Chicken Potstickers

OMG!  Work is brutal.  On Tuesday, the office phone began ringing off the hook.  It was ridiculous.  But the High Commander showed aloha, once again setting the bar high.  She bought a nice lunch for everyone at the district office.  We're talking over 30 lunches!  It just amazes me how some people miss out on all the "respect" and "relationships" talk.  And I loved how others talk about "honoring time" as one of the meeting norms then keep us beyond the 3 pm end-of-paid-work time. 

For the last day of torture last week, GP and I attended a data review session at one of the high schools.  We sat in with the ragamuffin group (not language arts, not math; this was all the rest), and we were treated to a show.  At one point we thought the teachers were gonna riot when they were told they'd be observed by their peers and rated.  The Freddie Mercury-look-alike presenter looked like he wanted to run and hide.  GP and I wondered why they even stayed at the school since they say the principal is outrageous (decided to be the gatekeeper on the hard-to-fill area bonuses instead of let geography dictate)...then we saw their schedule for the school year.  OMG!!!  Talk about not listening to the High Commander! 

I need a new job, I really do.  I keep asking my friend Keith (chef at Sansei) if he thinks DK will hire me for something.  I have no restaurant experience, but DK seems intelligent...nearly half-dozen successful restaurants must count for something.  I'm sure he could think of something I could do for his empire.  I asked my parents if they would support me if I quit work.  They said they would gladly welcome me back to their home, but I'd need to sell my home and let them tell me what I could and could not do.  Forget it!  I have less than 10 years left (before full retirement eligibility), and I'm sure time will pass slowly.  Ugh.  The system is sooo messed up.  It wasn't like this when I entered in the early 90s. Of course, I didn't have an iPad back then either.

In the past few weeks, there has been a huge increase in kikukat blog traffic.  I'm guessing pinterest is responsible...the strawberries with almond cream pic and recipe seem to be what draws people here.  I'd like to say a big ALOHA to my new pal Maggie in New York.  In her honor, I'm sharing a pic of omiyage from Edz' recent trip to the Big Apple.  My favorite New York snack...black & white cookies!  It took me a few days to finish them off, but with D2's help, we managed to put them all away.  The cookies in the pic came from 2 different places:  Junior's and Rossi's.  They taste similar, but I liked the small Junior's cookies the best.  But don't get me wrong...I will never turn away black & white cookies. 

The Help is away now.  He went to the Bay Area for a family trip.  I was invited, and The Help's daddy graciously offered to cover all travel expenses for me (he is a very kind, generous man), but when my district was given the green light to convert 2 "formerly-known-as-furlough" days to professional development days for teachers, I wasn't about to use two 8-hour leave days for 2 7-hour days.  I would be out 2 hours, and I know the Establishment would never allow me to take the 2 hours another time.  Fuckers.

Prior to leaving, The Help said he was gonna try and spend some time in San Francisco's Chinatown.  That made me really jealous because I kept thinking about all the goodies he'd get to eat and all the goodies I'd be missing out on.  Of course, he is in a van with 4 other family members, including a coddled and indulged pre-teen, so maybe my jealousy is tempered a bit.  After all, had I gone on the trip, I would've missed out on the last 2 days of torture and would not have had the opportunity to scream obscenities at Mr. Dependable over the car speaker phone.

Prior to the blowout with Mr. Dependable, I had been planning to pick up dinner from Leung's, a local Chinese dive with the greasiest, most ono kau yuk.  But when our conversation ended and I drove into the Leung's parking lot, I nearly ran smack into Mr. Dependable's pilot!  Fuming even more, I spun my car around and left.  There was no way Leung's could've handled both of us in the same room!  So instead of my greasy plate from Leung's, I decided to come home and eat from my freezer.  It took me some time to figure out what was available in there (and what should actually go into the trash).  I came across a bag of chicken potstickers and a wrapped up block of what turned out to be taro cake.  What a find!
 

I need to explain that the frozen potstickers I found were not store-bought.  I had made them last month.  When I make potstickers, I make a big batch (takes several hours), storing the filling in the refrigerator while I wait for the potstickers to get frozen (freezer real estate, especially for a large cookie sheet, is at a premium, and this is usually what determines how many I can make at a time.).  Most times, I don't eat any of the potstickers when I'm making it...its more to have on hand for those nights when I'm pressed for time.  Frozen potstickers take the same amount of cooking time as non-frozen potstickers, and because they are frozen individually, you can cook only what you need each time.  I like to eat potstickers with a spicy dipping sauce, but if I'm pressed for time, shoyu with a touch of sriracha and sesame oil works fine too.  While I enjoy potstickers, nobody in my house enjoys them more than D1.  Nobody.  Oh, yah, Mr. Dependable likes potstickers too, but he certainly won't be on my potsticker sharing list for a while.

For everyday cooking, I prefer to use stainless steel or enameled cast iron cookware (not non-stick), however, when making potstickers, I use a non-stick skillet to avoid the frustration of major sticking (its likely you will lose the bottom of the wrapper if you don't use non-stick).  You will end up souring the pan for hours!  How do I know this?  I learned this the hard way.

