Pork Leg with Sweet Vinegar 猪脚醋

This Pork Leg with Sweet Vinegar, or zhu1 jiao3 cu1 （猪脚醋）is one of the Chinese traditional dishes for confinement (if you cook with the right ingredients). This dish is delicious, you can easily prepare it to serve a large numbers of people (big family gathering can have more than 50 persons, which is not unusual for some of the Malaysian/Singaporean chinese), and this dish can last few days (trust me, it ages well just like cheese.) For all the reasons mentioned above, this dish is no. 1 must have dish for family gathering and special events, such as family reunion dinner in Chinese New Year, for some of the Chinese families.

For those who never try pork legs before, I challenge you for this. Beware, do not try the pork legs dish that are selling in any food courts or restaurant (unles highly recommended by your Chinese friends). The reason is, most of the chefs/cooks will not prepare this dish well as they have taken shortcuts that will actually ruin the tastes, which will cause the dish sucks (and smelly).

Ingredients:

1. Pork Legs (Ask the butcher to cut them for you)

2. Old ginger (smashed in large pieces)

3. Sesame oil

4. Few hard-boiled eggs (Optional)

5. Sweet vinegar (You can get it from Chinese market) - Use half bottle or full bottle, depends how much of pork legs you're cooking. Read the instruction on the label of sweet vinegar bottle.

6. Garlic (smashed)

7. Dried red chilli (Optional) - Only add some if you want it hot and spicy.

Instructions:

1. Heat the pot. Add in pork legs pieces. Heat it and cover it, until the oil of the legs come out and turns brown on the surface. Then add in hot water to get rid of the pork smell, heat them for few minutes. Then take out and set aside. (The sequence of this step is important.)

2. Heat another pot, then add in smashed old ginger and fry it until it's dry. Afterthat, add in sesame oil. Fry until it's brown and ready. (Should be very fragrant)

3. Add in pork legs pieces and fry them together.

4. Then add in sweet vinegar, smashed garlic, dried red chilli (optional). Cover them and heat until boil. Then turn to medium heat to simmer for 1-1.5 hours until it's soft and tender.

4. (Optional) If you have hard-boiled eggs, then add them in for about 5-10 minutes.

Note: Since this is a dish for your beloved family, remember to clean the pork legs properly. Pluck the pig hair as thorough as possible.

Reference:

1. 【达人料理】原味的感动(5)猪脚醋

Mee Goreng with Prawn (Malay Fried Noodle)

Mee Goreng, or Malay friend noodle are a very popular dish in Malaysia, Indonedia and Singapore. It has the tastes of sweetness, hot and serve very well with seafood or chicken. Basically it is cooked with Kechup, hot chilli sauce, green/red chilli.

Today, I cooked this with the help of Asian Home Gourment's Mee Goreng packet. I am satisfied with the dish. I can't help to eat more than I should have.  :)

The steps to cook is similar to Fried Hokkien Noodle with Soya Sauce. Let me know if you would have any questions. 

Chinese Herbal Soup for General Health 补中益气汤

This Chinese Herbal Soup is called bu3 zhong1 yi4 qi4 tang1 (补中益气汤). It's good to cure (not treatment, but supplement for general health) tiredness, short of breath generally, laziness in speaking, pale, lost of appetite generally. 

Ingredients:

Chinese Herbal Soup ingredients packet for 补中益气汤 (you can get it from Chinese supermarket or Chinese Medicine Clinic), or you can buy the ingredients seperately:

1. Condonopsis Pilosula Nannf. (Pilose Asiabell Root) 党参

2. Angelica Dahurica Benth Cf. Hook (Dahurian Angelica Root) 北芪

3. Lycium Chinense Mill (REdmedier Berry) 杞子

4. Radix Dioscoreae (Yam) 淮山

5. Dimocarpus Longana (Longan) 桂圆

6. Nelumbo Nucifera (Lotus Nut) 莲子

7. Euryale Ferox (Foxnut) 芡實

=> Cook with Chicken or Pork

Instructions:

1. Wash the ingredients briefly

2. Add in all the ingredients and the meat (Chicken or Pork)

3. Boil water (8-12 bowls, depends on you) in a pot

4. Simmer for 1-2 hours. (Generally you can serve it after an hour but the nutritions of the ingredients might not be fully utilized. If you will eat the ingredients as well, it should be fine. Normally I only drink the soup and eat the meat only. It's up to you.)

