Braised Bailing Mushroom with Asparagus (翡翠白玉）

Mum-in-law gave me a can of Bailing Mushroom (白灵菇）some time back, almost forgotten about it till saw it again last weekend while doing spring cleaning. The mushroom was really big and looks very much like abalone. Was thinking better to cook the mushroom before it expires. Coincidently saw an easy dish using bailing mushroom in lastest issue yum yum, this dish was done with some change from the original recipe.



Ingredient:

8-10 asparagus

1 can of bailing mushroom - cut to desire thickness

1 tsp mince ginger

1 tsp mince garlic


Sauce:

1 tbsp oyster sauce

sesame oil

1/2 cup water

cornstarch water


Method:

1. Saute ginger till fragrant with a little oil, then add in garlic and fry till golden brown, add in bailing mushroom, stir fry a while, then add in oyster sauce and water. Let the mushroom simmer for about 10 min.

2. Add in asparagus stir awhile and let it simmer for another 5 min. Add in some sesame oil and lastly add cornstarch water to desire consistency. Dish and serve.

Fish Curry

A forum friend recommend using Ibrahim's Fish Curry Sauce for a quick and delicious fish curry dish. I added a tablespoon of fish curry powder, dash of fish sauce, salt and sugar to adjust the dish to my taste, and of cos some of my favorite vegetable...

Ma Po Tofu (麻婆豆腐)

Have not cook this dish for quite a while and tofu dishes are easy to cook for dinner whenever I ran out of idea and no time to flip the recipe books...the following was type out base on estimation as I didn't note the detail the very day I cook the dish.

Ingredient:
1 box of tofu
100g mince meat
1 tbsp mince garlic

1-2 tbsp spring onion (didn't buy this ingredient on the day I cook this dish)

1 tsp Sichuan peppercorn
1 tbsp hot bean paste (辣豆瓣酱)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp Japanese cooking wine/Chinese cooking wine

dash of pepper
salt to taste
½ cup water
sesame oil
cornstarch water

Method:
1) Heat 2 tbsp oil in wok, add Sichuan peppercorn and fry till fragrant. Remove the
peppercorn and dicard it. Add in mince meat and stir fry till meat is cook, add in hot bean paste and continue to stir fry a while.

2) Add in tofu, oyster sauce, sugar, salt, water, pepper, cooking wine and let it simmer for a while. Add some cornstarch water to let the liquid in the wok slightly thicken, add a little sesame oil, stir and shut fire. Dish and serve

American Breakfast Pancake

Always like to try and test different recipe especially pancakes cos its fast to cook and good to eat. This recipe was in my to do list for quite a while, this recipe was from one of Nigella Lawson's book, think is Domestic Goddess, got it from her forum...



1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 large eggs -- beaten

2tbsp butter -- melted and cooled

1 1/3 cup milkbutter for frying


The easiest way to make these is to put all the ingredients into a blender and blitz. But if you do mix up the batter in a bowl, make a well in the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar; then beat in the eggs, melted butter, and milk, and transfer to a pitcher; it's much easier to pour the batter into the pan than to spoon it. I like to leave the batter for 20 minutes before using it; and you may then want to add more milk to the mixture if you're frying in the blini pan, so it runs right to the edges.

When you cook the pancakes, all you need to remember is that when the upper side of the pancake is blistering and bubbling, it's time to cook the second side, and this needs only about one minute, if that.I get 11 blini-pan-sized pancakes out of this, maybe 16 silver-dollar-sized ones on the griddle.

Variation: Sprinkle blueberries onto the uncooked side of the pancake just after you've poured the batter into the pan.

Buttermilk Scone

Have not made scone for a long time, so try another recipe for Sunday's breakfast. Can't decide to make half or full recipe cos afraid that the kids may not eat it, still make full recipe cos too lazy to calculate the ingredients....luckily the kids like it and ate 2 each probably because its sweet...



350g/12oz self raising flour
100g/4oz sugar
85g/3 oz butter, cut into small pieces
about 175ml/6 fl oz buttermilk or natural low-fat yogurt
strawberry jam, butter to serve

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6/fan oven 180°C. Mix together the flour and sugar in a bowl. Rub the butter in with your fingertips until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre of the ingredients and tip in the buttermilk, all in one go, then mix lightly to form a soft dough.

2. Tip the dough out on to a lightly floured surfaced and knead briefly. Press the dough out to a 2.5cm/1 in thickness, then stamp out 5 cm/2in rounds with a cutter. Gather up the trimmings, knead again briefly and stamp out more rounds.

3. Transfer the buttermilk scones to a baking sheet, spaced a little apart, and bake for 12-15 min until risen and lightly golden. Leave the scones to cool on a wire rack and serve with the jam and butter or desire spreads.

Ribs with Orange Sauce

Have been cooking lots of chicken dishes since end of last year. So decide to take a break from chicken and cook ribs for Saturday's dinner. I didn't mix the orange peel strips with the sauce because I know the kids will not eat this dish when they see some different color stuff on the dish, so i just sprinkle the orange peel as deco.



Ingredients:
400g short ribs
2 oranges

Marinade
¾ tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
¾ tbsp wine
1 tbsp sweet potato flour
a little sugar

Seasonings
a little salt, sugar
2tbsp orange liquor (I don't have this so didn't add)

Method:
1. Wash short ribs. Marinate for a few hours. Rinse oranges and extract juice. Cut some oranges peel into shreds and set aside.

2. Heat oil and deep fry short ribs over low heat for 3-5 min. Then fry over high heat for 1 min. Drain oil.

3. Heat another 1 teaspoon of oil. First, pour in the orange juice. Then add seasonings and mix well. Stir in the short ribs. Lastly, scatter orange peel shreds and combine well. Serve.

Deep Fried Chicken Wing with Prawn Paste

Always like to eat this dish at our factory canteen, have ask the cook how he did the dish but forgot to write it down so can't do it till recent found the recipe in a book. It was a last minute decision to cook this dish, so only manage to find Lee Kum Kee prawn paste, the book also mention LKK prawn paste, but I have another brand in mind. We both feel this brand is abit too salty even after reducing the amount used.

Ingredients:
14 mid wings
3 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp plain flour
oil for deep frying

Marinade:
1 ½ tbsp prawn paste (lee kum kee fine shrimp paste)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil
dash of pepper
1 egg

Method:

1. Clean and pat dry the mid wings. Mix with marinade and season for 30min.

2. Add rice flour and plain flour into the wings, mix well and season for another 15mins.

3. Heat up oil for deep-frying, put in chicken wings and deep fry until golden brown and cooked. Dish and drain.