Bok Choy Soup

Gold and Silver Bok Choy Soup with Mushrooms

Home made bok choy soup is delicious and yet very easy to do.  You only need some time for preparation.  But why call it gold and silver?  Look at the ingredients here and you'll know.  The dry version of the bok choy is gold, the fresh version is silver.  This is the the Chinese way of naming our dishes beautifully.  Together with the mushroom, the soup is extremely delicious, low calories, high fiber and zero cholesterol.  You don't even need to add any meat to it, so it is good for vegetarians and weight watchers.  Of course you can add pork or spare ribs to your own taste.

I like things simple.  So he is my simple recipe of bok choy soup.

Bok Choy Soup Ingredients

1. Some dry bok choy  (free from my sister-in-law)
2. 1 Catty of fresh bok choy, buy those with extremely thick meat (HK$9)
3. Several mushrooms, use big ones with extremely thick meat (from my kitchen stock, c.HK$20)
4. One piece of ginger

Bok Choy Soup Cooking Directions

1. Soak the dry bok choy for a few hours (don't throw away the soak water)
2. Soak the mushrooms for a few hours in hot water.  If cold water, soak overnight. (don't throw away the soak water)
3. Boil 6 bowls of gold bok choy water and one bowl of mushroom water and one bowl of plain water.  These will add extra fragrance to the soup.  Make sure to use the top layers of water, as towards the bottom, there may by some impurities.
4. Bring water to boil, add all ingredients, and bring water to boil again.
5. Turn heat down and let the soup simmer for an hour.
6. Turn to high heat again for 1 minute, add salt and dish up.

My Bok Choy Soup is completely crystal clear and not oily. If you wish, you may add a few drops of EVO to your own taste. 

Why Bok Choy Soup

If you know why I set up this food blog and have read my fasting blog, you would know that I'm a health conscious individual.  But I don't have to surrender delicious food becasue of my eating habit (eat less in principal).  Bok Choy Soup for example, it's simple, easy, delicious, healthy and inexpensive.  I enjoy cooking at home as it is fun and healthy.  If you care to cook some healthy yet delicious food for your family, take a look at my friend Nicholas Zhou's cook book for more healthy cooking ideas.

Some Quick Nutrition Facts About Bok Choy

• Very low in calories. Only13 calories per 100 gram
• Rich in vitamins A, C andK, minerals andanti-oxidants
• Rich in dietary fiber
• Zero cholesterol

Hong Kong Food Blog - Home Made Bok Choy Soup

How to Make Green Bean Syrup

Weather is turning cool and dry in Hong Kong. Per Chinese calendar, winter began Tuesday November 8 in 2011. 立冬, one of the 24 weather festives - time to enjoy some hot and sweet desserts. One of the most traditional and easy-to-make Hong Kong Cantonese desserts is Green Bean Syrup. Every dessert shop would have this on their menu, but home made is cheap and you can tailor to your own taste.

Home Made Green Bean Syrup 綠豆沙

Home-Made Old Hong Kong Cantonese Dessert –
Green Been Syrup with Seaweed and Herbs

Ingredients:
• green beans
• seaweeds
• herbs (optional) (臭草*)
• sugar

* The herb itself is very fragrant, but I don’t know why it is called the opposite – bad smell grass.

Directions
1. Soak the green beans for a few hours. Overnight if possible.
2. Soak the seaweeds until soft and cut into slices of your own preferred width.
3. Boil 8 bowls of water.
4. Add green beans, turn heat down after boiling.
5. Let it simmer for 20 minutes. Then turn heat off.
6. Cover for 20 minutes.
7. Add seaweeds and herb.
8. Turn heat on and simmer for 20 minutes.
9. Add sugar and then turn heat off.
10. Cover for 20 minutes before serving.

NOTE: The alternation between simmering and covering is important to let the syrup become very silky and smooth.


Bar sugar is usually used in making green bean syrup. But I have some red sugar which has a flavour of ginger. I tried to use it and find that my green bean syrup taste extremely well. Did you notice that my green bean syrup has a tint of red?
Hong Kong Food Blog - Green Bean Syrup Dessert

Spicy Belly Soup 胡椒豬肚湯

Who else is suffering from bloating?



I’m here to give you a dietary solution. Chinese is very good at dealing with health issue through daily diet. Spicy soup to deal with bloating is a perfect example. This is really clever, because even if it won’t work, we still got something delicious to eat. However spicy soup in clearing bloating always works. I see great results every time I drink it.



