Thanks for checking out this week’s edition of “The Kid Stays in the Kitchen.” Each week a student is assigned to cook a traditional dish with a friend or family member and document the experience in photos and words. This week features Tandy, who prepared a red bean rice cake, a comforting treat which reminds her of her grandma.

It wasn’t a matter of what to cook, but how to cook it. The minute we were given this assignment in class, I instantly knew what I wanted to make: 红豆年糕 (Hóngdòu niángāo) which roughly translates into red bean rice cake. (Red bean sticky cake would be the more direct translation but it sounds less appetizing). To me, this recipe is like a memory capsule. Does that sound weird? Let me explain. When I was young, my parents were always busy working, so it was mostly my grandmother who stayed with me day and night. She would teach me things about food, how to prepare it or how to pick the best ingredients. One of my grandmother’s favorite dishes was Red Bean Rice Cake. She’d make it for us whenever we got a chance to have a family dinner. It would be the one day of the week when I got to see both my mother and father at the same time. So to me this cake is a sign of coming together. Whenever I smelled the red beans boiling, I knew that my parents would be home for dinner.

After my grandmother went back to China, I was devastated and I wouldn’t eat anything. The only thing that my parents could get me to eat was the red bean cake. It reminded me of her and the times I had been with her. The only problem was that my parents could never get the recipe correct. It would always be too sweet, too soggy or too bland. Sometimes they cooked the red beans for too long. Other times they didn’t leave the cake in the oven long enough. Regardless, I was really frustrated by the fact that the recipe might’ve been gone forever along with the memory I had of her.

I realize now that the magic of the cake is that it will never be the same every time. There was no solid recipe for how much sugar to put or how long to bake it. It all depended on the mood of the day. On days when the weather was cold, my grandmother would bake the cake slightly longer to keep it warm. When I was growing out of my baby teeth, my grandmother made the cake softer by adding more milk to it. There were so many variations that I lost track of the original but I guess that’s why I like this dish so much.

When I finally learned the recipe, I realized that the fun part of making the cake is experimenting with it. It doesn’t matter if there’s an extra quarter cup of milk or if I leave it in the oven for a few minutes longer. What matters is what treasure I get out of it. And for me, it’s the embodiment of my grandmother’s presence that really makes this the best dish ever.

Recipe:
• 4½ cups glutinous rice flour (sticky rice flour)
• ¾ cups vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 2½ cups milk*
• ¾ cup granulated white sugar*
• ¾ cup brown sugar*
• 1 tablespoon of baking soda
• 1½ – 1¾ cup of mashed red azuki bean
• (optional) 1 cup of sesame
* can be moderated based on preference

Directions:
1. Thoroughly wash the beans and throw out any that are damaged.
2. Put the beans in a medium size pot and add double the amount of water to boil it. Depending on the amount of red beans you use the cooking time is different.
3. Keep boiling until the red beans become soft and edible. (You can taste it occasionally to see how soft you want it to be.)
4. Store them in the fridge in a bowl with plastic wrapping on top for about 5-10 minutes. Then go to work on the batter.
5. Preheat oven to 350°Fahrenheit (about 175°Celsius). Use a paper towel to rub a small amount of oil over a 9×9 inch pan.
6. Mix everything but the red beans in a bowl (preferably with the flour first and the baking soda last).
7. Stir for about 5 minutes (or stir with an electric mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes).
8. Keep stirring for about 2 more minutes or until the mix is completely liquidated.
9. Spread ½ to ¾ of the batter on the bottom of the baking pan (DON’T POUR ALL THE BATTER IN YET)
10. Bake this for about 10 minutes or until the batter is just beginning to set.
11. Take out the red beans from the fridge.
12. Remove the pan from the oven and add the red beans. Layer them evenly on top.
13. Pour the rest of the batter on top of the red beans. Don’t worry if some of the red beans are still visible.
14. Then bake again in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes depending on how you want the texture.
15. The cake is done when you stick a chopstick or toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean.
16. Let the cake sit for about 10 minutes before digging in.
17. Enjoy!

