Father Daughter Day Part 2

I showed my dad the Father's Oxtail post and he was so excited that I was making him "famous." He had me email his friends in the Philippines and his siblings so they could see our creation. For the entire last week he was telling me I should post about this and that... today he proceeded to drag me into the kitchen to have yet another father daughter day in the kitchen. He's SO cute :) if you know me, I'm sure you've heard me say this but I seriously think I have the BEST dad in the world! I'm really glad that I get to spend so much time with him now that he's back :) AND what better way to spend time than in the kitchen! "The recipe for today is simple and the ingredients are readily available in most kitchens... the best part is, you never have to use oil or a stove! A steam rice cooker is all you need." That was the tagline my dad advised me to use in my post. He's right, the recipe is really easy! Oh, and if you have leftover meat mixture (because I did) you can make home-made wontons!

Chinese Pearl Meatballs Zhen Zhu Wan Zi

Ingredients:
1 lb fresh ground pork
1 tsp salt
1 tsp corn starch
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp michu
1/2 tsp chopped ginger
1 Tbsp potato powder
1 egg
1 cup sweet glutinous rice

Directions:
1. Soak rice in water for 3 hours, and drain before using.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Knead the meat mixture with your hands after everything is combined. Cover and place in the refrigerator for an hour.
3. Use teaspoon and roll the meat into a small ball, 1 inch diameter. Roll the ball in the rice, making sure the entire meatball is coated in rice.
4. Steam for 15 minutes.

Father's Oxtail

At my house, most of the time my mom cooks dinner, but every once in a while Master Chef Hsu (my dad) will make an appearance in the kitchen. Up until maybe last year, my dad's specialty was noodles.. But last year, he ventured out to all sorts of things, fish head soup, curry chicken, braised pork belly, and my favorite of all, braised oxtail. My dad was in the Philippines for the past year on business and I would always crave this comfort food. My mom didn't have the recipe and my brother only had a failed attempt at transcribing it last summer. After an entire week of nagging him about his delicious oxtail dish, daddy walked me through the process. I'm so glad I have this recipe to share now! It's a nice change from the yummy but common way of cooking oxtail which is in soup.

Father's Braised Oxtail

Ingredients
2 star anise
3 slices of ginger 
1 tsp peppercorn
2 stalks green onion quartered
2-3lbs oxtail
1/4 cup of michu 
2 tsp salt
1 stick of celery quartered
2 habenaro peppers stems cut
10 cups of water
1/4 cup dark soy sauce 
Dash of sugar
3 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dashi
1 tbs sesame oil
1/2 tsp cracked pepper
3 Carrots sliced

Directions:
1. Boil water in a large pot add star anise ginger and peppercorn green onion
2. Marinate oxtail in michu and salt let sit for 10 minutes
3. Once the pot comes to a roaring boil place the oxtails into the pot. Stir and cook for 1 minute just until the meat is no longer red.
4. Drain the water, keeping all the other ingredients and transfer to a ceramic pot.
5. Place oxtail evenly in a ceramic pot with celery and habenaro peppers and add 10 cups of water or enough to cover all the meat.
6. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, cracked pepper and dashi, bring to a boil on high heat
7. Reduce heat to low and cook for 1.5 hours. Remove the blood/impurities from the top.
8. Add carrots and cook for another 15 minutes.
9. Garnish with Worchestire vinegar!