Steamed Boneless Chicken Thighs with Cordyceps and Goji berries

I saw this recipe somewhere and decided to give it a try.   Since I have cordyceps at home and I only knew how to cook soup with it,  I was glad to have found another way of cooking it. 

I have seasoned the chicken thighs to my liking and steamed it for 25 minutes.  I was pleased as it was delicious!

Soy Glazed Potatoes

I love this soy sauce potatoes banchan or side dish that I had at the Korean restaurant so of course I have to recreate it at home.  This is the only way that I can eat until I am content as in the Korean restaurant they only gave you 4 pieces and you probably can only asked for 1free refill, my face is definitely not thick enough to ask for a second refills.  So, I love making this at home!

Since I have been making this more than once, I found an easier way to make it by using an air-fryer.  First you wash and cut the potatoes into pieces and then I coat it in oil and then I air-fry it at 400’F for 20 minutes.  Then, I stir-fry it in a pan with soy sauce, water, brown sugar, dark soy sauce, mirin and let the sauce thicken.  Lastly sprinkle with sesame seeds, mix and enjoy!

If you don’t have an air-fryer, you can do the below method.
I steamed the baby potatoes for 20 minutes first.  Then stir-fried it in oil until slightly crispy, then add soy sauce, water, brown sugar, dark soy sauce, mirin and sesame seeds.  Stir-fried until thicken and serve.

Stir-fried Soy Tofu Sheet

I love anything tofu, so when I spotted this soy tofu sheet, of course I wanted to buy and try to cook it.  I had it before at a potluck party and it left me with a good impression.  I loved the texture of this tofu sheet and loved that it kept its shape really well even when you stir-fried it. It also took on the flavor of the seasonings well.  So, here is my version and I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

1 packet of sou tofu sheet, cut into long strips and separated it.

1 medium size yellow onion, sliced

2 jalapeño, sliced into strips

2-3 stalks of green onion, cut into 2 inches length

Thumb size ginger, thinly sliced

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

Black and toasted white sesame seeds, to suit

Lao Gan Ma chili paste, or homemade chili paste. chili oil, about 2 Tbsp. or to suit

Hoisin sauce, about 2 Tbsp.

Premium dark soy sauce, 1 Tbsp.

1/2 tsp. mushroom powder, optional

Sesame oil, about 1 tsp.

1 tsp. cane sugar

Soy sauce, to taste

Method:

1.  In a hot wok, add oil.  Add aromatic, ginger, white part of the green onion, then garlic, yellow onion and jalapeño, stir-fry until fragrant.  

2.  Add the sliced soy tofu sheet, mixed well.  Add the rest of the seasonings, season to taste.  Lastly, add the green part of the green onion, mixed well.  Turn off the fire and add the sesame seeds.  Mixed and serve.  It can be served hot or cold from the refrigerator.  Enjoy!

Air-fried Ground Chicken with Portobello Mushrooms

 

I loved my air-fryers and yes I have two.  One for cooking the main dish and the other one for cooking the side dish so that my complete meal could be done around the same time.  I love to eat my food hot as you can tell.  Usually we steam this dish but I air-fry it instead.  It's quick and easy and it turned out delicious.  Please do enjoy this easy recipe using an air-fryer!  And of course you can substitute the meat with pork or beef or shrimp as well (pork mixed with shrimp sound excellent too), or any meat you desire or what you have in your refrigerator would do.  It would make such a great Chinese New Year dish or a dish to impress your friends at a potluck party!  Such a great finger food too!

Methods:

One chicken breast, ground and season with some oyster sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder and white pepper, set aside.

Around 12 or 13 organic Portobello mushrooms, take out the stems and wipe clean.

Scoop the seasoned ground chicken into the Portobello mushrooms and top each piece with a green pea for decoration.  You can use the frozen green pea or the frozen carrot for colors.

Then, place them in a layer into the air-fryer, spray with avocado oil and set the temperature to 400'F for 10 mins.

