Tom Yum Hot Pot

First of all, I would like to wish my family, friends and readers a very "Happy New Year"!

I can't believe it! Another year has gone by so quickly! Is it a good thing? Who knows, right?

Well, this evening we had Hot pot or Steamboat for dinner. It's rather cold today, so I have decided to cook Tom Yum soup for the hot pot. You can get the soup recipes from my previous posts here. I have doubled up the recipes and added an extra cup of chicken stock. I cooked some rice noodles, so everyone can have them with the soup. Let's see, I have Big Dungeness Crabs, River Prawns, fish dumplings, fish balls, tofu, Enoki mushrooms and some vegetables. Guess, my ingredients were pretty simple but that's how my family likes their hot pot :)

So, have a good feast everyone! Don't forget the Champagne! Cheers!!!



Click here for the recipe...

Pineapple Jelly

I'm sure every kid or even adult would love to have some jelly or jello. You can serve this pineapple jelly as a dessert or starters. Of course, you can use any kinds of fruits for this jelly. I'm making some for this New Year Eve's!

Pineapple Jelly

Ingredients

1 tin 540 ml Pineapple Chunks, reserved the juice

2 tsp Agar Agar Powder

2 to 3 Tbsp of Sugar

2 cups of Water 

2 Pandanus Leaves, knotted

Method

In a saucepan, combine the reserved pineapple juice (you should have about 1 cup, if not top it up with some water to reach 1 cup), water and pandanus leaves.

Bring it to a boil and add the agar agar powder and sugar. Simmer until the agar agar powder dissolves. Then let the mixture cool slightly.

Strain the mixture and fill them up with jelly mould and top it with pineapple chunks. Then set it a side and keep it chilled. Serve cold.

Click here for the recipe...

Vietnamese Restaurant

This must be my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Vancouver for now. Incidentally, the name of this place is called Vietnamese Restaurant! They are located on 4136 Main St, Vancouver and open for business 7 days a week. In fact, they are directly opposite Cafe Delite!

The restaurant is cleaned and the service was good. The owner of the restaurant was very friendly and not to mention chatty too. He refer all the patrons as "My Good Friends"! The food was delicious and authentic. I ordered a Beef Noodles (small & suggested by the owner) but, was a tad bit too small. The owner must have thought that I was a small eater! LOL! So, I ordered extra noodles and surprisingly they were free. It came piping hot and quite a lot too.

Anyway, it was only two of us,(my son and I) so this is what we ordered....

Pho Nam (Well Cooked Beef With Rice Noodle In Soup) $5.59 (small)

Prawns Brochettes $9.99

Lemon Grass Chicken $6.99

Refreshing Lime Soda $2.99

Click here for the recipe...

Top Hats (Kuih Pie Tee)

First of all, I want to say Yay! This is my 100th posting in exactly 3 months!

Well, I remember when I first started blogging about my cooking, I had informed a few of my closest friends which includes Ben and Suanne from Chowtimes. You might want to know, how I met them... Of course through the Internet!!

Its all started before I even moved to Vancouver. I had search for everything about Vancouver, and no surprise there...I found Chowtimes. They are the nicest couple I have met here. They invited my family for lunch and from then onwards, we became good friends.

Anyway, back to my blogging story. One day, while having lunch with Ben and his family, he had mentioned that I blog everyday. Well, that's true and I even told them that I wanted to achieve my 100th posts by end of the year! And... I have done it!

Ben and Suanne have helped me a lot by getting readers to my new blog and so, I am dedicating this post to them. I really appreciate their humility and their friendship!

Top Hats (Kuih Pie Tee)
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

Shells

100 g All Purpose Flour, sifted

50 g Corn Flour

110 g Rice Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

2 Eggs, lightly beaten

400 ml Water

Oil for deep frying

Filling

1 kg Yam Bean (Jicama), shredded

300 g Carrots, shredded

5 Shallots, sliced

250 g Prawns, shelled and chopped

2 Tbsp Peanut Oil

2 tsp Sugar

Sea salt to taste

2 Eggs, lightly beaten

3 stalks Scallions

3 Red Chillies, finely sliced

Method

Prepare the Top Hats shells. Combine all the ingredients and let the batter rest for an hour.

In a moderate heat, dip the mould in the oil ( make sure the oil is not too hot). Then dip the mould into the batter and plunge the mould into the oil. Jiggle the mould lightly, up and down motion and they should slip away from the mould. Let the shell cook until they are light brown in color. Remove and drained the excess oil. (You might want to fry the shells ahead of time. Its rather time consuming!)

