After all the years of whipping up tasteful, almost-perfect (by my standards) dishes in my kitchen, the stir-fry still alludes me. Even this Beef & Sweet Potato Stir-Fry.  Years ago, A and I took a stir-fry cooking class because despite the fact we can make choux pastry and whip up a curdle-less hollandaise,  the art of the cooked-but-still-crispy veggies, perfectly seared meat and soggy-less food was beyond our comprehension.

Despite the schooling, I still can’t get it just right, so while this dish is stir-fry in appearance, it is not really in technique and texture, but I couldn’t think of anything better to call it.  Please excuse my inauthenticity. 

Once you try it, I think you will. (more…)

Vacation being over is the worst.  I’m drowning my sorrows in these five spice duck tacos with pineapple black bean guacamole.

(more…)

Sigh. Eggs again.

I promise I will try to come up with something more exciting next week than another way to prepare eggs. China’s not giving me much to work with that I can stomach in the morning, but I will try harder next week.  Actually, I’ll be bringing you a special breakfast treat later this week. Stay tuned.

However, today we have what we have, and what we have today is Three Color Egg Pie, or san sè dàn gao.

I’m not really sure why this is called egg pie since there is no crust, and a crust is what distinguishes a pie from a non-pie, does it not? Anyway, this is more like a steamed frittata.  Yup, steamed. So, that’s new.

The ingredients and method to this are quite simple, and to be honest, the end result was quite tasty. I think I’m just getting tired of the eggs. Objectively, there was absolutely nothing wrong with this dish. In fact, I think if you wanted to make an actual egg pie (aka, a quiche), you should use this filling if you want to try and jazz things up a bit. Just follow the method I described for the Quiche Lorraine way back in yesteryear.

Confession: I don’t know exactly what kind of steamer these people use, but no pie plate of mine was going to fit in my rice cooker/steamer/slow cooker, so I made mini egg pies in custard dishes. To each their own I guess.

Ingredients

6 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 TB rice wine vinegar

2 TB chopped ham

2 scallions, finely chopped

½ cup shitake mushrooms, chopped

1 TB frozen peas

Directions

1.  Beat the eggs lightly with the salt and vinegar. Stir in the ham, scallions and mushrooms.  Grease a pie dish (or ramekins) with oil, and pour in the mixture (or divide the mixture into the cups).

2.  Place in a steamer compartment. Cover and steam. After 3 minutes, uncover the dish and sprinkle the peas over the surface.

3.  Cover and steam a further 7 minutes or until the mixture has set and risen slightly in the middle.

4.  Remove from the steamer, and slice and serve like an ordinary pie, serving with additional ham if so desired.