I am quite fond of celeries. This vegetable is highly fibrous and good for health. When made into celery juice, it does reduce the bad cholesterol of some patients. But I don’t really like celery juice because it tastes rather funny. Saltish, I would say. Most of the time, I would just stir fry the celery with carrots, mushrooms and prawns.

I really did not intend to cook the straw mushrooms on this occasion. That morning, i bought a can of straw mushrooms only to drop it whilst driving and thus causing a dent on the can. Since the can is dented, I cannot be keeping the can of straw mushrooms longer for fear of possible leaching of iron (I am still struggling to understand this bit). Anyway, the dish turned out well and we truly had an enjoyable meal. The crunchiness of the celery and carrots were balanced by the smoothness of the mushrooms. The prawns lended its sweetness to the dish. Voila!

This is my recipe for Stir Fried Celery with Prawns and Straw Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 1 stalk celery (cut to 4 cm lengths)
• 1 medium sized carrot (sliced)
• Half can of straw mushrooms (about 10 pieces - you can use more, it doesn’t really matter)
• 8 pieces of medium sized prawns (deveined, leaving shell intact)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• Corn starch (mix 1 tablespoon corn flour with 100 ml water)
• 50 ml warm water
  
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil (palm oil)

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
• a couple of dashes of white pepper powder
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of MSG (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of chinese cooking wine

Method

Heat oil in wok and saute garlic till beginning to brown. Add prawns and stir for 15 seconds. Remove prawns and set aside.

Add celery, carrots and straw mushrooms into the wok and continue stir frying for 1 minute. Add seasoning and water and bring to boil. Return prawns into the rest of the ingredients.

Cook for another 2 minutes and add corn starch to thicken gravy (if necessary).

Serve hot with white rice.

Technorati Tags: Recipe, Food, Malaysia, Chinese, Celery, Prawns

I like Hong Kong Kai Lan (chinese kale). This vegetable is tender and crunchy to the bite and is not as “fibrous” as the usual Kai Lan. I do wonder whether these Hong Kong Kai Lan are genetically modified to its current size since it looks like a baby kai lan. Even the Hong Kong Choy Sum also tastes as good.

Anyway, one of the most common way of cooking this vegetable is to add fresh prawns into the dish. The prawns lend a sweetness to the dish and a contrasting texture as well. But really, even if you can’t get your hands on fresh prawns, you can also omit it altogether.

This is my recipe for Stir Fried Hong Kong Kai Lan with Prawns

Ingredients

• 200 grammes of Hong Kong Kai Lan (washed thoroughly and separate leaves from stem. Slice the stems lengthwise)
• 10 to 15 medium sized prawns (devein and shelled, you can leave the tails intact if you want)
• 6 slices of ginger (diced)
• 5 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 30 ml warm water
• Corn starch (add 1 tablespoon corn flour to 3 tablespoons of water and mix well)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Cooking oil (palm oil)

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
• Salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons chinese cooking wine

Method

Heat oil in wok and fry ginger till aromatic. Add garlic and prawns and stir fry till prawns begin to turn colour. Add kai lan stems. Stir fry for about 20 seconds.

Add the kai lan leaves. Stir well and add seasoning. Add warm water and continue to stir fry till leaves turn dark green colour and limp. Add a little bit of corn starch if gravy too runny for your liking.

Serve warm preferably with white rice

Technorati Tags: Recipe, Vegetable, Prawns, Chinese, Malaysia

I like asparagus very much and it’s a really healthy vegetable (if you can stand the smell). In chinese cooking, I think asparagus and prawns are like a match made in heaven. Some cooked them in belacan but I prefer mine simple with garlic. Less oily, I guess. These asparagus I bought from the supermarket are the local variety grown in Cameron Highlands. They are thinner in size compared to their Aussie or European counter-parts.

As you prepare the asparagus spears, gently remove the thin layer of skin using your fingernails (wash your fingernails first, please - ahem!). It’s not easy but you’ll get the hang of it. You can skip this process but you may get too much stringy fibre between your teeth when you chew on them. LOL!

Anyway, this is my recipe for Stir Fried Asparagus with Prawns

Ingredients

• 250 grammes of asparagus (cut to 4 or 5cm lengths)
• about 5 to 10 medium sized prawns (remove shell with tail intact, devein)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• 30 ml warm water
• 2 tablespoons palm oil

Seasoning

• 1 teaspoon of light soya sauce
• a pinch of salt
• a dash or two of white pepper powder

Method

Heat oil in wok on high heat. Saute garlic till beginning to brown. Add prawns and stir till begins to turn red. Add asparagus and seasoning.

Stir well and add water. Cover lid for 30 seconds to a minute. Check to ensure that dish does not dry out. Add a little bit more water if it is dried out. Asparagus should be cooked in less than 2 minutes with just a little gravy to keep the dish moist.

Technorati Tags: Asparagus, Prawn, Chinese, Recipe, Food

Care for squids? Squids, also known as sotong in Malay (and Hokkien), is great when cooked in sambal. It cooks pretty fast and usually, it is best not too cook it for too long or it might become chewy. To prepare it for cooking, push the “head” apart and reach into the “body / cavity” for a plastic-like strip. Remove that and wash the sotong clean.

I had been wanting to get rid of the leftover Sarawak Laksa paste which was lying in the fridge and last Saturday’s trip to the wet market gave me an opportunity when the fishmonger had some really fresh sotongs on sale. So, I bought 300 grammes worth of sotong and was drooling in anticipation of what I was going to cook that night. I also bought some lime to give this dish a slight tangy and refreshing taste to it. Otherwise, it would be too much of a plain sambal taste.

This is my recipe for Stir-Fried Sotong with Sarawak Laksa Paste

Ingredients

• 300 grammes squid / sotong (washed and cleaned and cut across into 2 cm tubes)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sarawak laksa paste
• 6 lime (squeezed for the juice)
• 3 to 5 pieces kaffir lime leaves
• 2 medium sized onions (chopped roughly)
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil (preferably palm oil)
• 30 to 50 ml warm water

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoon sugar
• Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in wok and saute onions till fragrant. Add sarawak laksa paste and stir well for 30 seconds. Add sotong, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves, water and seasoning whilst stirring. Sotong is cooked when it curls up.

Serve with plain white rice or coconut rice.