Festive dishes for Chinese New Year

Auspicious dishes and recipes

Steamed fish recipe



Stir fry asparagus with scallops and ginkgo


Even with a dish like this - Stir fry asparagus with scallops and ginkgo - can only be made good if you name it 代代平安 -Peace and Harmony for Generations as scallops -带子 --> 代 and 带 are pronounced the same, as dai.

Other auspicious names:
八宝盒 -Eight Treasures - usually assortment of seafood and vegetables in a beancurd
风舞九天,大展鸿图 -Phoenix Dance - usually braised sharks fin with crab roe
金玉满堂 -Gold Everywhere - usually some egg-fried rice dish with shrimp, and crabmeat
年年高升 -typically a festive goodie nian gao 年糕 , meaning "Promotion every year"
富贵有余 -a fish dish; 鱼 and 余 both pronounced yu ; with the latter meaning "abundance/ excess"
一 路发财 - a dish that often contains black moss vegetable/发菜; 菜 and 财 pronounced cai and latter means "money or rich"

Read more about Chinese New Year traditions and food here.

Tag: fish, scallops, festive dish, chinese new year

Seafood Mui Fan - Asian risotto - Rice with Seafood and Egg Gravy

Rice with Seafood and Egg Gravy - Mui Fan (New, Easy version)
(adapted from Mui Fan : teczcape - an escape to food)

Ingredients:
-2 rice bowls cooked rice

Gravy:
- medley of frozen seafood (calamari, bay scallops, prawns) , remaining from here; to be thawed before use
- Yu-choy, remaining from here
- canned straw mushrooms, remaining from here
-1/2tsp crushed garlic
-1/2tsp crushed ginger
-1-2tbsp oyster sauce
-1/2cup chicken broth
- drizzle of sesame oil
-1 eggs, whisked light
-pepper and salt to taste
-oil for cooking
-more water, adjust accordingly

Directions:
1.Heat oil, add in garlic, ginger and saute seafood till cooked. Set aside.
2. There will be some seafood "juices" left in the wok/pan. Add in mushrooms, and vegetables, add in oyster sauce and fry briskly.
3.Pour in broth and bring to the boil. Simmer 3mins.
4. Add in the cooked seafood. Season to taste and mix well.
5. After this entire mixture comes to a second simmer, turn off the heat. Add in whisked egg slowly (Note: The heat remaining in the wok/pan of cooked ingredients will cook the egg just to smooth and silky.)
6. Finally, pour the entire gravy on top of the rice. It needs to be intentionally eaten wet!


Tag: seafood, mui fan, risotto, rice

Loofah, ridge gourd - tips + basic recipe

Indeed, I had a ridge gourd coming my way...

Look at the undulated ridges...

Ridge gourd is known by many other names. The most common is Loofah, or Luffa. Ridge gourd (丝瓜 - Si Gua, in Mandarin) is popular and eaten as a vegetable in Asia. It usually ends up as a simple stir fry with pork, at least in my kitchen. Loofah loofah, 一路发 ...ridge gourd ridge gourd, the rich god. Are all these just too coincidental ?

Tips on ridge gourd + easy basic recipe:
1. Before cooking this gourd, you should remove the outer skin and use the edible "white flesh" for cooking your dish. One full gourd typically leaves you with 3/4 remaining(usable) after removing the skin and "ridges".
2. Cut them into half-a-finger-length-and-width strips, or about half-a-thumb-size cubes. It cooks faster without being overly done under the heat.
3. When frying and cooking, you will know it is cooked when the "white flesh" turns slightly green. Do not cook for too long or the whole mixture will turn too soft and soggy
4. Like a loofah sponge, it absorbs water. So while cooking, you can add a few tablespoons of water in the stir-fry for the final simmer.
5. The recommended seasoning to flavor up a Chinese stir fry with ridge gourd is oyster sauce.
6. Easy ingredients: Minced garlic, ridge gourd strips or cubes, pork strips or cubes (gourd strips with pork strips, or gourd cubes with pork cubes, if you know what I mean) marinated with some rice wine, some oyster sauce, white pepper to taste, water
7. Easy directions: In a wok/pan with oil at low-medium heat, add in garlic and pork, then fry till pork almost changes color (~60-70% cooked). Add in ridge gourd and mix well. Then, add in water + oyster sauce, and allow simmer till the gourd cooks completely(about 6-8mins). Dash in white pepper, to taste.
8. In this stir fry, the final mixture should be a bit wet, not totally dry.

Now, I have a rich god, and a fairy god mother, my wish my wish...I wish for my wish!

Did you just use a ridge gourd to exfoilate or maybe a loofah in a cooked dish ? :D

Tag: ridge gourd, vegetable

Sesame oil and ginger chicken

No matter how often I eat comfort foods, I never got get sick of them. Due to the ease of preparation and cooking in comfort foods, I never got sick of them as well. Yes, cooking has become somewhat a chore in the past one month as I had to deal with the move, packing, unpacking and some bits of disorientation, all at the same time. Fortunately for comfort foods, I'm still able to find some joy in enjoying my own simple cooking and when it is definitely not a cooking chore.

