Char Siu Subway

Mr C is coming home from his long business trip, and i really wanted to make something he would to love to eat when coming home..... and so, i decided to roast my own char siu.  Following my recipe, and made what i think a one fine char siu subway :)

Ingredients:
Fresh Roast Pork
Red Onions
Watercress or other preferred salad
Sub of your choice

Method:

1) On a chopping board, slice the red onions, slice the roast pork. Also wash and drain dry the watercress.
2) Toast the sub on the grill for a couple of minutes.
3) Arrange the pork, onions & watercress.  Ready to Serve.

Enjoy! Happy Cooking!

Soft boiled eggs and Smoked Salmon on Toasted Bagels

I made a birthday request in wanting to have something different for breakfast, so Mr C, was very kindly have took me to supermarket last night and let me choose the ingredients for me to make today. 

It was not hard to find what i want, after a meaty christmas, i'm fancy fish - so when i saw smoked salmon, the next my hand grabbed the bagels.

Feeling abit nostalgic to my university life at london, where whenever i get to go to central london,  i would sometimes treat myself with The Classic - smoked salmon with cream cheese on toasted bagel from The Bagel Factory with a scrummy grande vanilla soy latte from starbucks.... ahh... such good times!

 

At the end, i really enjoyed my breakfast, and pleased to know something new for Mr C and got a thumbs up for a next time :)

 

 

Ingredients

 

2 large eggs

2 bagels

butter, for spreading

100g packet smoked salmon slices

2 tspn. crème fraîche

A little salt and freshly cracked black pepper

1 tspn. fresh chives, chopped

 

Method

1)Place the eggs in a small pan of water and boil for 5 minutes, then drain and plunge into a bowl of iced water. Set aside for 10 minutes as this will make them much easier to peel.
2)Preheat the grill to high. Cut the bagels in half and arrange on a grill rack. Cook for 1-2 minutes until toasted. Spread with a little butter.
3)Place the toasted bagel halves on warmed plates and ruffle the smoked salmon slices on top. Add a teaspoon of crème fraîche.
4)Place the already peeled egg, slice it half. Garnish with sprinkle of chopped chive. Season with salt & cracked black pepper.

Happy Cooking!

 

Happy Birthday to me :)

Today is a very special day for me - woke up to get ready for work as usual, but got down to kitchen for breakfast, and found Mr C have very nicely made me 2 hard boiled eggs, and i feel just like i was 6yrs old. Why? It is my birthday!

As a kid, 2 hard boiled eggs will never be missing when i wake up on my birthday, together with lai see, and some words of wisdom from my mum, that i am a year older now, therefore need to be more responsible, and need to work even harder this year. This is one little Chinese tradition that always happened, but as I got older, becoming more independent, move away home, how much I miss my own mother make me those 2 humble boiled eggs and wish me happy birthday.
When in comparison, as a kid i got the boiled eggs, but all i want is birthday cake, and pressies like my western friends. 

Eating boiled eggs on your birthday in Chinese culture is considered to be lucky. This is because eggs are a sign of life, their round shape symbolises harmony  and even though you chew a boiled egg, tradition has it that it will ''roll over'' in your stomach, thus giving you another year of life.

When a new baby is born into a Chinese family, traditionally parents or the grandparents will happily get a jar of red food colour to dye the boiled eggs, and give them away to close family and friend to announce the new addition to the family.
I was told when i was born, my grandma was soo pleased to give out the red eggs, and i have fond childhood memories where if i see my grandma fetch her special bowl and red food dye - i had another baby cousin to look forward to meet :)

Anyway,  i had a great birthday, with especially celebrated early with my parents few days before, and they treated me a birthday cake, and made sure i had some 'long life' noodles. 

Hope everyone had a good day! :)

Happy New Year 2012

Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2012 be a wonderful year where great achievements are made, with great health, and lots of happiness.

This year we had a very quiet celebrations on New Year Eve with lots of munchies and dvds, which was i can not thing of any better way to spend my time than with my Fiance :)
To end the wonderful 2011, i made a very yummmy but healthy dinner.

Starter - Prawns in Tomato Sauce, Main - Salmon in Teriyaki with veg

Dessert - Nutella cupcuke with custard

Happy New Year again!!! I have a feeling 2012 will be a fabulous year!!

Mini Chive Pancakes with creme fraiche and red onion confit

As we are having a get-together on friday, i really wanted to make some nibbles, but something not very complicated and easy to make within a hour, so that i dont get stuck in the kitchen.
So my hand reached out for my favourite canape book, and i was not disappointed for something new.... quick mini chive pancake with creme fraiche and red onions.
It is what canape should be -  something you can eat with fingers, but just in one mouthful, not too filling but just keep whet your appetite for more.

