Braised mushrooms is a favourite at my house. But my mom does it with leeks, fried chicken feet and roasted pork, a version I doubt Mike’s family will like.

Since getting married, I never went home for new year eve’s Reunion Dinner. Well, we’re not supposed to, cos once married you have to eat at your husband’s as you now belong to that family. I do know that many practise alternating or eat at both sides nowadays, but that is unless you stay a sea away (for alternate years) or stay within 30 mins drive to eat at both sides, and also provided it’s eating out where no work at home is done. But traditionally, it’s always at the husband’s side. I’ve never seen my mom going home for dinner. Neither do my sister in laws who stay walking distances away. They stay throughout the dinner and may drop by their parent’s house after that for a chat with their siblings, but never for reunion dinner. It’s an understood custom. My mom calls it a "LAW".

So, for 5 years, I’ve never had reunion dinner at home. At Mike’s place, we share the cooking work. His aunts will do some dishes and I’ll do some. And every year I wonder why is there no mushroom dishes. Is it that they do not know how to do it because since Mike’s grandma passed away, a lot of recipes followed in her footsteps too. So, I made this but not the version I had at home, as they don’t consume chicken feet.
I made up the recipe based on 2 persons. My 3rd uncle will always braise his mushrooms in garlic oil broth before he adds in other flavours and meat. My mom told me, dried oysters taste a lot better than oyster sauce and a few pieces in braises totally perks things up. And it so happened that I have some dried oysters and some scallops that has been sitting chilled in my fridge for almost 3 years.



Here, I present to you my maiden attempt in braising mushrooms and I’m very happy with the result. Flavourful and fragrant. I didn’t need to add any sugar as the scallop was sweet enough and I didn’t need any other sauces(besides the basic soy sauce) to season the dish as the oyster gave out so much flavour to the dish. I didn’t even use salt.

But, it was labled as “old people’s dish” when it arrived at the dinner location. The younger generation didn’t appreciate the dish but the older folks loved it. I was told that only Mike’s grandma will cook this, and since young my hubby will call it “old folk’s dish” and he said now he’s getting older already, he loved it. What a nice explanation. Huh! A far cry from my family where braised mushrooms are loved by the young and old.
I don’t think I’ll be cooking this for next year’s reunion dinner. If ever they ask for this dish again, I’ll do a much smaller portion. I think I’ll just fry chicken to feed those kids in their late 20’s next year.

Braised Mushrooms with Dried Scallop and Oysters
Recipe Source: Wendyywy
Serves 12-20 (depends on how much they eat)

200gm dried shitake/Chinese mushrooms, soaked for 1 hour or overnight
50gm dried oysters (10 pcs)
50gm dried scallops/conpoy (5 large pieces about 2cm diameter)
2 tbsp light soy sauce (30ml)
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce (15ml)
1 Tbsp Shao Xing wine (15ml)
1 bulb of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
4 Tbsp cooking oil (you do need this amount of oil to make the mushrooms look shiny and taste smooth)
1 tsp cornstarch +3 tbsp water (may need more if not thick enough)

1. Clean mushrooms and snip smaller if they are too big. Squeeze mushrooms to remove excess water.
2. Rinse oysters and scallops.
3. Heat a heavy based pot and put in oil.
4. Put in chopped garlic and sauté until it smells fragrant, no need to be golden.
5. Put in cleaned mushrooms and stir until coated with oil.
6. Put in rinsed oysters and scallops, Stir to mix around.
7. Put in water, enough to cover mushrooms.
8. Bring to a boil, cover with lid and turn heat to low.
9. Braise for 2 hours. Check pot once a while to make sure the liquid in pot doesn’t dry up.
10. After 2 hours, season with soy sauces and Shao Xing wine.
11. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes.
12. Prepare cornstarch mixture and thicken gravy according to preference.
13. Dish up and garnish with blanched veggies.

I was intrigued when I saw these videos on how to make the best foccacia, the type that is very holey with thin membranes. But then again, it needs poolish, which is a starter, something I don't have, nor do I have the patience to make a sourdough or a starter with natural yogurt.

