Chinese Beef Belly (Ngow Nam)

(Click on photos for larger images)

I was talking to my Chinese friend, Carrie, the other day, and she said that she really wanted to make ngow nam and her mom has a recipe. After she mentioned this to me, I was obsessed with making ngow nam. Ngow means cow, and nam means belly in Cantonese. Basically it's stewed/braised beef brisket with diakons and a very complex flavor that I can't describe. This dish may not be for everyone, but I know that if you're Chinese, you probably like it. Not very many restaurants serve this dish because it takes a while to make. It also includes lots of ingredients (that you can only find at a well stocked Asian grocery store).

No Recipe's Lamb With Green Chili Masala

Winter is finally here! Time for warm stew-like dishes to replace a real heater. Not only that, these usually require little real hands-on time and the end results make me look like I'm a cooking genius to other people.

Of course I'm not a cooking genius! That's why I got my recipe from No Recipes. Haha! You didn't really think I could come up with stuff like this myself, did you?

Cantonese Soy Sauce Chicken

I don't think they serve this dish at many Chinese restaurants in America because this is just too... Chinese? I just know that this stuff is delicious and we used to eat it infrequently as a kid. I'm not sure why, but that was how it was. If you have access to a well stocked Asian grocery, you should be able to find bottled soy sauce chicken marinade similar to this. That's similar to a soy sauce chicken marinade as far as I can tell, and that stuff is delicious.

Serious Eats' Halal Cart-Style Chicken And Rice With White Sauce

The Chopping Block came over and gave me all sorts of Indian spices. I'm talking about like 20 pounds worth of Indian spices! She's so nice, right?! So I decided to make some sort of quasi Middle Eastern/Indian food. I saw this Serious Eats recipe a while back and bookmarked it. Now that I have my turmeric and ground coriander powder, I have no excuse not to make it.

Soon Dubu Jjigae (Korean Soft Tofu Soup)

At first I wanted to make a portabello mushroom and cabbage soup because I just happen to have those things and I wanted soup. It somehow evolved to watching Maangchi make this Soon Dubu Jjigae, and then I wanted it so badly!

"Better Than Sex" Coconut Cake

Every Christmas my boyfriend's aunt would make a delicious coconut cake. Again, I was too shy to ask for the recipe, so I looked it up online. I guess there are lots of variations for the cake, but I think this recipe closest resembles her cake. She doesn't put pineapples on it, and personally, I think pineapples on this cake would be weird.

Tonkotsu Ramen With Braised Pork Belly

I basically have nothing great going on in my life so I made tonkotsu ramen with homemade broth. Tonkotsu ramen is pork bone ramen; that is, ramen noodle floating in broth made from freaking pork bones. Do not be confused with tonkatsu which is a pork cutlet which I have no idea how to make.

Thumbprint Cookies

These jam filled cookies are one of my favorites! Someone brought these cookies to our Christmas party and I had to make my own! I was too shy to ask this person for their recipe, so I found one from Land O'Lake Butter. :)

Diabetes Cookies

I attempt to end this year with a post so it doesn't seem like I was such a slacker. I present to you fatty butter and sugar cookies. This is the story of my end-of-the-year baking fuck up and how I give my friends diabetes for life!

Pulled Pork

First off, I have a few of apologies that I need to get out of the way; but I have a peace offering in the form of a cat picture.

1. I'm so sorry for neglecting this blog.

2. I'm so sorry for not having a pretty final product photo for this recipe. The reason being is that I was getting ready for finals, so I planned to cook a pot full of pulled pork to feed myself for at least 2 or 3 days. The way it actually turned out was that when it was finished, I got so hungry that I ate all of the pork in one day. Then I spent the other days starving.

3. I'm sorry, Helen, for making you do all of the updating!