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.

Banoffee Pie

I am not a big fan of banana nor am I a super fan of caramel. But the two goes so well together that Banoffee Pie, in my humble opinion, has got to be one of the greatest British desserts... I was first introduced this dessert by my Irish floormate who made this for the floor dinner back in 2006 (while we were living in a London private hall) and it was so good that I asked for the recipe afterwards...

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

1. 150g digestive biscuits
2. 75g butter, melted
3. 1/2 can of condensed milk
4. 2 bananas
5. 150ml doublecream
6. 1 tablespoon caster sugar
7. grated chocolate, to dust

Method:

• Use a piece of foil to wrap around a 6' round shallow dish.
• Put the whole can of condensed milk (keep it unopened) into a deep pot. The pot should be filled with water and cover the whole can by at least 2 cm. Boil the can for at least 2 hours on low heat, making sure the can is submerged in water at all times. Take the can out to cool completely.
• Melt the butter. Use a rolling pin to bash the digestive biscuits in a plastic bag until the biscuits become fine crumbs. Mix the melted butter with the biscuit crumbs and carefully place them onto the dish. Use the palm of your hand or a spoon to even out the biscuit crumbs on the base and sides of the dish. Refridgerate for half an hour to set.
• Open the can of condensed milk; it should now become caramel. Spread about half a can of the caramel onto the biscuit base.
• Whip the double cream with sugar until peaks form.
• Cut the bananas into 1.5cm slices and place them evenly on the caramel. Cover with whipped cream. Dust with chocolate shavings. Great to serve immediately; or have it frozen and then slightly thawed, believe me, it's even better!!!

Steamed savoury eggs with glass noodles

To me


If I have to name a favourite ingredient, it would definitely be eggs. I like it cooked in all forms: fried, scrambled, hard-boiled, soft-boiled, poached, steamed...and even raw (I am salivating at the thought of dunking hotpot food in a bowl of raw eggs and seasoning)! I remember when I was very young, my granny gave me an egg just laid by the hens we kept at home (those were the days when we lived in a house with a big backyard, an even bigger front garden, fruit trees and a dog). I remember peeling a piece of tiny shell away and sucked the egg raw. I forgot the taste of it but I still remember the egg was warm...

This is my idea of a dream lunch: the silky smooth steamed eggs vs the slightly crunchy glass noodles vs the crispy fried dried prawns vs the fresh-tasting spring onion... A plate of complexity and depth; yet so simple and good...

Serve 1

Ingredients:

1. 2 eggs (preferably free range; organic even better; for pure indulgence, try Clarence Court eggs)
2. About 200ml chicken stock
3. 1 tablespoon chopped spring onion
4. 2 tablespoons of chopped dried prawns
5. 1 tablespoon oil
6. 30g of glass noodles
7. 1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

Method:

• In a measuring jug, break the two eggs in. Use a fork or better, a pair of chopsticks to mix the whites and yolks. Stir until the egg is mixed thoroughly; but try to be light-handed as we don't want too many air bubbles.
• Check the reading at the measuring jug to see how much eggs are there. Pour twice the amount of chicken stock into the jug (the chicken stock should not be hot, otherwise it will cook the eggs). Usually, two medium sized eggs are about 100ml, so use 200ml of chicken stock. Again use chopsticks to mix well.
• Pour the egg mixture, through a sieve (to remove the bubbles), to a thin shallow bowl/dish. Cover the bowl/dish with clingfilm. Put in a steamer to steam for 8 minutes. It may take longer to set, depending on the thickness of the bowl/dish you are using. Check every minute or so, and turn off the steamer when the sides are cooked and the centre is still a little wobbly.
• In the meantime, soak the glass noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain.
• In a small pan, use a tablespoon of oil to fry the chopped dried prawns until crispy and fragrant.
• Take out the cooked custard egg carefully, remove the clingfilm and add the glass noodles and sprinkle spring onions on top. Then, pour the oil and the crunchy dried prawns on top. Add soy sauce. Serve immediately.

