cook a bit they will shrink and there will be room for everyone.
  8. Spoon some sauce over the meatballs and let them simmer at the lowest lowest simmer. We are talking one bubble every 30 seconds or more here.
  9. Simmer for 40-45 minutes, turn the meatballs carefully with a spoon after 15 minutes.
  10. Serve with vegetables and/or mashed potatoes

Save any leftover sauce for a rice pilaf, if you’re not using it over the next few days then freeze it until it’s time. Best pilaf ever I promise.

My notebook: Shakshuka

Posted on by
1

This morning I woke up super early with a strong desire to cook, specifically I wanted to make shakshuka for breakfast. This urge was so strong I was out the door headed to the supermarket about 10 minutes after I rolled out of bed.

I am a sucker for baked eggs and have wanted to make my own shakshuka for a long time now, the recipe I used is the one from David Lebovitz’s blog. I followed the recipe pretty closely except for the following:

  • excluded the chili – I was feeding this to Noelle who sadly does not eat anything hot
  • added 1 red capsicum, finely chopped
  • excluded caraway seeds and turmeric - I don’t have any
  • added an extra teaspoon of honey

Consider my inability to follow recipes this is pretty good!shakshukaIt took a really long time to cook, I kept thinking I was almost done and telling everyone to get ready and then it took another 10 – 15 minutes. The saddest part is in the end I overcooked the eggs because I was distracted trying to order groceries online.

But it was still tasty and I would make it again, David mentions on his blog that you can make the sauce and freeze it until you want to use it. I think this is definitely the way to go as it takes 20 minutes to make the sauce and then another 15 minutes once you add the eggs.

Try new foods: Bulgur wheat

Posted on by
2
bulgur-wheatWe were in Ireland for the weekend recently and I had the most delicious soda bread ever. Part of my attraction to this bread is because there were these delicious crunchy bits throughout the bread, it was so good I was tempted to ask for the recipe but I chicken out in the end and just asked what the crunchy bits were. Turns out they use a course stone-ground wholemeal flour so these were just the chunky bits in the flour.

When we go home I started hunting for a wholemeal soda bread recipe and came across this recipe in the NY times that used bulgar wheat. I’ve never cooked with bulgur wheat before and have actually only eaten it a couple of times before. It has a chewy texture and a slight nutty flavour, I thought it was quite nice. It’s suppose to be super good for you as it is considered a whole grain and it’s high in protein and fiber. To prepare it for this bread I just soaked it in boiling hot water until it absorbed the liquid, very much like cous cous. However from reading various recipes some of the courser bulgur wheat needs to be cooked on the stove.
bulgur-wheat-yogurtsoda-bread-doughcooling-soda-breadbaked-soda-bread

I have made this bread several times now and have tweaked it quite a lot in the process. It is the prefect breakfast bread, I have been taking a slice of it to work with me every day, it’s great just as it is with a cup of tea (even better with some cheese) and it keeps me full until lunch. The bread is very dense so it’s very filling. The bulgur wheat does not add the crunch I was hoping it would but it does contribute to the chewy-ness of the bread. I have made this both with and without the bulgur wheat and I think it’s definitely better with the bulgur wheat.
soda-bread-for-breakfast

Soda bread with bulgur wheat
Adapted from the NY Times
This bread starts getting stale after about 2 days so eat it quickly. Also it taste better when it is cold so try and resist eating it while it is still warm.
  • 1/2 cup
    bulgur wheat
  • 1 cup
    boiling water
  • 260 grams
    wholemeal flour
  • 200 grams
    white flour
  • 8 grams
    baking soda
  • 8 grams
    salt
  • 1 1/2 cups
    plain yogurt [more as needed]
  1. Put the bulgur wheat in a bowl and pour in the cup of boiling water. Cover and leave for 20-30 minutes.
  2. Preheat oven at 230°C (450°F).
  3. In a large mixing bowl combine all the flours, salt and baking soda.
  4. Add the bulgur wheat along with any unabsorbed water and add in the yogurt.
  5. Using a butter knife mix everything together, adding more yogurt as required. The dough should be soft and sticky.
  6. Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead lightly just enough to make sure everything is well combined.
  7. Line a loaf tin with baking paper and form the dough into a log and drop it into the loaf tin
  8. Bake for 20 minutes then turn the oven down to 180°C (375°F) and bake for a further 20 – 30 minutes until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
  9. Remove from the oven and wrap in a clean tea towel while it cools (to stop it from getting too crunchy on the outside).

