Salmon Potato Cake 三文鱼马铃薯煎饼...

Prepared these lovely snack for my family in the weekend... and everybody enjoyed it... hee hee... hope you like the recipe... :p

The main ingredients are: salmon fillet, potatoes, fresh basil leaves, egg and onions. Please see Pictures (a) and (b) below:

Let's start... remove skin and bones of salmon fillet and dice. Peel potatoes, cut into smaller pieces and boil in water till cooked (c); add salt and ground black pepper and mash (d). Next, mix in egg, finely chopped basils and salmon (e) and shape into cakes (f). Coat salmon potato cakes with egg and breadcrumbs (g) and fry in a little oil till golden and voilà, it’s done! The cakes go very well with a home made mayonnaise and some salad greens.

Hope you try these delicious salmon potato cakes, enjoy... :)

Pan Fried Black Pepper Sirloin Steaks in a lovely Red Wine Butter Sauce 黑胡椒红酒奶油酱汁牛排...

Bought some lovely Angus Sirloins... and prepared this dish for my family this evening... here, i prepared medium well steaks – the surfaces were dark brown with a little charring on both sides and a little stiff... and in the middle, a hint of pink and a little squish (please see 2nd picture above)... Overall – very juicy and succulent… and my elder bros luved the dish and rated it 9.5/10... here's the recipe... :p

The Angus sirloins that i used looked pink and pristine with a thick wedge of creamy fat (please see picture a below). Simply rinse them in water, pat dry using kitchen towels, flatten with a meat mallet and marinate with coarsely grounded black pepper and chopped garlic (b). p.s. do not marinate with salt at this stage as it will release the juices in the beef. Leave in the fridge for about half an hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the accompaniments with ingredients given in (c) to give a lovely White Fungus Mushrooms Sautéed in Red Wine, Cauliflowers and Red Capsicum Salad (d) and Baked Potatoes with Mixed herbs and Sea Salt (e). Let’s start… boil cauliflowers and capsicums in water till cooked, drain and arrange on a plate. Heat a little butter and fry white fungus mushrooms till fragrant, add a little red wine and a stalk of rosemary and season with a little sea salt and allow the mushrooms to sauté in the lovely red wine butter sauce. Remove the mushrooms and lay them over the cauliflowers. Next, thicken the sauce with corn starch and pour half the sauce over the veggies and keep the remaining for the sirloins. For the baked potatoes, marinate cut potatoes with dry basils and oregano, a little sea salt and olive oil, wrap with aluminium foil and bake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees C for 45 minutes. To prepare the medium well steaks, heat a little butter and cook the steaks over high heat for about a minute on each side to seal in the juice, sprinkle a little sea salt and grill for another 4 minutes per side. Pour the remaining red wine butter sauce over the sirloins and voilà, it’s done! You may serve the sirloins with the accompaniments (f).

Hope you like this Pan Fried Black Pepper Sirloin Steaks in a lovely Red Wine Butter Sauce 黑胡椒红酒奶油酱汁牛排, enjoy... :p

Green Carrot & Prawn Soup 青萝卜鲜虾汤...

i prepare mostly steamed and soup dishes and lesser of deep fried stuffs for my family lately as the weather is really warm... This soup is delightfully refreshing - the green carrot and prawns make a beautiful blend in both color and taste. :p Hope you like try it!

The main ingredients are: fresh prawns, green carrot, Chinese mushrooms, garlic and a lovely broth from boiling dried scallops, dried oysters, ginger, garlic and peppercorns. Please see picture (a) below for the key ingredients.

Green carrots are as nutritious as the red and white ones. According to Chinese medical books, green carrots are rich in the nutrients that our body requires for healthy functions; in particular, they are a very rich source of amylase. They also contain lots of water and are sweet in taste. Its other medicinal benefits include improving water retention condition, promoting urination and easing diarrhea. More of its nutritional info can be found on this Chinese website 百度知道.

The preparations... peel carrot and cut into thin strips. Clean prawns keeping the shells intact and marinate with a little rice wine, sesame oil and pepper. Soak Chinese mushrooms in hot water till soften, drain and slice. Prepare a nice broth by boiling dried scallops, dried oysters, ginger slices, garlic and peppercorns in water, as given above in (b).

Let’s start... heat a little oil and stir fry garlic and Chinese mushrooms till fragrant, stir in green carrot and season with a little rice wine, sesame oil and soy sauce. Add the stir fry into the broth and simmer for about 10 minutes. Next, add in the fresh prawns, close the lid and let the soup cook for another one or two minutes or till the prawns change color and voilà, it’s done!

Hope you try this simple and refreshing Green Carrot & Prawn Soup 青萝卜鲜虾汤, enjoy... :p

Fried Yam Cakes in 2 Ways 油煎和蛋煎芋头糕...

The steamed yam cakes in Steamed Yam Cake Part (I) 芋头糕(上) & Steamed Yam Cake Part (II) 芋头糕(下) can be fried in oil... and they serve as an excellent breakfast dish and delightful afternoon snacks. Here’re 2 ways of preparing these lovely fried yam cakes:
1. Slice the yam cakes and fry them in a little oil till the surfaces turn golden and crispy; or
2. Coat the yam cakes with a thin layer of egg mixture and fry in a little oil.

Hope you like the savoury fried yam cakes... enjoy... :p

Steamed Yam Cake Part (II) 芋头糕(下)...

The preparations given in Steamed Yam Cake Part (I) 芋头糕(上) seems to suggest a lot of work… please do not be discouraged by it... I usually prepare all the ingredients (the washing, cutting, slicing, etc) the night before and leave them in the fridge overnight, and on the day itself, the cooking takes just an hour... :)

Let’s start... heat shallot oil in a wok, add chopped garlic, dried mushrooms and dried shrimps and stir fry till fragrant. Next, add the yam, Chinese sausage, a little bit of water, 4 tbsp of soy sauce, 4 tbsp of rice wine, a tbsp of pepper and fry for about 2 minutes (here, you will see the yam soften...). Stir in the flour-water mixture and fried shallots and mix thoroughly, the texture of the mixture at this stage should be viscous and sticky… and pour the mixture into the greased steaming trays (please see Picture a below). Steam the yam mixture over high heat for about 40 minutes (b) or when a toothpick comes out clean (c)… and voilà, it’s done! You may garnish the yam cakes with some fried shallots and chopped chili; I like mine plain, as I love the original taste 原味之香...

Hope you try out this savory Yam cake dish, picture (d) gives the final product, enjoy... :p

p.s. these yam cakes taste really heavenly... and you can see lots of yam strips in a good yam cake. Hope you try it!

Steamed Yam Cake Part (I) 芋头糕(上)...

Home made yam cakes are delicious and not oily... and you can have lots of yams and mushrooms in your cakes which are very flavorful and really yummy. I used to prepare these lovely yam cakes for my late Grandma who loved yam and all type of yam dishes... and it was always a pure joy to see her enjoy food that she loved. :)

Here’s my humble recipe... hope you try it! It is broken into 2 parts... this post gives the raw ingredients and preparations, and the next one, the cooking method and the final products.

The main ingredients used: yam 芋头 (1 medium size), dried mushrooms 香菇 (15 pieces), dried shrimps 虾米 (200g), Chinese sausage XO手工加瘦腊肠 (150g), rice flour 水磨占米粉 (600g), sago flour 茨粉 (50g), water (2 litres), shallots 葱头 and garlic 蒜头. For the key ingredients, please see Picture below:

The preparations... please refer to the pictures below for the steps:
(a) Peel yam, wash and cut into thin strips.
(b) Soak dried shrimps in hot water, rinse and drain.
(c) Soak dried mushrooms in hot water, drain and slice thinly.
(d) Remove the membrane of the sausages, wash and cut into thin strips.
(e) Peel garlic cloves and chop finely.
(f) Peel shallots and cut thinly.
(g) Sieve rice flour and sago flour, mix with water and ensure that all the flour “dissolves” and there are no lumps of flour in the mixture.
(h) Fry shallots in oil till golden brown. Separate the shallots from the oil. Grease the steaming trays with the shallot oil and keep the rest for cooking later on.

For the rest of the recipe, please move on to Steamed Yam Cake Part (II) 芋头糕(下)... :p

Yellow Ginger Rice with Raisins 黄姜葡萄干饭...

This home made Yellow Ginger Rice is a very simple and healthy rice dish and there is no artificial colorings and flavorings added. I learned it through experimentations and family members love it very much. Here’s the recipe...

The main ingredients are: rice, a small piece of fresh turmeric root or yellow ginger 黄姜, raisins and pandan leaves (optional).

Ginger 姜 in general has been used widely as a Chinese medicinal herb. One of its key uses is to aid digestion - it can help digest fatty foods and break down proteins and is excellent for reducing gas, relieving nausea and treating motion sickness. Ginger can also help reduce inflammation and has been used to treat related diseases such as arthritis or ulcerative colitis. Being a warm herb, ginger can help remove fever and is a good remedy for colds. Recent studies also show that ginger might help in lowering LDL cholesterol too. For more info on the benefits of ginger, you may refer to this WHFoods website.

Yellow ginger or turmeric root 黄姜 is a powerful medicine that has long been used in the Chinese and Indian medicinal history as an anti-inflammatory agent to treat a wide variety of conditions including flatulence, menstrual difficulties, bloody urine, hemorrhage, toothache, bruises, chest pain, and colic. Like other gingers, it is an effective treatment for inflammatory diseases as well as lowering LDL cholesterol. Besides, turmeric has been found to relieve rheumatoid arthritis, inhibits cancer cell growth and metastases and prevents cancers especially colon cancer, improves liver function, protects cardiovascular as well as Alzheimer’s disease. More of the medicinal benefits of this ginger type can be found on this Chinese Website 百度百科.

Let’s start... peel a small piece of fresh yellow ginger and grind it using a hand held kitchen grinder to give a paste (please see Picture a below). Mix the paste (just a little bit would do) with rice and water, add some raisins, a few drops of oil and a little salt to taste (b) and steam over high heat for 20 minutes or cook the rice in a rice cooker as per normal, and voilà, you have a nice homie yellow ginger rice with raisins (c) and (d)!

p.s. As yellow ginger is a strong colorant, please wash the grinder immediately affer use or else the stain will stay.

Hope you try this healthy rice delight... Cheers!