Note: if you are after a traditional steamed savoury egg, just omit the glass noodles and dried prawns. Cook the eggs as above. Sprinkle the spring onions on top. Heat the tablespoon of oil until very hot, then pour the oil over the eggs and spring onions. Add the soy sauce.

Steak with Bearnaise Sauce

We have always loved steak; in fact we are so obsessed with steak that we tracked down a famous (I must add, deservedly famous) online butcher to deliver us the best augus beef ribeye from Scotland. But when it comes to cooking it, we are less adventurous: we feel very contented with just frying it and deglaze the pan with brandy to make the sauce. It was good enough for us; but now we are not quite as sure...

The sauce is a revelation to me: the slighty acidic sauce fragranced by French tarragon and shallots pairs perfectly with the meaty steak. I now understand why my favourite cookery writer, Nigella Lawson, loves steak bearnaise so much...

Serves 2

1. 2 ribeye steaks (about 250g each)
2. 2 tablespoons white wine
3. salt
4. pepper
5. 1+1 tablespoons tarragon, chopped
6. 1 chopped shallots
7. 2 teaspoons cold water
8. 1 egg yolk
9. 80g salted butter, cubed

Method:

• Heat the grill pan. Season the steak with salt and pepper and brush the steak with oil. Fry on a high heat for about 3 minutes per side (for medium), only turn it when one side is cooked. When both sides are cooked, turn it to a plate to rest for about 10 minutes.
• While the steak is resting, make the bearnaise sauce. In a pan, put chopped tarragon, chopped shallots, white wine vinegar,white wine and a twist of black pepper and let it boil until there is only one scant teaspoon of liquid left. Remove the pan from the heat and add 2 teaspoons of cold water. Then turn on a low heat again, stir in the egg yolk. Keep stirring and add butter cube by cube, wait until each cube is melted before adding a new one. Be careful not to over-heat the sauce or the sauce will scramble. When the sauce has thickened, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of chopped tarragon. Serve the steak with bearnaise sauce.
  

Cola Ham

When a mere 6 slices of honey glazed ham costs £3 in the supermarkets, you have no choice but to make your own. But once you had taken the trouble to DIY (and I can assure you, it is not much trouble afterall), you would never want to buy supermarket sliced ham again. There are two ways to boil ham: you can either boil it with water (together with some peppercorns and bay leaves), which at the end you not only get a cooked ham, but also wonderful ham stock (for pea and ham soup); or you can boil it in coca cola, which you get a deliciously sweet ham but you will have to discard the cola liquid afterwards (I think you can freeze the cola liquid for a second time, but I am not sure you can use them indefinitely...).

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1. 650g smoked/unsmoked gammon joint (check the packaging it's mild cure, or you will need to soak it in cold water overnight)
2. 2 cans coca cola
3. 3 peppercorns
4. 1 star anise
5. Cloves, for studding
6. 1 tablespoon apple cider
7. 1/2 tablespoon black treacle/golden syrup
8. 2 tablespoon demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Method:

• Put the gammon (skin side down), coca cola, peppercorn and star anise in a big pan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and put the lid on to cook for 40 minutes. Turn around the ham half way through cooking. When the ham is cooked, take out the ham to cool slightly.
• Preheat oven to 220c.
• Put the ham in a roasting tine, and cut away the skin while reserving a thin layer of fat on the ham. Score the fat in a diamond pattern and push a clove into each intersection of diamonds.
• In a small bowl, combine apple cider and black treacle/golden syrup together. Brush this glaze all over the ham and sprinkle the demera sugar liberally on the top. Bake for 10 minutes.

Chinese leaf with dried scallop

We are very lucky being able to buy various Chinese greens in local supermarkets. Ok, Pok Choi here is not exactly Pok Choi (we call it 'Siu Tong Choi' in Hong Kong), and it costs £2 for 3 bulbs. But Chinese Leaf, what we call 'Siu Choi' in Chinese, is very affordable and is actually grown here in the UK. This is our favourite way of eating it...

