Vegetarian- Cold Cucumber and Tofu (凉拌小黄瓜豆腐)

It is 45C outside, and it will continue for another 3 days....I think I will be half cooked if letting me standing outside for 10 minutes. Lucky I can work from home today. Tired about meaty meal? Lets try some simple low carb vegetarian dish. It is very simple and refreshing.

1. 1 Persian cucumber (aaprox. 160g) - unseeded, cut to strips, marinate with a dash of salt and few drop of lime juice, chilled.

2. 220g Soft/Silken Tofu - cut to aprox. 1/2" thick slices, cook in a pot of boiled water for 2~3 minutes. Drained and cooled.

3. 1/3" inch of ginger - chopped
4. 1/2 red chili - chopped

5. Seasoning sauce - mix the following ingredients in a small mixing bowl.
i) 1~2 tsp soy sauce
ii) 2 tsp drinking water
iii) 1/2 tsp sesame oil

6. Garnish with some cilantro (optional)


Assembly
1. Arrange Tofu slices and cucumber strips on a plate.
2. Mix ginger and chili into sauce # 5, then pour on top of the cucumber strips!
3. Garnish with some cilantro (optional)

ENJOY!!! and STAY COOL!... :-)

Pumpkin Congee + Stir Fried Pickled Mustard (南瓜粥配素炒酸菜)

The weather here is getting warmer. I am not feeling well, have no appetite to eat anything fancy. Since today is our vege day, I made something light and easy - pumpkin congee and kiam chai (pickled mustard). Simple delicious!



这几天气温比较高了...没什么胃口.., 既然今天是初一, 不吃肉, 就煮简单和清淡一点吧...

南瓜粥配素炒酸菜, 酸菜还蛮开胃的....我和TOM一天里面竟然把一大碗的酸菜给扫光了...呵呵..
我喜欢用南瓜来褒粥, 吃起来有点甜甜棉棉的...健康又美味!


Pumpkin congee
- 3/4 cup of rice - washed and rinsed
- 1500ml water (or as desired)
- few drops of vegetable oil
- 400 g pumpkin (with skin) - cut to approx. 2 inches cube.
- some Goji berry - optional

Steps - boil the water and rice with few drops of oil, switch to low heat and cook for 20 minutes. Add in pumpkin cubes, continue to cook for another 60~80 minutes. Add in Goji berry 10 minutes before remove from heat.

Stir fried pickled mustard.
1. 300g pickled mustard - pre-soaked in the warm water for at least 1 hour, rinsed once, cut to strips, wash again, rinse and squeeze out the excessive water.
2. Oyster mushroom - thinly sliced
3. 百页豆腐 (not sure how to call this in English) - thinly sliced
4. 3~4 chili padi or red chili - sliced
5. 1/2 inch of ginger - striped
6. 3 garlic - chopped
7. 1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
8. Some soy sauce to taste (omit if the pickled mustard is salty enough)
9. a dash of sugar
10. some green onion for garnishing
10. some water

Steps :
1. Heat and grease the pan, fragrant the ginger and garlic. Add in chili slices, quick stir for 20 seconds.
2. Add in the mushroom and tofu slices, vege. oyster sauce and some soy sauce, stir fry for 2 minutes.
3. Add in picked mustard, sprinkle some water. Stir fry for another 3~5 minutes.
4. Season with some vege. oyster sauce, dash of sugar, soy sauce (if needed).
5. Garnish with some green onion, remove from heat.

Fried Rice with Chinese Leek

Slowly...everything is getting back on track. This month is going to be an extremely busy month with parties! LOL, we have at least 5 parties to go for the next 10 days. Not sure how many more will be held until the end of the month!

As such, I won't cook too many complicated meals - got to let our stomach take a break after being stuffed with a lot of goodies from Penang and get ready for the marathon party.

Here's one of my meatless but tasty meals for our 2 vegetarian day practice every month. It is not Buddhism vegetarian, so, you will still see garlic and onion in my ingredients. For those whom just want a meatless meal, this might be one of your choices.

