Stir fry egg with garlic chive
Egg and garlic chive is a common home meal in Southern China. It is easy to cook (10 minutes), nutritious, and comforting.
The easy 10-minute cooking involves:
- Trim the ends of a small bunch of garlic chive, approx 20-30 stems; then wash and slice the garlic chive.
- Break 4 eggs, and briefly mix in a bowl with a folk
- In a frying pan, heat up some cooking oil (medium heat); add garlic chive, stir fry briefly (30 seconds), then push the garlic chive to one side of the frying pan to make room for cooking the eggs
- Add a little oil in the pan, add the eggs, scramble the eggs gently by pushing the eggs toward the middle constantly from all sides; this will only take 1-2 minutes
- Mix the garlic chive with the scrambled eggs, add a little salt, white pepper, a small drizzle sesame oil; toss briefly, ready to serve.
Bonito fish with chili bean paste and white wine
I picked up some cheap Bonito fish today. Cooking such a firm, meaty and bland fish is challenging for Chinese cooking. It does not the right texture for steaming, and it can be easily over-cooked.
So I pan fried it as cutlets with chili bean sauce. It was easy:
- Add oil in a non stick pan, add the fish cutlets, sear on both side.
- Brush some chili bean sauce on both side, add a little white wine, a little sugar, and close the lid to simmer the fish until just cooked.
- A squeeze of lemon or lime juice just before serving.
Quite a few fish bones, and requires good chopstick skills to pick out the bones. Otherwise it tasted great.
Meals for homeless – saute mushroom with bacon, onion, capsicum and green shallot
Mama K has been cooking for the feed, and frequently carries the burden of making sure enough food for all the patrons. Last week, we had one of those crisis and I was asked to help out by cooking extra food. Mama K collected some rescued vegetables for me, including some lovely button mushrooms, which I used for a simple meal that they all loved and devoured.
The meal was easy to prepare:
- Trim off the stalks of the mushrooms, dice the stalks
- Dice some bacon, capsicum, carrot and onion
- Pan fried the above briefly in a wok with some butter and olive oil, then add the mushrooms, pan fried until the mushrooms were just cooked
- Finally add some sliced green shallot (scallion) and black pepper
The meal was tasty.
‘Ramadan Nights’ market, Sydney
Sydney is diversified by culture with a meaningful Muslim population around the south west suburb of Bankstown. Every year during the Ramadan month, the local council organises a food market which has been warmly appreciated. Here are some photos to share, lovely food and beautiful people.
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:
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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.
