Mussels in Shaoxing Wine

Salut,

A couple of weeks ago, we had mussels for dinner while we were camping in Cancale and few days ago, we had mussels again for dinner. Most of the seafood price are quite cheaper at this time, and the mussels that we had tastes really good. Mussels are so easy to cook and with just a few simple ingredients, we had a great food for dinner.

Most people here cooking mussels with white wine, shallot and parsley, but mon mari used to cook with shaoxing wine, shallots, garlic, ginger, chilli and it sure the shaoxing rice wine taste even better than white wine.

MUSSELS IN SHAOXING WINE

Ingredients;

1 kg mussels, scrub and cleaned
2 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2cm fresh ginger, chopped
1 red chilli, seeded and chopped
200ml Shaoxing cooking wine
Pepper to taste

METHOD;

- Heat up some oil in a large saucepan and fry shallots, garlic, ginger and chillies until fragrant.
- Add Shaoxing wine and bring to boil.
- Add cleaned mussels, season with pepper and cover with a lid.
- Cook the mussels until the shells are opened.

Bon appétit!

Watermelon Juice

Hello,

When the weather is hot outside, sometimes we just need a cold beverages to cool down a bit. Fruit juice like watermelon is one of the healthy refreshing drinks, delicious and easy to make. Watermelon is a common fruit during the summer time. Since there are lots of fruits selling in the market now, we just needs make these seasonal fruits wisely.

Watermelon is not the fruit that we could have it every time like in Asia, so once the fruits are there, let's make a juice. For those who never try a watermelon juice, this is a time to make one.

WATERMELON JUICE

Ingredients;

Watermelon, quarter or half depends on the size
Sugar, optional
Half lemon
Ice cube
A little bit of water
Fresh milk

METHOD;

Watermelon lemon juice
- Using a blender or juice maker, blend watermelon, sugar, ice cube and a bit of water until smooth.
- Pour in lemon juice, stir and add in extra ice cube.

Watermelon milk juice
- Blend watermelon, sugar, ice cube and fresh milk until smooth.
- Serve with extra ice cube.

Enjoy the fresh juice!

Vegetable Samosa

Bonjour,

Samosa, a simple and delicious snack that always been my choice because they are easy to make and they can be frozen well and fried anytime we want. These snack also suitable to serve during apéro as French people loves to have apéro before the meal. Since I discovered these feuilles de brick or brick pastry few years back, I often make samosas because using brick pastry, the work is much easier, light and crispy, either they are baked or fried.

My family especially my mom like these crispy samosas and everytime before I go back to my hometown, she would remind me to buy feuilles de brick and make samosas at home. I'm not so sure if there are feuilles de brick sell in Asia, but most people used sping roll pastry which is come with a defferent size.

POTATO AND PEA SAMOSAS

Ingredients;

8-10 brick pastry (feuilles de brick)
2 potatoes, cut into small chunks
1 cup frozen peas
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoon curry powder, mix with little water to make paste
Salt and sugar to taste

METHOD;

Filling:
- Heat oil in a saucepan and fry garlic until fragrant.
- Add curry paste and cook for a minute.
- Add potatoes and a cup of water, bring to boil.
- Add in peas and onion, season with salt and a bit of sugar if necessary and continue to cook until the potatoes are soft and the sauce are dry. Let it cool.
Folding:
- Take the brick pastry and cut into 2 semi circles.
- Take one half and fold horizontally.
- Place a spoonful filling in a corner and fold it in a triangle shape.
- Continue folding until the end and seal the edge with flour water mixture as a glue and repeat the process .
- Heat plenty of oil in a sauce pan or wok and deep fry the samosas until golden brown on both side.
- Or preheat oven on 180° and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy the snack!

Home-made Fruit Jams

Bonjour,

Summer brings a lot of mouthwatering and great selection of fruits and vegetables where we can enjoy them throughout the season. Certain fruits like wild blackberries easily can be found just about everywhere during summer. We just need to makes the most of seasonal fruits so that we can enjoy them for the months to come. Making the jam is the great way to do with these fruits.

One of the wild fruit which we picked up recently in the roadside near our house are blackberries. Actually, this is my first time and picking the berries was surprising fun! Sometimes, these wild berries are so much better than store bought.

HOME-MADE BLACKBERRY JAM

Ingredients;

400g Blackberries
300g sugar
1 lemon, juiced

METHOD;

- Soak the blackberries in water for few minutes and rinse well.
- Prepare the jar by placing in the large pot of boiling water, boil for 10 minutes. Keep warm. Jars must be sterilized in a water bath before filling.
- Place the blackberries, sugar and lemon juice in a large pan and bring to boil over medium heat.
- Stirring constantly and simmer for another 15-20 minutes over low heat.
- Remove excess bubble with spoon and remove from heat.
- Quickly sieve and pressing lightly the mixture into the jar to remove the seed.
- Turn the filled jars upside down while they are still hot to help push out any air and let them cool completely.
- Keep the home-made jam in the refrigerator for up to 6 months or more.

HOME-MADE PRUNE JAM

Ingredients;

500g Prunes
300g sugar
1 lemon, juiced

METHOD;

- Soak the prune in water for few minutes and rinse well. Halved and pitted prune.
- Prepare the jar by placing in the large pot of boiling water, boil for 10 minutes. Keep warm. Jars must be sterilized in a water bath before filling.
- Place the prunes, sugar and lemon juice in a large pan and let stand for 1 hour.
- Bring it to boil uncovered over medium heat.
- Stirring constantly and mash prunes at the same time and continue simmer for about 1 hour over low heat.
- Remove excess bubble with spoon and remove from heat once the prunes are slightly thicken.
- Pour the prune jam into the jar.
- Turn the filled jars upside down while they are still hot to help push out any air and let them cool completely.
- Keep the home-made jam in the refrigerator for up to 6 months or more.


Hope everyone have lots of fun making home-made jam!

Malay Style Stir-Fried French Beans

Salut,

I like vegetables and one of the vegetables that I always had in my kitchen are french beans. In Asia, we had long beans which is similar to french beans but long beans are slightly different texture than french beans. I prefer french beans because I found the taste are better and even cruncy than the Asian long beans.

Stir-fry is one of my favourite ways to cook vegetables and I like those french beans half cook. For most of the vegetables, I prefer them half cook but not for the meats or seafood. I would not eat raw seafood even if they are half cook. I just can't handle it. But, for whatever it is, everything is depend on individual preference.

STIR-FRIED FRENCH BEANS WITH DRY SHRIMP

Ingredients;

200g french beans, cut diagonally
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 shallot
2-3 small red or green chilli
1 tablespoon dry shrimp, soak in warm water for few minutes
Salt and sugar to taste

METHOD;

- Pound or chop the shallot, chilli and dry shrimp coarsely.
- Heat little oil in a saucepan and fry garlic until fragrant.
- Add the chopped shallot chilli paste and sauté for a minute.
- Add in french beans, season with salt and a sugar if desire and stir-fry for a couple of minutes or until tender to suit individual preference.

STIR-FRIED FRENCH BEAN WITH EGG

200g french beans, cut as preference
1 egg
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 shallot, sliced
Small chilli, sliced (optional)
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD;

- Heat up some oil in a saucepan and fry garlic, shallot and chilli until fragrant.
- Add french bean and sauté for a minute.
- Beat the egg and mix into the french bean and let the egg cook for a few seconds.
- Stirring, season with salt, pepper and soy sauce.
- Give it a quick stir fry and dish up.

Bon appétit!

Kam Heong Crab

Ni hao..

Chinese food are almost everywhere in the world and some of the Chinese food in Malaysia are slightly different from authentic Chinese food in China. Somehow the Chinese cuisine is more of fusion type with the combination between Malay, Chinese and Indian. This kam heong crab is one of the popular Malaysian Chinese style dish in Chinese restaurant.

When we were in Sabah last summer holiday, we went to one of Chinese seafood restaurant and ordered kam heong crab, the dish that mon mari loves the most during the holiday. I promised him I would make this dish one day and last few days, I made kam heong crab. He was so happy and keep saying the food was exceptional and super delicious! Mission accomplish!

KAM HEONG CRAB

Ingredients;

1-2 crabs, depend on the size
2 tablespoons dry shrimp, soaked in water and drained, coarsely chopped
4 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lemongrass, chopped (optional)
3-4 small chillies, chopped
2 stems curry leaves

Seasoning (mix together)
1 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD;

- If using the big crab like what we had in Britanny, boiled the crab until it cook, drained and cut into 2. If using the small crab, deep fried for few minutes and set aside.
- Heat up about 4 tablespoons oil in a wok and fry curry leaves until crispy, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside.
- Fry shallot, garlic, lemongrass and chillies until fragrant and slightly browned.
- Add in the seasoning and curry leaves and cook for a minutes. Add a little bit of water and season with salt and pepper if necessary.
- Toss in the crabs and stir well until the crabs are well coated.
- Dish out and serve with rice.

Bon appétit!

Date and Walnut Loaf Cake

Hello,

When we were in England few years ago, I remembered I had this date and walnut loaf cake during breakfast in one of the event that we attended. The taste was so good and I keep thinking to make this cake one day. Recently, I made this cake and served during our breakfast with friends at home and everyone said the cake was good.

I suppose this date and walnut loaf cake is a traditional British recipe and I found it from allrecipe UK/Ireland. It was a great recipe though and the taste even better after a couple of days.

DATE AND WALNUT LOAF CAKE

Ingredients;

110g chopped dates
55g butter
225ml boiling water
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
225g self raising flour
55g chopped walnuts
170g brown sugar
1 egg, beaten

METHOD;

- Place dates and butter in a bowl with boiling water and bicarbonate of soda. Gently mix with wooden spoon until butter has melted and dates plump up. Allow to cool.
- In a mixing bowl, combine flour, walnuts and sugar.
- Add flour mixture to cooled dates, mix well and add beaten egg.
- Pour mixture into prepared loaf pan and bake 60-70 minute at 170° or until skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool, slice and spread with butter.

Happy baking!

Celery with Prawns

Hello,

I love vegetables even though I'm not a big fan of celery in general but I'm not hate this vegetable either. Most of the time we just mix celery with other vegetables to make a soup. Few days ago, while we still have celery in the refrigerator, I cook celery with prawns for lunch and it was so good. These two combination really goes well and next time I would continue to cook celery with prawns as we already fell in love with this dish.

Sometimes, good simple food, are always enjoyable. Let's try this simple celery and prawns dish for lunch or dinner.

CELERY WITH PRAWNS

Ingredients;

3-4 sticks celery, thinly sliced
150g prawns
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2cm fresh ginger, chopped
1-2 small chilli, chopped (optional)
1-2 tablespoon light soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD;

- Heat up some oil in a saucepan and fry garlic, ginger and chilli until fragrant.
- Add the celery and cook for a few minutes. Add a little bit of water if necessary.
- Add the prawn and cook for another few minutes.
- Season with soy sauce, salt and pepper.
- Quickly mix everything and turn the heat off.

Bon appétit!