Salted eggs 咸蛋

Salted eggs (咸蛋)

I caught a cold a few weeks ago and have no appetite. All I wanted was just plain porridge with salted eggs. Unfortunately, salted eggs were inaccessible so I have decided to make it myself. It is really simple but you have to brine it for at least 4 to 5 weeks before consumption. I did not manage to find duck eggs so I use chicken eggs instead. Duck eggs tend to have a larger yolk but the end result is the same.






Ingredients

10 large eggs

1 cup of coarse sea salt

4 cups of water

1 tablespoon of Chinese cooking wine (shaoxing wine)

2 teaspoons of peppercorn

1 teaspoon of cloves/anise







Method

Rinse the eggs and pat dry. Set aside.

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan and add in the sea salt. Stir in the sea salt until it dissolves completely. Let it cool down completely.

Add in Chinese cooking wine , peppercorns and cloves.

Place all the eggs into a large glass container. Slowly pour in salted solution and make sure that the eggs are fully submerged to the solution. You may use a small saucer to push and cover the eggs as some may float.

Label the start and end dates and leave the container in a cool place. The brining process takes about 4-5 weeks. Take one egg to try the saltiness, if it is not to your satisfaction, leave it for another 1 to 2 weeks.

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芋头糕 Yam cake

芋头糕 Yam cake
This is my mother’s recipe and it is also her signature dish. My mom prepared this dish when she was in the Netherlands last year and my friends simply love it.

Ingredients

400g rice flour + 900ml water, mixed in a large bowl
1 medium size yam, cut into cubes
100g dried shrimps, chopped
100g shallots, sliced
3 sticks Chinese sausage
100ml Oil
Sesame seeds & chopped chilies as garnish
Salt and pepper

Method

Fry the shallots in a wok until golden brown. Drain and set aside.

Use the oil from the wok and sauté the dried shrimps, yam, mushroom and Chinese sausage till fragrant.

Stir in the rice flour solution keeping in mind to save a little for later use. Keep stirring till the whole mixture is gluey and thick.

Scoop into desired portions and flatten the surface. Drizzle the balance of the rice flour solution so that the surface will be smooth after 30-40 mins of steaming.

Serve with fried shallots, chilies and sesame seeds.

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灌汤胶 Soup filled dumplings

灌汤胶 Soup filled dumplings

I had cravings for灌汤胶 and finally found a Chinese restaurant in the Netherlands which serves it. It is served as a dim sum and usually in a bowl with soup. You may ask, so what is the difference between soup dumplings and soup filled dumpling? Basically , both recipes require almost the same kind of ingredients , the difference is when you eat soup filled dumplings, the soup is coming flowing out from the dumplings itself and soup dumplings is just normal dumplings with soup in a bowl. So what is the secret is to keep the soup inside the skin? I did some research from the internet and finally found the secret ingredient that does the miracle is ‘agar agar’ 大菜/菜燕. Usually, we use this for desserts and it works like gelatin.



Ingredients:
For the filling
300ml of chicken soup/stock
a handful of agar agar
200g minced meat
100g minced prawns
Spring onions
2 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 teaspoon pepper

For the skin

2 cups of flour
½ cup water
A pinch of salt

Method


Bring the chicken stock and agar agar to a boil till the agar agar completely dissolves. Pour into a flat dish and let the mixture solidify. You can prepare this in advance. Mash the mixture with a fork or use a blender to cut it into small pieces.

Mix the ingredients for the skin and knead into a dough. Knead the dough for at least 15 mins. The dough should be smooth on the surface. Cover it under a damp cloth and let it set for 15mins.

Mix all the ingredients for the filling in a big bowl and add in the agar agar mixture.

Cut the dough into 4 portions, roll out each portion to about 3 inches thick and cut into 4 small pieces. Use a rolling pin to flatten it into a rounded shape with a diameter of about 8-10cm.

Put a spoonful of filling into the center of the skin and seal it up tightly with your fingers. Please seal it tightly to prevent the soup from flowing out.

Apply a layer of oil on the steaming dish to prevent dumplings from sticking.

Steam the dumplings for 15-20mins. Serve hot with black vinegar.

