I was born and raised in Hong Kong. After getting married, I moved to Canada with my husband. Spending time in the kitchen cooking for my husband and my son is a type of happiness to me. Mimicking my childhood flavour in this foreign land brings me comfort. My priority of life is to stay healthy - think healthy, eat healthy, and live healthy. I am also a foraging enthusiast and the author of this blog.
If you are tired of curry, try this tangy and creamy tomato Alfredo. As we often say, everything tastes better with a little ketchup on it. It is proof again in this tangy chicken.
INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs Whole Chicken Wings, cut into three segments
3 Carrots, cut into bite size
1 Red Onion, chunks
5 Garlic Cloves, peeled and mashed
1 can Chickpea, drained and rinsed the chickpeas
2 tablespoons Flour
1/4 cup Butter
3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine (optional)
1 cup Milk, 2%
1/3 cup Ketchup
3 tablespoons Worcester Sauce
2 tablespoons Sugar
Salt
DIRECTION:
1. Combine garlic, carrot, butter and vegetable oil in a deep pot. Heat them up over medium heat until the garlic is fragrant and the carrots are nicely browned.
2. Turn the heat to high; add chicken. Stir fry until the chicken starts to turn colour, about 10 minutes. Add cooking wine and allow it to be absorbed.
3. Sprinkle the flour onto the chicken while stirring. Then quickly add in milk. Reduce the heat a little if the sauce thickens too quickly, and add more milk if needed.
4. When the sauce comes to a boil, add chickpea and onion. Continuously cook until they heat through and the onion is slightly softened, about 10 minutes. Season with Sugar, salt and Worcester sauce to taste. It is delicious to serve with brown rice, pasta or naan bread.
If you have a whole bunch of cilantro left from another recipe, you can use it to make this lemony chutney. This chutney is very delicious when paired with chicken, white fish, and baked potato.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Cilantro, leaves and stems
1/2 inch Ginger, peeled and cut into pieces
1/2 Lemon, juice
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
3/4 teaspoon Cumin Powder
1/3 teaspoon Salt
DIRECTION:
1. In a food processor, add all the ingredients. Blend until it is well incorporated. This chutney can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days.
If you have ever visited a Korean supermarket, you probably have seen perilla leaves. They are usually sold in bundles or in packages. Perilla leaf is a common vegetable that belongs to the mint family, with a mild herby flavour somewhat similar to anise and basil; it is widely used in Korean cuisine as vegetable, kimchi, flavouring, or wrap.
Perilla leaf isn't usually found in Hong Kong cuisine, so I learnt this wonderful leaf late after I moved to downtown Toronto, where Korean cuisine is broadly embraced.
Funny is that my first experience of perilla leaf wasn't a nice one. I always noticed the herby note of these vivid green leaves, but I'd never realized how strong it could taste when putting the whole piece of leaf in the mouth, along with the hot rice or spicy marinade. I remember I swallowed it down hard, followed by a full glass of water and a few bites of other side dishes.
After that, I tried to stay away from perilla leaves, but I still bought them whenever I go to the Korean supermarket, just because I was attracted to their beautiful look. Once I have them, I have to cook them, right? Through time, I learned to enjoy its distinct flavour and perilla leaf kimchi has become the Korean recipe I make most often and enjoy most by far.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy this recipe.
You can buy perilla leaves at Korean supermarkets.
Perilla leaves are available all year around, but their have much better leaves in summer.
Perilla Leaf Kimchi
紫蘇葉泡菜
Kimchi
Ingredients:
15-20 pcs Perilla Leaves
2 tablespoons Glutinous Flour
1/2 cup Water
4 tablespoons Fish Sauce
2 tablespoons Red Chile Flakes
1 tablespoon Garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon Ginger, peeled and minced
How to make it:
1. Rinse the perilla leaves under cold running water. Drain and set them aside.
2. In a glass bowl, combine the glutinous rice with 1/2 cup of water. Mix it well. Microwave the mixture for about 30 seconds; stir well. Then return it back to the microwave to heat it for another 25-30 seconds, or until the mixture become gluey.
Don't over heat it, otherwise the mixture will turn lumpy or harden and it will have to start over again.
3. Combine the rest of the ingredients except the perilla leaves into the glutinous mixture. Stir it until it becomes chilli paste.
4. Spread 1-2 teaspoons of the chilli paste on a perilla leaf. Then, place another perilla leaf on top, and spread the chilli paste on it again. Repeat this process until you finish all the perilla leaves.
