Soba Noodles with Ginger and Green Onion Oil

 

Ingredients:

1 bundle Soba Noodles

5 Green Onion, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons Ginger, finely chopped

4 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped

4 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

Direction:

1. To make the oil, combine ginger, garlic, green onion, and salt in a large bowl. Heat up the oil over medium-high until it reaches the cooking point. Immediately pour it over the oil.

2. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add soba noodles. Boil over high heat until they are soften. Drain well. Mix the noodles with the oil.

Lemony Cashew Alfredo Vermicelles with Shrimp and Swiss Chard

Ingredients:

1 cup Cashew

1/2 Lemon of Juice

1/ 4 cup Parmesan Cheese

2 cups Water

2 cups Shrimp, shelled

1 bundle Swiss Chard, cut into bite size

2 bundles of Rice Vermicelles or pasta

4 Garlic Cloves, minced

Vegetable Oil

Direction:

1. To make the Alfredo sauce, soak the cashews with 2 cups of water until soften; about 6 hours. In a processor, combine cashews, soaked liquid, lemon juice and Parmesan cheese; blend until it is smooth.

2. In a pot, heat up 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over high heat. Add garlic and fry until fragrant. Add shrimp; stir fry until it changes colour. Add Swiss chard and fry until it is wilted. Transfer the mixture into a bowl.

3. Fill the water in the same pot. Add salt. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Add vermicelles and cook until soften according to the package. Drain well.

4. Add the shrimp and Swiss chard mixture back to the pot and mix with the vermicelles.

5. Pour in the Alfredo sauce. Stir until it’s heated through. Serve the vermicelles with more Parmesan if prefer.

Pan fried Chicken in Alfredo Mushroom Sauce | 白汁磨菇雞排意粉

Pan fried Chicken in Alfredo Mushroom Sauce白汁磨菇雞排意粉

Ingredients:

4 Chicken Legs or breasts

4 tablespoons Light Soy Sauce

1/2 teaspoon White Pepper, ground

2 tablespoons Chinese Cooking Rice Wine

Spaghetti

Ingredients for Alfredo Sauce:

10 Mushrooms

1/3 cup Green Peas

2 Carrots

1 White Onion, small

1/4 cup Butter

2 tablespoons All Purpose Flour

2 cups Milk, Homogenized

1/2 cup Water

Salt to taste

DIRECTION:

1. 30 minutes prior to the cooking, combine chicken, soy sauce, white pepper, Chinese wine in a mixing bowl and mix well.  Allow it to marinate for about 20-30 minutes.

2. Dice the carrot, rinse the peas, and cut the onion into thick slices.

3. Cut the mushrooms into thick slices.

4. In a pot, melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add carrot and onion.  Cook the vegetables until they becomes soft; about 5 minutes.

5. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add flour. 

6. Vigorously stir until the flour is well mixed.

7. Stir in milk and water.

8. Add pea and mushrooms.  Turn the heat back to medium and continuously cook until the mixture heat through and the mushrooms become soft; stirring constantly.

9. Season with Salt.  Remove it from the it.

10. Heat up two tablespoons of oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add chicken, skin sides down.  Fry them for about 8 minutes and the skins turn slightly brown.

11. Turn the chicken on the other side.  Fry them for another 5 minutes.  Remove them from the heat.

12. At the meantime, cook the spaghetti according to the instruction on the package.  Drain well.

13. Pour the sauce onto the spaghetti and serve it with the chicken.

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

Miso Butter Spaghetti

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lbs Ground Pork

1/2 Napa Cabbage, cut into bite size

5 Garlic Cloves, minced

2 tablespoon White Miso

1/4 cup Butter

2 tablespoons Chinese Cooking Rice Wine

2 tablespoon Mirin

1/3 teaspoon Salt

1/2 pack of Spaghetti

2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

DIRECTION:

1. Set a large pot of water to a boil.  Add a heap spoon of salt.  Add spaghetti and cook it according to the package.  Drain well and set aside.

2. Heat up vegetable oil over high heat.  Add garlic; sauce until fragrant.

3. Add pork and continue to cook until it turns colour.  Drizzle in the cooking wine and let it to evaporate.

4. Add miring, miso, butter and salt; stir well.  Add Napa and turn off the heat.  Use the remaining heat to cook the Napa until it get slightly soften.

5. Pour the spaghetti into the pork mixture.  Using a tong, gently mix until it is even.  Serve immediately.

Vegan Creamy Lemony Spaghetti (Cashew Base) 純素忌廉意粉

I like that this recipe doesn't require pre-soaked cashews, so I can pull the sauce together in nearly no time while the spaghetti is boiling.  Keeping some boiled spaghetti water is recommended.  After adding the sauce into the spaghetti, you may find the sauce is too thick and need to use the water to thin it out.

