Monday, February 16, 2009
Stir-fried Gai Choy/Asian Mustard Green
I decided to try stir-fry Asian mustard green/gai choy for dinner. Tips from my readers suggested I stir-fry it with anchovies and season with salt. And since I have some leftover chicken breast I decided to add it in. I really loved it! I couldn't taste the slight bitterness at all. It is slightly crunchy and really good in stir-fry. I am going to use it for more stir-fry from now on. Thank you readers and S for sharing. Now I have an additional vegetable to buy when grocery shopping in the Asian market. ;-) Oh, it is also very good in Hotpot/Steamboat (another recent discovery).
Friday, February 13, 2009
Plain Old Butter Cake
Added sprinkles for the kids.
Can you feel the power of butter cake? We can have chocolate cake, green tea cake, pandan cake, lemon cake, orange cake, etc but deep inside us, we do crave for the simple butter cake. There is an attraction there and I find myself couldn't resist the simple looking plain old butter cake. Often time, I found it calling my name at the bakery section at the supermarket, oh the temptation to resist picking it up. So, instead of buying I would make it at home. Since Valentine's Day is around the corner and I have some heart shape foil holders, so why not? So, I made this heart shape butter cake to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day!
Oh I over filled the cups and thus the spilling over when baking. :P
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tea Tree Mushroom
Brief introduction (from the back of this packet):
Tea Mushroom is one of the series products of the People Fortune Company. It is picked in the Daba Mountain which lies in Sichuan Province. The Tea Mushroom is a parasite of the oriental white oaks. In the wild nature, thanks to the special climate there, it is bathed in the sunshine and the moonlight, moistened by rain and dew. It is a kind of mushroom which has a long stem and tender pulp with a crisp and refreshing flavor.
Soaked and cleaned before using. Can be used in deep-fry or stir-fry.
A Chinese friend got us this Tea Mushroom from China (the direct translation would be Tea Tree Mushroom). He said this mushroom is very popular where he is from and it is delicious. Frankly this is the first time I have seen this kind of mushroom, something new for us to try. The stem of this mushroom is very long and I have no clue whether it can be eaten. I wonder why they package the stems if it can't be eaten? But the stem is pretty hard, so I cut off half and use the top half to test it out.
I just stir-fried it with some ginger, chicken and oyster sauce. This Tea Mushroom has a strong woody smell and pretty fragrant, in a mushroom way. But some of the stems were too hard to chew. Guess it's only the mushroom and the immediate stem below it can be eaten, the rest were too tough. Very interesting mushroom and glad to have a chance to try it.
If you have eaten this tea mushroom, can you let me know whether I did it right regarding the stem, okay? TIA!
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Blueberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake
6 oz. fresh blueberry was on sales for $1 again. I bought 5 because my girls loved it. Decided to take 3oz and put it in my favorite cream cheese pound cake and the resulted cake was heavenly. I truly love this cake, you gotta try it if you haven't already. It should do well with other berries as well such as raspberry, blackberry and strawberries.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Sweet Corns Konnyaku Jelly
I made this to bring to a friend's house. Pineapple in Hokkein is "Ong Lai", signify prosperity for the Chinese. So, Chinese love to serve pineapple tart, pineapple related dish or even a jelly that shaped like a pineapple during the 15th days of Chinese New Year. I picked this cream corns recipe because yellow color is so suitable for pineapple. Pretty or not? The sweet corn konnyaku jelly that I made is not that chewy, it's softer more like a normal jelly. If you want it chewy, follow the 550ml water amount listed.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Stir-fried Mexican King Topshell with Napa Cabbage
King Topshell is an abalone like shellfish with fractional of the cost. Since the major producer of canned king topshell situated in Mexico, thus the name Mexican King Topshell. This is my first time buying this product, frankly I actually mistook it for abalone, no wonder it was cheap. Taste wise, it is really delicious. I really like the texture of this shellfish. Normally you slice it thinly and stir-fry it or braise it.
How it looks like before slicing, straight from the canned. The shape does look like abalone right?
I was fooled by the big letter of "bao" or abalone in English. I didn't bother to read the English words and just grabbed one to try since it was fairly cheap compared to abalone ($7). But I bought this with no regret because this king topshell turned out to be really divine. And I discovered another delicacy to add into my menu. Normally I see this selling during Chinese New Year, not sure whether they have it on other time.
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