Dang Qui and Gou Qi Pork Ribs Soup

Occasionally, boiling soup with some common herbs like

 dang qui [Chinese Angelica Root]

dang shen [radix codonopsis]

huang qi [radix astragali]

yu zhu [rhizoma polygonati odorati]

 and guo qi [wolfberry]

is not a difficult task at all yet beneficial to our body.

This soup doesn't taste bitter cos' of Chinese herbs but it has the fragrant aroma of it.  It's a tasty soup good to serve with rice or even mee suah [flour vermicelli].  A comfort food for weekend meals.

Recipe Source - Yum Yum Magazine No. 72 with modifications

Ingredients

[serves 2-3 as soup, 1-2 as noodle soup]

2-3 slices dang qui [Chinese Angelica Root]

15 gm dang shen [radix codonopsis]

15 gm huang qi [radix astragali]

20 gm yu zhu [rhizoma polygonati odorati]

15 gm guo qi [wolfberry]

2 dried figs

2 dried mushrooms - soaked to soften and sliced

700 ml water

300 gm meaty pork ribs - blanched in boiling water, drain and rinse

salt to taste

1. Put all ingredients in a soup pot [except guo qi], bring to boil.
2. Lower heat to simmer for 40-45 minutes or until soup is fragrant and pork ribs are tender.
3. Add in salt and wolfberry towards the last 5 minutes of boiling.
4. Dish out to serve hot with rice.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. If serving with mee suah.  Blanched mee suah in boiling water until cooked.  Add to soup and garnish with spring onions and drizzle in some sesame oil.

Notes: Visit this site for Its' Nutritional Facts [here]

I'm  linking this post to Cook Your Books Event #10 hosted by

 Joyce of Kitchen Flavours  

Fried Prawns in Taucu Sauce

Another simple yet tasty prawn dish cooked with one of the most traditional ingredient, fermented soybean paste [tau cheong].

A very quick stir fried prawns that is good with rice or porridge.  The dish is naturally sweet with the fresh prawns and onions.  You can use sweetened tau cheong for this stir fry and no other seasoning is required.

Recipe Source - Yum Yum Magazine No. 78

Ingredients

[serves 5]

500 gm medium size prawns - shelled and leave the tail intact

1 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp chopped ginger

1 onion - peeled and sliced

1 red chilli - sliced

1 stalk spring onions - cut 1 inch lengths

1-2 tbsp oil

Seasoning

1 tbsp fermented soy bean paste [tau cheong]

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

3 tbsp water

1. Heat oil in wok, pan fry prawns until firm.  Push aside.
2. Use the remaining oil to saute garlic, ginger and onions until aromatic. Add tau cheong and red chilli.
3. Stir in the prawns.  Add water and spring onions.
4. Give it a good stir to mix ingredients together.
5. Dish up and serve.
   
   
   
   
   

Notes: Visit this site for Its' Nutritional Facts [here]
I'm  linking this post to Cook Your Books Event #10 hosted by

 Joyce of Kitchen Flavours  

I'm also submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up Event - Prawns March 2014 

hosted by Moon of Food Playground

EZ Char Siew Buns

The first look at the name of this recipe didn't catch my attention at all as I thought it is the usual baked buns with char siew filling.   What makes me read on was the picture of the buns.  I saw some orange and green spots all over the buns.  Reading further, I realised that the char siew and spring onions were added during the kneading of the dough.  

Quite easy, just add everything together and you'll get a aromatic, savoury and sweet baked buns.  But I dare not add the char siew while kneading the dough cos' I was afraid the dough would be orange in colour [colour from the char siew], so I added it just before resting the dough.

These buns are very light, soft, fluffy and moist.  Nice buns that you can just munch it and definitely good with a cup of hot coffee.