So, I just tried to use the recipe substituting with yeast, ahahaha, and the results are definately different. And I also didn't do the bread from dawn to dusk which was what the chef did. I split the process into half. After the first kneading, threw the dough into the fridge for a 12 hour fermentation. And continued the folding process the next day.

I call this a failed attempt, but I'll have the recipe here for my own reference. The written instructions here are pretty confusing, if you intend to read it at a glance.

Artisan Focaccia Wannabe

420gm flour
350gm water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
½ Tbsp yeast
Some extra virgin olive oil for oiling the dough, about 2-3 Tablespoons

1. Put flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast into a large mixing bowl and mix. Make a well in the centre.
2. Pour water into the well and bring the flour in using a spoon. Make sure all the flour is incorporated with the water.
3. Use a firm spatula and make 100 folds with the dough (I did 150 to be assured ;p)
4. With spatula, from the edge of the dough, lift dough slightly up and pour in some olive oil. Repeat so that the dough is well oiled all over.
5. Cover with a big plastic bag and leave to proof for 1 hour or until it looked doubled. (I just put into my cold oven)
6. After it has doubled, place bowl of dough onto your working table and oil your hands.
7. Bring hands under the upper part of dough(12 o clock), bring 1/3 of the upper dough up and fold it towards you.
8. Bring hands to the lower part of dough(6 o clock), bring 1/3 of the dough up and fold it away from you.
9. Turn bowl 90 degrees and repeat step 7 and 8.
10. Oil hands again and repeat step 7,8 and 9. Do these steps three times in total (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, see the video below). Lift
11. Cover and put dough into fridge and chill overnight (8-10 hours).
12. The next day, take dough out from the fridge and let it warm up until it’s pliable.
13. Oil your hands and Repeat step 7,8 and 9 three times. Let it proof for another hour and oil hands and fold dough 3 times again.
14. Generously oil a 10X10 baking pan (or 9X13) and place the dough onto pan.
15. Press dough down with fingers, making dimples everywhere.
16. Finely chop some fresh rosemary and sprinkle over dimpled dough.Lightly sprinkle some salt over dough. Let the dough rise for another 30 minutes.
17. Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 200/220C.
18. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Watch this video to see how I “knead the dough” and how I oiled the dough. I learnt it from this site.

It may be failed, in terms of the result that I should get. But my holes are still big but not thin. It's crunchy and super yummy on the sides, but the center ones are just so so.

I filled the foccacia with sauteed portobellos and it was yum! Mike asked me to make more of this bread next time, but haha, and that was before he tasted the middle pieces. My oven has always been bad with large surface breads, the center is always wet on the bottom, cooked but wet. So, if the whole bread was like the sides, then it'll be super deliciously yum.

I love mushrooms, and sometimes new mushrooms make us think think think on ways to cook them.

And when I bumped into this recipe ,  I quickly bookmarked it. Normally, what I’d do with king oyster mushrooms or what we call here in Cantonese as Gai Bei Goo (鸡髀 菇, chicken drumstick mushroom), is to do a mixed vege stir fry， use in steamboats or make a cream sauce pasta with it. And this method seems nice, cut into long strips and later, mixed with a meat sauce.


I didn’t follow the original recipe too much, as I have no idea what 黄酱 is. So, I did the usual shallot infused oyster sauce gravy.

I used,
400gm king oyster mushrooms, rinsed, and cut into shoestrings (Like McD Fries)
80gm pork loin or chicken breast, cut into matchsticks (so that when you take the mushroom, you won’t miss the meat, if use minced meat, chances are, the meat will drop off from the mushrooms)
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp cooking oil
2 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
3/4 tsp sugar
Pinch of salt and some pepper

1. Steam mushrooms on high heat for 8 minutes, or until wilted. Leave to cool down.
2. Remove juices and try to squeeze out water from the mushrooms. Retain all the juice.
3. Heat a wok, and put in cooking oil. Fry shallots until very slightly golden and put in garlic.
4. When garlic is fragrant, put in pork/chicken. And cook until it turns opaque.
5. Put in seasonings and cook until it sort of dries up and you can see the oil.
6. Put in retained mushroom juice and bring to a boil. (The mushroom juice tends to thicken a bit)
7. Put in mushrooms and cook it for 1 minute to let the flavor absorb into the mushroom. (If you prefer some gravy, let the mushroom absorb the flavor first, then only put in extra water or some cornstarch mixture)
8. Dish up and serve.

