Fish Head Tofu Soup
【Main Ingredient】Fish head
【Secondary Ingredients】1 block of tofu, half a white radish, several scallions, 1 piece of ginger, half a garlic bulb
【Cooking Method】
Step 1. Cut the tofu into slices (a bit thicker), slice the white radish thinly, slice the ginger, and cut the garlic into slices; set aside for later use.
Step 2. Heat up the pot, turn off the heat, and wipe the inside walls of the pot with 1-2 slices of ginger.
Step 3 & 4. Light the fire, pour in an appropriate amount of oil, and once heated, add the ginger slices, garlic slices, and scallion whites to stir-fry until fragrant. Then add the fish head and fry until both sides are slightly golden.
Step 5 & 6. After frying the fish head, pour in an appropriate amount of boiling water (enough to cover the fish head) and bring it to a boil over high heat.
Step 7 & 8. Once boiling, use chopsticks to evenly place the white radish slices and tofu into the pot. Bring it to a boil again, then switch to medium-low heat, add an appropriate amount of salt, and continue stewing for about 10 minutes until the tofu and radish are thoroughly cooked. Add a small half spoonful of cooking wine, sprinkle with scallions, and cook for another half minute before serving.
【Helpful Tips】
1. Wiping the hot pot with ginger slices can effectively prevent the fish skin from sticking. Additionally, when frying the fish head, start with the side that has the fish eyes facing up to avoid the cold fish eyes encountering hot oil and splattering, causing injury.
2. Switching to low heat after the soup boils and adding a few drops of cooking wine can make the soup whiter and more flavorful.
3. Due to our limited appetite and the large size of the fish head, only half of the fish head was used for this meal. Adjust the quantity based on the size of the purchased fish head and added secondary ingredients.
Winter Melon Spare Ribs Soup
【Main Ingredients】500g winter melon, 600g spare ribs
【Secondary Ingredients】1 piece of ginger, 15 Sichuan peppercorns
【Cooking Method】
Step 1 & 2. Peel and seed the winter melon, wash it, and cut it into blocks approximately 5mm thick. Do not cut too thin to avoid breaking easily. Slice the ginger and set aside.
Step 3. Prepare a pot of boiling water, add the spare ribs, and boil for about 3 minutes. Remove, rinse with water, and drain (the purpose is to remove blood water and deodorize).
Step 4. Place the spare ribs, ginger slices, and Sichuan peppercorns into the stew pot, add water (slightly higher than the ingredients), and begin stewing.
Step 5 & 6. After one hour, add the winter melon cubes and season with an appropriate amount of salt. Continue stewing for about half an hour until the winter melon is thoroughly cooked.
【Taste How?】
The winter melon is soft, sweet, and flavorful. The soup is light yet savory, making it comfortable and soothing to drink.
Pan-Fried Pork Belly with Potato Slices
【Main Ingredients】3 potatoes, a small piece of pork belly
【Secondary Ingredients】4 long green peppers, 1 head of garlic, a small piece of ginger, 5 dried red chili peppers, 2 star anise, an appropriate amount of Sichuan peppercorns, a little bit of scallions
【Cooking Method】
Step 1. Peel the potatoes and slice them (approximately 2-3mm thickness). Cut the pork belly into thin slices. Rinse the potato slices twice in clear water and drain, setting them aside for later use.
Step 2. Remove the stems from the long green peppers and cut them into circles horizontally. Finely chop the garlic, shred the ginger, and mince the dried chili peppers.
Step 3 & 4. In a non-stick pan, add a small spoonful of oil (normal small spoon measurement). Evenly place the pork belly slices into the pan and stir-fry over medium heat until the slices curl slightly and become transparent and slightly yellow.
Step 5. Add the garlic slices, ginger shreds, dried chili pepper bits, and star anise into the pan and stir-fry for one minute.
Step 6. Add the potato slices and long green peppers, season with an appropriate amount of salt, and stir-fry evenly.
Step 7 & 8. After stir-frying the potato slices for about two minutes, add a large spoonful of beef sauce and continue stir-frying for 3-5 minutes until the potato slices soften and the edges turn slightly golden brown. Before removing from the pan, sprinkle with a little bit of scallions and black pepper powder.
【Helpful Tips】
1. Wash the pork belly and wrap it with cling film, place it in the freezer to harden slightly before cutting, which will make it easier to cut into thin slices. Cutting into thin slices helps quickly extract the oil from the pork belly and enhances the flavor.
2. Rinsing the potato slices twice in clear water removes excess starch, effectively preventing the slices from sticking together and avoiding sticking to the pan.
