Posts Tagged ‘Beef’

  1. Stuffed Cabbage (Because it’s Cabbage Season)

    November 26, 2012 by MaryAnne

    cabbage rolls

    The wind is just howling out there. Last night, I was kept up until the uncivilized hours by the noise of it just whipping around the building, slamming against the balcony that juts out, catching on the corner. Being on the 16th floor is loud. I had no idea before we moved here. I’d always been a first or second (or 5th, at most) kind of gal.

    Anyway, it’s still noisy this morning and I’m tired and it’s Monday.

    It’s also grey and grim and cold, as is to be expected here at this time of year.  I really should get a stock photo for this, to put on every post between now and next April. (more…)

    Category Baked Things, Soupy Stewy Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,, | 5 Comments

  2. Made in Jiānádà: Lanzhou Lāmiàn (broth!)

    June 30, 2012 by MaryAnne

    The Super-Sized dinner version

    This is part 2 in my noodle series. Part 1 (the hand pulled noodles) is here.

    This is quite possibly the best broth in the whole universe. Except, perhaps, for a fine Tom Yam with all the bark and twigs still nestled at the bottom of the bowl. This one has its own mighty collection of bark and twigs, and plays the role of hearty autumn and winter to Thailand’s fierce summer in the Cartesian dialectic of soup broths.

    This is a broth that will make you pick up the bowl and sip away at the broth until it’s gone, leaving only a few stray chili seeds at the bottom, long after the noodles and greens have been spooned/chopsticked away.  The rich beefy scent, umami’d up to the hilt with soy, garlic, star anise and cinnamon, needs to be brought up close to your nostrils as you sip. The chilies and garlic will sternly resolve any colds you may have stubbornly residing in your system.

    Keep a few Tupperware containers of this stuff in your freezer for a cold, rainy day, then note how your mood significantly lifts after you heat up a bowl of it. Seriously. This stuff is mood altering, up there with crack and bath salts. (more…)

    Category Made in Jianada, Soupy Stewy Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,, | 7 Comments

  3. Wok Fajitas! Fajitas in the Wok! Fajitas con Wok!

    March 30, 2012 by MaryAnne

    When it's slathered in cheese it looks almost exactly like the tacos I made last week...

    I bet you all think I live on tortillas and cookies, yearning for cheese and chocolate and fearfully snubbing the culinary options that surround me here in Shanghai.

    I mean, that’s pretty much what this blog indicates in its persistent quest narrative, chasing after elusive sachets of gelatine or powdered sugar (found the sugar but not the gelatine), with long hours spent over a hot keyboard trying to figure out how to make mozzarella cheese without rennet (or citric acid or lightly pasteurized milk, for that matter).

    I probably come across as a laowai so firmly jammed into her expat bubble that the thought of backing away from the toaster oven sends waves of homesickness and palpable fear coursing through her body.

    This is actually more indicative of how I eat outside the flat, on a day to day basis:

    Dumpling porn

    See, I can get marvellous stuff like this for cheap (these were 10rmb, or $1.50) everywhere around me.

    Most of my breakfasts are made up of a pot (or two) of coffee at home followed by steamed buns stuffed with tofu and greens or drippy barbecued pork, or hot and savoury tea eggs, or crispy fried rice cakes or savoury mung bean flour crepes stuffed with crispy fried wonton wrappers, chives, minced pickled veggies, cilantro and hoisin sauce en route to wherever I’m going.

    I like to maintain a balance. Cheese, chocolate and tortillas on the homefront; tofu, lotus root and grated radishes outside.

    (more…)

    Category Improbable Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,, | 15 Comments

  4. Awesome Slow-Cooker Spicy Shredded Beef Tacos

    January 2, 2012 by MaryAnne

    Dinner of champions. You know you want one.

    I’ve been meaning to do a taco post for ages. It’s one of our dinner staples here these days. I’ve made beef tacos that were browned in the wok, then marinated in the jus from the de-glazing, sliced thinly and sauteed in garlic, onion and chilies. I’ve also done pulled pork ones and ground beef ones. All have been awesome and utterly Sino-friendly.

    About 3 years ago, we spent some time in Mexico before moving to Shanghai. It was there that I discovered the glories of piping hot soft tacos with spicy shredded beef and fresh salsa. These were tiny little flour tortillas the size of your palm, not the hard shells and certainly not those gargantuan wraps that you find in the supermarkets. They weren’t drowned in sour cream or fake cheddar. They were very simple and very good.

