Tag Archives: food

Pork, Potato, Ribs

Ribs & Potato Stew

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  1. Wash ribs in water. Put all the ribs in a deep pot. Add in enough water. Bring it to boil for 3-5 mins. Take out all the ribs and rinse under water.
  2. Heat a pan with a little oil. Stir fry drained ribs till they turn a bit brownish.
  3. Add in ginger slices and green onion. Stir fry till aromatic.
  4. Drizzle in 1 tbsp cooking wine. Stir fry till ribs dry again.
  5. Prepare sauce: 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 Tbsp rock sugar (you can reduce or add more sugar according to your taste). I also added in 1/2 tbsp Korean bulgogi sauce to add a bit spicy flavor to the dish. Pour sauce into the pan.
  6. Add in potato chunks. Stir fry to let the ribs & potato be coated with sauce.
  7. Pour in enough hot water can cover all the ingredients. Turn to low heat and simmer for 30-40 mins.
  8. Lid off. Turn to high heat and reduce the sauce.
  9. When sauce is about to dry, quickly stir fry evenly.
  10. Garnish with chopped spring onion.

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

Yum!

Prawn, Quick recipe

Prawn & Glass-noodle Stir-fry

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  1. Soak glass noodles in water till softened and drain them. Prepare sauce: 1tbsp light soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1/2 tbsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tbsp sugar. Mix them well in a bowl.
  2. Clean and trim prawns. Marinate them with cooking wine, salt and pepper.
  3. Heat a pan, Add in a little oil. Fry prawns till red on both sides.
  4. Take the prawns out and heat the same pan (no need to wash).
  5. Saute chopped garlic and ginger till aromatic. Add in chopped shiitake mushroom (optional) and stir fry for 2 mins.
  6. Add in glass noodles. Also pour in sauce. Use chopsticks to stir glass noodles to let them be coated with sauce.
  7. Pour in 1/4 cup stock. Turn to low heat and lid on. Simmer for 5 mins. Add more stock if it gets dry.
  8. Add the prawns and red chili shreds in. Mix well. Maybe a little more stock and lid on for another 3 mins.
  9. Lid off. Stir with chopsticks evenly.

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

Garnish with green onion.

Cake

Spicy Sticky Rice Cake (Tteokbokki)

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It’s a Korean style dish. I love almost all the food made from sticky rice.

For the sticky rice cake, I bought from supermarket. It’s vacuum pack. Sticky rice cake is very hard and dry. So first, I need to soak them in water and separate them. To make it easier, I also boil them in water for several mins until they get really big and fat and soft. Soak them in cold water and drain.

Prepare sauce: 2 tbsp Korean chili paste, 1/2 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1/2 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp syrup. Mix them well.

  1. Heat a pan. Add in a little oil. Saute 2 cloves of chopped garlic and slices of 1 onion till aromatic.
  2. Add in sauce, and pour in 1/2 1 cup water/stock. Stir to let the sauce dissolve evenly.
  3. Put in drained rice cake and sausage slices. Boil till sticky rice cake float in the pan and completely soft. (About 5 mins).
  4. Add in cabbage slices. Simmer for another 3 mins. Just to prevent all the sticky rice cake sicking together, please keep stirring. If the sauce is too dry, please feel free to add more water/stock.
  5. Spread in chopped spring onion. And ready to serve.

It’s very simple. And you can add more or less chili paste according to your taste.

Very chewy gooey.

banana, bread, Cake, Uncategorized

Walnut Banana Bread

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Banana is one of my husband’s favorite fruit. But sometimes, He forgot to eat them, and banana got ripe very quickly. So I would use them to make smoothie or cake or bread.

This summer when we went back to my hometown, we brought so many walnut back. My mom just cracked them and store the shell-removed walnut in 2 large containers. My husband likes walnut, so he adds some in his yogurt. Yet, we still have a lot. So I tried to bake something with walnut and banana.

