Egg Ribbon Salad

Was headed to a buffet for dinner the other night (a friend had sold it to me with such zeal that I had to have a light lunch to do it justice), and so decided to make a light salad for lunch. This salad is incredibly quick to make, and lightly dressed with a sweet and sour asian style dressing. I used fish sauce in my dressing, to add a nice sour and salty zing, but if you're making a vegetarian version, any flavoured salad vinegar, such as a sherry or cider vinegar can be used to add sourness. The preparation time is around 10 minutes, and the cooking and assembling another 10 minutes. 

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 medium purple onion, chopped into cubes
• 1 tomato, chopped into cubes
• 1 inch ginger, sliced into matchsticks
• 1 tbsp jalapeños, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp honey
• pepper to taste

Method

1. Beat the eggs and add a little salt and pepper to taste.
2. Heat the butter in a pan, and when hot, and turning brown, add the eggs, spread around and then lower the heat and cover.
3. Cook for a minute on low heat to create a thin and firm omlette and flip it around.
4. Cook on the other side on a low flame to create a thin and brightly yellow omelet.
5. Take it off the pan and set aside to cool.
6. Mix the olive oil, fish sauce, soy sauce and honey and beat around in a large bowl with a fork to create an emulsion. The fish sauce adds the required saltiness to the salad, but in case you're using salad vinegar in its place, add a little salt to the dressing.
7. Add the chopped onion, ginger, jalapeños and tomato to the dressing and toss around.
8. In the meantime, the omelet would have cooled. Roll it and cut it into ribbons.
9. Add these ribbons of egg to the salad and toss it around to ensure that the dressing evenly coats the egg. Be careful while tossing the egg to prevent the egg ribbons from snapping.
10. Serve up either by itself or as an accompaniment to the main. 

Steamed Red Snapper with Sherry and Ginger

Red Snapper is a great fish to cook with because it offers a great canvas for flavour pairings, especially strong flavours like ginger and chili. It can be baked, pan-fried, grilled or steamed without losing its delicate flavour. 

With fish, I always prefer to cook either the whole fish or skin-on filets, and they don't lose their shape and integrity during the cooking. 

In this recipe, I marinated the fish with a light bodied sherry as it enhances the sweetness of the fish.

Ingredients

• 2 filets of red snapper (skin-on)
• 1 inch ginger, finely chopped
• 3 rehydrated red chilies, chopped
• 1 tbsp light bodied shiraz
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 scallions, with stalks, chopped
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• sesame oil (infused with burnt garlic) for drizzling

Method

1. Mix the wine with the salt and add to the fish. Store it skin-side up in the marinade for at least 30 minutes.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a small pan, and add the ginger, scallion and chilies. Lightly fry it for a minute till aromatic and spread evenly on the fish.
3. Place the dressed fish, with the marinade, in plate with a raised rim and steam for 8-10 minutes.
4. Drizzle lightly with the sesame oil and serve it up.

Steamed Croaker with Ginger and Soy

I bought these filets the other day, and with my gym instructor breathing down my neck, couldn't get myself to pan fry them. So decided to adapt a Bobby Chinn recipe from his trip to Xi Tang. Its extremely simple and brings out the flavour of the fish. You need a firm fleshed fish for this recipe, and can either steam the whole fish or cut out filets and steam them. I prefer the filet route as ensures greater melding of flavours. For steaming, use fresh ingredients as the aroma they release is just divine.

Ingredients

• 2 filets of croaker (with skin), or any other firm white fish
• 2 inches of ginger, cut into thin matchsticks
• 3 rehydrated red chilies, chopped
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce, chopped
• 2-3 stalks of scallion stems
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Salt the fish liberally and rub it into the filets. Add the soy and set it rest aside for 10 minutes.
2. Mix the the ginger, scallion steps and red chilies and add it to the filets.
3. Place it in a plate with a raised rim and place it on the wire rack of a steamer.
4. Let it steam for 10-12 minutes and serve hot.

