chinese homemade boiled dumplings - “shuijiao” or “chinese ravioli???”: step-by-step recipe

As a matter of fact, before I posted the recipe on Guotie or Potstickers: chinese panfried pork dumplings, about two months ago I have made some chinese boiled dumplings: Boiled dumplings literally “water dumplings” (水餃; pinyin: shuǐjiǎo) from scratch but haven’t got the grip to write up until now.

 

I have bought this recipe book years ago on how to make shuijiao but never dare to attempt making them. I always feel they are too difficult and it’s too convenient in Hong Kong that you can easily find restaurants that serve dumplings. Now living in Switzerland, I cannot find nice authentic chinese food so easily, thereofore when I crave for something specific , I have to made them myself.

With the help from recent experience in kneading bread dough, I thought I could give a try to make the wrappers myself which was the most challenging part of the whole process. Personally, I find this is more difficult and takes longer than kneading a bread dough. I am amazed with just simply flour and water, you can make such lovely thing. The handmade wrappers are indeed uncomparable to the ready made ones as the texture of the handmade ones are so much nicer, elastic and does not feel machinery, it is definitely worth trying if you have a free afternoon.

 

 

Makes about 30 pieces

Ingredients for dumpling wrappers:

• 250g white flour
• 150ml cold water

 

Ingredients for fillings:

• 800g fresh spinach or 8 cubes of frozen spinach (approx 300g)
• 200g minced pork
• 2cm cube of grated fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp chicken stock powder
• 1 tbsp chinese cooking wine 
• pinches of pepper
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil or other vegetable oil

 

Special utensils required:

• Wooden rolling pin (ideal to have a small one, Fig. 3)

 

METHOD:

A. Prepare the dumpling filling

1. If you use fresh spinach, after washing the spinach, boil the vegetable until soft, do not overcooked it. Then cool it with cold water, squeeze out the water and chop it into small pieces. (I found the frozen spinach worked as well and did not deteriorate the taste from fresh spinach if fresh spinach is not available in your surroundings)
2. In a big bowl, put the chopped spinach and minced pork together. (The ratio of vegetable to pork should be about 1:1)
3. Marinade with the above ingredients, cover and keep in the fridge (Fig. 1). You can prepare the filling the day before if you think the whole process of making the fillings and wrappers take too long.

B. How to make the Wrappers

1. Place the flour in a big glass bowl, gradually add in the cold water. Using your hand, mix in the flour and water until they stick together and form a dough.
2. Generously sprinkle some flour on the kitchen board, turn the dough to the board and knead until you get a smooth dough (Fig. 2)
3. Cut the dough into a few pieces and roll each of them into long cylindrical shape with approximately 2cm in diameter (Fig. 3).
4. Cut the long cylindrical dough into small pieces of about 10g each (Fig. 4).
5. Sprinkle some flour to the small pieces of dough to avoid them from sticking together (Fig. 5).
6. Remember to keep the kitchen or rolling board floured.
7. Take one small piece of dough, press on it using your end of palm to make it flat. Then with your left hand holding the flat piece of dough and right hand holding the wooden pin, roll the wooden pin upwards and at the same time turn the flat dough anticlockwise. Repeat 3-4 times until you get a wrapper of about 7cm diameter (Fig. 6). The centre of the wrapper should be slightly thicker than the sides.
8. Repeat for all the pieces, you will now get a batch of wrappers ready to put in the fillings. If you want to stack up the wrappers, make sure you have floured each piece, otherwise they will stick together (Fig. 7). My experience was to let them lie flat, dusted with flour and keep them separated.

C. Wrapping the dumplings or “Shuijiao”

1. Prepare a small bowl of cold water aside.
2. Place a wrapper on your palm and using a teaspoon, scoop the prepared filling onto the middle of the wrapper (Fig.
3. Dip your finger into the bowl of water and slightly wet one side of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper into half and gently press to seal the wrapper(Fig. 9)
4. Lastly stick the two sides together with a little water if required, press with your fingers to ensure they are sticked properly. The sides of the dumpling should face slightly upward.
5. Repeat for all the wrappers.

