MaMa's Recipe - Stir Fry Assorted Veggies/Fungi | 李家菜 - 炒雜菜/菰菌

Allow me to introduce this dish in English. I thought it would be wonderful for those who cannot read Chinese/local expats to try this recipe at home. My grandmother and mother will always be the best cooks in my life. (It is grammatically wrong because there can only be one "best" but I have to say both of them are.) My mother cooks Western dish as well while my grandmother mastered traditional Hakka cuisine, grandma's Turnip Cake was one of the reasons I look forward to Chinese New Year besides getting Red Pockets from relatives.

My friends and I often discuss dishes our moms/helpers cook at home, I found out the variation is HUGE! I can hardly find friends that does "Western-weekends" like my family does. Western-weekends meaning usually on Sunday/Saturday night, my mom will prepare a more Western meal, for instance we will have corn, smoked salmon, tomatoes, salad, meat platter/cheese platter, cream soup, etc., and together with baguette/pita bread/pasta. Sometimes I will stay at my friends' place for dinner, somehow I still find my favourite dining place is my home.

I tried to sum up the characteristics of mom's style of cooking:
-Unintentionally low fat/low salt/low sugar
-75% vegetables
-Simple

Mom's dishes are local but I cannot say it is 100% Chinese. I guess it is because we grew up in a once-colonial city like Hong Kong, the style of cooking evolved in the past 100 years. We have loads of imported goods from around the world which increases the accessibility of ingredients. For locals, eating out is very common. Cooking at home might be more expensive especially for those who is living alone...but I still prefer cooking simply because it calms me. 

I have always wanted to make a recipe book for my mother and I am going to make it happen. It is more challenging than I thought especially whenever I ask my mom: Can you tell me how much ______ you used in this dish? and the answer is always a pinch/a bit/just a little! I'd say that is the art of abstract by Mrs. Lee. I guess for those who cooks everyday/mastered the art of cooking unintentionally are very unaware of the amount of ingredients they use. They do it according to what they FEEL about it and they can sense it. It would be interesting to write a COLLECTION of RECIPES from my friend's mothers as well! I am getting greedy again..

I am going to share the recipe tomorrow, stay tuned!

Ingredients:

- 1 Tbsp of oil
- 3-4 Cloves of garlic and/or shallot; finely chopped/sliced (Add more if you prefer stronger taste)
- Chili, chopped (Optional, for spice lovers!)

- Mixed Vegetables (Total around 800g; 4 servings)
  - Lotus root; cubed
  - Chinese green beans and red beans; chopped, around an inch
  - Black fungi; soaked and cut into pieces of bite size
**Tips from Stella (my mom): It can be any kind of veggies that you like, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, mushrooms, fungi; nuts such as pine nuts, cashew nuts and walnuts, or tofu cubes or slices. There are different types of Tofu, categorized according to their texture, i.e. how soft/hard they are. For stir frying the harder one is better because it would not be torn into pieces.

- Oyster sauce, depending on the amount of vegetables you use, for example 2 tablespoons for around 800g of vegetables, add a little more to adjust according to your preference. This is the moment I learnt my mother's "it just feels right" skill in estimating the amount of seasonings.

How to cook

1. Boil the fungi and beans for a few minutes before stir frying in order to soften it.

2. Place a pan over medium heat, pour oil; when oil is heated put in garlic and shallot.

3. When the ingredients start giving off extremely pleasant smell, add lotus roots and black fungi, stir fry for 5 minutes, add oyster sauce and stir fry for another 5 minutes to let them absorb the taste.

4. Add green beans and red beans, stir fry for another 10 minutes. Voila!

Book #2 - The Complete Guide to Designing and Printing Fabric

This is a book that I would love to have it on my bookshelf. (I am having the image on my future gigantic book shelf in my head..) Another book from Laurie Wisburn is Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing. She is a self-made fabric designer and a blogger from the states, check out her blog! The prints she created gladdens your day, obviously it is about pattern and mixing of colours so do not expect it to be MUJI like. I do very much appreciate the art of wood block printing in India, the patterned fabrics and papers are impressive, I could not help but bought 2 big pieces of table cloth and a scarf from an Indian shop owner in Singapore. They used natural dye so what I needed to do when I got home was to soak it in high salt concentration water overnight before washing it in the washing machine. 