Ingredients:

Bananas 2

butter 1/2 cup

white sugar 1 cup

eggs 2

vanilla 1/2 tsp

flour 1 cup

baking soda 1 tsp

salt 1/2 tsp

cinnamon powder 1/2 tsp

chopped & toasted walnut 1 cup

 

  1. Preheat oven to 170 Degree C.
  2. Cream butter and sugar together till light and fluffy.
  3. Add in 2 beaten eggs and vanilla. Stir well.
  4. Add in mashed bananas. Mix them together.
  5. Sieve in all the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon powder. Mix till combined.
  6. Butter spray the loaf pan. Dust it with flour.
  7. Pour all the batter into the pan.
  8. Into the oven for 50-60 mins. Check with a toothpick. If it comes out clean then it’s done.

Let it cool down for a little while.

Cut it and you will find it’s very moistened and firm.

Full of walnut and banana flavor. Very nice!

Ribs, Soup

Ribs & Seaweed Soup

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My husband doesn’t like seaweed. But I think seaweed is really good for health. Yet, he doesn’t say no to seaweed soup. So I made this soup for him.

  1. Since I used dry seaweed, I soaked them in water till softened before I started cooking.
  2. In a deep pot, add in ribs and enough water. Bring to boil and skim the soup to remove all the dirt.
  3. Good soup takes long time. I put all the ribs in a slow cooker, with seaweed, corn, shiitake, red dates and some ginger slices.

Also pour in the water after boiling the ribs. Add more water if you want.

I cooked it for 2 hours. And just season with salt.

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

My husband loved it very much.

Chicken, mushroom, Pasta

Mushroom Sauced Chicken Chop With Penne

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  1. Prepare a boneless chicken leg. Cut it slightly to prevent curling up while cooking. Season it with salt and black pepper.
  2. Heat a pan. Usually I don’t add in oil, cos chicken leg contains fat. So Just sear the chicken with skin side down. Fry with medium-low heat for 3-5 mins or till skin turns golden. Flip it over and fry the other side till brownish too.
  3. Chicken out into a plate. There will be some oil left in the pan. Just use it to saute 1 chopped garlic clove. Then add in mushroom slices. Stir fry till aromatic.
  4. Pour in 1/2 cup stock. Simmer for 3 mins.
  5. Add in 1/4 cup milk, also season with salt, pepper and mixed dried herbs.
  6. Put Chicken back into the pan. Simmer for 10 mins to let it completely be cooked.
  7. Condense the soup by adding starch water. Keep stirring to reduce the sauce.
  8. And place chicken chop with sauce over cooked penne.

https://flic.kr/p/2gEX2oB

Chicken, mushroom

Chicken & Shiitake Mushroom Stew (香菇炖鸡）

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Usually in China, Chicken stew is made from a whole chicken. But I know for sure that my husband and I cannot finish a whole chicken stew. So I just used a whole boneless chicken leg instead.

  1. Soak dry 5 or 6 shiitake mushroom in 2 cups water. (Rinse under water first to remove all the dirt). Keep the shiitake water. Remove the stem and cut into 4 halves.
  2. Cut chicken into one-bite size.
  3. Heat a pan. Since there is fat in chicken, so actually, no need to add any oil. Sear the chicken to let the fat out.
  4. When chicken turns white, add in 2 tsp cooking wine. Stir fry till chicken got  dry again.
  5. Add in 2 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp dark soy sauce and 1/2 1 tsp sugar (you can adjust it according to your preference). Stir fry to let chicken be coated with sauce.
  6. Add in shiitake, stir fry for about 2 mins.
  7. Pour in shiitake water covers all ingredients. Add in spices (ginger, star anise, bay leaf), I also added in 1 chopped carrot.
  8. Lid on. Simmer with low heat for 20-30 mins to make sure chicken is completely cooked.
  9. Lid off and reduce sauce with high heat.

Yum!

Pork, Ribs, Soup, tofu

Braised Pork & Rib Soup Bento

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The rule of my husband’s bento: there must be at least 1 meat dish.

This time, I tried pork.

