Coleslaw

I have never checked a coleslaw recipe before preparing this post just to compare my ingredient list with what is the norm. It's good to know it is not far off.

Coleslaw

Ingredients
Equal quantity of Cabbage and Carrot, shredded or cubed
Spring onion, slice thinly
salt, to taste
sugar, to taste
ground black pepper
Mayonnaise, to taste
2 tsp of sour cream
a little water

Method :
1) Rinse cabbage and carrot before shredding or cubing
2) In a salad bowl, put in the thinly sliced spring onion follow by salt, sugar and ground black pepper
3) Put in half the vegetables, drizzle with some mayonnaise and a teaspoon of sour cream. Place the remaining vegetables and again drizzle on some mayonnaise and another teaspoon of sour cream.
4) Mix well and let it chill in the fridge for minimum 30 mins.

A little bit of everything

Links Recipes /adaptation

Cauliflower acar (spicy pickle) http://kitchenat19.blogspot.hu/2010/08/spicy-pickled-vegetables-acar.html

Tzatziki http://kitchenat19.blogspot.hu/2013/03/tzatziki.html

Mediterranean Millet Salad http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-couscous-salad-with-cucumber-red-onion-herbs-recipes-from-the-kitchn-190535?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=managed


Stuffed sweet pepper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXwtO4fptL4

Vegetable Curry { Sayure Lodeh }

Steamed fish fillets, surimi with glass noodles

Happy Lunar New Year!
I have this carp fillets sitting in the freezer and since I'm unfamiliar with this fish, I was wondering what to cook with it. My thought process was, ok nothing too complicated like frying and too much effort since I'm not sure ..hahaa. So, let's just steam it in garlic, soy, shaosing wine and oil. Simple enough

Steamed carp fish fillets , surimi with glass noodles
Inspired by Thai steamed prawns like this one by The Woks of Life

Ingredients
350gm fish fillets
100gm glass noodles, soaked in warm water for 10-15 mins. until softened
Surimi sticks, imitation crab meat

seasoning
salt, to taste
2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
oil for sauté
soy sauce, to taste
sugar, to taste
water, not too much
a dash of shaoxing wine (I've substitute with white wine)

Garnishing
Spring onions, green only
Coriander / Parsley leaves

Preparations:-
1) First prep. glass noodles as mentioned above. Set aside. You can do this in advance and keep in the fridge until you need it.
2) Start by heating water in your steamer. Meanwhile, on a plate, big enough for steamer. Lay the soaked glass noodles evenly. Then place the fish fillets/surimi sticks on top. Sprinkle salt over the fish, to taste
3) In a jar, mix together soy sauce, sugar, water and dash of shaoxing wine. Pour over the fish and glass noodles.
4) Sauté finely chopped garlic in oil, don't burn it.When ready pour all over fish and glass noodles.
5) When water is boiling in steamer, place the fish platter into steamer and steam for 10 mins. After 10 mins. check for doneness. If not continue to steam for another 5 and check again until it is ready.
6) Serve immediately garnished with spring onions and coriander/parsley.

Home-made Pot stickers / Jiaozi / Gyōza

I've halved the following recipe which yield 20 wrappers

Gyoza Wrapper Recipe

via http://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/gyoza-wrappers/

Author: Namiko Chen

Serves: 42-44 wrappers (thin wrappers)

Ingredients

240gm plain flour

½ tsp. salt

120 ml just-boiled water plus more if necessary (should be around 120 - 150 ml)

You will also need:

Potato starch (corn starch) for dusting
3" (8 cm) cookie cutter

While for the filling, I've just followed a rough guide from this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8MBX-SXnmg

Korean-Style Steamed savoury Eggs custard

Steamed eggs custard regularly appear on my mom's diner table; however, I have never have the urge to make one since moving out. Then I stumbled upon this recipe ; which looks so simple and manageable plus promises a smooth silky finish, so I say why not make it?

Verdict : wow, so smooooth plus an extremely easy recipe! The most attention you need is making sure the water do not get too hot. That only takes up 15 mins. of your time.

Go here for the recipe at The Kitchn

Spaetzle { Nokedli }

Spaetzle (Nokedli)
via for detail instructions check aprosef

For 1 serving (*I've doubled the recipe and it was good for 3-4 pax)

Ingredients

100gm Plain flour
1 large egg
60ml water
salt, to taste
a pot of boiling water

Method :-
1) Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, don't forget to season water with salt.

2) In a bowl , place the flour, and the crack the egg in the middle. Add a little water, and with a wooden spoon combine by pushing the flour towards the egg. Add water as you go until a not too runny consistency.

3) When water boiling, place spaetzle maker over the pot (see link for instructions) and push the mixture over the hot water.

4) You should be doing in batches, and remove dumplings which have floated.

5) Rinse with cold water to get rid of some starch, drain and serve.

Cantonese-style vegetable dish

Last Sunday at the local market I was intrigued by one stall selling something I thought was pak choi ; but the seller told us the origin of this veg. is France. Whatever it is, the taste is good and do remind me of the chinese pak choi.

This is a simple preparation, you only need cooking oil, sesame seeds, ready-made crispy shallots/onions and soy sauce. This method also works well with iceberg lettuce, egg noodles, bean sprouts or anything that you could think of.

