Stir Fry Gow Choy Fah ~ Garlic Chives Bud

A few weeks ago while visiting the Avondale Market for the very first time, I chanced upon these garlic chives. What a find ! I love gau choy fah which taste delish simply stir fried with some meat or prawns.

No doubt garlic chives are part of the chive family but they taste quite different to the English version which have a purple flower.


Ingredients
200g garlic chives bud (gow choy fah), cut to 2" length
10 raw prawns
1 clove garlic (mince)
½ cup water/stock

1 tsp cornflour + 1½ tsp soy sauce (mix together)

!--more-->
Method
1. Heat wok on high heat with a Tbsp of oil. Add the garlic and prawns. Saute until prawns turn a slight pink.

2. Add the garlic chives, stir fry for a few seconds.

3. Add water and cover for 30 seconds (not too long as you want the veg to stay crunchy).

4. Remove cover and stir in cornflour mix to thicken the gravy. Dash of salt and season to taste.

5. Serve hot with rice.

Yee Sang ~ Chinese New Year Raw Fish Salad

This Chinese New Year I was determined not to miss out on this 'lucky' dish. After scrutinising several recipes to work out the main criteria for the dish I went on a scouting mission in the asian vegetable shops. Being overseas means having to substitute unavailable ingredients without changing the essence of the dish too much. If you are living in Malaysia or Singapore then you will have more choice of vegetables to use.

Yee Sang is a salad of raw fish surrounded by different types of colourful vegetables with a dressing of plum sauce. It is usually eaten on the 7th day of Chinese New Year with the salad tossed high with chopsticks as a symbol to mark the start of a prosperous new year.

Yue Sang is not that difficult a dish to prepare. It just needs a small amount of different vegetables shredded into long strips. I haven't included the quantity of vegetables as this is a very versatile dish. I have only bought one of each type of vegetable and in most cases only used half of it.

Ingredients

Vegetables (long shreds):
Daikon white radish (jicama or sar kok if available is best)
Green papaya (I bought this too early and it started getting ripe)
Carrot
Red capsicum
Green chilli
2 lime leaves
2 Tbsp pickled ginger
1 pickled onions/leeks
1 sprig coriander

3 Tbsp jelly fish (cut into strips and marinate with 1 Tbsp lemon juice)

Read more »

Fah Sang Paeng ~ Chinese Peanut Cookies

Another one of those cookies that are popularly served during Chinese New Year. I make these peanut cookies throughout the year as it is just too moreish to confine it to just a special ocassion.

Make them small enough to pop the whole cookie into the mouth as it is very crumbly.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my family and friends throughout the world KONG HEI FATT CHOY.

May the New Year bring everyone Prosperity, Good Health, Wealth and Good Eats.

Makes 77 cookies

Ingredients
300g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
110g sugar
200g coarse ground roasted peanut
130-170ml corn oil, veg oil or onion oil

Read more »