The shop owner was extremely helpful, honest and offered really good price, it's on my list of must-go in Singapore now :-)

CAPERS | 續隨子

Capers這種果實的英文名稱中文簡單得多，皆因我在壟斷超市看到的翻譯有3個不同的版本，忍不住在網上翻查。

黃色標籤價錢牌上寫著：
CAPERS - 水瓜柳
CAPERS - 續隨子
CAPERS - 續隨子花蕾

除了品牌、生產地、處理方法、大小和價錢不同之外，應該沒有分別了。

原來水瓜柳基本上跟山柑屬的續隨子花蕾一樣，但大戟屬的續隨子好像是多用來做藥材的。前者在南美洲和地中海一帶很普遍，用作去腥味的材料，不知道是否因為有這樣的作用所以在喜歡吃海鮮的國家都出現呢？大自然果然把我們照顧得很周到。台灣的譯名又不一樣，叫做酸豆；味對形對，似豆非豆。另外，它的別名也很可愛：刺山柑、馬檳榔、西洋風蝶木，但我還是覺得大戟屬的續隨子名字更貼切：千金子、千兩金、菩薩豆、拒冬、聯步。

一般在瓶子裡的都屬於山柑類，用於煮食。(有些包裝上會直譯山柑) 要注意的是續隨子的花蕾的味道比成熟的續隨子濃得多，所以如果寫著Caper berries的大多數像橄欖一樣處理，例如油浸或鹽水浸，吃法相近，常用於希臘的頭盤小菜。續隨子花蕾普遍曬乾然後進行醃製，有用醋也有用粗鹽的；前者因為吸收醋酸味，所以不太顯(本身的)味道，想一嚐天然味道就要買粗鹽醃製的，一放進口會先覺得鹹鹹的，然後慢慢會嚐到酸和甘的味道。常用於PASTA、PIZZA、SALAD，還有煙三文魚。其實它隱藏在很多醬汁裡，例如TARTAR醬，因為它的酸味感覺清新，所以配熱氣滯口的菜式一流，意大利炸雞(CHICKEN PICCATA)就是其中一種，同樣道理用來配炸魚薯條也很好啊，代替檸檬或者橄欖也可以。有些人更把它加入MARTINI呢！而地中海人也會把植物的葉子用水煮或直接醃製，加入沙律或有魚的菜式裡；風乾的葉子就會用於製作芝士。因為續隨子以人手採摘，價格一般都不會太便宜，公平貿易/有機的就當然更貴了。

原來續隨子是根據大小來區分的：(通常越細小價錢越高)
On-pareil (up to 7 mm) (我買了這一種，用粗鹽醃製，很配沙律，是吃全素的人的ANCHOVY!)

Surfines (7–8 mm)
Capucines (8–9 mm)
Capotes (9–11 mm)
Fines (11–13 mm)
Grusas (14+ mm)

買了這瓶，HKD20.80

另外，大戟屬的續隨子記載在《本草綱目》，李時珍提到的藥用價值包括利尿、消炎、抗癌和鎮痛作用，但因為其種子油性有毒，會刺激腸胃，亂吃會導致腹瀉和嘔吐；有趣的是植物莖部的乳液塗在皮膚上會引致脫毛，試不試由你，嘿嘿...

Alrighty, have to get ready for the chicken curry night, if I am going to share the recipe it is going to be a good one, if not...you know what happened. Ciao!

Vegetarian Curry ｜素菜咖哩

終於有機會嘗試煮咖哩，原因有幾：
1. 我喜歡用香料做菜 (除了中國莞茜)
2. 瓶子咖哩都很油膩，或者辣度不對味
3. 爸爸很喜歡咖哩，但因為高膽固醇所以要戒口，餐廳的傳統咖哩都是一片油浮在表面所以爸爸也怕了。
4. 前一天出糧，出了紅豆角，青豆角和秋葵(Okra)，就想起久遺了、美妙的“鋸”哩!

