Onion omelette

It's another no-brainer. No recipes gonna be posted !

Tag: onion, eggs, omelette

Stir-fry cabbage

Stir-fry cabbage

Ingredients:
-1 bunch napa cabbage
-2tsp dried shrimps
-1tsp minced ginger
-1tsp minced garlic

Method:
1.Heat oil in pan and fry garlic, ginger and dried shrimp
2.Add in napa cabbage and fry for 5-8mins till soften
3. Serve with rice, or porridge

Tag: stir-fry, cabbage, dried shrimps

Steamed meat "cake"

Steamed meat "cake"

Ingredients:
-0.5lb minced pork
-10-12 pieces pickled lettuce (comes in a bottle), chopped to smaller pieces
-1tbsp light soy sauce
-1tsp sesame oil
-1tsp shaoxing wine
-dashes of black pepper
-2 leaves of napa cabbage(option-as a base for the meat during steaming and adds a hint of sweetness as well)

Method:
1.Add finely chopped pickled lettuce into the minced pork, add light soy sauce, pepper and sesame oil to marinade
then further mince/chop the meat to mix the pickled lettuce in the meat
2.Mould the meat into one round "cake"
3.Place on plate/steamer,add 2-3tbsp water to the meat, start steam for 10-20 mins depending how thick the pork is
4.Halfway steaming, add the shaoxing wine over the meat, continue steaming
5.Serve immediately, with rice or porridge

Tag: minced port, pickled lettuce, steam

Homemade pistachios pesto sauce

Homemade pistachios pesto sauce
Ingredients:
-1/2 cup basil leaves, rinsed before using
-1 handful of pistachios,shelled before using (as the origin of this came out from my snacks, it could only be roasted, salted, in shell)
-1 clove garlic
-extra virgin olive oil, EVOO
-Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan cheese, to taste
-freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method:
1.Combine basil, pistachios, garlic, cheese in handheld electronic chopper/blender, process to mix
2.While mixing, slowly add in EVOO till desired consistency (should have a grainy texture and less of a puree)
Mine looks like this:

3.Season with cheese and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4.Serve over sauteed/grilled fish, or over pasta (I did both! And it was surprisingly quite good!)

5.If not in use immediately, store in airtight container and into the refrigerator

Tag: homemade, pistachios, pesto,pistachios pesto

Baby choy sum in "superior broth"

Goji berry or wolfberry, is the berry of the Lycium chinensis plant. Though commonly used as a herb, it is also nutritious food. Not sure if there is medical evidence to it, but wolfberry is often known to be "good for the eyes".










Baby choy sum in "superior broth"
Ingredients:
-~1.5lbs baby bok choy sum
-2tbsp wolfberries
-8 shitake mushrooms, wiped with damp kitchen towels, stalks removed, caps julienned
-1 clove garlic, sliced
-1tsp oyster sauce, to taste
-water

Method:
1.Stack and layer the choy sum, mushrooms, garlic, and wolfberries in a deep dish or steamer

2.Mix the oyster sauce with warm water, and pour onto the vegetables
3.Steam for 15-20mins, depending on the kind of plate/bowl used. Takes longer time if it's a deep dish since the vegetables on top will take longer time to cook. (Mine was stacked up rather deep in the steamer, so it would take longer time to cook through the vegetables)

Tag: baby choy sum, wolfberry, steam

Pasta a la bak chor mee

Vinegar is used to accent meat-based noodle dishes in both Italy and China, plus...Italian balsamic and Chinese black rice vinegars are surprisingly similar in taste!
FUSION...this pasta a la bak chor mee I've made an attempt to, is inspired by both cuisines.

