All posts filed under: Dinner

Cauliflower Miso Soup

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I love cauliflower. It is probably one of my favourite vegetables. The best thing about cauliflower is that it is so easy to cook. Sometimes, I just break the head into small pieces and cook it with some butter. Once it’s cooked, season with salt and fresh ground black pepper. it’s just delicious! Today’s recipe is a simple cauliflower soup with miso paste. If you like creamy soup, you will like this one. There are many ways of making a cauliflower soup. You can make it with blue cheese if you like  a strong flavour. The thickened cream or yoghurt will make it creamier. You can also cook it with potatoes or carrots. Personally, I think cauliflower soup goes well with many different spices/herbs. I have tried coriander, parsley, paprika, and cumin seeds. I use oregano for today’s recipe. I hope you enjoy the recipe. 🙂 Makes 2 servings. INGREDIENTS Coconut oil – 2 tbsps Onion – 1, chopped Garlic cloves – 3, chopped Cauliflower – 1/2, broken into small pieces Potato – 1, small, chopped Chicken …

Pearl Meatballs (Glutinous Rice meatballs) |Zhen Zhu Wan Zi

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The celebration of Chinese New Year was officially over last Saturday, which was the 15th day after the lunar New Year. As usual, we cooked a lot and ate a lot to celebrate the New Year. Apart from cooking, we attended the Year of The Rooster Concert in Brisbane to celebrate the occasion. It was a great concert with a combination of Chinese traditional music and western music. We especially loved the piece performed by the Pipa player. If you don’t know what Pipa is, it’s a four-stringed pear-shaped lute. The history of Pipa can be dated back over 2000 years. Back to today’s recipe, Pearl Meatballs has been a staple on my CNY Eve dinner menu. I make it every single year, and the love is still going strong. The combination of pork mince and glutinous rice is just perfect. It does need a little bit of time to prepare, but I think the results are definitely worth the effort. If you have less time, a food processor can always help. In this recipe, I added some water …

Quick Pastry Finger Food

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Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all have a great start of the week. Today, I have a simple easy quick recipe to share with you. I love making this recipe because the biscuits are great as snacks or party food. You only need few minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to bake. It tastes great and goes well with cocktails, wine or just beer.  One sheet of puff pastry can make tons of it. If you cannot finish it, you can always store them in an airtight container for later. I make these savoury biscuits for myself very often. It’s my perfect afternoon snacks, light and crisp with heaps of sesame seeds and poppy seeds. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. xoxo INGREDIENTS Puff pastry – 1 sheet Paprika Poppy seeds Black sesame seeds White sesame seeds Salt Egg – for egg wash INSTRUCTIONS Preheat oven to 180°C. Let the puff pastry sit at room temperature until it softens a bit. Use a sharp knife to cut the pastry to the size …

Mushroom pies

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Mushroom is one of my favorite food. I love the earthy flavor.The results are always wonderful. I like to stir fry the oyster mushroom with onions or pork. The Swiss brown is great for just baking in the oven with butter, cheese and soy sauce. Button mushrooms are also great for making a sauce or soup. Sometimes, I like to use more than one type of mushroom in one recipe, like this one. However, you don’t have too. My love to pie is certainly growing. A nice quick way to make a weekday dinner.Whenever we are too busy or tired or lazy to cook a proper dinner during the week, I find myself quite often to make a pie with some fresh salads. INGREDIENTS puff pastry sheets – 4 (depends on the size of your pie plate) mushroom – 200g, sliced bacon – 170g, chopped finely onion – 1, diced Leek – 1/2 – 1, sliced grated Parmesan cheese – 2 tablespoon oyster sauce and black pepper to taste olive oil – 1 tablespoon egg – 1, to make egg …

Baked Red Emperor with potatoes

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One thing we enjoy very much in Australia is the seafood. Australia has the third largest fishing zone in the world. You can always find you favourite seafood in the market. We love tuna, swordfish, salmon, prawns and scallops.  From time to time, we like to try some new fish. Red emperor has been our favorite for the past few weeks. We normally get a whole fish from the shop. Then, we would have two nice fillets and the rest for a fish soup. Today’s recipe is a simple easy oven cooked red emperor fillet with potatoes. I am not taking the credit. It’s my husband’s recipe. It’s delicious and easy to make. The fillet always turns out so tender and juicy. I absolutely love it. He is quite happy for me to share the recipe here with you guys. I hope you like it. 🙂 INGREDIENTS 1 or 2 red emperor fillets – about 600g potatoes – 6 olive oil – 60ml lemon – 1 1/2 garlic cloves – 4 soy sauce – 30ml salt and fresh …

