Meggi Steak 美極士的球

This was my signature dish of mine way way back in the day! It was very popular to eat as well as make. There are a lot of good flavors in this dish and very simple to prepare at home. You don't even need a grill to cook the steak.

So, LET'S COOK!

Ingredients 

• 12-16oz ny strip/rib eyes(cut up stew size)
• 1/2lb or 1/2 bunch asparagus (cut two inch length and washed)
• 1/4 red bell pepper (sliced)
• 1/4 green bell pepper (sliced)
• 1/4 yellow onion(sliced)
• 1 clove garlic(minced)
• 1 green onion(chopped, white part only)
• 4 pc Asian basil( finely chopped)

I prefer NY Strip but any similar cut of beef will work fine too.

Thick cut let's me cube the steak and control the cook time I want for the meat.

Steak Marinade 

• 2 tbs Meggi seasoning
• 1 tbs cooking wine( rice wine)
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 1/2 tbs mushroom flavor dark soy sauce
• 1/4 tbs sugar
• 1/4 tbs cornstarch 

Steak- 1st Step

Trim off the excess fat from the outsides as best as you can. This cut of meat isn't very lean so any excess will just make the dish greasy.

Cut it into manageable strips long ways first.

Then take it horizontally and cut it perpendicular to the first cut. Try to keep the pieces cut as evenly as possible so that it will all cook at the same rate.

In a big bowl, Marinate the cut up steak and all the seasoning evenly. Set it aside for 30 mins! Keep the steak out at room temperature while it marinades. This let's the pores of the beef open up to absorb more of the marinade and gets it to a higher temperature so it cooks faster. Don't leave it out at room temp for more than an hour! If you feel like you won't be able to get to it in time, refrigerate it for the time being.

Marinade and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking. I use this time to prep the rest of my veggies while this marinades.

In a non stick pan, heat it up in high heat with 2-3 tbs of vegetable oil, place the steak into the pan carefully one by one (about a min on each side). Then remove the steak from the heat and place it back to the bowl (should be medium rare). You don't need to wash the pan because we will cook some more (and the meat drippings will add to the flavor).

Let the meat sit for a minute or so to sear it. Then flip the pieces over and let it sear on the other sides as well.

Do NOT over cook. This is just to give it a nice par cook and some texture with the seared edges. The meat should be rare/medium rare at most.

You can add this back into the same bowl you marinaded them in. We are going to be cooking this again after we saute the veggies for the dish. This will also let the meat absorb any remaining marinade before the final cook. DON'T EAT THIS MEAT right now bcz it's sitting in sauce that contained raw fluids.**

Sautéed Veggies

Cut the asparagus to about 3 inches in length. Trim off the tips of the ends of the stalk as they are fibrous and tough to chew on.

This is what your veggies should look like before cutting them. The bell peppers and onions are in strips. 

In the same pan that we used earlier, turn the heat back on high and then add in the garlic(2/3), green onion, and onion. Sauté it for a minute then add green and red pepper. Sauté it for about another minute. Lastly, add the asparagus last (because you want the asparagus to be crisp and green).

Then, add 1/4 cup water and 1/4 ts salt. Let it cook and simmer for a couple minutes or until most of the liquid has reduced and cooked off. Then place it on a big plate, set it aside.

Steak - 2nd Step

First, wash and dry the non stick pan you have been using and then heat it up in high heat with 1 tbs of vegetable oil. Add in the rest of the garlic, stir it for only a few seconds, then add the steak into the pan. Add another 1/4 cup of water, and let it cook/simmer for a minute or two. The steak should be medium well now.

Adding the water back into the pan will cook the meat the rest of the way without burning them on a dry oil slicked pan. This will also let some extra flavors cook into the meat. 

Finally, cut off the heat and then add the freshly chopped Asian/Thai basil to the pan. Try to evenly distribute it amongst the meat and any remaining sauce that's in the pan. This will incorporate the fresh basil flavor throughout the dish without killing it in the heat while cooking.

Place the steak on top of the veggies you plated earlier, and that's it! You now have one of my personal favorite dishes-  Meggi Steak!- 美極士的球-  enjoy it!

Coming up next...
A light dish!
"Shrimp Balls in Jade sauce"
"玉汁蝦球"


Happy Cooking!
~Hoby

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
哥林多前書 13:4-7
"愛是恆久忍耐，又有恩慈。愛是不嫉妒，不自誇，不張狂； 不作失禮的事，不求自己的益處，不輕易動怒，不計較人的過犯； 不喜歡不義，只喜歡真理。 愛是凡事包容，凡事相信，凡事盼望，凡事忍耐."

Ha Ha Minced Pork Noodle Bowl - 哈哈豆瓣面

Hello! This is one of my wife's favorite noodle bowls! Very tasty and easy to make. It takes a little bit of prep process, but once you're done, it'll be enough to feed everyone. I personally love noodles. A lot of love goes into preparing noodles. There are a few things that I hold as "musts" when it comes to making noodles-

• Don't break the noodles shorter! (long noodles = long life)
• Don't over cook the noodles! (mushy noodles are gross)
• Do a noodle taste test! (taste and break a noodle as you are cooking them. If you see a speck of white in the center of the noodle- it is perfectly cooked = al dente.) 

