Stir Fried Yam Leaves

My family loved yam leaves and sweet potato leaves.  So when shopping in the Asian market, I often would buy this veggie.  Usually I would cook it with the shrimp paste in soy bean oil but today I wanted to try something different.  I wanted to cook it without the paste and just seasoned it with some fish sauce and fragrant it with bird eye chili and garlic.  You might be familiar with this way of cooking too.  I had to cut the stem with kitchen scissor after I done cooking for easy swallowing.

This picture did not do the veggie justice.  It definitely taste better than it looks.

Ingredients:

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Thai bird eye chili, chopped

1 big bunch yam leaves, pluck the leaves and wash in water twice

Fish sauce to taste

1 tsp. sugar

Method:

1.  Heat up the wok, when heated add in some cooking oil.  When hot, add in the garlic and chili and stir-fry until fragrant.

2.  Add in the yam leaves and stir-fry well or until the veggie reduce in size.  Season with fish sauce and sugar.  Add a little water if needed.

Serve hot!

Stir-Fried Romaine Lettuce Heart with Tofu

I prefer the romaine lettuce heart which sold three in a packet instead of the romaine lettuce sold individually.  I found it more suitable for stir-frying as it hold it's shape better and provided more crunch to the dish.  This veggie has to be cooked quickly to preserve the green color or else it will turn black and it will look unappetizing.

For vegetarian, just omit the dried small shrimps and add the tofu for protein.  You can also read more about dried small shrimps here.  It has calcium and magnesium which said to prevent osteoporosis, reduce blood cholesterol level, regulate the blood flow and help in hypertension.  We only use a little bit of this in each dish.

Ingredients:

1 Romaine lettuce heart, washed and cut

1.5 Tbsp. dried small shrimps, washed and drain (you can also use dried shrimps)

3 cloves of garlic, slice

1/2 block of firm tofu, cut

Oyster sauce to taste, about 1-2 Tbsp.

Method:

1.  Heat up your wok, when heated, add in some cooking oil.  When the oil is hot, add in the dried small shrimps, fry until crispy.  Half way through add in the garlic.

2.  When the dried small shrimps is crisp and the garlic is slightly golden, add in the romaine lettuce.  Quickly stir-fry it.  Add in the tofu and mix well.

3.  Add oyster sauce to taste.  Add a little water if you want.  Mix well and serve hot!

Stir-Fried Okra/ Lady's Fingers

Okra or Lady's Fingers as Malaysian called it is often found in stir-frying, in curry, in young tau foo or simply steam it whole.  But in the US, it is often found in gumbo or dip in batter and deep-fried.  When the seed pods are cooked, it produces "goo" or slime.  To prevent sliminess, you can keep the pod intact.  I actually enjoyed the slime and loved this veggie.  Do you like okra too?

I am sharing an easy way for stir-frying okra.  Ingredients are easily available in the Asian supermarket.  This method is without using the shrimp paste in oil and thus different from my previous method.

Ingredients:

1 bowl of okra, washed, cut off the head and end and sliced thinly like above picture.

1 big or 2 small shallots, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp. of dried shrimps, soften in hot water, drained

2 Thai chili (I used green), sliced

Fish sauce to taste

1/2 tsp. sugar

Method:

1.  Heat up a wok.  When heated, add in cooking oil.  Add in dried shrimps, shallots and chili and stir-fry until fragrant.

2.  Add in okra and stir-fry until okra is soften and cooked.  Add a little water if needed.

3.  Season with fish sauce and sugar.  Stir-fry well and serve.

Easy Nai Pak

Sharing with you my easy vegetable dish that I cooked at home.  It was so common that I believed a lot of you might have made it at your own kitchen.  This was how I made mine.  First you wash your vegetable, then you boil a pot of water, add in a dash of salt and a little cooking oil.  When boiling, add in batches of the veggie and parboil for a minute.  Dish out and place on a plate and finish the rest of the veggie.  After you are finished, pour some oyster sauce on top and garnish it with fried shallots to serve.  Mix well before eating.  Super duper easy right?  You can find this veggie at most of the Asian supermarkets.  I loved the dark green color so I often buy this veggie.

