Pak Choi with shrimps

The moment I saw these lovely baby Pak Chois (restaurant style Chinese Bok Choi) at Rasa Malaysia, I knew I had to make them and really fast. It was so tempting to see them. And I was lucky as hubby agreed to get them as he works quite near a chinese shop, but still needs an opportunity, depending upon the work pressure, to be able to go there. And of course I did improvise a little bit, after having tried a couple of recipes from there, like this one, and having got some ideas from other recipes.
I think this is such a simple but flavourful dish. I can always make hubby happy with such chinese recipes.
Some information on the Nutrient value of Pak Choi.

Pak Choi (Bok Choy) with Shrimps

Inspired by the recipe of restaurant style Chinese Bok Choi at Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients:
200 -250 g frozen cold water shrimps, thawed and drained
5 -6 Pak choi, washed to remove gritt and cut into stripes
2 medim garlic cloves, peeled and chopped finely
1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated or chopped finely
1 large onion, peeled, halved and cut into thin slices
oil- sunflower and/ or sesame oil
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1-2 tbsp soya sauce
dash of black pepper or red chilli powder
1 heaped tsp sesame seeds
salt to taste (if required)

Method:

• heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, add sesame seeds till they splutter and
  
• add the shrimps and stir fry with some soya sauce or salt till done, take out and keep warm
  
• add 1 tbsp oil and add garlic, onion and ginger and fry
  
• add pak choi and add the remaining spices, oyster sauce and soya sauce
• once almost done, put back the shrimps and mix
• adjust salt to taste - use soya sauce or oyster sauce
• switch off heat and let simmer covered on the stove top
• serve warm with steamed rice

We loved it. Hubby, me and my sunny boy. It satiated our tummies, but also our minds to the full. Good and healthy food can work wonders, I feel. So, did this one.

Another thing I want to mention about these shrimps :
I used cold water Northern shrimps (Atlantic Canada Northern shrimps : P. borealis) the only and the best alternative to the MSC labeled Oregon pink shrimps (Pandalus jordani) which I had found here until then, when I made this dish. But a few days ago, to my utter disbeliefe I saw this packet of MSC certified frozen oregon pink shrimps at my regular grocery store and my happiness knew no bounds. I had searched quite long for these, just these ones and was quite happy.
Here is a link to the infomation available from Seafood Watch at Montery Bay Aquarium website about shrimps. Another detailed information given there about the nothern shrimps is also here (pdf). One more good source of information from year 2007 is here (pdf).

And here is a photo of the packet of MSC certified frozen Oregon pink shrimps which I bought and will be hopefully posting some recipes of soon (just can't resist showing it off! ):


I end up paying more for all these MSC certified fishes, but I feel it is worth all the effort. I just cannot bring myself to buying anthing else in any case. But, since all three of us love fish and I consider it healthy and important for my son to eat some regularly, I do buy fish. It does reduce our choice of the fishes we can buy, but I can live with that easily.

Now I'm sending this recipe over to a wonderful event Seven Fishes Feast - A Food blog Event which I saw at Maryann's Finding La Dolche Vita and is being cohosted by her friend Joe at Italyville . There are already some mouth watering recipes posted, yum yum!


Other related posts:

Potato Red Cabbage Casserole with Pan fried Fish

cashews and chicken!

Isn't that a lovely combination. I saw this recipe of cahew chicken once at the wonderful blog Rasa Malaysia and the very sight of it told me that I had to try it. It took me long until I finally made it, but all the time, I had been looking for an opportunity for it. And I got it that weekend.
But, before I could prepare this chicken, I had to get the ingredients, for the recipe, as this is a style of cooking which is very new to me and I didn't want to take any risks of spoiling something so nice.
I have tried to stay as true to the recipe as possible, except for a few small things like replacing white pepper with chilli powder, as I don't like white pepper, and adding more soya sauce, and also adding more vegetables, as I was not going to serve any other sides to it except for rice.


Ingredients:

400 g Chicken, washed, pat dried and cut into small chunks or stripes
1 large carrot, peeled, and julliened
1 large green bellpepper, cut into small squares
3 spring onions/ scallions, chopped into rings
1 small zucchini, cut into 1/2 cm thick rings
ginger, julliened
3/4 cup cashew nuts
cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)

1st marinade:
1 tsp soda

2nd marinade: 1 heaped tsp cornstarch
1 tsp rice wine

Sauce:

1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soyasauce
3 dashes of white pepper powder (I used a dash of chilli powder)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp rice wine
1/4 tsp sesame oil
5 tablespoons of water

Method:

• wash and clean the chicken, pat dry and cut into small pieces
• marinate with baking soda for 15-20 minutes
• wash away the soda thoroughly from the chicken, pat dry and marinate with cornstarch and rice wine for another 15-20 minutes
• mix the ingredients of the sauce together in a bowl and set aside
• cut the vegetables
  
• fry chicken in a wok or sauté pan on high heat stirrring in between, reduce heat to medium and fry till it gets cooked on the outside, but still not cooked through. Take out and set aside.
• Fry the ginger and julliened carrots in some oil and stir fry till they are more than half done
• then add the spring onions and green bell peppers and stir fry further till they have become slightly tender, but are still crisp and green. Take out and set aside
• Add the cashew nuts and roast for a minute on medium heat, take out and sert aside
• stir fry the zucchini rings till they get tender, but still have a crispy texture
• mix everything back into the wok along with the sauce and cook for two minutes, uncovered
• serve warm with warm steamed rice.

The first time I read the recipe I was surprised at the use of soda, as I had never heard of it before, but I wanted to try it out. And I was amazed that it held its promise. The chicken was different. Much softer and tender than otherwise. This is a wonderful recipe, one from so many others I plan to try out from Rasa malaysia.