If you’ve read my post about ‘why I set up this blog’, you’ll know that I used to suffer from bloating quite badly. Though it’s been improving since I practice intermittent fasting, it is still bothering me occasionally. Recently I feel really bad and I remember this traditional Chinese dietary wisdom. It is cheap and delicious though with a little preparation work.



Spicy Pork Belly Soup Ingredients

 - 1 pork belly (HK$20)

 - 1 pack of pickled vegetable (HK$7)

 - Some white pepper

Preparation

The Spicy Soup ingredients are really simple, but it involves quite a bit of work in cleaning up the pork’s belly, which is actually the stomach of a pig. Therefore the best is to place an advance order and ask the pork seller to do the cleaning work for you. Today I just think of it and want to do it immediately, so I have to clean it myself. Here are the steps.



How to clean a pork belly

1. Remove all fats.

2. Drain the belly and flush out as much dirt as possible.

3. Cut open the belly and scratch away the dirt with a knife.

4. Rub with some organic dish drops; you can use salt and flour as an alternative.

5. Drain well until it is not smelly at all.

Cooking procedures

1. Par boil the pork belly in boiling water for a few minutes.

2. Cut the belly into small pieces.

3. Rinse the pickled vegetables in water to avoid the soup being too salty or too sour.

4. Grind some white pepper. The hotter the better in clearing the gas in our digestive system. Depending on the heat you can put on, use as much as you want. As for myself, I like to have my throat feeling on fire while drinking.

5. Boil 6 bowls of water.

6. Add the belly, pickled vegetable and pepper. Turn heat down after boiling.

7. Cook for one hour with low heat. **I use Amway, so low heat is fine. You may use slightly higher heat if you use other utensils. Keep simmering.

8. Turn to high heat for the last 5 minute before serving.

Spicy Belly Soup 胡椒豬肚湯

If you think that there is too much work, you can simply enjoy this soup from any Chiu Chow restaurant. But since they are serving the general public, their taste is relatively mild. If you want to have the ‘throat on fire’ feeling, it’s better to cook it yourself. I usually cook a big pot and consume for 2-3 days and see my bloating problem gradually improve.



For more healthy Chinese cooking ideas, visit my chef friend Nicholas Zhou’s website.



Hong Kong Food Blog - Spicy Belly Soup 胡椒豬肚湯

Green Risotto - Hong Kong Style

Meals of more vegetables and less meat are highly recommended nowadays. If you’ve been following my blog, you may know that I’m a health conscious individual who eats generally one meal a day. Green Risotto is how I blend in lots of vegetable and little meat into a very delicious dish. Let me share with you my Hong Kong Chinese style Green Risotto.

If you have the experience cooking risotto, I won’t repeat here. Unlike traditional Italian risotto, I used water instead of stock. I then chopped some green vegetables and Chinese Kam Wah Ham. Kam Wah Ham is a famous produce from Yunnan, China and is widely available in Hong Kong. You may use any other ham or bacon as you wish. As Kam Wah Ham is very rich in taste, I don’t have to use any other seasoning at all.

When you add the last round of water to the risotto, add the chopped ham and keep stirring. When the risotto is cooked, cover for 3 minutes before serving. Now, make use of these 3 minutes, get ready a hot saucepan and heat a little bit of EVO. Stir fry the sliced green vegetables. No need to add salt as the risotto is going to be very tasteful with the Kam Wah Ham. Add the green vegetables to the risotto, mix well and dish up.

Green Risotto

Chopped Vegetables

Chopped Kam Wah Ham

Message from Anna

Warning: Do NOT Use These Cooking Oils

Hong Kong Food Blog - Green Risotto

How To Cook Shoyu Chicken

I receive some enquiries recently asking me how to cook Shoyu Chicken. As I love shoyo chicken and I haven’t cooked it for some time, I’ve decided to raise this post to answer my readers enquiries as well as pleasing myself and my beloved on Valentine's Day.

My shoyu chicken is of course Hong Kong Cantonese style. We usually call it Soy Sauce Chicken. It is extremely easy to cook and very delicious. Here we go.

Since cooking a whole chicken is quite demanding, I’ll leave it to professional chefs. For home cooking, I’m going to work on chicken thighs only, which are good for kids as well as parties.