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1. 1 Chinese Leaf
2. 300g dried scallops
3. 2 pieces of ginger
4. 1 teaspoon sugar
5. 2 cloves garlic
6. 3 tablespoon oyster sauce
7. 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Method:

• In a bowl, soak dried scallops in about 200ml cold water for an hour. Add ginger and sugar into the bowl and put the whole bowl to steam for an hour. Take it out to cool slightly. Reserve the water and finely shred the dried scallops.
• In a pot, boil washed Chinese Leaf for about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain.
• In a shallow pan, use a little oil to fry the garlic until fragrant, then add the dried scallop shreds and scallop water to the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes and then add the oyster sauce. Finally, dissolve cornstarch in 3 tablespoons of cold water and add it to the scallop sauce to thicken. Pour the scallop sauce on the Chinese Leaf. Serve immediately.
  

Moules Marinieres

As you may have correctly guessed, this was what we had on Valentine's Day. Mussels had a special place in our hearts (and stomachs) because we had the most amazing mussels in Aux Armes de Bruxelles in our first trip together in Brussels four years ago. Little did I know then how easy it was to cook mussels and how affordable it was to buy fresh mussels in the UK...

Serves 2 (as substantial main course)

Ingredients:

1. 1 kg mussels (I got mussels from Morrison's which in my humble opinion has the best fishmonger among supermarkets)
2. 2 cloves of garlic
3. 3 sticks of celery
4. 1 onion
5. 60ml wine
6. 20g butter
7. 60ml double cream

Method:

• Wash the mussles and discard any that are open and won't close when you tap it. Pull out the beards of the mussels and use a knife to knock off the barnacles. Rinse and drain on a colander.
• Finely chop garlic, celery and onion.
• In a large pot, put finely chopped garlic, celery and onion in with butter. Cook until the celery and onion are softened but not coloured.
• Add mussels and white wine and put on the lid. Let them steam for about 3-4 minutes. Give the pan a good shake every now and then.
• Add the cream, remove from the heat and garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with crusty bread.

Macau Portugese Egg Tarts

Food goes in and out of fashion, particularly in Hong Kong. Right now, scones are all the rage. Echoing Hong Kong fast-paced spirit, the food that is popular at the moment will usually have a short life span of 6 months. Usually it is like this: one shop start selling novel food (usually the food is foreign, and the shop owner imports skills and raw materials from overseas); people start talking about it and queue for it; many more imitation shops open; and interest for that food starts to wane, and ultimately, everyone has lost interest in it, and the shops are closed and the food is gone. This has happened to countless food, like potato chips doused in various sauces; Japanese cuttlefish balls; cream puffs... and Macau Portugese Egg Tart was one of them. What is different is that instead of disappearing in the Hong Kong food scene altogether, we still have KFC who are selling it and we can easily go to Macau, which is just one hour away, to have the real McCoy.

I can find Portugese Tarts here in London, but apparently they are 'real' Portugese Egg Tarts (which are sweeter and has a denser and harder custard) and I prefer the Macanese version... So I resorted to create the Macanese flavours by researching on the internet.

For the pastry, I use Delia's 'cheat' flaky pastry instead of the usual puff pastry. It is drier, less oily and crunchier. Of course, you can make your own puff pastry or buy readymade puff pastry.

Makes 12 mini Portugese Egg Tarts (I used a 12 hole bun tin, you can use ordinary Chinese tart cases, but will only yield 6)

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

1. 55g butter
2. 85g plain flour
3. pinch of salt
4. 1 1/2 tablespoon icy cold water

For the filling:

1. 60g doublecream
2. 60g full fat milk
3. 25g sugar
4. 2 egg yolks
5. 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

• Weigh out the butter for the pastry and wrap in a foil and put into the freezer for 45 minutes.
• Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Take out the frozen butter and use a coarse grater to grate the butter into the bowl with the flour. Use a wooden spatula to scatter the butter among the flour. Add the icy cold water, continue stirring until the flour and butter come together. Use your hand to shape the dough into a ball. Wrap in clingfilm and rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
• While the pastry dough is resting, make the filling by putting cream, milk and sugar in a saucepan in a pan on low heat until bubbles starts appearing. Bring it off the heat and add egg yolks and vanilla essence. Pour the mixture over a sieve and let it cool a while.
• Preheat oven to 200c and brush melted butter on the bun tray.
• When the dough finishes resting, take it out and roll it to 2mm thickness and use an appropriate round cutter to cut out 12 tarts and carefully place them on the buttered tray. Fill the tart with the custard mixtures to 2/3 full.
• Bake in the oven for 12 minutes in 200c and lower the temperature to 170c and bake for 8 further minutes. Best served while warm.

