Friday, February 13, 2009

Chinese Radish Cake (萝卜糕)

After whatching this episode of vacsoracsata ( a local tv celebs cooking challenge show) and based on the reviews , I had wanted to try the retek salátá (radish salad). I bought a small radish since winter is the best season for radish but after a week of constant searching for the recipe online, I couldn't find the recipe used on the show! (until after i've cooked it , of course). Then I decided to make this chinese dim sum radish cake. My version is without any meat, mushrooms or dried shrimps as most of the recipes would use. Still it tasted fine and I love it as light diner :)....Read more on Wiki

Chinese Radish rice Cake
recipe from here (the link doesn't seem to work...)

Ingredients
2 c radish
4 tsp salt
4 tsp oil
8-10 strips bacon or ham **omitted**
1 1/2 c rice powder
2 c chicken broth or water

Serve with
Hoisin sauce
Shreded carrots
Chopped spring onions

Method
Shred radish; add salt. Heat oil, add radish and cook until half done. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and pour mixture into a round or square baking pan. Steam for 40 minutes.

My alteration :
1) After steaming , I deep fried the cake until golden brown.
2) The texture of my radish cake (see close up below)is different. As I have coated it with rice flour before deep frying it.



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Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Baked fish with spicy stuffing

Seafood is rather expensive here as Hungary is a landlock country. On top of that the current economy only result in even higher prices for "fresh" sea fish. So I've opted for frozen fish from the hyper mart to sooth my craving for sea fish. Last week, I tried this "HEKK" brand and it tasted fine; unlike some of the frozen fish on sale, this doesn't smell and taste too fishy. Sorry I couldn't recognise and name the type of fish that I ate (!) because I just realised that it only says tengeri hal (sea fish) on the packet ... hmm..

If you can find fresh mackerel in your market, this recipe would work well with it! If not, you can always trial on other fish available to you.

Baked fish with spicy "salsa" stuffing
Serves : 2

Ingredients
450gm Fish, washed and cleaned
salt & white pepper, to taste
rice flour (or plain flour) , for coating
oil for frying

Spicy "salsa" stuffing
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
parsley, chopped
salt & pepper, to taste
soya sauce, to taste
sugar, to taste
erős pista (or sambal oelek), to taste

1) Pre-heat oven
2) Blend together ingredients for salsa.
3) Pat dry fish after washing and cleaning. Slit the top part of fish for stuffing.
4) With high heat, heat oil in a non-stick pan or wok. *oil must be hot otherwise fish will soaked up oil*
5) Season fish with salt and white pepper to taste
6) Stuff the salsa into the slit, keeping aside some for topping *do not over stuffed as it would result in stuffing spill out during frying*
7) Lightly coat fish with rice flour (or plain flour)
8) When oil is hot, carefully place fish in pan/wok and fry until lightly golden
7) Remove lightly golden fish from frying pan/wok, drain away access oil and place fish in baking dish. Top remaining salsa on fish. Bake until salsa is browned and crispy.
8) Serve immediately with rice.

** You can also grill fish in banana leaf. Even more YUMMY!



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Sunday, February 01, 2009

Easy Chicken Curry

For the cold winter days, I think curry is a good additon to the daily dinner aside from the traditional főzelék (a type of Hungarian vegetable stew) .
The following recipe doesn't require as many spices as other Indian curry recipes yet still manage to satisfy my curry cravings! It goes well with this roti (Indian bread) recipe :)
Chicken curry
Recipe from BBC Good Food
serves 4

Ingredients

4-6 medium tomatoes
1 medium onion
4 tbsp vegetable oil
3cm/1in piece root ginger
2 garlic cloves
1-2 mild green chillies
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
salt and freshly ground black pepper
100ml/31fl oz water
1 free-range chicken, jointed into 8 pieces, or 8 thighs and/or drumsticks - replaced with chicken breast meat instead
2 tbsp yoghurt
1 lime (or lemon)
a small bunch of coriander leaves
cooked rice, to serve
Added frozen peas, carrots and potatoes for colour and nutritions .

