Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

225 (8oz) self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
150g (5oz) light muscovado sugar (if you prefer a sweet cake, then you can add 10-20g sugar here)
50g (2oz) chopped walnuts
100g 94oz) grated carrots
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
150ml (5 fl oz) sunflower or veg oil (if you prefer a more moist cake, then you can add 10-20 ml oil here)

For the topping:

175g (6oz) soft cream cheese
50g (2oz) softened better
100g (4oz) sifted icing sugar
vanilla extract
walnuts and carrot pieces to decorate

How to Make:

1. Preheat oven to 180'C. 

2. Grease a 20 cm (8 inches) deep round cake tin and line the base with baking paper.

3. Measure all ingredients for a the cake into a large bowl and beat well until thoroughly blended and smooth. Turn into the prepared tin and level the surface.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 50-60 minutes until cake is well risen and shrinking away from sides of the tin.

5. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out, peel off baking paper and finish cooling in a wire rack.

6. For the topping, measure all ingredients, except the walnuts, into a bowl or into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Spread over the top of the cake with a spatula. Decorate the top with walnuts and carrot pieces. Chill a little before serving and store in the fridge as the topping is soft.

** Can try slice the cake horizontally into half. Then spread the topping both as topping and in the middle of the cake like sandwich to make it more rich.

Cream of Barley Soup

Ingredients (for 12 paxs):

Soup Base: **
* it's better to make your own soup base. Otherwise, buy the ready made from supermarkets.

Old Chicken x 1 
Gammon Ham bones or chinese ham 
Carrot x 1pc - cut in 2-3 pieces
Celery x 1/2 stalk
Onion x 2 - cut into halves

** For vegetarian version, replace chicken and ham soup base with Vegetable stock or plain water.

Barley Soup:
Potato x 6-8pc - depending on size, cut into chunks
Pearly Barley - approx 250g
carrots x 3-6 pc, depending on size - cut into mini cubes
onion x 1, minced
corn - can use can corns (whole corns, not cream corns)
ham pieces (optional)
whipping cream, salt and pepper

How to Make:
1. The day before your dinner, make the soup base. Blanched chicken and ham or ham bones for 20 minutes. Remove all liquid and rinse the blanched chicken, ham or ham bones.

2. Put blanched chicken, ham or ham bones in a larger soup pot, add carrot, celery, onion and water, bring to boil, then turn to medium to medium fire and cook for 2.5 to 3 hours, depending how rich and concentrated you want your soup base to be.

3. Remove all ingredients from the soup by using a sieve. Then skim off all fat on surface. Once cool down, chill at fridge.

4. On your dinner date, take our soup base and reheat. Then turn off fire.

5. Rinse barley. Then soak them in a bowl of water for 1 -2 hours.

6. Blanch potato until soft. Discard all water. Blend the softened potato with the heated soup base in a few batches. Add more softened potato if the soup consistency is too watery OR add more soup base if too thick.

6. In a new soup pot, add a little of olive oil and stirred fried the minced onion. Once fragrant, add the minced carrot and the soaked barley (discarding the barley water) and corn, then add the blended soup base above, bring to boil, then turn down to medium and medium low heat and cook for 1.5 hours. Watch and stir from time to time to avoid barley sticking to the bottom of the pot and got burned.

As the barley will make the soup thicker, in case it becomes too thick, you might to need to add some plain soup base or chicken stock to adjust the consistency. So ensure you have some plain soup base or chicken stock around, just in case!

Before serving, add some cooked ham pieces to the soup, then some whipping cream.

Enjoy!

Fried Curry Chicken

Ingredients:

1 portion for say 4 persons:

Organic Chicken Wings and drumsticks, each x 6pc

Curry Powder - 2 tbsp

salt, black pepper, sesame oil, japanese soy sauce to season

1 egg

Corn Flour x 2 tbsp

How to Make:

1. Wash and wipe dry all chicken pieces.

2. In a large bowl, marinate the chicken pieces with the above ingredients until mix well for 15-30 minutes. If you think it's too "wet", then add some more corn flour.