Stir-Fried Garlic Chive Flowers with Frozen Tofu (韮菜炒凍豆腐)

I saw a frozen tofu post at Food 4 Tots and was so intriguing that I just had to try it out.  Frozen tofu was new to me and after I tried it, I really liked it.  Frozen tofu is also known as Thousand Layer Tofu (千葉豆腐) and is pretty common in Taiwan.  Simply drain the tofu, wrap in cling wrap and into a ziplock bag and freeze. Just thaw overnight in the refrigerator and squeeze out the excess water before using.  The resulted texture was spongy and porous as ice crystals develop within the tofu when freeze.  Thus resulting in the formation of large cavities that seem to be layered.  The spongy thaw frozen tofu can absorb the sauce or marinade really well, therefore the end result was more flavorful than the normal tofu.  I was sold at first try and hope you will try it too.  The nutritional value of tofu is not lost if you freeze it.  What a great way to store the tofu that near or just pass the expiry date. ;-)

This is a picture of my thawed and water squeezed out tofu, preparing for cutting.  Really looked like a sponge huh?

I served up my frozen tofu with garlic chive flowers or kucai hua as we Malaysian called it.   You can easily spot garlic chive flowers at the Asian supermarket.  It has a distinct flavor and most kids don't like it.  So, one woman was surprised when she saw that my girls ate this.  Well, they were trained to eat Asian food when born, so to me it's good for them.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of garlic chive flowers, pluck and discard the callous bottom part, washed

1/2 block of frozen tofu, sliced

1 medium carrot, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

Soy sauce to taste

1/2 tsp. chicken powder (optional)

Method:

1.  Heat up a wok, add in some cooking oil of your choice.  When hot, add in the garlic, stir-fry until fragrant. 

2.  Add in garlic chives and carrot and stir-fry until soften.  Add in sliced frozen tofu.  Mix well.

3.  Add soy sauce to taste and chicken powder.  Stir to mix well.  Serve hot!

Farmers' Market Picked

We went to a Farmers' Market at Old Colorado City recently and I enjoyed the experience.  I picked up these round summer squash which was called "Geode", it was light green and tasted like zucchini.  The round shape makes it suitable to sandwich with your burger.  I also picked up some sweet yellow onions and yellow carrots.  The easiest and tasty way to enjoy these vegetable is by grilling them or roasting it in the oven.  I took out some chicken tenders and seasoned it with some extra virgin olive oil, salt, rosemary, peppers, and sage.  I also added some yellow and red bell peppers.  Thus far, I have only seen "Geode" selling in the farmers' market here.  From my experience, don't pick the big one as it will have bigger seeds.

Cut all the produce and season it with extra virgin olive oil, salt, peppers and spices of your choice.  (you can use Italian seasonings, dried thyme, paprika, garlic powder, etc)  Then, roast in preheated 450'F oven for 15-20 minutes or until soft and slightly brown.

I lined my baking pan with aluminum foil for easy clean up.  This certainly was an quick and easy dinner with little washing.

Mixed Veggie and Chicken Thai Style

This could easily be a one dish meal because it had all the goodness in one plate.  Lean protein from the skinless and boneless chicken breast, celery (lower blood pressure, anti-cancer compounds), zucchini (vitamin C), carrot (beta-carotene, good for eyes sight and anti-oxidant) and wood ear fungus (high in iron, good in blood circulation, low in calories and prevention of tumors).  You know, it might be hard to keep track of the nutritional benefits of each fruit/veggie.  But once you know that what fruit/veggie is good for you, just make sure that it's on your lunch or dinner menu often.  Making sure your plate is colorful is important too as different color provides a different nutritional benefit for your body.