Grape, strawberry and rose mousse cake

For my Valentine

When it comes to Valentine’s Day, girls love making desserts for their guys. For girls who don’t cook for the rest of the year, they often resort to making heart-shaped chocolates. A few years ago, for our first Valentine's Day, I (at that time, I preferred chopping and washing up to cooking) made about a dozen heart shaped-chocolates. They looked pretty and one of my floormates adored them so much that she said I could open a chocolate shop! That was all very good until 2 months after Valentine's Day when I opened his fridge... The chocolates were still sitting there, apparently only 3 or 4 made the journey to his tummy...

So, a lesson well-learnt: whatever you make for a guy, make something that he likes to eat.

Y loves grapes in all forms (except the sour ones, of course =p). Therefore I made this sponge cake topped with grape mousse and strawberry mousse (flavoured with rose syrup). I hope this little creation of mine will appeal to his eyes and his tummy...

Serves: 2 (I have to say 2: it's a Valentine's cake...)

Ingredients:

For the sponge:

1. 2 large eggs
2. 90g self-raising flour
3. 20g cornstarch
4. 110g very soft butter
5. 110g sugar
6. 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

For the grape mousse

1. 200ml grape juice
2. 1 tablespoon lemon juice
3. 8g gelatine
4. 200ml double cream
5. 80g caster sugar

For the strawberry mousse

1. 100g strawberry
2. 1 teaspoon rose syrup
3. 1 teaspoon lemon juice
4. 4g gelatine
5. 100g double cream
6. 60g caster sugar

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180c. Sieve the flour, cornstarch and baking powder twice.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and pale. Add in the eggs gradually. Lastly, sieve in flour into the bowl and fold until just combined. Pour in a lined 6' inch round baking tin and bake for about 25 minutes. Take out to cool completely. When it's cooled, cut out the top of the cake so that the cake is level. Put the cake back into the baking tin carefully.
• Make the grape mousse by soaking the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes. In a pan, heat grape juice and lemon juice gently. Before it comes to the boil, turn off the heat, squeeze out the water from the soaked gelatine and add the gelatine to the heated juice. Stir until gelatine is dissolved. Leave to cool completely. In another bowl, whip doublecream with sugar until peaks form. Use a spatula to mix the whipped cream and cooled juice together. Pour the mixture onto the top of the sponge (which should sit in the baking tin), with a heart shaped cookie cutter put in the centre, which forms a heart-shaped hole. Chill in the fridge to set (this takes about 1 hour).
• In the meantime, make the strawberry mousse. Use a food processor to puree the strawberry. Follow the same steps for grape mousse above, but also remember to add the rose syrup when you heat the strawberry puree.
• When the grape mousse is set, take out the cookie cutter carefully. Pour the strawberry mousse onto the heart-shaped hole. Chill in the fridge to set. When set, remove the cake tin carefully and serve.

Hong Kong Rice Hot Pot with Chinese Preserved Meats

I have been trying to make Hong Kong Rice Hot Pot ('Po Chai Fan') for so long. Y and I are fond lovers of Po Chai Fan: crispy rice crust at the bottom, sweet soy sauce, rice doused with the fragrant oil of preserved meat... Perfect for a substantial warming meal in winter. After doing some extensive online research, I realised the best utensil to make Po Chai Fan is in fact a cast iron pot. It makes sense to me because cast iron distributes heat fast and evenly, which is conducive to the forming of crispy rice crust at the bottom. So I took out my small Le Creuset 18cm casserole to make Po Chai Fan and the rest is history...

Oh...and from now on, I will have to ask Y 'what's your fourth favourite food?'...