Store them in an airtight container or in a ziplock bags (like me). They will stay crisp! Unless if there's any humidity then just pop them into the oven on a low heat for awhile.

In a large pan or wok, cook the shallots on a low heat until they are golden in color.

Turn the heat on high and mix in the chopped prawns. Saute briefly and add the yam beans and carrots. Stir and add some pepper, sugar and sea salt to taste. Cook for another 5 minutes. Set aside.

In a non-stick pan, make the omelet. Let it cool slightly and sliced them thinly.

To serve, put some yam beans and carrot filling and top it with the omelet, chilies and some scallions. Serve with some sweet chili sauce.

Click here for the recipe...

Prawn and Squid Sambal

Gee, it's getting colder every day! With all the snow piled up around my driveway, who needs to go to the gym?! I had a really good workout from shoveling the snow earlier in the morning!

Sambal or any spicy foods are considered as comfort food for me. This Sambal is slightly different from the ones I usually would make. For this recipe, I have added some coconut milk and turmeric in it. This spicy prawn and squid dish goes well with steamed rice.

Prawn and Squid Sambal

Ingredients

200 g Prawns, shelled

200 g Squids, cleaned and cut into rings

1 Yellow Onion, halved, sliced

1 Tbsp Sugar

1/2 cup of Coconut Milk

1/4 cup Water

2 tp 3 Tbsp Lime Juice

3 Tbsp Peanut Oil

Sea salt to taste

Sambal Paste

25 to 30 Dried Chilies, soaked and drained

6 Shallots, coarsely chopped

5 Candlenuts

1 tsp Ground Turmeric

1 tsp Roasted Shrimp Paste

Method

Prepare the sambal paste, grind all the ingredients and set aside.

Heat the wok on a high heat, add 1 Tbsp of oil, saute the prawns and squid briefly and set them aside.

Add the remaining oil into the wok and turn the heat on to low. Cook the sambal paste until fragrant.

On moderate heat, add the onions and saute for a minute. Then mix in the water and coconut milk. Bring it to a boil and simmer for another 5 minutes. Then add the prawns and squids and bring it to a quick boil and lower the heat. Season with lime juice and sea salt. Serve immediately.

Click here for the recipe...

Santa Fe Chicken Salad

Well, I guess after a heavy meal during Christmas Eve, a salad would be a good idea. This is the first time, I made a Santa Fe Chicken salad. The idea came from Earls Restaurant. It is a must order salad for my family. I love the sweetness of corns, raisins, dates with their peanut lime vinaigrette and the saltiness of crumble feta cheese.

So, I thought, why not try making them at home? Seems easy, just need to figure out how to make the salad dressing. Well, when you look at the dressing recipes, I have juiced of 2 limes. It may seem a lot at first, but, no worries! The pan roasted peanuts will balance up the vinaigrette nicely.

Btw, even my kids had the rest of the dressing as their dips. Just top it with more peanuts and  the dipping sauce was created instantly!!

Santa Fe Chicken Salad

Ingredients

4 Chicken Breast, boneless and skinless

Marinate

30 g Chipotle Rub and Mix

1 Lime, juiced

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

3 cloves Garlic, chopped

2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

Sea salt to taste

3 Medium (500 g) Romaine Hearts, washed and break into smaller size

1/3 cup Raisins

1/2 cup tin Black Beans, drained

1/2 cup tin of fresh Corn Kernels

5 pitted Sweet Dates, chopped

2 Avocados, halved and sliced

Feta Cheese

Tortilla Chips

Peanut Lime Vinaigrette 

1 1/2 to 2 Lime, juiced

5 Tbsp of Hazelnut Oil

5 Tbsp od Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Sea Salt to taste

4 to 5 Tbsp Pan Roasted Peanuts, ground (both finely and coarsely)

Method

Marinate the chicken for about 3 hours.

Prepare the salad dressing. Use a blender, add the mustard, lime juice, hazelnut and olive oil. Blend until they are emulsified. Season with sea salt and pepper. Then, mix in the peanuts until well combine.

Preheat the oven to 205˚C (400˚F). On a baking tray, place the chicken pieces and grill the chicken for about 30 to 40 minutes or until they are fully cooked.

While the chicken is cooking in the oven, assemble all the salad ingredients and refrigerated them until you are ready to serve the salad.

Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes and then cut them into smaller strips.

To serve, toss the salad with the dressing and top it with some grilled chicken, avocados, crumble some feta cheese and some tortilla chips. Serve immediately.

Click here for the recipe...

Strawberry Cake

No, this is not a birthday cake! Candles are merely for the fun of it! Ha Ha!

