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

One of the key ingredients of   Konnyaku ,   a traditional Japanese health food is flour derived from a taro/yam plant.  This is mixed with calcium hydroxide or calcium oxide extracted from eggshells.  This yam plant known as konjac, Devil's tongue  or elephant yam is grown in the mountains of  Japan and also in Indonesia. Konnyaku is a very low calorie food, virtually zero as it contains 97% water and 3% fibre  in the form of a viscous substance called glucomannan.  It  has traces of protein, starch, calcium and also rich in vitamin C. Although low in calorie, it's  high in fibre, non-fat and is good for weight reduction as it's very filling.  It also helps in the cleansing of toxin in the intestines, normalises the cholesterol and sugar level and prevents high blood pressure. Konnyaku on its own tastes rather bland.  It is gelatinous, firm and chewy and takes on the flavour of whatever it's cooked in. A wo...

  To combat the hot, dry and humid weather, I made this  'Double Boiled fish bladder and spare ribs soup'.  Fish bladder or swim bladder or ' yue piu' in Cantonese looks similar to fish maw/'far kau' in shape, colour and texture.  But 'yue piu' is often sold deepfried, hence it needs to be soaked before cooking.  Of course, there's also the price factor.  'Yue piu' is definitely far more cheaper than fish maw and can be considered as a poor man's treat of fish maw.

Being too lazy to cook a proper dinner, I made these noodles and dumped in whatever greens, meat I can lay my hands on.   The greens happen to be long beans and the meat, chicken. Long beans aka 'Dau Gok' in Cantonese are yardlong beans also known as bora.  This climbing vine is subtropical/tropical and widely grown in the warmer parts of South East Asia and southern China.  They're at their best when picked for consumption before they mature fully.  These beans are low in fat, are a good source of protein, vitamin A and C and also have a significant amount of iron, phosphorous, manganese and magnesium.  A major health benefit is their ability to lower cholesterol due to its high fibre content.  What are other ways to cook these long beans? They're commonly used  for  stir-fries in Chinese cuisine, cut into shorter sections to cook savoury rice,  fry them in an omelette or toss them  into your fr...

Itching for a snack?  Ahhh.... think these crispy cornflake slices are just what you need to satisfy your craving along with a hot cup of coffee, tea or even a glass of  milk.

This cooling and refreshing dessert soup is what we need to cool down our system in this current hot, humid, hazy weather........'Sea coconut with snow fungus sweet soup'.  This 'tong sui' or 'leong sui' is easy to prepare and also tastes fabulous both taken warm or chilled.

This spare ribs dish is indeed appetising because of its sauce .....sweet and sour with a slight tinge of chilli.  It's not fiery hot and I think kids will be able to enjoy it too.  As for me and my family members, we'll certainly need to top up our bowls with more rice to mop up the sauce.

I made this  'Banana Blueberry Upside Down Cake'  based on the recipe of my previous post of  Pineapple Upside Down Cake .  Prior to that I've also tried baking this cake with peaches and I find that they all are delicious in their own way as each of them have a fruity flavour of their own.

We never failed to order  this dish whenever we eat out for the simple reason that I've never maked this at home.  All the while I was under the impression that whipping up this dish is a challenge as I was afraid that the fish fillet will disintegrate upon being flipped by the 'spatula'.  I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case when I finally attempted it.  The tip lies in the way how the fish fillet is sliced.  After deboning the fish, the fillet is long (according to the length of the fish), then cut it to say 2.1/2 inches portions.  Then slice the portions against the grain of the fillet.  This way the fillet will not be crumbly ........ and it worked!