Tag: recipe

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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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.

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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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