Meal for homeless – white cooked chicken with oyster sauce and green shallot (FODMAP friendly)
Simple and easy home-cooked meals are always appreciated at the homeless feed.
Here’s one of my simplest meal with whole chicken(s) with a few other ingredients – oyster sauce, sesame oil (or cooking oil), corn flour, ginger and green shallot. For a FODMAP friendly recipe, use only green part of the shallot.
To cook the chicken:
- In a large heavy pot, add hot water, salt, white pepper and a few slices of ginger
- Use a stick to poke a few holes in the thickest part of the chicken, lay the chicken in the water, breast down; bring to boil, and turn the heat off; leave it on the stove for the remaining heat to cook the chicken for at lease 1 hours.
- Turn the chicken over and bring to boil, turn the heat off for 30 minutes.
- Bring it to boil again for a few minutes.
- Take the chicken out of pot, cool slightly, then pull the meat off, making sure all the meat is cooked; if slightly under cooked, return the pieces to the pot of hot water for a few minutes.
To make the sauce:
- Thinly slice some green shallot. For a FODMAP friendly recipe, use only the green part of the shallot.
- In a small pot, bring some sesame oil and cooking oil (1/2 each) to high heat; remove the pot from heat, add the sliced green shallot and a little salt, saute for a few seconds with the residual heat; add the shallot to the chicken, toss well.
- In a cup, mix a little corn flour with water (1 tsp flour to 5 tbsp water).
- In a small pot, add some oyster sauce and the corn flour mix, stir and bring to slow boil and removed from heat immediately; pour the sauce over the chicken.
Steamed pork belly buns
While others made hot cross buns for Easter, I made hot pork belly buns.
Growing up as a Cantonese in the early 70s, a hot pork bun for breakfast was a special treat. From the street vendors’ carts, heavenly steam lingering in the cool morning air. I vividly remember that the pork buns were 13 cents each. My breakfast allowance was limited to a single pork bun. After a brief indulgence, I was hungry for the rest of the morning in school.
Today, I made 2 dozens of buns with juicy fatty pork belly and sweat leek. I am going to eat to my heart’s content.
Recipe is as follows:
Read the rest of this entry »
Bacon and cucumber stir fry (gluten free, FODMAP friendly)
I had a few cucumbers in the fridge and some bacon in the freezer. I sliced the cucumbers, defrosted the bacon and sliced them up. In a frying pan I drizzled a little oil and added the bacon pieces. I pan fried the bacon until nearly crispy, then added the cucumbers. A few stirs, added a little sugar and white pepper. There we have a big bowl of tasty veggie and yummy bacon for dinner.
Beef with Asian dipping sauce (FODMAP friendly, gluten free)
A few friends dropped by unexpectedly one weekend afternoon.
We opened a bottle of red wine and felt a bit peckish. Something quick and easy to share would be lovely.
A piece of Angus rump steak is the perfect snack:
1. Cook the steak 1-3 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness and how rare you would like it; rest the steak for 10 minutes
2. Prepare a simple Asian dipping sauce – fish sauce (1 tsp) + rice wine vinegar (1tsp) + sugar (1tsp) + boiling water (3 tsp), stir well to dissolve the sugar. added a little chopped chili if you prefer
3. Slice the steak
4. Drizzle some sesame oil over the beef (optional)
5. Chop some mint for garnish (optional)
6. Serve at room temperature
Great to share with friends.
Chicken feet and corporate greed
Winston Churchill said, “the inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries”.
I thought of corporate greed.
They share their goals and visions loud and proud – for the best interest of shareholders. They will sack as many workers as possible, and take the fat out of the operation until it is on the verge of collapse. This enable them to harvest short term bonus, and at some point, enjoy a big fat golden handshakes when the real pictures are unfold.
Does it have to be like that? Why can’t corporations work for the best interest of all stakeholders including their customers and employees.
Corporate greed reminds me chicken feet – skin and bone, barely a feed, and hardly a blessing for some.
While cooking the chicken feet, I thought of the families who struggle to pay their rents and put food on the tables, and the smart and ambitious ones in prestige positions yet do not have time to enjoy with their families.
Chicken feet is cheap and tasty, yet unfulfilling as a meal. Is it a blessing or misery?
Cooking method is as follows:
1. Clean the chicken feet, remove callus and nails
2. Place the chicken feet in a pressure cooker, add a dash of sesame oil, a dash of light soy sauce, a dash of dark soy sauce, a dash of oyster sauce, a dash of wine, a little sugar, a few star anise, a few cloves, black pepper
3. Cook on high pressure for 45 minutes
4. Serve hot or at room temperature
Meals for homeless: turmeric eggs with chili tomato salsa
This is a simple ‘please-all’ egg recipe with a tangy chili and tomato salsa. It is often the first dish to be emptied at the street buffet for our homies.
Easy method is as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Autumn sword flower soup 霸王花汤
Cantonese loves soups. There are soups for spring, summer, autumn and winter.
For autumn, one of my favorite therapeutic soups is the sword flower soup. I cook it as a light bone broth with chicken bones, dried sword flowers, carrots, almonds, Chinese dates and Chinese mushrooms. Just put all the ingredients in a pressure cooker, and it is done in 60 minutes.