Pasta a la bak chor mee (serves 4)
Ingredients:
-linguine or other long pasta you wish
-~1lb minced pork
-10-15 caps shitake mushrooms, julienned
-2 tbsp EVOO
-1 tbsp red chilli pepper flakes
-3 gloves garlic, finely minced
-chinese black rice vinegar, to taste
-dark soy sauce, to taste
-salt and back pepper, to taste
-fried shallots, garnish

Method:
1.Bring a large pot of water to boil, add pasta and a large pince of salt, return to boil and cook
2.Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat in large frying pan, fry shallots till light brown
3.Remove shallots from pan, leaving oil in pan
4.Add minced meat, fry for 3-4 mins, add dark soy sauce, stirring and breaking up the meat till browned and fragrant
5.Add shitake mushrooms, lightly fry for 1-2 mins.
6.Add vinegar. If mixture looks dry, add chicken broth/water and let it simmer 2-3 mins
7.When cooked in pan, transfer to a bowl
7.Add EVOO, chilli and garlic to another pan, lightly fry for 1-2 mins
8.When pasta is done, drain well and pour into frying pan containing EVOO, chilli and garlic
9.Add portions of meat, mushroom, some vinegar, salt and peper, and toss well
10.When serving, garnish with shallots and top with remaining portions of meat and mushroom

*burp*

Tag: linguine, bak chor mee, fusion

Kai Pad Bai Kaprow (a.k.a Thai Basil chicken)

Kai Pad Bai Kaprow (a.k.a Thai Basil chicken)
Ingredients:
-~1lb minced chicken (I substituted this with minced turkey)
-1/4 c fish sauce (do not have this either, so I used mixture of Wocestershire and dark soy sauce to marinade the meat)
-4 garlic cloves, minced
-4 shallots cloves, minced (you can use onions if you want to)
-4-6 thai chilli peppers, sliced (I did not have this, and used chilli pepper flakes instead)
-chicken broth or water
-1/2 green bell pepper; 1/2 red bell pepper
-1 cup basil leaves (most recipes call for Holy basil, I've used Sweet basil), rinsed before using

Method:
1.Mince turkey and marinate in sauce
2.Heat oil in large saute pan, and fry garlic, shallots and/or onions on med-hi
3.Add minced marinated turkey
4.If looks dry, add some chicken broth or water
5.If you added water, do a taste test here. Add dash of dark soy sauce if you find it too bland
6.Simmer utill the sauce is reduced
7.Add in bell peppers, fry 1 min
8.Stir in basil; ready to serve

Although I have substituted many ingredients and I should call it Sweet Basil Turkey, it still tasted like Kai Pad Bai Kaprow. I'm happy it worked !

Tag: thai basil chicken, basil, chicken

Steamed brussel sprouts

Steamed brussel sprouts (Chinese style)
Ingredients:
-brussel sprouts, washed (for bigger "sprouts", cut a cross, 1/4 deep at the bottom of the "sprouts" so that it cooks faster during steaming)
-oyster sauce, to taste

Method:
1.Steam the brussel sprouts for 10 mins
2.Prepare oyster sauce; and toss the steamed sprouts in the sauce

Steamed brussel sprouts (Western style)
Ingredients:
-brussel sprouts, washed (for bigger "sprouts", cut a cross, 1/4 deep at the bottom of the "sprouts" so that it cooks faster during steaming)
-butter
-salt and pepper

Method:
1.Steam the brussel sprouts for 10 mins
2.Place steamed sprouts in big bowl,top with some butter, and sprinkle salt and pepper, to taste. Toss it up !

Tag: brussel sprouts, steam

One-dish chicken rice meal

This is the second time I'm making braised chicken rice. Can't help but feel that the first time was better. I don't know why. It tasted ok, just not as fragrant as the first time. One of those simpler recipes from the stack of cut-outs (cut-outs from magazines, newspapers) that I've brought with me here. Never use them then, but turn out quite handy here. I've giving out the exact recipe from the cut-out, since I made some modifications here and there, and do not want to "discredit" the original recipe.

