Sweet potato and millet porridge 地瓜小米粥

This morning I made a pot of sweet potato and millet porridge using a vacuum/thermal cooker (燜燒鍋), which consists of two parts - a removable pot and a vacuum flask. It was extremely simple. Some sweet potatoes, cut into big chunks, some millet, some rock candies and enough water. Put everything in the removable pot, bring the water to a boil and let it boil for a couple minutes. Then seal the removable pot in the vacuum flask. Two hours later, I got a pot of delicious porridge!

早上我用燜燒鍋做了一鍋地瓜小米粥. 非常簡單. 在燜燒鍋的內鍋裡放一點地瓜塊, 一點小米, 一點冰糖,足夠的水,把水燒開後,滾兩分鐘,再把內鍋放在外鍋裡,把內外鍋的蓋子都蓋好. 兩個鐘頭後,就是一鍋好吃的地瓜小米粥!

香港鑫華茶餐廳 (2)

前幾天我們又到了生意興旺的香港鑫華茶餐廳,發現他們的芝麻糊奶酪超好吃的! 熱的芝麻糊配上冰的奶酪,吃到嘴裡,妙不可言.

芝麻糊奶酪(照相慢了一步,已少了一角)

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地址: 台北市金華街126-1號
電話: (02)2391-2022

蒜苔 Garlic Scapes

過年期間一次聚餐時,有人帶來一盤炒蒜苔, 很好吃. 原以為是蒜苗, 我到樓下的黃昏市場探問的結果,發現是蒜苔 - 蒜的花莖. 賣菜的李小姐教我要把根部老的部分以及花苞以下的部分摘除. 我買了兩次,一次清炒,一次加了點臘味炒,都非常好吃. 不過胃不適合吃蒜的朋友們要注意,雖然蒜苔的蒜味較淡,還是不宜多吃.

At one of our Chinese New Year celebration dinners, someone brought a dish of sautéed garlic scapes, which was very delicious. At first I thought it was young garlic plants that we were eating. When I went to the afternoon vegetable market downstairs, I learned it was the garlic scapes - the flower stems. Ms. Lee, the market owner, taught me how to prepare the scapes - remove both the tough end and the other end from right above the flower bud. I cooked garlic scapes twice. Once I sautéed the garlic scape alone. The other time I sautéed it with Chinese sausages. Garlic scapes tasted delicious both ways. A note of caution: if too much garlic will upset your stomach, it’ll be a good idea to eat the garlic scape in moderation, even though the garlic scape tastes a lot milder than garlic.

蒜苔 Garlic Scapes


臘味炒蒜苔 Sautéed garlic scapes flavored with Chinese sausages

鳳梨苦瓜湯 Pineapple and bitter melon soup

This dish was inspired by a very popular Taiwanese dish "chicken soup with pineapple and bitter melon 鳳梨苦瓜雞湯".　　I think the soup without the chicken tastes as delicious as with the chicken, if not more.

Ingredients:

1. Pineapple, cut into chunks, 1 cup
2. Bitter melon, cut into chunks, 1 cup
3. Miso, 2 tablespoons
   
4. Water, 4 cups
   

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients in a pot;
2. Bring the mixture to a boil;
3. Turn down the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
   

龍翔園(2)

每次請親友在龍翔園進餐,都是賓主盡歡,一流的菜讓賓客吃得滿意萬分,直問為什麼之前不知道有這麼一家好餐館,主人摸著荷包也高興萬分.

蟹黃豆腐

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地址: 台北市四維路十號B1
電話: (02) 2705-2899

A foolproof vegetable: Sponge gourd 不可能出錯的絲瓜

The sponge gourd (絲瓜 ), the fruit of luffa (or loofah), a kind of tropical and subtropical vines, is a very popular vegetable in Taiwan. The sponge gourd, by itself, can be stir-fried, steamed or cooked in a little bit of water; and then made to taste by adding some ginger, salt and sugar. It is very delicious and also extremely easy to make. It is always a popular dish when I entertain guests at home.

Recently I explored cooking the sponge gourd with other ingredients. I tried two ways - a vegetarian version and a non-vegetarian version. Both versions turned out extremely delicious. As a result, I love the sponge gourd even more since it proved to be a foolproof vegetable for any chef!

(素食)杏鮑菇麵筋煮絲瓜 (Vegetarian version) Sponge gourd cooked with oyster mushrooms and fried seitan

I cooked the seitan, the oyster mushrooms and the sponge gourd, with the latter two cut into chunks, in a little bit of water; covered the pot; and let it cook until all ingredients became soft. Finally I added some ginger, sugar and salt to taste and thickened the liquid with some corn starch.

蛤蜊金針煮絲瓜 Sponge gourd cooked with daylily and clams, mimicking a dish from "龍翔園"

I cooked the daylily in a little bit of water (as little as possible) for about 3-5 minutes. Then I added some ginger, the clams and the sponge gourd, cut into chunks; covered the pot; and let it cook until the shells of the clams opened and the sponge gourd became soft, about another 5 minutes. Finally I added some wine, sugar and salt to taste and thickened the liquid with some corn starch.

Basil-flavored Tofu 三杯豆腐

I cooked the tofu in soy sauce, some sesame oil and a little bit of sugar with basil leaves on top until the tofu was well soaked in the sauce and became tasty, about 15 minutes. I think any kind of tofu may be used here. In the dish shown in the picture above, I used both fried tofu and smelly tofu. It was very delicious!