Ingredients:

1/2 boneless and skinless chicken breast, cut into small cubes and season with salt, rice wine, pepper and cornstarch

1/2 bowl of dried wood ear fungus, soften in warm water, drain and set aside

3 stalks of celery, wash and cut like pic. above

1 carrot, peeled and thinly cut

1 zucchini, wash and cut into cubes

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. Pantai's chili paste with soy bean oil (Available in the Asian market selling Thai's product)

Fish sauce to taste

1 tsp.dark soy sauce

Method:

1.  In a heated wok, add in your choice of cooking oil.  When hot, add in marinated chicken and garlic and stir-fry until cooked.  Add in zucchini and celery and carrot and stir-fry well.

2.  Add in wood ear and stir-fry well.  Add in chili paste in soy bean oil.  Add a little water if needed.  Season to taste with fish sauce and add in the dark soy sauce.  Fry to blend well and serve.

Stir Fried Long Bean with Minced Pork

I created this recipe with the Malaysian side in me.  Have you ever seen such a dark color vegetable dish before?  Haha...  First I wanted a dark color dish, then I tried to match it with a sauce that will guarantee it to be delicious.  And this dish was created!  Besides long bean, you can use green bean or french bean as well.

If you are too busy to cook, this dish makes a great one dish meal as well because it has meat and vegetable in one.  So, you get a balance meal in a bowl, of course for me, it is best to pair it with brown rice that was cooked with minced garlic and ginger.  You can read more about garlic rice here, these days I only cook brown rice and also added minced ginger as well.  Since both are super food so why not right?

Ingredients:

Long beans, washed and cut into 2 inch length, about a bowl

1/4 lb of minced pork, marinated with rice wine, hoisin sauce, white pepper and fish sauce

2 gloves of garlic, minced

1 or 2 Thai bird-eye chili, cut (depending on how spicy you want)

2 Tbsp. oyster sauce

1 tsp. dark soy sauce

1/2 tsp. sugar

Method:

1.  Heat up a wok, when heated, add in some cooking oil.  When the oil is hot, add in the cut long beans and stir-fry until the long beans are cooked.  Dish out and set aside.

2.  In the same wok, add in more oil if needed.  Add in garlic and chili and stir-fry until fragrant (careful not to burn the garlic), add in minced pork.  Stir-fry until pork is no longer pink, add in long beans.

3.  Flavor with oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and sugar.  Mix well and serve.

Stir Fried Zucchini with Dried Small Shrimps (炒西葫芦和虾皮)

This is another way to enjoy the dried small shrimps or 虾皮.  If you want to learn more about 虾皮, click here.   This is a delicious stir-fried zucchini dish that even my picky hubby and Evy turned out liking.  They don't like to eat zucchini, but if I sliced it thinly like this and stir-fry it, they turned out liking it.  With the garlic, dried small shrimps, this dish was really flavorful with just a touch of salt and sugar.

If you tried this dish, remember to feedback to me ya!  As I really loved this dish and hope you all will like it too.

Ingredients:

1 Italian zucchini, thinly sliced like above picture

1 organic carrot, thinly sliced

1/8 cup of dried small shrimps, rinsed and set aside to dry

2 gloves of garlic, thinly sliced

Salt to taste

A touch of sugar or chicken powder

Method:

1.  In a heated wok, add in some cooking oil.  When hot, add in the dried small shrimps, stir-fry until slightly brown, add in the garlic, stir-fry until slightly brown.  

2.  Add in the zucchini and carrot, stir-fry until cooked.  Season to taste with salt and sugar/ chicken powder.  Serve hot.

Stir-Fried Romaine Lettuce with Dried Small Shrimps (炒生菜与虾皮)

My friend introduced me to dried small shrimps or 虾皮.  I grabbed a packet when I saw it in the Asian market.  When you shake the packet, the dried small shrimps should be loose, if it sticks together then it is a bad stock.  Because this dried small shrimps hardly have any meat in it so it is very rich in protein and minerals, especially calcium, iodine, and magnesium.  It's so packed with calcium that it's considered a "calcium power house" and said to prevent osteoporosis.  The magnesium in it is said to reduce blood cholesterol level, regulate the blood flow and help in hypertension.  These dried small shrimps/ 虾皮 is so delicious that it helps to improve appetite in the elderly.  You can make it into powder form ( wash, pat dry, pan-fry it a wok with a little oil/without until crispy and brown and then process in a food processor until it turns into powder) and sprinkle on rice or porridge.  