Braised chicken rice (serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 1kg chicken, cut into 4-cm pieces (I use chicken thigh and cut them into bite-size)
-2 cups rice, washed
-3 cups water
-1 tbsp oil
-2 cm ginger, cut into strips
-2 cloves garlic, chopped
-10 Chinese mushrooms, soaked in water, stalks removed, caps cut into halves (I substituted with crimini mushrooms)
-1 tsp salt
-1 tbsp black soy sauce

Marinade:
-1 tbsp sesame oil
-2 tbsp black soy sauce
-1 tbsp light soy sauce (I left this out, intentionally)
-1 tbsp oyster sauce
(p.s. added some Wocestershire sauce instead, ~ 1 tsp)

Method:
1.Mix the chicken with marinade (I did this ~2 hrs before I started to cook; then leave marinated chicken in the fridge)
2. Cook the rice and water in rice cooker (the usual way...)
3. Heat oil in pan; stir-fry ginger and garlic till fragrant (before this step, I fried some shallots so that the shallots could flavor the rice later; and the "shallot" oil could flavor the chicken as well)
4. Add marinated chicken and mushrooms; cook for 5-8 mins. If the mixutre looks dry, add water. Mix well
5. When rice starts to boil, add some salt and black soy sauce, to taste. Stir well, cover and continue cooking
6. Once rice is cooked, top the chicken mix over the rice in the rice cooker. Cover lid, and let it stand for 15 mins (Before letting it stand, I added some scallions to garnish and add flavor. Add in the fried shallots at this time too)
7. When ready to serve, you can fluff up the rice, season with salt and pepper, if necessary.

Tag: chicken, one-dish, braise

Roasted duck noodles

Another non-challenger. No recipe intended...sorry.

Tag: roasted duck, noodles, leftovers

Spaghetti with honey glazed buffalo wings

This is too easy for me to post a recipe !




Tag: spaghetti, honey glazed buffalo wings

Mapo tofu

Mapo tofu
Ingredients:
-1 ready-packed "regular" tofu, cut into bite-size pieces
-minced pork (remainder from what was used for the pork balls)
-Lee Kum Kee chilli bean paste (a.k.a tou ban jiang)
-minced garlic

Method:
-heat some canola oil in frying pan
-add the minced garlic to flavor the oil
-add the minced pork and fry (on medium-high heat) for 2-3 mins
-add the chilli bean paste; then some water, to de-glaze the pork and bean paste from the pan, as well as for the gravy
-finally, add the tofu, mix well into the spicy sauce and simmer, covered for 3-5 mins

Ready to serve:

Tag: mapo tofu, tofu, beancurd, lee kum kee

Mushroom vegetable stir-fry

Mushroom vegetable stir-try
Ingredients:
-oyster mushrooms,wiped with wet kitchen towels
-shitake mushrooms, wiped with wet kitchen towels
-woodear, chopped into bite-size (remainder from what was used for the pork balls)
-green/red peppers (remainder from what was used for the Thai curry )
-napa cabbage, washed and julienne (remainder from what was used for the cabbage pork ball soup)
-baby boy choy, washed and cut
-minced garlic
-oyster sauce, to taste
-water

Method:
-heat some canola oil in frying pan
-add the minced garlic to flavor the oil and subsequently the stir-fry
-add all the "fungi-related" ingredients i.e oyster mushrooms, shitake mushrooms,woodear, work them in the pan for 1-2 min
-then add the peppers, baby bok choy, and cabbage, and sitr fry for 1-2 min
-add some water and oyster sauce, stir fry all the ingredients together and let it simmer in covered pan for 3-5 mins

Ready to serve:

I have used celery and broccoli (substituting baby bok choy and napa cabbage) and enoki (substituting shitake) before for this dish. It works as well ! To spice things up, you can add thinly sliced red chilli (seeded) in the stir-fry. All the flavors blend well together.

