蔥油雞 Chicken in Spring Onion Sauce

 

Ingredients:

Chicken Thighs with skin 

Spring onion 

Shallots

Seasame

Sesame Oil

How to Make:

1. Remove bones from chicken thighs, rinse clean, wipe dry. Marinte with light soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper, sugar, sesame oil, corn flour for around 30 mins.

2. Spring onion as much as you like, say 2 bundles, rinse clean, wipe dry and minced.

3. Shallots, proportional to spring onion, remove skin and minced.

4. Add the minced spring onion and shallots to a bowl, see if the mixture is sufficient for your chicken thighs. Add toasted sesame, sea salt and sesame oil and mix well together. Consistency will be what you will like for your spring onion sauce.

5. Heat up a flat pan, add slight oil. Skin side down, pan fry chicken for a few min until brown, then turn over the meat side down and cook for another 3-4 minutes until cooked. Drain away extra oil, then transfer to carving board and slice it up.

6. Check how much chicken oil still in pan, if enough, just add the spring onion mixture to pan to quickly stir fry and cook. If not, add some more oil to  cook the spring onion mixture. check tasting. 

7. Then plate all spring onion sauce at the bottom of the serving plate and place sliced chicken on top.

serve and enjoy with a nice glass of white wine! :)

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!!

Stir Fried Bean Sprouts with Minced Pork 大豆芽菜耸

 

* my mom's home maid 凤姐 (who is now in another world) taught me how to make this traditional home dish. It's one of my fav! easy to cook but difficult to cook it well. Also preparation takes long time. So be patient!

Ingredients:

Minced Pork - marinate it in the usual way (light soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, wine, corn flour)

Bean Sprouts 大豆芽菜

Garlic x 2 tbsp - minced

Shallots x 1 big bowl - minced

Ginger juice （best to peel away skin of a bunch of ginger, pressed it and squeeze out juice from the palm)

Chinese Wine

Lettuce - prepare them in leaf shape and use as wrapper

Hoi Sin Sauce

How to Make:

1. Wash and drain the bean sprouts. [remove as much water as possible]

2. Pull out the head from the steam of bean sprouts and keep them in separate bowls.

3. Minced them separately. Size of mince - small enough but can feel the crunch!

4. Heat up a frying pan, [no need to add oil]. Once hot enough, add the minced heads of bean sprouts and keep stir fry until fragrant and dry. This part takes longer to cook.

5. Once you are happy with the above, add the minced stems. Mix well with the heads and give it a real good stir fry quickly. Drain them to another bowl.

6. In the same pan, wipe away all liquid remaining. Add oil, then minced garlic and shallot. Once fragrant, all the minced pork. Once all mixed well and pork cooked, add back the bean sprouts mix, add ginger juice and a dash of Chinese wine. Check taste and adjust with salt and pepper and sugar.

7. Put to serving plate. Serve with lettuce leaves on side and Hoi Sin Sauce.

Enjoy!

Red Bean Dessert Soup

 

            

Ingredients:

Japanese Red beans 250g

Dried Lotus seeds

Fresh lily bulbs - must rinse under tap water to remove all mud and dirt.

Tangerine peel x 1 pc

Cane sugar x 3-4 sticks

How to make:

1. The night before your cooking, rinse the red beans and soak in water overnight.

2. Similarly, rinse the lotus seeds and soak it in water overnight.

3. On the day of cooking, rinse 1 piece of tangerine peel. Once soft, use back of knife to scrap inside of the tangerine peel.

4. Drain the red beans. For the Lotus seeds, after draining water, check every lotus seeds to ensure nothing inside the middle. The black thing inside the centre of the lotus seeds taste very bitter. So must remove.

5. Put all red beans,  lotus seeds, tangerine peel to a cooking pot. Then add 3000ml water and 3.5 sticks of cane sugar. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 hour.

6. Remove all lotus seeds from the pot. Save it for later use. Discard the tangerine peel.

7. Blend the red beans with the soup inside in a few times. Will suggest add more beans in the beginning, so in case it's too thick if you can add the soup to mix to reach a right consistency of the blended sweet soup. After each blend, pass through a sieve to another pot.

