Chinese Kale with Crispy Coconut Tempeh
Salad
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of Chinese kale (kai lan)
- 2 stalks of cilantro
- 3 sprigs of spring onions
- 1 carrot
- 1 small jicama
Strip the leaves of the Chinese kale. Wash and dry them thoroughly, then chop them up finely. Grate the carrot and jicama into thin strips. Slice spring onions and cilantro leaves.
Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 stalks of cilantro root, chopped finely
- 3 stalks of lemongrass, with the white bulbs chopped finely
- 2 shallots, chopped finely
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp honey
- Juice and zest of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
Mix all the dressing ingredients together. Taste and add more fish sauce, lime juice and honey if required.
Crispy Coconut Tempeh
Ingredients
- 1 packet of tempeh, cut into cubes or matchsticks
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
Heat the coconut oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the pieces of tempeh and toss/stir till golden brown and slightly crisp. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.
Spoon the dressing over the sale, toss to mix thoroughly and add crispy tempeh.
Easy Peasy Summer Pasta
Ingredients (enough for 4)
- 300 g tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 200 g mozzarella cheese, chopped up into cubes (slightly smaller than 1 cm)
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
- 1 small bunch of fresh basil, chopped finely
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 300 g of spaghetti
Method
1. Set a large pot of water to boil and add a liberal amount of salt. Once the water is boiling, add the spaghetti and stir occasionally so that it doesn't clump together.
2. Mix all the other chopped ingredients together with the olive oil, salt and black pepper.
3. Test the spaghetti for doneness (usually about 8 minutes).
4. When cooked, drain the spaghetti and add to the chopped ingredients.
5. Mix well and serve immediately.
Coconut Panacotta with Passionfruit Jelly
Ingredients (4 servings)
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 3 - 4 passionfruits
- 2 tsp powdered gelatine
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 1/2 cup cream
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 3 tsp powdered gelatine
Method
1. Scoop out the passionfruit pulp from the shells and gradually stir in the icing sugar to the mixture.
2. Dissolve 2 tsp gelatine into 1/2 cup hot water until dissolved. Add to the passionfruit mixture and pour equally into four jelly molds. Refrigerate until set.
3. In a saucepan, heat coconut milk, cream, caster sugar and 3 tsp gelatine, until sugar and gelatine are dissolved. Do not boil. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Pour mixture over set passionfruit jellies and refrigerate until set (at least 6 hours).
4. Just before serving, dip the molds quickly into a small bowl of hot water. Invert onto serving plates and serve with sliced mango.
Hainanese Chicken Chop
Ingredients (For 4)
- 4 chicken thighs, deboned
- salt and pepper to taste
- 50g plain flour
- 1 egg, beaten
- Oil for deep frying
Method
1. Clean and season chicken thighs with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Coat chicken with beaten egg and dredge in the flour. Deep fry chicken until golden brown. Dish out onto a serving plate.
Ingredients for Gravy
- 300g potato wedges
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 30g big onion wedges
- 50g tomato wedges
- salt and pepper to taste
- baked beans
Seasoning
- 40g Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
- 30g tomato ketchup
- 1/2 tsp cornflour mixed with
- 1 tbsp water
Method
1. Heat oil in a deep fryer. Deep fry the potato wedges to half cook them. Dish out and drain on paper towels.
2. In a frying pan, heat the butter and saute the minced garlic for a few seconds. Add the half-cooked potato wedges and the chicken stock. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes.
3. Add the onion and tomato wedges and stir fry for a few seconds. Add seasoning to taste and thicken gravy with the cornflour mixture. Add potato wedges to continue cooking them. Pour gravy over chicken chop and serve immediately, together with baked beans.
Fried Crab with Rice Vermicelli
Ingredients (To feed 4 hungry people)
- 4 crabs (It doesn't really matter what kind of crab. Substitute with prawns if crabs are unavailable)
- 20 gm flour (any flour will do)
- 200 gm rice vermicelli (meehoon)
- 200 gm beansprouts, washed and drained
- 100 gm dried shrimp
- 10 gm curry leaves, removed from stem
- 4 dried chillies (add more if you like the dish more spicy)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- fish or soy sauce to taste
- oil for frying
Method
Clean and cut up crabs into large pieces. Have your fish seller do this for you if you are squeamish. Pat them dry.
Heat up oil in pan. You can either use a wok or frying pan, but fill it up with 1 - 2 inches of oil.
Coat pieces of crab with flour (this is mainly to prevent the hot oil from splashing onto you) and fry them till golden brown. It doesn't matter if they're not fully cooked. They'll continue cooking when added to the rice vermicelli. Set aside.
Soak the rice vermicelli in boiling water till soft and drain.
Soak the dried shrimp in hot water and drain. Set aside.
