焗三文鱼 及 蒸番薯 飯

焗三文鱼 及 蒸番薯 飯

Salmon is one of my favorite fish. I used to use a recipe from Whole Foods where I made slits into the salmon fillet to stuff it with dried (or fresh) basil, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and topped with some lemon wheels, baked it. Quite delish.

Tonight’s dish, however was slightly different. Basil was sprinkled all over and baked with extra virgin olive oil, baked, and then topped with fresh cilantro.

I’m a big fan of yams (sweet potatoes). Back in my dad’s hometown in 台山, there’s a phrase “go plant yams” to tell someone off. It basically means “go die” because the way yams are planted in rows with the soil in little mounds looks like fresh burial grounds. Hehe but that’s not the reason I like yams of course. They’re great as a side with rice. We cut the yam into pieces and then chuck them in with the rice in the rice cooker and then steam them together.

 

炸纸雞, 腐竹白菜汤 & 菜心 Dinner

One of our newest additions to our soup repertoire is the 腐竹白菜汤 which was suggested from newspapers that the PRC president’s, 胡錦濤 (Hu Jintao), chef regularly made to maintain the president’s good health. Well, 白菜 (bok choy) is always yummy to eat and versatile as with many foods in our ‘fridge. I do stir-fry and soups with it. There’s what we call “old fire” method of cooking soup, which is to simmer it on lower heat settings for many hours (anywhere between 2-5 hours). But anyways, this soup is made with 白菜,  腐竹 (dried bean curd sticks), red dates, and we added carrots to it for sweeter flavor and because we thought it belonged there. We tried this soup with 炸纸雞 (it’s chicken that is marinated and then drenched with boiling hot oil to make the skin “paper thin” and very crispy which is where its signature name is derived from) that we bought from Asia City restaurant (~$22.95). Chicken was a little overdone and small but otherwise, tasted great. Most of our dinners have an accompanying veggie dish; tonight it was 菜心 (choy sum). Topped it all off with a little XO Cognac (which, by the way is a little too bitter for me) as a drink.

And actually we had dessert first, which was our lovely traditional 生果 生日蛋糕 that we handmade ourselves.

炸纸雞, 腐竹白菜汤 & 菜心 dinner

腐竹白菜汤

炸纸雞

Dessert: 生日蛋糕

 

Lunar New Year Dinner: Most authentic 台山 (Toi Shan) style Chai dinner

Toi Shan style Chai chips

Right after frying, the mountain of  “potato chips”.. making a colorful New Year festivity. And lettuce to make 生菜包! Delicious dinner that actually well er… turned into 6 more dinners haha!

Toi Shan Lunar New Year Dinner