8. Once the blending and sieving, the red bean soup should be silky smooth. Add back the lotus seeds in this pot. Also add the cleaned lily bulbs, and bring to a boil. Check taste accordingly and serve.

** fresh lily bulbs add a very nice fragrance to the red bean soup. Add this at the last step as it get broken down and dissovled if cook too long.

Enjoy!

Any leftover, save in fridge and eat it cold with vanilla ice cream.

Drunken Abalone and Chicken Wings

* this dish is inspired by my photographer friend Ann Choi during the COVID19 home quarantine and home cooking peak season! You can substitute/add chicken wings, ducks tongue etc as you like  :)

Ingredients

Fresh abalones - 10-20pc 
Sliced Ginger and some spring onion
Chicken Wings and/or Ducks' Tongue - qty you like
Gooseberries 紀子- a bunch 
Dried Longan 龍眼- a bunch
Huadiao wine 花雕酒 or 太雕酒- 200-250ml
Zaolu 糟滷- 100-150ml (this is salty so beware not to add ,more than this)
hot water - 150ml
Rock Sugar or brown sugar  - 2-3tsp

How to Make:

1. Wash and rinse the gooseberries and longan and soak them in water for 10-15 min. Drain water.

2. Now the DRUNKEN MARINATE  - Melt the sugar with 150ml hot water. Then add the soften gooseberries and longan + Huadiao, Zaolu. Taste first and adjust accordingly. Put this marinate to an airtight box big enough to hold all the abalones, chicken wings and/or ducks tongue!

3. Remove abalones from shells and wash under tap. Use toothbrush to brush all the sides/skirt. Remove guts.

4. Wash and wipe clean chicken wings and marinate with Dark Soy Sauce for around 15 min.

5. Boil a pot of water with ginger slice and spring onion. Once boil, put the cleaned abalones to the pot and cook for 5-10 min.

6. Then remove all abalones and put them to a bowl of ice and ice water immediately to avoid it from further cooking and meat becomes tough. 

7. Once abalones cool down, put the abalones to the air tight box with the Drunken Marinate. Leave overnight in fridge.

8. For chicken wings, blanch them in boiling water for 8-10 min. Then remove them to a bowl of ice water with ice immediately to avoid them from further cooking and meat becomes tough. Add to the air tight box with the Drunken Marinate.

Enjoy it as a cold appertizer with a glass of sake or beer! In winter times, this dish can be served hot by steaming it for 5-10 minutes.

Braised Sea Cucumber, Fish Maw and Chinese/Japanese Mushrooms

Ingredients:

Dry Sea Cucumber
Dry Fish Maw
Dry Chinese/Japanese Mushrooms
Ginger, Spring Onion, Garlic
Chicken Stock, Oyster Sauce, dark and light soy sauce, raw sugar, sesame oil.


How to Braise Sea Cucumber:
1. Rinse the sea cucumber clean under the tap.

2. Soak them in a pot of clean water overnite (at least 12 hours)

3. Boil a pot of water, put the soaked sea cucumber inside and cook for 15 mins covered. Once time is up, just switch off heat and keep the pot covered until water inside becomes cool. In winter times, this maybe around 3-4 hours. In summer time, this may take 5-6 hours. Test with your finger! :)

4. Pour away water inside pot. Add new water. Reboil the water with the sea cucumber for 15 minutes covered. Once time is up, switch off heat and keep the pot covered until water becomes cool.

5. Drain all water, rinse the sea cucumber, then clean the intestines. Principle is the inside surface of the sea cucumber shall be free of any black stuff and 
smooth.

6. Last step: boil a pot of water with sliced ginger and spring onion, then add the cleaned sea cucumber and boil for 15 mins covered. Once time is up, switch off heat and keep covered until water becomes cool.

7. Remove sea cucumber for water, dry them with a clean cloth and pack them in zip-lock bag and store at fridge when you are cooking in the next day or so. Or keep them in freezer.

