Easy Vegan Zha Jiang Mian / Stir-fried soybean paste noodles 簡易素食版炸醬麵

I’ve ever introduced Taiwanese Zha Jiang Mian (炸醬麵) before, it’s a very common street food in Taiwan consisting of noodles topped with stir-fried pork mince and soybean paste. I do love the meaty taste of Zha Jiang Mian, but this classic noodles dish can be transformed to veggie version and it also tastes divine. This time I used Cauldron Foods marinated tofu pieces, they are already cooked with flavour so I don’t even need to add on too many sauces, and they are really convenient for making sauce mixture of Zha Jiang Mian particularly for this meatless Veganuary option.

Ingredients
-80g Cauldron Foods marinated tofu pieces.

-1 tbsp Dou Ban Jiang (豆瓣醬)/ Soybean paste.

(I used Taiwanese one as it contains completed beans inside. Alternatively, you can find Lee Kum Kee soybean paste at oriental shops.)
-2 cloves of garlic, chopped.
-1 tbsp soy sauce.
-1 tsp sugar.

-1/2 cup of water to taste.

-Chopped spring onions and basil to garnish.


Method
-Heat vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat, add garlic and stir fry until fragrance.
-Add Dou Ban Jiang/soybean paste, stir fry over low heat until aromatic.
-Add soy sauce, sugar, tofu pieces and toss everything together.

-Add water to taste, let it simmer for 10 minutes over the lowest heat.
-Pour above tofu mixture over cooked noodles, garnish with spring onions and basil leaves.

 

其實我是米飯擁護者，但近日的貼文都是以麵食居多，實在是因為煮麵要比煮飯來得快速許多啊！這次則用了Cauldron的豆腐干做了素版的炸醬麵，因為這款豆腐本身就已經有調理過了，所以豆瓣醬等醬料都可以斟酌減半，不用燉煮太久，稍微收汁就可以拌在乾麵上，算是簡單又快速的一道麵攤小品。(今天沒有特別弄溏心蛋，不然每次一擺都喧賓奪主；然後麵條我有特別「梳」過，終於擺起來比較整齊了，只是這梳的功力還要多練習，我自己是覺得沒有想像中好梳哈。)

Curry Udon Noodles with Crayfish Tails in 15 minutes 咖哩小龍蝦烏龍麵(快速版)

What would you cook if you only have 15 minutes? When I’m short on time at cooking, udon noodles is always my best choice, I love to turn my leftover curry into curry udon, but making it straight away with Japanese curry roux is also quick and easy. I usually add prawns but today I would like to make a pleasant change with crayfish tails to have extra flavour. Easy recipe here:

 

Ingredients (serving 2)

-2-3 blocks of Japanese curry cubes.

-2 packs of udon noodles.

-100g cooked crayfish tails from Waitrose 

-2 cups of dashi stock. (You can adjust the amount of stock to determine the consistency of curry soup.)

-A handful chopped spring onions to garnish.

 

Method

-Cook udon noodles in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, drain well and set aside.

-Bring dashi stock to boil in a saucepan.

-Turn the heat off and add curry cubes in, gently stir until completed melted.

-Turn on the heat again, add udon noodles and crayfish tails in, mix well with curry soup and cook over low heat for a further 1 minute. (add more stock if you think the soup is too thick.)

-Top with spring onions and serve hot immediately.

咖哩真的是一個可以充滿變化的食材，而且不管是配飯、配麵、配烤餅都很百搭，尤其是遇到等不及煮飯的時候，直接快煮一鍋高湯然後丟入咖哩塊，最後再跟烏龍麵以及其他燙熟的配料拌一拌，熱騰騰的咖哩湯麵就能快速上桌。

Speedy Kimchi Jjigae / Kimchi Stew 韓式泡菜鍋(快速版)

Kimchi Jjigae (or Kimchi Stew) is my quick fix for chili weather especially when I have a jar of kimchi in the fridge. I originally followed an easy recipe by Chef Paek Jong-Won (His YouTube link here) but then I’ve made it my way with ingredients that I can easily get from the UK’s supermarkets. (I know Ajumma Republic gochujang and kimchi are available at Sainsbury's) Don’t always have Korean chilli flakes/powders so I usually use gochujang and soy sauce mixture to make the broth flavourlful with extra umami. Piquant, hearty, full of flavour, Kimchi Jjigae is surely great for cold winter days but you can also enjoy at any time. Just take a spoon of soup along with kimchi and meat and pour over with the rice, trust me, it’s so appetizing and you would eat more rice than usual to extend the flavour.