3. Heat up a wok with corn oil until it reaches approx 180'C. Then add the chicken pieces in batches until it becomes slightly golden. Remove from wok and drain the oil.

4. Then deep fry the chicken pieces for a second time until they are golden all over and serve immediately!

* if the oil is over 180'C, turn down the fire and/or add some new oil. 

Best to enjoy with a cold beer! :)

Roast Rack of Pork

Ingredients:

US Organic Rack of Pork (you can get this from City Super) x 1 rack

Minced garlic, rosemary and thymes (or use herbs and spices you like)

Apples - cleaned, removed core and cut into 6-8pc for each apple

Apple Sauce

How to Make:

1. The night before your dinner, after washing the pork and wiping it dry, marinate it with the above minced garlic, rosemary, thymes, salt and pepper and olive oil. Wrap it in foil and place it a fridge overnight.

2. The day of your cooking, take out the pork 1 hour to room temperature before cooking. Remove the minced garlic marinate from the pork as the garlic got burned easily during cooking and roasting.

3. Preheat oven to 200'C.

4. Heat up a pan with olive oil, brown the pork on all sides, then put to tray and roast in oven for 1.5 hours until internal temperature reaches 75-80'C for medium or 80-85'C for well done. in the last 30 minutes of roasting, put the cut apples to the side of the tray. (if you put the apples too early, they will become too soft to eat).

5. After cooking, rest the pork under loose tin foil for 10 minutes before carving. 

Serve with Apple Sauce and gravy of your choice. 

Enjoy with your favourite white wine or Burgundy Red! :)

Strawberry Cheesecake

* recipe adopted from Tastemade Japan

Ingredients:

Cake Base:
Digestive Biscuit - 1 normal pack
butter 30-40g

Cake:
Strawberries - approx 150g - cut into quarters
Philadelphia cream cheese 100g
Yoghurt 100g
Cream 200g
Caster sugar 30g
Gelatin Powder 8g - dissolved in 30ml warm water (about 80'C)
Lemon Juice 20ml

Cake Top:
Strawberry - approx 150g - cut into halves
Strawberry Juice from "A"
Gelatin Powder approx 3-4g - dissolved in the above strawberry juice being heated
Mint Leaves and Icing Sugar

How to Make:

1. Butter your cake tin.

2. Finely grate the biscuit and mix well with melted butter and press to bottom of cake tin and chill at fridge.

3. Cake: put strawberries, caster sugar and lemon juice in a bowl, then place in microwave 600W for 3 minutes.

4. Sieve the strawberries mixture after microwave into a pan. Save the juice in the pan as "A".

5. Mix well the cream cheese and yoghurt with a electric mixer, then add the sieved strawberries mixture and the gelatin solution to the cheese mixture.

6. Pour to the cake tin and chill back at fridge for approx 30 min.

7. Heat up the "A" juice, check tasting. If not sweet enough, add some caster sugar. Dont boil it. Melt the gelatin powder in this heated juice until all dissolved. Once not so hot, pour it on top of the cake. Then decorate with the  cut strawberries on top. Then chill back at fridge.

8. When ready to serve, add mint leaves and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Yorkshire Pudding

* Receipe from Jamie Oliver

Ingredients: (make around 8 pc)

Veg Oil or Olive oil
2 large eggs
100g plain flour
100ml milk
sea salt & black pepper

How to Make:

1. Preheat Over to 225'C.

2. Get yourself a muffin or cupcake tray and fill each compartments with around 1/4 vegetable oil. Then pop the tray to the hot oven for 10-15 mins so the oil gets really hot.

