Salmon with Ginger Salted Bean Sauce

This dish is so good. Definitely saving it to make my salmon dish in the future. The sauce is slightly on the salty side, so remember to eat it with lots of rice. You can probably dilute the sauce with some water, but I like my sauce thick. You don't have to season the salmon at all. Just enjoy the salmon with this thick and yummy sauce is enough to make you clean your rice bowl at no time. This is one of my experiments in the kitchen that turned out superb. Now I am a converted salmon fan (but I only like WalMart wild salmon)! What an opposite to people who dislike WalMart wild salmon eh?



Ingredients:

2 Salmon fillets
Rice flour
Oil for pan-frying

1 Tbsp. yellow salted soy beans, smashed
1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup water
3-inch length ginger, cut into tiny pieces

Method:

1. Coat both sides of salmon with rice flour. In a non-stick skillet, on medium heat, add a little oil. When hot, pan-fry both sides of salmon until cooked. Dish out and set on a plate.

2. With the leftover oil (pour away some if it's too much), add in ginger and fry until fragrant. Add in the smashed salted soy beans, fry for a minute, add in water, oyster sauce and sugar. Fry until well mixed and thicken. Pour the sauce over salmon. Serve hot.

Note:
If you are questioning about the color of this salmon, let me explain it to you. This is the wild salmon that was caught in the ocean without going through the migration and spawning yet (which happen in late spring or early summer at the same exact location). The bright pink/red hues only developed during spawning. I figure the meat of this wild salmon is less tough because they are in this relax stage. During migration, swimming up stream at a rate of 4 miles per day will surely work up those muscles/flesh, not only making the color brighter but tougher. Therefore, I prefer this salmon because the flesh is tender, more suitable for our family.

I am also submitting my recipe to the Original Recipe event hosted by Lore at Culinarty. Check out others' recipes around the week of 15th.

Healthy Whole Wheat and Oats Cookies

The recipe I promised. Sharing with you my healthy whole wheat and oats cookies made using canola oil. No fragrant of butter but each bite leaving you feeling less guilty. Canola oil has lower saturated fat, zero trans fat, higher monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat which are better for your heart. Whole wheat and oats are also recommended heart healthy diet so this cookie is sure a healthy cookie to me. Still no over indulgence, limit to 2-3 cookies per day. Any over snacking will result in gaining weight as you know. But of course it is better to snack on some thing healthy for you instead of bad for you. This is a crispy cookie and sort of addictive (well to me).



Ingredients: (Yields about 40, 1.5-inch cookies)

(A)
1 egg
125 ml. canola oil
1/2 tsp. PURE vanilla extract
1/4 cup + 1/8 cup white granulated sugar

(B)
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats (or instant oatmeal)



Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350'F. In a bowl, whisk together (A).

2. Add (B) and mix with a spatula until combined. Use your hand if needed.

3. Shape into a 1-inch ball size dough and press to flatten. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Arrange 1 inch apart as this cookie will expand slightly while baking.

4. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before transfer the cookies to cool completely on wire racks. Store in air-tight container.

Stir Fried Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Ground Pork

One of my quick dinner is to stir-fry noodle. I always have some chopped garlic and cut carrot in my refrigerator ready to be used. So, all I needed to do for this noodle is to julienne some red bell pepper, shallots and washed and cut some baby bok choy (available at WalMart or your local Asian supermarket). I kept boxes of 100% whole wheat spaghetti in my pantry for use in Asian or Western cooking, whichever strike my fancy that day. According to American Heart Association, diet rich in whole grains and other plant foods, and low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may help reduce the risk of heart disease. Only look for those that said 100% whole grain or 100% whole wheat to get the full benefit.

100% whole grain or whole wheat spaghetti can be delicious, just cook to the maximum amount of time listed at the back of the instruction. Cook it a minute or two longer if you prefer the texture to be softer. I once tried a sample at Costco where they tried to market the whole grain spaghetti but the salesperson undercooked it as the spaghetti was hard and chewy, what message did he send? That whole wheat/whole grain spaghetti was hard and chewy which seem to be agreeable with what the majority think. Do you think people would buy it with that kind of experience? I am doubtful. Anyway, instead of eating it with Parmesan cheese (as served in Costco), why not try stir-frying it Asian style? I have no doubt it is much delicious this way. Try it!