5. Store the perilla leaves in an air-tight container. Leave it at room temperature for two days before serving it. Transfer the rest to the fridge and it can keep up to 4 days.
6. To serve, wrap a small bite of rice with a perilla leaf, and then put the whole thing in the mouth.
Tofu dango is a Japanese dumpling snack made of tofu and mochiko, a type of glutinous short grain Japanese rice flour.
Dango is chewy and soft with a depth of soy flavour. When served, three or four dango are often put on a skewer and coated with the sweet-salty sauce, mitarashi.
The first time when I ate dango was in Japan travelling with my family. There was a small store selling concessions and tea for the tours at the park, and I saw a man speedily rolling a big piece of dough into many small balls and into a boiling water pot. An old lady beside him scooped up the floating rice balls with a strainer. Then she started to skewer those piping hot dumplings. I still remember how crazily exited I was when I finally got my first chance to eat the "Japanese dumpling". Since I spoke no Japanese, I used my body language to place my order for the snack. The old lady held a few skewered dumplings in hand and dipped them into a pot of "brownish sauce" (as I called it back then). That was the mitarashi dango. The flavour was awesomely comforting, and I fell in love with this sweet and salty snack since then.
For me, dango is very similar to the Chinese "tang yuen". Both snacks are soft, chewy, and can be served sweet or savoury, and they are also made of glutinous short grain rice flour. The big difference was that dango is using Japanese rice while "tang yuen" uses Chinese rice.
At home, I use both in my dango making, depending on which one is on hand. Although mochiko can be easily found in many Asian markets, it is not as widely available as Chinese glutinous rice flour. Also, mochiko is more pricy. However, the dumplings that are made of mochiko are finer and softer in texture, which makes the dessert more delicate and I enjoy it more.
To use tofu instead of water to form the dough which can increase the nutritional value while adding extra flavour for the dumplings. You can use silken or firm tofu to make this dessert, but the silken version will for sure be the winner when comparing texture.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy this recipe.
Tofu Dango
豆腐丸子
INGREDIENTS:
90 gram Silken Tofu
120 gram Glutinous Flour
Mitarashi Sauce:
4 tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 tablespoons Mirin
2 tablespoons Sugar
1 tablespoon Water
1 teaspoon Corn Starch
DIRECTION:
1. In a mixing bowl, mash the tofu until fine with a hand.
2. Add flour, a little at a time, mixing it with the tofu and form it into a dough. The texture of the dough should resemble the softness of the earlobes. Add more flour or tofu to adjust the texture if needed.
3. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Roll the dough into equal sized balls. Add the balls to the water. Boil them until they float to the surface which indicates that they are cooked through.
4. Scoop out the dumplings and quickly transfer them into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.
5. Put three or four dumplings on a skewer and place them on a serving place. Set aside.
6. To make the mitarashi sauce, combine soy sauce, sugar, and mirin in a saucepan. Gently heat it up over low heat.
7. Combine cornstarch with a tablespoon of water. Then whisk it into the soy sauce mixture. Continuously stir the sauce until it thickens. Use a spoon to draw a line in the saucepan, if the sauce separates it is done. Remove it from the heat and spoon it over the dumplings immediately.
My mom is a very good cook, and her beancurd rolls are one of her signature dishes that my family and our relatives love. "They are the best rolls ever!" My sixth Uncle used to say between mouthfuls. My mom was shy. She would just smile and shake her hands in the air as if she was trying to shake off the unfamiliar feeling of being appreciated. "I'm glad you like this humble dish. Help yourself and eat more," she said courteously, and moved the dish closer to my uncle.
Making beancurd rolls need three steps: cutting, wrapping, and frying. Sometimes, mom will even do one step further - to make the oyster sauce glaze on top to moisten the rolls. "It is not difficult to make beancurd rolls as long as you have patience," Mom said.
Mom uses whatever vegetables are in season to make rolls. Though, I noticed she's never used meat or seafood, and she would put many dried shiitake mushrooms and carrots along with other vegetables. "Beancurd rolls are close to vegetarian, and meat and seafood will overpower the taste of soy while adding lots of grease and stuffing your stomach. Not good." she said. And she also explained that the intense flavour from the dried shiitakes gives a great flavour close to concentrated broth, and the natural sweetness from the carrots helps balance the saltiness of the seasoning. Both ingredients are essential and can't be skipped.
Although vegetables and beancurd sheets aren't expensive to buy, shiitake mushrooms are always a little pricy. So my mom will only make these rolls a few times a year, and it's usually on my brother's birthday or at my dad's request. Mom will pull out a big glass jar of dried shiitake mushrooms that she dries under the hot sun once in awhile, and she will pick the mushrooms that are smaller or oddly shaped and saves the big and perfect ones for new years dishes when relatives come.
