Last year in December Stephen and I cat sat for one of our friends in Markham, who lived near First Markham Place. This meant we were often in the neighbourhood to play and cuddle with the energetic fur ball. Since we were already nearby, we’d stop by the food court at FMP to pick up dinner. For me, this was a box of Yu Xiang Eggplant from Yan Can Cook, my “healthy” pick, while Stephen would get Salt and Pepper Pork Chops.

I’m not sure how healthy my eggplant actually is, but it’s one of my favourite dishes and Yan’s version is one of the best. From Szechuan restaurants to food courts, if I see Yu Xiang Eggplant on the menu, I always choose it as my “vegetable” dish. Stephen’s fried eggplant dish uses plenty of garlic and packs a bit of heat. The flavours are classically Asian and totally satisfies my eggplant cravings.

Eggplant with Spicy Garlic Sauce

2017-05-29 00:16:04

Serves 2

Eggplant dish with classic Asian flavours and lots of garlic

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Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

30 min

Total Time

35 min

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

30 min

Total Time

35 min

Ingredients

1. 1 tbsp corn starch
2. 1 tbsp rice wine
3. 1 tbsp soy sauce
4. 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
5. 1 tbsp black bean chili paste (doubanjiang)
6. 1 cup water
7. 2 Chinese eggplants
8. 100g ground pork
9. 5-6 cloves of garlic
10. 1 dried chili pepper
11. 1 cup of vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Cut eggplants into 1-1.5 inch chunks and finely mince the garlic and dried chili pepper.
2. In a bowl, mix together the corn starch, rice wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, black bean chili paste and water to create a sauce.
3. In a large wok (or a pot with high walls), on medium-high heat, heat up the vegetable oil. Fry the chunks of eggplant until the outside browns, about 2-3 minutes. Once fried, remove from the eggplant from the oil and set aside. Remove all of the frying oil except for 1 tbsp.
4. Using the same wok, turn stove to high heat. Once the oil just begins to smoke, add in the ground pork, minced garlic and dried chili pepper. Stir fry the ground pork until browned.
5. Add the cooked eggplant and stir fry together, about 30 seconds.
6. Stir the previously mixed sauce and pour into the hot wok, continue to stir the eggplant and pork until the sauce thickens.
7. Optional: Garnish with fresh green onions, fried shallots and serve

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Assemble ingredients

Cut Chinese eggplant into chunks

Mince garlic and dried chilli peppers

Mix ingredients for sauce

Shallow fry eggplant chunks

Cook the ground pork

Add the minced garlic and dried chili peppers to the ground pork and cook until brown

Add the cooked eggplant

Add the combined sauce

Stir together until the sauce thickens

Turnip cake, also known as Radish cake or Law Bok Gow, is a traditional Lunar New Year dish made with daikon. It is also often featured as a side dish in congee restaurants. Every year, we celebrate new year’s with both my family and The Hubby’s. My family is from mainland China, and his are from Hong Kong, so our traditions differ slightly. With both families though, the main celebration revolves around the New Year feast. The dining table is filled with home cooked dishes (whole fish, dumplings, wood ear fungus, to name a few) and the meal lasts hours. This year’s Lunar New Year is quickly approaching (Feb 8th!) and The Hubby and I decided to try making turnip cake ourselves. We tried both cutting the daikon by hand and using a grater, and found that grating created a smoother texture.

