Dang Shen (Codonopsis Pilosulae) Soup

I don't boil herbal soup that often but PiggyBeng loves this 'dang-shen' or 'yu-chai' (in Hokkien) soup very much so to make him happy I bought all the neccesary ingredients to prepare his favourite soup. I am very caution when I take herbal soup these days as I am still nursing Darrius. Not too sure which herbs are suitable to be consumed for nursing mothers... I will avoid taking any unless I know of their attributes as I am afraid it will affects my milk production.

One thing good about preparing herbal soup is... you can just dump everything in and after 3 hours... bowls of hearty soup on the table. For those who do not have time to boil it over the stove can actually boil it using slow cooker... just boil it longer... about 5-6 hours.

The following recipe is to serves about 4 person. The lesser the water, the thicker the soup... so it's tastier... :) When purchasing the herbs, just tell the medical hall person that you are preparing the soup for 4 and they will weight the appropriate amount of the ingredient for you.

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Ingredients

• Pork ribs or 1/2 lao-mu-ji (old hen)


• 3L Water (or depending on how many pax you are preparing for)


• Dang Shen - the ginseng look-alike


• Shan Yao (Chinese Yam /Dioscorea Opposita) - the white pieces


• Yuk Chok (Solomon's Seal /Polygonatum Officinale) - the thin yellowish slices


• Red dates (seedless)


• Dried longans - the brown looking stuff


• Chinese Wolfberry (Fructus Lycii) - the tiny red stuff

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Method

1. When water boiled, add in the ribs and boil for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients.

*All herbs' scientific names taken from www.foodnherbs.com

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Pork in Worchestershire Sauce

Ok... my apologies to fellow Muslims readers that this has to be another non-halal dish. The market I always patronised do not have quality fresh chicken so I normally don't buy chicken there. Hence, I seldom cook chicken dishes. (Not sure if some of you heard before that feeding too much chicken to kids will make their breast grow bigger due to the 'growth jabs' that was injected to the chicken :|)

I will usually buy fish or lean meat or 'yuk ngan' to cook porridge for Darrius as these have the least fat content. 'Yuk ngan' is the best part to cook Chinese Style Pork Chop too. However, you will need to tenderise the meat before you marinade so it will be tender and not tough as rubber when you bite!

I saw a bottle of Lea and Perrins Worchestershire sauce sitting in my fridge so decided to try cooking a dish with it. It turned out quite ok.

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Ingredients

• 400gm Lean pork meat


• 1pc Bombay onion/big onion


• 1pc Red tomato


• 2tbsp Corn flour (1tbsp for marinade & 1tbsp to thicken sauce)


• 1tsp Soy sauce


• 1tsp Black sauce


• 1tbsp Lea and Perrins Worchestershire sauce


• 1tbsp Tomato ketchup


• Pepper


• Water


• Cooking oil


• Sugar

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Method

1. Sliced pork into about 3 or 5 mm in thickness by using the back of the clever and lightly chop it in a criss-cross pattern. Tenderise/marinade it with soy sauce, black sauce, pepper, some cooking oil and corn flour.


2. Heat up wok and fry the marinaded meat on a slow fire. Removed and put aside.


3. Mix 1tbsp corn flour with water (put more if you wanted a more diluted sauce), sugar, tomato ketchup, Worchestershire sauce and a dash of pepper.


4. Fry cut onion and red tomato until it started to turn brown and pour in the mixture.


5. When the mixture comes to a boil, pour in the meat and stir for a while. Served.

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Silky Smooth Tofu with Shredded Chicken

Another easy to prepare and healthy dish for tofu lover. I love tofu regardless of its texture, shape and taste. I have tried many types including those imported from Japan. Of course our local tofu can't be compared to the Japanese tofu but they are still edible. I especially like the silky (silken) smooth tofu which we normally used in steaming or soup.

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Ingredients

• 1 box Silky smooth tofu


• 100 gm Chicken breast meat (shredded)


• 1 pc Dried Chinese mushroom (soak in hot water till soft, diced)


• 1/4 cup Carrot (coarsely chopped)


• 2 cloves Garlic


• 1 Chili padi


• 1tbsp Corn flour


• 1tbsp Light soy sauce


• Pepper to taste

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Method

1. Steam tofu for 5 minutes and removed any water after the steaming.


2. Heat wok with about 2 tbsp of oil and sauteed the garlic and chili padi. Add in carrot and mushroom and continue to stir for 2-3 minutes.


3. Add in the shredded chicken and stir till about 80% cook.


4. Dash in the light soy sauce and pepper before adding corn flour which is mixed with 30ml of water to thicken the sauce.


5. Scoop up and lay on top of steamed tofu and served.