Tag: cooking

Recipes

Mapo tofu (mapo doufu) recipe – spicy tofu with minced pork

Mapo tofu is one of the most well-known dishes from the Sichuan cuisine, and as with most Chinese recipes, there are many variations to the recipe. It is also extremely easy to make, and the main ingredient is soft tofu (medium can also be used if necessary, but is not ideal, but stay away from silken and firm – here’s a guide to tofu types!)

This version uses more minced pork than usual, and doesn’t have as much sauce as some of the other versions. If you decide to use less pork, then you can reduce it to 100g without affecting the flavours. You can also add a tbsp of chicken stock powder to it instead.

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Clearspring_Umami_Paste_Chinese_Mixed_Veg
Product Review, Recipes

Chinese mixed vegetables (Su Shi Jin) with Clearspring Umami Paste

Chinese cooking can often be at odds with a vegetarian diet (of course, there are exceptions), and that’s partly because in Asia, umami, aka the fifth taste, is just as important as your sweet and your sour. This is what made MSG such a core ingredient. This is also the taste that Clearspring‘s organic Japanese umami paste offers to provide in a form that’s much healthier and still suitable for vegans. As a fan of Clearspring’s miso, I was keen to try out their umami paste when Clearspring offered samples.

Clearspring_Umami_Paste_Chinese_Mixed_Veg

The paste comes in two flavours, ginger and chilli, and in a tube form that’s easy to squeeze and easy to store. This recipe uses the ginger version, as it’s a traditionally non-spicy dish.

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Recipes

Rose coloured pork with fermented tofu (Meigui Furu Rou) – a healthier recipe

Happy Bastille Day everyone! Sadly I didn’t have a blue bowl to serve this in, but this pork and fermented tofu recipe traditionally adds a dash of red to your table, and is best served with some white rice. It is also traditionally made with pork belly, as you need a fattier cut to make this tender, but this way of cooking it combines frying and steaming, and results in nice and juicy meat with pork cheeks – and is not as slow to cook as other recipes using pork cheeks.

The fermented tofu can also be replaced with soy sauce and normal tofu if you really can’t get hold of it, although of course the taste won’t be the same, but the pork cheeks will still be tender with the fry then steam method! This recipe works with the red version of fermented tofu, which is what gives the meat that lovely red colour at the end. It takes around 2 minutes to prep, followed by 5 minutes of active cooking time, then 45 minutes in the steamer. Continue reading “Rose coloured pork with fermented tofu (Meigui Furu Rou) – a healthier recipe”

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Recipes

Cola ribs the Chinese way – a simple recipe

Cooking with cola is not that unusual – Nigella, for example, offers a ham in Coca-Cola recipe. The popular drink has also made its way into Chinese home cooking, and instead of using the oven, the ribs are all cooked in a pan. Coca-Cola’s flavourings include vanilla and coriander, which are both enhanced in this recipe.

The prep time is around 5 minutes, but you do have to leave the meat marinading for some time, ideally overnight, so it’s a dish you can prepare in advance. We’ll need to let the ribs simmer on the hob for around 45 minutes as well.

Cola_Ribs

Ingredients
1 rack of ribs
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
1 tbsp of dark soy sauce
1 tbsp of Chinese Shaoxing rice wine
1 tbsp of corn flour
A pinch of ground vanilla (optional)
250ml of Coca-Cola
A handful of coriander

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First Time Making, Recipes

Asian honey and butter bread recipe – a simple dessert

This honey and butter bread is quite commonly found in Korean and some other Asian cafes, and doesn’t require any actual bread baking (although it does require a few minutes in the oven). The core ingredients are – yes – honey and butter. The ideal bread to use is milk bread, but you can make it with ordinary sliced bread as well. I’m using half brown and white bread here for an easy and healthier option.

