Still, Happy Lunar New Year…with POMOCHI

Hey Dear blogger Friends, do you know that the traditional lunar new year celebration actually last for the whole week ?!?! and you have every reason to celebrate it till the Lunar Jan 15th 😀    So today I am gonna make another traditional Chinese New Year food. The Chinese name is called ” Nian Gao” , which literally means ” higher every year”. In Japanese, this kind of food is called ” Mochi”.

So what the heck is POMOCHI????

haha, it’s POM + Mochi = POMOCHI!!! (since POM + Nian Gao = POMIANGAO…..that’s doesn’t sounds very appealing to me:-P , thus I am gonna adopt Japanese way of Nian Gao) .

making POMOCHI is a lot of fun. Because the main ingredient is the glutinous rice….you got an extremely sticky dough to play with. That reminds me of the time spent with my Mom making them several years ago!!!!

I made a black sesame filling POMOCHI. The ingredients are : 1 cup of glutinous rice flour, about 1/4 cup of POM juice , grind black sesame, coconut oil from coco 😛 (thank you!) , coconut flakes,  sweet-scented osmanthus, and a about 1 tsp of sugar.

For the glutinous dough: mix the POM and 1 cup of rice flour. See that nice cute pinky color??? I fall in love with it instantly!!! Steam them for about 10 minutes , and cool it down completely.

For the fillings : mix 1/4 cup of grind black sesame, 1 tsp of coconut oil, 1/2 tsp of osmanthus, and  1 tsp of sugar. Stir till they become little sticky crumbles.

Now comes the tricky part: making the mochi. Some tips I just find ( didn’t realize it was so difficult when I made them with Mom!!!

1. spray some oil on your hand ( yes!!) it makes the dough less sticky to your hand and easy to round it up.

2. make a ping-pong sized ball first, then “dig” a small hole for the filling (please don’t be greedy in terms of fillings…) , and seal the top. Then start to roll the dough in your hand till its really round and smooth.

Great Pinky POMOCHI already!!!

yes its ready to eat. But I would like to add more Chinese flavor:

Dip the pinky into a bowl of unsweetened coconut flakes. sprinkle some osmanthus for garnish 😀

coconut flavor crust, sweet scented osmanthus, nutty, delicate crunchiness from black sesame fillings, and POM rice dough. Oh.that makes my day much better. Enjoy , and again, and still, happy Lunar New year!!

Parties Parties Parties!!! and….party leftovers !!! Cashew Milk, Enchilada, and Dessert is served.

Guess every body is busy with parties now, end of the year, celebrate with friends and colleagues…. and not surprisingly, so much food leftovers from all the parties. what do you do  with them? I am not gonna toss all the cookies and chocolates and beef stews, just not feel good to throw away food that can actually adds flavors to my routine eats. so today’s eat is all about recycles !

Tons of beef stew leftover, plus some pork stew… though I am not a carnivore , I am happy to have some tender beef stews every now and then. So made this Left over Enchiladas ( Not an attractive name, I know, haha 😀

Not a very typical enchilada that packed with cheese. But I love the crunchiness where the tortilla is not melted with cheese.  I guess there is much less calories than the one I had in Austin grill – oh man, that one, is full of cheese and full of ….??? sorry I can only remember I was eating lots of cheese 😛 Please don’t blame me if you feel cheese the essence of this dish, haha

I mix the left over bite size beef and pork stews with diced mushrooms. wrap in a tortilla, sprinkle mozzarella cheese and olive. Bake them at 350 for 30 minutes.

Sizzling again!! I just can’t help eat them all. The smoky smell from mushroom well blended with the beef and pork stews, and the tortilla is soooo crunchy!!

You want some as well?

Maybe you all have the experience of bringing back home the left over cookies and cakes from the party….or is it only me???? hahaha, last week we had a department party. everyone else decide to bring back the left over beers….while I was attracted by those chocolate crisps and cookies 😀 do i just have a fate of gaining weight ?? hehe. but I had an idea already what I’m gonna use them for.

It’s my M’M Cake. yeah, M1= morning, M2= moist! did I just get my creativity back ??

The cake itself contains :

1. “bean dreg” from cashew milk that I’ll introduce later.

2. 1 cup of self-rising flour, 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 1/2 cup of wheat bran, 1 egg, 1 banana.

3. LEFTOVERS!! I didn’t use any extra sugar, instead, I borrow the sweetness from 2 chopped chocolate chip cookies, and 1 scoop of strawberry ice cream cake. for the top, is the finely chopped chocolate crisp from the party.

Sorry I am pretty liberal (again!) in terms of cake ingredients. I am not selling my cake anyway, as long as it taste good, I am 100% satisfied!!!

the ” bean dreg” is actually cashews and sesame. so if you are a NUTS lover as me, you will love the smell when its baking!! and banana just add in another nature sweets for the cake. The red bites (if you can see it) is the ice cream...first time I am using ice cream in my cake, am I nuts????

but I promise, the cake is so dense and moist, and very fulfilling !! it instantly become my new breakfast lover. 2 slices are even not enough !!

last but not least, I am serving some cashew milk with my soymilk maker:

with about 1/2 cup of cashews, 2 tsp of black sesame which is good for your hair and digestion system.  I am STILL excited with my new baby, and have so many thoughts about my morning drinks:

My little pinky piggy friend again being my best accompany for breakfast!! I wish you could try them too!!

Have a good night everyone 😀