Tag: cooking

yellow_split_pea_cake_wan_dou_huang
Recipes

Split yellow pea cake (wan dou huang) – a simple Chinese dessert recipe

Pulses such as split peas and lentils are a great source of iron, and if you get bored of cooking with them for savoury dishes, then you can try out this traditional Beijing snack, made with mostly just yellow split peas (and some sugar). It’s very much a spring snack, and is eaten before the third of the third lunar month, which is 9th April this year.

The cooking time is quite long, but mostly it just needs to be left to simmer on the stove – there is very little prep needed. This recipe makes a large batch that’d last a few weeks. You can downscale and make a smaller batch to start off with.

yellow_split_pea_cake_wan_dou_huang

Ingredients
1kg of split yellow peas
6 dried jujubes 
300g of sugar

You’ll also need water and a tiny dash of oil.

Continue reading “Split yellow pea cake (wan dou huang) – a simple Chinese dessert recipe”

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Steamed_pork_mince_salted_eggs
Recipes

Steamed minced pork and salted eggs – a quick and simple recipe

This steamed pork recipe is from the very south of China (part of the Cantonese cuisine), and is one of my favourites from the restaurants there. However, not a lot of restaurants serve it in London, and it’s so simple to make at home, so here goes!

This only takes around 5 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook, so it’s perfect after a busy day at work. This version will serve 2-3 people.

Steamed_pork_mince_salted_eggs

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon of soya sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
Dash of shaoxing rice wine (optional)
1/2 chicken stock cube
1 tablespoon of plain flour
Thick slice of ginger
1-2 salted eggs (depending on how salty the eggs are)
400g of minced pork
 Continue reading “Steamed minced pork and salted eggs – a quick and simple recipe”

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Recipes

Chickpeas and then some: Cocido Madrileño

After visiting Madrid and discovering the highlights of Spanish traditional cuisine, I naturally felt like trying to reproduce it at home. Following the same idea as the Sardinian hen broth – a dish that is designed to feed a whole family reunited for a weekend meal; and in the same fashion, Cocido delivers several dishes on the table in one go. The richness of the meats and the goodness of the veggies, the comfort of the soup and the flavour of the chickpeas all come together to create a small feast that will fill up your table and stomach and leave you incredibly satisfied on a chilly March day.

Ingredients:
1 chicken of the weight of 2kg max, even better if you can get a small hen
200 g cut of beef for stews
50 g pancetta
150 g piece of bacon
1 small piece of ham bone (which I imported from Spain, but any bone would do)
1 chorizo for cooking
1 morcilla for cooking
200 g chickpeas
1 green cabbage
2 potatoes
2 carrots
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion
Paprika
Bay leaves
Salt and pepper

Continue reading “Chickpeas and then some: Cocido Madrileño”

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Japanese_Chicken_Curry
Product Review, Recipes

Japanese chicken curry with S&B Golden Curry sauce mix – a simple recipe

There are a couple of sauces that are good to stock in the food cupboard for a quick and tasty meal, and if you want to cook Japanese curry (aka kare raisu), then S&B Golden Curry sauce mixs are one of my favourites. They are like stock cubes, and come in three strengths: mild, medium hot (as above) and hot. I’m using the medium hot one below, as it seems to provide the best balance for the chicken curry. They’re also stocked in various supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. If they don’t have it in your local store, then you can even buy it on Amazon.

You won’t need to add any other flavourings or spices to the curry – the cubes are all you’ll need. There are clear instructions on the box on how to use the sauce mix, although the cooking times are a bit vague. My favourite to make with the sauce mix is a chicken curry with carrots, potatoes and garden peas (plenty of vitamins)!

The following serves 2-3 people (closer to 3), and you’ll need to cook some rice separately. The total cooking time is around 30 minutes, and the prep is very simple, as you don’t need to slice any of the ingredients into very fine pieces.

Japanese_Chicken_Curry

Ingredients
300-350g of chicken breast fillet
1 large potato
1/2 an onion
1 carrot
1 tbsp of shaoxing rice wine (optional)
150g of garden peas
2 curry cubes

You’ll also need a dash of oil and some water.