Add 3 tablespoons of oil to pan. Add the dried shrimp, curry leaves and dried chillies and fry till fragrant.
Add the minced garlic and continue frying for 1 minute.
Add the drained, softened rice vermicelli and fry for 2 minutes.
Add oyster sauce and fish (soy) sauce, tasting the vermicelli as you go along. Don't add too much fish sauce as the crabs tend to be salty.
Add the bean sprouts and fry for 2 minutes.
Add the crabs and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.
Cover the pan and continue cooking for about 3 - 5 minutes.
Serve with cut chillies or chilli sauce, although it's perfect on its own.
Roasted Salted Cashew Nuts
Ingredients
- Nuts (raw cashews or any other nuts you want, removed from the shell and skin)
- 1 egg white
- Your choice of seasoning: salt, pepper, chilli, rosemary, whatever
Preparation
1. Pre-heat the even to 170ªC.
2. Spread the nuts over a baking tray lined with foil, making sure that they all fit in a single layer and are not overlapping. Otherwise they won't be roasted evenly.
3. Spoon a teaspoon of egg white over the nuts and spread with your fingers, making sure that every nut is coated. Add more egg white by the teaspoon if necessary, just enough to coat the nuts and not any more.
4. Sprinkle seasoning of choice and use your fingers to coat every nut.
5. Spread the nuts in the baking tray to make sure they're all in a single layer for even baking.
6. Place the baking tray in the oven and roast for 10 minutes.
7. Remove tray from the oven and use a spatula to gently break up the nuts stuck together by the egg white.
8. Spread the nuts evenly in a single layer again, and return to the oven for a further 8-10 minutes until golden brown. (Depending on what nuts you use, the cooking time may vary but just watch them as they brown in the oven.)
9. Once golden brown, remove tray from the oven to cool. Store cooled nuts in an airtight container.
Steamed Yam Cake
- 250 gm yam, cubed
- 1 Chinese sausage
- 3 mushrooms
- 40 gm dried shrimp, 30 gm dried scallops
- 200 gm rice flour mixed with 3 tsp cornstarch
- 250 ml soaked shrimp water
- 350 ml water
- 10 shallots
Seasoning
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp 5-spice powder
- 1 tbp oyster sauce
- 1 tbp soya sauce
- 1 tbp sugar
- Dash of pepper
Method
1. Chop up dried shrimp and mushrooms. Slice shallots.
2. Fry cubed yam and set aside. Sprinkle 5-spice powder.
3. Fry shallots, then add shrimp, then mushrooms.
4. Add water and seasoning. Taste and adjust accordingly.
5. Add mixture of rice flour and cornstarch mixed with some water.
6. Add yam.
7. When thickened, place mixture in steaming tray.
8. Steam for 30 - 35 minutes.
9. Garnish with fried shallots.
10. When cooled, slice and serve with chili sauce.
Mum-in-law's Chicken Soup
- 1 whole chicken or chicken pieces
- 2 long eggplants, sliced into 2-inch pieces
- Pork ribs (optional)
- A handful of dried oysters and scallops
- A handful of dried shittake mushrooms
- A head of Chinese cabbage
- Leeks (optional)
- 20 fish balls
- Fish (or soy) sauce to taste
- A dash of white pepper
Method
Pat dry the whole chicken or chicken pieces and deep fry in oil until golden brown. The chicken does not have to be cooked through.
Pat dry the eggplant and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
Add fried chicken to a pot of water, together with pork ribs and dried ingredients.
Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for at least 2 hours. Add more water to the soup if necessary.
Before serving, add the Chinese cabbage, leeks, fish balls and fried eggplant.
Add fish (or soy) sauce to taste, and a dash of pepper.
Mum's Claypot Chicken Rice
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts, cut into 2 cm pieces
- 5 - 6 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water and cut into 2 cm pieces
- 8 cm of young ginger, thinly julienned
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 - 5 3cm slices of salt fish
- 1 1/2 cups of rice
- 3 cups chicken stock (or substitute with a chicken cube dissolved in 3 cups water)
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp fish or soy sauce
- 1 tbsp cooking wine (optional)
- Cooking oil
Method
Marinate the cubed chicken in the oyster sauce, fish or soy sauce and cooking wine. Add the ginger strips to the mixture. Leave, covered for about 30 minutes.
Wash the grains of rice. Cook in a rice cooker or pot together with chicken stock and about 1 tablespoon of cooking oil.
Add a little oil to a frying pan and fry the mushrooms. Fry for about 2 minutes and remove.
Add a little oil to the frying pan and fry the salt fish till golden brown. Remove
Add 2 tablespoons of oil to frying pan and add minced garlic and chicken mixture.