Makes 20

Ingredients:

Mini Chive pancakes
60g Plain Flour
1/4tspn Baking Powder
1/4tspn Salt
1 egg, beaten
3Tbspn Milk
1Tbspn finely chopped Chives
1Tbspn Sunflower Oil

Creme fraiche and Red Onion Confit
2Tbspn Caster Sugar
1Tbspn Water
1Tbspn Red Wine Vinegar
1 medium Red Onion, finely sliced
Salt
Black Pepper
1Tbspn finely chopped Chives


Method:
Mini Chive Pancakes
1) Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
2)Make a well in the centre. Add egg and milk to well. Gradually draw in flour and mix to a smooth batter.
3) Stir in chives in the batter
4)Brush a frying pan or griddle with oil. Preheat oveer medium heat.
5)Working in batches, drop heaped teaspoonfuls of mixture into the hot pan. Cook until bubbles appear and underside is golden, 3 minutes.
6)Turn and brown other side, 2 minutes.
7) Brush pan with more oil between each batch of pancakes. Cool pancakes. Serve at room temperature.

Creme Fraiche and Red Onion Confit Topping
1)Put sugar and water in a small pan and stir to dissolve. Bring to boil over medium-low heat and cook to a dark caramel.
2) Remove from heat and add vinegar and onions.
3) Return to medium heat and stir-fry until onions soften, 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cool to warm.
4) Top each pancake with 1 teaspoonful each creme fraiche and onions. Garnish with chives. Serve at room temperature.

Tips:
I didnt have any red wine vinegar, so i subsituted with red wine and balsamic vineagar... and worked great!

Can prepare the mini pancakes 2 days in advance, when serve, crisp in the oven at 200C for 3mins.

Happy Cooking!

Griddled Scallops with Sweet Chilli sauce N creme fraiche on Croutes

I saw this fancy little canapes recipe book,  and happen to have some scallops in my freezer, so alongside the mini chive pancakes with red onion confit, i decided to also make this.
I think this is the easiest recipe i have followed, and require minimum amount of cooking, but impress your guest, and one biteful of delight. 

Recipe taken from Canapes by Eric Treuille & Victoria Blashford-Snell.

 Makes 20

Ingredients:

Croutes
5 Medium slices of white/wholemeal bread

Topping
10 Sea Scallops
Salt
Black Pepper
4Tbspn Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce
6Tbspn Creme fraiche
Coriander leaves or Chopped Chives to garnish



Method

Croute
1)Preheat oven to 150C/300F
2) With a fluted pastry cutter, stamp out each slice of bread into 4 rounds.
3) Place on a bakign sheet and abke unti crisp for approx 20-25mins. Cool.

Topping
4) Cut each scallop in half.
5) Preheat grill pan over a high heat. Sear scallops 1 minute per side.
6)Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and toss with chilli sauce.
7)Place 1 scallop half on to each croute.
8)Top with 1 teaspoon creme fraiche.
9)Garnish with coriander leaves or chopped chives. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Happy Cooking!

Healing Chinese Chicken Soup

Have you had a cold/flu and you tried everything.... paracetomol, oranges for vitC, hot honey & lemon with ginger, blackcurrant strepsils, white congee, and even chicken soup..... and although you not feel worse but you dont feel any better?

Well, that was me from christmas day - striken by the bug, then boxing day onwards - it was a great mission to get myself better, but at the same time you think, why is my body not better yet? why is it soo slow?  soo frustrating!

Luckily these days you can turn to the world wide web for answers - to which i found this recipe
'A Healing Soup to Ward off Cold & Flu', which was a very interesting article - and giving the mythical remedy of chicken soup bit of a boost with some scientific backing based on Chinese medici.

Anyway, I didnt want to sit around and mope, and looked at the recipe i had most of the ingredients, and it didnt look too complicated, so i thought i give it a go.... but i made adaptation in adding egg noodles, so it become our evening meal.  We both really enjoyed it, and i certainly felt the heat after gulping down the soup, which works great when the day have been wintery cold!

Afterwards - hmm.... i dont think alone it had magically healed me, but with the combination of all my preventative measure i did feel better the next day - so will bookmark it for future - just one thing left to heal - the damn tickly cough! lol

Serves 4
Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 red chilies, finely sliced, OR substitute 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. dried crushed chili
• 2 ” of ginger root, finely chopped
• 1/2 lb of boneless, skinless chicken, chopped into 1/2″ slices
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• A pinch of Tumeric
• 1/2 cup of sweet potato, cut into 1/4″ dice
• A head of broccoli, separated into florets
• 3 green onions, chopped finely
• Any of the Chinese herbs - Ju hua (Chrysanthamum Flowers), Yu Jin (Tumeric), Huang qi (Astragalus)

Method:

1)Heat the sesame oil in a pan and fry the garlic, chili peppers and ginger over a low heat until they become soft and fragrant. Be careful not to burn them.
2) Add the chicken pieces and stir as you seal the outside of the meat.
3) Add in the stock, soy sauce, tumeric and sweet potato and bring to the boil. Add any Chinese herbs if you are using them.
4) Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
5)Add broccoli and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
6)Add chopped green onions and serve.

Get well soon and happy cooking!