Making Rolls With Fresh Yeast

(As you might already know) I like to eat toasts in the morning particularly with my own bread. I usually use the recipe and method of Mark Pittman that I saw on YouTube which calls for dried instant yeast.

 

Pot-au-feu – French beef stew – recipe

Pot-au-feu is a typical country-style comfort food.  It is made with not expensive cuts of beef and lots of vegetables (mainly roots). It is commonly prepared in winter. However, I have had the pleasure of eating this classic dish last week as the weather was quite cold in France (yes, only 6⁰C in the morning!)

 

Tofu puffs, Beans and Black Fungus Stir-fry – Vegetarian Dish

One of my favourite stalls at the wet markets in Hong Kong is the one selling soybean sprouts and other soy bean products such as bean curd, vegetarianchicken, gluten etc. Bean curd puffs or dauh-bôk 豆卜in Cantonese are those small yellow cubes.  Cantonese people love bean curd and you can find various forms of bean curds incorporated in their local dishes.

 

Top right angle:deep fried tofu (bean curd)

 

Yam Bean with Pork

Yam bean is also called Jicama (Mexican name) or sâ-got 沙葛 in Cantonese. It can be found all year round at the wet markets around Hong Kong.

Peel the skin of the tubers, slice and cook them like potatoes.  The texture is crisp and the taste lightly sweet.  Martha Dalheen explained in her book that the raw root can be dipped in guacamole or served with lime wedges and chili pepper-salt dip.

I usually cook the rhizomes with pork.

 

Swatow Mustard Cabbage Grouper Stew

Swatow mustard cabbage or daaih-gaai-choi in Cantonese 大芥菜 link (no.1 on my vegetables page) is commonly available at wet markets at this time of the year (although we are approaching the end of the season). I have been cooking it once a week for the past 2 months, either in soup or stew.

 

 

Papaya - muhk-gwâa - 木瓜

This is the papaya season in Hong Kong and I bought a large unripe fruit when I visited e-farm last week to make a soup  (to view my post on the visit- click here>>>.)

A good news: if you want to try to make this soup or another variation you don't have to go to the New-Territories as many local farmers are selling their organic produce at Island East Markets (IEM) on Sunday in Quarry Bay.

Teresa – owner of e-farm (an organic farm) at IEM

Snowy moon-cakes 冰皮月餅

Mid-autumn festival is around the corner. To be precise it will be celebrated (this year) on Sunday 30 September.  Also called the moon festival this is one of the liveliest fetes in the Chinese calendar. People of all ages go to parks with relatives and friends to view the moon, chat and eat moon-cakes (yuht-bíng月餅), fruits (such as persimmon, pomelo, etc) and other snacks (boiled taro wuh-tauh 芋頭, water caltrops 菱角 lìnhg-gok, etc.)

Hairy Gourd, Mungbean Vermicelli and Dried Shrimps - Recipe

Hairy gourd (or fuzzy melon) is a member of the gwâa family and you should know if you have read my latest posts that gwâas are in season.

Hairy gourd is called jit-gwâa (節瓜 joined-squash) or mòuh-gwâa (毛瓜 hairy- squash) in Cantonese. Its flesh tastes very much like zucchini but with a firmer texture. Its skin is very thin (to peel it just needs to be rubbed with the blunt edge of a knife) and it has a light layer of hair, hence its name: hairy gourd!

Hairy melon / mòuh-gwâa / 毛瓜