Baked Tiger Prawns with Butter and Garlic/奶油烤虎蝦

When I made the Steamed Tiger Prawns with Garlic, I also saved half of the prawns to make this dish as well.  It's great because most ingredients are the same, just different cooking styles.  If you host a dinner or party, you may try this too.  Use half of the prawns to steam and the other half to bake, to give your guests more variety to choose.  For my two and half year old toddler, she liked this dish more because she loves the taste of butter.  When you put garlic and butter together it makes everything tastes better.  Compare to the Steamed Tiger Prawn with Garlic, this dish tastes richer but also very delicious.

Ingredients:

• 10 tiger prawns
• 3 tbsp ground garlic
• 2 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp finely chopped green onion
• 1 tsp sugar
• A quarter tsp salt
• Half tsp white pepper powder
• 1 tsp cooking wine
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 - 4 tbsp butter

Directions:

1. Clean and devein all the prawns.  Keep the shell on.  Use a knife, cut the prawn from centre of the back.  Make sure not to cut it through - this is for the filling.
2. Making the garlic filling: In a small bowl add ground garlic, ginger, sugar, salt, pepper powder, cooking wine and soy sauce.  Mix everything evenly.
3. Fill up all the prawns (to the cut on the prawn's back) with the garlic filling, and place them to a plate.
4. In a baking pan, place a piece of foil sheet on top.  A`dd half butter and then place all the prawns on top.  Add the rest of butter on top of the prawns.  Fold the foil sheet and then transfer to the oven.  Heat up the oven to 400 degrees Celsius high for about 20 - 25 minutes.  Transfer everything to a serving plate, you are done!

Steamed Tiger Prawns with Garlic/蒜茸蒸虎蝦

Frist of all, I have to apologize for not updating my blog for a while.  I have been making a lot of videos, most of them are for my old recipes as I'm trying to update all my recipes with video tutorials.  I made this Steamed Tiger Prawns with Garlic a while ago, after that I also made this dish with normal prawns and it was just as delicious as the frist time with tiger prawns.  This dish is simple, easy and healthy.  The total cooking time is about 20 minutes.  Although it's a seafood dish it tastes very fine and clean.  Spotted prawn season will be coming soon so I know I'm going to make this dish again and again.

Ingredients:

• 10 tiger prawns
• 3 tbsp ground garlic
• 2 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp finely chopped green onion
• 1 tsp sugar
• A quarter tsp salt
• Half tsp white pepper powder
• 1 tsp cooking wine
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp cooking oil

Directions:

1. Clean and devein all the prawns.  Keep the shell on.  Use a knife, cut the prawn from centre of the back.  Make sure not to cut it through - this is for the filling.
2. Making the garlic filling: In a small bowl add ground garlic, ginger, sugar, salt, pepper powder, cooking wine and soy sauce.  Mix everything evenly.
3. Fill up all the prawns (to the cut on the prawn's back) with the garlic filling, and place them to a plate.
4. Transfer the prawns to a steamer, and steam for about 10 minutes (8 minutes for normal prawns).
5. Heat up about 3 tbsp cooking oil and then pour the oil on top of the prawns.  This is optional you can avoid this step if you like.  However the oil will make the prawns taste even juicier and it kills the fishy taste of seafood.  
6. Lastly, garnish with some finely chopped green onion.  Now enjoy!

New Wonton Filling Recipe - Pork, Shrimp and Veggie Wonton/豬肉鮮蝦雲吞

Shiitake Mushroom, Lily Flower and Pork Rib Soup/金針排骨湯

September was a hard month for me.  My daughter was sick for the whole month and then we all got sick.  Taking care of a sick baby is tough, especially when you are sick too.  The virus going back and forth seemed endless.  One thing I have continued to do is provide healthy meals for my family so we could recover sooner.  Soup is a must for every meal including breakfast so we could stay hydrated and get a lot of nutrition to fight the sickness.  I didn't record a video for this Shiitake Mushroom, Lily Flower and Pork Rib Soup because this soup is very easy to make.  All ingredients are very common to find at any Chinese supermarket.  This soup tastes light, refreshing and super delicious.  A great soup for fall!