How to Braise Fish Maw:
-> this really depends on which type of fish maw you are buying. Assuming the regular ones for braising and soup, then here's my method:

1. Rinse the fish maw clean under the tap.

2. Soak the fish maw in a pot of water overnight.

3. Boil a pot of water with sliced ginger and spring onion, then add the fish maw and cook for 10 minutes. When time is up, switch off heat and keep covered under water becomes cool.

4. Drain all water and the ginger and spring onion. Add new clean water and soak the fish maw for another 5-6 hours.

5. Remove fish maw and dry them with a clean cloth and pack them in zip-lock bag and store at fridge when you are cooking in the next day or so. Or keep them in freezer.

How to Braise dry Chinese or Japanese Mushrooms:
1. Rinse them clean under tap.

2. Soak them in a pot of water and add a small dish on top, so as to press down the mushrooms under the water.

3. Change water for around 2-3 times until you can feel the mushrooms have became soft.

4. Then remove all water, wash the softened mushrooms with some corn flour under tap. Then wipe them dry with a clean cloth. Pack them in zip-lock bag an store at fridge if you are cooking in the next day or so. or keep them in freezer.

How to Cook:

1. Cut up the mushrooms and fish maw in a size which you desire. Sea cucumber can be cooked in whole piece or cut up to a size you like.

2. Heat up a wok, add oil an stir fried the slice ginger, pressed garlic and spring onion until wok is fragrant.

3. Add the mushrooms to the wok, mix them well with the ginger etc, then add sufficient chicken stock to keep the mushrooms underneath stock, add oyster sauce, soy sauce etc. Check tasting, once boiled, turn down to medium heat and cook for 30 minutes.

4. Add fish maw to the pot. If chicken stock and sauce not sufficient to keep the ingredients under sauce, add chicken stock and other seasonings. Cook for another 10-15 minutes under medium heat.

5. Add sea cucumber to the pot and cook for another 10-15 mins. Like above, you need to see if the stock/sauce is sufficient to keep all ingredients submerged. If not, adjust yourself. Check tasting from time to time. 

6. Lastly, add cornflour solution to the pot to thicken sauce. Add your favourite vegetables to the dish!

Enjoy!

P.S. in addition to using chicken stock, you can use abalone sauce, etc. Or add braised abalone to the dish.

Baked Stuffed Crab Shell

Ingredients:
Fresh Flower Crab
Onion - thin slices
Mushrooms - slices (optional. If you want to add this, small amount will do)
Evaporated Milk
Flour
Eggwash (egg yolk + a few drops of water)
Cheddar or Mozarella Cheese




How to Make:
1. Steam whole crab. Once cool down, separate all crab meat from the shells. Check for shells bits in the crab meat.

2. Cut the crab shells nicely and blanch in hot water with a bit of salt. Drain and wipe dry.

3. Stir fry the sliced onion in a frying pan until soft and fragrant, then add the mushroom slices. remove from the pan to a dish first.

4. Add crab meat to the frying pan and stir fry till fragrant. Add the onion mixture to the crab meat, mix well and add seasonings like salt and sugar. Check tasting, then add evaporated milk, then flour. Check consistency. You wont want it too thick or too watery.

5. Remove the crab mixture from frying pan to a dish to cool down.

6. Preheat oven to 250'C.

7. Stuffed the crab mixture to the crab shell nicely. Brush some eggwash on top first. Then sprinkle some cheese on top.

8. Baked in oven for 7-8 min until top is golden.

Serve piping hot! Enjoy!

Tofu Salad

Ingredients:

Fresh Tofu of your choice

Cooked Preserved Egg - separate egg yolk with egg white and blend separately in blender or chop them up into small dices with a knife

Good quality sesame oil


How to make:

1. break tofu into paste like with a fork or chopsticks.

2. add egg white to the tofu and mix well together with sesame oil.

3. Pour into a chinese bowl and wrap with cling wrap and chill at fridge.

4. Pour the Tofu mixture to a serving plate upside down from the bowl and top with egg yolk crumbles. Add a dash of sesame oil or white sesame on top as you like.