It may take some practice and finesse in mastering the doneness of a noodle, but remember that you can always cook an undercooked noodle further but can't take back one that has been obliterated in the boiling process.

So...LET'S COOK!

Ingredients 

-1/2 lb ground pork
-12-16 oz dry Cantonese noodle(any size S , M or L) -works with spaghetti too-
-1/2 bag dry pressed tofu(diced)
-1 cucumber (peeled and stripped)
-2 pcs green onion(chopped)
-4 pcs garlic(minced)
-1/4 white onion(diced)
-11/2 cup water/chicken stock
-3 tbs  cornstarch (mix with 5 tbs water)

-1/4 tbs sugar
-4-5 egg(beat evenly)
-1/2 tbs sesame oil

Sauce Mixture

-21/2tbs  Ha Ha soy bean sauce
-1/2tbs hoisin sauce
-11/2 tbs dark soy sauce

Chinese Egg noodles go great with this dish. There are various kinds that you can buy so buy one that suits your taste.

This dry pressed tofu is probably the best thing in the world. It has a nice spice already baked into it and it's easy to cook with.

There are also various brands of this sauce. This is the brand I prefer but you can choose one to your liking.

Everything will be diced into small pieces and will blend well in our sauce. Set your prepped ingredients aside and ready for cooking. Mix up and break your eggs for a scramble.

Cucumber Julienne Strips

This is best explained in pictures-

Peel off the skin first and trim off the ends.

Cut it into manageable parts. I usually do 3 which also gives it the length that I like.

Remove the seeds from the center. Cut your partition in half and then those pieces in half. Now you have a good angle for cutting out the seeds. With cucumber now trimmed, you can cut them into julienne strips.

Finished cut. You can see the trimmed out seeds up at the top.

Noodle

 -In a big noodle pot bring 2/3 of water to boiling with couple tbs of vegetable oil.
-Add in the dry noodles and let it cook for 7 mins (frequently stir it with tongs or chopsticks to make sure the noodle won't stick on the bottom or stick together).
-To check the noodle if it's done or not. just eat a piece. If the noodle is still hard and raw in the middle, then cook for a little while longer. If you follow the 'white center' technique, the uncooked speck should be the size of a thick sewing needle.

Noodles are drained and then will be moved to a temporary bowl for adding oil to prevent them from sticking together.

- After the noodles are cooked, drain the water and add the noodles to a large bowl. Add a little bit of cooking oil to the noodles so that they do not stick together. Stir and mix up the oil as evenly as possible. When the noodles are resting in this state, remember that there is still residual heat from the boiling water. This is part of the reason why the noodles shouldn't be overcooked because they are essentially still cooking while sitting. Always better to be a little bit on the safe side in this situation. Not only are the noodles holding heat while resting, they will also continue to reheat when we add sauce to it at the end.

Egg strips

In a  nonstick pan, heat it up in high heat with couple tbs vegetable oil. Next, add in the egg and let it cook for 30 sec then flip it over for another 30 sec or until fully cooked.

Remove the egg from the pan and onto a cutting board. Roll up the egg and slice it into strips. Set this aside for later.

Roll it up like a burrito and then cut like so. This will make cutting it into strips nice and easy.

The Meat Sauce

-In a pan/wok, heat it up in high heat with couple tbs vegetable oil. Add in garlic, onion and green onion. Stir it little bit till it starts to become aromatic, and then add the ground pork and dried tofu. Allow the grounded pork to cook for a min to sear and bring out the flavor. Adding the sauce mixture now will give it potential to burn the sugars and change the flavor of the dish.

-then add your sauce mixture- soy bean sauce, dark soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sugar and finally water/stock

Sauce mixture has been mixed and is ready for adding to the pan. It's best to prepare your  liquid sauce mixture before hand so you're not scrambling to get it all together in a hurry.

-bring it back to broil, let it cook for about 5-10
-while this is boiling, prepare a cornstarch mixture with water (add cornstarch into a small bowl and then add cold water. Stir this mixture around until it looks and feels like milk).
- after the meat sauce has cooked for the alotted time, add the mixed cornstarch only little at a time to avoid the sauce being too thick. While pouring, stir the sauce at the same time. When the sauce starts to thicken (almost like a nice gravy) turn off the heat.
-finish the sauce with the sesame oil. You don't necessarily cook sesame oil because it burns extremely easily. So that's why it's usually added in at the end of cooking dishes because of its sensitivity to heat.

Plating

- in noodle bowl, fill  up half  bowl of noodle, pull a few scoops of the HaHa  meat sauce over the noodle, then top it off with the egg and cucumber strips! If you like spicy add some Sriracha, dry hot chilis, or hot chili oil! Ha Ha Noodle Bowl!  哈哈豆瓣面, Enjoy it!