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Quick & Easy Singapore Laska

‘Dear, we are having Laksa for dinner’ That is a guaranteed statement to lure my husband to be home early.

When I say “Quick & Easy”, it means reeeaaaally simple because I am using ready-made paste for this delicious dish. My husband was so excited to find the paste from the Toko (Asian Groceries Store in the Netherlands) . We try out a few brand and conclude that ‘Prima Taste’ laksa paste the best http://www.primataste.com.sg/home/home.asp, however I did add some other ingredients to enhance the flavor.



Quick & Easy Singapore Laksa
Ingredients

1 box of laksa from Prima Taste

1 handful of dried shrimps

2-3 shallots, finely chopped

1 medium size squid, clean and cut into strips

150g tauge, cooked in water

2-3 hard boiled eggs, shelled.

200g mee hoon, rice noodles



Heat up a pan and add a little oil. Saute the shallots and dried shrimps until golden brown. Add water and follow the instructions from the package.

http://onlinestore.prima.com.sg/img/cookinginstruction/pr213_01.pdf

Cook the squid in the laksa gravy for 3 mins and serve when hot.

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YakiTori Chicken

YakiTori Chicken

I love Japanese food and this is one of my favorite. I did not expect it to be so easy to prepare and yet so delicious. I prefer to use chicken thighs than chicken fillet/breast because chicken thighs are tenderer. Another way to serve it is to skew the meat into satay sticks.

Ingredients
4-5 pcs of chicken thighs, cut into bite sized cube
100ml Mirin
70ml Japanese soya sauce
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of minced ginger
One bundle of spring onions
Sesame seeds

Use a saucepan and bring mirin to a boil. Add it soya sauce and sugar. Boil until the solution thickens.

Heat up and add oil into the pan. Stir fry the chicken for about 4mins and use kitchen towels to soak up the extra oil. (see picture)

Turn to high heat and add in the mirin mixture and minced ginger. Continue to stir fry until the chicken is coated with the mirin mixture and add in spring onions. Garnish with sesame seeds.

Serve hot with rice and green vegetable such as pak choi.

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Thai Sticky rice with mangoes (Kaow Niaw Mamuang)

I wanted to make something special on a Sunday and supermarkets are not open. So I had to look through my fridge and cabinet and realized I have all the ingredients needed for a typical Thai dessert.

Thai Sticky rice with mangoes (Kaow Niaw Mamuang)
Serves 4
2 cups glutinous rice, soaked overnight
250ml coconut milk
2 mangoes, sliced
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon corn starch
Drain the excess water and steam the rice for 1 hr.
Pour coconut milk into a small pan and add sugar and salt. Bring to a soft boil slowly, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolve.
When the rice is ready, pour half of the coconut mixture on top of the rice and use a fork to fluff up the rice. Do not stir too much if not the rice will become too sticky. Allow the rice to rest for 20 mins before serving.
Dilute the cornstarch with 2 tablespoon of water and add into the rest of the coconut mixture. Bring the mixture to a boil.
Arrange mangoes and rice on a plate. Drizzle the coconut mixture on it before serving.

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Avocado & Salmon

I made this during my birthday party and it was such a hit! Everyone loved it and wanted more. Good thing I have more ingredients in my fridge. This can be an appetizer when served with some salads or as a finger food when served on a small dish. The combination of avocado, salmon and most importantly is the Sauce which is the secret recipe.... ;-)

Ingredients
Serves 4 - 6 person
1 - 2 avocado ( I usually get 1 extra just in case it’s not good because there is no way u can tell whether the avocado is good)
400g Salmon
A handful of cherry tomatoes, washed and halved
Sesame seeds
Juice of ½ a lemon
Sauce:
1 teaspoon of wasabi (Japanese mustard)
2 teaspoon of sesame oil
5 tablespoon of Japanese salad dressing or soy sauce
Cut avocados into halves and remove the seed. Peel the fresh out and slice it into 1 cm thick.
Clean the salmon and dry it thoroughly with kitchen towels.
Slice salmon into 1cm thick.
Display salmon and avocado onto desired plate.
Apply Lemon juice with a brush onto avocado in order to prevent it from turning brown.
Mix all the ingredients for the sauce.
Add the sauce before serving and sprinkle sesame seed.

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