Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot

The only hotpot restaurant in Ottawa that I know of is the Little Sheep Hot Pot on Bank Street (a few blocks away from Billings Bridge). We’ve been there before and we’ve also bought their soup bases to make at home. It’s quite the change from the plain broth we normally use.

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Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot is an all you can eat (AYCE) establishment. There’s a variety of seafood, veggies, tofu, noodles, beef and pork balls, and sliced meat to choose from. In front of the refrigerated shelves, there’s an island with fountain drink dispensers, steamed rice, desserts, fillers (onion rings, spring rolls, and two salads) and a sauce area (soy sauce, vinegar, sesame paste, cilantro, green onions, chili oil, satay sauce, minced garlic, spicy bean curd paste, sugar, and salt).

Everything can be a bit overwhelming, so here’s a little ‘how to eat hot pot’ (if you need it). So first you choose your soup base, then you bring your large plate and fill it up with whatever you want to eat from fridge. Use your small plate for some fillers if you want. Then go back with your bowl and make your own sauce. Andrew loves his concoction of sesame  paste, sesame oil, green onions, cilantro, sugar, soy sauce, and a bit of chili oil.

When you get back to your table, toss in the stuff that will take the longest to cook (beef balls, shrimps, fish, and mussels) They’re ready once they float in the soup, but I like to wait an extra few minutes – just in case. I would suggest against tossing everything in at the beginning, because some of the items take longer to cook (frozen shrimp) and others don’t take long to cook at all (sliced lamb). I like to swish some slices of beef in the soup until cooked medium-well (it takes about thirty seconds).

A good rule of thumb to follow: Only add what you want to eat and take out what you put in. The cooking times vary, so cook them to your liking.

Anyway, back to our dinner… we arrived at the restaurant around 6:15 pm to find the place full. We were quite lucky to be seated in under half an hour, because soon after we began eating, a line formed out the door. We ordered one large pot of their spicy soup to share between four of us. It arrived with our choice of two plates of sliced lamb.

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While I watched over the table Mom, Dad and Andrew went to fill some plates with some raw food from the open fridge area. Dad’s first plate was filled with seafood (scallops, fish, mussels, and shrimps) and a few veggies.

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Andrew’s first plate had some tofu puffs, tripe and mushrooms.

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Mom brought over a raw egg to crack into the soup, some bok choi and noodles. For some reason, Andrew threw in all of the tofu puffs that he brought – which were a lot. Just before the first round was about to be eaten, Mom fished out over half of the hot peppers so that we didn’t die right away.

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It didn’t work. Mom and I both made a mistake. We ate some tofu puffs first, which had soaked up all the hot chili oil. I squished the two bloated tofu puffs in my bowl. Chili oil filled my bowl. I thought I was safe, as I glanced at amount of chili oil in my bowl, but the chili oil which was hidden in the tofu coated the back of my throat and made me choke for a good five minutes. I had to drink half a cup of sweet chrysanthemum tea before my throat was clear. Mom had soy milk to cool the burn. Newbs!

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The soup kept boiling and we kept cooking and eating. The selection was more than enough, but I wish there were dumplings or wontons to cook - even if they were frozen. It's no biggie though, I still had my fill.

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The plates of lamb were replenished. More plates of seafood, fungi and tofu was retrieved, cooked and eaten.


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By the end of the meal, the soup looked untouched. We all sat and stared at the pot quietly. We knew we were full. We were waiting for something sweet to end the meal. It took a while, but the staff eventually brought out fruits, cake, and other desserts to the island.

First, they brought one plate of both oranges and Fuji apples. A lady, in front of me, filled two small plates with most of the oranges. She didn’t leave much and I would’ve felt bad if I took the rest of the oranges, so I only took four slices. I don't get why they didn't bring more fruits, cause there wasn't nearly enough to go around. The restaurant was full and they only brought one plate of fruits? Fail. Soon after we began enjoying the cold, sweet fruits, one of the waiters brought out some strawberry sheet cake.

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The airy mousse and light cake was so light and tasty! The photo is quite terrible. Damn the low light...

A plate full of onion rings and another stacked with spring rolls came out from the kitchen. At the beginning of the meal, Dad had their spring rolls so I grabbed one to try. I don’t know why I took an onion ring.

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I was going to get more strawberry cake, when sweet sesame balls were brought out from the kitchen. They were filled with red bean paste. They weren’t very good. The sesame seeds were practically raw and would’ve tasted so much better if they were golden and lightly toasted from the oil.

Just before we paid the bill, I went back to grab one last round of strawberry cake for the table. Huhuhuu!

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The bill ended up being $20 per person, which is worth it if you eat lots of lamb and seafood. My parents have always told us not fill up on drinks or carbs, but it's hard not to when there are free drinks. It's a great idea by the company to offer free drinks, cause we noticed that most caucasians visited the watering hole more often than the asians. Silly people. The one downside of having Little Sheep Hot Pot is that your hair and clothes end up smelling like the spicy soup – which smells similar to B.O. It's due to the cumin the spicy and mild soup bases they use. You can choose a soup that doesn't have the cumin, but you can't get away with the smelliness. Yeah, so I don't recommend going for lunch and then going back to work afterwards.