Continue reading “Japanese chicken curry with S&B Golden Curry sauce mix – a simple recipe”

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Da_Lu_Mian_Sauce_Noodles
Recipes

Noodles with mince, mushroom and tomato sauce (Da Lu Mian) -a simple Chinese recipe

When I read about a Chinese version of spaghetti bolognese, this recipe came to mind (although unlike Lizzie Mabbott‘s version, it does contain tomatoes). The sauce differs depending on which region you’re from, much like ragù. In general, you’d find it made from a bit of pork, lots of dried shiitake mushrooms and an egg or two. I’m also using wood ears (mu er) and dried lily flower. Tomatoes aren’t 100% necessary, and many versions use a dash of vinegar instead.

In terms of the noodles, you can try different types. I’d go for something as similar as possible to ramen.

This dish is really easy to make, and apart from the soaking for the various dried ingredients, it only takes 15 mins to prep and cook. This version serves 2.

Da_Lu_Mian_Sauce_Noodles

Ingredients
6-7 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 handful dried wood ears
1 handful dried lily flowers
1 tbsp of plain flour
1 tbsp of soya sauce
1 tbsp of shaoxing rice wine
100g minced pork belly
1 tsp of chicken stock powder
Pinch of sugar
1 egg
5-6 mini vine tomatoes (or 2 normal sized tomatoes)
2 servings of ramen noodles
2-3 drops of sesame oil

You’ll also need water and a touch of olive oil/other cooking oil to line the pan. Continue reading “Noodles with mince, mushroom and tomato sauce (Da Lu Mian) -a simple Chinese recipe”

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Pebble_Yuan_Xiao
Recipes

Pebble effect red bean paste rice ball recipe for the Lantern Festival (Yuan Xiao/Tang Yuan)

Now that Chinese New Year is over (happy year of the monkey!), it’s time for arguably the even bigger festival of the year: the Lantern Festival (also known as Yuan Xiao festival). Yuan Xiao are basically fillings wrapped in glutinous rice flour, and the fillings can be anything from minced meat to sesame paste. I’m using red bean paste (azuki bean paste) here. If you want to make the paste from scratch, you can try this anko recipe.

There are two “schools” of making these rice ball dumplings: you can either make the fillings first, then roll them around in the rice flour to coat them in a thick layer of the flour, or you can make the flour into a sort of dumpling skin, then stuff the filling inside.

I usually use the first method, but in order to make these pebble-effect Yuan Xiao, it makes more sense to go for the latter. You can mix different ingredients into the rice flour to create all sorts of colours. I’ve only used cocoa powder and strawberry jam here, as I wanted to make brown and rose-coloured swirls.

Portions of the ingredients are fairly rough again, as is always the case when making dumplings. Please use it as a guide only. This makes roughly 10 “pebbles”.

Pebble_Yuan_Xiao

Ingredients
200-250g glutinous rice flour
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
2 tbsp of strawberry jam
150g red bean paste

You’ll also need water throughout. Continue reading “Pebble effect red bean paste rice ball recipe for the Lantern Festival (Yuan Xiao/Tang Yuan)”

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Appointments

Wok and chilli – our chat with Ken Hom

So today was the day when the Italian side of Blender and Basil got a good lesson on Asian cooking: armed with camera and excitement, I headed to the John Lewis quarters to meet the celebrity chef Ken Hom. Unsurprisingly, the first impression is the one of a calm, kind man whose love for food and healthy living is so obvious in his way of sharing it with others. Also, we have two very important things in common: just like me, he can’t drive a car, and his life philosophy is that “to enjoy life and be happy means to eat well”.

Ken Hom_interview_stir fried beef
Ken Hom’s wok in action.

He’s the pioneer of the wok, being the one who actually designed one with a flat bottom in 1986, which works perfectly for western kitchens. In spite of his fame, he says that the dishes people ask him to cook the most are always the same: stir fries and egg fried rice. Perhaps because these famous dishes are the most difficult “to get right” for people who don’t know a few tricks, unlike Ken, who demonstrated his ability with the wok today at John Lewis, leaving the public amused with his tricks and sense of humour, but also delighted with the tasting of his spicy hot creations.

Continue reading “Wok and chilli – our chat with Ken Hom”

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Dumplings_Jiao_Zi
Recipes

Pork and Chinese chives dumplings recipe (jiao zi) – the Northern way

It’s soon to be Chinese New Year, which means making dumplings (jiaozi – similar to gyoza or mandu). It’s more fun making this as a family, but with a few hours to spare over the weekend, it’s perfectly doable on your own.

One thing to note: these are probably bigger than any you’ve had in a shop. The philosophy behind dumpling-making is to have more filling and less skin, so bigger is better. This is also because we eat them by breaking each dumpling in two and dipping the centre in Chinese vinegar, so the size we’re aiming for is basically 2 mouthfuls per dumpling. And yes, that means the fillings are around twice the size of your normal dumpling from the shop.

You can make jiaozi with all sorts of fillings. My favourite is actually pork and fennel fronds, the fronds weren’t in season at the shops, so this version is with Chinese chives (jiu cai, aka kow choi).

The recipe serves 3-4, but only 2 on Chinese New Year! Traditionally, we’d put a coin into one lucky dumpling, but that’s not done here because we wanted all our teeth intact.

This includes instructions for both the fillings and the skin. Some people prefer to buy pre-made frozen dumpling skins, but the frozen skins are not as stretchy, and you’ll need to wet them with some water for them to seal properly. This means you can’t fit as much into the dumplings, and they are also more likely to break when you’re boiling them.

Again, with this type of recipe, the specific amounts are more fluid, so please use the below as a guide only, and hopefully there are enough photos to make this easy to follow.

Dumplings_Jiao_Zi

Ingredients
2 cups of plain flour (300g)
500g of Chinese chives
500g of minced pork with high percentage of fat content
2 teaspoon of five spices powder
2 tablespoons of chopped/marinated garlic
1 teaspoon of soya sauce
A few drops of sesame oil
Salt to taste
1 egg (optional)

You’ll also need water and more flour for dusting. Continue reading “Pork and Chinese chives dumplings recipe (jiao zi) – the Northern way”

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Red_Braised_Pork
Recipes

“Red” braised pork belly recipe (hong shao rou)

Red braised pork belly is a popular dish throughout China, and there are many ways to make it. This is just one of the many, and although the cooking time is quite long, the prep time is only 5 minutes. A specialised version from Hangzhou is Dong Po Rou, and named after the famous artist/poet Su Dongpo.

The pork belly is cooked on very low heat, and you can cook it from 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how soft you want the meat to be – the longer the softer. Cooking it for longer than 1 hour risks the meat going too dry.

This recipe serves 2.

Red_Braised_Pork

Ingredients
400g of pork belly
1 spring onion
30g of sugar
4 slices of ginger
5 star anises
2 tbsps of soya sauce
2 tbsps of shaoxing rice wine

You’ll also need salt to taste, water and a touch of olive oil/other cooking oil. Continue reading ““Red” braised pork belly recipe (hong shao rou)”

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Scallion_pancake_flatbread_recipe
Recipes

Scallion pancakes/flatbread recipe (cong you bing) – a Chinese paratha

Breads don’t always come out of the oven. This simple flatbread/pancake is very popular in China, both as breakfast, an accompaniment and as a snack, and is cooked in a frying pan. Now that the weather is colder, it’s even better straight out of the pan. Many claim that it’s the predecessor of the pizza, and I suppose, looking at how pizza doughs are made, there are similarities. The ingredients are simple: you just need some flour, salt, oil and spring onions (sesame seeds, sesame oil and five spice powder are optional but highly recommended).

The recipe is a lot looser than the others here, because there’s no set amount of oil to use, for example. In order to make it easier to follow, I’ve included more photos than usual.

The pancakes take around 40 minutes to make, but this includes 20 minutes of waiting for the dough to settle. The following recipe makes 2 pancakes.

Scallion_pancake_flatbread_recipe

Ingredients
1 cup of plain white flour (around 150g)
1/2 teaspoon of five spice powder
8-10 baby spring onions
3-4 drops of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds

You’ll need water, more flour for dusting, and salt and olive oil at each folding stage. Continue reading “Scallion pancakes/flatbread recipe (cong you bing) – a Chinese paratha”

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