Crispy Vegetable Fritters(Balls)

After eating out at Black Earth, a Harbin cuisine restaurant in town . I really fell in love with their vegetable fritters dish.  I came back, put on my thinking cap and finally came up with this recipe.  The process is a bit messy though but the results -  crispy and delicious. Tasty too !  Just  Garland Chrysanthemum (Tung Ho  in cantonese ) and Coriander leaves !!!  Great finger food or can be serve as  appetizer.  For me, it is as snacks for WB and myself  LOL!  Eat and be happy ! Forget about the calories for it is Christmas...celebration for our Chirst's birth !

excepts taken from here

Garland Chrysanthemum is a healthy, edible plant native to East Asia. It is rich in chlorogenic acid (a type of hydroxycinnamic acid), carotene, flavonoids, vitamins and potassium, and can offer a multitude of health benefits. Some of the beneficial effects associated with eating garland chrysanthemum leaves include weight loss, antioxidant protection, a reduced risk of lung cancer, as well as protection against cardiovascular problems, kidney stones, cellulite, bloating and bone loss.

Garland Chrysanthemum has a slightly mustardy flavor and a crispy texture, and it is used broadly in Korean, Cantonese and Japanese cuisines where it is often used to flavor soups, stews, hot pots (such as sukiyaki and nabeomono), stir-fries and casserole dishes. On Crete, the largest Greek island, the tender shoots of Mantilida, a variety of garland chrysanthemum, are commonly eaten raw or steamed. If you are planning to add this healthy green leafy vegetbale to your diet, make sure you don't overcook it; this helps maximize the health benefits of this highly nutritious vegetable and keep its delicate structure intact.

Wow...with so much of health benefits, it will be good to add to our meal..don't you think so

gosh...looking at this picture makes me crave for more...so yummy good

soak, clean and drip dry the garland chrysanthemum and coriander leaves

once they are dry ( with a bit of moistness ), chopped them fine

put the chopped veggies into a mixing bowl.  meanwhile. mix together

 the rice flour, potato flour, sea salt, and paprika , mixed herbs till well combine

pour the flour mixture into the chopped veggie and mix well

using the thumb and fingers, try to shape the chopped veggie into a ball ( quite hard )

coat the round ball with rice flour.. slowly place the coated veggie ball onto a greased

laddle ( steamboat ladle with holes)  and slowly lower the ladle onto very hot oil

and leave it to cook...once the balls is crispy on the bottom side,

 the ball will automatically leave and float away from the ladle.  Looks simple

but can be messy but the result is rewarding

Crispy Vegetable Fritters /Balls  - WB Kitchen

Ingredients

a bunch of garland chrysanthemum  ( Tung  Ho ) - soak , rinse and drip off excess water - chopped fine
a bunch of coriander - soak , rinse and drip dry - chopped fine

flour mixture

3/4 cup of rice flour
1/2 cup of potato flour
sea salt ( to taste )
a tbsp of paprika
a tsp of mixed herb seasoning

Vegetable oil - for deep drying

Method:

Heat up a deep pan with cooking oil . Amount should cover the veggie balls during the deep frying.

Combine the chopped garland chrysanthemum /coriander ( should be a bit wet not totally dry  )together in a mixing bowl.  Add in the flour mixture and using a spatula, mix the chopped veggies and flour together till well mix together.  Shaped the veggie into a round ball. Coat the veggie ball with extra rice flour. Place the ball on a greased steamboat ladle with holes and slowly lower on the hot oil.  When the bottom part of the veggie balls is crisps, it will automatically leave the ladle and float up.  Once the balls is golden, take out and drain off excess oil on kitchen paper.  Continue the process till all the veggie mixture is used up.

Note: If the balls are well fried, the crispness will keep for a few hours .

Enjoy !

