Cuisine: Chinese

Chinese 5 Spice Pear & Applesauce Muffins

The flavor of Chinese five-spice is cozy, comforting, and tastes just like fall! While it’s commonly associated with savory dishes, it can also add an interesting twist to sweet and fruity flavors. The warm and aromatic notes of cinnamon, cloves, and star anise work well with the delicate flavor of pears complementing their natural sweetness.

Chinese Five Spice Powder has been used in Chinese cooking for centuries. Although its origins are somewhat mysterious, it seems to have roots in traditional Chinese medicine. The belief was that this mixture would foster internal harmony by uniting the five main flavors traditionally employed in Chinese cuisine: sweet, sour, pungent, bitter, and salty. By achieving this balance of flavors, aligned with the five main elements (earth, fire, water, metal, and wood), tradition held that one could achieve balance in mind and body.

This flavorful blend of spices typically includes star anise, Szechuan peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, and fennel seeds and while five spice powder won’t magically cure ailments, it can certainly elevate lackluster dishes.

Chinese five spice as been a favorite of mine for many years. I like it in both sweet and savory dishes but today I thought it would make these ordinary little fall muffins into something special – and it does!

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 Chinese 5 Spice Pear & Applesauce Muffins
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course dessert
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword Chinese 5-spice pear & applesauce muffins
Servings
LARGE
Ingredients
Muffins
Topping
Course dessert
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword Chinese 5-spice pear & applesauce muffins
Servings
LARGE
Ingredients
Muffins
Topping
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin cups with 8 jumbo papers or 12 regular size papers.
  2. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter & sugar then add applesauce, eggs & vanilla & mix until smooth.
  3. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt & 5-spice powder.
  4. Add flour mixture to wet mixture, folding in only until barely combined then add diced pear & gently fold into mixture.
  5. Scoop the batter evenly into prepared muffin tin. Divide topping between muffins & gently spread over top using a fork. Bake 25-30 minutes & a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
  6. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from muffin tin.

Sweet Red Bean Twists

Red bean bread is a Chinese bakery classic, the quintessential Asian bread. Be it Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or just about any other Southeast Asian and East Asian countries, this bread is a staple. The bread is light, fluffy, slightly sweet and filled with creamy sweet red bean paste.

In many Asian cultures, beans such as red beans, mung beans and black beans are commonly used in desserts. This tradition likely developed due to the availability of beans as a staple food, as well as the natural sweetness and creamy texture they can add to dishes when cooked and sweetened. Beans are also high in protein and fiber, making them a nutritious addition to desserts. Over time, the use of beans in desserts has become a cherished part of Asian culinary traditions, offering a unique and delicious alternative to more common dessert ingredients.

Red bean paste also called adzuki bean paste or anko is prepared by boiling the beans, then mashing or grinding them. At this stage, the paste can be sweetened or left as it is.

Over the years I have used another interesting vegetable known as a purple yam in many breads and desserts which puts me very much in mind of the sweet bean taste. The purple yam is cooked and sweetened like the red bean paste and has a similar texture. It is called Ube halaya and in the Philippine culture it to is a cherished staple.

One of the nice things I found with the red bean paste is if you’re not interested in making your own from scratch it is readily available at the Asian grocery stores in refrigerated packages or tinned. I know red bean isn’t exactly for everyone, but it’s hard to just ignore how well it goes with the Asian fluffy bread. 

Today I’m making some red bean twists with my version of a ‘milk’ bread. For the filling this time, I purchased a tinned chunky red bean paste. It all came together quite nicely and tasted so good!

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 Sweet Red Bean Twists
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course dessert
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword sweet red bean twists
Servings
SERVINGS
Ingredients
Dough
Sweet Red Bean Filling
Course dessert
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword sweet red bean twists
Servings
SERVINGS
Ingredients
Dough
Sweet Red Bean Filling
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
  1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast & 1 tsp sugar in lukewarm milk. Let stand for 5 minutes to allow yeast to activate. In a large bowl, whisk together 2 Tbsp sugar, melted butter, sour cream & egg. Add yeast mixture, stirring to combine.
  2. In another bowl combine flour & salt. Add flour mixture, 1 cup at a time, combining with wet mixture. Once all the flour has been added, knead dough for about 2 minutes until smooth & elastic consistency. Place dough in a greased bowl & cover with plastic wrap & a towel. Allow to rise in a draft free place until doubled in bulk, about an hour.
  3. Punch the risen dough down & divide the dough into 3 equal parts. Lay a piece of parchment paper over the removeable bottom of a 10-inch tart pan on your work surface. Place first portion of the dough on the parchment paper & roll or press out dough the size of the bottom of the tart pan. Carefully spread the circle with half of the bean paste. Roll out the second portion the same size & transfer with your rolling pin to top of the first portion. Carefully spread it with the remaining bean paste.
  4. Roll out the third portion of dough to the same size & place it on top of the other two layers. Pinch the dough around the outer edge to seal. Place a small glass in the center & press down. Cut from outside edge just to the glass, forming 12 wedges.
  5. Remove the glass. Twist each wedge 3-4 times. Tuck edge under. Place bottom of tart pan ( with parchment paper & twists) inside tart pan ring. Cover with plastic wrap & a towel. Allow to rise for about 15-20 minutes.
  6. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  7. Lightly brush twists with a bit of egg wash & sprinkle with black sesame seeds before baking. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to a wire cooling rack.
Recipe Notes
  • When you purchase red bean paste, make sure the ingredients do not include maltose. The type that contains maltose is for making mooncakes. It is quite sticky, and it is hard to work with when making red bean bread. 