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Chicken Potstickers

     1 lb ground chicken

     2 c chopped won bok

     1 tbsp grated ginger

     1 tsp shoyu

     1 tsp salt

     2 tsp sesame oil

     1 tsp shaoxing wine

     1/2 tsp sugar

     2 tbsp cornstarch

     2 pkgs Chun Wah Kam round wrappers or 1 pkg Twin Dragon gyoza wrappers

     oil (1 tbsp per frying pan-ful)

     chicken broth or water (1/2 c per frying pan-ful)

Combine chicken, won bok, ginger, shoyu, salt, sesame oil, shaoxing wine, sugar, and cornstarch.  Place 2 teaspoons of filling in center of wrapper.  Wet edge with water and seal, making pleats as you go, to form a half moon.   Pleats will naturally cause potsticker to curve.  At this point, potstickers may be frozen in a single layer.  When frozen, potstickers can be bagged together.  To cook, heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick skillet.  Place potstickers (directly from the freezer is fine too) into pan, flat-side down.  Add 1/2 cup chicken broth.  Cover pan and cook until most of the liquid evaporates.  Uncover and cook until bottom of potstickers are golden brown.  Serve with shoyu or dumpling sauce.  Makes about 4 dozen.

Chun Wah Kam wrappers are thicker than Twin Dragon wrappers.  You can also substitute ground pork for the chicken.
I will post the sauce recipe next week.

Oyster Sauce Burgers

Conversation of the week:
The Help, "Do you want to go to Ross?"
Kikukat, "No, I told you. . .I gave up Ross for Lent."
The Help, "You're not even Catholic!"

I may not be a regular at Christmas mass, but I am observing Lent beyond the reaches of the Catholic church.  I have decided to give up my weekly cruise through Ross, and so far, I've been managing okay.  It was an easier decision to give up Ross than to give up pork or cake or ideeli shopping.

This past week was a bummer altogether.  GP had a family emergency so he bailed, leaving me and Sensei to cover for him.  He couldn't have picked a shittier time to leave because the doodoo hit the fan from all angles while he was gone.  The phone rang constantly, and we even entertained office visitors for him.  I also came "this close" to yelling at someone (the same someone I yelled at last May and the ONLY someone I ever yelled at in my current job).  The one sliver of sunlight from my work week was checking out my friend NK's Mini Clubman.  Cool!  Maybe I can get one when I grow up, although I think I'd prefer the Countryman.

The commencement of my spring break was delayed because I inadvertently volunteered to attend a work-related function in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  This took 10+ hours(spread over two days) out of my Spring Break, but it was actually a breeze of fresh air after the nasty week I had.  I got to see my pal CR, which made the entire time worth it.  I miss her.

It was also nice that Sensei was there for the first leg(4 hours) so I had company for part of the drive and someone to bitch with while there.  In spite of being only on-time (and not early), Sensei and I arrived significantly before Uncle.  By the time Uncle arrived, everyone was seated.  Shame!  I had to brave it alone for the second leg, but it worked out okay because I got to spend time with CR.  I also got to walk through the Jaggar Museum.  The last time I was there was when I was in elementary school!

This week I'm sharing a recipe which has never let me down.  It makes the tastiest hamburger patty which can be served all kinds of different ways. . .with rice and a fried egg in a loco moco (scroll all the way to the bottom of this post to see an unflattering picture of a loco moco), or in a bun.  I normally make a single recipe, which will yield about 8 good-sized patties (for placing in a bun).

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Oyster Sauce Hamburger Patties

     1 lb ground beef

     2 slices bread, torn into bits

     1 egg

     2 tbsp chopped onion

     2 tbsp mayonnaise

     2 tbsp oyster sauce

     1 tbsp shoyu

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.  Form into patties and pan-fry.  Make gravy with drippings if necessary.

loco moco

I already told you this is an unflattering pic.

Kay's Ono Spaghetti

birthday girl

Before I start bitching about my weekend, I'd like to wish D1 a happy birthday.  Somehow, she manages to do well for the 7-hours of each  weekday known as "school", but ask her what animals you'd expect to see in Alaska and your head will start spinning with the answer.  She drives me mental, but I love her dearly.  The full day of labor and years of recovery (still recovering!) she put me through was worth it.  I'd also like to wish happy birthday to Aunty Betty (of corned beef hash fame), who shares the same birthday as D1.  They are indeed two of a kind.

I worked hard this weekend trying to avoid the Christmas crowds.  While some people know me as a "shopper", the truth is, I find crowds daunting.  I'd rather spend a few more $ to shop on the internet (in the privacy of my own home, sitting in a comfy chair, sipping a Coco Rico) than brave the awful crowds at PKP, WalMart & Target; unlike me, D1 went shopping on Black Friday and came home with an armload of gifts.  Unlike D1 and sadly for those on my gift list, most of the internet shopping I accomplished was for myself. . .pffftttthh.  Maybe I'll be up to braving the crowds next week.

