Category Archives: Uncategorized

Chicken, Uncategorized

Crispy Fried Chicken Wings

3 Comments
  1. Cut chicken wings 2 times on both sides.
  2. Sprinkle salt, black pepper, paprika powder, ground ginger and ground garlic (or garlic paste) over chicken wings. Mix by hands evenly and let them marinate for 2-3 hours.
  3. In a bowl, add in flour and starch, ration should be flour: starch = 5:1. Also add salt, black pepper to taste. To add more flavor to the chicken, I add in mixed herbs. You can just add in the herbs you like.
  4. Prepare a bowl of water.
  5. Roll chicken wing in the flour mixture first. Then dip in water quickly and roll in flour mixture again. Shake off the excessive.
  6. Heat oil. Test the temperate with chopsticks. If there are many bubbles around the chopsticks, the oil’s temperature is ok.
  7. Deep fry chicken wings till the flour shell is very hard. Then turn up the heat a bit. Fry chicken wings for the second time to get gold brown color and also to make them crispier.

Uncategorized, Vegetables

Steamed Corn Flour Bun With Vegetables

Leave a comment

I was intended to make steamed buns with vegetable fillings inside, called Cai Tuan Zi in Chinese. It turned out corn flour is really hard to deal with. So I changed it into my special way.

corn flour 230g

plain flour 20g

hot water 200 ml.

yeast 3 g

warm water 30g

  1. Mix corn flour and flour in a big bowl. Add in hot water while stirring. and cool down.
  2. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add yeast water into the flour mixture. Knead into dough.
  3. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 mins.

filling

spinach 200g

medium carrot 1

thick glass noodles (boil in water till almost cooked)

black fungus.

Add in 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp sesame oil and my special ingredient Sichuan pepper oil (fry 1 tsp sichuan pepper in 2 tbsp oil till aromatic and discard the pepper corn)

Of course, you can choose meat as filling, which I think will be easier to deal with than vegetables, since minced meat can be rolled into small balls.

Divide dough into 12 small dough balls. Press them flat and add in filling, then close up. That’s my original plan. Yet I found corn flour is less sticky and cannot be closed up. So I mix dough with vegetable filling. And divide them into smaller balls. Roll them in corn flour and that’s how I made my cai tuan zi. 🙂

steam them over boiling water for 15 mins.

They taste better than I imagined. And sure they are healthy.

Chicken, Uncategorized

Soy Sauce Chicken Wings

Leave a comment

This is one of my husband’s favorite dishes.

Ingredients:

chicken wings joint 6-8

cooking wine 1 tsp

light soy sauce  1 tbsp

dark soy sauce 2 tsp

sugar 1/2 tbsp  (you can reduce according to your taste)

ginger slice 2 or 3

water

  1. Mix light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and cooking wine in a bowl.
  2. Add chicken wings in and marinate for 2 hours.
  3. Heat a pan, add in a little oil. Fry chicken wings till both sides turn golden brown.
  4. Pour in marinade, Stir fry a bit to let them fully mixed.
  5. Pour in enough water just covers all the chicken.
  6. Bring to boil with high heat. Then turn to low heat and simmer for 20-25 mins with lid on.
  7. lid off and turn up the heat to reduce the sauce.

Uncategorized, Vegetables

Laksa Hot Pot

2 Comments

The other day, I got a laksa hot pot soup base from the cashier of supermarket. I wanted to have nice hot pot for a long time. And I have never tried laksa flavor before.

This is the soup base I got. It has 2 parts: powder and paste.

Meat and vegetables are the main ingredients for hot pot.

First, I wash and cut vegetables and meat. Then follow the instruction to get soup base ready.

Meat in first, then the seafood part, vegetables at last. But vegetables like potato, sweet potato and shiitake mushroom can be put in earlier.

Quick recipe, Uncategorized

Home Cooked Food for My Dog Charlie

2 Comments

My husband and I got this poodle Charlie last month. Ever since this little cutie came to our house, our life completely changed.

I feel so lucky to have such a little playful buddy as our family member.

Most time, Charlie has dog food which was bought from pet store. But sometimes, especially on some big occasion, I will cook for him.

Actually, cooking for dog is much easier than cooking for human, as there is no need to season or to make different flavor. Home cooked dog food has a very simple rule – boil.

Ingredients I use are always chicken breast, potato and carrot. Charlie is only 3 kg now. He was 1.5 kg when he first came. So Charlie has very little appetite. He can’t eat too much.

The very simple way to deal with ingredients is to chop everything into small dices. You can choose 1 vegetable and 1 meat. For example. I always chop chicken breast (about half of my palm size), 1/4 of a medium potato, or 1/4 of a medium carrot. You can adjust the ratio. Put them into a bowl, add in enough water covers everything. Bring to boil, then turn to low heat and simmer for 15 mins or till they are completely cooked.

There are 2 ways I used to cook for Charlie.

  1. Cook meat & vegetable and rice separately. Cos most time, I also need to cook for me and my husband. So Charlie’s meat & vegetable will be cooked in a small pot. After they are done, I will just add in 1-2 tbsp cooked rice from rice cooker. Mix them well. Cool down and give it to him.

