Eight Treasures Rice Pudding (Ba Bao Fan)

Puo (grandmother) does not let food go to waste.  She grew up during a time when food and supplies were scarce.  When she saw how much rice I made for fermented rice, we decided to make ba bao fan using the extra rice. 

This dish is a common dessert during Chinese New Year and other holidays. It can be made ahead of time and steamed when ready to serve.

Photo of finished product from web (I  lost my photos)

Ingredients:

2 cups sweet rice

¼ cup sugar (Iused splenda)

1 teaspoon canola oil

½ can of sweetened bean paste (from a 15 ounce can)

8 Treasures:  Maraschino cherries,raisins, dates, nuts, any other dried fruits and nuts 

Directions:

1. Prepare rice according to rice cooker instructions.
2. While rice is warm, add sugar and mix well.
3.  Swirl canola oil in a large bowl to coat.
4. Place cherries and raisins at the bottom of bowl in a decorative pattern.
5.  Wet hands with water to prevent rice from sticking to fingers.  Take a handful of rice and pat until flat in hands.
6. Place rice in bowl on top of cherries and raisins.
7. In a non-stick pan warm half the can of red bean paste until fragrant.
8. Add the red bean paste to the rice bowl and spread with hands.
9. Use remaining rice on top of the red bean paste, pat down and smooth.
10. Place bowl into steamer for 10 – 20 minutes until rice is warm and soft.
11. Gently slide a knife along the edges of the bowl, place on top of a plate and gently slide bowl off rice.
12. Warm 2-3 tablespoons of the cherry juice and pour on top for decoration.

Problems I encountered:

Since we made this dish at the last minute I only had raisins and a few cherries on hand.  Usually there are eight different types of treasures (nuts and dried fruits) used in this dish.  I accidentally deleted my photos of this dish so I posted one from the web.  Mine did not turn out quite as nice.

Fermented Sweet Rice (Jio Nian)

Our next cooking lesson is on fermented rice (jio nan).  This is an ingredient used in many of my favorite Chinese dishes from dessert soups to stir fry shrimp .   I remember when I used to sneak into the bathroom to eat many bowls of this stuff.  I discovered at a young age that I like sweets…and alcohol!

The total process for this dish takes between 5-7 days to complete.   To begin, the rice needs to be soaked in water for at least 6-8 hours prior to cooking.  With our 1 p.m. cook time, I promised Puo (grandmother) I would wake up at 6 a.m. to start the soaking process.  She told me the recipe would be ruined if we soak it for too short or long of a period of time.  Since I am terrified of Puo when she is angry, I decided to play it safe.  

Ingredients:  
4 cups uncooked sweet rice

½ cup water
1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp yeast, finely ground from 1 yeast ball
½ cup of whiskey (we decided to always use whiskey instead of rice wine)

Sweet rice and yeast ball

Directions Part 1:

1. Place 4 cups of uncooked sweet rice into bowl.  
2. Pour water until it just covers the rice.   
3. Let soak for 6 - 8 hours.

Directions Part 2:

1. Drain water from bowl.
2. Start steamer.  When the water begins to boil, place bowl of rice into steamer.  
3. Let steam covered for 45 minutes.
4. Transfer rice into another large bowl.  Let cool until slightly warm.
5. While rice is cooling, grind 1 yeast ball until extremely fine powder (see picture below).
6. In a separate bowl combine water and whiskey. 
7. When rice is cooled, add 1 tbsp and 1/2 tsp of yeast and mix well with hands.  
8. Dip hands into whiskey / water to keep rice from sticking to hands.
9. Slowly add most of the whiskey and water mix.  Continue kneading rice with hands.
10. Transfer rice into a glass or ceramic bowl with lid.
11. Pat down the rice until tightly packed and even.
12. Create a hole in the middle of the bowl with an object that is small enough to be covered.  We used a short shot glass (it was the only item I could find in a hurry).
13. Pour remaining liquid evenly onto rice.
14. Cover with a tight fitting lid.  
15. We then wrapped the bowl in two beach towels and placed it in a dark warm location.  I chose my husband's closet!  Puo uses a heating pad on the rice.
16. Let sit for 5-7 days.  Rice is ready when it becomes naturally sweet.  
17. Place in refrigerator after fermented. 

Ground yeast until fine powder

Rice with shot glass in the middle, ready to be covered

First layer 

Second layer, place in closet for 5-7 days

Finished rice (after 9 days)

Problems I encountered (6:30 a.m.):

My grandmother told me to use about half of the 5 lb bag of rice.  Of course I listened and poured half the bag (measured to be about 6 regular cups) into a bowl.  Then I realized that the rice would expand as it soaked and this would cause a problem.  

   

All 6 cups in bowl, 6 a.m.

Rice after soaking for 30 minutes

I  do not have a bowl large enough to hold all the rice that would also fit into my steamer.  So I took out about 2 cups and placed them into the rice cooker bowl.  The remaining 4 cups of rice is now in the original bowl and waiting for grandma's instructions.

2 cups in manufacturer's bowl

4 cups rice soaking

Problems with finished product:

My rice did not ferment properly after seven days.  I had to use a heating pad in order to finish the fermenting process.  I should have listened to Puo the first time. 

Stay tuned to find out what we did with the extra rice...
Bao Bo Fan 

Pan Roasted Fish (Hong Sao Ru)

I decided to start with a staple fish dish for our first cooking lesson.  My grandmother always said fish makes you smart so she made us eat a lot of it!

This past weekend I went fishing with my husband and father-in-law.  And usually when we catch fish, we fry it.  Honestly, I can’t remember a time in the last 10 years when we did not fry it.  This time I asked to save my catch as a whole fish to try one of grandma’s recipes.

After nine hours of fishing, I asked my husband to scale and clean my prized trout.  We brought the fish home to grandma, where we embarked on our first lesson.

My trout!

My translations and cooking vocabulary are not accurate, but I included grandma’s details…

Ingredients: 

1 whole fish (salt water trout, snapper or any whole fish)

2 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine (we used whiskey - grandma believes it’s the same as cooking wine?)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon fresh ginger coarsely chopped

¼ cup green onions coarsely chopped

Directions:

Use a large, fairly flat non-s tick pan.  Clean a whole fish with the head, tail, and skin intact (no intestines) or buy one from the fish market and ask them to scale and take out the guts. Score the fish diagonally on each side. Then cut the fish in half if you do not have a large enough pan. 

1. Combine soy sauce, sugar, wine, and vinegar in a bowl.
2. Heat oil on high heat.
3. Place fish into pan let fry for 5 minutes.
4. Separate the two pieces of fish and add green onions and ginger into the middle (grandma insisted on this process).  Let cook for a few minutes.
5. Add the sauce mixture to the pan, push the fish back together.
6.  Cover and let cook on high for 2 minutes.
7. Turn off heat.
8. Add water, flip the fish, and let sit covered for 2 minutes.

Problems I encountered:

The heat was not high enough in the beginning, therefore the skin stuck to the pan.  My grandmother assumed because the stove was red, the temperature was too hot. Afterwards I explained the stove turns red even on low heat.   I used a wok only to be scolded that it was a poor choice.  I should have used a flat pan so the fish could fry evenly. 

Overall the dish turned out to be delicious!

Please do not judge the taste based on my presentation.  I am a beginner!