Flat Noodles with Chicken and Pork Soup

It’s especially nice to have a bowl of hot soup during rainy seasons. That is what just the weather calls for this evening where I stay so I made this recipe. And since we have a large stock of that flat rice noodles which my brother had sent over from Taiwan, I again used it for this recipe.

Ingredients:

300 g Flat rice noodles

½ kg Chicken breast (cut into thin slices)

½ kg Pork (cut into thin slices)

4 cloves Garlic (finely minced)

1 pc. Onion (medium, finely sliced)

½ tsp. Black pepper (powder)

3 slice Ginger (about 1 tsp.)

1 tsp. Iodized salt

2 tbsp. Sugar

4 cups Water

¼ kg Carrot (julienned)

1 pc. Green bell pepper (julienned)

2 tbsp. Sesame oil

Cooking Instruction:

Prepare the noodles by boiling in a saucepan about 4 cups of water with a tablespoon of cooking oil. When the water reaches rolling boil, add the noodles and stir from time to time until cooked to desired tenderness. Strain and wash with tap water to stop the cooking.

In a pressure cooker place the chicken, pork, salt, black pepper, ginger, onion, garlic, and sugar. Pressure cook for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn off the flame and allow to cool down normally. Do not vent the steam. The additional time afforded by normal cooling will be used for further cooking of the contents of the pressure cooker which will be about 10-15 minutes. When no more pressure inside the cooker exists, open and add the carrot and bell pepper. Again turn on the heat and simmer for another minute. Add sesame oil and toss in the cooked noodles. Enjoy with plain steamed buns or bread.

Oyster Cake

Oysters are delicious and very nutritious. This is one of my favourite seafood items. You can prepare them in a variety of appetizing ways. One of my favourite is ‘Oyster Cake’. Since I’m fond of Chinese food, let me share to you how I make interesting oyster cake. The unique texture imparted by sweet potato starch (you can buy this item from Chinese specialty shops) is truly amazing. Try out this recipe and place your comments on this post.


Ingredients:

1 cup Raw Oyster Meat
1 cup Mung Bean Sprouts
½ cup Green Onion (minced)
1/2 cup Bush Peas (sliced thinly)
½ cup Carrot (coarse grated or finely julienned)
½ tsp. Black Pepper (ground)
¼ tsp. Iodized Salt
1 ½ cup Sweet Potato Starch
1 tsp. Sesame Oil
1/3 cup Water
1 tsp Garlic (minced)
¼ cup Onion (sliced thinly)
Safflower Oil (for frying)

Cooking Procedure:
In a suitable bowl, combine starch, iodized salt, black pepper, water, garlic, and onion. Mix well and then toss in the carrots, green onion, bush peas and mung bean sprouts. Again mix well and then toss in the oysters. Fold to combine uniformly.

In a suitable frying pan (preferably Teflon pan) heat a small quantity of the cooking oil. When the oil is near its smoke point, put the oyster batter in and fry one side under low flame. When the surface starts to cook and not runny anymore. Turn over the oyster cake to cook the other side. Put additional oil to cook properly and to have that nice flavour. Serve immediately.

You can enjoy the dish more with the following dressing recipe.

½ cup Vinegar
1 tsp. (Garlic minced)

Combine the vinegar and garlic and let stand for about 5 minutes before use. Preparing this before cooking the oyster will allow more garlic flavour to infuse on the vinegar. Enjoy!!!