Stir fried mushrooms and snap peas

When you have a child who loves eating crunchy peas or beans and another who loves mushrooms, what do you do? The answer is simple. Combine the two in a simple stir fry and everyone is happy.

Snap peas also known as sugar snap peas (豌豆) are a cross between snow peas and sweet peas. The whole pod is edible with a very sweet flavour and a crunchy texture. Snap peas may be eaten raw or cooked. There may be tough "strings" at the seams of the pods that need to be removed but stringless varieties are now available. Peas are legumes, plants that bear fruit in pods enclosing the fleshy seeds we call beans. In traditional Chinese medicine, peas are used to promote urination, ease indigestion, treat oedema and alleviate constipation. In recent studies, peas have been found to be extremely good for the bones. 

 Ingredients 

1 packet snap peas

1 packet oyster mushrooms

Kewpie roasted sesame dressing 

Chopped garlic

Remove the strings from the side of the peas

Parboil the peas for 3 minutes and keep aside

Rinse the mushrooms and squeeze dry.

Trim the tips of the mushroom stems.

Heat up a little oil and fry the chopped garlic.

Add the mushrooms.

Mix the mushrooms thoroughly into the oil.

Do not add water because the mushrooms will produce its own liquid.

Add the snap peas and mix well with the mushrooms.

Add 2 tbsp kewpie roasted sesame dressing, salt and pepper.

Dish up and serve.

Chinese style boneless pork chops 中国猪排

I learnt this favourite dish from my late mother and whenever she cook this dish she will marinate extra for me to take home to freeze and eat at my convenience. The children loves it because it is sweet and tender. I use the air fryer to cook the chops so no grease in the kitchen. You can grill the pork in the oven or pan fry if you don’t have an air fryer.

Ingredients

3 pieces pork chops with a little fat on it

½ a cucumber for garnishing 

Marinade

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp Shaoxing wine

Salt and pepper to taste   

½ tsp sesame oil

1 egg

2 tbsp cornstarch

Pound the meat with a meat hammer to tenderise the pork

Combine the chops with the marinade 

Transfer to a covered container and leave for 1 to 2 hours

Air fried version

It is better to use the non-stick grill pan instead of the basket.

Set the cooking time to 15 minutes and let it warm up for 1 minute.

Put in the chops and brush with a little oil and start cooking

Turn the chops over after 8 minutes and brush with a little oil.

Resume cooking until the chops are done.

When the chops are cooked, transfer to a plate

Cover for 10 minutes to allow the meat to reabsorb the juices

Slice the chops into bite size pieces and garnish with some cut cucumber

Pan fried version

Heat enough oil in a large skillet to cover bottom.

Place pork in pan when oil begins to shimmer. Cook pork chops over med-high heat until cooked through.

Cook both sides of the chops over med-high heat until cooked through.

When the chops are cooked, transfer to a plate and cover for 10 minutes to allow the meat to reabsorb the juices

Put any unused chops in freezer bags and freeze for later use

Stir fried stingray with taucu sauce

Whenever we talk about stingray or ikan pari as I know it, we immediately think of ikan bakar which is grilled stingray topped with sambal chilli. Stingrays used to be an inexpensive and largely ignored fish but due to the demand for ikan bakar it is now fairly expensive and sometimes difficult to find. When I saw stingray at the fish monger the other day, I had to buy it as I suddenly remembered when I was young my grandma used to cook it with taucu (bean paste) sauce which is absolutely delicious eaten with white porridge.

Stingrays (魟鱼) are closely related to sharks and skates and are a group of cartilaginous fish. This means that instead of bones, they are supported by cartilage. Stingrays acquired their name for the sharp barbs on their tails which inject poison into the victim. They tend to be kite-shaped with wide flat bodies and swim by moving their bodies in a wave-like motion or flap their sides up and down, giving them the appearance of flying like a bird. This is why they are sometimes called魔鬼鱼 in Chinese which means devil fish because they apparently look like devils when they move in the ocean. Many people will not eat stingrays because of this reason.

Ingredients

2 slices of stingray fish

2 chilli padi

Taucu bean paste

Scrap off the black dirt on the fish

Cut the stingray into small pieces

Heat up a little oil and fry the chopped garlic

Add the bean paste and fry until fragrant then add a little water and mix well

Put in the stingray

Add 1 tsp sugar and mix thoroughly

Add a little more water

Cover and cook on slow fire until the fish is cooked.

Do not overcook or the flesh will become hard.

Remember to stir now and then so the fish is well mixed into the gravy.

Dish up and garnish with cut chilli padi on one side for the adults.

The children can eat from the other side.

Stir fried brinjal (eggplant) with chilli bean paste

Brinjals can be baked, fried, grilled or pickled and in some cultures they are pureed and made into dipping sauces. We love eating it fried with chilli bean sauce.

 Brinjal or aubergine or eggplant (茄子) is a fruit related to the tomato but is commonly considered as a vegetable. They come in different shapes, sizes and colour too but the most common colour is purple. It is a very low-calorie vegetable but contains an impressive array of many vitamins such as vitamins C, K and B as well as minerals and fibre. It has a unique range of health benefits, including an ability to help build strong bones and prevent osteoporosis, reduce symptoms of anaemia, increase cognitive function, improve cardiovascular health, protect the digestive system, help lose weight, manage diabetes, reduce stress, protect infants from birth defects, and even prevent cancer. In TCM all parts of the plant can be used to stop intestinal bleeding and the fruit is used as an antidote in cases of mushroom poisoning. For Traditional Malay Medicine, the ashes of the fruit are used in dry, hot poultices to treat haemorrhoids. An Arab superstition is that the fruit has very high "heating" property which may cause melancholia and madness. For this reason, Malay and Indian women do not consume brinjal for the first 40 days after giving birth.

Ingredients

3 small size brinjals

A small piece of chicken breast

2 tbsp chilli bean sauce

Mince the chicken breast and set aside.

Cut the brinjal into wedges just before cooking to prevent discoloration.

Some people suggest soaking the brinjal in salt water to prevent discoloration but it will cause a lot of oil splatter when being fried.

Heat up enough oil in the wok to completely cover the brinjal which can absorb a lot of oil.

It may be necessary to fry the brinjal in 2 batches.

When the brinjal is slightly brown scoop up and put into a sieve

Gently squeeze out the oil in the brinjal so that the dish will not be too oily.

Leave a little oil in the wok and fry some chopped garlic until fragrant.

Add the minced chicken and stir to mix it into the oil.

Add 2 tbsp chilli bean sauce and 1 tsp sugar when the meat has changed colour.

Put in the brinjal and a little water.

Mix everything thoroughly.

Dish up and serve.

Air fryer method

Cut the brinjal and put enough oil to coat all the pieces of brinjal.

Add ½ tsp salt and mix thoroughly. 

After 5 – 10 mins, put the brinjal into the air fryer.

Set the temperature at 180 C and cook for 20 mins.

Stir halfway through to cook the other sides. 

Remove the brinjal from the air fryer and add 1 – 2 spoonfuls of the spicy prawn sambal.

Mix thoroughly and serve.