Eleanor Hoh

Chinese New Year Roundup of Celebrations in Miami

January 27, 2017 By Eleanor Hoh 2 Comments

Kung Hei Fat Choy! Since I’m not organizing a Chinese New Year gathering this year, I’ve put together a list of Chinese/Asian restaurants celebrating Year of the Rooster with a Lion Dance or Special Menu or both so you can go and experience it, you’re welcome. Call them PRIOR to going to avoid disappointment, I’m just the messenger. I called many of them and gathered information from various sources for your dining pleasure, enjoy!

So, what does the Year of the Rooster mean to you? First, find out if you are a Rooster here and everything you need to know about your characteristics, luck, wealth, work, health and love prospects. I’m a little superstitious about cleaning, so I’ve already done all my cleaning. On Chinese New Year day, sweeping or cleaning is not a good idea cause you’ll sweep away your good luck!
However, if you’re like my hubby and I who’ve seen and done it many times and don’t enjoy all the noise with the clashing cymbals and drums, you can easily cook a few simple dishes like Festive Vegetables, Dumplings which resemble gold ingots and will bring prosperity, so definitely have some of those and you can’t celebrate Chinese New Year without making Pineapple Fried Rice.

Bamboo Garden
Lion Dance, Feb.3 @7pm and @7:30pm
Regular menu
Black Brick
No Lion Dance, Sat. 1/28
Family style dinner, $65pp with 2 person order minimum
Da Tang Unique
Click on link to find out how to win a trip for 2 to China!
Lion Dance, NY’s eve, Fri. 1/27 @9pm
$55 pp for 8 course menu
Sugar at East Miami Hotel, Brickell City Centre
https://miami.eventful.com/events/celebrate-chinese-new-year-east-miami-/E0-001-099621380-3
Lion Dance, Sat. 1/28 @10pm
Special Menu $120pp
Gold Marquess
Lion Dance Sat. 1/28 and Sun. 1/29 at 7pm
Special Occasion one-pot special for 10 people at $288
Holiday menu through Feb.10
Hakkasan
Lion Dance, Sat. 1/28 at 8:45pm starting at Bleau Bar in the Hotel lobby and end at Hakkasan
$128pp
Mandarin Oriental
Lion Dance, Sat. 1/28 at 7pm in hotel lobby
Dine at La Mar, no set menu
Now and Zen
Lion Dance, Sat. 1/28 @7:30pm and 8pm
Special menu $90pp
Pine Court Bistro
Lion Dance, Sat. 1/28 @11:45am
Set dinner $288 – 8 people
Talde
No Lion Dance, Sat. 1/28
$49 4-course prix fixe
Kon Chau
Lion Dance, Sunday 1/29 @12pm
Regular menu
Silver Pond
Lion Dance, Feb.3 @6pm
TBA menu
Tony Chan’s Water Club
Lion Dance, Friday, 1/27 @8:30pm and Saturday 1/28 @8pm
Regular menu

Wok Steamed Chicken & Mushrooms

January 6, 2017 By Eleanor Hoh Leave a Comment

Wok Steamed Chicken and Mushrooms is a simple, healthy and tasty dish to start your New Year Resolution right and you will be rewarded with loads of compliments! There’s very little prep time and considering it’s only 2 main ingredients: organic chicken thighs and oyster mushrooms, it oozes with natural flavors.
It’s a very typical homestyle dish my mom used to make and instantly brings back vivid childhood memories when you take that first bite. I sent my sisters the photo collage and they all wanted it right away, it’s funny how food associations are so strong.

Benefits of Steaming…
Your wok really is versatile, it’s not just for an Asian stir fry. The shape, depth and wide opening makes it a perfect pan for steaming. Steaming is a really fast way of cooking fish and chicken while retaining its natural flavors.

IMPROVISE…
My approach to cooking for newbies is to improvise with what you have and make it the best tasting dish, if you don’t have mushrooms, it will still taste good! The dried oyster mushrooms are the ones that came in your Kit! As with any of my dishes, you can substitute with turkey, pork, beef, fish, tofu.
My personal preference is chicken thighs or drumsticks, they are more moist and tender compared to breast which can be dry and not as flavorful. I just reminded my sisters what they said to me when I was young and would ONLY eat breast, “let her enjoy cause she’ll realize dark meat that’s good when she gets older!” Ha, ha and here I am.
Feel free to blanche whatever vegetable you have, I had green beans. It’s also a fast way to cook up a batch of vegetables if you’re in a hurry, I show how to blanche veggies here.