Sticky Chinese Five-Spice Chicken Traybake

The term traybake seems to have two very different meanings. For example:

  • A dessert baked in a square or rectangular pan and then cut into squares or slices after baking.

 OR

  • a savory dish consisting of several items of food being placed together on a baking tray along with some seasonings, then go into the oven together. With the right cut of meat and the right vegetables, they all are done at the same time. Dinner is served!

Life’s hustle and bustle can mean the last thing you want to worry about is fixing a busy dinner with multiple pots and pans…and having to clean it all up. The solution? Simple tray bakes. With minimal prep, basic ingredients, and little clean-up, this is surely one of the quickest ways to get dinner on the table (and takes less time than waiting for food to be delivered).

For the best success with this easy cooking technique, use your sturdiest pan (this will prevent your ingredients from browning too much) and have a bottle of your favorite oil cooking spray handy. Once you’ve assembled everything on the sheet pan, you can sit back, relax, and let the oven do the work for you.

When you’re roasting food, air circulation is everything. That’s why low-rimmed baking sheets are preferred over roasting pans. They accelerate cooking and boost browning in a traybake.

Traybake is the cooking technique of choice for these Chinese 5-spice chicken thighs. Simply load a sheet pan with chicken thighs that have been marinated in the spicy Chinese sauce, then you can just pop it in the oven and wait for the magic to happen. Serve over brown or white rice garnished with green onion.

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 Sticky Chinese Five-Spice Chicken Traybake
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword sticky Chinese 5-spice chicken traybake
Servings
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword sticky Chinese 5-spice chicken traybake
Servings
Ingredients
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. In a container with a cover, combine hoisin sauce, sesame oil, honey, five-spice powder, ginger, garlic & some salt & pepper.
  2. Add chicken thighs to marinade & toss to coat. Cover & refrigerate for about 2 hours or overnight.
  3. Preheat oven to 400 F.
  4. Arrange chicken thighs on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast for 30-40 minutes until cooked through, basting at least once. If using cashews, remove chicken from oven & stir through chicken. Bake 5 minutes more.
  5. Prepare rice while chicken is baking. Arrange on a platter & top with chicken thighs. Garnish with green onions.
Recipe Notes
  • If you wish, garnish with some cashew nuts for extra flavor.

Green Onion Cake B(L)T

If you’re not familiar with them, green onion cakes are savory, pan fried flatbreads with a crispy exterior and a chewy interior filled with scallions, much like you’d spread cinnamon-sugar over dough for cinnamon buns, then rolling, twisting and squishing.

The scallion pancake has been around for so long, that like many other foods, its origins have passed into myth, folklore, and guesswork. It’s hard to tell where it was first created, but many of these tales point to Shanghai in northeastern China; at least, this is the most commonly accepted theory behind its creation. Shanghai has a large and diverse population, mainly of people who aren’t Chinese, such as the Indians. The scallion pancake greatly resembles an Indian flatbread known as paratha.

The Edmonton-style green onion cake, a variant of the Chinese scallion pancake, was popularized by chef Siu To, seen as the forefather in our city, of this specialty. When Siu To opened a restaurant in 1979, he had only one ambition. The former construction worker, who immigrated to Edmonton from northern China four years earlier, simply wanted to cook and serve the homestyle Mandarin cuisine he so greatly missed. But Siu To had no idea that they would become the local specialty of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The cakes were initially not seen outside his restaurant because of the labor-intensive process behind them; they must be slowly pan fried to crisp the outside and maintain the chewy interior. Eventually, Siu To found himself being increasingly asked to prepare the cakes at festivals and the popularity skyrocketed. Two variations exist: one with a typical pancake shape, and the other with a hole in the middle.

Today, green onion cakes are synonymous with Edmonton. They’re requisite festival fare and are in dozens of local eateries. The cakes were showcased in a Royal Alberta Museum exhibit on prairie Chinese restaurants in 2013. Bloggers as far away as Halifax acknowledge the green onion cake’s status in Edmonton’s culinary culture. 