Ingredients :

1. 3 eggs - beat with 1~2 tbsp fresh milk or water and a dash of white pepper

2. 1/2 medium sweet onion - sliced

3. 1 stalk Chinese leek - sliced (split the white and green portion)

4. 2.5~3 cups overnight cooked rice (cooled)

5. 1 tbsp oyster sauce

6. 1 tbsp soy sauce or to taste

7. some salt to taste

8. Some water

9. some green onion or cilantro, red chili for garnishing

Steps :

1. Heat up a greased frying pan, scramble fry the beaten eggs until just cooked, remove from heat and set a side.

2. Heat up the pan again with some vegetable oil, sautee the onion slices and white portion of the Chinese leeks until fragrance.

3. Add in rice, oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt and the green portion of Chinese leek.

4. Sprinkle some water and stir fry for 3~4 minutes

5. Add in scramble egg and stir fry for another 2~3 minutes.

6. Garnish with green onion and chili slices.

7. Serve warm.

Oriental Grilled Mushroom

It looked ugly, but YUMMY! :-p

It seems like busy moment is never ending. Another week gone, and going to be end of month closing again....., I feel like time flies fast like rocket now!

Fast and easy meal is my priority now. I am still trying my best not to consume too much canned or frozen food. So, I still maintain cooking from fresh produce, but make it really simple. For example, I will marinate the meat or seafood at night, then I don't have to spend too much time on the food preparation when I'm tired from work.



This grilled mushroom was accidentally invented. I had some mushrooms sitting in the fridge needed to finish ASAP before they go bad. While I was going to grill some chicken kabob the other day, I was searching some vegetables in my fridge to put on my grill too, I found I had nothing left but just mushroom. So, I immediately marinated them with some soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and garlic, they tasted so good that was beyond my expectation, Tom even demands more.

A)
1. 230g whole mushroom - remove the stem

B)
2 cloves garlic - sliced
1/8 cup soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
few drops of sesame oil and garlic oil
a pinch of sugar
a pinch of white pepper

some pre-soaked BBQ skewer
some green onion strips and garlic slices to skew together with mushroom

1. Rub and marinate the mushroom with sauce B for 30 minutes or longer for better flavor.
2. Skew 4~5 mushroom per stick with onion strip and garlic slice as a spacer in between.
3. Grill on medium heat for 4~5 minutes each side. Brush the remain marination sauce once each side.
4. Serve warm

Pak Cheng Soup - 八珍养颜汤, 八珍面线

My friend in China is bugging me to post this recipe for her in Mandarin, as she doesn't speak English. I was thinking to take this as an excuse to skip my English lesson for one post. :-p. I thought that it might be easier for me to post this recipe in Mandarin too because it is related to Chinese medication. Anyway, I will still post bilingually.

I was suffering from the pain of PMS(Premenstrual syndrome) long time ago, my mom kept nagging me about consuming this traditional Chinese herbal medicine soup. It is to ease my pain and help to improve my blood circulation. The "Pak Cheng" prescription contains ligusticum wallici, Angelica Sinensis, Paeonia Lactielora, Glutinosa, Coponosis Tangshen....etc. You may cook this with some pork ribs or chicken. Or, you may substitute the meat with eggs too.

I bought few packs of "Yew Chian Haw" brand Pak Cheng soup ingredients from Penang. When I can't finish the whole pot of soup, I will do some creative cooking by adding the wheat flour vermicelli (mee sua), mushroom and vegetable in the soup, it becomes another yummy and healthy meal.

对许多女性来说, 经痛是个挥之不去的恶梦. 以前的我是其中之一. 比较普遍的解决方法就是吃止痛药, 可是我总是担心会有副作用.

