Microwaved eggplant with sweet soy sauce

1. Cut eggplant and soak them into salty water
2. Microwave the eggplant for 5 min
3. Pour the sauce on the eggplant and sprinkle chopped cilantro on it.

Sauce (to taste) :

• chopped garlic (lots of it)
• dark soy sauce
• light soy sauce
• sugar
• sesame oil

鎮江排骨 Pork Ribs in Vinegar Sauce

1. Cut pork spareribs into bit-sized pieces
2. Stew the ribs in small flame with 3 tbsp vinegar and 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp dark soy sauce, some ground black pepper, 2-3 ginger pieces, chopped garlic, 1 star anise , 2 bay leaves and water (enough to cover the ribs).  To taste.
3. Stew for 1 to 1.5 hrs until the cartilage part is soft enough to bite.
4. It is done when the sauce reduces down and coat the ribs.

Braised Beancurd Pocket

Sweet & Sour Fish

1. Cut 2 fish filets into bite-sized pieces. Season with a little salt, white pepper powder.
2. Dip fish filets into egg wash, then cornstarch. Pan-fry / deep-fry the fish. Set aside.
3. Clean 2 green bell peppers and cut into triangles.
4. Open a small can of canned pineapple (slice in juice) and cut into bite-sized pieces.
5. Heat wok with oil, ginger and chopped garlic. Add bell pepper and pineapple, stir fry.
6. When the pepper is almost done (take just couple of minutes), add sweet & sour sauce and fish filets. Stir well until the sauce all coated onto fish and pepper.

I just use Lee Kum Kee sweet & sour pork sauce for convenience. You can always make the sauce yourself, I’ve come across a good recipe for sweet & sour sauce (listed as below) :

白醋一斤，鹽兩茶匙，片糖（或赤砂糖）十二両、茄汁六両、喼汁一両、老抽兩茶匙。
煮滾醋，先下鹽後落糖，溶化後加茄汁、喼汁，翻滾後下老抽調色，次序不可調亂。白醋以百分之六的標準酸度的美國蘋果醋最可靠。

Lobster Feast – Sashimi, Broiled Lobster Head, Stir-fry with Efu noodle

We bought a 5.5 lb lobster and had a 4-course lobster feast with just the 2 of us. The leftover is sufficient to feed us for 4 extra meals including lobster sandwiches. For the sandwich, add some mayo and grounded black pepper to the lobster meat. Go with some lettuce and/or cucumber. They are heavenly delicious.

The lobster tail is used for sashimi course. Freezing the tail for easy peeling of the shell. Cut the meat into little pieces and serve it cold with wasabi soy sauce. The meat is oh so crunchy and the wasabi soy sauce helps to bring out the sweetness of the lobster meat.

The claws and legs are then stir fry with E-fu noodle (ginger and green onion flavor). Cook the noodle until almost done and then set aside. Then heat the wok with oil, add in 5-6 large pieces of ginger and 3 green onion chopped in length. When the fragrant comes out, put the lobster claws and legs in. Add some broth into the work and cover it with wok. Occasionally turn the claws and legs until they are almost done. Stir in the E-fu noodle and then cover the wok again. Stir the noodle well after 3 min and test for doneness. Serve hot.

The lobster head is cut into 2 halves. One have chopped garlic, extra virgin olive oil, black pepper and salt, the other one has some cheese (good cheese) on top. Then broil until it’d done.

Broiled Mackerel

Simply broil the slightly marinated mackerel till the fish is done and the skin is crisp. Taste great with steam rice and japanese pickles.

Salmon Roll

Just a simple sushi roll with salmon, imitation crab meat, pickle radish, cucumber and salmon roe. This is my simple lunch to use up the leftover salmon.

Goose Intestine

1. Clean the goose intestine with cornstarch and coarse salt. Then with baking soda to get rid of the smell.
2. Boil a pot of water.
3. Cook the intestine in the water until it’s done. It will shrink a lot. Don’t overcook it, otherwise it will become tough.
4. Serve with dipping sauce, my favorite dipping sauce is soy sauce with chili sauce in it.

The texture is good but the intestine still has some frozen smell which I can’t totally get rid of.   It tastes much better when it is fresh.  Too bad that we only have the frozen ones in US.

Steamed Pork Ribs with Fermented Black Bean

1. Cut pork ribs into little pieces
2. Marinate the ribs with cooking wine, ginger powder, light soy sauce, tiny bit of dark soy sauce, sugar and some grounded black pepper
3. Wash fermented black beans and crush them into paste.
4. Finely chop garlic and mix them with the black bean paste
5. Mix in the black bean paste into the ribs and marinate for at least 30 min
6. Add some sesame oil, cornstarch and water.  Let stand for 10 min.
7. Place soft tofu on the plate and pour the ribs on top of the tofu
8. Steam for 15 min until it’s done. Serve hot with steamed rice.

蛤蜊絲瓜 Luffa with Clams

1. Cut 絲瓜 into pieces. Soak rice vermicelli in cold water until it’s soft.
2. Add some ginger and crushed garlic into hot oil, then add 絲瓜.
3. Pour in some cooking wine and stir for about 3 min
4. Add the clams and some broth (chicken broth or seafood broth). Then cover the wok.
5. When the clams start to open, add rice vermicelli into the wok and stir. Cover the wok again.
6. When the clams are widely open, they are done. Don’t overcook it.

Crab with Rice Cake

1. Clean the crab and cut into pieces
2. Cut the rice cake into pieces and soak in hot water till soft
3. Heat wok with oil, add lots of ginger and green onion.
4. Add crab and some cooking wine. Stir fry the crab pieces couple of times.
5. Add dark soy sauce, tiny bit of light soy sauce and sugar to taste.
6. Add rice cake and keep stir-frying the crab until it’s done.

Grilled Miso-flavored Eggplant with Salmon Roe

1. Cut the eggplant into half.
2. Mix white miso with equal amount of sake and mirin.
3. Brush some miso mixture on open side of eggplant.Go easy, a little goes a long way.
   
4. Grill the eggplant or broil it.
5. When it’s done, put some raw salmon roe on top of it.