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Shredded Potato in White Vinegar (Cu Liu Tu Dou Si)

Potato is such a versatile ingredient – boil it, bake it, mash it, make chips with it… or shred it for this stir fry recipe. This simple recipe tastes just as good once the potatoes have gone cold, so it’s a refreshing one to try (despite the spice) now that the weather’s hotter. What gives this its refreshing nature is the vinegar. Usually in Chinese cooking, when you mention vinegar, you’d automatically think of black vinegar from Zhenjiang. However, here you should go for white wine vinegar instead. Continue reading “Shredded Potato in White Vinegar (Cu Liu Tu Dou Si)”

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Pine nut and aubergine mezzelune

You know we are obsessed about homemade and we already shared with you our homemade pasta recipe. Pick that one up and once you get the hang of it, you’ll soon realise there are so many things you can do with it, including inventing your own filling for pasta, like we did with these mezzelune. Continue reading “Pine nut and aubergine mezzelune”

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Double Layer Milk (Shuang Pi Nai)

Chinese desserts are relatively few and far between, but there are a few special ones that can be hard to get in the shops, and this double layer/skin milk is one such dessert. The recipe dates back to the 1850s, and comes from the Canton region.

The key ingredients are full fat milk and egg whites – so it will give you plenty of proteins! It is also very easy to make, and the prep time only totals around 5 minutes, with a cooking time of roughly 20 minutes. However, there are quite lengthy cooling periods in between. You can also make it the day before and keep it chilled in the fridge! Continue reading “Double Layer Milk (Shuang Pi Nai)”

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Chinese Steamed Pork with Couscous (Fen Zheng Rou)

This steamed pork with couscous recipe is both traditional and modern – in that it uses couscous instead of broken rice, but the taste is so similar to what you’d traditionally eat that it’s very difficult to distinguish between the two. Traditionally the broken rice is made from chopping rice (or whizzing it quickly in a blender) before it’s cooked, so that each bit of the broken rice is roughly the size of a grain of couscous. We chose to use couscous for this because it’s already the right size, and a bit healthier than white rice – or for an even healthier alternative, use wholegrain couscous! Continue reading “Chinese Steamed Pork with Couscous (Fen Zheng Rou)”

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Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan) Barley Risotto

I’m a huge fan of barley benefits: it’s high in fiber and helps lower cholesterol; it’s very nutritious and enriches any stews, broths or even salads. When I saw the unreasonable prices of risotto rice in Singaporean shops, I quickly turned to a barley recipe as a perfect solution! Since I’m making the effort to buy more local produce and use the local market as much as I can, instead of kale or broccoli exported from far countries, I chose a local green, gai lan (Chinese Broccoli). Continue reading “Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan) Barley Risotto”

Pasta_Kale_recipe

Simple Kale Pasta with Cashew Nuts

We all love kale: with a boost of vitamins and antioxidants comes a great solution for a quick and easy meal. This simple recipe serves two, and a few of its ingredients are easily interchangeable. Use it as a base for one of those evenings when you think you don’t have anything to cook, and when you open the fridge and cupboard you realise it’s not so bad. All you need is one ingredient and a few complementary ones to make a delicious pasta dish. Continue reading “Simple Kale Pasta with Cashew Nuts”

Sardinian eel pie (Panada di anguille)

Easter has come and gone, and in Sardinia many families have cooked a very traditional dish for special occasions: Sardinian panada. Many claim that this pie was created during the pre-nuragic period. I doubt so, judging by its similarities with empanadas, I would say that the idea was probably coming from our Spanish invaders. Legend says that the first place where it was cooked was a small town called Assemini, where back then fishing was the main activity. Hence, the panada di anguille, filled with eels is the classic version, which is also the one I’m presenting to you today. However, ingredients are easy to change: for the Easter holidays for example, the preferred filling would be lamb meat, accompanied by potatoes or other veggies. Continue reading “Sardinian eel pie (Panada di anguille)”

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Chinese Corn and Pine Nuts Stir-Fry (Song Ren Yu Mi)

With spring in the air, we’re here to share another light and easy Chinese veggie recipe this week. Pine nuts are not only subtly fragrant but extremely nutritious, and make up the main ingredient of this week’s recipe, along with corn.

I’ve always got some frozen corn in the freezer as it’s so versatile and easy to store (not to mention tasty!), so this recipe is often a go-to if the fridge and food cupboards are looking a bit bare.

Continue reading “Chinese Corn and Pine Nuts Stir-Fry (Song Ren Yu Mi)”

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Dry fried green beans with chilli (gan bian sijidou) – a simple veggie recipe

Now that spring has arrived, it’s time for lighter food, but still with a touch of warming spice. That’s why we’re sharing this vegetarian dry fried green bean with chillies recipe today. It’s a very quick and simple recipe, and you need very few ingredients to cook it – mainly just the green beans and chillies! Although you will need to fry the green beans twice, you will only need one wok, as the oil is recycled.

Continue reading “Dry fried green beans with chilli (gan bian sijidou) – a simple veggie recipe”

Cauliflower with olives – A simple recipe

While it’s in season and at its best, I’m proposing a recipe with cauliflower. In Sardinia this dish is called cavolo soffocato, literally meaning suffocated cauliflower, and it’s called like that because you let it steam in the pot by closing the lid. Apart from the quality of the ingredients, you only need a bit of patience for the success of this very simple and satisfying vegetarian recipe. Have it as it is with some home made bread or fluffy basmati rice, or make it a side dish for a meaty dinner. Continue reading “Cauliflower with olives – A simple recipe”