It has been a busy week.. plus it was my birthday 3 days ago! Ahh.. getting another year older.. ops!!! Anyway, we should have gone out for dinner but the restaurant was fully booked even if we booked it a month before my birthday! However, we managed to reserve a table for 2 next Friday! I am so looking forward to dine in this restaurant, which I will tell you all about it next week!

It was also exactly 2 years ago on the 28th October that my food blog was named My Cooking Hut. So, indirectly, it was kind of like a 2 year anniversary for My Cooking Hut 3 days ago, how cool is that?

Just a day before my birthday, I baked a lot of Triple Chocolate Brownies and Madeleines to share them with my work colleagues. They absolutely loved the brownies and madeleines!! I came back with empty boxes which was a good sign and received good feedback from them, which made me feel really flattered!

Today, I am going to share a very easy dish. It’s stuffed tofu with pork. Tofu is of Chinese origin, but it’s widely used in other Asian countries too. It has very little flavour on its own, thus, to make an interesting tofu dish, the accompanied ingredients are really important. There are many types of tofu; silken tofu, firm tofu, and dried tofu, which are commonly used in Asian kitchen.

This time, I pair tofu with minced pork. Instead of using minced pork as an ingredient in the sauce, I have opted to stuff minced pork in the tofu. Then, dress stuffed tofu with some vegetables in a light sauce. It is extremely easy to get this done for a healthy dinner.

Recipe: Stuffed Tofu with Pork

Ingredients:

Firm tofu (each cut into 2 triangles), 4 square blocks

Minced pork, 200g

Sesame oil, 1 tbsp

Oyster sauce, 1 tbsp

Soya sauce, 1 tbsp

Ground white pepper, 0.5 tsp

Corn flour, 1 tsp

Carrots (cut into cubes), 1

Courgette/Zuchinni (cut into thin slices), half

Oil, enough for pan-frying

Garlic (chopped), 1

Sauce

Water, 4-5 tbsp

Oyster sauce, 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Cut tofu into equal triangles. Using a knife, carefully cut around the edges of the long side of triangle. Make the incision slightly more than half way through the tofu. Make sure you don’t cut through.

2. Use a teaspoon to remove the tofu from the middle of each triangle. Be very careful to keep the pouch intact. Set aside the tofu that is take out from the middle.

3. In small bowl, mix minced pork, tofu crumb, oyster sauce, soya sauce, white pepper, sesame oil, and corn flour.

4. With a teaspoon, scoop the filling and stuff in to the middle part of the tofu as much as you could fit in. Shape the stuffing with your hands. Repeat this to the rest of the tofu pieces.

5. Heat up a pan with oil enough to pan fry, pan fry each side of the tofu until golden brown. It takes about 15- 20 minutes to brown each piece of tofu and cook through the stuffing. Once all cooked, set tofu aside.

6. Use back the same pan, drizzle some oil, put in the chopped garlic and cook until fragrant and slightly brown. Then, put in carrots and courgette/zucchini.  Add in the sauce and cook until tender. Add in more water if necessary.

7. Add back the cooked tofu to warm up. Coat tofu with the sauce. Sprinkle some chili flakes if you wish. Serve warm.

I am delighted that one of the shots that I took for Chawan Mushi has won the DMBLGIT Feb 08 (Does my blog look good in this?) award, in aesthetics category.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jennifer from Bake or Break for hosting and all the judges who took part in this event. If you haven’t tried making chawan mushi, try it out today!  

They are special, not only for their superior flavour and quality, but because of the poulterer’s attention to the health and welfare of his hens, which are free to range and forage on green pasture from dawn to dusk, leading a natural and happy life.

I bought them at Sainsbury’s. Pay close attention and see if you could tell any difference?

There’s no reservation from me to agree to that chawan mushi wa oishii desu! ??????????? Chawan Mushi is delicious!

