All posts by chinesetuition88

Noodles, Pasta, shrimp

Simple Seafood Linguine

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1. Prepare 3 medium tomatoes. Cut a cross at the bottom. Soak them in hot water for a little while, then they can be peeled easily.

2. Chop tomatoes into small cubes. Heat a sauce pan. Add in 1 tablespoon oil, fry 1 chopped onion till transparent. Add in tomato cubes 2 tablespoon tomato sauce, 1 tablespoon sugar to balance the sourness, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp mixed herbs and 1/4 cup water. Simmer a bit to let tomatoes into paste. And reduce the sauce. Set aside for later use.

3. Heat a pan. Add in 1 tablespoon oil. When heated, add in squid rings, clam meat and shrimps. Stir fry for 2 min, add in 1 tsp chopped garlic. Pour in 1 tablespoon cooking wine. Simmer for 1 min or 2.

4. Add tomato sauce in and blend evenly. Mix with cooked linguine.

5. Season with salt, pepper and mixed herbs.

https://flic.kr/p/2a8u7hW

Garnish with spring onion or parsley.

Beef

Beef Steak Rice

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It’s just rice served with beef steak slices. 🙂

  1. Season steak with salt and pepper.
  2. Heat a pan. Drizzle a little oil. Place steak into hot pan. Fry for around 3 mins or till golden brown.
  3. Then flip the steak over. Add in thyme and garlic. Cut in a butter chunk.
  4. Scoop butter with a spoon and pour over steak. When both sides are brown, let the steak stand to fry the edge. Set beef aside.
  5. To make rice more tasty, some sauce is needed. In a sauce pan, add in 1 tsp sweet cooking wine, 1 tsp light soy sauce, and 2 tablespoon water. Simmer to reduce the sauce.
  6. Cut beef steak into slices. Arrange them around the rice. Pour the sauce over it. Garnish with chopped spring onion.

Fish

Curry Fish

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Remember last time my husband said he wanted to have laksa? He actually also said he wanted curry fish too. And He even chose fish filet for me to cook curry fish. Which is really rare, since my husband used to only choose snacks, diary products, and drinks. And he chose me stingray fish fillet. Well, that’s a bit challenging for me, since I have never cooked curry fish before, not even curry stingray fish. But my husband was like over confident with me. “Just cook it in the way how you cook curry chicken lah.” It’s easy to say those words, especially from a man who never cooks.

Anyway, I gave it a try. But not same as the way I cooked curry chciken.

  1. Cut sting ray fish fillet into smaller chunks. Sting ray has soft bone, which makes cutting a lot easier.
  2. Sprinkle salt, pepper and turmeric powder over the fish on both sides. (Why do I have turmeric powder in my kitchen while I don’t use it that often. Well, I don’t know either. 🙂 )
  3. Heat a pan, add in 1 tbsp oil. Fry fish fillet with low-medium heat till both sides turn golden brown. Then set aside for later use.
  4. Chop 1 onion, 4 garlic cloves and a small pieces of ginger and red chili (according to how spicy you can accept). Chop them as fine as you can. When I lose my patience, I jut chop them coarsely.
  5. Heat the pan again. Add in another 1 tbsp oil. Put all the chopped ginger, garlic, chili and onion in. Saute till aromatic.
  6. Add in 2 tbsp curry powder. saute a bit.
  7. Pour into 1/2 1 cup water or stock. Bring to boil.
  8. Add in potato chunks (my husband specifically said he wanted potato in this curry fish) , chopped 2 medium tomatoes and 1 tbsp tomato sauce. Lid on and simmer with low heat for 15 mins.
  9. Add in chopped long beans and green chili. Simmer for another 5 mins.
  10. Add fried fish fillet in. Also  add in 200 ml coconut milk. Stir evenly and simmer for another 10 mins.
  11. Season with salt.

My husband is pretty satisfied with this curry fish dish.

Prawn

Steamed Prawn & Vermicelli

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You can replace prawn with shrimps.

