Ginger-laden food always makes me all warm inside. With simple ingredients such as sesame oil, soy sauce, chicken, ginger and shiitake mushroom, easy and nutritious dish can be prepared.

Ginger is cut into matchstick shapes and stir-fry over high heat to release the flavor. All the other ingredients are then cooked over high heat to seal in the essences. Water is added midway through cooking and then braised slowly to tenderize the meat and bring everything together.

Serve with steamed rice and I assure you, it can be your favorite Chinese cooking.

Ingredients

100 grams ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks, about 1/2 cup

3 tablespoons sesame oil

250 grams chicken breast, cut into bite-sizes

3 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and cut into 2 cm-width strips

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce, mushroom flavored

1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)

2 cups warm water

Instructions

• Heat a wok over high heat for 30 seconds and toss in the ginger. Quickly cook for a minute till fragrant
• Add the sesame oil and mushroom slices, cook for a couple of minutes
• Add the rest of the ingredients and stir-fry quickly for three minutes
• Pour in the warm water and lower heat, cook and covered for 5 minutes
• Remove from heat and pour the dish into a claypot. Simmer for 45 minutes or until the liquid reduced to 1/3. Simmer in the same wok if no claypot is used

Yield 4 servings

Preparation time 10 minutes

Cooking time 1 hour

Chinese cuisine has many, many braised pork dishes. It is almost impossible to list them all out, but one of the widely loved is “Braised Pork with Soy Sauce”. The rich brown color sauce sometimes is just enough to finish up a bowl of steamed rice.

Each Chinese family has their own version of this dish. Ours are very simple to cook. I still laughed at myself how my craving for this made me googling for hours looking for the recipe because I couldn’t get my mother on the phone.

It is best cook with a claypot. It distributes heat evenly and slowly. Pork belly is marinated for a couple of hours before cooking. The garlic cloves are not peeled, but rather just pounded lightly to bruise. The skin will keep the garlic whole, that way the garlic slowly infused the dish, rather than giving out the whole garlicky flavor to it.

The second step of the cooking is braising. The slowly simmering lets it cook naturally, the meat really takes in the flavor of all ingredients. Hard-boiled eggs are added last. Constant stirring is the key, if the liquid evaporates too quickly, add more hot water.

Naturally pork belly has more fat than other part, so leaner part of the pork can be used as substitute. Using all lean meat will sometimes result in tougher dish. Use the pork belly sparingly, if you will. But the beauty of braised pork dishes is in the use of fat.

Ingredients

500 grams pork belly
1 garlic bulb
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cups hot water
3 eggs, hard boiled

Instructions

• To prepare garlic, remove cloves from the bulb. Pound on the cloves without peeling off the skin. Bruise them lightly to release the juice
• Combine all ingredients (except water) in a medium-size claypot or ceramic pot. Marinade for 2 hours
• Cook over low heat for 20 minutes or till the juice from the meat slightly dried out
• Add water and lower heat. Add boiled eggs. Amount of water added should completely cover the meat and eggs at during the final addition of water
• Simmer for 90 minutes

Cooks’ notes

Final adjustment of taste should be done on the first 20 minutes, if more soy sauce or dark soy sauce are needed

Even I hate to pick the itsy bitsy tails off, which I think is extra tedious job that nobody should be spending their time doing, I often cringe on stir-fried beansprouts dishes with the tails still attached to the sprouts. That being said, lately I kinda enjoyed doing it. Can you tell that I did? The sprouts are fluffy and clean with no tails!

I am never a big fan of beansprouts. But this easy stir-fry is so pretty and colorful. It is pretty hard to resist.

Beansprouts should not be cooked more than a couple of minutes, stir fry or blanch. One minute cooking time is perfect to get the nice color and crunch. There’s nothing sadder than a plate of over-cooked beansprouts!

Ingredients

300 grams (5 cups) beansprouts
3 red chilies, seeded and cut diagonally
3 stalks spring onion, cut 2 cm lengthwise
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil

Instructions

• Heat cooking oil in a wok over high heat for a minute
• Toss in chilies and spring onions. Cook for 30 seconds
• Add beansprouts and season with salt. Cook for another minute
• Remove from heat and serve warm

Cook’s notes

Preparation 10 minutes

Yield 2-3 servings

This pale looking tofu is quite delicious when served with chopped coriander, chili sauce and soy sauce. My mother said that our grandmother loved making these when they were young.