Serves 3

Ingredients:

For the rice

1. 300g Jasmine rice
2. 2 Chinese sausages ('lap cheong')
3. 1 Chinese preserved meat ('lap yuk')
4. A few drops of oil

For the soy sauce

1. 2 garlic cloves
2. 2 tablespoons oil
3. 100ml water
4. 60ml light soy sauce
5. 30ml dark soy sauce
6. 20g rock sugar

Method:

• Put the Chinese sausage and preserved meat into a pan of cold water and bring it to the boil. Drain the water and wash the Chinese sausage and preserved meat under cold water tap. Cut each Chinese sausage into 4 pieces and slice the preserved meat.
• Rinse the rice and put the rice and water into the casserole. The rice and water ratio should be about 1: 1 1/4 (use your normal rice to water ratio, as different rice has different absorption rate). Turn on medium heat, close the lid and let the water comes to a boil. Lift the lid to check in about 3-4 minutes' time. Once it comes to a boil, lower the heat immediately and cook for a further 2 minutes.
• Lift the lid, you shall see the 'holes' in the rice, and the rice should now be level with the water. Add Chinese sausage and preserved meat, taking care to insert the Chinese sausage pieces into the rice vertically, so that any juices oozing from the sausage can infuse the rice.
• Close the lid and turn up to medium heat and cook for 3 minutes. Open the lid and use a spoon to add a few drops of oil to the rims of the pot, which helps to create the crispy crust. Turn down the heat to the lowest setting immediately, close the lid and cook for a further 20-5 minutes.
• In the meantime, make the sweet soy sauce by finely chopping the garlic and frying the garlic in the oil until golden, then take out the garlic while reserving the oil in the pan. On low heat, add to the pan light soy, dark soy, water and rock sugar until the rock sugar is fully dissolved.
• When the rice is ready, turn off the heat, pour 2 tablespoons of the prepared soy sauce into the rice, close the lid and let it rest for 2 minutes. Serve with more soy sauce if you like.

Gold n Silver Eggs with Spinach

To Y

Once in a month, I will initiate a conversation like this:

I: Hey Y, out of the many dishes that I have cooked, which ones do you like most?

(As you can see, with Y being my only 'customer', it seems only natural to gauge his view regularly to ensure customer satisfaction)

Y (trying to look sincere): I like all of them.

(The safest answer but also the dullest answer.)

I: Ok... but if you can only choose one dish, what would you choose?

Y (thinking seriously): um... (pausing 5 seconds)... Golden prawns (i.e. prawns with salted egg yolks)

I: If you can choose a second dish, what would you choose?

Y (very quickly this time): Gold and silver eggs with spinach...

So there you go, no matter how many new things that you have cooked, and no matter how successful you thought you were in the new ventures, his most favourite dishes remain Golden Prawns and Gold n Silver Eggs with Spinach...

Next time, I think I would ask: 'What's your third favourite dish?'

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1. 250g spinach
2. 2 cloves of garlic
3. 100ml chicken stock/vegetable stock
4. 2 tablespoons groundnut oil
5. 2 salted eggs
6. 1 preserved egg (i.e. Thousand year egg)

Method:

• In a pot with some water, put in the salted eggs and boil for 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat and leave them for a further 10 minutes. Drain and shell the eggs.
• Shell the preserved egg. Cut both the salted eggs and the preserved eggs into dices.
• Wash the spinach thoroughly and drain to dry.
• Use a wok and turn on high heat. When it is hot, add the groundnut oil and put in the garlic. Turn the garlic cloves around until they are golden colour. Take the garlic cloves out for a moment.
• There should still some oil in the wok. Add the spinach. Stir fry them quickly until they have almost wilted.
• Add in stock, diced egg yolks and the golden garlic cloves. Taste to season: you may want to add some salt and sugar.
• When it comes to the boil, cook for a further 2 minutes. If you want a thicker sauce, add in a teaspoon of cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons of cold water, and the sauce will thicken as it boils. Serve.

