Korean style braised Beef Ribs

 

Ingredients:

Beef ribs

Japan Turnips - rought cut

Japan Leeks - rough cut

Onion - cut into quarters

Garlic - a few pieces and pressed

Spring onion - minced , for garnish

Korean beef marinated of your choice

Sesame oil

Sesame (for garnish)

Rock sugar

How to make:

1. Rinse beef ribs n wipe dry. Try as big cut or slice as possible if you are using pressure cooker. Cut away all fatty sides.

2. Marinate beef ribs with salt and black pepper 

3. Heat up a frying pan, brown the beef ribs and put aside.

4. Using same pan, stir fried all garlic, onion, leeks and turnips. 

5. Transfer above to pressure cooker together with the beef ribs. Then add the Korean beef marinate, add same amount of water.  See if liquid covers all ingredients. If not, add more Korean beef marinate and water mix, then add 1-2 small pc of rock sugar. Bring to boil, check taste, then close pressure cooker cover. Cook for 35min.

6. Once time is up, switch off fire and leave until all cool down before releasing cover of pressure cooker.

7. Remove all ingredients, skim oil from sauce.

8. Cut up the beef ribs to a right serving sauce.

9. Plate all together nicely and garnish with minced spring onion, sesame and a few drops of sesame oil.

Serve and enjoy with a bowl of white rice 🍚!

Black Truffle Braised Chicken

 

Ingredients:

Fresh chicken x 1 (I bought 太安雞）

Shallots - big bunch - thick slices

Garlic - a few pieces and pressed

Spring onion - cut onto 1.5-2in length

Black truffle paste - 4 tbsp

Dried black truffle pieces

Black truffle extra virgin olive oil

How to make:

1.  Chicken cut into pieces, rinse clean, wipe dry. Marinate with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, corn flour. Set aside for 20min or so.

2. Heat up a big wok, add oil, brown all chicken first. Then remove chicken aside to drain away excess oil 

3. In same wok, add all shallots, garlic, Spring onion and stir fried until fragrant. Add back all chicken pieces, then black truffle slices and black truffle paste. Mix well, then add chicken stock until most ingredients are covered. Then add a bit of dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, check taste and adjust, bring to boil, then turn to medium heat, braised for 25-30min under cover.

4. Once times up, check taste and thickness of sauce, plate, add a few drops of black truffle olive oil. 

Serve and enjoy!!

蔥油雞 Chicken in Spring onion and shallot sauce

Ingredients:

Fresh三黃雞

Lots of spring onion

Ginger

Shallots

salts

Method:

1. Day before cooking, buy 三黃雞 from market clean and rinse chicken well, wipe dry.

2. Use 2 tbsp salt to marinate stomach another 2 tbsp on top of chicken massage well for 30 min then turn chicken around upside down and add 2 tbsp salt to marinate bottom side facing up for another 30 min.

3. Rinse away all salt and wipe dry chicken.

4. Prepare a marinate of 2 to 4 tbsp chinese wine, sugar, chicken powder, white pepper. Massage chicken well, put to ziploc bag, then to fridge overnight.

4.  On the day of cooking, 2 hrs before cooking, place chicken to room temperature.

5. Boil a tall pot of water with ginger slices and spring onion knots and stair ainses, put chicken to hot water, hold the neck to make 3 swirls inside the boiling water, then remove chicken and put to ice water for 3 to 5 min.

6. Reboil the pot of water, put chicken back to pot, keep high fire until bubble returns. Then immediately switch off fire, cover pot n wait for 25 min. 

7. Remove chicken carefully n place chicken to a big bowl of ice water for 5 min.

8. Before carving chicken, prepare spring onion sauce:  clean and wipe dry lots of spring onion, and minced neatly and put to a bowl and add 1 tsp of salt. 

9. mash ginger to shreds and minced shallot, deep fried until golden. Filter oil. Keep golden ginger n shallots and oil separately. 

10. Heat up another pot of veg or corn oil until small bubbles come up if u put chopsticks inside. Pour hot oil to the bowl of minced spring onion and sat, then add the ginger shallot oil. mix well and add some 椒鹽, check taste. 

