Stir fried rice cake ???

A late Chinese New Year to all! This is the year of the dragon.

???????, ????, ??????!!!



?? 'nian gao' or rice cake is eaten by many during this festive season. Nian gao is auspicious because it rhymes with the lucky phrase ?? (also read as 'nian gao') or ???? 'nian nian gao sheng', roughly translated to English as 'achieving advancements/promotions year after year'.

There are mainly two

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Chinese chive and prawn scrambled egg ??????

This recipe is so simple easy and tasty. Only takes 5 - 10 minutes! Great with rice, noodles or pile high on fresh bread.

1 x (200 - 250g) packet of raw or frozen (or fresh) peeled king prawns
about 150 - 180g of Chinese chive (if not available sub with spring onion/scallion)
4 - 5 eggs
a little light soy
1 tsp cornflour
few drops of sesame oil
some ground pepper
pinch of salt
some cooking oil

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Trotter and ginger in sweetened black vinegar ????

Pig trotter and ginger stewed in sweet black vinegar is an old traditional Cantonese recipe originally formulated for mothers after birth, to keep new mums warm during the first month after birth. Also many Cantonese families who has new baby will cook a shed load of this, together with some red coloured hard boiled eggs in their shells and some some chicken cooked in homemade rice wine, all

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Steamed fish with black bean sauce and tomato

Chinese New Year is just a week away. In Chinese tradition, fish is always a must have for the festive meal. Fish is auspicious to symbolise there will always be plenty year after year. In Chinese phrase it is called 'nian nian you yu' ???? or ????. Here the word fish ? sounds the same as ? which means plenty left.

Steamed fish is very popular for any Chinese festive meals. Fish for steaming

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Taiwanese "flies' heads"?????

Today's I will introduce to you a Taiwanese speciality with an unusual name called "chang ying tou" ??? or in English "flies' heads". The flies' heads relate to bits of fermented black beans or dousi. This is a pungent, salty and spicy stirfry with chive flowers, pork and fermented black beans flavoured with some garlic and chillies. It's tasty with plain rice or eaten as part of a Chinese meal.

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Pork fillet with black pepper sauce ????

???? Hak jiu gee lau (Cantonese), or Hei jiao zhu liu (Mandarin) - Pork fillet with black pepper sauce
Pork or beef fillet with black pepper sauce is a modern (westernised) Cantonese dish. In the restaurant this is normally serves on a red hot cast iron sizzling dish, the sauce sizzled on the hot iron giving out a lovely smoky flavour waffling in the air makes everyone around mouth watered.

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Curry chicken rice bake ?????

Who doesn't like curry chicken with rice? This recipe is slightly different, it's east meets west. It's curried rice topped with a saucy chicken curry and cheese. This fusion (or bastardised if you prefer) curry chicken rice bake can be found in Hong Kong/ Macau cafe style restaurants ???. I think Japanese also have similar recipe. Curry and cheese does not sound matching but this combination is

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Torn cabbage with red fermented beancurd ??????

I have no time to post any recipes lately, life was hectic I was working 6 - 7 days a week. This blog has been neglected hopefully you did not miss me much :).

Today's recipe is vegetarian, a cheap and cheerful stir fried cabbage with a rather unusual sauce. The secret ingredient is fermented red beancurd or hong fu ru ???. This recipe looks Sichuanese but I am quite sure it is from Beijing.

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Xian torn bread with lamb soup ????

Yang Rou Pao Mo ????


The weather has suddenly turned cooler. I was craving for something filling and warm. I bought a piece of lamb shoulder last week, time to make some yang rou pao mo. I can eat some and store the rest in the freezer for later.

Yang Rou Pao Mo ???? is a famous xiao chi ?? (small eat or snack) from Xian, warm and comforting. Yang Rou ?? is lamb, Pao ? is soak and Mo ? is a

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Cumin beef ????

I did not update this blog for a very long time, was feeling lazy and uninspired. Today recipe is a moreish spicy beef with cumin.

Zi Ran Niu Rou ????



Cumin beef originates from the Muslim populated North-West of China. This dish is popular in many parts of China like Sichuan and Hunan, over here in UK I believe this has become very popular in many Sichuanese restaurants and home cooking

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Sichuan liang fen ???? (Starch jelly noodles)

Liang fen ?? is a jelly noodles made with starch and water. Starch and water is cooked to a thick custard, set and chilled. It is then cut into whatever shape and size you like then dressed in a Sichaun spicy sauce with some spring onion, coriander and few sesame seeds etc...