New York City food

Posted on by
4

murrays-bagel
We were in New York City with some friends over Easter for 10 days where we spent a large chuck of our time hunting out food and eating it. With so many places we wanted to try it meant we were almost constantly eating. Mat complained that he couldn’t remember what being hungry felt like anymore.

momofuku-ramenmomofuku-pork-buns

Momofuku
One restaurant I was really excited to try was Momofuku noodle bar, I have the Momofuku cookbook and have made a couple of simple things from it so I really wanted to go feast on their famous pork buns and noodles. The pork buns are absolutely delicious and just as good as I expected. The ramen oddly was really not that good, considering it is one of the key things that makes Momofuku famous I was a bit weirded out. It was a good bowl of ramen but I’ve had better broth, I’ve had better noodles and I have MADE better ramen egg. And when I say I’ve had better I don’t mean in Japan, I mean in Brisbane and even in London.The only thing they did better than any other ramen I’ve had was the delicious delicious pork.

katz-salt-beef-pastrami-reubencelery-soda-dr-brown

Katz’s Delicatessen
There is no need to explain. All I have to say is pastrami is tasty. Also I tasted celery soda for the first time. It was surprisingly refreshing but quite celery-y…if they had this in London or Australia I would drink it!

Murray’s Bagel
I ordered an ‘everything’ bagel at Murray’s because that is apparently the most popular bagel. I figured sweet, everything bagel, it will come with all the best fillings and be deeelicious. And then the man behind the counter asked me what fillings I want and I was confused, “umm….everything?”. Turns out the ‘everything’ part is just the flavour of the bagel, like getting a poppyseed bagel. Everything means it has everything from poppy seeds to bits of dried garlic. I felt like such a tourist! But the important part is my bagel was good (I got ham and cream cheese in the end).

smac-number-signmac-n-cheese-smac

S’Mac
I have a slight obsession with mac and cheese…and by slight obsession I mean I force non-mac-and-cheese-fans to come to my house so I can feed them mac and cheese to prove to them how good it is (they are convinced after I feed them so I know this method works). We had to go to S’Mac, it is a mac and cheese restaurant…just think of a pizza restaurant where there different types of pizzas on the menu and you can also make your own. Now replace the pizza with mac and cheese and you have a mac and cheese wonderland.

Caracas bar
Kylie introduced us to a whole new food: Arepas, these are Venezuelan corn patties filled with different toppings. Like a stuffed pita. They are delicious! We went to Caracas bar one night for drinks and arepas and it was definitely one of our best nights in NYC.

salty-pimp-big-gay-icecream raspberry-milkshake-bare-burger plum-pie-blue-stove french-toast-diner

All these photos only covers about 2 days of eating in NYC. Just think we did this for 8 more days, there was definitely too much food.

Midnight snack: Poor man’s fondue

Posted on by
4

fake-fondueI had a little snack attack the other night. It was after 11 and I was hungry again. This is a fairly common occurrence, I had already feasted on some chocolate mousse an hour ago. But that’s been absorbed and my stomach demanded more.

I resisted for about 30 minutes because it was late and I had decided I wanted some cheese fondue, not an obtainable desire in the middle of the night. But eventually I gave in and started rummaging in the kitchen. I found some polenta and decided to make a cheese polenta porridge inspired by mamaliga. Mamaliga is an Eastern European side dish, it is a polenta porridge made with cheese and often sour cream. It is quite delicious and goes well with their heavy meat dishes.

