Salted Duck Eggs

Salted eggs is one of the many things that you don't need to DIY in Hong Kong because you can buy them at a very reasonable price. Not so in the UK: a box of 6 costs about £3.8 in Chinese supermarkets. Ever since the first successful attempt, I have stopped buying from Chinese supermarkets, coz DIY ones taste much better and have much nicer yolks! You should be able to see from the picture that the yolk is very shiny with oil (the No.1 quality of a good salted egg).


Every time I make this, it reminds me of the Integrated Science lesson that I had in Form 1. The teacher was demonstrating the theory of 'saturation point' by putting salt in boiling water until the water reaches the point where it cannot dissolve any more salt. This is exactly what we are doing here.

Ingredients:

1. Salt
2. Duck eggs or large hen eggs
3. Water

Method:

• In a pot, heat some water until it comes to the boil. Add a liberal amount of salt to the pot. Stir to dissolve. Keep adding salt and stirring until the water reaches the saturation point and could not dissolve any more salt. Let the salted water to cool completely.
• Wash the eggs carefully under running tap and use paper towel to dry. Double check the eggs are not cracked or dented.
• In a clean jar, put in the eggs carefully and pour in the cooled salted water. Make sure the eggs are fully submerged in the salt water. If the eggs floats, put a saucer or some heavy small objects (like a ceramic mug lid) to weigh the eggs down.
• Keep the jar in a cool dry place for a month. It should be ready in a month. Hard boil one and taste if it's salty enough. If so, take out all the salted eggs and wipe them dry with paper towels and store in the fridge.

Note: Salt water can be used again to make another batch of salted eggs.

Almond Puff

Apologies for me vanishing from my blog... Lots of things are happening on the home front and I am, for the time being, quite a busy (BUT very happy) homemaker.

When I was small, I used to beg my parents to buy me these almond puffs whenever we shopped at Maxim's bakery. I have always loved puff pastry but the crispy almond topping was its main appeal. It was so delicious that I always ate up the puff pastry and reserve the crispy topping to devour later...

Makes 12

Ingredients:

1. 250g all butter puff pastry
2. 1 egg white
3. 60g icing sugar
4. 50g chopped almonds/almond flakes

Method:

• Preheat oven to 190c.
• Use a rolling pin to flatten the puff pastry to 3cm thick. Cut out 12 3cm x 9cm rectangles. Place them on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.
• In a bowl, mix egg white and icing sugar together until the sugar is fully dissolved.
• Use a teaspoon to spread the egg white and icing sugar mixture onto each puff pastry and sprinkle the chopped almonds/almond flakes on top.
• Bake for 15 mins and then turn down the heat to 160c and bake for a further 20 minutes. Let them cool in the baking sheet for 5 minutes and remove them from the baking parchment and cool completely on wire rack.

Passionfruit Meringue Cupcake

To Joyce: thank you for the pretty cake cases that you sent me!

Cupcakes are usually topped with sickly sweet frostings, which frankly I am not a big fan of. This one, admittedly, is still sweet, but the slightly browned marshmallowly meringue makes it so desirable to eat. To counter the sweetness, I lessen the sugar in the sponge and added tangy passionfruit curd to the centre. I would suggest making the passionfruit curd the day before making the cupcake, and you are advised to make more than the recipe called for, because passionfruit curd is heavenly stirred in icecream, sandwiched in a sponge cake, and for the naughtiest of all, a spoon to dung in and straight into the mouth.