3. The long green peppers have been used in recent dishes, but they are not necessary. It's just a personal taste preference. Feel free to adjust according to your own family's taste.
Green Pepper Shredded Potato
【Ingredients】1 large potato
【Seasonings】2 green peppers, 3 cloves of garlic, 5 dried red chili peppers, an appropriate amount of Sichuan peppercorns
【Cooking Method】
Step 1 & 2. Peel the potato, cut it into thin shreds, and place a large bowl of water next to you while cutting. Cut a little at a time and immediately place it into the water to prevent discoloration. Rinse the potato shreds 3-4 times until the water becomes clear. This is done to remove excess starch, which is one of the key points to maintaining the crisp texture of the potato shreds.
Cut the green peppers into thin shreds, cut the dried red chili peppers diagonally into strips, and finely chop the garlic.
Mix 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of chili paste, 2 tablespoons of vinegar, an appropriate amount of salt, and black pepper powder to prepare the seasoning mixture.
Step 3 & 4. Heat an appropriate amount of oil in the pot, add the Sichuan peppercorns, stir-fry until fragrant, then turn off the heat and remove the Sichuan peppercorns. Turn the heat back on and stir-fry the green pepper strips, red chili strips, and garlic.
When the green peppers are stir-fried until just cooked, add the drained potato shreds and quickly stir-fry, pouring in a spatula of vinegar (about one and a half tablespoons). Pouring vinegar as soon as the potato shreds are added is the second key point to maintaining the crisp texture of the potato shreds.
After pouring the vinegar, add the prepared seasoning mixture and quickly stir-fry for 2 minutes until the potatoes are cooked. Preparing all the seasonings beforehand saves time in the pot, which is the third key point to maintaining the crisp texture of the potato shreds.
Fragrant Vegetable Pancake
【Ingredients】Half an onion, half a cabbage, two red peppers, three eggs, a pack of pickled mustard greens
【Secondary Ingredients】A handful of scallions, four or five garlic cloves, an appropriate amount of flour
【Cooking Method】Today I'm going all out, challenging myself! Super detailed steps to test everyone's patience!! Let's look at the three stages of the Fragrant Vegetable Pancake production line!!
First Stage: Processing of Raw Materials
The following strictly adheres to the basic principle of speaking through pictures:
1. Prepare the required materials, which can be freely combined according to personal preferences. We happened to have these vegetables in our fridge, so...
I made it for two people, but by the end, I still felt a little hungry... You can adjust the quantity according to your own appetite.
2. Cut the onion horizontally, reserve a few rings, and finely chop the remaining onion.
3. Finely chop the pickled mustard greens, red peppers, cabbage, scallions, and garlic. Beat the eggs.
4. Add an appropriate amount of flour and a little water to the beaten eggs and mix evenly. It is recommended not to make it too runny. If you have patience, sift the flour a little at a time into the egg mixture using a sieve. The flour won't clump, and the texture will be finer... Of course, I didn't use a sieve.
Second Stage: Stir-frying the Ingredients and Mixing the Batter
1 and 2. Add a little oil to the wok, stir-fry the garlic until fragrant, then add the chopped onion, cabbage, pickled mustard greens, and red pepper to stir-fry.
3 and 4. Pour the stir-fried vegetables into the egg batter, add scallions, remaining garlic, a little salt, black pepper, and mix evenly.
Third Stage: Frying the Pancakes and Smelling the Aroma
1 and 2. Add a little oil to the non-stick pan (really just a little, because oil was already added when stir-frying the vegetables. I didn't think of this at first, so the first batch seemed to have a bit too much oil, but the next two batches were improved). Sprinkle a little scallion, place the onion rings, pour the egg mixture into the onion rings, and start frying over low heat.
3 and 4. When the egg mixture is initially poured into the pan, do not rush to move the onion rings. Wait until it is basically set, then use chopsticks to lift the onion rings aside and start a new round of mold tasks. Once the pancake is set, flip and fry until both sides are golden brown... Why is this called the "smell aroma stage"? Because at this step, the aroma of onions, eggs mixed with vegetables begins to spread...
The first pancake is out of the pan!!
Red Sugar Apple Silver Ear Soup
【Main Ingredients】80g silver ear fungus, 1 apple
【Secondary Ingredients】50g red sugar (I used Yunnan native yuanbao red sugar, regular red sugar works fine)
【Cooking Method】
Step 1 & 2. Soak the silver ear fungus in clear water for about 4 hours until fully expanded. Remove the base and rinse off impurities, tear into small pieces, place in the electric pot, and add 1500ml of water to stew.