This is one of the desserts I made for Christmas Eve Dinner. Yeah, I made two desserts! Well, this is one is my daughter's favorite cake.

Anyway, this is yet another recipe I have adapted from Tessa Kiros cookbook. They are so easy to bake.

Strawberry Cake

Ingredients

220 g (1 3/4 cups) Cake Flour or All Purpose Flour, plus extra for dusting

180 g (3/4 cup) Sugar

3 tsp Baking Powder

180 g (6 oz) Butter, melted

185 ml (3/4 cup) Warm Milk

4 Eggs, separated

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

800 g (1 lb 12 oz) Strawberries

1 tsp Lemon Juice

4 Tbsp Icing (Confectioners) Sugar

750 ml (3 cups) Thick (Double/Heavy/Whipping) Cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F). Grease and flour a 22 cm (8 1/2 inch) springform cake tin,or a bundt pan.

Put the flour and sugar in a bowl with 1 tsp of baking powder. Mix in the butter and then stir in the milk. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and beat well. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, incorporating the rest of the baking powder when the eggs have started fluffing up. Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture.

Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the top is deep golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and leave to cool a bit before turning out onto a rack. When cool, slice the cake in half horizontally and put the bottom half on a large serving plate.

Clean the strawberries and hull them. Dice about half the strawberries and sprinkle with a little lemon juice and 1 Tbsp of the icing sugar. Whip the cream into stiff peaks with the remaining sugar. Mix the diced strawberries with about a third of the whipped cream and spoon over the bottom of the cake. Put the other half of the cake on top and thickly spoon the remaining cream over the top and side, then decorate with the rest of the strawberries. This is best eaten immediately. Any leftovers will keep for a day in the fridge.

Click here for the recipe...

Osso Buco

Hey! Merry Christmas everybody and have Happy Holidays to all my friends and family :)
Okay, this is what we had for our Christmas Eve's dinner. This year, I'm staying away from the old tradition, turkey and stuffs. I'm not a big fan of turkey anyway! As a matter of fact, this month alone, we went to quite a number of parties and turkey's were always served, right on the table! Can you imagine having turkey since Canadian and American Thanksgiving and now? I really can't take it anymore! LOL!!

Well, since it's so cold and snowy out there, I have decided to make Osso Buco for tonight's dinner. It's a comfort food to me. I made some mashed potatoes and risotto Milanese to go with it. Dinner was perfect and everyone enjoyed the meal.

This recipe was adapted and slightly tweaked from the Dean and Deluca Cookbook, which is one of my favorite cookbooks. Enjoy!

Osso Buco

Ingredients

1/2 cup Flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper

5 Tbsp Olive Oil

4 center cut slices Veal Shank (each about 1 1/2 inches thick and tied around with string)

1 cup Diced Yellow Onion

1 cup Diced Carrot

1 cup Diced Celery

2 1/2 tsp finely minced Garlic

2 Bay Leaves

3/4 cup White Wine

2 tsp grated Lemon Zest

3/4 cup Beef Stock

28 oz can Plum Tomatoes, drained

1 tsp chopped Fresh Thyme

1 tsp chopped Fresh Rosemary

1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp chopped Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley

Method

Preheat oven to 350˚F (180˚C).

Mix flour with 1/2 tsp of the salt and the pepper and put on a plate. Over high heat, heat 3 Tbsp of the oil in a deep, heavy, straight-sided, ovenproof skillet with a tight-fitting lid, large enough to hold the veal shanks in a single layer. When the oil is hot but not smoking, dredge veal shanks in flour, coating each side well. Brush off any excess flour. Place in oil and sear until well browned, about 3 minutes on each side. Remove and set aside.

Add the remaining oil, and when oil is hot add onion, carrot, celery, 2 tsp of garlic, bay leaves, and another 1/2 tsp of salt. Cook until golden, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. (Make sure that the vegetables don't burn). Add the white wine and 1 tsp of the lemon zest. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Cook until wine is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the beef stock and cook until liquid is reduced by half, another 5 minutes.

Put drained plum tomatoes into the skillet along with thyme, rosemary, and the remaining 1/2 tsp salt. Break up the tomatoes with back of a wooden spoon. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Return the veal shanks to the skillet. (The tomato mixture should come about two thirds of the way up the shanks. If it does not, add some more beef stock or water.)

Cover with the lid and braise in the preheated oven, turning shanks every 30 minutes, for 2 hours. (Add extra stock or water if liquid is getting too thick or too low. When shanks are done, they should be extremely tender and the meat should be starting to pull away from the bone.) Place the shanks on a large platter and cover with foil until ready to serve. Cook the sauce over moderate high heat until it is reduced to the desired consistency, about another 10 minutes, and adjust seasoning.

