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Pictorial Recipe Stir-fried Mustard Greens (Gai Choy) with Fish Cake (鱼雲抄芥菜) Mustard green is a popular Chinese vegetable readily available in California. It has a slightly bitter taste. It is not suitable to eat raw as salad, but it tastes very good when stir-fried with some meat slices. I like to cook it with fish cake, which is ground fish meat, deep-fried. They make fish cake in the shape of a rectangular slab or a ball or a round disc. You can find them in many Asian markets. Serving Suggestion: 2 - 3 Preparations: Main ingredients (left to right, clockwise): - 1 1/2 lb of Chinese mustard green - Fermented bean curds (use 2 to 3 cubes) - 1/2 to 1 lb fish cake (the one in plastic bag) - Garlic - use 3 to 4 cloves - Ginger - use 1 inch in length - Dried shrimp - use about 2 tblsp Cooking: - 5 tblsp of cooking oil - 1/4 tsp of salt (or to taste) This is the main feature: Chinese mustard green. Wash and cut into 2 to 3 inch in length. This is also the main feature: Fried fish cake. The one shown in the picture is 14 oz, vacuum sealed and shrink-wrapped in a plastic bag. Remove the plastic bag and cut the fish cake into 1/8 inch slices. Prepare the fermented bean curds, use about 2 to 3 small cubes (or more - adjust to your taste). Also, prepare 2 to 3 tblsp of dried shrimp. No need to soak them in water. Just cook as-is. Peel and mince 3-4 cloves of garlic. Grate about 1 inch in length of ginger. Cooking Instructions: Use a wok/pan, set stove to high. Add 2 tblsp of cooking oil. Add the fish cake slices. Try to spread the fish cake slices around evenly on the wok surface so they are browned evenly. Remove the fish cake once they are slightly browned. Add 2-3 tblsp of cooking oil in the wok. Add the dried shrimp and fry for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the minced garlic and grated ginger, and 1/4 tsp of salt (or to taste). Add the fermented bean curds. Use the spatula to smash the bean curds and stir well with the garlic/ginger and dried shrimp. Fry for about 30 seconds to a minute. Add the Chinese mustard greens. Stir well. Cook with the lid on for about 3 to 5 minutes until the vegetables turn soft. Stir occassionally. Return the fish cake slices. Stir-fry for another minute or so. Finished. Transfer to the serving plate. Picture of the finished dish.

I found out today that I am expected to make dessert for Christmas dinner. I make dessert for a lot of family meals, so doing it isn't a problem. But I'm having a tough time coming up with an idea that will work well. There will be seven adults and two kids. Ideally, it should be something that doesn't require refrigeration (space is always at a premium) and can be made the night/day before, or partially made the night/day before, then finished early in the afternoon Christmas Day. I need help!

I made a pumpkin pie for thanksgiving. The filling was great, but the crust was pretty bad. It was very hard, almost crunchy, and kind of tough. It was very hard to cut, especially towards the edges. Pie crust is something I've never mastered, but when I panned this one I thought it would be great. I make great biscuits almost every time, but pie crusts are always a crapshoot for me. Here's what I did: 4.5 oz AP flour, 1/2 tsp salt 1/8 tsp baking powder 3 oz butter, cut into quarters lengthwise then sliced into about 1/8" slices into the flour, then all of the above chilled for 15 minutes. Cut the flour so that it was still pretty chunky, although I worked it in well in well on one side of the bowl, so it was about half meal and half dimes. Added 1 T cider vinegar and maybe 4-5 T ice water (I think it was 5, I was hoping for 4, but had to add "one more" to get it to ball up). Chilled the disc for 20 mins, rolled out and panned, chilled for about 10 minutes while the oven heated and blind baked for 14 minutes @ 400 with a second pan holding it in place (not my kitchen, and wouldja believe it, no dry beans or even rice), then about 5 more "bare", then filled and baked for 60 more minutes at 350 (middle rack the whole time). I see 3 possibilities: overdone, too much water, or too much handling. It was pretty brown, but didn't look or smell burned. I think I tend to roll too slowly and hesitantly so it could have been overhandling, and it seemed kind of warm when I was done rolling so I probably should have chilled everything for longer. I don't see how I could have used any less water than I did, and there was very little shrinking so I don't think that's it. I probably should have chilled for an hour after panning instead of just 5 minutes, 5 minutes probably didn't do anything to relax any gluten, but I was in a hurry, dammit! . I also see that I might have had a bit too much salt, but it's within the range I see in recipes. All of the aunts make pie crust in one step then fill and bake immediately, and their crusts are always tender, but they use crisco instead of butter. It seemed more crunchy and hard than tough, so I don't think it was gluten that caused my problem. Should I blind bake a pumpkin pie? All the recipes I see call for it, for the most part.

