Sun-baked Local Black Olive Fruit

Oh, what a satisfied when finally I got to taste my favorite local fruit since childhood, after five years being away from my home country. There are couple of ways to prepare this seasonal fruit. The simple way is to 'cook' the fruit in lukewarm water until it is soften. Then, serve as it is or season with salt or soy sauce.

Below is my simple yummy sun-baked recipe:


Ingredients:
300g Black Olive
3 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp cooking oil
1/2 to 1 Tbsp sugar

Directions:
(1) Wash and rinse well the black olives, let air dry aside
(2) Mix the marinate sauce: soy sauce, oil and sugar
(3) Pour the sauce unto the olives and coat them well
(4) Sun bake under the bright sunlight for about 2 hours, or until they are tender
(5) Serve with plain rice

Note: Click for a better look photo

Orange Frosted Lemon Cake

It's June 1st! This is a big day. A birthday for many people - my middle school roommate, my gone-too-soon brother-in-law and also the special one my ... (shh ...). My little princess told her dad "Daddy, shh..., Mom and I are gonna to make you a cake. Shh..., it's a surprise!" (^-^)

Well, today is also the great harvest celebration for Dayak native people in East Malaysia. Happy Gawai Dayak to my old friends. 

Chicken Floss 鸡肉松

Ingredients:
1/2 chicken breast, unskinned
1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp canola oil
1 small shallot (red onion), thinly sliced

Simple Healthy Wheatgrass Juice

Wheatgrass is so so great to our body.  What so great about wheatgrass? There are about 40 benefits listed in wheatgrasskids.com. Among those, wheatgrass which is high in oxygen helps our brain and body tissues function at an optimal level. Wheatgrass as the best source of living chlorophyll can heal our body both inside and outside. Wheat grass juice itself often comes with bitterness. With apple, the following recipe gives a sweetness and a very refreshing healthy juice for your body.

Salmon Rice

Here it comes the recipe from my hubby. This is his great cooking. We like the aroma and the taste very much. The sweetness of the rice just not gonna stopping you from having it more. Hmm...yum yum! Honest compliment and please cook more often. Sometimes wives need to relax and give them the opportunity. They can do real well! No doubt that the world top chefs are male! So, ladies, learn to let go. And, gentlemen, take up the challenges, show us your great gift!

Udon Noodles

Japanese dishes are just too attractive to try due to less greasy and very much of soy sauce flavored in most of the cooking. Udon noodles and salmon rice are my husband's favorite kitchen cook, while the only one that I am confident with is sushi. This time, I have to give the udon noodle a try since we got the noodles already and the salmon has been cooked with rice last Saturday. Not disappointing, instead many thanks for the thumb up compliments from my hubby and my little princess!

Chicken Dumpling

We prefer wanton. In United States, dumpling is always served in many Chinese functions. I learned the wrapping method with the homemade skin 4 years ago in our small student group. I never really know how to wrap with more content inside and little flowery at the sides. My little princess fall in love with dumpling when she ate the dumpling made by Vivian, a sister who just moved to Arizona. Vivian got the skin (more like wanton tofu skin) from Safeway. That is the best skin we ever had for dumpling.

What to do with Home made Chicken Stock?

Well, the most convenient way to prepare a meal is having some stock ready.  Making your own chicken stock at home is healthier to eliminate sodium, color or preservative where often found in the stock from groceries store.

(1) Angel Hair in Chicken Stock
Ingredients:
1/3 package of angel hair (serve 2 adults)
fresh spinach
fried shallot
salt and pepper taste
eggs

Directions:
1. Cook the angel hair according to the package instruction
2. Drain the water and keep the angel hair
3. Cook the spinach in the stock, about 4 minutes
4. Add in egg, one for each person
5. Sprinkle with fried shallot and green onion (optional)
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste

(2) Smooth Egg Drop Corn Soup
Ingredients:
1 ear of fresh corn
1 tbsp corn starch
1 egg 

Directions:
1. Cook the fresh corn in the stock for about 8 minutes
2. Pour in the starchy syrup into the boiling soup
3. Lightly beat the egg and add little by little into the starchy soup, stir well every time the egg is added
4. Season with salt and pepper
5. Sprinkle with green onion or dried oregano

Note: To top up the flavor of the soup, add a little bit of black vinegar.