Stir Fry Jelly Fish With Meat Strips And Green Pepper

This is a simple to whip up dish.  I love edible Jelly fish ( Hoi chit in cantonese )  I will blanch it for a few seconds before adding to the stir fry.  All I have to do is cut meat into strips ( you can use chicken breast meat or lean pork ) and seasoned with oyster sauce, a tsp of olive oil and corn flour for a smooth texture. Cut some green pepper into strips too.  Stir fry with garlic and ginger strips and add a thickening sauce and you can serve this dish within 20 mins.  Simple and delicious.  You can add chopped chillies to make the dish colorful and a hint of hot taste to the dish ! yummy !

Stir Fry Jelly Fish With Meat Strips And Green Pepper   - WB's Kitchen


Ingredients

1 piece of Jelly fish - blanch with hot water for a few seconds- cut into strips
meat ( chicken or lean pork ) cut into strips
1 green pepper - cut into strips
a tbsp of olive oil
a tbsp of ginger strips
2 cloves of garlic - chopped
some chillies - chopped * to taste

marinate meat strips with the following ingredients
oyster sauce
a drop of sesame oil
white pepper
a tsp of corn flour

thickening sauce  - 1 tsp of corn flour + 3 tbsp of water

Method:

Heat a tbsp of olive oil, add in garlic and ginger and saute till fragrant.  Add in the marinated meat strips and continue to stir fry till the meat is cooked . Add in the green pepper strips and stir fry for another minute. Add in the thickning mixture and jelly fish strips. Give it a quick stir and dish up when it is well combined.

Enjoy !

Harbin Cuisine @Black Earth, Greentown Business Centre,Ipoh

vegetable fritters ball

Last Saturday night, WB and myself were invited to dinner by my daughter's parents-in-laws to Black Earth , a Harbin cuisine restaurant situated in Greentown Business Centre, Ipoh and it was my first time there.  I love Sichuan cuisine but after tasting Harbin dishes, to my surprised, I like the cooking style too. I find that it was a vast difference in the style of cooking compared to Sichuan dishes.  The Chefs are from China needless to say the dishes are quite authentic.

Harbin is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang province and their cuisine is very influenced by European flavor dishes and Chinese Northern flavor dishes mainly typified by heavy sauce and deep frying.  I love the deep fried vegetable fritter balls above.  The first dish to arrive at the table that night and gosh it really wowed me over.  And needless to say the rest of the dishes that followed , I can only compliment the Chefs who are from China.  I want to come again to this place to try out their other dishes :)

wood fungus with meat slices....delicious

deep fried french beans with finely diced meat

very flavorful

Braised Pork Belly  - delicious !

Tofu with crab stick, squids..this is delicious too

Dumplings with kucai fillings...the dumpling skin is crispy and the filling is

flavorful...I ate 3 dumplings :p

these special dumplings are so delicious that I wish I could have more...

the meat filling is to die for.   We can't order extra as it was given free to every table

it is the restaurant's promotion  :)

the place was quite packed by 7pm

Black Earth

No. 7 & 7A, Persiaran Greentown 7,

Greentown Business Centre Fasa 2,

30450, Ipoh, PeraK

Business Hour-  11.00am - 3.30pm

                            6.00pm- 11.00pm

Tel:   05-2410219

Assam Curry Paste Sea Prawns

Wasn't feeling too well the last few days , I wanted to cook something interesting for WB but too tired to cook anything elaborate.  I took out some sea prawns and did a quick stir fry with ready to cook curry paste ( bought from the Kg.Simee market )  Added some cut red onions and there this delicious prawn dish is ready for dinner.   It is a good idea to always keep ready to cook paste in the fridge. Useful when you are too tired to whip up anything that takes more than 30 mins .  WB enjoy his dinner with just this one dish !  Thank God I have sea prawns in the freezer all cleaned up and ready for cooking :)   A quick stir fry and I have dinner ready in less than an hour !

Enjoy !

