Stir Fry Sweet Potato Leaves with Fermented Bean Curd 蕃薯叶炒豆腐乳

This is another green vegetables which I love to eat. Miss my mama's way of cooking it with fermented bean curd. The vegetables which I can find in the supermarkets here are usually much larger in size than those which I eat in Singapore, which means that they are pretty "old" and usually not as tender. This is one of the few veggie which is actually smaller in size than those found in Singapore! But than, the stem (which I prefer to eat) is not as juicy as those in Singapore.  Searched the net for some nutritional facts about this veggie. They are pretty rich in many nutrients. This is what I have found : This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Niacin and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Magnesium, Potassium and Manganese.
Read More http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2946/2#ixzz1bztEpA6I

Sweet Potato Leaves

I have cooked it like my mum's way using fermented bean curd. I love fermented bean curd! Just add some sesame seed oil and a little sugar on the cubes and eat it with porridge is just yummy! Sometimes I will just ask my mum to serve the bean curd as one dish to eat with rice hehe! If you don't fancy the bean curd you can use lot's of garlic and chillis to stir fry it. Oh and samba chillis will be a great way to cook it too!

Ingredients:

This is my favourite brand of fermented bean curd. Full of flavour! I have recommended it to my colleagues and most of them loves it. 

1) Sweet potato leaves

2) 4 cubes of fermented bean curd 

3) 1 tablespoon of minced garlic

4) 2 slices of ginger

5) Shaoxing wine 3 tablespoon

6) Sugar 1 tablespoon (you can add or reduce according to your taste as some brands of bean curd are more salty)

7) Chicken stock or water

8) 1 chilli chopped 

Steps:

1) Smash the fermented bean curd in a bowl and add the shaoxing wine and sugar. Mix them well and make sure there are no lumps of the bean curd.

2) Heat some oil in the pan. Add in the garlic and chilli. Stir fry them till you smell the fragrance of the garlic.

3) Add in the fermented bean curd sauce and stir fry for a while. 

4) Than add in the sweet potato leaves and stir fry them till they are coated with the sauce.

5) If you like more sauce you can add in some chicken stock and water. Stir fry till the vegetables reduce in size and you can scoop them onto a plate and serve.

虾米冬菇炒高丽菜 Stir fry cabbage with dried mushrooms and dried prawns

高丽菜包菜傻傻分不清？！哈哈，这就是我刚开始的疑惑。后来上网查了一下，才发现两者是一样的！为什么我总觉得高丽菜好像整颗都是白色的叶子呢？其实我比较不喜欢吃深绿色的蔬菜。我觉得白色的蔬菜，如：高丽菜及白菜比较好吃因为它们比较甜。但是，好像听过妈妈说白色的蔬菜比较寒凉女孩子还是少吃一点。就因为这样，我很少炒高丽菜和白菜。但是有时吃腻了油菜、芥蓝、清江菜，我就会忍不住想吃白色蔬菜。

觉得虾米炒这道菜最对味！这次我还加了冬菇。如果你喜欢的话，也可以加红萝卜。每次煮这个菜都会是一大盘（因为超市卖的都是一大棵的菜），有时还怕吃不完。不过，我和老公都可以把所有的菜给扫个清光。可见，我们有多么爱吃高丽菜！