 

Ingredients

-100-150g Kimchi, cut into bit-size pieces. (Make sure it’s sour! you can’t make good Kimchi Jjigae if kimchi is not sour enough.)

-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped.

-3-4 pieces firm tofu steaks or cubes. (I used Cauldron tofu.)

-5 pieces pork belly slices. (sometimes I even used thinly sliced streaky bacon.)

-1 & 1/2 cups of stock. (prefer fish or mushroom stock)

-1 egg (I used Clarence Court egg)

-A handful enoki mushrooms and pak choi (optional)

-Chopped spring onions and white sesame seeds to garnish.

 

Sauce mixture for soup

-1 tbsp gochujang.

-1 tbsp soy sauce.

-1 tsp fish sauce.

-1 tsp sugar.

 

Method

-Heat stock in a saucepan over medium high heat, once it starts to boil, add kimchi, pork slices, garlic, enoki mushrooms, and pak choi to cook for 5 minutes.

-Whisk in sauce mixture, cover a lid and gently simmer for 5 minutes.

-Add tofu steaks and simmer for another 10 minutes.

-Crack a fresh egg on top, garnish with chopped spring onions and white sesame seeds, serve immediately with rice.

 

我一開始煮泡菜鍋的時候，都只是傻傻的把泡菜跟高湯一起煮，甚麼也沒加，當時覺得味道超淡的，後來才知道要先炒泡菜跟豬肉再加高湯，也從YT上學到白鐘元老師的快速泡菜鍋作法，現在則幾乎都是參照這種煮小火鍋的方式煮泡菜鍋，我雖然沒有用韓國辣椒粉，但我會在高湯內加韓國辣椒醬、醬油、一點糖、跟魚露增加風味，我覺得湯頭也一樣好喝；然後煮泡菜鍋的泡菜真的是要用那種放很久、酸度比較明顯的，之前曾用過新開封的泡菜，但煮起來的味道就是比較不夠。另一個TIP是說可以用洗米水來煮，據說這樣煮出來的湯頭會比較濃厚，不知道有人有試過這個撇步嗎?

Taiwanese Fan Tuan Rice Roll 台式早餐飯糰

Breakfast food in Taiwan is diverse with so many options that you can choose, from traditional ones to western fusion, there are way too many to introduce one by one. And speaking of my favourie Taiwanese breakfast, Fan Tuan飯糰, known as Rice Roll or Rice Ball, is definitely on my top 3 list. Fan Tuan is classic Taiwanese breakfast food made with glutinous sticky rice (white or purple) stuffed with fillings including You Tiao油條, Meat Floss肉鬆, and Pickles. (Sometimes with egg, different types of your choice.) In Taiwan, you can always spot small food carts selling freshly made Fan Tuan in the early morning around the neighboured street, so people can buy and eat it on the go to school or work.

 

Since I bought a box of frozen You Tiao earlier on, I’ve decided to use it making Taiwanese Fan Tuan today. Despite this You Tiao (from a Chinese brand I never know) doesn’t taste exactly the same as Taiwanese You Tiao, it still worked. Having Fan Tuan just made me feel having a great start of the day, it’s absolutely delicious and keeping me full in the morning.

 

My fillings for Fan Tuan

-You Tiao

-Pollock floss

-Takana/Pickled mustard leaves from Yutaka 

-Spring onion egg omelette.

 

Also here are my tips to cook glutinous sticky rice

-The ratio of sticky rice and water is 1:0.6.

-No need to soak in water before cooking.

I’ve used above method to steam sticky rice for many times and it’s always being cooked perfectly.

