Baby Bok Choy Kimchi

INGREDIENTS:

15 Baby Shanghai Bok Choy

1/2 White Onion

4 stalks Green Onion

1 tablespoon Salted Shrimp (can be found in Korean supermarket)

MARINADE:

2 tablespoons Korean Red Chili Flakes

4 Garlic Cloves, minced

2 teaspoons Ginger, grated

2 tablespoons Fish Sauce

1 tablespoon Sugar

2 teaspoons Sesame Oil

2 tablespoons White Sesame Seeds, roasted

DIRECTION:

1. Separate each leaf of the bok choy.  Soak them in water for about 15 minutes to remove the sand and dirt.  Rinse and drain well.

2. Place the bok choy in a large bowl.  Add about 2 tablespoons of sea salt.  Gently mix the salt with the bok choy with hands until each leaf is coated with salt.

3. Let the bok choy sit for about 45 minutes.  The leaves should be given in and the bok choy should releases some liquid.

4. Rinse the bok choy under running water to remove the excessive salt.  Gently squeeze out the liquid.  Set the bok choy in a mixing bowl.

5. Cut green onion diagonally and thinly slice the onion.

6. Finely chop the salted shrimp.

7. Combine all marinade, salted shrimp, onion and green onion with the bok choy.  Mix well.

8. Let it marinate for about 30 minutes to allow the flavour to develop before serving.

Simple Saag Paneer

INGREDIENTS:

1 black Paneer, cubed

6 stalks Spinach, fresh

1 Yellow Onion, small, finely chopped

1 Tomato, finely chopped

2-inches long Ginger, peeled and finely chopped

7 Garlic Cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 tablespoon Ground Cumin

1 tablespoon Ground Turmeric

1.5 tablespoons Garam Masala

1 teaspoon Chilli Flakes

1/3 teaspoon Salt

1/2 cup Greek Yogurt, plain

DIRECTION:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat.  Add spinach.  Cook the spinach until softened; about 5 minutes.  Drain well; finely chop the spinach.  Set it aside.

2. Heat up about 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a non-stick pan.  Add cubed paneer and fry until they are golden brown over medium heat.  Transfer them to a plate; set aside.

3. Add another tablespoon of vegetable oil in the pan.  Add chopped garlic, ginger and onion.  Fry them over medium heat until fragrant.

4. Turn up the heat to high.  Add spinach, tomato, cumin, turmeric, masala, chili flakes and salt.  Continuously cook the mixture until the chopped tomato is soft and most of the liquid is gone.

5. Reduce the heat to medium again.  Stir in the yogurt and add the panner back to the spinach.  Cook until the panner heats through.  Quickly transfer the spinach mix to the serving plate.  Serve it with steamed rice.

How to Wilt Swiss Chard | 快炒瑞士甜菜

Stir frying is the easiest and quickest way to prepare Swiss chard and the taste is never disappointing.

There are a few things to note to give the dish a freshly green look:

1. Add sufficient oil

2. Add Swiss chard in batches and don't over crowd it during cooking

3. Cook over high heat and remove it when it just starts to wilt

The nutmeg I added in the recipe is to subtly enhance the flavour and it should not be tasted in the dish.

In the demonstration, I didn't use the stems (I saved them for another dish).  If you are going to cook the whole Swiss chard, you may want to cook the stems for 1-2 minutes before adding the leaves since the stems take longer to cook through.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy this recipe.

How to Wilt Swiss Chard | 快炒瑞士甜菜

Ingredients:

1 bundle Swiss Chard

3-4 Garlic Cloves

1.5 tablespoons Olive Oil

A small pinch Freshly Ground Nutmeg

Black Pepper to taste

Salt to taste

材料：

1 束   瑞士甜菜

3-4 粒   蒜頭

1.5 湯匙   橄欖油

少許   荳蔻粉

少許   黑胡椒碎

少許   鹽

DIRECTION:

Hoemade Seitan Steak (with bread flour) 麵筋純素牛扒

Seitan is a high gluten wheat product that is packed with protein.  When people want to go vegan for various reasons but they crave for something "meaty", or want a protein boost, seitan is the source.  You can find seitan in many Asian supermarkets in different forms and sizes, but making your own is also not difficult.  Honestly, the homemade seitan here has a denser texture which I like more than the store bought ones.