Make the gremolata by mixing the remaining lemon zest, garlic, and parsley in a small bowl. Stir well.

To serve, remove the strings from the shanks and cover the shanks generously with the sauce. Sprinkle with the gremolata.

Care for some "fatty" marrow??

Click here for the recipe...

Pineapple Fried Rice

I know everyone has their own unique way of cooking fried rice. I guess, the most important is to have a "quick" hands on cooking on a very high heat. Well, you may noticed my cooking style might be a little bit different from the others. But, I bet you will succeed using my method! It works all the time, perfect bowl of fried rice. Have a go!

Pineapple Fried Rice

Ingredients

5 cups of Cooked Cold Rice, preferably overnight

1 1/2 cups of tin Pineapple Chunks, drained

150 g Prawns, shelled and deveined

1/3 cup Sweet Corn Kernel

1/3 cup Frozen Sweet Peas, thawed and drained

1/3 cup Roasted Cashew Nuts

30 g Raisins

2 Large Eggs, lightly beaten

1 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce

2 cloves Garlic, chopped

2 Thai Birds Eye Chili, chopped

2 stalks Scallions, chopped

2 Tbsp Peanut Oil

Ground White Pepper

Sea salt to taste

Method

In a medium pan, heat 1/2 Tbsp of Peanut Oil, and cook the egg. When cooled slightly, finely shred the eggs. Set aside.

In a large wok with a low heat. Add 1/2 Tbsp of Peanut Oil and saute the garlic until they are golden in color. Set aside.

With moderate heat, saute the prawns until they are pink and then set aside.

Stir in the remaining oil and turn the heat on high. Add the rice and stir briefly. Then add the chili, corn kernel, peas, pineapple and garlic. Stir quickly for about 5 minutes.

Then add in the cooked prawns, cashew nuts and eggs. Followed by the soy sauce and some grounded white pepper and sea salt to taste. To serve, top it with some chopped scallions. Serve immediately.

Click here for the recipe...

Lemon Curd Tartlets

This lemony tartlet recipes came from one of my favorite cookbooks, Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros. I have used some her recipes for my cooking and so far, they are pretty good. In fact, I am gonna try a couple more recipes from her book. Btw, I have reduced the sugar slightly for the lemon curd. (Not much of a sweet tooth family here!) Also, you may want to double up the recipes. They are really good!

Lemon Curd Tartlets

Ingredients

Pastry

70 g (2 ½ oz) Butter, slightly softened

30 g (1 oz) Sugar

70 g (2 ½ oz) Plain (All-Purpose) Flour

25 g (1 oz) Ground Almond

A Pinch of Salt

Lemon Curd

75 g (2 ½ oz) Butter

3 Eggs, lightly beaten

230 g (1 cup) Sugar

Juice and Finely Grated Rind Of 2 Lemons

Method

To make the pastry, cream together the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon. Add the flour, ground almonds and a pinch of salt and mix well, using your hands when it becomes a little stiff, until the pastry comes together. Flatten slightly, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour before using.

Now make the curd. Melt the butter in a metal bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Whisk in the eggs. Add the sugar and whisk until thoroughly combined. Whisking continuously, gradually add the lemon juice and zest. Cook over the simmering water for about 20 minutes, stirring often, until thickened. Cool at room temperature.

Preheat your oven to 180˚C (350˚F). Roll out the pastry thinly on a lightly floured work surface and cut out circles of pastry to line about 12 shallow tartlet tins. Line with baking paper, fill with baking beans or weights and blind bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the visible pastry is golden and cooked. Remove the paper and beans and cook for another couple of minutes to dry the bases. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before gently removing from the tartlet tins. When completely cooled, fill with lemon curd.

Click here for the recipe...

Eggplant With Chili Bean Sauce

I like eggplants a lot but, they do need quite a bit of oil to cook. They absorb oils like sponge!! So, instead of chopping and sauteing them in oil, I have decided to roast the whole eggplant with only a few drizzles of oil. It's much more healthier to cook this way.