终 于, 在妈妈一再唠叨下, 好几年前开始, 每次月事一完, 我就会自己炖一锅的八珍汤来调养身体, 这配方不但可以改善经痛的问题(当然啦, 生冷食物尽量避免), 而且对血液循环也有帮助, 让我们脸上气色比较红润. 我都是买现成包好的配方 (成份有川弓, 当归, 熟地, 防党参, 大枣等等), 特别喜欢"游建好"这品牌, 就算不加骨头,不加肉,汤喝起来也很甘醇, 不会苦. 在马来西亚的超级市场都可以买到.




我每次煮一锅, 都要分好几次才能喝完. 所以就动脑筋想到不如加点面线, 香菇, 蔬菜, 搞搞新花样, 效果还不错哦, 喜欢吃素的人可以试试看. 如果想吃荤的, 就加点排骨或鸡肉.



我个人觉得不加肉类真的蛮好喝的, 甘醇而不腻. 我都加鸡蛋 (妈妈说可以补充钙质哦) 想滋补又怕肥的朋友,不妨试试看吧.

材料:

1. 一包(120gm) "游建好" 八珍养颜汤配方
2. 2~3 个鸡蛋 (如想吃荤就以排骨或鸡肉代替)
3. 枸杞 - 随意(我自己另外加的)
4. 1000ml 水 (包装上是2000ml), 我比较喜欢浓一点的味道, 可依个人口味调整, 如果是要加面线的汤就要浓一点.

如果想加面线,另外准备以下材料:
1. 面线
2. 香菇 (先泡软)
3. 枸杞 - 少许
4. 当季蔬菜
5. 香菜(芫荽) 或芹菜少许
6. 麻油或蒜油少许
7. 绍兴酒-随意(不喜欢可以不加)
8. 盐少许


步骤 :
1. 把水烧开, 加入配方和鸡蛋, 中小火炖15分钟.
2. 把鸡蛋捞起来, 拨掉壳, 再加入汤里, 再炖多45分钟就可息火.
3. 如果只想喝汤, 不加盐也可以.


4. 如想加面线的话中途可以把一半的材料分到另外一个锅, 再加香菇和 枸杞一起煮.
5. 面线和蔬菜再另外烧水煮熟.
6. 汤煮好以后加点盐调味即可.
7. 把汤淋在面线, 撒点香菜, 滴几滴麻油或蒜油, 和绍兴酒, 又是一道美味可口的药膳面食啦!!!

Ingredients :

1. 1 pack (120gm) "Yew Chian Haw" Pak Cheng
2. 2~3 eggs (may use some pork ribs or chicken)
3. Wolfberry (lycium chinense) - optional
4. 1000ml water (instruction - 2000ml, I like stronger taste, so, you may adjust the volume to personal preference)

For adding noodle :

1. Noodle
2. Mushroom (pre-soaked)
3. Some wolfberries
4. Some vegetable
5. Some cilantro or chinese celery
6. some sesame oil or garlic oil
7. Salt to taste
8. Shao Xing wine (optional)

Steps :

1. Boil the water, add in "Yew Chian Haw" Pak Cheng ingredients and eggs.
2. Return to boil, simmer over low medium heat for 15 minutes.
3. Remove the eggs from the soup and peel the shell, then return to the soup.
4. Continue to simmer for 45 minutes.
5. Serve warm. Season with some salt if desire.

To add wheat flour vermicelli (mee sua)

1. Split the soup to 2 pots.
2. Add in mushroom and wolfberry.
3. At the meantime, cook the mee sua and vegetable in a separate pot.
4. Season the soup with some salt.
5. When serve, top few drops of sesame oil or garlic to taste.
5. Garnish with cilantro or Chinese celery



"游建好" 八珍养颜汤. 之前从PENANG带过来的, 最后一包咯....., 要空运过来咯....

Curry Potato with Paruppu and Roti Canai (short cut version)

Isn't that nice to live in a food paradise? I didn't have to think about cooking prawn noodle, laksa, roti canai (Indian paratha) on my own in Penang - I could easily get it everywhere, and they simply tasted good!

