Prawns in Tomato Sauce

Don't we all love seafood especially shrimp/prawn ? Years ago I was once diagnosed with seafood allergy but luckily it's gone in months after I took some medication. I love any type of Prawn or Shrimp cooking.Yea ,we called Shrimp in US and A.Most of the time I like to cook hot and spicy shrimp for myself..If I cook the shrimp too hot and spicy,Mishu can't eat it.She still eat spicy food but not too spicy.So now I purposely cook some shrimp in tomato sauce for her.I recalled when I was young my mom like to cook this dish for us..It's really a scrumptious and everybody friendly food!

Ingredients:
15 pieces large head on prawn,trimmed and washed
5 cloves,peeled and chopped
1 large onion,peeled and sliced
1 stalk scallion,washed and cut
1 small bell pepper,washed and sliced
1/2 cup ketchup or tomato puree
1/2 water if choose ketchup
2 tbsp sugar
salt to taste
2 tbsp cooking oil
Method:
1:Heat skillet or wok with oil at medium high heat.Add in chopped garlic,fry until lightly brown .Add in clean prawns,onion and bell pepper,use spatula to fry the prawn for 1 minutes,then add in ketchup or tomato puree,sugar,water and salt.
2:Cook the ingredients for 3-5 minutes or until the sauce thicken or cooked.Add in cut scallion,then dish out and serve warm with rice.

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Pan-fry Tenderloin Pork with Soy Sauce

I remember when I was young,my mom love to cook this pan-fried pork for us.One of my brother really crazy in love with this pork dish.He can eat this dish everyday!! There is no unique ingredients to use to marinate this pork.All you need is sugar,soy sauce,dark soy sauce and ground pepper!! Well,if you wonder which part of pork should you use for this dish,I have good news for you!! Tenderloin is the best part and you can get that part of pork anywhere in local market or supermarket! I bought a whole tenderloin,family pack and trim some fats away but still retains some excess fats for this dish. If you're not a pork eater,maybe you can replaced pork tenderloin with boneless whole leg (dark meat preferred).Hubby eat this pan-fried pork with bread as sandwich.As long as I add less ground pepper,he alright with the meal..Actually he whacked finished the whole plate in 2 days!! I recalled he complained that this pork was hot and spicy when my mom served him years ago..

Ingredients:

2 lbs tenderloin pork or dark meat boneless chicken,remove excess fats


2 tbsp sugar or to taste


1 tbsp ground white or black pepper ,more or less


2 tbsp soy sauce


salt to taste*optional*


1 drop dark thick soy sauce*optional*


some oil for frying




Method;


1:Cut pork shape like cutlet about 1 inch thick each piece,use metal meat mallet or back of the knife(the dull side) to tenderize the meat before marinate with all the seasoning for 2 hours or more. Use the tip of your finger to check the seasoning.


2:Heat skillet or pan ,drizzle some oil at medium heat.Slowly place each piece of meat on the skillet,pan-fry each side for 1 minute or until cooked.


3:Dish out and serve warm with rice.

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Stir-fry Yam Balls with Chicken

Last month I bought a large tuber of taro/yam from Chinatown,all this while the yam was still sitting cold in the spare fridge in the garage..I totally forget about the taro/yam ,as people said it's out of sight out of mind..Some part of the tuber has gone bad..Actually I was planning to make Yam cake but since 1/2 of the tuber has gone bad I have to change the game plan!! How about Yam Balls? I believed Yam Balls is a Hakka dish..I think mostly every dish cook with taro is a Hakka dish,right?