Optional: To give this cake even more of a taste, I decided to add sesame. If you want to incorporate sesame in your cake, make sure to do so after step 13. Once the rest of the batter is on top sprinkle the sesame evenly around the top.

I’m excited to present our newest edition of “The Kid Stays in the Kitchen.” Each week a student is assigned to cook a traditional dish with a friend or family member and document the experience in photos and words. This week features Jessalyn, who prepared a Taiwanese pork and fish soup with her mom.

This Taiwanese noodle soup, much like the American chicken noodle soup, is an extremely easy dish to make. But for those like me, who find themselves dropped oceans away from their beloved homeland, it is also the greatest comfort food. Just the smell of searing scallions mixed with soy sauce brings me back to Taiwan during the hot and wet typhoon season.  I’d sit at the dinner table with a steaming bowl of soup, wind and rain racking against the roof.

We all know soup is comforting when we’re sick; it’s also liquid life on a cold day. So I encourage everyone to try out this short and sweet recipe! Make your own beautiful Taiwanese noodle soup! — Jessalyn

Taiwanese Noodle Soup: Recipe by Jessalyn’s mom, Wen-yu Chang

Soup Ingredients

• ½ lb Bok Choy
• 3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 5-10 stalks of Scallions
• 8 cups of water
• 1 pack Chinese flat noodles (rice or flour)
• Vegetable Oil
• Sesame Oil
• Salt
• MSG (optional)
• White pepper

Pork Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp Corn starch
• 3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1-Teaspoon Salt
• 1 egg

Recipe

Pre-preparation of Pork (or any type of desired meat or fish)
Use a plastic bag and put about ¼ to ½ lb of meat into it. Add the 3 tbsp of cornstarch and soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of salt to the bag. Crack one egg and whisk till frothy, then add to bag as well. Allow pork to marinate from anywhere to two hours to overnight.

Soup
Wash bok choy and scallions with cold water and rinse off twice. Cut each of the scallion stalks into thirds. Heat the pot until steaming hot and add vegetable oil until it creates a layer on the bottom of the pot. Sear scallions till they have a slightly browned, then add 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and 8 cups of water. Let the water come to boil then add noodles and allow to boil for 7-8 minutes. After the noodles are semi-boiled (after the 7-8 minutes) add the strips of pork throughout the soup and noodles. When the water has come to another boil, add the bok choy and cover the lid of the pot. Allow the soup to boil for 6-10 minutes, or until the boy choy has softened. Use salt, MSG, and white pepper as seasoning. Adjust amounts as desired. Lastly, sprinkle some sesame oil into the soup.
Enjoy!

Welcome back to our student cooking series, “The Kid Stays in the Kitchen.” Each week a student is assigned to cook a traditional dish with a friend or family member and document the experience in photos and words. This week features Leila, who may look familiar to you because she is the twin sister of Tammi, our first contributor to the series.  Leila and her mom, Ellen, chose to make Kitri, an Iraqi rice and lentil dish. You’ll get to meet the whole family in this post as each played a role in its creation…and consumption. My favorite photo by far is the one of Ellen, not only for her priceless expression, but also for the fantastic wall of Tammi-Leila pics on the refrigerator behind her.  Thanks for letting us peek inside your home! — Ms. Boylan

Kitri is the Iraqi take on rice and beans. It combines Basmati rice, lentils, onions and tomato sauce together to make a delectable dish that is full of flavor and character. Yes, Kitri even has character! It is traditionally made for dinner on Thursdays because it is a meat free alternative before the heavy Shabbat meals that begin on Friday night and commence with Saturday dinner. It is also customary to have Kitri as the dinner before the Tisha B’Av fast that takes place in the summer. I had never acquired a taste for the lentil and rice dish until a year or two ago. I have vivid memories of going to a family dinner at my aunt and uncle’s house, and my older cousins chowing down on it.  The red rice looked so appealing, but I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy the texture of the lentils. Another cousin of mine was so impressed with the Kitri that her future husband once made her, that when they got married, my Dad claimed it was because of the Kitri!