EZCR#47 - BRAISED PORK SLICES WITH GINGKO NUTS

Chinese style cooking is rather versatile. With a few basic ingredients, you can cook up a delicious and tasty dish. This dish is one of the many that is easy to prepare yet it's awesome.

The meat is pan fried to brown, then braised till tender and gravy reduced to a thick consistency. The gingko nuts are chewy, tasty and not bitter. The sauce stays sweet and savoury. It is aromatic and so good with rice.

Ingredients

[serves 3]

3 pieces of pork cutlet [1 cm thickness] – tenderize with a meat pounder

100 gm gingko nuts – shelled and membrane removed [here]

5-6 slices of ginger

1 stalk spring onions – cut 1 inch length 

1 red chilli – seeded cut diamond shape

Dash of sesame seed oil

300 ml water

Seasoning

1 ½ tbsp each of tomato sauce, light soy sauce and wine

1 tsp sugar

1. Marinate pork slices with some light soy sauce.
2. Heat a non stick wok with some oil, pan fry pork slices to brown on both sides.
3. Push aside, add in ginger, spring onions [white part only] and gingko nuts to fry for a few seconds.
4. Add in seasoning, then water, bring to boil and simmer for about 20-25 minutes over medium heat until meat and gingko nuts are tender and gravy is of thick consistency.
5. Lastly add in spring onions, red chilli and sesame seed oil. Stir to mix well.
6. Dish up to serve.
   
   
   
   
   
   

EZCR#46 - BRAISED THREADFIN FISH WITH BASIL LEAVES

This is a nice fish dish cooked the Chinese way with basic ingredients like ginger and spring onions. The addition of basil leaves makes it fragrant and aromatic more than simple red braised [hoong siau].

Not difficult at all to prepare this dish which goes well with rice.

Ingredients

2 medium size threadfin fish [Ikan Senangin or Ma Yau Yee] – cleaned and keep whole

A bunch of basil leaves

Some shredded ginger

Some sliced spring onions

Some slice red chillies

3 tbsp water

Cooking oil

Seasoning 

1 tbsp each of light soy sauce, fish sauce and wine

1 tsp sugar

1. Pan fry fish in a non-stick pan until cooked and crispy on both sides.
2. Push aside, add in ginger, spring onions and chillies. Stir fry until aromatic and add in seasoning.
3. Mix well and add in some water to braise the fish with the other ingredients. Taste to adjust seasoning.
4. Lastly add in the basil leaves to cook until soft and turns green.
5. Dish up to serve.
   
   

SMILING STEAMED ORANGE HUAT KUIH

 This smiling steamed cake 'Huat Kuih' recipe is a slightly modified version of Aunty Young's recipe.  I used fresh orange juice instead of water and orange paste.

The preparation is easy with just a few ingredients and this is without eggs.  I am very happy with the results especially when I saw the cake smiling so beautifully when I uncover the steamer.  So lovely.  The huat kuih is moist and fluffy when warm, so it is advisable to serve them right after steaming or warm if you like fluffy, moist steamed cakes.
Chinese All Souls Day is coming soon, so these Huat Kuihs will be good for 'Pai Pai' if you can offering prayers to your ancestors.

Recipe adapted from Aunty Young's Orange Huat Kuih Recipe with modifications

Ingredients

[makes 11-12 cupcakes]
160 gm cake flour [I used low protein flour]
40 gm rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
160 ml orange juice [original uses water + orange paste]

130 gm castor sugar [I used 110 gm]

1. Stir sugar in orange juice until dissolves.
2. Sieve flours and baking powder into a mixing bowl.
3. Pour liquid mixture into dry ingredients, mix lightly into a smooth batter.
4. Bring water to boil in a steamer.  Line moulds with paper cases.  Scoop the batter into paper cases almost to the rim.
5. Steam over high heat for 15-20 minutes [only steam cakes when water is boiling, do not open lid of steamer during the steaming process].
6. Off heat, remove huat kuihs to cool on rack or serve warm.

MARMALADE SWEET CHILLI WINGS

This is another lovely roast chicken wings recipe from a long kept food magazine. The ingredients seem to be a long list but in fact they are easily found in any kitchen. Read carefully at it, you would notice that it is just the marinade and the chicken wings, that requires combining and mixing.

