Zero Waste Veggie Broth 自製零浪費蔬菜高湯

I first saw Chef James and Chez Jorge using vegetable odds to make their own broth and found it’s such a cool idea to use up the vegetable waste. So, I’ve started to collect and gather my vegetable scraps in freezer until I have enough to make the veggie broth. This is super easy, flexible and customizable as you can change the amount of vegetable scraps and mixtures. I believe it’s also much cheaper and better than store bought, so why not getting the most out of your food ingredients and making your own veggie broth?

 

The vegetable scraps I collect

-Onion skins & ends

-Carrot tops

-Celery old pieces

-Spring onion trimmings

-Discarded ginger

 

Basically, the onions, carrots and celery would give the broth a very nice aromatic base when ginger would land a spicy flavour, so try to tweak the balance of these scraps, the flavour really depends on what exactly you are putting.

 

The method

-Gather the vegetable scraps and throw into a large pot.

-Pour in enough water to cover vegetable scraps, bring it to a boil and simmer for 1 hour.

-Cool it down, strain the scraps and collect the liquid.

 

To me the broth tastes bland but full of aroma. It’s up to you to season with salt but I prefer unsalted so the taste can be adjusted later to whatever I decide to cook.

 

I have also made a video, you can check it out to see how I made it:

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Taiwanese Rice Noodles Soup 台式米粉湯

Probably not the best known, but Taiwanese Rice Noodles Soup (台式米粉湯) is another significant Taiwanese dish which is supper common in Taiwan from breakfast shops to local night markets. This is also a common home dish that every Taiwanese family would have their own recipe. Taiwanese rice noodles soup could be very simple with fewer ingredients, but today I would like to do a sumptuous version to make it full of umami and Taiwanese flavour. This is what I called a hearty nostalgic reminder of my Taiwanese home.

 

Ingredients

-2 raw squid tubes, cut into pieces.

-2-3 ginger slices, cut into matchstick-sized pieces.

-3-5 tbsp rice cooking wine.

Marinate squid and ginger in rice wine for 15 minutes.

 

Other ingredients

-2 packs of rice noodles, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes, drain and set aside.

-3-5 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in 1 cup water until soften, drain and cut into thin strips. Keep shiitake soaking water.

-2 tbsp dried shrimps, soaked in 1 cup water until soften, drain and keep shrimps soaking water.

-1 cup of water.

-1 celery stick, lightly peeled off the strings and finely chopped.

-3-4 pieces Chinese leaves, cut into strips.

-Finely chopped chives.

-Finely chopped spring onions.

-1 tbsp sea salt.

-1 tbsp fish sauce.

-1 tsp white pepper.

-Fried shallots or fried onions to garnish.

 

Method

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat, stir fry Chinese leaves, shiitake mushrooms, spring onions, dried shrimps, celery and chives until soften and fragrant.

2. Pour shiitake and shrimps soaking water and 1 cup of water, bring it to a boil and reduce the heat, simmer for 5 minutes, season with salt and fish sauce.

3. Add rice noodles, cook for 2-3 minutes.

4. Add squid, ginger and soaking rice wine, cook for a further 1-2 minutes.

5. Serve into noodle bowls, add white pepper and sprinkle with fried shallots.

 

 

本來想做小卷米粉，但最後又演變成料很多的豪華版本，雖然英國買得到米粉，但有時還是會很想念充滿家鄉味的粗米粉，有人也跟我一樣是喜歡吃粗米粉的嗎？

Taiwanese Ma You Ji / Sesame Oil Chicken Stew 麻油雞

You might already hear about Taiwanese San Bei Ji (Three Cup Chicken) and today I want to introduce another Taiwanese iconic dish - Ma You Ji, literally Sesame Oil chicken Stew. In Taiwan, this dish is not only a winter warmer but also a common traditional postpartum or post-surgery meal to help heal the body. The key ingredients of Ma You Ji are chicken, ginger, sesame oil, and rice cooking wine; according to Taiwanese tradition, sesame oil, ginger, and rice wine are recognized as ‘’hot food’’ and chicken as ‘’warm food’’ to bring heat and warm to the body. (This is not determined by food’s temperature but by the effects after consumption.) Some people don’t even add any water when cooking Ma You Ji, but the ratio of rice wine and water is certainly adjustable to suit your preference; alcohol content will be evaporated during cooking process anyway and transfer to sweet flavour. Ma You Ji can be simply served as soup, and is also perfect to pair with rice or vermicelli like what I cooked this time.

 

Ingredients

-250g chicken wings.

-6-10 pieces thinly ginger slices.

-250 ml rice wine

-250 ml water.

-A handful goji berries, soaked in rice wine.

-A pinch of salt to taste.

-3 tbsp sesame oil.

 

Method

-Heat a pan over medium high heat, add chicken wings (skin side down), stir fry for a while until fat released.

-Add ginger slices, keep stirring until fragrant and dried.