It is suitable for all ages, elderly, pregnant women, people with cardiovascular disease, kidney deficiency, impotence, male infertility and weakness of waist and legs.  But it is NOT suitable for people suffering from allergic rhinitis, bronchitis, recurrent allergic dermatitis in the elderly and people with chronic disease.

One thing worth mentioning though, while doing the research on this, I found that this 虾皮 is not suitable to consume at night or before going to bed.  As the extra calcium that wouldn't be absorbed by the intestine needed to be discharged.  And the peak hours for the calcium to be discharged from the body was 4-5 hours after a meal.  So eating 虾皮 at night might prevent the discharge of the extra calcium through urination as you would be asleep at that time.  So, the calcium in the urine would be trapped and deposited in the urinary tract and overtime would form the urinary tract stones.

I found the above sources from various Chinese sites.  Fill me in if you know more about this dried small shrimps.

This easy veggie dish is very delicious!  You should try it and feedback to me ya!

Ingredients:

1 head of romaine lettuce, wash and cut into pieces

3-4 cloves of garlic, slice thinly

1 handful of dried small shrimps/ 虾皮 , about 1/4 cup, rinse and pat dry with paper towel

Salt to taste

1 tsp. chicken powder

Chinese white rice wine

Method:

1.  Heat up your wok.  When heated, add in some cooking oil of your choice.  When hot, add in the dried small shrimps and stir-fry until golden brown and crispy.  Dish out and set aside.

2.  In the same wok, add in more oil if needed.  Add in the garlic and fry until slightly brown.  Add in the harder part of the romaine lettuce first.  Stir-fry well.  Then add in the greener part of the lettuce.  Stir-fry well.

3.  Add salt, mix well.  Add some Chinese white rice wine and the chicken powder.  Stir well and serve on a plate.

4.  Lastly add the fried crispy 虾皮 on top of the veggie.  Serve!

Mung Kuan Char or Stir-fried Jicama

 Top Left

Since a reader asked me to teach her how to stir-fry jicama, I'm sharing my recipe here.  Mine is called "mung kuan char" and not "ju hu char" because I don't add dried cutterfish/dried squid in mine.  This is my version and we really like it.

Ingredients:

1 jicama (if small, 1/2 if big), thinly sliced

1/2 cup of dried sliced woodear, soften in water and drain

1 carrot, julienned

1/8 cup of dried shrimps, soften in water and drain

2-3 gloves of garlic, minced

4-5 Chinese dried mushroom/ shitake, soften in water, drain and thinly sliced (if use, I didn't use it here)

Salt to taste

1 tsp. chicken powder

1 tsp. sugar

Method:

1.  In a heated wok, add some oil.  When hot, add in dried shrimps, fry until fragrant.  Add in garlic, fry until slightly golden, add in the jicama, mix well.

2.  Add in carrot and woodear (mushroom if use) and stir-fry well.  Add some salt.  Mix well.  Some water will come out from the jicama.  Add the sugar and chicken powder.  Mix well and let it simmer in the stock for a little while.

3.  Do a taste test to see whether you need to add more salt or not.  Serve!

Lettuce Wrap

~Old Post~

This is one dish that I must cook every Chinese New Year.  What I enjoyed when I was little visiting grandparents' houses and what was the favorite food that my mom cooked on reunion dinner that seem to be stuck in my memory is this dish.  My mom would roast a chicken or buy the roasted pork from the vendor and made her own chili to go with this lettuce wrap.  It was always so divine that I just had to cook it every year.  Of course the meat served in my house would be different as I often too lazy to roast a chicken and also too lazy to drive so far away to the Asian store to buy the roasted pork.  So, I made an easy stir-fried marinated chicken to go with mine.
 

A piece of romaine lettuce (you can use green leaf, red leaf or Boston lettuce too).  Spread the "mung kuang char" (stir-fried jicama) on top, top with chicken and a little of the chili, wrap and enjoy!

This is what I called yummilicious!!!

