White Fungus & Wooden Ear Soup

This is a very soothing and nutritious soup which required very little ingredients such as either Lean Pork or Chicken Drumsticks together with some White Fungus, Wooden Ear and Red Dates. Due to the long hours of boiling, the texture of the soup will be sort of sticky rather than those normal clear soup. The texture is fragrant and refreshing due adding a few slices of ginger.


Wooden Ear(黑木耳): This contain much protein, carotene, vitamins A & B. It also improves blood circulation, benefits the spleen, moisturizes the lungs.

White Fungus(雪耳): It tastes slightly sweet and of neutral nature. It benefits the spleen, strengthens the stomach and expel Dryness. It calms the spirit, treats insomnia and is good for the body type that resists beneficial food.

Red Date(红枣): It is a blood tonic which can be widely used with other ingredients to nourish the body.

This soup helps to prevent blood vessel blockage, reduce cholesterol level, reduce blood pressure, avoids stroke and arteriosclerosis. Other then that it also helps reduce spot appearance, cleanse and moisturize the skin.

Ingredients:
2 Chicken Drumstick, removed skin
2 Pieces Of Wooden Ear(黑木耳), about 40g
1 Pieces Of White Fungus(雪耳), about 10g
10 – 12 Red Dates(红枣)
1 Tablespoon Ji Zi(枸杞子)
3 Slices Ginger(老姜)

Methods:
1. Soak white fungus and wooden ear in water until soft.
2. Remove the stems, rinse well and tear into small pieces and scald then set aside.
3. Rinse and scald the chicken.
4. Crush the red dates with flat side of knife, remove the seeds and rinse well.
5. Boil 1.5 – 2 Litres of water to boil, then add in all the ingredients and boil for 10 minutes.
6. Transfer to a slow cooker and simmer on low heat for about 3 – 4 hours.
7. Season with salt and serve.

Notes: You can either used Chicken or Lean Pork for this recipe.

Salted Fish Fried Rice

Just wanted to have something simple for dinner, so I decided to make this Salted Fish Fried Rice. It's very simple and only required Salted Fish and Rice as the Main Ingredients.


Ingredients:(serve 2)
1 Cup Uncooked Rice
1 Cup Of Bean Sprout
1/2 Cup Dired Whitebaits
50g Mackerel Salted Fish
1 Teaspoon Minced Garlic

Methods:
1. Wash and cook the rice accordingly then let it cool to room temperature and set aside in the fridge.(you can cook the rice previous night or early in the morning then kept in the fridge)
2. Wash and drain the bean sprout and dired whitebaites.
3. Heat the non-stick pan with 1/2 tablespoon of oil and pan-fry the whitebaits until golden brown and crisp then season with some salt and sugar, then remove and set aside.
4. Add in another 1 tablespoon of oil then pan-fry the salted fished until crisp and fragrant then add in the minced garlic and bean sprout.
5. Give a quick stir through then add in the cold rice and stir over medium heat until the rice is in separate grains.
6. Add in some cooking wine and fish sauce(light soya sauce) for seasoning then sever warm with fried whitebaits and egg.

Steam Red Date Meat Dumpling

This Steamed Red Date Meat Dumpling is inspired by one of the economical rice stall (cai fan - 菜饭) near my area. I find this dish rather interesting whiling ordering our usual dishes so I decide to try it out. And after trying I thought maybe I can replicate it using similar ingredients base of what I eaten.

Mini Buddha Jump Over Wall

Wanted to try cooking this soup for a very long time. Usually you can in different kinds of ingredients to into this soup. Some prefer to have some extra herbs into it while other might not so it all depend on what you prefer to eat.


Today what I had cooked is just the mini version because I had omitted things like Abalone, Fish Maw, Ham and etc. What I had is mainly on the dried ingredients and herbs, which is cheaper and easily found in your kitchen pantry.

Ingredients:
3 Dried Ginseng
2 Stalk Dang Shen(当参)
3 Dried Scallops
5 Dried Oysters
4 Slices Of Dang Gui(当归)
3 Slices Of Sea Conch(响螺片)
3 Slices Of Huai Shan(淮山)
5 Red Dates(红枣)
1 Tablespoon Jizi(枸杞子)
1 Dried Mushroom
2 Chicken Drumsticks
300g Pork Ribs
2 Medium Sea Cucumber

Methods:
1. Wash and soak dried oysters and scallop in hot water until soft, then rinse well.
2. Wash all the rest of the herbs and set aside for later use.
3. Wash and blanched the pork ribs and chicken in boiling water then rinse well.
4. Bring a pot of water(about 1.5 litres) to boil then add in all the herbs, chicken and pork ribs and bring to boil again.
5. Wash the sea cucumber and cut into thick section then set aside.
6. Transfer to a slow cooker and simmer on low heat for about 3 - 4 hours then add in the sea cucumber and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes.
7. Season with salt to taste and serve.