Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Festive Pomegranate and Rosemary Jelly



Holiday is finally coming!  I have been making a lot of festive desserts.  This recipe is my favourite so far! This recipe is probably my easiest recipe on this blog, it take 5 minutes to make.  However it requires to be kept in the fridge for a few hours before everyone can enjoy.  This is a great party or brunch dessert during the holiday season!

Ingredients:

  • Jelly powder 85g
  • Boiling water 1 Cup
  • Apple juice 1 Cup
  • Pomegranate 1/2 Cup
  • Rosemary 1 Few


Directions:

  1. Transfer the jelly powder to a bowl, add 1 cup of boiling water. Stir until it completely dissolved. 
  2. Add 1 cup of apple juice, stir evenly. Transfer to dessert glasses. Add pomegranate and rosemary leaves to each dessert glass as your personal preference. 
  3. Transfer to the fridge to chill until set. Enjoy! 

Monday, November 24, 2014

Wood Ear Mushroom and Chicken (or Pork) Fried Noodles/木耳肉絲炒面


Sorry I have been busy with my Fashion Blog lately, haven't had time to update my cooking blog this month. But, I have been cooking :) Since my older daughter started going to kindergarten this year, so I have been making a lot of "lunch friendly" meals and this fried noodle dish is one of my favourites. My daughter loves wood ear mushrooms because they have an unique texture and very chewy. It's like the good combination of mushroom and jelly in a very thin version. I like to use wood ear mushroom in my cooking just simply because it's very healthy and easy to cook.  You can add it to almost every dish. See wood ear mushroom recipes Here and Here.

Ingredients (2 servings):


  • 1000g Fresh Noodles
  • 6 Large Dried Wood Ears
  • 1 Carrot (Julienned)
  • 6 Chives (Chopped) 
  • 5 Ginger Slices
  • 50g Shredded Chicken
  • 1 Cup Finely Chopped Green Onion
  • 2 tbsp Soy Sauce 
  • 1 tbsp Vinegar
  • 1 tsp Sugar and salt by taste
  • 2 tbsp Cooking Oil 
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp cooking wine
  • 1 tsp White Pepper Powder
  • 1 tsp Sesame Seeds
  • 1 Cup of Chicken Broth (Optional)

Preparation:


  1. Soak the wood ear mushroom for 15 minutes before cooking. Wash and clean the wood ear mushroom after soaking, pad dry and julienne them.
  2. Cooking sauce: In a small bow, add 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp cooking wine, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp white pepper powder and a little bit salt. Then mix evenly.

Directions:


  1. In a large pot, add water and bring to a boil. When the water is boiled, add the noodles to cook. Just cook the noodle for a minute or two, drain the water.
  2. In a non-stick wok, add 2 tbsp cooking oil over medium-high heat. Add the chopped green onion and ginger slices to cook. About 2minutes, add the chives, julienned wood ear mushrooms and carrots to cook. Stir fry everything for about 2 minutes, when the chives turn dark (that means they are tender), add the shredded chicken. Fry everything for about 4-5 minutes, until the chicken is 70% ready, add the noodles to fry. You can add 1 cup of chicken broth.  And then add the cooking sauce that you prepared earlier, stir everything evenly. Cooking everything for about 3 minutes, add 1 tbsp sesame oil, mix evenly.  Transfer everything to serving plates and garnish with roasted sesame seeds. Enjoy!


Friday, October 10, 2014

Cherry Tomato with Seafood and Spaghetti/珍珠海鲜意大利面



In China, we call cherry tomato 長生果 (Pinyin: Chang Sheng Guo), meaning the fruit that will keep you look youthful.  People believe that the cherry tomato is a beauty food.  I love eating cherry tomato, however my kids will not eat them unless it's toasted.  After doing some research on the web, I came up with this recipe.  I combined their favorite seafood and toasted cherry tomatoes to make the pasta.  I made this dish twice since October, it's absolutely delicious!  Every time I always wish I made bigger portion, we just couldn't get enough of it!