5. Add salt before serving.

You can use electronic crock pot with lesser water, then set the quick meter for 4-5 hours.

It taste nice regardless of its medication benefits. 

Fried Hokkien Noodle with Soy Sauce

This dish is Fried Hokkien Noodle with Soy Sauce, generally you will find this dish in food courts in Malaysia and Singapore. The side dish -"brocolli" is optional.

Ingredients:

1. Hokkien noodle, 500g (enough for 5 serving)

2. Pork meat (chopped)

3. 4 eggs (stirred and add some salt into it)

4. Green or red chilli

5. Sliced thinly vegetable, such as bean sprout or/and cabbage or/and capsicum

6. 3 Onion (slices) and finely grated garlic (or slices) 

7. Salt, Sugar, Black/Dark Soy Sauce 

Instructions:

1. Heat the pan with oil (more than you usually use for frying vegetables) - 1/4 to 1/2 cup.

2. Add in garlic and onion slices, fried until brown

3. Add in stirred egg, fried and mix them until the egg are solid, then scope them out aside.

4. Add in meat (chopped pork or pork mince), stir fry and add in black/white pepper, salt, sugar and black/light soya sauce in the meantime.

5. Add in the earlier fried egg/onion, then pour in all the chopped vegetable, fry a short while.

6. Add in the noodle. Mix them well in the meantime add in more black soy sauce.

7. Mix them well, stir them well. Add in some water, cover it for 5-10 minutes in medium heat to heat and steam the noodle. (Occassionally open it to stir it just not to overcook).

Note:

1. Adding in sweet flavour is important as it will cover the hokkien noodle taste. Therefore, you can add in sugar or sweet chilli. That's why Singaporeans/Malaysians will add in oyster sauce generally (it has sweetness as well). This dish is served nice with Sambal (fried chilly, from Malaysia).

2. Note that there are 3 varieties of Hokkien Noodle, this version is modified from the Kuala Lumpur version with healthier choice (no crispy pork fat and less salty, not thick noodle).

A visit to Barrenjoey Lighthouse at Palm Beach

A travel to Palm Beach took about 30 - 45 minutes from Chatswood, which is about 27km of distance. The palm beach is beautiful with much less crowded than Bondi beach. If you follow Australia "Home and Away" soap opera, you would know that they took most of the exterior scenes @ Palm Beach. The serenity of Palm Beacn wasn't surprise me as I expect it to be less crowded (than Bondi beach). It's as beautiful as other beaches near Sydney coastal lines. However, I am surprised by the visit to  Barrenjoey lighthouse. Not because of the lighthouse but the paths that I need to walk up to it. 

It has two paths, either easy route or difficult route. Unfortunately the difficult route has been closed until further notice, we are forced to take the easy one which is supposed to be longer route (it will take about 20-30 minutes to reach the lighthouse according to the notice board apprently). Though it is supposed to be easy route but it never fail the job to exhaust us with the many ramps and some steep paths. I am certain I can keep fit by climbing this every day.

The reward is fruitful - the birdeye view to the Palm Beach and the nice landscaping of the lighthouse. I have started to think to travel there again already...

   

Italian "Pork" Casserole

Similar to Honey Mustard Chicken, I have a pack of MasterFoods' Italian Chicken Casserole Recipe Base. I figured I may be able to cook this with Pork instead of Chicken. Here you go! (We serve this dish with Turkish bread & simple salad, yummy.)

The only extra ingredients I've put in is Chilli powder (1/4 to 1/2 tsp). It's not really hot/spicy, just adding some very mild chilli flavour. (I've add in salt as well.)

Tasting: It goes well with bread, in my opinion.  

Harris Farm Markets

I always like to shop in Harris Farm Markets because of their fresh fruits and vegetables at reasonably prices. So far I have been in 3-4 stores in different location. Today, we stopped by Pitwatter Place Shopping Center at Mona Vale. Not surprisingly we found Harris Farm Markets store in the center (as the picture I took). We won't be dissapointed on the quality of the fruits and vegetables.

Easter Eggs

K: Isn't the Easter holiday over?
C: Nevermind, since we eat the boiled eggs almost everyday.... so, let's make fun...
K: What are you doing?!
C: Operation on the eggs...
K: Ahh.. that one looked liked me, let me...
(Ummm...)
C: Wait, I haven't...
K: Sorry, I have eaten it.
C: ....

Just have fun.

