Tomato Egg and Tofu

Tomato egg and tofu are three healthy ingredients put together to make a very healthy dish. It goes so well served over white rice, it is like the ultimate Chinese comfort food.


Serves 3

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
4 cups water
1 block soft tofu, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 inch ginger, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 scallion, minced
2 tablespoon peanut oil
8 medium sized shrimp, devine and shelled
4 medium sized tomatoes (about 4 inches in diameter), core removed, cut into thick wedges
1 cup chicken stock

Sauces:
3 tablespoon Ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon sugar
-----------------------------------------
3 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoon 2 teaspoon water
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 scallion, green part only, minced

Tips:

1. The shrimp in this dish can be substitute with any seafood, beacon or sausage, just make sure they are properly cooked.
2. By simmering the tofu in the chicken stock and sauce for 10 minutes, the flavor can penetrate the tofu better, if you have time, you can even try to simmer it for longer for better flavor.
   

Instruction:

1. Bring a small pot of water over high heat to a boil, add salt and tofu and simmer for 5-10 minutes
2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespon oil over high heat, add the scallion, ginger and garlic and stir fry until fragrant, add shrimp and stir fry for 10 seconds. Transfer everything into a place. Heat 1 tablespoon oil over high heat, when the oil is almost smoking, add the tomato and stir fry until frangrant (about 2-3min), add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Drain the tofu, add it to the wok along with sauces, the shrimp, cover, simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Mix the cornstarch with water, add it to the wok over high heat, bring everything to a boil and mix with the back of the ladle until sauce thickens. Turn off heat, sprinkle in eggs, let it sit for 30 seconds, then mix it in with the tofu. Add the sesame oil and green scallion slices, mix and serve over rice.

Chicken with Tomato Sauce

Chicken with Tomato Sauce produced one of the tenderest chicken I've had. It tastes kind like sweet and sour chicken, except in terms of texture, it is tender soft because of shallow frying for a short time vs. the crispy deep fried version. This recipe came from a Chinese cookbook.

Serves 2

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 tablespoon egg white
4 tablespoon corn starch
2 cups peanut oil or vegetable oil
3 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon ketchup
2 tablespoon and 2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Tips:

1. The key to this recipe is the tender texture of the chicken, so the shallow frying step will determine how tender the chicken will come out. If you get the oil temperature right, you are much closer to getting it perfect, therefore it helps to get a deep-fry thermometer. To use a thermometer, make sure the tip is inside the oil but doesn't touch the wok or pot, because the wok might be at a higher temperature than the oil.
2. The other key to the tender chicken is to cut the chicken pieces as evenly as possible, this ensures all the chicken pieces will be cooked evenly.
   
3. Once you master the shallow frying to produce extra tender chickens, you can apply this technique to other chicken dishes, or play around with the tomato sauce to adjust it to your liking.
   

Instruction:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, add the chicken cubes, egg white and 3 tablespoon cornstarch. Mix them well using a circular one direction motion.
   
2. To shallow fry the chicken, heat oil in a wok or a soup pot over medium heat to about 200°F. Add the chicken, and use a chopstick to gently separate the pieces. The oil temperature now shouldn't be above 175°F, if it does, remove the wok from heat until temperature drop down. Just when all the chicken pieces are turning white, quickly remove them with a slotted spoon and drain off the excess oil. The chicken should be white on the outside and still be pink in the middle.
   
3. Remove all the oil from the wok, and heat it over high heat, add the ketchup, sugar and 1 tablespoon water, stirring and bring to a boil, mix 1 tablespoon water with 1 tablespoon cornstarch and add it to the sauce. When the sauce thickens, add the chicken pieces and stir well, cook for 1-2 minutes then turn off heat. Check if the chicken is done by cutting into the largest chicken piece and make sure the inside is no longer pink. Mix in the sesame oil and serve.
   

Broccolli Salad

This is a summer salad that is very similar to the cauliflower salad, except we are using broccoli instead of cauliflower this time. The main cooking method is still the same: boil vegetable-->sesame and salt-->chicken stock.

Serves 2

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 head broccoli, break into bite-able florets
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon chicken stock

Tips:

1. Cook the broccoli to your liking, for me I prefer cauliflower soft but with a little crutch
2. This cooking method can be apply it to a lot other vegetables like napa cabbage, baby bok choy, etc.