Turnip Cake

2016-02-06 21:23:35

Turnip cake, also known as radish cake or law bok gow is a traditional Lunar New Years dish

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Prep Time

45 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 45 min

Prep Time

45 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 45 min

Ingredients

1. 1200g of daikon radish
2. 1 tbsp white pepper
3. 1 tbsp chicken powder
4. 1 tbsp of sugar
5. 2 tbsp of salt
6. 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
7. 75g of dried Shrimp, soaked and drained
8. 2 Chinese sausages
9. 45g of preserved pork belly (1/2 stick)
10. 4-5 shiitake mushrooms, soaked and drained (optional)
11. 2 shallots (optional)
12. 200g of rice flour
13. 200ml of water
14. 4 tbsp of wheat starch

Instructions

1. Soak the dried shrimp (and shiitake mushrooms if using them), dice shallots, grate daikon, dice salted pork belly and preserved Chinese sausage
2. In a hot wok add the vegetable oil. Once the oil is hot add in the shallots, salted pork belly, preserved sausage, dried shrimp (shiitakes) and sauté. Add in Chinese cooking wine as the meats cook. Set aside.
3. Using the same wok, add the grated daikon and enough water to just cover the daikon. Season with sugar, salt, chicken powder, white pepper.
4. While the daikon cooks, combine in a mixing bowl the rice flour, potato starch and water. This will form a paste like mixture.
5. Pour the paste mixture into the cooked daikon, stirring continuously to prevent lumps from forming. Then stir in the cooked meats and mix well.
6. Pour the turnip cake batter into a greased cake pan and steam for one hour. Once steamed, the turnip cake can be served as is, or pan fried to add a crispy crust.

Tips

1. Immediately after steaming, the texture of the turnip cake can be goopy, making it hard to pan-fry. Resting the turnip cake in the fridge for a few hours will help it firm up.
2. If using a different amount of daikon, use a ratio of daikon to rice flour of 6:1 and a ratio of rice flour to water of 1:1.

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Step by Step Photos

Assemble ingredients, cut or grate daikon

Dice meats and shallots

Grate the daikon

In a hot pan with oil, saute the shallots, meats and season with cooking wine

Set aside cooked meats

Measure out rice flour and wheat starch

Combine rice flour, wheat starch and water to form a paste

In the wok, add daikon and enough water to just cover the daikon. Cook until the daikon is soft

Pour the paste mixture into the cooked daikon, stirring continuously to prevent lumps from forming

Add cooked meats to daikon

Pour the turnip cake batter into a greased cake pan and steam for one hour

Optional, pan-fry the cooked turnip cake to add a crispy crust

When the weather outside drops below 0, I instantly begin to crave hotpot. During the winter, my family would often hotpot at home every weekend. I loved prepping all of my favourite ingredients with my mom and then spending a night gathered around the steaming pot. Hotpot is generally a family meal, where the more the merrier, so I would often request it when I went to my parents’ for dinner. With just the two of us, The Hubby and I usually go out for hot pot, but this winter, we bought the equipment so we could enjoy the style of cooking at home. Although we always end up with a ton of leftovers, the convenience of having our own stove has been a delicious treat. With only two people though, we do end up making sacrifices on the variety of ingredients, trying to choose groceries that can be used again later in the week. Below I’ve listed out my hotpot must-haves (italics), and optional ingredients I enjoy when we have more people.

Equipment
Generally, I hotpot at home using a gas camping stove. These stoves are often used in Asian restaurants that offer ‘tabletop cooking’. As for the pot, most Chinese grocery stores sell large “steaming pots” that fit perfectly on a camping stove. These pots are shallow and wide, lots of boiling surface area and heat up quickly. Some pots include a partition separating the pot in two, allowing for different soup flavours and perfect if there are ingredients that are not enjoyed by the entire table. With just The Hubby and I, we chose to just go with a regular pot. Ladles are also a must for scooping out ingredients when they’re ready. Typically, small individual ladles are used. For us, we just use a single large round ladle.

We usually buy a pre-packaged soup base from the grocery store. Our favourite is the spicy Little Fat Lamb one. When we use a pot with two sections, I will usually have one side spicy and one not. Chicken and pork bone broths can also be used as a base, even just plain water. I would recommend adding in some aromatics such as green onion, daikon (to help with gaminess of lamb) and cilantro if everyone enjoys it.

As ingredients are cooked, the soup takes on more flavours and grows in richness and taste. Thus, I like to start with cooking lamb or beef first, then moving to milder seafood (shrimp, fish balls), vegetables once the soup is rich and oily, before ending with carbs.

