Braised Chicken with Bitter Gourd 苦瓜焖鸡 and Boon's Little Kitchen Cook Book

This is a very classic dish which most of us are very familiar with especially the Asian Chinese. Those children who do not favor bitter gourd will start to love this humble gourd once they are being introduced to this dish.  My children are no exceptional too.  When they were still at a tender age,  this is one of the many bitter gourd dishes which I introduced to them. Gradually, they had learned to like bitter gourd and in fact love this braised chicken with bitter gourd and fermented black beans.

I am glad to say that my preparation for this dish has improved since I came across this recipe from Boon's Little Kitchen, page 86. Boon's Little Kitchen is an ideal cookbook for those who are always scratching their head what to serve a "3 dishes 1 soup" meal for their beloved family. Well, with this cook book, you would not run out of ideas for simple yet wonderful and delicious home-cooked '3 dishes 1 soup" meal for your beloved family.  With just RM18, you will get 12 sets of  "3 dishes 1 soup" meals that comes with awesome and mouthwatering food pictures!!!  You may also like to visit his blog at http://boonslittlekitchen.blogspot.com.

Recipe source : Boon's Little Kitchen (with some minor modifications in red)

Ingredients :

- 1 bitter gourd (discard seeds and cut)

- 1/2 chicken (cut into bite sized)

- 1 tbsp fermented black beans/tau see (rinsed and roughly chopped)

- 1/2 tbsp minced garlic

- 200ml water

Marinate :

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 tsp tapioca flour

Seasonings : (to taste)

- 1 tbsp oyster sauce

- 1 tsp of caramel sauce 

- a dash of sugar

Method :

1)  Marinate chicken for 30 minutes.

2)  Heat some oil in a medium sized pot.  Saute garlic and tau see until fragrant.

3)  Add in marinated chicken pieces.

4)  Fry until the meat become whitish. Add in bitter gourd.

5)  Add in seasonings.  Stir fry and mix well.

6)  Add water and cover.  Let it  cook for five minutes or until chicken pieces are cooked over low heat.

7) Finally, add a dash of sugar.  Stir and mix well.

8)  Dish out and serve with steamed rice.

Do add extra water if you like to mix your rice with the sauce

Isn't this a good way of introducing bitter gourd to your children?

Have a wonderful week ahead :)

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake at this post.

I'm also linking this post with :Cook-Your-Books #4 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

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Salmon in Japanese Vermont Curry

Japanese Vermont Curry is a  curry sauce mix which my children enjoy it very much as it has a touch of apple and honey. It comes in mild, medium hot and hot.  Hubby likes to stock up on Vermont Curry as it is very convenient and easy to prepare.  Moreover, it comes in quite handy when we have run out of ideas what to cook or have a craving for curry. 

We usually cooked it with chicken meat. Once I was very busy and asked hubby to pack food for dinner.  He said he would cook for us.  Of course, go ahead, dear...  I was grinning from ear to ear and here is the Salmon in Japanese Vermont Curry cooked by dear hubby!

It's very easy to prepare.  Even my girls can cook this too.

Ingredients :

- 2 cubes of Vermont Curry

- 1 salmon fillet (cubed)

- 2 potatoes (cubed)

- 1 cup of mixed Veggies

- 1 big onion (chopped)

- 3 to 4 cups of water (depending on how thick you want your sauce to be)

- oil

Method :

1)  For this, hubby just saute some chopped big onions in a medium pot until fragrant.

2)  Then, he added some cubed potatoes and mixed veggies and gave it a quick stir fry.

3)  Later, he added some water just enough for the sauce and let it boil.

4)  When the mixed veggies are almost cooked, he broke the curry sauce mix into pieces before adding it into the pot.

5) Cook over low heat and keep stirring until the curry cube is well mixed with the mixture.

6)  Lastly, he added pieces of salmon fillets.  Continue to simmer until the curry is thickened and the salmon in cooked.

7)  Dish up and serve it with steamed rice.