D. Storage

1. This recipe is ideal if you would like to prepare in advance, keep in freezer and enjoy them on a later day.
2. Dust the wrapped dumplings with generous flour and keep them plastic boxes.

E. How to cook the dumplings

1. Boiling method is in general perceived to be healthier than the panfried method.
2. Prepare 2 pans, one filled with boiling water (Pan A) and one with boiling water and chicken stock (Pan B).
3. Add in the dumplings to Pan A while the water is boiling (medium high heat), stir gently in case they make stick together and cook until the dumplings are floating on the water.
4. Add a few drops of sesame oil in a serving bowl, put the dumplings into the bowl without the liquid, as it is too cloudy. Then pour some chicken broth onto the bowl. Ganish with some chopped coriander or spring onion and serve with your desired dipping sauce (see below). Another option is serving  without adding the broth, this is fine too.

F. Dipping sauce

There are so many variations of dipping sauce that you can prepare at home: here are some common ingredients that you can choose from to mix together:

• soy sauce
• black vinegar
• finely chopped spring onion
• grated garlic
• sesame oil
• sugar
• chili sauce or oil

Here is my usual dipping sauce:

• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp black vinegar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• some sesame oil
• chili sauce (optional)

     Mix the above in a bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Fig. 1 Dumpling fillings: marinaded pork and spinach

Fig. 2 Flour and water kneaded until it becomes a shiny smooth dough

Fig. 3 Example of wooden rolling pin and dough rolled into long cylindrical shape

Fig. 4 Long cylindrical dough cut into pieces of about 10g each

Fig. 5 Sprinkle flour to keep the small pieces separated

Fig. 6 One wrapper rolled out from a small piece of dough

Fig. 7 Stack of wrappers prepared

Fig. 8 Filling put onto a wrapper

Fig. 9 Fold the wrapper in half after adding the filling

Fig. 10 Finish by sticking the 2 sides together: this is called Chestnut shaped

Even kids enjoy wrapping dumplings: to make it easier to explain, I called them chinese ravioli

Fig. 11 Wrapped dumplings kept in freezer to strengthen the dumpling shape

Are you impressed with my chopsticks skills?

summer vacation in southwest France: Part III: panfried white fish with red gooseberries sauce

Visiting the food markets in France reminds me the food markets in my home town….

Food markets in Hong Kong

Being a Chinese, food markets is nothing new to me. In Asia, outdoor food markets are very common. When I was little, I never like going to these markets with my mom because the floors are wet and you can be splashed with some water from the vegetable stalls when they spray water to keep the vegetable fresh or even blood from the fish stalls. It’s also very hot in summers. Nowadays, a lot of improvements done, most of them are now covered markets and much cleaner. These markets are not replaceble by supermarkets even in metropolitan cities like Hong Kong, this is because the food is guaranteed to be fresher and you get more choices there.

 

Food market in Sarlat

There were many farms when we were driving pass the Dordogne area, I wish we could stay longer to visit the walnut oil mill and buy some local produce directly from the farms. Nevertheless, I was still lucky to be able to experience the Sunday Market in Sarlat and another market just outside Sarlat.

We have bought some fish from the supermarket and I thought of just simply panfried it and accompanied with the local vegetables but then I realised that I have forgotten the lemon. Luckily, from the French biweekly food magazine (Vie Pratique Gourmand) I bought, I was inspired to make a red gooseberries sauce to go with it. I was wondering how to eat these berries as they are a bit too sour for me. In the end, the result of this dish was very appetizing and satisfying. I was very pleased with this food magazine because there were many more things I discovered here which hopefully could widen my horizons in cooking and ideas of take food photos.

