Stir-fried Green Mango with Pork Belly

 

Ingredients:

2 Green Mangoes

400 gram Pork Belly

4 Star Anise

5 Garlic Cloves, chopped

2 large cubes Rock Sugar

2 tablespoons Chinese Cooking Wine

4 tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

Direction:

1. Peel the mangoes; cut them into thin slices. Cut the pork belly into thin slices.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine pork belly, vegetable oil, garlic, soy sauce, and cooking wine together. Mix well. Leave it for about 20 minutes.

3. Heat up about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over high heat. Add rock sugar and and star anises. Fry until fragrant and the rock sugar is half dissolved.

4. Add pork belly. Stir fry over high heat until the pork belly change colour. Add mangoes; continue to stir fry until the pork belly is thoroughly cooked and the mangoes heat through. Serve with steamed rice.

Smooth Scrambled Egg and Beef on Rice 滑蛋牛肉飯

INGREDIENTS:

250 gram Beef

8 Eggs

3 bowls Cooked Rice

6 tablespoons Vegetable Oil (for frying) 

MARINADE:

4 tablespoons Soy Sauce

1 tablespoon Sugar

1 teaspoon Corn Starch

1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Rice Wine

DIRECTION:

1. Cut the beef into 1/2 cm thin slices across the grains.

2. In a mixing bowl, add the beef and the marinade. Mix well. Let it marinate for 30 minutes in the fridge. 

3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs.

4. Heat up 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil over high heat. Add beef and saute until it turns colour; about 5-7 minutes. (If you want the beef throughly cooked, saute for another 2-3 minutes)

5. Quickly transfer the beef onto the serving plate.

6. Rinse and dry the pan quickly. In the same pan, heat up the rest of the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add egg. Quickly scramble until the egg just starts to coagulate. Turn off the heat. Use the remaining heat to cook the egg until it is just cooked but still a little runny.

7. Pour the egg onto the beef. Serve with steamed rice.

Steamed Chicken with Black Fungus and Day Lily 紅棗木耳炆雞

INGREDIENTS:

1 Chicken

5 Red Dates, pitted, cut in half

1 handful Black Fungus

1 handful Day Lily

MARINADE:

4 tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 tablespoons Chinese Cooking Rice Wine

1/3 teaspoon White Pepper Powder

1 tablespoon Sugar

1/3 teaspoons Salt

DIRECTION:

1. Submerge the black fungus and day lili in the water to rehydrate them. Tear the fungus into bite size. Set aside.

2. Cut the chicken into bite size. Place the chicken in bowl. Add marinade.

3. Add the black fungus and day lili. Mix well. Leave it to marinate for 20 minutes.

4. Place the chicken in a dish. Cover it with a foil. Place it into a pre-heated steamer. Steam it over high heat for about 20 minutes.

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。

Stir fried Squid with Celery

This is a classic dish in Hong Kong that you can find in a "cha chaan teng" or in homes. The celery should be bright green and crunchy, and the squid should be fresh and al dente.  Some people like to add cornstarch slurry to create some gloss and moistness for the dish.  My mom likes it simple as it is so I also adopted her version.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Celery, hard fibre removed and cut into 2 inches long

10 Baby squids

6 Garlic Cloves

4 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine

4 Ginger Slices

pinch of sugar

Salt to taste

DIRECTION:

1. To clean the squid, remove the head from the body by pulling the tentacles.  Remove the ink sac, beak and the transparent bone.  Rinse the squids.

2. Bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil with the ginger slices.  Add squid.  Blanch until they just turn colour and the tentacles curl up.  Quickly remove them to a cold bath.  Set aside.

3. In a clean pan, add oil and garlic cloves.  Let them fry over high heat until fragrant.  Add celery; sauté for about 5 minutes or until it turns bright green.  Drizzle the cooking wine and add a pinch of sugar to flavour.  When the celery just starts to give, add the blanched squid and cook until the squid heats throughly.  Quickly transfer them onto a serving plate.

Simplest Crunchy Pan-fried Sardine

Fried fish is one of the simplest but the most satisfying recipes I love to have over a bowl of hot rice.  The lemony juice is optional, but it brings tremendous difference in the flavour of sardines.  I enjoy these little fishes with bones, fins and tails everything except the head part.  What about you?

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 Sardine (I used frozen)

1-2 teaspoons Cornstarch

3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

1/3 Lemon

DIRECTION:

1. To clean the sardines, slit open the belly with a knife and remove the guts.  Remove the gills and descale the sardines.  Rinse them well under running water and then pat them dry with paper towel.  If you are using frozen ones, let them thaw at room temperature until they become soft again before cleaning them.

2. In a non-stick frying pan, add vegetable oil.  Heat it up over medium heat.  Meanwhile, coat each sardine with a thin layer of cornstarch.  When the oil is ready, carefully lay them into the pan.  Fry until they are crispy and slightly brown; about 5 minutes.  Flip the sardines onto the other side; fry for another 5 minutes.  Remove them from the heat.

3. To serve, squeeze the lemon juice over sardines before eating.

Lemony Spaghetti and Grilled Chicken ｜ 檸汁意麵配烤雞塊

The first time when I made spaghetti with lemon sauce was long ago when I was pregnant.  I still remember how much I craved this citrus flavoured spaghetti and roasted chicken.

We were living on a remote island back then, and button mushrooms and basil, and these types of exotic products somehow were often sold out very quickly due to the high demand.  It brought stress for a pregnant woman whose stomach only accepted lemony spaghetti and nothing else (It was funny when I look back now). 

So, everyday as soon as my husband got off the ferry, I would urge him to buy all the ingredients so that I could cook.   We ate this spaghetti literarily every day through my whole pregnancy, and my husband didn't even complain about it once (he is wonderful).  Years later, he told me he was actually terrified about seeing it served at the table at some point, but love blinded him.

Perhaps my son "ate" a lot of lemony spaghetti in my tummy too, so he also loves it so much.  He claims it is his favourite food ever.  And it is true.  He eats much more than usual whenever we serve him this dish.

For the chicken, I used skin-on chicken thighs.  Not sure about your preference, but we don't like chicken breast and skinless chicken as much as thighs.  There is too much compromise on the taste.  When you can, try to purchase some good quality chicken so that you will not need to load lots of seasoning or herbs to mask the flavour of the freezer taste.

You can slice the mushrooms, but I found chunky mushrooms bring more juice and flavour.  Add the mushrooms into the spaghetti after turning off the heat and allow the mushrooms to cook with the remaining heat.  In this way, the mushrooms won't release water while keeping their intense flavour.

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



 Lemony Spaghetti and Grilled Chicken ｜ 檸汁意麵配烤雞塊
INGREDIENTS:

Spaghetti

Chicken Thighs

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Chilli Pepper (optional)

DRESSING:

1 Lemon of zest

1 Lemon of juice

Olive Oil

Basil Leaves

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

材料：

意大利麵

雞腿肉

海鹽

黑胡椒

辣椒粉 (隨意)

意粉汁：

1 個   檸檬，刨皮和榨汁

橄欖油

九層塔葉

海鹽

黑胡椒



Direction: