Luffa Tomatoes Seaweed Soup - 丝瓜番茄紫菜汤

Throughout summer, I have cooked this soup so many times because of the abundance of fresh Singua (luffa) in my nearby farmer's market. I tried steaming Singua once but the other half at home did not fancy the dish. Why, I ask ? The dish has fresh natural flavors of Singua. Why? I did not get an answer. But when I cook Singua soup, there is never leftovers.

The culprit is not the ingredient (Chinese okra/luffa/singua, in this case). It must be the cooking method that yields a different outcome that appeals to different people. That's the same reasoning for making at least 12 attempts (disguise, hide, cheat, persuade, etc.) to encourage kids to eat the food/ingredient (e.g. bell peppers) they don't like.

Is there any ingredient you dislike but that you gradually embrace because of how it is cooked?


Without the use of chicken stock, this Singua (Luffa/Chinese Okra) Soup with Tomatoes and Seaweed can still be so flavorful and delicious. How?

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Rosemary Thyme Garlic Roast Chicken 迷迭香百里香蒜味烤鸡

I look for simple (really simple) ideas when I go "blog-visiting". The Spanish -Style Baked Shrimps was one such example. Minimal is the key. Basic (minimal) ingredients, minimal prep. and minimal supervision during cooking. Plus, that "it-looks-darn-delicious-and-I-know-it-is" appeal. Also Steamed Singua - my vegetarian adaptation of another meat dish; and learning easy new techniques such as pulverizing the winter melon. Thanks, my blogger friends out there.


Often, these simple ideas serve as reminders too. When I saw this Rosemary Thyme Garlic Roast Chicken at Pig Pigs Corner, it kinda reminded me to make roast chicken...again. I have made roast chicken before, but not this way, not with this combination of herbs and aromatics.


So I got myself some organic chicken drumsticks, make a few slits on the thickest part of the chicken, prepare the dressing of herbs, aromatics, olive oil and honey. As I have a few varieties of honey at home - it's drizzle of clover honey with some Organic Wild Forest Raw Honey  - playing with the depth of sweetness in the savory of the roast chicken.


How many chicken drumsticks (of such size) can you eat as a serving? 


I can definitely do more than one. :D

Tag: roast chicken, herbs

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Egg-Wrapped Quinoa Salad

Oh not again!? Quinoa salad?!?!?!


What I like about quinoa salad is that I can have it slightly warm or cold - as I like it.

This is my twist on Japanese (Fusion cuisine) Omu-raisu (or Omelette Rice， 蛋包饭)- an omelette filled with fried rice and usually topped with ketchup.

I made Omelette Quinoa Salad - an omelette (or more accurately, a thin egg crepe) filled with warm quinoa salad.

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Ghirardelli Intense Dark with Madgadascar Vanilla Ice-Cream

Ghirardelli 86% Midnight Reverie is my favorite with deep full-bodied cacao flavor.

I enjoy nibbling this dark chocolate after dinner as it certainly brings satisfaction and completeness after a typical savory meal. I don't need fancy desserts, really. Just give me Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I recently received a box of Ghirardelli which includes 72% Twilight Delight, 86% Midnight Reverie and Sea Salt Soiree (in bars and in bags). I was overwhelmed on what I should do other than "nibbling".

But still, I had to think of some other ways to pair these chocolates. I don't bake...so what say you if I get some good quality vanilla ice-cream (how about Madagascar Vanilla ice-cream?) and do a 86% Midnight Reverie chocolate shavings over!

Oh goodness, 86% Midnight Reverie chocolate chip ice-cream!


Let the crisp-cacao-notes harmonize with the smooth creamy vanilla ice-cream

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Yellow Split Peas or Split Pigeon Peas (Toor Dal)

Some of you often leave comments saying I eat healthy (because of the vegetable dishes consistently being featured ). Frankly, I still fall short on beans and legumes - supposedly healthy and nutritious as well. The only "bean" related product I regularly consume is tofu (made from soy beans).

Chickpeas (garbanzo), black beans, green beans, lentils - I should try to incorporate them more often and be more adventurous in the variety of beans/legumes available to me. For example, northern beans, navy beans, and yellow split peas were a first for me only quite recently.

Yellow split peas

One of the reasons that sets me back on beans in daily cooking is the pre-soaking I have to do. Yes. THIS STEP. Some legumes need to be soaked overnight, which means I need to know exactly what I am cooking the next day. :O How early ahead do you plan, when cooking a daily meal? Unless there is this dish in my mind that requires a specific ingredient - then planning starts as early as grocery shopping early in the week, even when I am cooking the dish end of the week.