 

之前買的一盒冷凍油條，前陣子開封了兩條拿來配稀飯，今天決定再繼續用油條來做台式飯糰，我還煞有其事的找了一條全新的抹布把它套進塑膠袋，想要效仿台灣早餐店包飯糰的方式，無奈我我手勁不夠大，飯糰壓好久才成型，而且最後變得好大一團，雖然這個油條的口感不太像台灣的油條(我買的這款口感很像雙胞胎)，但包了肉鬆跟酸菜的糯米飯糰吃起來還是讓人感動得想哭，再配上一杯冰豆漿，真的有瞬間回到台灣傳統早餐店的感覺。

Beef Stir-Fry Noodles 牛肉炒麵

 

Beef Ho Fun used to be one of my favourite takeaway dishes from Cantonese restaurant. During the lockdown every time when I wanted to make it at home, I realised I didn't stock up Ho Fun at all. And one day I was really craving for it, therefore I just worked it out with noodles and it was actually amazingly delicious. I’ve followed 小高姐’s tips to marinate beef this time and the result came out really good, the meat was smoothly tender. I can say this is my best beef stir-fry noodles so far and could become my all time favourite.

Ingredients

-100g brown rice udon noodles from Clearspring

(don’t know why this product is called ‘’udon’’ as for me it is apparently noodles, not udon noodles. However this is delicious with lovely texture, and thick enough in terms of noodles.)

-100g beef rib, slice into 2-3mm thickness.

-1/2 onion, cut into strips.

-1/2 bunch spring onions, cut into lengths.

-Chilli oil to taste.

 

To make sauce mixture

-2 tbsp soy sauce

-1 tsp dark soy sauce.

-2 tbsp oyster sauce.

 

To marinate beef

-Soak beef in salted water (500g water + 8g salt) for 15 minutes.

-Wash blood off and rinse thoroughly until water runs clear, squeeze beef to drain all the water.

-Combine 1g baking soda, 1g white pepper, and 5g soy sauce together, mix well to marinate beef.

-Add a bit of flour slurry and oil to coat the beef thoroughly before cooking. (this step will give the meat a velvety texture.)

 

You can check 小高姐’s tips to tenderise beef for stir-fry here. It’s in Chinese but easy to understand by simply watching it. (Or there’s an option at Youtube to select English subtitles.)

Method

-Follow the instruction of package to cook noodles in boiling water but reduce 2 minutes at cooking time (If it said simmer for 9 minutes then just cook for 7 minutes.), then set noodles aside.

-Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat, stir fry beef for about 2-3 minutes until medium rare, remove the beef and set aside for later.

-Clean out the pan and heat oil again over medium high heat, stir fry onions until browned and soften.

-Add noodles and sauce mixture, toss until noodles are evenly coated.

-Add beef and part of spring onions, stir fry everything together.

-Add remaining spring onions and keep tossing for a further 30 seconds.

-Drizzle some chilli oil to taste (optional), serve hot.

 

本來想要做乾炒河粉，但家裡沒有河粉，只好換成陽春麵，自己覺得多了些台灣快炒店的味道，然後以前對於炒牛肉感到略為苦手的我，這次參照了小高姐的撇步，牛肉在事前用鹽水泡、以及加入少量蘇打粉增加肉質的嫩滑度，果然炒出來的牛肉超級軟嫩、不老不柴，完全可以媲美餐廳的等級。還有這個在英國超市買的玄米麵條煮起來也超好吃，不知道它為什麼標榜自己是烏龍麵(包裝上寫Udon Noodles)，總之煮完的麵條就如同家常麵般些微厚實且帶有勁道的，我覺得比我平日在亞洲超市買的陽春麵還好吃，滿值得購入的。

Crispy Sesame Tofu 酥脆芝麻豆腐

 

Seeing a lot of my Instagram fellows doing Veganuary this month, I don’t think I am ready to go vegetarian or vegan over a long period, but I am having vegetarian days twice a lunar month and it has lasted for nearly two years. Today happens to be my vegetarian day (the first day of December in lunar calendar), usually I would eat something simple but today I’ve decided to put on more efforts cooking something different and contribute a vegan dish for Veganuary. Therefore I made crispy sesame tofu, it tasted very crunchy outside with sesame’s nutty smell and flavour, tofu inside, of course, was smooth and soft. Such a great taste to dip/glaze with sweet-soy sauce and perfect to pair with rice.

