Tag Archives: sugar

Homemade Pearl for Milk Tea

My husband is crazy for milk tea. He can drink everyday without feeling tired off it. And now he starts to make his own milk tea at home. He never shows so much interest in kitchen, from which I can tell milk tea is really his true love. Yet, he is a bit frustrated since his homemade milk tea tastes different from the one bought at milk tea shop. And one big difference is he doesn’t have his favorite pearl. Seen his not-so-happy face, I decide to try make pearl for him.

Ingredients

Tapioca flour 100g

Water 65g

Brown sugar 45g

1. Pour water in sauce pan. Add brown sugar in it. Sugar in darker color will be better. I just happen to have not enough brown sugar, so I used some raw sugar instead. Color of pearl is very light.

2. Bring water to boil and make sure all the sugar dissolves.

3. Pour water into tapioca flour. Mix by chopsticks since it is very hot. Use hand when the flour cools down a little bit.

4. Make all ingredients into a dough. Roll the dough into a long strip. Divide it into small round pearls.

5. Boil a pot of water. Add pearls in. Wait till pearls float up. Cover with the lid. Turn to low heat and simmer for around 5 mins or till pearls are completely cooked.

6. Soak cooked pearls in cold water. Drain and add into milk tea.

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Teriyaki Chicken Leg

1. Prepare a whole boneless chicken leg. Sprinkle a little salt and black pepper.

2. Use the back of knife to hit chicken a bit.

3. Heat a pan on stove. When the pan is hot, put the chicken inside with skin side down. Flip over when the skin turns golden brown. Fry the other side till brown, too.

4. If there is much oil after sear, you can pour the oil out.

5. Add in 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tablespoon honey. Let the chicken be coated with sauce.

6. Pour in hot water just enough to cover the chicken. Cover the lid and simmer for a while.

7. Remove the lid. Turn to high heat to reduce the sauce.

Yummy.

Fried Pork Slices in Sweet & Sour Sauce (Guo Bao Rou)

Guo Bao Rou is a classic dish in Notheastern Chinese cuisine. I still remember when going out with my friends to have northeastern cuisine, we would definitely order this Guo Bao Rou.

1. Cut pork into medium slices.

2. Sprinkle salt and a little black pepper. Mix them well.

3. In a small bowl, add in 100g starch (better be potato starch). Then add in water higher than starch. Stir well. Then let it rest for 10-20 mins. Starch will stay in the bottom layer and water in the upper.


Pour the water out.

4. Prepare carrot shreds, scallion shreds, ginger, and minced garlic.


5. Heat some oil in a skillet. Dip pork slices in wet starch and then dry starch. Gently put them in the oil. Deep fry till the shell becomes hard and lightly golden brown.

6. Leave a little oil in the skillet. Heat again. Put all the ginger, garlic, carrot and scallion into skillet. Sauté a bit.

7. Add in 50 g white vinegar and 50 g sugar. Stir gently to let sugar dissolve.

8. When the sauce starts to condense, add fried pork slices into skillet. Keep stirring to let each slice be coated with sweet and sour sauce.

When sauce almost dry, turn off the stove.

Serve hot.

Sweet & Sour Sauce Prawns

1. Clean the Prawns. Cut off the whisker. Poke in the second last segment with a toothpick and pull out the intestine.

2. Heat some oil in the pan. Put all the Prawns in. Stir fry till each side turns red.

3. Pull Prawns to the side of the pan. Add in chopped garlic & ginger. Sauté till aromatic.

4. Add in 2 tablespoon tomato sauce. Stir fry with Prawns.

5. Add in 1 tsp cooking wine, 1 tsp light soy sauce and 1 1/2 tsp sugar. Quick stir to mix them well.

6. Pour in 4 tablespoon hot water. Cover the pan with lid. And simmer for 2-3 mins.

7. Remove lid. Turn to high heat. Reduce the sauce.

No-failure Oven Roasted Chicken

I tried it several days ago and my husband loved it.

First, prepare marinade. In a sauce pan, add in several ginger and garlic slices. Pour in 50 ml cooking wine and 100 ml light soy sauce. Add in 3 tablespoon sugar and bay leaves. Turn on the stove and heat it till sugar melted. Then turn off the stove and set it aside.