Ready to serve as a cold appertizer. Enjoy!

Baked Conch

Ingredients:

Fresh Conch - reserve in advance from your seafood store in wet market and ask them to help remove guts from the main body.

Minced pork *

Minced onion *

Carrots-diced into small cubes *

Button Mushrooms-diced into small cubes *

* I will say if the conch meat weighs say 300g, your minced pork, carrot, onion and mushrooms should be 1/3 to 2/3 of your conch weight, ie around 100-200g each. It's realyl flexible. Depends if you want it to taste more meaty or more seafood. You can add diced water chestnuts too to give it a crunchy feel.

Butter

Flour

Grated Cheddar/Morzarella cheese

Tumeric Powder

Coconut Milk

How to Make:

1. Wash and wipe dry the conch meat and blend in blender to small pieces.

2. Marinate minced pork with say sauce, sugar, sesame oil, corn flour and chinese wine.

3. Preheat oven to 240C.

4. Heat up a wok, add oil and pan fry the onion till soft and fragrant. Then add minced pork, carrot, mushrooms and mix them well.

5. Fry the minced conch in another pan until some juice is released from the meat. Remove meat and add to the pan at para 3 above and mix well/

6. Arrange some space on the wok at para 3, then add butter and flour and mix it up to become a roux. Then mix everything together. Add Tumeric powder, coconut milk and adjust tasting.

7. Stuff the mixture to the conch shell, add grated cheese on top and bake at oven for 5 min.

Serve and Enjoy while it's piping hot!

Sous Vide Soy Sauce Chicken

* recipe from 肥妈! Easy to make chicken soy sauce and the chicken meat tastes very tender using slow cook method.

Ingredients:

Fresh Young Chicken x 1
Rock Sugar
Star Anise x 2
Cinnamon stick x 1
bay leaves x 4
Light Soy Sauce x 3 tbsp
Dark Soy Sauce x 100ml
Chicken Stock x 60ml
Chinese Rose Wine x 1 tbsp
Water x 60ml
Ginger x 3-4 slices
Spring onion x  few bunch (some for soy sauce, some to stuff chicken during slow cook)

How to Cook:

1. Wash Chicken and blanch in hot water for 5 mins. Remove from hot water and drain.

2. Heat up a wok and add oil, pan fry the dry ingredients (ginger, spring onion, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves) till fragrant. Add the wet ingredients (the soy sauce, wine, chicken stock, water...) and the rock sugar until it boils. Check tasting and adjust accordingly.

3. Once soy sauce mixture boiled and tasting checked and adjusted, turn off fire. Put chicken into the sauce until the sauce cools down.

4. Prepare water at water bath to 68'C.

5. Remove chicken from the soy sauce mixture and place to vacuum bag, with spring onion stuffed to cavity.

6. Place chicken to water bath for 2.5 hours.

7. Remove chicken from vacuum bag, cut it up nicely and serve.

Enjoy! 

Roast Belly Pork 鼎爺燒肉

* recipe adopted from 鼎爺厨房

Ingredients:
Belly Pork - approx 2000g
Five Spices Powder - 5g
Coarse Salt (for marinating meat) - 50g
Coarse Salt (for marinating skin) - 7g
white vinegar

How to Make:
1. Wash and dry pork. Preferable to cut away the most bottom part of the belly pork which is tougher and save it for other uses.

2. Use lighter fire to burn against hair on pork skin, then use back of knife to scrap off burned hair.

3. Mix well the 5 spices powder with the coarse salt for the meat and marinate the meat evenly - leave the skin un-touched!

4. Use the coarse salt for the skin to marinate the skin evenly.

5. Leave the marinate on the skin and meat for 8-10 hours (if winter time, in room temperature is fine. But if it's summer time, best to put back to the fridge).

6. Once marinate time is up, blanche the pork in hot water for 10 mins.

7. Preheat oven to 200'C.

8. Drain water away from pork and use pork needles to punch against pork skin. Dry the pork using towel or kitchen napkins.

