What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）- 12-7-2013

 

On 12 July 2013, white rice served with:

1	Ginger Chicken	姜丝鸡
2	Local Mustard Fried With Anchovies	小鱼炒芥菜
3	Bean Curd Stick Pork Rib Soup	豆支排骨汤
4	Bean Curd Omelette	豆干蛋饼

For dish 1 and dish 4, please click the links above to look at the pictorial illustrations in Guaishushu’s page.

 

Today, I am cooking the local mustard for the first time and see if whether it is acceptable by my kids or not. Local mustard is a bit bitter and when I was young, I have never like the dish.  I have fried it with anchovies and while I cannot say that they like it, they never want to take another more after finishing the two spoons that I have given to them. For me, that is good enough since they are trying out new food items. My cooking objective is to let them try as many varieties as possible.

My boy love bean curd sticks. I was shocked to know that he had taken bean curd stick soup for 2 consecutive lunches in school canteen. I promised him that I will cook this soup these few days and advised him to rotate the food that he had in school canteen daily. That is the reason why i cooked this soup today.

Today I have made a fruit dessert. I was communicating with an Indonesia blogger based in Italy and she had this “fruit soup”to break her fast yesterday (Note: She is a Muslim and she need to fast for month according the Islamic principles during the month of Ramadan)! Out of my curiosity, I asked her for the recipe and within 15 minutes, she published the recipe in her blog!

I told her since she acted so quickly, I will also make the dessert and upload a photo to her within half an hour!  This is what I have made.

This some cut fruits of your choice served with fresh milk and to sweeten it, with condensed milk and some honey. It is usually served cold and I should say, it is extremely delicious and another way of serving dessert. You may want to learn more about this recipe from Ms. Elly Yusna Ibrahim’s blog here.

Lastly, hope you like it and have a nice day.

Blanching Vegetables in Chinese Cooking – 利用汆烫准备可口的中式的”菜”肴

 

INTRODUCTION

Traditional Chinese cooking don’t usually use the blanching method for cooking its vegetables. Usually, they stir fried with oil in a hot wok or frying pan. 

My mum will usually take out a frying pan, put in some oil, stir fry the garlic or shallots until golden brown, throw in the vegetables, add seasonings, stir fried for another 1-2 minutes and scope in the plate for serving. That is rather traditional and applicable to almost all types of vegetables. The disadvantages of using oil for stir flying vegetables are that the vegetable’s will lose its color and some vitamins will lose in this process.

In most restaurants, realizing that the color of the vegetables will turn less appealing and that the texture will be compromised, the chef will usually blanched the vegetable before stir frying the vegetables. This will  cut short the stir frying time so as to preserve its greenish appearance and some of the vitamins.

In this post, I will share with you the various combinations that you can prepare your vegetable dish using the water blanching method without stir frying but the dishes are equally tasty. 

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WHY THIS POST

My son, aged 7 have a slightly high body mass index and was requested by the school authority to participate in the weight reduction program. Knowing that the school is concerning about his weight issue, I have decided to alter my methods of cooking and one of which is by blanching the vegetables instead of stir frying the vegetables. The first meal (blanched kailan with oyster sauce)  was well received by my family members and the whole plate of vegetables were being snatched by my son, daughter and wife within 5 minutes of putting in the table. Seeing such a good response from the family members, I have decided to explore more vegetables and with as many types of dressing as possible..In the next 9 meals that I prepared, I have created different dressings with different vegetables and to my delight, they don’t really notice the difference and my son have requested for more vegetables..

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BLANCHING METHOD DEFINED..

According to http://chinesefood.about.com,

“Blanching is a process whereby the food is briefly plunged in boiling water for a moment. Sometimes it is then immediately transferred to ice water to stop the cooking process. This technique is commonly used with Chinese vegetables prior to stir-frying. The goal is to bring out the color and flavor of the vegetable without overcooking.source: (http://chinesefood.about.com/od/glossary/g/blanch.htm)”

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BLANCHING OF CHRYSANTHEMUM GREEN ILLUSTRATED

In this post, I will share with readers one vegetable dish that I have prepared for my dinner today – Chrysanthemum green with Chinese black vinegar dressing (春菊拌浙醋）。Measurements were intentionally omitted as it is just vegetables plus seasonings all of which can be adjusted to individual tastes.