Pineapple fried rice

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I love rice. If I don’t have rice for a week, I feel something is missing in my life. I also love the smell of a pineapple and its sweet juicy taste. So when these two ingredients get together, the result is always wonderful and delicious. I cook the pineapple fried rice at home from time to time. It’s always different every time depends on what kind of vegetable I have in my kitchen. Now, this is just one version of the pineapple fried rice. You can always improvise when you cook, replace bacon with ham or chicken, use diced tomato, diced red bell pepper, sweet corns, or throw in some chilli flakes if you like a little bit of spicy flavor. Make it the way you like! 🙂 INGREDIENTS eggs – 2, beaten with a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of water pineapple – 1/4, diced green onions – 2, sliced bacon – 80g, diced Oyster sauce – 1 tablespoon Frozen peas – 1/2 cup cooked rice – 2 cups Olive oil – 1/2 tablespoon …

Stuffed Patty pan squash

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How can you say no to these eye candies? They look like little jewels. It’s impossible for me at least. I got these gorgeous baby patty pan squash from our local vegetable shop. They are easy to cook, and they are great source of vitamins A, C and magnesium. There are so many ways to enjoy this lovely summer vegetable. The easiest way probably is to slice the squash and grill or saute in a frying pan. Today’s recipe is for stuffed patty pan squash.   INGREDIENTS: patty pan squash – 10 bacon – 2 slices, finely diced shallot – 2, finely chopped garlic clove – 1, minced button mushroom – 2, finely chopped parsley leaves – 1 tablespoon, finely chopped salt and pepper olive oil – 2 tablespoons INSTRUCTIONS: Preheat the oven to 180°C. Trim both ends of the squash. Scoop out the flesh to make a shell. Reserve the flesh. Spray or brush some olive oil inside and outside of each squash. Set in a baking tray. Sprinkle some salt. Bake in the oven for …

Stuffed Grape Leaves (Dolma)

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After we moved to Brisbane years ago, my husband planted four grapevines at our backyard. With the nice and warm weather, they grow very well. We have been watching the grapevines covered with tender buds and young leaves since the Spring comes. Soon, we will have to spray everything to prevent the harm from caterpillars who love to indulge themselves with tender grape leaves. Hence, it’s time to make the Dolma (stuffed grape leaves). I remember the first time I tried the stuffed grape leaves. “Are the leaves really eatable?” I asked with great suspicion. The answer was a very firm “Yes, of course!”. Well, my husband grew up with this food. He loves it. I think it’s something remind him of home. Gradually , I have grown my love for this food as well, especially when we can get our hands on the fresh grape leaves. This recipe is from my mother-in-law. My husband has made it many times for me. I simply love the easy way of making it and the fresh flavor from the grape leaves. Makes 30  INGREDIENTS …

Black rice salad

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The weather in Brisbane is getting warm. I start carving for salads. I have been loving black rice lately. So I thought I might put them together to have a nice light dish for lunch. Black rice is rich in antioxidants, high in iron and fiber. I found it’s really filling and healthy. Good for my blood sugar level too. How to cook black rice? I wash and soak the rice in the water overnight. The next morning, I cook it in my rick cooker. If you don’t have a rick cooker, you can cook 1 cup of black rice with two cups of water/stock in a deep sauce pan. Bring is to boil, reduce the heat, leave it to simmer until all the liquid is gone. Let it cool in the pot. At lunch time, I just mix it with some fresh vegetables I have in the kitchen. Quick and easy! Makes 2 INGREDIENTS 1/2 cup cooked black rice 1/2 onion – diced 30 g baby rocket 1/2 capsicum – diced 1/2 preserved lemon (optional) 5-6 …

Oven roasted Ribs

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I so much love ribs. I am not a big meat eater, but I would have ribs anytime. This recipe is so simple to make, but the result is super good. The meat will be tender and tasty you wouldn’t believe. It will fall off the bone. Just be prepared. 😀   Serves 2 INGREDIENTS pork ribs – 500g Ground ginger – teaspoon Ground garlic – 1 teaspoon Green onion/shallot – 2, sliced. Oyster sauce – 1 tablespoon soy sauce – 1 tablespoon Dark soy sauce – 1 teaspoon honey – 1 teaspoon rice wine – 1 tablespoon (or you can use red wine) salt and pepper   INSTRUCTIONS Cut between the bones and separate the individual ribs. Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Make sure everything is very well mixed. Cover the bowl and leave it in the fridge to marinate for 4 hours. Before cooking. Preheat the oven to 220ºC Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil. Place the ribs in the baking dish and cover it with another piece of …