Sambal Eggplant with Shrimps

I learn a delicious dish and that is sambal eggplant with shrimps.  It is very flavorful and perfect with rice! I add in a lot of dried shrimps and some big chilies which is not very spicy. This dish is on mild spiciness and so fragrance.😋😋😋

Frezno chilies


















Ingredients:

3 medium large eggplants
10-15 large or jumbo shrimps
3 frezno chilies
2-3 red thai chilies
2-3 shallots
3 cloves garlic
About 2-3 tbsp dried shrimps soaked

about 2 tbsp oil
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
Dash fish sauce
Dash salt
1/2-1 tsp Sugar
1-2 Chopped scallions

1. Place all chilies, shallots, garlic and soaked dried shrimps into food processor to blend them finely. Or use mortar and pestle to pound them finely.

2. Wash and chop eggplants. Deep fry or pan fry in two batches with little oil. Set a side.

3. Heat wok with oil. Add in the finely blended chilies mixture. Cook until fragrance and somewhat dry. Add in shrimps and continue to cook until shrimps almost cooked. Add in some water if wok is dry and burning.

4. Add in eggplants and give it a good stir. Add in seasonings such as oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, salt and sugar. Stir well. Taste. Add more fish sauce if needed. Add in scallions. Remove to plate.

5. Serve hot with rice.

Enjoy!

Korean BBQ Night

Tonight is a Korean bbq night! So yummy!!!😋😋😋

Marinated boneless short ribs

Marinated octobus and cuttlefish

Spicy and non spicy pork bulgogi

Hot and sweet suasages

Marinated shrimps

Plain boneless short ribs for salt & pepper

 Pork belly

Vegetables for wrapping

Yellow squash, zucchini, oyster mushrooms and onion

Hot pepper paste and bean paste for dipping

Dinner Ideas #1

I really don't feel like cooking sometimes. But I am a mother and a wife. Even if I don't eat, I still need to feed the kids.

Ideas for some who are like me don't know what to cook sometimes.  Salt and pepper spareribs air fried, shrimps stir fry asparagus,  squid stir fry Chinese celery and tomatoes, and fried egg tofu 😋

Salt, pepper,  sugar, fish sauce and sesame oil. Marinate 30 minute and air fry or pan fry.

Fry garlic in oil. Add shrimps. Stir 1 min. Add in asparagus.  Stir.Add in chickenpowder, oyster sauce, sugar, dash of soy sauce. 

Parboil squids. Fry garlic. Add squids/chick powder.Remov Fry tomatoes 2 mins, add celery. Stir. Add squids back in.
Add chicken powder, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, ground pepper. Stir, add about 1/2 cup water. taste. Add in cornstarch water to thicken sauce.

Slice egg tofu 3/4 inch and fry until golden.

Crispy Pan-Fried Noodles

I am a big fan of crispy pan fried noodles! I love with seafood or beef and always order when eating out. 😋 Today I pan fried noodles with what I have in refrigerator and freezer. I can eat noodles everyday! 😋😋😋

Ingredients:

1 pk Hong Kong style pan fried noodles
10 white fish balls sliced
10 fried fish balls sliced
2 slices fish cake sliced
6-10 shrimps devein
Squids sliced and parboiled 1 min
1 carrot sliced thinly
1 small napa cabbage sliced
10 small hydrated shiitake mushroom
4 scallions chopped 2"
oil to fry noodles

Seasoning:

2 tbsp chicken powder
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1-2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp fish sauce
Dash of ground pepper
2.5 cup water
1/4 cup + 1.5 tbsp cornstarch/tapioca starch
4 glove garlic chopped

Instructions:

1. Heat oil and slow fry noodles until crispy. Stir to evenly fry noodles. Place on plate.

2. Heat wok. Add oil and garlic. Stir until golden. Add in shrimps.  Stir until half cooked.

3. Add in mushrooms, stir for a minute then add in fish balls, fish cake and squid.

4. Add in carrot and cabbage.  Stir for a minute and add in seasonings. Then add in water. Bring it to boil, stir and taste sauce.

5. Now stir in cornstarch water. Add slowly just enough to thicken sauce. Add in chopped scallions.

6. Pour over fried noodles to serve.

Enjoy!

Simple Ma Po Tofu

Not much time to cook dinner? Here is a simple dish.

Ingredients

1 pk 15 oz. silken tofu
1 cup minced pork
2-3 tbsp hot bean sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soy
1 tsp sugar
1 cup water
3-4 cloves garlic
2 tsp oil
1 tsp cornstarch +2 tbsp water
3 scallions chopped

Method
1. Heat wok. Add oil. Once oil hot, add in garlic. Stir until golden.

2. Add in ground pork. Stir until almost cook. Add in bean sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce. Stir until combine. Taste

3. Add in water. Bring to boil. Add in cubed tofu. Cover for few minutes (3-5 mins) to cook tofu. Open and gently stir. Cover for another 2 minutes.

4. Mix cornstarch with water.  Stir into tofu and stir while pouring to prevent lumps.  Add in scallions, stir. Remove to dish.