Like many beans/legumes, Yellow Split Peas is a great source of protein, very lean and healthy. According to Wikipedia, yellow split peas are sometimes confused with the Indian Toor Dal (Split Pigeon Peas). How true is that! I don't think I can differentiate Yellow Split Peas and Split Pigeon Peas (Toor Dal). It just happened to me recently - with two varieties right in front of me, and the only reaction I had:

BLANK.

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Bok Choy with Shallots and Anchovies 白菜清炒小鱼干

Mock me for not having oyster sauce in my pantry. How can I not have that? And call my cooking Asian (Chinese) cooking?!?!?! Alright, oyster sauce tastes good (makes food tastes good!) and is quintessential in Chinese cooking esp. stir-fries. However, I have "pledged" to reduce the use of bottled seasoning/sauces, especially those with ingredients that does not spell natural to me e.g. MSG as flavor enhancer, modified corn starch, caramel color.


Don't get me wrong. Not all bottled sauces are bad. I still use soy sauce (ingredients: soy beans, wheat, salt, water, sugar); sesame oil (ingredients: sesame oil); Chinese black vinegar (ingredients:  water, glutinous rice, salt); Chinese cooking wine.

But the good is: ever since I reduce the dependence on not-so-natural bottled sauces, I have learn to use natural ingredients to season and flavor as much as possible.

Let's say - without oyster sauce (the convenient tasty sauce), how then can the Chinese veggie stir-fry taste good?


Sometimes, a batch of fried shallots to flavor things up, keeping the remaining shallot oil to fry the veggies; while other times, fry up (and toast up) some dried "small fish" anchovies to add crispy fragrance to the dish.

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Carrot and Zucchini Fritter Buttons

If zucchini cakes fritters can be in ubiquitous existence, why not carrot fritters ?


And they can be made into little cuties and button up with a platter of zucchini and carrot minis.

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Crispy Pan-Fried Noodles from Easy Chinese Recipes Cookbook

This post is more than a week over-due. I had wanted to do it earlier just when Bee Yinn's Easy Chinese Recipes Cookbook was officially launched last week. But I was brought down by my injury. My entire right arm is so immobilized, so not functional now, and I hate the inconvenience - think right-handed "lost" her right arm. Cook the basics, feed myself, wash my hair, take a shower, drive, hold a pen, type on the keyboard, etc. - these have all become difficult tasks; let alone cooking new dishes, photo-taking (for blogging) which I am putting on-hold for a while. Thank you all for your concern, and kind thoughts.

So I digress.

Of course, it's the Easy Chinese Recipes Cookbook - by Bee Yiin Low I want to highlight today, not my injury.

Crispy Pan-Fried Noodles, tested from Easy Chinese Recipes Cookbook

I tried two recipes (Dumpling Soup and Crispy Pan-Fried Noodles) from her cookbook earlier and they all worked amazing. Indeed, easy-to-follow recipes and delicious Chinese food you can bring to the dinner table.

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Steamed Okra with Fried Shallots 蒸羊角豆（秋葵）

When this Chinese okra dish was served recently, some of you left comments about not being a fan of okra. This Chinese okra is no way close to the okra we all know in terms of texture and taste. Chinese okra is more commonly known as Singua around the bay area farmers markets and Asian supermarkets. The Chinese okra tastes mild and has a pillowy texture (when cooked). Importantly, it is NOT SLIMY. I am guessing its longitudinal shape with ridges is the closest bet of Chinese okra sharing similar naming to okra.


So now, I enjoy pillowy Chinese okra and slimy okra. Due to the different taste and texture, both ingredients call for different cooking methods - usually quick-cooking soups (滚烫) and stir-fries for Chinese okra; typically stews, sometimes stir-fries for okra. My go-to when it comes to okra is usually a stew with tomatoes. Okra with spicy sambal belacan  is of course another popular Singapore/Malaysian way to prep. and cook  okra. However, since I tried steaming Chinese okra recently, why not try keeping it simple again.

Steamed okra!!!  Oh yucky yucky did I hear? I am combining one of most detested (by  many) vegetables with one of the most so-called "bland" ways of cooking.

But this time, this even simpler steamed dish heightened by crispy fried shallots! Fried shallots are so so aromatic! If you have not tried them, YOU SHOULD! The most fragrant garnish in my opinion. With fried shallots, a dish such as fried bee hoon can become a different tasty entity. A so-called plain vegetable soup can also turn one of the tastiest with fried shallots.