3. Beat the eggs, flours, milk together and season with salt and pepper until light and smooth. Pour them into a jug.

4. Remove tray from oven carefully, avoiding spill of oil, then pour the egg mixture to each compartment in the tray.

5. Pop it back to the oven and bake for 10-15 min ot until risen and golden.

Enjoy with your Roast Beef!

Japanese Burger

Ingredients: (to make 4-6 burgers)
200g minced pork
400g minced beef
onion x 1 - minced
Breadcrumbs x 1 cup
Milk - 4 tbsp
egg x 1
butter, salt and black pepper

Sauce:
Cooking Sake (approx 2 tbsp)
Mirin (approx 2 tbsp)
Ketchup (approx 3-4 tbsp)
Lee & Perins (approx 2 tbsp)
Soy Sauce (approx 1 tbsp)
Sugar (approx 1 tbsp)
Water / chicken stock 

How to Make:
1. Heat up a frying pan with olive oil and stir fried the minced onion until soft and fragrant. Then remove minced onion from pay and sieve away the excess oil.

2. Put the breadcrumbs to a bowl and add the milk and let it absorb for a while.

3. Mix the beef and pork together and season with salt and black pepper. Then add the minced onion (which has been cooled down), then the breadcrumbs (which have absorbed the milk), then the egg. Mix well with your hand.

4. Then scoop it up using a measuring cup. Say 1 cup for 1 scoop (so your burgers will be of even size). Then use your hands to gently pat around to shape it like a ball and place it on a clean tray.

5. Heat up a frying pan, add 1-2 tbsp of butter, then olive oil. Pat the burger flat (instead of like a ball), then add the burgers to the pan and let them fry for 3 minutes on each side using medium fire. Keep checking that it does not stick to the bottom by moving it side-ways (do not flip it until the 3 minutes have passed). Once both sides are pan fried for 3 min, add a splash of water, say 2-3 tbsp, then cover the pan and let it steam for another 3 minutes. Once time is up, check the burger using a skewer to poke inside the burger to see if any blood come out. If nothing, then the burger is all good. Remove them to serving plate.

6. Using the same pan, add the cooking sake to de-glaze, then mirin, then ketchup, Lee & Perins, Soy Sauce and Sugar or even some water or chicken stock to mix well to a sauce that you like. Pour on top of burger and ready to serve. 

Enjoy

Sous Vide Iberico Rack of Pork

Ingredients:

Rack of Pork (I use Iberico one because they are more tender and juicy)
Herbs you like (I like sage and rosemary for pork)
Minced garlic
salt, black pepper and olive oil
Gravy
Apple Sauce

How to Make:

1. Preheat water bath at 65'C.

2. Season pork rack with salt, pepper, olive oil and rub with minced garlic and covered with the herbs you choose.

3. Vacuum packed the pork and place the bags in preheated water bath and cook for 2 hours.

4. Remove pork from bags and wipe dry pork.

5. Slice up the pork rack per bones (like a pork chop) and heat up a frying pan. Seared and browned pork chops on all sides then serve immediately.

Serve with gravy and apple sauce. The pork should taste crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside.

Enjoy with a glass of your favourite white wine!

Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb

This recipe is adopted from Gordon Ramsay. You can find his demonstration video at Youtube. Really easy to make and lovely to eat.

Ingredients:

2 racks of lamb cut in half with 3 bones serving
salt, black pepper and olive oil to marinate the lamb
Dijon mustard

Crust Ingredient:
4 slices of stale white bread cut into small pieces
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
a few sprigs of parsley
a few sprigs of rosemary
a few sprigs of thymes

How to Make:

1. Preheat oven to 200'C.

2. Wash and wipe dry cut lamb racks.

3. Lightly score fat layer (top side) with a sharp knife.

4. Marinate with salt, pepper and olive oil.

5. Heat up a frying pan (which you can put to oven later) and add olive oil. Sear and brown lamb on all sides.

6. Transfer whole pan with the lamb to the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, place all crust ingredients to a blender and pulse a few times until it becomes crumbles.Pour mixture to a plate and mix well.