 

Serves 3

 

Ingredients:

• 3 white fish fillets (see notes)
• 1 pack of red gooseberries
• ‘Ratte’ new potatoes (see notes)
• Courgettes
• Onions
• 3 cloves violet garlic cut in slices
• Provencal herbs
• Walnut oil or Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• 3 tbsp Brown sugar
• butter

 

Method:

1. Season the fish fillets with salt, coarsed black pepper and sprinkled some provencal herbs on top.
2. Wash the new potatoes by rubbing any soil around them.
3. Cut the onions and courgettes into slices.
4. Wash the red gooseberries, marcerate them by adding the brown sugar to them, leave for 15 mins or so. Cook the berries in a saucepan in medium high heat, squash the berries until it becomes a sauce and set aside.
5. Boil the new potatoes for about 20 mins.
6. Panfry the fish with walnut or olive oil, cook each side for about 3 mins or when they turn golden brown.
7. Heat some oil in another pan, put the garlic in, when it turns slightly golden brown, add in the onions, stir fry for 1 mins and then add in the courgettes. Season with some salt and pepper and a little herbs if you like. Stir fry until they are cooked.
8. When everything is ready, reheat the sauce and ready to serve.

 

Notes:

• Any white fish would be suitable, I have in fact cooked this dish again immediately after the holiday as I have lost the pictures accidentally by deleting them (see comment in Part II), the first time I used Pangasius and the second time at home, I have used a fish we bought in France called Filet de Fletan which the lady from the supermarket claimed that this fish was fresher but strangely I still preferred pangasius fish more as it smelt less fishy.
• The Ratte new potatoes you see in the picture are very tiny and young ones, if you can get hold of these potatoes, do try them out as they are not always available. I am normally not so fond of potatoes but these ones are so cute and tasted the best which made them irresistable. Add some butter when serving the potatoes.

 

summer vacation in southwest France: Part II: medieval town Sarlat in The Dordogne region

 

Dordogne

• To the French, the Dordogne is a river. To the British, it covers a vast area roughly equivalent to what the French call Périgord. Dordogne is also a department which consists of Périgord Blanc (White) , Périgord Noir (Black), Périgord Green and Périgord Purple.

 

Sarlat

• Sarlat-La-Canéda or simply Sarlat is the capital of Périgord Noir.

• Sarlat is a medieval town and is one of the towns that most represents the 14th century  of France. It is in France’s Tentative List for future nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The town centre is so pretty and full of well preserved medieval architecture.

• Agriculture has long been of importance in the Dordogne area around Sarlat. It mainly produces corn, hay, walnuts, walnut oil, violet garlic, cheeses, wine, cèpes (a sort of wild mushrooms), truffles and foie gras.

          

 

• Foie gras: There are several large foie gras factories as well as a number of small producers of geese and ducks in the region that make foie gras and other cherished products (confits, pâté, etc.) from them.

          

• Dordorgne attracts many visitors in the summer especially from Northern Europe (e.g. the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, etc.)

It was a very pleasant afternoon wandering the narrow lanes of this archetypal medieval town, with its vielle ville of honey-coloured stone buildings, We were lucky that the day of our visit fell on the Sunday Market.

 

Kittie kittie, waiting for your dinner???

my first blog award

Wow, I was so surprised and thrilled to find out when Tuimeltje from Twigs and Tofu passed on the Brilliante Weblog Premio 2008 Award to me.

And to keep the ball rolling, I have to follow the rules and pass on to 7 worthy blogs:

Here are the rules, I found from Hand Quilting:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated.

I would like to pass on to the following blogs:

• Simon Says: I like Simon’s restaurants reviews, they are very special.
• Culinaria Italia: Great authentic Italian recipes
• Sunflower: She has many nice Asian recipes
• Hollow Legs: I can feel Lizzie’s passion in food
• Tess’s Japanese Kitchen: Many nice Japanese recipes
• Home Cooking Diary: Peter has a lot of authentic Korean recipes
• A Life (Time) of Cooking: Lovely food photos and many nice vegetarian recipes

Wish all of you Happy CEO (Cooking & Eating out)!!!

perhaps the easiest way to make Guotie or Potstickers: chinese panfried pork dumplings

 

Yesterday feeling a bit homesick and have made Guotie* (chinese version) or Gyoza* (Japanese version), a type of Jiaozi* (chinese dumpling).

The recipe I used is adapted from a cookbook I recently bought called ‘Harumi’s Japanese Cooking’. Harumi used prawns in her recipe which is not so common in Gyoza, maybe that’s why she called her version as Chinese Style Dumpling. It’s hard to say if this is pure Chinese version or Japanese version as it consists elements of both countries’ cooking styles. No need to debate on this point really, as long as they taste good, isn’t it?