食材：

1）高丽菜

2）冬菇冲水洗净，泡水至软，然后切成细条

3）虾米冲水洗净，泡水至稍微软，然后用绍兴酒浸泡

4）高汤或清水半碗

5）蚝油一汤匙

6）绍兴酒少许

7）胡椒粉少许

8）蒜茸少许

步骤：

1）将高丽菜用手一片片剥开，然后切丝。

2）用油锅爆香蒜茸，然后加入虾米，炒至闻到酒香。

3）加入冬菇炒香。

4）加入高丽菜。

5）加入蚝油及高汤。

6）盖锅用中小火焖大概5分钟

7）转大火然后加入绍兴酒和胡椒粉，把所有材料炒均匀就可以熄火上菜了！

蒜茸蒸虾 Steam Prawns with Minced Garlic and Ginger

上次提到我家附近有好几家海鲜批发店。虽然蛮靠近我家但很少专程去那里买海鲜。常听到人家说那里的虾很新鲜，那天闲着没事做便吵着我先生去看看。这些批发店大部分都是越南人开的。海鲜种类其实也没有很多，每一间都大同小异。一般都卖虾、鲜蚝、三文鱼、螃蟹、龙虾、金鲳鱼、red snapper、 catfish、 mackerel 等。它们大部分都是从墨西哥海湾铺到的。很可惜没有我想吃的魔鬼鱼和斯里兰卡螃蟹 :(。这里卖的螃蟹都是花蟹和dungeon crabs，没有很多肉。我最后就买了虾、scottish salmon 和 鲭鱼(mackerel)。 鲭鱼我就煮了Sambal鱼，已经把食谱挂上了。我想新鲜的虾清蒸最美味，所以就打算煮蒜茸蒸虾。这道菜非常容易做，如果你像我喜欢蒜头的味道一定要试试这道菜。

 食材：
1）大虾 10－15只
2）蒜茸两汤匙
3）姜末两汤匙
4）绍兴酒两汤匙
5）酱油少许
6）麻油少许
7）胡椒粉少许

步骤：
1）用剪刀修剪虾头和虾尾方便吃的时候不会扎到嘴巴。
2）用剪刀稍微将虾背剪开，取出虾肠。
3）将蒜茸和姜末塞在剪开的虾背上。
4）将绍兴酒、酱油、麻油及胡椒粉搅拌均匀然后淋在虾子上面。
5）用大火蒸大概10分钟。
6）蒸好后可以撒一些葱花或辣椒。

人参鸡汤 Ginseng Chicken Soup

前几天，天气突然转凉了！好高兴哦！今年，休斯顿的温度实在是好像是火焰山那么热。基本上许多地方都已是入秋的天气，但是这里还是很热。这里不但热还闹水荒。有些地方由于太干燥，所以酿成大火。幸好我住的地方没有碰上任何火灾。感谢菩萨保佑！

终于盼到一丝丝冷风，心情也漂亮些。我想是时候可以煮点冬季的汤水了。在韩国超市看到新鲜人参，正好可以煮人参鸡汤。这次我煮的是简易版，不是传统的韩国人参鸡汤。下次等天气再冷些我才煮。到时我一定把食谱放上网。

食材：
1）新鲜人参2只或干人参片（我两样都放，因为我很喜欢汤里有浓浓的人参味）
2）玉竹一把
3）红枣3颗 （或小红枣6颗）去籽
4）枸杞子一把
5）鸡腿一个 （我选择去骨去皮的鸡腿肉）

步骤：
1）用热水川烫鸡腿2－3分钟然后取出备用。
2）玉竹、红枣、枸杞子用水冲洗一下。
3）在锅中煮开6碗的水。水煮开后，把所有材料放入水中。把盖子盖上，让水再次煮开。
4）水煮开后，转小火煮大概2个小时就可以喝汤了！你可以加盐和少许酒调味。

PS：可惜，冷天气只维持3天！等我煮完这道汤，天气又转热了:(  唉，看来这个冬天不太冷！

韩国石锅拌饭 Bibimbap

上次做了泡菜汤后，突然引发我对煮韩国料理的兴趣。所以我就上网乱搜寻，找找看有什么及简单又好吃的料理。有一道菜引起我的注意，那就是石锅拌饭！我很喜欢吃这个饭，因为它很健康（大部分都是蔬菜），拌饭用的酱汁又辣又甜很能引起我的食欲。我是一个“无汁不欢，无汤不欢”的人。只要那道菜有美味的酱汁，我就会吃得很开心！就这么决定，我要煮这道菜！

在韩国超市很容易就找到需要得材料。刚好，那天我找到拌饭用的辣酱，而且不是一大罐的，是3条，像牙膏形状的包装，很适合小家庭使用。至于那石锅，我就不买了。我打算用砂锅代替，反正主要是让饭可以起锅巴，砂锅也一样可以办到。