Instruction:

1. Boil enough water in a 6-quarts soup pot to cover the broccoli over high heat, once water boils, add in 1 teaspoon salt and broccoli.
2. Cook until broccoli are done, about 3-5 minutes
3. Drain and refresh broccoli in cold water
4. Drain again and put broccoli in a mixing bowl, mixing well broccoli with 2 teaspoon of salt and sesame oil. Taste and adjust seasoning.
   
5. Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle with chicken stock

Califlower Salad

This is another summer salad using cauliflower. The main cooking method here is: boil-->sesame and salt-->chicken stock. This cooking method can be applied to a lot of vegetables besides cauliflower, for example, broccoli, napa cabbage, baby bok choy, etc.

Serves 2

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, break into bite-able florets
half red bell pepper, optional, cored and thinly sliced
half green bell pepper, optional, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon chicken stock

Tips:

1. Cook the cauliflower to your liking, like for me I prefer cauliflower soft but with a little crutch
2. The bell peppers are optional because they are more for looks
   

Instruction:

1. Boil enough water in a 6-quarts soup pot to cover the cauliflowers over high heat, once water boils, add in 1 teaspoon salt, cauliflowers and bell peppers.
2. Cook until cauliflowers are done, about 5 minutes
3. Drain and refresh cauliflower in cold water
4. Drain again and put cauliflower in a mixing bowl, mixing well the cauliflower with 2 teaspoon of salt and sesame oil. Taste and adjust seasoning.
   
5. Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle over the chicken stock
   

Fish and eggs with vinegar sauce

This is a dish that is trying to mimic the taste of crab meat using eggs and fish. I personally like this dish a lot because it is easy to do and much cheaper than crab.

Serves 2

Prep time: 6 minutes
Cook time: 9 minutes

Ingredients:
1 sole fillet, sliced into 2 inch sections
1teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoon corn starch
2 teaspoon cooking wine or dry sherry
3 eggs, cracked into a bowl
3 tablespoon peanut or other vegetable oil
1 inch ginger, minced
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup chicken stock

Tips:

1. The fish is suppose to represent the meat of the crab
   

Instruction:

1. In a bowl, mix the fish with salt, pepper, corn starch and wine, let it marinate for 5 minutes
2. In a wok or a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat, put in the fish slices and cook until fish is cooked through, about 2-4 minutes, put the fish into a plate
   
3. In a wok or a skillet, heat 2 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat, drop in the egg, and use a pair of chopstick or spatula to break it apart rapidly. When egg is almost cooked through, add in the fish, ginger, vinegar, sugar and mix well. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Lastly add in the chicken stock, bring to a boil and taste to adjust seasoning.
4. Transfer to a plate and serve
   

Tofu with Green Onion

Today's dish is very easy to make, healthy and looks pretty. Because of the simple ingredients in this dish, a good silken/soft tofu is a key to this dish. Oh, did I mention this dish looks pretty?


Serves 2

Prep time: 3 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:
1 silk/soft tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 teaspoon salt
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil


Tips:

1. The amount of salt and oil can be varied based on your taste/preference.
2. Pour the hot vegetable oil over the scallion will actually cook them a little bit, which brings out more of their fragrance.
   
   

Instruction:

1. In a small stock pot, boil 4 cups of water, add a teaspoon salt after water boils. Add in tofu and turn off heat, let it sit for couple minutes.
2. Drain the tofu, put it into a serving tray, sprinkle salt over it, then sprinkle green onion slices over it. Lastly, sprinkle the sesame oil.
   
3. Heat vegetable oil in a pan, when smoking, pour it over the scallion and tofu. Then serve.
   

Grilled Chicken with Cumin

There is something about summer that makes me want to go out to our patio and light up our grill. I don't know what it is, but I really enjoy the grilling experience. Here is a Chinese flavored grilled chicken that is simple to make and low in fat, all it takes from start to finish is 30 minutes. This recipe idea came from my fiancee Renee and it was an instant hit.

Grilled Chicken with Cumin

Serves 2

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
6-10 wooden skewers, soaked in warm water for 8-10 minutes
1.5 pound of boneless chicken thigh or breast, cut into 1-2 inch wide thick slices
couple sprays from nonstick cooking spray
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon cumin powder
2-6 teaspoon chili pepper


Tips:

1. Couple vegetables options that could be grilled and served with chicken is grilled mushrooms, grilled corn, grilled white peach (oh, it was so good), and grilled bell peppers.
   