Ingredients (2 servings)


  • Spaghetti (200 Grams)
  • Napoli Pasta Sauce (3 tbsp)
  • Butter (2 tbsp)
  • Ground Garlic (1 tbsp)
  • Salt (20 Grams)
  • Ground Pepper (1/2 tsp)
  • 8 Cherry Tomato 
  • 6 Scallops 
  • 8 - 10 Prawns
  • 10 Clams
  • 3 Slices of Lemon 


Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a large ovenproof skillet, toss the cherry tomatoes with the olive oil and thyme (optional) and season with salt and pepper. Toast the tomatoes for about 25 minutes, until starting to brown and their skins split.
  2. Meanwhile, bring abundant water to boil in a large pot and add salt (as a general rule 1 litre of water and 10 grams of salt can be used to cook 100 grams of pasta).  When water is boiling add pasta to water.  Stir a couple of times to avoid pasta sticking to the pot or to each other. Cook pasta for 8 minutes and then drain.
  3. In a large sauce pan, add half cup of butter over medium high heat.  Add the shrimps, scallops and claims and simmer over moderate heat until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.  Add the spaghetti to the skillet along with the lemon juice and toss over low heat until the pasta is coated, about 1 minute. Add the Napoli Sauce and cooked cherry tomatoes and toss. Transfer the pasta to warm bowls and serve at once.


Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Sausage and Asparagus Fusilli/香肠芦笋螺丝意面


This is my type of fusilli.  Light, tasty, lots of greens.  It is my first time making fusilli and I'm loving it!  My kids loved too!  I also used some Chinese cooking techniques for this recipe, it's acutely very easy.  Garnishing some fresh mint leaves is a great idea, it helps to bring out the good flavour of the sausage.  I made video for the recipe in Chinese, however there is the english subtitle.

Ingredients:


  • 100 grams of fusilli
  • 2 - 3 tbsp of Siciliana sauce
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 10 grams salt
  • 1 litre water
  • 1 sausage (sliced)
  • 4 asparagus (cut as long as a fusilli)
  • 1 tbsp ground garlic
  • A quater onion (diced)
  • 1 tbsp ground cheese
  • Fresh mint leaves for garnishing


Directions:


  1. Bring abundant water to boil in a large pot and add salt (as a general rule 1 litre of water and 10 grams of salt can be used to cook 100 grams of fusilli)
  2. When water is boiling add pasta to water.  Stir a couple of times to avoid fusilli sticking to the pot or to each other.
  3. Cook the fusilli for 8 - 10 minutes, drain and transfer to a plate.
  4. In a large skillet, heat oil and ground garlic, stir for about half minute.  Add chopped onion. Stir fry the onion for about 2 - 3 minutes until the onion is tender, add sausage slices. Fry the sausage over medium heat until sausage fat is almost rendered, about 3 minutes. Add asparagus to center. Raise heat to medium-high, and keep stirring, about 3 - 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, sprinkle asparagus with salt.  Add Siciliana sauce, cook mixture. Then add the fusilli, mix everything evenly.  
  5. Transfer the fusilli to a serving plate.  Stir in mint or parsley, season with pepper and top with cheese.


Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Sausage and Egg Fried Rice/ 香腸雞蛋抄飯




When you talk about Chinese food, you must think about fried rice too.  I love to make fried rice, because it's simple, easy, and very kids friendly.  Two of my daughters are very picky eaters, they will never eat carrots if you just steam them.  When I make fried rice, I dice the carrots (and other vegetables that they are usually picky about) and fry with the rice.  My kids will eat everything without even realize there are vegetables too.   This dish is very simple easy and quick to make.  Make sure to cook the rice ahead of the time, you can even make it a day before.