我的糧水

咖哩的好朋友：
- 米 (細長的印度米，賣飛佛；中東小米；中國小米 ；中國絲苗米；珍珠米...另外我也推介耐嚼的南美產物QUINOA)
有一次無意中看到COUSCOUS翻譯作“古斯古斯麵”，我以為那是品牌的名字...

- 麵包，因為它像海綿般吸了很多咖哩汁，跟小時候用餐包飲湯同一道理。
(PITA BREAD，TORTILLA...一片片的夾袋連餡料亦能包著吃，很方便!)

- 餅乾/米餅 (RYE BISCUIT，GARDEN SASAME CRACKER，RICE CAKE...)
香港是文化種族大熔爐，有少數族裔聚居的地方都不難找到賣材料雜貨的商店。(讓我做一點點資料搜集再分享）昨天去了灣仔活道的印度小店買香料，價格便宜，老闆還把咖哩葉送了給我 TVT 如果想方便省事一點可以再citysuper買齊所有香料，它的香料櫃很齊全，連Black Cardamom也有! 價格比一般在壟斷超市賣的更便宜，大概HKD20就買到一瓶50g的。我的Turmeric粉也是在citysuper買。

我把BBC Food Matt Tebbutt的食譜改了點點，
- 以Greek yogurt代替Crème fraîche
- 加了番茄和紫蘿蔔

材料：
2 湯匙    橄欖油
2 茶匙    黃芥菜籽 (我用了黑的)
2 茶匙    小茴香籽
1/2 茶匙 黃薑粉
2 隻        紅辣椒 切碎
2 隻        乾辣椒， 用水泡10-20分鐘至軟身，瀝乾，切碎
25片       咖哩葉
1 隻        大洋蔥 切粒 (CHUNK)
3 隻        番茄  切粒
2 條        紫蘿蔔  切片
8 條        秋葵  切粒
100g       酸奶 (Greek Yogurt)
220ml     蔬菜湯 (Vegetable Stock/ Chicken Stock)
鹽 和 黑胡椒

顧著拍下過程忘了收火降溫，Greek Yogurt的奶蛋白分離了...下次就談Greek Yogurt吧!

爸爸試味後認為咖哩味不夠而且有點辣，但是好吃的(爸的修養好...)，於是我這偵探性格驅使我尋找原因好讓我下一次成功。原因就是我沒有加咖哩粉；咖哩粉含有十多種香料而我只用了5種，咖哩葉有味道但不夠濃，而且一風乾就沒有用了，因為氣味會隨著濕度溜走，保鮮的話要放進冰箱。下一次爸爸說要加入雞肉，祝我好運!

*開始炒FENNEL SEEDS和MUSTARD SEENS時要小心，它們會想爆米花一樣，而且不要大口吸氣，那氣體是催淚彈!

正在努力畫print-friendly的食譜，請耐心等候 :)

Chocolate Meringue

Finally I am writing about non-breakfast baking, and this time I am going for a traditional french sweet snack - Meringue. A super easy yet impressive treat. I am not extremely sweet-toothed but to make great meringues you need a lot of sugar which means they have to be super sweet (to me they are.) My way to enjoy this sugar bombs are eating them with a pot of hot tea or add a piece of dark chocolate. I tried this recipe from allrecipes.com (Yes it is one of the top 5 online recipe sources of mine) and modified only the chocolate, one sweet advice: never reduce the amount of sugar.

Chocolate Meringue

3 Egg whites
1/8 Tspn Cream of Tartar
1/2 Tspn Vanilla Extract
2/3 Cup of White Sugar
1 Tbspn Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/3 Cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips (Instead of using semisweet chocolate chips I used dark chocolate blocks by crushing a bar of dark chocolate)

Preheat oven to 150 degree Celsius; makes around 36 meringues; preparation time: 10 minutes

1. Put eggwhites, cream of tartar and vanilla in a big bowl, beat until the mixture form soft peaks.

2. Slowly add sugar; beat until stiff peaks form and mixture becomes glossy.

3. Fold in cocoa and chocolate blocks. I set 36 pieces aside because I want to put one on top of each meringue before putting them into the oven.