this cake was very popular in my country when I was a young girl... then, we dont have an oven, so steaming is the only way we made cakes.. you can use any fizzy drink and the cake takes on the taste ( and color ) of the drink 2 eggs 130 g fine sugar 1 tsp ovalette ( can be omitted, tho cake may not be as soft ) 1 tsp vanilla extract 150 g flour 120 ml ice-cream soda / 7-up Whisk sugar and eggs till creamy and stiff. Add ovalette and vanilla extract. Continue to beat for another few more minutes. Add into the batter, one third of flour, then half the soda. Repeat and end with flour. Mix well after each addition. Line a bamboo steamer with greased-proof paper. Pour batter into a 6 - 8 inch bamboo steamer ( smaller steamer gives higher cake ). Steam on high heat over boiling water for 20 - 25 mins. Cool the cake before cutting as it crumbles when cut hot. notes : ovalette is a cake stablizer, and may not be available in the US. or western countries the cake can be steamed in any cake container.

We went a bit overboard last night and cooked too much shrimp... i'm thinking shrimp cakes. anyone have a recipe they'd like to share? TIA!!

Seeking recipes for thanksgiving side dishes and desserts (savory and/or sweet) that can be made on the stove top. Thanks.

Husband's birthday coming up. He loves blackforest cake. Any ideas where to order from? Tried from Veniero's several years back and was disappointed. Any other ideas?

Hi, does anyone know if there is a way to make pumpkin pie that is lactose-free and also tastes good? I have never experimented with this before but was hoping some of you more experienced folk would have some answers. Can soy milk replace sweetened condensed milk? I'm assuming not, but are there any alternatives then? Thanks in advance!

Over the years, most of my desserts have been fruit based or pies rather than cakes, partly because I have no problem reducing the amount of sugar I use in those. When I do make cakes, I tend to choose pound cakes, tea loaves, etc., where I can omit frostings. But even so, the cakes are often overly sweet The issue here is not one of weight control, but of taste control, of what seems to me balance. Understand, I have a major sweet tooth, but there's sweet and there's sweet. I'd like to explore reducing the amount of sugar in cakes, but I know it's part of the structure and chemistry of the cake. There must be some general principles about how a cake is constructed and the role of sugar that could guide me in this. Or is it just a matter of experimenting. Try a recipe, reduce the sugar by 10%, next time 20%, etc. til one gets the desired result. Or are there other things one can add in place of the sugar that will take over its function? There must be some basic ratios that can guide me. It irritates me no end to spend a couple hours and waste ingredients when a little research can improve the odds. Perhaps there are some references I could check out. Oh, and imagine my surprise to find that there is no eGCI course on cake baking! Bread takes the cake.

i want to order one and the hubby handed me a flyer for a place but upon checking out the website it seems a little dicey. any suggestions for where to get it from.

here's a dilemma i face when making sculpted cakes ... i HATE all that waste from the trimmings!!!! what do you do with them? can't really dry them out to use as crumbs because they have frosting in them. can't eat that much cake or i'll need a whole new wardrobe ... i'm on the verge of signing off on them. thoughts?

Click here for story. Pieces of Queen Victoria's wedding cake will be on display as part of a 60th wedding anniversary celebration for the Queen and Prince Phillip. There's just something really sweet about that. We save cake toppers and the top tier for a year, but that beats the stuffins out of both those traditions. And then I wondered how that one year tradition came about...

