Braise Abalone with bok choy

This is the first time I come in contact with a live abalone.. It look a bit err slippery and so green. Anyway cleaning them is a bit of fun and not as errie as I thought.

First use a small knife to dig it out from the shell. Wash away the slippery texture from the abalone body. Wash away the skin of the abalone. Is better to use a small brush to clean it properly.

Ok here is the recipe for the Braise Abalone with bok choy

Ingredients:

Abalone 4 pieces

1/2 cups of Chicken stock

2 cloves of garlic ( finely chopped)

1 bunch of Bok Choy

1/2 tsp Oyster sauce

Sugar & salt to taste

Method :

1. Dig out the abalone with small knife and clean it thoroughly with a brush and wash away those slippery texture. A clean abalone should be in beige color.

2. Prepare a small pot , pour in the chicken stock and put in the abalone bring it to boil. Once the stock has boiled. Turn the heat to low and continue to simmer for about 1 1/2 hour .

3. After 1 1/2 hour use a chopstick to poke on the abalone to test is it soft enough. And take it out put aside.

4. Heat up a frying pan . Pour in some oil, put in the finely chopped garlic and sauted until aroma.

5. Put in the bok choy in the frying pan and do a quick stir fried till vege is cooked. Dish out to a plate.

6. In the same pan pour in the chicken stock add in oyster sauce and turn the heat down.

7. Place the abalone on top of bok choy and pour the sauce over and serve .

Grilled Salmon

Salmon is one of my favourite, rich with Omega 3 and full of nutritious. Salmon is fresh and easily bought in Australia. I bought this salmon fillets on that particular day and it was fresh and meaty. In fact I did not finish my portion and keep it the next day for lunch it still taste nice. Here are the recipe for this Grilled Salmon Fillets.

Ingredients :

300 grams Salmon Fillets

2tbsp of olive oil

2tbsp of soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp of honey

sprinkle of black pepper

Finely chopped spring onion ( about 1 stalk)

2 cm of ginger finely chopped.

1 tsp of lime juice

Method :

1. Place Salmon in a plate, marinated well with all other ingredients. Marinate at least an hour or more.

2. Preheat oven 180°C for about 15min. Spray some olive oil on the grilled tray. Place the fillets on the grilled tray and brush the marinade on the fillets.

3. Grilled the salmon for about 5min, turn the fillets over and brush marinade onto the fillets.

4. Continue to grill and turned the fillets until is cooked . It will take about 15min .If wanted the skin to be more brown continue to grill for another 10 min.

5. Serve the fillets with lime and together with some salad.

Braised Duck Noodles - Lor Ak Mee

I love duck dish . However staying in a western country , often the duck dish we have is roast duck. I miss those braise duck my auntie used to cook during Chinese New Year. She is a good cook , sad to say she is not around anymore. I do not really have a chance to learn from her but I do try to do the braise duck my mom used to cook once or twice.

Nope is not easy to cook a whole duck for a newbie like me so I got only some duck leg to try out my dish. It turn out good and my beloved love it and we have a heartily lunch on that day. Here is my little try out recipe on this braised duck noodles.

Recipes --

Ingredients :

2 Duck legs

4 pieces of semi hard beancurd ( already fried)

2 hard boiled eggs

100 grams of beanspourt

300 grams yellow noodles

1.5 litre water

Spices:

Five spices powder.

1 star anise

1 cinnammo stick

5 gloves garlic (hit with knife and keep the skin)

2-3 small white pepper seads

Sauce:

2tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp of sugar

1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Clean the duck and marinated with five spice powder at least 30 min or more. (I did it overnight.)

2. Soak beanspourt with warm water about 3 min to cook.

3. Use a medium saucepan heat up with some oil. Put in garlic to saute and put in anise and cinnamon stick. Fried till aroma and not to burn it.

4. Put the duck leg in the pan , stir fried it with those spices till skin a bit strink.Add in water slightly enough to cover the duck.

5. Put in all the sauces to the pan, then add in the beancurd and egg. Stir and mixed all well.

6. Bring the sauce in pan to boil and turn the heat to low and slow boil it about 1 -1.5 hour. Do not let the pan dry up and add in water as cooked.

7. Soak the yellow noodles in hot water in oder to cook it.Follow the instruction on the packet to ensure noodles is cooked.

8. Seperate cooked noodle onto plate according to serve. Add on beanspourt, duck leg , beancurd and egg.Pour the duck gravy onto the noodle.

9. Garnish with deep fried shallots, corriadors and some pepper. Serve hot with cut chilli. :)

Soup - Bittergound beancurd soup （苦瓜豆腐汤）

Bittergound is a chinese melon. It looks sort of like cucumber with more greenish and wrinkle on it. The taste is very individual some people really like it but some might find the taste is too bitter to bear with . Often this melon is used in stir fried with egg （苦瓜蛋）. Or it also has been used to serve as a cool dish itself like an entree by marinated with some sauce and eat raw. I tried once before is too bitter for me . I prefer it to cook in soup.

Bittergound is know as a cooling vege for chinese. So this soup is more for a summer dish. It help to cold down the body and reduce heatiness. Ok here is the recipe , give it a try if you has been wonder how to cook bittergound.

Recipes--

Ingredients :

1 medium size Bittergound

4-5 Red dates

300grams Pork bone/ chicken bone

1 small box of soft beancurd

Around 10 meatballs or as per prefereces.

1 tomotoes cut in 6 slices

2-3 slices of thin ginger ( this help to reduce the "coolness" in the bittergound)

800 ml of water

Salt to taste and for marination

Methods:

1. Slice bittergound to thin slice or with prefer slice for one liking. Sprinkle salt on the bittergound. Prefer to cover more .

2. Mix the bittergound well with the salt and let it sit for 30 min. This help to reduce the bitterness in the melon. After 30 min rinse bittergound with water and put in the pot.

3. Rinse the pork ribs with warm water .

4. Put all the ingredients except beancurn and tomotoes in a pot.

5. Turn on the heat and make the soup boil and turn the heat to low and keep boiling for 1-1.5 hours.

6. Before serve cut beancurd in cube put into the soup with tomotoes and salt to taste.

7. Garnish some white pepper and corriadors on top of the soup in bowl.

I actually cooked this soup in slowcooker. When I get home after work just dish out and have it with rice. Keep me warm and have some meat and vege in a dish is simple and easy for a day after work. :)