Edamame, bamboo shoots and dry tofu 紅燒筍豆和豆腐乾

Ingredients:
bamboo shoots, 1, shredded
Edamame, 12 oz.
Soy sauce, 1/4 cup
Sugar, 2 tablespoons
Star anise, 1
Water, 2 cups
Sesame oil, some

Directions:
Mix all ingredients except sesame oil in a pot and bring it to boil. Cover and cook at low heat for 30 minutes. Drizzle some sesame oil over, mix and serve.

Banana nut bread 香蕉核桃蛋糕

Banana nut bread

Ingredients: Make 2 loaves (2 9 by 5 loaf pans)

• All purpose flour, 2 and 1/4 cups
• Sugar, 3/4 cup
• Baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon
• Baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt, 1.25 teaspoon
• Olive oil, 5 tablespoons
• Orange zest, 1 and 2/3 tablespoons
• Eggs, 3
• Banana, ripe, 5
• Walnuts, chopped, 1 cup

Directions:

• Mix dry ingredients - AP flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a big bowl.
• Mix wet ingredients - olive oil, eggs, banana, and orange zest in another big bowl.
• Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix well.
• Fold walnuts into the batter.
• Divide and pour batter into 2 loaf pans.
• Bake at 350 degree until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes.
  
• Cool the bread in pan on a rack for 15 minutes before removing the pan.
  

Red bean pancakes豆沙薄煎餅

This red bean pancake is very delicious! I'd say it is as delicious as the popular 豆沙鍋餅from郁坊. It all started because I found one can of red bean paste that I had bought quite a long time ago. I wanted to use up the red bean paste. I searched and found one banana pancakes recipe from the internet and replaced the banana with the red bean paste. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients: Make 12-13 pancakes

• All-purpose flour, 1 cup
  
• Sugar, 1 tablespoon
  
• Baking powder, 2 teaspoons
  
• Salt, 1/4 teaspoon
  
• Egg, beaten, 1
  
• Milk, 1 cup
  
• Oil, 2 tablespoons
  
• Red bean paste, 2 cups (or 1 can)
  

Directions

1. Combine all the dry ingredients - flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients - egg, milk, vegetable oil and red bean paste.
2. Stir dry ingredients into liquid ingredients.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. Pour 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. With a 12-inch frying pan, you may make 3 pancakes at a time. Cook about 2-3 minutes on one side. Turn over. Add more oil, if needed. Cook the other side for 2-3 minutes. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides.
4. Serve hot.

No-knead carrot and walnut bread不用揉麵的胡蘿蔔核桃麵包

I made this bread following the recipe described in the blog post "Effortless crusty and chewy breads!" except that I added one extra step. After the flour and water was mixed, I stirred in 1 cup of carrot pulp and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. The bread turned out very good. Apparently carrot pulp and walnuts don't interfere with the development of gluten.

Eggplant salad 涼拌茄子

Ingredients:

1. Eggplants, 2 pounds
2. Sugar, 2 Tablespoons
3. Vinegar, 1 Table spoon
4. Salt, 1 teaspoon
5. Soy sauce, 2 teaspoons
   

Directions:

1. Remove the stems from eggplants;
2. Cut the eggplants in half or to fit the pot; (see the picture below)
   
3. Put the eggplants and 1 cup of water in the pot and heat at the highest setting until the water boils;
4. Cover, reduce heat to medium high and continue to steam until the eggplant becomes tender about 10-15 minutes;
   
5. Be careful not to let all the water evaporate; add more water, if necessary.
   
6. Put the steamed eggplant in a big bowl;
7. Adjust the taste with sugar, salt , soy sauce, vinegar;
   

Baby bok choy, steamed with microwave

Put the washed bok choy in a big bowl, add a tablespoon of water, cover and heat in a microwave oven at the highest setting until the bok choy turns tender, but still crisp, about 2 minutes. Adjust the heating time according to the amount of the baby bok choy. Toss the bok choy with some olive oil and some salt.

Mixed vegetables羅漢齋

Ingredients:

1. Napa cabbage
2. Some dry Shitake mushrooms, re-hydrated, sliced
3. Some mu-er, a kind of dry fungus, re-hydrated
4. Bamboo shoots, sliced
5. Some dry lily flower (金針), re-hydrated
   
6. Baby corns
7. Tomatoes
8. Fried gluten balls

Directions:

1. Sauté the Shitake mushrooms and the mu-er in oil until aroma comes out;
2. Mix in the bamboo shoots and the lily flowers; and continue sauteing for another minutes;
   
3. Add baby corns, cabbage, tomatoes and the water from soaking the Shitake mushrooms;
4. Cover and boil for 5 minutes;
5. Mix in the fried gluten balls;
   
6. Continue to cook for 10-15 minutes; stir occasionally; add more water if necessary;