When it comes to homemade seitan, you may have read many recipes that mention "vital wheat gluten flour" or "gluten flour".  They are a one-step-ahead product that is ready to use and removes the need to rinse the dough.  Although these two types of flour are handy, they are more expensive.  So I stick to my bread flour and do my own "dough laundry".  Any one?

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups Bread Flour

2 cups Water

1 teaspoon Salt

材料：

6杯 高筋麵粉
2杯 水
1 茶匙 鹽

DIRECTION 做法:

1. Mix the ingredients together until it forms into a dough and is slightly elastic.  Submerge the dough in water for about 15 minutes.

1．揉合麵糰至筋性後，把麵糰浸於水中若十五分鐘。

2. Repeatedly wash the dough in water with a few changes of water, until the water becomes clean.  The process is similar to doing laundry by hand.  You will find the dough becoming smaller and firmer.  The dense mass that is left is the seitan.

2．用手反覆把麵糰在水中搓擦（像洗衣服般），直至水便淸。期間要不段換水。麵糰會變得越來越實和小，剩下的便是麵筋。

3. Squeeze out the excessive water inside the seitan; the more water that is squeezed out, the firmer the seitan it will be.

3．把麵筋搾乾水，越乾麵筋便越實。

4. Allow the seitan to sit in a strainer over a bowl for about 30 minutes.  Then squeeze the water again.  Mould the seitan into the shape of steak.  Fry it with oil over medium heat.  Brush a generous layer of steak sauce.  Serve immediately.

4. 靜置若三十分鐘再搾水。把其揉成牛排狀，用中火煮好，擦上牛排汁便成。

How to make simple crepe

Crepes are something that look very elegant on the plate and always gives an impression to people that it's difficult to make.  In fact, making crepes are as easy as making pancakes.

There are so many different recipes out there which claim to make the softest and best crepes.  I will not say mine is one of those, but my crepes are soft and delicate, and still retain the softness after keeping them in fridge for a few days.

The ratio to make my style of crepe is 1:2:1 for 1 cup of flour: 2 cups of milk: 1 egg.  The melted butter is for greasing, so don't need to measure it too carefully.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you will try this recipe.

Simple Crepe Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Flour

2 cups Whole Milk

1 Egg

4 tablespoons Butter, melted

1 teaspoon Vinilla Extract (optional)

a pinch of fine sea salt (optional)

DIRECTION:

1. In a bowl, whisk the egg.  Add the milk, butter, and vanilla extract and whisk again until it is well combined.

2. Add flour and salt.  Gently mix until it becomes a thin batter.  The batter should resemble to the texture of melted ice cream.

3. Heat up a small non-stick pan over medium heat.  Add a small ladle of batter in the pan while swirling the pan.  Continuously swirl the pan until the whole surface is covered. 

If you don't swirl the pan, most of the batter likely will just sit in the middle and the crepe ends up becoming uneven, with thin edges but thick centre.

4. Wait for about 1 minute and then shake the pan.  If the crepe is loose it means that it's ready to be flipped over. 

The freshly made crepe
5. Toss the pan to quickly flip the crepe over and then cook the other side for another 30-45 seconds. 

6. Transfer the crepe to a plate and loosely cover it with plastic wrap.  Repeat this process until finishing the batter.

You can make strawberry crepe by adding whip cream, halved strawberries, and icing sugar.  Or, you can add sliced banana and Nutella.

Sometimes I serve it with ham and cheese for brunch.  This crepe is wonderful to pair with both sweet and salty.  I hope you will enjoy it.

My son was excited to have crepe for breakfast, especially with the fresh strawberry he picked the day before. 

