Stewed Pork Ribs in Orange Juice (橙汁肉排)

This stewed pork ribs in orange Juice dish is my family's all-time favourite. The pork rib meat nearly fell off the bones after being stewed in the orange juice for two hours, absorbed all the flavours of the sauce. It goes perfectly with a bowl of steamed rice.

That said, the cold weather would help oranges grow juicier and sweeter. If it’s right, no wonder I can find many large and super sweet navel oranges at supermarkets in recent cold days.

I bought a large packet of them as my snacks a few days ago. They were really juicy and meaty. I just used two of them to squeeze out one whole cup of juice to cook this stewed pork ribs dish.

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Lotus and Dried Octopus Soup (Pressure Cooker + Stovetop Recipe)

Have you tried this old-fashioned Chinese soup —— Lotus and Dried Octopus Soup? This soup is very popular and well-liked in Hong Kong. This soup tastes very delicious with a slightly sweetness and a depth of flavours. Traditionally, it’s a soup enjoyed in winter. To myself, it’s a soup can be enjoyed all year round.

Chinese people like long-cooked soup (aka “old fire” soup in Chinese, 老火湯). It normally takes at least 2 to 3 hours or much longer to make an old-fire soup. The soup has a depth of flavours.

Dried octopus (章魚) is quite often used in making Chinese “old fire” soups. Don’t mix it up with dried squid as a snack, which is marinated with seasonings. Dried octopus shouldn’t have any seasonings added, but simply have gone through a sun-dried process traditionally. It’ll bring a new dimension of flavours into the stock.

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Steamed Eggs with Dried Scallops

The smooth, silky steamed eggs infused with the heavenly tasty smell of dried scallops, goes very well with rice.

Dried scallops (or conpoy) are made from the abductor muscle of scallops, a prized delicacy in Hong Kong Cantonese cooking. For those who are interested in knowing more about this priced seafood, please hop over and read this article about dried scallops on Wikipedia.

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Italian Meatball Minestrone Soup

This Italian Meatball Minestrone Soup is one of my all-time favourite autumn or winter dishes. This one-pot soup dish is packed with flavours and easy to whip up on the go. You can’t go wrong with this no-brainer recipe.

I didn’t make my own meat balls from scratch, simply get some Angus beef sausages from the supermarket. It saved me a lot of time and energy.

The beef sausages meat, full of flavours, went really well with all the vegetables I put into the pot.

Believe it or not, this soup can be made within 30 minutes.

These are the organic red kidney beans and organic cannellini beans I used. They are full of nutrients your body needs. The soup texture is also enriched as well. Simply drain the water out, then put the beans in the soup.

How wonderful it’d be when you’re served with a bowl of hot soup. It helps beat away the chilling weather.

Oh well, if the weather is warm up again, this soup is also fantastic. Simply turn myself into a not-in-a-hurry mode, patiently wait for a little while. After it cools a bit, I can immediately dig in and enjoy this flavoursome minestrone soup.

A side note, if you’re going for vegan meals, simply skip the beef and use vegetable stock. You’re good to go then.

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Baked Pork Chops with Rice (Classic Chinese Recipe)

This Baked Pork Chops with Rice dish is very popular and well-liked in Hong Kong. The melted cheese covering tasty pan-fried pork chops on a bed of fried rice makes everyone enjoy digging in.

This Baked Pork Chops with Fried Rice (焗豬扒飯) is a classic Cantonese cuisine that I started to eat when I was a little kid.

Even though my lovely daughter has adapted to Western foods, she loves this dish very much. Whenever we go into any Chinese café (茶餐廳 Cha Chaan Teng ), she would definitely order this dish. She’d never miss it at any time.

If you’ve tried this dish before, I think you would share the same feeling that this classic Chinese cuisine is very tempting.

This time I added some fresh mushrooms that most Hong Kong restaurants seldom use because fresh mushrooms are very expensive in Hong Kong. After stir-frying the mushrooms with other vegetables, I cooked the delicious tomato sauce.

The special part of this dish is the fried rice with the baked loin chops and melted cheese on top. When it comes out from the oven, both the flavor and color of the dish are very attractive.

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Pan-fried Udon with Pork and Cabbage

This pan-fried udon noodle dish can be a light yet satisfying meal.

We like having noodles for lunch. The cabbage I used was Taiwanese cabbage (高麗菜 “Gao Li Cai” or 捲心菜 ”Juan Xin Cai” in Chinese).

It apparently looks different from Napa cabbage, and easily confused with those cabbages you often see in western supermarkets.

I call it as Taiwanese cabbage as it’s often used in Taiwanese cuisine, often stir-fried dishes. It tastes sweet without any bitterness. You can easily get this kind of cabbage at any Asian grocers.

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Mushroom Chicken Pie

The mushroom chicken pie we shared that night was tasty. Although it took longer than I cooked rice, because I made the pastry by scratch, it’s worth every ounce of effort though.

As I tried to ask hubby what if I didn’t want to cook and didn’t like having rice that night, he immediately gave me a “green light” signal, and said, “It’s no problem if we skip a meal.”

Me: I just don’t want to have rice for dinner, love to have a pie instead.

Hubby: whatever you like.

You’d understand how I felt surprised if you knew him as much as I do. He has grown up to be a man who almost can’t live without rice for dinner.

If you don’t have enough time to make your own pastry, you can use the cheat’s version in the note section if you’re craving for this delicious homemade pie.

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