This refreshing layered salad makes an impressive presentation and tastes delicious. Serve this for an elegant sit down dinner party as an appetizer or enjoy it as a light and yummy lunch.

Serves 1-2  

• 120g                            cooked crab meat, or 1 small can of crab meat, keep the empty can for stacking蟹肉
• 1 tablespoon              spring onions, minced
• 1 tablespoon              cilantro, roughly chopped
• 3 or 4                           cherry tomato, diced
• ½                                   red bell pepper (1 red chili pepper if you prefer it a bit spicy), minced
• 1 tablespoon               mayonnaise蛋黄酱
• salt and black pepper
• 1 teaspoon (½ + ½)       lemon juice
• avocado, peeled and mashed
• 1 tablespoon               light soy sauce生抽
• 1 teaspoon                   extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Place canned crab meat in a bowl, squeeze the meat to remove the water. In the same bowl, add into minced spring onion, cilantro, diced tomato rand minced red pepper. Add into 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise – this helps add moisture and a little creaminess to the mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Add ½ teaspoon of lemon juice. Mix all the ingredients well.
2. Get a separate bowl. Remove the skin of avocado. Use a spoon to mash the avocado. Add the other half teaspoon of the lemon juice. Mix well.
3. Now, let’s plate the dish. Use a dual open-ended cylindrical mold to form the stacks. You can use ramekins too. Or if you do not have any of those tools, just fill into the empty can with crab meat mix first, press it down to make the fillings tight, then place avocado on top of the crab meat. Get a serving plate, flip the filled can and place the stacks in the middle of the plate, remove and discard the can.
4. Let’s make the sauce. Get a small bowl, mix light soy sauce and olive oil. Drizzle the sauce on top of the stacked crab meat mixture and avocado stacks.

 

Get a weeknight meal in minutes with this colorful, tasty and easy stir fry recipe packed with fresh vegetables like mushrooms, broccoli, bok choy, and peppers. Tweak the recipe by using any of your favorite veggies: zucchini, squash, snow peas, celery – you name it.

Serves 2-4

• 2 tablespoons                    Cooking oil
• 4-5                                       swiss brown or buttoned mushroom, sliced
• ½ cup                                   Chinese black fungus （black wood ear mushrooms. Dried wood ear mushroom is available at any Asian markets. Take a tablespoon of dried mushrooms and soak in the water to rehydrate before use.
• 1                                                red or yellow bell pepper, cut into bite size
• 1 cup                                        broccoli, split into bite size
• A few stalks bok choy or a few leaves of Napa Cabbage
• 1 to 1.5 tablespoons             oyster sauce蚝油

Method

1. Heat the cooking oil over medium high heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Add mushrooms first and cook for about 2 minutes.
2. Toss into the rest of the vegetables. Stir fry for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add into the oyster sauce. Mix well. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat.
3. Serve with a bowl of rice.

 Duck breast is an easy and delicious meal! Within less than 30 minutes of preparation and cooking time, you can get very moisturized breast with crispy skin. Serve them with a fruity sauce and your favorite vegetables.

 

 

 

 

Serves 2 to 3  

• 2 pieces                                6-ounce (170g) duck breast鸭胸肉
• salt and ground black peppercorns 盐和黑胡椒面
• ½ tablespoon                     olive oil

Sauce

• 1 cup (240ml)              orange juice, freshly juiced or use bottled orange juice
• 2 slices                         ginger
• 1                                     star anise八角
• 1 tablespoon               light soy sauce生抽

Method

1. Trim extra skin and fat off the breasts. Use a sharp knife to trim off any skin or fat that hangs off the sides of the breasts. Keep any skin and fat that sits on top of, or underneath the breasts.
2. Score the skin of the duck breasts in a crisscross pattern. Use the same knife to make shallow cuts in the skin of the duck breast. This allows the fat to be released while the duck cooks. Try to only cut the skin, not the meat.  Sprinkle the duck skin with salt and ground black peppercorn.

3. Let’s sear the duck breast. Brush a frying pan with olive oil. Place the duck breasts skin-side down into the pan. Spread the duck breasts evenly in the skillet so that they aren’t touching each other. Cook the duck on your cooktop over medium-high heat for 7 to 10 minutes until the skin has browned and is crispy. If the pan starts vigorously spitting fat, turn down the heat slightly. Don’t move the duck around in the pan, just let it sit while it cooks.

4. Turn the breasts over and cook for another 5 minutes – your breasts will be medium-rare. If you prefer your meat to be well cooked, leave it in the oven for a few more minutes. If you prefer use over, you can move the pan to the middle shelf of a pre-heated oven (360 F) and cook for about the same time. But be sure, your pan is oven proof.

5. Transfer the duck to a chopping board and let it rest for 5 minutes. This will help increase the flavors and make the breast easier to cut.

6. In the same time, make the sauce. Place orange juice, star anise and ginger in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil over high heat， cook it till liquid reduces to only 30% of the original volume. Turn off the heat. Add into soy sauce. Your orange sauce is done!

7. Slice the breast crosswise using a clean knife. Cut through the breast crosswise on a slight diagonal angle. Place the duck slices in a serving plate. Drizzle the slices with the orange sauce.

Tips

1. Cooking time of the breast depends on the thickness of the duck breast. You may get much bigger and thicker duck breast. If so, just add a few minutes when cooking on both sides of the duck breast.
2. The duck oil left in the frying pan is perfect for cooking potatoes as a side dish. Simply half your baby potatoes, add into the frying pan and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes.

This is a very delightful dessert. The elegance of this dish lies in its simplicity. Chinese believe there are also added health benefits with poached or steamed pears. It is a home remedy for coughs and sore throats. They believe it helps relieve irritation in the throat, reduce coughing (especially loud ones), prevent dehydration of respiratory tract and reduce fevers.

Make 3-4 servings

• 3 to 4 pears, you can simply use any types of pears as long as they are not too soft and won’t fall apart during the poaching process
• 2 to 3 tablespoons rock sugar冰糖
• 3 tablespoons Chinse oooking wine, you will want to use the best quality cooking wine available at your grocery store. Click here for homemade Chinese cooking wine
• water
• 2 tablespoons, almond slivers (optional), toasted, 杏仁片

Method

• Peel the pear, Remove the core from the bottom if you have the right tool). If not, just leave the core on. Leave the stems on.
• In a medium size pot, combine Chinese cooking wine and rock sugar. Add into peeled pears The pear should stand upright and touch each other. Fill the pot with water. The water should be covering 80% of the pear body from bottom. Turn to the high heat to bring to a boil. Cook for about 20 to 30 minutes till pears softened.

• In the meantime, use a small pan to toast your almond slivers. Once done, set aside to cool off.
• Remove the pears from the liquid and place them in a plate. Bring the liquid in the pot to a boil over high heat to reduce to a syrup. Turn the heat off.
• To plate the dessert, place one cooked pear in a small plate. Take a tablespoon of the syrup from the pot and pour over the pear. Sprinkle the pear with almond slivers.
• The dessert can be served either warm or cold.