Ingredients:


  • 3 Bowl of cooked rice
  • 2 - 3 Sausage (diced)
  • Half cup of diced onion
  • 1/3 Cup of corns
  • 1/3 Cup of sweet peas
  • 2 - 3 Eggs
  • 2 Asparagus (diced)
  • 1/2 Cup of finely chopped green onion
  • 1 - 2 tbsp cooking oil
  • 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
  • A little salt and crushed pepper
  • 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

Directions:

  1. Break the eggs in a small bowl, season with salt and pepper and then beat the eggs.
  2. In a large wok, add one and half tbsp cooking oil (I'm using grape seed oil) over medium high heat.  When the oil is heat up, add the egg. Scramble and cook the egg for about 2 - 3 minutes, add the diced onion and sausage.  Stir everything for about 2 - 3 minutes, until the onion is tender, add the rice.  Stir and press the rice and make sure the rice is totally lose, about 3 - 4 minutes.  And then add corns, peas, diced carrots and diced asparagus.  Mix everything evenly and make sure to cook everything through.  Keep stirring everything for about 4 minutes, add the finely chopped green onion.  Fry everything for about 2 minutes, add half tsp white pepper powder and half tbsp soy sauce (or by taste).  Mix everything evenly, and then transfer the rice to bowls or serving plates.  
  3. Lastly, you may garnish with a little bit fresh herbs and enjoy!



Monday, August 25, 2014

Braised Fish in Bean Sauce/紅燒豆辦魚




This fish dish is one of the classic fish dish in Szechuan Cuisine.  You can order this dish at a lot of Chinese (Szechuan) restaurants.  Unlike my other fish dish - Steamed Tilapia with Ginger and Green Onion, this dish requires two cooking techniques.  Frying and braising.  You will be rewarded for your hard working at end and your family or your guests will be amazed, I guarantee.  It's so flavourful and so good!

I used tilapia for this dish.  However you can use any type of white fish, fresh water fish is best for this dish.  The fresher the fish is the better it tastes.

Ingredients:

  • One Whole Fish
  • 2 tbsp Tomato Sauce (Or Salsa)
  • 1 Cup ground beef
  • 4 tbsp Bean Paste
  • 2 tbsp Ground Garlic
  • 1 tbsp Ground Ginger
  • 1/2 Cup Chopped Red Bell Pepper
  • 1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Green Onion
  • 2 tbsp Sesame Oil
  • 2 tbsp Cooking Oil
  • Soy Sauce by Taste
  • 1 tbsp White Pepper Powder
  • 1 tbsp Corn Starch Powder
  • 1 tbsp Vinegar
  • 1 tbsp Cooking Wine
Directions:

  1. Clean the fish nicely, make sure there is no blood inside out.  
  2. Use a paper towel, pat dry the fish.  Cut three lines on each side of the fish'd body.  Sprinkle the white pepper powder on both sides of the fish and inside of the fish.  Rub 1 tbsp of bean paste on both sides of the fish and inside of the fish.
  3. Take a small bowl, add 2 tbsp of garlic bean paste and 1 tbsp of spicy bean paste.  Mix well (If you don't like spicy, just use 3 tbsp of garlic bean paste instead).
  4. Take another bowl, mix 1 tbsp of corm starch and 2 tbsp water.
  5. Take a large frying pan, heat up 2 tbsp of sesame oil in medium high.  Fry the fish for about 5 - 6 minutes on each side.
  6. Now take a large wok or sauce pan, heat up 2 tbsp cooking oil in medium high.  When the oil is heat up, add the bean paste.  Stir the bean paste, and then add the ground beef.  Stir and mix the beef with the bean paste.  About 2 minutes, add the chopped red bell pepper, ground garlic and ground ginger.  Stir and mix well.  About 2 minute, add one liter water.  Mix well and bring to a boil.  When the water in boiled, add the fish in the wok.  Then add 1 tbsp cooking wine, mix and make sure the fish is covered with the sauce nicely.  Cover, and then simmer for about 6 minutes.  You can add a little bit soy sauce by taste, and then all the finely chopped green onion, 1 tbsp of vinegar and 2 tbsp of tomato sauce.  Mix well and then add the corn starch water.  Boil everything for a minute, and then transfer to a serving plate.  Enjoy!