Chinese Wongbok (Cabbage), Fishball, Fish Maw Soup

Chinese Wongbok (Cabbage), Fishball, Fish Maw Soup

Previously, I have shared a simplified version of Wongbok Soup recipe. This is the version with more ingredients and of course, it tastes a lot better too.

Ingredients (Serve 4 to 6 pax)

1. 6 pieces of Pork Ribs
2. 1 Wongbok (Cut into big slices)
3. 1 Fish Maw (Approx 20cm x 8cm) (Washed)
4. 1/2 Big Can of Button Mushroom (approx 10 button mushroom - you can add more or less)
5. 10 Fishball (you can add more or less) 
6. Meat Ball (Optional)
7. Light Soya Sauce

Steps

1. Boil Pork Ribs for a few minutes and drain it
2. Put Pork Ribs into 1.5 litres of water
3. Add Wongbok and Fish Maw 
4. Boils it for 30 minutes and turn to slow heat for at least another 45 to 60 minutes
5. Add Button Mushroom and Fishballs and boil for another 10 minutes before serving

Add Salts or Light Soya Sauce to taste.

Serve while Hot!

Good to go with Rice and another 2 to 3 more Chinese Dishes.

[Guest Post] Healthy Trail Mix Snack Recipe by Kodjo Hounnake

If you love snack like I do, you want to make sure to avoid sugar-rich treats such as muffins, candies, or unhealthy carbohydrate-laden potato chips. Instead, you can make your own healthy trail mix snack recipe. When you make your own trail mix snack recipe, you have the ability to select healthy ingredients. Once you have the ingredients, the trail mix snack recipe can be put together in less than 2 minutes.

When you eat at least 4 to 5 small meals per day, you need very healthy snacks between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and dinner. The trail mix snack is appropriate to eat between lunch and dinner.

In today’s fast pace world, it is very easy to make unhealthy food choices when you are on the go. You have to resist the temptation of eating sugar-rich treats such as muffins, candies and chocolate. Eating healthy snacks will ensure to keep your weight under control.

The trail mix snack recipe I am showing you today is very healthy, because it is rich in antioxidants. As you may know, antioxidants promote good health as they help avoid diseases. More specifically, antioxidants help slow down the oxidation of cells in our body. When cells oxidize, they generate free radicals, which are also known as cellular bi-products. It is perfectly safe to have a manageable amount of these free radicals in the body. However, when the free radicals are in excess, they can wreak havoc on our organism’s cellular apparatus.

What are free radicals?

Free radicals foster a destructive process within our cells, making these cells unstable. In some cases, free radicals play a big role in the formation of cancerous cells. The oxidative damage of the cells contribute to many diseases such as muscle and tissue degeneration, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc.

If you want to expose yourself to more antioxidants, you need to incorporate fruits and vegetables in your diet. By increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables, you help reduce your chances of suffering from a heart disease or cancer.

The antioxidant-rich trail mix snack contains a wide variety of fruits that are rich in common antioxidants such as beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, alpha lipoic, selenium, and melatonin. Beside the trail mix snack, cranberry sauce is also rich in antioxidants. The recipe for a homemade cranberry sauce is also easy to follow.

Ingredients for the healthy trail mix snack recipe

-Sesame seeds and almonds
-Dried mangoes
-Sesame sticks
-Antioxidant fusion: goji berries, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries and raisins
-Dried peaches
-Dried pineapples

Directions for the healthy trail mix snack recipe

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, and store in an airtight container such as a resalable plastic bag.

Author Bio: Kodjo is a home fitness enthusiast who believes the average person can get and remain in great shape right at home. You do not need expensive gym equipment to achieve the body of your dreams. Your body weight is sufficient enough. See the hundreds of home workout videos and health tips on my home fitness blog

Cucumber with Olive Oil and Garlic Sauce

Cucumber with Olive Oil and Garlic Sauce

If you don't like to eat fresh cucumber, this recipe give you another perspective to savour cucumber.