 

Ingredients

-Firm tofu (press tofu to drain moisture for 1 hour, you can watch my Reels here : how to press tofu without a press)

-White sesame seeds.

-Plain flour and water to make a thin batter. (I don't have precise measurement, just add flour into water little by little and whisk until it is the consistency that will coat the back of a spoon.)

-Chopped spring onions to garnish.

 

To make sesame tofu

Adapted by Cauldron Foods recipe created by Ching He Huang , here is how I made it:

-Cut pressed tofu into bite-size cubes.

-Dip tofu cubes into the batter.

-Coat each side of tofu with white sesame seeds.

-Heat sunflower oil in a pan over high heat, stick the end of a wooden chopstick into the oil, when you see many bubbles float up and form around the chopstick, then it's ready for frying.

-Shallow fry the tofu cubes in batches, turn over until each side is golden brown.

-Drain fried tofu on kitchen paper for a few minutes.

-Drizzle some sweet-soy sauce and garnish with spring onions, serve with rice immediately. 

To make sweet-soy sauce to dip

-1 tbsp sugar.

-1&1/2 tbsp soy sauce.

-1 tbsp water.

-1 tbsp ketchup.

-1 tsp vinegar

-2 tbsp flour slurry (mix equal parts of plain flour and cold water) to thicken the sauce.

-Mix above (except flour slurry) and heat in a small pan over medium heat, bring it to a boil and add flour slurry, then stir and simmer until thicken.

 

平常吃素的日子都吃得比較隨便，今天倒是想要稍微用點心料理一番，從早上就開始壓豆腐壓了一個小時，切成丁的豆腐塊再一個一個裹上麵糊沾白芝麻粒，用平底鍋煎炸至每一面都金黃酥脆再起鍋。雖然每次都覺得要裹粉炸東西好麻煩，但熱騰騰的煎炸芝麻豆腐吃起來表皮香酥美味，外脆內軟，咬下去還散發出濃郁的芝麻香氣，為了這個芝麻豆腐我以後可以稍微麻煩一點沒關係，(一天)不吃肉也沒有關係。

Butter Chicken 奶油雞咖哩

Speaking of curry, I always eat or cook Japanese one as Japanese curry is what I used to have since I grew up, therefore I used curry cubes quite often at cooking rather than curry powder. However when Bang Curry kindly sent me their two 100% natural spice kits, I was very excited to try it out as I never ever thought about using curry powder like this before. After searching a couple of recipes, I decided to go for Butter Chicken with their Naga Bang spice. The result was great, it’s full of aromatic spices and flavour. Noted this chilli spice is vegan but also works quite well with meat for sure. Adapted from Masa's recipe, here’s how I made this Butter Chicken:

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐞

-2 boneless skin-on chicken thighs, chop into bite-sized pieces.

-100g natural yogurt.

-1 tbsp Naga Bang spice. (Gifted product from Bang Curry)

Mix above together in a medium bowl, cover and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐲

-25g unsalted butter.

-1 tbsp minced ginger.

-1 tbsp minced garlic.

-2 tbsp Naga Bang spice.

-2 tbsp sun-dried tomato tapenade.

-1 cup water.

-1 tsp soy sauce.

-A handful of coriander, finely chopped.

𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝

-Heat butter in a pan, add ginger and garlic, stir fry over medium low heat for 3 minutes.

-Add curry spice, stir fry until fragrant.

-Add tomato tapenade and water, stir well and cook for 5 minutes.

-Add marinated chicken (including any remaining marinade sauce in the bowl), let it cook for 5 minutes and simmer in low heat for a further 10 minutes.

-Add soy sauce to give it an umami taste.

-Sprinkle coriander and serve with rice.