Barbecue Pork Ribs- Char Xiu

Today dinner is pretty tasty with barbecue char siu ribs, fried fish cakes, and garlic bok choy tips. Since the char siu is so tasty, I'm going to share the recipe with you.😄

This recipe is adapted from Nongy S.

Ingredients

4 lb spareribs or use sparerib tips even better (the soft meat part without bone)

Marinate:

4 tbsp oyster sauce
4 tbsp hoisin sauce
6 tbsp brown sugar (can reduce to 4tbsp for less sweet)
4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp white pepper
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp preserved red bean curd
4 tbsp of the preserved red bean liquid
1/4-1/2tsp salt (no more or be salty)
 2 tbsp chopped garlic and ginger slivers for meat marinate

Mix all marinate ingredients together and divide into half. Half use to marinate meat, half for glaze.

Add 2 tbsp chopped garlic and ginger slivers to meat marinate.
Place the ribs in a large zip bag and squeeze out all air.
Marinate 24 hours in the fridge.

On day of baking, cook the glaze in a sauce pan until slightly thicken about (2mins). Taste glaze. If need sweeter then add in more sugar and honey. Let cool.

Preheat oven 375F. Place meat (ugly side up) on rack with a tray and aluminum underneath to catch sauces. Use middle level in oven.

Bake for 60 minutes if meat is thick. 40-50 minutes if meat is thinner. Basting meat with glaze every 15-20 minutes. After blasting twice on one side then flip. Baste, bake and baste. After baking time is up then turn on broil for minute. Only for 1-2 minutes to get the char look. Watch closely!

Enjoy with rice😋

Rehydrate and Clean Dried Sea Cucumber

I bought a lot of dried sea cucumbers, so it's time to rehydrate and clean some of them for cooking.  This is also my first time rehydrating dried sea cucumbers and I will only rehydrate a few for experiment.  I did a number of searches to see how others rehydrate their dried sea cucumbers and all I find is a simple method where you just soak, boil, and soak.  My dad uses the same method for rehydrating dried sea cucumber except he burn it first then soak.  My dad's method yield a larger meatier sea cucumber at the end.  The color is also more appetizing as it's golden brown instead of black.   But then it's a lot more work and more cleaning.  So I will sharing this simple method instead.

1.  Soak the dried sea cucumber for 2 days.  Change water daily.
2.  Drain the water.  Using shrimp paste and rub all over the dried sea cucumber.  Leave it for 6-7 hours at room temperature.  ***Shrimp paste helps to ease the cleaning of the dried sea cucumber.  Everything will come off easily.
3.  After 6-7 hours, wash and rinse off the shrimp paste.  Then bring the sea cucumber with some ginger to boil  in a clean and grease free pot.  After the water boil for a few minutes then turn the heat off and cover.  Let it cover until the next day.
4.  Take the sea cucumber out and use a brush to clean the skin.  Clean as much as you can.  Then place in a pot, add in some water and ginger, bring to boil again then turn off heat and cover.  Repeat this step for 2-3 days.
5.  By day 6, cut open the sea cucumber (stomach side) and remove intestine and clean the inside of the sea cucumber.  After done cleaning, you can just soak the sea cucumber in clean water.
6.  Depending on the size of your dried sea cucumber soak longer for thick and larger sea cucumber.  The smaller one will get soften faster but it doesn't hurt to soak it longer.  After rehydrating and cleaning, the sea cucumber is now ready for cooking.

I soaked 3 of about 5- 6 inches donkey dung sea cucumbers.

This is how my sea cucumbers look like after 7 days soaking.  The black color is not so appetizing so I had my dad to burn them over the flame for a little to lighten the color.

If you start with a large and fat dried sea cucumber then you'll get a large fat sea cucumber. My dad's sea cucumber  was fat and it was 7 inches when dry.  After using his method, his sea cucumber ended up 10 inches and really thick compared to my 5 inches.  Mine started at 5-6 inches and ended at 7-10 inches.

You can see the difference.  Mine was fat but not as thick compared to my dad's.

These are the one my dad soaked sea cucumbers.  He burn them first then use the method above to rehydrate them.  He been using his method for years and his sea cucumber always come out larger and thicker.  The color is also lighter as you burn away a layer of the skin.  But as you can see there's more cleaning need because burning these type of sea cucumber leads to many deep dirty lines and you'll have more brushing to do.  He started with 7-8 inches dried sea cucumbers and ended with 10-13 inches.

My dad usually rehydrate 6-8 dried sea cucumbers and then freeze them in freezer bags.  Rehydrated sea cucumbers freeze well so no worries about texture or taste change.

I'm pretty satisfied with the donkey dung sea cucumbers as they are a lot cheaper compared to other dried sea cucumbers plus they are meatier.  Because of this I just went and order some more for storage....hehehe.

***Remember, for any type of dried sea cucumber, always buy the straight, fat, large, and light in weight.  A very dry sea cucumber will yield you a larger sea cucumber.  Fat dried sea cucumber will give you a meatier thick sea cucumber after rehydration.

