Fried Rice - Cantonese Style

Cantonese fried rice uses Chinese sausage (or BBQ pork leftovers) and green vegetables and spring onions.
I have added rice wine and chilli slices for more complex flavours. The test of good fried rice is the grains must still retain its integrity and not too wet and marshy. A tip is to use less water when boiling the plain steamed rice or use "older" rice.

In the famous Yangzhou (yongchou chow fun) shrimp and mushroom are important ingredients, with carrot and peas added for colour and fresh taste. That's the main difference.

Thai Red Curry Roast Duck: Gaeng Phet Ped Yang

This is one of the Thai curry dishes that could rival Green Curry to reach the status of royal cuisine.

Prepare red curry paste (either using ready packaged or pound dried chilli with galangal, lemongrass, coriander root, shallot onion, garlic, pepper, shrimp paste). Stir fry with a little oil and add coconut milk.

If using leftover duck from the fridge, warm briefly in microwave oven.

Pineapple (fresh is better) and lychee (or rambutan) would give the dish the special tang and sweetness to balance the hot chillies and savoury duck.

When almost cooked, throw in some torn kaffir lime leaves.

Oyster Mushroom : Chicken and Mushroom Stir Fry

Humid and rainy weather is conducive to mushroom and fungi growth in the bush or farms.

Over the past month, oyster mushrooms were abundant in NSW.

This is a simple stir fry that everyone in the family would love to eat with noodles, rice or wraps.

1. Dice and marinate 350g chicken breast or thigh meat.
Wipe oyster mushroom (or wash and drain well) and cut roughly into bite size.
2. Marinate with light soy sauce and pepper for at least 20 mins.
3. Meanwhile, cut a clove of garlic and a knob of ginger into thin slices. Cut spring green onion stalk with a sharp knife into thin strips or slices and set aside.
4. Heat up heavy frying pan with vegetable oil and fry garlic briefly till yellow and fragrant (before turning brown).
5. Turn up the heat and add chicken. Stir fry quickly. Add oyster mushroom. Add a dash of oyster sauce.
6. Garnish with spring onion and serve.

Goji Soup : goji berries and leafy vegetable for good health

Goji is the new alternative supplement touted for health benefits especially for clear vision and restoration of energy.

A quick and easy boiled nutrients packed soup of goji (wolfberries) and gao gee (goji vegetable or spinach) is a useful starter of your meal in winter.

Besides breakfast museli, there are some interesting ways one could prepare goji such as steaming with fish, making a drink with chrysanthemum or jelly.

English Breakfast : Meat patty with bun or biscuit

An English breakfast recipe I have learned from American and British TV celebrity chefs and my travels to US. Some call it sausage, but patty is probably a universally comprehensible term. 

I am also adding some tips I picked up working in a Mediterranean kitchen whipping up many types of sandwiches. 

Allow at least 30 minutes to prepare the patties and cook the meat well.

Mix beef or pork mince with salt, pepper, red wine, chopped onion, garlic, oregano, parsley and thyme.

You can leave out some of the herbs but definitely not onion and garlic!

Wet hands, round a handful of meat, flatten to shape and fry in a heavy duty pan with a little oil.

Assemble your sandwich with English biscuit / muffin or hamburger bun.
Add buttercup lettuce, cucumber, pickles for meat/greens balance.
Serve with natural tomato sauce and dijon mustard.

Korean Medium Soft Tofu for Frying

This is the first time I'm trying out Korean tofu specially made for frying. They are priced slightly higher and the portion are less than the other brands of tofu I'm used to.

The more affordable versions are sold by at least three or four different manufacturers based in Australia and are more widely available in Asian groceries or supermarkets.


However, as with most tofu, you'd need to handle the tofu with greater care as they are more delicate and softer. Secondly, the water which the tofu is soaked in to maintain freshness must be totally discarded. Thirdly, it would make frying easier if you were to sprinkle some salt and coat with all-purpose flour just before frying it in the pan.

With the Korean tofu, I did not coat it with flour, just a sprinkling of fine sea salt to prevent splattering of oil.

Grill Chicken Wings - full flavoured and real hot

This is a favourite of young and old. It's really finger licking good. Preparing this delicious dish at home for guys' sports on TV night, teens party, ladies' meeting, family gatherings or simply breaking the monotony of working week night meals.

This could mean huge savings from ordering takeaway or delivery from suburban restaurants.

This never fail family recipe always work miracles. From humble chicken wing to the centrepiece of the dining table. No kidding!

Marinate 1/2 kg of chicken wings with lemon juice (1/4), soy sauce (2 TBS), oyster sauce (2 tsp), Chinese shaoxing wine (2 tsp), pepper (1/2 tsp), sugar (1/4 tsp).

Keep meat in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Bring to room temperature at least 30 mins before cooking.

Preheat oven fan forced at 220 degrees C or set to Grill No. 1.

As the wings contain some fat beneath the skin, there is really no necessity to grease the pan or meat before grilling. Line a metal pan with aluminium foil or use a heat proof good quality tempered glassware.