9. Turn the pork upside down so that the skin is facing down. Pour vinegar to a tray which can hold the whole piece of pork and soak the pork (skin side down) in the tray with only the skin touching the vinegar - for 10 mins.

10. Remove pork from vinegar and wipe it dry.

11. Use foil paper to wrap around the bottom and side of the pork, leaving the skin upwards unwrapped.

12. Put pork to oven for 1.5 hours. Then turn the heat up to 230'C and cook for another 30 mins until skin becomes golden red.

13. Remove pork from oven. Pour oil on the foil to a bowl. Can let the pork rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting. The oil can be used to mix with soy sauce for steamed white rice!

14. Be sharp and precise at cutting to avoid the crispy skin from coming off the meat.

Serve it when it's piping hot and crispy and enjoy with a glass of nice white wine!

Braised Abalones and Fish Maw

Ingredients:

ABALONE:

吉品鲍鱼 - 20头 

Ingredients A:

old chicken - 4 catty

pork spare ribs x 2 catty

chinese ham x 1 catty

chicken feet x 1 catty

pork skin

Soup Base:

Roast Goose x 1/2

Chinese Barbecue Ribs x 1 catty

Seasonings:

rock sugar 

light soy sauce: dark soy sauce - proportion of 1:4 

water 

chinese wine

chicken powder

Ginger 

Spring onion

FISH MAW:

Fish maw (1 catty 7 pc type)

Ginger, Spring Onion, Orange Skin, White Vinegar

How to Prepare Abalones:

Day 1:

rinse all abalones under tap water, then soak in water for 1 day. Remember to change new water in between.

 

Day 2:

Drain all water from abalones. Place abalones to a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes at medium fire. Then turn off fire. Cover pot and soak abalones in this pot covered for 1 day. Once the pot has cooled down in the middle of the day, change water and keep it covered.

Day 3:

Drain water for pot. Add fresh water, ginger x 4 slices, spring onion x 3 stalks and bring to boil, then add abalones and cook for 15 minutes at medium heat. Then turn off fire. Cover pot and soak abalones in this pot covered for 1 day. Once the pot has cooled down in the middle of the day, change water and keep it covered.

Day 4:

(1) Blanch Ingredients A above and drain water. By now, the abalones should have been softened and enlarged a lot. 

(2) Remove abalones from water, remove guts from abalones and gently clean abalones under running tap water. Beware of your fingers and thumbs when removing guts so that no marks are left on the abalones!

(3) Prepare soup base by boiling the roast goose and barbecue ribs in a pot of water for cook in medium fire for an hour. Filter and remove oil and save for later use. 

(4) Prepare a deep pot with bamboo sheet with bamboo chopsticks.

(5) First place all pork bones or spare ribs, then chicken feet, then abalones, then pork skin, then chinese ham, then chicken and pork meat on top.

 

 

(6) Add the filtered soup base so that all ingredients are submerged under the soup base. If not enough soup, add water. Add Seasonings above.

(7) Bring to boil then turn down to low heat and braised for 8-10 hours. Check from time to time to ensure ingredients are underneath water. If at anytime water level is lower than the ingredients, then add either water or chicken stock.

(8)After 10 hours, just turn off heat. Keep the pot covered and leave it for 12 hours for soaking.

Day 5:

(1) Bring the pot to boil again, then turn down to low heat and cook for 4-6 hours.

(2) Remove abalones from pot.

(3) Heat up the pot again with the rest of the ingredients for 30-60 min using medium heat until the sauce becomes dense. Check tasting. IF NECESSARY, adjust seasoning using oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, salt and even cognac to your liking. Use cornflour solution to thicken sauce. Then use a sieve to separate all ingredients from the sauce. 

Before serving, just bring to boil the abalones with the condensed sauce and serve!

How to prepare FISH MAW:

Day 1:

Rinse fish maw under tap water, then place them in a bowl cover with tap water and soak for 1 day. Change water during half day.

Day 2:

Put fish maw to a pot, cover with water and bring to boil and cook for 10 minutes, then turn off heat, Cover pot and soak fish maw for 1 day. Change water once the water in pot already cooled down.

