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.

Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 5 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4

Five Peppercorn Beef

Ingredients

500g beef steak
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine
2 tsp cornflour
oil
2 tbsp five pepper mixture
1/2 tsp salt
250ml chicken stock
2 tbsp butter

Method

1. Cut the beef in to slices. Add the beef to a bowl with the soy sauce, rice wine and cornflour and marinate for 15 minutes.
2. Heat some oil in a wok and add the marinated beef to the pan. Stir fry for about 2 minutes. Don’t worry if it isn’t cooked!
3. Remove the beef and drain the wok. Add a little more oil.
4. Add the stock, salt and peppercorns and reduce by half.
5. Add the butter and when melted return the beef to the pan and stir fry for one minute or until the beef is cooked.
6. Serve with rice or noodles.

Result

Yum Yum? I think so!

Sorry about the picture. I had already half eaten the meal when I remembered that I hadn’t taken a photo!

Preparation Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 6

Marbled Soy Eggs

Ingredients

6 eggs
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1 star anise
2 thin slices ginger
1 tablespoon black tea leaves

Method

1. Boil the eggs as normal, simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Refresh the water, and add the remaining ingredients.
3. Crack the eggs with a spoon and replace in the water and gently simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Cut into quarters and serve as a salad on top of rice.

Result

This is an extremely easy dish to prepare, however I was disappointed at the taste of the finished product. It tasted exactly like boiled egg. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just thought that the ingredients would give it a different taste.

Unless I’m wrong, it seems that the marbled effect is actually only for effect.

Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4

Hoisin Chicken

Ingredients

4 large chicken breasts
cornflour
oil
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
2 onions
400g mushrooms
100g snow peas (mange tout)
1 green pepper
2 tablespoons Hoi Sin sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine
1 tablespoon soy
2 tablespoon vinegar
salt
1 cup water
2 chicken stock cubes

Method

1. Cut the chicken into strips or bite size chunks.
2. Cut the mushrooms, pepper and onion into chiunks and top and tail the snow peas if necessary.
3. Heat some oil in a wok or frying pan, then add the chicken and cook until golden brown, drain well.
4. Add extra oil to the pan and heat, add the ginger and onion and cook for one minute, then add the mushroom and pepper and cook for a further two mintutes.
5. Add the Hoi Sin sauce, rice wine, soy sauce, vinegar, salt, stock cubes and cornflour-water mixture. Cook for 30 seconds.
6. Return the chicken to the pan, and heat until the sauce thickens.
7. Serve immediately over rice or noodles.

Result

This is a really great dish, but watch how much vinegar you put into the food.

Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: None
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4

Chocolate Ginger Lychees

Ingredients

500g lychees
60g candy ginger
185g dark chocolate

Method

1. Drain lychees and allow to stand until dry.
2. Cut ginger into strips and stuff each lychee with the ginger.
3. Melt the chocolate in a pan and once melted allow to cool slightly. Dip each lychee in the chocolate then place on a piece of greasproof paper until cool.

Result

A very nice dessert!

Preparation Time: 40 mins (including 20 mins marinading)
Cooking Time: 5 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 2

Chilli Black Bean Beef

Ingredients

400g Beef steak
1 green pepper
100-200g beansprouts
100-200g mushrooms
2 tbsp black bean and garlic sauce
2 tsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
salt & pepper
2 tsp cornflour & water mixed

Marinade

1/2 cup rice wine
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
3 tsp honey

Method

1. Cut the beef into thin strips, and place in a bowl with the marinade ingredients. Leave to marinade for 20 minutes.
2. While the meat is marinading, cut the green pepper into strips removing the core and seeds. Chop the mushrooms into pieces, or leave them whole if they are not too large.
3. Drain the meat. Add a little oil to a hot wok, the oil should smoke, then add the beef stirfrying for one minute.
4. Add the black bean sauce, the soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce. Stir fry for one more minute.
5. Add the vegetables, season with salt and pepper and fry for another minute.
6. Add the cornflour and water mixture and stir until the sauce thickens.
7. Serve on top of rice or noodles.

Result

A very nice dish, the dark soy sauce and rich black beans give the dish a very savoury taste.

Preparation Time: 30 mins
Cooking Time: 5 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 2

Tea Butter Prawns

Ingredients

400g prawns
1 tbsp green tea leaves
1 tbsp rice wine
1 tsp ginger
1 small onion
150ml fish stock
1/2 tsp five pepper mixture
2 tbsp butter
2 sping onions chopped
oil
salt

Method

1. Deshell and devein the prawns
2. Brew the tea in 250ml of boiling water, leave to brew for 15 minutes.
3. Heat a little oil in a wok and cook the prawns for one minute. Strain the tea and add the liquid, add half the tea leaves. Stir for a minute.
4. Remove the prawns and add the rice wine, onions, ginger and fish stock and cook until the sauce has reduced to about a third. Add salt and pepper and butter. Add the prawns and cook for one minute.
5. Serve on top of rice or noodles.

Result

Excellent.