Tag: East Asian
Braised Beef Shanks (Instant Pot)
Braised Beef Shank (Instant Pot)
Chilled sliced beef shanks is a popular Taiwanese appetizer. You can find whole boneless shank meat at every Asian, usually labeled as whole beef muscle. Since beef shank meat is extremely tough, it will take some time to cook. Using an Instant Pot pressure cook drastically cuts down the cooking time from 4-5 hours if braising on the stovetop to around 100 minutes. Once the beef shanks are finished, they will need to completely cool, then chill in the refrigerator overnight. The shank meat is served cold, thinly sliced with a drizzle of sesame oil and a few sprigs of cilantro.
Equipment
- Instant Pot pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 green onions chopped
- 3” ginger sliced
- 1 1/2 lbs whole boneless beef shank meat
- 1/2 cup light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp dark mushroom soy sauce
- 1/2 cup shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 tbsp rock sugar
- 1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
- 2 star anise
- water
Garnish
- sesame oil
- cilantro
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot setting to sauté on high heat. Heat up the cooking oil. Sauté the green onions, ginger, and star anise for 2 minutes.
- Add in the beef shanks, soy sauces, cooking wine, rock sugar, and 5 spice powder. Pour in enough water to cover the beef shanks. Place the cover on the pressure cooker. Set the function to pressure cook on high for 100 minutes. Push start.
- Release the pressure from the Instant Pot.
- Remove the beef shanks from the pressure cooker and let completely cool. Place in the refrigerator overnight.
- When ready to serve, thinly slice the beef shanks.
Tangerine Bubble Tea
Tangerine Bubble Tea
I remember the first time I had a bubble tea. I was in Denver on vacation to partake in legal marijuana and had a cocktail of products. As I was off into space, I stumbled into a hole in the wall ramen restaurant down the street from my favorite dispensary, Euphlora. I had a bowl of tonkatsu ramen. It was good. I decided to try a bubble tea for the first time, and grabbed one for the walk back to my hotel. So let me be very clear: I had absolutely no clue what a bubble tea was. So I was walking down the street and took a sip through a giant straw, and then – sloop. What the hell was that? I took another sip. Sloop. Sloop. This is weird, but I kinda like it. Sloop. Sloop. Sloop. As I marveled at this fruity drink with what I learned were tapioca pearls that are soft, slightly gummy, that are in the bottom of the cup that you suck up through that giant straw and chew, I got lost in the downtown and couldn’t find my hotel. This was before I had a smartphone with google maps. I didn’t even care, honestly. I was stoned, filled with ramen, and sloopin’ my bubble tea down the 16th Street Mall. There are several types of bubble teas: plain ice tea, milk and tea with a sweetener, and fruit and milk blended with crushed ice; all with tapioca pearls floating on the bottom. Making bubble teas at home is extremely easy and costs a fraction of what you pay at a restaurant. You can purchase tapioca pearls at any Asian market. I like to use the instant pearls. They cook in less than 10 minutes. Other pearls can take up to 40 minutes to boil. Cool them in water, then cover in honey. This particular recipe is for the fruit smoothie bubble tea. I used some honey tangerines that I thought would be great. You can really use just about any fruit. Blend your fruit of choice with milk, ice, and honey, then pour in a tall glass with the tapioca pearls on the bottom. You will need to purchase bubble tea straws to suck the pearls through. Sloop.
Servings: 1
Equipment
- blender
- bubble tea straw
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup instant tapioca pearls
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 cup tangerines; or any other fruit peeled and seeded
- 1 cup whole milk or almond milk
- 1 cup ice
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add in the tapioca pearls and boil for 3 minutes. Once the pearls float to the top, cover and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Turn off the heat. Let sit for 3 more minutes.
- Cool under cold water.
- Place the tapioca pearls in a bowl and cover with 1 tbsp of honey.
- Place the fruit, milk, ice, and 1 tbsp of honey in a blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Place the tapioca pearls in the bottom of a tall glass.
Sesame Wine Chicken Soup
Sesame Wine Chicken Soup
Ma You Ji Tang is a Taiwanese style sesame wine chicken soup. This soup is most appropriate for the cold weather months, as it is great for your immune system. Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties; red dates helping regulate blood pressure, aid in digestion, and are high in vitamin C. Dark meat chicken will work the best for this soup, so I used 2 whole legs; cutting the drumsticks in half and the thighs into 4 pieces. The soup can be served over noodles or rice and is topped with lots of green onions and cilantro.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp black sesame oil
- 6 slices ginger
- 2 whole chicken legs drumsticks cut in half; thighs cut into 4
- 2 cups michiu cooking wine or shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 12 dried red dates
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- salt to taste
- 2 portions somen noodles prepared according to package directions
- 4 green onions chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Heat up 2 tbsp of sesame oil in a pot over medium high heat. Sauté the ginger slices gor 3 minutes. Remove from the pot.
- Add in the chicken. Brown on all sides for 10 minutes in total.
- Pour in the chicken stock and cooking wine. Bring to a boil.
- Add in the dried red dates and the sautéed ginger slices. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Stir in the sugar and the last 2 tbsp of sesame oil. Season with salt to taste.
- Place a portion of the somen noodles in a bowl.