The tofu used is firm tofu that is cut diagonally. After removing the middle part of the tofu for the stuffing, the remaining tofu bits is smashed and mixed into the stuffing. The result is softer textured meatball-like stuffing. The high water content of the tofu really makes a difference.

Since tofu itself is quite tasteless, it is better to sprinkle some salt on it, if no dipping sauce is prepared.

One of the most important thing in preparing tofu for any kind of dish is the washing. Tofu bought from store is usually shrink-wrapped on styrofoam or plastic container. Drain the water. If the water smells, it is better to throw away the tofu. Wash the tofu thoroughly with cold water at least three times and use it immediately. If it is not to be cooked right away, store it in a clean plastic/glass container, and fill the container with clean water. Keep refrigerated. Change the water every 12 hours to keep the tofu fresh.

Ingredients

255 grams firm tofu (3 cubes, 85 grams each), cut into half diagonally
100 grams pork, minced (alternatively, chicken can be used)
1/4 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 tablespoon tapioca starch
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce
1 stalk spring onion, chopped finely

Instructions

• Make two slits on the tofu, remove as much tofu as you can in between for the stuffing. Sprinkle some salt on the tofu
• For the stuffing, combine all ingredients and the left over of the tofu scraps in a bowl and mix well
• Form a ball using two tablespoons of stuffing and carefully insert it into the tofu. Firm it up using your fingers
• Steam in a metal steamer or bamboo steamer for 15 minutes
• Serve warm with steamed rice

Cooks’ note

Preparation time 30 minutes

Yield 3 – 4 servings

I wonder if spring rolls means a taste of spring rolled in a piece of wrapper. It could be.

I personally love the simplified modern style of fried spring rolls. It is the kind that you pick up at the freezer section at supermarket. Spring rolls from the restaurants or the ready-made version from the supermarket are made using instant roll wrapper, that have to be deep fried before serving. The conveniently packed wrappers are made from wheat flour.

The Chinese hawker version is made using rice flour wrapper, which is round – something like Vietnamese spring roll wrappers, but not see-through. These are bought in the wet market and can only last two days if sealed properly and refrigerated. Not many hawkers sell these anymore, I think it is because the skin is quite difficult to make. The spring rolls made using this skin wrapper can be eaten without deep frying. And they don’t last very long. Has to be consumed within hours of making if not fried.

This Chinese-style spring rolls are called “Popiah” in our local Fujian (Hokkien) dialect and as wherever there are Fujianese, there is popiah. Slightly different variation in filling can be found in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.

So the popiah spring rolls have lettuce, stir fried jicama and carrot, stir fried bean curd and bean sprouts, deep fried pork fat, braised pork belly, omelette, and sweet golden sauce.  It does sound like a mouthful, doesn’t it? I like a lot of hot sweet sauce with it. Sometimes we got the ones with roasted peanuts.

Spring rolls, popiah or not, are spring rolls. The essence behind it is that as long as you can fold some fillings with flour-based skin wrapper, you can safely call them spring rolls. The fillings can be anything. Roast charsiu pork, chicken, vegetarian style beansprout and jicama, panfried lamb, cucumbers. Let your imagination run wild! Go crazy.

This recipe is the standard version of the kind of Popiah spring rolls made at home. Not that wild, but you’ll get the gist. Each filling can be a dish on its own. It does seem to look an awful lot of work. I was exhausted after cooking.

Ingredients

Filling 1 (pork)

500 grams pork fat
275 grams pork belly

Filling 2 (jicama and carrot)

1/4 cup cooking oil (or excess lard from the deep fried pork fat)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
250 grams french bean, sliced diagonally (0.25 cm width)
4 (250 grams) carrots, cut in thin, matchlike stick, about 3 cm long (alternatively, grate the carrots using vegetable grater or any grater with largest setting)
1 (600 grams) jicama, cut into the same size as carrots
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Filling 3 (bean sprouts and bean curd)

1/4 cup cooking oil (or excess lard from the deep fried pork fat)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
300 grams bean curd, washed, drained and cubed (0.5 cm)
250 grams beansprouts
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Skin

Lettuce, washed and dried
1 (40 sheets) kilogram popiah wrapper about 20 cm in diameter, alternatively you can use commercially packed  big-sized spring rolls wrapper

Other condiments

Red sauce (recipe below, or store-bought sweet chili sauce)
2 eggs, beaten, fried and cut finely
1/2 cup shallot flakes (recipe)

Instructions

To prepare pork belly and pork fat

• Cut the fat into 2 cm cubes and stir fry them without oil in a wok over high heat for 10 minutes. Remove from the wok when the fat has turned brown and really dried out. Soggy fat does not taste good. Drain well on paper towel and store in airtight container lined with clean paper towel to soak up additional fat. The lard on the wok can be used to replace cooking oil to stir fry other fillings, if desired