Ingredients:(A)
Batter/dough
300 gm mashed cooked taro/yam
150 gm tapioca flour
1/2 tsp salt
water(slowly pour water into the dough ,more or less depend on the dough texture)

(B)
1 piece of boneless chicken breast,diced
5 pieces fresh mushroom,sliced
5 pieces dried tofu,sliced
4 cloves fresh garlic,peeled and chopped
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp ground white pepper
salt to taste
2 tbsp oil
1 cup water ,plus extra if necessary
1 stalk scallion,washed and cut
1 whole red pepper,washed and cut


Method:
1:Peel and cut taro for steaming.Steam until cooked and soft.Combine ingredients(A) in a large bowl,knead into smooth dough.
2:Prepare wok or large stock pot with water at high heat.Shape the dough into oblong shape and then into small ball.Use your fingertip to push lightly on the center of the small ball to create a shape like well .Repeat the same procedure until dough finish.
3:When water rolling boil,add the shaped yam balls into the water,cook until they floated or cooked.Dish out cooked yam balls onto a large plate and sprinkle some oil and mix well to prevent from sticking with each others.
4:Heat wok or large skillet with oil at medium high heat,add in chopped garlic,fry until lightly brown.Add in chopped chicken,dried tofu and mushroom ,stir well for 2-3 minutes.Then add in yam balls ,oyster sauce ground pepper,water and salt.Cook until sauce thicken .Check the seasoning .
5:Sprinkle with some cut scallion and cut chili before dish out and serve warm.


boiled yam balls with oil coated

shape yam ball into small ball before cook

mashed taro/yam with tapioca flour

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Shrimp and Chicken Fried Rice wt String Beans

This summer my home grown organic string bean plants produces abundance of green beans for me.Usually every summer I loves to buy green string beans from farm market but this year I bought none at all!! So far my string beans plants still produce wonderful string bean .I been harvesting the green bean almost every other day and store in Ziploc bag..Well,what to do with all this healthy and green beans? Since we love fried rice very much,why not use string beans with the fried rice..it's really taste crunchy and crisp!!





Ingredients:

3 cups cooked cold Jasmine rice,overnight prefer
15 pieces small shrimp,shelled and deviened
1 large piece boneless chicken breast,sliced
1 large onion,peeled and diced
1 lb or more green string bean,removed both end tips and cut small
4-5 eggs
2 tbsp chicken boullion powder
1 tbsp ground white pepper powder
2 tbsp oyster sauce
salt to taste
2-3 tbsp cooking oil
3-4 cloves fresh garlic,peeled and chopped



Method:
1:Heat large skillet or wok at medium high heat with oil.Crack eggs into wok when it's hot,scramble eggs for 1 minutes,then dish out and set aside.
2:Use the same wok,add in some oil and garlic,fry garlic for 30 seconds,then add in sliced chicken and shrimp,cook for 1-2 minutes,add in diced onion ,string beans,jasmine rice and all the seasoning.Keep frying and tossing all the ingredients at high heat for 8-10 minutes or until the rice dancing in the wok..Toss in the scramble eggs with the rice.
3:Check the seasoning before dish out and serve warm.

I notice the string bean plants produce 2 kind of shape beans..some beans look more round and some are more flat!! Now I wonder,what is the different between french bean and string bean?

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Sesame Sweet Potato Ball wt Red Bean Paste

Recently I shop at another location farm market, I saw bundles of prepacked white skin sweet potato on sale for $1.00 each .I guess each package is about 5 pounds if not more..I like white skin ,yellow flesh sweet potato rather than orange flesh sweet potato because yellow flesh sweet potato have have the densest flesh of the genre and the lowest moisture content, making them a great masher. Yellow sweet potato have much less sugar ,not to said it's firmer and starchy than their orange fleshed sisters.As always I can't resist not to grab any good deal on the sale rack..Since this precious gem is on sale, I quickly grab 2 packages and dump in my shopping cart...I been cooking sweet potato sweet soup 番薯糖水 for awhile but still has plenty of sweet potato left sitting in the fridge. Well,what else to do with the rest of sweet potato? Hmmm...how about another sweet dessert?

