Pan-fried Tofu with Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

It is a busy week. Why? Chinese New Year is coming.  It is the best festive to have family reunion and friend gatherings.  I have to do lots before this Saturday.  Cleaning before CNY is a tradition which means to drive the bad luck or the old things away from the house in order to get ready for a new start.  In the past, people would go shopping and buy new clothes after cleaning.  They believe that buying new items and putting on new clothes symbolize welcoming a new start.  During the last weekend, I did cleaning and finished decorating my house like pasting paper-cuts and “Fu” 福 on the main door, hanging Chinese knots and sticking couplets (words on blessings) on the wall. I feel blissful that my mom has written couplets for me and mailed it to me one week ago.  She is new to Chinese calligraphy; she has learnt it just a few months.

Yesterday I went shopping at a very big Chinese supermarket.  It was very crowded.  People were busy with buying fresh seafood and cooking ingredients for making scrumptious meals in the coming days. I bought five packs of different types of flour and a big pack of brown sugar for making turnip cakes and coconut pudding, fresh king prawns, frozen clams, oysters, veggie, tofu and rice dumplings.  Then I have to buy some fresh flowers in the coming two days and busy with making turnip cakes. 

I was tired after shopping so I cooked a simple dinner last night. I pan-fried tofu with homemade teriyaki sauce, a hot pot of veggie and served with brown rice.  

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

-         150g firm tofu (cut into big pieces, about 1 cm thick)

-         2 tsp olive oil

-         1 tbsp corn flour                           

-         1 spring onion (chopped)

-         1 shallot (finely sliced)

-         1 tsp white sesame seeds

-         1 tsp dried skipjack Tuna flakes (optional)

Teriyaki Sauce:

-         3 tbsp light soy sauce

-         2 tbsp brown sugar

-         2 tbsp mirin

-         1 tbsp rice wine (optional)

-         1 tbsp water

-         ½ tsp ginger powder

-         ½ tsp garlic powder   

-         ½ tsp sesame oil

-         ¼ tsp corn flour

Method:

1.	Use a piece of kitchen towel to dry the surface of tofu.  Add a pinch of salt onto a plate and put the tofu cubes on it.  Then add another pinch of salt on the tofu.  Sprinkle the tops with a small amount of corn flour.
2.	Heat a non-stick pan over low heat and add olive oil.  Then pan-fry the tops and bottoms of the tofu to golden yellow.
3.	In a small mixing bowl, mix all ingredients of the teriyaki sauce well.  Set aside.
4.	In the meantime, toss in the shallot and spring onions and pour the well-mixed teriyaki sauce in the pan.  Spoon the sauce on the tops of tofu occasionally until the sauce is thickened. If you like more sweeten, add more sugar.
5.	Place the tofu on the plate and spoon teriyaki sauce around the tofu. Sprinkle with white sesame seeds and dried skipjack tuna flakes on top of tofu.
6.	Ready to serve with brown rice.

A Centre of kitchenware – Shanghai Street, Hong Kong

I just finished a relaxed and joyful vacation in Hong Kong during the Christmas holidays.  Since I love eating and enjoy cooking very much, I always spent time on walking around wet markets and shops which sell cutlery, tableware and cooking utensils in the trip. 

I like wandering along Shanghai Street in Yau Ma Tei.  It is like a centre of kitchenware.  I took MTR to Yau Ma Tei Station and started walking towards Shanghai Street from Exit C. I walked along Man Ming Lane and reached Shanghai Street.  There are over thirty traditional Chinese kitchenware shops which are selling everything from professional kitchenware for food and beverage industry to daily use kitchen utensils like Chinese knifes and chopping boards, bamboo steamers, chopsticks, woks, bowls, plates, cake tins, moulds, baking trays, etc.  The locals like going there to buy kitchenware. 

I love this place very much. I like chatting with the sales assistants about how to use the different types of kitchenware.  Most of them are friendly and helpful.  I am very interested in knowing how to choose a Chinese chopping board and its materials used. There are three main types of Chinese chopping boards which are made of wood, bamboo and plastic. I like the traditional round wooden chopping board. My grandma liked using it very much.  It is very heavy but it is more durable with reasonable price. The staff at “Man Kee Chopping Board" (萬記砧板) gave me professional advice on the choices of right chopping board and tools as well.  I wanted to buy a chopping board but it is quite heavy.  It is at least 3-4 kg depending on the size you like but I only got 23 kg baggage allowance for flying back to UK. The shop assistant suggested me mailing it back to UK.  That’s really a good idea. At last, I bought a pair of wooden chopsticks and a pack of Japanese chopsticks there.