I've also been doing some intense research on a dish called "Hainanese Chicken Rice", which is supposed to be THE unofficial national dish of Singapore (introduced by, who else, the Chinese).  But I'm trying to avoid going to the market now.  The KTA Puainako parking lot is nuts, especially with the cordoned-off area for Christmas trees.  For the moment, meals need to be planned around what we have on hand.  Spaghetti happens to be one of those meals.

This is one of those recipes where you begin to wonder why I'd post a recipe for spaghetti.  And you would not be alone.  For most of my life, spaghetti was something you made at 5:00 pm, when you ran out of other ideas.  It was as simple as browning a tray of ground beef and adding a jar or can of spaghetti sauce.  I'm not sure why I decided to change things up a bit, but I did.  I came across a recipe for spaghetti sauce and thought I'd give it a shot.  It seemed simple enough and it was made with ingredients I usually have on hand.  I wasn't prepared for what I started.

The first time I made the recipe, I loved it from the first bite.  The kids said it was "okay", but ate at least 2 bowls of noodles with just the sauce.  No meat.  Just sauce and noodles.  Then came the grumbling about how there wasn't enough sauce.  So with a bunch of adjustments, I fixed the recipe to the point where the taste was pretty much the same as the original recipe, but there was more of the savory sauce for the sauce-only eaters. 

That was years ago.  Since then, I've made this recipe for occasions from large family dinners to birthday parties.  Cousin LA (a fantastic baker who can make all the cookies in the Martha Stewart cookie cookbook look better than the pictures in the book), requested the recipe.  Wow!  In fact, the grumbler of grumblers, Dad, actually asked Mom to call me to get the recipe for "Kay's Ono Spaghetti" so she could make it for him instead of the jar sauce du jour she had planned to use.  This request did not go over well, and he ended up eating spaghetti made with jar sauce.  Poor Dad.
Oh, crap!  Garlic bread is a MUST when eating spaghetti.  I guess someone will be going to the market after all!

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Kay's Ono Spaghetti

     1 lb ground beef

     4 slices bacon, chopped*

     1 c Portuguese sausage, diced

     16 oz tomato sauce

     1 can (4 oz) mushroom pieces, drained

     2 c catsup

     1/2 c chopped celery

     1/8 tsp black pepper

     1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves

     1 1/2 tsp garlic salt

     2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

     a dash of chili powder

Brown all meats.  Drain fat.  Add rest of ingredients and simmer for 45 minutes.  Makes enough sauce for 1 lb of pasta.

*You may also used 4 tbsp of pre-cooked bacon bits.  If you do this, give it a few good pulses in the food processor to break up large chunks.

Steamed Pork Hash

This dish is something that reminds me of when I was young.  I'd like to thank Nate and his blog, Hawaiian Pake in Okinawa, for taking me back on a nostalgic journey.  Since Mom worked full-time, dinners were generally quick, thrown-together things.  I remember going to the market with her after she picked me up from Aunty Elsie's house.  Together, we'd comb the aisles, hoping we'd find the answer to the question, "whats for dinner?".

One dish that she'd often when pressed for time was steamed pork hash.  She would get the steamer going, toss ground pork with a bunch of ingredients, usually whatever she had on hand (egg, chung choi, shiitake, water chestnuts, shoyu, etc.), pat the mixture into a bowl, and stick the bowl in the steamer.  In under an hour, a hot entree would be on the table.  The same ground pork mixture was sometimes stuffed in a hollowed out end of togan (winter melon) or mushroom caps.

Nate uses salted duck egg in his pork hash patty.  Mom never used that, but its probably because we never had any uncooked salted duck eggs around.  The first time I had pork hash with salted duck egg was at Helen's Chinese Restaurant in Kapahulu (dinner courtesy of an ex-boyfriend and his family).  I loved the yolk smeared on top.  Upon reading Nate's blog, I remembered seeing a recipe for pork hash patty using salted duck egg in one of my many cookbooks.  Gathering up a few recipes, I put together something to call my own, especially since I now know how to make salted eggs out of chicken eggs.

While this dish won't win any beauty contest, it will certainly warm hearts and tummies.  Mom, your steamed pork hash is still the best, but I think mine is pretty good too.  Thanks for the inspiration, Nate.

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Steamed Pork Hash

     1 lb ground pork

     1/2 - 1 can water chestnuts, chopped

     2 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

     4 tsp shoyu

     1 tbsp rice wine

     2 tsp sesame oil

     1 tsp sugar

     2 salted eggs (raw)

     1 tbsp slivered green onions

Separate eggs, setting yolks aside.  To egg whites, add pork, water chestnuts, cornstarch, shoyu, rice wine, sesame oil, and sugar.  Pat into heatproof bowl.  Cut each egg yolk into several pieces.  Place atop pork mixture.  Steam 40 minutes.  Remove carefully and sprinkle green onions on top.  Serve hot.