Ingredients:
1 packet organic chicken thighs deboned and skinned (Costco)
Earthy Delight oyster mushrooms, or a mix of enoki, shitake, whatever you like
knob ginger
2 scallions
handful cilantro

3/4 lb. green beans blanched in wok with drop of grape seed oil and salt
curry quinoa
Seasonings:
TSPC: tamari, sherry, pepper (ground white), cornstarch
grape seed oil
salt
curry powder
Prep Instructions:
1. Cut chicken into 3-4 chunks and put into coup dish, marinade with TSPC.
2. Trim mushroom stems and save steeping juice and stems for making stock if using dried. Add mushrooms to chicken and mix in.
3. shred ginger, chop cilantro and shred scallions, save a few for garnish. Add to dish and mix in.
4. Boil water in your wok, place steamer rack or wood chopsticks across your wok as shown (don’t use disposable because they bend). If your lid has a gap between lid and wok, drape a kitchen towel to prevent steam escaping.
Cooking Process…
1. Make rice or quinoa first, takes about 20 mins. You can cheat with making curry quinoa by sprinkling curry powder, coconut oil and salt once quinoa is cooked and combine well. (I like to fry my quinoa in a little oil when it’s cooled off and sprinkle curry powder, the aroma is exquisite.)
2. Blanch green beans in boiling water in your wok and squeeze a few drops of grape seed oil and little salt and put lid on. Taste for doneness, I like mine crunchy, remember they continue cooking a little, drain and set aside.
3. Place your dish of chicken and mushrooms on top of chopsticks and put lid on. Test at about 8-10 mins by cutting into one of the chunks for doneness (i.e. any red), you don’t need to turn over. Don’t keep opening the lid while it’s cooking cause you’ll let all the steam out.
My Steamed Ground Turkey Meatloaf was pinned 106 times, woohoo. I also showed how to use your wok in 3 different ways in one dinner: steam, blanche and fry, so make use of that wok!

Stuffed Squash a la Wok Star Style

December 7, 2016 By Eleanor Hoh 2 Comments

The three elements to delicious food are flavor, texture, color in that order and this Stuffed Squash a la Wok Star style is the perfect dish! Impress your friends with this dish…

TECHNIQUE IS KEY…
So, I wanted to do a festive dish for the holidays and of course squash came to mind. I love the orange color of the squash and lends itself to so many different ways of preparing it. I immediately surf the net for how to make a stuffed squash, my go to site is The Kitchn, I love this site, it’s all about technique.
If you’ve read my blogs, you’ll know I don’t follow, use or teach recipes. Cooking for me has always been about creating a dish from scratch and building on those three elements I mentioned. Recipes are good for inspiration, possibly ingredient combinations and new flavors. Technique for me is the most important element to cooking.
SHAPE YOUR BRAIN TO COOK…
Last night as I was cooking, I was listening to a TED Talk by Dr. Lara Boyd, her talk solidified my philosophy totally! She described how neuroplasticity gives you the power to shape the brain you want! This means, the more you do something, the easier it becomes and you’re exercising your brain. I found this so fascinating because it’s what I’ve been promoting all these years. If you keep training your brain to create a dish, you’d be amazed what dishes you come up with. It’s also a lot of fun because you come up with something new every time, no repeats.
TIPS FOR ROASTING SQUASH…
I find out you have to roast the squash first BEFORE you put your stuffing in. I wanted my stuffing to still have crunchiness and colors, so naturally, stir frying them is the answer! I find when you roast vegetables, the colors are more grey and dull. Do you see where I’m going with this? Don’t just follow a recipe blind and do everything they say.
A good example of this is most Chinese recipes will ask you to make a ‘flurry’, a mix of cornstarch and water to give your dish a nice glaze but I find it’s just one extra step, so I include the cornstarch when I make sauce. Ta Da, eliminated a step.
USE RIGHT CHEESE…
A mistake I made was using hard goat cheese. My husband uses goat cheese in our omelets and it melts beautifully but it didn’t melt as well in this dish. I suspect the heat wasn’t hot enough, only 350. Use cheese like cheddar, Parmesan or any sharp cheese.
VERSATILE DISH…
You can make it totally vegetarian or even vegan and leave out the cheese. It’s a great side dish to go with anything! Add meat to it and you’ve got a one dish meal. If served as a main, you will need a half per person.
You can use whatever vegetables you have lying around but try and get a contrasting color in there to make it pop. Even leftover roast potatoes or rice.
I loved putting together the stuffing for this dish because I had many ingredients I thought would be perfect.
celery for color and texture
chestnuts for festive component
mushrooms for flavor
cooked quinoa for texture, protein and good for you
multi colored bell peppers for color
cilantro for color and flavor

HERE’S HOW TO DO THIS STUFFED SQUASH…
1. Cut squash in half, swish a little olive oil, salt and pepper on the inside. Place on baking tray and roast at 350 for 45 mins. – 1 hour depending on how big your squash is. Give a little fork test to see if it’s soft enough.
2. Chop all your vegetables and leave on chopping board. Grate your cheddar cheese ready
3. Stir fry chopped vegetables with usual, grape seed oil, garlic and ginger, dash of tamari and sherry, I added Flavor God’s dry rub, Everything Seasoning, you can add dried herbs but not both, too much.

4. Remove squash and crank up to 425. Fill squash with chopped stir fried vegetables, add cheese on top and return to oven. Squash is ready when cheese has melted and smells amazing in there! You’re welcome.

I found half was way too much to eat in one dinner, so you might want to even only have a quarter of it. I cheated and grilled some bacon wrapped scallops to go with it, yummy!
There you have it, looks colorful and festive! Stuffed Squash Good a la Wok Star Style! It’s a great dish to serve as a side or a main when you have guests for dinner.
Here are some other festive dishes for the Holidays to try…
Wok Charred Brussels Sprouts
Ginger Honey Brussels Sprouts
Grilled Duck with Stir Fried Brussels Sprouts

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Eleanor Hoh

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