A simple dish with added special ingredient - LOVE

~Thanks dear for such a wonderful meal~

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Steamed Pork Belly with Portobello Mushroom

After I have successfully using corn flour for my previous post on Steamed Pork Belly with Salted Fish (咸鱼蒸猪肉), this time I used it again for steaming pork belly with fresh mushroom.  The end result????  The slices of pork belly and mushroom is so flavorful and the gravy itself is also very yummy.  And....the slices of mushroom is  chewy and tasted like abalone!  

My children enjoyed mixing the gravy with the rice and I regretted that I didn't cook extra rice for this! It's very appetizing indeed!!!

Ingredients :

- 1 strip of pork belly (skinned, sliced and marinated)

- 2 large portobello mushrooms (sliced)
- 2 tbsp young shredded ginger

- 2 tbsp chopped garlic

- 1 red chili (sliced)

- some diced spring onions for garnishing (I had run out of spring onions, so, no garnishing :)

Marinate : (to taste)

- soy sauce

- 1/2 tbsp tapioca flour

Seasonings (Sauce) : to taste

- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp miso
- 1/4 tsp pepper 

- 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine 

- 2 tbsp water

Method :

1)  Marinate pork belly for about 15 minutes.

2)  Meanwhile, heat oil in a wok and saute garlic and ginger until aromatic.  Dish up.

3)  Boil water in a steamer. 

4)  Arrange slices of pork belly and mushroom alternately on a steaming plate.

5)  Mix seasonings and pour all over the marinated pork belly and mushroom.

6)  Add fried garlic, ginger and shredded chili on top.

7)  Steam over rapid boiling water for 15 minutes. 

8)  Remove and garnish (with diced spring onions).

9)  Serve with hot steamed rice.

This dish is as good as Steamed Pork Belly with Salted Fish (咸鱼蒸猪肉) 

~Simple, fuss-free and healthy dish ~

Have a great day ahead !

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake at this post.

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Miso Glazed Salmon with Peach Jam

Initially, I wanted to cook salmon with orange but realized that I didn't have any oranges left! Then I remembered I have bookmarked  a meat recipe using jam from Phong Hong's blog but have yet to try her  Pineapple and Mango Jam Roasted Belly.  Aha....... my hubby just bought 2 bottles of peach jam and why not?????  If Phong Hong can use jam for roasted belly so successfully, why not I try it on salmon?  Well, I am glad that I gave this recipe a try.  

Using miso and peach jam gives the salmon a very flavorful sweet caramelized taste.  Besides,  it is very appetizing too.  The sweet-savory miso peach glaze on the salmon is so delicious that my children practically licked every drop of the sauce off the plate! And, to tell you the truth, this is my first time using miso for salmon and it is SO EASY to prepare too!!!  

Ingredients :

- 2 salmon fillets (marinated with miso mixture for 20 minutes)

- 1/2 tbsp butter

Marinate : (to taste)

- 1 tbsp miso

- 1 tsp ginger juice

Sauce Mixture: (to taste)

- 2 tbsp peach jam (you can use any fruits jam)

- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar or lemon juice (I used acv as I didn't have any lemon on that day)

- a dash of sugar

Seasoning : (to taste)

- soy sauce/liquid aminos

Method :

1)  Heat butter in a pan (I used happy call pan).  Arrange salmon fillets and pan fry until both sides are slightly brown.

2)  Add seasoning on both sides of the fillets.  (I used liquid aminos).

3)  Lower the heat to the minimum.  Spread the combined sauce on both sides of the fillets.  Make sure to turn off the heat if the pan is overheated as the sauce tends to burn quite easily.

4)  Lightly pan fry (with minimum heat or with the heat off) the fillets on both sides.

5)  Dish up and serve.  

Do add extra sauce and you will thank me for that!

Hope you like this simple and appetizing dish :)

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake at this post.

To receive new updates, do LIKE me on FACEBOOK. Thanks!

http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/6015563 Follow this blog with bloglovin Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving me comments.. I really appreciate all your visits and comments! Have a nice day :)