11. Plate the spring onion sauce on bottom of serving plate, place the carved chicken on top, then golden ginger n shallots on top of chicken, then spoon some more spring onion oil on top.

Serve and enjoy!!

Seabass Mediterranean Way

Ingredients:Sea Bass - medium sizeCherry tomatoes, detterino tomatoes - all cut into halvesOlives - a few pc and cut into halveShallots - cut into halvesGarlic - a bunch and pressedLemon slicesdill/parsleyMethod:1. Preheat oven at 200'C.2. Heat up a frying pan and add virgin oil, pan fry pressed garlic and shallots until fragrant but dont burn the garlic. Remove garlic. Keep the cooked .shallots and oil to a bowl 3. Mix tomatoes and olives with salt, black pepper and extra virgin olive oil evenly,  place half of this mixture to bottom of the skillet which you will place the fish on top.4. add some of the cooked shallots to the bottom of the skillet too.5. After cleaning and wipe dry the sea bass, make a few shallow cuts on both sides of the fish. marinate the outside of the fish and stomach with some sea salt and black pepper. Place the parsley and dill bunch to the stomach of the fish together with a few lemon slices. Then place fish on top of the tomatoes, olives and shallots mixture.6. Add the rest of the tomatoes, olive and shallots surrounding the fish. Drizzle the cooked garlic virgin oil all over the fish.7. Place the skillet to oven and cook for 30 minutes. Test with a skewer to see if fish wholly cooked. Once its' fully cooked. can serve immediately with a squeeze of lemon juice on top and drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Enjoy!

Fresh Yam Salad

 

Ingredients:

Japanese Fresh Yam - remove skin and cut into thick shreds (sensitive hand better put gloves on)

Lettuce - salad size

Cucumber - sliced

Cherry Tomatoes - halves

Okra - blanch 1 min, pour to ice water, then drain and dry, slanted slice into half

Shredded Seaweeds

Rice Crispy or roasted sesame

Sesame salad dressing of your choice

How to Make:

mix all together with the amount of sesame salad dressing you prefer, then sprinkle with shredded seaweeds, rice crispy or roasted sesame.

Love this crunchy and nutritious salad. Enjoy!

Edamame soup

 

Ingredients:

Edamame 70-100g (boiled and cooked, then remove skin. The removed skin can be discarded or add to veggies stir fry)

Potato 100g - remove skin, then thin slice and small cubes

Vegan Soup base 250ml (just soak 1 small pc of Konbu Kelp together with 2 dried mushrooms in 1L water overnight, chinese mushrooms must prior rinse with corn starch and water)

Soy Milk 150ml (i use Marusan無調整豆漿）

Seaweed Powder

How to Make:

1. Cook potato to the vegan soup base and cook until soft, then add soy milk and the edamame and cook for another 1-2 min. Don't boil it! medium fire will do.

2. Add above to blender and blend till creamy. Season with salt and black pepper to your liking.

3. Pour to serving bowl and sprinkle with seaweed powder.

* if you like the soup to be more creamy, the proportion of soy milk to Vegan Soup Base can adjust by having more soy milk and less vegan soup base.

* if you like more condensed taste of edamame, you can add more edamame and less potato too.

* edamame is high in protein and very nutritious but could cause gas and bloating. So beware.

Enjoy!

Burdock & Carrot Salad

 

* credits to @jeffreyveggielife, my vegan cuisine teacher

Ingredients:

Burdock 90g - rub clean and slice

Carrot 90 g - clean, remove skin and slice

Seasoned Monkey Mushroom 80g - pan fried and slice (I used the one which is frozen and purchased from Kowloon City 廣益行)

大葉 (looks like Shiso leaves, but bigger in size) - roll it up and slice

Japanese Mustard (水菜） rinse and spin cut into salad size

pickled plums - remove seeds and mash it

Sesame - 3tbsp - grinded

Salad Sauce:

Soy Sauce x 2tbsp （I used Kikoman 萬字牌 特選丸大豆減鹽)

Brown Sugar (or monk fruit sugar) x 1.5 tbsp

mirin x 2 tbsp

How to Make it:

1. Cook the sauce. Once boiled, turn to medium low heat and cook for 5 min. Then set aside to a bowl.

2. Heat up a pan, add sesame oil and stir fry the burdocks and carrots in medium fire, can add 1-2tbsp of water, until they are cooked - "crunchy soft".