Makes 6 big muffins or 12 fairy cakes

Ingredients:

For passionfruit curd

1. 5 passionfruit
2. 1 egg + 1 yolk
3. 75g caster sugar
4. 50g unsalted butter

For sponge

1. 125g unsalted, softened
2. 120g caster sugar
3. 2 eggs
4. 80ml milk
5. 185g self-raising flour

For meringue

1. 4 egg whites
2. 220 caster sugar

Method:

1. To make the passionfruit curd: scoop out the flesh of 5 passionfruit and blitz in a food processor. Then use a sieve to filter away the seeds. Keep the juice. Beat the egg, the yolk and the sugar together. Melt the butter in a heavy based pan using a low heat, and when fully melted, stir in the juice and sugar-egg mixture. Keep stirring and keep an eye on the heat. If you think it's going to curdle, take the pan off the heat for a while. You will see the mixture thickens, keep stirring until the mixture is as thick as hollandaise. Let cool. This can keep in the fridge for at least a week.
2. To make the sponge: peheat oven to 180c. Line muffin/fairy cake pan with paper cases. Beat butter, sugar and eggs in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in the milk, and then sift flour on it. Fold until combined. Divide mixture among cases. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. Take out the cakes and let them cool in the muffin/cake pan. Turn up the oven to 200c.
3. To make the meringue: do this while the cake is in the oven. Beat egg whites in a bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar in three additions, and it's ready when it forms stiff peaks.
4. Use a teaspoon to cut a hole in the centre of each cake and fill the hole with a tablespoon of passionfruit curd. Pipe or spoon the merignue on top of each cake. Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes, or until the meringue is browned lightly.

Chinese Tomato and Pork Rib Broth

This you-won't-believe-it's-so-simple soup was the default summer soup when I grew up. The clear broth is so light yet tomatoey...just the perfect soup for summer! You can also put in potatoes which makes a filling soup. Most of the time, when I am playing lazy and do not want to spend time in the kitchen, I make this soup and put in a scoop of rice (straight from the rice cooker) and this is our light dinner! Luckily Y doesn't see this as under-catering on my side, as he seems to like all kinds of 'soup rice'...

Serves 3

Ingredients:

1. 600g pork ribs, chopped into cubes
2. 2 teaspoons salt
3. 5-6 tomatoes
4. 1.5 litre water
5. 2 potatoes (optional)

Method:

• Wash the pork ribs and use kitchen paper to pat dry. Put the ribs into a bowl and add 2 teaspoons of salt. Combine well and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours (better if overnight).
• In a big pot, on high heat, add ribs and water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium. Use a ladle or a sieve to remove all the scum and froth that surface every 15 minutes or so. Boil for an hour. (Normally in Chinese soup making, people would par boil the ribs for a few minutes to remove the scum, but in this particular soup, if you do it, this parboiling process would dilute the flavour.)
• Chop the tomatoes (and potatoes, if using) into quarters, and add to the soup. Boil for a further 30 minutes and turn down the heat to low and boil for a further 30 minutes. Taste if you need any more salt. Serve.

Lettuce Wrap with crumbled beef, pine nuts and fried cellophane noodles

This is a cross-over dish masterminded by me: my granny's version of Ants on the Tree (minced beef with fried cellophane noodles) and San Choi Bao (Thai lettuce wrap). The crispy fried noodles soak up the beef juices, the pine nuts add to the crunch and the lettuce leaves bring freshness to the dish. This is so popular with Y that it has become the default dish for using up beef mince...

Serves 3

Ingredients:

1. 400g beef mince (you can also use mince pork or a combination of both)
2. 3 teaspoons light soy
3. 2 teaspoons dark soy
4. 3 teaspoons Worcesterhsire sauce
5. 6 tablespoons water
6. 1 teaspoon cornflour
7. 2 teaspoons + 2 teaspoons oil
8. 50g pine nuts
9. 100g celloaphane noodles
10. 1 iceberg/romaine lettuce

Method:

