Homemade Kadayif Noodles

Round and round and round we go...  These are the delicate paths we follow to the making our own Homemade Kadayif Noodles!  And just what are these kadayif noodles, you may be asking?  

Well, have you ever heard of 'Dubai Chocolate'?   Ever tasted the creamy, crunchy pistachio filling in a Dubai Chocolate?  Well, you need these fine kadayif noodles if you're going to get that exquisite crunch!  My little girl introduced me to Dubai Chocolate and we quickly became hooked onto that incredibly nutty, creamy, crunchy pistachio filling inside the chocolate.  We wanted to try making it at home!

We soon realized that, while pistachio is fairly easy to obtain, pre-made kadayif noodles are 1) hard to obtain and 2) kinda expensive.  Luckily, after some research, we realized that these delicate kadayif noodles can be made at home with a wee bit of effort and time!

Pistachio Kadayif Cream

Can you guess what this is?  It's something that you've definitely heard of before, if not seen, if not tasted!  This is a part, the most important part IMHO, of the latest, greatest food wave that's been going, well, around the world really.  I was hesitant at first to try it, thinking it was just a fad that would fade before two blinks of the eye.  But it didn't, of course, and my darling little girl finally persuaded me to spend a pretty penny to buy a bar of the famous "Dubai Chocolate."  This pistachio filled chocolate bar was, to my surprise, really quite unique and OMgosh totally delious!

And what is the most important part of the Dubai Chocolate Bar?  Well, it's the utterly unctuous Pistachio Kadayif Cream, of course, as shown in the photo above.  This gorgeously green creamy filling combines the buttery, nutty, slightly sweet lusciousness of ground pistachio nuts in a delightful contrast with the crisp crunch of the fine kadayik dough strands.  This nutty and creamy filling is the heavenly contrast to chocolate that makes the Dubai Chocolate so irresistible!

Nom, nom, nom, and just like that we were hooked!  But, woozer, the 'Dubai Chocolate' anythings sure are expensive!  So we found out, with a bit of research, that you can make Pistachio Kadayif Cream at home with just a wee bit of time and effort.  (And with that creamy filling we went on to make a Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Cake, omgoshdarnitall, to die for, post coming soon!) 

Shallot Infused Oil 红葱油

This simple flavor infused oil is something that we happened upon accidentally as a consequence of making my favorite cold Chinese noodle dish, the deceptively simple yet delicious Shanghai Spring Onion Scallion Noodles 葱油拌面.  Omgosh, how I love, love, love these noodles!

Anyhoo, after making these noodles we were left with the oil used for frying the spring onions and shallots.  And discovered to our delight how utterly fragrant and yummilicious this infused oil was! 

Ever since then we've kept a jar of either spring onion or shallot infused oil in our kitchen at all times!  Today we're making Shallot Infused Oil 红葱油, a subtly sweet, garlicky and oniony fragrant oil that we use to drizzle over finished dishes to add that final extra flavor layer or simply to make the most delicious stir fry with.  Oh man, oh man what a game changer this shallot infused oil is!

Homemade Green Plum Wine 自制青梅酒

As a result of our recent food shenanigans into the making of homemade Huamei Preserved Plums 話梅, we were left with an extra mound of the little green plums 青梅 that inspired it all.  These are immature plums, plucked from the Chinese Plum Tree, also known as the Prunus Mume Tree, in their green and seriously sour stage.  

With this extra mound of green plums we decided to make our first ever plum wine!  Well, not really a wine, more like a fruit liqueur of sorts.  Based loosely on both the Chinese and Japanese style of making plum wine, this fruity concoction is super easy to make, requires a rather long waiting time, and results in a lusciously fruity and smooth wine/liqueur that captures the essence of spring and summer all in one!

Chinese Huamei Preserved Plums 話梅

Every Chinese kid has eaten these preserved fruit treats when they're little, I think, and puckered up with glee at the deliciously sweet, salty and sour taste.  These Chinese Huamei Preserved Plums 話梅 or 酸梅, and also known as Li Hing Mui 旅行梅, are usually found in a dried state but, since we made these fruit candies at home, we have left them swimming in their delectable syrup .  Same taste, with delicious syrup to boot! 

Chinese Ginger Milk Pudding 薑汁撞奶布丁

Recently we made the smooth and creamy Double Skin Milk Pudding 雙皮奶 and were so delighted with the lusciously milky results that we determined to further explore the "Milk-y Way"!  To that end we decided to make this traditional oh so easy to make treat that originates from Panyu 番禺, Guangzhou 廣州: the Chinese Ginger Milk Pudding 薑汁撞奶布丁, also known as Ginger Milk Curd.

This pudding is really magical because its puddingness is set thru the interaction of fresh ginger enzyme and hot milk!  And that's it!  Milk with a touch of sugar is heated in a pot and then poured, bang!, into the freshly squeezed ginger juice.  Then a wait and, tada, the pudding is made!  

Delicate, milky, ginger-ly spicy, smooth and oh so comforting is this super duper easy to make Chinese Ginger Milk Pudding.  Try it, you'll see!

Vegetarian Mushroom Ramen Soup Noodles 素食蘑菇湯拉麵

Savory, rich, filled to the brim with lip-smacking, noodle slurping, umami yummy-liciousness!  Dearest noodle lovers, we're making a bowl of veggie ramen noodles today for all those plant lovers out there!  A bowl of chewy but firm ramen noodles topped with meaty aromatic shrooms and just cooked tender veggies, nestled in a hot and savory umami packed veggie soup.  M oh man, we love us our noodles!

Homemade Ramen Noodles 自製拉麵

Going noodle-crazy here at The Hong Kong Cookery!  After making homemade udon, and having so much fun, we decided to march right on and try making ramen at home!  Turns out that it's not hard to make at all and homemade ramen is sooo good!!  

Darn it, wish that someone had let me know about making ramen years ago...

Flounder Fish Soup Noodles 甫魚麵

Sometimes you just want to appreciate a little bit of something exquisite, a slurp of delirious deliciousness in a bowl, ya know what I mean?  Well, here's the perfect thing to satisfy that desire: Flounder Fish Soup Noodles 甫魚麵, a bowl of the most yummilicious noodles soaked up with stock and sprinkled with umami packed roasted flounder fish powder.  Ready to slurp down in a quarter of an hour!  Sounds simple, dear readers, but don't be deceived.  This seeming humble bowl of noodles packs a powerful punch of flavor and satisfaction!

Double Skin Milk Pudding 雙皮奶

This special treat is from my hubby's ancestral home town, Shunde 順德, a city located in Guangdong province.  Shunde is very famous for its food culture, known as the birthplace of Cantonese cuisine and now a Unesco designated City of Gastronomy.  One of the most famous of the dishes that originate from Shunde might be this traditional Chinese milk pudding!

Known as Double Skin Milk Pudding 雙皮奶 this pudding is distinctive for its lovely double layer of wrinkled milk skin on top, hiding a soft and oh! so lusciously creamy, milky pudding below.  Man oh man, when we go to Shunde we totally pig out on this amazing puddding!  Nom, nom, nom...  

Sometimes back home far away in HK, we do long for it so. Turns out this luscious pud is pretty straightforward to make at home!