I love aglio olio. It’s just pasta coated in garlic chilli oil. Simple but delightful

I love mushrooms, they are sweet and fragrant. Taste absolutely fabulous sautéed in butter.

This is an easy meal. Just 30 minutes and you're good to go.

Sautéed Mushrooms (inspired by Jamie Oliver)
250gm white button mushrooms, lightly and quickly rinsed, sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste

1. Heat a pan on medium heat. Put in oil and butter.
2. Saute garlic until fragrant and lightly golden.
3. Put in sliced mushrooms (turn heat to high) and cook until they wilt and slightly caramelized.
4. Season with salt. Dish up and set aside.



Spaghetti Aglio Olio
200gm spaghetti (to be cooked al dente)
2 dried chillies, coarsely milled, or you can use 1 tsp those pepper flakes in bottles (reserve some for garnish)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
Some parsley for garnish

1. Bring a pot of water to boil, put in some salt and cook spaghetti until al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Use a clean pan, put in on medium low heat. (I read, do not use high heat, unlike Chinese cooking, let the garlic slowly infuse the oil)
3. Put in olive oil and garlic, cook until garlic is fragrant then put in chilli flakes.
4. Cook until garlic is slightly golden, put in 1/2 tsp salt and put in cooked spaghetti.
5. Toss spaghetti in the fragrant oil. Taste, if not salty enough, add more salt.
6. Put sautéed mushroom into the spaghetti and toss. (Or you can skip this step if you want to top the spaghetti with mushrooms instead of mixing them in)
7. Dish up and top with some chopped parsley.

Pilaf, Pulav, Polau , or Pulao. They are all the same.

Pulav is Hindi, Pulao is Tamil and Nepali, Polau is Bengali and Pilaf is what almost the rest of world calls it.

A simple Indian vegetarian dish. You can eat this on its own or with meat and vegetables, but my kids find this to be yummy enough to be on its own. The mushrooms are really flavourful and with all the spices, yum yum.
Mike asked me to cook this next time to go with curry or some spicy meat dishes. He finds it very delicious.

Try this if you love basmathi rice and mushrooms. I love mushrooms which was the reason I was attracted to this recipe. And sprinkle lots of flat leaf parsley to go with this, absolutely lovely!!!


Recipe adapted from Vazhayila

1 cup(250ml) basmathi rice, washed and drained
½ red onion, peeled and sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
A small knob of ginger, about half a thumb, smashed
200gm fresh mushrooms (this is one punnet, and I used Swiss Browns), sliced about 5mm thickness
½ tsp meat curry powder
1 small cinnamon stick (Mike can take cinnamon with savoury dishes, but not sweet food)
2 cardamoms
2 cloves
1 Tbsp butter
½ tsp salt
2 cups water

1. Heat pan on medium heat and put in butter, garlic, and onions. Fry until onions turn soft.
2. Put in ginger, cinnamon stick, cardamoms and cloves and fry until aromatic.
3. Put in sliced mushrooms and cook until it wilts and softens.
4. Put in curry powder and salt. Mix.
5. Put in rice and fry for a while, for about 30 seconds.
6. Transfer everything to your rice cooker, add in water and cook.

*I steamed my rice for 30 minutes.


See those reddish stuff I put beside my rice?? I’ll post that recipe after this.

I saw this recipe on Blessed Homemaker’s. I was attracted to this soup, because it uses chayote. Well, some call it buddha’s hand gourd, some call it english gourd, whatever you call it, it’s that green gourd with a slit in the middle.

I have always loved Chayote, because it is so swweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
And indeed, when paired with sweet corn in this soup, it is even sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeter. Infused with the fragrance of mushrooms. Minimal salt is needed, but, please, do not use loads of water, if not, don’t blame me if the soup is tasteless.