There is no hard and fast rule on how well you wish to grill the chicken wings. As long as the meat is cooked through to the bone, it is fine. Some like it slightly burnt and that's fine as long as you don't ingest too much charcoal which can be carcinogenic in the long term.

Check the meat after grilling for 20 minutes. If it's slightly brown, it's ready to turn over the other side for grilling for 15 - 20 mins. If too much liquid is collecting at the bottom of the pan, either drain the liquid or transfer the meat to another lined pan to continue cooking.

You could turn two to four times so that the meat turns out evenly grilled. The result should be glossy golden brown wings.

Chinese Mixed Vegetables Fry and Stew - Chap Chai

Different from Korean Chap Chae (which is fried sweet potato noodles)

http://homecooksecrets.blogspot.com.au/search?q=chap+chae

1. Fry garlic till fragrant. Add salted soy bean.

2. Fry soaked shitake mushroom slices, followed by cut cabbage and carrot.

3. Add pepper and oyster sauce (or thick dark soy sauce).

4.  Add water and slowly bring to simmer.

5. Add precooked soy bean sticks and soaked bean vermicelli (dong fen / tang hoon)

6. Cover and cook slowly till vegetables have absorbed most of the sauces.

7. Add water if necessary. Keep the heat low and ensure the bottom of the pot does not burn easily.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Almond Meal

This recipe from really works. I didn't even have to use an electric egg beater / mixer.  Additional tips are mine. 

Preheat oven to 180 degree Centrigrade, fan forced.

Line bottom of the cake tin with greaseproof paper. The sides can be greased.

Mix instant coffee powder or coffee bag in hot water. Add to dissolved butter, cocoa powder and melted chocolate.

Lightly beat egg yolk with castor sugar till well mixed.

Beat egg white till soft peak.

Add chocolate mixture and almond meal to egg yolk mixture.

Gently fold egg white into chocolate mixture. Pour into prepared cake pan.

Bake for at least 45 mins. Move the cake tin from top to bottom half time to ensure even baking.

Cool cake before removing from pan and cutting.

Serve with ice-cream and fresh berries.

Coloured Ice dessert with Jackfruit, Thai cendol, mung beans, seaweed

As the heat continues well into autumn this year, it is appropriate and desirable to have a cooling dessert.

Since we're at Vietnamese Grill Meat in the last post, I'd like to introduce an Indochinese dessert. The Vietnamese call it "three coloured ice" while the Malays call it "ice kachang (nuts). I'm adding a Thai version of green threads or "lod chong" (Indonesian version is cendol).














Ingredients
- The fresh whole jackfruit costs a whopping AUD18 but we missed the fruit since our last trip to Cairns more than five years ago. Most of the time, we use imported canned jackfruit. Not only are they cheaper, they are quite tasty. However, it can be a gable because canned fruit are sometimes soggy and bland.
- Boiled Thai "green worms" made of sago starch with pandan and colouring.
- Palm seeds or attap seeds in syrup.
- Steamed coatless mung bean
- Soaked transparent seaweed (agar-agar) cut into small strips.

Liquid : 
- Coconut milk (good quality - either Kara or Ayam)
- Boiled chopped palm sugar (Malaysian preferable for full flavour or Thai if you prefer lighter taste) & filtered for impurities and insects















It helps that I have a very good ice shaver that churns out fine snow from ice cubes.

To assemble : put a bit of everything into a bowl. Add the liquid.
Scoop shaved ice over and mix. Eat it quickly before the ice melts.

Nem Nuong: Vietnamese meat balls in bamboo skewer

This is another version of skewered meat which hails from Southeast Asia. We're not sure if this has Middle Eastern or Malayan-Indonesian influence. Nevertheless, since there is a very similar Vietnamese dish which is sugar-cane prawn which is also skewered but deep fried, we assume that "nem nuong" is probably quite an authentic Vietnamese dish.

Firstly, marinate pork mince (70% lean) and a little roughly chopped prawn meat to give it a reddish tinge (instead of using red colouring).

The seasoning include : chopped garlic and shallot bulb, pepper, fish sauce, brown sugar, ground toasted glutinous rice (to bind the meat).

Use sparingly as mince meat tends to absorb more flavours readily.

Wet your hands with water or oil. Round meatballs in your palm as you skewer them in a row on bamboo chopstick or thick satay stick.

Unless using direct fire over a BBQ, you might want to steam or microwave a little while before baking in the oven to ensure that the pork is thoroughly cooked.

Alternatively, the easy way is to use premixed seasoning. They are available from manufacturers in Thailand and Vietnam. If you're not allergic to MSG, it is a good option. Use more meat or less seasoning if you don't like it to be too salty.

Ways to eat nem nuong:
1. Serve with steamed rice and fresh vegetables
2. Mix with salad, rice vermicelli, chilli, mint leaves and toss in lime juice-fish sauce-sugar mixture.
2. Roll within softened rice paper with rice vermicelli, pickled carrot and dip in hoisin chilli sauce.
3. Sandwich between a bun with salad greens and cut chilli