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Good evening, dear friends

Here are the recipes for the traditional Chinese Winter Solstice Festival dishes that I had cooked and that I earlier wrote about HERE .

Treasure Soup (serves 6)

2 litres Chicken Stock – made from 1/2 a free range chicken, or 1 kg of chicken carcass/bones simmered for 2 hours

* To be diced into 1-cm or smaller (you can vary the amount or types of vegetables here):-

* 3 Shitake mushrooms (or other types of mushrooms)

* 5 canned button mushrooms

* 2 cups White Snow Fungus (”Shuet Yee”), soaked and washed

* 8 water chestnuts, peeled

* 1 medium carrot, peeled

2 cups of frozen vegetables (corn, carrots, peas), thawed

2 cups of chicken or pork, marinated in a bit soy sauce, salt, pepper, sesame oil and cornstarch

salt & pepper to taste

chopped green onions for garnishing

Method - Bring chicken stock to a boil. Add diced mushrooms, white fungus, carrots and chestnuts and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the diced meat, bring to a boil and then add frozen vegetables. Season to taste. Turn off fire. Garnish with chopped green onions for colour and add a shake of white pepper. Enjoy!

Deepfried Breaded Garlic Pork Cutlets

500 gms of skinless pork belly or pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2 cm thickness and 3 cm lengths

5 to 8 pips garlic, chopped finely or mashed in pestle & mortar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp rice wine or any wine

2 tbsps cornstarch

Method – Marinate meat together with rest of ingredients, and set aside for at least 1/2 an hour. To cook, dip pork slices in flour, then in beaten egg, and lastly, in breadcrumbs and deep fry in medium heat until golden brown. Serve with mayonnaise and bottled chilli sauce. Yummy!

Fuzhou Fishballs Easy Stirfy

1 packet of 8 large Fushou fishballs (or any large fish or sotong balls, or any other meats of your choice like chicken, pork or beef but they must be marinated in salt, soy sauce, pepper, cornstarch before cooking)

4 button mushrooms. sliced

1 packet or box of sugar peas, ends and fibers removed

2 tbsps chopped carrots for colour

1 cup chicken stock (from soup stock prepared for Treasure Soup)

2 pips garlic, chopped

Salt & Pepper to taste

Cornstarch-Water mixture to thicken sauce

Method – In a little bit of oil, fry garlic until golden. Add fishballs or meats and fry for about 2 minutes, stirring all the time. Add in the chicken stock and the rest of the ingredients. Stir a few times and cover for about 2 minutes. Season to taste, and thicken sauce accordingly. Garnish with chopped onions or coriander leaves, if you like.

Steamed Salted Chicken

Two whole chicken legs, washed and pat dry. Marinate in 2 tbsps salt overnight (or a few hours if you don’t have the time)

Method - Steam skin side of chicken downwards in a heat proof plate over full-boiling water for 5 minutes, then lower heat to smallest fire and steam for about 30 minutes.

Check for doneness by poking the thickest part of the leg with a sharp knife to see if the juices run clear. Rub with 1 more tbsp of salt and 1 tbsp of sesame oil. Turn off fire and leave to stand covered in steamer until ready for cutting and serving.

Hokkien Mee/Fat Egg Noodles (serves 10)

1 kg thick or fat yellow egg noodles, washed and drained

1 cup sliced pork or chicken, marinated with salt, soy sauce and pepper, cornstarch

1 cup fish cakes or fish balls

1 cup prawns, shelled but leave tails intact, marinated in salt, soy sauce and pepper

3 cups cabbage, cut into 1 cm by 3 cm lengths

3 cups of green vegetables, e.g. sawi, collard greens, kale, bok choy, etc

6 to 8 cups boiling chicken stock (same as used for Treasure Soup) – depends on the sauce consistency that you like

1 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup oyster sauce

1/2 cup or more thick black soy sauce

salt & pepper to taste

Oil and Pork Fat, or plain cooking oil

1/2 cup chopped garlic

cornstarch-water mixture to thicken gravy (you will need quite a lot of this, like 1 cup or so)

* OPTIONAL (but this is the best sinful part of Hokkien Mee) Fried Pork Lard/Fat – use half for garnishing and half for cooking….the noodles taste heavenly with this, otherwise, it is earthly (?) ===> cut up some pork fat/lard into 1 cm cubes, then put into a dry heated pan or wok, and fry over medium small heat until the oil is released and the pork lard bits are crispy. Set aside 1 cup of this. Keep the rest for cooking other stirfry dishes later.

Method

1) In heated oil or pork fat in wok, fry chopped garlic until golden.

2) Add the meats and stirfry for one minute.

3) Add chicken stock. Cover wok, and bring stock to a boil.

4) Add cabbage the rest of the sauces. Simmer for about 3 minutes.

5) Add in noodles and green vegetables. Bring to a boil.

6) Season to taste and thicken with cornstarch-water misture.

7) Garnish with crispy pork fat and oil, or chopped green onions.

Serve hot with a dish of sliced red chille or chili sambal.

Enjoy!

Tong Yuen/Glutinous Rice Balls in Syrup

I had bought this “wet flour” made fresh from ground glutinous rice flour, but if this is not available, you can use 1 packet of those dry glutinous rice flour (mix with enough water to reach a consistency that you can knead and then roll the dough intact into marble sized balls with your palms. (Colour the dough during kneading.) This can be prepared the night before cooking as it takes a long time to prepare. Keep in the fridge overnight.

To Cook Tong Yuen

1) In a pot, bring a pot of 2 litres of water to a boil. Add in enough sugar to your liking to make a syrup. Put in 2 pieces of Pandan leaves for flavour. Simmer this for about 15 minutes. Turn off fire and set aside to cool down.

2) To cook the rice balls, boil another pot of water – about 3 litres. When it comes to a boil, drop in the white coloured rice balls first. When they float to the top of the water, this means that they are cooked. Transfer them into the pot of sugar syrup. Continue with the rest of the colours, one colour at a time.

3) Serve warm or at room temperature in little rice or cereal bowls.

I hope you will try these dishes and enjoy them with your loved ones. Bon Appetit!