• Marinate the beef with light soy, dark soy, Worcestershire sauce. Stir in 6 tablespoons of water until the mince has absored the water. Then add it cornflour and mix well. Finally add 2 teaspoons of oil. Marinate for at least about 3 hours.
• Toast the pine nuts on a pan on low heat/in a baking tray in the oven for about 3 minutes. Watch closely as pine nuts burn easily. Let cool.
• Wash the lettuce leaves in cold water and drain them well. Trim if necessary.
• Deep fry the cellophane noodles by heating a deep pot/pan and fill with about 1.5 inch of oil. Test whether the temperature is ready by dropping a strand of cellophane noodle into the oil. If it puffs up instantly, the oil is ready. Add the cellophane noodles into the oil, they should puff up in seconds. Take out the fried noodles immediately and drain on kitchen paper.
• In a shallow pan/wok, put 2 teaspoons of oil when the pan/wok is hot. Tip in the marinated beef mince. Use a wok scoop/spatula to loosen the mince while you go. When the mince is cooked, adjust the seasoning if necessary. If there is not enough juice left, add in 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce with 3 tablespoons of cold water. If the juice isn't thick enough, add in 1 teaspoon of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of cold water. Cook for a further minute.
• Place the beef mince on top of the fried noodles and sprinkle with pine nuts. Serve with lettuce leaves.
  
  

Braised Pork Belly with Dried Squid

Looking at this picture is enough to make me drool. When I was young, my granny would often make this, as this showcased the lovely big dried squids given by relatives who visited Hong Kong from her seaside hometown in Zhejiang. In those days, I was merely an eater happily munching piece after piece of pork belly. How much I now regret not learning this dish from my granny! To make up for my past misgivings and to satisfy my greedy appetite, I recreate this dish with the help of my mom over the phone.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1. 900g pork belly
2. 2 dried squid
3. 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
4. a knob of ginger, about 40g, cut into thick slices
5. 2 spring onion, sliced
6. 3 tablespoons light soy
7. 2 tablespoons dark soy
8. 3 tablespoons rock sugar pieces
9. 80ml shaoxing wine
10. 1 star anise

Method:

• Soak the dried squid in some cold water for about an hour or until soft. Remove the membrane and the hard bone of the squid and cut into thick strips.
• Put the whole piece of pork belly in a large pan of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes so that the impurities will surface on the water. Lift out and rinse off the scum sticking to the pork belly in cold water. Cut the pork belly into 2cm dices.
• Heat a cast iron casserole or wok with 2 tablespoon of oil. Add spring onion and ginger and stir until you can smell the fragrance of the spring onion and ginger.
• Add the dried squid strips and pork belly pieces to the casserole/wok and stir-fry until the sides of pork belly pieces are slightly golden. Add in light soy, dark soy, rock sugar and star anise and toss until the rock sugar has melted. Add shaoxing wine into the pan and stir for a minute.
• Finally, add in about 200ml of water. Close the lid and let it simmer for about 1 1/2 hour. You may need to check from time to time and add more water if the cooking liquid evaporates. Taste to see if you need any salt.
  

Grape Trifle

To all the friends who are still reading this =)



Everytime I log in and see the Live Traffic Feed bar, I am very happy to see there is someone visiting this blog from Hong Kong. I don't know who you are, but I am very grateful that you still pop in to visit!

I had taken the last module of the exam last week, and will now be on full turbo to find a job... Meanwhile, there is time to squeeze in some baking and cooking! I am making trifle again... This time round, I tried to incorporate Y's favourite fruit into his favourite pudding. I cheated by using some Waitrose sponge fingers for the sponge layer. But I am pretty sure this is going to be the last time I cheated in a trifle: the shop bought ones were so sickening sweet that Y's mom immediately spotted it wasn't a homemade sponge upon tasting it...

In case you are wondering, the cherries in the picture weren't related to the trifle recipe...It is just that I picked them in our front yard in the morning and thought what beauties they were and it would be nice to show off the fruits from our garden!