In the biggest pot we had (because everything else was dirty) I cooked the polenta until it reached a thick porridgey consistency and then I added the cheese. A lot of cheese. I am proud to admit that I used cheese as form liquid to water down to polenta.
cheesy-polenta
And that’s how I arrived at my Poor Man’s Fondue midnight snack. It was pretty tasty, hot and cheesy and the closest I was going to get to fondue anytime soon! Both Noelle and I thought it was great, future fondue cravings can be satisfied! But looking back now I wonder if it was quite as good as I thought? Or was it because I was starving? I guess it means I will just have to make it again soon…

Elote de Domingo

Posted on by
1
Elote-de-DomingoWe discovered something wonderful recently. We were out at dinner at a place called Boho Mexica that serves regional Mexican food (don’t ask me what region). The food was pretty good but the grand discovery happened when we got to the desert menu.

Elote de Domingo
Traditional corn on the cob, the way we eat them on Sundays
A bit of chilli, mayonnaise & lime sprinkled with cheese

Yes that’s right, corn for dessert. There is really not much else to say here.

We’ve made this several times since then but I have to admit never for dessert. Mostly as a between meal snack and once as an entree when we had people over for dinner. They thought we were so fancy!

Little did they know it is super easy to make.
corn-butter-baking-papercorn-with-lime

Elote de Domingo
This uses our standard method of cooking corn in the oven
  • 1 ear
    corn
  • half
    lime
  • a pinch
    dried chili flakes [or finely sliced fresh chili]
  • 1 teaspoon
    butter
  •  
    grated cheese
  •  
    mayonnaise or aoli
  1. Pre-heat the oven at 200°C (400°F).
  2. Remove the husk and wash the corn, you can do this with the whole corn or break it up into smaller serving sizes.
  3. Prepare a piece of baking paper for each piece of corn. Spread a thin layer of butter on the bottom third of the baking paper, just wide enough for the corn. Sprinkle with salt and chili flakes.
  4. Roll the corn up in the baking paper, make sure the buttered bits are touching the corn. Wrap it up like a piece of candy and twist both ends.
  5. Bake for 10-12 mintues.
  6. Unwrap the corn and squeeze over lime juice, sprinkle on cheese and drizzle with mayonnaise and it’s good to go.

Try new foods: Dudhi

Posted on by
5

dudhi
I have been eyeing dudhis at the local Tesco for a while now, I have never seen them before but I was very curious about what they look like on the inside and what they taste like. So finally yesterday I bought one home with me. I think this is first time I’ve bought something without having any idea what it is or what I would possibility do with it.

A quick search taught me that dudhi is an Indian / Asian melon, also known as calabash, bottle gourd or opo squash. It seems that it is used in stews, curries, soups and chutneys, so pretty much everything! I decided to make a curry out of my dudhi, the first step is to peel the dudhi and then I can crack it open to see what it’s insides are like. Mwahahaa

calabashbottle-gourdThe outside of the dudhi reminded me of a cucumber once I started peeling, the inside is spongy like an eggplant but not as dry. When you touch its inside it leaves a tacky feeling on your hands, not wet but not quite dry either. It is rather odd. Smell wise it just smells like generic raw vegetable so nothing too exciting there.

Apparently I am suppose to de-seed it. Not sure how that is suppose to work as there is not a separate ‘seed section’ so I decided to leave it. I think the one I got is very young, the internet tell me they can get up to a metre long so maybe this one doesn’t have real seeds yet?

opo-squashchopped-dudhi

After I sliced and diced the dudhi I made a vegetable curry with zucchini, cumin, garam masala, coconut milk and far too many chiles. It made a pretty tasty curry however it was slightly bitter, you know that slight bitterness that zucchini sometimes has? Well dudhi is from the same family of things that are slightly bitter so I don’t think mixing the two helped. dudhi-curryI think the best way to describe dudhi based on my experience is eggplant-like, it’s spongy and softens and collapses once its cooked. However it held ist shape better than eggplant and didn’t turn into mush. I can’t comment on it’s flavour as my curry was quite rich and spicy. However I imagine it would be quite a subtle flavour. I would like to cook with dudhi again, perhaps in a soup next time.