After 3 minutes, add the mushrooms. Add a little water if the mixture is too dry. Taste and add more seasoning if necessary.
When the rice is cooked, add the chicken mixture to the top of the rice, as well as salt fish. Cook for a further 10 minutes.
Serve.
Home-made Pineapple Tarts
Pineapple jam
- 3 - 4 pineapples (with juice)
- 500g sugar
- 1 3" cinnamon stick
Pastry
- 570gm flour; 340gm butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- Cold water if necessary
Method
Peel and grate pineapples. Discard central stem.
Cook for 4 - 5 hrs or until all the liquid is evaporated and the pineapple mixture is the consistency of thick jam.
Cool and set aside. (This can be made beforehand and stored in a covered container in the fridge.)
?Sift flour with baking powder.
Add salt and sugar.
Add egg and vanilla.
Cut the butter into cubes and crumble into flour mixture until the consistency is sandy. Do not knead.
Roll into a ball and stand covered in a cool place for 30 mins.
Roll pineapple jam into uniform balls with wet fingers (Mine were about 8 - 9gm each).
Grease molds for tarts.
Line each mold with pastry and fill with pineapple jam.
Bake for 23 mins at 170 degrees C.
Pomelo Salad with Roast Duck
Ingredients- 1 cup roast duck meat, shredded
- 1 cup pomelo chunks (can be substituted with grapefruit)
- 1 cup roughly chopped coriander and mint (other salad leaves can be added or substituted, depending on your preference)
- 3 - 4 stalks of finely chopped lemongrass (use only the tender inner leaves)
- 3 - 4 shallots, finely sliced
- 2 tablespoons dried shrimp, toasted and chopped roughly
- 2 tablespoons cashewnuts or peanuts, toasted and chopped roughly
For the dressing- Juice of 2 limes
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar, dissolved in hot water (can be substituted with brown sugar or honey)
- 1 chilli, chopped finely (more can be added, or omitted entirely, to taste)
- A dash of peanut oil
Method
Make the dressing, and adjust accordingly to taste.
Assemble the salad ingredients, adding the dried shrimp and nuts at the last minute so they retain their crunch.
Toss with dressing and serve immediately.
Grandma's Diced Tofu with Preserved Radish
Ingredients- 200gm of preserved minced radish (choy poh)
- 200gm of salted and preserved black beans
- 200 gm of diced semi-hard tofu
- 200 gm of minced meat (pork or chicken)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 chilli, sliced
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Fish or soy sauce
Method
Soak the minced radish in water for about 10 minutes.
Drain and stir fry the radish in the wok without any oil until vegetables are dry. Remove and set aside.
Add half a cup of oil to the wok and when heated, gently fry the diced tofu until slightly golden brown. Remove and drain. Remove the remaining oil from the wok.
Heat about 3 tbsp. oil in wok, and add minced garlic and sliced chilli.
Add the black beans and fry for about 1 minute.
Add the minced meat and fry for another 3 minutes.
Add the preserved radish and tofu and continue frying, adding some water if necessary.
Season with soy or fish sauce to taste.
Serve.
Duck Soup with Salted Vegetables
- One whole duck, skinned and chopped into large pieces
- A few dried oysters (optional)
- 400 gm salted vegetables, cut into large pieces and soaked in water to reduce the saltiness
- One 2-inch knob of ginger
- 4 tomatoes
- 2 pieces of soft tofu
- Spring onions and coriander for garnish
- Fish or soy sauce and white pepper to taste
Method
Add duck pieces, dried oysters and ginger to a pot of cold water.
Bring to a boil and remove scum from top.
Turn down heat and simmer for an hour.
Add salted vegetables and continue simmering for another hour.
When duck has softened, add tomatoes and tofu.
Season to taste and serve with garnishes of spring onion and coriander.
Pomelo Salad with Roast Chicken
- 1 cup roast chicken meat, shredded
- 1 cup pomelo chunks (can be substituted with grapefruit)
- 1 cup roughly chopped coriander and mint (other salad leaves can be added or substituted, depending on your preference)
- 3 - 4 stalks of finely chopped lemongrass (use only the tender inner leaves)
- 3 - 4 shallots, finely sliced
- 2 tablespoons dried shrimp, toasted and chopped roughly
- 2 tablespoons cashewnuts or peanuts, toasted and chopped roughly
Dressing
- Juice of 2 limes
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar, dissolved in hot water (can be substituted with brown sugar or honey)
- 1 chilli, chopped finely (more can be added, or omitted entirely, to taste)
- A dash of peanut oil
Method
Make the dressing, and adjust accordingly to taste.
Assemble the salad ingredients, adding the dried shrimp and nuts at the last minute so they retain their crunch.
Toss with dressing and serve immediately.
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