Cantonese-style Vegetable dish.

Ingredients
1 bunch of Vegetable of your choice,

1-2 tablespoon of cooking oil
garlic, optional
light soy sauce, to taste

For garnishing
ready made crispy shallots/onions
sesame seeds, toasted

Method :-
1) Heat water in sauce pan , and blanch vegetable just until wilted to take away the rawness. Drain.
2) In a non-stick pan, toast some sesame seed. After toasting, set aside to be used later as garnish.
3) In the same non-stick pan, heat up the cooking oil, once heated and if you're using garlic as aromatic, start saute until golden brown and remove from heat. If not using garlic, just removed heated cooking oil from heat and pour in dashes of soy sauce to taste. Mix in the blanched vegetable and mix well. And you're ready.
4) Serve on a dish, garnish with toasted sesame seeds and crispy shallots.

Spinach stir fried

Finally the season for spinach is here!! Because my husband's favourite way of eating spinach is the Hungarian style főzelék, i.e. in sort of a thick pureed soup, I've cooked it that way most of the time.

On this occasion, I've cooked my portion separately and simply since I'm getting signs of lactose intolerance.

Spinach stir fried
Serves 2 or 1 x 2 meals

Ingredients
200gm Spinach, fresh with stalk
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 piece of dried chilli, flaked
cooking oil
seasoning :- salt or soy sauce, pepper
toasted sesame seeds, for garnishing

Method
1) Wash and dry spinach thoroughly. Set aside.
2) Heat a little oil in a wok. Sauté garlic & chilli flakes until fragrant.
3) Quickly throw in the spinach and stir fried until wilted. Add seasoning and cook for just a few seconds and dish up.
4) Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, and eat while it is hot!

Tzatziki

Tzatziki
Ingredients
2 medium-sized cucumber, peeled and sliced thinly
1x175gm yoghurt
few tablespoon of sour cream, or to taste
salt
pepper
garlic powder
parsley, chopped finely

Method
1) Slice or julien cucumber thinly. Sprinkle liberally with salt and let it sit for 10-15 mins. not more
2) Meanwhile, mix together yoghurt, sour cream, garlic powder and finely chopped parsley. Check taste and adjust accordingly. *Leave out the salt for the time being.*
3) After 10-15 mins. squeeze and drain all the liquid from the cucumber and mix into yoghurt, then check seasoning. And it is ready!

Caramelised Red Cabbage

I have tried cooking caramelised red cabbage number of times but was never satisfied with the result until this recipe!

Caramelised Red Cabbage
adapted from No Salty

Ingredients
1 medium head red cabbage
1 apple
100g butter (reduced to 50g + vegetable oil)
50-60gm sugar (adjusted to taste)
50ml balsamic vinegar (adjusted to taste)
2 pinches of cumin seeds
salt & pepper, to taste

Method
1) Thinly slice red cabbage and apple, about 1cm width.
2) Heat a heavy duty sauce pan, melt butter (and vegetable oil), sprinkle in the sugar and stir until sugar dissolved.
3) Sauté cumin seed a bit before adding in red cabbage and apple.
4) Season with salt and pepper and dashes of balsamic vinegar, stir well. Put on the lid and let it braise for 30 mins.
5) After 30 mins. remove lid and let it continue to simmer to thicken the sauce. Check seasoning and it is ready to serve.

Chinese-style Fried Rice

Fried rice is best from left over rice; so, when you have plain rice left over from Chinese take-outs, keep it in the fridge and use it to cook fried rice. In the case where you would like to try this using fresh rice, then before cooking store your cooked plain rice, uncovered, in the fridge for at least 2 hours to dry it out a little.

Chinese-style Fried rice

Ingredients
Day-old cooked Rice or freshly cooked, quantity according to portions you need
1 shallot or red onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cm ginger, minced or slice
1-2 tsp sesame seeds
mix vegetable, according to portions you need
few dashes of oyster sauce
few dashes of light soy sauce
white/black pepper , to taste

Method
1) Heat oil in a wok, put in minced onion and ginger. Cook until fragrant. Then add-in minced garlic & sesame seeds, cook until browned. Be careful not to burn garlic or it will taste bitter.
2) When aromatics are fragrant, add in mix vegetables. Stir-fry for a few minutes.
3) Add in rice, seasoning and mix everything well. Stir fry until rice is "jumping" in the wok because you want to achieve the "char" (not burn) flavour in the rice.
4) Serve hot as side dish or main.

Chinese Style Angel Hair Pasta

Fried vermicelli rice noodles is comfort food for the Cantonese. We eat them in the morning, afternoon, night and sometimes even during parties as the noodles could be pair with endless flavours. Since it is harder to get vermicelli made of rice flour in my area, I have learned to substitute with angel hair pasta whenever I crave the Cantonese staple.

I will not be including a recipe in this post. What I do is I toast the pasta first either on a skillet or in the oven for maximum 10 mins. on medium heat or until pasta is browned. Next you simply cook the pasta per package's instructions, once cooked to al-dente, you toss it in Asian-inspired aromatics and you're good.