Pre-CNY Japanese Lunch

One of my few weekday lunches out. I currently work at HK's Central Business District, the home of pricey lunches. Not only pricey, there are also very limited places for lunch around our building in Central. Celebrating pre-CNY day, we headed to Wanchai for more decent selection of lunch treats.

Foodaholiv recommended this new Japanese place. Just like any other Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong, it is super crowded, especially around lunch time, and it doesn't take any reservations. Not really good for us with just 1 hr lunch time. After about 20 minutes waiting with other pre-CNY corporate crowd, we were finally seated.

The tempura was excellent, light, crispy, portion was generous for HK$62

While waiting to be seated, we spotted a hottie passing by, beef Sukiyaki set that is. We couldn't help but ordered it. It was as good as it looked, the soupy base was very beefy, the egg made it creamy, perfect with rice.

All in all, it was a good meal, but if it doesn't open for reservation, I'd hesitate going back there again, risking staining my kinda clean-ish attendance record.

Udang Goreng Kecap Manis - Stir Fried Prawns in Indonesian Sweet Soy Sauce

One fine day, I just missed this Indo-Chinese seafood dish we always eat at home.

I remember during my primary school years, I picked up my best friend to school, was invited inside to have a "quickie" breakfast, and was shocked to be served the udang goreng mentega dish with steamed rice...for BREAKFAST!!!

But it was truly yummy and I licked my plate totally clean.

A stingy bitch that I am, I refrain from buying seafood, especially prawns as they are expensive and won't make me full. (Yes I am also a big eater). But OK I allowed myself to splurge this once.

Ingredients

Prawns (HK$44)























Aromatics: spring onion, shallot, red chilli (chopped), garlic, ginger (crushed)


















saute aromatics in olive oil, add prawns, season with soy sauce, lotsa Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), a bit of oyster sauce, a bit of ketchup....and...

Voila!




















serve with hot steamed rice, eat with your hand for a true Indonesian experience.

Spicy Chinese-Indonesian Zucchini with Beef

Veggie Challenge - Dish 1

The Background

Inspired by a famous TV show, Project Runway, my pal and I agreed on a "self-improvement/enhancement" challenge (I think it was just to mask his creative idea to make my cooking life a living hell @#$%^$#%, but turned out, I kinda enjoy it ^_^).

The main rule is to make a dish and NOT to use any vegetables which had been used previously (this includes: lettuce, tong ho, celery, gai lan, bak choy, por choy, dao miew, long beans, wawa choy, jit gwar/fuzzy melon, silk squash....gosh....etc..), with any aromatics and meat of my choice.

I accepted the challenge...laughing in my mind, cos he has no idea that there are so many kinds of veggie I havent tried.

So, for my first dish for the challenge is...

I always love zucchini for its crispy & soft texture, its natural sweetness, & the way it absorbs aromas easily.

So I have decided to make something with zucchini.

The problems

• I have no idea how zucchini looks like before it is cooked. I normally just see (i.e greedily devour) zucchini nicely cooked on my plate/styrofoam takeaway boxes, I just remember the meat is kinda yellow.


• I don't speak Chinese and I don't know zucchini by its Chinese name (surname li, given names suk kei?), therefore can't ask the veggie seller in the market


• I don't live within the perimeters of Park n Shop superstores/City Super/Sogo's mighty tentacles, and time's ticking (another rule: the dish must be finished and eaten before 8 pm, I finish work by 6 pm)

I was relying on the net to find zucchini's Chinese good name, and found several versions. My good friend who's off work, armed with zucchini's Chinese names I found on the net (one of them is "American grown Summer Squash-or something") and the only trait I of zucchini I wanted (yellow meat), kindly offered to help me sourcing the zucchini from a Chinese market.

This was his Zucchini Terrifying Horror Story in Chinese Wet Market

F (Friend): (too embarrased to say zucchini's Chinese name found on the net, as he found that it just doesn't make any sense, and the veggie vendor might beat the crap out of him) *pointing at the piles of squash* Any of these has yellow meat inside?

VVA (Veggie Vendor's Assistant): Nggg...nggg (scrambling for words to convey "I have no idea") *calling her boss for help

VV (Veggie Vendor): What's up?

F: *pointing at the piles of squash-again* Any of these has yellow meat inside?

VV: How the heck do I know the color inside? (Actually I think she SHOULD know)

F: This one *pointing at any squash*..is the meat yellow?

VV: (She's getting pissed off) What color do you want the meat to be???!!

F: (cringed with fear)...mmm...yellow?

VV: Then YELLOW it IS

F: ...but...but...

KSA (Kind Stranger Auntie): (trying to help my pitiful friend) *pointing at "crispy meat squash" (chui yuk gwar)* Yes, this one has yellow meat inside...

F: (100% convinced that the crispy meat squash he knows so well is NOT the fancy zucchini I wanted)...but I don't want this one...I want..(not knowing exactly what he wanted)...*sigh* forget it *left the stall with embarrassment*....

A good friend and a fighter that he is, he continued his quest, repeating the same horror story in a few more stalls, until he finally got frustrated, and phoned me to report his findings.

Off work, I went to the market to find the (what I imagine to be) yellow cucumber-like thingy, and found none. I found the crispy meat squash and asked my friend wat is it. He said it is crispy meat squash, and not the zucchini I am looking for.