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

For the jelly layer

1. 1 can of assorted fruits
2. 400ml grape juice
3. 3 tablespoons caster sugar
4. 6 gelatine leaves (Different gelatine leaves do have different setting qualities, so please check the directions on the packaging to make sure you have used the correct quantities)

For the sponge layer

1. 60g soft margarine/vegetable spread/butter spread
2. 60g caster sugar
3. 50g self-raising flour
4. 10g cornflour
5. 1 egg, beaten
6. 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Or shop bought sponge fingers

For the sponge soaking syrup

1. 50ml blackcurrent liquer
2. 50ml grape juice

For custard

1. 1/2 vanilla pod
2. 275ml double cream
3. 3 large egg yolks
4. 1 tablespoon caster sugar
5. 2 teaspoons cornstarch
6. 2 teaspoons Bird's custard powder

For whipped cream

1. 200ml double cream
2. 2 tablespoons caster sugar

Method:

1. You can either use 4 glass tumblers or a big deep glass dish for this recipe.
2. Make the jelly: drain the can of assorted fruits and arrange the fruits on the bottom of the glass tumblers/glass dish. Soak the gelatine leaves in some cold water for 5 minutes. Gently heat the grape juice with the sugar until the sugar dissolves. Turn off the heat. Put the gelatine leaves with the grape juice and stir until the gelatine dissolves. Pour the jelly mixture into the glass tumblers/glass dish. Leave it to cool and then put in the fridge to set.
3. Make the sponge: pre-heat the oven to 180c. Use baking parchment to line an 8 inch round cake tin. Make the sponge layer by placing margarine (or vegetable spread/butter spread), sugar, flour, cornflour, baking powder and an egg in a large bowl and mix until all ingredients are thoroughly blended. Spoon cake mixture into the cake tin, spreading evenly. Bake for 25 minutes. Take out and cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the tin and let it cool down for a while. Place the sponge carefully on the set jelly. If you are using sponge fingers, simply put them on top of the set jelly. Use a teaspoon or a pastry brush to soak the sponge with the sponge soaking syrup.
4. Make the custard: split the vanilla pod into half and scrape out the seeds from one half. Put the scraped pod and the vanilla seeds in a medium pan with doublecream. Bring to the boil slowly and immediately take off the heat and leave to stand. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks, caster sugar, cornflour and custard powder together. Take out the vanilla pod from the cream. Then whisk the egg mixture with one hand while you gradually pour the cream into the bowl with another hand. Return the mixture back to the pan immediately. Put on a medium heat and stir non-stop until the custard thickens. Since it is going to be put into the trifle, the thickness of the custard should be more like mayonaise, so it does take a bit of time to stir the mixture. Make sure it does not boil or the custard will curdle. If it happens, immerse the pan in the sink filled with cold tap water for a few seconds to cool it down. When custard is completely cool, pour it on the sponge evenly and cool.
5. Make the cream layer: whip double cream with the sugar until it forms stiff peaks. Spoon and spread the doublecream mixture on top of the trifle. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
   
   

Mandarin Trifle

To Y

When it comes to special occasions like the Valentine’s Day, girls love doing a bit of DIY for their guys. For the girls who don’t cook for the rest of the year, they often resort to making heart-shaped chocolates. Needless to say, that is what I did for our first Valentine's Day. That was a few years ago and it was way before I started to fall in love with cooking. I had made about a dozen heart shaped-chocolates: two layers of chocolate with words inscribed on top. The chocolates received raved reviews from the girls on my floor (I made some extra) and my American floormate even said I could open a chocolate shop! But as far as the intended recipient was concerned, the relevant box which housed the chocolates sat in his fridge largely untouched for 2 months... It's obviously my fault, as I had made the wrong assumption that except me, everyone else in the world loves chocolate.

Determined not to repeat this blunder, I made this trifle on our 4th Vanlentine's Day last year. Being quintessentially British, Y loves trifles. He is particularly fond of M&S's Mandarin Trifle Dessert. After a futile research to find a similar recipe online, I made up my own version of this trifle and I am, unashamedly, proud to say I have cracked it! And I am pleased to report that this trifle didn't stay in the fridge for very long... Now, I have made this time and time again with empty glass bowl guaranteed. Incidentally, I found other people enjoy it as well, so it's a great dessert that you can prepare a day in advance if you have guests visiting.