Now that I thought about it, I can even wrap some rice in and eat it together eh?  Did you eat this dish during CNY?

Stir Fried Mixed Veggies with Lotus Root

If you have noticed like me, lotus root have been appearing on most Chinese New Year meals, either served at home or in a restaurant.  When I did a search, I found that Chinese believed if you eat lotus root during the Chinese New Year, all the new ventures that you are planning for this year will take root and grow.  My friend served lotus root soup on reunion dinner so I served up stir-fried lotus root with mixed vegetable.  It would be nice with some broccoli as well but I just used what I had at home at that moment.  The lotus root and water chestnut gave this dish the crunch.

The food symbolism of this dish are listed below:
Mixed Vegetable (什锦蔬菜) overall means Family Harmony.  Golden lily buds (金针) means wealth.  Water Chestnut (荸薺) means unity.  Shrimp (小虾) means happiness and good fortune.  Sweet corn (甜玉米) means increase growth.  Carrots ( 紅蘿蔔) red color means good luck.  Chinese Cabbage (白菜) means 100 types of prosperity luck.

Reference from Food Symbolism during Chinese New Year celebration.

Ingredients:

Lotus root, peel off the outer layer, cut into thin slices and soak in water until ready to use (to prevent it from turning black when cooked) {I didn't soak mine in water thus mine turned black, learned a lesson here}

1 carrot, cut into pretty flowers

1/4 of cabbage, washed and tear with hand into pieces

1 zucchini, cut into cubes

1 bowl of shrimps

1/4 cup of dried golden lily buds, soften, cut off the hard tip and tight into a knot

1 can of whole straw mushrooms, drain and rinse

1 can of whole baby corn, drain and rinse, I cut it into half

1 can of sliced water chestnuts, drain and rinse

3 gloves of garlic, mince

2 Tbsp. of wolfberries/Goji berries/kei chi

Seasonings:  rice wine, salt, sugar and chicken granules/powder

Thicken with cornstarch water (optional)

Method:

1.  Heat up a wok, when hot add in oil.  Then add in drained lotus root and stir-fry for a little while, dish out and set aside.

2.  Heat up wok again, add a little oil and stir-fry the zucchini and shrimps separately until cooked.  Dish out and set aside.

3.  Heat wok, add oil.  Add in garlic, stir-fry until slight brown, add in cabbage and carrot, stir-fry for a little while.  Add in straw mushrooms, baby corns, golden lily buds and water chestnuts.  Stir-fry well.  Add in the fried shrimps, lotus root and zucchini, mix well.  Add seasonings.

4.  Add a little water if wish to and thicken with cornstarch water.  Lastly add in the wolfberries/kei chi.  Mix well and dish out to serve!

Dried Mussels Recipe

I was searching for dried mussels recipe but I couldn't find many online, so I resorting to experiment it myself.  I had it in a friend's restaurant before and she used it to boil soup, so for one I know it will be great in soup.  My friend's suggested to add it in the lotus root and pork ribs soup which sounded yummy to me.  Going to try it soon but probably with chicken drumsticks as I don't have pork ribs.  Another suggested to braise it with chicken and mushroom which sounded good to me as well which I intent to try it out.  A few suggested to cook it in porridge but I probably going to pass this as my girls don't like porridge.  One suggested to cook it in sambal for example instead of sambal ikan bilis, make it into sambal dried mussels, sounds good to me too.  But I cannot cook this dish, read below for the reason.

This dish is very auspicious as bean curd sticks means blessing the house, Chinese cabbage means 100 types of prosperity luck, carrots means good luck, glass noodle means long life, wood ear means longevity, Shitake mushroom means longevity and sizing opportunity, shrimps means happiness and good fortune.  Mandarin orange means gold and wealth.


As for me, I experimented it in my Chap Chai recipe and also added some shrimps.  I added it in when stir-frying with the dried shrimps. It turned out great and we eat it with my chilies in oil.  My thought is you can use it in stir-frying vegetable or make a dish of it by cooking it in this spicy sauce.  My hubby doesn't like the smell of dried mussels so I couldn't make it a star of a dish, only as a side kick.  LOL!  But if you like mussels, why not make it a star of a dish! (like sambal mussels!)

