Stir Fried Sweet Potato Starch Noodle

Made with 100% sweet potato starch, it is a Korean style noodle, usually used in making a Korean dish called Japchae. I like the texture of this noodle and have been buying it to stir-fry. I still season it with the Korean flavor because I think it is most suitable for this type of noodle. Why change the tradition right? But I did use the ingredients I have in the house for this. I just soaked the noodle with warm water until soften, drained and finished it in the wok with other stir-fried ingredients. I didn't pre-cook the noodle first.

Deep Fried Shrimp Wontan

I happen to have some wontan skin in the freezer and also I haven't done any deep-fry food for awhile, so I thought I would give my girls some deep-fry treat. They loved crispy and crunchy food but I have cut down a lot of deep-fry food. So, whenever Evy asked for it, I will make them the healthy crunchy baked chicken strips or baked crunchy fish fillets. They all loved it and I can provide the crunch without the oil.

The idea of this dish came along from food bloggers who used the whole shrimp instead of minced shrimps with pork as filling. I added onion and carrot just because I always wanted to have some veggies in my cooking. By doing it this way, my girls tend to eat the onion too. Otherwise, they would just picked out the onion and put it on the side of their plates. No matter how I stress that onion (or ginger, or bell pepper) is good for their bodies, it just went it one ear and out the next. *sigh*

Special Fried Eggs

Why is this fried eggs so special? Because I added black sesame seeds in it! Sesame seed has antioxidant and anti-cancer properties and rich in iron, magnesium, copper, calcium, manganese and contains vitamin B1 and E. It is pretty hard to incorporate sesame seeds into our diet unless we use sesame oil frequently or eat cookies or bread made with sesame seeds. So, one day when preparing my beaten eggs for stir-fried, I saw my bottle of black sesame seeds in the cabinet and thought why not. I could hardly taste the sesame seeds at all, so my girls ate it with no problem. Well, unless of course you have an allergy reaction towards sesame seeds, this will be another way to consume sesame seeds.

Evy had some sort of reaction like swelling of eyelid, face and lips and hives on her body. We took her to her pediatrician and he said it was an allergic reaction. Now I am wondering whether it is the sesame seeds. Since she started having diarrhea after consuming some toasted sesame seeds noodle, but what strange was she had sesame seeds cookies, sesame chicken, sesame seeds oil cooking before and never encountered any allergic reaction. After two days of observation, I finally discovered the cause, and it was the new non-stick pan that I bought. Now, it's all fell into pieces as she started having diarrhea when I started using the new pan. After that, she started having hives and swollen lip, etc. I gave her the allergy medicine and it was all gone, she was having the sesame chicken and peanut butter & jam bread with no problem. And then, after she had some fried eggs cooked with the new pan, her condition resurfaced. So, that was how I found out it was the new non-stick pan, otherwise, I would not have thought of this. As this is the only new thing that I bought recently and used. So now, back to my good old wok. At the mean time, also wondering what's in the new non-stick coating that made her have such an allergic reaction.

Green Tea Buns with Green Tea Crusted Topping

My twist on Rotiboy (or Mexican Buns)! Instead of the coffee flavored that we have known and loved, I made it into green tea flavored. As my readers know, I love green tea powder or matcha and I had done some baking based on it as well. This recipe came about while I was looking at my previous Rotiboy's post, I thought of this idea, why not experiment it in a different flavor and green tea just stood out. So, I have this recipe in file for me to try for months, but just never gotten to really make it (blame my laziness). I finally made it today because my store-bought bread is running low and I am short of posts to post in my blog. So, that did it, I had to take my breadmaker out and start working. :P

These green tea buns came out so good, soft and fluffy (it even left a dent when my fingers picked out the buns to cool) with the crusty sweet topping that I loved. Simply delicious! If you love green tea, you should give this bun a try! I will certainly make more of this. :)


Resting and proving until double in size.


Then, pipe the topping into spiral on top of each bun.


Add a little black sesame seeds in the center of each bun.


Like this! Don't spread the sesame seeds all over, just place it in the center as the topping will spread out when baking.

Stir Fried Imitation Sea Cucumber

I saw this dish featured on CCTV4 recently and though what an interesting idea. I never buy sea cucumber before, love to eat it but have no clue how to handle it. Another reason of not buying is my hubby doesn't like it. So, when I saw this imitation sea cucumber made using the seaweed, I was intriguing and wanted to try it. Well, I supposed to shape it into an oblong shape to resemble the sea cucumber but I did not bother. This Chinese food series named Everyday Food does not come with measurement, they cooked with feel like every Chinese cook. So, I tried my best to recreate the dish. It tasted pretty good, the deep-fried ones are crispy and good on it's own. The sauteed one was kind of chewy, just different.


The batter ready to deep-fry. I really not sure whether I should add more flour in it or not since that cook seem to be able to shape it into an oblong shape with this batter. Hmmm...


The finished deep-fried imitation sea cucumber.

Kailan with Tofu

Another easy home cook meal from me. I tried Chai Hsin with tofu before and really liked it, so decided to stir-fry it with kailan this time. It turned out very good too. I guess now I can stir-fry the tofu with various kind of different Chinese greens and can come out with a healthy and delicious dish that good eaten with rice. What best is you only need oyster sauce to season it or just salt and soy sauce would do.