Ingredients:

1 box (13.25 oz/ 375g) of 100% whole wheat spaghetti, cooked per package direction and drain with cold water (I cooked mine for 11 minutes).
1/2 lb. Ground Pork
1/4 Red bell pepper, julienne
1 Carrot, cut
About 2-3 bunches of Baby Bok Choy, washed and cut
2 cloves of Garlic, minced
3 small Shallots, sliced

Sauce:
4 Tbsp. Oyster sauce
2 Tbsp. Dark soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar

Method:

1. In a stir-fry pan, add in some cooking oil and fry the shallots until fragrant. Add in ground pork and garlic, fry until ground pork is on longer pink. Add in the rest of the ingredients except spaghetti and stir-fry well.

2. Add in the sauce and fry to combine. Toss in the spaghetti and mix to blend well with the sauce. Season to taste. Might need to add in a little salt if not salty enough. I serve mine with my homemade chili in oil.

I would love to share this dish with Presto Pasta Night . Presto Pasta Night was created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week host is Marye at Baking Delights. Please hop over on Friday, April 10 to see the round up. Thanks!

Girls Update

I am so proud of my two girls. I decided to move them into their own room yesterday after months of mental preparation injected into Evy. I put them on a queen size mattress so that if they fell off from the mattress, they were not going to hurt themselves. Everything was set, I put on a new bed sheet, more mental preparation talk on both girls while doing that. The night came, Edda was easy because she already fell asleep down stair so I just needed to carry her to the bed. I accompanied Evy to brush her teeth, showed her her own bathroom (sharing with her sister of course), but her own sink and her own face towel. Then ushered her into bed, kissed her good night and laid at the bottom of the bed to wait for her to fall asleep. I was afraid that she might be scared because she always told me she is scared to sleep alone. Thus, the co-sleeping with her sister was my solution. But you know what, she actually told me to go back to my room. I was like really and she said yes and I was real impressed. I actually felt weird sleeping in a room without my two girls or simply worrying about them (took me a long time to fall asleep). I had my monitor on the whole time and they did so well, they slept through the night, no crying, not a single sound. I was so proud of them and I told them so. I kept praising them in the morning and told them how well they did and how proud I am of them. They both kept smiling and I know they understood it. So, another smooth sailing move to their own room.



Next would be Edda potty training (I will get it done when she turned three, right now I am mentally preparing her) and teaching her shapes, colors and alphabet. I will really work on her when her sister goes to Kindergarten this Fall. At that time, I will have the private one on one time with her and thus the best time to really teach her. I will start to prepare her for kindergarten. Phonic digestion at 3 years old and at 4, she will know how to read like her sister. One thing though her learning skill is a bit slow, I guess it was my fault because I did not read to her from 6 months up to a year every night like what I did with her sister. So until now she still cannot differentiate shapes and colors which her sister already knew at 9 months. I can really see the difference what advance reading do to their learning ability. One a fast learner and really smart, the other a slow learner and not as smart. Luckily she started talking in sentences and more now, at 2 she still hardly spoke at all and I was worried. Just that sometimes I have to figure out whether she is talking in Mandarin or English because her pronunciation is a bit off. But she sure try to express herself in sentences.

Evy is going to Kindergarten this Fall. I enrolled her into a school that teaches Mandarin from K to grade 5. She already has good Mandarin foundation and I hope that it will get reinforce in the school. I have prepared her well for Kindergarten as I did not send her to pre-school. She knows how to write, how to read (very good at reading, can read the whole Dora (1) book with no mistake), how to count, how to add and minus in her mind, without using her ten fingers (her mathematics skill is up to grade 1 level), how to use a computer, how to draw, color and tell story of what she drew. She even made a story book, drew some pictures, illustrated the story to me and had me wrote down the story in that book for her. And she would read the story over and over again and kept it as her possession. I have no doubt she will do well in school.

Extra update: The next day, I put both of them in bed, kissed them good night and left the room. Edda still wanted to play I guess because I heard (through my monitor) Evy said, "睡觉了，好不好?". Edda replied, "好". Some comforter ruffle sounds. Few minutes later, Evy said, "睡觉了，好不好? 姐姐累累了，要睡觉了." Then, silent. The following day I asked Evy, she said her sister was trying to tickle her. Haha...

Translation:
Evy said, "Let's sleep, ok?" Edda replied, "ok"
Evy said, "Let's sleep, ok? Sister is very tired and wants to sleep now."