3. Add the cooked burdock and carrots to the bowl with the salad sauce. Sprinkle with 2/3 of the grinded sesame on top. Cover with cling wrap and place to fridge.

4. Once cooled and ready to eat, take out the bowl from the fridge, add the mashed pickled plums, the sliced shiso leaves, the sliced Monkey Mushrooms and the Japanese Mustard and mix well.

5. Use hand to plate on serving dish or bowl, sprinkle the remaining grinded sesame on top.

Enjoy!

Salmon in spinach mushroom cream sauce

 

Ingredients:

Wild Salmon fillets

Spinach 

Cherry tomatoes - cut into halves

Mushrooms - cut into halves

Single Cream x 200ml

Chicken Stock x 100ml

Flour x 2 tbsp

Butter x 2 tbsp

How To Make:

1. Rinse the salmon and wipe dry. Marinate with salt and black pepper and coat with a drizzle of olive oil.

2. Heat up a flat pan, when hot enough, add olive oil, then salmon skin down. shake the pan a bit to avoid salmon sticking to pan. Once the salmon skin is crispy, flip and cook the meat side for 1-3 min depending on how thick the fillet is. Salmon best to cook medium instead of fully cooked. Then set aside salmon.

3.  Add some olive oil to the frying pan and stir fry the mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach. (In case the pan becomes oily or black after pan frying the salmon, then use a new frying pan).

4. Heat up a new pan, add butter and the flour and make a rouge. Then add single cream, stir and mix well. Add chicken stock little by little to ensure you get the thickness and consistency you like. Pour this cream sauce to the other frying pan with the mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach. Add back the salmon to cook in the sauce a bit, then ready to serve.

Best to go with pasta or white rice. Enjoy together with a glass of white wine too!

Cordon Bleu

Ingredients:

Veal escalope x 2pc - trim neatly to a pair of rectangular shape

Parma ham x 2 thin slices, size of which similar to the veal escalope

Morzarella cheese or cheddar, sliced

Flour

Beated eggs

Breadcrumbs

How to Make:

1. Marinate veal escalope with salt and black pepper.

2. Line up as follows:

1 pc of veal escalope at bottom layer

then 1 slice of parma ham on top

then cheese on top

then 1 slice of parma ham on top

then the last piece of veal escalope

3. Press them well together like a sandwich. Heat up oil in a frying pan.

4. Coat the above sandwich first with flour generously, then shake off excess. Then coat with beaten eggs, then breadcrumbs. 

5. Deep fry until golden.

6. Drain oil. Cut into half and serve immediately!

Enjoy with your favourite champagne or white wine.

 

Spanish Red Prawn Hot Dog

 

Ingredients:

Spanish Red Prawns (frozen type)

Garlic 

Basil - thin shreds/slices

Mayonnaise of your choice

Hot Dog Bun

How to Make:

1. Rinse the prawns well. Separate head from body. 

2. For the head, cut away all sharp things. Keep aside.

3. For the body, remove the legs and shells (can keep shells to make sauce or soup). Pull out the intestine from connecting area between head and body with a toothpick but dont cut open the back.

4. Slice garlic thinly. Rinse under running water a few times or soak in water for a while, then change water, a few times. Drain water, wipe dry.

5. Heat up a frying pan with olive oil, medium fry pan fry the garlic slices until golden. Remove and drain oil.

6. Toast your hot dog buns. -Cut into half.

7. Pan fried the prawn heads with the garlic oil on both sides until shell looks crispy. Set aside. Continue to use the pan and the garlic oil to cook the prawn body until all cooked.

8. Place prawn body in the middle of the hot dog bun, back facing upwards. Place some crispy garlic around and basil shreds. Place on serving plate with the prawn head next to it. Squeeze mayo on top of hot dog bun and prawn.

Served immediately. Guest can squeeze juice from prawn head to the hotdog directly.