Stir Fried Broccoli with Garlic

Simple and healthy dish. To cook, just follow the simple 4 cooking steps for fried vegetables. First, heat the oil. Second, add in garlic and fry them. Third, add in broccoli (chopped) and fry together. Lastly, add in salt/light soya sauce and fry again. Cover it if necessary to steam cook it. Before serving, add in chinese cooking wine and fry another 10 seconds.

Minced Pork, Eggplant and Black Bean Garlic Stir Fry

This is one of my favourite dish. It's tasty, salty and really easy to go with white rice. And it's quick to cook it as well. It took me about 15 minutes+ for this dish (including the preparation). I usually target to prepare 2-3 dishes in 30 minutes+. Hard? Not really if you have oven, microwave, steamer and stove all ready for you.

Ingredients:

1. 200g pork mince

2. 1 long Eggplant, slice it (Optional, you can replace with long beans, snake beans, or mushroom slices)

3. 2 tbsp Black Bean Garlic sauce (You can get this from Chinese supermarket)

4. Some green chilli (chopped). (Optional)

5. 2-3 glove garlic (sliced or grated up to you).

Instructions:

1. Use microwave oven to cook the eggplant slices for about 1.5 to 2 minutes until it's cooked. (This will help to cook it quickly later as eggplant take times to be cooked.)

2. Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in the pan. When the oil is heated, add in the garlic slices and fry it in medium heat for 5-10 seconds, then add in chilli slices. Fry it for about another 5 to 10 seconds.

3. Add in the defrozed pork mince and black beanm garlic sauce. Beware, it's quite salty so don't add in too much unles you like it salty. Stir fry them until the pork is almost cooked.

4. Add in the cooked eggplant slices. Stir fry all of them together to mix well.

If it's too salty, you might lose your sense of taste. Hehe, beware.

Honey Mustard Chicken

This is shortcut dish because it is really for busy working folk who want to cook it quick. I do not really feel like posting this but hey, maybe someone out there like to know about it?

How to cook? Just buy chicken and MasterFoods' recipe base packet. (Light milk and vegetable are optional). Follow the instructions on the packet will do. Easy easy.

Tasting? Well, if you do not like the taste of Mustard, you won't like it. I cook this because I have this recipe base with the Showbag I bought. Personally I don't think I will buy this because I just can't get used to the taste of it. However, I think if you make the sauce a bit thicker, this dish can be served as sandwidth (with bread). 

Oil less "fried fish" with Contentional Oven

Afraid of the oiliness of fried fish? Do not want to have the whole kitchen become oily but still want to eat fried fish? I found a way to do this by using oven. (Enlighted by some of the online recipe for fried chicken with Oven)

Ingredients:

1. Flour + salt, mix together

2. Fish (clean and dry it with kitchen towel paper)

3. Garlic & Black Bean paste (optional)

4. Olive oil (or cooking oil)

5. Lemon juice (optional)

Instructions:

1. Wrap the fish with flour+salt mixture. Then keep the fish in fridge for an hour.

2. Take the fish out of fridge, wrap it again with flour+salt mixture. (It will stick to the fish better this time).

3. Grease the oven pan with olive oil or cooking oil. Also wrap the fish with olive oil with your fingers (thin layer will do).

4. Then bake it with oven for about 30 minutes with 200 ºC. You can turn the fish at about 15 minutes.  You may notice the oil popping while baking.

5. (Optional) Before serving, topping with some garlic & black bean paste, and lemon juice. Bake it extra 1-2 minutes. This is just to add some flavour topping.

Isn't this simple and neat?

Sydney Easter Show 2009 with Pig Racing

 

Easter Show is the largest national event in Australia, it's a national iconic showcase of Australia heritage and culture . The show last for 2 weeks from 9th April to 22nd April. This is my second visit to Sydney Royal Easter Show. The best of it is, you can sample most of the Australian iconic food products in a day. Don't miss this if you travel to Australia in April! This event is definitely suitable for whole family. 

