Lemon Pork Loin Chops

You might have tried the popular dish, lemon chicken. So have I. It's my favourite dish too. You can easily find lemon chicken on the menu at any Chinese restaurants. Well, ever tried lemon pork chops? I wasn’t quite sure how the taste it would be like if lemon goes with pork until I experimented cooking the dish the other day. The juicy and tender pork chops, drizzled with sweet and sour lemon sauce on top tasted fantastic and appetizing. As this dish was an experiment, I only cooked two pieces of chops. If you’d like to cook and try how the taste is like, double the size or increase the amount according to your preference.

As the pork chops are to be pan-fried, I find thin pork loin is the best choice for this recipe. Keep the time of frying pork chops as short as you can, to the point that it’s just done so that the meat won’t be too dry.

Hong Kong Style Sausage Rolls

It’s been a long time not to have this sausage roll, Hong Kong style. A reader left a comment on my Chinese food blog a few days ago, letting me know she liked the tangzhong recipe very much and was succeeded in making some soft and fluffy Hong Kong style sausage rolls. Waahoo…the comment really trigged me to make some to satisfy my craving.

Here comes the recipe that I created and based on the method of bread making with tangzhong. Basically, the method is the same as the one posted here, but for the filling, I replaced with sausages. You might use any kinds of sausage you like with different sizes. I used the the Continental Frankfurt that’s similar to hot dogs in size. So each roll was big enough for being a light lunch for me, haha…

Stewed Beancurd Puffs with Daikon & Carrot

Sometimes I feel really good to have a vegan dish especially when I have had enough meat. This Stewed Beancurd Puffs with Daikon and Carrot that I created last night was a bit like Japanese dish. Daikon has a natural sweetness which is often used in Japanese cuisine. However, I do like to incorporate it in my Chinese cooking as well. The dish I cooked last night was very simple. I just used a red carrot and some beancurd puffs to cook with daikon in stock. The daikon was very tender and absorbed all the flavours in it, very delicious!

Japanese Style Bacon and Cheese Bread (Tangzhong Method 湯種法)

There are many different methods of making bread with different styles and tastes. My family likes soft, springy and fluffy bread, like those of Japanese style.

A few years ago, an amazing method of making this kind of soft and fluffy bread was introduced by Yvonne Chen 陳郁芬 who wrote a Chinese book, entitled “65°C湯種麵包” (Bread Doctor). In her book, tangzhong “湯種”, is described as the “secret ingredient” which is originated from Japan, to make soft and bouncy bread. It’s actually a kind of “flour paste”, cooked 1 part of bread flour in 5 parts of water to 65°C. So it’s very natural and handy to make. The Chinese community has been fascinated and crazy about this bread making method ever since.

Why does tangzhong 湯種 (flour paste) work so amazingly that can produce fluffy bread and stay soft for many days? At 65°C, the gluten in the flour and water mixture would absorb the moisture and become leavened. When tangzhonog is added into other ingredients of the bread, the bread dough will be heightened and produces softer bread.

Gnocchi in Creamy Mushroom Sauce (Gnocchi Party)

Twitter is a place where I can find and chat with like-minded people, as well as get myself motivated in both cooking and blogging. Over the twitter chats with @jeroxie and @DivinaPe, an idea of throwing a gnocchi party online was evolved. Thanks for Penny for organizing the gnocchi party, and welcome other foodies to join in (see the link list below). I’m pretty sure that we can share and learn with each other by participating this gnocchi party.

At first, I was a bit hesitated to cook gnocchi, not only because have I ever cooked gnocchi before, although I really enjoy it at some restaurants, but also have I heard that gnocchi recipes aren't for the faint of heart. After a few exchanges with Penny and Divina, I was really glad to take up the challenge and join this gnocchi party with excitement.

After making up my mind to join, suddenly I recalled a cookbook written by Jamie Oliver, entitled “Cook with Jamie”, that was one of my Mother’s Day presents from my kids. With a surprise, there is a section about cooking gnocchi which I haven’t touched at all. How wonderful I felt when I found Jamie’s gnocchi recipe. That looks very delicious and easy to make. 

But still, I was a bit worried how to go about making some nice and beautiful gnocchi because I don’t have a ricer or any proper equipments to help make potato dough. Many thanks to Divina for telling me that a strainer would work for mashing potatoes. For traditional gnocchi, it’s got some nice and nifty patterns on it. How could I make perfect potato dough and patterns with my bare hands? Then I found Heidi Swanson explained every detail on “How to Make Gnocchi like an Italian Grandmother Recipe” with gorgeous pictures on her blog, 101 Cookbooks. Heidi’s post helped me out from anxiety and cleared all my uncertainties. Then off I went to make my first gnocchi with a fork.

Combining with bits and pieces of information at my fingertips, I started to cook my first gnocchi ever. It turned out wonderful. The gnocchi was deliciously light, not too dry nor too soggy, absorbed all the tasty flavours of the creamy mushroom sauce. It’s a big hit in my family.