Vegetarian Soup - Soup for Humid Spring

* this soup meant to nourish your spleen and release your excess humid in your body （健脾祛濕）

Ingredients:

Hairy Mountain Fig (五指毛桃）x 2 pc (around 250g)
Fresh Yam (鮮淮山/ 山藥）x 1/2 stick (around 150g)
Dried Lotus seeds x 1 bunch (around 20g)
Dried Lily Bulbs x 1 bunch (around 20g)
Fox Nut (茨實) x 1 big bunch (around 50g)
Chestnut around 150g (shell removed)
Red dates x 10pc and remove the seed inside
Carrot x 1 pc
Corn x 1 pc

How to Make:

1. Hairy Mountain Fig and the lotus sees lily bulbs, fox nut, all rinse and soak in water for 15 mins.

2. Fresh Yam peel off skin (using gloves if you have sensitive skin) and cut into pieces.

3. Carrot and Corn rinse and cut into pieces.

4. Put all ingredients to pot and once boil, turn to medium to medium low heat and cook for 1.5 to 2 hours.

For non-vegetarian version, can add lean pork too. This soup has a coconut smell somehow and very appetizing to me.

Enjoy!

Vegetarian Soup - Five Elements Soup 五行湯

* recipe adopted from 溫暖人間 magazine
* meant to be 補氣火血 （Qi-Tonifying and Blood-Activating)
* for non-veg version, just add some lean pork. Blanche pork first of course before adding to this soup pot.

Ingredients:

1-2 Chayote
1-2 Carrot
1-2 Corn
100g barley seeds
8-10 dried mushrooms
100g black beans
10-15 cashew nuts

How to Make:

1. Rinse black beans and soak in water for 15 mins.

2. Rinse mushrooms and soak in hot water for 15 mins.

3. Rinse barley seeds and set aside.

4. Wash Vegetables, leave the peel on. Chop into pieces and set aside.

5. Bring a pot of water to boil and add in all ingredients Once boiled, turn to medium to medium low heat and cook for 2 hours. Adjust taste with sea salt.

Enjoy and nourish yourself!

Abalone Pasta

* Top bottom was 2nd attempt but bottom photo 1st attempt. Difference in black truffle quality affects the look and aroma of the dish. But the abalone itself won't go wrong. All in all, a great dish to try cooking if you are a fan of abalone.

Ingredients:

Fresh Black Abalone (those from Japan is amazing. But those from Australia also good) - around 600-800g per piece will be a good size.

Chicken and Chinese Ham stock (as the abalone will absorb all the flavour of this stock, make sure you cook this stock yourself instead of buying pre-made ones. see below how to do this) 

Black Truffle 

Black Truffle Oil

Italian parsley - minced

Chicken and Chinese ham stock:

blanch whole chicken, then blanch chinese ham with some puer leaves. Place them in a big pot fill with water, 1 pc of carrot, 1 pc of onion, bring to boil, then remove to medium heat and cook for 3-4 hours. Remove oil on top and filter out cooking ingredients.

Abalone Pasta Sauce:

Stock left in pressure cooker

Additional Chicken and Chinese Ham stock

salt and black pepper

cornflour solution

How to Make:

1. Better reserve fresh abalone from your fishmonger in advance.

2. Prepare your abalone in day in advance of your cooking day. After removing from shell and removing the guts, wash thoroughly under tap water. Can use a toothbrush to clean the side of the abalone to avoid dirt sticking inside.

2.  Pour chicken stock into a pressure cooker and bring it to a boil. Then add the abalone inside, make sure the abalone is under water level. Close the pressure securely, then lower heat to medium low heat and cook for 1.5 hour. If you are cooking 3 pc of more, can cook longer like 2 hours. Pressure cooker cooking time is 3 times of normal cooking. So if normal cooking requires 3 hours, then you only need 1 hour using pressure cooker, etc.

3. After cooking time is up, switch off fire. Turn the pressure cooker cool down itself until it shows you you are ready to release the lid. Don't rush removing the lid or else everything will blast!

4. Once lid is removed, use a skewer to poke inside of abalone to see if it's soft enough for your liking. If it's not tender enough, you will have to add some cooking time again, but make sure you have sufficient stock inside the cooker.

5. If it's tender enough, remove abalone from the stock which should be thickened a bit by now. After cooling down, put abalone in air tight box in fridge. So next day when you do  the dish, it will be much easier to slice it very thin.