Ingredients:
300 gm sweet potato
100 gm glutinous rice flour(sifted)
3 tbsp sugar
1 /2 can of red bean paste
1 cup raw white sesame seeds
1-2 cup oil for frying
Method:

1:Peel and cut sweet potato into small cube or slices.Prepare water in skillet or steamer.Steam sweet potato over high heat for about 20 minutes or until it's cooked.
2:Mash sweet potato well while it's still warm or hot. Then mix with glutinous rice flour and sugar.Leave it to cool slightly,then knead into dough.Divide into 10-20 equal portions or your preferred size.
3:Use your palm to flatten the dough and scoop into a bowl shape,fill with 1 tbsp red bean paste.Wrap sweet potato dough into a ball shape.keep repeat the same procedure until all dough finish.(I used red bean paste in can,it's not really well dry.If you used red bean paste which have dry body,you can shape the red bean paste in ball first before wrap with sweet potato)
4:Sprinkle some water over sweet potato ball before coat with raw sesame seeds evenly.set aside.
5:Heat fryer or deep skillet with oil at low heat,deep fry sesame balls until golden brown,dish out to paper towel to drain the excess oil before serve warm with tea or coffee.(When deep frying make sure the oil is not too hot and stir constantly,if not the paste can burst open easily)

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Roti Canai/Paratha Bread

If I miss Paratha a.k.a as Roti Canai,I just buy the frozen form from Indian or Asian store.I know the recipe of Paratha is easy and simple.The only hard part of making Paratha is to stretch and swirls the dough to the thinness as possible.It's really need the special skill likes throwing and stretching the dough which I lacked. I was curious how to make a successful roti canai at home. When I was young lived in Malaysia ,I saw many roti canai seller prepared roti canai dough overnight for their next day business ..I thought making roti canai it's really a straight forward answer but unfortunately my result is not really up to the expectation!! When I was "googling" looking for a perfect roti canai recipe I found Shida's healthykitchen. !! Too bad my roti canai is not flaky but it's crispy and crunchy..I try to figure out what has happened..Maybe I didn't knead with hands coz I dump everything in bread maker to do the work..I will try to make another batch again soon..Hope my next experiment will have flaky result! By the way,here us my humble crispy and crunchy roti canai!!

Ingredients:Roti Canai (Makes 8-9 medium size roti)
4 ½ cups all purpose flour ( Extra 1-2 teaspoons if needed)
1 tsp fine salt
1 cup water ( 250 mL)
1 large egg , room temperature
¼ cup condensed milk
1 Tablespoon melted butter
Enough canola or other cooking oil and butter for submerging/soaking / coating and stretching .
Method: Note (I dump everything in bread maker)
1- In a large mixing bowl, mix all purpose flour with salt. Make a well in the center.
2- In a small bowl, stir together water, egg, condensed milk and melted butter until mixed.
3- Gradually pour in the mixture from small bowl ( wet mixture) into the prepared well in the large mixing bowl.
4- Using fingers to work the flour into the liquid until we can form a ball. Knead the dough until it is very smooth but we might notice the dough is a little sticky. Do not add flour just yet.. Keep kneading for about 10 minutes in total.
5- Cover the dough with kitchen towel and let it rest for 15 minutes.
( Note: This process helps the dough absorb the liquid evenly and to relax the gluten ever so slightly.)
6- Continue to knead the dough for another 8-10 minutes until elastic and feels like satin. Now, at this point.. we will notice that dough will be no longer sticky. BUT if it still is.. please add only one teaspoon. Continue kneading. Cover and let is rest once again for another 15 minutes. ( Kneading resting process helps minimizing development of the gluten and makes stretching and shaping the roti way easier without over tearing it.)
7- Knead the dough , this is to assure that all ingredients are evenly absorbed. At this point, we should be able to get a very elastic and smooth dough.
8- Divide the dough into half. Divide each half into 5-6, repeat with the other half, we will get 10-12 portion total. Form each portion into a ball.