The prep work only takes about 2 minutes, and then it’s a quick 10 minutes in the oven before it’s ready to serve as a dessert or a sweet pick-me-up.

honey_butter_bread

Ingredients
2-3 thick slices of bread
2 tbsps of clear honey
A few slices of unsalted butter
Dash of cinamon
Whipped cream
Chocolate sauce

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Dough_Knot_Soup
Recipes, Simple Recipes, Sunday Lunch

Dough Drop Knot Egg and Tomato Soup – Chinese Gnocchi

When you think of Chinese food, rice usually comes to mind, but actually flour-based recipes are just as common in the north. This dough drop soup is a home-cooked staple from the north of China as it looks more filling than it is, and it’s really easy to make, so became popular in the Sixties, when food was scarce. You don’t have to worry about making the dough drops even or pretty, because the whole point is that they are supposed to look lumpy and uneven – part of the handmade charm. Continue reading “Dough Drop Knot Egg and Tomato Soup – Chinese Gnocchi”

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First Time Making, Meatless Monday, Recipes, Simple Recipes

First Time Making: Miso Aubergines

I often have lunch at a small Japanese restaurant on Brewer Street called Kulu Kulu. In one of their colourful bowls, they serve this delicious aubergine dish. I like it so much that even after the first bowl, every time another one comes around on the conveyer belt, it’s so tempting to go for seconds! This vegan friendly dish is rather simple, but getting the right combination of flavours is not as simple (I learned the hard way) as it seems. I will try and share the learnings gleaned from my first attempt, for which I took inspiration from this Japan Centre recipe. Continue reading “First Time Making: Miso Aubergines”

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Recipes, Simple Recipes

Sardinian Pasta (Malloreddus) with Asparagus and Sea Urchins

During the Easter break, I went to visit my father who at the moment works in Belgium. Even though he works around the world, he always brings with him a stock of Italian ingredients so he can cook his favourite Sardinian food wherever he is. To make this recipe, he used canned sea urchins, which you don’t find so easily in London. Continue reading “Sardinian Pasta (Malloreddus) with Asparagus and Sea Urchins”

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Sweet_corn_salted_egg_snack
Recipes

Sweet corn and salted egg yolk – a golden Chinese snack recipe

Happy St Patrick’s day! In celebration this week, here’s a simple sweet corn snack that’d go well with a beer or two. A name for this Chinese snack means “a granary full of golden grains” (jin gu man cang), but it’s much more straightforward than it sounds: these are fried sweet corn kernels topped with salted egg yolks. There’s no need to add any other spices or flavours to it: the natural sweetness of the sweet corn balances perfectly with the salted eggs.

You can keep the egg whites to use in other recipes. For example, they can be mixed with minced pork.

This is very easy to make, and only takes around 10 minutes. The portions below serve two. If you are using frozen sweet corn, then please defrost it beforehand! Also, I’m using whole wheat flour in this version of the recipe, so the colour is a bit darker.

Sweet_corn_salted_egg_snack

Ingredients
1.5-2 cups of sweet corn kernels
3-4 tbsps of plain flour
2 salted egg yolks

You’ll also need some water and plenty of oil for frying.

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Aubergine_Meat_Sauce
Recipes

Aubergine in soya bean and meat sauce (Jiang Qie Zi) – a traditional Chinese recipe

The most well-know Chinese aubergine (or eggplant) recipe is probably the sichuan-styled braised aubergine (yu xiang qie zi), but it’s not the only traditional recipe out there. This version with soya bean sauce (Chinese miso) is a common home-cooked dish from the north. The meat is optional, but does help to add a bit of flavouring.

Visually, we are trying to preserve the look of “unbroken”, whole aubergines, so ideally the type of aubergine used should be the thin, long Asian types instead of the . You can also use baby aubergines.

The cooking and prep time is around 15-20 mins, and we are using the microwave with this recipe (I don’t think it affects the taste, and means that it’s easier to preserve the look of the aubergine). This serves 2.

Aubergine_Meat_Sauce

Ingredients
2 narrow aubergines
3 cloves of garlic
3 slices of ginger
1-2 spring onions
1 chilli
1 tbsp of soya bean paste – huang jiang
1 tbsp of fermented soya beans (optional)
1 tsp of soya sauce
1 tsp of Shaoxing rice wine
1 tsp of sesame oil
Pinch of black pepper
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of salt
75-100g of minced pork

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