8. When lamb is ready, take out and brush all sides with mustard. Then roll the lamb on the crumbles plate. Allow meat to rest. When ready to serve, place lamb back to the oven for 3-5 minutes.

Serve with your favourite white wine!  

Milk Braised Dijon Chicken

Ingredients:
1 Chicken of your choice, rinsed n patted dry with legs tied
1/2 cup (140g) Dijon mustard
2tbsp mustard powder
2 cups (500ml) milk
1 1/4 cups (310ml) chicken stock
1 tsp fennel seeds
Lemon rind  from 1 lemon
6 sprigs marojam
4 pickled onions, halved

How to make:
1. Preheat oven to 200'C.

2. Season chicken with salt and pepper.

3. Heat up a heavy based ovenproof pot, add olive oil. Brown Chicken on all sides for 5-10 mins.

4. While chicken is cooking, whisk mustard, mustard powder, milk, chicken stock together with fennel seeds, marojam and lemon rind. Add this mixture to the pot.

5. Once boiled, place pot to oven and cook for 1 hour.

6. Add pickled onions and cook for a further 30 min.

C
Carve and serve n enjoy with a nice glass of white wine.

Clams in White Wine Tomato Sauce

Ingredients (for 6 persons portion):
Fresh Clams of your choice x approx 50-60pc (as some clams might have cracked shells or do not open up while cooking and you will need to discard them, so better make provision for more than less)
Plum Tomato x 2 - remove skins and seeds and cut into cubes
Onion x 1 - diced
Minced garlic x 2 tbsp
White wine - 1 cup (Select one which you like to drink yourself!)
Minced Parsley for garnish
Butter x 1 tbsp
Whipping Cream

How to Make:
1. Wash the clams one by one under running water using a tooth brush. Then put them into a big bowl fill with water and some salt. Then add a steel knife inside the bowl. This will help the clams to release the sands inside them. Soak them for at least 3 hours if possible.

2. When ready to cook, pour away all water in the clams bowl and rinse the clams again under running water and drain.

3. Heat up a wok, add the butter and some olive oil, then the minced garlic. Once fragrant, add the onion, once onion becomes soft, then add the tomato. Once all is quite mixed well, add the clams, mix them well. Then add the wine. Let it evaporate for a short while like 1-2 minute, then cover the wok with a glass cover which you can see through.

4. Around 5-6 minutes later, you will start see clams opening their shells. Immediately remove those opened clams into serving plates, one by one. Some at the bottom will take longer to cook and open. But those opened shall be moved to serving plates immediately to avoid it over-cooked.

5. After all clams are opened and moved to serving plates, you will see the soup/sauce remaining on the wok. Check taste and season as you like, then add a round/dash of whipping cream, no need too much. Usually, no need any more salt. If you like, maybe some pepper or a little bit of sugar. Spoon the soup to each serving plate and then garnish with minced parsley and serve!

Best to enjoy this dish with some bread and nice white wine! Enjoy!

Claypot Rice with Fish and Onsen egg

 Ingredients:

Dashi stock

Fish Fillet

Rice Crispies

Eggs (preferably Italian eggs)

How to Make:

Dashi stock:

1. wipe Konbu with a set cloth, then soak it in a pot of water for at least 30 minutes.

2. Boil the above pot of water. Once you see air bubbles around the konbu, remove them. Then add a big bunch of bonito flakes. Once the water is boiled, turn off heat and let bonito flakes all dropped to the bottom of the pot. 

3. Drain bonito flakes away and you will have a clear dashi soup stock!

Claypot Rice:

1. Wash rice under tap until the water is no more milky but clear.

2. Put rice to the claypot. For every 1 cup of rice, add 1 cup + a little bit more dashi stock into the claypot. Soak the rice in the dashi stock for at least 30 minutes.