Paruppu curry (Dhal) is usually served along with roti canai in Malaysia. I always asked the boss to give me more curry gravy, and I'd eat a spoonful of the curry with every bite of my roti canai. Yummeh!!!!

I found a frozen roti canai in Asian supermarket here, and guess what?? It is made in Malaysia - Penang, Gelutong (Yay!!!), it is "Memori" brand, I strongly recommend this brand to those living out of Malaysia. It tasted the best among from other brands. Crispy and not oily.


Crispy layers of "Memori" brand roti canai.

Now I got the roti canai, but it wouldn't taste right without paruppu. The instant dhal I got from the store is the thicken version, I like a bit runny one better. So, what did I do?? It is time consuming to tenderize the dhal (the yellow split peas). So I invented a short cut version! LOL!!!

Tahdaaaah..... I cook a pot of curry potato, then mix with a pack of dhal, the gravy tasted exactly the same like the one sold at mamak stall! yay me!! yay me!!! hahahah

Here's my recipe for the curry, I cook this to serve homeless people too while I was volunteering at Tzu Chi, it is meatless meal.

1. 1tbsp garam masala (optional) - I added it for spicier and stronger taste.
2. 4 tbsp curry powder
3. 1 tbsp turmeric powder
4. 2~3 tbsp corn/vegetable oil
5. 1 large onion - squared or sliced
6. 1 stalk lemon grass (editor's note: This stuff, along with pumpkins, yam leaf plants, and winter mellons, are taking over the back yard!)
7. 8~10 curry leaves or as needed
8. 2 medium size potato (approx. 350g) - chunked
9. 1 large carrot (approx. 120g) - chunked
10. 3~4 tomatoes (approx 200g) - chunked ** add some tomato puree/sauce if you like it sour**
11. 450~500ml water
12. 1 pack of instant Dhal (Dal)
13. 30 ml coconut milk
14. Some sugar to taste
15 Some salt to taste.

Steps.
1. Mix ingredient # 1~#3 with 1/2 cup of water.
2. Grease a heated non-stick pot with oil.
3. Fragrant the onion (about 2~3 minutes)
4. Add in curry mixture # 1, lemon grass and curry leaves, stir and fragrant for about 3~5 minutes.
5. Add tomato, carrot and potato chunks, stir fry for about 3 minutes, sprinkle water if necessary.
6. Pour in water just enough to cover 90% of the potato, carrot and tomato chunks.
7. Bring to boil, simmer at low medium heat for 20 minutes.
8. Add instant dhal, tomato puree/sauce (if you like it sour) stir to mix well, simmer for another 10 minutes.
9. Add coconut milk, sugar and salt to taste. Bring to boil and remove from heat.
10. Serve with rice, noodle or roti canai.

The instant dhal (dal)


"Memori" brand roti canai, made in Penang, Malaysia. Highly reconmended

Mixed Mushrooms with Tofu in Claypot (三菇豆腐煲)

I need to get rid of my "spare tire" hanging there on my belly --> a side effect of baking and eating too much recently.

I decided to cook more vegetable and less meat (Tom can't live without meat (Editor's Note: Vegetarians are weird. Vegans doubly so.)), so I grabbed different kinds of vegetable and mushroom from the stores. Do you guys know that by consuming more fresh mushroom, your skin will be smoother? I am not sure if this works for you. I did have this experience while I was working in China few years ago. The cook in our hostel cooked at least 5~8 mushroom meals in a week.


Cute little beech mushroom!!

At that time, I was not a big fan of mushroom, but I did not have too much choices to eat. After several weeks of working there, I noticed that my skin of my arms and hands turned smoother (usually rough like sand paper.. lol), I started to cook and consume more fresh mushrooms afterward... hehehe... women --- beauty first!

You can cook this dish with any kind of fresh mushroom available. Amount of uses is adjustable to your personal liking. You don't have to serve it in a clay pot if you don't have one.

