Chef Celia

This one is for my friend, who is expecting a bundle of joy next month! Hope you and baby enjoy!

Ingredients

• 3.5 lbs of oxtail (about 5 pieces, a mix of large and small)
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 stalk of green onions, chopped into 2 inch-stalks
• 2-inch piece of ginger, sliced
• 6 star anise
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon of Chinese 5-spice powder
• 6 cloves
• 3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 1/2 cup of rice wine
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• salt to taste
• oil as needed
• water as needed
• stir-fry vegetable (optional)

Tips

• Feel free to improvise by adding more ingredients such as cinnamon, five-spice, or cloves; you can also omit the bay leaf or the dried red pepper. The taste will not vary too much since what gives this dish great flavor is the braising itself!
• Substitute the turnip with Napa cabbage/cabbage/carrot, and it will taste just as great.
• Make sure the oxtails are pat dry before cooking for better charring.

Instructions

• Trim the oxtails to get rid of most of the pure fat around each bone. You’ll still be left with a decent amount of fat once they’re cooked because oxtail is a very fatty meat.
• Heat oil up in a pan, and brown all sides of the oxtail for about 7 – 10 minutes; set aside.
• In the same pan, on medium-low heat, put in all of the dry ingredients: garlic, ginger, green onions, star anise, cloves and bay leaf; stir fry until fragrant. Save the Chinese five-spice powder for later.
• Place the browned oxtail back into the pan.
• Then add the wet ingredients: soy sauce, rice wine and water; then add the sugar.
• Turn up the heat and bring to a boil.
• At this point, turn the heat to low and simmer 3-4 hours.
• Flip the oxtail every hour and sprinkle the Chinese five-spice powder.
• About 30 minutes before the oxtail is done, stir fry the vegetables.
• Garnish with chopped green onions if you have them.
• Ready to serve!
• Serve with white or brown rice.

I’ve been getting the not-so-subtle hint from NYT Cooking and other publications that a mediterranean diet seems to be the way to go if you want a healthy long life. And salmon seems to be the star protein that appears in many mediterranean recipes. But salmon is healthy whether it’s in a mediterranean recipe or not. This is my recent favorite way of making salmon; it combines the clever Asian way of marinating fish with the refreshing Californian way of serving salmon with a generous variety of textures.

Ingredients (makes 2 bowls)

• 12 oz of salmon (skin on or skin off)
• 2 pinches of salt
• 1 pinch of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of soy sauce (you can use the special kind of soy sauce for fish that my mother swears by: 蒸鱼豉油)
• 1 teaspoon of cornstarch (optional)
• 2 teaspoons of rice wine
• brown or white rice
• 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 stalk of green onions
• 1 teaspoon of soy sauce
• 1/4 cucumber, sliced
• 1/2 carrot, julienned
• 1 cup of shredded cabbage
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 tablespoon of kewpie mayo (or regular mayo)
• 1 teaspoon of sriracha

Tips

• I like to do this bowl with fried rice instead of plain. The extra effort goes a long way in giving the dish a lot of flavor. But it works fine with plain rice.
• The cucumber, carrot, cabbage and avocado are all toppings. You can customize this however you like. I find that the bowl tastes great with just cabbage and avocado as well.

Instructions

• Cut the salmon into cubes.
• Marinate the salmon with salt, sugar, soy sauce, cornstarch and rice wine for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat up oil in a non-stick pan and scramble the eggs.
• Add the rice, soy sauce and green onions and stir fry it. Once done, divide the rice into two large bowls and set aside.
• Place the marinated salmon cubes into the non-stick pan and cook 3 minutes each side. If you like your salmon to be tender, I suggest not cooking it for more than 6 minutes. But if you want your salmon to be more well done, you can cook it up to 10 minutes. Once done, turn off the stove.
• Assemble the bowls by placing the toppings (cucumber, carrot, cabbage and avocado) into the bowls.
• Add the salmon and top it with the kewpie and sriracha.
• Garnish with more green onions (optional).
• Ready to serve!

I’m always missing Hawaii, and I make loco moco to ease the the urge to go there constantly. To me, it’s just a great way to have a burger without having to make sure you have bread and tomatoes and lettuce and that stuff at home. But I guess it does still mean you need to have all of the ingredients for a loco moco at home, which I am more likely to have than not.

