Stuff Eggplant With Basil Pork mince - 塔香茄子肉

Another dish of the week using Thai Basil Leave(click link for more details). It can be treated as finger food or appetizer because of it's light content. You can easily get hold of Thai Basil Leave(it with purple-red flowers and fresh green foliage which offers an intense licorice aroma) in those vegetables stall in the wet market. The one selling in the Cold Storage is Sweet Basil which had a bigger leave and it's fragrant and taste will be different from Thai Basil Leave.


Raw Eggplant has a somewhat disagreeable taste, but when cooked, becomes tender and develops a rich, complex flavour and firm texture. Salting and then rinsing the sliced eggplant can also remove much of its bitterness. This is a spongy, mild-tasting vegetable that's meaty yet low in calories. You can either sever it with or without sauce dressing. It's all depend on individual taste. As for the sauce dressing, you can click on the Thai-style Basil Salad for it's sweet chilli sauce dressing.

Ingredients:
1 Large Purple Eggplant(Brinjal) 茄子
50g Pork Mince
4-6 Leave Of Thai Basil Leave(九层塔), finely chopped
1/2 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Teaspoon Soy Sauce
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
2 Tablespoons Plain Flour
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch

Methods:
1. Wash and cut the eggplant into halve, then slice them length-wide thinly to about 0.5cm thick.
2. Soak it in some lightly salted water or else it will oxidize and darken in colour.
3. Marinate the pork mince with chopped basil leave, sesame oil, soy sauce, pepper and 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch and set aside.
4. Coat 2 slices of eggplant with some plain flour then sandwich it with a thin layer of basil pork mince.(do not put too much filling inside, otherwise it will not be cooked with deep-frying)
5. Continue to sandwich the pork mince with the rest of the eggplant slices then let them in the fridge to infuse the favour for about 30 minutes before deep-frying.
6. Evenly coat the eggplant stuffing with some cornstarch on both side of the eggplant slices(set it aside for a few minutes before deep-frying, so that the flour will stick to the eggplant) and deep-fry it in medium hot oil until golden colour.
7. Drain and set aside. Blanch some extra basil leaves in hot oil, drained and crash it on top of the eggplants and serve with or with sauce dressing.

Guo Tie - 锅贴

Guo Tie or Gyoza which is originally a Chinese dish, which has become very popular across Japan. In this recipe of mine, I will share with you how to make a simple guo tie dough. To make the Spinach Juice, just wash and soaked 3 bunches of spinach leave in water. Then remove the leaves only and add about 1/2 cup of water in a blender together with the leaves to blend until smooth. Strain and obtain only the juice, you should get about 3/4 cups or more.


In this little experiment of mine, I am making two kind of doughs(one is the plain type while the other is using spinach juice to make spinach dough). Spinach is an important leaf vegetable, now grown throughout the temperate regions of the world. Spinach is a rich source of iron. In reality, a 60g serving of boiled spinach contains around 1.9 mg of iron.

Ingredients For Pork Mince Fillings:
200g Pork Mince
1 Tablespoon Chinese Celery(芹菜叶), finely chopped
1 Teaspoon Ginger Juice
1 Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Cornstarch

Methods:
1. Combine all the ingredients together and set aside to marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or more.

Notes: You can replace the Chinese celery to Chives(韭菜).

The time consuming and difficult part of making of the dough can be skipped by buying pre-made dough pieces, which are available at some Japanese and Chinese grocery stores. But if you had time, it's a fun activities to share with family members as each can play a different role in making the dough.

After trying a few failure wrapper on wrapping a traditional Guo Tie, I finally gave up the idea and trying making this simple wrapping. I really hope to master the skill for pleating the traditional guo tie, so I am sure to challenge this recipe again.....

My final product of Guo Tie from Cuisine Paradise...... Although the shape is not up to standard but the taste is there... It's very yummy to go with the black vinegar and ginger dipping sauce......

Ingredients For Dough: (make about 10-15)
125g Plain Flour
35ml Water
35ml Cold Water
Pinch Of Salt

Methods:
1. Sift Plain Flour into a mixing bowl, then slowly pour in the water and stir using a chopstick until combined.
2. Use hand to knead the dough while adding in the cold water.(you can add abit more if it is too dry).
3. Add pinch of salt in it and continue to knead until it form a soft dough.
4. Remove and place it on a lightly flour table top and continue to knead until it's smooth and elastic(10 to 15 minutes) then rest it for at least 30 minutes then cut it into half.
5. Roll it into an oblong shape and cut it into about 20g dough then flatten it on the cut side and roll into a 8-9cm circle.
6. Wrap it with the pork mince filling and pleat it into a Guo Tie shape.(sorry can't find any picture of showing how to pleat the guo tie)
7. Preheat a non-stick pan till hot add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, tilting pan to spread evenly.
8. Arrange dumpling in the pan, being careful not to overcrowd and fry until the base is slight golden brown, add 150ml water/chicken stock, cover, and cook over high heat for approximately 2 minutes to sear bottoms.
9. Then simmer on low heat until all the water has evaporated, gently loosen dumpling with a spatula to check whether the bottoms are golden brown.
10. If not, pan-fry, uncovered, until bottoms are crisp and browned. Transfer to a platter, and serve immediately with black vinegar and shredded young ginger.