Then I kept on finding some moulds for making Chinese New Year Puddings. When I was looking for a moon cake mould at a store called ‘I Love Cake”, I met a young man who is a shop assistant there.  He is very patient; he introduced different types of moulds and explained how to use them.  Also he shared his own recipe on making custard moon cake. I was very happy that he told me some useful tips on baking tasty mooncakes.  He is very nice.  

Besides, there are a wide variety of cake moulds, tins and trays in the shop, especially the moulds, they are very cute.  You must find some you like.  I bought a set of mooncake moulds, a pack of orange yellow coloring, some Japanese dessert spoons and two moulds for making Chinese puddings.  I felt tired after spending a half day in Shanghai Street but I enjoyed a lot!  If I have time, I will go there again! 

Stir-Fry egg noodles with chicken and veggie

I just finished a relaxed and joyful vacation in Hong Kong during the Christmas holidays.  Since I love eating and enjoy cooking very much, I always spent time on walking around wet markets and shops which sell cutlery, tableware and cooking utensils in the trip.  I like wandering along Shanghai Street in Yau Ma Tei.  It is like a centre of kitchenware.  There are some traditional Chinese kitchenware shops which are selling everything from professional kitchenware for food and beverage industry to daily use kitchen utensils like Chinese knifes and chopping boards, bamboo steamers, etc.  I bought some items there, one of them is a pair of long wooden chopsticks for cooking noodles.  I will let you know what I had bought and write a post to introduce more about Shanghai Street in the coming days.

I like cooking and eating healthy food.  I use less oil to stir-fry the noodles in this recipe.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

l  480g chicken breast fillet (sliced)

l  2 dried egg noodles

l  1 onion (sliced)

l  1 carrot (sliced)                                          

l  40g lettuce (finely sliced)

l  4 baby sweetcorn (sliced)

l  15g bean sprouts

l  1 garlic clove (finely chopped)

l  3 tsp olive oil

l  ½ cup water

l  2 spring onion (sliced)

l  ¼ tsp salt

Seasoning:

l  1 tsp fish sauce

l  ½ tsp brown sugar

l  1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Sauce:

l  1 tbsp oyster sauce

l  ½ tsp sesame oil

l  1 tbsp dark soy sauce

l  3 tbsp water

Method:

1.	Season the chicken fillets with fish sauce, brown sugar and black pepper.
2.	Boil water in a saucepan and add salt.  Add dried egg noodles over medium heat and simmer for 3 minutes and use the chopsticks or a fork to stir occasionally.  Drain well.
3.	Heat a non-stick wok or pan over medium heat and add 1 tsp oil. Add garlic and chicken fillets, then stir-fry for 3 minutes.  Set aside.
4.	In the meantime, add 2 tsp oil into the wok over medium heat.  Add carrot, baby sweetcorn and 2 tbsp water, then stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add onion and chicken fillets into the wok and continue to stir fry for another 2 minutes.  Then add the lettuce  and bean sprouts, and pour in half cup of water.  Cover it for 3 minutes.
5.	Mix the sauce ingredients well in a small bowl.  Pour the sauce into the wok and stir well.
6.	Add the egg noodles into wok and stir fry with all the ingredients.  Mix well and garnish with spring onion.

Pear and Sea Coconut Dessert Soup

Happy New Year, everybody!  I just watched the amazing fireworks display at the Roof Garden lounge in the service apartment where I am staying in Hong Kong.  It is on 42th floor. The weather was good and the sky was very clear.  I arrived at the lounge at 11:30 p.m.  I was lucky I got the best position and stood in the second row.  Many hotel residents had gathered on the roof at around 11:45 p.m.  

As the magic moment approached, we shouted ‘Three, two, one!”  Then firework shot up over the harbor, lighting up the sky in bright colors as we cheered and took photos and videos.  The display, which lasted 10 minutes instead of the normal eight, featured patterns including six interlocking stars and butterflies.  We clapped hands and wished each other “Happy New Year” at the end of the show. The atmosphere was fantastic. 

I bought some local ingredients from a grocer in Sheung Wan.  I made this dessert soup on New Year Eve.  Dessert soup, which is called tong shu in Cantonese, is a traditional Chinese dessert.  It consists of sweet and hot soup. The Chinese always believe tong shu is good to health especially in dry and cold season.   Let's have a bowl of dessert soup in the beginning of Year 2017! It's so sweet throughout the year! All the best!

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

n  40g dried longan (cleaned)

n  2 pears (peeled, unseeded and sliced)

n  3 sea coconuts (sliced)     

n  15-20g rock sugar

n  1000 ml water

Method:

1.	Boil water in a small pot over medium heat.
2.	Add longan, pear and sea coconuts in the pot and simmer for 30 minutes.
3.	Toss in the rock sugar and simmer for 10 minutes.  If you like more sweet, you add more rock sugar as necessary.
4.	Ready to serve.