Ingredients :

1. 10 white mushroom - sliced

2. 1 stalk abalone mushroom - sliced

3. 1 small bunch of beech mushroom - separated

4. few pieces of fresh black fungus (can use pre-soaked dried black fungus too)

5. Some snow pea

6. 150g silken/soft tofu - cut to10cm thick slices

7. 3~5 cloves garlic - crushed or chopped

8. 1 tsp oyster sauce

9. Salt to taste

10. 2~3 tbsp water

11. Some Chinese celery for garnishing

1. Heat a lightly greased frying pan.

2. Brown the garlic, stir in ingredients # 1~4. cook for 2~3 minutes over high heat.

3. Add in snow pea, oyster sauce, continue to another 1~2 minutes.

4. Salt to taste, add some water if needed.

5. Transfer the mushroom to a clay pot, add in tofu, bring to boil.

6. Remove from heat, garnish with some Chinese celery when serve.

Summer Apple Salad

Hot!Hot!Hot!!!! The heat here drives me crazy!Couldn't just pack and run away from here.. lol!! It makes me just want to eat or drink something cold. Ice water, ice coffee, smoothies...! What about some chilled apple salad?? :-)



Another summer dish, chilled and refreshing. If you worry about it being fattening, use light mayonnaise (low fat), it tastes as good as normal mayo. And if you want to make your life easier, use canned or frozen corn instead of fresh corn and shuck with knife, I almost cut myself. :-p




If dried cranberries are not available, substitute it with raisins, or any dried berries or fruits you can get.

Simple and refreshing!

1. 1 Fuji red apple - cubed and soak in salt water for at least 10 minutes, drain well.
2. 1 Green apple - cubed and soak in salt water for at least 10 minutes, drain well.
3. 2/3 cup of cooled cooked sweet corn (or canned corn).
4. 1/2 finely chopped cabbage.
5. 1.5~2 tbsp light or normal mayonnaise
6. Some dried cranberries or raisins for topping.

Steps :
1. In a large mixing bowl, mix together ingredient #1~#5.
2. Chill for at least 6 hours before serve.
3. Serve cold, top with some dried cranberries.

Grilled Italian Squash and Zucchini

We have had too many heavy meals recently. I have to consume more vegetables to balance my diet, because my figure (weight) is growing!! LOL...umm, it is very hard to get the balance between good food and your body figures!

I previously didn't like Italian squash or zucchini, as I was not impressed by its taste and texture after being stir fried. I was wrong, ti shouldn't been stir fried - it tastes awesome for grilling. I learned this from our friend's gathering. Jim Wilson showed me how easy for the preparation and seasoning. I will definitely make
this again and again for our meatless meal.



Recipe & Steps :


1. 2 each Italian Squash and Zucchini - cut to about 3" strips.
2. Some Sweet Onion Slices.
3. Some red or orange pepper slices - optional, I used whole sweet peppers.
4. 1 tsp of olive oil.
5. Some parsley flakes.
6. Salt and garlic to taste.
7. Some black pepper.

Steps :

1. Preheat the grill, place a sheet of perforated heavy duty aluminum foil on the grate.
2. Rub the squash, zucchini, onion and peppers with olive oil.
3. Sprinkle some parsley, salt and garlic, toss to season evenly.
4. Grill for about 4~5 minutes with cover on, turn once or twice.
5. Sprinkle some black pepper, salt and garlic again (if needed) to taste before remove from heat.

Stir Fried Asparagus with Sambal Prawn

Another common dish in the "chu char" and seafood restaurants in Malaysia. I was convinced that asparagus is only good when used in stir fry with sambal prawn.

The western restaurants here normally serve grilled asparagus. When I first came to US, I was hesitant to try it as I didn't know how asparagus tasted without chili. When I volunteered at Tzu Chi, I got the chance to know that it can be cooked together with egg too. They actually taste good off the grill or stir fried with scrambled egg.