我参考了食谱1）http://aeriskitchen.com/2008/12/bibimbap-비빔밥/ 和 2）http://rasamalaysia.com/bibimbap-recipe/ 。我主要是根据食谱1。这个部落格还有详细的录像教你怎样煮。两个食谱基本上大同小异，小小不同点是用的配菜有点不同。你可以根据你的喜好，随意搭配。我就用了菠菜、豆芽、小黄瓜（没有腌制版）、红萝卜、洋葱、葱段、鸡蛋、泡菜（买现成的）、白萝卜泡菜（买现成的）和鸡肉。原来的食谱是用牛肉，但我不吃牛肉所以改成鸡肉。如果你吃素，可以把鸡肉换成豆腐。我在这里的韩国餐馆就是尝试过用豆腐取代肉类的拌饭，其实也很好吃！

其实，做这个拌饭并不难，只不过有很多步骤，做起来还蛮花时间的。我第一次做，所以手脚慢，等到大功告成，那些配菜都已经凉了。本来还想用砂锅盛饭，然后做出锅巴的效果。后来没时间，也累了所以就将就点，把饭盛在碗里然后把配菜美美摆在上面就完事 ；p 是有点卖相，味道方面，老公说有点像，我也算还满意！花了这么多功夫和时间去做，是值得的！下次我一定要用我的砂锅做“完整版”！

食材：

1）¼ 杯 白萝卜泡菜，切段

2）¼ 杯 泡菜，切段

3）豆芽两把

4）⅓ 洋葱，切丝

5）⅓ 红萝卜，切段

6）⅓ 黄瓜，切段

7）2棵青葱，切段

8）2颗鸡蛋

9）白饭2碗

10）鸡肉切段

11）菠菜2把

酱料：

1）3 汤匙韩式拌饭酱

2）¼ 茶匙酱油

3）1 茶匙米醋

4）2 茶匙糖

5）1汤匙味西林

6）¾ 茶匙芝麻

7）1 茶匙麻油

8）½ 茶匙蒜茸

步骤：

1）用酱油、糖、绍兴酒、麻油、黑胡椒及蒜茸腌鸡肉。腌制鸡肉的同时，准备其他材料。

2） 煮开一锅水然后将菠菜放入热水里川烫1分钟。川烫好后，用冷水冲洗然后挤干水份。把菠菜切成5cm长的段。用盐、麻油及芝麻调味。

3）煮开一锅水然后将豆芽放入热水里川烫5分钟。川烫好后，用盐、麻油及芝麻调味。

4）锅中倒入一点麻油，等油稍热时，快炒葱段5秒钟，加盐调味。把炒好的葱段放在盘里备用。

5）锅中倒入一点麻油，等油稍热时，快炒红萝卜30秒钟，加盐调味。把炒好的红萝卜放在盘里备用。

6）锅中倒入一点麻油，等油稍热时，快炒洋葱20秒钟，加盐调味。把炒好的洋葱放在盘里备用。

7）锅中倒入一点油，等油稍热时，倒入鸡肉炒至熟透。把炒好的鸡肉放在盘里备用。

8）把蛋倒入碗中，加点盐。把蛋白和蛋黄打发均匀。然后把蛋煮成蛋皮。把蛋皮切成细段。

9）把酱料的材料搅拌均匀备用。

10）把饭放在一个大碗里，把所有的配菜摆在饭上。然后将酱料淋在中央。撒一点芝麻在上面。吃的时候，把所有的配菜、饭和酱汁搅拌均匀就可以慢慢享用美食！

这是另一个版本。我比较喜欢吃荷包蛋所以就煎了一个放在饭上。

搅和搅和，好美味哦！

Baked Mackerel with Sambal Belachan Chilli

Whenever my husband and myself miss any food I just have to try cooking it myself. It is a pretty fun journey trying to search for recipes, finding the correct ingredients and if I can't find them I will have to tweak the recipe. If the dish turns out well, I will feel so happy. I must say I am pretty lucky to stay in Houston where I can still find quite a lot of asian ingredients. 


That day we miss the BBQ stingray. But we can't find stingray here. We decided to go to the seafood wholesale centre at Seabrook which is just 15 minutes away from our home to see if they sell any. To our disappointment, they don't sell them.  But they do sell other fresh fishes. My husband says he wants to eat fried mackerel. Therefore we bought some. I only fried 2 of the mackerel for him and save 1 huge one for my experiment for BBQ stingray but mackerel version hehe. 

