No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

  This soup is not only delicious, it's nourishing as well.  It can be served on its own or with some vermicelli, noodles or a hot bowl of white rice with a vegetable on the side.  An easy one pot meal especially on a wet and rainy day. Cordycep Flower and Mushroom Chicken Soup   ~   蟲草花冬菇鸡湯 Ingredients 350 gm free range chicken drumsticks 12 seedless red dates 8 dried scallops  8 shitake mushrooms 8 gm dried cordycep flowers 1 Tbsp goji berries 1 lt water 3 ginger slices Salt to taste Method Rinse the dried scallops, cordycep flowers, set aside. Soak the shitake mushrooms till soft, cut off the stem.  Set aside. Blanch the drumsticks in hot water with the ginger slices for about 5 minutes. Rinse the drumsticks in water.   In a pot of 1 lt water, add in the drumsticks, red dates, cordycep flowers and bring to a boil.  Then turn on to low heat and after half hour, add in the dried scallops.  Continue to simmer for about an hour. Rinse the goji berries and add in about 10 mins. befor

  This is my first attempt baking a chiffon cake without using the chiffon cake pan but instead with a normal round 7 inch pan and a parchment lined base to ensure a smooth surface for 'frosting' the cake with almond spread.  And I inverted the cake with the support of 2 overturned glasses.  I adapted the recipe from anncoo's Pistachio Chiffon Cake but I substituted  ground pistachio with almond meal.  The cake turned out well, delicious, light  and soft like any other chiffon cake. Almond Chiffon Cake  ~  杏仁戚风蛋糕     ( Adapted from 'here'. ) Ingredients (A)                                                             4 egg yolks, (70 gm) with shell 45 gm caster sugar 45 gm vegetable oil 30 gm almond meal 60 gm plain flour 2 Tbsp cornflour 1/8 tsp salt 60 gm almond spread 50 gm milk Almond spread and flaked almonds for decoration (B)   4 egg whites         40 gm caster sugar Method Line the base of a 7 inch round pan with parchment paper.  You can use a pan with remov

  This is a very simple, easy to prepare, fuss-free dish which will go very well with plain white rice.  Also a very popular dish with kids and adults alike.  If the kids cannot accept too much chilli, you can omit it and the chilli sauce too.   All you need to do is just to dump all the ingredients into the wok and  cook.  Here's how ........ Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs ~  甜醋排骨 Ingredients 500 gm pork ribs, cut into 2 inch lengths 60 gm shallots          30 gm garlic                10 gm ginger            2 bird eye chillies      2 tsp chilli sauce 1 tsp tomato sauce 1 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp salt 4 cups water 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar, or to taste Thickening -  1.1/2 tsp cornflour + 1 Tbsp water Preparation Wash the pork ribs and blanch them in hot water, rinse under running tap water, drain and set aside. Lightly pound or smash the shallots, garlic, ginger and bird eye chillies. Put the pork ribs into the wok together with the pounded ingredients in (2) above.  Add in sugar, salt, chilli an

  A quick and easy pumpkin stir-fry,  just that I partnered it with some bittergourd to infuse  with the sweetness of pumpkin.  A comforting and healthy dish and it's delicious to load spoonfuls of it onto a bowl of hot plain white rice. Pumpkin and Bittergourd Stir-fry ~   南瓜炒苦瓜 Ingredients 150 gm kabocha squash (Japanese pumpkin), thinly sliced with skin 150 gm bittergourd, sliced 10 gm dried shrimps 3 pips of garlic chopped 1/4 cup water or more if needed Light soy sauce to taste Oil for frying Some curry leaves (optional) Method Add some salt into the sliced bittergourd, let sit for about 15 mins.  Squeeze out any juice, rinse.  This helps to extract some bitterness from the bittergourd. In a pan, saute the dried shrimp, garlic and curry leaves till fragrant. Toss in the kabocha and stir-fry.  Add some water to cook the kabocha.  When it's semi-cooked, add in the bittergourd, continue to stir-fry, add water if necessary. Use a fork to poke into the kabocha and bittergourd t

This is a srummy moist cake with minimum prep time that you'll want to make it time and again.  This walnut yoghurt cake with a hint of sourish yoghurt is tender and delicious and can be served as a mid morning snack.  Or just treat yourself to a slice with a cuppa in the afternoon. Walnut Yoghurt Cake ~    核桃優格蛋糕          Ingredients 90 gm plain flour 90 gm walnut meal 1 Tsp baking powder 1/2 Tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/4 Tsp seasalt 2 'L'eggs 90 gm caster sugar 1/2 cup oil 180 gm plain yoghurt (at room temperature) 1 Tsp vanilla 1 Tsp orange or lemon zest (optional) Icing sugar to dust (optional) Method With an electric whisk, beat eggs with sugar and zest till creamy and pale. Add in oil, beat well. Add in yoghurt and vanilla and continue beating till well incorporated. Sift in the dry ingredients and fold in with a spatula. Pour the mixture into a parchment lined 4.5 x 8.5 x 2.5 inch loaf pan.  Spread evenly. Bake in a preheated oven @ 175 deg. C for 35 to 40 mins. till g

  I like to steam fish as it has less fat which makes it healthy, easy and most of all, the kitchen is non-greasy which means less cleaning for me!  But steaming fish with herbs is my first attempt and I must admit that it's delicious and the herbal gravy pairs very well with plain white rice. Oh, look at that, the chewy muscle of the fish tail ....... simply yummy! Ingredients 400 gm Garoupa - tail portion 3 slices Dong Quai - tear to pieces 6 seeded red dates  - cut 1 Tbsp Kei Chi ~ Wolfberries 1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine Chopped spring onions - garnish Seasoning  1 Tbsp oyster sauce 2  tsp light soya sauce 1/4 tsp sugar 1/2 cup water Preparation Clean and scale the fish.  Make 2 slits about 1.1/2 inch apart across the side of the fish.  Rub in with some salt. Combine herbs and seasoning in a saucepan and let it simmer for about 10 mins. till the herbal flavours are infused in the stock.  Test for taste.  Let it cool. Prepare a steamer and let the water boil. Pour the  cooled  seasoning

  This Chicken in Herbal Yellow Wine is a nutritious chicken soup which is also suitable as confinement food for postpartum mothers during the first 30 days of their confinement period.  It is traditionally believed that Chinese rice wine can help speed up womb recovery, helps blood circulation and ultimately helps the body to speed up recovery. Dangguai -  當歸  (angelica root) helps to warm the body and Yu Zhuk -   玉 竹 (Solomon's Seal) helps to relieve dry cough.  Nowadays this dish of yellow wine chicken is not only served as a confinement dish but as a comfort dish for family members.  This dish is delicious with misua ( 麵線) and is also available at some Asian eateries too. Chicken in Herbal Yellow Wine ~   黄酒药材鸡   Ingredients 2 free range chicken drumsticks cut into bite size, about 420 gm 1.1/2 cup yellow wine 1.1/2 cup water 6 shitake mushrooms, reconstituted and cut 5 gm cloud ears, reconstituted to soften 3 gm dangguai (angelica roots) 15 gm yu zhuk (solomonseal rhizome) 1 t