Basic Cornbread | 玉米麵包

Cornmeal is made of a type of corn called dent corn. Unlike the sweet corn we usually use for salad or barbecue, dent corn has little sweetness and contains higher starch. After drying and various grinding processes, dent corn becomes cornmeal that is fine to coarse in consistency, depending on the range of grinding. Cornmeal is widely used for making cornbread, polenta, or tortilla, and it comes in yellow or white colours.

Actually, cornbread originated with Native Americans. Before the European settlers set foot on America, the Natives had already had a long history of using the dried cornmeal to make cornbread as their staple.  But the original recipe is very basic, combining just cornmeal and water, or sometimes lard.  So the taste was rather bland. Later the Europeans adopted the recipe and added milk and butter to make it more flavourful.

We should really thank the Native Americans.

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup Butter

1 cup Milk

2 Eggs, large

1.25 cups Yellow Cornmeal

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup Sugar

2 tablespoons Baking Powder

pinch of Sea Salt

做法：

1/4 杯  牛油

1 杯  牛奶

2 隻  雞蛋，大

1.25 杯  黃玉米粉

1 杯  多用途麵粉

1/2 杯  糖

2 湯匙  泡打粉

小撮  海鹽

DIRECTION:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Melt butter in microwave; let it cool.

2. In a large bowl, whisk two eggs.  Add melted butter and milk; whisk again until it is combined.

3.  Add all the remaining ingredients.  Gently mix until it is incorporated.

4. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.  Pour the mixture into the tray and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.

5. Bake it for about 15-20 minutes, or until the corn bread rises up and is firm.  Let it cool completely on a rack before slicing them.

做法：

1. 預熱焗爐至350F 。 用微波爐熱溶牛油；放涼。

2. 在大碗內打勻兩隻雞蛋。下牛油和牛奶；攪打至均勻。

3. 加入剩餘材料；拌勻成麵糊。

4. 焗盤上舖上焗紙，倒入麵糊，用匙背舖平。

5. 焗15-20分鐘。取出，置架放涼。

Curly Dock Seed Bannock - Wild Edible Flour Substitute | 皺葉酸模薄餅 - 野外採食篇

Mature dock seeds in both photos.

Curly dock is a well known wild edible plant and it is also one of the early perennial plants that comes in spring.  The rosette of this plant has a subtle citrus flavour that I love to add in tofu soup. As the plant matures, usually when the stem starts to grow from the middle, the leaves will be too tough to eat.  Then, my attention will drift to their seeds.

The immature seeds are green in colour and start to form around early July.  The mature seeds are reddish-brown colour. 

Immature dock seeds in both photos

Although curly dock seeds belong to the buckwheat family, their taste is nothing similar to buckwheat at all.  In fact, dock seeds have little taste.  To me, I prize their fibre content and their abundance in nature.

I like to use grounded dock seed powder to make bannock; it brings a crunchiness and also gives a very nice colour to it.  However, I will not call it a flour substitute as many others refer to it for.  Because dock seeds actually don't have any binding agent and you will really need to combine them with flour to form a dough. 

There are many insects, especially spiders, that like to hide among curly dock seeds.  Prior to grounding, I highly recommend you strip the seeds, rinse them under running water, and let them to air dry.

Air drying the curly dock seeds

After the seeds are dried, you can process them into powder.  My blender is not a powerful one, so it couldn't process the tiny seeds into powder.  You can always achieve a finer texture by using a mortar though.

Curly Dock Seed Bannock | 皺葉酸模薄餅

INGREDIENTS:

1.25 cups All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup Curly Dock Seeds，grounded

1/4 cup Butter, melted

1/4 cups Water

1 tablespoons Baking Powder

1/3 teaspoon Salt

材料：

1.25 杯 麵粉

1/4 杯  皺葉酸籽，磨碎

1/4 杯  牛油，熱溶

1/4 杯  水

1 湯匙  泡打粉

1/3 茶匙  鹽

METHODS 做法：

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Roll it into a dough; the dough should be moist but not sticky.