Ingredients:

• 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 oz dried lily flowers
• 1 lb pork rib
• 1 chicken leg
• 1½ tsp salt
• 3 - 4 ginger slices
• 1 tsp finely chopped green onion

Directions:

1. Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms and  lily flowers half an hour before cooking.  When they are soaked, make sure to clean them with running water.
2. In a large soup pot, add ribs, chicken legs, ginger, soaked shiitake mushrooms and water (fill up with 3 quarter of the pot).  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat, and then use a soup strainer to strain all the dark bubbles on top of the water.  Reduce the heat to the lowest and cook for 2 - 3 hours.  Add salt and garnish some finely chopped green onion before serving.  Now enjoy!  

Seafood Fried Noodles/海鮮炒麵

There are a lot of Chinese restaurants that serve Seafood Fried Noodles on their menu.  Unlike my other dish - Clam and Mussel Fried Noodles, I found this recipe in a Taiwanese cook book but I changed it slightly by adding a wider variety of vegetables and seafood.  It tasted so yummy!  The julienned carrots give an extra texture and the clams give an oceany flavour to the noodles.  I also added a cup of chicken stock to cook with the noodles so the noodles don't require a lot of oil to cook.  The chicken stock goes great with seafood, and it's healthier.  I bought the pre-cut squid from a local Chinese supermarket.  If you can't find it, the preparation is fairly easy.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz egg noodles
• 5 oz clams
• 1 cup of shrimp
• 2 cups of squid
• 2 carrots
• 4 green onion
• 3 oz Chinese lettuce
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup of chicken stock

For the frying sauce:

• 1 tsp white pepper powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp cooking wine
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:

1. Julienne the carrot, cut the green onion approximately an inch and a half long.  Mix all the frying sauce in a bowl.
2. Pare and clean the squid, cut light crosses on it and slice it (you can also buy pre-cut squid from any Chinese supermarket).
3. Bring half a medium pot of water to a boil. When the water is boiled add noodles to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute.  Transfer to a colander, rinse with cold water and drain the water.  Add 1 tbsp olive oil to the noodles, and mix evenly.  
4. Bring half a medium pot of water to a boil.  Blanche clams, shrimps and squid into the boiling water until they are open.  Transfer to a plate.
5. In a nonstick medium saucepan or a wok, heat 1½ tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add green onion, carrot and Chinese lettuce to cook.  After about 2 minutes, when the lettuce is tender and soft add clams, shrimps and squid.   Stir everything evenly and then add the frying sauce.  Mix everything evenly, add the noodles.  Stir everything for a couple of minutes, add 1 cup of chicken stock.  Mix everything evenly and keep stirring everything for a few minutes.  Transfer the noodles to servering plates, enjoy!

Tomato and Pork Fried Rice/蕃茄豬肉炒飯

I love making fried rice because I can use my imagination and be as creative as I want by combining my favourite vegetables and meat with rice.  When I was a kid I was a picky eater, my mom always had to make fried rice for me so I could eat a more balanced and nutritious meal.  Homemade fried rice is healthy, simple and quick.  I used Thai rice that I cooked the rice a day before so the rice was not so soft or runny. Indian Basmati rice should be pretty good for making fried rice too.  Make sure not to cook the rice too soft or runny when you make fried rice.  This Tomato and Pork Fried Rice takes about 30 minutes to make, and it's very delicious.  The rice absorbs sweetness from tomato and bell pepper and balances perfectly with the pork and egg.  You can also add some tomato sauce if you like a sweeter taste.  I served this fried rice along with a side of Mini Cucumber Salad and Three Mushroom and Pork Soup for a delicious and refreshing meal!

Ingredients:

• 2 bowls of cooked rice
• Half tsp salt 
• Half tsp white pepper powder
• 1 tbsp olive oil 
• 2 eggs
• 2 oz ground pork
• 2 tbsp finely chopped green onion
• Half cup diced bell pepper
• Half cup diced white onion
• 10 small tomatoes 
• 2 asparagus
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. Break the eggs in a bowl, add a little bit of salt and white pepper powder.  Beat the eggs in the bowl.
2. Dice the asparagus, cut the tomatos in halves.
3. In a nonstick medium saucepan or a wok, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the egg to cook.  Stir the egg gently for a minute, and then add  asparagus, bell pepper and white onion.  Keep stirring everything for about 2 - 3 minutes.  When the white onion is tender then add tomatos.  Stir everything evenly for about a minute and then add the pork.  After about 2 - 3 minutes, when the pork is not longer pink, add green onion and rice.  Stir everything evenly, make sure the rice is mixed with all the ingredients.  Add half tsp salt and half tsp white pepper powder, mix everything evenly.  Transfer everything to serving plates.  Enjoy!