-Add rice wine, water, and salt, bring it to boil and then simmer over medium low heat for 30 minutes, cover with a lid.

-When time is up, add 2 tbsp sesame oil and cook for a further 3 minutes.

-Turn off the heat, add the remaining 1 tbsp sesame oil and goji berries.

 

Important note to make Ma You Ji

Sesame oil has low smoke point, frying it over high heat will give it burnt easily with bitter taste, therefore I would suggest to add sesame oil at last steps so you can still enjoy its aromatic nutty flavour.

冬天就是要喝一碗熱騰騰的麻油雞湯！這次很豪氣的下了半罐酒去煮，果然湯頭的酒味就很濃郁啊，喝了這一碗真的是全身都暖和起來了。

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?

Easy Laksa at Home in 15 minutes. 速成叻沙咖哩湯麵

 

Do you like Laksa ?

Laksa is an iconic Malaysian coconut curry soup with rich, fragrant, and flavoured broth. I always wanted to try making Laksa but felt it’s not an easy job as it requires a lot of spices and ingredients from scratch. However, when I saw Marion's Kitchen simply using Thai red curry paste, curry powder, and coconut milk to cook Laksa soup in 15 minutes, I think I might be able to make it as well ! The result is way better than I expected, and this easy quick Laksa recipe is definitely a game changer. Adapted from Marion’s Kitchen, I made my Laksa with these ingredients :

 

𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 :

-45g Red curry paste from Bart

-200 ml coconut milk.

-200 ml dashi stock.

-20g curry powder. (I grated from Japanese curry cube.)

-Vegan soya balls. (or any fish balls your preferred.)

-Boiled egg.

-Prawns.

-Tofu, cut into cubes.

-Fish sauce

-Sugar.

-Enoki mushrooms, pre-cooked in a boiling water.

-Spring onions, chopped.

-Sprouts.

-Lime, sliced.

 

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 :

-Oven cook frozen soya balls for 12-15 minutes. (Preheat oven, 220°C/follow the instruction on the package)

-Meanwhile heat 2 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan over medium high heat, add red curry paste and stir until fragrant.

-Add curry powder and keep stirring for 1-2 minutes.

-Add coconut milk and dashi stock, cook for 5 minutes.

-Add tofu and prawns in, simmer under low heat for a further few minutes until everything is cooked.

-Add fish sauce and sugar to taste.

-Serve it over noodles and top with cooked enoki mushrooms, soya balls, sprouts, egg, lime, and spring onions.

說到馬來西亞的美食，你想到的是哪一道呢？我的話叻沙絕對是其一，不過之前都沒有嘗試自己煮過，因為印象中叻沙需要很多辛香料(可能有些在英國也不好找)，後來剛好在網路上看到Marion’s Kitchen的15分鐘叻沙食譜，基本上只需要泰式紅咖哩醬、咖哩粉、椰奶，就能快速調成八九分像的叻沙咖哩湯，於是我便參照做法，順便消耗S&B的咖哩塊(因為沒有咖哩粉，我就直接磨手邊的日式咖哩塊。另外雖說S&B是日本的牌子，在英國超市就可以買得到，但我覺得它沒有House的咖哩塊好吃耶，有人也這麼覺得嗎？)，煮出來的湯真的就是叻沙欸，覺得自己又收了一道湯麵料理，這個食譜真的很推薦喔。

Suan La Fen / Hot & Sour Noodles Soup 酸辣粉 (蒟蒻麵版本)

 

Suan La Fen (酸辣粉) is famous Szechuan-style hot and sour noodles soup that consists of spicy, sour, and umami flavours along with noodles and different ingredients. Before I always had instant noodles version, but it turns out making Suan La Fen at home is not as difficult as you thought.

𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 :

-3 cloves garlic, chopped.

-Chilli flakes, 1 tbsp.

-Salt, 1/2 tsp.

-White pepper, 1/2 tsp.

-Sugar, 1 tsp.

-Soy sauce, 2 tbsp.

-Vinegar, 2 tbsp.

-Sesame oil, 1 tbsp.

-Stock, 2 & 1/2 cups. (Chicken, beef, or vegetable one. If not, boiling water is also okay.)

 

𝐓𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐮𝐚𝐧 𝐋𝐚 𝐅𝐞𝐧 :

-Mix garlic, chilli flakes, salt, white pepper in a heat-resistant bowl.

-Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan until shimmering and smoking slightly, pour over the above mixed ingredients to sizzle with fragrance.

-Stir the sizzling ingredients, add sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil.

-Heat the stock and pour the hot stock into the bowl and mix well.

Once the soup is done, you can add the cooked noodles, top with chopped spring onions and roasted peanuts. My version was also within prawns and fried tofu sheets. Usually Szechuan Suan La Fen comes with glass noodles, but I used shirataki/konjac noodles as a low-calorie alternative which was also tasty.