Chinese Chive Cakes

I was tagged awhile ago by Vickie over at the Moveable Feast for her "Home-Cooked Comfort Food" meme. I knew right away what I wanted to contribute. It just took me a bit to post it. And as an added bonus, my brother visited me this past weekend. He had read my previous post from when I was tagged by PatL of Up the Creek Without a PatL for her Five Things To Eat Before You Die meme and blogged about my parents' Chinese chive cakes. Being a nice brother, he encouraged my parents to make some of these cakes and freeze them. Then, he brought a whole batch of them on the plane with him from Houston.

These chive cakes are my ultimate comfort food. I remember my relatives in Thailand buying these for me from the street vendors in Bangkok. (In Thai, they are known as "Kanom Gu Chai"). After returning to the US, I would always ask my parents to make these for me. I never realized back then how much work went into making these little packages of nirvana.

But, boy do I know now after trying to make them from scratch for the first time. Here's my attempt to recreate my favorite home-cooked comfort food.

CHINESE CHIVE CAKES

1 cup water
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups rice flour
1/2 cup sticky rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 additional tablespoon of olive oil
2 thin-sliced pork chops, deboned and diced
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups Chinese Chives, sliced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder


1) Over medium heat, combine the water, olive oil, rice flour, and tapioca flour. Using a wooden spoon, stir constantly for about 3-5 minutes or until the mixture turns into a translucent paste. (Sometimes, you may need to add a bit more water)

2) Remove from heat and let cool.

3) In a large frying pan, warm the oil over medium heat. Saute the diced pork chops until cooked. Add the salt. Remove to a plate.

4) In the same frying pan, stir-fry the chinese chives until just barely wilted, about 30 seconds. Add the soy sauce and garlic powder. Stir in the diced pork. Remove from heat.

5) Dust your hands with tapioca flour. Take a ping-pong ball sized piece of dough and roll into a ball. Using your thumbs and forefingers, flatten the dough into a frisbee shape about 3 inches in diameter.

6) Place a tablespoon of chive filling in the center of the frisbee. Bring the edges of the dough together and push together to seal to form a disc-shaped cake. Repeat until dough and chives are used up.

7) Place as many cakes as you can fit in a single layer (without touching) in a slightly oiled frying pan (with lid). Over medium heat, fry them (undisturbed) for about 2 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of water. Cover and let steam-fry for about 5 minutes.

8) Add 2 tablespoons of oil and fry for additional 5 minutes on each side or until browned and crispy. (Longer if you like them extra-crispy). Serve with soy sauce.

Makes about 20 cakes.

Ed's 1st Note: Traditionally, you steam these bad boys in a steamer for 5-7 minutes. They can be eaten like this, but I prefer to take the extra step of pan-frying them. I found that these guys are SUPER STICKY after you steam them and broke apart when I tried to transfer them to the frying pan. So I experimented cooking them like potstickers and they turned out ok.

Ed's 2nd Note: If the disc shape is a bit hard to manage, then you can also do half circles. After rolling the dough into the frisbee shape, place the filling on one half of the frisbee. Fold over the other half to form a half circle. Pinch edges together to seal.