INGREDIENTS:

4 served Spaghetti, cooked

1 cup Raw Cashew

1/3 cup Water

1/4 cup Olive Oil

1 Lemon of zest and Juice

1/3 teaspoon Salt

DIRECTION:

1. Add all ingredients in a food processor.  Process until the mixture becomes smooth.  If it is too thick, add a few spoonfuls of water to thin it out.  Pour it over the cooked spaghetti; mix well.  Enjoy it immediately.

Lemon Spaghetti

Lemon and spaghetti are surprisingly tasty and refreshing.  This pasta is my family's favourite and we love to pair it with roasted chicken.  Good quality olive oil is highly recommended in this recipe because it can change the flavour dramatically.  If you are fond of a little spicy, sprinkle a generous amount of black pepper on top before serving it.

INGREDIENTS:

1 handful of Spaghetti

6 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 Lemon of zest and juice

Sea Salt to taste

Freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

DIRECTION:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper; set aside.

2. Bring a big pot of water to a boil over high heat.  Add salt; the water should taste similar to sea water.

3. Add spaghetti and cook according to the package until it is el dente.  Turn off the heat.  Drain well and return the spaghetti back to the pot.  Add the olive oil mixture and gently mix to coat.  Serve with roasted chicken or steak.

Easy Cold Somen | 簡易冷素麵

Cold somen is a light dinner that my family like to enjoy in the hot days.  The noodles take only a few minutes to cook and you will spend the most preparation time on grating daikon and slicing scallion.  To make the meal even simpler, I used the store bought soba dipping sauce instead of making my own.  Within 20 minutes, this chilled somen is ready to be served.

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 bundles Somen (Soba)

3 Scallion, thinly sliced

20 gram Ginger, grated

1 Daikon, peeled and finely grated

Store bought Soba Dipping Sauce

DIRECTION:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add about a teaspoon of salt.  Add somen and cook according to the package; about 2 minutes.

2. Drain the somen.  Run it under cold running water until it totally cools down; drain it again.

3. To serve, combine the dipping sauce with some scallion, daikon, and ginger.

Summer Shirataki Noodles Salad ｜ 夏日蒟蒻涼麵

The school is finished and my son started his first summer camp.  It is a nature learning camp to help children experience wild animals' habitats and allow the children to get dirty.  My son loves it.  He has a great time time climbing trees, playing with mud, building shelter, and having a campfire with his new friends there.

 After the long hot day, my son prefers a light and simple dinner.  I am also not feeling up to cooking in front of the heat.  So making some cold shirataki noodles is a good idea.

Shirataki noodles are made from the tubers of the konjac plant through a drying and grounding process.  It's high in soluble fibre with little calories so it's considered as a healthy diet food and pasta substitute.  You can find shirataki in brown or white colour.  White shirataki is the original and the brown one has added seaweed.  Brown shirataki is firmer and slightly richer in taste. 

My whole family loves the smooth and chewy texture of shirataki noodles.  My son's eyes lit up when he saw it.  "I remember this.  I like this stuff. I am going to eat it all."  Then, he slurped up a forkful of shirataki.

Since shirataki noodles have almost no taste you can flavour them with any sauce or dressing according to your preference.  I use both white and brown shirataki, but I like to use the white for a creamy dessert and the brown for a savoury dinner.

The recipe below is one of my simple and delicious ways to prepare cold shirataki for a hot summer night.  

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

Summer Shirataki Noodles Salad

夏日蒟蒻涼麵

Ingredients for topping:

2 packs Shirataki Noodles

1 pack Enoki Mushrooms

3 Eggs

20 Shrimps

1/2 cucumber

2 Carrots

Oil (for frying eggs)

Ingredients for dressing:

4 tablespoons Rice Vinegar

5 tablespoons Light Soy Sauce

3 tablespoons Honey

4 tablespoons White Sesame, toasted

DIRTECTION:

1. Deshell and devein the shrimp.  Rinse it under cold water; set aside.

2. Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat.  Add the shrimp.  Cook until the shrimp change colour and curl up; about 2 minutes.  Drain the shrimp and allow it to cool.

*You can cook the shells in the cooking liquid and save it as seafood broth for other recipes. 

3. Quarter the cucumber lengthwise.  Deseed it and than slice it into 4 cm sticks with its skin on; set aside.

4. Cut the carrot into the same size as the cucumber with its skin on.  Set aside.

5. Cut and discard the lower stems of the enoki mushrooms.  Remove any dirt or debris.  Set aside.

6. To make scrambled eggs, heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan over medium-high heat.  Beat the eggs together, and then add it into the pan.  Quickly stir the egg until it turns bright yellow and set aside.  Transfer the eggs to a plate.

7. In a bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients.  Mix well and set it aside.

8. To serve, add a portion of shirataki noodles in the centre of the plate.  Add the ingredients around it.  Last, season it with the dressing and serve immediately.  It can be kept in the fridge up to two days.