4. Drop mixture with 2 big table spoons (if you are making bite-size meringues, use teaspoons) onto a baking sheet/ cloth. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

These are the chocolates I chose
- From supermarket: http://www.chocolatfrey.com/
- From baking shop: http://www.ghirardelli.com/
                               http://www.valrhona.com/accueil.aspx

And yes I never use milk chocolate; the bitterness completes the snack!

BEFORE

AFTER

Bake-fast Breakfast : Banana Bread

My uncle has always loved banana bread, in fact he was the one who made me had my first bite of banana bread in my life. I was very little and was not into food at all and I looked like a malnutrition girl.

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. I always go there to look for new recipes or do my "Apple Search". I have not been keeping a good record of my apple experiments but I will make it happen.

To make this banana bread, you only need around 20 minutes preparation time, including doing the measurements. I find the preparation time on a lot of recipe books, especially pastry books, is extremely misleading. I did the math in my head, and from my experience, you usually just double the "Preparation Time" and it will be more or less the same. Don't feel bad, and never think you are the slowest one or it "should not" take that long. It is normal ;-)

I adjust the recipe every time, intentionally and unintentionally.

Here I listed the ingredients in order so you do not mix the powder and liquid, and no need to clean everything before doing another measurement. I always measure powder first, followed by liquid.

You can see that for some items I follow the US unit and the others I use Metric, because powder is easier to be measured with spoons and cups; for butter and solid ingredients (e.g. chocolate blocks!), just get a bowl and weigh them, super quick.

Banana Bread

Preheat the oven to 150 degree Celsius when you start mixing the powder mix in step 3.

Take a (table)spoonful of brown sugar and a (tea)spoonful of cinnamon and/or mixed spices into a small bowl, mix them.

Grease four 7 x 3 inch loaf pans; dust lightly with cinnamon sugar.
*Note: I always pour some hot water into the loaf pan before I grease it, a) to heat up the pan, b) clean it. When you put the piece of cold butter on it it will melt immediately, how cool!

Ingredients:

1-1/2 Tspn Baking Soda
1/4    Tspn Salt
2-1/4 Cups All-purpose Flour / Plain Flour

1-1/2 Eggs
3 Ripe bananas, mashed (I tried both very ripe bananas and just ripe ones, the former one makes the batter slightly stickier but does not affect the taste.)
One bucket of DairyFarm Sour Cream (The amount was JUST RIGHT!)
1 Tspn Vanilla Extract
1-2 Tspn Cinnamon and/or 1-2 Tspn Mixed Spices (I use way more than I said here just because I like the taste of the spices.)

60g Walnuts (If you want you can chop them into smaller pieces but I prefer big blocks, because you are going to cut the bread into pieces anyways so why bother? :P)
*Nuts play an important role in baking energy cakes/bread, excellent source of protein. Read more from my previous post*

1-1/2 Cups Brown Sugar
85g   Butter / Shortening

How to do it:
1. Mix the powder together and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until the texture becomes fluffy. By that time you should not see any yellowish butter standing out.
3. Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon and/or mixed spices.
*TIME TO PREHEAT THE OVEN*
4. Mix in 1.; stir in nuts. Pour the batter into greased pans and put them into the oven.
5. Bake for around 45 minutes, check it regularly after baking for 30 minutes. Because every oven is slightly different when it comes to releasing heat and regulating the circulation, you have to monitor on your own. When you see a cracked surface and starting to turn golden brown, it is time to take it out.

I used 3 different baking containers - Ceramic baking plate, bread loaf pan and silicon cupcake molds

The crack on the surface of bread/cake is a sign of success, not for all the cakes but for this bread.

Cooling on the steam rack

The cinnamon sugar gives a semi-glossy surface

Banana Flower Bombs!!

Super easy and perfect for breakfast, do not eat it every day because it has quite a lot of sugar in it, but it is indeed a perfect start for a day or a little treat in the afternoon as an energy boost working in the office. Enjoy!

20Cc Project #2 - 20Cxx

Xia Men & Xi An, China | Jan 2011, Mar 2012

A mix of pictures about two different trips I made to China.
Earth and people, the beauty of yellow
Pure, raw, unadorned yellow.