So yesterday my daughter came home from work with 2 big bunches of freshly picked wild garlic. Her chef at work said to her, “Chinese like to stir fry them” so he picked me 2 big bunches. The gal said he don’t think us Chinese do more than just stir fry! Grrrrrrr…………………

How wrong is he! I am going to do this post and will update all that I have done with wild garlic slowly. I told the gal to remind him that I, little old me, not a chef, never attended a cooking/baking class in my life but I can cook/make all his western wild garlic usage of pasta, pesto, soup, infused oil, risotto, salads dressings, pickled and the like. I can also make Chinese bao, dumplings, pancakes, noodles, curries, crisps, Chinese flower rolls, spring rolls, egg drop soup……endless! So do not annoy me.

Today I made a few things……………….

Beancurd crisps

A few years ago one of my girls introduced me to these type of ‘crisps’ and I have spent hundreds £ buying them. However the standard seemed to be slowly dropping over the years. All I get nowadays is a lot of saltiness and nothing else. On one of my trip back to UK from Malaysia I carried so many in my hand luggage, I was prepared to be on newspaper – woman eating beancurd crips at airport because could not bring on board! I am now quite organised and competent in making them. Here are pics with TIPs

Next wantons

• I wanted to add in the fresh wild garlic and this is how I did it.

Garlic Butter

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There is a Farmfoods supermarket near my house. They recently had an offer on their raw prawns. I am a fan! Needless to say today I went to town on them. I made 3 different types of pastes

1 – Ratio of 50/50 chicken mince to prawns

2 – Mince half prawns to fine paste and the other half mince to about 70%. The paste helps to stick and the rest for that nice bite.

3 – Mince half the prawns to fine paste, half to about 70% and then add more whole prawns. I put 2 whole prawns into each wraps.

The first tub of paste 50/50 was used to make yong liew – here

From the young liew we have 2 meals for 2 days.

The second tub of paste was used to make prawn toasties – here

And the third tub was use to make beancurd wraps – here . I have actually make 3 different types of wraps for 3 different usage. Note – I fried these wraps just lightly. This is because I want to air fry them before serving. This ensures that they are more crispy and also help to get rid of some oil. It will brown more then. As for the ones for freezing I fried them literally just a minute on each side. Next, I have to wait a few hours. Let them lose their crispness before storing them into zip-lock bags. Then freeze them. TIP – for the freezer ones I used a longer beancurd sheets because I air fry them for noodles. With curry noodles they would be a great ‘soaking’ vessels for curry broth.

All these I got from 2.5 kg of prawns because they are on offer now 3kg for £30! I hope you enjoy trying!

p/s will update my braise dish when it is cooked.

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Awhile ago I wrote a post on Yong Liew. In this dish, you stuff fish paste into different vessels. Then you fry them or cook them in your chosen broth. Please refer to this recipe here

Today I have an update. I tried this combo a few times. I found I really like it. Good fish paste is very hard to get in the UK. More often than not, I am most disappointed. Can’t even get the fish I want most times when I feel like making. So I decided to combine chicken and prawns and I found it very palatable. So this is a new take on Yong Liew I am not posting again my recipe again. Please use the link above as guide. Instead this update will be all pics with guidelines.

This paste is 500g chicken meat, 500g prawns, 1 tsp shallots oil, 2 heap tsp cornflour, salt + pepper to season and half cup water.

As I am frying the stuffed vegetables, I decided to fry some prawn crackers first. This not only flavoured the oil but less wastage because I will bin the oil after.

TIPs 1 – Put in more oil in the beginning when frying the prawns crackers. Then remove as I go on.

TIP 2 – First fry the inside out stuffed toufo-pop. They need more oil to crisp all round evenly.

TIP 3 – Then comes the stuffed aubergines as they also needs more oil to fry. If you have stuffed the paste well, the stuffing will remain intact. Your pot must be just right for the pieces to sit up close and personal. This ensures the stuffing does not break loose or fall out.

TIP 4 – When frying the toufo, it is a MUST to handle gently and this soft toufo breaks easily. Remove some oil before placing the toufo in stuffing side down. Leave them to fry for a good 2 minutes before flipping gently or you will mess them up, aka breaking.

TIP 5 – Remove even more oil before frying mushrooms and chilies. When you tidy your chilies to stuff, you must consider which side to place them. This way, they can be placed stuffing side down in the oil. You literally only need to fry the paste side. Remember you do not need to fry the vegetables. This means your paste stuffing will NOT fall out of your chilies.

TIP 6 – You can stuff bak choy and anything you wish. Just needs to gently press the paste into the nooks and corners. Again you make sure oil is only like 1cm deep. Just fry the paste side for 2 minutes. Then flip and remove. The residue oil will wilt the leaves.

