Best Of Chinese Cuisine: Home Style giá ưu đãi

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Soups

Fish & Seafood

Meat & Poultry

Vegetables & Bean Curd

Rice &Noodles

Snacks & Desserts

Basic Recipes

Glossary

Weights & Measures

Crispy Prawn Balls with Cheese

Serves 4

Spinach leaves a handful

Prawns (shrimps) 80 g (3 oz)

Cheddar cheese 4 small cubes, each about 20 g ( 2/3 oz)

Cooking oil for deep-frying

Sliced white bread 6 slices, crust removed and cut into small cubes

SEASONING (COMBINED)

Salt 1/4 tsp

Sugar 1/2 tsp

Sesame oil 1/2 tsp

Egg white 1/2

Corn flour (cornstarch) 1/4 tsp

Ground white pepper 1/2 tsp

1. Bring a pot of water to the boil and blanch spinach leaves until just wilted. Drain well, then mince.

2. Peel and devein prawns. Rinse, then chop using the spine of a cleaver until mixture is pasty. Mix prawn paste with spinach and ingredients for seasoning. Divide mixture into 8 portions.

3. Roll each portion into a ball, then press a cube of cheese into each ball. Reshape balls to enclose cheese.

4. Heat oil for deep-frying over medium heat.

5. Coat prawn balls with bread cubes, pressing gently so bread sticks to prawn balls. Deep-fry in batches over medium heat until golden brown and crisp. Takes about 3 minutes.

6. Drain well and serve hot.

NOTE It will be easier to slice the bread into small cubes if it is frozen beforehand.

Lily Bulb, Asparagus, Black Fungus & Gingko Nut Stir-fry

Serves 4

Black fungus 10 g (1/3 oz), soaked in water for 1 hour

Green asparagus 300 g (11 oz), cut into pieces

Ready-prepared or canned gingko nuts 50 g (12/3 oz)

Fresh lily bulbs 100 g (31/2 oz) Cooking oil 1 Tbsp

Corn flour (corn starch) 1/2 tsp, mixed with 2 tsp water

Chinese wolfberries 2 tsp, soaked in water for 10 minutes

GINGER JUICE

Ginger 50 g (12/3 oz), peeled and chopped

Water 100 ml (31/2 fl oz)

SEASONING

Chicken stock (page 159) or water 4 Tbsp

Salt 1/2 tsp

Sugar 1/2 tsp

Sesame oil a dash

Chinese cooking wine (hua diao) a dash

1. Prepare ginger juice. Put ginger and water in a blender and process. Strain. Measure out 1/2 tsp and mix with other ingredients for seasoning. Set aside. (It is difficult to prepare a smaller amount of ginger juice using the blender, so use the remaining ginger juice to flavour other dishes.)

2. Put soaked black fungus in a bowl and cover with hot water. Steam for 30 minutes until soft.

3. Bring a pot of water to the boil and poach asparagus, gingko nuts and lily bulbs for about 20 seconds. Drain and set aside.

4. Heat oil in a wok and add black fungus, asparagus, gingko nuts and lily bulbs and stir-fry until fragrant. Add ingredients for seasoning, then stir in corn flour mixture to thicken sauce.

5. Dish out and garnish with wolfberries. Serve hot.

Foreword

When Sam asked me to write the foreword to this cookbook, I was only too glad to say yes. I have known Sam for more than 10 years and seen him grow from a young, earnest chef into today’s celebrity masterchef. Yet in that time, one thing has never changed. He has always remained totally committed to his profession, challenging himself to continually come up with new ideas and standards.

Yet, as his professional stature rises, he has remained humble and affable. So this cookbook featuring recipes for everyday Chinese dishes best represents the Sam Leong I know: a man who is firmly rooted to his simple beginnings even though he now stands tall as one of Singapore’s top chefs.

Unlike many celebrity chef cookbooks that serve better as trophies on a bookshelf because the recipes are too impractical for the home chef, this book is definitely one that will be well-thumbed. Dishes featured are designed for the home dinner table and can be whipped up easily in a home kitchen. And yet, they bear the imprint of a top-class chef.

The recipes speak from the heart, they speak of warmth and sincerity. This is a cookbook that anyone would be proud to have his name attached to. And one that everyone will be happy to keep.

Straits Times restaurant critic