前陣子收到Bang Curry寄來的兩份咖哩粉包，平常都是用慣日式咖哩塊的我，因為從沒用過咖哩粉所以還特別上網找相關食譜(但其實包裝上就有簡易的調理說明，直接粉加水就可以了)，最後是參考了MASA老師的食譜做了奶油雞肉咖哩，我使用的是帶有辣味的Naga Bang粉包，最後煮出來的風味相當濃郁，加上料理過程中加了優格跟蕃茄泥，所以呈現出的咖哩是很溫和的辣度；從沒嘗試過印度料理的我，現在也算收了一道印度咖哩食譜了。

Taiwanese Three Cup Whelk Meat 三杯炒螺肉

‘San Bei’ (三杯), or ‘Three Cup’ is a very classic Taiwanese cuisine recipe which refers to the equal parts of three key ingredients : Soy sauce, rice cooking wine, and sesame oil. Most of you might have heard about ‘San Bei Ji’ (三杯雞) aka ‘Three Cup Chicken’, but San Bei, or Three Cup sauce, could be cooked with prawns, tofu, mushrooms…and other ingredients as well. Earlier on I made San Bei with whelk meat (三杯炒螺肉), a common dish that you can see at hot stir-fries restaurants in Taiwan. Whelk meat is chewy at bite size so Three Cup Whelk is recognized as one of the most popular stir-fry cuisines in Taiwan to go with beers. Having this dish also brought me back to Taiwanese stir-fries restaurant, it’s loud, cheap, fast-paced and delicious, a spirit of Taiwanese food culture I really miss. Do you also know any other San Bei/Three Cup dishes?

 

Here is how I made my 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐩 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐤 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐭:

 

𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬
-Whelk meat, 150g. (I bought from Treestone Butchers)
-Bird’s eye chili, sliced lengthwise. (if you don’t want it too spicy, soak sliced chilies into cold water to get most the seeds off)
-Minced ginger, 1 tsp.
-4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced.

-Small handful of coriander.

𝐓𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐚𝐮𝐜𝐞
-Rice cooking wine or Shaoxing cooking wine, 4 tbsp.
-Soy sauce, 4 tbsp.
-Sesame oil, 4 tbsp.
-Sugar, 1 tbsp.
-Mix above thoroughly until sugar is dissolved.

𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝
-Cook whelk meat in boiling salted water for about 3 minutes and then set aside. Do not overcook otherwise the meat would taste rubbery.

-Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat, add ginger and garlic to cook until fragrant and slightly brown.
-Pour Three Cup sauce mixture and reduce the heat to a low simmer for about 3 minutes.
-Turn up the heat again, add whelk meat, chilies, and coriander, stir around about 3 minutes.
-Turn off the heat and serve immediately with rice.

台式三杯醬汁除了可以拿來煮常見的三杯雞，也可以料理其他食材，前陣子就煮了三杯螺肉，有瞬間回到台灣熱炒店的感覺。你們覺得還可以用三杯做甚麼其他料理呢？

Congee Breakfast for New Year's Day

‘𝐘𝐮𝐚𝐧 𝐃𝐚𝐧’ 元旦 is the phrase in Mandarin Chinese to call the first day of New Year. Considering the first day of the year, I always like to have myself a proper breakfast or brunch to greet the start of New Year. And ‘𝐗𝐢 𝐅𝐚𝐧’ 稀飯, or Congee in English, is a comfy food to have when sickness but also could be served for breakfast, particularly when you need handover cure the morning after New Year’s eve celebration.

 

In Taiwan, we usually have plain congee with a couple of side dishes. The ratio of rice and liquid could be altered depending on your desired consistency. Here is how I made my congee breakfast:

 

𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: (Serving 2-3)

-Short grain rice 150g.

-Water 900g.

My ratio of rice and water is 1:6, congee becomes neither too watery nor too thick. You can also adjust the amount of water to suit your preference.

 

𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝:

-Rinse rice 2-3 times and drain, then add 900g water at once and cook in a large pot over medium high heat. (no need to soak rice before cooking, also stir occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.)

-Bring to a nearly boil and reduce the heat to a low simmer, cook for 20 minutes.

-Turn off the heat and leave it for a further 10 minutes.

-Serve in a smaller ceramic pot or a bowl, enjoy with side dishes and toppings.

 

𝐌𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬:

-Soft boiled egg (egg from Clarence Court)

-‘You Tiao’油條/ Fried dough sticks.

-Taiwanese pickled bamboo shoots.

-Pollock floss.

-Takana / Pickled mustard leaves from Yutaka.

-Chopped spring onions and fried onions to garnish.

-Soy sauce and sesame oil to season.