Grace's Vegetarian Turkey

My friend Grace has many talents. On top of being a fantastic baker, cake decorator extraordinaire and photographer, she is also a terrific cook. Last July, I had the pleasure of partaking in a feast she whipped up for her birthday party. This vegetarian turkey was one of the dishes she served.

Grace's vegetarian turkey reminds me of my good friend K in Malaysia, who has been a vegetarian for more than 15 years. Whenever I am in town, I like her to bring me to her favorite chinese vegetarian restaurant and let her do the ordering. There will be a table full of mock chicken, mock ham, mock bacon, and mock roast pork, mock fish and vegetables. I find it fascinating that one can name any meat, and the restaurant will surely has a vegetarian version, make with the mock meat in which the ingredients are essentially soy bean and mushroom, flavored to mimic the real deal.

I have not seen this kind of chinese vegetarian restaurants in the US, so I was excited when Grace served the vegetarian turkey. I knew I need to learn this dish. K will be impressed if I bring this to the next potluck party when I go home this Nov!

Grace uses an assortment of vegetables as filling/meat, and the beancurd sheet, which can be found at the freezer section of Asian grocery store, as the "turkey skin". That's our friend T, hiding behind the beancurd sheet.

Here's the step by step photo instructions I have taken while Grace was demonstrating the process. If you can read Chinese,check out the recipe on Grace's blog and other mouth watering creations she make. That woman is insanely talented, I miss her food.

Here's Grace posing with the vegetarian turkey. She will be so proud to know that I finally made it last week on a rainy day. It is as good as my mentor's! ;)

Grace's Vegetarian Turkey
see the recipe in Chinese here


1 pack of beancurd sheet (see the picture above)
1 medium carrot, finely shredded
1 cup wood ear mushroom, rehydrated in water, for 1 hour, and finely shredded
6 dried shiitake mushroom, rehydrated in water, for 1 hour, and finely shredded
vegetarian oyster sauce
soy sauce
1/2 cup vegetable broth
sesame oil
dark soy sauce

For the filling:
Add 2 tablespoons of oil in a nonstick pan, and stirfry the carrot and mushrooms. Season with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, 1/2 tablespoon of vegetarian oyster sauce and 1 teaspoon of soy sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning according to your preference. Continue to stirfry until all the ingredients are soft and cook.

Remove from the pan and put the filling in a pan to cool slightly.

Make sauce:
In a small or medium bowl,mix together 1/2 cup of vegetarian broth with 1.5 tablespoons of vegetarian oyster sauce, 1 tespoon of sesame oil, 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce,1/2 teaspoon of dark soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar.

To assemble the vegetarian turkey:
Remove 2 pieces of the bean curd sheets from the package,fold the sheets in half and cut with a scissor. You will have 4 pieces of half circle now. Using a pastry brush, generously brush the sauce onto a piece of half circle, cover with another half circle, and brush with the sauce. Repeat for 2 more times. You will have 4 pieces of overlapping beancurd sheets.

Put some of the filling in the center of the beancurd sheets, and fold following the step by step instructions above. Secure with a toothpick.

Heat a nonstick pan with oil, add in the "turkeys", and sear until both sides are lightly golden. Pour in th remaining sauce, the turkeys are ready when the sauce is almost fully absorb. Remove from pan, and cool.

At this point, you can keep the vegetarian turkey in the fridge and keep for up to 2 days. Cut when ready to serve.

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A Taste of Yellow: Steamed Fish Rolls

A taste of yellow is a food blogging event started by Barbara of Winos and Foodies last year in support of the LiveStrong Day. 149 bloggers participated by making dishes with an element of yellow food last year. I have no doubt that the numbers will increase this year as cancers have affected more people in all walks of life.

I first learned about cancer when I was 9 years old. It affected my grandpa, the person I love the most in the entire world. It's hard to talk about grandpa without having tears welling up in my eyes. Although he has passed on for almost 20 years now, I still miss him a lot. More so on the special moment in my life, like my graduations and wedding. And I know how much he wished to see me in my wedding gown. But cancer took him away, even before he saw me graduating from primary school.