Enjoy!

Miso Soup with Pork

 

* though I am not a japanese, this soup is one of my comfort food, summer or winter alike.

Ingredients:

Dashi Soup base (can make from scratch using Konbu Kelp and Bonito Flakes or use Dashi Stock Powder teabags. If I do not have enough time, I use the Kayanoya brand, low sodium type. Can be purchased from City Super. ) x 800ml

White Miso x 3 tbsp

Dark Miso x 1 tbsp

Veggies of your choice - sliced daikon, carrot, mushrooms, tofu, spring onion or leeks)

Sliced Pork

How to Make:

1. Make the Dashi Soup base as per packet instructions. 

2. Once the soup is made, dash powder bags removed, add all vegetables until cooked. Switched off heat, add miso via a strainer/sieve and mix well. 

3. Check tasting and adjust accordingly. Bring soup to boil again, add sliced pork until almost cooked and switch off.

4. Put some of everything to soup bowl, top with some minced spring onion or leeks.

Enjoy!

中華冷麵 Cold Noodles

 

* Credits to @jeffreyveggielife, my J'shojin (vegan) cuisine teacher

Ingredients:

Marinated Monkey Mushroom (I used the one which is frozen and purchased from Kowloon City 廣益行) - sliced and pan fried in frying pan

Abura-age (油揚 - Deep fried Tofu Skin） (Can be purchased from Sogo or City Super tofu section in fridge)

Dried Seaweed - rehydrate in water and squeeze out water

Cucumber - shreds or slices

Tomato - thin slices

Noodle (choose a type good for this dish. Can be purchased from Sogo or City Super noodles section in fridge)

Eggs omelette (for vegetarian version, not vegan version) - slices

Sesame - grinded

Noodle Sauce:

Soy Sauce x 4 tbsp （I used Kikoman 萬字牌 特選丸大豆減鹽)

Rice Vinegar x 3 tbsp

Maple or Agave Syrup x 3 tbsp

Sesame Oil x 1 tbsp

Vegan Mushroom Powder (I used Vigor & Health 素高倍鮮G粉）

Vegan Soup base 200ml (just soak 1 small pc of Konbu Kelp together with 2 dried mushrooms in 1L water overnight, chinese mushrooms rinse with corn starch and water)

How to Make:

1. Cook the noodle sauce in pot until all mixed. Then cool down and place in fridge.

2. Noodles cooked as per packet instruction, then rinse in ice water.

3.  Mix the noodles in the chilled noodle sauce.

4. Place noodles nicely on noodle bowl, top with the above ingredients, then add a few more spoons of the chilled noodle sauce.

5. Garnish with sesame or grinded sesame.

For non-vegetarian version, can add sliced ham or chicken.

Enjoy this dish in this melting summer! 

Crispy Amadai with clam and seaweed soup

 Ingredients:

Amadai (a kind of fish the scales of which are edible)

Clams - 20pc approx

Dried Seaweed - rehydrate with drinking water.

Baby Carrots - blanched in salted water

Minced garlic/ white wine/ butter/ olive oil

How to Make:

1. Clean and fillet the fish, so that each fillet piece is in a nice squarish or rectangular shape. Keep the scale intact. Wipe dry and marinate with salt and black pepper.

2. Clams after rubbing out dirt and rinse, soak in water for a while (best with a metal knife inside). Then remove and drain the water.

3. Heat up a pan which can hold up all clams, add some butter, then minced garlic, then add the clams, 1/3 glass of white wine, stirred fry the clams a bit, then add 1/2 cup of water. Cook the steam until the clams are all opened. Remove the clams, cool them down and take the meat out, For the soup, pass through a sieve. Add the soften dried seaweed. Check the taste and adjust accordingly with salt and pepper.

4. Heat up a frying pan, add some butter+olive oil, place fish to pan, scale down until the scale become crispy and golden. Then flip and cook the meat side until it's cooked. Remove from pan.

5. Pour soup to a shallow soup bowl.  Put some clam meats to soup. Place carrots to the bowl followed by the pan fried fish on top of bowl. 

Serve immediately and enjoy together with a glass of white wine!