This dish looks simple but there are more steps than normal stir-fry as I steamed the cucumber to soften it before pan-fry to obtain a "grilled" type of texture. I have added worchestershire and red cooking wine to add on more flavors to the cucumber. If you prefer the cucumber to be more crunchy, shorten the time of steaming or just pan-fry it longer.

It can be served as a Chinese dish or a Western appetizer or as a side.

Ingredients

1. 300g of Cucumber (Deseed and cut into stem look alike)
2. 1 tablespoon of Garlic (Chopped)
3. 2 teaspoon of Red Cooking Wine (eg. Brand Virginia Dare)
4. 2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
5. Salt
6. 2 tablespoon of Olive Oil

Preparation

1. Place Cucumber in steam-proof container, sprinkle Salt on it and steam for approx 10 minutes to soften the cucumber
2. Dry the Cucumber with Paper Towel

Steps

1. Add 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil in hot pan
2. Pan-fry Cucumber for approx 1 minutes, scoop it out and place it aside for later use
3. Add 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil in hot pan
4. Add Garlic and stir-fry for approx 1 minutes (before it turn brown)
5. Turn to low heat
6. Add Worcestershire Sauce and Red Cooking Wine and stir to mix well
7. Pour Sauce over the Cucumber or you can turn off heat and add cucumber into pan to stir to mix well

Serve while Hot or Cold.

Good as a Side or Appetizer to go with a Main Course, or as a Finger Food in a party!

Chinese New Year Reunion Steamboat Dinner

This year is the first time when I have my steamboat dinner at my new house with my boyfriend. Initially this is not planned as we do not want to buy a steamboat pot as it take up too much space in our tiny kitchen. But when we are shopping at Fairprice to stock up some grocery before Chinese New Year, we saw this mini steamboat pot that is deep enough, but yet, it does not take up much space. In addition, it comes with grilling pan too. Hence, we decided that we should have steamboat this year or as and when we feel like eating steamboat. =) 

We are seafood lovers, hence, our steamboat ingredients don't come with a large variety, but rather, food that we like to eat. Hence, you will see that majority of the ingredients comprises of seafood. We have Scallops, Prawns, Abalone, Baby Clams, Beef, Baby Kailan, Dried Chinese Mushroom, White Beancurd, Button Mushroom, Tomatoes, and the most importantly, the soup for the steamboat - Bai Cai Soup (Wongbok Soup) - some refer it as Chinese Cabbage.

I have mentioned before how much I love this soup in the previous post on Chinese Wongbok (China Cabbage, Bai Cai) Soup (a simplified version) and Chinese Wongbok, Fish Maw, Fishball and Button Mushroom (a tastier version with more ingredients) as this soup has been a "tradition" in my family to have it for our steamboat reunion dinner.

Steamboat can be very easy to prepare, but for some, it may be harder as some families prefer to have a lot of homemade ingredients. eg. dumpling etc. For mine, it inclined towards the easy preparation as all you need is the raw ingredients, slices the meat and place it nicely on the plate. =)

P.S. The ingredients from the photo is for 2 pax.

Chinese New Year Recommendation

Just an hour ago, one of my secondary classmates, Geraldine, prompted me on MSN, asking if I have any recipes recommendation for Chinese New Year. Hence, I decided that I should write a post on some recipes from Shan's Recipes that will be suitable for Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner. Thanks Gerli for the inspiration!

It is quite tricky to choose from my list of recipes as most of them are very simple homecooked food. But, I still managed to find a few choices that I think that it will look great and taste good for a warm and cosy Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner.

I have chosen 1 soup, 4 dishes and 1 main course, good for a family of 4 to 6 person. For smaller family, you can choose 3 dishes instead of 4. 