However, I like is stir fry asparagus with sample prawn most. I never cooked this in US before I brought my bullet blender (US version in this link - we got the one in from Malaysia with the juice attachment you can't get in the US, but it is almost the same) from Malaysia, because I was too lazy to pound the chili and the blender I got from the shop here does not cater to smaller capacity.




Tom is now doing better to handle belacan now! LOL!

Here's my recipe :

1. 350g tender asparagus - cut to approx. 3~4" strips.
2. 200g prawn - peeled and de-veined.
3. 1/2 medium size onion - sliced or cubed.
4. 1 tbsp vegetable/corn oil.
5. 2~3 tbsp water
6. Pinch of salt (optional - may not need it as the saltiness of the dried shrimp might good enough for seasoning)
7. Sambal - pound or blend together the following ingredients :
a) 5~6 red finger chilies - unseeded
b) 1.5~2 tbsp dried shrimp - washed and rinsed.
c) 2 cloves of garlic
d) 1 tsp prefried belacan


Steps :
1. In high heat, grease the pan with vegetable oil.
2. Add in onion, stir for few second, add sambal # 6, stir and cook for about 1 minutes.
3. Add prawn, cook for 30 seconds.
4. Stir in asparagus strips, cook for 4~5 minutes. Sprinkle some water if it is too dry.
5. Salt to taste (optional)
6. Serve warm with white rice.

Guacamole Salsa Dip

I never liked avocado. Didn't know how to prepare it. I have seen it been served in salad bars, but never had much because I thought it tasted bland. But I got to change my mind now. I had some tortilla chips dipped with guacamole in a pot luck party, it was tasty and refreshing, I couldn't stop eating it! LOl!!




Guacamole is an avocado based dip/sauce. Other major ingredients are lime juice, onion or garlic, and salt. Sometime, tomato cubes, cilantro, chili pepper are added to. It is really nothing complicated, you can adjust the amount of the ingredients according to you desired taste.

Here's my version of guacamole.

1. 3 ripe avocados - cut to half, remove the seed, scoop out the flesh to a mixing bowl and mash with a fork.
2. 1/4 cup tomato cubes
3. 1~2 tbsp fresh lime juice to taste
4. 3~4 cloves garlic - finely chopped
5. 1/8 cup chopped onion
6. Some cilantro (optional)
7. Some salt to taste


Steps:

1. Mix all ingredients above and refrigerate for an hour before serving.
2. Can serve with tortilla chips, cracker...etc.

I serve this with chicken fajita too, stay tuned and check it out later! :-)

Dry fried Green Bean (干扁四季豆)

Tom and Cici didn't have too much interest on having green bean before. All the while, they had the canned green bean from supermarket, they got the impression that green bean was always tasteless and soggy.

After tasted my saute green bean, they have changed their mind. Right now, it is one of the most desired dishes for our meal. :-)

Recipe and steps :

1. 350g green bean
2. 3 cloves garlic - chopped
3. 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
4. 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
5. some salt to taste.


Steps :

1. Saute the green bean in a non stick pan without oil for 8~10 minutes over medium high heat. Stir occasionally for better cook.
2. Stir the green bean to aside of the pan, add in the oil in the middle of the pan then fragrant the garlic.
3. Stir the bean and garlic together, season with oyster sauce and salt. Stir and cook for another 3~4 minutes.
4. Serve warm.

上汤菠菜 xxx Baby Spinach

I could not think of better English name for this dish?? May be call it "Thin Soup Baby Spinach"?? Sounds weird to me! LOL!!! You may help me to name it.

I had this dish at a famous Teo Chew restaurant (Bee Chin Hiang) located at Chai Leng Park 3 years ago with my colleague. Some people like it so much, some people may not. It depends on your personal taste bud. It usually consists of salty egg and century egg. Since Tom doesn't like century egg, so I omitted it.



It is a quick and easy dish, if you are a salty egg and century egg lover, you should try it.