So the first step is to prepare my sambal belachan chilli. As you can see from the picture above, it doesn't look like sambal chilli but look like hae bee hiam haha! But I didn't add any hae bee at all! It is too dry! According to the many recipes which I have searched, they say must use oil to slowly stir fry until the oil separates or floats from the chilli. But I mine doesn't seem to floats leh. I was thinking maybe I did not add enough oil cos I do not want it to be too oily. This is the part I didn't get it. I shall try another time since I still have so many chillis in my freezer. Oh by the way there are really many different recipes on making this sambal belachan chilli.  I choose the recipe which use more ingredients as I have those at home.  Here is the recipe which I adapted from 2 websites:

Ingredients:

1  Lengkuas (aka Galangal): ~200g

2  Young ginger: ~100g

3  Turmeric: ~50g

4  Shallots: ~750g

5  Candlenuts: ~100g

6  Dried red chilli: ~30g

7  Lemongrass: ~7 stalks

8  Fresh red chilli: ~450g

9  Garlic: ~1 bulb

10 Salt: ~1 1/2 tsp (add when you are frying the rempah)

11 Sugar: ~1 tsp (add when you are frying the rempah)

12 Vegetable oil: ~1 rice bowl (for frying the rempah)

13 1 tablespoon belacan (shrimp paste)

As you pound/blitz the ingredients, adding vegetable oil in small quantities gives you a smoother blend. No measurements for this ... just pour a little here and there as you pound/blitz.

Fry over a low flame for about 1 hour, stirring all the time, until the oil floats to the top. Cool completely before scooping into a sterilised container. Freeze.

Ok next is the fish. This is very easy! Place the banana leaf over the aluminum foil. Spread a layer of the sambal chilli on the leaf, than place the fish on top. Spread another layer of sambal chilli on top of the fish. Squeeze some calamansi juice (I can't get that and I use lime. But calamansi is still the best choice) and wrap up the fish. Place the fish in a baking tray and put it into the preheated oven (around 200 degree C) and bake it for around 10to 15 minutes. Before you eat, squeeze some calamansi juice and you can enjoy the spicy and yummy fish!

Stir Fry Fish Slices with Fermented Black Bean Sauce 豆豉炒鱼片

I love to use Lee Kum Kee's garlic fermented black bean sauce to steam pork ribs. I bought a big bottle but besides using the sauce for the dish, I was thinking of what other dishes can I use that for. Some time ago, I saw this recipe of using the black beans to stir fry fish head. I decided to change the fish head to fish slices. I have cooked this several times. Sometimes I use the Lee Kum Kee's sauce and sometimes I use the whole fermented black beans. I think both tastes good! You can use other brand's for the sauce but whichever you use, you must taste it before you cook so that you know how salty is the sauce and than you can decide on the amount of sugar to use. For the fish slices, I bought the swai fillets which my husband likes to eat cos the meat is tender. When I am not lazy, I will coat the fish with a little bit of flour and shallow fry them before cooking with the other ingredients. For a healthier version, I will skip this step. If you choose not to fry the fish than you must be careful of not over stirring the fish to mix the sauce so that the fish slices will not break into small pieces. I have used celery to cook with fish. If you don't like it, you can add other vegetables. Maybe you can consider adding the coloured peppers. They are also very good for health. But my fussy eater boss at home doesn't like to eat those, that's why I use celery. 

Ingredients:

1) Fish slices 

2) 1 tablespoon of Lee Kum Kee's garlic fermented black bean sauce

3) 2 to 3 sticks of celery cut into chunks

4) 1 teaspoon of sugar

5) 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine

6) 1 clove of garlic, minced

Steps:

1) Heat up the pan with some oil and add in the garlic. Stir fry for a while.

2) Add in the Lee Kum Kee's garlic fermented black bean sauce and stir fry until you can smell the fragrance of the sauce.

3) Add in the sugar.

4) Add in the fish slices and stir fry them until they are almost cooked.

5) Add in the celery.

6) Stir fry to mix the ingredients well and add in the shaoxing wine. 

7) When the fish are cooked, you are ready to serve!