This year, the pig racing is the most interesting event of all. It has 4 shows per day and we picked the 2pm show. It's too popular that people start to line up from 1pm. We were lucky to be there 50 minutes earlier to queue. The gate was opened45 minutes before the show. People just flowing in then but all the seats are occupied 20 minutes before the show! It is not fun to be baked under the sun for almost an hour just for a 10 minutes show. Yeah, the show only last not more than 15 minutes. Two rounds of pig racing, each round with 4 pigs. And only two pigs performing diving and swimming for us. But still, we would think they worth the waiting time as the racing is just too exciting. In the moment, I couldn't even relate the cute pigs with delicious pork dishes I like.  :)

Besides pig racing, I attended Woodchop (again), True Blue story (I love to hear the singing performance by John Williamson), Xtreme Korruption Yamaha MotoX/Toyota V6 Hillux Heroes performance (again). Liked every other years, there are hundreds of Showbags for you to pick. I couldnt' believe you cannot find one for yourself (mostly for kids though). I bought myself the Women Weekly's showbag for just AU$12 which include 5 magazines and more. 

So, don't miss this if you happen to be in Sydney. 

Sweet Vinegar Pork Rib 糖醋排骨

Sweet Vinegar Pork Rib, Sugar and Vinegar Pork Rib, or Sweet and Sour Pork Rib is originated from Si Chuan, China. The pork rib is being deep fried usually and served as cold appetizer dish. The main ingredients of this dish is Pork Rib, Sugar and Vinegar. There are many varieties in cooking this dish, such as the size of the pork ribs, serve it cold or hot, types of sugar (white/brown/ice sugar), types of vinegar, whether to deep fried the pork rib or not. You can decide how to cook and serve it depends on your circumstances. Usually this dish will be decorated with white sesame before serving.

I prepare this dish today with the simple methods (as I always like the easy ways) without too much oil as I didn't deep fried the pork rib, but yet it's appetizing.

Ingredients:

1. 5-6 tsp Brown sugar

2. 600-800g Pork Rib (Quickly rinse them with hot water to get rid of the pork smell/blood, Optional)

3. 6-8 tsp Balsami Vinegar (that's the only one I have, you can replace this with any vinegar)

4. 2-3 tsp Chinese dining wine for cooking

5. Salt

Instructions:

1. Heat the pan, some oil and add in sugar. Melt the sugar with low heat. (Beware not to overcook the sugar)

2. Add in Pork and stir them to cover the pork skin with melted sugar. It will looks in brown colour.

3. Then add in water. The water should probably cover the pork rib. Turn to medium to high heat to cook them. In the same time, add in dining wine.

4. About 30 minutes until the water is lesser, add in vinegar and little salt. Mix them well. Cook it until the juicy sauce is thicker and covering all the pork ribs. You can then taste the sauce. If it's too sour, then adjust it by adding more sugar, vice-versa.

Tasting:

You can serve this hot/cold. Usually we cook a lot and keep the extra in the fridge to be served again the next day. The pork rib is tender and the sweetness actually sink into the meat. This dish is served with rice.

References:

家常菜菜谱-糖醋排骨

[美味菜谱]家常菜－－糖醋排骨

Sweet Vinegar Pork Rib

Easy and Simple Almond Cake

After the success of baking Walnut Cookies, I am fancy to bake cake with nuts, such as almonds, macademias, hazelnuts, etc. I saw the offer from Aldi today for the ground almonds and decided to bake simple almond cake.

I adopted the simple recipe from here with some adjustment to suit my kitchen. I used self-raising flour/white suger (as I didn't have Castor sugar on stock) and did not add in almond essense.

Ingredients:

125g butter (melted)

80g sugar

3 eggs

120g ground almonds

80g self-raising flour sifted

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven with 180 ºC. Brush your baking container (tin) with butter/oil. 

2. In a mixing bowl, using electric beater to beat butter and suger until it's light & creamy.

3. Add in portion of egg & ground almonds, beat them again. Repeat until all egg/ground almonds are added into the mixing bowl. Beat them to mix well until light & creamy.

4. Then add in flour and using spoon/spatula to mix them well until the mixture is smooth. (You can add in flour portion by portion). It will be heavier now.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.

6. Bake it for 15 minutes in 180 ºC and then 160 ºC for 30 minutes. Monitor closely and it's ready if the skewer come out clean from the center of the cake. (I actually cut the cake half to check.)

Tasting:

The skin of the cake is crispy. I like it! It is best to be served in afternoon tea session with friends. Do you want to have afternoon tea with me?

Sauteed Potatoes, Eggplants with Green Chilli Recipe

This recipe is adopted from here. However, I don't believe you can prepare this in 15 minutes. Potatoes take time to be cook, so does eggplant. So if you want to save time, remember to cut them smaller. For me, I cook the potatoes in boiling water before cutting them just to save time. After frying them, I also put them altogether into oven for about 5-10 minutes (120-140 degree celsius). I used green chilli instead of green pepper, this is just because I have green chilli on stock only. When frying them, remember to add in black pepper and salt. 