It’s peculiar as to how a simple pan-fried dish made from little more than dough and green onions ever received this much attention in the first place.

Today, Brion & I are kicking it up a notch and having our city of Edmonton’s iconic green onion cakes in a ‘BT’ open face sandwich form. Lettuce is not really our favorite veg, so we opted to leave it off.

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 Green Onion Cake BLT
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword green onion cake BLT
Servings
Ingredients
Green Onion Cakes
Aioli
Toppings
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword green onion cake BLT
Servings
Ingredients
Green Onion Cakes
Aioli
Toppings
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
Aioli
  1. In a bowl, whisk mayo, chili paste, sesame oil, 5-spice, sriracha, soy sauce & white pepper. Continue whisking until all blended & uniform. Set aside.
Toppings
  1. In a skillet, fry bacon until desired crispness. Remove from skillet & blot on paper towel. Slice tomatoes & Havarti cheese. Wash & prepare lettuce (if using). Set toppings aside until ready to be used.
Green Onion Cakes
  1. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt. Make a well in mixture & add water. Mix until it forms a smooth dough. Knead for 2-3 minutes until dough is very elastic. Coat the dough lightly with a bit of oil & return to bowl. Allow to sit while you prepare onions.
  2. Slice green onions, place in a small bowl & combine well with sesame oil.
  3. Roll out dough into a very thin large circle. Spread green onion/oil mixture over entire surface. At bottom edge start rolling (cinnamon roll style), stretching & rolling until you reach the other side. Cut the cylinder into 8 even pieces. Pinch the ends of each piece together. One at a time, stand each roll on end & flatten into 'cakes'.
  4. Heat a Tbsp of oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. (I found that my cakes seemed to be oily enough without adding any oil to the skillet.) When oil shimmers, place onion cakes in skillet. It should sizzle but not burn. Cook for 2 minutes on one side or until golden brown. Flip & cook another 2 minutes or until onion cake is cooked through.
Assembly
  1. Spread about a Tbsp of the aioli on each of the green onion cakes. Divide your toppings between 4 of the green onion cakes. Place remaining cakes on top. Cut each green onion BLT in half & serve or do as we did & have them 'open face'.
Recipe Notes
  • If the aioli sounds too spicy you can always change it out for Ranch dressing.

Chinese Char Siu Pork Meatballs

The meatball is a food that transcends cultures. Char siu pork meatballs, are one of the most popular pork dishes in Chinese/Cantonese cuisine and one of the most ordered dishes in restaurants.

They are full of all the flavors we love in Chinese food takeout. Salty, sweet, smoky, charred edges with juicy tender pork inside. Todays recipe was inspired by Chinese char siu with the use of 5-spice powder giving them that unmistakable flavor. This is a blend of star anise, fennel seeds, Sichuan peppercorns, cloves, and Chinese cinnamon.

Char siu, loses something in its basic English name, barbecued pork. This sweetly marinated and basted meat has become a symbol of comfort food in Cantonese cuisine and means so much more than just barbecued or roasted meat.

The traditional dish is made from seasoned boneless pork. The pork is covered in a sweet, savory glaze and placed on wooden skewers or forks over low heat. It’s cooked until tender but not falling apart. The use of the skewers changes how the meat cooks. It should heat slowly and evenly from all sides. The char siu marinade is very distinctive in its flavor. Many cuts of pork can be used in char siu such as neck meat, pork belly and pork butt. Just about any lean boneless cut will work but I like pork tenderloin the best.

Meatballs are one of those creations that can be used in many different applications. The flavor profile can be varied with different spices or sauces. When they are paired with rice or noodles, they make a good main course. Alternatively, they are perfect as an appetizer or even just a snack. You can also make them in bulk and freeze them for use later. What’s not to love about something so versatile?

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 Chinese Char Siu Pork Meatballs
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword Chinese pork meatballs
Servings
MEATBALLS
Ingredients
Meatballs
Sweet & Spicy Sauce
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Chinese
Keyword Chinese pork meatballs
Servings
MEATBALLS
Ingredients
Meatballs
Sweet & Spicy Sauce
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
Meatballs
  1. In a large bowl, combine pork, cornstarch, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, five-spice powder & pepper. Mix well. Divide mixture into 20 pieces & roll into balls.
  2. in a skillet, heat oil. Fry meatballs in batches. Cook without moving for about 2 minutes or until the bottoms are cooked through. Use a spatula to carefully rotate the meatballs to cook on the other sides. Remove from skillet to paper towel.
Sauce
  1. In a small bowl or measuring cup combine all your sauce ingredients except the water and cornstarch. Pour your sauce mix in the skillet heat over medium low heat.
  2. Meanwhile, combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and pour in the skillet while stirring continuously. When the sauce begins to thicken add the meatballs back to the skillet and allow it to cook over low for 3-4 minutes, until they are coated.