Pan Pizza

After a long time of having this pizza in my to-do list, I can finally cross it off.  I have always wanted to try making some pizza, but I never got the chance until my mom's off day (the day she takes a break from cooking).  

The pizza was really easy to make and it reminded me of Pizza Hut's pizza. It had a nice crispy crust that tasted just right, due to the generously greased pans.   If you had a tiring day, you can make this pizza for an easy dinner.  I actually got the recipe from my book, America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.  The recipe also happens to be the same one that Tracey from Tracey's Culinary Adventures used.


Pepperoni Pan Pizza

 

California Sushi

On the day of Mother's Day, my dad and uncle planned to make dinner for our moms (my aunt, my mom and my grandma). After I discovered that my uncle was going to make sushi, I rushed over to his house to learn how to make it. When I was little, I thought sushi was disgusting. However, after trying my uncle's sushi and tasting the weird, orange fish eggs, I found that sushi isn't that bad. Now I even go to eat sushi buffets!  I still don't like sashimi though.

The most complicated part of sushi is prepping. Cooking the rice, slicing the cucumber and avocados, cooking eggs, and etc. I think it is totally worth it though. If you go out to buy sushi, you spend $5 on a few pieces alone. If you make it yourself, you can make several rolls with $5 of ingredients.

California Sushi
Recipe from my uncle, who got it from a church friend

Makes 10 rolls, each roll may be sliced into ~10 pieces

小 牛牌 Little Ribs

When I was little, my mom would cook this pretty often. However, now we only eat this once in a while. The ingredients below are estimates because my mom adds ingredients by eying the amount, not measuring like me. Hopefully, I will learn how to cook one day without measuring ingredients. Sorry, but I don't know the English name for this dish...so my translation may sound a bit weird.

小牛牌 Little Ribs
Recipe from my mom

some ribs
BBQ sauce or black pepper sauce -2-3-4 tbsps
Soy sauce around 1 tbsp or more, depending on the amount of meat

Directions
Cut ribs, get rid of the fat by peeling it off. If there is too much fat, cut it off with a knife.

Marinate the ribs for around 30 minutes in the BBQ sauce or black pepper sauce. Use enough sauce to marinate all the meat.



When cooking it, no oil is needed for the pan because there will be a lot of fat coming out.

Add the meat to the pan by laying it on its side. Cook on medium heat for a few minutes so the meat won't become tough.
Cook on one side for a few minutes, then flip over to the other side.

Then cover the pan with the lid, checking from time to time to see when it is done on that one side. After it is done on that side, flip it over to continue cooking. This will only take a few minutes and then you're done!


The remaining sauce leftover from this dish is good for noodles. Just cook and drain the noodles, then mix the sauce with the noodles.

Btw, these pictures were taken with the old camera, before it died.

My Birthday Feast

This is one long overdue post. It's already close to the end of December and I still haven't written about all the nice things my mom, dad, uncle and aunt did for me on my birthday last month. I'm really thankful for all the thoughtful gestures that they did for me on my birthday. I was really touched and happy. My mom made my favorite dishes for dinner and my dad helped out. My aunt made some egg tarts and my uncle/aunt/cousins made a really sweet card. Here are a few pictures of the dinner...

Soda Crackers with Smoked Salmon, Cranberries, and Cream Cheese

They were really yummy. These were my mom's idea.

炸酱麵 Bean Paste Pork Noodles

炸酱麵 also known as zha jiang mian or bean paste pork noodles (my translation), is a dish where bean paste is used to make a sauce and cooked with minced pork. My mom also adds 豆乾 (dried tofu) that is diced into this dish, which is a childhood favorite of mine. Whenever my mom made this dish, I would eat one bowl after another until I felt like my stomach would explode. XD After a really long time of not cooking these noodles, my mom decided to make them for me on 10/9/10. I was soo happy! It was actually to celebrate the end of my SATs because I don't want to take anymore SATs after the one I just took on 10/9/10.

My mom usually cooks these noodles with hand pulled noodles bought from a supermarket, but last week she made them with regular thin noodles.





I'll share the recipe one day when my mom makes them again.

Next time, maybe I'll try making homemade noodles too with this recipe. :)

My First Fried Rice

I made my first fried rice last Friday for a Chinese school project. I had to cook it the night before Chinese school, the next day it still tasted good even though it became 2 days old rice. Here's the recipe. As you can tell, I added a lot of veggies.

So I just followed all the directions and it turned out good. The only problem I had was the rice sticking to the pan...it eventually became this "chip". This is what happened.


Now the step by step instructions.

First, I prepared the marinade.

Here's the ground meat with the egg.

I then added the amount of meat needed for the recipe into the marinade and mixed it together.

Also, remember to refrigerate the cooked rice a day in advance, to ensure that your rice won't become soggy when it is cooked.


Then I heated up the pan and then added oil. When it was ready I started cooking the meat.


Keep cooking it until it's almost done, but not really.

I realize now that I might have overdone it, but the overall product turned out fine.

Put the meat in a separate bowl.

Prepare the veggies, I used cabbage and spring onions.


Cook the egg, and when the egg is almost done, add the rice. Mix.


Add the soy sauce.


and the cabbage and meat.

After I stirred in the cabbage I was worried that it wouldn't cook because it wasn't in contact with the pan. However, after a while it cooked, so don't worry if that happens to you. I am still a beginner cook though, so I doubt it will happen to other people. :)

Then, we're done! Yay! Mission accomplished.


Funny short story: This rice was for the Chinese school project right? Well, the project was cook a dish, get the recipe, and give a report on how to cook it. It ended up with half the class bringing fried rice cuz it's one of the easiest thing to make. Lol