Note: To make the spinach dough, replace the wonder to spinach juice.

Stuffed Chicken Wings

Actually there are a few version in preparing this stuffed chicken wing dish. The Thai style version often used ground meat and water chestnut as filled while some will replaced it with minced shrimp. Here I am using Steamed Glutinous Rice as stuffing which is much filling. The rice filling is yummy but you need to spend sometime to steam the glutinous rice, stuffing the de-bone chicken wings then deep-fry them.

Ingredients:
12 Chicken Wings, wings part and debone
1/2 - 3/4 Cup of Glutinous Rice, soak for at least 3 hrs
2 Mushroom, soak and finely diced
1/4 Carrot, finely diced
1 - 2 Shallots, finely diced
1 Stalk Spring Onion, finely diced

Seasoning:
1.5 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Five Spices Powder
Dash of Pepper
Dash Of Sesame Oil
70 - 100ml Water, used the water from the mushroom

Methods:
1. Preheat frying pan with oil, saute shallots until fragrant then add in the mushroom and continue to fry for another minute then pour in glutinous rice and carrots.
2. Give it a few stirs for half a minute then add in the seasoning except the sesame oil.
3. Stir for another minute until the seasonings is well mixed. Dish up into a steaming plate or bamboo basket and steam for about 40 minutes or until rice is soft and tender.
4. When the rice is done, stir in the spring onion, sesame oil, some pepper and light soy sauce to taste.
5. Cool the filling slightly before stuffing it into the chicken wing pocket. Coat them with beaten egg and corn flour then deep-fry until golden brown and serve.

Steps To Dedone Chicken Wings:
1. De-bone the chicken wings by bending backwards the joint between the drumstick and wing to loosen the tendons.
2. Then cut a ring around the top part of the drumstick and using a sharp knife, slowly scrape down against the bone to loosen the meat from the drumstick.
3. Always pushing back the skin as you scrape.
4. Now proceed to do that for the wing by first cutting off the bone of the drumstick and continue scraping down to the second joint, pushing back the skin and meat as you go.
5. Then carefully cut off the two bones of the wing and discard them.
6. Be careful not to pierce the chicken skin.
7. Repeat this for all the wings.
8. Now the chicken wings are ready for stuffing.

Notes: Marinated the chicken wing with some cornflour, pepper and light soy sauce for at least 30 minutes before stuffing in the glutinous rice.

Deep Fried Grouper With Bread

All along I have being doing Prawn Toast but recently after seeing one of the recipe which used fish instead of prawn I decide to give it a try. I bought a piece of grouper fillet From NTUC and cut it into 6 equal pieces and come out with this Deep-Fried Grouper With Bread.

Thai Lemon Grass Chicken

This dish is known for its Thai-style dish fragrance with blend of spices and herbs such as; lemongrass which is one of the unique characteristic taste of Thai dish. With the combination of lemongrass and chicken together, the special dish is infused with citrus scent and a touch of sweetness. This can also make a perfect BBQ dish as well.

Grill Mushroom With Mixed Vegetables & Tuna Mayo Tomatoes

Always wanted to try grilling some veggie so I decided to test out with the beautiful tomato and mushroom which I bought earlier. To begin with dinner, I turned the veggie into two starter dishes; Grill Portobello With Mixed Vegetables and Stuffed Tomato With Tuna Mayonnaise.

Deep-Fry Prawn Toasts

Suddenly we have the urge to eat Prawn Toast so I modify slightly from one of my old recipe and come up with this. It's took about 30 minutes from preparation to deep-fry and it definitely worth the effort when you see and try the end-result. By seeing this, one of my friend even thought I cut out this photo from one of those food magazine.

Deep-fry Lemon Fish Strips

Had this for yesterday night dinner. This is a simple and easy to prepare dish which you can try out it too.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Piece of Dory Fillet
1 Cup Self-Raising Flour
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Water
1 Egg York
1 Teaspoon Lemon Rinds

Methods:
1. Cut fillet into strips and marinate it with some pepper and extra lemon rinds.
2. Sift flour into a large bowl and gradually whisk in combined milk, water, yolk and lemon rinds until smooth and consistency of pouring cream
3. Set batter aside for 15 minutes.
4. Heat oil until a piece of bread sizzles as soon as it is added.
5. Dust fish in flour with a few pieces at a time. Dip into batter, draining off excess and deep-fry for about 3 minutes until golden and cooked through.
6. Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm then continue with remaining fish.

Note: You can do a Seafood Basket by add in Prawns, Calamari, and Chips.