Step 3 & 4. When the silver ear fungus becomes sticky, peel and core the apple, cut it into thin slices, and add it along with the red sugar to the pot. Continue stewing for 20 minutes until the apple slices soften.
【How Does It Taste?】Compared to rock sugar, red sugar-cooked silver ear soup has a unique aroma and feels smoother when drinking, hehe, borrowing an advertising slogan... More moisturizing than "Rain"!!
Sour and Spicy Lotus Root Dice
【Ingredients】2 fresh lotus roots
【Seasonings】2 green peppers, 5 dried red chilies, a small piece of ginger, 3 green onions
【Cooking Method】
First Stage: Processing of Raw Materials and Preparation of Sauce
Step 1 & 2. Wash all ingredients, peel the lotus root and cut it into cubes. Soak the diced lotus root in clear water with a spoonful of white vinegar added (to prevent discoloration).
Cut the green peppers into strips, finely shred the ginger, cut the dried red chilies diagonally, and finely chop the green onions.
Step 3. Prepare a pot of boiling water, blanch the lotus root cubes for 2-3 minutes, then remove (blanching shortens the cooking time for the lotus root cubes).
Step 4. Prepare the sauce: Mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of Lao Gan Ma chili sauce, 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce, 1/3 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of sugar, a little black pepper powder, and set aside (unfortunately, I don't have so many spoons, otherwise, they could be lined up for a clearer view).
Second Stage: Stir-Frying
Step 1 & 2. Heat an appropriate amount of oil in the pan, add the green pepper strips, ginger strips, and red chilies, stir-fry until fragrant, then add the lotus root cubes and stir-fry.
Step 3 & 4. Stir-fry for about 1 minute, then pour in the prepared sauce, season with an appropriate amount of salt, and stir-fry until the sauce evenly coats the lotus root cubes. Garnish with green onions before serving.
Serve in my beloved plate that I've been reluctant to use!
Hehe, Yue Fei's "Full River Red", I've always liked this poem. One day, I saw this plate and was really surprised, feeling like I had found a treasure. I've never used it before, but today, matching my "angry hair fast reaching the crown" mood, I took it out for the occasion.
No more talk, transform anger into appetite, let's eat!
Tomato Chicken Oil Mushroom Butterfly Pasta
【Ingredients】1 bunch of chicken oil mushrooms, 1 medium-sized tomato, 1 bag of butterfly pasta
【Seasonings】Garlic, tomato sauce, chili sauce
【Cooking Method】
Step 1 & 2. Remove the base of the chicken oil mushrooms and wash them. Peel the tomatoes, cut them into small dice, and finely chop the garlic.
Step 3. Boil a pot of water, add the butterfly pasta, cook for 3 minutes, then switch to medium heat and continue cooking for 6 minutes (I strictly followed the instructions on the pasta bag). Gently stir the pasta with chopsticks during cooking to prevent sticking. Once cooked, remove, place in a large bowl, and toss with a little oil.
Step 4. Heat an appropriate amount of oil in the pan, add the garlic and stir-fry until fragrant.
Step 5. After the garlic is fragrant, add the tomato dice and simmer over low heat. Once the tomatoes are cooked down, add about 2 large spoonfuls of tomato sauce.
Step 6. Add the chicken oil mushrooms, season with salt and black pepper, and since I like spicy food, I also added half a spoonful of chili sauce. Cook for about 2 minutes until the mushrooms are flavored, then turn off the heat. Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix well before serving.
Vegetable Skewers
【Ingredients】Any available vegetables: eggplant, green beans, cucumber, zucchini (supermarket label: small melon),
【Seasonings】Red pepper, green pepper, onion, garlic, tomato sauce
【Cooking Method】Refer to the pictures for explanation.
(1) Main Material Processing Stage
Steps 1 & 2. Wash all materials. Cut the eggplant, cucumber, and zucchini into approximately 0.5cm thick rounds (tests show that too thick makes it hard for flavors to penetrate, too thin makes it difficult to skewer), cut the green beans into segments, and cut half a red pepper into chunks.
Steps 3 & 4. Bring water to a boil in a pot, add the green beans, and cook for 1 minute before removing (this is done to remove the bean smell and save cooking time, making it easier to cook and absorb flavors). Skewer all vegetables onto bamboo sticks and set aside.