Overally it taste nice. The potatoes taste better than KFC french fries.  They taste a bit of salty and a bit of hot/spice. I think this dish can turn to salad if I add in spinish/rocket salad/mayonese/dried tomatoes? If you dare, you can try.  

Simple Fried Rice Recipe 蛋炒饭

This is simple dish but definitely yummy. The tip to cook fried rice is to put the rice in fridge for at least 2 hours before fying. So the fried rice will not be sticky. Since it's a flexible dish, whenever you feel you have leftovers in your fridge, you can mix and match for friend rice. :)

Ingredients:
1. 2 eggs
2. sliced mushroom (as much as you want, also you can replace this with mince pork)
3. chopped brocolli (as much as you want, also you can replace this with carrot or any chopped vegetables)
4. pepper and salt
5. cold cooked rice
6. garlic slices and/or onion slices
7. light soy sauce or oyster sauce
8. lemon juice

Instructions:
1. Put oil on the pan/wok, heat it.
2. Then add in eggs and fry the eggs (liked scramble eggs).
3. Add in garlic and/or onion slices, fry together.
4. Add in sliced mushrooms, fry and mix well.
5. Add in black pepper and salt. Fry and mix together until you see the mushroom is about ready (soften).
6. Add in chopped vegetables, fry and mix all well.
7. Once the vegetables are about to ready, then finally add in the rice. Stir them well.
8. Now, you can put in soy sauce or oyster sauce, and mix/stir them well.
9. Once the color of rice is nice, then it's ready. My preference is to add some lemon juice before serving. It taste better for me.

Running out of ideas what to cook? Then try fried rice.

Pork Rib Lotus Root Soup 莲藕排骨汤

I happened to see two Lotus Root in Chatswood Westfield fruit stall today. They have only two left and well I thought, maybe I can just grab one for Pork Rib Lotus Root Soup. It is just great soup for Autumn season.

This soup is great for whole family. It improve the blood circulation, balancing your heart and blood pressure generally. And if you feel bloated after eating too much cheese (liked me), heavy meat and oily food, then this is the soup for you. It can be served as appetizer also. 

Chinese like to add extra ingredients, such as dried Optupus, honey dates, peanut/beans and cut scallion. It's really depends on your preferences. They all have their own goods and nutritions.

For me, I cook a simple version as I just want the best from the lotus root.

Ingredients:

1. Lotus Root (Peel the skin off, wash to clean and slice)

2. Pork Rib

3. Dried red dates

The quantity of all the above are flexible, depends how much you want to eat.

4. Little ginger thin slices

Instructions:

1. Put the pork rib into water, boil it. Then take out the pork rib. The purpose of this is to remove the strong smell of pork and pork blood. If you don't mind, you can skip this step. Personally I do that quickly but I am not sure how much nutritions has been lost. 

2. Prepare pot of water, add in all the lotus root slices. Boil it for about 20 minutes with medium to low heat.

3. Add in Pork Rib, boil it for 30 minutes with low heat.

4. Then finally add in ginger and dried red dates. Just boil it for another 30 minutes with low heat will do. (I will boil longer, liked 1-2 hours until the lotus root is much softer and it will be really easy to eat.)

5. Finally of course add in salt and heat for about 1 minutes before serving.

A simple soup which is good for whole family. :)

Mushroom Fennel Lemon Fettuccine 意大利面

This recipe was adopted from Chicken,Fennel & Lemon Fettuccine  with some modification. I replaced chicken with mushroom (as I still have lots of fresh mushrooms in my fridge). I think Fennel is still best to cook with meat, liked chicken, pork or ham.

Also, I add in green chilli slices just for little bit spicy flavour because I do not have Tobasco pepper sauce in stock.  It taste quite well too. It's best to serve with wine I reckon. 

Here is the modified recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Fettuccine pasta

2. Fennel bulb, trimmed and finely chopped

3. lemon

4. garlic, black pepper, salt

5. mushroom slices

6. olive oil

7. 1x300ml carton thicken milk

8. 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. Boil the water and cook the Fettuccine (follow the instructions written in the box)

2. Add olive oil, fry mushroom slices/garlic with low heat, also add in black pepper, salt

3. Add in fennel, continue to cook unti they are all soften in low heat

4. Finally, add in thicken milk and parmesan cheese

5. Stir it until everything mix well and comes to boil

6. Add in earlier cooked pasta and lemon juice. Toss to combine. Then you can serve.

You can top it with more parmesan cheese to serve.

