Saturday 14 June 2008

Rice Wine Chicken - 黄酒鸡

Yo!!! All the Precious Mummies who read this post, do you still remember this Rice Wine Chicken dish that you used to have during the 30 days of Confinement? I guess most of the Asia Mummies do love this dish due to it's special fragrance of the sesame oil and shredded ginger. It is a very nutritious dish which contain Woodears, Mushroom, Chicken and lot of Ginger and Rice Wine.


I love this dish especially with a lot of the shredded ginger and sesame oil. I just simply love the fragrance of this dish when saute the ginger with the sesame oil. The purpose of eating this dish during confinement time is to expel the wind from the stomach as well as clear the blood clot in the womb.

This dish goes well with either steam white rice or Mee Suan(面线) as you can use the gravy as a soup base. I love the crunchiness of the Chinese mushroom and smooth and sticky woodear after being stew in the sauce. But for those who has not being a mother yet, you still can try cooking this dish by either retain the rice wine as the main ingredients or replace it with water. Posted by Picasa

Ingredients: (Serves 2)
4 Chicken Wings, cut at the joint
1 Tablespoon of Grated Ginger
4 - 6 Dried Chinese Mushroom, soaked till soft
1 or 2 Cluster of Fresh Woodear(木耳), washed and cut into thick section
8 Slices of Ginger, thinly shredded
1 1/2 Tablespoons Of Sesame Oil
1/2 Tablespoon of Wolfberries(枸杞子)
3/4 - 1 Cup of Glutinous Rice Wine
1/2 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce, optional
1/2 - 1 Tablespoon of Cornstarch mixture

Methods:
1. Marinate the chicken wings with 1 tablespoon of grated ginger for about 20 - 30 minutes to enhance the favour.
2. Heat a craypot or frying pan with sesame oil and saute the shredded ginger until fragrant and almost golden colour then add in the marinated chicken wing.
3. Stir-fry the chicken until it turn white on the surface(sealed the surface of the meat) then add in the Woodears, Mushrooms and oyster sauce.
4. Continue to stir-fry for about 30 seconds to let it absorb the sesame oil fragrant.
5. Next pour in the rice wine and wolfberries and let it simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes or so. (If you prefer more gravy, you can add in more rice wine according to your preference)
6. When the chicken and mushroom is cooked through, stir in the cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce a bit and give it a glossy texture.
7. Serve it with white rice or mee suan(面线) as prefer.

Notes:
a) You can replace chicken wings with chicken pieces or meat.
b) You can omit the dried mushroom and woodear for different texture of this dish.
c) It's optional that you must add in cornstarch to thicken the sauce.
d) You can either season it with Oyster sauce or salt depend on your preference.

Saturday 7 June 2008

Braised Chicken & Mushroom

This is a very Quick and Easy meal for busy working mum to get dinner ready in less than 30 minutes. You can actually prepared some of the ingredients the night before like soaking the mushroom till soft and prepared the hard-boiled eggs and keep it in the fridge before use. It all depend on what ingredients you prefer to add into this meal.



For this Braised Chicken & Mushrooms dish, I added in Hard-boiled eggs which is Reyon's favourite and it really taste great with the help of Lee Kim Kee instant Sauce For Teriyaki Chicken. If you prefer, you can also replace the chicken wings with Pork Belly meat to make Braised Pork Belly but the cooking time will be slightly longer in order to make the pork belly more tender. You can also use this dish to go with either Rice or Noodle depend on your preference.Posted by Picasa

Ingredients: (serves 2)
3 - 4 Chicken Wings, depend on the size
2 Hard-boiled Egg
6 - 8 Medium Dried Mushroom, soaked till soft
1 Packet of Lee Kim Kee Sauce For Teriyaki Chicken
3 Shallot, thinly sliced
4 Cloves Of Garlic, light smashed
2 Slices of Ginger
150ml - 180 ml Of Water

Methods:
1. Preheat the small saucepan with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil and saute the shallot, garlic and ginger until fragrant.
2. Next add in the chicken wings and continue to saute for a few second then add in the Teriyaki Sauce and stir till well combined.
3. Pour in the water then follow by the pre-soaked mushrooms and hard-boiled egg and let it simmer on low heat for about 10 - 15 minutes until the chicken is cook through.
4. If you wan the mushroom to absord more favour of the sauce, you can remove the chicken wings first then let the mushroom and egg continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.

Notes:
a) You can use either whole chicken wings or mid-joint or drumstick depend on your preference.
b) You can even add in Firm Beancrud(Dou Gan).
c) You can replace the chicken wing with 1 or 2 strips of the pork belly.
d) If you prefer more sauce, you have to use two packets of the Lee Kee Kim Teriyaki Sauce instead of one.

Sunday 25 May 2008

Pan-fry Salmon & Apple Slices With Butter Sauce

Salmon is the common name for several species of Fish of the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the family are called trout. Salmon is a popular food. Consuming salmon is considered to be reasonably healthy due to the fish's high protein, high Omega-3 fatty acids, and high vitamin D content.