Feel free to add more fresh vegetables to this dish! The thick savory sauce compliments the freshness of  the cucumber. It's a filling and delicious dish!

Coming up next!
-Meggi Steak - 美極士的球


Happy Cooking!
~Hoby
Matthew 11:28
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

"Three Cup" Wings

Hello hello! So right off the bat, I'm sure you are all wondering what this "three cup" thing is all about. Well for starters, this is actually NOT a Cantonese recipe. It actually originates from Taiwan. So I've been making this recipe for such a long time, I believe I've been able to reproduce this "three cup" style flavor in this dish.

It's called "three cup" because it calls for three cups of water or chicken stock. You will see in our preparation process how this comes to be. Today's recipe will be more focused on the steps of the actual cooking process in contrast to last week's recipe which was divided into the preparation of different components and then combining them together.

All in all, this dish is delicious, easy, and enough to feed the whole family. I consider this dish one that is made with a slow love- similar to cooking pot roast, beef stew, etc. This love cannot be rushed, it has to be developed.

LET'S COOK!

Ingredients 

• 2 lb about 10 whole wings(clean and cut into two pcs) -threw away the tip-
• 3 pcs green onion(cut greens part an inch in length and white part chopped fine)
• Thai Basil (has stronger flavor than traditional basil and it's a lot cheaper too) 
• 10 cloves garlic
• 10 slices garlic
• 2 pcs star anise
• 1/4tbs salt
• 1/2tbs sesame oil
• 2tbs vegetable oil
• 3 cups water/chicken stock

Keep ginger and garlic whole. No need to mince.

Cut wings and remove wing tips (unless you like eating them).

Green onions have 2 parts- the green and the white. The green we use for garnish and the white as an aromatic (like garlic).

Sauce

• 2 1/2 tbs oyster sauce
• 1 1/2 tbs dark soy sauce
• 1/4 tbs chicken bouillon
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 3 tbs cooking wine (rice wine)

First, mix in a bowl/pot all the ingredients for the sauce and set it aside.

Make sure everything is prepped before cooking. Once we start, we don't stop.

In another big bowl/pot, marinate the wing with with 1/2ts of salt and 1ts of sesame oil. Set it aside

Cooking Instructions 

Heat up a pan/wok in high heat with 2 tbs of vegetable oil. Make sure you are cooking with a pan large enough to accommodate the chicken wings. When the pan is hot, (you can use a test piece of green onion to see if it sizzles) add in the ginger, garlic, star anise, and the chopped green onion (white part).

This is the aromatic process. You just want to cook these enough to release the flavors and smells.

Saute for about a minute. You'll know it's ready when the kitchen starts to smell delicious. Then add in your chicken wings into the pan. You will then saute/stir fry everything to incorporate the flavors and coat the chicken. Once that is completed, let the chicken wings get a nice sear on each side if possible. This will give the chicken a nice texture and enhance the flavor of the dish later.

This is why the garlic is whole- if minced it would burn.

MMMmmmm seared chicken skin! You can start to see the meat releasing its fat into the pan.

Now, we add the "three cups" to our dish. Add your 3 cups of water/chicken stock. Keep your flame on high heat still as we want to bring it to a boil. In the mean time, add in your sauce mixture that you prepared in the beginning of this recipe. Stir it evenly throughout the pan coating the chicken.

Low and slow once the sauce has been incorporated.

Once the sauce starts to boil, cover it with a lid then lower the heat to a medium/med low and let the sauce simmer for about  25 minutes. You will want to stir it every 5 mins to make sure the wings don't get stuck to the bottom of the pan.

This is why I call this dish a "slow love". It is very possible to rush this dish and cook it all at high heat, but I can guarantee you that the flavors won't taste the same. All the ingredients and spices we have in here will start to come to life in the 3 cups of water we added. This "three cup" procedure may sound soupy or too saucy, but that is not our intention. Over the course of the 25 minutes our dish is cooking, the heat is slowly cooking off the water but also rehydrating flavors in the star anise, and absorbing into the chicken wings. At the same time, the chicken wings are releasing their flavors from the bones and skin into the sauce as well.

So in essence, you CAN rush the recipe, but all those flavors that I listed above won't be happening. You'll miss out on the most delicious part.

You will see a significantly lesser amount of sauce towards the end. 

So at the end of the 25 minutes, if the liquid is not thick enough, remove the lid and turn up the heat a little bit more. This will reduce the sauce a bit by evaporating some of the water. Once the sauce comes to a consistency you are happy with, add in the chopped green onion and Thai Basil leaves (removed stems). Give the dish one good mix and then you are done! We add in the fresh basil and green onion at the end (with the heat turned off) to bring another flavor/aroma to the dish. Cooking the basil in the dish early on will neutralize a lot of the fresh flavors that the basil possesses.

That's it! You now have the Three Cup Chicken and it's a delicious home style dish. Up next- "Ha Ha Minced Pork Noodle Bowl!"


Thanks for reading, God Bless, and happy cooking!
~Hoby

Acts 4:12
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”