Glossary - Chinese Ingredients - II

Name English/Romanization Chinese characters
lily buds/blooms (dried) gâm-jâm  金針
longan pulp yùhn-yuhk / lùhng-ngáahn-yuhk  圓肉/龍眼肉
lotus root (dried) lìhn-ngáuh gôn 蓮耦乾
lotus seeds lìhn-jí 蓮子
mushroom – dried winter mushrom dûng-gû 冬菇
mussel (dried) daahm-choi 淡菜
octopus (dried) jêung-yùh 章魚
oyster (dried) hòuh-sí 蠔豉
peanuts fâ sang 花生
pickled mustard root ja-choi 榨菜
preserved Chinese mustard / leaf mustard syut-choi / syut-lèih-hùhng / syut-léuih-hùnhg 雪菜/雪梨紅/雪裡紅
scallops (dried) gôn yìuh-chyúh 乾榣柱
sesame seeds (white) (baahk) jî-màh (白)芝麻
shrimps (dried) hâ-máih 蝦米
soybean milk sheets fuh-pèih soybean sticks fuh-jûk 腐竹
tangerine peel (dried) chàhn-pèih 陳皮
Tianjin preserved veg./cabbage dûng-choi 冬菜
vegetarian chicken jâai-gâi/ sò-gâi 齋雞/素鸡
wheat gluten (gluten meat) mihn-gân 麵根
wolfberries (dried) géi-jí 杞子

Additional items Feb 4, 2012
Deep gluten balls Sáang-gán 生根
Preserved duck gizzard Ngáap-jêun 鸭肾
Preserved mustard greens/leaves múi-choi 梅菜

Additional items Feb 7, 2012
dried Chinese white cabbage choi-gôn 菜亁
jujube hùhng-jóu 红枣
preserved Chinese sausage laahp-chéung 腊肠

Gingko baahk-gwó 白果

Glossary - Chinese Ingredients - I

Name English  Romanization Chinese characters
agar agar daaih-choi 大菜
apricot kernels - (sweet & bitter) nàahm-bâk hahng 南北杏
bean curd - pressed - dried dauh-fuh gôn / dauh-gôn 豆腐乾 / 豆乾
bean curd (hard) ngaahng dauh-fuh 硬豆腐
bean curd (soft/water) yúhn dauh-fuh 軟豆腐
bean curd puff (deep fried) dauh-bôk 豆卜
black eyes beans mèih-dáu 眉豆
black fungus –cloud ear wàhn-yíh 雲耳
Chinese ham gâm-wàh fó-téui 金華火腿
Chinese yam wàaih-sâan 淮山
date (brown / honey) maht-jóu 蜜棗
fermented bean paste dauh báan jeung 豆板醬
fermented black beans dauh-sih 豆豉
fermented  red bean curd nàahm-yúh 南乳
fish - stripey (dried) chàaih-yùh 柴魚
fish maw fâ-gâau 花膠
gingko nuts baahk-gwó 白果
green beans luhk-dáu 綠豆
kelp (dried seaweed) hói-daai 海帶
Adzuki (Azuki beans) chek-síu-dauh 赤小豆

About my menus

The quantity of ingredients used in my recipes is usually for 3-4 persons.

Each dinner-menu consists of 3 courses: 1 soup  + 1 main dish + 1 vegetable

For health reason (my husband's cholesterol level is marginally high) I avoid dairy products and eggs and only use olive oil.

I never use artificial broth. If a recipe needs broth (chicken or beef) and I have no time to make my own, I replace it with water.

I try to use as much as possible fresh vegetables instead of tin/can ones. However, sometimes for practical reasons (to gain time) I would buy pulses (kidney beans, butter beans, garbanzo, etc) in can.

Soups:

Amount of water required: 6 rice bowls (see photo below) which makes about 4-5 serving bowls.

I recommend scalding meat in boiled water for a few minutes (to remove grease) before preparing the soup.

Rice bowl (250 ml)

Main dishes:

We have a vegeterain main dish at least twice a week and a vegetarian meal once a week.

Vegetables:

I order organic vegetables from Hong Chi Homestead (a Social Enterprise which is run by Hong Chi Association) and I also buy from wet markets and supermarkets. I prefer to buy seasonal vegetables rather than those which are not in season. Our vegetables are either parboiled and pan-fried or stir-fried (in a wok - Chinese style) with ginger and garlic.

Steamed-Rice:

I alternate brown rice and white rice. I add 1 whole clove of garlic in the rice cooker to give flavour.

Fruit / Desserts: It is said and I believe it that fruit are best eaten between meals (or at least 1 hour before).   We usually don't have cakes/dessert in the evening (unless special occasion).

  

Bread:

I make my own bread. Clik here for recipe.

Beetroot Soup



I recently made a salad with grated raw-beetroot: it was delicious!




Beetroot or redbeet leaves

 
Beetroots (root and leaves) are said to be full of vitamins A and betaine (good for cardiovascular health -wikipedia source).

My Mum usually makes salad with redbeet (with the root and discard the leaves).
Quick recipe: Wash the root and cook it in boiling water* until tender; let it cool down, peel and slice it into big chunks. In a salad bowl prepare dressing**, and toss the root cut into pieces in; mix well.  

* The water used for boiling the beetroot in can be later used as a dye to colour clothes in pink.

* My Mum's vinaigrette - salad dressing: Mix one by one the following ingredients in this order:
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard (whole grain or ground seeds), - 1 pinch salt, - freshly ground black pepper (to taste), - 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, - 3 tbsp olive oil. If you like a strong pungent flavour add 1 clove of crushed garlic in.  Mix well.

Here in Hong Kong I learnt to use both the leaves and the root of this vegetable and make a delicious soup together with pork and ginger. 

Below is the adapted recipe given to me by Hong Chi Homestead (a social enterprise from whom I order organic vegetables each week).

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of ginger, gèung
• ½ catty (300g) of lean pork, sau-jyù-yuhk
• 1 beet root (root and leaves), hùhng-choi-tàuh or tìhm-choi-tàuh (which in Chinese literally mean red-vegetable-head and sweet-vegetable-head respectively)
• 6 bowls of water

Steps:

1. Peel, wash, and cut into large chunks the red beet root.
2. Wash and cut the leaves into 10cm pieces.
3. Wash and scald pork.
4. Bring 6 bowls of water to a boil. Put in pork, root and ginger and bring to the boil again.
5. Cook over high-flame for 15 minutes. Then reduce heat.
6. Cook over low-flame for another 45 minutes.
7. Add the red beet leaves in.
8. Cook for another 15 minutes (until the leaves are tender)
9. Bon appétit!

Dried foods 3 (menu 2)

Fermented bean paste, dauh-báan-jeung

Solid bean curd / Ngaahng dauh-fuh

Phuket - Raw Foods

 

About Raw Foods / Living Cuisine: 

This dish was part of a 6 course-Raw Foods menu. Raw Foods preparation, also known as "Living Cuisine".  The maximum cooking temperature is 42 degrees Centigrade which is said to preserve enzymes and vitamins, as well as a higher contents of nutrients and minerals. 

It was relly great to taste and try to guess what vegetables were used in the preparation of those 6 dishes. 

Some sauces were made of mango, passion fruit, sweet basil, lemon grass, yellow bell pepper sauce, etc.  Unfortunately I took only 2 photos (and they are not great!). 

Really need to go another time!

 

I did not write down the menu (I should have) and although today I cannot remember the exact names of the 6 dishes I will try to list down what I recall:

1. Vegetable & Fruit Bread / Pudding (cooked at 42 degrees C for about 8 hours) 
2. Canelloni (thin slice of cucumber rolled up with feta cheese, black olives and fruit sauces)
3. Mixed Greens Salad (with yellow bell pepper salad dressing) - 1st photo of this post
4. Vegetables with passion fruit sauce - 2nd photo of this post
5. Coconut Flavoured Ravioli
6. Mango Ice-Cream (on a pesto flavoured pastry).  

Phuket

We just experienced an interesting holiday in a luxurious spa on Naka Yai island (Phuket-Thailand). We never thought we would have this kind of wet weather for 4 days! I must admit that I was very scared by the strong wind and heavy rain during the 1st night of our stay. When we woke up the following day the restaurant entrance was flooded and the spa reception was inundated by water as high as 1 meter. Water pumps run all day long and staff worked hard to clean up the mess. We later learnt that on some other islands tourists had to be evacuated and in the province of Krabi residents and tourists had been very badly affected by the flooding and landslides. We were quite fortunate that none of the villas had been flooded and nobody was hurt. What a scary night! The remaining of our stay was better but it was still rainy and the visibility was low. It was only on our 4th and last day that we have been able to see the island on the other side.




View from our villa (through the window pane)



Resort-grown vegetables