The procedures below may look long, but believe me it is such a breeze to make. If you really want less work, you can cheat by buying shop-bought sponge fingers and shop-bought custard. For best results, make it a day in advance and keep it in the fridge so that the flavours can blend in.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

For mandarin jelly

1. 1 can of mandarin orange segments in juice
2. 1 pack of orange/tangerine jelly sachet/tablets (I prefer Tartley’s tangerine jelly tablets)

For sponge

1. 60g soft margarine/vegetable spread/butter spread
2. 60g caster sugar
3. 50g self-raising flour
4. 10g cornflour
5. 1 egg, beaten
6. 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
7. About 3 tablespoon of juice from the can of mandarin
8. 1 tablespoon Cointreau

For custard

1. 1/2 vanilla pod
2. 275ml double cream
3. 3 large egg yolks
4. 1 tablespoon caster sugar
5. 2 teaspoons cornstarch
6. 2 teaspoons Bird's custard powder

For whipped cream

1. 200ml double cream
2. 2 tablespoon caster sugar
3. 1 teaspoon orange flavouring
4. Zest from 1 orange

Method:

• Arrange mandarin pieces neatly in the bottom of an 8 inch round deep glass bowl.
• Make the jelly by dissolving the jelly granules from sachet/jelly tablets according to packet instructions and make up to about 300ml (or about 1/2 pint) of jelly liquid. Pour the jelly mixture just to cover the mandarin pieces (the mandarin will float if all of the jelly mixture is poured in one go). Put it in the fridge to set, which takes about 2 hours. After the jelly has set the mandarin pieces in place, you can pour the remaining jelly liquid into the bowl. Set in the fridge while you get the other components ready.
• Pre-heat the oven to 180c. Use baking parchment to line an 8 inch round cake tin. Make the sponge layer by placing margarine (or vegetable spread/butter spread), sugar, flour, cornflour, baking powder and an egg in a large bowl and mix until all ingredients are thoroughly blended. Spoon cake mixture into the cake tin, spreading evenly. Bake for 25 minutes. Take out and cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the tin and let it cool down for a while. Place the sponge carefully on the jelly and use a pastry brush to moist the sponge with the mandarin juice and Cointreau.
• Make the custard by splitting the vanilla pod into half and scrape out the seeds from one half. Put the scraped pod and the vanilla seeds in a medium pan with doublecream. Bring to the boil slowly and immediately take off the heat and leave to stand. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks, caster sugar, cornflour and custard powder together. Take out the vanilla pod from the cream. Then whisk the egg mixture with one hand while you gradually pour the cream into the bowl with another hand. Return the mixture back to the pan immediately. Put on a medium heat and stir non-stop until the custard thickens. Since it is going to be put into the trifle, the thickness of the custard should be more like mayonaise, so it does take a bit of time to stir the mixture. Make sure it doesn’t boil or the custard will curdle. If it happens, immerse the pan in the sink filled with cold tap water for a few seconds to cool it down.
• When custard is completely cool, pour it on the sponge evenly and cool.
• To make the cream layer, whip double cream with the sugar until it forms soft peaks. Add in the orange flavouring and whip to stiff peaks. Use a piping bag to pipe the whipped cream on the top of the custard layer. Add some orange zest on top. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
• When ready to serve, sprinkle some toasted almond flakes on top.