Grandpa was a joyous person and he knew how to enjoy life. He traveled whenever he could, and he and grandma were regulars in clubs where they loved to go and dance. Yes, my grandpa was a great dancer. Unfortunately, he never passed on that gene to any of his children or grandchildren. When I think of grandpa, I think of his infectious laughter, his positive outlook on life, the jokes we shared, the story about tiger and a little girl that I asked him to repeat one too many times and the delicious chinese meals he cooked.

When grandpa was alive, egg used to be one of his favorite foods. I think it's only appropiate for me to make something with eggs as my contribution for this year's A Taste of Yellow. So steamed fish rolls it is. I first saw the recipe on Chubby Hubby, and then my friend Rasa Malaysia made it too. The locals in my hometown have a similar version of this dish, but between you and me, I like the bloggers' version better.

Steamed Fish Rolls
adapted from Rasa Malaysia

3 extra large eggs (makes about 6 small fish rolls)
6 sheets of roasted nori or seaweed
1/2 pound fish paste or half a box of frozen fish paste (get it from any Asian Grocery store)
4 or 5 medium shrimps, shelled and deveined, finely minced
1 stalk scallions (chopped into tiny bits)
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
3 dashes white pepper powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Japanese mirin (optional)

Defrost the frozen fish paste and add in minced shrimps, scallions, sesame oil, and white pepper. Mix well and set aside. Beat the eggs and add mirin, if using and salt. Heat up a non-stick omelet pan (any nonstick pan with 8-9-inches in diameter is fine) and make about 6 thin omelets. Set the omelets aside to let cool.

After the omelets are fully cooled, transfer one onto a dry and clean chopping board. Lay a piece of roasted seaweed or nori on top of the omelet. Cut the edges of the seaweed sheet off with a kitchen shear, so they match the shape of the omelet perfectly. Then, spread a thin layer of the fish paste mixture evenly on top of the roasted seaweed sheet and roll the omelet up firmly. Seal the omelet with the fish paste so the fish roll is nice and tight. Repeat the same for the remaining omelets.

Transfer the fish rolls onto a plate and steam in hot boiling water for 8-10 minutes or until the fish paste fillings turn opaque. Cut the fish rolls into small pieces and serve immediately with chilli sauce.

note: for step by step illustrations, check out my fellow Malaysian-My Kitchen Snippet's post

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For The Sack of Nostalgia- A recipe of Caterpillar Bread

Growing up, the time that we kids looked forward the most was when the bread van pull into the neighborhood. We usually called the man behind the wheel- "the bread van uncle". Sadly, I don't recall having another nicer name for the movable vendor who sells various kinds of Asian breads, pastries and snacks out of the back of his van. Normally, we could hear the unmistakable rumbling of his weathered engine with the loud and clear honking miles away, and would patiently wait for it to arrive at its designated stop, usually under a shady tree, 2 houses down from ours at 4p.m.

My younger brother Alan would always get a hot dog bun, I think he is a devoted hot dog buns follower. Sometime I would get something chocolatey, such as a chocolate cream bun, or sometime I would join him and get a hot dog bun.

So where is this going and what does this have to do with the Caterpillar Bread, you ask? Well, I believe that this caterpillar breads that surfaced and proliferated in many Asian bakeries in late 90's was a derivative of my brother's favorite hot dog bun. And wouldn't it be fun if I could recreate his childhood favorite bread and surprise him when we meet again? I have a feeling that the hot dog bun may still be his favorite bun now. Some things just never change. :p

I don't think mine turned out looking like caterpillars, they looked more like turtles, but it was a fun project to undertake on a weekend nonetheless! OCT like to bring them to work on busy days when he doesn't have time for a proper lunch.

I used the basic sweet dough from the pork floss bun recipe, and squeezed light mayo and ketchup on top of the breads, together with pork floss before baking. A taste which is reminiscent of home.....

*I will type out the detailed recipe soon, but trust me, the step by step instructions above is easier to follow. :)*

Caterpillar Bread

one batch of basic sweet bun dough
1 pack of sausages/franks
mayonaise
ketchup

Divide the basic sweet dough into 70g pieces and mould them into balls. Let them rest for 10 minutes, then roll them flat with a rolling pin.

