today cook vege

Clay Pot Chicken Rice

Ingredients:
For the chicken:
1 pound/ 450 grams chicken meat (from the thighs or breast), deboned and sliced into 2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 teaspoons Chinese rice wine
3 teaspoons sesame oil
A pinch of salt

METHOD:
Whisk the cornstarch, rice wine, sesame oil and salt in a bowl, then pour it over the chicken pieces, mixing well to coat. Set aside for 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Claypot rice:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
A 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1 ounce/ 28 grams dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in hot water and sliced
2 ounces/ 56 grams dried Chinese sausage (Lap Cheong), sliced
10 ounces/ 280 grams white rice, rinsed in cold water until the water runs clear and drained
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
¾ cup of water, at room temperature
5 ounces/ 140 grams leafy green vegetables, like bok choy, gai choy, dou miao or spinach, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method:
Heat the oil in a wok or a deep frying pan, then add the garlic and ginger, frying until fragrant. Add the marinated chicken and stir. When the meat starts to brown, add the mushrooms and chinese sausage, stirring for a minute to mix well.
If you’re using a claypot, place it on a hob and turn the heat to low.
Add the rice to the wok and turn the heat to high, mixing as you go to allow the rice to fully absorb the flavor of the other ingredients. Add the light soy sauce and sesame oil to the wok and keep stirring and mixing for another 2 minutes.
Turn off the heat and transfer the contents of the wok to the claypot. Add the water, then cover and increase the heat to medium.
Leave the ingredients to cook for about an hour, checking-in every 15 minutes and giving the rice a stir or two.
After an hour, add the vegetables, cover and turn the heat to low for 10 minutes.
Drizzle the dark soy sauce and sesame oil over the vegetables and serve, with the claypot as your centerpiece.

Butter Prawn

Ingredients:
Prawn
Beaten egg yolk
Cut green chilies
Curry leaves
Butter
Evaporated milk
Salt
Sugar

Preparation:
Cook egg floss: Heat up wok. Add some butter, cooking oil and cook for a while. Pour in beaten egg yolk and stir it. Once it’s cooked (brown color), strain the oil and put in a plate. Set aside.
Fry prawns: Add enough cooking oil in wok to fry prawns. When the oil is heated, add in prawns. After it’s cooked, set aside.
Remove oil from wok. Add in some water, butter and cook until the butter melts. After that, add in green chilies, curry leaves, season it with some salt and sugar. Add in evaporated milk and cook for a while. Add in fried prawns and cook again.
When it’s ready, put in a plate and top it with egg floss.

Black bean prawn stir fry

Ingredients

2 lb king prawns
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 or 2 fresh hot chillies, minced
4 spring onions, separated: white part minced, green part cut on the diagonal in ½" pieces
3 tablespoons Chinese fermented black beans
¼ to ½ cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 tablespoon rice wine or sherry
1½ tablespoons ghee
1 onion, sliced
1 Red pepper, sliced thinly
2 to 3 cups, thinly sliced cabbage, snow peas, and carrots

Method
1.In small bowl, combine garlic, ginger root, chillies, white parts of the spring onions, and Chinese fermented black beans
2.In another small bowl, combine ¼ cup stock, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil, and stir until sugar dissolves
3.In a third small bowl, dissolve cornflour in wine or sherry
4.Just before serving, heat a wok over high heat
5.Add ghee and heat until almost smoking
6.Fry the onion and red pepper for a minute then add garlic and bean mixture and cook for 15 seconds, or until fragrant but not brown
7.Add seafood and stir-fry for 1 minute
8.Add stock-based sauce and cook for 2 to 5 minutes, or until seafood is cooked; if necessary to prevent mixture from sticking to pan, add remaining stock
9.Stir cornflour mixture and add to stir-fry along with green spring onion parts and sliced vegetables
10.Bring sauce to a boil

Salted Egg Crab

Ingredients (2-3 servings):
2 large mud crabs
Oil for deep-frying

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp butter
1 prig curry leaf
2 salted egg yolks (raw), chopped
½ cup evaporated milk
1 tsp Shaoxing wine
Pinch of chicken powder (I used dashi stock)
Pinch of salt

Methods:

1. Clean and chop crab into serving size then pat dry with paper towel. Must dry very well or else the oil will be splattering.
2. Heat oil in wok, add in crab and fry until the colour turned red. Transfer to plate and set aside.
3. Remove all oil in the wok. Add in butter, garlic and curry leaves, stir-fry on low heat until aromatic then add in salted egg yolk.
4. Stir-fry until salted egg yolk is cooked, add in evaporated milk, chicken powder and salt to taste.
5. Return fried crab into the wok and stir to coat crab with sauce. Add in Shaoxing wine, put the cover on and cook with low heat for one to two minutes. If the sauce reduced too much, add in some fresh milk.
6. Transfer to plate, garnish and serve warm.

Chili Crabs

Ingredients:

• 3 – 4 Fresh Blue Crabs / Sand Crabs / Mud Crabs (approx. 300 grams each)
• 2 cups of water
• 10 tbsp tomato sauce (ketchup)
• 3 tbsp white sugar (or more, if wanting more sweetness in sauce)
• 3 tsp cornflour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 8 cloves of chopped fresh garlic
• 4 pieces of chopped fresh red chilli (I used Thai-style chillis but other types of red chilli might also work)
• 5 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp garlic and herb salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 spring onions, chopped in to small pieces
• 2 tsps fresh lime juice (or lemon or cumquat juice)
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

How to Cook:
1. Mix the sauce ingredients together first in a big bowl. Just put together water, tomato sauce, cornflour, sugar, and salt and mix them using a fork until they’re dissolved.

2. Heat the saucepan or wok and add the vegetable oil.

3. Sauté the chopped garlic until light brown (takes just a few seconds to a minute in a hot pan).

4. Add the chopped red chilli and sauté quickly until you can smell the spice.

5. Mix in the fresh crabs and fry them together until the crabs turn red (orange-y colour). The length of this will vary on the number of crabs being cooked at the same time – and their sizes.

6. Once the crabs are red, slowly add the sauce mixture in. Mix in the oyster sauce and the garlic and herb salt. Stir and let simmer for about 10 – 15 minutes. Again, this will depend on the crab sizes and number. You’ll know when the crabs are cooked by the crab shell’s colour (turning orange).

7. While still simmering, add the eggs in. And, break the eggs using your wooden spoon or fork. Make sure you do this quickly, so that the eggs won’t get lumpy.

8. Then, add the freshly squeezed lime juice, spring onions and some fresh coriander. Stir.

9. Once cooked, put the crabs in a big serving dish and drizzle the sauce on top. Then, sprinkle the rest of the chopped fresh coriander.