The original version called for Agrocybe aegerita mushrooms, but my shitakes weirdly are labeled as 茶树姑, the same Chinese name for aegrocybes. I just used that (hahaha, just because the Chinese name’s the same), because I don’t have agrocybe, the real茶树姑. My mushrooms are from Eu Yan Sang, so that can’t be wrong, I guess they might have been grown on Chinese tea tree trunks. Actually they might be camellia mushrooms , as the Chinese tea bush’s scientific name is Camellia Sinensis, so I’m not surprised that these shitake lookalikes are actually camellia mushrooms, hence the Chinese translation 茶树姑.


Here’s what I did,
1 chayote, about 400gm, peeled and cut into chunks
2 sweet corns, cut into small pieces
5 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked, cleaned and halved
250gm pork loin or lean pork
2.5L water or 10 cups

Bring water to boil and put in everything. Put in on high eat for 30 minutes and low heat simmer for 2 hours. Season with a little bit of salt.

Everything got pretty tasteless after all the boiling, but…… the soup is so flavourful. Everything went into the broth…. Yummy :)

Just made these yesterday. This is not a back post :)

Yes, it's almost that time of the Lunar Year again, Duan Wu Festival or Dragon Boat Festival, the day that the Chinese remembers the loyal scholar who commited suicide. The actual day is next Wednesday, 16th June 2010. But I'm making this early for your reference :) I always do my dumplings one or 2 weeks earlier, just for the sake of eating.

Actually I’ve never eaten this, nor have I seen this in real life. I only got to know the existence of this type of Zongzi when I was searching the internet for the real Cantonese Zongzi last year. Malaysia’s Chinese food is already so, so fusioned, that one no longer can distinct between each other, except for certain dishes.

This year Kristy made some sweet hakka dough dumplings.
And I have already planned to make these since last year.

What makes Hakka dough dumplings (客家粄粽) different??. Wait before that, let me tell you there is another type of Hakka Dumpling that is shaped like a pillow... that is a rice dumpling and it is not the same as this dough dumpling.

The difference of savoury hakka dough dumplings is that it uses glutinous rice flour instead of glutinous rice.
Uses minced meat instead of meat pieces.
Uses preserved radish instead of beans.
Fillings are pre cooked and not used raw
Other than these, the mushroom is there, the 5 spice is there. No chestnuts and no salted egg yolks.


And one mistake I did, I thought since this is steamed and not boiled, soI didn’t bother about the small cracks in some of the wrapping. And I also wrapped them quite tight, tried hard to eliminate empty spaces in the wrapping. It is ok, to just form a round ball, with a slightly pointed end and fold the top wrapping loosely over, no need to be too tight cos the dumpling will expand a bit during steaming. Hahaha, the dough seeped out from the cracks during steaming, like Incredible Hulk getting green, cos there was no where to go, except through the wrapping, and caused dumplings that didn't have cracks in the beginning to tear after steaming.




Anyway, it goes into the tummy…..

Here goes the recipe

Hakka Dough Dumpling Recipe

Fillings
5 shitake mushrooms, soaked and chopped, it will come to about ½ cup
200gm minced meat or 1 cup
½ cup or 70gm chopped preserved radish (Choy poh, I used the sweet type, just rinse and chop, if salty type please soak for 30 minutes, squeeze out water before use)
5 shallots, sliced or chopped
10gm (1 heaped Tbsp) dried shrimps, soaked for 30 minutes and finely chopped
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt (you may need less if using salted preserved radish)
Pepper
½ tsp 5 spice powder
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 cup water +1 tsp cornstarch




1. Heat wok and put in 3 tbsp oil. Put in shallots and fry until golden, drain and dish up.
2. Put in chopped dried shrimps and fry until fragrant, then put in minced meat and fry until dry and fragrant, put in preserved radish and fry until fragrant. Put in seasonings and cornstarch mixture. Cook until the water is absorbed by the fillings. Mix in fried shallots.
3. Dish up and let it cool down. Divide into 16 and freeze filling to harden slightly.
4. Meanwhile prepare the dough