This version, unlike the typical dumplings, is not sealed which makes it very easy to prepare. My hubby all of a sudden said they were like Chinese Tacos and I said that was a very good description. However, there is one small drawback of the opened mouth dumpling, since it is not sealed, the filling inside does not stick to the wonton wrapping very well, so you have to turn them carefully to keep it in one piece.

 

Makes 18 dumplings

Ingredients:

• 200g minced pork
• 100g prawns (fresh or frozen)
• 18 round chinese dumplings skins (they are white in color, don’t mix up with wonton skins which are light yellow, another tip is to wrap the dumpling skins with a clean damp kitchen towel to avoid them from being dried out)
• 100 ml hot water
• a clean kitchen towel

   Marinade:

• 1 tbsp sake or chinese cooking rice wine (doesn’t matter which you use really as the alcohol will be evaporated when cooked)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• a few pitches of white pepper
• 1 tsp chicken stock powder
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• 1 tsp of sunflower or vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 50g finely chopped chinese chives (I used chinese chives flower this time, you can also subsitute with spring onion)
• 2 tbsp of grated fresh ginger

   Dipping sauce:  

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp chinese dark vinegar
• 3 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• some chopped fresh chili (optional)

Method:

1. Mix the ingredients for in a bowl, stir until the sugar is dissolved, leave aside.
2. Remove the shell and vein of the prawns if needed. Briefly mince the prawn so you can still see small pieces of them when mixed to the minced pork.
3. Marinate the minced pork, prawn and chinese chives together with the marinade above with ginger being added last. When this is done, the ingredients should stick together to a paste.
4. Using a spoon or chopsticks, put a spoonful amount minced meat onto a dumpling skin and then fold it into half. Repeat and put the folded ones onto a clean big plate. Cover with a clean damp kitchen towel to avoid from drying out.
5. You should have 2 plates of folded dumplings now.
6. You would need to cook in 2 batches.
7. Heat some cooking oil in a big flat pan, place the dumplings (in rows if possible) into the pan without sticking them together and turn to medium heat. Cook until they turn golden brown and crispy.
8. Turn them over to cook on the other side for a few minutes in the same way and then add in half of the hot water (50 ml) slowly, the water should be shallowed covering the bottom of the pan. Cover the lid of the pan immediately and let the dumplings steam for about 5 mins.
9. The water should almost be dried up by this time, remove the lid, shake the pan slightly to make sure the dumplings are not sticking to the pan. You can remove the dumplings from the heat when they become crispy again.
10. Serve immediately.

 

Suggestions:

• You can eat the potstickers with noodle soup, ramen or green salad.
• It’s best to cook the potstickers immediately shortly after wrapping. If you cannot finish them all in one go, you can keep the minced meat in the fridge and cook them the next day. The unused dumpling skins can also be kept in the fridge by wrapping wth a clean damp kitchen cloth and use the next day immediately.  

 

*Source from Wikipedia:

Jiaozi (Chinese transliteration), gyōza (Japanese transliteration), or mandu (Korean), is a Chinese dumpling, widely popular in China, Japan, and Korea as well as outside of East Asia, particularly in the United States.

Guotie (simplified Chinese: 锅贴; traditional Chinese: 鍋貼; pinyin: guōtiē; literally “pot stick”) is pan-fried jiaozi, also known as potstickers in North America. They are a Northern Chinese style dumpling popular as a street food, appetizer, or side order in Chinese, Japanese and Korean cuisines. This dish is sometimes served on a dim sum menu, but may be offered independently. The filling for this dish usually contains pork (sometimes chicken, or beef in Muslim areas), cabbage (or Chinese cabbage and sometimes spinach), scallions (spring or green onions), ginger, Chinese rice wine or cooking wine, and sesame seed oil.

The mixed filling is sealed into a dumpling wrapper, pan fried until golden brown, then steamed for a few minutes. If done correctly, they don’t stick as much as their name suggests, if a non-stick frying pan is used, they do not stick at all.