My selection are:

Chinese Wongbok (China Cabbage, Bai Cai) Soup (Simplified Version)

Chinese Wongbok (Cabbage), Fishball, Fish Maw Soup (Full Version, better taste)

The reason for choosing this soup is because this is a Chinese New Year soup to me, at least. Every year, without fail, my mum will cook this soup for Chinese New Year, be it as a steamboat soup base or simply a bowl of soup on the dining table. Chinese Wongbok (China Cabbage, Bai Cai) Soup has always be my favorite soup and can never be replaced. You can add fish maw and some fishballs into the soup for a better taste - Chinese Wongbok (Cabbage), Fishball, Fish Maw Soup.

Chinese New Year, without fail, it's all about a big feast with the few commonly found "Chinese New Year" ingredients, like, Prawns, Abalone, Scallops, Chinese Mushroom, Dried Oysters and hence, this give me the thoughts that the following dishes will be great to be serve on that warmly night.

Braised Chicken with Dried Oyster and Mushroom

Scallops with Bean Vermicelli (Glass Noodle)

Stir-fry Prawns with Oyster Sauce and Black Pepper

The following 2 dishes are my vegetable selections. For people who do not like broccolli, you can choose baby kai lan. Add slices of Abalone to make it a wonderful Chinese New Year dish! =)

Stir-fry Broccolli and Scallops with Garlic

Stir-fry Baby Kai lan with Garlic (Qing Cao)

For families who prefer a main course than rice, I will recommend Ee  Fu Mian!

 Braised Ee Fu Mian (Noodle) with Chinese Mushroom

 The above are my selections, hope that it is close to your liking! =)

[Guest Post] Some Splendid Seafood Option to Consider by Mark

As soon as we are reminded of seafood, the options that come first in our mind are crabs, shrimps and lobsters. These delectable cuisines can make a perfect candle light dinner menu. Crab cakes are extremely delicious that can be served as appetizers or main course. You can either serve them on platter or can them for the purpose of stuffing your sandwiches or hamburger bun. The crab cakes have a traditional association with the Chesapeake Bay, the state of Maryland and the city of Baltimore.

Crab cakes are made with crab meat, bread crump, mustard sauce, mayonnaise, eggs, parsley, onions and few other seasonings. Though first introduced in UK, crab cake has emerged to be a very famous American recipe. Crab cakes these days are categorized as boardwalk style and restaurant style. Most importantly, these can be baked or fried so as to suit your taste. White crab meat or brown crab meat can be used to make these cakes. The meat of blue crabs which is the native habitat of the Chesapeake Bay is considered to be the best.

Maine lobster is one of the finest lobsters of the world found on the Atlantic coast of North America. This special lobster which once considered as poor man’s food has earned today a special position in the world of cuisines today. Every year in Downtown Rockland Maine in Harbor Park, the Maine lobster festival is being organized.

With the help of Maine lobster, you can go for a wide range of recipes. These recipes can be baked, stir fried, grilled, steamed, stuffed or used as fillings for rolls. In fact, the lobster shells can be boiled and the stock can be used to aromatize seafood soup stews and bisques. 

[Guest Post] Saving Money on the Cookware You Need by Troy Redington

Stocking your kitchen with quality cookware can be expensive and confusing. There are several different sizes, types, and materials used in cookware. Why has Alton Brown never done an episode of Good Eats about this?

Cookware Sets - This is often the easy way out, use a Kohl's coupon and simply go buy a complete set of your favorite TV chef's cookware. The quality is typically good and the cost per piece is typically fair; However if you're not careful, you'll end up with excessive pieces of cookware that you'll rarely use. Pick up a smaller set consisting of only sauce pans, frying pans, and stock pots, or better yet - save money AND cabinet space by buying only the pans you need individually.

A three or four piece set will usually suffice, but you'll still need a good non-stick pan for eggs, fish, and those other delicate stick-prone foods. Avoid complete sets of nonstick, the surface will not last and you'll have to replace the entire set instead of just a single pan.