Ingredients & Steps :

1. 200g baby spinach (may substitute with baby yam leaves - 嫩藩薯叶)
2. 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil mixed with 1/2tsp sesame oil.
3. 3 cloves garlic - minced.
4. 2~3 thin ginger slices.
5. 8g little dried fish(小鱼干/江鱼仔) - washed. (may substitute with mushroom slices if you like to make purely vegetable meal)
6. 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce.
7. 1/2 salty egg - cubed.
8. 1/2 century egg (皮蛋) - cubed. - can be omitted.
9. 80~100ml water.

Steps :

1. Grease the heated frying pan with the vegetable oil and sesame oil.
2. Saute the garlic and ginger slices until fragrant.
3. Add in dried fish and stir for 10~15 seconds.
4. Add in baby spinach and oyster sauce, stir over high heat 30~45 seconds.
5. Add in water (adjust to your preferred saltiness level), salty and century egg cubes, lightly stir to mix with well, return to boil.
6. Best served in warm.

** The longer time you cook, the saltier the soup would be, as it contains dried fish and salty egg ingredients.**

Butter Pepper Bella Cap Mushroom

Errr....wonder what is this?? Ya, it is Bella cap mushroom, not so pretty the appearance after cooked, but delicious to eat.

I didn't like mushrooms at all when I was young until my old boss sent me to China for long stay for factory support. The cook in our hostel was from mainland China, so she didn't know much about seafood and meat. So, she cooked different kinds of vegetables for our daily meals. One of her signature dishes was stir fried fresh mushroom with some Chinese celery garnish. I didn't have too many choices, so I struggled to eat some at the beginning. When I got used to the taste for this dish, I started to love mushrooms. I cooked the same thing when I went back to Malaysia. It was an oriental style recipe.

This recipe actually came from the place at which I volunteer, a simple and easy western style mushroom dish. You can try it!



Ingredients :

1. 4~5 pcs Bella Cap mushroom - cut to 1/2" strips
2. 15g Butter
3. 1/4 tsp black pepper
4. some basil leaves or parsley flakes - optional
5. Garlic & Salt to taste
6. Some green and red chili for garnishing

Steps :

1. Melt the butter in a frying pan.
2. Add in mushroom strips, stir and cook for about 4~5 minutes or until the mushroom starts to shrink.
3. Season with the rest of the ingredients, cook for another 1~2 minutes.
4. Serve warm.

Dried Shrimp Egg Plant

I think most people like eggplant but are afraid of the excessive oily cooking method, because the eggplant absorbs oil from deep frying or pan frying to soften it. I came out this recipe with an extra few minutes of cooking time, but more healthy to eat. You don't have to use too much oil in this recipe.

The ingredients are :

1. 1 medium size egg plant - slant cut to about 1/2" thick slices.




2. 1 table spoon vegetable oil
3. 1.5 table spoons dried shrimp, rinse with water
4. 2~3 cloves chopped garlic
5. 3~4 sliced chili padi (I use jalapeno as substitute)
6. 1/2 table spoon fish sauce (鱼露)
7. 1/2 table spoon oyster sauce
8. 1/2 table spoon Lee Kum Kee Hoisin Sauce
9. 1/2 table spoon soy sauce or to taste
10. 2~3 table spoon of water
11. Some red chili and green onion for garnishing
12. Pinch of sugar (optional - for those sweet fans)


Steps :

1. Heat up a non stick fry pan without oil.
2. Place the egg plant slices in the heated pan, cover with lid and cook for 2~3 minutes or until bottom part turns brown.
3. Flip over the egg plant slices, they should be slightly softened now, cook for another 2~3 minutes.
4. When both sides of the egg plant slices turn brown, remove from heat, set aside.

The following actions have to be fast.

5. Grease the pan with a table spoon of oil, lightly brown the garlic in medium heat, add in dried shrimp and jalapeno, stir and cook for 1 minute.
6. Add in the fish sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce and soy sauce. Immediately stir in the egg plant slices, cook for about 30~45 second, add in water, green onion and red chili, stir until water dries out. Serve warm.