Stir Fry Sea Prawns With Fermented Soy Bean Paste

Marketing day for me is always a Saturday morning ,and it is the happiest day in the week for me :)  A day that I feel I am in heaven surrounded by food :p  What do you call a person who loves to cook and eat all day....a glutton or a pig...I guess ....okay I am both LOL!   The farmers market is a place I frequent to get my cooking ingredients.  Lots of fresh vegetables and fruits and you can see stalls selling fresh seafood too and not to forget to mention all kinds of plants are sold there.  Herb plants like rosemary and thymes are sold even at the farmers market.  So you tell me, am I not happy?  I am !!!! 

I saw some very fresh and big sea prawns and I already how I am going to cook them. Could not resist the temptation though I have been told to stay away from seafood ;p   Here is a dish that will take only 15 mins of your time to prepare.   Yea, stir fry sea prawns with fermented soy bean paste...fermented soy bean paste with garlic and chilli...they are perfect combination for this very fresh sea prawns. The prawns are succulent and sweet.  The natural sweetness of the prawns plus the savory sauce makes this dish a dish to die for. Hope you are drooling as you read on  LOL! I am such a wicked person..making my friends and readers drools hungrily at my food porn :p

As you guys know that I frequent the farmers market very often, I need a really good pair of walking shoes/sandals for I am a person who is not just particular about the food I cook and eat but also am particular about my physical body....I want to look good and for me, beauty is in a person feet.  I want to have beautiful feet .  A pair of good shoes will prevent blisters and corns .  I believe that if you wear a pair of shoe that is not of good quality, the feet will smell.  So for me , this is very important. Solve the foot problems before the feet can be beautiful :)  The feet need pampering too not just our face and body.   Okay of late I digress very often when writing food post...I write as my mind wanders.....okay back to this dish....good food gives a healthy body and I hope my prawn dish will make your day !

Stir Fry Sea Prawns With Fermented Soy Bean Paste  - WB's Kitchen

Ingredients

300 gm sea prawn  - remove shell, devein and season with 1 tsp of sugar and a sprinkle of white pepper 

1 tbsp of fermented soy bean paste

2 bird's eye chilli - chopped

3 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp of cut spring onions

1 tbsp of vegetable oil

3-4 tbsp of water

Method:

Heat up oil in a wok, add in garlic, chilli and fermented soy bean paste.  Saute till fragrant.  Add in the seasoned prawns and stir fry till the prawns are cooked. Add in 3-4 tbsp of water for a savoury sauce. Before dishing up, throw in the spring onions . Dish up and serve with piping hot rice.

Enjoy !

Fried Eggs With Kimchi

If you are a regular here, you will know that I love making my own kimchi.  I can't remember how many times I have make my own kimchi since the day I have successfully made one that suited my taste.  For me fried egg is comfort food, what more if my favourite kimchi is added to the fried egg :) it is absolutely heaven food for me :p   Easy to whip up if you have kimchi at home.  Just fried the egg and when the white is about to set, add kimchi on the white and continue to cook till the white has set completely with the edges slight burnt....mmmmm love the crispy edges and the yolk just cook.  A simple fried egg with kimchi can put a smile on my face.  Love the homemade kimchi ! 

Making a small amount of kimchi is not tedious but making a big load can be tiring. I have to stand most of the time, washing the napa cabbage, leaf by leaf .  If I were to make a big tub of kimchi, I need at least three big napa cabbages and you can imagine the amount of time spend washing every leaf.  Many a time I suffered from lower back pain , WB will massage my back for me and the pain will go off . But the lastest kimchi making, my back ache was terribly painful due to carrying the heavy pail with cabbages soak in brine and WB's massage has lost its magic touch, for the pain persists.  I have to take pain relief  , I could sleep through the night and the pain was gone the next day. What an effective pain relief ! I learnt my lesson, first never to make such a big load of kimchi and secondly, never to carry a heavy pail of cabbage in brine water !

 making the paste for the kimchi was not tedious

 preparing the napa cabbage is tedious if making a big load, washing the cabbage leaf by leaf 

and soaking them in brine water is another tedious job 

It was worth all the pain to have my own homemade kimchi !

With homemade KIMCHI  ( click here for the recipe ) you can make many dishes out of it

and fried egg with kimchi is one of them

Enjoy and 

Have a great day !