10 inch nonstick skillet - Nonstick and teflon are a touchy subject for some. If you use it properly, take care of it, and throw it away when it starts to go bad - everything will be fine. I find that GFS or your local restaurant supply store carry pretty good nonstick skillets for cheap. I also LOVE the ones from IKEA (KAVALKAD is the product name). I use the 10" because 12" is too big for omelets. To make your pan last longer, don't use it over high heat. Never heat it completely empty - spray some Pam in there first (or oil/butter it). [Read: Caring for nonstick] Replace the pan when the nonstick finish starts to bubble and chip. Also, don't use metal utensils on these pans! My IKEA nonstick pans have lasted me 2 years. Not bad for a $9 pan.

12 inch frying pan w/lid - I went with hard anodized aluminum for this. I use it for pan frying, sauce making, and braising. I found a Calphalon Commercial version on Amazon for a great price (I paid $40). It's oven safe and it works great. I've even used it on my grill.

Stockpot - Pick a stock pot that is big enough for the biggest group of people you expect to cook for. A 6qt pot will be fine for a family of 4, but if you ever plan to boil a bigger batch of corn or mashed potatoes you'll need something bigger anyway. I advise a 12 or 16 quart stainless steel stockpot. Pick one that is easy to handle and easy to store.

Saucepans - Figure out what you really need. Up until recently, I only ever needed a single sauce pan. I'd use it for making mashed potatoes (instant) or stuffing (instant) or oatmeal (not instant). As my culinary skills advanced, I found myself needing and using a 2nd smaller sauce pan. If you only need one - just buy one. If you know you'll often need two - it might be worth trying to find a set with a matching stock pot and frying pan.

Cast Iron - I'm still a cast iron rookie, but here's what I've learned. The best cast iron pans are made by companies that aren't in business anymore. You can buy old ones on ebay or find them at flea markets. Lodge still makes and sells them - and they're great pans - but they're not as smooth as the old Griswald and Wagner brand pans. I'm OK with that, and I've found that the best prices on Lodge brand cast iron pans can be found locally at hardware stores. I have no idea how hardware stores can offer these pans at a discount, but it saves a lot not having to ship that heavy cast iron.

Don't confuse 'saving money' with 'buying the cheapest.' Replacing crappy cheap pans every two or three years is more expensive than buying quality pans that will last decades.

Guest author Troy Redington has a passion for food and grilling. He blogs about his cooking adventures at MeatNinja.com.

Taiwan Sesame Oil Chicken Mee Sua with Chinese Herbs

Taiwan Sesame Oil Chicken with Mee Sua

Taiwan Sesame Oil Chicken

Mee Sua with Sesame Oil Chicken Broth

Early this year, I went to Taiwan for a 11 days free and easy tour. I have tried a lot of food over there and Sesame Oil Chicken Mee Sua is one of the food that I have tried in Taiwan that I cannot forget the taste. Hence, I took the chance to experience to cook this dish based on my memory of the taste. This is the 1st time I tried and it really taste not bad. This recipe is catered for mee sua hence it may not taste as good if it is to go with rice. The best way to eat this dish is to scoop some chicken broth into the mee sua to savour the taste of the sesame oil chicken broth mee sua.

Ingredients (Serve 2 pax)

1. 6 rolls of Mee Sua
2. 1/3 Chicken (Cut into small pieces)
3. 1 Litre of Water
4. 6 Slices of Ginger (Peeled)
5. 250 ml of Hua Diao Jiu/ Chinese Rice Wine
6. 120 ml of Sesame Oil
7. 4 Medium Red Dates (Washed)
8. 4 pieces of Dan Gui (Washed)
9. 2 pieces of Dang Shen(Codonopsis Root) - (Washed)
10. 4 pieces of Yu Zhu(Solomon's Seal Rhizome) - (Washed)
11. 2 tablespoon of Gou Qi Zi(Wolfberry) - (Washed)
12. 1/2 teaspoon of Salt