In the meantime, heat up a small saucepan with 1/2 cup of water, add 2 Tbsp. of oyster sauce and 1 Tbsp. of mirin and boil until dissolved.  Thicken the sauce with some cornstarch water (1 tsp. cornstarch plus 1 Tbsp. water).  Keep stirring until thicken, once thicken, set it aside.

Once the mushrooms are done, take it out and place on a plate and scoop the thicken sauce on top of each mushrooms.  Serve hot!

Seasoned Crispy and Fragrant Beancurd Knots or Tofu Knots

Well, I love almost all variety of tofu products.  I love beancurd knots because it holds it shape well when braising. Before this, I mostly use it in braising my soy sauce chicken or pork.  It goes well with rice with some homemade chili oil.  And then I saw a video of a different way of cooking dried beancurd roll.  I didn't have dried beancurd roll but I did have this dried beancurd knots that I could use.  Hence, here this recipe is born.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my girls and I.  Happy cooking!

Air Fried Baby Portabella Mushroom

Air fryer is a great kitchen gadget to have if you haven't owned it already.  I used it plenty often to produce an easy lunch or dinner.  It save me time and the food turned out great every time.  I would advice you to invest in one if you haven't already, or you can wait until Black Friday for the great price deal!

I wish I have asparagus, then I could throw that in and make it a more colorful and balance meal.

Air Fried Asparagus

Air-fry asparagus 400'F for 8 minutes.  Very easy and very delicious.  Spray with avocado oil and season with any spices to your liking or simply salt and pepper would do.  Enjoy!

Air Fried Chicken Tender

You can either use chicken tender or just slice the chicken breast into strips, up to you.  And then season the poultry with salt, pepper, garlic powder, rice wine and sesame oil.  Then coat with cornstarch and air-fry in an air-fryer according to its instruction.  Enjoy!

Korean Meal

I love Korean food and I always have homemade kimchi in my refrigerator. When my Korean craving hit, the above was what happened.  I already posted the above recipes in my blog before, that was how I looked for my old recipe to make this.  You can either look under Korean or just type the recipe under the Search button.  Enjoy!

Air Fried Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet potato always goes on sale during the holidays season, so I bought a few to make my sweet potato pie and air fry sweet potato fries.  I am very much prefer the sweet potato than the potato because it is healthier.  I like red potato for the baked crispy potatoes and Russet potato for smashed potatoes.  Anyway, with the air fryer, making sweet potato fries is so much easier and I have a meal ready in less than 40 minutes.

I am serving the sweet potato fries with my air fried Cornish hen and butter thyme broccoli.

Air-fried 5 Spice Tofu

This recipe popped into my mind while I was exercising on my stationary bike.  I know tofu takes the flavor of the marinade and I thought of an Asian style flavoring.  Like what if I marinate it with soy sauce and add 5 spice powder into it?  The other spices just came together while I was seasoning the tofu.

Did I mention how much I loved my air-fryer?  It just gave me so much more convenience when cooking the fried tofu.  I used to pan-fry the tofu in 2 batches and now I just threw it into the deep-fryer and it was done in 13 minutes.  How convenient is that?

Seasoned and marinated tofu cubes ready for air frying.

Thanksgiving Meal 2019

Our mini Thanksgiving meal.  My girls and I just loved the green bean casserole so we had to cook it again and this time we paired it with slow cooker turkey (I overcooked it and it turned out a bit dry and then I burnt it while I set it on broil!!! *slap face*), gravy and air-fried sweet potato tots.

Luckily my girls still like the turkey and said it was fine with the gravy.  Well, I did learn a lesson with each failure, don't ever trust the recipe completely and always check half way for sure.

My sweet potato pie from scratch!  I just can't do without it every holiday season.  A must have for my girls and I and in addition to that we also added the apple crumble pie into our tradition.  Those pies are so good homemade from scratch and it is just irresistible for us.

Air-fried Cauliflower

With the recent purchase of an Air-fryer, it is time for experimentation.  I loved the ideas of fast cooking time, easy to clean, minimum to no oil used and no smell in the kitchen.  Cauliflower was on sales at Sprouts so I bought some to cook.  It was a bit of an hassle to stir fry the cauliflower as more cutting and preparation was involved so I decided to air-fry it.  It turned out great and so easy to make and so quick to cook.  It prompted me to go to Sprouts again to buy more cauliflower!!