How To Cook Shoyu Chicken

Ingredients
4 boneless chicken thighs. These are all we need. To reduce the intake of fat and cholesterol, I usually remove the chicken skins. However it is your choice to keep it or not.

Shoyu Chicken Seasoning Sauce

• 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Huadiao wine (Shaoxing cooking wine)
• 1 tablespoon of water
• Some grinded black pepper
• Pinch of sugar
  
  Get all these into a bowl and mix well for a minute or so to make sure the sugar is melted. Marinate the chicken thighs with the seasoning solution. Turn the meat up side down at least once through out the seasoning period to ensure both sides of the meat absorb the equal amount of seasoning sauce.

Seasoning Tips

The secret to making delicious Shoyu Chicken is the seasoning sauce and the seasoning period. Allow several hours for seasoning to ensure the best taste. I usually season it in the morning if I want to cook for dinner. If I want to cook for lunch, I’ll start seasoning the night before. If you are running short of time, you should allow at least 30 minutes of seasoning before cooking.

Cooking Directions

1. Heat a pan, add 1 tablespoon of EVO.
2. Lay all chicken thighs flat into the pan to ensure they all receive even heat. (**DO NOT throw away the remaining seasoning sauce, we'll use it later on**)
3. Turn to medium heat, cover with a lid.
4. Cook for 4 minutes.
5. Turn meat up side down. You’ll see the beautifully brown colored chicken. Remember you have some leftover seasoning sauce in the plate? It’s time to add this residue solution to the pan. Cover again and cook for 2 minutes. Check if the sauce is getting too thick. If so, add a little bit of water and continue cooking for another 2 minutes with the lid on.
6. Dishing up and serve hot. Best to go with plain rice.

NOTE: The total cooking time should be between 8 and 10 minutes. This will avoid under- or over-cooking and ensure the maximum tenderness of the chicken.

Warning: Do NOT Use These Cooking Oils

Do you find cooking Shoyu Chicken simple and easy? I really love it because it is so delicious. Next time when you have friends asking you how to cook Shoyu Chicken, you may direct them to this blog post.

Shoyu Chicken (Soy Sauce Chicken)

YOUR VALENTINE BONUS: Actually Chinese has a lot of chicken cooking methods and Shoyu Chicken is just one of them. Others like Drunken Chicken, Hainanese Chicken Rice and many others are also very delicious. If you want to learn more about the Chinese way of chicken cooking, you may want to take a look at my friend Nicholas Zhou’s cookbook: Healthy Chinese Cooking. If you buy through this link and send me your ClickBank receipt, I’ll email you my Hong Kong Chinese Food Close Up eBook for FREE. Send your receipt to hkchinesefood(at)yahoo(dot)com(dot)hk Enjoy Cooking and Happy Valentine ! Anna February 14, 2011

Hong Kong Food Blog - How To Cook Shoyu Chicken

Warning: Do NOT Use These Cooking Oils

Hong Kong Chinese New Year Foods

Today is the 7th day of Chinese New Year. Chinese traditional call it 'Man's day', meaning the birthday of everybody. One of the Hong Kong Cantonese traditions is to eat congee. We've therefore decided to cook congee at home. In fact, we eat congee every year on this same day.

Congee in Cantonese is called 粥 which sounds like 足 which means 'satisfaction', meaning we are happy with what we have. Make good sense? That's why we eat congee on this everybody's birthday.

Anna eating congee at home on the 7th day of Chinese New Year

We've put lecttuce and fish balls in the congee. These are associated with good meaning as well. Fish - surplus 魚(餘), Lecttuce - create wealth 生菜(生財). See my big fish ball!!

Congee with Lecttuce and Fish Balls 生財鯪魚球粥

Here are the other foods we eat during Chinese New Year.

Assorted veggies cooked with preserved beancurd. This of course has a good meaning as well - 開齋 means 'a good start'.

Assorted Vegetables 羅漢齋

Candies Platter is what we prepare at home to welcome visiting friends and relatives. Yes, home visit is another Chinese New Year Tradition here in Hong Kong. The candies platter can be very creative. But roasted mellon seeds are among the musts.

Candies Platter 全盒

There are many kinds of roasted mellon seeds - black, red and white.

Dim Sum is a must. Here is what we had:

Puddings - growth 糕(高) - turnip pudding (see my previsou post); on the table, there were two kinds of puddings - the sticky one and the spongy one.