When I was a young teen, my most enjoyable time was watching Mom cooking in the kitchen. She could speedily descale fish, skin squid, julienne vegetables, or chop the chicken up and then assemble the pieces back into a chicken shape. And I was always amazed by her ability to hold a big feast for my whole family on Chinese New year or Dongzhi Festival, with a full course of eight elaborate dishes, soup, and dessert.
I started to really learn these beautiful dishes since I went back to Hong Kong. During those three years, I would hang around the kitchen with my mom whenever I came to visit her. Mom would buy the freshest ingredients at the market twice a day. Often I wanted to tag along just to learn how to choose the best ingredients and also help her to carry stuff; however, my mom would always refuse with the same reason, "the wet market is wet, dirty, and crowded with people. If you go, I will need to take care of you upon my handful of food." My loving mom sees me as a little child no matter how old I am.
Now I also make the same dish for my own family and it also earns their thumbs up. And I would like to share this healthy recipe with you. You can substitute the oyster sauce with "Vegan oyster sauce" that commonly available in Asian supermarkets. Vegan oyster sauce is made of shiitake mushroom, dark soy sauce, and sugar.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy this recipe.
Vegetarian Bean Curd Spring Roll
Ingredients: (make about 30 spring rolls)
4 Bean Curd Sheets
Vegetable Oil (for frying)
Ingredients for Filling:
12-15 pcs Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
1/2 cup Dried Lilies
2 Carrots, skin on
1 head Cabbage, small size
15 gram Dried Vermicelli
8-10 clove Garlic, peeled
35 gram Ginger, peeled
Seasoning:
5 tablespoons Oyster Sauce
3 tablespoons Light Soy sauce
3 tablespoons Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
4 tablespoons Shaoxing Cooking Wine
1/2 teaspoon White Pepper
1 tablespoon Sesame Oil
DIRECTION:
Step 1: prepare the ingredients
1. At least 6-8 hours prior to cooking, soak the shiitake mushrooms in water until they are rehydrated. Drain the liquid. Cut off the stems and thinly slice the mushrooms.
*The soaking liquid fills with flavour and it's considered mushroom stock. Just filter it with a paper towel and store in the fridge for other recipes, like noodle soup or flavoured rice.
The shiitake stems are also edible. You can always preserve them and braise it with soy sauce or oyster sauce to make rice topping, or add them into soup to enhance flavour.*
2. Rehydrate the black fungus and day lilies in water until soft. It takes about 20 minutes. Cut off and discard the hard stems of the black fungus and the hard ends of the day lilies. Roughly chop both ingredients into bite size.
Bean curd sheets. You can easily find them in Asian supermarkets and they are usually folded and packed in plastic bags.
3. Rinse the cabbage and cut it into thin slices. Cut the carrot with its skin on into sticks. Finely chop the garlic and ginger. Soak the vermicelli in water until soft and then cut it into 6 small portions. Also, combine the seasoning ingredients; set it aside.
4. Open each bean curd sheet. With a dry cloth, gently wipe to clean both sides of each. Then, cut them into 8 equal triangles. The bean curd sheets in the picture above were still too big for a normal spring roll size. You will want yours at least half of their size.
Step 2: Cooking the filling
5. In a wok or a large pan, heat up the oil. Add garlic and ginger. Let them fry over medium heat until they are fragrant and slightly turn colour; about 2 minutes.
6. Add mushrooms and stir fry until cooked; about 10 minutes. Then, add day lilies and black fungus; continuously fry for two more minutes.
7. Add seasoning mixture. Let it absorb or evaporate half way and then add the cabbage. Continuously stir fry until the cabbage starts to get soft. Turn off the heat and mix in the vermicelli. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature before using it. Don't overcook the vegetables; otherwise the cabbage and carrot will leave too much juice and turn mushy.
Step 3: Assemble and cook the spring rolls
Star from top left and clockwise.
8. Place a triangular bean curd sheet on a flat surface, with the pointy part facing away from you. Place about two tablespoons of filling on the bottom, roll up two sides to cover the filling, and then tightly hold up the filling and roll up the bean curd. Wet the end to help it stick to the spring roll.
9. In a large pan, heat up 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Gently place the spring rolls into the pan. Fry the spring roll over medium heat until the bean curd turns slightly brown and crispy. Flip the spring rolls over, and fry until coloured and crispy again. Serve immediately.