 Dried mussels already soften in warm water.  You need to soak it in warm water until soften before use.  And then clean it and rinse it.  Available in Asian market and fairly cheap.

Stir Fried Crunchy Cabbage

I loved crunchy and sweet cabbage.  I finally found the way after all these years.  I saw it at the Chinese cooking show where the host said never to cut the cabbage but tear it with your fingers.  It will give you a different texture.  But I guess I always took the easier way out, that is to slice it with a knife and thinking that shredded cabbage will cook faster and soften easily.  Not sure why but my shredded cabbage never really gives me the sweetness of the cabbage and the crunch that I looked for.

But now with my new way of handling my cabbage, that is to tear it with my fingers, I found the crunch and the sweetness of the cabbage when stir-frying.  This dish is delicious, you can taste the sweetness of cabbage and the crunchiness.  If you read my recipes, you must have noticed that I have been using quite a lot of fish sauce recently.  I think I found the secret of fish sauce in stir-frying, it really give certain dishes a kick in taste.

Ingredients:

1/4 head of cabbage. washed and tear with hands

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/8 cup of dried shrimps, soften

1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

6 extra large shrimps, shelled and cut into half

Fish sauce to taste

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. chicken powder (optional)

Extra virgin olive oil/ olive oil/ any cooking oil

Method:

1.  Heat the wok.  Add oil, when hot, add dried shrimps and garlic, stir-fry for a while.  Add shrimps and stir-fry until cooked.  Move the shrimps to the side of the wok, add in the crushed red pepper flakes and cabbage.

2.  Stir-fry well.  Add salt and stir-fry for a while.  Lastly add 1 tsp. chicken powder and fish salt to taste.  Add a little water (1/8 cup if needed). Serve hot.

Spicy Chicken with Zucchini

I went to my Asian supermarket 2nd anniversary event recently and they were having food demonstration and tasting on that day.  Even the Lee Kum Kee representatives were there to do a food demonstration and sampling of their product.  They were promoting their oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and premium soy sauce and cooked a chicken dish like above and a fried rice.  Their fried rice were tasteless to me but I fell in love with their chicken dish so of course I had to ask them for the recipe.  I tried to memorize it as best as I can and I think this is the best copy I can come out with.  

I added zucchini and carrot for extra veggie intake.  You can also add onion, bell pepper, pineapple or mango if you like.  This sauce is pretty delicious, you can try it out.

Ingredients:

1 zucchini, cut into cubes

1/2 carrot, cut into cubes

1 chicken breast, thinly sliced and marinated with soy sauce, white pepper, rice wine, garlic powder and cornstarch

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 scallions (only the white part), chopped

1 small piece of ginger, chopped

Seasoning:

2 Tbsp. oyster sauce (LKK)

2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce (LKK)

1 Tbsp. soy sauce (Kikkoman)

1 Tbsp. chili garlic sauce (Sambal Oelek)

1 tsp. sesame oil (Kadoya)

Method:

1.  In a bowl, add in oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, soy sauce and chili garlic sauce, stir well and set aside.

2.  In a heated wok, add in cooking oil.  When heated, add in garlic, scallion and ginger.  Stir-fry until fragrant.  Add in chicken, stir-fry until chicken is no longer pink.

3.  Add in zucchini and carrot, stir-fry until the veggie is soften.  Add in the prepared sauce and stir fry well.  Turn off the heat and lastly add in the sesame oil.  Stir and serve hot.

Stir Fried Pumpkin with Eggs

Never did I know that stir-frying pumpkin can be so scrumptious.  I saved some of the pumpkin fresh from a pumpkin that we carved earlier.  I had pumpkin porridge before and I really liked it as it was sweet and filling.  But I know my girls don't really fancy porridge so I thought I would try something different.