~*~*~

Little Sheep Hot Pot
1344 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON
613-248-3388
Mongolian Hot Pot on Urbanspoon

Friday, February 04, 2011

Shepherd's Pie and Meat Pie

Our family rarely cooks with ground beef. When we do, two things come to mind: Shepherd’s pie and meat pie. A few weeks ago, we made Shepherd’s pie after picking up some ground beef that was on sale. I couldn’t recall how Mom made it. She had not made it in a while, so I just winged it.

Shepherd's Pie 1

I started simmering the ground beef with a bunch of herbs. I just tossed in some bay leaves, herbs Provence, sage, marjoram, and oregano. Instead of browning the ground beef, I simmered the beef on low heat in some beef stock, ketchup (couldn’t find any tomato paste), and water. I find that by cooking the ground meat in liquids, the end product will become tender.

I knew there were onions in the meat, but I didn’t know if they should’ve been softened or sautéed.  I ended up caramelizing the onions in butter (and a bit of vegetable oil), bay leaves, sage, marjoram and oregano. The smell that came off of the caramelized onions reminded me of French onion soup. Yum-eh! 

After the meat simmered for a few hours, the mixture was still too watery. I was thinking about adding a slurry of flour and water to tighten things up, but Mom came to the rescue and suggested we add some stale bread. I was hesitant and unsure, but Mom assured me that that’s what she used to do. The bread soaked up all the liquids and thickened the meat filling like a charm.

Shepherd's Pie 2
Richard made some fluffy mashed potatoes and boiled the corn. Lucy put everything together. She was generous with the mashed potatoes and a bit stingy on the meat filling. We sprinkled a bit of paprika on the top and then browned the top under the broiler.

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This was such an amazing dinner. The ketchup unnecessary, but since we ate it with ketchup when we were younger, it didn’t seem right to eat Shepherd’s pie without it. With each bite, memories of our childhood came flooding back.

With so many large mouths to feed, there were barely any leftovers left to enjoy the next day. The Shepherd’s pie felt like an aromatic hammer, but it hurt so good!


Schneiders meat pies were on sale the other day and, since I was curious, I bought a box of them to try.

I opened up the box and guess what I saw?

Smiling Meat Pie
The meat pie was smiling at me - no joke! The more I stared at it, the creepier the smile became. *Shudder*

Meat Pie
I got the last laugh though. Nom nom nom! The flaky piecrust was pretty good, but the filling wasn’t that great. Andrew and I snacked on these before going skating on the Rideau Canal.

Rideau Canal at
Night
If you get a chance, skate on the Rideau Canal and enjoy the Winterlude festivities.

~*~

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Chinese New Year 2011

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Happy Chinese New Year!

We celebrated the Year of the Rabbit on two separate occasions; once at Grandpa’s house and the other at Grandma’s house. Chinese New Year began today and will be over on Saturday.

You’ll probably notice the colours red, green, and orange in the dishes, and that’s because they all have a meaning in the Chinese culture. Red represents good luck and happiness, green is for health, and yellow is for hope.

Just like the previous post, this will be another post for those who love a little food porn. This was the meal at Grandpa’s house:

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Chow mein (egg noodles). The long noodles represents long life.

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Shiitake mushrooms with abalone.

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Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce.

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Sugar snap peas with shrimp and carrots.

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Seafood medley with asparagus and carrots.

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Hot pot with napa cabbage, dried shrimp, shrimp, minced pork balls in a pork bone soup.

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Cha siu, roast pork and marinated squid. There was roast duck and soy chicken as well.

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For dessert, Grandpa loves his mango cake.

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Finally, you can’t celebrate Chinese New Year without fruits – specifically tangerines/oranges.


We celebrated Chinese New Year at my Grandma’s two days ago…

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Sugar snap peas with shrimp and carrots.

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Chinese broccoli with chicken and carrots.

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Shiitake mushrooms with abalone mushrooms.

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Roast pork and cha siu. The first image in this post was taken before we prayed to our ancestors. The picture above was taken afterwards. The meat itself was still juicy and full of flavour. The crackling was moan-inducingly crisp!

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Roast duck and soy chicken.

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Lots of sauce! The man at the BBQ place was very generous – to say the least.

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Sweet rice cake (topped with sesame seeds and a Chinese date).

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Lastly, the fruits and other desserts.


To me, Chinese New Year is a holiday for the family. We reminisce and share funny stories from the past. We laugh together. We cook together. We eat together, and drink together. It’s a day to learn more about our Chinese culture. It’s a day to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. It’s a day of happiness.

~*~

(Updated: Feb. 4th, 2011 at 11:21 am)

Winterlude Stew Cook-Off

I meant to get this out earlier to give you a heads up, but I guess I failed.

The ByWard Market will be hosting the 20th Annual Stew Cook-Off tomorrow. The cost is $10 per person and the event runs from at noon to 2 pm.  Lucy and I have never been to this event, so we don't know what to expect. Actually, I'm still not sure if we're going. In any case, head downtown for some stew tomorrow!

Update: My grandpa decided to drop by with some tofu and eggplants... so much for the stew. *Sad face* He does it all the time. One time he even brought over a few lobsters!

(Updated: Feb. 4th, 2011 at 10:43 am)

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