• Boil the pork belly (whole) in a pot of hot water for 10 minutes, uncovered. Remove from the pot and drain on paper towel. When cooled, trim excess fat and chop the lean meat into smaller pieces. Set aside for later use

To prepare bean sprouts and bean curd

• Heat 1/4 cup of lard (or cooking oil) in a wok for 2 minutes. Toss in beancurd cubes and cook over high heat for 3 minutes, turning slowly using a spatula

• Add garlic, bean sprouts, salt and sugar, mix well. Reduce heat and cook for another 2 minutes

• Remove from heat

To prepare carrot and jicama

• Wash grated jicama and carrot under running water for one minute. Drain well on kitchen towel. This will remove the excess starch that will make the dish sticky and soggy after cooking

• Heat oil in the wok and add garlic, stir fry till fragrant for 1 minute. Stir quickly to avoid burning. Add french beans, carrots and jicama into the wok. Cook for another 3 minutes

• Season with salt, sugar and pepper. Mix well. Reduce heat to low and cover. Leave to simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat

To prepare popiah spring rolls

• Place a piece of wrapper on clean surface. Arrange a piece of lettuce on the lower part of the wrapper and spread half teaspoon red sauce above the lettuce

• Put one tablespoon of carrot filling and bean sprouts filling each on top of lettuce, try as much as you can to only put filling without any liquid, use a small colander-shaped spoon if possible. The liquid might most likely soak into the wrapper, make it soggy and difficult to handle also most likely to break while folding. Arrange eggs on top of everything

• Sprinkle half tablespoon of boiled pork, one teaspoon crunchy pork fat and some shallot flakes

• Fold the lower part of the wrapper to fully covering the fillings and fold in both sides in. Try to fold tightly but careful not to stretch the wrapper too much. Roll the whole filling to the end of the wrapper and place them on serving plate with the end of the wrapper facing down

• Serve with extra sweet sauce

Recipe for Red Sauce

• Blend 5 chilies in a blender till smooth

• Melt four tablespoon sugar with 4 tablespoons hot water. Add 1 tablespoon vinegar,  1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

• Add the sugar mixture to the blender and process till everything mixed well. Transfer to serving bowl

Note

If using fresh spring roll wrappers, place the wrappers flat on a flat plate and cover well with damp cloth to prevent the wrappers drying out. If dried out, the rolls will easily break when used to wrap the fillings.

When store-bought spring rolls wrappers are used, the spring rolls need to be deep fried. Use white egg to seal the wrappers before frying in hot oil. It takes 3 minutes to get a nice golden brown fried rolls.

Preparation time 2 hours

Yield 40 popiah spring rolls (20 servings, two rolls per serving)

Ever been to traditional market on a hot and humid day, trying to pick out some dried salted fish? I have. Not the most cherished moment of daily grocery shopping. Trays and trays of dried salted seafood perfectly displayed on the counter, with some strange looking fishes and other sea creatures dangling on over your head. Each one of these items give up different level of pungent smelt that peaks up during hot and humid summer days. The shopping trip would almost be a torture for those who is not familiar with it. 

You may be put off by the idea of its intense saltines and pungent aroma, but once you acquired the taste for fish sauce and shrimp paste, you will develop the taste for dried seafood. Like western luxury food items such as truffle and caviar, dried seafood is often act as flavor booster. A bit will go a long way. 

Chinese and South East Asian love salting and sun-drying their seafood. It has very concentrated flavor and the aromas are so overwhelming, even for us who grew up eating it. Plenty supply of fish has prompted this practice, and the inexpensive nature of this source of protein has made dried fish humble dish for any families. 

Our grandmother had a signature dish that is well loved by all her grandchildren. She steamed the fish with pieces of pork belly with shallots and chili. One big pot can feed the whole family when served with steamed rice or porridge. Dried salted fish that is used should be from big fish, such as barramundi (ikan asin kakap), instead of smaller fish like sardines, mackerel or anchovies. This way it would not fall apart from long period of cooking time. 

