Chinese Beef Stew w/ Foo Jook

Got a request for the recipe so here it is:

Chinese Beef Stew w/ Foo Jook
Clara Tom, ''Cantonese Chinese Cooking''

Shoyu Sauce Mix
1/2'' slice ginger, ~1'' in dia., remove skin, crush slightly
1-1/2 Tbs. shoyu
1 Tbs. bourbon or straight whiskey
1 Tbs. sugar

Put ingredients in bowl, mix well.

Bean Curd Mix
3 level Tbs. red bean curd (narn yoy), + 1-1/2 tsp. juice
1 ea. sml. star anise (or 1/4 level tsp. 5-spice powder)
3/4'' sq. piece orange peel (gow pi), soak in water 10 min., remove, scrape off white part inside of skin
3 cups water

Put bean curd & juice in bowl, mash, add rest of in­gredients, mix well.

Cornstarch Mix
2-3/4 Tbs. cornstarch
2 Tbs. water
1-1/2 tsp. oyster sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar

Put ingredients in bowl, mix well just before needed.

Cooking:
3 Tbs. peanut oil
1 tsp. salt, or to taste
1-1/4 lbs. flank steak at room temp., cut into 1-3/4'' wide strips lengthwise, then crosswise in 1-1/4'' wide
3 oz. foo jook, soak until soft, parboil, cut in 2'' pieces Chinese parsley (yuen sai), for garnish

1. Heat pot or wok, add oil & salt, bring to smoking point.
2. Add pieces meat, stir fry ~6 min., add Shoyu Sauce Mix, stir well, cover, simmer 2 min.
3. Add Bean Curd Mix, stir, cover, bring to boil.
4. Lower heat to low, cover, cook ~1-3/4 hrs. (for extra tender cook little longer), add foo jook for last cooking hr.
5. When done, add Cornstarch Mix, stir well, simmer 2 min.
6. Serve over rice or noodles, garnish w/ parsley.

Variation: Use beef tendons instead of flank steak - parboil tendons 1/2 hr., rinse clean, use cook time of 2 ~ 2-1/2 hrs.

Onsen Tamago

OK, I probably ate my month's quota of eggs today. The fresh Okinawan eggs here are small though!

Having always like soft-boiled or 3-minute eggs, when I came across the recipe for Onsen Tamago I decided to give it a try. Onsen Tamago are eggs usually slow cooked in the hot water of onsens (hot baths or spas in mainland Japan). But there are recipes to do it at home.

So I cooked the eggs in hot water (constant 150 degrees for 40 minutes) and this was the result. Sauce or soup is dashi with shoyu and mirin. Was good, but still think I prefer the 3-minute eggs where the yolk is runny with the white firmer. Versus firmer yolks and very soft whites.

Clam Pasta

Simple clam pasta from a can of baby clams cooked in chopped garlic, butter, olive oil and chopped round onions served over angel hair pasta. Forgot capers though.

Simple Jook

Just a simple jook made with shiitake and foo jook. Eaten with pidan and Chinese parsley. Good tasting and comforting on a cold day here in Okinawa.