Steamed Cheung Fun with dried shrimps and spring onion

Cheung Fun is one of my favorite Cantonese dishes in Chinese restaurants.  It is the steamed rice rolls. There are different flavors of cheung fun, they may include fillings, like fresh shrimps, BBQ pork (Cha Siu), minced beef and; dried shrimps and spring onions.  They are either served as dim sum in Chinese restaurants or a snack (street food) in local food stalls in Hong Kong.

I took a dim sum class and learned how to make this dish four months ago.  The class teacher is a chef in a Chinese restaurant in London.  I have tried twice and modified the recipe.  I am so excited about making this.  If you like cheung fun, try this recipe and add different fillings you like inside.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serve: 2-3

Ingredients:

-         160g rice flour

-         50g wheat starch

-         50g corn flour

-         650 ml water

-         2 tbsp vegetable oil

-         ⅛ tsp salt

-         35g dried shrimp (soaked and minced)

-         1 spring onion (green part, finely sliced)

-         1 tsp white sesame seeds

Tools:

-         2 square non-stick cake tins (19cm x 19 cm)

-         Rubber spatula / scrapper

Sweet Soy Sauce:

-         12 tbsp hot water

-         2 tbsp brown sugar

-         1 tbsp light soy sauce

-          

-         1 tbsp dark soy sauce

-         1 tsp sesame oil

Method:

1.	In a big mixing bowl, add rice flour, wheat starch, corn flour and salt and mix all well.  Sieve the flour mixture.  In the meantime, add ½ tbsp oil and water into the flour mixture and stir it well to become a silky batter.  Set aside for about 20 minutes.
2.	Pre-heat the oven at 160°c and toast the white sesame seeds for 6 minutes.
3.	In a small mixing bowl, add hot water and sugar and stir it well until the sugar dissolved.  Then add dark soy sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil, stir it well.
4.	Steam the minced dried shrimp for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.
5.	Boil water in a wok and place a rack in it.  Brush some vegetable oil in a square cake tin.  Put the tin on the rack, cover and heat it for 2 minutes over high heat.
6.	Stir the batter well and pour ¼ cup of it evenly in the tin. Swirl the batter evenly around the tin in order to coat the bottom of the entire tin.  Once it is set, add 1 tsp dried shrimp and 1 tsp spring onion evenly all over the top of the batter.  Cover and steam for 2 minutes.
7.	Use a spatula to release the edge of one side and roll it from one side to another side into a roll.  Set the roll aside on a serving plate.
8.	Repeat the step 5-7 until use up all the batter, dried shrimps and spring onion.  Clean the tin as necessary and re-grease the tin between uses.   Remember to stir the batter well every time before pouring it into the tin.
9.	Cut each roll into 5-6 pieces.  Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds on the steamed cheung fun.  Pour the sweet soy sauce over the rolls and ready to serve.

Cantonese Wonton Soup with home-made chicken broth

My family love Cantonese Wonton Soup very much.  Every time we travel to Hong Kong, we must have a bowl of wonton soup.  Wonton noodles are very well-liked by the locals in Hong Kong.  When I was studying at high school, I always have a bowl of wonton noodles for lunch at least twice a week.  It looks like a simple dish but it requires a right combination of rich broth, eggy and springy noodles; and shrimp and pork in order to make a perfect bowl.  The best wonton noodles I have tasted are at Ho Hung Kee. The wontons are a decent size, filled with whole shrimp and some pork. The noodles were glossy, tasted firm and springy.

Today I make a bowl of wonton soup for lunch. I just boil some home-made chicken broth in a quick and simple way instead of canned chicken broth or chicken stock cubes.  I really like wonton soup.  It’s comforting.  It’s the perfect cure-all for a cold day.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serve: 1

Ingredients:

-      8 raw prawns (unpeeled and cleaned)

-      3 tsp egg white

-      8 pieces of wonton wrappers (square-shaped)

-      35g minced pork (10% fat)

-      A drizzle of light soy sauce                      

-      A drizzle of sesame oil

-      A pinch of pepper

-      A pinch of Himalayan pink salt

-      1 spring onion (chopped)

-      1-2 yellow chives (chopped in 2 cm length)

-      50 ml water

Soup:

-      2 cups homemade chicken broth or ready-made chicken broth

-      ¼ tsp sesame oil

Home-made chicken broth (superfast cooked):

-      bony chicken pieces (4-6 pieces of legs or 1 back bone)

-      1 garlic clove (sliced)

-      6g ginger (sliced)

-      1 spring onion (sliced)

-      1 shallot (sliced)

