Chinese Soup - Watercress & Pork Ribs Soup

Watercress which looks like a weed is aslo regarded as one in some regions, and to other regions a vegetable or herb. Watercress  has a high content of iron, folic acic, Vitamin A and C . It is also a source of  phytochemicals and antioxdants and is used as a diuretic, an expectorant, disgestive aid and even a stimulant.

Due to its high content in iodine, it is very beneficially for hypothyroidism sufferers. It also appears to have anti cancer properties and  is  believed to help defend against lung cancer.

If you are on medication it is advised  that you refrain from consuming watercress or consult your doctor first, as it  is known to have an effect in altering drug metabolism for individuals on certain medications.

This watercress soup is popular in many Chinese  households and can be found accompanying rice dishes in kopitiams (coffeeshops).  The watercress stems can be quite tough, and some would prefer the watercress to be boiled until soft and mushy but I like it just right, not too soft nor too green. It really depends on your own preference.

Ingredients:

about 1 kg Pork Ribs

8-10 Red dates

1 Honey date

a bunch Watercress
about 3 litres of water


How to cook:
Put everything except watercress in a pot. Boil gently for 1 1/2 hours, adding in the watercress during the last 30 minutes cooking time. Season with salt to taste.

Sweet Black Vinegar Pork Ribs

Usually pork leg or pork belly is used for this gingery and vinegary sweet dish. As no one in my family eats the fatty layers and the gelatinous skin, I used pork ribs instead.  

I remember the first time I had this dish was when I was a college student  in KL. Staying in KL  and away from my family introduced many new dishes to me including this dish. Growing up, my mom never ever cooked this even till this day, and we rarely eat out then and even if we did, we never ordered this. During my college days, I  would always go for economy rice as it's the cheapest food available accomodating to a student's budget. This dish would always be among the many choices in the spread and I would usually pick this to go with my white rice.      

Here's my own take on this dish. The vinegar I use is very sweet already on its own and there's no need to add any sugar. A little white vinegar may be added if a more sourish taste is preferred.


Sweet Black Vinegar Pork Ribs

Ingredients:

1 kg Pork Ribs

whole Ginger

1 cup Sweet Black Vinegar

1 tbs Kicap Manis

2 tbs Light Soy Sauce
1 cup water

Method:

Heat cooking oil. Saute ginger till fragrant. Add pork and stir fry till lightly browned. Add Soya sauce. Coat pork and stir fry till fragrant. Add kicap manis. Pour in 1 cup water and the sweet black vinegar. Mix well and bring to boil. Cover with lid, lower heat and braise for 15-20 minutes  or till pork is tender. Done!

Green Tea Butter Cake

Maybe it's the time of the year, towards the year end when the wheather is wet and cold, I am in the mood to bake and eat and eat and EAT! I guess humans are no different like animals. It's only natural for animals to load up on food  in preparation for hibernation in the colder months.

I've flipped thru my recipe file and my collection of cookbooks for something to bake, and found this Green Tea Butter Cake from the cookbook "My favourite Dainty Desserts" by Kevin Chai . I've baked green tea chiffon cake before which was light and very well received by everyone who tried it and I thought a  green tea butter cake would be just as good, just more dense & buttery.

As you can see from the photos, the colour from the green tea turned out very muted and wasn't as bright as I  had expected, and definitely not as green as the one shown in the cookbook or those I've seen in blogs.    As much as I had hoped, this butter cake didn't wow me. It was just okay, nothing bad and nothing spectacular... just ho-hum. I kept the cake in a container and shoved it in the fridge and thought nothing of it. When I reheated a couple slices the next day, I was dumbfounded. It tasted better and it actually tasted good. How peculiar! My Daughter even finished a slice, a feat for someone who proclaimed "yuck" when she had her first bite just the day before. LOL!

Green Tea Butter Cake

(Recipe taken from "My favourite Dainty Desserts" by Kevin Chai)

Ingredients:
270g butter
250g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
240g plain flour
10g green tea powder
1tsp baking powder

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180 Degree Centigrade. Line one 8 inch square pan with greaseproof  paper.

2) Beat butter, sugar and salt untill light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition.

3) Sift flour , green tea powder and baking powder together and gently fold into the butter mixture. Spread batter into the cake pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

Note: I halved the recipe and added 2 tablespoons of milk. I've also separated the eggs. The egg whites were beaten to a soft peak stage and  then folded into the batter at the very end.

Japanese Cream Bread

Just bought a new cookbook, "Magic Bread" by Alex Goh. I just can't resist collecting new cookbooks especially if it has anything to do with baking and in particular bread making. I love bread, u know.  Needed to justify the unnecessary money spent by trying out the recipes and I chose this one, Japanese Cream Bread.

 

The dough is very tender and very pleasant to handle. I guess the whipping cream provided enough fat/grease for it to be not too sticky. I didn't even need to flour my work surface while shaping the dough. However, the the dough took longer to rise than what the recipe called for. Instead of 40 minutes, I waited 2 hours for it to double in volume in the first rise and another 1 1/2 hours instead of 50 minutes for the second rise. Maybe I didn't put in the right amount of yeast as my digital scale konked-out and I had to use my manual kitchen scale. This old manual kitchen scale has a  gradient of 10g unlike my digital one which can measure more accurately 1g at a time. And so, to measure 6g of instant yeast needed was really a guessing game for me.

Despite the longer proofing time needed than called for, all is forgiven when I pulled the bread apart. The springy network of gluten  and open crumb surprised me and I knew for sure the bread was going to be soft.

I can't help poking and pressing & pulling on the crumb and feeling pleased with myself. Without wasting anymore time, I quickly  tried a slice and it was indeed  very soft and has a light spring to it when chewed on. I was over the moon!


This "Japanese Cream Bread"  hands down is the softest bread I've ever made  and it trumps over the "Soft Yoghurt Bun"  I made and blogged about earlier. It also stayed soft till the next day unlike the "Soft Yoghurt Buns" which turned a little gummy.


Japanese Cream Bread
(taken from "Magic Bread" by Alex Goh)

Ingredients

A) 120g  bread flour
     85 g boiling water

B) 380g bread flour
     75g sugar
     6gsalt
     8g instant yeast

C) 120g cold milk
     100g whipping cream
     1 cold egg

D) 40g Butter


Method

1) Mix ingredients A together to form a rough dough. Cover and let cool, then keep in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.
2) Mix together ingredients B, then add all of ingredients C and combine well. Add in the refrigerated dough from A, knead together till well combined. Then, add the Butter from D, knead until elastic.
3) Let the well kneaded dough proof for 40 minutes. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and mould round and let rest for 10 minutes.
4) Flatten each dough pieces and roll into oblong shape place 3 pieces into a greased 17x9x6.5 cm loaf tin. Make 4 loafs.
5) Let proof for 50 minutes. Bake at 180 degrees Centigrade for 20-25 minutes.

Note: I used bigger loaf tins and made two bigger loaves of bread by dividing the dough into six pieces, and placed 3 pieces into each tin.

Chinese Soup - Snow Fungus & Red Dates Chicken Soup

Snow fungus or silver ear fungus or literally called "white wood ear" in Chinese or in it's scientific name  Tremella Fuciformis is a species of fungus which is light yellowish white in colour, almost translucent and gelatinous & wobbly looking.  It is widely used in Chinese cooking and medicine. In medicine it is used to enhance body liquids, to cure dry coughs, heart palpitations and also for the nervous system. It is also used to help improve skin tone. Studies have found that it also demonstrates anti-tumor activity, lowers levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad" cholesterol), protects the liver, and fights inflammation.

Here's my take on a tasty nutritious soup  incorporating snow fungus for its many health benefits.

Dried Snow Fungus

Ingredients:

6 Cups or 1 1/2 litre Chicken Broth

8-10 Red Dates

White Fungus

Dried Conch Flesh

Salt to taste

How to cook:

Dried Conch





1) Soak dried fungus & dried conch till soften.

2) Put all ingredients into a pot and boil gently for 1 hour.

Add salt to taste. Done.

Steamed Chicken Wings with Coriander & Ginger

A new chicken dish I've tried recently. Very fragrant with the combination of coriander, chilli and ginger.


Ingredients
about 500g Chicken Wings
50g Ginger, minced finely
1 Chillies, diced finely, (more if u prefer more heat)
1 bunch coriander, chopped

Marinade:
1 Tbs Oyster Sauce
1Tbs Soy Sauce
few drops sesame oil
1 tsp cornflour

Method:
1) Mix chicken wings with marinade and set aside to marinate for 15 minutes.
2) Combine the marinaded chicken wings with minced ginger, diced chillies & chopped coriander. Place on heatproof plate and steam for 20-25 minutes over high heat until cooked. Season with salt to taste. Done.

Nigella's Molten Chocolate Babycake



Another winner from Nigella. You'd be surprised how this rich luscious ooey-gooey delectable dessert is actually quite low in fat .... well sort of. Compared to other recipes for molten chocolate cakes, the amount of butter required in this recipe is considerably less but it didn't compromise on richness and chocolatiness! And this recipe is very easy to prepare and the batter can be made in advance and kept in the fridge until ready to be baked. This scores big thumbs up from me!

 

Mmmmmm.........



Molten Chocolate Babycake

(adapted from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess" cookbook)

Recipe:

50g  soft unsalted Butter (I've used Salted Butter instead)

350g Dark Chocolate (I've used bittersweet chocolate)

150g Caster Sugar ( I've reduced the amount to 70g)

4 Large Eggs, beaten with a pinch of Salt (I've omitted the salt)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

50g Plain Flour

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 200 ºC.

2) Melt the chocolate and let cool slightly.

3) Cream together butter and sugar and gradually beat in eggs, then the vanilla. Add in the flour and combine smoothly. Pour in the melted chocolate and blend till smooth batter.

4) Pour batter evenly between 6 greased and lined pudding cups. (I used muffin paper cups). Bake 10-12 mins. Please keep a close eye on  the cakes and do not overbake!  I usually take them out when the tops look dry and still jiggle when lightly shaken.
5) Turn out on serving plates immediately.

Serve these babies with whipped cream or ice cream.

Ooey-gooey silky smooth molten chocolaty centre ... DIVINE!