Chrysanthemum green is a type of vegetables that are quite common in Korean, Japanese , Taiwanese and Cantonese Cuisines. It can be eaten raw but the stems can be slightly tough. It can be stir fried, blanched or cooked in soup or appeared as a garnish in some Chinese dishes like Taiwanese oyster pancake.

 

WHAT YOU NEED

• Some chrysanthemum greens (you can chopped the stems into smaller pieces)
• Some cherry tomatoes
• Some sesame seeds, fried onion for garnishing
• Some light soya sauce, black vinegar or lime juice, sesame oils (onion oil), salt, sugar

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Wash the vegetables and set aside. As this preparation only deal with blanching, you may wish to soak the vegetables in the water for a longer while to clear all unseen particles and chemicals..

• Take out a container or salad bowl and put in your condiments. In the above picture, I have included some shredded chili, fried onions, Chinese black vinegar, salt, pepper and sesame oil.

• In a frying pan, put in some water. Add in pinches of salt (as you can see the white patch next to the red color patch) and a few drops of onion oil (cooking oil also can be used). This feel drop of oils are very important to preserve the color of your blanched vegetables and to keep the juices in the vegetables.

• When the water is boiling, throw in the chrysanthemum green and let it boiled for about 3 minutes.

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• Add in the cherry tomatoes and blanched for another 1-2 minutes.

• Sieve the blanched vegetables and transfer to the salad bowl or the mixing container. Note that I have by passed the step of blanching the vegetable in some ice water as the dish will be served immediately after it is prepared. However, if you prefer, you can dip the blanched vegetable in ice water of about 1 minutes to preserve its crunchiness (not necessary depending on type of vegetables) and color.

• Stir until well mix and transfer to another plate. Sprinkle with sesame seed and best served hot with rice.

The dish is simple and as chrysanthemum greens are a bit tough, you can blanch it longer and cut into smaller pieces. This dish is full of vitamins and the Chinese black vinegar dressing is just like the French dressing in French cuisines. Of course there are oriental elements such as sesame oil and black vinegar that make it taste like Chinese cuisines. Should I have lime (kalamansi with me), I will use it instead of black vinegar. It is fully flexible be it type of dressings, toppings and vegetables.

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VARIATIONS

For the sake of oil less cooking, there are many Chinese vegetable dishes which can use the blanching method instead of traditional stir frying method.

Blanching method of Chinese vegetable dishes like the Western cuisine’s salad preparation is a matter of finding the right combination of vegetables and dressings. Chinese are less prone to eating the vegetables freshly picked (raw), therefore in order to promote healthier eating habitat with minimal amount of fats possible, an intermediary step is to blanch the vegetables .

The following table shows different types of Chinese vegetables that I have ever cooked using the blanching method and different dressings used. Both the list of vegetables and dressings are endless and are open to all types of combinations depending on the chef’s creativities.

Vegetables	Meat  (protein)
Kailan	Minced pork
Pak Choy	Meat slices/strips
Choy Sim	Chicken breast
Broccoli	Prawns
White Stem Pak Choy	Shredded chickens
Chrysanthemum Greens	Pork /chicken floss
Capsicum	Baby Shrimps
Celery	Anchovies
Tomatoes	Egg omelet strips
etc., etc., etc.  (endless)	etc., etc., etc.  (endless)
Something to bite	Seasonings
Sesame seeds	Black Vinegar
crunched nuts	Lime/kalamansi juice
Japanese rice seasoning sprinkle	Mayonnaise+Tomato sauce (‘000 island)
Macadamia	Salt
Chopped chili	Sugar
Chopped fresh garlic	MSG (if you preferred)
Fried garlics or shallots	Onion Oil
Pine seeds	Pepper
Dry mushrooms stripes	Belachan (shrimp paste)
Shredded century eggs	Oyster sauce
etc., etc., etc.  (endless)	etc., etc., etc.  (endless)