If you like rice noodles you will love liang fen. This jelly noodles is much springier and better texture than rice

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Sichuan sugar and spice infused soy sauce ????

Fu zh� jiang you ???? loosely translated as replicated soy sauce. Another common name you may come across is red soy sauce ??? for tian sui mian ???. This is an aromatic sugar and spice infused/reduced soy sauce for many Sichuanese dishes especially for snack xiaochi ?? and salad ?? including noodles.



1 cup light soy ??
2 tbsp dark soy ??
1 piece rock sugar/ plain sugar (about 2 tbsp) ??/ ??
4

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Crystal zhongzi ????

????
?? shui jing = water crystal
?? zhongzi = leaf wrapped dumpling

Here is another unusual zhongzi. The recipe is based on Thai tapioca dumplings, Sawku Sai Muu. The pastry dough is made with tapioca pearls. They are called crystal zhongzi because the pastry is translucent. The pastry is very soft, bouncy, rubbery and chewy. I really like the texture. The filling is delicious and spicy

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Hakka mochi zhongzi ????

Ker ja bun zong ????

Zhongzi can be written as ?? or ??

Today is Duan Wu Festival ??? or Dragon Boat Festival. The origin and story behind this festival see Wiki. Zhongzi or leaf wrapped dumplings are a must to be eaten during this festival.

There are few ways to wrap zhongzi. Most people use bamboo leaves, available dried in most countries and fresh is available in some S E Asian countries.

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Pearl barley, water chestnut and fu chook (beancurd stick) dessert soup ????????

Pearl barley = ?? yee mee (Mandarin) or yee mai (Cantonese)
Water chestnut = ?? ma tee (Mandarin) or ma tai (Cantonese)
Beancurd stick = ?? fu chook (Mandarin or Cantonese)
Sugar water (or more appropriately as sweet dessert soup) = ?? tang sui (Mandarin) or tong sui (Cantonese)

Sweet soup or tong sui is Cantonese speciality eaten as dessert. Tong sui is as common as savoury soup for

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Lap cheong rice ???

This simple rice is something I can indulge quite often since I know how to make my own lap cheong. DIY lap cheong is so much cheaper and I know there are no hidden ingredients or preservatives. The is a simple meal, steamed lap cheong with rice and some steamed/blanched green vegetable. To add more flavour I added a dollop of ginger spring onion sauce.

Cook rice using a rice cooker or on the

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Sichuan style spicy lap cheong ??????

Chuan wei ma la xiang chang (in Mandarin) ??????

? = Sichuan ? = flavoured ? = numbing
? = hot ? = fragrant ? = sausage
Lap cheong (Cantonese)/ la chang (Mandarin) ??
lap / la ?, in Chinese this normally means wax but in this context it means cured.cheong is Cantonese for sausage, in Mandarin it sounded as chang.

I have been making my own lap cheong many times now I no longer buy

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Tea smoked cured belly (bacon) ?????

Ever since I made tea smoked chicken I am hooked. The meat has such deep rich flavour and texture of meat is so tender and juicy. I now tried tea smoked belly. As expected the flavour and texture is excellent. This is probably the best piece of porky I have made. The meat is cured with soy sauce and spices, the curing salt makes the meat a lovely pink colour.



1. Curing

Ingredients
1.5 kg

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Braised daikon and carrot ????

Su shao luo bo ????

Luo bo ?? (??) this can mean either daikon (mooli or oriental radish) or carrot.
Su ? is vegetarian
Shao ? in cooking terms can mean boil, bake, roast, braise or stew. It's confusing I know!

This braised mixed root vegetable is rather tasty. I can eat this happily and don't miss any meat at all.

Ingredients:

400 - 500g daikon or mooli
350 - 400g carrot
2 clove of garlic,

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Stir fried blistered green chilli ????

Hu pe jian jiao ????

I was pleased to find some large green chillies from the market. I asked the store keeper if they are spicy he just shrugged his shoulders how helpful! In the end I bought a handful (just over 1/2 lb) to try in case they are not as nice as I thought. These chillies were quite long about 12 - 15cm long.



I love Sichuan Hu pe jian jiao ???? or stir fried blistered green

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