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Winter Melon Barley Soup 冬瓜薏仁汤

Straight after I tried a winter melon soup in a Chinese (Cantonese) restaurant at the South Bay recently, I had the immediate urge to cook something similar at home. It was a clear soup, light yet super flavorful, filled with natural sweetness and delicious savoriness, quite different from the usual winter melon soup I cook at home. I did not have the exact recipe and while I sipped it, had to look hard at each scoopful of soup (till the bottom of the soup pot) for ingredients that have gone into the soup. I saw large cubes of winter melon, huge chucks of pork, thin slices of orange peel and little pearls of barley. OK. I can make this. And, I will make this.


I was planning to cook this soup and a week after, coincidentally saw another super interesting idea related to winter melon at Taste Hong Kong's Snowy Winter Melon Soup. Alright! I am going to pulverize my winter melon to get that snowy silky texture in this "new" soup that I am going to cook at home!

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Fully licensed pharmacy for over the counter drugs

I was prescribed over the counter drugs - Vicodin, recently due to my right elbow fracture. The doctor at the emergency unit said that it could help ease my pain for a while, if I really need it. However, I have not taken any at this time as I could still bear with the pain, and wanted to stretch my tolerance level before giving in to any type of oral medication.

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Steamed Chinese Okra (Loofah, Singua) 蒸丝瓜

The Chinese Okra or loofah found in my local farmer's market is usually fresh and they are still available at this time. Instead of cooking soups and stir-fries which I usually do, I am falling back to my favorite go-to fuss-free cooking methods for this dish - steaming.


This Steamed Chinese Okra with Woodear Mushrooms, Gojiberries and Dried Scallops was inspired by Noobcook's Steamed Chicken with Woodear Mushrooms and Salted Fish. Easy and delicious recipes do not escape me. The idea of simply steaming, and using stronger-flavored ingredients such as salted fish, to lend flavors to the dish, heightening the taste of relatively neutral-tasting ingredients, won me over. Instead of using salted fish (which I did not have), I used dried scallops.

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Buffalo-Flavored Roasted Cauliflower

I received the KC Masterpiece Buffalo Marinade as part of Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program before I was injured. Currently elbow-in-cast (2 more weeks before another X-ray..!!!! arrghhh....), such store-bought marinade could not have come at a better time.


The marinade is easy to use and makes this Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower an easy recipe. Cut the cauliflower into small florets and marinate with KC Masterpiece Buffalo Marinade for 30 minutes.

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Zappos coupon codes online shopping

With a $10 Zappos gift card I had recently, I bought some tableware/kitchenware at Zappos. Yes. Kitchenware. Not extremely cheap or worth it. I should have stick to what Zappos is good at - shoes and bags. Zappos is currently the go-to site for my friend who has lately bought a couple of Kate Spade and Juicy Couture bags and wallets. If I had known about these Zappos coupon codes earlier, she would have got a better deal.

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Roasted Cauliflower Quinoa with Nori Seaweed

I have been enjoying a variety of quinoa salads this summer. Sometimes kept simple like this Turmeric-Infused Quinoa Salad with Broccoli; or this Radish, Raisins and Cauliflower Quinoa Salad; whereas today - Roasted Cauliflower Quinoa with Nori Seaweed


doing more to the cauliflower instead of blanching them; adding some minty leaves and nori seaweed - bringing in the aroma of spices and herbs to full swing.

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Lotus Root and Walnut Soup,桃仁莲藕汤

I came across this weird lotus root recipe in a Chinese recipe booklet titled 清肠排毒 (it will be translated to "detoxification") and decided to try this idea using the remaining lotus root (yes, this time truly the last of lotus root!). The recipe called for just two ingredients: lotus root and walnuts, plus some salt and pepper seasonings. WHAaaat? That's it? And walnuts? Weird.


As you can see, there are more ingredients in my Lotus Root and Walnut Soup. With my "itchy" hands, I don't think the dish fits for detox anymore as I have added aromatics (onions, garlic, Chinese celery) to flavor up the entire dish.


Chinese celery ( more usually known as 药芹 in Chinese, literally meaning Medicinal Celery) is quite different from the regular celery. The Chinese celery originated in a form of wild celery (the stems/stalks of the Chinese celery are much thinner, and more leafy). Chinese celery also has a much stronger (pungency of medicine) and flavor, thus used like a herb (similar to parsley or cilantro) in cooking. Chinese celery can be a popular garnish to soups.

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