Sunday Dim Sum

In Daly City, CA, a busy restaurant called "Koi Palace" serves the BEST shark fin dumpling soup within the bay area. Maybe in the country, but I have yet to try more. However, there is a 90% chance that this may be the best ever.

Every sunday, people from the bay area would grab a ticket and wait for anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half for these delectable dishes.

And the most anticipated dish....the SOUP!

It is a clear sharkfin soup with a light flavor in contrast to the shrimp dumpling. I usually poke my dumpling and eat the filling along with the broth.

Shark fin? in a Soup?

I am not chinese so when I heard this, I asked myself the same question. It is a chinese delicacy used for many, many years. It is thought to be good for your health and skin complexion. These guys are wallet killers. This is a picture of the ones being sold at Koi Palace at $550 per pound!!! There are other types sold at lower prices but are not of the same quality.

When I first heard about it, I asked my boyfriend, "Isn't it a bone, how would you eat it?" He just laughed at me. It is actually cartiledge and it gets boiled til soft.

Lobster Dumpling and Deep Fried Lobster Claw in a Garlic Salt Batter

Sweet and Spicy Beef with Basil

I had this for dinner yesterday. Its an easy, easy, dish that my mom makes. You can add as much dried peppers as you want because the sweet oyster sauce will balance it out. I only added 2 becuase my boyfriend was going to eat it with me. Otherwise, there would have been ten! hehe.

The measurements are not exact. It just an estimate because this is a real super easy recipe, you cant go wrong. Just dont add any salt to the beef as you are stir frying because the oyster sauce is already salty. You can basically use any kind of beef and meat will remain tender because you are cooking it just until you see a pink color. However, I've noticed that using the more pricier cuts makes the meat a lot more juicer.

• A handful of steak, cut thin and long.


• two handful of thai basil


• a couple of dried red peppers, broken


• one minced clove of garlic


• 1 tbsp of oyster sauce


• olive oil for stir frying
  
  
  

This the thai oyster sauce that my mom mostly use. I'm not too sure if there is a real difference between all the other brands.

1. Cut the basil leaves in half with your hands

2. Heat a pan with oil on high heat

3. Once hot, add the beef and let it cook until nicely brown on one side, DO NOT STIR

4. lower the heat and stir to cook the other sides of the meat

5. By this time the beef should already be pink

6. Add the garlic and the peppers

7. Once fragrant, add the oyster sauce and remove from heat

8. Add the basil and let the heat of the meat cook the basil until wilted

9. Serve hot with rice

Raisin Sweet rolls

This is your basic Sweet Bread dough recipe with raisins! As you can tell Raisins are my favorite when it comes to bread. You can also try red bean paste filling or sprinkle toasted almonds slices on top of a sticky honey glaze. I also tried added green tea powder and it gives the bread a nice green color. Again, this recipe was adjusted to fit my 1lb bread maker.

For 1lb bread machine

• 1 and 3/4 cup plus 5 tsp of bread flour
• 1/4 cup of soya flour
• 1 tsp of vital wheat gluten
• 3 tbsp of sugar
• 1/3 tsp of salt
• 110ml of milk (I use 2%)
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 1 large egg
• 1.5 tsp of yeast

1. If you have a dough setting option on your bread machine, then add your ingredients accordingly and have the machine mix the dough for you.
2. Once done, you dough should be elastic when stretching a pinch of dough. It should form a thin long membrane just before breaking.
3. Generously oil a metal bowl put the dough inside. Then flip the dough so that the oiled side of the dough would be facing up. This ensures that the whole dough is oiled so it can keep in the moisture.
4. Cover the dough with pastic warm and prove the dough for 60-90 minutes.
5. Punch the dough down to release the gas and divide according to the size of buns or rolls you want. For the 1lb, I usually make about 3 mini buns and 2 rolls.
6. Rest the dough for 5 minutes before shaping
7. After shaping, place the dough in a pan and allow second rising for 35 minutes or until double in size
8. Brush the tops with 1 egg and 1 tsp of water
9. Bake at 356 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden.
10. Just before I remove from the oven, I brushed on a glaze made out of 1 tsp of honey and 1 tsp of water.

Raisin Sally Lunn Bread

This recipe makes a 1lb loaf of bread in my mini breadmaker. The eggs adds a fluffy, yellow texture as compared to regular breads. I set my crust level to the lightest option.

• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup of water
• 3.5 tbsp of softened butter
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 tsp of salt
• half of 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1.5 cup of flour
• 1 tsp yeast
• I like to use half a cup of raisins

1. Add the ingredients in the order that it tells you in your breadmaker manual.

Steam Banana Cupcake: A sinless sweet treat for your occassional cravings

When I buy bananas and I dont finish them in time, this is a good recipe for the ones turning brown. I like to wait a little more til they are almost black, that's when they are the sweetest. This recipe is HEALTY, HEALTHY! no butter or heavy cream needed to achieve these super moist centers so you dont have to feel guilty. You can steam them for a soft all-around texture or bake it for a crunchy fresh-out-of-the-oven topping.

• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 and 1/4 cup of all purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 5 and 1/2 tbs of vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp of vanilla

1. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together
2. mix the egg and sugar with a hand mixer until ribbon like
3. stir in the vanilla to the bananas
4. add the banana mixture to the egg and sugar batter
5. fold in the flour and oil
6. steam for 15 mins of bake at 375 degrees for 20mins