I would like to know what food coloring is used to paint on cakes. Is it the powder or paste? Also, how is it used? Do I use it straight or will I need to add something to it. It's something I've always wanted to try, but just don't know the right products to get. Thanks in advance.

So, Chinese New Year is almost upon us. And I am looking for a GREAT dessert to top off a multi course meal. Ideally, it would use some of the good chocolate left over from Valentine's Day, but not be too heavy. And something that could be done in advance since it gets a little hectic. Do you have any suggestions for me? Thanks so much. MEJ

Okay, I've just seen one too many bundt cakes rendered completely useless by my inability to get it out of the pan. The last one, a tasty ginger cake with stout from a Claudia Fleming recipe I saw in the newspaper, broke clear in half horizontally. I buttered the pan as generously as I could, then floured it. I may have been a little impatient during the cooling, but the recipe gave no instructions regarding how long to leave the cake in there before turning it out onto the cooling rack, and I didn't want to let it go too long. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong, and more important, what I can do right? This cake tastes great, but I can't serve it to anyone but my immediate family (and myself)! Thanks. Susan

Improbably enough, my wife has never had some. So, I'd like to get it for her. Thanks!

I REALLY want to find out if this is coming out this month ( as I read it was) . I went to the publishers website and there was no pics or anything at all about it ( Clarkson Potter Publishing) Fat Guy? Thanks in advance for any clues!

(also posted in the France forum) My daughter is having a party in her French class at school and I need to prepare a dessert for the class that would traditionally be served in France during the Christmas season. However, the Buche de Noel has already been "taken" by another student, so that one is out. As for other things, while I can name and prepare a long list of French pastries, I haven't a clue as to what would be most popular during the Christmas season. Thanks for your suggestions!

My daughter is having a party in her French class at school and I need to prepare a dessert for the class that would traditionally be served in France during the Christmas season. However, the Buche de Noel has already been "taken" by another student, so that one is out. As for other things, while I can name and prepare a long list of French pastries, I haven't a clue as to what would be most popular during the Christmas season. Thanks for your suggestions!

I was thinking of making cheesecake lollipops for a party. My idea is to make balls out of the cheescake with a melon baller or small disher, freeze them, dipped in chocolate and roll in graham cracker crumbs and maybe other "toppings." Instead of baking a cheesecake the usual way, can I eliminate the crust? Can I use a regular recipe and just skip the crust? Would I bake it for the same amount of time and temperature? Will I need to use a one piece baking pan instead of a springform?

My girlfriend has requested a banana cream pie this weekend for a dinner party we're throwing (that's the way it works around here...I'm just the catering staff -- I'm no good at the "front of the house" stuff). Any favorite recipes? s

My korean best friend gave me three pound cakes from the local Tous Les Jour bakery chain yesterday. One was chocolate, the other fruit cake and the last orange pound cake. We opened the chocolate cake and found it was too dry to enjoy it. There was not enough chocolate flavor and the fact that it was embedded with chocolate chips, didn't help the flavor aspect at all. Like I said, to quote my hubby from Kentucky, "It was dry as a popcorn fart". I have a gut feeling that the other two cakes are about as dry as the chocolate one. Is there a way to rescue these cakes? Drown them in rum? in syrup? Steam them until they drown in moisture? Or sigh.... Cut up and make biscotti? I really don't wanna do the last resort. Or chuck them to the trash bin. Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Just curious if anybody out there would ever consider putting ice cream and gellato on the same plate. FYI the plate consists of a mini warm chocolate cake with buttermilk gelato, a saffron poached pear with lemon madelines and date ice cream. this wasnt my idea and was just curious if having two different frozen items on one plate is going out of bounds thanks everybody. Danno happy holidays

I've been trying to perfect my pie and I think I finally have it. My pumpkin pie, despite the butter, the lard, the cream, the eggs, was light and delicious and melted in the mouth. I'd just like to take a minute to own that. And share this: half butter, one quarter Crisco and one quarter leaf lard is da bomb.

Here is my first King Cake of the Carnival season, turned out great! http://www.nolacuisine.com/2007/01/06/king-cake-recipe/