Cooking for me and my kids...

It's has been a long time since I publish anything because I have been busy with work and life. I had a hard time in 2014-2015. Then from stay at home I now own my little business.
Well I am not here to promote my biz. It has nothing to do with my cooking. I am writing here to declare I am back and will be blogging more often here now. So hey I had never stop cooking with herbs and I still loving it. I have got more tips from my grandma who is in her 90s and will start writing it down here. Bear with me for more recipes!
I know you all are out there cooking too. So enjoy cooking ya... for your loves one and family!

Love from SuE

Pear Pear soup (川贝雪梨汤)

Lately the weather here in Malaysia has been polluted heavily by the haze! Over here in Penang, we are hit by haze at least once in a year. This hazy weather causes the throat to turn dry and sometimes the air makes us headache and dry eyes. So my solution is to keep the lungs and throat clear. Keep coughing away, and moisten the throat. At home, I cooked this pear soup everyday and alternate it with chrysanthemum tea. This helps my 2 children stay away from coughing and throat infection from the harmful air. I hope it helps you all too. This soup also helps to remove heat and clear phlegm.

Pear Pear soup - 川贝雪梨汤 (Serves 2)

12g           Tendrilled fritillaria 川贝

1               Pear

2               Candy dates 蜜枣
200ml       Water
Cane sugar to taste

1. Cut pear and peel the skin if you want and remove its core.
2. Place all ingredients into a stewing pot and simmer for 2 hours.
3. Add in the sugar last to taste.

Oxtail Eucommia Bark soup (杜仲牛尾汤)

Eucommia Bark has been known to strengthen the kidneys, liver and bones. I have recently cook this soup for myself to strengthen my back bones. I must say this soup contain some heatiness, if some of you may not want to add in oxtail, just replace with pork ribs. Here I include a link for you to know more about Eucommia Bark benefits. Do refer Eucommia-Bark for more information.

Oxtail Eucommia Bark soup 杜仲牛尾汤 (serves 4)

500g         Oxtail-cut into large chunks and trim off excess fat.

1                Carrot, cut into large pieces

8                Dried red dates, pitted 红枣

15g            Eucommia Bark 杜仲

2tsp           Salt

2litres        Water

1. Blanch your oxtail and rinse it.
2. Place all ingredients in a pot and simmer for 2 hours.
3. The flesh of the oxtail will be able to fall off the bones easily.

Black Chicken Herbal soup (乌鸡汤)

I have recently cook this soup which I can let my husband and my children consume without worrying whether is too much heatiness in the soup itself. I find it very nourishing and all my family members love it. I had found always a black chicken soup very rich in vitamins and a lot of heat, but this dish does not have so much heat in it yet is still herbal and easy to consume. I hope you will like it too.

Black Chicken Herbal soup - 乌鸡汤 (Serves 4)

1 whole Black Chicken

8 pcs      Red dates

50g        Lily Bulb

200g      Dang Shen 黨參

2 tbsp.   Dried Goji Berry 枸杞

5-6pcs   Dried Mushroom

1.5 litres Water

1. First blanch your chicken in hot water and let it rest aside.
2. Boil the water and add in all the herbs, let it boil for about 5 minutes.
3. Now put in the chicken and the mushroom.
4. Let the soup cook for about an hour and a half, then add salt to taste.

  

Pork ribs with Gold and Silver Vegetables (金银菜排骨汤)

This is a soup that I recently consume. Due to the hazy weather and am having dry cough; I find this soup nourishes the lungs and clear my throat which also reduce the heat in the body. This soup is suitable for the old and the young. This soup does contain sweet and bitter almonds, which in TCM is beneficial for clearing the lungs and stop coughing. Do refer to this article about Sweet & Bitter Almonds.

Pork ribs with Gold and Silver Vegetables -金银菜排骨汤(serves 4)

120g        Dried Chinese cabbage

600g        Fresh Chinese Cabbage

600g        Spare ribs (blanched)

10g          Sweet & Bitter Almonds

3.5l          Water

3g            Dried Tangerine Peel

2              Honey Dates

Salt to taste

1. First rinse the dried Chinese cabbage properly then soak it in clear water for about 1 hour.
2. Wash the Chinese cabbage and rinse the tangerine peel and honey dates.
3. Place all ingredients except the Chinese cabbage in a pot and bring to boil over high heat, add salt to taste, then turn in down and simmer for about 2 hours.
4. Place the fresh Chinese cabbage in and simmer for another 1/2 hour.

Old Cucmber Chicken Soup (老黄瓜鸡汤)

First of all, this soup is not categorized as herbal. But I blog it as a "Cooling" soup that nourishes all from the young to the old. Not particularly too cold for the old, which is really good for the whole family. As these days the weather is so hot and dry, this soup is just serves the purpose of warding off the heaty elements.

Old Cucumber Chicken Soup - 老黄瓜鸡汤 (serves 4)

900g /1  whole free range chicken with skin

1            Old cucumber 老黄瓜

1            Carrot (cut into chucks)

1 ear      Sweet corn

2-3 pcs  Dry scallops

15g        Solomon's seal 玉竹-Yuk Chuk
1.5 litres Water

1. Blanch the chicken first to remove the oil.
2. Wash the old cucumber skin properly. Cut the old cucumber into bite size removing the seeds but not the skin.
3. Cut the carrots / sweet corn into bite pieces as well.
4. Now boil the water and add in all the above ingredients.
5. When the soup boils, turn to a lower heat and simmer for an hour at least. I cook for a total of 1.5 hours. The soup now is ready. Enjoy!

Braised Pork Belly with Goji (枸杞焖肉)

It's been a while I have not blog here with some new dishes, well for a mother with a 4 year old and a baby, I am almost busy all the time....
Enough of that, today I want to post a new dish which using Pork Belly. I know these days we seldom eat pork belly because of the fat. But, a pork with no fat is not pork already, you better don't touch it, you will not know what kind of chemicals they let the pig eat to reduce the fat!
Right, I am going to introduce this slow cooking method which is braising. This method requires one to place the ingredients into a pre-mixed sauce and boil until cooked. This allows the ingredients to absorb in all the flavour. I hope you will like this pork belly dish.

Braised Pork Belly with Goji - 枸杞焖肉 (serves 4)

500g      Pork Belly
3 stalks  Spring Onion
5 slices  Ginger

Seasonings A:
2tbsp     light Soy sauce
1tbsp     Shaoxing wine

Seasonings B:
250ml    Glutinous rice wine
250ml    Shaoxing wine
1tbsp      Dried Goji berries 枸杞
1tbsp      Light soy sauce
*50g       Rock sugar or
 3 tbsp    Mirin
1000ml  Stock / Water

1. First make some partial cut on your piece of pork belly at the skin. Marinate the pork with seasonings A. Rub it in evenly, set aside for 3-4 hours. (Overnight is even more flavourful.)
2. Then heat up some oil in a pan or stew pot. Place in the pork belly to seal the pork juice. Turn untill all sides are slightly brown.
3. Now set aside the pork. If you are using the stew pot just put in and stir fry the ginger and spring onion till fragrant then add in seasonings B into the pot and bring to boil then add in the pork belly. If not, change into a braising pot,and do the same.
4. After it boil, turn to a lower heat and simmer for another 1-1.5 hours till the pork belly is soft.
5. When it is ready, take the pork out and cut into bite pieces and laddle the sauce on top.
6. Consume it with rice and some vegetables, yummy!