Ingredients:

• Chinese Kailan, washed each leaf separately and cut thinly (I only used the leaves here)
• Firmed tofu, cut like above picture
• 1 small carrot, sliced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• Oyster sauce to taste

Method:

1. In a wok, heat up with some oil. When hot, add in garlic and fry until fragrant but do not burn. Add in kailan and stir-fry well. Add in carrot and stir-fry for a minute.

2. Add in tofu, oyster sauce and a little water. Stir well to mix, be careful not to break the tofu too much. Dish out and serve hot.

Special Peanut Butter & Ketchup Noodle

I created this special noodle for our Friday noodle night. I thought ketchup and peanut butter would go well together and I was right. This noodle was delicious and it would be great if I have some beansprout to add to it. You can add more lime juice for a more sour taste and/or even sprinkle the top with toasted crushed peanuts or sesame seeds. Of course this dish is not for people with peanut allergy. I did not have a measurement for this, I just cooked with feel. Hence, only attempt this dish if you are an intermediate cook that is good at feeling it when you cook. Good Luck!

Tom Yam Kai or Tom Yam Chicken

Instead of the Tom Yam Shrimps, sometimes I would just make Tom Yam Chicken. With the availability of Tom Yam paste in most Asian stores, this dish is easy to whip up. A fast, easy and delicious dinner just a few minutes away from the pan to the table. I love the sour gravy to eat with my rice. You can also add tomatoes and fresh mushroom for more vegetable choice. I omitted the bird-eye chili (Thai's chili) here in consideration for my girls. Before that, I would dump lots of bird-eye chilies for the spicy and sour taste. Come to think of it, I haven't really cooked a REAL spicy dish after my girls were born except those came in ready premix packets. Did you change the way you cook after your kid is born? I, for one would not cook a separate dish for them, they have to learn to eat what we eat, but I did compromise by not making it too spicy by not adding extra chili.

Marbled Banana Chocolate Cake

My need to experiment in the kitchen again. I used to make a Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread four years ago which I loved. Then, I kind of stop making it because I don't always stock up on chocolate chips. Also I rather prefer the cake texture instead of the bread texture. So, I played with the recipe and created this. I always have cocoa powder in my pantry so I used that instead of chocolate bar or chocolate chips. But I think the chocolate flavor will come out more with chocolate bar or chocolate chips instead of cocoa powder. I hardly taste the cocoa powder, this cake tasted like a banana cake with a pretty marbled effect.


See the marbled effect? They called this Zebra marbling effect.

As you can see, I tried out a new marbling effect which they called zebra. It does look a lot like zebra and very pretty. I made this cake to have for breakfast and afternoon snack so I didn't really pay a lot of attention when doing the layering. Thus, I was actually surprised that it turned out pretty good even with how careless and little care I paid on it. Hence, anyone can certainly do the zebra effect on her cake with ease.


Whole cake view from the top. See how careless I was with it, uneven striped when layering.

Iced Matcha au Lait

I always used matcha in my bakes, didn't know it can be so refreshing and tasty in a drink too, such as this iced matcha au lait recipe from matchasource.com. I was surprised at how tasty it was and my girls just drank it up especially Edda who even asked for more.

Matcha is a powdered green tea from Japan. It is naturally sugar free, rich in nutrients, anti-oxidants, fiber and chlorophyll-a renowned detoxifying agent. Matcha contains caffeine which stimulated the body and amino acids which relax the mind. Tea plants are covered with bamboo screens several weeks prior to harvest. Under the screens, plants must work harder to grow, and they increase their levels of chlorophyll and amino acids. Harvested tea leaves are then steamed, air-dried, de-veined and stone-ground into powder. Therefore, with matcha, whole tea leaves are consumed, thus the vibrant green color, and why the taste of matcha is grassy and full-bodied. I always have readers asking me where they can purchase matcha in the states. Well, you can visit matchasource.com to order, read about the traditional way of serving matcha, for more tips and browse through the recipes or interviews.

Recipe provided with courtesy from matchasource.com:

Ingredients: Serves 1

1 tsp. matcha
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup hot water
3/4 cup cold milk
3-4 ice cubes
6-inch stalk of lemon grass (I omitted this)

Method:

1. Mix the matcha with the sugar, add the hot water, and stir until the paste becomes smooth.

2. Add the cold milk and stir. Add the ice cubes.

3. Serve with the lemon grass for added flavor.

Granola Cookies

With the start of a new school year I have to prepare healthy snack for Evy to bring to school. Luckily her kindergarten is only half day so I only have to worry about her snack for now. Her school stresses on healthy snack and no soda for kids which I like. I made this cookies for her to bring to school. It has honey, raisin, dried cranberries, walnuts and oats (like ingredients for Granola) and I mixed it all and made it into cookies. My kids seem to enjoy cookies more instead of granola alone. So, this is a great choice for them.

Stewed Pork with Nam Yee

Recently I bought a small bottle of Nam Yee (fermented red bean curd) to make chicken biscuit. Besides chicken biscuit, Nam Yee can be used to make fried chicken/ wings, steamed pork ribs, "Chai Er" (a vegetarian dish which I love and would love to try) and stewed pork. Below is my version of stewed pork with Nam Yee and wood ear fungus or black fungus. The picture did not turn out too appetizing but it tasted a lot like the steamed pork ribs dish served in the Dim Sum restaurant.