  1. Prepare soup. Cos soup is time-consuming. I can let the soup on the stove while preparing other dishes. Wash ribs. Put them in a pot and add in enough water. Bring to boil. Skim the soup to remove all the dirt. Simmer for 30 mins. Add in carrot and corn. And simmer for another 20-30 mins.
  2. Pork belly in the pot. Enough water in and bring to boil. Take the pork belly out and wash clean. Cut into small chunks. Heat a pan. Add in a little oil. Sear the pork belly till brownish. Add in light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and sugar. Stir fry evenly. Add in enough hot water, also bay leaves and star anise. Lid on and simmer for about 20 mins. Lid off and reduce the sauce with high heat,
  3. I also cooked tofu & chicken pancake. 1/4 chicken breast (diced). 1/4 carrot (diced). Heat a pan. Add in 2 tsp oil, Stir fry chicken and carrot till chicken turns white in color. 100g silk tofu in the bowl. Mash it with a fork. Add in the fried chicken and carrot. Also add in some chopped green onion, 2 tbsp flour. Season with salt and black pepper. Mix well. Heat pan again. Brush it with oil. Scoop batter with a spoon and drop into pan to fry till both sides turn golden brown.

Pork is a perfect match with rice.

Soup is good. Corn adds sweet taste to it.

Oh, I also add in some fried bitter gourd rings. My husband finished everything.

Pork, Ribs, Uncategorized

Sweet & Sour Ribs （糖醋排骨）

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  1. Wash ribs in water. Put all the ribs in a deep pot. Add in enough water. Bring it to boil for 3-5 mins. Take out all the ribs and rinse under water.
  2. Heat a pan with a little oil. Stir fry drained ribs till they turn a bit brownish.
  3. Add in ginger slices and green onion. Stir fry till aromatic.
  4. Drizzle in 1 tbsp cooking wine. Stir fry till ribs dry again.
  5. Prepare sauce: 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 tbsp vinegar, 3 Tbsp rock sugar (you can reduce or add more sugar according to your taste). Pour sauce into the pan.
  6. Stir fry to let the ribs be coated with sauce.
  7. Pour in enough hot water can cover all the ingredients. Turn to low heat and simmer for 30-40 mins.
  8. Lid off. Turn to high heat and reduce the sauce.
  9. When sauce is about to dry, spread in white sesame. Quickly stir fry evenly.
  10. Garnish with chopped spring onion.

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

I know for sure that my husband will love it.

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

I prepared his bento with this delicious ribs. And the sauce made rice very tasty too.

My husband loved them so so much!

Chinese, Dumplings

Zong Zi Again!

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There are still some bamboo leaves left in my fridge since last time I made zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). Last Wednesday was my resting day. No work, no need to go out. So I decided to use some to make Zongzi. And also because I really missed zongzi, could’t wait to have some.

This time, I only used sticky rice, no red bean. And for the filling, I went with the simplest one – red dates.

Only when I went to college in Fujian did I know that not all the people in China have simple zongzi with only sticky rice and red date inside. People in Fujian have the meat zongzi, with pork, mushroom, peanut, beans inside. And according to the different color, they call the meat ones Hongzong (red zongzi), and our simple ones Baizong (white zongzi).

After trying so many types of zongzi, simple white zongzi are the ones I miss most. And that’s why I decided to only make Baizong this time.

  1. Bamboo leave and sticky rice should be soaked in water for overnight.
  2. Prepare red dates, either dry ones or sweet preserved ones are OK. Cut off the  bamboo leaves’ stalk before wrapping.
  3. Use bamboo leaf to make a funnel shape. some rice first, then red date, and rice at last. Try to cover and wrap with the rest of leaf. And tie it with kitchen twine. Again I don’t care about zongzi’s shape. As long as it is tightly tied, it is a good zongzi to me. 🙂
  4. Boil for 3 hours.

If you make too many at a time like me, Please boil them before store them in freezer.

Oh~~~~I love them.

If you think they taste plain, you can even dip them in sugar first. I know some people in China have that customs.