-      2 cups boiled water

-      1 tsp oil

-      ⅛tsp Himalayan pink salt or 1 tsp fish sauce

Method:

1.	Home-made chicken broth: Add oil in a non-stick small pan/saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic, ginger, shallot and spring onion, then stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.  Then add the bony chicken pieces and keep on stir-frying for another 1-2 minutes.  In the meantime, add boiled water and cover.  Simmer for 20 minutes and add a pinch of Himalayan pink salt or fish sauce. Boil for a further 5 minutes. Remove from heat.  Strain the broth through a fine mesh colander into a saucepan.  Discard chicken pieces and other ingredients.  Set aside the clear chicken broth.
2.	Marinate the raw prawns with egg white, a pinch of pepper and a pinch of salt for 5-8 minutes.
3.	Marinate the minced pork with a drizzle of light soy sauce and sesame oil for 5-8 minutes.
4.	In a mixing bowl, mix the prawns and minced pork well. Divide the filling mixture in 8 equal parts, which is one raw prawn with some meat.
5.	Wrap wonton: Fill a small bowl with water. Place one part of filling mixture in the middle of the wrapper.  Wet the finger and run a little water around the edges of the wrapper.  Bring the bottom corner of the diamond up to meet the top corner.  Then press the pastry firmly around the filling mixture.  Dab a little water along the both sides and tightly fold the two corners into the middle.
6.	In a saucepan, add the sliced yellow chives and boil the ready-made homemade chicken broth over medium heat.  Place wontons inside for 3-4 minutes until they float.  Remove from heat.
7.	Drizzle sesame oil in a serving bowl. Place in the cooked wontons, chicken broth and chives
8.	Garnish with spring onion and ready to serve.
	Tips:
i.	You can make more wontons and keep them into freezer for further use.
ii.	There are three to four ways to wrap wontons.  I only suggest using the simplest way to do it.
iii.	For a more rich and strong flavor of home-made chicken broth, more ingredients and a whole chicken will be added. Normally it is simmered for 2-3 hours.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Today is Father's Day.  My dad loves pineapple very much.  He always buys and eats pineapple.  He likes using pineapple to make desserts and main dishes.  He loves cooking pineapple fried rice to celebrate his birthday and Christmas. "My dearest dad, I miss you very much.  Happy Father's Day!"

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

l  Leftover rice 2 bowls

l  90g pineapple (diced)

l  1 egg (beaten)

l  2 tbsp fish sauce

l  2 tbsp vegetable oil

l  ¼ tsp salt

l  8 shrimps (peeled and deveined)

l  120g mixed pepper 

l  150g chicken breast (diced)

l  1 chicken sausage (sliced)

l  2 tsp spring onion (finely chopped)

l  1 tsp ginger (grated)

l  2 tsp garlic (finely chopped)

l  3 tsp shallot (finely chopped)

l  2 tsp turmeric powder

Seasoning:

Chicken:	Shrimp:
l  2 tsp soy sauce	l  ½tsp fish sauce
l  1 tsp sugar	l  A pinch of salt
l  ½ tsp sesame oil	l  A pinch of black pepper
l  A pinch of black pepper

Method:

1.	Season the chicken with soy sauce, sugar, black pepper and sesame oil.
2.	Season the shrimp with fish sauce and black pepper.
3.	Add salt into egg and beat it with a fork. Heat the pan over low heat, then add ¼tsp oil, pour the egg mixture into the pan.  Cook first side and then flip and cook other side until it is done.  Let it cool down and cut into small pieces.
4.	Heat pan on medium, add ¼tsp oil, add the shallot, shrimp and spring onion to stir-fry until the shrimp is done.  Set aside.
5.	Heat pan on medium heat, add ½tsp oil, add garlic and chicken until well cooked .
6.	Heat pan on medium heat, add ½tsp oil, garlic, shallot and cook the mixed pepper and chicken sausage for 3 minutes.  Set aside.
7.	Add oil into a non-stick wok over medium-high heat, add the leftover rice and stir-fry for 3 minutes.  Add turmeric powder, fish sauce and salt into the rice, mix well and fry for 2 minutes.
8.	Put back the cooked chicken, shrimp, mixed pepper, sausage, egg and pineapple into the rice.  Stir-fry for another 2 minutes.

	Tips:
1.	Fried rice is best made with leftover rice which had been refrigerated.
2.	For better results, it would be better to cook the ingredients well before mixing with the leftover rice.  Do not press the rice when stir-fly, otherwise it would be very sticky.
3.	Remember to taste before serve.  In general, more oil is to be used in fried rice recipes.  As this is a healthy version, less oil is suggested to be used.
4.	Turmeric powder is optional to be used.