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SAMPLE DISHES

The pictures below are some of the dishes that I have prepared for my family as detailed in “what I have cooked today series”. The preparation are basically the same, blanching and mixed. You can also see more in the linked – PINTEREST BOARD-VEGETABLE DISHES HERE

Blanched mix vegetables with prawns （杂菜虾球)

 

Blanched Baby Kailan with Oyster Sauce (

耗油小芥兰)

Blanched White Stem Pak Choy with anchovies (

小银鱼白菜)

Blanched Broccoli with Minced Pork (

肉碎西兰花)

 

 

 

 

 

Blanch Tri-color Capsicum with Chicken Breast (

三色柿子椒拌鸡柳)

Blanched baby Pak Choy with minced pork (

肉碎拌小奶白)

Pak Choi with Oyster Sauce (

耗油上海青)

Blanched Chye Sim with meat floss (菜心拌肉松）

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CONCLUSIONS

In traditional Chinese cooking, blanching of vegetables is generally not common. The exposure of Western Cuisines have made me come out with this fusion which I believed will be acceptable by both Asians and non-Asians. Without stir frying, the vegetables can be equally tasty.

While this resembles salad in western cuisines’ term but it have elements of oriental cooking due to the type of condiments used. It will definitely healthier because fats intake will be limited and more vitamins will be retain in the vegetable resulting from shorter cooking time. It will also eliminate the fear of eating raw vegetables which is supposed to be even more nutritious.

My favorite dressing is a type of dip for my fried fish (light soya sauce + chili + lime juice + shredded garlics + bit of sugar). For me , it blends equally well when I used it for my blanched vegetables. I like to prepare this if I want to lose weight and of course this is an acquired taste. You can invent your own dressing and you will be surprised that how well received blanched vegetables are if the dressings are right!

Why don’t you try my favorite dressing and let me know what you think?

Are you kidding? You don’t need oil to fry rice?– The authentic Sarawak Cuisine–Aruk Fried Rice

“Nasik Aruk (originated from Sarawak). Nasik Aruk is a traditional Sarawakian Malay fried rice. Unlike Nasi Goreng, Nasi Aruk does not use any oil to fry the rice. The ingredients are garlic, onion and anchovies, fried to perfection with very little oil and then the cook will put the rice in. The rice must be fried for longer time (compared to frying rice for Nasi Goreng) for the smokey/slightly-burnt taste to absorb into the rice. It is a common to see Nasik Aruk in the food menu list at Malay and Mamak coffee shops and stalls.” (Source: http://wikitravel.org/en/Sarawak)

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

While I was discussing about the Sarawak Authentic Gift and Cuisines yesterday at the Kuching Food Critics Groups, I have found this interesting cuisine which was recommended by Wikitravel.org on Sarawak cuisine.

This dish has caught my attention because no oil was used in the preparation. I remembered ever eaten this type of fried rice before but only yesterday, I know it is by the name of Nasi Aruk. I have try to search for the meaning of Aruk but to my disappointment, I can’t find any thing to explain the origin. It could have been originated from Indonesia.

This simple fried rice is sort of commoner’s fried rice as none of the ingredients are expensive and costly. It is a special way of frying rice by the Malay families usually using left over rice from previous day.

While it is considered as a commoner fried rice, it unique way of cooking have rendered it to be one of the authentic Sarawak cuisines and  served at high class hotel and restaurants.

A quick review of the ingredients and method of cooking will surely tell you that it is a healthy alternatives. It has minimum condiments, no oil, high minerals and vitamins and therefore top choice for a healthy diet.

 

WHY THIS DISH

My kids are back to their hometown and only left with my wife and myself in the house. As I just want something simple but spicy, I  have decided to prepare some Aruk fried rice for both of us.

 

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

 

   

The ingredients of the fried rice is very basic. Note that no quantity will be given here as it is really at your discretion and the only two ingredients which I think cannot be substituted in order to qualify it to be Aruk Fried Rice are the anchovies and of course the rice. The ingredients are:

• Some left over white rice (today I have cooked the rice specially for this which is not necessary at all. Left over white rice is easier to fry especially if you keep it in the fridge).

