Cake Wok

Lettuce Wrap Recipe – with sauces

So this lettuce wrap recipe doesn’t exactly make use of the wok as much, but there are a few reasons I want to highlight it. First, notice the very simple stir-fry sauce. It’s just soy sauce, brown sugar, and a splash of rice wine vinegar. Even if you don’t make this recipe, you might want to try this basic stir fry sauce and see if you like it or want to add anything to it.

The other reason I like this recipe is the other sauce that’s included. I think part of the reason people don’t always like to cook is because it’s hard to come up with new flavors, and sometimes you just want to stick to what works. This sauce recipe takes advantage of things you might already have in your kitchen, such as soy sauce, ketchup, mustard, etc.

I’m not personally a big fan of lettuce wraps (probably due to my love of their more popular relative, the tortilla!), but I love taking ideas from other recipes and adding them to my own. Happy cooking!

Simple Bread Recipe

There’s nothing better than the smell of fresh-baked bread!  And you don’t have to spend hours preparing the dough and making sure things are absolutely perfect.  The only downside to this recipe is that you need to prepare the dough in advance, as it can take over 12 hours to rise (there’s no kneading involved!).  Here’s a simple bread recipe, for use with whole wheat flour:

3 C. Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons (or so) olive oil

Combine the flour, salt, and yeast with 1.5 Cups of water.  Cover the dough (preferably somewhere dark and warm) and let rest for 12-24 hours.

When you’re ready to bake it, just coat the bottom and sides of a metal baking pan with some of the olive oil, and put the dough inside.  Drizzle any remaining olive oil over the dough, and set it aside for an hour.  Then, heat your oven to 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes.  Take the bread out of the pan immediately after baking to let it cool more quickly.

Of course, use your imagination to come up with variations on this simple recipe!  Try other types of flour, or maybe adding some whole grains into the mix.  Let me know what you come up with!  Recipe originally found here.

Bitter Melon Extract in your Wok

Bitter melon is not a common food in the west, but here is a recipe for Scallion-Scented Bitter Melon.  You essentially want to first blanch the bitter melon (after removing the seeds of course) in boiling water, then fry the scallions in some oil in the heated wok for flavor.  Remove the scallions from the wok, then add your seasonings and the bitter melon.  Stir fry for a few seconds and enjoy – check out the link for more details on this recipe.

Seasoning a Cast Iron Wok

Interesting post on how to season a wok using pork fat and chinese chives.  After purchasing a new wok, you need to season it before cooking with it, and I can’t think of a better way to season a wok.

Cookbooks

There are a few cookbooks that I find useful in any situation.  They’ve versatile and I consistently refer to them.

Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything is one indispensable cookbook.  It cover a wide range of cooking techniques and cooking methods.  I recommend this cookbook to everyone from novice chefs to experienced ones.  Just make sure you’ve got a stocked pantry and spice rack (he’ll teach you what herbs and cooking essentials you’ll need, too).

The Joy of Cooking is another cookbook that I love to have on hand. Your mother probably has a copy, but don’t think you’ll be able to sneak off with it unnoticed!  Get your own updated version and learn some of the classics before you delve into more intensive cooking.  These recipes are often simple, and you can build on them according to your taste.

Consider buying other cookbooks according to what you like to eat or what your goals are for a meal.  I love to use my slow cooker, so a crock pot recipe cookbook is essential.  I love to come home to a home smelling like wonderful stew or roast beef after a long day at the office.  I also like to keep ingredients on hand to make something from a 3-ingredient cookbook.  These are great if you need a tasty meal on the go, as you will hopefully have all the ingredients on hand to make at least one recipe inside.

Welcome to Cake Wok!

Get it?  Cake wok?  Cakewalk?  Oh man, I’m so witty.  Anyway, welcome to cakewok, a blog about woks, wok recipes, wok tips, wok reviews, and wok-related puns.  If you’re looking for this and more, wok this way!

Well, this is my first post, and I’m excited about this wok blog.  Hopefully you’ll find it useful and have as much fun reading it as I will writing it!