Red Bean Konnyaku Jelly

I was in the mood for some jelly and red bean jelly to be exact. The only jelly powder I had in my pantry was Konnyaku jelly powder, so Konnyaku jelly it was. I bought some mooncake jelly molds when I was in Malaysia last year so I thought this would be the perfect time to use it or open ceremony with it like we Chinese said. I do love this molds, making the jelly looking ultra cute. I wanted to make a red bean jelly because I had a canned of red bean and making a red bean jelly was much easier than making a red bean kuih even though both tasted great. Also I got to use my new jelly molds. :)





Here's my easy, refreshing and delicious red bean jelly recipe. No pre-cooking of red bean required. ;)

Ingredients:

(A)
One packet of Redman Konnyaku jelly powder (10gm)
3/4 cup sugar

750ml water
200ml whole milk (you can use skim or 2%)
One 475g (16.75oz) canned whole red bean (shelled) for dessert topping



Method:

1. In a bowl, mix (A) together and whisk to combine. Set aside.

2. In a medium pot, add 750ml water to boil. When boiling, add in (A). Whisk until sugar dissolved. Add milk and red bean, whisk to blend well.

3. Pour into jelly molds of your choice. Let it cool at room temperature before transferring it to harden completely in the refrigerator. Roughly 2-3 hours. Serve chilled.

Deep Fried Chicken Strips

Who wouldn't love fried chicken strips? Anything deep fried with batter is pretty appealing, unless you are a health conscious person who seldom eat fried food. I have cut down a lot of deep-frying at my house, but once in a while I do like to treat my girls to some deep-fried food. I love freshly ground grinder and you can easily find the Spice Depot spice grinders at WalMart. It came in bigger bottle with cheaper price which I liked, any bargain is a great bargain to me. You can visit the website for recipe idea, recipes or check out the variety of spices they carry. Here's my crispy fried chicken strips recipe to share with you.

Ingredients:

1 big chicken breast, cut into long strips

Marinade:
Spice Depot spicy sea salt grinder, about 20 grinds
1/2 tsp. cumin powder
1/4 tsp. coriander powder

Batter:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Spice Depot spicy sea salt grinder, about 10-15 grinds
1/2 cup water

Enough oil for deep-frying



Method:

1. Add marinade into the chicken breast strips, stir well and let it marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

2. In a wok, add in enough oil for deep frying and turn the heat to medium high. In the meantime, prepare the batter. Add all ingredients in a bowl and stir with a spoon until the flour is well mixed and no lumps.

3. Take one chicken strip and dip into the batter until fully coated and drop gently into the hot oil. Deep fry until the chicken is cooked and golden brown. Drain on paper towel. Serve warm.



If you have any leftover batter, don't waste it, just use any fresh vegetable you have in your refrigerator for some tempura veggie. I used some cut sweet snap peas and carrot which I prepared earlier for omelet. You can use broccoli, carrot, sweet potato, potato, green bean, etc. The choice is yours! Enjoy!

Salmon with Ginger Slices

Salmon is rich in omega 3 fatty acid and is one of the fishes recommended for heart healthy diet. My husband and I are not a fan of salmon. Often time I eat salmon is due to the fact that it is rich in omega 3, that's the only reason that I would eat it. Another reason is salmon is not cheap at all, especially wild salmon. I don't really like the farm raised salmon mainly because coloring is added to make it looks pink, not to elaborate about the farming of salmon and the condition the salmon were in before it has been packaged. But, I found that you can actually buy affordable wild salmon at Walmart. I bought One lb (16oz) of individually vacuum sealed fillets, wild caught, all natural salmon for only $3.50 (about 4 fillets) on sales, usual price is $3.95. And the whole half size of the wild salmon for only $7+, that's affordable to me. So, I got tempted just because it's high in omega 3 fish oil. I want to balance this fish with the Tilapia fillet that we liked. When I bought this, my hubby actually said who wants to eat this yucky fish. *roll eyes*



I felt like I needed to prove him wrong. Prove to him that salmon can be delicious too, he just needed to be more open minded like me. I took the salmon out to thaw with the thought that if he really didn't like it, that's okay as I could have his share. ;) This wild salmon was actually delicious! I kept it simple, I didn't season the fish fillets at all. I just coated it with cornstarch and pan-fried both sides until cooked. Then, in a little oil, I fried the ginger slices until golden brown, then added in dark soy sauce and sugar. Then, I pour the sauce along with ginger slices on top of the salmon fillets. It's simple and delicious. Oh, I love ginger, so I wanted a lot of it on my fish (Ginger has antioxidants and is an anti-inflammatory food). If you don't like ginger, you can substitute it with minced garlic, scallion, a little chopped red chili. Well, my hubby actually said it was not bad and finished his share. :)

Note: Not sure whether wild salmon plays a part compared to farm salmon in taste wise.