I paired it with chicken rendang and a delicious dinner was created.  Click next page for my recipe.

Stir-Fried Chicken with Green Beans

While I was shopping at Sprouts, I saw this beautiful green beans on sale.  I couldn't resist myself and bought some to cook this favorite dish of mine.  The trick of cooking green bean is you have to deep-fry it first, so that it would keep the crunch. 

So first, marinate the cut chicken breast with soy sauce, garlic powder, white pepper, rice wine, sesame oil and cornstarch.  Mix well and set aside.  Then, you deep-fry the green bean until it changed color, dish out and set aside.  After that, you heat up some oil in the wok, add in some diced garlic and the chicken and fry until cook through.  Add in the green beans and season with oyster sauce and premium dark soy sauce.  Mix well and serve hot on a plate.  Enjoy!

Stir-fried Black Bean Cutterfish with Celery

I loved cutterfish.  I will buy some frozen cutterfish when I am in the Asian supermarket because it is easy to defroze and it tastes really delicious.  I made this dish easily with some organic celery and the ready made bottled chili in black bean sauce and bottled hot chili paste with peanuts.  My girls enjoyed this dish too even for my younger girl who doesn't like spicy food.

Baked Crispy Potatoes

While I was browsing my Instagram, I saw a recipe of a delicious looking baked crispy potatoes that I wanted to try.  I used red potatoes and added Parmesan cheese to mine.  I paired it with baked Salmon and roasted asparagus and rainbow carrot to complete the meal.

This baked crispy potatoes was so crispy and delicious and my daughters couldn't stop raving about it and wanted me to make more.  I am going to make more for Christmas and this time pair it with brown butter chicken breast with mushrooms.  I am going to share my version of the crispy potatoes for my own record.  Try it and be amazed!

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

Just one of those days that I have to think of what to cook for dinner again.  I am switching to working part-time now so I have more times to spend with my girls as well as cook a healthier home cook meal for them.  They loved it of course because they missed it when I have no time to cook for them at all.  I miss my own cooking as well because I used all the best ingredients for my home cook meal and I know what I put in it.  Whereas, you have no idea what stuff they put in in a restaurant that served you.

Anyway,  trying out this Teriyaki sauce recipe posted by Taste and Tell.  Not bad at all.

Ground Pork with Flower Chives

During the summer break, I was given some home grown flower chives and zucchini.  The owner was sharing this method of cooking the flower chives and it sounded delicious so I was trying out her recipe.  She used the black bean sauce to cook this and since I only have the bean sauce, I used that instead.  It turned out great and it was well received by both of my girls!  As for me, I have found another way of cooking the flower chives! :)

Spicy Szechuan Fish

A co-worker gave me a packet of Szechuan fish premixed to try and told me that it was very good. As I loved spicy food and I also liked Szechuan fish, I gladly tried it at home.  Since I had some Szechuan peppers at home, I added that for the numbing effect.  I also added non-GMO tofu, organic romaine lettuce, organic portobello mushroom and some cilantro.  I used Swai for this, but you can also use Tilapia or Cod fish.  The rest I just followed the instructions at the back of the premixed packet.  Definitely very spicy and numbing, very good serving it with white Jasmine rice.  Enjoy!

Divine Portobello Mushroom

I fell in love with the Portobello Mushroom years ago when I first tasted it.  Actually I am quite intrigue with the variety of mushrooms out there and would love to try as many different variety as I could.  I cooked this mushroom very easily.  First I made a sauce for the mushroom, this sauce consists of soy sauce, sugar, mirin, white pepper and chopped garlic.

Then, I sliced the mushroom into a long strips and put it on a preheated non-stick pan without any oil. You know the mushroom is cooked when it started to soften and released the flavorful earthy mushroom sense.  Turn it over to cook the other side.  Then, spread the prepared sauce on top.  Dish out and serve on a plate.  Enjoy this flavorful treat!