Homemade Soy Milk (With or Without a Soy Milk Maker)

I’ve got many goodies brought from the last trip back to Hong Kong, including intangible, great memories and tangible things, like this new kitchen toy – Joyoung soymilk maker. It’s recommended by my friend. After a long search from online and different local electric stores in Hong Kong, I got my hands on one finally in Shatin. Each only costs HKD580. I found the soymilk maker quite helpful. Not only does it help make soy milk easily, but also quickly make a variety of creamy soup or porridge in twenty minutes. The end result of the first attempt to make soymilk with this machine was very satisfied. I’ll definitely enjoy more homemade soy milk from now on. Happy !

Don't get disappointed if you don't have one. You still can enjoy fresh homemade soy milk without this soymilk maker. The result will be equally good, with more time and effort required though. The method is posted after the recipe.

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Homemade Dumpling Wrappers (Videos+Cookbook Signing)

photo credited to Anthony

It’s been a while not posting new recipes on this blog, simply because of something wonderful and exciting happened in my life and travelling back to my hometown, Hong Kong for a few weeks. Amongst all those memorable events in the trip, my cookbook sharing session is a big step forward in my blogging life that I really want to share with you all on this blog.

I felt both happy and humbled when seeing my fans face-to-face, running a cooking demonstration at Towngas Cooking Center in Hong Kong. The whole cooking demonstration was live streaming simultaneously so that all my overseas fans could join in. Many thanks to my publisher for arranging this event.

My cookbook "Easy Recipes" sharing session@Towngas Cooking Center Hong Kong

Signing session - Thanks for all your support！

Apart from the streaming job, my designer, Anthony took lots of photos for us. Also, I’ve got a personal photographer, my brother-in-law, Terence to go with me. Here I chose and used some of Terence’s photos of my making dumplings to create a slide show. Hope you’ll like it.

I still remember a fan asked for the recipe of homemade dumpling wrappers before I went back to Hong Kong, that I shared in my cooking session. A promise is a promise. Here you go. A friend of mine told me that if you’ve tried the homemade wrappers, you won’t go back for the store-bought. I couldn’t agree more. Well, if you’re crazily busy and want to slack off on hectic days, yet still craving for homemade dumplings, the store-bought ones are the savers. Aren’t they? Let’s go back to make some delicious dumpling wrappers.

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Japanese Salmon Soba Noodles

What I like about this dish is its simplicity. This noodle dish is very versatile, suitable for lunch or dinner, throughout the year. My husband is very fond of the crispy salmon skin, and I love the rich flavours of the sauce cutting through the fish meat. The soba noodles can be served hot or cold.

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Tangzhong Wholemeal Loaf

Here’s a Tangzhong bread recipe requested by many of my fans. Finally, you got it. If you tried making Tangzhong bread, this one won’t be too difficult at all. Please bear in mind that as wholemeal flour is added, you hardly knead the dough to the stage that can pass the windowpane test. Yet, by using this formula, you can still bake a bread loaf that can be kept soft for days. I used the baking tin lid to make a perfect square loaf this time. If you don’t have a lid for your tin, it’s fine. Nothing can hinder you from enjoying lovely, soft and healthy wholemeal toast for breakfast.

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Breakfast Pizza

Ever thought that pizzas could be served as breakfast? To make a pizza, it only takes a bit of time and effort to get the pazza base prepared in advance. All other following steps are pretty easy and convenient. So, you can have pizzas in the early morning. Having said that, you can have it for lunch, or dinner, whenever you starve for it. Pizzas can be very healthy as long as quality ingredients are used, cooked fresh from your oven in a few minutes.

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Pizza Dough

What I like about homemade pizzas is that they are equally tasty as those from Italian restaurants. Best of all, you can choose whatever toppings and add as much as you like. The first and utmost thing is to make the pizza base. Then the following steps are straight forward, just sprinkle your favourite toppings, pop it in an oven, wait for 5 to 10 minutes, the whole family can enjoy a delicious pizza fresh from the oven.

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Brownies (Light Version)

What I like “bring a plate” functions here in Australia is that people can enjoy many various tasty dishes by just making one themselves. Best still, families and friends can have laughs and chats over the wonderful foods, easily connected in a relaxed atmosphere. Sometimes, we might run out of ideas of what to make and bring along. Here’s a good one. These brownies are one of the popular finger foods in any bring-a-plate gatherings, easy to make on the go. This is a light version, perfect to be served after a meal even with a full stomach, goes perfectly with whipped cream or ice-cream.

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Creamy Fish Vegetable Soup

What I most like about soups is that they can be a well-balanced meal, a light one of course. It contains fibres and proteins I need. When I spotted the fresh and nice ling fillets on sale at Woolworths, I grabbed one large piece back home without hesitation, then whipped up this soup. The ling fillet is firm and won’t be easily broken apart along the way of cooking. Yet you can choose whatever fish fillet you like if you want to try out this soup. This creamy fish soup is delicious, and can be served with crusty bread.

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Homemade Chicken Stock

Chicken stock is nutritious and delicious on its own. It can also help to form a rich-flavoured base of any savoury dishes. Many of my readers and fans asked me where I get the chicken stock, whether I made it myself. When you are too tired or don’t have time to cook, the store-bought stock might be your first choice. I’m quite fond of using Campbell’s chicken stock (Hong Kong version 史雲生) for making Chinese dishes, especially for noodle soups, or the salt-reduced Campbell’s chicken stock (Australia) to make other dishes.

Homemade chicken stock is another choice. It’s quite simple and doesn’t take too much time than you expect. Best of all, you can have the real unsalted stock with rich flavours. All you need is to make use of some leftover chicken bones (carcass) and vegetables. You can use a whole chicken if you like of course. Put all ingredients in a large pot for several hours of slow cooking. Refrigerate or freeze it until you’re ready to use them.

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Mung Bean Filling (For Mooncakes)

Which fragrance do you love the best, mung bean paste or coconut milk? Or if you love both of them for making traditional Chinese dessert or pastry, this is the recipe you’d definitely love to try. I made this mung bean filling for making some snow skin mooncakes last week.

As you might’ve known that Mid-Autumn Festival (Mooncake Festival) is just around the corner. It falls on 30 Sept this year. This mung bean filling is perfect for being fillings of either traditional mooncakes or trendy snow skin ones. I'll post the snow skin mooncake recipe here very soon. Stay tuned.

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Sweet Potato Pancakes (Asian Style)

I often cook sweet potatoes for my family at least once a week, whether it’s a savoury dish , a dessert or a snack. Sometimes I put some peeled cubes in my curry dish, sometimes we just have it steamed or boiled. Its natural sweetness is really an enjoyment to brighten up our mood. Ever thought of making some Asian style sweet potato pancakes for tea time? The high percentage of sweet content helps produce silky smooth pancakes with a very delicate texture, and a subtle ginger aroma submerged. You’ll find it’s even better if drizzle some honey on top when it’s served hot.

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Cranberry Walnut Muffins

Ever tried this wonderfully moist and tasty cranberry walnut muffins? It's very simple and quick to make.

Dried cranberries can be a healthy snack on its own. They can help improve our digestion and lower cholesterol levels, providing with different vitamins. I like its tartness that will enrich a dessert or snack with more depth of flavours.

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My Cookbook Easy Recipes Released

Finally, my cookbook is officially released ! I’ve been feeling over the moon for the past two days. Right at the moment when I received my editor’s email telling me that all the printing job of my cookbook was finished, I almost yelled out, “Done!” I couldn’t express how I feel relieved and excited in words. My cookbook, titled 《簡易食譜──精選．易學．經典》Easy Recipes－A Selection of Simple Classics, will hit the shelves in Hong Kong bookshops in a few days.

Since I got the book deal and secured the contract with my publisher, I started working days and nights, from drafting recipes, shopping for ingredients and cooking, taking photographs, writing articles together with translating recipes, it’s a long to-do list to get finished at the end of last year. Then, there had been countless, long chains of email exchange with my editor. Two months ago, I got a chance to go back to my hometown, Hong Kong, and conducted a face-to-face meeting with my editor and designer to finalize all the details. Looking back, over a year, the cookbook was indeed a labour of love by many wonderful people, not only me. I feel so blessed and happy to work with them.

Most importantly, without the support of you, my dear readers / fans, I couldn’t get this far. Many fans of my Chinese facebook fan page kept asking when my cookbook will be released. Sorry for the long wait. Thank you all for your patience.

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Pan Fried Scallops with XO Sauce

My family loves the umami flavour in scallops. When the scallops are stir fried with XO sauce, the whole dish is enriched with a kick of hot, producing more in-depth, sophisticated flavours that will surely make every taste bud dance. Best of all, pan-frying scallops is very simple and quick, suitable for matching with a wide variety of vegetables. I like the vegetables are just cooked, still crunchy in texture. So the whole dish is completely balanced both in texture and flavours. Oh, one more side note, I have to make a bigger portion next time when I make this dish again. The whole dish was gone within a few minutes.

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Roast Pork Belly with Apple Puree and Cider Vinegar Vinaigrette

Although I missed the first few episodes of MasterChef Australia, season 4, as I travelled back to my home town, Hong Kong, I’m glad that I could catch up nearly all of them right now. I’ve been itching to try many of the dishes created during the show, as they all were tested by the judges, thus I have confidence in trying at home. Needless to say, I’d pick the simple and delicious ones without doubt. After watching Audra Morrice, one of the contestants, made a roast pork belly dish, an idea came up in my mind instantly. Why not combining my roast pork belly with her inviting vinaigrette? Viola, the dish was so tasty, as well as presentable in any formal occasions.

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Braised Chicken Wings with Black Fungus (Chinese Homey Dish)

This is a very traditional Chinese dish that used some healthy black cloud ears, absorbed all the flavours of chickens and sauce, tastes wonderfully. 

This is a very traditional Chinese dish. Every Chinese family will have their own version of how to make this dish.

It’s so simple and humble that only use the most ordinary ingredients in your fridge. My daughter is a big fan of chicken wings and seems that she can’t have enough every time I cook chicken wings.

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Apple Raspberry Crumble

After having taken a course of antibiotics for flu a few weeks ago, I found that not only was the medication really good to help kill the bad bacteria, sadly, but also my appetite. I understand yoghurt provides probiotics, known as good, friendly bacteria that’s beneficial for our digestive system. Too bad, I’m not quite into the blank and tangy taste of this dairy product. So, I headed over to make this apple raspberry crumble to entertain my taste bubs as well as boost my digestive health. This apple raspberry crumble is pure enjoyment with a balanced sweet and sour taste, with chunks of lightly sweetened apples, blended with crisp crumbles. By adding all these extras, it turned the boring yoghurt into an amazingly wonderful treat.

The “crumble” is one of the popular, simple baked desserts. Simply mix the flour, sugar and butter, then pop in the oven and bake until the mixture turns crisp. It perfectly goes with any fresh or frozen fruits.

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How To Peel Garlic

Whatever dish we make, western or Asian, we need garlic cloves quite often. Garlic can enhance dishes with great aroma and nutrition. Way back thousand years ago, garlic was widely used as a medicine. Unfortunately, peeling garlic is not a pleasant job. Many of the traditional Chinese dishes, like braised tofu with roast pork, have to use whole garlic cloves, not minced garlic. Is there any easy way to get the troublesome peeling job done?

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Simple Scones Recipe

Scones are well-known and popular treat for accompanying a cup of tea or coffee. They are quick breads per se. All you have to do is to mix all the ingredients,then pop them in an oven for about 15 minutes. I like to have warm scones with a bit crusty outside, a bit soft inside, served with my favourite jam and cream. The original West England version uses clotted cream, yet I found whipped cream also does very well.

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How To Make Caramel (Tips and Video)

Both this post and video were requested by my fans after I posted the crème caramel recipe for Valentine’s Day. Some fans found it’s quite tricky to make the caramel. But for making the custard, it’s quite straightforward and they could successfully made silky smooth custard. If only the caramel was not crystallized or burnt, they would’ve enjoyed a perfect dessert. I was asked if there are any tips and tricks when making caramel. Hope this short post on tips and video might be a help for you who are after some tips and making caramel video.

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Beef Mince Congee (Beef Rice Porridge)

This is an old-fashioned breakfast I always had when I was a primary-school aged kid. To me, a bowl of nice and hot congee before going to school seemed to be a luxury enjoyment, although it didn’t cost much at all. The traditional way of enjoying the congee is to go with a plate of steamed rice noodle rolls (豬腸粉) or deep-fried dough , also known as “you tiao” (油條).

You can make some plain congee a day or a few days ahead, and store it in fridge. Whenever you need it, just bring it to boil and pop in some marinated beef mince. There you go, a nice and hot breakfast is served in a few minutes. This congee is best served hot. The highlight of it is the soft, tender and just cooked beef mince. That’s why Hong Kong chefs often ladle boiling congee over beef mince. You might like to cook any meat you like, for example, pork or chicken.

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Blessing Cookies (Fortune Cookies) for Chinese New Year

These blessing cookies (aka fortune cookies) are fantastic as snacks enjoyed during the Chinese New Year as an alternative to the traditional butter cookies, that are often presented to relatives and friends. You can place your hand-written blessing notes inside. What a meaningful gift to your loved ones.

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Mandarin Pancakes for Peking Duck (Chinese New Year Celebration)

Chinese New Year Day falls on the 23rd of January this year, about two weeks time to go. We all start thinking about what we should cook for the celebration. The traditional dishes, like radish cakes, coconut pudding, steamed fish and Chinese mushrooms seem to be a must on our list. I’m still searching new ideas of cooking something new to my family.

After I served the first piece of pancake for hubby, then quickly went back to fry my second piece for myself, I heard he yielded out a word, “YUMMY”. At the very moment, I knew this dish could be on my Chinese New Year menu. It’s a perfect appetizer.

The mandarin pancakes are best served when they are still warm. They are chewy and springy in texture, going so well with the crispy duck skin. One more remark, the hoisin sauce is a must because it adds more flavour into the wrappers. Traditionally, Chinese people use cucumber and the white parts of leek (京蔥). But you could replace with julienned white parts of large spring onions, or add any greens you like.

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Banana Apple Muffins

Happy New Year, everyone! Before the new year’s eve, I finally uploaded the last batch of recipes and photos to my publisher. Right at the moment I hit the “upload” button, I started feeling like over the moon, so released. I can’t wait to see my first cookbook in print. Thanks so much for all your support and leaving encouraging words on my fan page and blog.

Here comes one of my favourite snacks, cup cakes, as the first blog post in 2012. They are easy to whip up in the last minute. This time I tried the new muffin tray bought from Ikea. It got deeper holes, so the cup cakes took a bit longer baking time. I was very pleased with the tall, and gorgeous looking of these cup cakes as much as I love their taste. The banana and apple are perfect partners to make me an enjoyable and delicious snack as a reward to myself whenever I finish a project.

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