Day 3:

Place orange skin, and a few dash of white vinegar to a pot, bring to boil, add fish maw and cook for 10 minutes, Then turn off heat. Cover pot and soak fish maw until the water in pot has cooled down. Then remove fish maw and place in a air tight box with cold water and store at fridge. By now, the fish maw should be softened and enlarged.

 

Day 4:

Once the abalone sauce from above is ready, cook the fish maw in the abalone in medium low heat for 20-30 minutes. Then take out, cut into desired sizes and soak with abalone sauce on the side.

Once ready to serve at dinner, place the cut fish maws with the abalones back to the sauce pot, bring to boil and serve.

Notes:

** once fish maw has been softened, no need to cook too long.

It's a lovely feeling to be able to make this traditional dish. Nothing difficult here except that you need to plan the logistics in advance and use patience. Try it!

清湯獅子頭 Braised Pork Balls

* this recipe came from my friend Jenny's auntie - Auntie Lesley Chu and demonstrated to me via her maid Daisy! 

Ingredients:

* prepare the day before your dinner party.

Pork Balls
Pork - 梅頭 - approx 1 kg (choose the part which is more red in colour)

Pork Fat - approx 700g of the pork quantity (but if you prefer really soft and tender pork balls, meat:fat proportion can be  can be up to 60:40)

egg white x 10

spring onion - 6 - minced x 1 bowl (green + white part)

shallots x 5 - minced

black pepper - pound in mortar

corn starch x 2.5 tsp

flour x 2.5 tsp

salt x 3 tsp

chicken powder x 3 tsp

sugar 1 tsp

When cooking with soup:

Spare Ribs (cut into 1 inch each) - blanched

Ginger  x 2 slices

Spring Onion

Star ainses

Before serving:

Japanese Chinese cabbage

 


How to Make: 

Pork Balls:
1. Slice the pork first, then further cut it into mince. Then use 2 Chinese knives to further mince it.

 


2. Slice the pork fat first, then further cut it into mince. Then use 2 Chinese knives to further mince it.

3. Mix the minced pork and the minced pork fat and further minced it using 2 Chinese knives. 

4. Put the minced pork and pork fat into a mixing bowl. Add the above seasonings first (ie the cornflour, flour, salt, chicken powder, sugar, black pepper, white pepper), then the shallots, spring onions, then add the egg whites, then mix them all using chopsticks stirring in 1 direction only until evenly mixed. 

5. Chill at fridge for around 1-2 hrs. Once you feel the mixture is quite solid, then take out from fridge.

6. Shape them into golf ball size and "pat" it gently to make the "ball" shape firmer.

7. Heat up a wok, add oil, then add the pork balls - the pork balls must submerge underneath the oil - deep fry until golden colour. Can do it in batches. can drip a few drops of dark soy sauce on top of pork balls to darken color. Once golden, remove from wok and drain oil.

8. Add the pork balls into a deep pot, then the blanched spare ribs and bring to boil together with the ginger, star aines, spring onion. Season with light soy sauce, chicken powder, wine and sugar. Once boiled, reduce heat to medium and cook for approx 75 to 90min. Check taste and adjust seasoning accordingly.

9. After cool down, put in fridge.

10. Next day before dinner, take out the pot with soup and pork balls, bring to boil, remove spare ribs and some soup and place at another pot. Cook japanese chinese cabbage in that other pot with the spare ribs and soup. Once the cabbage is done, transfer cooked cabbage to the pork balls pot and ready to serve!


Enjoy with a bowl of white rice!

Notes:
* after pork balls are cooked in the spare rib soup, avoid re-cooking them for a long time. Once re-heat, they are ready to serve, as the longer you cook them, the less tender they will be.
* the more fat content you use, the more tender the pork balls will be.
  