   

Instruction:

1. Preheat the grill to medium high heat
   
2. Put the chicken pieces on the wooden skewers, spray with nonstick cooking spray
   
3. Put the chicken skewers on the grill, cook for 1 minute, sprinkle on the salt evenly on both side of the chicken by turning it once. Let it cook for 2 minutes, then rotate the chicken and sprinkle with cumin. Before the chicken is done (about 7-9 minutes total), sprinkle with chili powder and cook for 1 more minute.
4. Transfer to a place or tray and serve
   

Corn with Bell Pepper

This is a light recipe that is easy to make. The yellow corn is combined with red and green bell peppers to display a very colorful dish. This recipe comes from Beijing chef Xu's website.

Corn with Bell Pepper

Serves 2

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
15oz can whole kernel corn, drained
1 small green bell pepper, seeds taken out, finely diced to match the corn size
1 small red bell pepper, seeds taken out, finely diced to match the corn size
1 tablespoon of butter
2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chicken stock or water
1 tablespoon corn starch mixed with 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoon water

Tips:

1. Cut the bell pepper into the same size as corn will make the dish look more uniformed

Instruction:

1. In a wok or saute pan, heat butter over high heat until melted
2. Add in the corn, stir fry until corn release its fragrance, about 3 minutes
3. Add salt and stock, the stock should be covering the corn
4. Put on a lid, and cook until stock boils, then turn to low heat and simmer for 1 minute
5. Mix in the bell peppers, cook over high heat for couple minutes
6. Mix in the corn starch mixture to let the sauce thicken, and serve
   

Tomato with Egg

I am very excited to introduce today's new dish, this dish is very special because this is a classic Chinese home cooked dish. In fact, it is probably one of the first dishes when someone wants to learn cooking in China. The reason this dish is so popular is because tomato and egg is a mouth watering combination and it is really easy to make. I still remember when my mom use to make this dish while I was little, and it was delicious over rice! This recipe came from Beijing chef Xu's website.



Serves 2

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
5 medium tomatoes
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Tips:

1. Cut the tomato into pretty big chunks so they don't dissolve during cooking
2. Only beat the eggs couple times until the egg white just mixed into the yolk, but can still see the white and yellow color seperately, this way the eggs coming out will look prettier with two colors.
   

Instruction:

1. Cut the tomato into pretty big chunks and discard the tough core on the bottom
2. Beat the eggs
3. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a pot over high heat, when oil is hot but not smoking, put in the eggs and stir fry until it's not runny and you can smell the egg fragrance, put the eggs into a bowl
   
4. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a pot over high heat, when oil is hot near smoking point, put in the tomatoes and stir fry until you can smell the tomato fragrance about 2-4 minutes.
5. Mix in the eggs, salt and sugar
6. Put on the lid, simmer over low heat for 2-3 minutes, then change to high heat and cook for 1 minute
7. Taste test to see if it needs more sugar or salt, then serve
   

Red Radish Salad

Red radish is not a common vegetable on our dinner table, but after trying this family recipe, I think radish will be visit our dinner table more often, especially during the summer months. The outcome of this dish is sweet and sour in flavor. It is light and healthy, and it also helps that red radish are cheap, it is like 45 cents for a bunch at my local grocery store.


The above photo was borrowed from Chee Wei's website. Doesn't it look nice?

Red Radish Salad

Serves 2

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Ready in: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
1 bunch red radish about 10 radishs, trimmed of leaves and washed
2 tablespoon white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
2 tablespoon sugar

Instruction:

1. Sliced the radish into thin slices
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix the radish slices with the vinegar and sugar well
   
3. Let it stand for 15 minutes, turn the radish 2-3 times in between to let the marinate coat evenly then serve
   

Tomato Salad

We have a small vegetable garden with tomatoes and peppers. My fiancee is in charge of it and she has been doing such a great job. The tomatoes looks and tastes really good. Since our tomato supplies are pretty plentiful, this simple salad comes in handy to enjoy our fruit of labor.

Tomato Salad

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Ready in: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
3 medium sized vine-ripen tomato cored and cut into wedges
1 tablespoon of sugar

Instruction:

1. Mix the tomato with the sugar in a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes then serve.

Cucumber Salad

The weather just keeps getting hotter and hotter, and it's making my appetite decrease. In this hot summer days, I want to eat something cold and refreshing. This marinated cucumber does just this, and it is so simple to make.

Cucumber Salad

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 0 minutes
Ready in: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 medium sized cucumber, peeled
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
salt to taste

Instruction:

1. Split the cucumber lengthwise into two halves, then slice them into "half-moon" slices
2. Put the cucumber slices into a medium sized bowl and mix in 2 teaspoon of salt, let the cucumber marinate for 10 minutes
   
3. Pour the excess juice that came out of the cucumber, mix in the sesame oil and serve