Method

1. To skin the tomatoes, nick the skin of each tomato with the point of a sharp knife, then put the tomatoes in a bowl next to the sink and pour over some very hot water from the kettle to cover. Count to 20, then carefully pour away the water. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel away the skin, halve the tomatoes, squeeze out most of the pips and juice into an empty bowl, and discard. Chop the flesh roughly and put it down on a plate to one side.

2. Peel and finely chop the onion. Fry the onion in the vegetable oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over low to medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring from time to time so that it turns an even golden brown. Watch carefully to make sure it doesn't burn.

3. Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the ginger and the garlic.

4. Slit the chilli using a sharp knife. Slice the flesh away from the cluster of seeds in the middle. Avoid touching any part of the chilli with your fingers if you can, as it is very easy to get chilli in your eyes, and that will sting. You can use a fork to hold the chilli down or wear rubber gloves. Chop the chilli finely.

5. Measure the ground spices into a teacup. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli to the pan, stir them around and fry for another minute or so. If you want your curry to be hot as well as spicy, include some or all of the chilli seeds. Then add the spices in the cup into the onions. Fry the spices for a minute or two, stirring all the time so that they do not stick. Add some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

6. Pour in the water and the tomatoes, bring to the boil, turn down the heat a little and let the sauce simmer for 5-10 minutes.

7. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and stir them around so they are covered with the sauce. Put the lid on the pan, turn the heat down and let the chicken cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chicken thighs will take longer to cook than breast pieces.

8. Now add the yoghurt to the chicken and stir it in. When the sauce is gently bubbling again, scoop up a little in a teaspoon, blow it cool and taste it. The sauce will probably taste quite sweet because of the tomatoes. Cut the lime in half and squeeze its juice into the sauce. Stir and taste again, and decide whether you want to add the second half.

9. Finally, chop the fresh coriander leaves and sprinkle them on to the curry just before you serve it with the rice.

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Friday, February 13, 2009

Chinese Radish Cake (萝卜糕)

After whatching this episode of vacsoracsata ( a local tv celebs cooking challenge show) and based on the reviews , I had wanted to try the retek salátá (radish salad). I bought a small radish since winter is the best season for radish but after a week of constant searching for the recipe online, I couldn't find the recipe used on the show! (until after i've cooked it , of course). Then I decided to make this chinese dim sum radish cake. My version is without any meat, mushrooms or dried shrimps as most of the recipes would use. Still it tasted fine and I love it as light diner :)....Read more on Wiki

Chinese Radish rice Cake
recipe from here (the link doesn't seem to work...)

Ingredients
2 c radish
4 tsp salt
4 tsp oil
8-10 strips bacon or ham **omitted**
1 1/2 c rice powder
2 c chicken broth or water

Serve with
Hoisin sauce
Shreded carrots
Chopped spring onions

Method
Shred radish; add salt. Heat oil, add radish and cook until half done. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and pour mixture into a round or square baking pan. Steam for 40 minutes.

My alteration :
1) After steaming , I deep fried the cake until golden brown.
2) The texture of my radish cake (see close up below)is different. As I have coated it with rice flour before deep frying it.



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Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Baked fish with spicy stuffing

Seafood is rather expensive here as Hungary is a landlock country. On top of that the current economy only result in even higher prices for "fresh" sea fish. So I've opted for frozen fish from the hyper mart to sooth my craving for sea fish. Last week, I tried this "HEKK" brand and it tasted fine; unlike some of the frozen fish on sale, this doesn't smell and taste too fishy. Sorry I couldn't recognise and name the type of fish that I ate (!) because I just realised that it only says tengeri hal (sea fish) on the packet ... hmm..

If you can find fresh mackerel in your market, this recipe would work well with it! If not, you can always trial on other fish available to you.

