Hot & sour soup

T'was another cold winter night. What better than to have something hot, sour, spicy and soupy?

I first tasted this hot and sour soup when I was studying in the US. This and egg drop soup were the two standard soup starters in most Chinese restaurants. At first taste, I thought it was the weirdest soup concoction ever - who invented it anyway? Over time, I begin to appreciate the wonders this soup makes you feel, especially on cold winter nights.

Summary of recipe:

Prepare in separate bowls:

1. Soak and cut into strips:
   1-2 pieces of woodear, 2 dried Chinese/Shitake mushrooms, 6-8 strips of dried golden lily.
   Optional: pork strips, crab meat, bamboo shoots.
2. Mix 1.5 Tbsp white vinegar + 1 Tbsp Chinese black vinegar + 2 Tbsp light soy + 1/2 tsp salt + 1/2 tsp sugar + 1 tsp (or more) Korean chili flakes* + 1 tsp chili oil
3. Mix 1 Tbsp cornstarch + 1 Tbsp water.

Cook:

1. Sautè items in #1 bowl with a swirl of oil for 3 minutes.
2. Add 2 cups chicken broth and let it boil.
3. Add 1 soft tofu (pre-cut into bite size).
4. Add in #2 and #3 mixtures and stir intermittently until broth thickens.
5. Slowly drip in 1 egg (lightly beaten) while stirring the pot.
6. Season with dashes of pepper, depending on how much heat you like. 
7. Garnish with sliced spring onions (not shown in picture).

*Can be substituted with any other chili flakes or powder. 

Ginger wine chicken 黄酒薑雞

I've recently started menu planning for the entire week and found that it's a really good way to ensure produce and meats don't go to waste. In a way, this helps save money too as I optimize my cooking ingredients to make the best meals out of them. Yesterday, this effort 'rewarded' me to a nice comfort food just as I was feeling the winter blues.

This chicken dish is fragrant with ginger, rice wine and sesame oil. I think you'd either love it or hate it.

Summary of recipe:

Sautè for a few minutes after each addition:

1. Aromatics - 2 Tbsp sesame oil + sliced ginger (2") + chopped half garlic.
2. Main - Half a free range chicken (chopped into medium size pieces) + wood ear strips
3. Seasoning - 3 Tbsp oyster sauce + large splash of Chinese cooking wine + Shaoxing wine + sprinkle of sugar + dash of light soy + dark soy + pepper. 
4. Water - half to one cup (depending on how much gravy you want)

Let it simmer for 30 minutes until chicken is cooked and gravy is reduced to desired thickness.

Top with spring onions.

Source of recipe: http://3hungrytummies.blogspot.co.nz/2009/10/braised-chicken-with-ginger-and-chinese.html

Quick & Easy Char Siew

C was making Wan Tan Mee for brunch today so I decided to try this new quick and easy Char Siew recipe I saw from the Internet. I didn't realize we ran out of palm sugar half way through cooking so I made substitutes :) 

This recipe results in a pleasant cross between Tauyu Bak and Char Siew.

Summary of recipe:

1. Chop half a garlic and one inch of ginger.

2. In a pot, sauté garlic and ginger with 1 Tbsp of oil.

3. Add 400gm of pork belly to further sauté a bit.

4. Add 250ml water, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 25gm brown sugar, 1 Tbsp dark caramel.

5. Let it simmer in medium high heat until liquid reduces and thickens.

6. Cut into bite size pieces when cooled.

Recipe source: http://herfrozenwings.blogspot.co.nz/2011/06/palm-sugar-char-siew.html

Prawn beehoon

C requested prawn mee today and since we didn't have mee (yellow Hokkien noodles), I made it with beehoon (vermicelli) instead.

Followed this recipe (http://www.foodcanon.com/2011/06/auntie-rubys-prawn-mee-penang-hae-mee.html). 

It is quite a good recipe and I made a few changes - skipped the chicken stock and rock sugar, added some palm sugar (gula melaka) and used baby bok choy instead of morning glory (kangkung). I also fried the hard tofu (tau kwa), fish cake and prawns. Forgot to prepare some hard-boiled eggs though!

During the prep, I was apprehensive about blending the stock ingredients as I've never blended prawn shells before and it feels funny.. Ha! I asked C if he were ok with that idea. He said yes after a longgg pause haha. Remember to strain your stock prior to using it!

Summary of recipe for two: 

1. Peel 250gm of prawns.

2. Prepare the stock ingredients: In a pan, toast a bunch of dried anchovies and dried shrimps, half a garlic (chopped), 2 lemon grass, an inch of ginger (sliced) with a swirl of oil. Add prawn shells to toast further. Add a cup of water. Blend everything.

3. Prepare the stock: Bring a pot of 1.5litre water to boil and add blended stock ingredients, small piece of belacan and gula melaka. Simmer for 45 mins with the lid on or place in thermal pot for a few hours. Salt to taste.

4. Prepare garnish: Soak the beehoon with tap water until soft. Fry the garnish ingredients if you like. Otherwise, cook them in the stock in this sequence - green vegetables, fish cake, prawn, beehoon, bean sprout. 

5. Plate and serve with eggs, sambal and fried shallots.

How to prepare hard-boiled eggs:

Place eggs into a pot and fill with tap water to cover about 1cm above eggs. Bring it to boil on the stove top. Once it is rolling boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let it sit for 20-25 mins. Then, drain the hot water and fill your pot with cold water to cool the eggs. This also makes it easier to peel the egg shells.