Huai Shan & Lily Bulbs Congee

Recently I have shared with you "Steam Chicken Fillet With Huai Shan" using fresh Huai Shan and "Double-boiled Fresh Lily Bulbs Soup" with Fresh Lily Bulbs respectively. Accordingly to Chinese Physicians, these two ingredients are very nutritious and benefits the Lungs and and strengthens the Spleen.

Huai Shan is used to strengths the Spleen and Stomach and it is a very good Chinese herbal medicine to strengthen the body. So this congee is a good choice to remove Dampness in the body and flu in summer which is great for kids. Adding lean pork and lily bulb brings out the extra sweetness and flavour of this congee which is a very healthy meal for the kids or elderly.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
100g Fresh Huai Shan(鲜淮山)
1/2 Cup Of Rice
100g Lean Pork, cut into thin slices
2 Fresh Lily Bulbs(鲜百合)
1 Litre Of Water

Method:
1. Rinse and use a vegetable peeler to peel off the outer skin of the Fresh Huai Shan, rinse and cut into big chunks.
2. Rinse, clean and remove the petals from the bulbs, soak in water for a few seconds to remove dirt.
3. Rinse the rice for about 3 to 4 times, then soak with some water while preparing the soup base.
4. Bring 1 litre of water to boil in a medium pot, add in fresh huai shan and lily bulbs simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes, add in the drained rice.
5. When the mixture comes to boil again, add in the lean pork and cook the congee over medium low heat for about 15 minutes or till done to your liking, remember to stir on and off.
6. When done, cover and let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.


This congee helps to strengthens the Spleen and Stomach and as well helps regulating the body system. If your prefer, you can also add some fresh lily petals on the congee before serving to bring out that extra lovely fragrance and extra crunchiness.

Steam Chicken Fillet With Huai Shan

Are you interested to try something simple, light and healthy but at the same time with those kind restaurant serving presentation to impress your family this weekend. If your answer is "Yes" then why not, try out this quick and simple one dish meal with Fresh Huai Shan, Chicken Fillet and Mushroom to conquer their taste buds.

For most of the frequent readers here, you will know that I love to use "Fresh Huai Shan" in my cooking especially - soup. Huai Shan benefits the spleen and stomach as well as strengthens the body.

There are a few types of Huai Shan various from Fresh to Dried type. In most supermarkets or wet market, you will find two type of fresh huai shan from either China or Japan. Japan Huai Shan will be much more expensive ranging from S$8.00 - S$10.00 per kilogram. Some people might find it difficult to handle fresh huai shan as it's kind of slippy and the gluey starch might make your hand itchy. Perhaps you can wear a disposal gloves or plastic bag before handling it.

This is a very nutritious and healthy watching dish that use fresh huai shan from Japan, lean chicken fillet and dried mushroom. The fresh huai shan slices and dried mushroom are pre-steam using chicken stock in order for them to absorb the flavour from the stock.

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
200g Chicken Fillet
100g Fresh Huai Shan(鲜淮山)
5 Small Dried Mushrooms
5g Wolfberries
80 - 100ml Chicken Stock

Marinade:
1 Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Ginger Juice
1/2 Teaspoon Cornflour
Dash of Sesame Oil

Method:
1. Remove the stalks from the dried mushrooms then soak them in hot water till soften.
2. Peel of the outer skin of the fresh huai shan, rinse then cut it into 0.5cm thick circle slices.
3. Place the fresh huai shan, soaked mushrooms and chicken stock in a deep plate, steam them for about 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, rinse and slice chicken fillet into strips then mix it with marinade.
5. When the huai shan mixture is done, lower the heat, slowly arrange the marinated chicken fillet on top of the huai shan with the wolfberries on top.
6. Steam the mixture for about 8 minutes or till done on medium high heat.
7. Serve hot on the plate itself or re-arrange it on individual serving plates.

After steaming, the fresh huai shan taste wonderfully soft and full of flavour due to the chicken stock, mushroom and fillet. This dish goes very well with either steam rice or porridge especially it's gravy which is so tasty and sweet.

5th Anniversary Blog Event

Time flies, Cuisine Paradise is going to be 5 years old this coming 30 April 2010. Last year, thank you for all the blog event participants for their support and hope they enjoy their gifts. This year, we will shall have something different and challenging. This event is open to all readers of my blogs irregardless of where you are from as long as you wish to take part in this event :)

This year we will be having Mother's Day Vs Father's Day quick and easy recipe competition.

All you need to do are:-
1. Submit a quick and simple recipe of your own creativity base on either one of the above category. It can be either on snack, cookies/cakes, dishes or dessert. (preferable with a photo of your dish attached)
2. Email me Your Entry Details as shown below together with your Recipe to ellenaguan@hotmail.com : (please put eg: Mother's Day, Father's Day on your email subject, in order for me to do the sorting as well compare your details in case i didn't received your email. Thanks)

Example:
RE: Mother's Day Breakfast Idea:
Your Name: Linda Lim
Country You are From: Singapore
Blog URL (if you maintain one):www.linda.blogspot.com
Email add for contact if you are the winner:

AND
3. Leave me your Name and Event Category that you wish to participate on the Post Comment Link(the comments will only appear after I approved it)


Winner:
There will be one winner for each category and each winner will walk away with a S$20.00 cash voucher that can be used in Local Supermarket such as "Cold Storage, Market Place, Giant or Shop N Save" to reward them for their effort, creativity, presentation and simplicity of the dish.

For overseas winner, you will get a mystery gift of equivalent value :)


Please Note:
Only ONE ENTRY per visitor is allow for each category, There will be a limit of 20 entries per Category and I will update each category so that you will know which category is closed for the event. Thanks for your support and enjoy the fun............



This Blog Event end on 18 April 2010 (2359hr Singapore Time). I would like to thank all of you for the regular visits, comments, feedback and sharing in all my related blogs to Cuisine Paradise all these years.

Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

Often Easter isn't complete without eating some warm hot cross buns straight from the oven. So for this coming Easter, perhaps you would like to give this recipe a try and bake a batch of your own. I saw this recipe from one of the Australia best selling Food Magazine known as "Super Food Idea". I am a big fan of this magazine during my stay in Australia a few years back and today all thanks to my dear friend, Quinn who stays in Adelaide. With her help on getting this magazine for us, we are able to try out this wonderful Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Bun. She is so sweet and helpful that she even take photo of the recipes and email to me in case we don't received the book before Easter.