The crispy meat squash looks better than my initial plan B (I imagined a spicy but mushy purple eggplant), so I bought a couple of them anyway.

I wanted to breate some Indonesian air into the dish, so here goes:

Ingredients

• 2 crispy meat squash (chui yuk gwar): HK$8


• sliced beef for stir frying: HK$20


• garlic, shallot (chopped), ginger (crushed)


• about 3 red chilli (remove seeds, chop - adjust to suit your heat tolerance)


• small ripe tomato (just squish it)


• cooking oil (I use sunflower-olive mix)


• salt, pepper, sugar for the "zucchini"


• soy sauce, oyster sauce, corn starch for the beef

Marinate beef in soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, corn starch. Slice "zucchini" about 5mm thick. Stir fry beef until done, set aside. Saute garlic, shallot, ginger, chilli, tomato until fragrant, add "zucchini", season, cover wok until cooked. Pour beef over "zucchini" on a plate.

The dish turned out to be Indonesianesque with a touch of Chinese from the beef. I kept telling my friend how great crispy meat squash is, the perfect substitude for the unattainable zucchini. lol

The next day, I still had some zucchini grudges, so I searched and found that the "crispy meat squash" (chui yuk gwar) I bought was indeed the ZUCCHINI I sought after.

Guess I just had to learn my zucchini lesson the hard way...

*Honey Glazed Grilled Chicken Wings

Hongkongers are such chicken wing fanatics, I am surprised there has been no song written about it (or is there? do let me know)




















They make great snacks, appetizers, main courses, desserts, drinks??... (ok, I got carried away) But seriously, if I had HK$1 for every chicken wing found in my workmates' lunch boxes...I'd be able to invest in the stock market by now

This recipe's from a friend's mom, it is so easy...it probably shouldn't be called a "recipe"...and you'll have to be a true retard to fail this.

You need:
- 10 pics of mid chicken wings
- teeny tiny little piece of ginger (crush it)
- honey (those cheap ones you can squirt out of the bottle, or the one for charcoal bbq with a cute lil brush)
- water for boiling
- olive oil (or whatever oil you normally use)
- salt & pepper

Serves 2 normal people, 1 greedy one, or not enough for the super greedy.
I personally can eat almost unlimited amount of chicken wings, it scares me.

Boil chicken wings, with salt & a little ginger (I like adding garlic, shallot, & corriander, so I'll get a nice tasting stock ->1 slap 2 bitches), until it is almost cooked (stick a chopstick/fork to check)

Drain wings, marinate in lotsa honey and some oil for minimum 30 minutes, preheat oven

Dump wings into oven, turn and glaze with honey from time to time, until they look good enough for you. I personally like to see some burns.

Let me think of a chicken wing dessert recipe now...

HOT Freaking POT

One of my all time favorite meals, especially in winter, it is the Chinese's answer to Cheese Fondue.


The reasons I like hotpot, apart from "it's HOT":

• The boiling pot gets you warm


• Do your foodstuff they way you like 'em (I like my instant noodles almost raw - some of my friends like it mushy..opps..soft & no blaming the chef when you screw up your own food)


• I can secretly never do any cooking, by nipping someone else's food (put any Japanese porn on, for distraction)


• Multitasking training (watching TV while trying to offer insightful and witty comments, while making sure that the beef was pulled out of the soup base at the right time, while eyeing my friend's mini cheese dogs she just threw into the pot, while tickling my male friend's legs with my toes, while trying to throw more things into the pot, while trying to...)


• Organizational training (the preparation: you> wash the veggies, you> boil some water, you> set the table, you> defrost the meat, you> slice tomatoes, me> evaluating how well you are doing while sipping my glass of coke zero - yes life is so fair...for me)

Below are some of my favorite hot pot items:



The Equipments:



This small & cute hotpot set (electric stove & pot - just the perfect size for 2-4) costs below HK$300 (you can get it-or other brands/types from any electric shops such as Fortress, Broadway, etc, and you can use it again & again & again throughout winter)

The Soup Base:

Today's pick is Fish & Cilantro Hot Pot Soup Base from Lee Kum Kee (HK$3.90 per sachet, 1 sachet is enough for 1 x hotpot for two)

Spice up your soup base:

- Cilantro

- Ginger

- Tomatoes

The dip:

- Chopped red chilli

- Chopped cilantro

- Fish Sauce

- Light Soy Sauce

My cuts of meat:

American Fat Cow

That's how my friend calls it - sounds very rude, but it's yummy

The lean & mean sliced pork

Don't say you're on diet, just say you really prefer this over the fat cow

You got balls?

- Mini cheese hotdogs (Maid's brand HK$11.90 per pack)

- Taiwanese pork & mushroom balls

- Fish siu mai

- Fried fish cake

- Lobster balls

- Squid balls

(HK$20 per pound)

The greeneries:

My #1 favorite:

Broad leafed edible chrysanthemum (this will be the name of my first born aka. tong ho, good luck to him/her practising spelling the name)

(psst...at this time of year (near Chinese New Year) the price shot up to HK$12 per Chinese pound (gan), normally just HK$8/gan. Half gan is generally enough for 2, unless you are trying so hard to appear health conscious)

Chinese lettuce

A cheaper option, crunchy and absorbent.

(Normally HK$6/gan, these days HK$8/gan)

Others:
Super Silky Tofu
(HK$2.50 per piece)

Deep fried fish skin
($15 per bag)