• Eggs (optional) – I think previously eggs were not added but now with the affluence of the society, eggs seems to be more and more “misused” in our cuisines;

• Red chili cut into small pieces – When my kid were not in, it is our party time and I have added lots of small red chili (in Malay called chili padi) which is extremely spicy. However, it can be substituted with some big red chili or no chili at all;
• Sugar or other seasonings or condiments to taste

• Some big onions and shallots – diced into small cubes.
• Some anchovies and dried baby shrimps – Traditionally, only anchovies (ikan billis) were used but since I have a lot of these baby shrimps, I have decided to throw some in.

• Some belachan (shrimp paste) – I have some belachan powder with me so use the powder instead of belachan chunks.

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

 

 

• In a big non stick frying pan, put the chopped red cut chili, onions and shallots. Fried for a while until the aroma starts to emit;

• Washed the anchovies and baby shrimps quickly with water and put them in the pan and continue frying until they are crispy.

• Make a whole in the center, crack your eggs and let the eggs dried up. Break the eggs using the frying utensils into small chunks.

• Add in the white rice and continue frying until well mixed.

 

• Add in belachan powder and  condiments like light soya sauce or sugar or dark soya sauce or salt to taste. Stir until well mixed.

• Let it sit in the pan for a while to let the moisture dries up and get slightly burnt (if you want some Smokey or burnt flavor but you have to closely monitor this). Scope up the rice to serve when hot.

• In the third picture, I have purposely left some rice in the frying pan to show readers that the pan is very clean and nothing stick to it.

 

Frying the eggs without oil

Since I did use any oil for the frying the rice, I have decided not to use any oil to fry the egg either.

• Heat up the frying pan and crack an egg. Add in some water to the side and cover your frying pan for 1-2 minutes or until the water dries up.

• Scope up the egg and serve.
• If you are using medium heat to heat the pan, you can continue heating it after you add the water until all the water evaporated. If you are using high heat, you have to act faster and off the heat immediately to avoid your egg being burnt.

• The water added should not be too much, just a bit and add it as far from the egg as possible. It is ok if the water touch the egg.

• In the first picture, you can see that right side of egg have more bubbles and right side of eggs have less. This is because I have added the water too early and the water mixed with the egg whites which have yet to solidify. On the right sides,  I have added  the water only when the egg white start to harden. So you should have to ensure that the whites are harden before you add the water and it should be added gently.

• The steam will cooked the upper most layer of the yolk and therefore the egg yolk would flow out.

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THE OUTPUT

• This is the fried rice with the fried egg (egg is optional).

• The taste is slight burnt, spicy and full of onion and anchovies fragrance. It was fabulous.

• Look at top part of the rice. It is some sort of dried squid delicacies that was left over from the Chinese New Year. I have “re-bake it” make it crispy and add it to the rice.

• At time, this fried rice is serve with sliced cucumbers or other garnishing ingredients like Chinese celery or spring onion.

• As no oil is involved and using the dry frying method, the fried rice will be slightly dry and you have to eat it slowly and best with some drinks.

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CONCLUSIONS

This village style of traditional fried rice bring back a lot of memories for those grew up with. With the increase of household disposal income, less and less people are willing to prepare this as its ingredients are too basic. However, it is definitely a choice of healthy food because of the following reasons:

• No fats were used in the frying the rice (and in my case frying of eggs also);

• Anchovies are full of vitamins and minerals specifically calcium and iron which is good for bones development;

• Chili, onions and shallots are herbs that are beneficial to our body;
• The fact that it is dry and cannot be eaten faster is not necessary a disadvantage and it can be construed as an advantage. Your body needs time to receive the signal for food that downed to your throat. “Dry” means you need to chew slowly and you will eat less as compared when it is watery and moist. As a result, you will feel full faster and that will aid in one’s weights management program.

• Basic ingredients means that the fried rice is good for those who is cost conscious and time of preparation are very short.

Not all meals need to be elaborated. At times, simple meal is desired and is it not SIMPLE IS ELEGANT?

Thanks for reading the post!