Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Skewers

Last weekend I had a wonderful dinner by my friend's place. I made the sticky pork ribs and he made the veggies in two ways. The first one was a stir- fry mushroom and broccoli in hot red wine sauce and the other one was the Japanese asparagus, sprinkled with some sesame seeds. It was absolutely my thing, lots of veggies. He brought me to the idea to create something with asparagus. What about Japanese style bacon wrapped asparagus? Salt is not necessary. You must like it, Chris :) 
























Ingredients (2 servings)

8 thick sliced bacon 
8 green asparagus 
4 cherry tomato (washed)
2 tbs oil
Pepper

Special equipment 
4 wooden skewers 
Grill pan 

Method

1. Soaked the skewers in water for 30 minutes.

 

















2. Wash the asparagus and cut into quarters.

 








3. Cook the asparagus in boiling water for 2 minutes and rinse with cold water.



















4. Wrap 3 pieces of asparagus in each bacon.




































5.Thread the bacon wrapped asparagus and cherry tomato onto the skewers. Sprinkle with some pepper.



















6. Preheat the grill pan and add 2 tbs oil. Cook the skewers on the grill until the bacon is golden brown.










































Note

* You can prepare the skewers on the barbecue.

Chinese Chicken Salad With Sesame Dressing

Three months ago, I had dinner at my friend's place. The day before I made a Japanese noodle salad and showed the picture to my friend. He said,' You can also use the roasted sesame sauce to make shredded chicken with cucumber.' That's right! Let's make it with
konjak vermicelli, a tasty Chinese chicken salad.



















Ingredients (3 servings)

300g chicken breast
190g konjak vermicelli
1 cucumber
4 slices ginger 
1 scallion (cut in 3 cm long)

Sauce 
3 tbs roasted sesame dressing
3 tbs vinegar
1 tbs peanut butter 
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
Salt
Pepper



Method

1. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on the chicken breast (both sides) and put the scallion and ginger slices on top. Steam for 15 minutes.

 
















 

















2. Let the chicken breast cool down and shred the chicken breast.

3. Cut the cucumber in long thin strips.

4. Cook the konjak vermicelli in hot water for two minutes, remove from water and put in a bowl with cold water. Drain the konjak vermicelli after 5 minutes.

 
















 

















5. Fridge the chicken breast, cucumber and konjak vermicelli for 2 hours. 

6. Mix the sauce in a small bowl. Taste it!

7. Pour the sauce over the ingredients and mix together.

Note

* Taste the sauce before pouring over the dish.  

* Add chopped chilli and/ or peanuts to pop up the dish. 

* You may use rice noodle or other kind of noodles instead. 

* You can get the roasted sesame sauce and konjak vermicelli in the Asian food store.   

Pumpkin Soup

The young lady was doing the household and a fairy Godmother appeared in front of her. She turned the pumpkin into a golden carriage, mice into horses and a rat into a coachman.  She also gave her a glamorous outfit to join the party and met her prince. A beautiful scene in the fairy tale Cinderella. Pumpkin is not only a transport, it's more than that. In fact pumpkin is very healthy and tasty. Treat yourself with a pumpkin soup and feel the magic of this orange vegetable. 



















Ingredients (4 servings)

1 pumpkin (around 1.2kg)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 L chicken stock 

20 g flaked almond
125 ml crème fraiche

2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs paprika powder
Salt
Pepper

Special equipment 
Blender

Method

1. Preheat the oven. Spread the flaked almond on a baking tray with baking sheet. Bake it on
175°C for 8 minutes.

 















 


















2. Cut the pumpkin in halve. Remove the seeds and peel it with a sharp knife. 
    Cut the pumpkins in cubes. 

3. Slice the onion and chop the garlic. 


 



















4. Heat 2 tbs olive oil in the pan. Add garlic, onion and paprika powder and cook it for 2 minutes over medium heat. 


 
















5. Add pumpkin cubes and stir- fry for 2 minutes over high heat. 


 
















6. Put the pumpkin and pour the chicken stock in a soup pan. 

 

















7. Cook till the soup is boiling. Then put a lid on the soup pan and turn the heat low. Cook the soup for 15 minutes. 


 
















8. Turn the heat off and blend the soup until smooth.

9. Add a pinch of pepper and salt and taste it. 

10. Pour the soup in a bowl and put a dollop of crème fraiche in the middle of the bowl and some baked almond flakes on top.

11. Serve the soup with bread, cheese stick or soup stick. 

Note

* Be careful with preparing the pumpkin and blending the soup. 

* Replace the chicken stock into vegetable stock if you prefer a vegan soup. 

Chinese Corn Soup

Years ago my family from Hong Kong came to visit us and stayed for dinner.
We made a dinner for 10, our appetizer was corn soup. When Polly saw the soup, she was very excited and said, 'This is one of my favourite soup!' Her version of corn soup is adding ham strips on top. What I'm trying to say is, every Chinese has her/ his version of corn soup. So if you don't have your own recipe yet or you wanna try out something new, you must try this at home.
 


















Ingredients
300g corn (fresh or canned, I use canned)
80g peas
100g carrot
4 crab sticks
4 Chinese mushroom
1 slice ginger
2 egg
1 scallion

1 tbs salt
1.5 tbs chicken powder
3 tbs corn starch + 100 ml water
1.8 L water
Pepper

Method

1. Blend 2/3 corn with a blender and put the 1/3 corn in a bowl.

 















 


















2. Cut the carrots and Chinese mushroom into thin strips.

 






















3. Cut the crab sticks in halve and shred the crab sticks.  

 

















4. Boil 1.8L water in a soup pan over high heat.

5. Add the blended and whole corn, Chinese mushroom and ginger in the boiled water. 
    Cook it for 10 minutes over low heat. 

6. Add peas and carrots in the soup and cook it for another 10 minutes.  

7. Add the shredded crab sticks and season the soup with salt, pepper and chicken powder. Taste it*!

8. Mix the corn starch with water, give it a stir and pour it into the soup (stir the soup at the same time!).

 

















9. Crack the eggs in the bowl and mix it.

 

















10. Turn the heat high till the soup is boiling and then turn the heat off. Pour the eggs into the soup immediately and stir. Remove the ginger from the cooking pan. 

 

















11. Finish the soup with some fine chopped scallion on top.

 
 




































Note
* Season extra salt, pepper and chicken powder if necessary. 

* The technique in step 10 is something I learned from my mama. This is the trick to keep the eggs soft.