Sesame oil and ginger chicken
Ingredients:
-~ 8-12 pieces small chicken drumlets/wings, marinated in 1tbsp oyster sauce at least 2hrs
- 4 caps fresh shitake mushrooms, cut to halfs or comparable to size of drumlets/wings
- 2 garlic, minced
- 2 scallions, julienned to strips
- 4 thumb-sized young ginger cut to fine strips
- 1tbsp sesame oil
- white pepper to taste

Seasonings:
- 1tbsp sesame oil
- 1tsp cooking rice wine
- 2tbsp some water or adjust accordingly

Directions:
1. Heat 1tbsp sesame oil in pan/wok at low-medium heat
2. Add in garlic, scallions and ginger to the pan/wok, fry till aromatic
3. Add in chicken and mushrooms, then fry at medium-high heat for about 3-4mins.
4. Add in seasonings, mix and fry well, then turn to simmer till chicken is cooked. This will take about 3-5mins (if using small chicken parts)
5. When ready to serve, dash in white pepper, dashes of more sesame oil, and sprinkle of cooking rice wine, then immediately turn off the heat.



There are many ways and variations to cook the dish and this happens to be another of my version - where sesame oil and ginger are the stars that make the chicken shine!

Other easy chicken recipes that you won't chicken-out in the face of it, has got to be steamed chicken with ginger and braised chicken with assorted mushrooms.

What is your comfort food or comfort foods?

Tag: comfort food, chicken

Seafood Soba "Braised E-Fu Noodles" style

Seafood Soba "Braised E-Fu Noodles" style
modified from recipe Wat Dan Hor - Fried Rice Noodle with Egg Gravy)

Ingredients:
-soba, cooked/boiled in water. Set aside.

Gravy:
-Medley of seafood (calamari, bay scallops, prawns)
-Yu-choy, cleaned and cut into sections of stalks/stems and leaves (Note: can use bok choy or bok choy sum if you wish)
- some canned straw or button mushrooms
-1/2tsp crushed garlic
-1/2tsp crushed ginger
-1tbsp oyster sauce
-1/2cup chicken broth
-1-2 eggs
-pepper and salt to taste
-oil for cooking
-water

Method:
1.Heat oil, add in garlic, ginger and saute seafood till cooked. Set aside.
2. There will be some seafood "juices" left in the wok/pan. Add in mushrooms, and vegetables, add in oyster sauce and fry briskly.
3.Pour in broth and bring to the boil. Simmer 3mins.
4. Add in the cooked seafood, and cooked soba noodles. Season to taste and mix well. (Note:Do no cook soba noodles for too long since they are already cooked in advance and may become softer if cooked longer)
5. After this entire mixture comes to a second simmer, turn off the heat. Add in whisked egg slowly (Note: The heat remaining in the wok/pan of cooked ingredients will cook the egg just to smooth and silky)



Tag: seafood, e fu noodles,egg noodles

Bittergourd + tips to remove bitterness + recipes

White bittergourd or a hybrid white pearl...

In my memory, I have always seen and eaten bittergourd which are green; and have braised or stir fry them, GREEN.

Green bittergourd

I have no idea why most bittergourds are white in Taiwan - perhaps white mean un-bitter? They wanna trick us!? :O For example, where papayas, mangoes, and bananas are concerned, GREEN means unripe - thus sour, or bitter.



Well, well, well...white bittergourd is no where, un-bitter. You just use the same tips and techniques to reduce the bitterness in white or green bittergourds, if you do not like them too bitter. To reduce bitterness, add some salt into water, and soak strips/pieces of bittergourd in the water(~5mins). The longer you soak, the less bitter it will be. Find tips on bittergourds, and bittergourd recipes here and here.


Tag: bittergourd

Prawn stock, shrimp stock

This is one of the those fabulous "deemed-useless" ingredients to flavor up soups or broths.

You can also use them in stir fry dishes and even stir fry noodles. Next time you clean the prawns, think thrice about throwing the heads into the garbage bag. They are USEFUL!

In a pot of water, drop in prawn heads and boil them. Use the stock base for your dishes.


Tag: prawns, prawn stock, shrimp, shrimp stock

Stir fry pork with ginger

Stir Fry Pork with Ginger
Ingredients:
pork tenderloins, sliced thinly, seasoned with salt and some corn flour
2tbsp dark soy sauce
1tsp oyster sauce
2 gloves garlic, minced
1 ginger, sliced thinly
4-5tsp minced ginger
sesame oil
cooking wine

Directions:
1. Heat oil in frying pan and fry the garlic and sliced ginger till fragrant
2. Add in pork slices and fry till 70% cooked. Set aside.
3. In the same pan, add in minced ginger, dark soy sauce, and oyster sauce and mix well. When start to simmer, add in the pork again and lightly stir fry till cooked. (Note: cook it fast so that the pork will not be too tough when consumed)
4. At the end of cooking, dash in some sesame oil and cooking wine for more aroma in the dish
5. Garnish with ginger fries


Tender juicy pork slices immersed in natural pork flavors and the full zest of ginger




Another dish or reason(would you need any?) to ask for more rice :)


Tag: ginger, deep fried ginger, pork