An alternative method is to steam in a wok and then fry to crispness on one side in a shallow frying pan.

summer vacation in southwest France: Part I - gourmet experience in La Barbanne campsite, Bordeaux

It was the first time to go on holidays in a camper van. As a city girl, this was a very special experience to me, I haven’t seen other Chinese in the campsites other than me, they were mostly Dutch, French and English. 

I would not say this is my most favorite way of travel but it is certainly a good way if you would like to bring along your kids and pets. For me, not mention the Chateaux visits in St Emilion, the most rewarding thing was that I could cook something nice in the evening with the fresh food we bought in the farmers markets and supermarkets, . Fresh vegetables, fruits, meat and local French Cheese, all can be kept in the fridge. If I am staying hotels, I can only look at them but cannot buy all the food I would like to sample. I like eating out too but eating out every single day is a bit too much.

This trip we have altogether driven almost 3000 km in 12 days. Leaving from Basel, we have stopped in Burgundy, Massif Central, and finally our main destination, Bordeaux.  

There have been so many nice experience in this trip: Bike riding in the vineyards, visiting & wine tasting in chateaux, buying local produce from farmers market in Sarlat, etc

I would like to write about my trip in different parts and centred around my gourmet experience. Gourmet, gourmand or gourmandise are words originated in France and I bumped into these words from time to time in this trip, probably just because I have paid more attention after starting my foodblog.

Others you can find my pictures uploaded in flickr.

Part I: Food experience in campsite: Domaine de la Barbanne, St Emilion, Bordeaux

Part II: Medieval Town Sarlat in the Dordogne region

Part III: Panfried white fish with Red gooseberries sauce

Part IV: Vanilla ice cream with Quattro berries sauce & Macaroons

Part V: Gastronomique dinner in La Tertre, St Emilion

 

 

Throughout our trip La Barbanne is the best campsite we have stayed in terms of location and facilities. Each pitch has large grassy pitches with dividing hedges for privacy. It is located in the heart of the Bordeaux wine region, only 2.5 km from St. Emilion town. One evening we biked to St Emilion town for a gastronomique dinner without worrying coming back after dark to the campsite (Part IV).

 

Breakfast experience

Bread has played a pivotal role in French history, even the fresh bakery that La Barbanne orders the bread from is of superlative quality. We have stayed in this campsite for 5 nights which allowed us to try something different each morning.

                        

The croissant is bigger than usual, the honey we bought in Massif Central goes very well with it.

 

Artisan Wholemeal Baguette (pain complet)

 

This is my favorite: Baguette with Poppy seeds and Flaxseeeds

Camembert matches very well with this baguette. You can see the poppy seeds are inside the bread as well and gives the bread a distinct taste.

 

However, one morning, I still miss chinese food and cooked an instant noodle with egg.

 

Dinner experience

For one evening, I have cooked a Ratatouille style of vegetable & chicken with heart-shaped pasta. I was inspired by the Ratatouille cartoon we watched the night before, perfectly fitted to the French country-side environment.

 

 

 

 

Tomatoes, aubergine, white zucchini & onions

 

             

 

 

 

Simple and nice Ratatouille with chicken & pasta

 

 

my comfort food: chinese risotto

Chinese Style Risotto

Just came back from almost two weeks holiday in South West France, I have decided to cook something simple and chinese. My mom used to cook rice this way very often, as kids, my brother and I love it. And then when I was in University in UK, I cooked this Chinese Risotto almost once every week as it is so easy and fast to prepare; healthy and tasty at the same time but more importantly reminds me of my childhood. 

As a matter of fact, my Swiss friend told me she always cooks the Italian Risotto using a rice cooker, I have not tried myself, I still prefer the traditional way if I want to cook Italian risotto. I suppose we just have to keep our mind open not bound by rules. Vice versa I found recipes of Chinese risotto cooking using the Italian way too….. 

