Stir Fried Pork Belly with Garlic Stem

Garlic stem is in season. It is 99cents for a bunch.

We cooked this Stir Fried Pork Belly with Garlic Stem as a side dish to go with steamed rice.

Ingredients

  • a bunch of garlic stem, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • half a pound of pork belly, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon mushroom seasonings
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar

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Stir Fried Chicken with Ginger and Green Onion

Ben cooked this homey dish for dinner as we bought a lot of chicken legs which was on sale, something like $1.06 per pound.

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken legs cut into small pieces
  • 3 inches of ginger knob, cut into thin slices
  • 4 cloves of garlic, peeled, smashed lightly
  • a bunch of green onions, cut into 1 inch pieces, white and green parts separated
  • 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine, divided
  • 2 tablespoons light soy sauce, divided
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, divided
  • 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
  • white pepper to taste
  • a few drops of sesame oil
  • a dash of sugar

Marinate the chicken pieces with a tablespoon of oyster sauce, a tablespoon of light soy sauce and a teaspoon of Shaoxing wine for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

P/S: You can adjust the seasonings to your preference

This recipe is from Cooking Ah Pa.

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Dhaliwal Sweets & Restaurant on Fraser St., Vancouver

My office celebrated a colleague’s birthday on Christmas eve. We ordered take out from Dhaliwal Sweets & Restaurant as the birthday girl is from Gujarat.

We had Fish Pakora as starter. The fish is marinated in yogurt, ginger, garlic

The Chicken Biryani was quite spicy.

The Prawn Goa Curry was creamy and mild, cooked with ginger, garlic, onion and coconut milk. The prawns were on the skimpy side.  (more…)

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Cinnamon Star

Ben surprised me one day with this Cinnamon Star bread. I was totally amazed that for someone who has no experience in baking can make something so awesome on his first attempt.

Ingredients

For the bread:

  • 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup potato flour
  • 1/4 cup milk powder
  • 3/4 cup to 1 cup lukewarm water, enough to make a soft, smooth dough
  • 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt

For the filing:

  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder

Source: blog.kingarthurflour.com

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Ants Climbing Tree

I love this dish called Ants Climbing Tree. So, Ben made it for me one day.

Ingredients

  • 4 oz mung bean noodle/glass noodle
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 tablespoon finely minced ginger
  • 1 tablespoon spicy fermented bean sauce
  • 4 oz ground pork
  • 1 can (398ml) chicken broth
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
  • 2 stalks green onion, chopped
  • 2 Thai chili, finely chopped (optional)

Source: The woks of Life

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Candied Ginger

Ben made some candied ginger for snacking in the wintery cold weather.

Ginger is a common kitchen spice which has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. It is commonly used to treat nausea and morning sickness.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds ginger (We started off with 2 pounds of ginger, but after removing skins and small pieces that is not usable, we were left with 1 1/2 pounds)
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 cups white caned sugar
  • extra sugar for coating

Yield: 1 pound candied ginger

Source: Kimberly Killebrew, www.daringgourmet.com

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Horchata

We had a batch of rice that does not yield good steam rice. So, Ben decided to use it to make Horchata.

Horchata is a Mexican drink made out of rice, milk, vanilla and cinnamon.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncooked white long grain rice
  • 5 cups water
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 2/3 cup sugar

This recipe is from Lola.

As for me, I would prefer to use cinnamon stick instead of cinnamon powder as I do not like the cinnamon powder to float in the Horchata. The drink in the glass is made with cinnamon stick while the drink in the bottles behind the glass is made with cinnamon powder.

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Good Choice Restaurant on Fraser St., Vancouver

My company had the Christmas dinner at Good Choice Restaurant. It’s convenient for everyone due to it’s proximity to the workplace.

The restaurant was busy and it was full house after 7PM.

My boss brought a couple bottles of red wine. I’m not a wine drinker, so I just pass.

Snacks for us to munch while waiting for dishes. Fried peanuts and pickled daikon and carrots to vet our appetite. We love these so much that we asked for seconds.

XO sauce is served when the dishes is served.

We started with the daily soup which is pork bone soup with some kind of root vegetable. The root vegetable in Cantonese is called “fern got”. Anyone know the name in English?

We had Ling Cod prepared in two ways. The first is stir fry ling cod balls with mixed vegetables. This was pretty good. (more…)

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