  1. Prepare prawns. Wash them clean. Cut on the back with scissors or a knife. Remove the intestines.
  2. Soak vermicelli in hot water for 10 seconds. Cut shorter. Save a little and chop into small pieces.
  3. Chop 3 or 4 cloves of garlic. Heat a pan. Add in 2 tsp oil. Saute garlic till aromatic. Add in 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp oyster sauce and 1/2 tsp sugar. bring to boil.
  4. Place vermicelli in a plate. Arrange prawns over the vermicelli. Stuff prawn with chopped vermicelli. Then use a spoon to pour garlic sauce onto chopped vermicelli. Pour the rest garlic sauce over the vermicelli under the prawn.
  5. Steam for 15 mins.  My prawns are big, that’s why it takes around 15 mins to be cooked. If you use shrimps, you can shorten the time to 8-10 mins.

Vermicelli is very tasty. My husband even loves it more than prawns.

egg, mushroom, Pork, Uncategorized

Fried Bee Hoon/ Rice Vermicelli (炒米粉)

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I cooked fried bee hoon before, but didn’t turn out well. I think I dealt with bee hoon in a wrong way. This time, I corrected it and tried it again.

Ingredients:

bee hoon 100g

water

oil

dried shiitake mushroom 4

pork belly 100g

1 egg

1 small carrot

1 small onion

1/4 of a small cabbage

Singapore XO spicy chili sauce (optional)

light soy sauce 1 tsp

dark soy sauce 1/2 tsp

oyster sauce 1 tsp

salt 1/2 tsp

white pepper powder 1/2 tsp

1 stalk spring onion

 

  1. Soak bee hoon in warm water for 3-5 mins or till they get totally soft (Please read the instruction on the package). Drain them to dry.
  2. Soak shiitake mushroom in water. Then remove the bottom and cut into slice. Keep the mushroom water for later use.
  3. Cut pork belly into slices, vegetables (cabbage, carrot and onion) into strips. Beat egg into a bowl.
  4. Heat a pan. Brush the pan with oil. Pour the beaten egg in. Sway the pan to let the egg spread evenly. When egg gets solidified, gently flip it over to fry the other side a bit. Then take it out and cool down. Cut into strips.
  5. Heat pan again. Add in 1 tbsp oil. Add pork in. Stir fry till pork turns white in color. Add in shiitake mushroom slice. Stir fry for 1 min or 2.
  6. Add in 2 tbsp mushroom water and let them simmer for 3 mins to cook pork.
  7. Add in carrot and cabbage, stir fry for 2 mins.
  8. Add in light soy sauce, dark soy sauce oyster sauce, salt and white pepper. I also put in 1 tbsp Singapore XO spicy chili sauce to add more flavor and spicy taste to bee hoon. Stir fry evenly.
  9. Add in bee hoon and onion. I will change spatula to chopsticks to make sure each bee been be mixed with sauce.
  10. At last, add in egg and chopped spring onion. Mix evenly and ready to serve.

https://flic.kr/p/2ek4vKs

 

This is definitely the best bee hoon I’ve cooked so far. My husband also gave it thumps up.

https://flic.kr/p/2fmkJfE

I was not a big bee hoon fan, but now I think I am.

Cake

Jing Gao (甑糕)

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I will never say no to any dessert made from sticky rice or sticky rice flour. This cake is from Xi’an. It became popular recently due to a Chinese TV drama. The Chinese name 甑糕 actually should be pronounced as “Zeng Gao”, however, people from Shan’an Xi called it Jing Gao. 甑 is an ancient earthen utensil for steaming rice. 糕 means cake. Well, I have to say this kind of sticky rice cake is really time-consuming in both preparation and cooking.

Ingredients:

sticky rice 1/2 1 cup

red kidney beans 3/4 cup

dried red dates 1 cup

honey red dates 100g

  1. Soak sticky rice and red kidney beans in water for overnight.
  2. Dried date also need to be soaked for a while. Then cut them into halves and remove the cores. And do the same to honey red dates. I added honey red dates just wanted to add sweet taste to the cake. If you want it to be very sweet, you ca also add sugar to the sticky rice when steaming them. I was kind of lazy. Fortunately, dried red dated I have are already core-removed. I just need to cut them. And I did nothing to the honey dates and just put them in as a whole.
  3. Prepare a big bowl. Brush bowl with oil or you can just do what I did, to use parchment paper. The bottom layer is 1/3 sticky rice. Then 1/2 red kidne beans. Then 1/3 sticky rice. Followed by 1/2 red kidney beans. Then the rest 1/3 sticky rice and topped with red dates & honey dates. You can arrange the layer as you like. But make sure the bottom is sticky rice and the top is red dates.

 

Then add water into the bowl, just equally high to the red dates.

