Chinese Kai Lan

Kai-lan - is also known as Chinese Broccoli, is eaten widely in Chinese culture. It is typically stir-fried or steamed with ginger and/or garlic, and served with oyster sauce.




Ingredients:
1 bunch of Gailan
2-3 blocks of rock sugar
2 cloves garlic, sliced
dash of salt
1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil for frying


1. Blanch the gailan for approximately 5 minutes or until gailan turns into a brighter green colour, try not to overcook it
4. Drain the gailan and set aside
5. In a wok, stir fry the garlic in some vegetable oil
6. Mix in the gailan, sprinkle some salt and cook for 1 minute

Steamed Tilapia

Steamed Chinese Style Tilapia

Another simple easy fish recipe. All of the flavour comes from the ginger, soy sauce and scallions. If you you feel you need more flavour, you can try adding a few drops of sesame oil and garlic.





Ingredients:
1 whole Tilapia
4 tablespoons of Soy Sauce
1 teaspon cornstarch
¼ cup shredded ginger (matchsticks)
dash of salt
scallions, chopped

1. Wash fish and pat dry.
2. Sprinkle the salt over the fish
2. Rub the cornstarch and soy sauce together over the fish
4. Place the fish in the pie pan and place the pie pan on a steamer filled with several inches of water.
5. Place the sliced ginger over the fish.












5. Steam for 15-20 minutes
6. Five minutes before the tilapia is cooked, throw in the a small amount of scallions over the fish. (The point of this is to get the flavor of the scallions but not to overcook the scallions)
7. When fish is done, throw in the remaining scallions and add soy sauce or vegetable oil to your liking!

Grandma's Sticky Rice

I finally learned how to make my favorite winter comfort food - Grandma's sticky rice! Little did I know how EASY this recipe is! My grandma makes the best sticky rice. Her recipe is relatively low in fat but packed with flavor. Most of the ingredients can be found at a Chinese Medicinal/Herbal Shop.



Ingredients:
2 shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1 Chinese sausages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_sausage (lap cheung)
1 Chinese Bacon (and lap yuk), alternative you can use 2 Chinese sausages should you not want to use Chinese Bacon
4 cups of glutinous rice
4 dried scallops
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
1/2 table spoon of dark soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon of light soy sauce
¼ cup scallions
¼ cup cilantro for garnish
Other Optional Ingredients that my grandma often uses:
- Chinese Preserved Duck (Lap Op)
- Dried Shrimp
Chinese Sausage - There are several kinds My grandma prefers to select the leanest types of Chinese sausage. You can find that in almost any Chinese Supermarket.









Dried Scallops - Great for flavor and you can find them in most Chinese medicinal/herbal stores.
You'll notice that the recipe does not call for any oil or salt. Basically any oils will be absorbed from the Chinese sausage. As well, the preserved ingredients already have a lot of flavor, so not salt is required.

1. soak the glutinous rice for 4-5 hours
2. Place mushrooms in small bowl; cover with 2 cups (500 mL) warm water and let soak until plump, 30 minutes. Dice mushrooms into 1/8-inch (3 mm). Place in bowl and set aside.

3. Soak the scallops in the boiling water for an hour. Tear into fine shreds.

4. Drain rice, add rice in cooker with 1 cup of chicken stock, 1 cup of water and add scallops and mushrooms to cooker
5. Cook for 1 hour
6. Dice the sausages









7. Cook for 1 hour or until rice cooker is ready
8. When the water in the cooker boils, throw in diced sausages to rice mixture
9. When the rice is ready, pour both light and dark soy sauce and mix evenly into the rice
10. Garnish with cilantro and scallions