3. Put rice pot to stove and heat it up. Once water is boiled, put the fish fillet on top of the rice and cover the pot and turn heat to medium to medium low and cook for 15 minutes.

4. Then switch off heat and keep it covered and do not open it for at least 15-30 minutes. Then the rice is ready to be served by mixing fish fillet with the rice and adding rice crispies on top.

* Time when you should start cook the rice as the claypot cannot keep the rice forever hot. 

Onsen Egg:

cook eggs in slow cooker at 65'C for 30 minutes. Once done, remove eggs from water and keep in a bowl. Crack it on top of rice. Yum!

Baked Ise-Ebi (japanese Lobster)

Ingredients:

Japanese Lobster - halved
White Miso - 4 tbsp
Mayonnaise - 2 tbsp
Philadelphia cream cheese - 2 tbsp
mirin - 2 tbsp


How to make:

1. Preheat oven to 230'C.

2. Beat the above paste ingredients together with a fork until they are even. Check taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.

3. Spoon paste mixture above lobster meat. It's better to have more paste than less. So be generous.

4. Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until the paste becomes golden.

Serve immediately and enjoy with a glass of sake!

Deep Fried Potato Balls

Ingredients:

Baking Potato x 3 pc
some milk
some cream
salt and pepper
flour
egg
breadcrumbs

optional:
crabmeat or cooked minced beef

How to Make:

1. Wash and peel potato.

2. Put potato in a pot of cold water and boil. Once boiled, turn to medium heat and cook potato for around 30 min or until they are soft. Remember to add some salt to the water.

3. Drain the water, reheat the potato in the same pot for 1 min to ensure all moisture inside potato are gone.

4. Use a masher to mash all potato. Add a dash or milk and cream. Check taste and adjust seasoning. Most important is we do not want this to be too creamy soft. We need it to be more solid and easier for shaping and deep frying.

5. If you prefer, you can add some crab meat or minced beef to the minced potato.

6. Once cool down, shape the potato into ball shape.

7. Prepare a pot of oil, once oil is hot enough, dip potato balls into flour, then egg mixture, then breadcrumbs and put inside pot to deep fry until golden.

Serve with mayo or brown sauce or ketchup.

Enjoy!

Japanese Egg Roll

Ingredients:

3 eggs (preferably Italian eggs as they have very nice yellow color)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
some milk
a dash of vegetable oil

How to Make:

1. Mix the eggs with the ingredients above.

2. Prepare a rectangular pan for making this kind of omelette roll. Heat it up, add oil, then use a kitchen napkin to remove excess oil.

3. Pour egg mixture enough to form a thin layer on pan. Use chopsticks to stir the egg mixture at frying pan to make it cook faster. Once it's almost cooked, push and roll the omelette to the end of the pan like a block.

4. Use the kitchen towel and dap oil to the empty space of the frying pan, then add new egg mixture to the empty space of the frying pan and repeat above step a few times until all egg mixture are cooked.

5. Once all done, place the egg omelette to a bamboo sushi mat and roll it up to form a shape. Once cool down, place in fridge.

At first, it's not easy to manage to push and roll the eggs in the frying pan. But keep trying and practice makes perfect!

Enjoy!

Burdock, Carrot and Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

Organic Carrot - wash, wipe dry and shredded
Burdock - wash, use back of knife to remove skin, then shredded
Chicken thighs - steam until cooked. After cool down, shredded **
Sesame  - some for grinding
Sesame - some for garnish on top
Sesame Oil - choose a fragrant one
Sesame Salad Dressing of your choice

** for Vegetarian version, replace chicken with shredded 素雞

How to Make:

1. Stir fried the burdock in a frying pan adding a dash of soy sauce, mirin, Japanese cooking wine and sugar - i think around 5 minutes.

2. Add the shredded carrots to the frying pan, mix well with burdock for around 2 minutes. As we want to keep these all crunchy.

