Chinese New Year Dish : Longevity Noodles 长寿面

Chinese New Year Dish : Longevity Noodles 长寿面

Recipe source :  Adapted from cookbook : Regional Chinese Cooking

For some Chinese communities, noodle is a must for the reunion dinner during the Chinese New Year. Do not cut them short just for purpose of easy handling. Cutting them short is a no-no during Chinese New Year. The noodles must be in long strands, the longer the better.

This is because the Chinese believes that the long strands of the noodles symbolise good health and long life. Therefore, it is very auspicious to have a noodle dish, especially longevity noodles for the Chinese New Year reunion dinner. Longevity noodle eaten on the eve of the Chinese New Year is believed to usher in a full year of good health, good tidings and long life!

Ingredients

250g dried egg noodles
100g pork, sliced and marinate with a little cornflour and soy sauce
1 large squid, cut into pieces or rings
6 large prawns, ( 150g ), remove shell but keep tails intact
4 dried mushrooms, soaked and cut into slices
50g carrots, cut into rings to resemble gold coins
5 - 6 pieces baby abalone ( canned ones )
120g mustard green, ( choy sum ) cut into sections
1 tbsp garlic, chopped
3 slices ginger
3 tbsp cooking oil

 Dried egg noodles, longevity noodles

 Mushrooms, sliced thinly

 Squid, cut into pieces

 Prawns, remove shells but keep the tails intact

 Pork slices, marinate with a bit of cornflour and a dash of soy sauce

Carrots, cut into rings to resemble gold coins

Mustard greens, cut into sections

Canned baby abalone

Seasonings

1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1 1/2 cups water

Mix all the seasoning ingredients together until the sugar and sauces are dissolved. Set aside.

Method

1.  Bring half a pot of water to the boil. When it is boiling, add in the dried egg noodles and allow to boil until soft. Refer to package instructions for the time taken to soften them. ( For mine, I boiled about 9 minutes because I like the noodles very soft )
2. Pour the boiled noodles into a colander and allow running water to rinse them. Drain and set aside. 
3.  Boil another pot of water to blanch the squids for 1 minute. Drain and set aside.
4.  Heat a wok and add 3 tbsp cooking oil to it. Saute chopped garlic and ginger slices until fragrant.
5.  Add in mushrooms, pork slices, prawns, carrots, mustard green and squids. Stir-fry all the ingredients and mix them well together. 
6.  Add in the seasoning ingredients and the water solution. Allow to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Scoop up all the ingredients, leaving only the sauce in the wok.
7.  Add in the boiled noodles into the sauce in the wok. Use a pair of chopsticks to toss the noodles to ensure the sauce coats every strand of noodle. Toss until almost dry.
8.  Remove the noodles and transfer to serving dish. Top up the noodles with all the ingredients. 
9.  Serve hot.

I am linking this post to My Treasured Recipes #5 - Chinese New Year Goodies Jan/Feb 2015

Hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well In Flanders 

and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House

I am linking this post to Cook-Your-Book #20

Hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

I am linking this post to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for January 2015 is Noodles and Pasta 
Hosted by  My Bare Cupboard

This event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids 
and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

Dong Bo Pork 东坡肉

Dong Bo Pork 东坡肉

Recipe source :  Adapted from  Table for two....or more

Of late, my family has been obsessed with this dish. Whenever we eat out, my son would insist on ordering this Dong Bo Pork. 

Legend has it that this dish was named after the famous poet, So Dong Bo from the Song Dynasty. If the legend is true, So Dong Bo was certainly a great connoisseur of food besides being a very famous poet.

This dish seems to be in popular demand in my family.  I decided to make it at home. I had a hard time deciding which recipe to follow as there are so many recipes available online and there were a few variations to making this famous Dong Bo pork. 

Ingredients

1 kg pork belly
150g spring onions
50g ginger
130ml shao hsing wine
100g rock sugar
20g dark soya sauce
100g light soy sauce
500ml water

Method

1.  Bring a pot of water to the boil and scald the pork belly for 5 minutes. Drain.
2.  Cut spring onions into sections and line the base of an earthen pot. 
3.  Slice ginger and sprinkle the ginger slices over the spring onions.
4.  Place the pork belly onto the ginger and spring onions, skin side down.
5.  Pour in the soy sauce and sugar. Then add wine and water. Make sure the pork is almost covered with water/liquid.
6.  Bring the pot to the boil over high heat. Once it boils, reduce to low heat and simmer for about 2 hours. Need to flip the pork over halfway and simmer until the pork is tender.
7.  Remove pork and place on a plate and steam over high heat for 30 minutes.
8.  Pour gravy over pork.   

 

Fried Vermicelli With Pumpkin 南瓜炒米粉

Fried Vermicelli With Pumpkin 南瓜炒米粉

Recipe source :  Adapted from Madame' Huang's Kitchen

Accordingly to Carolyn Phillips, this fried vermicelli with pumpkin is a Taiwanese Fall favourite. I was surprised that the pumpkin strips shown in the picture of her blog did not turn mushy after stir-frying. I wanted to test out whether the pumpkin strips will remain whole in my fried vermicelli! Well, the trick was not to overcook the pumpkin strips. 

The other thing I noticed was that Carolyn used lots of wine in her fried vermicelli. I love wine in cooking! So this recipe was definitely a "must-try"!

The result ? Well, the taste was equivalent to our local version of the Hokkien bee-hoon, albeit  with lots of pumpkin, meat and mushrooms and it was very nicely flavoured with wine!

Yummy! Try it for yourself!

Ingredients

300g pumpkin, cut into thin strips
20g dried scallops, soaked and shredded
5 black mushrooms, soaked and cut into thin slices
300g dried vermicelli, soaked until soft, then drain and set aside
2 green onions, cut into sections and separate the whites from greens
200g lean pork, cut into slices
5 tbsp cooking oil

Pumpkin

Dried mushrooms

Dried scallops

Pork

Vermicelli or bee-hoon

Marinade for pork

1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp tapioca flour
1 tsp Chinese cooking wine

Pork with marinade ingredients

Sliced mushrooms, shredded dried scallops and pumpkin strips

Seasonings

2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp dark soya sauce
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
200ml water
a dash of pepper

Method

1.  Marinate the sliced pork with the marinade ingredients and set aside for about 15 minutes.
2.. Heat wok until very hot and add 2 tbsp cooking oil. Saute the white parts of the spring onion.
3. Add in the marinated pork and stir-fry until the pork pieces turned whitish. Remove and set aside. 
4.  In the same wok, add in remaining cooking oil and stir-fry mushrooms, pumpkin and dried scallops.
5. Add in seasonings and water and allow to simmer for about 3 minutes. Then add in the fried pork slices and continue to simmer for further 2 minutes.
6. Add in vermicelli and using a pair of chopsticks,  mix the vermicelli to ensure it is evenly coated with gravy.
7. Continue stirring until almost dry. Switch off flame and dish-up. 
8. Garnish with spring onion. 

 

I am linking this post to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for October 2014 is Pumpkin

Hosted by Eileen's Diary

This event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids 
and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

I am also linking this post to My Treasured Recipes # 3 - Taste of Autumn (Oct/Nov 2014)

Hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well In Flanders and 

co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House

Egg & Wine Chicken 蛋酒鸡

Egg & Wine Chicken 蛋酒鸡

Recipe source :  Y3K Magazine, Issue No. 54, 5/6 - 2010

I have been chilled to the bones due to the incessant rain which had cooled the temperatures considerably.  I need to cook some food to warm me up and to boost up my energy level. I flipped through my cookbooks and decided to cook egg and wine chicken which is warming and is good for blood circulation too. 

This dish is suitable for confinement ladies as well. However, for confinement ladies, I would suggest that you use mature ginger.

Ingredients

1 chicken whole leg, chopped into pieces
100g young ginger, shredded
175ml ginger wine
3 tbsp sesame oil
3 eggs, lighten beaten
100ml water
1 tsp salt

Method

1.  Dry-fry ginger shreds till dry. 
2.  Add in sesame oil to saute until fragrant and remove one third of the fried ginger shreds. Set aside.
3.  Pour in lightly beaten eggs. Cook until set. Dish up and set aside.
4.  Saute the remaining one third of ginger shreds with chicken pieces and fry until the colour changes.
5.  Pour in 100ml water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
6.  Add in fried eggs, wine and salt. Continue to cook for 3 minutes or until almost dry.

Ginger, Egg & Wine Soup 姜酒汤

Ginger, Egg & Wine Soup 姜酒汤

Recipe source :  Doris Choo

My friend, Sharon was telling me about her mother visiting her during the school holidays and how happy and blessed she felt when her mother cooked all her favourite dishes. One of the dishes she mentioned was this ginger, egg and wine soup. The way she described the taste and how cosy she felt after eating and drinking this soup really set off my salivary glands working overtime. Her description and enthusiasm was infectious!

I decided to cook this since I've got a bottle of raisin wine lying idle at home. It wasn't difficult because my mother used to cook this for me during my own confinement. I just had to rack my brains for the recipe. But of course, if you are cooking for confinement ladies, you must add in lots more ginger and wine than the amount that I mentioned below. I remember my mother used ginger shreds to fry the beaten eggs in addition to the ginger she used to cook the soup. Oh, it was very delicious! I fully understood Sharon's enthusiasm over this dish. 

Even this milder version I am sharing now,  really kept me warm and cosy after dinner.

Ingredients

250g pork slices, mix with 1 tsp of flour
20g dried black fungus, soaked and cut into thin strips
20g ginger, cut into thin strips
3 tbsp glutinous rice wine or raisin wine
500ml chicken stock 
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp cooking oil

Method

1.  Heat wok, add 1 tbsp cooking oil and fry beaten eggs to make an omelet. Remove and cut into wedges.
2. Add the remaining 1 tbsp cooking oil into the wok. Saute the shredded ginger strips until golden.
3. Add in the pork slices and stir-fry for one minute or until the pork turns whitish.
4. Add in the shredded black fungus strips and continue to fry for another minute.
5. Pour in the stock and bring it to a boil.
6.  Add in omelette wedges.
7.  Add in wine and switch off the fire. Stir to mix evenly.
8.  Pour into a large soup bowl.
9.  Serve hot.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring bakers #38 : Boozy-licious! (December 2013)

hosted by Jasline of Foodie baker