Chawan Mushi ? ???is the Japanese version of steamed eggs or it’s rather called savoury egg custard. Wikipedia: Chawan Mushi (????,Chawanmushi, literally “tea cup steam” or “steamed in a tea bowl”) Ingredients like small pieces of chicken, prawns, vegetables, mushrooms, and gingko are added to make chawan mushi.

I like Japanese food and culture that I used to learn Japanese but I quit after completed the first stage as it was really tough, especially not on a full-time basis. I have forgotten how to write Hiragana and Katagana. A shame really. I wish that I could write in Japanese because I find the characters really nice and the language sounds beautiful too.

Chawan mushi is similar to the Chinese steamed eggs (???) that many Chinese households we make. I am sure you will agree to this if you come from Chinese background. Steamed eggs is such a common dish amongst other dishes that are served on the table with rice, be it for lunch or dinner! Steamed eggs is probably the easiest to make in the kitchen! For Chinese steamed eggs, ingredients like minced pork, minced chicken, chopped prawns are used. Sometimes, it’s made plain and sprinkled with spring onions.

I am a Japanese food lover and I really like the their healthy way of cooking and eating. When I go to the Japanese restaurants, I will never miss Sashimi and Sushi. Of course, the cooked dishes too. Chawan Mushi is one of the dishes that I like amongst so many other recipes in the Japanese cookbooks that I have. Harumi’s is one of my favourites! Even my Japanese hairdresser reckons she is good!

As the name suggest, chawan mushi is usually served in a small tea bowl. Thus, chawan Mushi is suitable to be served as starter or a side dish. Such a pretty and cute dish that is easy to make. For my chawan mushi, I choose to use Shiitake mushrooms and prawns. You can put any ingredients that you can possibly think of.

Now, let’s go to your kitchen and see how we can prepare this yummy chawan mushi!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the egg custards:
1 tsp chicken granules
250ml hot water
3 eggs
6 prawns (cut into small cubes)
1 Shiitake mushroom (cut into small cubes)
some chopped spring onions to garnish

For the sauce to pour on top:
2 tbsp hot water
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
some white pepper

Method:

1. To make the custard: Dissolve the chicken granules in the hot water and leave for a few minutes to cool.
2. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Add to the chicken stock and mix well.
3. Strain through a sieve to get smooth texture.
4. Divide the prawns and mushrooms into 4 small cups and pour the egg mixture.
5. Put the cups in the steamer and steam for about 15 minutes until cooked. The custard should be firm to touch.
6. Make the sauce by mixing all the ingredients specified.
7. When the custards are ready, remove from the steamer and pour a little of the sauce onto each one. Then, garnish with some spring onions.
8. Serve hot as starter or as a side dish.

Run out of ideas what to make for dinner? Don’t have a lot of time spent in the kitchen as you don’t want to miss your favourite program on the TV. Worse still, you have only a few eggs left in the fridge, some asparagus which are in season now, a tiny block of Parmigiano and a half eaten baguette…. because you were too busy to do your weekly shopping!

Look no further – takes you no more than 15 minutes to prepare this easy yet yummy dish – Asparagus Egg Benedict.

Method:

1. Get the baguette sliced thinly, put some olive oil, set aside to be toasted.
2. In a sauce pan, filled with boiling salty water and blanch the cleaned and trimmed asparagus for about 4-5 minutes.
3. While blanching the asparagus, in another sauce pan, half filled it with boiling water, add in 2 generous tablespoons of white win vinegar. Make sure the water is boiling, break an egg or two (one by one) to poach for 2-3 minutes.
4. Get the baguette toasted while waiting for the eggs and asparagus to be cooked.
5. Scoop out the egg and place it on a kitchen tower to soak up the water.
6. Arrange the asparagus on the dinner plate, then put the egg on top of the asparagus.
7. Shave some parmigiano and sprinkle on top of them, then season with a bit of salt, pepper and some herbs de provences.
8. Served with toasted baguette.