(2) Seasoning and Cooking Stage
Steps 1 & 2. Prepare the sauce: 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce, 2 tablespoons of chili sauce, 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1/2 tablespoon each of sugar and rice wine, an appropriate amount of black pepper powder, and a little salt and sesame oil. Mix well and set aside. Finely chop the green pepper, red pepper, garlic, and half an onion, and mix with the seasoning sauce to form the grilled skewer sauce.
Steps 3 & 4. Heat the non-stick pan (our home "grill"), apply a thin layer of oil, place the vegetable skewers flat in the pan, and use a spoon to coat the skewers with the prepared grilled sauce. Fry on both sides over medium heat until cooked.
【Orange Juice Winter Melon Strips】
Orange Juice Winter Melon Strips
【Ingredients】Winter melon, orange juice
【Seasonings】Honey or sugar, a little lemon juice, a bowl of cooled boiled water
【Cooking Method】
Steps 1 & 2. Peel and remove the inner core of the winter melon, cut it into finger-thick strips. Peel the lemon and cut it into thin slices (if you're afraid of sourness, you can skip the lemon; fresh oranges provide a better taste).
Steps 3 & 4. Bring water to a boil in a pot, add the winter melon strips, and immediately remove when the water boils again. Soak the blanched winter melon strips in cooled boiled water, cool them down, then place them in orange juice. Add 2 tablespoons of honey (or sugar), a little lemon juice (I prefer a sweet and sour taste, so I added more lemon; if you don't like sourness, you can omit the lemon juice, resulting in a sweet finish), cover with cling film, and refrigerate for 4-5 hours.
Here's the first trial product! Let me show it to you.
This time, I didn't consider the presentation, cutting some longer and some shorter, but I'll pay attention next time! Personally, I think this trial is undoubtedly successful in terms of taste! HOHO!
Make a plate in the morning, and it's ready for dinner! Although the method is simple, the taste is extraordinary. Sweet, crispy, refreshing, and pleasant, I can't describe it any other way. In short, it doesn't feel like eating winter melon at all!
Winter melon is cold in nature and sweet in taste, clearing heat and generating body fluids, cooling and relieving summer heat. It's most suitable for consumption in summer. Moreover, winter melon contains a lot of vitamin C and potassium salts, but low sodium salts, making it beneficial for patients with hypertension, kidney disease, and edema, helping to reduce swelling without harming the body's vital energy.
As recorded in "Shennong Bencao Jing," winter melon can "make people have a smooth complexion, invigorate qi without hunger, and prolong life with endurance." This is because winter melon contains protein and abundant vitamins and minerals, having a whitening and skincare effect. Furthermore, the propionic acid contained in winter melon can effectively inhibit the conversion of sugars into fats, plus winter melon itself contains no fat, has low calories, thus having a fat-reducing and slimming effect.
Papaya Pear Tea
【Ingredients】Half a papaya, two pears
【Seasonings】Honey
【Cooking Method】
Steps 1 & 2. Peel and seed the papaya, cut it into small cubes and set aside. Peel and core the pears, cut them into fine threads, and soak them in clear water to prevent discoloration.
Steps 3 & 4. Blend the prepared papaya cubes into a puree. I added a little water to facilitate pouring.
Steps 5 & 6. Pour the papaya puree and pear threads into a pot, add water (I added about 500ml) and simmer. Stir continuously with a spoon during cooking to prevent sticking. (I used a stainless steel pot, but I cooked it in an electric rice cooker, which worked fine too.)
Once cooked, cool it down, add an appropriate amount of honey and mix evenly. Note: The spoon used for stirring must be clean, oil-free, and water-free. Transfer to a sealable container, which must also be oil-free and water-free. (I used a glass jar that previously held honey, washed it, air-dried it naturally, then filled it with the papaya tea, covered the mouth with a layer of cling film, and screwed on the lid.)
Store it in the refrigerator after packaging. When you want to drink it, simply scoop out two spoonfuls with a clean spoon and dilute with pure water. According to famous cat, it's best to consume within 20 days, so don't make too much at once.
Milk Tomato Juice
【Ingredients】500ml milk, two tomatoes
【Seasonings】Honey, lemon
【Cooking Method】
(1) Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water briefly to easily peel off the outer skin, then dice and set aside.
(2) Blend 2/3 of the tomato dice with milk, pour into a cup, add the remaining tomato dice, an appropriate amount of honey, and a little lemon juice.
For those who prefer a finer texture, you can filter it before drinking.
This juice is made from common household ingredients, easy to make, tastes sweet and sour, and is best consumed chilled.
There's no need to elaborate on the nutritional benefits of tomatoes here, but I will emphasize two points:
First, tomatoes are rich in antioxidant lycopene, which