TIP 7 – You can freeze toufo-pop because they freeze well for months. You can also freeze ‘hard/tough’ vegetables like bitter gourds. But soft vegetables like aubergines, bak choy, long beans, do not freeze well. They become horribly soft and mushy when defrosted. Well, you can if you like baby food.

Side Note – After you stuffed your vegetables they are all in room temperature. When hot oil hits them, they cook in minutes. Please do not fry too long. This is especially important for the toufo-pop if you want to freeze them and air fry another day. Today I braised some with ginger and yellow beans because hubby is nursing a bad tooth abscess. Hence all the soft toufo goes to him but he loves the stuffed chilies too.

The post Yong Liew – Yong Tou Fo (Update) appeared first on Just Julie.

I boiled my 7 minutes eggs last night, cool them in the fridge with cold water and while watching MasterChef UK I sat and peeled them very carefully and slowly. Then I gently placed them into my pot to soak overnight for the taste and colour.

The next morning I removed the eggs, then I skimmed most of the congealed oil from the pot and heat up to do the final seasoning adjusting and adding in my cornflour slurry to thicken the sauce and to give them that extra shine. Then I turned off the heat and add the eggs back in to warm up. Daughter had a plateful before she went to work this morning. Early shift today but she is happy for a serving at 6:30 am!

Please note the timing of your eggs also depends on the thickness of the shells. Not all egg shells are laid equal! I noticed my eggs this time possesses harder shells so I bring water to boiling, add in eggs for 7 minutes. Then I quickly poured away the hot water and drenched them with cold water to quickly cool them down. I did a few rinse of cold water. Keep in the fridge or outside your garden like mine if it 5 degree Celsius! Gently crack the eggs all over and peeled with inner kung-fu strength.

The post Braised Pork Rice Bowl – Lu Rou Fan (滷肉饭) – Update appeared first on Just Julie.

Salted fish fried rice is one of them comfort food dish that if you had grew up eating you will love it. For most it is an acquired taste but my husband loves it from first bite. However one cannot judge whether any typical Englishman or westerner would like salt fish by my husband’s taste buds because his own mother said he is weird – kekekekeke

On my last trip back to Kuching my classmate kindly gifted me some salt fishes and I was able to cargo them back to UK. This has been the norm for the last few decades. I vacuumed packed and freeze them. Then I weighed them to check the weight and only put into my suitcase, freezer bag and all, just before going to the airport. It normally reach UK safely still frozen.

When there was a break in the weather last month I defrosted one fish, portioned and fried in my garden. Luckily I have done so for even though it is now spring in the UK it has been a few wet and miserable few weeks. When I do so, I normally placed the fried salt fish, oil and all into a vacuumed sealable container. Store it in your fridge and it last a long time. Like months.

As I could not spare a big portion of salt fish I added chicken and prawns today. You can add whatever you like. Lap cheong (Chinese sausage) is good too. Again this is a guide recipe. Make it your own with a few TIPs

TIP – Use overnight rice. I prefer to boil my rice slightly on the dryer side and keep in my fridge overnight AFTER fluffing.

TIP – Fry your protein separately but only to 80% – 90% cooked

TIP – I do not use much seasoning, only freshly ground pepper and rice wine. However it is entirely up to you. I prefer to taste the surprise salt fish, ginger, chilli, fresh spring onions with different mouthfuls. Enjoy

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Kiam Hue Kay Char Pu’ng – Salted fish chicken fried rice

Ingredients

Fried the salt fish using a lot of oil then recuse the oil to fry ginger, garlic and shallots

• Julienned ginger
• Garlic
• Sliced shallots
• Salted fish

Marinate the cubed chicken breasts

• Chicken breasts
• Corn flour
• Sesame oil

Ingredients

• Spring onions
• Fresh red chillies
• Eggs

Rice

• Best to have overnight rice

Seasoning

• Freshly ground black peppers
• Rice wine

The post Kiam Hue Kay Char Pu’ng – Salted fish chicken fried rice appeared first on Just Julie.

Oh Lordy, it took me hours to peel, dry and fry yesterday. I started peeling while watching Homes Under the Hammer, around 11:00am and didn’t finish till gone 21:00pm but I fried shallots oil as well. Might as well do it all in a day then kitchen gets a thorough clean and my hair gets washed. kekekeke

Well then, I have this idea, I tried it and it worked! Buying salted egg yolks fish skin is so expensive. Crabsticks in itself taste a bit of fish anyway so if I add salted egg yolks powder to it……….. My husband was hanging to the entire tub saying that it is his Valentine present (today is Valentine Day) – snacks when he’s working in the study! I wanted to add another ingredient in but I ran out of the ingredient! It’s another idea but watch this space! Next round I will update!