6. Save the stock left inside the pressure cooker to make your abalone pasta sauce - the abalone sauce!

7. On the day you cook your dish, take out abalone from fridge and make thin slices.

8. Cook the abalone sauce in a pan, if qty is not enough for your pasta, then add some chicken and ham stock. Bring to boil, check taste and adjust accordingly with salt and pepper. Add cornflour solution to adjust thickness of sauce. Use tongs or a laddle to gentle heat up the thinly sliced abalone in the above abalone pasta sauce. Remove abalone to a plate. 

9. Cook pasta (I prefer using fresh pasta for this dish and cooking time should be 2-3 min only) as per packet's instructions) less 1 min. Put cooked pasta to the abalone sauce and coat the pasta.

10. Place pasta nicely on a serving plate, then put the heated abalone slice on top of the pasta nicely. Drizzle with black truffle oil, then shaved black trufffle on top. Garnish with some minced parsley to add color and flavour.

Enjoy this dish with your fav champagne or white wine!

Shrimp Spring Roll

* recipe adopted from justonecook

Ingredients:

Fresh Shrimps - remove head and shell but keep tail intact. Remove intestines too.

Spring Roll Wrapper

Negi (long spring onion) - thin slices

Japanese cooking sake

Sea salt

Miso paste of your choice but choose one which is not salty (optional, can omit)

Thai sweet and spicy sauce (optional)

Glue:
1 tsp flour mix with 1 tsp water

How to Make:

1. After remove head and shell of prawns and cleaning up intestines, you now have to tend to the tail. Press tail flat down on chopping board and use tip of knife to cut some away. So the tail when pressed can become butterfly like. You can also remove some excess water during this process.

2. Make a couple of slits diagonally on the underside of the shrimp.

3. Hold the shrimp with both hands and straighten it as s much as possible in order to get the shape as straight as possible.

4.  Marinate shrimps with sake and salt.

5. Cut the spring roll wrapper from square shape into 2 triangles in the middle.

6. Spoon some miso paste right across the middle of the triangle wrapper, then place one straightened shrimp on top of the miso paste, with the tail of the shrimp being outside of the wrapper. Then place some sliced negi on top of shrimp.

7. Pull one side of the wrapper to the other side. Wrap roll up.

8. Upon the end, use finger tip to apply the self-made glue on the wrapper to "seal" it.

9. Heat up a pot with oil then deep fried until both sides are golden. Drain oil on a tray and use kitchen towel to remove excess oil before serving.

You can serve like this direct or with some Thai  sweet and spicy sauce. Enjoy together with your fav champagne or white wine!

Zosui 雑炊 (Japanese style rice in soup)

* adopted from recipe at justonecook

Ingredients:

For Broth:
3 cups dashi 
1 cup of chicken stock (optional - I think adding some chicken stock makes this dish even more tasty!)
2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sea salt

For Zosui:
6 pc of boneless skinless chicken thighs - clean and wipe dry and cut into squares
carrot and shitake mushrooms - cut into thin slices. Qty is up to yourself.
spring onion - minced
2-3 bowls of cooked rice - rinse a few times with filtered water
2 eggs - beat it in separate bowl
toasted white sesame seeds
white pepper

How to make:

1. Follow the dashi packet instructions and prepare your dashi stock - approximately 3 cups.

2. Once the dashi stock is boiled, add chicken pieces to the stock. Skim off the scum and foam on the surface.

3. When the stock is boiled again, add carrot and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes. Once you think they are tender enough, add the soy sauce and salt. Please check taste and adjust accordingly.

4. Add the rinsed cooked rice. Then when the stock boils again, gently add the beaten eggs all around the surface of the pot.

5. Sprinkle with white pepper, minced spring onion and toasted sesame. Cover the pot with lid and bring to serve.

Once the lid is open at dinner table, you can immediately smell the fragrance of this dish. Enjoy this healthy dish!

Eggplant Agebitashi

* recipe adopted from justonecook

Ingredients:

2 Japanese/Chinese eggplant
Turnip - to grate into sailing radish
Spring onion - minced
Ginger - grated (optional)

Sauce:
3/4 cup (180ml) dashi
3 tbsp (45ml) mirin
3 tbsp (45ml) cooking sake
3 tbsp (45ml) soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar (prefer raw sugar)

How to Make:

1. Cook the sauce in a pot. Once sugar all dissolved, check taste. As different brands of soy sauce have different taste, you might need to adjust accordingly with a punch of salt or add more water etc. Cool down sauce.