Where to Buy Dried Sea Cucumber?

Back in the days my family will buy dried sea cucumber locally or in NY.  However, we always afraid we got rip off since we don't know the store is honest seller or not.  Plus a lot of stores raise their prices and sometime you have to negotiate for a better deal.  Even then you thought you got a good deal but end up somewhere else is cheaper.  And some sea cucumber are so expensive you couldn't afford to eat it.  But now you're in luck because I found a place where we can buy dried sea cucumber and the owner is a nice lady (Lily) where she will help you pick and ship to your door.  The place I ordered my dried sea cucumber is from L.J.K Dried Food Wholesale located at South El Monte, CA.  This is a wholesale so the prices are a lot cheaper than those retail stores.  They are working on their site so it will be available later.  Guess how many pounds of dried sea cucumber I ordered.  Ordered 20 lbs of dried sea cucumber.  Yup...20lbs.  How in the whole am I going to finish them?  Well, they are dried so I can store them for a very long time.  I will also share these with my parents and have some for myself or give some to friends.  I think the reason why I ordered so many because the price is very reasonable.  

Here is the picture of my 20lbs dried sea cucumber.  I ordered three different kind ( 18lbs donkey dung, 1 lb bahama, and 1 lb floridian just to try these out first before I order more.)  The donkey dung (chinese name: Fu Pei Sum) is from Mexico.  I think the reason for the cheaper price is because it's from Mexico, harder to clean, and lives in the shallow water.  I have tried the donkey dung where I bought from a different store before.  The donkey dung (a weird name :) have a thicker meat compared to the other and tastes very good....of course that have to do with how you cook it.  At first I wasn't thinking of order donkey dung because it's harder to clean compared to other sea cucumber.  However, Lily changed my mind because she tells me a way to clean it and I'm going to try that method and will post later after the 7 days rehydrating process. So stay tune to how to rehydrate and clean the dried sea cucumber.  I also think you get more for your money on the donkey dung compared to other sea cucumber.  Plus, I learn that nutritional value of all sea cucumbers are similar or same, so way waste money on the more expensive one :).

Braised Abalone, Sea Cucumber and Mushroom

Hello everyone.  I've been away for a while but I'm back now.  Life is crazy busy with my two kids!  Lately I'm interested in buying and making sea cucumber (hoi sam).  I didn't measure my ingredients for this dish since I'm just testing my cooking.  My parents cook sea cucumber numerous times but I've never bother to learn how to clean or cook it.  But now I have my own family I'm getting more interest in cooking this dish.  It's a lot of work to rehydrate and clean the dried sea cucumber.  I've ordered some more dried sea cucumber so I will post how to rehydrate later.  I will also make this again later and include the recipe when I get more sea cucumbers.  For now, I'm just happy I'm back!

Hot Pot Time!!!

The weather is getting cold and hot pot is the best. I'm missing it already....yum yum yum....

Homemade Wontons

Wonton is very easy to make and you can either fry them for appetizer, eat them as dim sum, or eat with noodles soup. I add in water chestnuts for a crispy crunchy taste. I also add in more shrimps so it's more flavorful.



Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork
1 lb shrimps
2 glove garlic minced
2 stalks scallion chopped
1/2 cup or 10 water chestnuts (canned or fresh) smashed and chopped
1/2 cup water + 2 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp oil
1 egg white
1 pack wonton wrap


Seasonings:
2/3 tsp salt
3 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 tsp msg (optional)
1/4 tsp five spice
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp grounded pepper

Method:

1. Place ground pork on chopping board and use a heavy knife to continuously chop the pork until it's sticky and somewhat glutinous. Set aside.

2. Peel and devein shrimps. Place on chopping board and smash each shrimps. Then chop them coarsely. Add to the ground pork.

3. Place whole water chestnuts on chopping board and smash individually. Then chop them in small pieces. Add to ground pork.

4. Add minced garlic to ground pork. Hand mix everything together until well combined. Then add in seasonings. Mix well again.

5. Add in 1/2 cup water + 2 tbsp cornstarch mixture, 3 tbsp oil, and egg white. Mix well. Then add in chopped scallions.

6. Place some 1 tsp meat with each wonton wrap.

7. Bring a pot of water to boil. Place wrapped wontons in and give it a stir to prevent wonton sticking to bottom pot. Cook until wonton float to the surface. Should be 3-5 minutes.

8. Add wontons to your wonton soup or noodles soup.

For Frying: Just heat a pot of oil and add in wrapped wonton. Fry until golden where wonton float to surface. Dip with sweet and sour sauce.

For dim sum: Boil the wonton and eat them with hoisin sauce + Sriracha hot sauce.

What I ate for Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. Wishing you and your families a safe and happy holiday season!!!

This Christmas was like all the other Christmas. We ate dinner with our family and the food were pretty similar to the previous year. Even though it was just a few items but we weren't able to finish the food until the next day.






Mayo sauce for mayo shrimps. Too bad I accidentally deleted the picture of the shrimps. :(