 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 200g minced pork or diced chicken breast
• 30g dried Chinese mushrooms or dried Japanese shiitake mushrooms
• 1 fresh egg (optional)
• 250g long grain or jasmine Rice

Marinade:

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp cooking oil, e.g. Sunflower, maize but not olive oil, somehow I find Olive oil does not go well with Chinese food)
• 1 tsp Sesame oil
• 3 pinches white Pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

 

Method:

• Prepare in advance: 2-3 hours before cooking, hydrate the dried mushrooms in a bowl of hot water.  Marinate the pork or chicken with the above ingredients.
• Chop the hydrated mushrooms in cubes and mix in with the pork and set aside (Fig. 1).
• Wash the rice and cook it using a saucepan or even better if you have a rice cooker (see notes below).
• When the rice starts boiling (about 10 mins), add in the marinated meat onto the surface of the rice. Cover the pan or rice cooker (Fig. 2).
• If you use saucepan, this may take another 10-12 mins until cooked. For rice cooker, it will stop automatically, if it is still not cooked, press the ‘cook’ button again.
• If you like you can add an egg, I like it personally as it makes the rice tasting smoother (Fig. 3).
• Immediately use the rice spatula to mix the meat throughoutly with the rice.
• Ready to serve (Fig.4) 
  • you can drizzle a few drops of soy sauce to enhance the taste
  • Recently I even started serving it with a little Korean chili sauce (Fig. 5).

*I actually prepare this dish in the camp site last week but without mushrooms, just minced pork and egg, so don’t worry if you don’t have mushrooms at home.

 

Notes on how to cook rice (my mom’s way):

I am sure most of you know how to cook rice but occasionally I have friends asking me how to make the rice sticks together and how much water should be added. Here are some practical tips which you may be interested how we do it at home.

• To wash the rice, you just swirl the rice and water in the pan, make sure the rice to push against the side of the pan or the rice container of the rice cooker which would help rubbing the dirt out. Discard the water and repeat 2 more times, the water should be clearer by this time.
• A practical tip from my mom is to put my middle finger on top of the rice, the water level should reach about one-third of your middle finger (Fig. 6). Of course this may vary a little according which pan or type of rice you use. It’s really a bit based on experience. My hubby sometimes can even cook better rice than me.
• Don’t forget to dry the bottom of the pan or the rice cooking container before you put them on the stove or esp. rice cooker.

 

Fig.1 Marinated pork and chinese mushrooms

Fig. 2 Marinated pork and mushroom added to top of rice when it's boiling

Fig. 3 Fresh egg added to Cooked Chinese Risotto

Fig. 4 My mom's way of Chinese Risotto

Fig. 5 Premium Light Soy Sauce (R) & Korean Hot Pepper Soybean Paste

Fig. 6 How to judge how much water to add for chinese way of rice cooking

mitsukoshi restaurant & sushi bar, London

Last week when I was in London, I was so glad to be able to meet up with my old friend who we have not seen each other for years. We both fancied Japanese food that day and she took me to Mitsukoshi London (located near Piccadilly Circus). If you would like a relatively quiet environment, this is the place you can choose. I saw a lot of Japanese people eating here, so it should not go too wrong.

I had an early bird dinner menu which cost £22, it includes a seafood tempura, sashimi, japanese pickles, a bowl of Japanese rice and a beer or a glass of wine. I think the price is reasonable for London and most importantly, the japanese food here is authentic. The shrimp tempura was very fresh and the batter was nicely done.  The portion of this menu is probably more suitable for ladies than men.

Early Bird Menu

 

That day I had a crave of sushi as well and have ordered 3 pieces: Uni (sea urchin), Hamachi (yellowtail), and Sake (salmon). Oishi!!!

Pity that they do not have my favorite black sesame ice-cream, so instead I had green tea ice-cream with red bean paste.

Green tea ice-cream with red bean paste

 

There is a sushi bar on the other side and a separate bar, they have a wide selection of sakes. If I revisit again, I may try Omakase* at their sushi bar or shabu-shabu (Japanese hotpot), for omakase they said I would need to make a reservation first.

