Sunday, 19 June 2016

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.

菠蘿炒飯

今天是父親節,記起老爸非常喜愛吃菠蘿。每次菠蘿熟成季節,他都每隔幾天買一個回家,吃得津津有味。他最愛吃浸過鹽水已經急凍切片的菠蘿。當我們年幼時,每逢我們生日或聖誕節,他愛弄菠蘿腸仔和菠蘿炒飯以示慶祝。



準備時間:20分鐘
烹調時間:25分鐘
份量:2人



材料:
l  隔夜白飯2碗 (用筷子或义將飯弄散)
l  菠蘿 90g (切粒)
l  雞蛋 1隻
l  魚露 2湯匙
l  菜油2湯匙
l  鹽¼茶匙
l  蝦 8隻 (已去殼挑腸)
l  紅椒40g, 青椒40g, 橙椒40g
l  雞肉150g (切粒)
l  雞肉腸1條 (切薄片)
l  葱蓉2茶匙
l  薑蓉1茶匙
l  蒜蓉2茶匙
l  紅葱蓉3茶匙
l  黃薑粉2茶匙

醃料:
雞肉:
蝦:
生抽2茶匙
魚露½茶匙
糖1茶匙
黑胡椒粉少許
麻油½茶匙
鹽少許
胡椒粉少許




做法:

1.
用生抽、糖、胡椒粉和麻油醃雞肉。

2.
用魚露、黑胡椒粉和鹽醃蝦肉。

3.

將少許鹽加入雞蛋,用义拌勻。加入¼茶匙菜油入鑊煎蛋皮,切碎備用。
4.
以中火加¼茶匙菜油入鑊,放入1茶匙紅葱蓉、葱蓉將蝦爆香煮熟,盛起備用。

5.
以中火加入¼茶匙菜油入鑊,放入蒜蓉1茶匙和雞肉,炒至雞肉全熟,盛起備用。
6.
以中火加入¼茶匙菜油入鑊,放入薑蓉、蒜蓉和紅葱蓉炒香,再加入紅椒、青椒、橙椒和肉腸炒2分鐘,盛起備用。
7.
以中火加入剩餘菜油入鑊,放入隔夜飯後炒3分鐘。再加入黃薑粉、魚露和鹽兜勻再炒2分鐘。

8.
將菠蘿、碎蛋、雞肉、蝦仁、紅椒、青椒、橙椒和肉腸加入,用鑊鏟撥鬆白飯和材料兜勻即可。






温馨提示:
1.
炒飯用的白飯是隔夜飯。應在炒前的一天將飯煮好,放在雪櫃中一晚以便乾身。
2.
把全部材料先各自炒好,才與白飯同炒。
3.
由於個人偏喜吃清淡,盡量少油和少鹽。*記緊試味,加減鹽油量。
4.
如果不喜歡黄薑粉可以不用,炒飯材料可隨個人喜好添加。

Saturday, 11 June 2016

肉碎生菜甜玉米粥



上星期六去了唐人超市買了一隻五香肉糭和一隻豆沙梘水糭回家。前天趁端午佳節熬了肉碎生菜甜玉米粥和糭子以示慶祝。糭子味道不錯,包裹方法和味道似廣東人做的。






準備時間:5分鐘
烹調時間:40分鐘 (白米已冷凍) / 1.5小時 (白米未經冷凍)
冷凍時間:5小時 (可省略)
份量:2人

材料:
l   ½糧杯米
l   水4.5糧杯
l   豬肉100g (絞碎)
l   生菜1塊 (切絲)
l   甜玉米4湯匙
l   薑2g (切絲)
l   葱1條(切絲)
l   生抽1茶匙
l   糖 ½茶匙
l   黑胡椒粉 ¼茶匙
l   魚露 ¼茶匙
l   鹽 ¼茶匙

做法:

1.
將米洗淨,放入保鮮密實袋後存放在雪櫃冰箱中最少5小時。*如時間不足以冷凍米,可直接將已洗淨的米放入煲滾的水熬煮,但需要熬煮1.5小時才令粥綿滑 (步驟4) 。
2.
加入生抽、糖和黑胡椒粉醃豬肉。
3.
以中火煲滾水,從冰箱取出已冷凍過的米放入煲內。
4.
加入薑絲,煮滾後轉小火。半蓋上煲蓋轉細火慢慢熬煮25-30分鐘。期間每隔10分鐘拌勻一次,這樣會令粥更綿滑。
5.
再加入肉碎、生菜絲和甜玉米,拌勻後再熬煮10分鐘。
6.
以魚露和鹽調味。最後加入葱絲和麻油即可。



温馨提示:
1.
最容易和快速熬煮又綿又滑的粥是先將洗淨的米存放在雪櫃冰箱中一段時間。為着方便,我家的雪櫃冰箱內經常存一至兩小袋米備用。
2.
以小火熬煮粥時,勿將煲密蓋著以免滾瀉。

Minced Pork Congee


Congee is a rice porridge commonly served for breakfast in China. It is an ultra-simple dish. A small amount of rice is simmered in a large amount of water for several hours.  Then it becomes silky and creamy.  Some people like simmering the rice in chicken stock to make it tastier.  It is nice to have congee with rice dumplings during Dragon Boat Festival.





Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes for frozen rice (if not, 1.5 hours)
Chilling time: 2 hours (optional)
Serve: 2

Ingredients:
l   ½ cup rice
l   4.5 cups water
l   100g pork (minced)
l   1 slice of lettuce (shredded)
l   4 tbsp sweetcorn
l   2g ginger (shredded)
l   1 spring onion (shredded)
l   1 tsp soy sauce
l   ½ tsp sugar
l   ¼ tsp ground black pepper (optional)
l   ¼ tsp fish sauce
l   ¼ tsp table salt

Method:
1.
Before start cooking, rinse the rice and keep it in ziplock bag.  Then chill it in the freezer at least 5 hours.  *If there is not enough time, just rinse the rice and boil it directly in a pot.  But it needs to be simmered a long time like 1.5 hours instead of half an hour (step 4).
2.
Season the minced pork with soy sauce, sugar and ground black pepper.
3.
Boil water in a pot over medium heat.  Take a pack of ½ cup frozen rice out of the freezer and put it into the boiling water. 
4.
Add ginger in the pot.  Partially cover the pot and reduce to low heat.  Simmer for 25-30 minutes.  Stir once for every 10 minutes.  The more frequently you stir, the more the rice will break down and become silky.
5.
Add the minced meat, lettuce and sweetcorn into the congee and stir well.  Continue simmering for 10 minutes.
6.
Season congee with salt and fish sauce. Add sesame oil and garnish with spring onions before serving.

Tips:
1.
The quickest way to cook congee is to use the frozen rice.  Rinse the rice and keep it in a ziplock bag.  Store it in the freezer at least 2-3 hours. I always store one cup or two cups of rice in the freezer.  Then it can be used immediately when needed. 
2.
It is important to simmer over a low heat and partially cover the pot to prevent drying and boiling over.


Monday, 6 June 2016

Matcha (Green Tea) panna cotta

https://mamaleeblog.wordpress.com/2016/06/06/matcha-green-tea-panna-cotta/

I am a fan of matcha for nearly 25 years.  I firstly had matcha ice-cream when I had visited Japan in 1991.  Then I tried matcha cake, tea, mochi and so on.  A few years later, I read some articles about matcha and love it more and more. 

Matcha is a stone-ground powdered green tea used in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies.  It is made from ground up whole tea leaves.  It contains three times more of the catechins than other kinds of standard green tea.  Besides, it is rich in antioxidants which help fight against cancer and heart disease.  The taste of matcha is strong; some of my friends describe it as grass or spinach-like.  The taste of high quality matcha is smooth and mellow, and not at all bitter.  A high quality matcha should have a bright green colour.  I always buy those which come from Japan.  Recently, one of my friends gives me a pack of matcha powder after visiting Tokyo and I think of making matcha panna cotta.

Matcha (Green Tea) panna cotta



Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Chilling time: 4 hours
Serve: 4




Ingredients:
l   350g fresh milk
l   150g single cream
l   45g sugar
l   3 tsp matcha powder
l   100g hot water
l   10g gelatine powder

Red bean paste
l   50g red beans
l   3 tsp brown sugar
l   800g water

Method:
1.
For the matcha powder mixture: In a large bowl, mix matcha powder with hot water thoroughly.  Then add gelatin powder into the bowl and stir well until the gelatin powder is totally dissolved.  Set aside.

2.
In a non-stick pot, mix milk, cream and sugar.  Stir thoroughly. 

3.
Put the pot over low heat, use a wooden spoon to stir the milk mixture until the sugar is totally dissolved.

4.
Add the ready-made milk mixture into the bowl and mix well with the matcha powder mixture.  Then drain the mixture through a fine sieve.  Stir well.

5.
Meanwhile, pour the mixture into the moulds.  Let them cool down and chill in the fridge for 4 hours.

6.
For the red bean paste: clean and soak the red beans in a bowl of water at least 3 hours.  Then boil the red beans in a small saucepan for 30 minutes until it is a bit soft.  Place the beans in a bowl and mix with brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the red bean paste on the top of the panna cotta.