Dough
550gm (5 cups) glutinous rice flour
190gm rice flour(1 + 2/3 cups) (If you prefer a less sticky texture, you can substitute some of the glutinous rice flour with rice flour)
2 Tbsp cooking oil
300ml water + 1tsp salt + 1 Tbsp sugar
300ml water (room temp)

1. Mix both flours and make a well in the centre. Put in 2 Tbsp cooking oil
2. Put salt, sugar and 300ml water in a saucepan, bring to a boil.
3. Pour half of (2) into (1) and mix with spoon, bringing in flour slowly into the center. Pour more of (2) and combine. Add the room temp water slowly and knead the flour into a dough. You may not need all the water. Knead dough until smooth. Divide dough into 16 pieces, about 80gm each.

Assembly
*click on pic to have a larger view on how to form the cone. This is one of the crucial steps in wrapping. Once I did this in Pudu Girls School, and my students took 2 hours just to learn the wrapping method, and they found the cone forming step is the most difficult of all, besides getting the four corners as pointy corners.
The rest of the wrapping method is in my Bak Zhang Recipe

1. Take one piece of dough roll it round.
2. Lightly flatten it, and make the sides flatter than the center.
3. Place one piece of filling in the center and wrap up the dumpling. Gently rolling it in your hands to seal up. Repeat until all fillings are wrapped up. (I managed to wrap all the fillings with dough in less than 10 minutes, simply due the fillings are hard and clumped together because they are half frozen)
4. Coat each dumpling with cooking oil. Shape each dumpling to look like a green pear, slightly conish.
5. Form a cone with bamboo leaf and place one piece of dumpling(pointy side down) into the cone. Lightly press and fold the rest of the bamboo leaves to form a “pyramid”.
6. Tie with a piece of hemp/cotton string.
7. Steam on high heat for 30 minutes.




So, how did this hakka dough dumpling taste like.... Chewy and the filling taste good. Much chewier than kuih koci, if you want to know the comparison. A fresh change from the usual.

If you prefer a less sticky texture, go with half glutinous rice flour and half rice flour.
If you like it softer, you can use less boiling water and increase the room temperature water. The boiling water here partially cooks the dough, and makes it sticky. When the dough is partially sticky, it needs less water to form a dough and the dumpling will have a firmer and chewier(ngann) texture. But you cannot simply increase the water, you must decrease the boiling water and increase cold water, remember.

My neighbours liked them a lot, and hahaha, indeed this dumpling was a stranger that no one knew before this. But now, at least now, my family knows that this thing exist :)



http://www.wretch.cc/blog/CarrieC/13934825&tpage=1
http://www.951b.com/meishi/200912/10-18682.html
http://www.hk32168.com/viewthread.php?tid=146573



Oh yes, I'll be making more Zongzi this weekend, Both Cantonese and Hokkien varieties.
Not making any Gan Sui Joong.....


Video on how to wrap (updated 6/6/13)

Kailan is Chinese Kale.

My mom used to do kailan almost this way. I added in shitake mushroom slices this time.
You can do the gravy in advance and pour it on the blanched kailan just before serving.

This portion is enough for 4 persons. It's too much if you're feeding carnivores and too little if feeding herbivores.

Kailan with Pork and Mushroom Gravy Recipe
300gm Hong Kong Kailan
Bring a pot of water (about3L), add in ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp sugar and 1 tsp oil. Blanch kale for 30 seconds. Drain well.

Gravy
1/3 cup pork, cut into thin strips, matching the mushrooms (Chicken breast strips may be substituted)
3 pcs large dried shitake, soaked and sliced
2 tbsp oil
2 shallots (sliced thinly)
1 clove garlic (chopped finely)

Seasoning (combine together)
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp cornstarch
½ cup water or slightly more.

1. Heat wok and put in oil. Saute shallots until fragrant, add in garlic. Fry until both are lightly golden.
2. Put in pork strips and stir fry until meat is cooked.
3. Put in mushrooms and toss for 30 seconds.
4. Put in seasoning mixture and bring to a boil, adding more water if its too thick.
5. Let it simmer for 30 seconds and pour gravy on blanched kailan. Serve.