Steps

1. Add Water in pot and Boil Chicken for approx 15 minutes. Turn off heat. Take out the Chicken, leave it aside. Scoop up approx 3/4 Chicken Broth in a bowl and leave the remaining in the pot.
2. Add 80 ml of Sesame Oil in hot pan
3. When Sesame Oil is hot, Add Ginger and fry until fragrant
4. Add Chicken and stir-fry for approx 2 minutes
5. Add Ingredients 7 to 10 and stir-fry for approx 1 minutes
6. Lower to medium heat, add Rice Wine, 3/4 Chicken Broth (from step 1), 40 ml of Sesame Oil and stir to mix well. Once boiling, add Wolfberry and turn to low heat. Cover the pan and simmer for approx 10 minutes. Add Salt and stir to mix well. Serve in a big bowl.
7. Turn on heat to boil the remaining Chicken Broth in the pot (from step 1). Once boiling, add Mee Sua and cook for approx 2 minutes. Once soften to your liking, turn off heat.
8. Drain Mee Sua and serve in a small bowl

Serve and eat while Hot as the Sesame Oil Chicken Broth may taste bitter once it is cold.

[Guest Post] Barbecue Chicken Pizza by LowCountry Barbecue

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

Barbecue Chicken Pizza Recipe (makes one 12-inch pizza)

Ingredients

1. 1 pre-baked pizza crust
2. ¾ cup favorite barbecue sauce
3. 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cooked and shredded – about 1 ½ cups)
4. ½ cup sliced red onion
5. 2 cups shredded cheese (Monterey jack, parmesan, or mozzarella)
6. Cilantro (chopped) – optional

Steps

Preheat over or grill to 400°.

*If your pizza dough/crust comes with specific instructions before placing any sauce or toppings on it, follow those directions first.

Spread ¼ cup of the barbecue sauce evenly over pizza crust leaving about 1 inch of dough around edges uncovered. 

Next, in a medium bowl, combine shredded chicken, red onion, and remaining barbecue sauce.  Toss just until chicken is covered in the barbecue sauce.  Spread over pizza crust.  Cover with shredded cheese.

Bake or grill for approximately 15-20 minutes or until cheese starts to get bubbly.  If grilling the pizza, make sure to cook over an indirect heat source so the bottom of your pizza doesn’t get charred.

When ready, remove from oven and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.  Cut into pieces and ENJOY!

This article was written exclusively for shanrecipes.blogspot.com by LowCountry Barbecue, proud to be a leading Atlanta caterer for over 25 years.  LowCountry Barbecue takes Atlanta catering to the next level for families and businesses, big or small; no occasion is too small and no party is too much.

[Guest Post] Caramel Popcorn Recipe by Sarah Thaman

Caramel Popcorn:

I’m no pro when it comes to cooking, but I love experimenting in the kitchen and I’m not afraid to try new things. It took me two tries to get this recipe right, but the second batch turned out really well. I’ll share my mistakes so you can make it right the first time! This is a delicious classic recipe that always brings back good childhood memories for me. I’ve found this treat is especially appropriate for snuggling up in front of a movie during the cold weather months!

Here’s the recipe I used:

5 quarts popped popcorn

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

½ cup corn syrup

1 tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Place popcorn in a very large bowl. I pop my own popcorn, but after trial and error learned it’s best to work with warm popcorn, so I put it in a large deep pan and kept it warm in the oven while I worked on the caramel.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat. *Be careful, the caramel is extremely hot and will give nasty burns!
3. Place in two large shallow baking dishes and bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.            

   

Tips:

1. It’s important to separate the seeds from the popped popcorn because if you leave them in the batch, the caramel will adhere it to the popcorn and you’ll bite down on an unpleasant kernel!
2. I altered the original recipe a tad, and when it came to the oven temp I found the caramel burnt when the heat was turned up to 250 degrees F. I don’t know if that had to do with my oven, or what, but after some research it seemed to be a fairly common issue.
3. Having an extra set of hands is helpful when pouring the caramel over the popcorn. My pans are pretty heavy and I had my husband pour while I used a large spoon to sift through the popcorn and cover it thoroughly. The caramel hardens/cools pretty quickly so I wanted it to be mixed well.