Chicken Baozi

Little steamed parcels filled with minced chicken. I used to love having these off street vendors in Chinatown, and wanted to make it in Pork, but finding pork mince in Bangalore is far to painful. So, used chicken mince instead to make it much lighter and easier to digest. The quantity of this recipe is enough for 8 baozi, and the same dough can be used to make Liuxiabao, with the substitution of the minced chicken filling with custard. I've served these dumplings with an light soy dressing.
Ingredients

Dough

• 2 cups plain white flour
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 1 tsp dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• salt to taste

Filling

• 100 grammes minced chicken
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 inch minced ginger
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

1. Activate the yeast by dissolving it in the lukewarm water and setting aside for a few minutes.
2. Once the yeast is frothy, add it to the dough ingredients and knead into an elastic dough.
3. Set aside in a warm place for 2 hours to rise and double in size.
4. Heat some oil in a pan, and fry the ginger and garlic.
5. Once the ginger and garlic start to turn brown, add the white part of the onion.
6. Fry for a minute and add the minced chicken.
7. Turn the chicken around to cook it evenly and add the chili powder, soy sauce and fish sauce.
8. Reduce the heat and let it simmer gently to get the chicken to absorb the sauce.
9. Once the filling mixture becomes a little dry, take it off the gas and let it cool.
10. Once the dough has risen and doubled, punch in down and divide into 8 parts.
11. Roll out the dough, add a bit of the filling and close out the dumpling. I like to make my dumplings using this method: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3FYCE5DHH4&feature=related and leaving a little hole at the top to let the steam escape.
12. Place the dumplings on a piece of parchment and steam for 15-20 minutes. Leave some room for each dumpling to expand, as they will double in size as they steam.
13. Take them out, pour some of the dressing on it and serve up.

Soy Dressing

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup light soy
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 spring onion chopped
• 2 chopped red chilies (reconstituted in water if dry)

Method

1. Mix the ingredients together to make the dressing.

Soymeal Dumplings

With the Navratri on, the only way I could recreate pork dumplings was with the use of soy meal. Also, I had the steamer that I was dying to use so ended up making soymeal dumplings. It has the same texture as pork dumplings, but without fat and since its soymeal, it should keep the entire khandan happy.

Ingredients

Dumplings

• 2 cups flour (makes around 10)
• 3/4 cup boiled water
• 1 tsp salt

Filling

• 1 1/2 cup soybean meal, soaked for 10 minutes
• 1 tbsp honey soy (or 1 tbsp light soy with a teaspoon of honey)
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 1 inch ginger, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 1 cup cold water
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

Dough

1. Mix the flour, salt and water to create a soft elastic dough and let it rest for 30 minutes to an hour in a cool dry place.
2. Divide the dough into 10 parts and roll out each ball on a lightly floured table into thin roundels.

Filling

1. Heat the oil in a pan and lightly fry the ginger. As it starts to turn colour, add the vinegar and reduce the heat. 
2. Let the liquid in the pan evaporate before adding the soaked soybean and honey soy.
3. Let the mixture cook on a low heat till some of the water evaporates before adding the cornflour water and salt to taste. You can also add some chili powder or paprika for some bite.
4. Stir the filling and cover. Let it simmer for around 10 minutes, until the soymeal is cooked through.
5. Remove the lid and let the liquid evaporate to create a firm mass of filling.

Dumplings

1. Add portions of the filling to the centre of the dumplings and roll to create little parcels. I rolled them into a circular shape, but bringing to sides together to create a half-moon shape, sealing the edges and then then bringing the two edges of the halfmoon together to create a circular dumpling.
2. Make sure to press down on the edges to seal the dumpling.
3. Lightly oil the steamer tray and prepare the steamer.
4. Place in the steamer and let it cook for 6-8 minutes.
5. Hog in with a light soy dressing, made with 4 parts light soy, 1 part sesame oil and chopped red-chilis or topped with some instant noodles.