Chinese Vegetarian Pot with Nam Yu 八寶南乳素齋煲

Ingredients:

choose 8 different types of vegetables of your choice! for myself, i like the followings:

Dried Chinese Mushrooms 冬菇
Black Fungus 黑木耳*
Yellow Fungus 黃耳*
Beancurd Stick 素雞
Sweet Beancurd Sheet 甜付竹
Beancurd Sheet 付皮
Japanese Cabbage
Baby Corn

Ginger - 4-6 slices
Garlic - 6 to 8 pc pressed
南乳酱- 2-4 pc
seasoning - oyster sauce ***, sugar, sesame oil

*** For Vegetarian version, replace with vegetarian oyster sauce

How to Make:
1. 2 nights before making this dish, wash the chinese mushrooms, then soak them in water overnight.

2. Next day, drain the soaking water, use corn flour to wash the soaked chinese mushrooms, rinse clean.

3. Marinate the chinese mushrooms with sesame oil, sugar and a little bit of soy sauce, then steam for 1 to 2 hours until soft. Once cooled down, cut the chinese mushrooms into your desired size.

4. Keep the mushrooms water in the dish after steaming for use later.

5. Other ingredients with the *, just wash and rinse clean and soak in water until soft (around half a day). Japanese cabbage wash and drain and cut to your desired size. No need to be too small as it will shrink during cooking.

6. Heat up a wok which is big enough to hold up all your ingredients, add oil, then the ginger and garlic until fragrant. Then add the 南乳酱  until fragrant. Be careful of not burning the 南乳酱 . Better turn heat to medium at this stage.

7. Add all the above vegetables ingredients except the Japanese Cabbage and baby corn, add the chinese mushrooms water and braised for 1 hour or until all soft and taste good! Feel free to season with oyster sauce and sugar and sesame oil. If not all ingredients are submerged under the braising sauce, add more water to the wok or pot until all ingredients are submerged underneath. Check braising from time to time to avoid anything sticking at the bottom.

8. Once the above braising is quite ready, then Japanese cabbage and baby corn for braised for another 20-30 min. Finally, check taste and seasoning by adding sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil as required.

Enjoy!

Braised Beef Shin with Quail Eggs

Ingredients:
Beef Shin (金钱牛展）
Five Spices Marinade Sauce
Five Spices pack (with different spices including star ainse, chinese 
peppercorns, bay leaves, etc which you can purchase in spices shop)
Rock Sugar
Eggs or Quail Eggs

How to Make:

1. Wash the wipe dry beef shin - pack them in vacuum bags and cook in sous vide machine at 80'C for 12 hours. After cooking, remove the beef from the bags and save the juice after sieving.

2. Boil the eggs for 8-10 minutes. Cool them down in ice water. Then remove shells.

3. Prepare your marinate sauce in a deep pot by adding: 1 part of Five Spices Marinate with 3 parts Water + 1 pack of the Five Spices and some rock sugar. Make sure the beef is fully submerged under the marinate sauce. Once boiled, add the beef shin and cook in low heat for 1 to 1.5 hrs until the centre of beef is soft when chopstick is inserted into center. You can add the eggs from the beginning or for at least 1 hour in the marinate sauce.

* If you do not use sous vide machine, you will need to cook for at least 2-3 hrs in low heat to achieve softness in the beef.

* better make the marinate sauce taste light at the beginning as it will become more condensed and tasty after 1 hour cooking. If by that time, taste is not strong enough, you can always add marinate/soy sauce.

4. Remove beef shin and set aside. Once cool down, keep in fridge in an airtight box.

* you can cut and serve immediately, But by chilling it in fridge, you can cut and slice it thinly. If you cut or slice immediately after cooking, it is not possible to have thin slice.

5. For the marinate sauce with the eggs, check tastings and adjust accordingly. Adjust thickness using cornflour solution. Once cool down, keep in fridge in an air tight box.

6. Before dinner, take out beef shin and cut it as thin as you can. Line them up in a plate for steaming.

7. Reheat sauce in a sauce pan and once boil, spoon the sauce and eggs over to the steaming dish lined with the sliced beef shin. Cover with foil and steam for approx 20 -30 min.

Serve with a bowl of rice and Enjoy!!