    Each little tortilla we found at street stalls had a dollop of something meaty (or beany) on it- maybe sauteed chorizo or shredded chicken or grilled beef or pork or some crispy body part hacked up into bite sized pieces- and was served with a few fresh salsas (verde, roja, fresca), cilantro, lime, maybe some onion. I was partial to the salsa verde but you can’t get fresh tomatillos here. They were magnificent.

    What we do here is very similar, or at least as similar as you can get when living in China.

    For the tortilla, I tend to use my Xinjiang noodle dough (3 cups flour, 1 cup water, 2 teaspoons salt, mix, knead, rest, roll-out) and roll it out very, very thinly. You could also try this one or this one. The thinness lets it puff up like a chapati in the wok and gives it a soft airiness that is delicious and chewy.

    I make my own salsa fresca with cherry tomatoes, cilantro, onion and chilies, marinated a few hours with lime juice (when limes are available) and a bit of crunchy kosher salt. If you can’t get fresh limes, then lemons will do, as will Chinese rice wine vinegar.

    Those are the basics.

    Today I want to show you how to make spicy shredded beef in the crock pot to go in the tacos. The recipe said it’d take 10 hours but mine was done in barely 5 hours. Go figure. (more…)

    Category Improbable Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,, | 10 Comments

  5. The Hundred Beans Campaign: Red Chili For China

    November 10, 2011 by MaryAnne

    After a few hours on high then a few hours on low, we reached a delicious dining compromise

    Shanghai’s frigid and grim season has landed with a cold, heavy thump. Last night in bed, my hands went kind of numb as I tried to read a book under my two thick duvets, with just my head and fingers poking out. Right now, I can hear the wind howling outside the flat, a rather dreadful feature of living on the 16th floor.

    If you go up to the windows, you can feel a layer of cold air puffing through the cracks and thin panes. The wind is making it all rattle disconcertingly. Shanghai isn’t actually all that cold, at least not compared with, say, Beijing or Harbin, but it is in complete and utter denial about its lack of tropical winter balminess. Buildings are not particularly insulated and there is no central heating to speak of.

    Kevin the Panda shudders at the thought of going out into the chilly overcast morning

    (more…)

    Category Improbable Things, Soupy Stewy Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,, | 3 Comments

  6. شىنجاڭ‎ Uyghur Irish Stew

    October 16, 2011 by MaryAnne

    This was dinner: pumpkin soup, Irish stew, savoury buttermilk scones

    Now this one…this one’s going to be a search engine disaster in the making. It may also be the one that gets me pushed over the proverbial edge of the Great Firewall. Sorry.

    This stew is technically a basic Irish stew, though lacking in lamb and Guinness. I did, however, have some leathery supermarket Chinese beef and a bottle of  Sinkiang stout from the far, far west of China, from what’s known on maps as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (or شىنجاڭ ئۇيغۇر ئاپتونوم رايونى or Shinjang Uyghur Aptonom Rayoni or 新疆维吾尔自治区).  I made the stew yesterday, along with the spicy roasted pumpkin soup. It was a lovely autumnal dinner. (more…)

    Category Soupy Stewy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,, | 11 Comments

  7. Salma, the Ancient (and Awesome) Pasta!

    October 10, 2011 by MaryAnne

    On top of the garlic yogurt, I put a layer of the lovely, fragrant ground beef mixture. To that, I added the salma, lightly tossed with olive oil.

    My unemployment is showing. I haven’t done a lick of work since the end of September.  I’ve kept myself occupied with bursts of scone-baking (using the leftover whey from the ricotta cake topping from last week), minestrone-cooking, tortilla-wokking and waaaay too much reading.

    Indeed, I’ve been very busy.

    Very busy lying in bed, drinking coffee, and telling myself that I really ought to get my act together and do something productive for once.

    So I have, briefly. I’ve made something new.

    Or rather, something really quite old. Today’s recipe comes from, seriously, a 14th century cookbook called Kitab al-Tibakh (aka كتاب الطبيخ or Book of Dishes), which I was happily able to easily translate as the Turkish words are pretty much the same, though with different grammar linking them- kitap (book)+tabak (dish)). What we have here are (apparently) the world’s oldest recorded pasta shapes. They’re shaped like coins, by hand, squashed between your fingers. No need for a pasta maker or even a knife. I find that very exciting. (more…)

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    Category Improbable Things, Pasta Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,, | 8 Comments