3. Drain the water/oil from the above mixture. Once cool down, can keep at fridge.

4. Before serving, best to take them out from fridge for a short time so they will not be too cold. Mix the shredded chicken thighs, the burdock and carrot mixture with the grounded sesame, sesame oil and sesame salad dressing to your liking. Garnish sesame on top and ready to serve.

Enjoy with a nice glass of sake!

Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients:
Ready made shortcrust pastry
flour
4 eggs
2 onions - sliced
bacon - diced
300 ml single cream
100 ml milk
100 g cheddar cheese - grated
salt & pepper

How to Make:

1. Preheat over to 200'C.

2. Heat up a pan with olive oil. Fried the bacon until fragrant, then add the sliced onions. Once all soft and fragrant, remove onions and bacon from pan, draining away the extra oil.

3. Roll the shortcrust pastry on top of a floured top and gently lift it up and place it on top of a 23 cm round, loose bottomed tart tin (best with holes on tin base), filling all the inside of the tin.

4. Trim off excess of pastry from edge of tin gently. Place tin on top of a baking tray.

5. Spread the onions and bacon on top of the pastry.

6. Beat eggs in a large jug, then mix together with the grated cheese, milk and cream, Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Then pour the egg mixture from the jug into the pastry. Then place the baking tray with the tart tin and pastry all ready to oven for baking for 30 minutes or until the filling is set and golden on top.

The egg tart will drop back once you take the tray out from the hot oven, upon then, the tart will be ready to be cut and enjoy!

Mushroom Tart

Ingredients:

For  the Tart:
ready-made all-butter puff pastry
1 egg yolk mix with a tsp of water to make eggwash

For the Mushroom Cream:
dried porcini mushrooms - a handful
onions x 2 - minced
300g chestnut mushrooms
thymes
a squeeze of lemon juice
3tbsp cream
1 egg yolk
chives - finely chopped
salt and black pepper

For the Topping:
200g chestnut mushroom - sliced
15g butter
a squeeze of lemon juice
chives - finely chopped

How to Make:
1. Preheat oven to 220'C.

2. Rinse dried porcini mushrooms, then soak them in hot water for 30 minutes or until soft. Drain water and minced the softened porcini mushrooms.

3. Wipe clean the chestnut mushrooms. Finely diced.

4. Heat up a frying pan with olive oil. First cook the minced onion until soft, then add the diced chestnut mushrooms, then the porcini mushrooms - until they are all soft and fragrant. Then add the thymes, season with salt and pepper and lemon juice.

5. Blend the above mixture to a paste using a blender. Remove mixture from blender to a bowl. Mix it with cream, egg yolk and chives. Leave to cool.

6. Roll our pastry on a floured board to a thickness of approximately 5 mm (1/4 inch).  Use a knife and mark a border of approx 1 inch from the sides (do not cut through!)

7. Spread the paste in the inner square (i.e within the knife marked borders). Arrange the sliced mushrooms on top, then squeeze lemon juice all over.

8. Use a pork to lightly press on the 1" border of the pastry and brush with eggwash so as to give a nice gloss of the border after baking.

9. Bake at 220'C for 15 minutes or until pastry turns golden.

10. Sprinkle with chopped chives before serving.

Enjoy!

Beef Wellington

* adopted from The Fabulous Baking Boys recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 800g good-quality beef fillet
• Olive oil
• Knob of butter
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 4 Portobello mushrooms, finely diced (do not use food processor)
• parsley - finely chopped
• 6 Savoy cabbage leaves (optional)
• 500g block of all-butter puff pastry OR use ready made puff pastry sheet
• 1 egg + 1 tbsp water mix together to make eggwash, to glaze pastry

How to Make:

1. Preheat oven to 200'C together with the baking tray with foil.

2. Heat up a pan, melt butter, add the minced garlic and thyme, once fragrant, add the diced mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, then add the chopped parsley. Remove them to a strainer, so extra liquid will be strained out. Set aside to chill.

3. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat a large pan, add the oil and brown the beef on all sides. This is not to cook it but to just get as much colour on the meat as possible – about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan and place on a plate to chill and rest.

4. Optional: Separate the cabbage leaves and using a knife cut out the middle of the stem from the thick end. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and blanch the cabbage leaves for 2 minutes, then remove and plunge straight into cold water. This is just to cook the leaves through and chilling them quickly helps to keep the vibrant green colour. When cool, drain and squeeze out any excess moisture.

5. Optional: Lay the cabbage out overlapping each leaf in a shape big enough to wrap the whole fillet in. Thinly spread the mushrooms over the middle part of the cabbage then place the fillet on the cabbage and wrap the leaves over it making sure there are no gaps. This helps to keep the juices away from the pastry.

6. Roll the pastry into a thin rectangle and cut it into one large piece and one smaller piece – two thirds and one third. The smaller piece is what the beef will sit on and the larger piece is the piece that will go on top and cover everything.

7. Turning it as you move to keep the mushrooms are on top, place the fillet in the middle of the smaller piece of pastry and cover it all with the larger piece of pastry. Using a rolling pin, push the pastry at the bottom of the beef to seal it in and then using a fork, crimp the edges. Put 3 slashes into the top of the pastry to vent steam out during baking and brush all over the pastry with egg wash.

8. Put the pastry wrapped beef to the heated baking tray (This stops it getting a soggy butt) and bake the beef for 45 minutes Wellington for medium rare.


9. Remove and rest for 5 minutes somewhere warm. Slice and serve.

Can prepare gravy or mushroom sauce at the side to make the beef taste more full.

Enjoy with a glass of pinot noir!!

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!

Spanish Red Prawn Pasta

* this is really easy to make and the effect is like "restaurant-standard" red prawn pasta! so must try!

Ingredients: (good enough for 8 persons)

Spanish Red Prawns x 18pc- chilled or frozen one both are ok. But for frozen one, prepare defrost time in fridge

Onion x 1  - minced

Garlic - sliced x 1/2 bowl

Cherry tomatoes in cans x 2 cans - blended in a mixer to become a tomato sauce

Fresh Basil leaves - washed and wipe dry

Pasta of your choice - around 400g

How to Make:
1. First and foremost is to make the sauce. Wash the prawns, remove all legs with scissors. Cut heads and put aside. For the body, remove all shells and carefully removed intestine from the front. Put prawn bodies back to fridge.

2. Heat up a pot big enough to hold all prawns heads, shells and sauce. Use olive oil, heat the minced onion and sliced garlic till fragrant.

3. Then add the prawns heads and shells and stirred fried with the minced onion and garlic till fragrant. Press the prawns heads until all juices come out from the prawns heads. Add the  blended cherry tomato sauce, mix well, season it with some salt and sugar, once boiled, turn to medium to low heat, and braised for around 30 min. Check from time to time. Remove prawns heads and shells from this sauce to a sieve. Press hard the prawn heads against the sieve so that all sauces from prawn heads go back to the sauce pot!

4. Prepare your pasta as per the box's instructions. I will suggest for al dente pasta, cook 1 min to 30 seconds less from the instructed cooking time.

5. Once pasta is almost ready, use a new pan to pan fry to prawns bodies using olive oil. Once prawns are cooked, remove prawns from pan. The pan should be filled with orange-oil, place the cooked and drained pasta to this pan and ensure pasta absorbs all such orange-oil. Then pour the pasta to the braising sauce and mix well together with the basil (leaving a few basil leaves to top the dish).

6. Transfer all pasta to a serving bowl, then top with the the pan fried prawns and a few fresh basil leaves on top. Drizzle some olive oil on top too.

Serve the pasta and don't forget to take out the bowl of prawns heads as there might be someone who like to suck up the prawns heads!