Dipping Sauce
Hotpot is pretty much just boiled food. Depending on the soup base used, the cooked ingredients may not be the most seasoned. Thus, I think one of the most important aspects of a successful hotpot meal, is the dipping sauce. When eating out, I love restaurants that provide a wide variety of ingredients for me to customize my own sauce. When I hotpot at home, I already have all of these asian sauces handy. If you don’t, many Chinese grocery stores do sell pre-made dipping sauces.

Proteins
With just two people, we usually just pick up a small package of fish or beef balls and one tray of sliced lamb. In general, I portion out 1 tray of meat per person.

Vegetables
When it comes to vegetables, almost anything goes! The key for leafy greens is to fish them out quickly. Wintermelon takes longer to cook and is perfect once the flesh turns transparent, it will melt into the soup if left for too long.

Carbs
In between plates of plate and fresh vegetables, I like to through in noodles and rice cakes that cook at the bottom of the pot until they’re soft and full of flavour.

With the holiday season around the corner, one meal that The Fiance’s family loves to cook is Prime Rib Roast. A perfect side dish to accompany the roast is this Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon recipe. The sprouts come out of the oven crispy and infused with bacon flavour. It may not be the healthiest dish, but it’s green.

Roasted Brussels Spouts with Bacon

2014-12-15 00:09:08

Serves 4

Quick and easy side dish for any meal

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Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

45 min

Total Time

50 min

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

45 min

Total Time

50 min

Ingredients

1. 1 lb brussels sprouts
2. 4 slices of bacon
3. 1 shallot
4. sea salt
5. fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
2. Trim the brussels sprouts, halve and remove any yellow leaves
3. Cut the bacon stripes into one inch pieces and mince the shallot
4. In a cast iron pan, fry up the bacon until most of the fat has rendered
5. Add the brussels sprouts, heavily season with salt, fresh ground pepper and add the shallots
6. Transfer the cast iron pan to the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes

If you're not using a cast iron pan

1. Lay out the brussels sprouts on a lined baking sheet
2. Cook the bacon in a frying pan, transfer all of the rendered oil bacon onto the baking sheet and mix with brussels sprouts, season and then bake

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Step by Step Photos

Assemble ingredients

Trim and halve brussels sprouts

Cut bacon into one inch pieces and fry in a cast iron pan

Once bacon is cooked, add in the brussels sprouts, season and bake for 35 to 40 minutes

When I was little, I did not like zucchini. My mom would only stir fry them or use them in soup and the mushy texture did not appeal to me. Fast forward to university when the Fiance and I were roommates sharing groceries. He would only stock zucchinis, so being the cheap university student I was, I learned to appreciate them. Now, I actually crave them sometimes and they’re a staple for BBQs. This recipe is another format that would make a zucchini lover out of anyone.

Zucchini Fritters

2014-10-16 20:05:50

Yields 7

Quick, easy and delicious - these zucchini fritters will make a zucchini fan out of most everyone

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Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

25 min

Total Time

40 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

25 min

Total Time

40 min

Ingredients

1. 4 medium zucchinis
2. 1 tsp Kosher salt
3. 1/2 cup sliced green onions
4. 1 egg
5. 1/2 cup all purpose flour
6. 1/2 tsp baking powder
7. salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees F.
2. Using a coarse grater, grate all of the the zucchini into a large bowl. Add in the coarse salt and let sit for 10 minutes. This will cause the zucchini to "sweat" out some of the water.
3. Using a clean, thin tea towel or a strong paper towel, wring the water out of the shredded zucchini a fistful at a time. The volume of the zucchini should shrink by half
4. Add in the chopped green onions, egg, pepper and mix.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder before adding to the zucchini. mix everything together.
6. Liberally oil a pan. Once the pan is heated, spoon ~1/2 cup of the batter for each fritter. Gently press the mixture into a pancake shape, about 1/4 inch thick.
7. Cook until the bottom browns, ~2-3 mins, flip the fitter and repeat.
8. Using a flat roasting rack, finish the fritters in the oven for 10 mins, letting them crisp up.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Step by Step Photos