1. 在一只大碗內加入所有材料。拌勻並揉成麵團；麵糰應該稍為濕潤，但不黏手。

3. Reheat a non-stick pan over medium heat.  Roll a small portion of dough into a flat circle and place it in the pre-heated pan.  Cook each side until slight brown; about 3-5 minutes each side.  repeat it until all the dough is finished.

3. 預熱一只易潔平底鍋。取一小份麵糰，然後揉成塊狀。把並放上預熱了的平底鍋中。兩邊各烤約3-5分鐘。重覆步驟直至完成麵糰。

Dried Small Sardine in Sweet and Salty Sauce | 香甜公魚干

Dried Small Sardine in Sweet and Salty Sauce

香甜公魚干

Ingredients:

Dried little sardines

White sesame seeds

Seasoning:

Soy Sauce

Sugar

Rice Wine

Water

Instruction:

1. In a non stick pan, toast the dried sardines over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the sardines fragrant and golden.

2. Add sesame seed.  Continuously to toast everything for another 5 minutes.  Pour in the seasoning, cook it until the sauce thickens and coats the sardines evenly; stirring consistently.

Basil Flavoured Oil | 九層塔油

Basil Flavoured Oil

九層塔油

Ingredients:

2 cups Basil Leaves

1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup Grape Seed Oil

材料：

2 杯   九層塔葉

1 杯   初榨橄欖油

1 杯   葡萄籽油

DIRECTION:

Homemade Balsamic Reduction ｜如何做濃縮意大利黑醋

Homemade Balsamic Reduction

如何做濃縮意大利黑醋

Ingredients:

Balsamic Vinegar

DIRECTION:

Coconut Corn Rice Pudding | 椰香粟米米布甸

Coconut Corn Rice Pudding | 椰香粟米米布甸

Ingredients: (6 servings)

3 cups Coconut Milk

1.5 cups Water

1/2 cup Soaked White Rice (soaked in water for about 2 hours and then rinsed)

1/2 cup Corn Kernel (Don't use the canned corn!)

1/2 Brown Sugar

材料：(6人份)

3 杯   椰奶

1.5 杯   水

1/2 杯   浸過白米 (用水浸2小時)

1/2 杯   粟米粒 (不要用罐頭的！)

1/2 杯   黑糖

DIRECTION:

Carrot Sugar Cookies (without using cookie cutter) | 蘿蔔牛油曲奇 (免曲奇模)

Making them is really fun and easy.  Since carrots have irregular shapes and bumpy, I don't need to care much about cutting an identical outline for each cookie or to worry the edges are not smooth enough.  A clothing pin and a small knife are all you need to make these adorable carrots.  Let's build a carrot cookie garden this Easter.

Carrot Sugar Cookies (without using cookie cutter)

蘿蔔牛油曲奇 (免曲奇模)

Ingredients: (yield about 2 dozens)

1.5 cups Whole Wheat Flour

60 gram Grated carrot

1/2 cup Butter, room temperature

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tablespoon Flaxseed Meal

1 Egg

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Food Colorant (Green and Orange)

材料：(約24曲奇)

1.5 杯   全麥麵粉

60 克   蘿蔔絲

1/2 杯   牛油，室溫

1/2 杯   砂糖

1 湯匙   亞麻籽粉

1 隻   雞蛋

1/2 茶匙   泡打粉

1/4 茶匙   海鹽

1 茶匙   雲呢拿油

食用色素 (綠色，橙色)

DIRECTION:

Apple Chicken Salad Wrap | 蘋果雞絲沙律卷

Apple Chicken Salad Wrap

蘋果雞絲沙律卷 

Ingredients:

4 Chicken Legs

2 Granny Smith Apples

1 Jicama

Tortilla Wraps

Mayonnaise:

