Grab Your Chopsticks!

Preparation Time: 60 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 6

Steamed Beef Balls in Long Soup

Ingredients

500g beef mince
2 egg whites
1 tbsp ice water
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp coriander
2 spring onions
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1/4 tsp five spice powder
4 cups beef stock
2 cups assorted chinese vegetables
375g thin egg noodles

Method

1. In batches, place mince in a food processor bowl. Pulse for 30 seconds or until the mixture is a fine paste. Mix in the egg whites, ice water, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornflour, onions, white pepper and five spice powder.
2. Roll balls of mixture with wet hands. Place mince balls in a steamer lined with grease proof paper and steam for 20 minutes.
3. To make the long soup, bring the stock to the boil, add the vegetables and cook for 2 minutes. Add noodles and beef balls and serve.

Result

An excellent soup. Very tasty. Just make sure that you serve immediately as the noodles will absorb the soup and you’ll end up with a stew if you leave it too long! (Still very nice even as a stew though!)

Preparation Time: 50 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4

Chicken & Mushrooms

Ingredients

350g chicken breast
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine or dry sherry
2 tsp cornflour
6 chinese dried mushrooms
1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely shredded
salt and pepper
sesame oil
fresh coriander as garnish

Method

1. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and place in a bowl. Add the sugar, soy sauce, rice wine and cornflour. Coat the chicken with the mixture and marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Place the mushrooms in warm water and soak for 30 minutes.
3. Drain the mushrooms and pat dry with kitchen paper, remove the stems and slicy thinly.
4. Place the chicken pieces in one layer on a heat prood plate and place in a bamboo or other kind of steamer. Arrange the mushrooms and ginger on top of the chicken. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and sesame oil to taste. Steam over a high heat for 20 minutes.
5. Serve immediately garnished with coriander.

Result

A nice taste. We used shiitake mushrooms which were a bit bland. In the future I may use a different type of dried mushroom, or even fresh mushrooms.

Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 7 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4

Chilli Chicken

Ingredients

350g chicken
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg white
2 tbsp cornflour
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cm fresh ginger, grated
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1 green pepper, seeded and diced
2 fresh chillis, (seeded if you like less heat), and chopped
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp chinese rice wine, or dry sherry
1 tbsp wine vinegar

Method

1. Cube the chicken and place in a bowl with the salt, egg white, cornflour and 1 tablespoon of oil. Coat the chicken in the mixture.
2. Heat the remaining oil in a wok and stir-fry the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the chicken and stir-fry for 3 minutes or until golden brown.
3. Add the peppers, soy sauce, rice wine, vinegar and cook for 3 more minutes. Serve immediately.

Result

Very nice. Halve the chilli or remove the seeds if you don’t like it hot!

Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 25 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4

Curried Chicken & Sweetcorn Soup

Ingredients

175g can sweetcorn, drained
850ml stock (preferably chicken, but vegetable is ok)
350g chicken
16 baby corn cobs
1 tsp curry powder
1 cm fresh ginger, grated
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp chives or spring onion, chopped

Method

1. Blend the sweetcorn and 150ml stock in a food processor until smooth.
2. Pass through a strainer to remove any of the corn skin.
3. Pour the remaining stock into a pan with the chicken strips, the strained corn and the baby corn, and bring the pan to the boil. Boil for 10 minutes.
4. Add the curry powder, ginger and soy sauce and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
5. Stir in the chives and serve immediately.

Result

Very nice. I think I prefer the traditional chicken sweetcorn soup, but this is a nice variation.