Author Bio: Sarah Thaman usually writes about handbags in her day job at Handbag Heaven, but her affinity towards anything food related has bred a love for cooking. She says she wouldn’t brag about her amazing abilities in the kitchen, but she certainly knows what tastes good and what’s easy! When she's not cooking with her husband, she spends her time accessorizing with designer inspired handbags and soaking up lots of Giada at Home on the food network!

Pick of December 2011

Time fly pass so fast and we are in a new year ahead, 2012, and Shan's Recipes is officially 5 month old! =) I am glad that I managed to sustain this blog by regularly posting recipes that I have experimented. 2012 will be a new year of challenges for me, and I forsee that I will not be able to post as regularly as before. But I will still try my best to upkeep as much as possible. Thanks to all who are continuously supporting my interest in cooking!

This post is to pick my recommendation for the month of December.  

Below is the list of recipes I have contributed for December:

Baked Salmon with Garlic and Parsley

Cereal Prawns (Simplifed Version)

Stir-fry Baby Kailan with Garlic (Qing Cao)

Grilled Portobello Mushroom with Garlic, Butter an...

Stir-fry Sesame Oil Chicken with Ginger and Garlic...

Braised Ee Fu Mian Noodle with Chinese Mushrooms (...

My recommendation is.... Braised Ee Fu Mian with Chinese Mushroom! Simply love this dish. I hope you will like it too! =)

Braised Ee-fu Mian (Noodle) with Chinese Mushroom

Dried Mee Siam - 1st try

Dried Mee Siam

It is easy to find a plate of Mee Siam with gravy anywhere in Singapore, but to find a plate of Dried Mee Siam, you really have to search high and low for it.

It has been sometimes since I have eaten Dried Mee Siam and I really craved for it. hence, I googled on the recipe. I got this recipe from RasaMalaysia blog and decided to give it a try.

My 1st try doesn't really work well, though from the photo, it does look like a Dried Mee Siam but the taste is just not right. It does not taste bad, but it does not taste too close to Mee Siam. I guess I have to adjust some of the ingredients on my next try!

This recipe is taken from Rasa Malaysia.

Ingredients:
12 oz vermicelli (rice sticks)
12 oz bean sprouts - I didn't add any
12 shrimps (shelled and deveined)
4 oz chicken (cut into thin strips) - I didn't add any
3 pieces fried bean curd/firm tofu (cut into pieces)
3 stalks Chinese chives (chopped into 1-inch length) - I didn't add any
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt to taste
Soy sauce or fish sauce to taste
3 tablespoons oil

Spice Paste:
4 red chilies
5 shallots
5 garlic
2 tablespoons taucheo (fermented yellow bean sauce)

Garnish:
2 eggs (lightly beaten, seasoned with a pinch of salt)
2 stalks scallions (chopped into 1/2-inch length)
2 limes (cut into wedges)
1 red chili (thinly sliced)

Steps:
1. Soak the vermicelli in warm water for about 30 minutes or until they turn soft. Drain and set aside.

2. Using a food processor, grind the spice paste and set aside.

3. Heat up a wok with some oil and make the beaten eggs into an omelet. Fold and slice the omelet thinly. Set aside.

4. Heat up the wok and add 3 tablespoons of oil. Once the oil is heated. fry the spice paste until aromatic and the oil separates.

5. Add shrimps and chicken, stir-frying until half done, then add the fried tofu pieces.

6. Add the vermicelli and keep stirring until the the spice paste has spread evenly. Add sugar and salt to taste, follow by bean sprouts and chives. Continue to stir-fry until the vegetables are cooked. Taste and adjust the seasoning by adding more salt or sugar to taste.

7. If the noodles taste bland, add a little soy sauce / fish sauce to taste.

8. Transfer the Mee Siam onto a big serving bowl and garnish with the omelette strips, chopped scallions, chili and lime wedges. Serve immediately.