Assemble Ingredients

Grate Zucchini, add salt, let sit and wring out

Chop green onions

Add egg, pepper and green onions to batter, along with flour and baking powder

Pan fry fritters until golden

Finish in the oven for 10 mins at 200 degrees F

Scallion pancakes is a traditional Chinese dish that’s easy to make with 5 simple ingredients. All you need are green onions, oil, flour, water and salt. With the unique folding technique to roll-out the dough, the pancakes turn out flakey, crispy and perfect for breakfast with a bowl of congee. I fry these up in batches and freeze to eat throughout the week, although they are tastiest right out of the pan.

Scallion Pancake

2014-08-25 15:52:13

Serves 4

Quick and easy dish with only 5 ingredients

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Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time

30 min

Ingredients

1. 2 1/2 cups white flour
2. 1 cup warm water
3. vegetable oil
4. salt
5. 1 cup of chopped green onions

Instructions

1. Mix the warm water and flour to create a dough. Knead until the dough is smooth. Brush the dough ball with oil and set aside.
2. Finely chop the green onions
3. Divide the dough into 4.
4. On a clean, oiled surface, roll out the dough into a thin rectangle. Generously sprinkle the dough with salt and green onions. Along the long edge, roll the dough into a tight log.
5. Cut the rolled dough log in half. Coil each half into a ball.
6. With a rolling pin, roll the coiled ball flat again.
7. Place the rolled out pancake in a lightly oiled pan, on medium heat and fry until golden brown (~2-3 mins). Flip the pancake and cook the other side for another 2-3 mins.
8. Serve hot with optional dipping sauce of Chinese vinegar, sesame oil, light soy sauce and chili oil.

Tip

1. Save the green onion heads (stop chopping when the stalk turns white), put them into a glass of water and they will quickly regrow.

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Step by Step Photos

Ingredients

Mix dough, brush with oil and set aside

Chop green onions

Roll out quarter dough ball

Sprinkle with salt and green onions

Roll up dough

Coil rolled dough into ball

Roll out dough ball again

Pancake, ready to be fried

The original recipe called for 6 cups of broth, we only have 4 so we substituted with 2 cups of water. This was not the best idea and at first the soup was too watery and didn’t come together. We ended up having to simmer the soup on the stove top for an extra hour. The original recipe also called for a cup of yogurt, which would also have helped thicken the soup. Without the yogurt, 4 cups of broth is enough liquid for a nice thick soup.

Curry Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

2014-06-26 18:53:36

Serves 8

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Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 10 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 10 min

Ingredients

1. 1 butternut squash
2. 2 large or 3 medium onions
3. 1 head of garlic
4. 4 cups beef broth
5. 1 bayleaf
6. 1 tsp brown sugar
7. 1 tsp curry powder
8. 1/2 tsp dried oregano
9. 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
10. 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut open the butternut squash and remove the seeds. Peel the onions and quarter. Cut off the top of the whole head of garlic, wrap in aluminum foil and place along with vegetables on a baking sheet. Bake for 45-60 mins or until the squash can be pierced with a fork. Our squash was a touch under ripe and we roasted the vegetables for 80 mins.
3. Remove the flesh of the squash and add to a blender or food processor. The cloves of garlic should squeeze out of each sleeve easily, add to the squash along with the roasted onions. Puree the ingredients until smooth, if needed add in 1/4 cup of broth at this point to help the blending process. Transfer all the contents to a large pot.
4. To the soup, add the remaining broth, bay leaf, brown sugar, curry, dried oregano, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Bring the soup to a boil and simmer for 10-20 minutes.

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Adapted from allrecipes.com

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Step by Step Photos

Assemble ingredients

Roast vegetables

Puree the vegetables and simmer on stove top to finish