Chương 24: Cooking frenzy
With duck and chicken meat finished to prepared didn't mean our work is finished. There's still a lot of things to do in the kitchen, like preparing rice paper for Beijing Kouya Rolls. There's also dumpling that needs time to make. Since dumpling dough needs some rest before cooking, I start with making dumpling skin first.
First, Add flour into a large bowl. Slowly pour the water into the bowl, mixing them together with a pair of chopsticks.
When the water is mixed with the flour, dust both hands with flour and start kneading to form a dough. The dough will be quite tough and should easily be able to be lifted from the bowl without sticking to the bottom.
When the dough has formed, dust the working surface with flour and dust hands again. Transfer the dough to the working surface and continue to knead it until its surface becomes smooth about 10 minutes.
Rinse a clean dish towel with water. Dust the bottom of a large bowl with flour and transfer the dough into it. Cover bowl with the damp dish towel and a lid. Let the dough rest for 2 hours
After resting, the dough will be softened and have a smooth texture. Dust the working surface and your hands with extra flour and transfer the dough onto the surface. Knead the dough repeatedly for another 3 to 5 minutes, until the dough hardens again. Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes
Why I make this Beijing kouya into a roll, is because the sweet sour chicken will be served with white rice, if the guest must take another white rice to eat, their appetite will decrease. If the chicken and duck served together, there will be people who only eat chicken and people that only eat duck. So change the white rice into paper rice will help them to eat without decreasing their appetite and can enjoy all the dishes. Even if they can't eat that during the feast, they still can bring that home. So I prepare the rice paper for that. The ingredient is simple and easy to get, it only:
tapioca flour/starch, rice flour, cornstarch, salt, water, vegetables oil
And how to make the rice paper also easy:
Mix the rice flour and tapioca flour together. Place the flour in a large bowl and mix the types of flour together until you've created an even mixture
Add the cornstarch and salt.
Slowly mix in 1 tablespoon of oil and begin adding water to make a thin, pancake-like batter.
Prepare your cutting board. Simply grease it and set it aside.
Begin to heat your frying pan on medium to low heat. The level of heat depends on how quickly you will be flipping the paper. Make sure you use a non-stick frying pan with a tight lid.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan.
Fill your measuring cup with batter and pour it into the pan. Make sure your pan is slightly hot and begin gently but quickly pouring the batter into the pan. Pour in just enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan before it sets.
Put the lid on the pan and let it steam for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Remove the lid and loosen the ends of the rice paper with your spatula.
Carefully turn over the pan onto the cutting board. Gently tap the bottom of the pan for the rice paper to fall on the board.
Let the rice paper cool. When it has cooled off for a few minutes, you can use your rice paper for whatever dish you'd like to make
I made some rice paper and after that Ming Er continue to make it. It's not too hard to make anyway, and we prepared around hundreds of rice paper for this feast, which takes about one and half hour to make it. While Ming Er did the rice paper, I prepared the duck and grill it
Clock already showing 4 o'clock that time when a man enters the kitchen. When Ming Er sees whose coming she looks happy
"Brother!"
"Little Ming! You back!"
"Um, I bring my husband home to introduce to our family. Husband, meet my older brother, Li Shao He. Brother, he's my husband, You Ben"
"Hello, I'm Ming Er brother, Shao He. Thanks for taking care my sister"
"Hello brother, nice to meet you, I'm You Ben, your sister's husband"
"Mother told me to go to the kitchen to help. Is there anything I can do here?"
"Thanks, brother, I will need some bamboo shoot and leek here. Can you get me some from storage?"
"No problem. I'll get that for you"
Ming Er brother is like her father plus her mother combine and divide in two. His body is like his father but her attitude is like his mother. I'm getting along well with his brother. With another helper, I can ask him to watch the duck grill while I make the Sweet Sour Chicken
For the Sweet Sour Chicken dish, the ingredients that I use are (for one chicken):
• 4 tbsps Peanut oil, divided
• 1 lb. chicken breast, sliced thinly
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 1 cup Chinese cabbage, chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1-2 carrots, shredded
• 1 red, yellow or green pepper, diced
• 1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger or 1/4 tsp. dried ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced
And for the sauce:
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• Salt, pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp. dried ginger
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• Pinch of garlic powder
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch
Cooking direction:
1. Have all ingredients chopped and ready to go.
2. In a deep skillet or wok, heat 2 tbsps. oil over high heat.
3. Add all vegetables. Stir-fry quickly until onion is cooked and translucent. Remove to bowl.
4. Add 2 tbsps. oil to wok; heat. Add chicken and stir-fry until no longer pink on the outside (5-7 minutes).
5. Mix in separate bowl sauce ingredients, making sure to mix cornstarch thoroughly.
6. Put chicken in the wok, add vegetables and sauce mix. Cook over low heat until cornstarch is cooked, about 7 minutes, or until sauce is slightly thickened.
7. Serve over hot cooked white rice.
I use the leftover chicken to make the fillet for dumpling and after the dumpling finish filling, the next step is to cook the dumpling. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Carefully add dumplings one at a time into the water. Use a big ladle to stir the water gently and continuously, until the water starts to boil again, so the dumplings won't stick to the bottom, for about 1 minute. Adjust the heat so the water is at boiling point, but isn't bubbling too fiercely.
When the dumplings float to the surface, continue boiling until the dumplings are filled with air and swollen, and the dough starts to become transparent about 1 minute. Immediately transfer all the dumplings to a plate.
After dumpling and sweet sour chicken done, the next thing is Beijing Kouya rolls. I make thins slices on the duck's meat before putting it on the paper rice. To accompany the duck meats in the rolls, I fry bamboo shoot that already peeled its outer layer and sliced into a thin strand with leeks in the pan with cooking oil. After the bamboo shoot and leeks sent fragrant aroma from the pan, that means it's ready. I put the duck meat that already slices into a thin sheet with bamboo shoot and leeks into the paper rice rolls and wrapped it into a roll. Then Beijing kouya rolls are done.
The last thing to make is tomato soup. I choose tomato soup because it's color is red, and red identic with a celebration in China. It's not a complicated soup, and easy to make
Heat oil in a large saucepan; add onion and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes to lightly brown. Stir in celery, potatoes, broth, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Let cool slightly, then purée in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour back into the saucepan and stir in basil, garlic salt, and pepper; cook for 5 minutes. Check seasonings, if the salt or pepper is lack, add some until the flavor is satisfied
Thankfully, Brother Shao He is helping us. He strong enough to carry the big pot into the prepared table for the feast. It seems during our cooking, my father in law already arrange tables and chairs in the front yard.
After the cooking finish, I feel very tired. It's not easy to prepared dishes for 30-40 only by 2-3 people only. Fortunately, it all can be done half hour before feast starting and cooking rice is no longer hard to make in this time. just put the rice in rice cooker and all is done automatically. There are also blender and mixer which make whisking and stirring ingredient to become easier.
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