Tag: stir-fry, mushroom, double-duty

Cabbage pork ball soup

Cabbage pork balls soup
Ingredients:
-3/4 (of 1 bunch) napa cabbage, washed and cut into big chucks
-80% (of ~1lbs) minced pork
-1 pack woodear, washed. Julienne ~ 1/4 of entire pack for this recipe. The remaining to be cut and packed in Ziploc, stored in the fridge, for use in Mushroom vegetable stir-fry
-ginger (minced or chopped, whatever), to taste
-sesame oil, to taste
-1 egg
-salt and pepper, to taste
-1 bunch enoki mushrooms (option, used this as it was on sale in the supermarket), removed 1-inch of the stem from the stem bottom
-water

Method:
-mix (marinade) minced pork, woodear, ginger, sesame oil, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl
-when water in a pot comes to a boil, roll the pork mixture into meat balls and drop inside boiling water
-then, add napa cabbage and enoki mushrooms
-add salt, to taste
-boil for 10 mins, then simmer on low for 40-45mins

Ready to serve:

The woodear added some crunch to the meat balls. The sweetness of the soup came mainly from the napa cabbage, I believe.

Tag: woodear, minced pork, cabbage, soup

Thai vegetable red curry

Thai vegetable red curry
Ingredients:
-1 crown cauliflower, washed, blanched, and cut into florets
-1 ready-packed tofu ("regular" tofu is suitable for frying), cut into bite-size pieces
-green & red peppers (washed; with core, stems and seeds removed), cut into thick wide strips. I used ~3/4 of all the peppers I've prepared. The remaining to be packed in Ziploc, stored in the fridge, for use in Mushroom vegetable stir-fry
-Thai Red Curry Sauce (I used up the whole bottle for this dish that feeds 2 mouths for 3 days, so it's about 6 servings !)

Method:
-heat enough canola oil in frying pan (for deep-frying the tofu)
-deep fry the tofu to golden brown
-remove tofu from pan, and remove the excess frying oil, leaving a wee bit of oil in the pan to stir-fry the vegetables
-add the cauliflower and peppers to frying pan, stir fry quickly for ~ 1-2 mins; add some water to soften the vegetables if necessary
-add in the tofu to the vegetables, stir fry 1 min
-stir in Thai Red Curry Sauce to the already cooked vegetables & tofu, and simmer covered for 2-3 mins
-add in dashes of red chilli flakes if you like it more spicy

Ready to serve:

Tag: thai red curry sauce, cauliflower, curry

Mogua pork rib soup

Mogua pork rib soup
Ingredients:
-mogua*, a.k.a hairy gourd, fuzzy gourd, hairy cucumber (Peel off skin, and wash, seeded if you prefer), cut into chunky pieces
- ~1lb pork ribs
-warm water

Method:
-blanch the pork rib
-add blanched pork rib and mogua pieces in slow cooker
-add warm water to partially "submerge" the ribs and mogua
-put slow cooker to HIGH (~45mins), then turned to LOW (1-2hr)
-pinch or pinches of salt, to taste

Ready to serve:

Naturally sweet and tasty. Much much much better soup than the watercress soup. The natural juices of the mogua and pork ribs just work themselves out simmering in the slow cooker. I still can't believe I cooked this. Will definitely have this again if I see mogua in the local supermarket and feel like having soup again.

*Mogua, in its raw form

Tag: mogua, hairy cucumber, pork rib, soup

Watercress pork rib soup

Watercress pork rib soup
Ingredients:
-2 bunches watercress (Need to wash thoroughly to get rids of the soil and bugs. Yes, unexpectedly I found many bugs "hiding" in the watercress and decided this is the first and last time I am doing this soup)
- ~1lb pork ribs (Mistakenly used baby pork ribs because it was on-sale in the supermarket. Do stick with the "normal" pork ribs)
-warm water

Method:
-blanch the pork rib (put in boiling water for 5-10 mins)
-add blanched pork rib and washed watercress in slow cooker
-add warm water to partially "submerge" the ribs and watercress (warm so that it takes lesser time for the soup to boil)
-put slow cooker to HIGH (~45mins), then turned to LOW (1-2hr)

Ready to serve:

Outcome: Bitter, rather than sweet. Not the usual watercress soup we have tasted.

"Post mortem", what possibly went wrong:
Probably due to the stems of the watercress that were not removed. Also, did not use red dates that are normally be seen in "commercial" watercress soup.
Check out my mogua pork rib soup in the other postings. A better bet ! That worked but this did not.

Tag: watercress, pork rib, soup