Concorde Grape Jelly

To Y

Jam making is not difficult, but it is hard to perfect. I had made apple jams, lemon and lime marmalade and blueberry jam previously, they turned out alright but I couldn't say they were very good. I didn't bother too much to perfect my technique as I don't eat jam often. But not this one. Y is a great fan of grape jelly. He particularly likes to spread plastic white bread with peanut butter and grape jelly. The problem is, grape jelly isn't available in the UK supermarkets, so we had to resort to ordering from an online British grocer which sells American foodstuff at £4 a jar! Then one day, I bought a kilo of super sweet South African black grapes in Costco, it suddenly dawned on me that I could use grapes to make jelly! But it was not exactly the quickest jam to make... It took a few hours for the boiled grape mixture to drip through a muslin bag to form grape juice (luckily this process didn't involve manual labour nor did it involve me looking at the mixture, otherwise I would have given up at this point). But the end product was so worth it, as it tasted exactly like Welch grape jelly! Now the jam jar has been scraped down to the bottom and it is time to make another batch! Being the clever, somewhat lazy, homemaker, I make the jelly with shop bought 100% grape juice this time! 20 minutes it's done! Voila!

Ingredients:

1. 325ml pure grape juice
2. 240g jam sugar
3. juice of half a lemon

Method:

• First, wash the jar and lid with warm soapy water. Dry it in a warm oven for about 20 minutes to sterilise the jar.
• Heat the grape juice, jam sugar and lemon juice in a pot. Stir to dissolve the jam sugar completely.
• If you have a food/jam therometer, when the temperature reaches 105c, the mixture has reached the setting point. If you don't have a food thermometer, put some saucers into the freezer for at least 10 minutes. When the mixture comes to a roaring boil, let it boil for a further 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, take out one saucer from the freezer and pour about a teaspoon of mixture onto the cold saucer. Run a finger through the jam. If the surface of the jelly wrinkles, it has reached the setting point. If not, continue to test at 3-minute intervals.
• Once the setting point is reached, turn off the heat and let the jam cool down for 15 minutes. Then, pour it into the hot sterilised jar, cover it straight away with a waxed disc. Store in the fridge when it has cooled down completely.

Chao Zhou Style Oyster Omelette

Having dined out and, more often than not, get disappointed with the quality of food in Chinese restuarants, it comes as no surprise that I had started to replicate restaurant food at home. Traditionally, Chao Zhou Style Oyster Omelette uses small oysters, yam flour and duck eggs. I could easily get hold of duck eggs in Costco, but I couldn't find yam flour, so I make do with topioca starch, which I think has a similar texture. I could find frozen small oysters in Chinese supermarkets for £9 a pack but the fishmonger counter is selling big fat juicy live oysters at a mere 60p per piece... It's a no brainer and I happily bought 10 fresh oysters for this omelette.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1. 10 oysters
2. 2 tablespoons oyster juice
3. 2 duck eggs
4. 1 1/2 tablespoon tapioca starch
5. 2 tablespoons chopped spring onion
6. 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
7. 1 teaspoon fish sauce, plus more to serve as dipping sauce
8. 2 tablespoons chopped coriander, a handful more to garnish
9. 2 tablespoons oil

Method:

• Open the oysters with an oyster knife. Take out the oyster meat carefully and retain the juice in a bowl. Use a spoon to carefully measure out 2 tablespoons of the oyster juice, making sure any grit is left behind. Cut each oyster in half.
• In another bowl, use the oyster juice to dissolve the tapioca starch.
• Beat the duck eggs lightly, and add to the oyster juice starch mixture. Season with fish sauce and white pepper. Add spring onion, chopped coriander and oyster pieces and mix lightly.
• On a high heat, heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a round frying pan. When the oil is hot, add the omelette mixture. If necessary, use a wooden spoon to scatter the oyster pieces evenly. Let it cook until the edges are brown, then carefully flip the omelette to cook the other side. (If you are afraid of flipping the omelette, slid the omelette to a plate first. Then use one hand to turn over the pan (which is now empty) to cover the plate, then quickly flip the plate using another hand, so that the uncooked side will face downwards in the pan).
• Remove the omelette from the pan carefully, then garnish the omelette with chopped coriander leaves. Serve with fish sauce for dipping.