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Last round of WHB before the Christmas break. This week's Weekend Herb Blogging#214 will be hosted by Haalo of Cook(almost)AnythingAtLeastOnce. The rules for taking part can be found here.
Mr Pancakes' ancestral roots traces way back to Henghua in Fujian Province in China. The ancient Chinese consider it a delicacy and is served to royalty or guests of honour. Seaweed is used widely in Henghua cuisine and it greatly enhances the taste of the dishes. Unknown to many, seaweed is neither an animal or a plant. It is actually a form of algae. The seaweed used here is the red seaweed or 紫菜 (literally purple vegetable in Chinese) as they are sold in their dried form and are dark purple-black in colour.
Seaweed contains many minerals, virtually all that can be found in the ocean. They are also a good source of calcium, sodium and iodine.
The Seaweed with Beancurd dish here is the vegetarian version. Seaweed, beancurd, mushrooms are the main players in this simple, soupy dish.
Seaweed Soup with Beancurd & Mushrooms
You will need: (serves 4)
3 pieces tofu (beancurd), cut into cubes.
50grams dried seaweed
3 slices of ginger
5 button / shitake mushrooms (diced)
some shredded carrot (1/2 carrot)
diced celery (1 stalk)
1L water
1 1/2 tablespoon cooking oil
pepper to taste
1. Bring water to boil in a pot. In a separate pan, heat up cooking oil. Saute the ginger, diced mushrooms and shredded carrot. Put sauteed ingredients into the boiling pot of water.
2. When water comes back to boil, add beancurd dices to soup. Add in diced celery and seaweed. Bring soup back to a boil. Add pepper to taste and the dish is ready to be served.
Mr Pancakes is getting the hang of it and is excited every time WHB comes around. What a great way to share! This week's Weekend Herb Blogging#212 will be hosted by Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. WHB is a weekly food blog event that showcases information and recipes about herbs, vegetables, fruits and other plant ingredients. WHB is organized by Haalo of Cook(almost)AnythingAtLeastOnce. The rules for taking part can be found here.
For this week, Mr Pancakes would like to share a all-Asian cast: Boiled Chinese Pear with Chinese Almond Dessert.
The Chinese Yellow Pear is used here as the main ingredient. A picture of the pear can be seen here, Mr Pancakes is ashamed that he forgot to take a picture of the fruits before cooking them. The yellow Chinese pear has a thin yellow skin. The white flesh is slightly grainy, as compared to the green pears. It is oblong, unlike the Asian (nashi) pear. It is believed that the yellow chinese pear relieves cough and calm wheezing.
Another main part of this dessert the Chinese Almond (杏仁) or apricot seed. There are two types of chinese almond, mainly those from the south (sweet taste) and the north (bitter taste). The Chinese almond seeds from the north is believed to have similar properties to the yellow Chinese pear, they stop cough and 'moisten' the intestines. A mixture of north and south Chinese almond seeds are used here to balance the taste.
A sweet, 'cooling' dessert and apparently to relieve cough and irritation to the throat
Boiled Chinese Yellow Pear with Chinese Almond (炖雪梨)
This is a long time childhood dessert. All kids love sweet stuff! This is a healthy, nutritional dessert and it cleanse the palate nicely, especially after a heavy meal.
You will need: (serves 4)
2 yellow Chinese Pears
50 gram rock sugar
500ml water
8 Chinese red dates (optional)
1. Peel the skins off the pears, core and cut into quarters.
2. Bring water to boil in a pot.
3. Put all ingredients into the pot and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.
4. Serve hot or put into the fridge to chill and serve cold.
Mr Pancakes is back for more Weekend Herb Blogging action. This week's Weekend Herb Blogging#212 will be hosted by Marillyn from Just Making Noise. WHB is a weekly food blog event that showcases information and recipes about herbs, vegetables, fruits and other plant ingredients. WHB is now organized by Haalo of Cook(almost)AnythingAtLeastOnce. The rules for taking part can be found here.
The feature for this week's entry is Black Beans. They are small, about the size of a pea, oval and a sexy jet black. Their flesh is cream in colour with a sweet and somewhat earthy taste with a soft texture.
Be sure to check out the surface of the beans for any damage or fungal growth before washing them. Some recipes call for black beans to be soaked before cooking, but this particular recipe that Mr Pancakes is sharing here eliminates this step as we prefer the beans to have a bit more crunch in them.
Black beans, like their 'beanie' friends, are a inexpensive source of protein with a very low fat content. They are an excellent source of cholesterol lowering fiber and complex carbohydrates. Also, they are a good source of folic acid.
Black Beans Pork Rib Soup
I simply love this soup. It has a nutty flavour from the black beans and the sweetness from the ribs. Lovely combination. The black soup also adds a little mystique feeling to it. Enjoy chewing up the black beans and washing it down with the soup. Nothing beats a good home-made healthy soup!
You will need: (serves 3-4)
• ¾ bowl black beans
• 500g pork ribs
• 4 slices ginger
• Water
1. Put a small pot of water to boil. Scald the pork ribs in the boiling water and leave to cook for about 5 minutes. This is to remove the foul taste of the meat.
2. In a medium sized pot, fill up the pot with water to the halfway mark. Put to boil.
3. Add in black beans and leave to cook on low heat for 30 minutes.
4. Add in pork ribs and let simmer for 1 hour. (Add hot water, if necessary, to just cover the ribs and beans.)
Serve hot.
