Stir-fry Cabbage With Golden Mushroom & Woodear

Woodear is a type of mushroom that resembles a large ear when it is fresh and grows as large as half a foot. The surface of the mushroom is purplish-gray in color and the flesh is a dark purplish gray to almost black in color. They have a slightly crunchy texture and delicate, almost bland flavor that more often than not absorbs the taste of any strongly flavored ingredients with which they are cooked. They have both fresh and dried wood ears sold in the supermarket, the dried one usually look like brownish-black, dried chips. Upon soaking in water it might increase 5 to 6 times in size and resemble the shape of an ear. Wood ears are mainly popular in stir-fries and soups.


Saw a few kinds of mushrooms on sales from the local supermarket. So I decided to grab hold of 1 packet of Fresh Woodear and 1 packet of Korean Golden Mushroom. I found that the Golden Mushroom was very special, it's kind of like the normal Enokitake(金针菇), but in shorter and brown in colour. My son said it looks like little matchsticks.

Ingredients:
1/2 Small Beijing Cabbage(北京包菜)
1 Packet Korean Golden Mushroom
2 Pieces of Fresh Woodear(黑木耳), cut into thin strips
1 Small Carrot, cut into thin slices
2 Slices Of Fresh Ginger
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce

Methods:
1. Cut the cabbage into bite size then soak in water for about 5 minutes, rinse and set aside.
2. Cut the stalk off from the golden mushroom, rinse in water, drain and set aside.
3. Preheat the pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, saute the ginger until fragrant then add in the cabbage and carrot.
4. Stir-fry for a few minutes then add in the woodear and oyster sauce, stir for another few second then add 100ml water.
5. Cover and let it simmer on medium low heat for 5 minutes then add in all the mushroom and cover, continue to simmer for another 3 minutes.
6. Slowly add in some cornstarch water to thicken the sauce then dish and serve.(you might not need all the water, just add till the sauce is thicken)

Notes:
a) You can also used dried woodear if you prefer.
b) Cornstarch mixture = 1/2 Tablespoon Potato/Cornstarch mix with 2 Tablespoons Of water.

Bread Fritter Stuffed With Banana & Chocolate

Saw this interesting recipe from one of the Food Magazine which I bought recently. It actually wrapped banana with chocolate with bread then deep-frying it.


To my surprised it doesn't really taste as sweet as I thought maybe because I used dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. My son and I love the combination of banana with chocolate it's really another new way to serve bread as breakfast or afternoon tea snack.

Ingredients:
4 Slices Of White Bread
1 or 2 Banana
40g Chocolate Of Your Choice
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence, optional
Cornstarch for Dusting
Oil For Deep-frying

Methods:
1. Trim away sides of each sliced bread and flatten slightly with a rolling pin.
2. Peel and halve banana lengthwise to suit the size of the bread slice.
3. Roughly chop chocolate into fine pieces and set aside.
4. In a bowl, mix eggs with vanilla essence.
5. Dip each bread into egg mixture, ad place a slice of banana on one end then sprinkle some chopped chocolate on the banana.
6. Roll up the bread into a tight roll.
7. Dust with cornstarch and deep-fry till golden.
8. Drain on paper towel and cut it into half before serving.

Notes:
a) You can used any choice of bread that you prefer.
b) I used Dark Chocolate with almond.
c) You can serve the bread fritter with cut fruit or dust with some icing sugar.

Ginseng Black Chicken Soup

Feel like having some nutrition soup for this week as so happen Tracy was visiting me so I thought maybe can double boiled this soup and spilt half with her. Since only the adult prefer the Ginseng taste rather than the kid, I guess it's a good way to share in order to finish the soup :)


The Main ingredients used are small Ginseng Root and Black Chicken together with some other herbs to improve and strengthen the lungs and blood circulation. If you want to know more on what's the function and usage of each herbs, you can refer to the Basic Chinese Herbs I and Basic Chinese Herbs II links.

Ingredients:
1 Small Black Chicken,黑鸡
3-4 Gingseng Roots, 小人参
4 Slices Of Dang Gui, 当归片
4 Slices Of Huai Shan, 淮山片
1 Slices Of BeiQi, 北耆
1-2 Piece of Dang Shen(当参), cut into smaller pieces
6 Red Dates, 红枣
1 Tablespoon Gou Qizi, 枸杞子
10-12 Dried Lotus Seeds, 莲子
5g Dried Longan, 龙眼干

Methods:
1. Wash, trim and remove the skin and fats from the chicken. Cut the chicken into 3 - 4 large sections and blanch in boiling water then rinse and set aside.
2. Rinse all the dried herbs and set aside.
3. Soak the dried lotus seeds in hot water for a few minutes or till soft then remove all the pits in in to prevent it from bitter.
4. Bring a pot of 1.2 Litres of Water to boil then add in all the ingredients and bring to boil again.
5. Transfer all to a slow cooker and simmer on Auto for about 3 Hours.
6. Season the soup with salt if you prefer and serve warm.

Notes:
a) You can used normal free range chicken instead of black chicken if you prefer.

Chocolate Mint Cake With Fudge Topping

The 1st time I saw this Chocolate Mint Cake was in Taste Goblet blogsite. I was capture by the wonderful jade green colour and chocolate swirl design. The original recipe was from Aunty Yochana's blogsite where you can find the recipe.


I made this cake in smaller muffin size version instead of the 8" cake tin size used in the original recipe because I found it easier to do the fudge topping and it's kid's friendly to. I just need to give one serving portion to whoever that want to eat without cutting it into slices.... :) Lazy way of serving........

Reyon really enjoys every of our baking session. He loves to help me whip and beat up those necessary ingredients or help up in the stirring part when i pour in the Cocoa Powder or Milk. Guess very soon I can sit and relax while waiting for him to whip me some nice cookies or cake....... :)

I can't find any decent looking strawberries around in the supermarket so I melt some white chocolate to decorate the Chocolate Fudge Topping. As for the mini muffin, I sprinkle some colourful stars for my little Darling Reyon.