Shanghainese Buns - Mantou

For Thanksgiving at Siddharth's house, I decided to skip the typical sweet potato rolls and make authentic Chinese steamed rolls called mantou. These are little steamed wheat buns that are shaped like little pebbles, a staple in northern China.  I had these at my grandma's house a lot in lieu of a bowl of rice. They could be purchased at any Asian food markets in the frozen aisle. The texture of the mantou is similar to the buns you would order at Chinese restaurants for dim sum also called bao, but these buns don't have anything inside. Our family would eat it as a side with our meals. Some people eat them as snacks by dipping them in condensed milk or even deep frying them! I've never tried, but I'm sure these would be delightful. 

Chewy chocolate chip cookies

OK, chocolate chip cookies are simple and easy to make, right? But don't you hate it when your cookies aren't as chewy as you would like? Well, I've done some experimenting and here is a recipe that will guarantee you chewy chocolate chip cookies! The secret? Freeze the dough before you bake!

Brown Sugar and Sea Salt Hot Chocolate

It's been an unbelievably warm late November and early December here in Ithaca and throughout the northeast so far in 2011. But, according the forecast, it seems that the first snow showers will be upon most of us by this weekend! I for one am looking forward to winter's arrival, if only so that I can sip some hot chocolate and enjoy a few snowed-in weekends.

It is incredible to me how many people miss out on creating the truly luscious-style hot chocolate that one can make with real chocolate bars. Once you've had a taste of it, Swiss Miss or even dissolving cocoa powder just won't cut it anymore. I've added a few optional flavor enhancers (brown sugar, coffee, salt) to make it special, and once you've got the method, you can improvise and create all kinds of delicious flavors (peppermint? white chocolate? whatever suits your fancy!).

Homemade Poutine

Poutine is a dish that is unfamiliar to most Americans. It originated in Quebec as a distinctive way of eating French Fries. It is so popular in some parts of Canada that places like McDonald's and Burger King have it on their regional menus. In reality, it is a fairly simple construction: french fries + cheese curds + brown gravy. The genius is in the combination of these simple ingredients. Putting this together at home is fairly easy, and it is well worth it (nothing beats homemade fries!). Below is my recipe.

Ole Mexican Grill - Cambridge, MA

Restaurant Info:
11 Springfield Street
Inman Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 492-4495
http://www.olerestaurantgroup.com

Looking for Mexican food in the the northeastern United States can be a challenge. Even in NYC and Boston, it's hard to find unanimously loved South of the Border food on sites like Chowhound and Yelp. For us, this is generally tragic, as the spicy, savory goodness of Mexican cuisine ranks among our favorites. So, we decided to give Ole a chance, and we dined there this past weekend with my parents. The food at Ole Mexican Grill was a pleasant surprise, combining authenticity and innovation to make some of the more unusual but delicious Mexican fare that we have had.

Choco Pie

Emeril Lagassi inspires a lot of our cooking. This recipe was inspired from his Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate pie (see it here). Hawaiian Vintage chocolate is a brand of chocolate that has been aged before processing, similar to fine wine. For those who do not have access to this type of chocolate, you can use any type of chocolate, but I would suggest something moderately priced. I used Lindt's chocolate, YUM! No worries, this pie did not require heavy baking techniques. I used a simple pie crust made from my Oreos (minus the icing) and honey graham crackers. For the chocolate filling, I mixed in toffee bits to give it extra texture and flavor, but you can substitute it with nuts (pecans sound good here) or peanut butter bits. After a bit of cooking on the stove top, the pie is chilled for a few hours in the fridge before serving to your hungry guests. The pie filling was absolutely divine and the pie crust surprisingly cut down the sweetness a lot, allowing one to have more than one slice. Here's the recipe:

Autumn Harvest Soup

As autumn comes to a close, and the cold winds of winter blow in to most of the country, this soup evokes the essence of the fall harvest flavors. Combining pumpkin and sweet potato as a base, it expresses the characteristic hues of the season that are so beautifully displayed outside the window. I've also thrown in some warming spices (things like cinnamon, cardamom, etc.) and even apple cider to really create a sweet and savory soup. The recipe is easy to follow, and it is equally simple to substitute some of your own favorite flavors to enjoy!

Ode to the Philly Pretzel

Chicago deep dish pizza. Memphis barbecue. New York bagels. Famous regional specialties are one of the most important components of the (young) American culinary culture. With Tricia's recent move to the Philadelphia-area, we have recently had the chance to start developing as pretzel connoisseurs by sampling various Philly twists. We have tried quite a few locations (chains, independent storefronts, street vendors), and here a few of our favorites. By no means is this list comprehensive, and if you have suggestions for better pretzels, please send them our way! But for now, this is our ode to the Philly Pretzel!

Lavender Shortbread cookies

It's tea time, and we know the perfect cookie you can have for such occasion. We love all teas, especially English black teas (well they are really teas from India, but the idea of tea time and milk with tea came from the British). Siddharth loves shortbread cookies and we found dried lavender petals at an Asian food store so we figured it would make a great cookie combination. These cookies are great alone, but better when dipped in tea. Lavender might be hard to find, but you can use other floral aromas or citrus zest. Here's the recipe (adapted from London Foodie in New York):

Happy Fall Apple Turnovers!

Happy fall everyone! Autumn is in the air, and this year, it's a great season to apple pick. I just recently inherited more than 5lbs of Macintosh apples. Now, let me preface this: I can eat 1-2 apples a day, but 5lbs of apples is a lot. So here's a recipe for apple turnovers, a perfect baked goody to be enjoyed as a snack or an on-the-go breakfast during the week. This recipe is really easy because it utilizes puff pastry dough that gives the apple turnover flakey crust while pocketing the apples in its caramel sauce. You can skip the hard part by buying frozen puff pastry dough. I used Pepperidge Farm's pastry dough that I thawed out for 10 minutes on the counter. 

The recipe follows: