Cinnamon Garlic Ginger Pork

A new excellent marinade for thinly sliced pork, quickly cooked on the grill (or in a pan). Highly recommended.

For about 600 g of meat:
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp neutral oil (like canola)
1/2 tbsp runny honey
1/2 tbsp chopped ginger
1/2 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ancho chili pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you like it hot!)

Just whisk together all ingredients, and marinate your pork for at least one hour. Enjoy!

And... sorry about the horrible photo, I never seem to have time for proper photography these days. But trust me, it tasted great!

Homemade Ginger Ale or Beer...or HOOCH

HOMEMADE GINGER HOOCH

the non-alcoholic kind

positively the most satisfying best tasting ginger ale i've ever had in my life!

and it's HEALTHY.

well...as you might have guessed i'm on a quest for the best, funnest, most interesting and out of the ordinary drinks of the NON-ALCOHOLIC NATURE.

as stated in a previous post... 

the most important person at your summer party is the designated driver.

if that person is bored and ain't havin' a good time...if THAT person wants to go...everybody goes...

THE PARTY'S OVER!

so take some time and make some special concoctions to keep the party going.

THIS RECIPE IS NOT DIFFICULT...

IT JUST TAKES PATIENCE

start with a "ginger bug"...wait...

make a "wort"...

add the "BUG" to the "WORT"...wait...

bottle and wait some more...

in about 2 weeks...you'll have  HOOCH

i like saying "hooch", but this is KID FRIENDLY.  i read that you'd have to drink a gallon or two of the stuff just to possibly equal 1 light beer.  i'm not an expert, i'm just going by what i have researched on quite a few different sites...so if you are worried, please do some more research and please let me know.

GINGER BUG

1 heaping Tbsp fresh grated ginger, (clean or peel knob)

1 large Tbsp of sugar

filtered water

fill a quart mason(sterilized) jar 2/3 full with filtered water.  add ginger and sugar, stir until the sugar dissolves.  cover, as shown, with canning ring and cheese cloth...or a rubber band and cheese cloth.

before you go to sleep, give it another stir.

in the morning add another 1 Tbsp ginger and 1 Tbsp sugar...stir.

repeat this for 3-4 days or until you see some action happening on the surface.  there will be some visible fermenting bubbling "action".  if this does not happen within 5 days, you might want to consider starting over.

NOTE...always try to use sterilized equipment so as not to introduce any odd bacterias...even when going in for a simple stirring.  just a good wash with antibacterial soap should do, but i sterilize the jar in the oven for 15 minutes at 220 degrees.

GINGER WORT

1 1/2 to 2 cups pure cane sugar

1/3 cup fresh grated ginger

2 qts filtered water

bring this mixture to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.  let this steep (covered for  while) and come to room temperature.

HOMEMADE GINGER BEER...or ALE

or GINGER HOOCH

NOTE...this is NOT AN ALCOHOL version.

i just like saying GINGER HOOCH

1 cup strained "ginger bug"

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, strained

"ginger wort" from recipe above

add above items into 1 gallon glass jar.  fill the rest with filtered water.  stir to combine.  cover with cheesecloth and rubber band and let sit on the counter for 5 days.  taste it the 2nd or 3rd day.  does it need more sugar or lemon or ginger?

i added juice from 2 more lemons, a little more grated ginger and 1/8 cup sugar.

stir very morning and night for 3-7 days.

i waited 5 days

now strain the gallon of liquid into glass bottles with locking tops (as shown)...like Grolsch beer bottles.  it's cheaper to buy the Grolsch beer and have someone drink it then buy the bottles alone.  strain into pourable container then USE A FUNNEL.

let this sit somewhere safe...i read in a lot of blogs that said thiese could possibly explode...YIKES!   so, depending on the weather and where you live...keep a close eye on them.  i had one plastic bottle so that i could squeeze it to check the pressure and i tested a sealed glass bottle after 5 days. .  

I BABIED MY BOTTLES FOR 12 DAYS.

after 5 days...a little effervescent fizz

after 9 days...a little more fizz

after 17 days of tender loving care....?

bubbles...beautiful  effervescent bubbles.  nothing like the fake store bought stuff.  these were very gentle sparkles and the flavor is far beyond...

this is best served "NEAT"...chilled sans ice

Double Ginger Chewy Chocolate Chip Molasses Cookies

GINGER ?... MOLASSES ?....summertime?

YES...why not?  there are no holiday flavor police. 

i love ginger and i love molasses...i love both fabulous flavors all year 'round.
why does molasses only come around during the Christmas holidays?....
it seems everyone forgets how to use it  'til the "holiday spice fest" rolls around.  these delicious flavors pop at specific times of the year, then get stashed in the back of the pantry and we quickly move on.  
what's wrong with...say...
pumpkin pie in the summer...
lemon tart in the dead of winter...
or fruity popsicles when it's pouring rain...?!

i know there are a zillion molasses/ginger cookie recipes out there and you've probably tasted each one during the winter holiday months, but i didn't see too many with chocolate. 
 i'm on a chocolate kick right now and i always love the zing of ginger so i thought the two would be a good combo with the deep molasses...and that, it is.  something a little different for the normal summer cookie line up.  move over lemon bars and macaroons.

i'll be quick about it and get to the recipe.

NOTE...i made mine a little smaller than usual so i could stretch the recipe, but when you make them large they really are good and chewy in the middle with that slight crunch on the sugar coated edges.
i made 4 1/2 dozen from this batch, but 3 dozen would make a nice large cookie.

CHEWY MOLASSES with CHOCOLATE CHIPS and CRYSTALLIZED GINGER

my apologies to the person i got the base recipe from.  i ALWAYS like to give props to the original.  it's hand written in my file drawer and i don't have any info at all to pass on.  it might have evn been good ol' Betty Crocker.
i changed it up a little by lowering the sugar content with a little splenda,  substituted with 1/2 white whole wheat flour, added some crystalized ginger bits AND added chocolate chips.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups white sugar...i substituted with 1/2 cup splenda (no one knew)

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp.

1 CUP MOLASSES!

2 eggs, room temperature

4 cups AP flour...i substituted with 2 cups white whole wheat

1 Tbsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1.5 - 2 oz of crystallized ginger, diced or baking pieces

1/2 cup (or more) semi sweet chocolate chips...more would have been better

HOW TO...
preheat to 350 F degrees.

using a paddle attachment on your mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

add molasses and eggs...mix thoroughly.

in a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients with a whisk.

add dry to wet 1/3 at a time.  mix until well combined...dough should be soft and smooth

chill at least 30 minutes.

form dough into balls 1' - 1 1/2" in diameter.

roll balls in sugar...i used raw Tubinado sugar for a good extra crunch

bake on parchment (allow room for spreading) at 350 degrees till edges are firm...approximately 13 minutes depending on the size of your cookies

Ginger Tea Recipe ... dug out from a forgotten archive

I've heard about the goodness of ginger from my grandmother and my mother. Some use it as a rub to relieve pain from sore muscle (as practiced by my grandmother before). Ginger is also used in massage sessions for the same purpose. It is known to improve blood circulation, relieving stomach gas, arthritis and the list goes on ........

Visit Wonders of Ginger which describes the goodness of ginger in a nutshell.

Here's the ginger tea recipe imparted to me from a Balinese lady who works in a spa that I visited. This is good for 2~5 people. It help me improve digestion and soothe a chronic joint problems.

Simple Ingredients :

1) 2 pieces of old ginger about the size of your palm. It must be the old ginger to get the "oomph" for spiciness. This should be enough to extract 200ml of ginger juice. If there's more than enough, you can store it in your refrigerator and then use it another time.

2) 1 or 2 pieces of honey rock sugar. This type of sugar can be commonly found in Chinese Medicine Hall. You can substitute this with honey. I've tried this with Manuka Honey and it taste good too.

Procedure :

1) Peel the light brown skin off the ginger

I was using a knife in the picture but I've since switch to scrapping off the skin with a teaspoon. This is a safer way taught by a ginger lover comrade.

Peeled ginger

2) Grate the ginger with a grater to a slight coarseness. This is for extracting the ginger juice with minimal cloudiness. I've tried the blender but somehow I prefer the taste of my ginger tea made by manual grating. I know this is very tedious. Some tried slicing the ginger into slices and then boil them. It works as well but somehow the ginger spiciness is not as intense as this method. This method is squeezing out every juice from your ginger.

My coarse ginger puree

3) Extract the ginger juice by placing the grated ginger on the strainer and then press with a table spoon. There should be better tools then what I'm using for the extraction, but it's all I have that can do the job in my kitchen.

My ginger juice in a glass container. You can store extra ginger juice in the refrigerator to use another day.

4) With 200ml of the ginger juice mix about 600ml of water. Bring the mixture to boil and then turn to a low flame and then add about one piece of the honey rock sugar. Stir till the solution is boiled. Control the portion of sugar to suit your personal taste. The yellowish mixture will turn brown. Add more water if you find it too spicy. Add more water if you find it too spicy.

It's ready to be served. Just be aware that it may be too spicy for you. Drink it in small portions or dilute it with more water if you find that it's too spicy.

Wanna try some?

I had a craving for ginger milk pudding tonight ......

Had a craving for this dessert tonight and I made it in a jiffy. The following is the recipe that I dug out of my almost defunct blog on my weekend cooking. There's not much time to cook during weekends now.


As a lover of both ginger and milk, I came close to ecstasy when I had Ginger Milk Pudding in dessert shops or restaurants. The first time I came across Ginger and Milk Pudding was in the streets of Kowloon, Hong Kong. In Cantonese, they call it, 姜汁撞奶, directly translated as "Collision of Ginger Juice and Milk", which is exactly what it is.  I can't imagine how easy it is to create this dessert at home until I tried it today. The goodness of ginger and milk into one. Isn't that marvelous? 

My bowl of "Collision of ginger Juice and Milk"

Recipe for 2 servings -

Ingredients :
4 tablespoons of Old Ginger Juice
2 tablespoons of Sugar
400ml of Full Cream Fresh Milk

Method :
1. Extract the ginger juice from some old ginger (click on the link for, "How to extract ginger juice").
2. Pour milk into a sauce pan and add sugar under low heat. Stir gently till all the sugar has melted and leave it to simmer till bubbling just occurs. Remove from heat and stir gently to cool for a while.
3. In a small bowl, add 2 tablespoons of ginger juice. Wake it up by stirring the juice.
4. Steadily pour the milk into the bowl while gently layering the ginger into the milk. After that, leave the mixture to cure for about 10 minutes. Do not stir the mixture after you are done pouring. (When milk is added to ginger juice, a chemical reaction takes place, and the mixture coagulates into a curd like texture.)
5. Repeat step 3 and 4 for the second bowl.
6. When a light tap with a teaspoon do not penetrate the surface, the Ginger Milk Pudding is ready to serve.

Enjoy!