9- Now, it’s an optional whether to coat the balls with butter or oil.
If we choose butter, grease the bottom of a large pan with generous amount of soften butter so the balls won’t stick. Then generously coat each ball with butter, please make sure that each of them are well coated otherwise they stick to each other.
If we choose submerge them in large amount of oil, simple!! Pour small amount of oil into a medium bowl.. enough to coat the bottom of the bowl. Add the balls , all of them.. yes, lay them stack on each other.. don’t worry, they won’t stick cause you will add more oil into the bowl enough to cover the top of the balls.
To my personal opinion, submerging into cooking oil is much easier to work with , plus if coating with butter.. still we will need some amount of oil while working on the dough later.
10- Cover the bowl/pan with plastic wrap. Let them rest in the refrigerator for more than 4 hours. Preferably overnight, 12 hours.
11- We are ready for the adventure ; shaping, stretching and frying. Before that, remove the bowl/pan from the refrigerator, let them sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Just so the dough will be easy to work on.
12- Working on the dough, we need a large working space – about 35 inch or bigger table , counter top etc. With palm, press each balls to make 5 inch diameter disk, one at a time. Let them rest for another 5 – 8 minutes. ( yes, a lot of resting require to minize the gluten from developing.)
13- This time we will have to play with oil.. lotsa oil.. Oil the working surface/board .. including our hands.. oil them generously. Oil prevents friction between our hands and the dough and between the dough and the working surface. Oil also keeps the dough moist. This is very important method to be followed otherwise we will have difficulty to stretch the dough really thin and the dough will stick and messy and tearing everywhere.
14- Start with the first pressed dough, lay the dough on oiled working surface.Brush the dough with oil or oil plus melted butter. Lightly press in middle of the dough with fingers, from the center.. start pulling and stretching the dough evenly. Be careful not to tear it esp in the middle because the tear will grow bigger as your stretch and you really need to start over. Just lightly press it until we get about 8-9 inches disk. If by chance the dough spring back when stretching, let it rest for 5 minutes and then come back.
15- If the dough gets dry, brush more oil. Then work at the edges, with the heel of palm, press the edges .. stretching the dough evenly so as not to tear it and working all around the dough in a circle.
16- Oil our hands and the dough again. Take the dough from one edge with one hand. Slam the dough quickly and working all around in circle the same way. This is what we call ‘kebar/tebar’ or stretching roti canai. Repeat until the dough gets really thin and translucent. There will be tears and holes at the edges, do not worry, they will be covered by the many layers on untorn part.
If this method is found tricky .. yes it is for the beginner. Here is another method we can try.
On oiled big plate, lay the dough in the middle. Stretch dough (See step 14 and 15) until we get to edges of the plate. Keep oiling the dough if it start to dry out. Stretch and pull into thinner sheet.
17- Bring one side of the thin dough to center. The other side to center to form a long dough. . If we can get air trapped in the thin sheet at this point, don’t press air out as it would give a lighter fluffier result.
18. Hold one end upwards and the other end on the working surface. Swirl it down to form a piece of swirly turban . Let it rest for about 15 minutes, the longer the better ( reason? Because later we will pat it to make a larger and thinner turban, so we need to rest the gluten again to make it easy to shape it.)
Repeat step no.13 – 18 with the rest of the balls.
19- Pat the turban dough with tips of our fingers. If needed,Only slightly stretching required. Pat until 10-12 inches disk is formed. Preheat a medium pan on medium heat, pan fry/cook the roti . Flip on the other side when it start to bubble , slightly brown and crisp. Keep flipping until cooked. Repeat with the remaining.
20- Serve it warm with Dhall Curry with dollop of sambal or anything to your liking.

Please refer to the original for step to step of roti-canai-malaysian-paratha at healthykitchen ..She make awesome roti canai which I can't perfect!

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Braised Chicken with Fresh Crimini Mushroom

Mostly Asian or Chinese loves to use mushroom in their cooking.A good grade mushroom can cost over hundred of dollar a pound.Recently I bought 2 box of brown button mushroom on sale.I try to identified the exact name of this mushroom.I google and found this info:
Crimini Mushrooms are similar to Button mushrooms in size and texture. They are light to dark brown in color. The Crimini mushroom is a bit more firmer than the Button mushroom and a more intense meaty and earthy flavoring. The Crimini mushroom is used in the same cooking methods as the button mushroom and is a good substitute for the button mushroom for a more intense flavoring.
I love mushroom and can eat mushroom daily but hubby called mushroom as FUNGUS!! He won't eat anything cook with mushroom!! He keep asking me how can I eat fungus !! Well,I told him we Chinese eat everything !! Furthermore,mushrooms have a lot of good nutritional values and would be a good addition to a healthy, balanced diet. The range of traditional nutrients found in crimini mushrooms is equally impressive.Crimini mushrooms are an excellent source of many minerals including selenium, copper, potassium, phosphorus, and zinc. They are also an excellent source of B vitamins including vitamin B2, pantothenic acid and niacin. In addition, crimini mushrooms are a very good source of vitamin B1, vitamin B6 , zinc, manganese and protein.

Ingredients:

1 small whole chicken,about 4 lbs,cut and washed
5 cloves fresh garlic,peeled and chopped
1 box crimini mushroom,about 4 oz removed stump,cut and washed
1 inch fresh ginger,scaled and sliced
10 pieces,dried whole pepper*optional*
1 stalk scallion,washed and cut 2 inch

Seasoning:

2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
1 tbsp thick soy sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce.
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sugar or to taste
salt to taste
1 cup water
Method:

1:Heat deep large skillet or wok with oil at medium high heat.Add in chopped garlic ,dried whole pepper and sliced ginger,fry for 1 minute or until lightly brown.
2:Add in cut chicken ,water and seasoning.Let the chicken simmer for 15-20 minutes or until cook..then add in crimini mushroom,stir well for 30 second with other ingredients..
3:Check the seasoning.If you want more gravy or sauce add in more water..Toss in cut scallion before dish out and serve warm with rice.

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Homemade Roast Pork (Char Siu/Siew)叉烧

I was amazed that making BBQ Roast Pork (Char Siu/Siew) at home is really easy and simple!! If you have oven or grill at home,there is not an excuse that you can't make char siu/siew yourself at home.Some of you might wonder,what is BBQ Roast pork(Char Siu)...Well,I excerpt some info from wikipedia:

"Char siu" Cantonese roasted meat literally means "fork burn/roast" after the traditional cooking method for the dish: long strips of seasoned boneless pork are skewered with long forks and placed in a covered oven or over a fire.

There is no hard rules to make char sui as long as you have the basic ingredients like soy sauce,wine,hoisin sauce and sugar.Some people like to use pork loin,some like pork belly,some like pork butt and some like more leaner meat.But I like to use fresh side pork which is the same cut as slab bacon but it is fresh. It is taken from the section of side that remains after the loin and spareribs are removed. The layered lean from fat is generally used as a seasoning.

Ingredients:

4-5 lbs pork ,washed and wipe dry wt paper towel
5 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 cup sugar ,plus extra if you don't brush wt honey
5-6 tbsp soy sauce
3-4 tbsp cooking Chinese wine
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp 5 spice powder
1-2 drop red food color*optional*
maltose for brushing

Method:

1:Combine all seasoning with pork in a large container.Marinate pork for 5 hours or overnight in fridge. I prefer marinated overnight.
2:Heat oven to 375 F.Prepare a baking tray with aluminum foil over it.Place marinated pork on the baking tray,bake pork for 30
minutes,then turn the other side,bake for another 30 minutes.
3:Change setting to broil at 400F,roast the pork for another 10-15 minutes or until it is charred ,not burnt!!
4:Remove roast pork from oven,brush with maltose to give a glossy shine look.Cut and serve as appetizer or main dish.

Note:

If you can't find maltose ,use honey.

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Stir-fry Organic Green Mustard wt Garlic

Beginning of this summer I planted some green mustard (choy sam) from seeds in my vegetable garden. The good news is my green mustard is growing huge and green but the down side is I had bad visitors:Bugs attacked the pretty green leaves!! I had harvested the green mustard couple of times.Most of the time I cooked the green leaves in soup or noodle but this time I decided to stir-fry the mustard leaves with garlic..Something easy ,simple ,delicious and yet healthy!!

Ingredients:

1 bunch,about 2 lbs
4-5 fresh cloves garlic,peeled and sliced
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp chicken bouillon powder
salt to taste
Method:

1:Remove yellow or unwanted leaves,wash the green mustard repeat with cold water until soil removed.Cut and drained in collard
2:Heat skillet with oil at medium high heat.Add in sliced garlic,fry until lightly brown,then add in clean mustard and chicken bouillon powder.Stir well the ingredients until cook,about 3-5 minutes.If you want a softer green,cook longer.
3:Add salt to your taste.Dish out and serve warm immediately.

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