Fresh Peanut Roots & Mushroom Pork Ribs Soup

There is this saying that "Chinese made soup from roots of peanut to help youngsters to grow taller" especially when given to them during their teen years. Some also believed that boiling fresh peanut leaves in water and drinking the before bedtime can ensure a good night sleep. But all other than these believed, you still can whip out some nice and fragrant soup using this Peanut Roots which can be found is most vegetables stall in the local wet market.

To me, I found it very time consuming to wash these peanut roots. Because they are filled with dirts that you need to wash, scrap and soak it in water until clean before you can proceed in making the soup.


For this soup, I also add in some extra dried soup peanuts and Dried Brazil Mushrooms(click on link for more info) to enhance the flavour. I boiled all the ingredients with some pork ribs and chicken bone to hope that it will make the soup morenutritionn and sweet. This is my first time using Brazil Mushrooms which is introduce by Edith from Precious Moments.

Ingredients:
1 Bunch of Peanut Roots(花生根), about 200g
300g Pork Ribs(排骨)
1 Chicken Bone(鸡骨)
50-80g Soup Peanuts(花生), soaked in hot water
6 Red Dates(红枣)
1 Tablespoon Gou Qizi(枸杞子)
8-10 Stalks Of Dried Brazil Mushrooms,姬松茸(巴西蘑菇)

Methods:
1. Trim, wash, scrap and soak the peanut roots in water until the water is clear without dirts.(you need to soak in water for at least 2 hrs)
2. Soaked the peanuts andBrazill mushrooms in hot water for a while, rinse, drained then set aside.
3. Blanched the pork ribs and chicken bone in boiling water, rinse, drained and set aside.
4. Bring a pot of 1.5 litres of water to boil, add in all the ingredients and bring to boil again.
5. Transfer all to a slow cooker and simmer on Auto-Heat for 3 - 4 hrs, season with salt and served.

Mix Vegetables & Chicken On Deep-fried Yam

Actually this dish is not suppose to look as what it is shown here. From the site that tracy show me, it supposed to call Savoury Bird Nests. She used grated yam to deep-fry into individual nest then top with some stir-fry ingredients.

I did not get it successful in making the "Yam Nests" as mine grated yam kept sticking on to the metal sieves while frying. But the "Nests" filling, I used the following vegetables and seasonings:


Ingredients:
1/2 Portion Of Chicken Breast, 150g
4 Medium Dried Shitake Mushroom, soaked till soften
6-8 Canned Button Mushroom
6 Water Chestnuts, peeled and cut into quarters
1 Small Carrots, peeled and cut into small cubes
100g Pumpkin/Potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
6 Small Dried Chilli, soaked till soften, cut into thick slices
1/2 Green Capsicum, cut into small cubes
Some Spring Onion, sliced thinly in diagonal shapes
1 - 2 Small Fried Chilli, sliced thinly
3 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
50g Roasted Cashew Nuts
1 Teaspoon Cornstarch mix with 30ml water
Marinade:
1 Teaspoon Cooking Wine
1 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
2 Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Teaspoon Cornstarch
Dash Of Pepper

Methods:
1. Wash, trim and cut the chicken into small cubes then marinate it with the marinade for at least 30 minutes or more.
2. Cut the soften shitake mushroom into quarter then blanched in hot oil for a few seconds, drained and set aside.
3. Deep-fry both the carrots and pumpkin in hot oil for 1 minute, drained and set aside.
4. Preheat the pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, saute the dried chilli until fragrant(about 30 sec), then add in minced garlic and continue to saute until slightly golden.
5. Next add in the marinated chicken and stir-fry for 1 minute, then add in the water chestnut, capsicum, pumpkin, carrot, shitake and button mushroom and some of the spring onion.
6. Continue to fry until chicken is cooked through then add in some cornstarch water and stir till sauce almost thicken then add in the cashew nut.
7. Dish up the mixture and place it in the "Yam Nests"(refer to the link for making it) and serve with extra garnish of the spring onion and chilli slices.

Notes: You can replace the chicken by either pork slices or prawns.

Creamy Avocado Dessert

Do you know what is this green mixture with the chocolate sauce? Hahaha... For your info, is not Green Tea Ice-cream nor Mint Ice-cream. Is blended Avocado dessert.... This is another way to consume your avocado if you don't like to eat it as what it is.... For more information on Avocado, you can click on this link "All about Avocado".

The original recipe come from Suyin's "A yucky Shade of Green" post. She used sugar, palm sugar and mocha powder for the sauce. But Tracy taught me another methods is to used dark chocolate melted with palm sugar and drizzle on top and it taste great as well.

Notes:
To ripen avocado, place it in a brown paper bag and store at room temperature with an apple or banana for 2 to 4 days or until ripe.

Store cut avocado halves with the seed left intact. Drizzle with lemon or lime juice and wrap tightly in plastic, ensuring plastic is pressed on surface.

Yam & Cabbage Pork Belly Rice

There are a few version and methods in making this homemade "Yam & Cabbage Pork Belly Rice". Different dialect group tends to cook it in different kind of ingredients. For my case, this was what my late dad used to cook for us when he was around. Sometime he will omit the yam and just cooked it with cabbage and pork belly.

This is a very simple one dish meal which consists of vegetables like cabbage, yam and mushroom. If you don't like pork belly then you can replace it with lean pork or chicken fillet. It will taste just as good, the secrete of making this dish fragrant and tasty is by adding pound dried shrimp and fried shallot. The aroma of the shallot oil will make the rice taste great.


I also used the water for soaking the mushroom to cook the rice, so that the mushroom fragrant really goes into the rice grains itself. But if you do not like the fragrant of the mushroom then you can just used normal water instead.

Ingredients:
100 - 120g Yam, peel and cut into 2" Cubes
150g Pork Belly, removed excess fat and cut into thin strips
150g Cabbage, shredded
3 Medium Shittaka Mushrooms, soaked till soft
1 Tablespoon Of Dried Shrimps, soaked till soft
1 Tablespoon Of Minced Garlic
4 Shallots, thinly sliced
Seasoning:
2 Teaspoon Soy Sauce
Dash Of Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
Dash Of Pepper
1 Teaspoon Cooking Wine
Garnish:
1 Medium Chilli, thinly sliced
1 Small Stalk Of Spring Onion, thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon Dried Shallots
Some Dark Soy Sauce

Methods:
1. Wash, trim and cut the pork into thin strips then marinate it with seasoning for at least 30 minutes.
2. Cut the soaked soften mushroom into thin strips, set aside. Then lightly pound the soften dried shimp.
3. Preheat the pan with 2 Tablespoons of oil then saute the shallot slices until slightly golden brown, remove and set aside.
4. Add some oil to the pan, saute the dried shrimps and half of the garlic until fragrant then add in the shredded mushroom and cabbage.
5. Stir-fry for about 1 minutes, then add in 1/2 Tablespoon oyster sauce and 50ml water, cover and simmer on low heat until the water almost dried up. Dish up and set aside.
6. Wash the pan, and add 1 tablespoon of the reserve shallot oil, saute the remaining half garlic until fragrant then add in the marinated pork and yam, stir over medium high heat until almost done.
7. Next add in 1/2 tablespoon of oyster sauce and 100ml of water then simmer over low heat until the yam is soften. Dish up and set aside.
8. Cook the white rice accordingly when the water is almost dry up, add in the vegetables and pork mixture into it and stir well.
9. Continue to cook over low heat for another 5 minutes if using stove or until the cooked in the rice-cooker.
10. Serve the cooked yam rice with garnish.