Lydia loves this dish. She ate 3 times when I cooked this. 1st when I fed her and Lyanne, 2nd when I ate, 3rd when Mike ate after he woke up from his evening nap. She hasn't been eating a lot lately and it's a great relief to see her having rice with this. Guess 2 year olds are like that, they start to choose... luckily she loves tofu.

It's pretty easy to do.

1 block of silken tofu, largely cubed
2 small packs of enoki, ends trimmed off and separated loosely.
1 pack of brown beech mushrooms, ends trimmed and separated

There's no rule to how much to put, just put as u please

2 shallots, sliced and fried til crisp in 3 Tbsp oil.
2 Tbsp light soy sauce
Some green onion slices

Method:
1. Arrange silke tofu cubes in a deep dish. Top with enoki and beech mushrooms. It'll be a huge mound, but don't worry, the mushrooms shrink a lot.
2. Steam on high heat for 7-10 minutes, until mushroom wilts.
3. Pour away liquid from dish.
4. Top with shallot and the oil it was fried in, and light soy sauce.
5. Garnish with some sliced green onions.

Baby food! Something really new on my blog.

Warning: I do not recommend this for babies below 9 months. Food choices for your own baby is yours, this is just my baby’s food.

I suddenly had this idea of making mushroom soup for Lyanne.
Bought some nice pesticide free white button mushroons, an organic leek and russet potatoes which are oh so yummy and soft.

For 2 meals:
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
4 button mushrooms, abt 1/3 cup when sliced thinly
¼ cup thinly sliced leeks
1 tsp or slightly more olive oil.
Small pinch of salt (optional)
3 cups water

Heat a small pot and put in olive oil. Saute sliced leeks until soft and slightly browned. Put in sliced mushrooms and continue to cook until mushrooms wilt. Put in water and bring to a boil.
Put in potatoes and simmer until tender. Season with a little bit of salt, if wanted. Puree and keep warm.

Ok, from the pic u can see I didn’t puree it. Lyanne likes it slightly granular. So, I forked out the potatoes, and pureed just the broth. I mashed the potatoes with a fork and mixed with the pureed broth.
Do whichever way ur baby prefers or whatever u think is best. Oh yes, u can mix it with ur baby’s formula powder, so that it’ll have creamy milky taste, like real mushroom soup.

Lydia loved it as much as Lyanne :)

Oh yes, I cooked this 4 months back :) I know I'm late, I know I am...... very much late.

A recipe at the request of Riche, my net friend.

I searched on the net and adapted the recipe to local ingredients… Half and half is not easily available and it costs the same as cream itself. So, why not use cream and milk, anyway, half and half is also half cream half milk. Milk is a lot cheaper than cream.

This is my first time cooking with Portobello, and OMG, it’s darn good! It smelt like chicken when I was sautéing it. You can get mini portobellos at Jusco or Tesco and they cost less than the big caps.

This soup is really easy, and really yummy. You can dilute it more if u want, it’ll still be flavourful.



This recipe yield abt 5 cups of soup, nice to be served with hot garlic bread.

200gm Portobello mushrooms, sliced
200gm leek, thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped onions
2 Tbsp butter (abt 30gm), or u can use olive oil, or a mixture
1 cup water
1 pc chicken cube/bouillon
2 heaped Tbsp flour + 1/3 cup water
200ml whipping cream
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat butter in a pot until melted and put in onions. Cook until onions softens and put in leek. Cook until the leeks softens too. Put in mushroom and cook until mushroom softens and it smells good!
2. Put in water and simmer until everything turns soft, really soft. It takes about 10-15 mins.
3. Blend (2) in a blender or just use a pot blender and blend until fine.
4. Return it to heat and put in chicken cube, milk and flour mixture. Stirring all the while. Bring to a boil and put in cream. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and keep warm until serving time.



And we couldn’t finish the soup, we used it as gravy with pasta the next day. Yummy!!