3 Egg Yolks

400ml Vegetable Oil

1 tablespoon White Wine Vinegar

1 Lemon of Juice

材料：

4 隻   雞脾

2 個   青蘋果

1 個   沙葛

墨西哥薄餅皮

美乃茲：

3 隻   雞蛋黃

400 毫升   菜油

1 湯匙   白醋

1 個檸檬 (榨汁)

DIRECTION:

Making a quick Chinese Chives dish at a friend's house ｜快炒韭菜

Making a quick Chinese Chives dish at a friend's house

快炒韭菜

Ingredients:

2-3 handfuls Chinese Chives, rinsed

5-6 Garlic Cloves

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

Salt to taste

DIRECTION:

Acorn Cookies | 橡實曲奇

Acorn Cookies | 橡實曲奇

Ingredients:

200 gram All Purpose Flour

200 gram Acorn Meal, LINK

150 gram Unsalted Butter, cold and cubed

1/4 cup Brown Sugar *(I forgot to mention it in the video.  Combine it with the flour and acorn meal)*

4 tablespoon Maple Syrup
4 tablespoons Milk

1/3 teaspoon Salt

DIRECTION:

1. In a mixing bowl, add flour, cold butter.  Rub it with finger tips until the butter resembles a fine meal.  Add acorn flour, brown sugar, and salt; mix again.

2. Add maple syrup and milk.  Mix until it just forms into a dough. The dough should be slightly sticky.

3. Divide the dough into equal portions and roll each into a ball.  Press down the balls onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

4. Bake it in the pre-heated oven at 360F for 15-18 minutes.  Allow them to cool before transferring them into an air-tight container.  The cookies will turn harder once cooled.

VIDEO:

Peanut, Lotus Root and Chicken Feet Soup | 花生蓮藕雞腳湯

A pot of good soup is very essential on our dining table in winter.  It helps nourish our dry skin while it warms up our body, as my mom often said.  Usually after lantern festival in late September, when the lotus plants have faded, there are an abundance of lotus roots available in the local markets.  Mom loved to buy them because they were not only nutritious but also inexpensive.

    This recipe was one of the lotus soups she would frequently make.  The collagen from the chicken feet and the starch in lotus root gelatinized the soup, that gave the soup a thick, hearty consistency.  As a child, my brother and I would fight over the peanuts in the soup, or had a chicken feet-eating competition.  Those were very good memories of this wonderful soup. 

The photo above is the traditional way my mom and many other people in Hong Kong ritually serve this soup.  It is a light broth served with some rustic cuts of lotus root, a handful of peanuts, and one or two chicken feet.  People prefer to enjoy the soup served with all these ingredients, although they may not plan to eat them.  This is a common way to enhance the perception of flavour through sight.

    However, light broth isn't very popular in my own family.  My husband and my son like soup with a thicker body.  Wanting them to try some "Chinese flavour", I adapted this recipe using a common Western technique: PUREE!  Excluding the chicken feet, I blended the soup with all the ingredients and then boiled the mixture down to the thickness they liked.  It turned out to be another winter favourite.

    This soup gets a strong nutty flavour from the peanuts, which goes amazingly well with the chicken feet.  Lotus root itself has a very mild flavour, but you can still taste the sweetness in the soup.

If you can't find any raw peanuts, raw walnuts will be a very good substitute.  Or, you can replace the chicken feet with bones, or even pig knuckles.

Peanut, Lotus Root and Chicken Feet Soup

花生蓮藕雞腳湯

Ingredients:

3-4 Segments of Lotus Root

1/3 cup Raw Peanut

10-15 Chicken Feet

Salt to taste

材料：

3-4 節   蓬藕

1/3 杯   生花生

10-15 隻   雞腳

調味   鹽

DIRECTION:

Cinnamon Apple Chips (oven recipe) | 蘋果脆片 (焗爐版)

Cinnamon Apple Chips (oven recipe)

蘋果脆片 (焗爐版) 

Ingredients:

2 Granny Smith Apples

1/2 cup BrownSugar

1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

材料：

2 個   青蘋果

1/2 杯   黑糖

1/2 茶匙   肉桂粉

DIRTECTION: