Kailan cooked in 2 ways or “yin yong kai lan” is a dish which I ate about 3 years ago in a restaurant in Shah Alam. I found it interesting - even though it is relatively simple. The kailan leaves are shredded and deep fried whilst the stem is given a light stir fry with garlic slices. I had totally forgotten about this dish and did not think about cooking it until recently when I saw a picture of it in a book which I was browsing at a store. My interest was reignited and hence, this dish was attempted last weekend.

I found this dish to be a bit time consuming as the kailan needs to be prepared in two ways. Firstly, the middle stem running along the leaves need to be removed. What I did was to place each leaf (yes, leaf by leaf) on my chopping board, fold it into half with the stem as the guide and then use a knife to cut the stem out. Once the stem has been removed, I then take a couple of leaves which have been given the same treatment and roll them tightly before slicing / shredding them thinly. As for the main stems, I remove the outer skin before cutting them into bite sizes.

The frying of the shredded kailan leaves also needs some care. You will need to use a generous amount of oil because the leaves tend to absorb the oil and they get burnt easily. It is thus important to control the heat - somewhere between medium to high if preferred. After frying them, you will need to drain them and leave them on kitchen napkins to have excess oil absorbed.

It is still an interesting dish to try out if you are bored with the usual stir fried kai lan with prawns or kai lan stems with pork and mushrooms. I sprinkled tiny anchovies or “ghun he” (in hokkien) over the deep fried kailan leaves. A good substitute would be meat floss.

This is my version of Kailan Cooked in 2 Ways Read the rest of this entry »

This is my first foray into XO sauce territory. I have previously heard of the XO sauce but before I actually looked further into it, I thought it had something to do with the X.O. Cognac. Actually, XO sauce is supposed to be a premium sauce made up of ingredients such as dried shrimps, chilli, scallops, shallots and garlic amongst others. It is no wonder that it is one of the more expensive sauces around in chinese cuisine.

The XO sauce is touted to be a good sauce to use with seafood. As I love mussels, I decided to give it a stir fry using the XO sauce to see how it would turn out. I have never tried the sauce, let alone know how it would eventually taste like. So, prior to cooking, I dipped a spoon into the sauce and then tried out the chilli-oil based sauce just to have an idea what XO sauce tastes like. It is actually hard to describe the taste but I do remember that it was kinda oily. Being conscious of not using too much oil in my cooking, I made it a point not to scoop unnecessary oil from the bottle for otherwise, the dish might end up too oily for my liking.

Mussels cook easily. If you cook too much, it would turn slightly chewy and rubbery. I bought some frozen and vacuum-packed NZ Mussels from the supermarket and defrosted them overnight in the lower compartment of the fridge. When I added the mussels into the wok, I could smell the sweet aroma coming from the mussels. Each bite into the juicy mussels reveal a natural sweetness from the mussels nicely paired with the subtle hint of spicy XO sauce. My wife and I polished the whole plate with steamed white rice and stir-fried french beans with egg. A simple, quick and satisfying meal. Aren’t all meals supposed to be like that?

This is my quick recipe for Stir Fried Mussels with XO Sauce Read the rest of this entry »

This dish is easy to cook but a nightmare to think out a name for it. For starters, it is not exactly fried. Neither is it stir-fried, steamed, braised, stewed or poached. I would put it as a combination of a quick and light stir-fry mixed with quick stewing for a quick and delicious meal. Now, it is quite common in chinese homes to have seaweed soup which comes with minced pork. But it is altogether another thing to have it cook this way that I am sharing with you. Whereas seaweed soup may be bland to some, this dish is tasty to the core hence, the name Seaweed Delight.

Mum first learnt this dish from 1st aunt and thereafter, taught me how to cook this dish. It has now become my preferred dish if I were to cook seaweed at home. The basic ingredients are no different from cooking seaweed soup but the cooking method and seasoning is slightly different. As you read the recipe, you will know why. Anyway, this dish has always made its presence on the dinner table only to vanish in every meal session. So, resist trying it at your peril.

This is my 1st aunt’s recipe for Seaweed Delight. Read the rest of this entry »

I love pork ribs, especially when they are fried or roasted. One of my favourite style of pork ribs would be Champagne Pork Ribs, a well-known chinese-styled pork ribs with a hint of cooking wine used in the marinating process. I googled around the net for a recipe for champagne pork ribs but could not find one which would satisfy me. In the end, I decided to create my own marinate with absolutely no reference to champagne pork ribs.

I chose baby back ribs for this recipe due to the tenderness of the meat around the ribs. According to Wiki, “Baby back ribs, sometimes called loin ribs or simply back ribs, are taken from the top of the rib cage between the spine and the spareribs, below the loin muscle. They have meat between the bones and are shorter but meatier than spareribs. The rack is shorter at one end, due to the natural tapering of a pig’s rib cage.” You will see the whitish soft bone part on one end of the rib.

I gave the ribs a good 6 hours of marinating with a mix of sauces and it turned out well after frying. You can also roast the ribs if you have an oven by basting it regularly with the marinate. It turned out great, and definitely tasty and my two kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Give this recipe a try as it is simple and fuss free.

This is my recipe for Tasty Baby Back Ribs Read the rest of this entry »