Stir Fry Mushrooms

 

This is a vegetarian dish packed with super food - mushrooms.

Ingredients

400g Mushrooms (Shiitake, Enoki, King Oyster and Shimeiji - or any of your preferred mushrooms)

2 cloves of garlic (chopped)

1/2 tsp salt (or 5 tablespoons of sauce from cooking braised pork belly, if available)

Method

1. Prepare mushrooms:

. enoki - trim away roots and tear into bite size

. shiitake - separate the stems from the top, then slice the tops and stems thinly

. shimeji - trim the roots and separate into individual mushroom stalks

. king oyster - trim the roots and cut into thin slices

2. Heat the wok with a little oil, then sauteed the garlic until fragrant. Transfer the garlic to a plate.

3.  Heat the wok until smoking, and add all the mushrooms. Stir fry until softened. No need to add water during stir frying as the mushrooms will release some water. Add salt and mix in. Turn off wok fire.

4. Stir in the garlic and dish up.

Three Cups Chicken

三杯鸡

This is a Taiwanese dish flavoured with equal proportions of Chinese rice wine, sesame oil and soy sauce.

Ingredients (serves 3-4 pax)

4 chicken thighs (de-boned and cut into bite size pieces)

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons Chinese wine (huatiaojiu)

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

2 inch ginger (cut into thin slices)

1 bunch of spring onions (cut into 5cm strips)

Method

1. Heat up sesame oil in a wok. Add the ginger slices into the oil and fry over low heat until the edges of ginger slices crisped up. Remove the ginger slices and set aside.

2. Heat up wok until smoking. Add the chicken pieces and sear/brown them over high heat.

3. Turn heat down and mix in the light soy sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Drizzle the Chinese wine onto the chicken and stir to mix in. Simmer for 5 minutes. 

5. Add the spring onions and fried ginger slices and mix in thoroughly.

Serve hot!

Stir Fry Pork Belly Slices

葱炒三层肉薄片

Ingredients:

250g Iberico pork belly slices 

1 knob of ginger (sliced thinly)

Spring onions (cut into short strips)

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp salt

Method:

1. Heat the wok with 1 teaspoon of oil.

2. Fry the ginger slices over low heat until the edges have browned, about 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Push the ginger slices aside and add all the pork belly slices into the wok. Cook the belly slices undisturbed over medium heat until some of the pork fat oozes out. Flip the half cooked pork belly, add black pepper and salt, then mix in the fried ginger slices.

4. Stir fry until the pork belly slices are just cooked, turn off the heat, add the spring onions and mix in. Transfer to serving dish and enjoy hot with rice.

Potato & Luncheon Meat

 

Simple comfort food that brings back fond memories. 

Ingredients

1 big potato (I used russet, cut into bite sized cubes)

Half can of luncheon meat (I used Spam Bacon, cut into bite sized cubes)

Half big onion (cut into wedges)

2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

1 teaspoon sugar (I used unrefined brown sugar)

27g tomato ketchup (I used 3 tomato satchels from fast food restaurant!)

9g chilli sauce (I used 1 satchel from fast food restaurant!)

50ml water

Method

1. Heat wok with some oil (sufficient to deep fry potato and luncheon meat).

2. When oil is hot, deep fry pototo cubes until edges are golden brown. Remove the potato cubes from wok and deep fry the luncheon meat cubes next. Once the edges of luncheon meat cubes are golden brown, remove the oil, leaving only about a tablespoon in the wok. 

3. Stir fry the onion wedges until edges are browned, add in the garlic and stir fry for a minute. 

4. Add the tomato ketchup, chilli sauce, sugar and water into the wok. Stir to mix in completely. 

5. Add the potato and luncheon meat cubes into the wok and stir fry with the sauce for a few minutes.

Done! Serve hot!

Tomato Fried Egg Omelette

 番茄炒蛋

Comfort dish at its best! My late mother in law cooked this very frequently and this dish reminds me of her!

Ingredients:

3 medium size tomatoes (can add more if you like tomatoes)

4 eggs

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

Corn starch slurry (1 tablespoon corn starch mix with 2 tablespoons water)

Method:

1. Make a few slits on the tomatoes, put in a small pot and bring to a boil. Then off the heat and leave the tomotoes in the pot for 5 minutes or until the tomoto skin peels away. 

2. Drain the tomatoes and keep 2 tablespoons of the water. Cut the tomatoes into thin wedges and remove the seeds.

3. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add a pinch of salt and beat it vigorously using a fork until well combined.

4. Add two tablespoons of oil into wok and swirl to coat the surface of the wok. Add the eggs and tilt the wok to spread the eggs. Let the eggs cook, over medium heat, undisturbed until the eggs start to set around the edges. Once edges start to set, use the wok spatula to move the cooked egg towards the centre of the wok and the raw egg filled the space. Do this continously until the eggs are just cooked. Remove the egg omelette from the wok.

4. Heat up wok again with a tablespoon of oil. Add the tomatoes and stir fry for a minute. Mix in two tablespoons of water (from step 2), 1 teaspoon of brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir fry for a few minutes, then slowly add just enough corn starch slurry to thicken the tomato sauce. 

5. Return the egg omelette to the wok and stir to mix with the tomato sauce. Add the tomato ketchup and mix in thoroughly. Transfer the egg omelette to serving plate and garnish with spring onions (optional).

Serve hot!

Stir Fried Pork Liver

姜蒜炒猪肝

Pork liver is not everyone's cup of tea but do you know that in Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is considered a tonic for blood. This dish is thus loaded with health benefits! 

Ingredients

200g pork liver

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon dark soy sauce

2 cloves garlic (chopped into small pieces) 

8 to 10 stalks sping onion (cut into 2 inch length)

1 knob of ginger (cut into thin strips)

Method

1. Rinse the liver and dab dry with kitchen towel. Cut into thin slices. 

2. Marinate the liver with sesame oil and dark soy sauce for 30 minutes.

3. Heat up wok with a tablespoon of oil under medium heat. Saute garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add in liver and stir fry quickly for 30 seconds. Add in 1 teaspoon salt and spring onion. Stir fry quickly for 1 minute and remove from wok. Do not overcook the liver!

Serve hot with rice!

Stir Fry Eggplant

香炒茄子

Ingredients

2 eggplants

50g minced pork

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 red chilli (de-seed and cut into thin slices)

1 tablespoon sake

1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce

1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1/4 salt

Dashes of black pepper

100ml water

Method

1: Wash and cut eggplants into strips of 2 inches. Soak them in water (with some salt) to prevent oxidation.

2. Heat up wok with 3 tablespoon oil until almost smoking. Drain eggplants and dab dry with kitchen towel. Then add eggplants into wok and deep fry under medium-high heat for 1 minute. Remove eggplants from wok and set aside.

3. Leave a tablespoon of oil in wok. Saute garlic under medium heat. Add in chilli and stir fry for a minute.

4. Add in minced meat, salt and pepper, and stir fry until meat is cooked through.

5. Add sake to the meat and stir fry until moisture is gone.

6. Add oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and water to the meat, and mix well. 

7. Add eggplant and mix in. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 minute. Turn off heat. 

8. Garnish with spring onion (optional) and serve hot.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

 

When I harvest brinjal (also known as eggplant, aubergine) from my balcony garden, I will definitely cook this Japanese Sweet and Sour Chicken. Serve with rice and it will become a complete meal as this dish has chicken and loaded with many types of vegetables. I've even cooked a 'vegetarian' version i.e. without the chicken and it tasted just as good. The lotus roots are crunchy; potatoes, carrots and brinjal are soft and tender; bell peppers are sweet; and the chicken remained surprisingly crispy even after coated with vinegar sauce. I've adapted the recipe for this very colourful dish from Just One Cookbook.