Pig's tongue - profit 利

Fish ball - surplus 魚(餘)

Oyster - good business 豪士(好市)

Hairy vegetable - lucky money 髮菜(發財)

Let's have a closer look.

Dumplings with pig's tongue, oyster and hairy vegetable

發財好市大利

Fish balls with hairy vegetable 髮菜鯪魚球
恭喜發財!
Happy New Year!

Hong Kong Food Blog - Hong Kong Chinese New Year Foods

How To Cook Turnip Pudding

Turnip pudding is highly popular among Cantonese families as a Chinese New Year festival food. Many of us DIY at home and it's lots of fun. Today is the CNY eve and I have been busy making turnip pudding at home.

I don't have any professional recipe, all steps were inherited from my mother which in turn was from many generations before. There are many steps but we enjoy doing it.

How To Cook Turnip Pudding - Step by Step

1. Smash 3.6kg of turnips. This is good for 3 plates of 8 inches each.
2. Get some preserved meats such as lap cheung, dry shrimps or mushrooms and cut them into small pieces.
3. Boiled the smashed turnips. Add pinches of salt, sugar, chicken powder and any other seasoning such as pepper or seasame oil to your own taste.
4. Stir fry the preserved meats briefly.
5. Mix the boiled turnips, preserved meats and add 500 grams of rice flour (粘米粉) to the mixture. Use only 粘米粉 for the making of turnip pudding. Add rice flour bit by bit and stir well while adding.
6. Divide the pudding mixture into pudding plates.
7. Steam for 1.5 hours and start eating.

Warning: Do NOT Use These Cooking Oils

Cooking Turnip Pudding To Celebrate
Chinese New Year
蒸蘿蔔糕賀新年!

Step 1 - Smash the turnips 刨蘿蔔

Step 2 - get ready the meats

Step 5 - See I'm working hard in mixing

Here is my turnip pudding mixture

My sister is dividing them into various pudding plates

Going to steam

Ready to eat

Time to eat - enjoying my hardwork.

I enjoy eating turnip pudding immediately after cooking. This is the best time and most delicious way to eat turnip pudding. When it cools down, you need to reheat by steaming, pan fried or micro-wave. Honestly I don't like any of these methods as the turnip pudding will be less delicious. If you want to eat the most yummy turnip pudding, make it yourself and eat it immediately after steaming. Try it out. I'm sure you'll agree with me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

KUNG HEI FAT CHOI !

Hong Kong Food Blog - Turnip Pudding

Home Made Tofu Dessert

It’s now autumn in Hong Kong, weather is getting cool and dry - time to enjoy desserts. Yesterday we decided to make fun by playing mahjong and at the same time joined hands to cook desserts for tea time.

Tofu Sheet Syrup is one of our most favourite old Hong Kong desserts which we all loved since we were kids. Of course our mums made it for us, and now we make it for ourselves. In fact, it was the first time the four of us join together to make this dessert and it was fun.

Home-Made Old Hong Kong Dessert –

Tofu Sheet Syrup with Eggs
4 Servings (total cost: HK$25 / US$3.2)

Ingredients:

4 dry tofu sheets

4 boiled eggs

1 whisked egg

Ginkgo (pitted) – quantity as you wish

Crystal sugar

8 bowls of water

Tofu Sheet Syrup with Eggs

腐竹白果雞蛋糖水

Directions

1. Boil four eggs for 7 minutes. Remove shells.
   
2. Soak ginkgo, remove the center bit.
   
3. Boil 8 bowls of water.
   
4. Add tofu sheet until it is soften.
   
5. Turn to low heat, let it simmer for 20 minutes until the tofu sheets start to melt. You may want to simmer for 30 minutes if you want to have the tofu sheets dissolved completely.
   
6. Add the boiled eggs.
   
7. Add crystal sugar. Test until you find your loved level of sweetness.
   
8. Before dishing up, add whisked egg and stir gently.
   
9. Turn heat off. Cover for 5 minutes before eating.

NOTE: Crystal sugar is the perfect match for this particular dessert. DO NOT use any other kind of sugar.



As we all love the mini silky soft tofu sheets, so we simmered for 20 minutes only. It was so lovely and delicious. Rest of the day while playing majhong, we were still talking about how delicious our tofu dessert was.