2. Cook meat, vegetable and rice together. This way is much simpler. You just need to put everything into rice cooker. I usually cook 2 meals at one time for him. Then I can save the rest and keep in fridge. He will enjoy for the next meal. Food cooked this way is nicer since it will give rice more flavor.

Charlie  obviously like cooked food much more than dog food. He’s often distracted by the sound while he’s having dog food. He needs to go and check. But when he’s having home cooked food, he’s more concentrated and cannot wait to finish them all.

 

Quick recipe, Uncategorized, Vegetables

Pickled Cucumber

Leave a comment
  1. Prepare cucumbers (mine about 250g). I used regular ones, you can also choose mini cucumber. Wash them clean. Trim two ends and cut into halves.
  2. Let them dry with flowing air till the surface is dry.
  3. In a sauce pan, add in 1/4 cup light soy sauce, vinegar 2 tbsp, sugar 1 tbsp.
  4. Bring to boil. Add in cucumber and boil for about 30 sec.
  5. Take cucumber out to cool down. Also let the marinade cool down.
  6. Arrange cucumber in an air-tight container. Pour in marinade.
  7. Put into fridge.

After 2 days, the flavor will go in.

Perfect choice for white porridge.

Uncategorized

Mutton Stew

Leave a comment
  1. Cut mutton (about 800g) into small pieces. Put all the mutton into a pot. Add in enough cod water to cover them. And bring to boil. Keep boiling for 3-5 mins.
  2. Drain the mutton and wash off all the dirt.
  3. Heat a pan. Add in 1 tbsp oil. Sautee 2 cloves of chopped garlic. Add all the mutton in. Stir fry for 2 mins.
  4. Add in a few curry leaves, and 1 tsp Garam masala. Stir fry evenly.
  5. Pour in 1/2 1 cup water and salt to taste.
  6. Transfer everything into pressure cooker. And cook under high pressure for 20 mins.
  7. Prepare 2 big potatoes and 1 medium carrot. Peel them and cut into small dice.
  8. Heat a pan. Add in 1 tbsp oil.
  9. Add in 4 cardamom pods, 2 bay leaves and 1 star anise. Fry to aromatic.
  10. Drop in 1/2 tsp chopped ginger and 1 tsp chopped garlic. Stir fry a bit.
  11. Add in chopped 2 green chilis 1 chopped onion. Season with salt. Keep stir frying till onion turn transparent and completely soft.
  12. Add in potato and carrot dices. Stir fry for 2 or 3 mins.
  13. Pour all the mutton with stock into the pan. Simmer with lid on for 10 mins.
  14. Add in 200 ml coconut milk. Stir evenly and simmer for another 5 mins.
  15. Season with 1 tsp Garam masala and salt.
  16. Garnish with curry leaves.

Noodles, Pork, Uncategorized

Jajangmyeon (Korean noodles in black bean sauce)

2 Comments

 

  1. Prepare pork and vegetables. Cut 100g pork (you can also use chicken, if you want.) into dice. 1/8 head cabbage, 1/2 onion, 1/1 stalk of green onion all chop into small dices.
  2. Heat a pan. Add in 3 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp chunjang (black bean paste). Stir fry for about 3 mins. Discard the oil and set the paste aside for later use.
  3. Heat the pan again, add in 1 tbsp oil. Drop in pork dices. stir fry for a while till pork turns a big golden brown. Sprinkle black pepper.
  4. Add in cabbage, onion and green onion. I also added in a little chopped eggplant.
  5. Stir fry till all the vegetables turns softened.
  6. Add in 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp sugar. Stir well.
  7. Add all the black bean paste in. Mix all ingredients well.
  8. Pour in 1/2 1 cup stock (or water). Simmer for a little while, till everything is fully cooked. And also the sauce reduced.
  9. Mix 1 tbsp starch in 2 tbsp water. drizzle it into the pan.
  10. Stir to thicken the sauce.
  11. Serve noodle with sauce and cucumber shreds.

And give it a good mix.

baking, chocolate, Cookie, Uncategorized

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Leave a comment

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 pinch salt

1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

3 cups quick cooking oats

chocolate chips 1/2 cup

chopped walnut 1/2 cup

1. In a big bowl, cream butter together white sugar, and brown sugar.

2. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.

3. In another bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, baking soda, oats, and salt.

4. Add dry ingredients into the creamed butter mixture.

5. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts.

6. It’s better to chill the dough in the fridge for about 1 hour before baking.

7. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.

8. Roll the dough into small balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

9. Bake for 10-12 mins or till the edge becomes golden brown color.

banana, Cake, Uncategorized

Banana Cake

Leave a comment

Ingredients

3 large ripe banana

2 eggs

50g butter

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

 

Preheat oven to 180 degree C.

  1. Mash bananas in a big bowl.
  2. Beat in eggs one by one.
  3. Stir in vanilla.
  4. In another bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt.
  5. Add dry ingredients into banana mixture. Mix well.
  6. Beat in softened butter. Mix well.
  7. Grease baking pan with butter. Pour batter into baking pan.
  8. Into the oven and bake for 30-40 mins. Test with tooth pick to see whether it comes out clean.