Put the sausage on the center of the dough and fold the dough into halves. Lightly pinch to seal. Cut each folded dough into 8 small portions, leaving 1/3 from the sealed edges uncut. (The dough should resemble a comb at this point.)

Twist first cut portion to the left, and second to the right, repeat this for the rest of the portions. Place the shaped dough onto a greased baking sheet and press each lightly. Let the dough prove for 45 minutes.

Brush with egg wash, and drizzle ketchup, followed by mayonaise on top.

Bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes or until the breads look golden brown. You can pipe some mayonaise and ketchup on top if desired (for presentation) and sprinkle the optional pork floss.

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Chinese Beef Stew with Daikon

It was only last Sunday when we put on our shorts and flip-fops to welcome the apparent arrival of spring. And then late last night came the snowstorm that brings the temperature down from the 70's to 20's, together with 12 inches of snow. Throughout the day, the incessant snow that resembled sifted flour had me wonder if the angels have been busy baking for somebody's birthday.

Seems like the season for comfort stews is far from over. For a wintry night like this, I love having a pot of hearty beef stew simmering on top of the stove to welcome OCT home. Because I still have some beautiful daikons left from making my favorite Crispy Daikon Cake, I decided to make an Asian inspired beef stew. There's a kind of Chinese beef stew which has daikon in it which my friend E used to rave about. She said that her grandma made the best Chinese beef stew with daikon in the entire world. Growing up in a family that doesn't eat beef, I have unfortunately not tasted this form of beef stew before. Neither have I met up with E's legendary grandma who makes the mean pot of chinese beef stew. So this is my take on the chinese beef stew with daikon. The way I envision it to be.In my humble opinion, I wouldn't think it resembles the original version in anyway, but this version is delicious nonetheless.

To inject some chinese flavor in this beef stew, I use some whole unpeel garlic cloves, star anises and five spice powder to season the broth. Instead of fresh cremini and white button mushrooms, dried shiitakes are reconstituted and used. Then I decided to incorporate some of my favorite elements of a classic American beef stew, such as red wine, swanson's low sodium beef broth and carrot into the pot.

You can call it the Americanized Chinese Beef Stew if you must, since I don't make the beef broth from scratch using beef bones, and traded the Chinese Shaoxing wine (which I obviously have in the pantry) for the bottle of leftover red in my fridge. Whatever. Wait. Let's call it......MAC BeST. (Mandy's Americanized Chinese Beef Stew, get it? :))

I know. It's lame. Just humor me by pretending that it's funny for a second, ok?

I am submitting this recipe for the Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Anna of Morsels and Musings this week. The rest of the world deserve to know that daikon tastes great in beef stew. :)


MAC BeST (Mandy's Americanized Chinese Beef Stew)

1.5 pounds sirloin tip roast,trimmed and cubed
2 medium onion, peeled and minced
1 large daikon, ( about 12-14 oz) peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1.5 cups chopped carrot
2 cups of low sodium beef broth
1 cup red wine
2 cups water
10-15 dried shiitake mushroom, reconstituted in warm water for 1 hour until soft, halved or quartered, depending on how big the shiitake mushrooms are
1/2 tsp five spice powder
2 star anise
5 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tsp salt
white pepper


Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 10 minutes or until tender and golden brown. Remove to a plate.

Place flour in a shallow bowl or pie plate. Dredge beef in flour, shaking off excess. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil + 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add half of beef mixture; sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cook 6 minutes, browning on all sides. Add browned beef to onion. Repeat procedure with remaining beef mixture and 1/8 teaspoon salt.

Add 1 cup wine to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add star anise, five spice powder, broth, sugar, mushrooms and garlic cloves; bring to a boil. Stir in beef mixture. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for one hour or until beef is tender.

Stir in daikon and carrot. Simmer for one and a half hour to two hour or until beef and vegetables are very tender and sauce is thick, stirring occasionally. Taste and season with salt and pepper. If time allows, increase the total cooking time to 3 hours, so that all the ingredients have more time to meld together.

p/s: The beef stew tastes better the next day!

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