Note: If you do not like cheese, then forget about this recipe. :)

Simple Rocket Salad

Trust me, you can prepare this tasty simple rocket salad in 2 minutes! When I don't feel good to cook and fried vegetables, just liked today, I'll prepare this salad. It has the same nutrition as green vegetable.

Main Ingredients:
1. 50-60g Antipasto Tuscan Mix (I bought the ready made one from Coles supermarket)
2. Rocket Salad
3. Fetta cheese - half tsp
4. Olive oil / Balsamic vinegar. (I only put in Balsamic vinegar as I have only this on stock)

Instructions：
Just mix everything together.

Isn't that simple?

.

Green Bean Soup 绿豆汤

Green Bean Soup - The magic soup to cool and detox your body.

I cooked Chicken Masala yesterday. I have never cook this before so I wonder will K like it. To my relief, he likes it very much and eat with thumbs up (yeah!). I never thought I can cook delicious Chicken Masala in the first attempt! (Thanks for the fresh chicken I got from Chatswood Westfield, as well as all the spices from Indian stoles in Paddy's market in Sydney CBD.) By the way, drumsticks in Sydney is really cheap, which is bout AU$3 per kg. I used to get 15 drumsticks at the cost of AU$6. So, you can cook the Chicken Masala with drumsticks.

The side-effect of the Chicken Masala is the heat. Because of all the spices (especially five spices and chilli), you might feel heat after consuming the Chicken Masala. Well for me it's all good and I like it, but it's not the case for K. He felt kind of headache after that. So, I decided to cook the magic soup for him - Green Bean Soup.

Green Bean is nutritious as any other beans; it contains iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin A, C, B. In Chinese medicine, Green Bean Soup is used to detoxicate. Side note: If you ever watched Dae Jang Geum korean drama, you may be familiar with the scene where her poisoned mother was rescued by drinking something? It is the green bean soup.

The simplest way to cook green bean soup is: After cleaning, soak the green bean (about 50-60g for two persons) with water for an hour. Then pour the green bean (including the water) into a pot, add in extra water (roughly above the green bean for 1 inch or more), boil it for about an hour with low heat/flare. Add in rock sugar 2 minutes before serving and stir well.

There are many varieties of green bean soup, some people like to serve with ice cube/snow. Singaporeans like to add in sago, or dried orange peel, lotus seeds, gingko nuts. I personally like to add in few thin slice of ginger because it will make the soup no so cold for me as my hands/legs are always cold.

So, do you want to cook yourself a bowl?

印度香料鸡 - Masala Chicken

印度香料鸡 - Masala Chicken

主要材料/Main Ingredients:
1. 500g 鸡肉 （鸡腿肉更佳）
500g chicken dices
2. 洋葱一粒

1 onion

3. 4片蒜
4 clove garlic minced
4. 青辣椒一条

1 green chilli

5. 姜蓉一茶匙
1 tsp ginger paste
6. 一茶匙黄姜粉

1 tsp turmeric powder
7. 1/3茶匙五香粉

1/3 tsp five spices powder (This is chinese five spices powder, to substitude indian's spices - aniseed, cloves, cardomom and cinnamon)
8. 一茶匙辣椒粉

1 tsp chilli powder
9. 1.5茶匙元茜粉

1.5 tsp coriander powder

10. 1.5茶匙印度香料(garam masala)
1.5 tsp garam masala powder
11. 1/3茶匙黑胡椒粉

1/3 tsp black pepper powder

12. 1/4杯牛奶（可选）

1/4 cup milk (optional)
13. 半粒柠檬（可选）

1/2 lemon (optional)

做法/Instructions：
1. 加入盐、黄姜粉腌鸡肉

Marinated the chicken dices with salt and turmeric powder
2. 烧热油锅，按以下次序加入油锅热炒: a)五香粉, b) 洋葱片 ,c) 蒜蓉 + 青椒 (切碎) + 姜蓉，直到金黄色。再加入: d) 辣椒粉, e) 元茜粉, f) 印度香料。爆香香料至香料与油分离(重要)。