Like many fruits, Apples contain Vitamin C as well as a host of other antioxidant compounds, which may reduce the risk of cancer by preventing DNA damage. The fiber content, while less than in most other fruits, helps regulate bowel movements and may thus reduce the risk of colon cancer. They may also help with heart disease, weight loss and controlling cholesterol, as they do not have any cholesterol, have fiber, which reduces cholesterol by preventing re-absorption, and are bulky for their caloric content like most fruits and vegetables. So "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

This was a very interesting dish that my lady boss was telling us during one of the chit chat session. So base on what she had describe, I came out my own version of Pan-fry Salmon & Apples Slices With Butter Sauce. Other than the main course, I also added some side dish like stir-fry honey peas & carrot with garlic serve with rice. Posted by Picasa

This is indeed a very nice and easy to prepare hearty food for the whole family to have fish, fruit, vegetables and rice in a dish. If you are interested on how does the apples taste wise with salmon and butter, you must try this dish and you will sure to love it just like what we do. Reyon loves this dish especially the butter apples and juicy salmon..........

Ingredients For Salmon & Apple (serves 2)
1 Piece of Salmon Fillet, about 300g
2 Medium Red Apples, cored and cut into wedges
1 Medium Onion, cut into thin slices
4 Slices of Ginger, thinly shredded
10g - 15g of Salted Butter
1/4 Wedge Of Lemon, optional

Methods:
1. Wash and pat dry the salmon fillet, sprinkle with some pepper(optional) then coat with some corn flour before pan-fry to get the crispy outer coating and seal the freshness and juicy texture of the fillet.
2. Heat up the pan with 10g of butter, you can add 1/2 teaspoon of cooking oil to prevent the butter from getting burn.
3. Saute the onion and ginger for about 30 seconds then add in the salmon fillet and pan-fry on low heat until it's cooked through to your preference. (I prefer it to be just done so that the meat will be juicy and outer layer is crispy and fragrant, when you see golden colour on the skin layer it should be done but then it also depend on the thickness of the fillet.)
4. When the salmon is done remove it from the pan, and if there is not much oil left, you can add in more butter then put in the apple wedges and stir-fry for about 3-5 minutes till it's tender.
5. Remove it and serve together with the fish fillet and lemon.

Notes:
a) You can replace the salmon with cod fish if you prefer.
b) When saute the onion and ginger with the salmon, when you see the onion and ginger is almost golden in colour, dish it up and set aside so that u can served it on top of the rice.
c) You can either peel off the skin of the apple or u can cook it with the skin on depend on your liking. For me, I used 1 with skin and the other one without.

Ingredients For The Side Dish
6 - 8 Honey Peas
1 Medium/Small Carrot, cut into 0.5cm thick slices
3 Cloves Of Garlic, remove the skin
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine (hua tiao jiu)

Methods:
1. Prepare and wash the vegetables then heat up the pan with some oil and saute the garlic till fragrant.
2. Add in the carrot slices and fry for about 1 minute then add in the peas and continue to stir-fry for another 1 minutes.
3. Season it with some cooking wine and pinch of salt.

Saturday 24 May 2008

Lotus Root, Pumpkin & Pearl Bean Soup

Look at these beans, they look beautiful right? I love to add some of these Pearl Beans while cooking soup for the family. It will add a nutty flavor and creamy texture to the soup but then since it will get cook and turn soft pretty fast, you can only add them into the soup 20 minutes before the soup is done. Do not add too early or else you won't be able to find the whole bean itself.


It had being a long time ever since I used this little jewels in my soup. So today, since I had found some fresh and lovely Pearl Bean Pods in the market, I decided to use it together with some Pumpkin and Lotus Roots to make this wonderful nutty and hearty soup. Posted by Picasa

Ingredients:
300g Pork Ribs
1 Medium Section of Lotus Roots, about 200g
10 - 15 Pearl Bean Pods (珍珠豆)
1/4 (200g) Wedge of Australia Pumpkin, cut into thick chunk
1 Medium Carrot, peel and cut into thick slices
5 Red Dates(红枣 )
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries(枸杞子)
4 - 6 Cloves Of Garlic
2 Slices Of Ginger

Methods:
1. Wash and trim the pork ribs then scald in boiling water and rinse again.
2. Wash, peel and cut the lotus roots into thin slices.
3. Remove the beans from the pods and rinse well.
4. Heat up the a soup pot with some oil, then saute the ginger and garlic till fragrant then add in the pork ribs, lotus roots and carrot, stir and saute for another 2 - 3 minutes on very low heat.
5. Add about 1.5 litres of water and bring it to boil.
6. Simmer the soup for about 30 minuter then add in the pumpkin and pearl beans and continue to simmer for another 20 - 30 minutes
7. Season it with salt or stock cubes according to your preference.

Notes:
a) I use the Australia Pumpkin which is more Orange in colour and sweeter compare to the local pumpkin which is more towards the yellowish colour side.
b) You can replace pork ribs with lean meat or chicken according to your preference.

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