Fish Tofu with Snow Peas (荷蘭豆魚豆腐, Ho4 Laan4 Dau6 Jyu4 Dau6 Fu6)

This recipe was updated 18 Sep 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

When I first saw fish tofu at the Asian grocery store, I wondered what is this ingredient and how is it used? I’ve never used it before and had no idea what it tasted like. So like all impulse buys, I bought the fish tofu first and figured out what to do with it second. It turns out that fish tofu is just what the name implies; fish paste and tofu mixed together, formed into cakes, and then fried. When you eat the fish tofu, it has the texture of tofu and tastes like fish cakes.

The fish tofu is usually frozen, but my local Asian grocery store has them available in the refrigerated seafood section ready to use. The Taiwan Food Products (Canada) site has a Fried Fish Tofu recipe that I used as the basis for this making this dish. You can use any vegetable in this dish, I happen to have snow peas.

Enjoy!

Salmon and Bell Pepper Garlic Bread Sandwich with Wasabi Mayonnaise

   

This is a quick way to make a hot salmon sandwich. The bell pepper adds the necessary crunch to the dish and the wasabi mayonnaise the necessary kick to the taste buds. You can use any thickly sliced bread for the sandwich, I happen to use the garlic bread you get from Costco.

Enjoy!

Green Onion Chicken Oyster Sauce Noodles (葱雞蠔油麵, Cung1 Gai1 Hou4 Jau6 Min6)

 

This recipe was updated on 12 Jun 2015. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

I go to the local Farmer’s Market every Sunday. My favorite stall at the market has been selling huge bundles of green onions and I thought that I would make a noodle dish based on this ingredient. The simpler and one of the first noodle dishes I learned how to cook uses Lee Kum Kee brand premium oyster sauce as the basis for the sauce. So I added a good amount (i.e. a lot!) of chopped green onions to make this dish using Shanghai noodles, which are thicker than the normal chow mein noodles. Shanghai noodles are available in the refrigerator section at your Asian market. Regular chow mein noodles can be substituted if Shanghai noodles are not available. Surprisingly the amount of green onions add a great natural sweetness to the dish.

Enjoy!

Corned Beef

In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, here’s a method to prepare corned beef. Rather than just boiling the corned beef on the stove with water, add a bottle (or more) of beer and braise it all in the oven. In this case I used a corned beef round rather than brisket, but either works.

Since this is the day before St. Patrick’s Day, it also happens to be the birthday of one of my friends from high school. He asked that I cook something today and call it Tyrone! Well, Tyrone, here’s your dish.

Enjoy!

Corned Beef Pastrami

This recipe was updated on 23 Jul 2014. I updated the instructions and method to cook this dish after trying a new way to setup the charcoal grill. I not only used this method to remake this dish, but originally tried the method using the Grilled Dry Rub Pork Baby Back Ribs recipe.

Instead of making the usual boiled corned beef, you can use your barbeque to make smoked corned beef pastrami. You have to soak the corned beef in water overnight to reduce the salt from the brine used to make the corned beef and then use a dry rub to season the corned beef before smoking. I used a corned beef brisket to make the pastrami.

Enjoy!

Cashew Asparagus Prawns (腰果蘆筍蝦仁, Jiu1 Gwo2 Lou4 Seon2 Haa1 Jan4)

 

This recipe was updated on 24 Jun 2014. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

Asparagus is available now and pairing the asparagus with shrimp/prawns and cashew nuts makes a classic Chinese-American restaurant dish. I used a basic sauce to make the dish, but you can also make the dish using salted black beans and garlic, see the Cashew Asparagus Shrimp (腰果蘆筍蝦仁, Jiu¹ Gwo² Lou⁴ Seon² Haa¹ Jan⁴) recipe.

Enjoy!

Red Curry Seafood

Well it’s been a while since I last posted a recipe. It’s not that I haven’t been cooking (in fact I have a large backlog or recipes that I have to post), but I’ve been busy with hosting the family for the Holidays, planning for travel in the USA and Canada, and then taking the trip with my girlfriend from Korea. So posting recipes took a backseat to other more important tasks.

I choose this recipe to start this year’s postings because I prepared this dish for Valentine’s Day. It’s really a very simple recipe and it doesn’t take long to prepare. My usual habit for posting recipes is to prepare a dish and then take pictures, recounting and recording the recipe at a later date. In the meantime, while taking pictures, the dish gets cold. In this case, it didn’t seem very practical or particularly romantic to tell my girlfriend to wait and not eat until I took pictures while the dish gets cold. So we ate and I took the pictures of the leftovers the next day. Luckily we didn’t devour everything or there wouldn’t be anything left to take a picture of.

Enjoy!