2. After rinsing and wiping eggplant, cut into half lengthwise. Then make incisions on eggplant (skin side) diagonally (don't cut through, gentle does it!).

3. Make sure to wipe off any moisture with paper towel.

4. Cut each halves into 3-4pc.

5. Heat up vegetable oil to around 160'c, then deep fried the eggplant. Don't crowd the pot. Remove from oil, drain oil in a wire rack, then gently wipe off excess oil with kitchen towel.

6. Pour sauce to eggplant. If u want to serve this dish chilled, keep them in fridge.

7. When ready to serve, add grated daikon, ginger and minced spring onion on top.

Enjoy!

Thai Style Roast Pork Shoulder

Ingredients:

Pork Shoulder x 2 pc
Honey

Marinate:
Lemongrass x 1 - use kitchen to smash and flatten it and cut into 1-2 inches
Garlic x 4 cloves - smash and flatten
Lime Leaves x 4pc - shredded
Shallots x 3pc - thin sliced
Dark Soy Sauce x 2 tbsp
Fish Sauce x 2 tbsp
Rice wine x 2 tbsp
Palm Sugar x 2 tbsp
Lime Juice x 1 tsp
Parsley - minced (can omit if you do not like parsley)


Dipping Sauce:

Fish Sauce x 2 tbsp
Lime Juice x 2 tbsp
Rec Chilli x 1pc - sliced and de-seeded (if you cannot take too spicy)
Water x 1 ml
palm sugar x 1 tsp
-> after mixing, please check taste and adjust accordingly.

How to Make:

1. Clean pork and wipe dry. Marinate with above ingredients overnight in fridge or at least 2 hours before cooking.

2. On the day of cooking, preheat oven to 200'C.

3. Use kitchen towel to remove marinate from pork.

4. Line a baking tray with foil. Place pork on top of top and put to oven for 8 mins.

5. Flip the pork and cook for another 8 minutes.

6. Brush honey on top of pork and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

7. Remove from oven carefully and sliced.

Ready to serve with either the above self-made dipping sauce or with the ready made Thai Sweet and Chilli sauce.

Enjoy!

Thai Papaya Salad

Ingredients:

Green papaya x 1 - peeled and shredded
Mini dried shrimp (get from Thai grocery store) x 1/4 cup - grounded
Dried chilli x 1 - soaked in water and drain
Garlic x 6 cloves
Lime rind x 1/4 cup finely shredded
Palm sugar x 3 tbsp
Fish sauce x 3 tbsp
Lime juice x 1 tbsp
Tamarind juice x 1 tbsp
Peppercorns x a few
Peanuts - toss in a hot pan


How to make:
1. Pound the shredded papaya lightly in a mortar, remove and set aside.

2. Pound the garlic, dried chilli and peppercorns thoroughly , transfer to a mixing bowl.

3. Mix tamarind juice, fish sauce and palm sugar together, bring to a boil over medium heat. Please taste and adjust the seasonings as per your liking.

4. Once the taste of the dressing is to your liking, remove from heat and cool on top of a bowl of ice. Add lime juice, pour into the chilli mixture, stir well. Check taste again. Put aside as dressing.

5. Add papaya, dried shrimp and lime rind in mixing bowl and toss well with above dressing.  Sprinkle with peanuts and ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Tamarind Prawns

Ingredients:

Fresh giant tiger prawns x 500g
Onion x 1/2 -minced
Garlic x 2-3pc - pressed
Red chilli x 1 - shredded removing seeds
Shallot x 2 to 3pc - thinly sliced
Dried hot chillies x 6-7pc, crisp fried
Palm sugar (buy fresh one if possible) x 2 tbsp
Fish sauce x 1 tbsp
Tamarind juice x 1/3 cup
Chicken stock x 2 tbsp
Crispy fried garlic and shallots for garnish

How to cook:

1. Wash prawns, remove shell and head and keep tail intact and remove intestines.

2. Marinate prawn with sea salt, then pan fried with pressed garlic until outside of prawn turned white color. Remove from pan.

3. Cook onion until fragrant and soft. Add palm sugar, chicken stock, tamarind juice and fish sauce, stir well until sauce thickens. Add the prawns back and mix well until done.

4. Arrange on a serving dish and garnish with fried garlic and fried shallots. 

Enjoy!