Ingredients (makes 4 patties)

• 1 lb of ground beef (wagyu ground beef makes all the difference)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of soy sauce
• 1/3 small yellow onion, minced
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of panko breadcrumbs (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of heavy cream (optional)
• 1 cup of beef broth
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 1 teaspoon of worcestershire sauce or steak sauce
• 1 teaspoon of ketchup
• 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
• salt and sugar to taste
• white or brown rice
• 2 eggs (or 4 eggs if you’re making 4 bowls with 1 patty each; each bowl should have an egg)
• Vegetable oil as needed

Tips

• Marinate the patties at least 1 hour ahead of time.
• You can add onions and mushrooms to the gravy if desired.

Instructions

• In a large bowl, combine ground beef, salt, pepper, soy sauce, yellow onion, garlic, 1 egg, panko breadcrumbs and heavy cream.
• Mix well with your hands (it’s just the easiest way to mix)
• Form the mixture into 4 patties and set aside for at least 1 hour. The patties should be about 3/4 inch thick.
• Coat a cast iron with a thin layer of vegetable oil.
• Place the patties into the cast iron and fry each side for 4-6 minutes each side, longer if your patties are thicker. Leave them in your cast iron once done until you’re ready to serve.
• Meanwhile, in a sauce pan, melt the butter and add the flour. Stir until fully combined.
• Add the beef broth and water and bring to a light boil/simmer.
• Add the worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and soy sauce. Cook for about 2 minutes.
• Give the gravy a taste and adjust the taste to your liking with salt and sugar. Leave the gravy in your sauce pan until you’re ready to serve.
• In another non-stick pan, heat up some vegetable oil and fry your eggs. I like to have them over-easy or over-medium but you can certainly do sunny-side up too.
• Once your patties, gravy and eggs are done, you can begin plating.
• Place 1 cup of rice in each bowl.
• Place the patty on top of the rice and the egg on top of the patty.
• Top the bowl with gravy.
• Ready to serve!

Cumin lamb is the best thing ever. (If you like lamb, and spicy stuff, and being punched by umami flavor. ) I guess I’ll admit that this dish is not as easy as it seems and took me many tries to perfect. Once I mastered the art of making cumin lamb, it became the dinner that my picky picky husband always requests!

Ingredients

• 1 lb of lamb, sliced (leg or shoulder work fine)
• 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
• 3 pinches of salt
• 2 pinches of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon of shaoxing rice wine
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1 or 2 jalapeno (depending on how spicy you like your lamb)
• 1 small yellow onion, julienned (larger chunks are okay)
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 inch ginger, sliced into 1/2 centimeters
• 1 stalk of green onion, chopped into 2 inch stalks, with green and white parts separated
• 2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon of whole cumin seeds (optional)
• Vegetable oil s needed

Tips

• Does it have to be shaoxing rice wine? Probably not, but it really does bring out the taste that other types of rice wine doesn’t.
• When cooking the lamb first, make sure it’s cooked to the point that it’s dry and charring. You don’t want it to be saucy.
• You can substitute crushed red pepper flakes with gochugaru.
• To adjust the taste at the end, use salt to help balance out the spice if too spicy. Use cumin to add more flavor if it just tastes like soy sauce. Use more crushed red pepper flakes if it’s not spicy enough.

Instructions

• Combine lamb, vegetable oil, salt, sugar, dark soy sauce, cornstarch and shaoxing rice wine. Marinate for at least 30 minutes, but the longer the better.
• Heat up vegetable oil in a wok or pan.
• Place the lamb into the wok or pan and stir fry for about 10 minutes, or however long it takes for the moisture to dry out and for the lamb to start charring. Set aside when finished.
• In the same wok or pan, add the onion, garlic, ginger, the white parts of the green onion, the crushed red pepper flakes, and the whole cumin seeds and stir fry until fragrant, about 5 minutes.
• Add the jalapenos and stir fry for another 2 minutes.
• Add the cooked lamb back into the wok or pan along with the 1 tablespoon of ground cumin and the green parts of the green onion. Stir fry for another 2-3 minutes.
• Taste the lamb and adjust based on your liking.
• Ready to serve!
• Serve white or brown rice, vegetables, or other family favorites.