Eggplant With Chili Bean Sauce

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

1 Medium Eggplant

2 Tbsp Toban Chili Bean Sauce

200g Prawns, shelled, deveined and chopped

2 Shallots, sliced

2 Cloves Garlic, chopped

1 tsp Oyster Sauce

2 tsp Chinese Cooking Wine

2 tsp Light Soy Sauce

2 tsp Dark Soy Sauce

2 tsp Sesame Oil

2 tsp Corn Flour

1 Tbsp Peanut Oil

2 stalk Scallions, chopped

1 Tbsp Sugar

1/2 cup Water

Ground White Pepper

Tin Foil

Method

Preheat the oven at 205˚C (400˚F). Drizzle the eggplant with some peanut oil and wrap in a tin foil. Roast the eggplant for about 20 minutes. Then open the tin foil and roast the eggplant for another 5 to 10 minutes until they are soft.

Meanwhile, marinate the prawns with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, chinese cooking wine, oyster sauce, sesame oil and corn flour for about 10 minutes.

In a wok and a moderate heat, saute shallots until they are lightly brown. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Then add the marinate prawns.

Cook the prawns until they are pink in color. Then add the chili sauce, some ground white pepper and stir quickly. Add the water and bring the sauce to a boil.

To serve, slit the eggplant open and spoon over the sauce and top it with some chopped scallions. Serve immediately.

Click here for the recipe...

Agadeshi Tofu

How can I have a Japanese meal without the good old Agadeshi tofu, right? Simple and refreshing.

Anyway, as I'm typing out this post, my daughter said to me, "Wow! I have been hearing so much about dashi, soy sauce and mirin this week!" Ha! I guess a little bit too much Japanese cooking for this week. Well, at least my family enjoyed the meal.

Agadeshi Tofu

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

2 Packet Soft Tofu

Corn Flour

Some Grated Ginger

1 Red Chili, minced

1 Egg, Lightly beaten

Some Bonito Flakes

1 cup Dashi Stock

1 tsp Mirin

1 Tbsp Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp Sake

Method

Cut the tofu into 6 or 8 squares for each packet. Drain the tofu well on a paper towel.

Prepare the sauce. Combine the dashi stock, mirin, soy sauce and sake. Bring it to a boil and set it aside.

Heat the oil over a moderate heat. Dip the tofu into the lightly beaten egg, then coat with corn flour and shake off any excess flour. Deep fry the tofu until light golden in color. Make sure to fry in small batches. Dish out and drain on paper towel.

To serve, arrange 3 or 4 pieces of fried tofu in a bowl. Ladle the soup into the bowl and top it with some grated ginger and minced red chili. If you like, top it with some bonito flakes. Serve immediately.

Click here for the recipe...

Baked Scallops

I bought some nice looking scallops in their shells, and for the first time I forgot to ask the fishmonger to remove and clean them up properly for me! Hey, turns out it's even better to do it yourself! Well, the scallops might not look perfect but, they are really, really fresh and tasty after cooking.

Can you imagine? I can still see and feel the scallops moving while trying cleaning them? I did startle a little bit at first, but it was all okay when I got the hang of it after removing few more scallops from their shells. And the thinking of gobble them up too! LOL!

The shells are so pretty, so I have decided to bake the scallops in them. Another thing, I noticed the color of the roe are different too. I wonder why? I like the darker color ones, they are tastier.

Baked Scallops

Ingredients

8 Scallops in their shells, cleaned

2 Tbsp Japanese Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp Mirin

1 Tbsp grated Ginger

3 Tbsp Peanut Oil

Method

Preheat the oven at 180˚C (350˚F).

Arrange the scallops in their shells in a baking tray.

Divide the ginger, soy sauce and mirin equally onto the scallops. Drizzle with some peanut oil.

Close the scallops with the other half of the shells.

Bake them for about 10 to 12 minutes. Serve immediately!

Click here for the recipe...

Japanese Beef Rolls

These beef rolls are so delicious! You can serve them as starters or even as a main course. This dish is definitely on my list for my next party. It's so easy to prepare and cook in less than 20 minutes!

Japanese Beef Rolls

Ingredients

8 thinly slices of Beef (sirloin)

8 stalks of Asparagus, trimmed

3 stalks of Scallions, halved

100g Enoki Mushrooms, trimmed

3 Tbsp Japanese Soy Sauce

3 Tbsp Mirin

1 Tbsp Cooking Oil

Toothpicks or small skewers

Method

Preheat the oven to 400˚F (205˚C). Oil a baking tray.

Prepare the basting sauce. Mix the soy and mirin. Set aside.

Lay the beef slices, place the asparagus, scallions and mushrooms. Roll them tightly, and secure with toothpicks.

Bake in the oven for 5 minutes and baste the beef rolls with the sauce. Repeat the basting every 5 minutes until the beef rolls are cooked.

Boil the remaining sauce lightly and brush the beef rolls again. To serve, remove the toothpicks. Top it with some chopped scallions! DELISH!

Click here for the recipe...