Dry tofu sheets are available at the market

Hong Kong Food Blog - Home-made Tofu Dessert

Home Made Cold Noodle

Hong Kong is very hot in summer. I always want to eat cold cut but for safety reason, try not to eat outside. So I have decided to make it myself. But Cantonese don't have much cold dishes and they are quite difficult to do. I have therefore decided to go for Japanese. In fact, I always do this in summer.

My cold cut dinner is extremely easy and quick to do. Believe it or not, mine is even quicker than Nigella Lawson's. I only take five minutes to get this cold noodle done. There is only one little preparation work to do - get ready some cool and cold water. I'm sure most of you have these always available at home. NOTE: These cool and cold water must have been boiled. Do not use water direct from tap.

OK? Let's start.

My recipe is for one person. If you have more, just expand it.

1. Get some cool water and cold water ready.
2. Boil water and add soba. Let it simmer for three minutes.
3. Transfer soba to cool water, drain.
4. Transfer soba to cold water, drain.
5. Dish up and add cold soba soup.
6. Add a can of sardine (any flavour).

Home Made Japanese Soba with Sardines

This Japanese sardine has three flavours. I love the spicy one. Put it in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

As a balance of diet, I also had a few slices of pineapple as my dessert. Wow, very yummy and healthy.

The whole dinner took me five minutes to cook. My kitchen was completely free from smoke and oil, and it was extremely easy to do the cleaning work. What a lovely cold dinner.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Home Made Soba with Sardines

Home Made Drunk Chicken

Hong Kong weather is turning hot, so I tried to make a cool dinner last night.
Drunk chicken is a famous Shanghainese cold cut starter and is quite easy to make at home. Season the chicken (thighs or wings) with grinded black pepper, salt and a bit of soy sauce. Add Shao Xing cooking wine (usually known as Hua Diao wine) depends on the amount of alcohol you can take.

You can season for overnight if you want stronger fragrance, otherwise just a couple of hours will do. Wrap the whole thing up with aluminum foil, pin a few holes with a toothpick and steam for 15 minutes. Let it cool down and put into the fridge for a couple of hours before serving. Wow...I really love the fragrance, very delicious. Of course, my cool dinner also included soba and fruits.

Drunk Chicken 醉雞

Actually I did try the hot version and it was also very good.

Hong Kong Food Blog - Home Made Drunk Chicken

Home Made Vegetable Ham Rice

This dish is usually availabe in Shanghainese restaurants. It is very easy to make. Slice some vegetable and add some Shanghainese ham. Soak and drain to avoid being too salty.

Heat a saucepan, add a few drops of EVO, add sliced vegetables and ham. Stir well, add rice and water, keep stirring until boil, reduce heat until cooked. Covered for five minutes before serving.

Shanghaines Vegetable & Ham Rice 上海咸肉菜飯

A simple, healthy, delicious and easy-to-make hot pot rice.

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Home Made Vegetable & Ham Rice

Home Made Fish Soup

January 28, 2009 - Wednesday
Today is the third day of Chinese New Year. Let me introduce a few more dishes that we usually eat around Chinese New Year. They all carry very meaningful names.

Home Made Fish Cake Soup with Lettuce and Pork

Fish - surply; Lettuce - wealth

These dim sum dishes are from our New Year morning family gathering.

Dry Oyster, Pork's Tongue, Fa Cai - Dumplings Trio

Oyster - good business; Tongue - good profit; Fa Cai - lucky money

Pig's Knuckle

Make lots of lucky money

Jian Dui

Wealth rolling towards your house

Hong Kong Chinese Food - Chinese New Year Festival Foods

Chinese New Year Puddings

Today is Chinese New Year Eve. So let me present some Chinese puddings.

Pudding 糕 in Chinese sounds like 高 'gao', which means growth, along with going well, getting higher (promoted). So this is why Chinese like eating puddings at Chinese New Year. We eat all kinds of puddings everyday, but 'nan gao' is specially for New Year. Here is the 'nan gao' on our dim sum table yesterday.

New Year Pudding 年糕

It is sweet and sticky, but very yummy

(Nan Gao - Mandarin) (Nin Go - Cantonese)

Home Made Turnip Pudding 蘿蔔糕

My sister and I made this at home yesterday.

The process was slightly complicate, but it was fun!

Hong Kong Chinese Food - New Year Puddings