Uni & Caviar Quiche

 

Ingredients:

Hokkaido Uni

Caviar 

Short Crust Pastry (make your own pastry dough or buy ready made ones, both one. But make sure blind bake first)

Eggs x 4 

300ml single cream

100ml milk

50g cheddar cheese - grated

Edible Flowers (to decorate and garnish)

How to Make:

Blind bake pastry:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Clean a surface top, sprinkle lightly with flour, roll the dough with rolling pin to a size which can fit your baking tin (could be round or rectangular or square) with extra hanging from the sides of the tin. Lift up the dough and draped over the rolling pin and lay it across your baking tin. Press the dough into the corners of the tin using your fingers. Trim the excess with a small knife but leaving some portion outside the sides of the tin (as during baking, the dough will shrink).

3. Put a baking paper on top of your dough. Pour red beans or any other beans on top of baking paper - aim is to have even weight on top of the dough.

4. Put to oven for 15 mins. Then take out, carefully and gently remove the baking paper with the beans on top and discard them. Put the pastry back to oven for another 5 min. Then take out to cool down.

Baking the egg tart:

1. Preheat oven to 200C.

2. Beat eggs in a large jug, then mix together with cheddar cheese, milk and cream. Season lightly with salt and black pepper.

3. Put the blind baked pastry shell (still in the baking tin) onto a baking tray first. Pour egg mixture to the pastry shell and place to oven and bake for 30 min until the filling is set and golden.

4. Take out from oven and cool down in room temperature.

5. Once you can feel the egg tart on quiche is not hot, you can gently spoon uni on top, then caviar on top and garnish with edible flowers.

Enjoy with a glass of champagne or sake!

Uni Pasta

 

Ingredients:

Fresh Uni x 1 typical wooden box (prefer those from Japan)

Garlic x 2 cloves - mashed

Shallots x 2 cloves - minced

white wine or sake x 1-2tbsp

Crushed red pepper or peperoncino 

Double Cream

Pasta 

shredded seaweed

How to Make:

1. Cook pasta as per package instructions less 30 seconds.

2. In a frying pan big enough to hold the pasta, cooked the mashed garlic and shallots with olive oil until fragrant, then add the crushed red pepper or peperoncinom, then the white wine or sake, then the double cream. Mix well.

3. Then add around 1/4 box of the uni and mix them well with the cream sauce, ensure uni all broken down like a paste in the sauce instead of lumps. Dont cook too long or else the uni too cooked and cream evaporated too much. check tasting.

4. Add pasta to this pan and ensure pasta evenly coated with this uni sauce.

4. Plate uni pasta to dish. Spoon extra uni on top of pasta and garnish with shredded seaweed on side.

Taste delicious together with a glass of sake! enjoy~

Carbonara pasta

 

Ingredients:

Fresh eggs x 4 (preferrably Japanese eggs or Itallian eggs with more yellow yolks)

Panetta cubes

Grated Parmessan cheese x 1-2 bowl

black pepper

pasta

Method:

1. Pan fried the pancetta in a frying pan with little olive oil until fragrant and cooked. Then turn off heat and take the chance to cool down the pan a bit.

2. Cook your desired pasta as per Box's instructions.

3. Beat eggs in a big bowl then mix well with grated parmesan cheese until the mixture is not too light but not too thick.  Then add grated black pepper.

4. Once pasta is cooked, put them to the frying pan with fried pancetta, mix well. Then add the egg & cheese mixture and mix well.

5. Use a tongs to plate to serving dish and add some black pepper and grated parmesan cheese. Can discard extra egg sauce when plating unless guest preferred more sauce.

Enjoy!

Avocado and Crabmeat Salad with Caviar

 Ingredients:

Avocado

Crabmeat, cooked and drained of water

Lemon juice

Caviar

Crispy bread

Edible flowers

Green salad

Method:

1. Half the avocado. Scoop out avocado and retain the shell of the avocado nicely.

2. Mash the avocado and add a dash of lemon juice. Then add cooked crabmeat. Mix well and season with salt and pepper to your liking.