Ingredients

1 chicken thigh (with skin, about 290g)

Marinade for chicken:

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon sake

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 teaspoon grated garlic

Vegetables:

3 medium sized potatoes

1 section of lotus root (300-400g, I buy those that are coated with wet mud as these are tastier)

1 carrot

1 brinjal

1 large onion (cut into wedges)

1 green/red/yellow bell pepper/capsicum (cut into wedges)

Vinegar sauce:

2 tablespoon sugar

1 and a half tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Half tablespoon rice vinegar (Just One Cookbook's recipe calls for black vinegar but I don't have it in my kitchen. So I replaced with rice vinegar)

Half tablespoon mirin

Half tablespoon water

Half tablespoon sake

1 teaspoon potato starch

1 spoonful of love 

Method

1. Clean chicken thigh and cut into small pieces. Marinate it for at least half hour.

2. Cut the vegetables to small pieces/wedges. For root vegetables like carrot and potatoes which take longer to deep fry, boil them first until they are tender (about 5-10 minutes), and then drain and set aside.

3. Deep fry the vegetables until the edges are light golden. Set aside.

4. Coat the chicken pieces in potato starch just before deep frying. Deep fry in batches until they are nice golden brown in colour. Drain and set aside. 

5. Remove the oil left from frying vegetables and chicken. Heat the wok and put all the vegetables and chicken into the wok. Stir fry over medium heat until they are evenly heated. Pour the vinegar sauce over the vegetables and chicken, stir fry to combine for one to two minutes.

6. Transfer to a big bowl or plate and serve.

Mapo Tofu

麻婆豆腐

This is a China Szechuan dish that is spicy and numbing. The two key ingredients are doubanjiang (豆瓣酱, broad bean paste) and Szechuan peppercorn. I don't stock those two ingredients in my kitchen and cook this dish by replacing them with ingredients that are readily available in my kitchen: gochujang (korean chilli paste) or sambal chilli paste and miso (fermented soy bean paste). Here is my version of copycat mapo tofu dish which my family loves. 

Ingredients:

1 block of pressed/firm tofu

100g minced pork

1/8 teaspoon salt

Dashes of fresh ground black pepper

1/2 tablespoon gochujang (korean chilli paste) or sambal chilli paste

1 tablespoon miso paste

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 tablespoon sake

1 tablespoon chilli and sesame oil (辣油)

1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce

150ml water or chicken stock

3 stalks of scallions

Corn starch solution (mix 1/2 tablespoon corn starch with 1 tablespoon water)

1 spoonful of love 

Method:

1. Remove tofu from package. To further drain water from tofu, placing a plate on the tofu for 15minutes. Cut the tofu into cubes after draining and set aside until step 5.

2. Cut the scallions into small pieces, separating the green and white parts.

3. Heat up wok with cooking oil. Stir fry garlic and ginger under medium heat until fragrant. Add the minced pork to garlic and ginger, add salt and black pepper to the pork and stir fry under high heat until pork is cooked through. Add sake and scallion (white part) to the pork and lightly mix until moisture is gone. Then, reduce the heat to low and push the pork to the side of the wok.

4. Put the gochujang, miso paste and sugar into the centre of the wok, and stir fry for 1 minute under low heat. If you want your mapo tofu to be more spicy, you can add chilli paste (recommended 老干妈brand spicy chilli crisp). After 1 minute, mix in the pork and stir fry under medium heat until pork is evenly coated with the gochujang/miso/chilli sauce.

5. Add water/chicken stock and soy sauce, and mix in. Add in tofu and mix lightly (so as not to break tofu). Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. 

6. Turn off the heat and add corn starch solution to thicken the mapo tofu sauce. Gently stir in the starch. Turn on the heat, add the chilli oil and continue to stir gently for 1 minute. 

7. Dish out the mapo tofu and top with scallion (green part) before serving.