Heat the pan with oil, fry the ingredients with the following order: a) five spices powder, b) onion slices, c) garlic minced + green chilli (chopped) + ginger paste until the onion is golden brown in color then put in: d) chilli powder, e) coriander powder, f) garam masala powder. Fry them together until the all spices are separated from oil (important).
3. 加入鸡块，均匀的混合香料与鸡块，再加入黑胡椒粉。加盖慢火焖5-10分钟。
Add in marinated chicken dices, stir and fry until all the chicken are coated with the spices. Then add in black pepper powder. Turn to low heat/flame and cover it for about 5-10 minutes.
4. 鸡块熟时会出水。若要浓汁便加入牛奶。上菜前加入柠檬汁。
Water will come out from chicken if it's cooked. If you want to have thick sauce, then add in milk now. The last step is to add in lemon juice before serving.

核桃饼干 Walnut cookies

核桃饼干 Walnut cookies

主要材料/Main Ingredients:
1. 核桃碎 125g
crumbed walnut (125g = 1cup)
2. 牛油 150g
butter 150g
3. 鸡蛋一粒
1 egg
4. 自发粉 150g
1.5-2 cups self raising flour
5. 糖 （8小茶匙）
1/2 cup sugar

做法/Instructions：
1. 溶牛油， 加入糖及鸡蛋。搅拌约1分钟。
Cream butter and sugar together, then add egg and beat well.
2. 加入核桃，自发粉，搅均匀。
Add crumbed walnuts into the mixture and add self raising flour, stir well.
3. 用汤匙作出模型，放在油纸上（或在烤板上抹牛油），入烘炉烤10-12 分钟（约140-160度）即可。
Teaspponfuls onto greased oven trays or cookie sheets. Bake in moderate oven for about 10-12 minutes.

试味/Tasting:
我做的不够牛油，所以有点干。够甜的。酥脆感是有的因为有足够的核桃。如果面粉少些或牛油多些会更好。
I didn't put enough butter, so it taste a little bit dry. The suger is enough therefore it's quite sweet. The cunchiness is from the walnut I think. For next try, perhaps put more butter or less flour.

淮山银耳鸡汤 - Dried Yam White Fungus Chicken Soup

淮山银耳鸡汤 - Dried Yam White Fungus Chicken Soup

主要材料/Main Ingredients:
正淮山片 (5-8 片即可）
Dried yam (Dioscorea spp.) - About 5-8 pieces will do
银耳 - 最好是选原色的（带黄）
White Fungus (Tremella fuciformis berkeley)
蜜枣
Candied date or Chinese jujube
鸡肉
Chicken (Can be cut half chicken, or just drumstick)

做法/Instructions：
1. 泡银耳一小时。然后处理银耳（切掉根部后切小块些）。最好敲一敲蜜枣以便易出味。
Soak the dried yam for one hour. Then clean it by cutting off the yellowish root. Then cut it into smaller pieces (not really that small）. Knock or hit the Candied date/Chinese jujube so that the sweetness of it can easily join the soup.
2. 下淮山片，银耳，蜜枣和鸡肉。加入水。
Put all ingredients into the pot and then add water (about 3-4 bowls or just enough to cover the ingredients)
3. 先大火煮滚后，转小火煲大概2-3小时。
After it is boiling with big fire, then turn to low fire and boil it slowly for about 2-3 hours.
4. 起锅前加入盐即可。 Before serving, add in salt, boil it for minutes then serve it.
容易做，好喝又有营养的汤哦。
It's easy to cook, and a nice soup!

Fried Pork Mince with Eggplant 猪肉碎炒茄子

猪肉碎炒茄子
Pork mince fried with Eggplant

主要材料/Main Ingredients:
茄子
eggplant, cut into small pieces
猪肉碎
pork mince, marinate it with light/dark soya sauce
辣椒
red chilli, cut into small pieces
蒜
garlic, cut into very small pieces



做法/Instructions：
1. 下蒜及辣椒，爆香
Put in oil then garlic dices and chilli to the pan, fried them until turning gold
2. 下猪肉碎，少许盐，中火炒至大概肉熟
Put in pork mince, little salt, then cook in midium heat until the pork mince is cooked
3. 下茄子（以切块），中火炒炒然后小火盖锅焖（基本上不必下水，小心别焦了锅）
Put in cut egglant, cook in medium heat a bit then turn to low heat and cover it. It is not necessary to put in water but beware overcook
4. 大概15-20分钟待茄子烂了就可起锅了。
About 15 to 20 minutes the egglant will be turning soft and tender, then it's ready to serve.