Baked fish with spicy "salsa" stuffing
Serves : 2

Ingredients
450gm Fish, washed and cleaned
salt & white pepper, to taste
rice flour (or plain flour) , for coating
oil for frying

Spicy "salsa" stuffing
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
parsley, chopped
salt & pepper, to taste
soya sauce, to taste
sugar, to taste
erős pista (or sambal oelek), to taste

1) Pre-heat oven
2) Blend together ingredients for salsa.
3) Pat dry fish after washing and cleaning. Slit the top part of fish for stuffing.
4) With high heat, heat oil in a non-stick pan or wok. *oil must be hot otherwise fish will soaked up oil*
5) Season fish with salt and white pepper to taste
6) Stuff the salsa into the slit, keeping aside some for topping *do not over stuffed as it would result in stuffing spill out during frying*
7) Lightly coat fish with rice flour (or plain flour)
8) When oil is hot, carefully place fish in pan/wok and fry until lightly golden
7) Remove lightly golden fish from frying pan/wok, drain away access oil and place fish in baking dish. Top remaining salsa on fish. Bake until salsa is browned and crispy.
8) Serve immediately with rice.

** You can also grill fish in banana leaf. Even more YUMMY!



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Sunday, February 01, 2009

Easy Chicken Curry

For the cold winter days, I think curry is a good additon to the daily dinner aside from the traditional főzelék (a type of Hungarian vegetable stew) .
The following recipe doesn't require as many spices as other Indian curry recipes yet still manage to satisfy my curry cravings! It goes well with this roti (Indian bread) recipe :)
Chicken curry
Recipe from BBC Good Food
serves 4

Ingredients

4-6 medium tomatoes
1 medium onion
4 tbsp vegetable oil
3cm/1in piece root ginger
2 garlic cloves
1-2 mild green chillies
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
salt and freshly ground black pepper
100ml/31fl oz water
1 free-range chicken, jointed into 8 pieces, or 8 thighs and/or drumsticks - replaced with chicken breast meat instead
2 tbsp yoghurt
1 lime (or lemon)
a small bunch of coriander leaves
cooked rice, to serve
Added frozen peas, carrots and potatoes for colour and nutritions .

Method

1. To skin the tomatoes, nick the skin of each tomato with the point of a sharp knife, then put the tomatoes in a bowl next to the sink and pour over some very hot water from the kettle to cover. Count to 20, then carefully pour away the water. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel away the skin, halve the tomatoes, squeeze out most of the pips and juice into an empty bowl, and discard. Chop the flesh roughly and put it down on a plate to one side.

2. Peel and finely chop the onion. Fry the onion in the vegetable oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over low to medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring from time to time so that it turns an even golden brown. Watch carefully to make sure it doesn't burn.

3. Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the ginger and the garlic.

4. Slit the chilli using a sharp knife. Slice the flesh away from the cluster of seeds in the middle. Avoid touching any part of the chilli with your fingers if you can, as it is very easy to get chilli in your eyes, and that will sting. You can use a fork to hold the chilli down or wear rubber gloves. Chop the chilli finely.

5. Measure the ground spices into a teacup. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli to the pan, stir them around and fry for another minute or so. If you want your curry to be hot as well as spicy, include some or all of the chilli seeds. Then add the spices in the cup into the onions. Fry the spices for a minute or two, stirring all the time so that they do not stick. Add some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

6. Pour in the water and the tomatoes, bring to the boil, turn down the heat a little and let the sauce simmer for 5-10 minutes.

7. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and stir them around so they are covered with the sauce. Put the lid on the pan, turn the heat down and let the chicken cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chicken thighs will take longer to cook than breast pieces.

8. Now add the yoghurt to the chicken and stir it in. When the sauce is gently bubbling again, scoop up a little in a teaspoon, blow it cool and taste it. The sauce will probably taste quite sweet because of the tomatoes. Cut the lime in half and squeeze its juice into the sauce. Stir and taste again, and decide whether you want to add the second half.

9. Finally, chop the fresh coriander leaves and sprinkle them on to the curry just before you serve it with the rice.

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