For the chicken, here I used a half chicken. Use a toothpick to poke it several times so that marinade can work better.

Put chicken in a zip bag or a container. Pour the marinade in. Give it a good massage. Then put the lid on and put into fridge for overnight or even longer like one day or two days.

When it’s ready to cook, preheat oven to 190 degree C. Bake for 40 mins.

You can wrap the chicken wing with aluminum foil to prevent it getting burnt. ( I should’ve done that earlier).

Cocoa Brownie

One day, my husband chose a pack of Starbucks cocoa when we bought groceries in a supermarket. He was super excited because he kept thinking about a warm and yummy cup of cocoa. He immediately made himself a cup of hot cocoa when we reached home. Yet….he found it’s not as yummy as he thought. He always does things like that. At first he’s very excited and can’t wait to buy something but finds it’s not as good as he thought. =_=||

My principle is no wasting food in my kitchen. So I decided to make cocoa into brownies. And my husband is happy because he will feel less guilty in buying something he doesn’t like.

Oh. I found the recipe here:

best cocoa brownies


Ingredients:

Butter 140g

Sugar 250g ( if you want it to be less sweet, you can reduce the sugar)

Cocoa powder 65g

Salt 1/4 tsp

Vanilla extract 1/2 tsp

Eggs 2

Flour 65g
Preheat oven to 160 degree C.

1. Combine butter, sugar, cocoa powder & salt in a bowl. Place the bowl in simmering water. Stir till smooth.

2. Set aside to cool down.

3. Add in vanilla and beat in eggs. Mix them well.

4. Add in flour and mix till just combined.

5. Pour batter into baking pan.

6. Bake for 20-25 mins. ( because I used my round shaped baking pan and it’s smaller than the size in original recipe. So it took me longer to get done, about 30-35 mins.)


Very moist and yummy. I love it.

Caramelized Salmon

Original recipe:

Caramelized Salmon

Preheat oven to 230 degree C.

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp black pepper granulate.

Heat some olive oil in skillet. Dip salmon in sugar mixture. Fry in the skillet. Around 3-4 mins for each side till golden brown.

Sprinkle some sugar mixture on salmon fillet.

Put skillet into oven and bake for around 5-7 mins.



It tastes very good. My husband loves it very much.

Crispy Almond Twist

It’s a super easy snack.

Ingredients:

Puff pastry

Egg

Chopped almond or grate almond

Sugar
1. Brush puff pastry with egg.

2. Sprinkle sugar and grate almond over it evenly.

3. Use a rolling pin roll the pastry to press almond and sugar into it. Or you can just use your palm.

4. Flip the pastry over and repeat step 1,2 & 3.

5. Cut pastry into strips. And twist them slightly.

6. Preheat oven to 200 degree C. At the same time, let the pastry rest for around 10 mins.


6. Bake for 15-20 mins. Till they turn golden brown.


Homemade Lemon Orange Jam


Original recipe:

http://m.xiachufang.com/recipe/100527350/

I used 1 lemon, 2 oranges, 1600ml water as said in original recipe. But I reduced sugar. I used only 600g sugar, and it turned out very sweet to me.

1. Use a slicer to make lemon & orange peel into short strips.


2. Cut lemon and orange into small pieces. ( I took off all the white parts)

3. Put all the peel and pulp in a large bowl, add in 1000ml boiled water for overnight.

4. Put all the peel, pulp and water in a pot large enough for another 600ml water. 

5. Turn on the stove and heat with low heat till the water in the pot reduces to half and peel turns softened.

6. Add in sugar and turn to high height. Keep stirring.

7. Water in the pot will become less and condensed. Take out a few drops in a plate to test their mobility. If the drops don’t flow well, then it’s done. You need to test many times, just please be patient.

8. Put them in sterilized jars. 

The Chinese label was written by me. 🙂

柠檬 “Ning meng” means lemon.

橙子 “Cheng zi” means orange.

酱 “jiang” means jam or sauce, depending on the text.

日期 “ri qi” means date.

I almost spent the whole morning making this jam. And tested many many times. I’m glad the jam tastes so good. 

It can be used as bread spread or to make fruit tea.