Ingredients

150 gr pork belly 
150 gr salted fish, barramundi preferably 
10 shallots (70 gr)
1 clove garlic
5 red chili (20 gr), sliced
1/3 cup thai green chili (30 gr), sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce

Instructions

• Soak the fish fillet in cold water for 10 minutes to remove the excess salt and slightly rub the surface to clean it up
• Cut pork and fish into 0.5″ cubes
• In a heatproof bowl (non-metal, preferably), combine all ingredients 
• Steam over high heat for 1 hour
• Serve with warm rice or plain rice porridge

Step by step shots

Yam cake is savory steamed snacks made from taro cubes mixed together with rice flour and then served with fried shallots, scallions and other condiments such as dried shrimps or chopped chili. Yam cake (also known as taro cake) is slightly denser than radish cake which is made from shredded radish and rice flour.

In our city, yam cake is enjoyed in the morning as part of assorted savory cakes served with coffee as well as afternoon snacks served with tea. This is sold in old-style bakery or street side cake vendors. The street side vendors in particular, have wide variety of savory and sweet cakes, and I really wonder how they manage to make them fresh everyday, that must be a lot of work! It has always been a pleasant trip to shop for cakes in those stalls.

My mother makes the best yam cake (don’t we all think the same way about our mothers). She steamed them in high heat for one hour until they solidify into gelatinous mass. The secret for fresh and beautiful yam cake is to “ensemble” them right before serving. The yam cake base is steamed for a while together with the toppings. This way the greens will still be fresh and yet cooked. If it is prepared hours before serving the toppings would be unsightly, soggy and wilting.

They are a lot of work, I have to admit. But they do make the most beautiful hors d’oeuvre, don’t they? Exotic and colorful indeed. They have all the textures you would seek in a bite of cake – smooth (gelatinous rice flour), chewy (yam cubes), crunchy (from fried shallots), nutty (from sesame seeds), spicy (from chopped chili) and wonderfully pungent (from dried shrimps).

Ingredients

For cake base
500 grams char siu pork (restaurant-bought Chinese-style barbeque pork)
1 1/2 kg yam / taro, peeled and cubed (0.5″)
500 grams rice flour, soaked overnight with 2 cups of water
10 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 liters water

For toppings
100 grams dried shrimps, coarsely chopped
100 grams red chili, seeded and finely chopped
100 grams chinese celery, finely chopped
100 grams scallions, finely chopped
500 grams shallots, finely sliced and deep-fried
50 grams sesame seed, toasted
1/2 tablespoon sugar

Instructions

(A)

• Heat half of cooking oil in a wok or large pan and stir fry half of minced garlic for 4 to 5 minutes till fragrant. Then add the taro cubes, keep stirring.
• Add 2 liters of water and cook for another 10 minutes till boiling and stir continuously to prevent sticking.
• Then add the soaked rice flour and wait till boiling.
• Remove from heat and transfer to heat-proof bowl / casserole dish.
• Steam over high heat for 1 hour. Remove and set aside.

(B)

• Heat another half of cooking oil in the same pan and stir fry the rest of the garlic till fragrant, for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the dried shrimps and sugar, stir fry for 5 minutes
• Then add the barbeque pork and stir fry for another 10 minutes.
• When everything is mixed well together, remove from heat

(C)

• When ready to be served, reheat the yam cake base by steaming (A) for 10 minutes, with a covered steamer
• Sprinkle (B) generously on top of the cake. Cover and steam for another 5 minutes
• Add chopped chili on top, cover and steam for 5 minutes
• Lastly, add chopped celery and scallions. Steam for another 5 minutes
• Remove from heat
• Right before serving, top the cake with toasted sesame seeds and fried shallots

Cook’s note

The pork can be substituted with charsiu chicken (Chinese-style barbeque chicken)

To add more color on the cake base, add some finely chopped scallions during (A). I think it is quite unnecessary, but it would be quite attractive to do it.

The base can be refrigerated for days and prepared accordingly (C) and you will always get your yam cake with fresh toppings!

It has been such a long time since the last time this dish is prepared at home. One of the reasons is that my mother does not do grocery shopping herself anymore – our cook lady does. My mother is convinced that she does not know her fish, hence we don’t get to enjoy steamed fish as much as we would like.

Steaming fish gets real fancy in local Chinese cuisine when a particular type of fish is used, silver pomfret (ikan bawal putih). Silver pomfret is shaped like butterfly and V-shaped tail and flat body, a type of seawater fish, mainly found in Indian ocean. They can grow up to 4 kg, but due to overfishing, they can only be found in the market in less than 1 kg per piece. In this region, it is considered one of the most expensive fish. It is also very popular in Japan and Malaysia. Because of its high profile, naturally, the best way to serve it is by steaming – using the least amount of ingredients and seasoning possible.

