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Bean Sprouts and Salted Fish Stir-fry Recipe

Monday, January 18, 2010 | Labels: , , , | 8 Comments »

Bean Sprouts stir-fried with salted fish is a very common and well-loved dish in most Chinese homes. The salted fish add a strong aromatic flavour to the relatively mild tasting bean sprouts. However, salted fish is very pungent and is an acquired taste for most unexposed palates, due to the high level of sodium, it is also not advisable to consume in large quantities. Nevertheless, I indulge myself now and then as salted fish just adds an irreplaceable flavour to a lot of dishes.

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I added some red chilli pepper slices for some spice and colour as well. Definitely try this dish at home, you can skip the salted fish if you wish. Some versions of this dish include adding fried tofu packets. Incidentally, this dish is also commonly served with Hainanese Chicken Rice as a side-dish. This is a very easy to make and delicious stir-fry at home, also a change to the usual green vegetables. Bean sprouts are essentially very young vegetables and are usually made from mung beans, harvested before growing leaves.

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When cooking bean sprouts, be sure not to cook for too long as once they are overcooked, they will start to brown and the texture will be too soft.

Kimchi and Shrimp Fried Rice Recipe

Monday, January 11, 2010 | Labels: , , , | 7 Comments »

Today I feature another 'quick meal' recipe - fried rice with kimchi and shrimp. I believe fried rice was invented to fully make use of leftovers in the interests of being frugal albeit in a totally delicious way! You can make fried rice with virtually any ingredients you have in your fridge, usual recipes will call for a protein of some sort but of course, there are no hard and fast rules for fried rice as long as it's tasty right?

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Kimchi adds spicy flavour and more colour to the dish - I wished I had some red chilli peppers available that would have made the rice even tastier but sans peppers, the dish still turned out pretty well. By now, I'm sure that most of you have an inkling of the nutritional benefits of kimchi, an essential part of the Korean daily diet e.g. for the lowering of cholesterol, increasing metabolism and many others. This time, I used kimchi cabbage which is probably the most commonly found, but there is a huge variety of vegetables that can be used to make kimchi, even chilli peppers, garlic - the possibilities are endless! Based on my (limited) knowledge of Korean food and culture, I thought it was quite interesting to note that in the past a woman's marriage potential was judged based on their kimchi-making skills.

I topped my fried rice with the obligatory fried egg (I love mine with crispy edges) - some prefer to just top the rice with a raw egg which will be cooked once mixed into the sizzling hot rice.

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Stir-fried Chinese Okra/ Angled Loofah (勝瓜) with Dried Shrimp and Glass Noodles

Wednesday, January 06, 2010 | Labels: , , , | 11 Comments »

Today I feature a common vegetable cooked in most Chinese homes - the Chinese Okra or Angled Loofah (勝瓜). I have it simply stir-fried with some dried shrimps (very handy to have around the kitchen) and added some glass noodles. The texture of the Chinese Okra is quite unique in that it does resemble that of a loofah on the interior. The flesh is soft yet firm and is white in colour.

The Chinese okra is also naturally sweet - the glass noodles being tasteless on their own soak up the salty flavours of the dried shrimp and the sweet flavours of the okra are delicious while adding some texture to the dish. This is a quick and satisfying home-cooked dish which should appeal to those of you who don't have much time to spend in the kitchen. If you find dried shrimp too pungent in flavour, you can subsitute with fresh shrimp.

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Dim Sum: Steamed Pork and Shrimp Dumplings Recipe

Friday, January 01, 2010 | Labels: , , , | 7 Comments »

Happy New Year my dear readers! May 2010 be filled with wonderful surprises and fulfilled wishes!

Today, I feature another variation of dumplings from the (lazy as of late) kitchen of Tastes of Home, another recipe from my dim sum repertoire, simple steamed pork and shrimp dumplings. As with most dumplings, you can be totally creative with the filling - this time I added some garlic oil to my filling. These dumplings were simply steamed but you can also deep-fry or pan-fry these.

I wrapped my dumplings this time by merely gathering up the wrappers and twisting the tops together creating mini 'goody-bags'. Making dim sum at home may be a little more time-consuming than most Chinese home-cooked dishes, but the efforts are well worth it as I have probably cited many times if you have read my other dim sum recipes.

Another way to serve these delightful little bites would be boiling them and served in a simple broth. Be sure to boil the dumplings separately first before adding them into your broth to avoid your broth from becoming starchy.

It's hard to believe that 2010 is already here, time and tide definitely waits for no one!

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