Chinese Turnip Pudding

Kung Hai Fat Choi. I hope you like the new format I am implementing for 2009. I think it would be better if there are more in-progress photos.

For the Year Of The Ox, I will be making a Chinese Turnip Pudding - a recipe from my mum.

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The Dish
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Chinese Turnip Pudding

The Pudding:
Chinese Turnip - 3 lbs = shredded
Chinese Rice Flour - 1 cup
White Pepper: a pinch
Salt: a pinch

The Topping:
Chinese sausage - 3 = sliced
Reconstituted Shiitake Mushroom - 8 = chopped
Reconstituted dried shrimp - 4 tbsp = chopped
Scallion - 2 = chopped
Soy Sauce: 2 tbsp

The left is the pudding ingredients and the right is for the toppings

1- In hot pan, saute Chinese sausage, shiitake mushroom and dried shrimp until brown, add in soy sauce. About 8 mins
2- Turned off stove and add in scallion. This will be the topping.
3- Heat shredded turnip in a pot without water for about 2 - 3 minutes.
4- With the heat off, add in rice flour into the half-cooked turnip. Mix well. Add in white pepper and salt.
5- Fold in about 3 quarter of the toppings into the flour turnip mix.

6- Fold the flour mixture into a greased 9" shallow bowl. Arrange the remaining topping on top.

7-Steam for 1 hour or until a chopstick comes out clean when stick into the pudding.

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The Ceramic
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N.B. This is a 'soft' version of the turnip cake unlike what you would eat at a dim sum restaurant. I eat it with some soy sauce and hot oil and a spoon! It makes a nice food gift if package in a Chinese porcelain tea set. Add a gold and red tie and there you have it.

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup

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The Dish
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Roasted Root Vegetable Soup with Roasted Garlic

Butternut Squash - 1 med = Cut into small chunks
Carrots - 5 = Cut into 2 inched length
Turnip - 3 med = Cut into small chunks or wedges
Beets - 3 med = Cut into small chunks or wedges
Garlic - 1 whole = cut off the tip
Olive Oil = 2 tbsp

Optional Vegetarian:
- Vegetable bullion plus hot water = 3 cups
Optional Non-vegetarian:
- Organic chicken stock = 2 cups

1- In roasting pan, spread out all vegetable and garlic evenly on pan
2- Drizzle a bit of olive oil over veggie, especially the garlic
3- Roast for 1 hour in oven - 400 F
4- When vegetable is nice and brown. Put root vegetable in a pot
5- Squeeze the garlic inside the pan with the vegetables
6- Add stock and boil for 30 minutes
7- Puree vegetable with a hand-held blender
8- Salt and pepper to taste

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The Ceramic
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Lois Aronow Porcelain

Lois is famous for her textured glaze and the unusual color combinations. There is a special tacile and visual quality to the plate. I enjoy eating out of this porcelain plate in front of the TV after a hectic day of work. I am sure the plate would look great in a formal dinner setting. My favorite color is the white glaze on turq - like a famous New York jewelery store, at where Audrey Hepburn ate breakfast. Another favorite is the white on white with platinum lustre rim.