Please refer to pics below. I do have a very important TIP. You must use a deep pan to fry and not too much oil. Remember all things with yolks bubble up so be WARNED. Just use enough oil to fry 2 rounds, then add oil again. When I make another round I will add pics of the frying. I forgot to take any yesterday.

TIP – Season as per usual. As this brand of crabsticks is quite flavourful I normally only sprinkle with cornflour or rice flour and a pinch of baking powder. Now I just added in the salted egg yolks powder.

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For the paste.. after mixing it is a bit watery. place the the fridge to chill and it will become more sticky and set.

Wrappings TIPs

Frying TIPS

The post Simple Beancurd prawns rolls 鲜虾腐皮卷 appeared first on Just Julie.

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Pipa Tofu ( 琵琶豆腐 )

Ingredients

• 1 bowl Toufo
• 1 bowl Prawns
• 1 bowl Chicken
• Pinch Pepper
• Half bowl Carrots – mini cubes
• Half bowl Coriander stems – cut smalls
• Half tbsp Sugar
• 2 – 3 tbsp Cornflour
• 2 tbsp Soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Chicken Powder
• 1 Egg white only
• Half cup Rice wine

Forming the pipa toufo

• Sesame oil to oil hand
• Oil for frying
• Ceramic soup spoons

Flour for coating.

• Half bowl Rice flour for coating
• Half bowl Tapioca starch for coating

Sauce ingredients

• 1 tbsp Minced garlic (fry with a touch of oil, I used pork lard)
• 2 bowl Chicken stock + dried scallops soaked
• Reserved liquid from the steaming pipa toufo
• Half cup Rice wine
• 1 tbsp Chicken powder
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 2 tbsp Corn-starch slurry

Instructions

Step 1 – Mixture

• I used a mix of prawns and chicken. Minced but not overly fine until runny! Just mix everything, seasoning and all.

Step 2 – Shaped and steam.

• Oil your spoons, form the paste and steamed 10 minutes medium heat. Do NOT throw away the juice that will come out. Collect them into a small bowl and reserve for making sauce.
• After steaming arrange in a container and keep in fridge till you want to cook them.

Step 3 – Frying

• Fry for literally 2 minutes in hot oil. Inside should still be soft and outer layer crunchy. Please do not fry till it's hard and dry!
• Set to drain before serving.

Step 4 – Saucing.

• Fry the garlic and add in 2 bowls of dried scallops chicken stock plus all the reserved liquid from the steaming pipa toufo process. Add the corn-starch slurry. Seasoned.

The post Pipa Toufo (琵琶豆腐) – signatory mine appeared first on Just Julie.

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Salted Egg Yolks Butter Pork Ribs – 牛油黃金排骨 with curry leaves and fresh chillies

Ingredients

Pork Ribs

• 2 kg pork ribs
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp rice wine
• pinch salt and pepper
• 3 cups oil for frying
• 2 tbsp cornflour

Ingredients for frying

• 2 tbsp butter
• 5 to 8 spring curry leaves
• 2 fresh red chillies finely choppes
• 3 cloves garlic mince
• 2 to 3 shallots sliced
• 3 to 5 salted egg yolks steamed for 15 minutes till cooked
• 1 cup evaporated milk.

Instructions

• Marinate the pork ribs with the eggs, rice wine, salt and pepper. Set aside for half an hour at least.
• Heat the oil for frying and add in the cornflour to your ribs. Give it all a good stir before dropping them into the hot oil and fry them till crispy. Depending on the size of your wok/pan you might need to fry the ribs in a few batches. Fry till golden brown.
• After frying your ribs, set them aside to drain on kitchen towels. Meanwhile, pour the oil away and wipe your wok clean.
• Drop the butter onto your wok and your frying ingredients, garlic, shallots, curry leaves and the steamed salted egg yolks. Mash the egg yolks into the butter. Give it a good few minutes of stirring on medium heat and they will become all frothy.
• When it’s frothy add in the evaporated milk and let it bubble – stirring constantly.
• lastly add in your red chillies, then your prepared ribs. After this, give it a good stir and serve.

Notes

Please feel free to use as many or less salted eggs yolks. I used 9 that I had left. This is because my husband loves salted egg yolks but he is not very good with ribs. Hence I want to make more yummy bits for him. You can also adjust the spiciness with the additional of more or less chillies. Please don’t save on the curry leaves. They make the dish. The fragrant smell of curry leaves just stir up my taste buds. If you are watching your carbohydrates this is a good snack food. I had them with a whole cucumber for my lunch and felt very satisfied. I admit I have some in the late afternoon too. Watching television and sucking the ribs clean. Burrrpppp

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