Korean Chicken Rice

Besides the salad dressings, another great thing I learn from Cooking Matters is cutting a whole chicken without breaking any bone, then prepare home made chicken stock. This is so cool and guess what? This is the very first time I managed to cut a whole chicken beautifully after full time self-cooking for 10 years!

Home Made Chicken Stock

Ingredients:
Chicken back and other bones
1 stalk of celery
1 onion
water enough to cover





Directions:
1) Put everything in a crock pot (slow cooker) and low heat for about 5 hours.
2) Sifted the excessive oil. Oil is easier to remove after fridge.

Note: Feel free to add in carrot too. It is wise to blanch the chicken with boiling water (no salt) in advance.

Haitian-style Chicken (modified)

Recently, I attended 2 classes from Cooking Matters to learn more about preparing healthy and affordable meals. I like their slogan "No Kid Hungry".

Anyway, I will say this recipe is at Asian's finger tips. I personally modified the ingredients and the cooking steps to come out with a different dish. Frankly speaking, this is far more better than what I ate at the class ;p

Easy and Quick Macaroni Salad

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup macaroni, cooked
8-10 shrimp, browned and peeled
1 egg, fried
Some fresh spinach
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Lemon juice from 1 lemon
1 tsp honey

Furry Melon (Mao Gua-节瓜) Beef

Furry melon is another light green squash with furry outer skin, It is good for soup, stew or even simple egg fried. The wonderful of this recipe is that no water (or stock ) is added. It just pure melon and beef. To make the beef nice in flavor, marinate in advance the beef slices or beef stew for at least 24 hours in fridge.

Egg Tarts 蛋挞

Egg tart, 蛋挞 is a great dessert, the most popular in Hong Kong cuisine. It looks simple, but the most difficult part is molding the dough in tarts.

Black Fungus Chicken Soup

Black fungus also known as cloud ear fungus or 木耳, is very common in Asian cooking, believed to be healthy obesity diet food.

It contains very high Iron, 20 times as celery,7 times as pork liver. Eating regularly will nourish blood, keep countenance beauty, and prevent Iron Deficiency Anemia. Fresh black fungus is dangerous to eat as it contains poisonous matter. But most of the poisonous mater will disappear after dried under the sun.
 
(http://www.healthy-chinese-recipe.com/obesity-diet-food-black-fungus.html)

Bean Curd Chicken Soup with Shittake

Ingredients:
8 oz chicken breast, bite-sized
4-5 shittake, soaked and cut
half package of dried bean curd, soaked and cut
2 garlic, smashed
2 ginger, thinly sliced
1 medium size carrot, sliced
salt to taste

Steamed Salmon with Asparagus

Ingredients:
6 oz salmon
small carrot, thinly sliced
3-4 asparagus, diagonally cut
1 Tbsp soy sauce
little lime/lemon juice
little onion, thinly slice
garlic, minced

Steamed Trout

Yeah, Spring is here, so does the great trout! According to wikipedia, trout is either freshwater or saltwater fish, which belongs to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. We missed trout so much during the Winter. Steamed trout just a perfect refreshing dish that we love.

Simple Fried Rice with Fried Chicken

Guess what? The alternative to KFC fried chicken is the fried chicken from local groceries store like Albertsons, King Soopers or Safeway. This time we got one bucket from King Soopers, served with fried rice. Check on the simple recipe below. This yields two adult servings plus one little child ;)

Ka Ja Ma - Hakka Chicken

I brought this herb to United States and many thanks to the Auntie at Sg. Maong's market who taught me the simplest way to cook Ka Cha Ma. This is such a delicious and healthy dish, especially good for ladies. There are only four ingredients in this dish and it takes about one to two hour to prepare and cook.