Hubby and Rishab, both look forward to my chicken dishes. Hubby is especially fond of chinese food, the reason why I have been wanting to try out this recipe. We all enjoyed it thoroughly. But, the best part of it was the wows I heard from hubby without my having to ask him, how it tasted. Yes, he was amazed and impressed. So, I think this experiment was a big success. :)

Update:
I have already made this recipe once again and hubby still wants to eat it again! I also think that this is one great recipe which all chicken lovers would enjoy.

This is my entry to Srilekha's monthy Event "Chicken" for the month of September, which has been now extended upto the month of Oktober.

Tofu stirfry

Last week I very spontaneously bought tofu from my local market, which offers very good organic tofu. Now, it's actually been ages that I have made tofu. Usually I have problems with frying it as it breaks into pieces or sticks to the pan (I've stopped using any non-stick pans). But, this time I knew I had to be careful with the temperatures to get it right, as I had an awakening while making paneer the last time! :) . So, I just checked the fridge for the other ingredients - the vegetables, and got going....

Ingredients:

1 packet (250 g) Tofu, cut into squares and pat dried with a kitchen roll
10 florets Broccoli
2 small carrrots, cut into small and thin slices
12 pieces crimini Mushrooms, quartered
1 small green bell pepper, cut into small and thin slices
a few scallions, cut into rings, along with the fresh green parts
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated
3 cm piece ginger, scraped and finely grated
1 tsp fresh whole green pepper seeds
a few tbsp oil
soy sauce
sherry vinegar (it was an expensive but excellent replacement for rice vinegar)
2 tbsp corn starch (or any edible starch)
1/2 cup water (divided)
1/2 tsp shrimp paste (optional)

Method:

• Fry the tofu pieces on medium heat till they get a light yellowish tinge on one side, turn them around to fry both the sides, add some soy sauce and a few drops of sherry vinegar, stir gently and take out of the pan and keep warm
  
• Blanch, or just cook for short in some water, the carrots and broccoli.
  
• Stir fry green bellpeppers, scallion rings, and the carrots and broccoli in some oil on high heat. Add some soy sauce and a dash of vinegar, stir and take out and keep warm
• Stir fry the garlic and ginger and mushrooms, on high heat until they get a crispy brown colour
• Add the reremaining vegetables back to it and stir gently. Add some more soy sauce, if required
  
• Add some soy sauce, vinegar and a few tbsp water to corn starch in a small bowl to mix and them add rest of the water tp make a thin soupy mixture, add shrimp paste to it
  
• Add this to the pan and let cook covered, first on high heat and reduce heat immidiately to low, stir once gently and cover for another 2 minutes
• Serve with warm rice amd some chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)

This turned out quite good, better than I had expected and left us all quite satisfied after the meal. And although shrimp paste is not a typical ingredient of chinese food, it was not at all out of place and added very much to the taste, but can be easily left out as well.
One thing I plan to try out in the future is the fermented black bean curd. I'm learning!

Fusion food

I had 2 small chicken breast filets from the day before and I wanted to make something quick and easy with them. I initially started thinking of making a simple Italian dish. Just frying the chicken and adding some mushrooms, paprika, olives, dried tomatoes, parmesan, capers, a bunch of chopped fresh basil at the end and mix with cooked penne and that's it!
I had already cut the dried tomatoes and wanted to take out the chicken and rest of the things from the fridge. But, then I saw something which changed my plan completely. On opening the fridge I saw the half empty glass of baby corn in brine which my son had requested me to buy the last time we had gone shopping, and to which I had given in, thinking "why not?! it's been long since I used it". I had used some of it it for some Indian veggys I had made.
But, the sight of the baby corns triggered in my brain a totally different idea and my brain started working fast, scanning my memory, prompting my eyes and hands to double check every thing [in the fridge] and Lo! I had another recipe at hand, or actually in my mind. And this is what I made out of it, which was easy too.
So, this dish is a fusion between Chinese and Indian and Italian!

Ingredients:

2 small chicken breast filets, cut into thin and small stripes
Chicken marinade:

• 1/2 tsp turmeric,
• 1 tsp coriander powder,
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp grated garlic
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 pinch of chilli powder or black pepper
• 1tbsp sesame seeds
  

1 lemon grass, chopped into large pieces, the soft white part chopped fine
2 small carrots, juliened
dried tomatoes, chopped (yes! and they were fantastic!)
1 red paprika, diced
4 spring onions, cut into thick rings
12 mushroms, quartered
some more turmeric and coriander powder for the mushrooms

sunflower oil (or sesame seed oil)
soy sauce

Method:

• Cook penne in boiling water with salt untill done (al denté).
  
• Marinate chicken while cutting vegetables
  
• Stir fry the shortly marinated chicken in 1 tbsp sunflower oil, first on high heat and then reduce heat to medium and cover with a lid. Cook until done. Add some more soy sauce, while frying it. Set aside and keep warm.
• Fry lemon grass and carrots in some oil on high heat, add dried tomatoes, stir for another minute, add red paprika and stir further.
• Now, every thing should have still retained its colour and carrots and paprika should still be firm, before adding spring onions. Fry for a minute on high heat. Add about two tbsp of soya sauce and stir once and then take out to mix with the chicken.
  
• In the same pan add the mushrooms, a tbsp oil, the spices and stir on high heat. Once done, add soy sauce, stir once to mix and add every thing back into the pan. Stir. add the cooked penne.

I think, the Penne was quite good. It was appreciated by my hubby - as he loves chinese (but I knew that the chances were high that he would like it) and my son too.
I felt the lemon grass wasn't really required. It was some how out of place. I also wanted to add some fish sauce to it, but restraied myself this time, as I wasn't sure if it will be appreciated by both my men in pasta.