I stir fried zucchini with this recipe and we all loved it, so why not try it with pumpkin.  It was my first time cooking a stir-frying pumpkin and it was so yummy.  The fish sauce gave this dish an extra boost.  If you have extra fresh pumpkin at home, give this dish a try!  I took this picture at night, so it did not look very appetizing, but don't be fooled by it's look, this is a dish I will make again and again.

Ingredients:

1/4 of a medium Pumpkin, julienne

1/4 cup of dried shrimps, soften in warm water and drain

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 large eggs, beaten and seasoned with soy sauce and white pepper

(A)

Fish sauce to taste

Salt (optional)

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. chicken stock powder

Method:

1.  In a heated wok, add in some cooking oil.  When hot, add in the beaten eggs, stir-fry until cooked.  

2.  Scoop the eggs to the side of the wok, add in garlic and dried shrimps in the remaining oil, stir-fry until garlic is slightly golden and dried shrimps are fragrant.  Add in pumpkins and mix all together and stir-fry well.

3.  Stir-fry until pumpkin is cooked and soften.  Season with (A).  Serve hot!

Stir fried Spicy Cabbage

I always stir-fry my green cabbage in a non-spicy way.  Stir-frying it in a spicy way never cross my mind until I saw the Chinese cooking show where the chef cooked it with some dried chili.  It gave me the idea of trying something new.  This is a new dish for me and we liked it!  I will certainly make this version more from now on.

I realized that the green cabbage sold in the Asian market is easier to stir-fry than the green cabbage I bought at the American supermarket.  The one at the American supermarket is tougher and harder even after the longer time I spent stir-frying it.  Definitely prefer the texture of the green cabbage I bought at the Asian market, not to say cheaper too.

Ingredients:

1/4 of one green cabbage, sliced

A little diced carrot for color (optional)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. of black bean in chili oil

Salt and sugar to taste

Method:

1.  Heat up your wok.  When heated, add in a little cooking oil.  When hot, add in minced garlic and black bean in chili oil and stir-fry until fragrant.  

2.  Add in cabbage and stir-fry until soft.  Add in diced carrot (if used).  Stir-fry well and season to taste with a little salt and sugar.  Serve hot!

Spicy Green Beans with Shrimps

I like this dish and made it quite often.  I don't know if the green bean is in season but the farmer market here has been selling it for 99 cent/ pound.  If I would make this for my family, I would omit the extra chili and since I was making this for adults, I added my chili paste in oil to give it an extra kick.  I only added one teaspoon because I was afraid that it might be too spicy as this new batch of my chili paste in oil was kinda spicy.  I certainly wouldn't want to make it inedible for most because of the heat.

I have a similar recipe here.  Except for this I added some chili paste in oil to make it spicier.  Check it out, super easy to make for the overseas Malaysian who misses this dish.  You can substitute the green bean with asparagus, long bean, okra and eggplant.

 

Pork with Marinated Bok Choy

I was given some marinated bok choy from our friend who owns a Chinese restaurant.  This marinated bok choy was prepared by the head chef in his restaurant.  I saw this dish prepared by the head chef and it looked really appetizing and I was trying to replicate it.  Typing this post now I just realized I forgot to add red pepper flakes and I shouldn't add water (as the bok choy will release water when cooking).  The head chef version was dry and his pork was sliced really thin and small.  Not sure what was his seasonings though, probably just salt and MSG?

Anyway, this is my version without the MSG.

This was the marinated bok choy that I received.  I used this to cook porridge and it was really good. What do you call this?

Ingredients:

1 boneless pork chop, thinly sliced and marinated with some Chinese wine, salt, white pepper, sugar and cornstarch.

2 big bunches of marinated bok choy, rinsed and cut into small pieces.

2 cm piece of ginger, thinly sliced

4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

Sprinkle of red pepper flakes (I added it here)

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste

Dark soy sauce, a touch

Method:

1.  Heat up the wok, when heated, add in some oil.  Add in ginger, stir-fry until fragrant, add in garlic and red pepper flakes, fry until garlic is slightly golden, add in pork and stir-fry until no longer pink.

2.  Add in marinated bok choy and stir-fry well.  Add seasonings to taste.  Serve hot!