Cinnamon and Vanilla Crème Brûlée

Creme brulee is the ultimate dessert to many, but alas until I had made this did I realise this wasn't the case for Y. I had always thought that Y loves custard in any form, but it turned out that baked custard is the exception. So despite me very pleased with my first attempt at making Creme Brulee (it was meltingly smooth and rich), this dessert will be fondly documented and remembered here and it will be sometime I make this again... *doh*

Serves 2

Ingredients

1. 250ml double cream
2. 75ml full fat milk
3. Seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod
4. 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5. 3 egg yolks
6. 30g caster sugar, plus extra for making the caramel crust

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180c.
• Slice the vanilla pod and scape the seeds out. In a pan, add the vanilla seeds with the double cream and milk. Turn on a medium heat and stir gently. When you see bubbles appear around the edges, take the pan off the heat. Add in the ground cinnamon and stir.
• In the meantime, use a hand whisk to whisk 30g of caster sugar with the egg yolks for 2 minutes until pale and a bit thicker in texture.
• Pour the hot cream into the yolks, and stir gently with a whisk. Spoon off any foam on top.
• Use a beaked jug to pour the mixture over a fine sieve into two 200ml ramekins. Carefully place the two ramekins in a large baking tray and fill the baking tray with a few cups of hot water to form a water bath.
• Cover the top of the ramekins with foil.
• Bake for 30 minutes, and remove the foil carefully to check if they are softly set. They should wobble a bit in the middle. Let cool completely and place in the fridge for two hours to set.
• When ready to serve, sprinkle caster sugar (if you want extra vanilla scent, you can use vanilla sugar) on each ramekin and swirl gently so that the sugar coats the surface evenly. Use a fine water spritzer to spray some water on the sugar and then use a blow torch to caramelise it. Wait for 1 or 2 minutes and use a teaspoon to tap to see if the sugar has hardened. If you feel like a thicker crust, do a second layer of sugar and caramelise it again.

Steamed Minced Prawns and Tofu

Tofu is my favourite fridge standby ingredients. In Britain, the best tofu we could get is this silk tofu which can be found at the chilled cabinet in Asian supermarkets. Because of its silky soft texture, steaming is the best way to retain its shape. Y's father has a killer recipe for steamed tofu, using garlic, dried prawns and dried scallops. He had taught me how to make it, but mine never turned out to be as good as his. I guess it takes lots of 'trial and error' and I will persist. But until I have cracked it, it would not do him justice to post it here. =p So in the interim, here is a simple steamed tofu, with different ingredients, which I hope you will enjoy...

Ingredients

1. 300g silk tofu/silken tofu/soft tofu (I got it from See Woo, 'Unicurd' brand silken tofu)
2. 100g raw prawns
3. 1/4 teaspoon salt
4. 1/2 teaspoon cornflour, plus extra as glue for the minced prawn
5. a pinch of white pepper
6. 2 tablespoons oil
7. 2 tabelspoons soy sauce
8. a few sprigs of coriander (or spring onion), as garnish

Method

• Shell and devein the raw prawns. Take out a large knife (a Chinese cleaver is ideal), use the sides of the blade to mash the prawns on the chopping board. If the prawns are large, cut it to pieces first.
• Now you have the prawn pieces all mushed up. Gather the mushed prawn pieces together and use the knife to chop the mushed prawns for about 1 minute.
• Then, put the minced prawns into a large bowl and add white pepper, cornflour and salt and use a pair of chopsticks to stir thoroughly. It is important to stir in only one direction. As you stir, you will notice the mince is becoming sticky.
• Then comes the fun part. Use one of your hands to hold the bowl while the other hand grab all the mince away from the bowl. Then release your fingers to throw the mince back to the bowl. Grab and throw for 15 times. This helps to bring out the elasticity of the mince. But don't 'grab and throw' for too many times, otherwise the mince will become too elastic, making it rubbery.
• Put the minced prawns into the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour.
• Depending on how you want to serve the tofu, you may want to cut up the tofu into thick slices. But silken tofu is very fragile and you are very likely to end up with broken tofu pieces, so I just serve it whole.
• Sprinkle some cornflour on the tofu and gently put the prawn mince on top. Cornflour will glue the minced prawns to the tofu. Use a spoon to level the mince so that it cooks evenly.
• Steam for 8-12 minutes (depending on the thickness of your prawn mince). In the meantime, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a small pan until smoking.
• When the tofu is ready, pour the smoking hot oil on the tofu. Add soy sauce and garnish with coriander/spring onion. Serve.