Steam for 3 hours. I steamed it for 4 hours. I read online that authentic Jing Gao should be steamed overnight with low heat. A pressure cooker will make it much easier.

After steaming, don’t open the lid immediately. Let it stay for 15 mins.

Use the back of a spoon to press the red dates and mash them.

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Red kidney beans are very soft and smooth. My husband said it tastes like sweet Lor Mai Gai. 🙂 But still, he loves it. I love it very much too.

Pork, Potato, Uncategorized

Pork & Mixed Vegetable Stew Recipe

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In earlier days, transportation was not as convenient as how it is now. People in northern part of China didn’t have much choice about vegetables in winter. The most usually seen vegetables are potato, Chinese cabbage and turnip. They can be boiled, stewed, preserved and used to make soup. Pork stew together with these vegetables were very popular and so are they now. This hot dish is ideal for a cold winter.

1. Cut pork belly into smaller chunks. Put them into a pot. Add in enough water. Bring to boil with high heat. Take the pork out and rinse under water.

2. Heat a pan. Add in 2 tablespoon oil and 2 tablespoon sugar. Turn to low heat. Keep stirring to let let sugar melt first and then turn brown.

3. Add in pork. Stir fry and pork will also become brown. Add in spices: ginger, bay leaves, star anise, and dried chili. Stir fry till aromatic.

4. Pour in hot water about 2-3 cm higher than all ingredients. Cove the lid and simmer for 20 mins.

5. For the vegetables, I chose potatoes and puff tofu. Potatoes are peeled and cut into medium pieces. Place potatoes over pork and then tofu puff on the top. Those that hard to be cooked are always at the bottom layer. Cover with lid and simmer for another 25-30 mins.

6. Turn to high heat and reduce the sauce a bit. Then ready to serve.

mushroom

Fried Mushroom

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I wrote another deep fried mushroom recipe before:

Deep Fried Mushroom

This time, I tried it cook mushroom in a different way.

And I used this kind of mushroom:

Ingredients:

mushroom 150 g

flour 1/4 cup

starch 1/8 cup

egg 1

salt

black pepper 1/2 tsp

baking soda 1/4 tsp

five spice powder 1/2 tsp

water 1/4 cup – 1/2 cup

oil

 

  1. Tear mushroom into strips by hand. Put them in a big bow. Sprinkle 1 tsp salt and leave them there or 30 mins. Squeeze all the water out and drain.
  2. In another bowl, add in flour, starch, 1/4 tsp salt, black pepper, five spice powder and baking soda. Mix well. Then beat in 1 egg. Stir to mix. Add in water, to make smooth batter.
  3. Heat oil in a deep pot. Drop in a little batter, if the batter immediately floats to the surface with sizzling sound, then the oil is ready for frying.
  4. Dip mushroom in batter first, then deep fry till golden brown.

My husband couldn’t stop eating them. 🙂

Beef, zucchini

Beef & Zucchini Spaghetti

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1. Chop zucchini into thin slices with the help of a grater.

2. Heat a pan. Add in a little oil. Sauté 1 clove of chopped garlic.

3. Add beef slice in. Stir fry a bit till beef is no more pinkish.

4. Dish beef out and set aside.

5. Heat the same pan. Add in a little extra oil. Add zucchini slices in.

6. Gently stir fry zucchini and try not to break them since they are very thin and fragile.

7. After about 2 mins. Add beef back into the pan. Toss a bit with zucchini.

8. Add in cooked pasta. Season with salt and pepper and mixed herbs.

Chicken

Fried Chicken Drumsticks

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When will my husband be tired of fried chicken? I guess the answer is “NEVER”!

This time I used chicken drumsticks. I cooked 6 of them.

  1. Use a sharp knife to cut a little above the joint. Then pull the chicken meat down to separate from the joint.
  2. In a bowl, add in 1/2 cup chili sauce, 1 egg, 1/8 cup water. Mix them well.
  3. In another bow, add in 1 cup flour. Season with 1 tsp salt , 1 tsp black pepper and 1 tsp paprika powder. Mix well too.
  4. Dip chicken in the sauce then roll in the flour mixture. Shake off the excessive. Deep fry for about 10 mins.

When I called my husband to come for lunch, He saw the fried chicken.  He’s super happy and did that weird dance.

https://flic.kr/p/2e8ypKA