Midtown Detroit Shangri-La
Posted: June 5, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Detroit, food Leave a comment »The restaurant across the street from our apartment — Shangri-La — serves a whole menu of dim sum – dim sum being the term used to describe the different kinds of small snacks you can order to accompany tea drinking. Shangri-La opened two years ago to replace the long-defunct Twingo’s, which was closed down in 2007. After reading so many good reviews of the Bloomfield Hills restaurant, many midtown residents welcomed the change. After eating there on an almost weekly basis, Shangri-La remains something to look forward to. Oh, they serve delicious sushi, too! I wish the best for its success.
Here are some fresh steamed buns I ordered yesterday afternoon:
Lotus paste bun
BBQ Pork Bun
A recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions
- Mix together yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and 1/4 cup warm water. Allow to stand for 30 minutes.
- Mix in 1/2 cup warm water, flour, salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, and vegetable oil. Knead until dough surface is smooth and elastic. Roll over in a greased bowl, and let stand until triple in size, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
- Punch down dough, and spread out on a floured board. Sprinkle baking powder evenly on surface, and knead for 5 minutes. Divide dough into 2 parts, and place the piece you are not working with in a covered bowl. Divide each half into 12 parts. Shape each part into a ball with smooth surface up. Put each ball on a wax paper square. Let stand covered until double, about 30 minutes.
- Bring water to a boil in wok, and reduce heat to medium; the water should still be boiling. Place steam-plate on a small wire rack in the middle of the wok. Transfer as many buns on wax paper as will comfortably fit onto steam-plate leaving 1 to 2 inches between the buns. At least 2 inches space should be left between steam-plate and the wok. Cover wok with lid. Steam buns over boiling water for 15 minutes.
- REMOVE LID BEFORE you turn off heat, or else water will drip back onto bun surface and produce yellowish “blisters” on bun surfaces. Continue steaming batches of buns until all are cooked.
From: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/chinese-steamed-buns/Detail.aspx
See their whole menu here.
Longevity Peach
Posted: May 24, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: food Leave a comment »I remember seeing these at a restaurant a few years ago in Ann Arbor – delicious little steamed buns, shaped like a peach, filled with some kind of paste. So cute… they also happened to be at the Chinese food restaurant in Rochester tonight:
Yeah, so, what are they? From Chinatownology:
The longevity peach is not a fruit but a popular Chinese pastrythat is the representation of a celestial peach 仙桃.
This celestial peach was mentioned in several Chinese legends and is said to grow in the garden of the Queen Mother of the West, 西王母. The celestial peaches ripen once every few thousand years and humans who consume the celestial peach achieve immortality.
This other blog entry tells the story of how longevity peaches were used to show gratitude to deities… and when the real peaches could not be found, these peach-shaped buns were offered instead. The pink blush was achieved by using red and pink flower dye… according to that legend, anyway!
I like these buns because they are almost like pastry, but very light in both texture and sweetness. It’s like eating a little peach-filled cloud bun filled with paste (red bean paste or lotus paste, I could not tell). The pink blush adds some visual sweetness. Very cute touch.
The ones at the restaurant are smaller than others I have seen and come frozen (I saw bags and bags of them in the ice cream cooler), but were still very good. Recipe about how to make steamed buns like the longevity peach can be found here. If you are interested in learning more, try other names for the longevity peach like “baozi” or “shou tao“.
Irish Oatmeal
Posted: March 25, 2010 Filed under: regular | Tags: food Leave a comment »
Yesterday was the first time cooking with steel-cut oats (also called Irish oats, pinhead oats, or porridge oats). Unlike most oatmeal made with flattened/rolled oats, steel-cut oats are oats that have been machine-cut into small bits. Steel-cut oats seem to be more expensive and have a much longer cooking time, but you get a chewier, denser, nuttier kind of oatmeal that fills you up that rolled oats can’t. I love oatmeal (and just like Bert from sesame street, I like pigeons, too) so was excited to try something a little different.
Irish Oatmeal with Buttermilk and Brown Sugar
4 C. Water
1 C. Steel-cut oats
Optional: Brown Sugar, Buttermilk
Boil 4 cups of water on the stovetop; mix in steel-cut oats and let simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Right towards the end, gently fold a little bit of buttermilk and brown sugar in… Turn off heat and wait for it to thicken and cool. Looks and feels like a porridge (or grits).
It stores well in the fridge; but overnight, the oats absorbed even more of the liquid, so I added a bit more buttermilk to smooth it out. Went great with black coffee.
Because of the chewier texture of steel-cut oats, I bet they would taste fantastic with apples and cinnamon – sounds like the perfect breakfast for brisk, winter mornings.
Bon appetit!
