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The Braised Napa Cabbage and Mushrooms, or more commonly known as “白菜滷” in Chinese word, is a Taiwanese style vegetable stew. I learned this dish from my Taiwanese coworker as she always likes to cook it. I think it is so much different to our style of cooking and I decided to give it a try. The main ingredient of the dish is the napa cabbage. You can add other ingredients to the pot, some common ones are carrots and all sorts of mushrooms. You can also add pork strips for a more complete pot dish to your meal, or opt out for a vegetarian style.

Eric did not get used to eat this dish the first time when I cooked it, because he didn’t like the cabbage being cooked to that soft texture. But after a couple of tryouts and changes to the recipe, now we enjoy this dish very much. Sometimes we will cook a pot and just goes with white rice, that’s how good it is. I used some dried shrimps and lots of garlic to sauteed the vegetables, that will add more flavors and also a nice fragrant to the dish. Seasoning is also very important to create a tasty sweet broth. Do not overcook the napa or it will turn out too mushy, so be watchful of the time and heat.

Ingredients:

1 1-11/2lb whole Napa Cabbage
1 handful dried shrimps (soaked in water to soft, coarsely chopped)
1tbsp  + 1 tbsp minced garlic
3 stalks scallions (cut into 2″ slices)
3 carrots (cut horizontally into 2″ slices)
3 Korean King Oyster Mushrooms “杏鲍菇” (cut into slices)
2 pack Golden Needle Mushrooms “金针菇” (trimmed the bottom part, rinse)
1 cup water

For the seasoning:
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar
Few dashes salt and pepper

Cooking Method:

1. To prepare the Napa Cabbage, cut and separate the leaves from the stems, chopped leaves and stems into 1 1/2 – 2″ big pieces, divide them into separate bowl. Cut the carrots, oyster mushroom into smaller slices. Prepare the others as above.
2. Heat up a wok or pot on medium high heat with 2 tbsp oil, add 1 tbsp minced garlic and stir fry till slight golden, follow by dried shrimps and scallions, stir fry till fragrant.
3. Add in the cabbage stems and carrots, stir fry and combine, cover with lit for about 2-3 minutes till slightly soft, stir or sightly toss occasionally to prevent burn.
4. Add in the rest of cabbage leaves to the pot, combine and cover for another 2 minutes till slightly reduce.
5. Add in 1 cup of water or till the half level of the vegetables, add in mushrooms, bring to boil. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for another 5-10 minutes till cabbage is soft but not mushy.
6. Add in seasoning, combine and bring to boil.
7. Optional: Heat up a saucepan on medium high with some oil, add in remaining minced garlic, stir fry till golden. Top the fried garlic oil on Napa cabbage when serving.

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This is a chicken dish that we always prepare at home when nothing special comes in mind — The Stir Fried Ginger Chicken with Mushroom. We cook it so often because the ingredients are easily accessible at home but we never thought of putting it on the blog. However this is a delicious chicken dish yet easy to prepare for home cooking in which I would like to share with everyone.

We basically love this dish as it is prepared using lots of ginger and wine seasoning. This makes the dish smell so nice and fragrant. The chicken is cooked with a thick soy sauce base again makes it even tastier. I don’t usually do measurement on this dish, so you can adjust based on your desired taste.  Serve great with white rice.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast (cut into pieces)
1 leg quarter (cut into pieces)
8 mushrooms (soaked in a small bowl with hot water, save the water for seasoning, cut mushroom into strips)
2″ ginger  (cut into fine strips)
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp cornstarch

For the Seasoning:
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup Mushroom water
2 tsp cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tsp water)
Few dashes Pepper
Few drips sesame oil

Serve for 4-6 people

Cooking Method:

1. Marinate the chicken pieces with soy sauce and rice wine for up to 30 minutes.
2. Heat up a wok or pan with 2 tbsp oil on medium, stir fry minced garlic til almost golden, then stri fry ginger strips till golden with fragrant.
3. Turn to high heat, add in chicken pieces and stir fry till brown.
4. Add in seasoning sauce of oyster sauce, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine, sugar, mushroom water,  stir and combine well.  Cook for 5  minutes till the sauce is reduced half.
5. Add in dissolved cornstarch and bring to boil. The sauce will thicken, stir and coat evenly with chicken. Taste and adjust if necessary. Add in few dashes of pepper and few drips of  sesame oil before serving.
6. Dish up and garnish with chopped green onions and red chilies (optional).

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A friend of mine who is a vegetarian asked me to prepare some vegetarian dishes sometime in our post. I remembered one time we went to this local vegetarian restaurant and she introduced many good vegetarian dishes. They definitely didn’t taste like the “real deals” but I enjoyed them very much. One dish I like the best was the “Salt and Pepper Oyster Mushroom”. The dish is an imitation of the Salt & Pepper Chicken, but instead of using chicken, the mushroom was used as an substitution and it is so good.

This was my first time of making this scrumptious vegetarian dish and apparently I need more practice and time to master it. I over-fried the basil leaves twice and finally I got it right.  Do not use too high heat or it will burn the basil leaves. However I would need her advises in mastering this dish. For my friend and all my vegetarian friends, this dish is specially dedicated to you all.

Ingredients:

1 packet fresh oyster mushrooms (豪菇)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 fermented bean curd (mashed)
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup yam flour (地瓜粉)
A bunch of basil leaves

For the seasoning:

1/4 tsp of all-spice powder
1/4 tsp white pepper powder
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Green Chili Pepper (chopped one into smaller bits and sliced the remaining)
2 tsp minced garlic

Cooking Method:

1. Marinate the fresh oyster mushrooms with soy sauce, fermented bean curd, minced garlic, salt, sugar and sesame oil.
2. Mix the cornstarch and yam flour together. Coat mushrooms with flour evenly.
3. Heat oil to medium to deep fry the mushrooms in batches till golden brown. Drain with paper towel and set to a platter.
4. Heat oil to medium low, test with a basil leave to make sure  it fries nicely and don’t burnt the leave. Then quickly deep fry the basil leaves, the leaves should turned slightly transparent, crispy and in a nice greenie color. (If the basil leaves turned into dark green color means over burnt, need reduce the heat.) Garnish with mushrooms.
5. In a pan add a couple drips of oil and pan fry the garlic and green chili pepper. Mix in with the mushrooms.
6. Mix five spice powder, white pepper powder and salt, sprinkle on top of the mushrooms. Serve.

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We are having fish dishes marathon in the house. Right after Bel made her steamed striped bass with bean sauce, I decided to make another steamed fish dish with my favorite Chilean sea bass. Seriously I am a big fan of Chilean sea bass because I am amazed at how such ugly fishie can be so tasty.

The Chilean sea bass or Patagonian toothfish (as the proper name for it) is a large, vaguely cod-shaped fish found in cold, deep waters of the Southern Atlantic. Due to its size, the Chilean sea bass actually produces good-sized fillets of white meat with mild flavor, pleasantly firm texture and high healthy fat content that formulates it almost impossible for overcook. Thus, it is good for dry-heat cooking methods such as grilling, broiling, and sautéing but this time I’ve prepared it with the steaming method.

In order to get the best outcome, it is suggested to use fresh Chilean sea bass instead of those from frozen package. You can easily pick up a nice piece of Chilean sea bass from the fish markets nowadays. The combination of Chilean sea bass and ginger together with shitake mushroom is just so perfect. Loved it! It’s an easy recipe and you have no excuse for not trying it.

Ingredients:
1 piece fresh Chilean sea bass
3-4 dried shitake mushrooms (soaked in hot water, shredded)
1 1″ ginger (sliced)
1 stalk scallion (chopped, for garnish)
2 tbsp rice wine

Seasoning:
4 tbsp soy sauce

Cooking method:

1. Place some sliced gingers on a plate, followed by the fish.
2. Surround the fish with the rest of sliced gingers and shredded shitake mushrooms.
3. Pour the rice wine on the fish.
4. Heat the fish in the steamer over high heat about 8-10 minutes.
5. Pour the soy sauce on top of the fish and steam for another 2 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with scallion for garnish. Serve immediately.

Serve well with steamed rice.

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It has been more than half year I didn’t have the Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶). So I decided to boil it last weekend. I miss this! It is one of my favorite soups back home. Bak Kut Teh is actually a Hokkien name for this dish, literally translated as “meat bone tea”. It is a famous Chinese herbal soup cooked with pork meat served in Malaysia. You can find it almost everywhere especially in Klang, where it is believed to have the best Bak Kut Teh across the country.

Bak Kut Teh consists of meaty pork ribs simmered with herbs and spices such as Dong Quai (當歸), star anise, cinnamon, cloves (丁香) and garlic. Additionally, it is loaded with some other ingredients such as dried shitake mushrooms, golden needle mushrooms, button mushrooms, and fried tofu puffs. Normally, it requires a couple of hours for simmering. Just like those slow cooked soups I made previously.

The Chinese fried dough strip (油條) is often served for dipping into the Bak Kut Teh. It goes so well with it and I supposed to go grab few back but I was just too lazy to go out. At least, I’ve made the condiment with the soy sauce and chopped chilli padi (bird’s eye chili) for dipping. And yes, it is best eaten with steamed white rice.

Ingredients:
4 pack of Bak Kut Teh herbs (A1 Bak Kut Teh spices pack bought from Malaysia)
1 lb pork ribs (I used baby pork ribs)
1/2 lb pork loin
2 garlic bulbs (washed, crushed)
8 dried shitake mushrooms (soaked in hot water, cut into half)
1 pack golden needle mushroom (trimmed the bottom)
1/2 can button mushroom
Some tofu puffs (roughly 1 small bowl)
1.5 gallon water

Serve size: 4-6 people

Seasoning:
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
A few dashes of white pepper powder (3 dashes for me)
Salt to taste

Condiment:
2 bird’s eye chilies (chopped)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp minced garlic (optional)

Cooking method:

1. Heat up a pot of water until it boils.
2. Blanch the ribs and loin in another pot with boiling water for few minutes until the scum has come out. This will give you a clear soup.
3. Remove them from the pot and rinse the ribs and pork with cold water.
4. Add the Bak Kut Teh herbs packs, pork ribs, pork loin, garlic, mushrooms and tofu puffs into the first pot. Bring to boil.
5. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1-2 hours.
6. Add in the seasoning and salt to taste. Boil for another 10-15 minutes.

Serve hot.