Steamed Squid Oatmeal Patty | 魷魚麥皮蒸肉餅

INGREDIENTS:

1 pc Squid, dried

300 gram Ground Pork

1/4 cup Whole Oat

SEASONING:

1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Rice Wine

2 tablespoons Light Soy Sauce

1 tablespoon Sugar

small pinch of White Pepper, ground

small pinch of Salt

1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil

材料：

1 塊  魷魚，乾曬

300 克  豬胶肉

1/4 杯  全粒燕麥

調味：

1 湯匙  米酒

2 湯匙  豉油

1 湯匙  糖

少撮  白胡椒粉

少撮鹽

1 湯匙  菜油

DIRECTION:

1. Soak the dried squid in water until soften; about 2-3 hours.  Dice the squid.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine ground pork, oat, diced squid, and the seasoning ingredients.  Mix everything by hand until the mixture becomes smooth and slightly sticky.

3. Add the meat mixing in a shallow dish and flatten it into about 2 cm patty.  Cover it with foil.  Place it in a pre-heated steamer; steam over high heat for about 20 minutes.  Serve when it is hot.

做法：

1. 魷魚乾用水浸軟；若2-3小時。切粒。

2. 在一只碗內，加入豬胶肉、燕麥、魷魚、和調味料；用手拌勻直至豬肉變得黏稠。

3. 把肉倒入蒸碟內，用手舖平成2厘米厚的肉餅。用錫紙蓋好碟，放入已預熱的蒸爐內，用大火蒸20分鐘。趁熱享用。

Simple Congee ｜簡易白粥

Nothing is better than a bowl of hot plain congee when we are sick.  It is kind of like chicken noodle soup in the American culture.  The recipe is simple.  You just need to boil the rice grains until they break down.

Congee is also a common meal in Hong Kong and it isn't necessarily always eaten plain.  We like to add chicken, fish, ground beef, intestines, or even pig's blood (a type of jelly form that's made of pig's blood).  People also like to eat congee with deep fried pastries and elaborate condiments, like pickles or dips of soy sauce.  I like mine with Chinese preserved olive leaves.

INGREDIENTS：

1 cup Jasmin Rice

6 cups Water

Salt to taste

材料：

1 杯  水仙米

6 杯  水

調味  鹽

DIRECTION:

1. Rinse the rice with a few changes of water until the water becomes clear.

2. In a deep pot, combine rice and water.  Bring it to a boil over high heat, and then reduce the heat to medium-high.  With the lid half opened, continue to boil until the rice totally breaks down; about 40 minutes.  Season it with salt.

做法：

1. 米過水洗淨。

2. 在一只深鍋內，加入米和水。用大火煮滾，再將火調底至中大火。蓋上鍋蓋，鍋蓋要半醃，繼續煮若40分鐘或至把飯煮爛。下鹽調味。

June Berry Muffins with Lemon and Cardamom

June berries are also called service berries.  We are so lucky to have many of them grow at the park across the street.  When it comes to mid-June, the berries will become purplish-red and attract many birds to eat them.

My son is familiar with these little tiny juicy berries and he knows exactly which trees in the park produce the best berries.  He often suggests to pick some berries on the way home to add into pancakes or muffins, but he usually ends up snacking on them instead of bringing them home.  Now, eating June berries is a highlight for my son in the summer after he plays at the splash pad at the park.

Actually June berries are a very common botanical plant in Toronto.  If you pay attention, you will certainly come across them in parks, gardens, or sidewalks.

I froze the June berries before I used them for the recipe here.  It is only because I didn't have time to make the muffins for that few days and I didn't want them to go bad.  However, fresh berries are equally good.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup June Berries, frozen

1 cup Cornmeal

2 cups All Purpose Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 handful of Quinoa (optional)

3 Eggs, beaten

1/2 cup Butter, melted

1 cup Milk, 2%

1 Lemon, zest and juice

2 teaspoons Cardamom, ground

1 teaspoon Ground Ginger

pinch of Salt

材料：

1 杯  Juneberries，冷凍

1 杯  玉米粉

2 杯  麵粉

2 茶匙  泡打粉

1/2 杯  棕糖

一把  藜麥 (隨意)

3 隻  雞蛋，打勻

1/2 杯  牛油，熱溶

1 個  檸檬，皮和汁

2 茶匙   豆蔻粉

1 茶匙  薑粉

少撮  鹽

DIRECTION:

1. Preheat the oven at 360F.

2. In a large bowl，combine butter, eggs, milk, lemon juice and zest together; mix well.

3. Add in cornmeal, flour, quinoa, cardamom, ground ginger, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Mix everything thoroughly into batter.

4. Gently stir in the frozen June berries.  Divide the batter equally into the paper muffin cups.  Bake for about 20 minutes.

做法：

1. 預熱焗爐至360F。

2. 在一只大碗內，加入牛油、蛋、檸檬汁和皮；拌勻。

3. 下玉米粉、麵粉、藜麥、薑粉、棕糖、泡打粉，鹽；拌勻成麵糊。

4. 輕輕拌入Juneberries。把麵糊平均倒入小蛋糕模。焗若20分鐘。

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。

Yogurt Banana Muffins | 乳酪香蕉杯子蛋糕

Yogurt Banana Muffins | 乳酪香蕉杯子蛋糕

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

2 cup All Purpose Flour/ Plain Flour

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 tablespoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients:

2 Ripe Bananas

1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

2 Eggs

1/3 cup Coconut Oil

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

DIRECTION: