Chocolate Chiffon Cake

This is a very light version of chiffon cake with minimum sugar, using olive oil instead. The texture is light, soft and fluff. I have made this cake for many times. Recently I made one for my church friends.

To highlight this humble, soft cake, I decorated it with whipped cream, dressed a bit of chocolate sauce on top. The fresh strawberries really popped up and contributed a fresh taste and feel. 

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Snow Fungus, Papaya and Lotus Seeds Dessert Soup

I grew up with this traditional Chinese dessert, Snow Fungus and Papaya dessert Soup. You still can find it in some Hong Kong dessert restaurants or Chinese Dim Sum restaurants. This dessert dish is very delicious and will bring an amazingly soothing and nourishing effect on our body. 

Snow fungus has many different names, like white fungus, silver ear, snow ear or silver ear fungus, 雪耳/銀耳 in Chinese. Snow fungus is just like other kinds of edible fungus, tasteless on its own. Its smooth and gelatinous texture after boiled is quite nice though. Snow fungus contains dietary fibre and helps lower cholesterol and keep our skin look younger.

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Baked Salmon with Herb Crust

This baked salmon with herb crust is served with a very delicious sauce, perfect paired with salad or noodles.

Do you like eating salmon? Not only salmon tastes good, but also provides us with many unique health beneficial substances, like Omega-3 fatty acid that help improve our memory.

Speaking about cooking, it’s very easy and quick to cook salmon. You can eat it raw, pan fry it, boil it, steam it or bake it.

This time I baked salmon coated with a layer of herb crust. Thus the fish fillet won’t be dried up easily in an oven. The salmon fillet will keep its moist. A very tasty sauce is served with the salmon, taking the whole dish up a notch.

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Long Yan and Goji Tea

It is a traditional Chinese natural cure for insomnia handed down from generations. I love the sweet fragrant smell of long yan. It’s very appetizing and comforting.

Long yan (also known as longan, “gui yuan” 桂圓 in Chinese) is a popular tropical fruit. The flesh is very sweet and juicy. I and my family like to eat it fresh, even though it’s quite pricey here in Australia.

The dried ones, dark brown in colour, are less expensive, good for making Chinese soups, desserts and teas.

In Chinese medicine, long yan is a natural cure for insomnia. Goji (aka wolfberry, or Goji berries, 枸杞 in Chinese) is also found good for eye health, giving your a feeling of calmness and quality of sleep.

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Satay Beef with Vermicelli Noodles

Satay beef with vermicelli noodles are traditionally cooked in an earthen pot (clay pot), a very popular dish on many Chinese restaurants' menu.

This dish can be made in an earthen pot (clay pot), or any kind of deep pots, very simple and easy to make. The vermicelli noodles took up and absorbed all the flavours of the delicious satay sauce, beef and vegetables.

I’m particularly fond of consuming the noodles and don’t need any rice at all, yet it’s a dish perfectly going with a bowl of steamed rice. Making this dish is very flexible. You can add as many vegetables as you like.

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Shaoxing Goji Chicken (花雕杞子雞煲)

Traditionally, this Shaoxing Goji Chicken is a claypot dish made in winter days. I reckon this dish can be enjoyed on any days throughout the year. It’s so tasty with splendid aroma, perfectly goes with steamed rice.

I like the colour contrast of this chicken dish. It’s so appealing to the family’s eyes. Once it’s served on our dining table, everyone was eager to dig in and taste.

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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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