Recipe Source - Yum Yum Magazine No. 77 with slight modifications

Ingredients

[makes 12 buns]

350 gm bread flour [I used 300gm bread flour + 50gm wholemeal flour]

50 gm sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 3/4 tsp instant yeast

210-220 ml ice cold water

30 gm butter

100 gm char siew - chopped 

1 stalk spring onions - washed and chopped

1. In a mixing bowl, mix and knead all the ingredients except butter, char siew and spring onions into a soft dough.
2. Add in the butter and knead until the dough is smooth, soft and pliable.
3. Add in char siew and spring onions and mix well.
4. Shape into a dough and cover to rest for 1 hour.
5. Divide dough into 2 equal parts.  Round up and divide each portion into 6 equal portions.
6. Round up the dough into ball, lightly spray the top with water, then coat with sesame seeds.  Place onto prepared baking tray.
7. Rest for 50 minutes or until double in size.
8. Bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 12-15 minutes or until cooked.
9. Remove and cool on wire rack.  
   
   
   
   
   
   

Notes: Visit this site for its' Nutritional Facts [here]

I'm linking this post to Cook Your Books Event #10 hosted by

 Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

BUTTER MARBLE COTTONY CAKE [OGURA CAKE]

Seeing so many lovely marble cake recipes in the Bake Along event inspired me to bake this cake. I'm not sure if this can be considered for the theme Marbled Butter Cake cos' Ogura cakes usually do not add butter.  But here I replaced corn oil with melted butter and it works too.

The cake rose beautifully but does crack a little [I think there isn't enough water in the water bath] but the chocolate aroma fills the kitchen while baking.

Ingredients for Egg Yolk Mixture

[using 7"  square tin]
55 gm superfine flour - sifted

1/4 tsp salt

4 egg yolks

1 whole egg

40 ml corn oil [I used melted butter]

60 ml milk mix with 2 tsp vanilla essence
1.5 tbsp cocoa powder - sifted [for the cocoa portion]

1. Place the dry ingredients[[except cocoa powder] in the mixing bowl and make well in the centre.  Add in eggs, melted butter and milk mixture.  Using a paddle hook, beat ingredients until creamy and well combined. 
2. Divide into 2 equal portion.  Add cocoa powder into 1 portion.  Mix well, set aside. 
3. Pour 1 and 1/2 cups water into baking tray, place baking rack on the tray and  preheat oven at 160 degrees C for 10 minutes.
   

Ingredients for Egg White Mixture
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50 gm castor sugar

1. Using an electric mixer, whisk egg white until frothy, add in cream of tartar and whisk until  slightly foamy.  Add in sugar in 3 batches.  Whisk until soft to stiff peaks formed.
2. Using a spatula, fold in 1/2 of the meringue into plain egg yolk mixture. Lift and fold until well combined.  Fold again until well mix.Mix remaining 1/2 of meringue to the cocoa portion.  Mix well.
3. Pour both mixture alternately into a 7" square tin [line base with baking paper at the bottom only].   Shake pan a little to smoothen out the batter then use a skewer to create swirls in the batter to get the marble effect]. 
4. Steam bake in oven at 160 degrees C for 40 minutes, then reduce temperature to 140 degrees C and continue to bake for 20 minutes.  [Note: for the water bath, use 1 and 1/2 cups water for the duration of baking.  This way the cake base will not be soggy after baking].
5. Remove and invert the cake after baking  and let it cool slightly [about 5-10 minutes] before removing the pan and baking paper [there maybe some vapour on the baking paper].
6. Cool cake before slicing to serve or refrigerate for serving later.
   
   
   
   
   
   

I'm submitting this post to Bake Along - Marble Butter Cake Theme hosted by Lena of Frozen Wings, Joyce of Kitchen Flavours 

and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids

Recipe Update - 30 March 2014

I baked this cake again with 1/3 batter as cocoa portion.  The cake didn't rise as beautifully as above maybe because I have over-mixed the batter.  However, the cake is still soft and moist and aromatic.  Be very careful when mixing the batter to avoid deflating the air in the batter.