Stir-fry with Ginger & Pork

Serves 4

200g thin sliced pork, sliced in 1cm strips
2 green peppers, thinly sliced
100g bamboo shoot, thinly sliced
5g fresh root ginger, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tsp potato starch (or corn flour)
2 tsp vegetable oil

Marinade
2 tsp cooking sake(or dry sherry), soy sauce,
a pinch of black pepper

Sauce
4 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp powder dashi stock
2 tsp oyster sauce, cooking sake, potato starch, sesame oil
a pinch of salt

1. Combine the marinade sauce, and marinate the pork in the mixture for about 10 minutes. Coat the pork with the potato starch.
2. Heat the oil in a wok (or a large frying pan), and fry the bamboo shoots and green peppers. Cook until they are slightly soft. Take them out and put aside.
3. Heat the oil in the same wok, and fry the garlic and ginger on a low heat. Add the pork and stir fry on a medium heat until it changes colour.
4. Add the partly cooked vegetables and the sauce in the wok. Stir fry altogether for a short time as everything is already cooked.

Sweet and Sour Chicken Skewers

I was watching a cooking programme by Ching-He Huang about eight months ago, and the dish she was cooking looked gorgeous, but easy to cook. So, I decided to try it. I bought all the ingredients for this dish and was getting excited thinking about my husband's reaction. He was very impressed with it :-)

Click here for the recipe.

*I changed the recipe a bit and used more vegetables.

If you would like to know more about Ching-He Huang, visit her website.

Spaghetti with Mushroom

Serves 4

350g dried spaghetti, boiled following the instruction

2 good handfulls of mushrooms (fresh Shiitake, maitake, enoki etc. can be used as well), sliced thinly

1 whole spring onion, chopped finely

1 clove of garlic, chopped finely

1-2 tbsp of butter (or margarine)

A few drops of soy sauce

a pinch of black pepper

1. Heat the butter in a frying pan and cook garlic and mushroom until soften.
2. Add cooked spaghetti in the pan and mix well. (If it's too dry, more butter can be added.)
3. Add soy sauce (no more than 1/2 tsp) and cook over a high heat for about 10 seconds. Season with black pepper.
4. Transfer to serving bowl and sprinkle spring onion on top.

Pork Pilaf

Serves 4

3 cups (600cc) of short-grain rice
200g thin sliced pork, cut in thin short strips
1/2 onion, cut in 1cm cubes
1/2 celery, cut in 1cm cubes
1 carrot, cut in 5mm slices, cut into quarters (gingko-leaf shaped slices)
1 clove garlic, cut finely
50g frozen peas
3 cups (600cc) of soup stock (I would use chicken stock)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2tbsp turmeric
1 bay leaf
a pinch of sea salt & pepper

1. Wash rice a few hours before cooking and let it dry.
2. In a pre-heated flameproof casserole dish, add oil, onion, celery and stir over medium heat until they are soft.
3. Add carrot and stir for a couple of minutes and then add pork and garlic.
4. When pork changes to a white colour, add rice and mix them together.
5. When the rice is coated in oil, add curry powder and turmeric and stir for a further couple of minutes.
6. Stir in hot soup stock, bay leaf, salt & pepper and make the surface flat with a wooden spoon, and then bring to boil.
7. Reduce heat, stir in peas, cover and let it simmer over a low heat for about 25 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.
8. Remove from heat and let it simmer for further 10 minutes.
9. Stir through pilaf with wooden spoon and serve.

Pork Dumplings

dumpling pastry
vegetable oil
sesame oil
For the filling

200g minced pork

300g Chinese cabbage, finely chopped

2 spring onion, thinly sliced

1 small root ginger, finely chopped

1 small garlic, finely chopped (optional)

2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
A pinch of salt & pepper

Dipping Sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Mitsukan Rice Vinegar

A drop of S&B - La-Yu Chili Oil With Chili Pepper 1.11 Fl. Oz

1. Mix the filling in a bowl, add the sauce and mix together well.
2. Place a pastry in one hand, and put 1 teaspoon sized ball of filling in the middle. Wipe water around the edge of the pastry, fold in half, and pleat the top half.
3. Heat some vegetable oil in a pan, and place the dumplings close together, but not touching. Cook them over a medium heat.
4. When the bottoms of the dumplings are brown, add hot water until they are half submerged and cover with lid.
5. When the water has boiled away, add some sesame oil and fry until the bottoms are crisp.

Chicken Soup with Daikon

Serves 4

600g chicken thighs (or drumsticks)

600g daikon chunky slices and cut those in half

10 mustard greens boiled for 20 seconds, squeeze out the water, and cut them in 5cm pieces

50g dried konbu (kelp) soaked in water

2 liters dashi stock

1/4 liter cooking sake
1 small root ginger cut in slices

1/2 tsp soy sauce

sea salt to taste

1. Put the chicken in the boiled water and then rinse.
2. Tie the kelp into knots 10cm apart and cut between the knots.
3. Boil the daikon until soften, drain and put them aside.
4. In a large saucepan, pour over the stock, add ginger, chicken, kelp, sake and bring to the boil skimming off any scum which floats on the surface.
5. Reduce the heat to low/moderate and cook until the ingredients are soft.
6. Add soy sauce and salt to taste. Add the boiled daikon and cook until the soup is soaked in. Add the boiled greens towards the end.　　

*Pak choi or spinach can be used instead of mustard greens.

Ju-shi (Okinawan-Style Pork Rice)

Serves 4

3 cups of short-grain rice
2 dried shiitake, chopped finely after being soaked in water
1 small carrot, chopped finely
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
120g pork, chopped finely after being boiled for 30min.
A total of 3 cups of dashi stock and pork stock

Sauce
2tbsp soy sauce
3tbsp oyster sauce

1. Wash the rice and put shiitake, carrot, pork, sauce and water into the pot. Mix them altogether.
2. Cook the rice.
3. When it's cooked, mix the rice and add spring onion. Mix and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes.
   

Pork with Ginger & Soy Sauce

Serves 4

4 thin sliced pork
1 big green pepper (optional)
1 medium size onion (optional)

Marinade
2 tbsp soy sauce
2.5 tbsp Japanese/Chinese cooking sake (or dry sherry)
1.5 tbsp sugar
1.5 tbsp grated ginger

1. Combine the marinade sauce, and marinate the pork in the mixture for about 15 minutes.
2. In a frying pan, fry the sliced pepper and onion. Add some salt & pepper to taste and put aside.
3. In the same frying pan, heat some oil and add the pork (shake off the sauce.) Fry until browned on both side.
4. Pour the sauce over the pork and bring to the boil.
5. Cook until the sauce thickens.

Serve with boiled rice; it goes well with the pork :-)

Sparerib Steak with Marmalade & Soy Sauce

Serves 4

4 pork spare rib steaks
1 clove garlic crashed

Sauce
5 tbsp marmalade
3 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbsp Japanese/Chinese cooking sake (or dry sherry)

1. In a pre-heated frying pan or flameproof casserole, add a little oil, garlic and the steaks.
2. Fry until browned on both sides.
3. Add the sauce and bring to the boil.
4. Reduce the heat and cook until the sauce thickens.

*Alternatively, you can use chicken instead of pork.