3. Fill the avocado shell with this avocado and crabmeat mixture and level on top. Place in fridge for a while.

4. When ready to serve, arrange salad (mixed with extra virgin oil or salad dressing of your choice) on bottom of serving plate. Place stuffed avocado on top. Then spoon caviar on top of avocado. Decorate with edible flowers and crispy bread on top of avocado. Can prepare some sour cream on the side too.

Enjoy!

Summer Mango and Crab Salad

 

Ingredients:

Crabmeat using crab of your choice

Mango (prefer Philippines mango)

Avocado

Cucumber

Lemon juice

Sesame dressing

Kewpi Mayonnaise

Basil or minced chives

Salt & pepper

Method:

1. Cooked crab and take out crab meat. Mindful of the soft shells be all removed. put in a sieve to drain out excess water.

2. Cut mango into dices and put to sieve in a while to drain out excess juice.

3. Avocado cut in dices and squeeze some lemon juice to prevent it from getting black.

3. Cucumber clean and rinse clean. Add some salt and put aside for a while so as to remove excess water. Then thinly slice it.

4. Mix the diced avocado with some sesame dressing.

5. Mix the crabmeat with a dash of lemon juice, some salt and pepper and a little bit of mayo. These are to add some flavour but main goal is to retain fresh taste of the crab meat.

Plating:

1. Lightly oil the inside of a plating ring with olive oil. Cover the bottom and side with a cling wrap.

2. Place sliced cucumber on top of the cling wrap -as bottom layer inside the ring.

3. Then spoon diced mango on top of cucumber slices.

4. Then spoon diced avocado on top of mango. Gently push down.

5. Then spoon crabmeat on top of avocado and gently push down.

6. Keep in fridge for a while.

7. When ready to serve, hold plating ring with the cling wrap and place it on top of a serving plate. Gently slide away the cling wrap, then take up the plating ring.

8. If using king crab, you can put a long size of crab meat on top and garnish with basil or minced chives.

Enjoy with a glass of white wine or champagne!

Hasselback Potato with Garlic

 

Ingredients:

Potato (select those good for baking)

Duck Fat

Garlic, a few whole pieces, pressed

Salt & Black Pepper

Parsley - minced

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200'C.

2. Rinse and clean the potato. Wipe dry.

3. Use a sharp knife and slice the potato very thinly like a fan, say leaving 0.5cm until bottom of potato, i.e don't cut it up. Need to slice it thinly but retain the whole potato. Suggest to use a pair of chopstick to hold the potato bottom and in this way you wont cut to bottom of potato too. The thinner you slice the potato, the faster the will crisp.

3. Heat the duck fat, garlic and salt until melted. Feel free to adjust the amount of garlic and salt to your liking.

4. Place potato to an oven tray, then drizzle duck fat oil over the potato, making sure to get it between all the slices.

5. Bake for 60 min until golden. Drizzle more duck fat onto potato every 20 mins.

6. Remove from oven and let cool for a few min. Sprinkle with minced parsley.

Can serve with sour cream.

Enjoy this alone or with steaks!

Japanese Potato Salad

Ingredients:

Potato (May Queen Potato my first choice) -2 to 3pc

Hard Boiled Eggs - 2pc - cut into dices.

Pickled Cucumber or plain cucumber - 1pc-cut into dices

Corn - 1/2 bowl

Kewpi Mayonnaise or Kraft Mayonnaise

Method:

1. Wash and rinse clean potato. Peel skin.

2. Boil a pot of water and add a pinch of salt. Cook potato for 20-30 min until skewer can stick inside potato.

3. Remove water from the pot and cook the potato for another 3-5 min (to dry up water inside potato).

4. Place cooked potato in a big bowl and gently mash it - no need to be total mash so some keep some small bite size in the salad.

5. If using fresh cucumber, after rinsing it, add some salt and let it settle for a while. Then you can see some water coming out. Remove water and cut into dices or bite size good for salad. If using pickled cucumber, just cut them into bite sizes.

6. Mix mash potato with cucumber, eggs, corn with mayoannise and a dash of lemon juice. Adjust tasting to your liking.

Serve in a bowl or scoop it out like ice-cream. 

Enjoy!