Before steaming, the fish is poached in boiling water to shorten steaming time and get rid of the fishy smell. After that, it is smeared with salt and soy sauce inside out and laid on top of and covered with other ingredients. Hot water is added before steaming to make sure the fish does not dried out.

The fish is at its best when steamed with low heat and just nicely cooked. The flaky meat would then be nicely infused with chilies, garlic and ginger. Served with steamed rice and some soy sauce for dipping.

Ingredients

500 gr silver pomfret
4 (20 gr) garlic cloves, thinly sliced
40 gr ginger, cut thinly, match stick-like
15 gr thai bird’s eye chilies
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/4 cup hot water

Instructions

• Wash the fish and remove innards (if not cleaned already when you bought it). Make diagonal cuts on both sides of the fish. Pat dry
• In a large pot, boil some water. Drop the fish into the boiling water and cook for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside
• In a large plate (enough to hold the whole fish), arrange mixture of half of ginger, garlic and chilies on the plate. Place the fish on top and sprinkle some salt
• Cover the fish with the rest of the ginger, garlic and chili. Sprinkle soy sauce and sesame oil. Add hot water
• Steam the fish for 15 minutes under low heat (the water should be boiling already while starting steaming). Check whether it is done by poking the middle part of the fish with chopsticks / fork. If it flakes easily, it is done
• Garnish with some chopped coriander and serve with steamed rice

Cook’s note

Some Shaoxiang wine would spice it up enormously.

The green chili is only to add some flavor, the fish won’t be spicy.

Step by step shots

My mother loves to cook sweet and sour prawn. She would like to think this is her signature dish. I love it too. Anything with sweet and sour sauce is always pretty special, isn’t it? It normally serves as one plate dish, since prawn is always something fancy. No idea why they are expensive here. 

Other substitutes like fish cutlets, whole fried fish, chicken breast can also be used with the sauce. She loves doing everything from scratch. If it were up to me, I would have definitely used instant sweet and sour sauce straight from the jar. 

She always leaves the shell on and deep fry the prawns before cooking. I personally like to shell the prawn, cut out the vein and slit the back so they open up like butterflies. Then tossing them straight into the hot wok. 

I am so loving this dish.

Another note on food photography, I had been not careful these days. Most shots were over-exposed. Will keep in mind next time to use polarizer filter or difuse light with something. Plus I was not feeling particularly creative. Need something to booze up the creative juice. Enough with the white background(!) It’s boring (!)

Ingredients

1/8 (225 gr) fresh pineapple, cubed (or canned)

1 (175 gr) cucumber, seeded and cut diagonally

1 (125 gr) carrot, cut into match sticks

1 leek, cut diagonally 

2 red chili, slice diagonally

600 gr prawn (with shells on)

2 tablespoons sugar + 2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt + 3 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

1 stalk celery, cut diagonally

2 cm (1″) ginger, mashed

3 cloves shallot

1 clove garlic

2 cups cooking oil for deep frying 

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1 cup water

Instructions 

• Peel and cut pineapple into 1″ cubes. Cook in boiling water with sugar for 2 minutes. Drain and pat dry. If canned pineapple is used, cut into cubes and skip this step. They are ready to be used
• In a clean plate, mix cucumber and carrots with 1 tablespoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon vinegar and 2 teaspoons salt. Leave for 15 minutes and drain by squeezing them till the water comes out. Set aside
• Heat 2 cups cooking oil in a wok / deep frying pan over high heat. When smoke starts to come off the wok, deep fry the prawns for 5 – 7 minutes. Remove and pat dry with clean paper towel. Drain the oil from the wok. Reserve 1/2 cup oil in the wok
• Heat remaining oil over high heat and add ginger, leek, celery and chili. Stir fry for 2 minutes until all flavors are released
• Add carrot and cucumber, pineapple cubes, tomato sauce, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 cup water. Cook for another 3 minutes
• Dilute 1 tablespoon tapioca starch with 1/2 tablespoon cold water. Add 1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce. Add the liquid into the wok. Mix well
• Toss in the prawn. Cook for 3 minutes or less, till the sauce thickens. If thinner sauce is preferred, more water can be added
• Serve with steamed rice or egg noodles

 
I am a guest writer at Delicious Asian Food this week. It is the site that has inspired me to start my own cooking blog. It has a great collection of delicious Asian food recipes – from stir fry to soup, pork to seafood. If you are looking for a particular Asian food recipe, Delicious Asian Food would most probably have it. 

If you are interested in my recipe of pork, soy sauce and potatoes – a signature dish of my mother, check it out at Delicious Asian Food