 

Part of their sake selection

Mitsukoshi London, Restaurant & Sushi Bar 

Dorland House

14-20 Lower Regent Street

London SW1Y 4PH

www.mitsukoshi-restaurant.co.uk

 

*Source from Wikipedia: Omakase (お任せ) is the Japanese word meaning “entrust” or “protect”. It is most commonly encountered at sushi bars, where the customer may request お任せお願いします omakase onegaishimasu (onegaishimasu meaning “please do me the favor”) to give the chef authority to prepare what the chef wants to make for you at the price that the chef sets. Ordering omakase can be a gamble; however, the customer typically receives the highest quality fish the restaurant currently has in stock at a price cheaper than if it was ordered à la carte.

my Essential Seasoning ingredients for Easy (Cantonese Style) Chinese Cooking

As there will be increasing Chinese (Cantonese) recipes in my blog over time, I think it will be useful to share with you of what I have in my kitchen, let’s start with seasoning first.

 

Most frequently use:

• Cooking oil
• Salt
• Sugar
• Light Soy Sauce
• Corn flour or corn starch
• White Pepper
• Chinese Cooking (Shao Hsing), Rice Wine (see note)
• Sesame oil
• Black Bean Sauce
• Yellow Bean Sauce
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Spring onion

 

Less frequently use:

• Shrimp Paste
• Chu Hou Paste
• Chili Sauce
• XO Sauce (see note)
• Oyster sauce
• Dark Soy Sauce
• Tomato sauce (ketchup)
• Preserved Bean Curd
• Preserved Red Bean curd
• Salted Plum
• Brown Sugar in pieces 

Notes:

• If you don’t have Chinese Cooking Rice Wine,  you can use other strong spirits instead, I have used Tequila and my dad’s Chivas Cognac, they both worked perfectly for me.
• A lot of my friends always asked me which brand do I use as they find it difficult to choose when confronting in front of so many different brands. My personal preference brands are Amoy and Lee Kum Kee as they are both long established & reliable brands in Hong Kong. 
• XO sauce is created in 1980s in Hong Kong, it is a spicy seafood sauce. You can also find it in Wikipedia. You can use it the same as Chili sauce (with noodles or in cooking), e.g. Stir fried broccoli with fresh scallops and XO sauce.
• Some ingredients you would not have seen in my recipes yet, they will come as my recipes grow.

Chinese cooking rice wine (Shao Hsing)

black-bean-sauce-with-garlic

yellow-bean-sauce

Shrimp Paste

XO Sauce

Preserved Hot Bean Curd

Preserved Red Bean Curd

Chu Hou Sauce

Salted Plums

Brown Sugar in Pieces

pork loin with Lemongrass: Vietnamese style

I have not made this Vietnamese dish for a long time, I spontaneously wanted to make it again a few weeks ago. I think this is a great dish for summer. 

 

Lemongrass pork loin serve with rice noodle

♦♦♦

Ingredients:

• 4 large cloves garlic, sliced
• 3 large stalks fresh lemongrass, use the tender inner white bulbs only, sliced
• 2 large shallots, sliced
• 1& 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp Thai fish sauce
• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 kg boneless pork loin, sliced into roughly 2 cm, and tenderize with a meat tenderizer or back of the knife blade
• Fresh limes cut into quarters

 

Method:

1. Finely chop the garlic, lemongrass and shallots with a blender or zyliss chopper (Fig. 1)
2. Mix the above into a paste together in a big bowl with the sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, cooking oil and soy sauce (Fig. 2)
3. Put the pork loin in the bowl, cover and let it marinade for at least an hour (or even overnight) in the fridge (Fig. 3)
4. Coat the griddle pan with cooking oil and heat it up. Fry the pork loin on both sides until they are cooked (Fig. 4).
5. Squeeze some fresh lime juice on the pork (Fig. 4) and serve with rice or rice noodles. (you can drizzle some soy sauce on top of the rice).

Note. This recipe is also ideal for outdoor BBQ especially if you would like to impress your guests.

Fig. 1 Lemongrass, Shallots, garlic finely chopped

 

Fig. 2 Lemongrass marinade paste

 

Fig. 3 Pork loin coated in marinade

 

Fig. 4 Lemongrass pork fried on griddle pan

 

Fig. 5 Lemongrass pork loin cooked