Crispy Mushroom Risotto Balls

I have a very bad habit: I very seldom eat leftovers. Especially leftovers that are simply reheated on the microwave and served straightaway to the dining table. It is a bad habit of a spoilt child, you would say, and I can't argue with that.

In defence, I do eat leftovers and in fact love some form of leftovers: I love leftover boiled or glazed gammon/ham; I adore leftover cold chicken breast (I feel reheating leftover chicken gives it a funny, inferior taste); I crave for leftover Chinese braised beef brisket (and stew generally), because I find the 'leftover process' has actually made them taste even better... ... In short, I eat leftovers when the taste of the dish does not suffer. Right, afterall, this is still a spoilt child trait, namely, a picky eater.

I have been mindful of my bad habit and have meant to 'correct' it (or rather, to prevent the situation from arising) by:

(a) intentionally direct my chopsticks to the leftover dish at least a few times during mealtime;

(b) cooking the right quantities so that I don't get leftovers in the first place; and

(c) re-invent the leftovers so that it becomes a better tasting dish, like this one, Crispy Mushroom Risotto Balls.

The mushroom risotto recipe below serves 2 people, intending that there will be enough leftovers to make the crispy risotto balls for 2 people. As a general guide, allow 100g of risotto rice per person.

Serves 2 as mushroom risotto and 2 as crispy risotto balls

Mushroom risotto

Ingredients

1. 400g risotto rice
2. A small handful of dried porcini
3. 100g fresh mushrooms
4. 20g +20g + 30 g butter
5. 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
6. 1 onion, finely chopped
7. 50ml white wine
8. 1.25 litres of good vegetable stock (I use Marigold vegetable stock powder)
9. Salt and Pepper
10. 50g grated Parmesan cheese

Method

• Soak dried porcini in some hot water for 30 minutes. Take out the porcini and squeeze out the water. Finely chop the soaked porcini.
• Slice the fresh mushrooms.
• In a pan, heat 20g of butter on a low heat to gently cook the garlic until soft. Add the fresh mushrooms and stir around until they are cooked. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and put on a lid to retain the heat.
• In a pot, bring your stock to a boil and turn it down to a simmer while you make the risotto.
• In a heavy-based pan, add in 20g of butter and add the chopped onion. Cook gently until softened. Add dried porcini and then the rice. Stir so that they are coated in butter. When you feel the grains are warm, add in the white wine.
• When the white wine starts to bubble away, add in a ladleful of stock each time, stirring constantly. Carry on cooking for about 15 minutes until the risotto is al dente.
• When the rice is cooked, add in the sauteed fresh mushroom and let the risotto rest for a minute.
• Use a wooden spoon to stir in 30g of cold butter (cubed) and beat vigorously. Add in parmesan and beat again. Serve right away.

Crispy risotto balls

Ingredients

1. About 250g leftover risotto
2. 40 g flour
3. 40g breadcrumbs
4. 300ml of oil, for frying
5. Any leftover meat, for the filling (optional) (I stuffed leftover stir-fried chicken cubes. Can also use leftover ragu)
6. Parmesan cheese, to grate over

Method

• Fill a pan/deep fryer with oil and turn on the heat.
• Wet your hands first. Take about 1-2 tablespoonfuls of leftover risotto rice with your hand and pat it down with your palms. Add your leftover meat filling, if you have any, in the middle. (It would help if you cut your leftover meat into cubes.) Shape the risotto into a ball. Then coat with flour and pat with breadcrumbs.
• Deep fry the risotto balls for about 4-5 minutes (don't crowd the pan, fry them in batches), until the risotto balls turn into golden colour. Carefully use a slotted spoon to take out the risotto balls and drain on kitchen towl/blotting paper.
• Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.