The method of cooking can be baking or pan fry. I chose pan fry this time but I would recommend baking, this way I need no extra oil to cook the wings.

These wings are fragrant, very tasty coated with sweet and a little spicy sauce from the chilli sauce and black pepper. It is finger licking good to snack or serve with rice.

Recipe from this month's selected cookbook for Cookbook Countdown #3 - Home Cooking Magazine [January 2001] - modified 

Ingredients
6-8 large chicken wings – cleaned
Marinade Ingredients [Combine]
2 tsp grated ginger
4 cloves garlic – grated
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt to taste
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp each sweet chilli sauce, light soy sauce and white vinegar 

1. Trim chicken off excess fats and sinews. Remove the tip part and cut into 2 pieces or keep the wing whole.
2. Combine marinade in a big bowl and add in chicken. Mix well until wings are well coated with marinade.
3. Cover and refrigerate in the fridge for several hours or overnight.  
4. Drain the chicken pieces and reserve the marinade. Place wings on a roasting rack or oven tray or place them in a deep baking dish.  You can skewered the wings with bamboo sticks, too.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes, turn over and continue baking for 15 minutes. Baste with extra marinade in between baking time.  This time I pan fried the wings.
6. Change oven mode to grill and grill chicken for about 10 minutes or until chicken is crisp and cooked through.
7. Serve immediately.
   
   
   

I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown hosted by 

Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray

EZCR#45 - FRIED SALMON WITH ONION GINGER COULIS

If you like something with a ‘hot’ taste but without any chillies used, this is a good option. The paste is aromatic, hot and tasted quite similar to the ginger/spring onion dipping sauce for white boiled chicken [Pak Cham Kai]. It is a thicker paste which can be served with fried fish fillets or fried chicken.

I made this paste to serve with pan fried salmon blocks. It’s good and a healthy paste which is not difficult to prepare. I’ll make another batch to serve it with fried chicken Maryland. Should be good too.

Ingredients for the Coulis

4 cloves garlic - chopped

2 cm piece ginger - chopped

1 stalk Chinese leeks or 2-3 stalks spring onions [or both] - cut

Salt to taste

Some chilli oil or olive oil

1. Blend ½ the above ingredients in a processor. Pan fry the remaining ½ portion with some oil until aromatic. Transfer to the processor and blend together with the other portion into a paste.
2. Remove and mix with some chilli oil and salt to taste. Set aside.

2 pieces salmon blocks

1. Heat a non-stick wok, pan fry salmon blocks with a bit of oil until brown and cooked.
2. Dish up and serve with onion ginger garlic coulis.
   
   
   
   

GOLDEN FRAGRANT PRAWNS

This dish is a CNY festive dish quite similar to Amy Beh’s recipe ‘He Ha Tai Siew’ [aka Happiness All Over] shared in her book ‘At Home With Amy Beh’. But this recipe below is a simplified version with minor changes to the ingredients and method.

Yet it turns out delish, very appetizing fried prawns, with aromatic sweet and sour sauce which is not too much but just enough to coat the prawns.

Recipe adapted from my selected cookbook for Cookbook Countdown Event #3] - Home Cooking Magazine [January 2001] with modifications 

Ingredients

300-400 gm large prawns – trim and leave shell and head intact. Marinate with some salt and sugar.

1 Bombay onion- peeled and cut wedges

1 stalk lemongrass – sliced 

1 garlic – peeled and sliced

1-2 sprigs curry leaves – washed

4 dried chillies – soaked and cut half

1 tbsp dried prawns – soaked and coarsely chopped 

Some cooking oil

Sauce Ingredients [combined]

2 tbsp tomato sauce

1 tsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

4 tbsp water

1. Heat oil in a non-stick wok, fry prawns for a minute on each side or until it turns bright red in colour, push aside.
2. Add in the curry leaves, dried chillies, lemongrass, garlic and onions until crispy and fragrant. 
3. Add in the sauce ingredients, bring to boil until bubbly, and stir fry all ingredients until well mixed and the prawns are well coated with the sauce.
4. Dish up and serve immediately.
   
   
   
   
   

I'm submitting this post with Cookbook Countdown hosted by 

Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray