I actually do not know what the technical English name of this vegetable is, but I see it at the grocery stores as “Fuzzy Squash”, I’ll stick that naming convention :) I also saw it referred to as “Fuzzy Melon” as well, so a combination of the first two! They are quite soft when being chewed, and the thin and clear vermicelli is a nice addition as the secondary ingredient.

The fuzzy squash can be fairly large when selecting from the super market. A large should be enough, but I opted for a medium-sized, and a small-sized, which will be plenty to serve two. Here is how it appears from my local grocery store:



I also can’t believe that this is my first vegetarian recipe. I know many of you have have made requests, and don’t worry, there will be more! Even though this is a vegetarian recipe, I did add some dried shrimp just for the extra flavor, but this is definitely an optional ingredient.

From start to end, the duration of this recipe was about 15 minutes (5 for preparation, the rest for the stir-fry). I did not take into account the 30 minute wait time that is needed to soak the vermicelli.

• 1 large (or 1 medium and 1 small) fuzzy squash
• 2 bundles of vermicelli
• a handful of dried baby shrimp (optional)
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2-3 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of chicken broth powder
• 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil

• The vermicelli and the dried shrimp (if applicable) will need to be placed in separate bowls of cold water for about 30 minute (until it softens). When done, pour out the water.
  
  
  
  
• Cutting the fuzzy squash can be an adventure. Here is how I did it in 5 steps:
  
  1.) Skin the squash, and cut off both ends.
  
  
  
  2.) Cut in two halves.
  
  
  
  3.) Take one of the halves, and place it flatly on the surface, and cut into slices diagonally.
  
  
  
  4.) Once you have all the slices, take each slice (or stack a couple on top of each other), and cut diagonally into small pieces (they kind of look like fries a little!). Be careful if stacking, as the pieces can slip, and you can cut yourself with a knife! Eek!
  
  
  
  5.) Finally, place all the pieces into a bowl.

1. In a preheated wok (or pan), heat the cooking oil, then add the garlic and dried baby shrimp (if applicable). Once the garlic starts to turn a little brown, add the fuzzy squash and saute for 30 seconds.
   
   
   
   
2. Add 1/3 cup of water, and cover the wok (or pan) with a lid for about 3 minutes, while the water is boiling.
3. Mix in the oyster sauce, sugar, and chicken broth mix. Saute.
4. Perform a taste test, and add extra ingredients (oyster sauce, sugar) if necessary.
5. Put the vermicelli in, and stir briefly. Serve with rice.
   
   
   
   

My father calls this dish “five-colored chicken” in Cantonese, although I’m not sure if I captured all the colors in my version. We make use of some peanut butter, which is always a plus for kids!

As you will see below, this recipe involves a lot of ingredients. However, I’d say almost every item are common household items, so hopefully there is no need to purchase an item for this specific recipe.

A variation of this recipe can be done using prawns (instead of chicken).

From start to end, the duration of this recipe was about 25 minutes (10 for preparation, the rest for the stir-fry).

• 350 g of chicken, cut into small bite-sized pieces (white, dark, choice is yours)
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small carrot, cut into small cube-like pieces
• 1 green pepper, cut into small cube-like pieces
• 1 small onion, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup of chicken broth (or water)
• 2 teaspoons of chicken broth powder
• 1-2 teaspoons of sesame oil
• 3 teaspoons of cooking (rice) wine
• 1 teaspoon of corn starch
• 4 teaspoons of vinegar
• 3 tablespoons of peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon of hoisin sauce (optional)
• chili sauce to taste
• 3-4 teaspoons of sugar (or to taste)
• pinch of salt to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• cashews or peanuts for garnish

• Marinade the chicken with a pinch of salt, 1 teaspoon of chicken broth powder, 1 tablespoon of the cooking (rice) wine, and the corn starch.

1. In a preheated wok (or pan), heat the cooking oil, then add the garlic. Once the garlic starts to turn a little brown, add the chicken and saute.
2. When the chicken is cooked, add the carrots, and saute for a minute.
3. Add the rest of the cooking (rice) wine (2 teaspoons), add the onions, and then stir-fry for another couple of minutes. Then add the green peppers and chicken broth (or water).
4. Add in the following: hoisin sauce (optional), pinch of salt, 1 teaspoon of chicken broth powder, chili sauce, and sugar. Stir-fry for a few seconds, and then add the vinegar and the peanut butter. Stir-fry. Perform a taste-test (You should definitely be able to taste the peanut butter!).
5. Finish off by adding the sesame oil. Garnish with cashews or peanuts.

Just like ginger, I only recently started to fully enjoy bitter melon (I’m really missing out!). I’m not sure if it’s an acquired taste, but it really does have a bitterness to it, which I’m sure is a strong deterrent for most people. They are green and can come fairly large:



I learned this recipe from my mother, and we made this over the weekend. She really likes to have the bitter melon in her soups, so this time I got my notepad ready, and took notes! This soup should be enough to serve 3 or 4 people.

I’m not sure if you can find this vegetable at your local grocery store, it may be because I never tried looking. We normally pick up a batch from the Asian supermarkets.

This recipe takes about 1.5 hours total, but most of it is just waiting around. A majority of the work is preparation.

• 4 bitter melons
• 1 pound of ground pork
• a handful of vermicelli (optional for the stuffing)
• a handful of dried baby shrimp (optional for the stuffing)
• 1 teaspoon of soy sauce
• pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1 can of chicken broth (the can I used was 412 ml)

• If you have dried baby shrimp, place them in a bowl of cold water for about 30 minutes (until it softens).
• Marinade the ground pork with the soy sauce, pepper, and sesame oil. Once the shrimp is all dried, chop them into tiny pieces, and then mix it with the ground pork. Let it sit for about 30 minutes.
  
  Here is a photo of the dried baby shrimp all chopped:
  
  
  
  
• If you have vermicelli, place then in a bowl of cold water, just like we did for the dried baby shrimp. It should take about 10 minutes for it to soften.
• Take the bitter melon, and cut into either halves or thirds (depending on how long they are). Grab a spoon, and extract the seeds.

1. When the vermicelli is soft, cut into one inch lengths, and thoroughly mix it with the marinaded ground pork. It does take a few minutes of mixing to get a nice homogeneous mixture.
   
   Here is a photo of what the marinade looks like:
   
   
   
   
2. Next, using a spoon, stuff the ground pork mixture into the hollow bitter melons. Try to stuff as much as you can! If you have leftovers, don’t worry, we will make use of them later.
   
   Here is a photo of the stuffed bitter melons:
   
   
   
   
3. Pour the chicken broth into a pot. Fill up the empty can that contained the chicken broth with water, and pour it into the pot as well. Repeat two more times so we have a 3:1 ratio of water to chicken broth. Adjust the amounts to your liking. Place on high heat.
4. Once it has come to a boil, place the bitter melons into the pot. If you had leftover ground pork, you can make little balls and place them into the pot as well! Got to make use of those leftovers! Start your timer, as this will be about a 25 minute wait.
5. There is no need to stir the pot, or poke at the melons. You can just let it sit. When the soup has come to a boil, I like to turn the heat down to medium and let it cook slowly.
6. Perform a taste test around the 15 minute mark. The only thing you may want to add is a pinch of salt to taste.
7. Once the 25 minutes are over, turn the heat off, and it’s ready to be served!

For this recipe, I’ll be using an Asian vegetable as one of the main ingredients. But unfortunately, I don’t even know the correct English name for this vegetable! I’ve seen it called “garlic sprouts” before, so I’ll stick to that naming convention.



Ideally you’d want the whole vegetable to be green, as you can see that it starts to get lighter in color as you go down. From the photo, they come in stalks, and are quite sturdy. They are very crunchy as well! They’re usually about a foot long, and just bundled together by an elastic band (or adhesive). Feel free to use any meat of your choice for this stir-fry, as I feel that garlic sprouts are very versatile in what you eat it with.

• 200 g beef fillet or lean rump steak, cut into small pieces
• 2 bunches of garlic sprouts
• 2-3 chopped garlic cloves
• 1-2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 1/2 cup of water
• 3-5 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of powdered chicken stock mix
• 3 teaspoons of corn starch
• 1 teaspoon of (light) soy sauce

• Marinade the beef with 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of corn starch, and soy sauce.
• Cut off the ends of the garlic sprouts, then cut each into 2-3 inch pieces, and wash with cold water.
• Place the remaining corn starch (2 teaspoons) in a small sauce bowl, and mix with 2 teaspoons of water. Set aside for later use, as we will be adding this mixture near the end to thicken the sauce.

1. In a preheated wok (or pan), heat the cooking oil, then add the garlic. Once the garlic starts to turn a little brown, add the beef and saute.
2. When the beef is cooked to your liking, remove the beef, and place the garlic sprouts into the wok. Stir-fry for about 1-2 minutes.
3. Place the water, oyster sauce, sugar, and the powdered chicken stock mix into the wok (or pan), and stir. Feel free to add more water if wanted. Wait until the sprouts are cooked (you may cover the wok with a lid to speed up the process).
4. When the sprouts are cooked and the sauce is at a boil, place the beef back in. Grab the corn starch mixture that was prepared earlier on, and make sure to mix it again, as the corn starch may have settled to the bottom. Add the mixture into the wok, and stir. This will thicken the sauce.
5. Stir for a few seconds, and serve.

I’m a big fan of ginger, but that wasn’t always the case. When I was a kid, I despised the taste of ginger! When my parents made stir-fry using ginger, I would always pick them out of my bowl, and get angry if I accidentally munched on one. I felt it was too strong, and wondered why anyone would like the taste.

As I grew older, I started to appreciate the various spices and tastes that make the Asian cuisine so unique. I’m proud to say that I’m totally in love with ginger, and eat lots whenever I get the chance!

There are no vegetables within this stir-fry, although I think onions may complement it well. I like the addition of dark soy sauce, which gives the chicken a nice dark color.

So, other than stir-fry, how else do you all of you incorporate ginger into your meals? Share with me your ideas!

• 250 g of chicken, cut into small pieces
• ginger to your liking, cut into matchsticks
• 2-3 chopped garlic cloves
• 1-2 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 2 teaspoons of rice wine (cooking wine)
• 3-4 tablespoons of chicken broth (or substitute with water)
• 1 teaspoon of chicken broth powder mix
• 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
• 1-2 teaspoons of corn starch
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sugar

• Marinade the chicken with the light soy sauce, chicken broth powder mix, corn starch, and 1 teaspoon of the rice wine.

1. Heat the wok (or pan) with cooking oil, then add the garlic. Once the garlic starts to turn a little brown, add the chicken and stir-fry until it is cooked.
2. Place all the ginger into the wok (or pan), and stir-fry. Pour the remaining 1 teaspoon of rice wine into the wok (or pan).
3. Stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add the chicken broth (or substitute with water), oyster sauce, sugar, and the dark soy sauce.
4. Stir-fry for another minute, and serve.

This is Part 2 of my adventures of trying out stir-fry recipes from other people’s blogs. This one is called Spicy Tofu. I grabbed this recipe from another amazing blog: Weeknite Meals. This blog is beautifully designed, and has great home-made recipes. Check it out if you have time! I spent a lot of time browsing all her recipes :)

As for the dish itself, it was amazing! I used corn starch (instead of tapioca starch), which I don’t do too often when marinading meat in a stir-fry, and it turned out very soft and delicious! I strongly recommend going to an Asian supermarket to purchase the ground pork, as you can tell the butcher the exact quantity of the ground meat you need (in this case, 1/4 pound).

I should note that I did make one small adjustment, and that was using only one tablespoon of soy sauce in total (as opposed to four as you will see). Keep in mind that you will also be using some black bean paste, which is also salty. So the amount of condiments should always be “as needed”, and do a taste-test near the end to check if more or something is needed.

• 1.5 tablespoons of tapioca starch (can substitute cornstarch)
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1/4 pound (115 grams) of ground pork
• 1 pound regular tofu (medium firmness)
• 1 leek or 3 green onions cut into short lengths
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon Chinese salted black beans (fermented black beans, also called Chinese black beans), or to taste
• 1 tablespoon of chili bean paste, or to taste
• 3 tablespoons of stock (chicken broth)
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
• freshly ground Szechuan pepper
• 2–3 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, as needed

• Marinade the ground pork with the tapioca starch (or corn starch) and 2 tablespoons (or to taste) of soy sauce. Let it sit for 20 minutes.
• Cut the tofu (bean curd) into 1/2 inch (1 cm) square cubes, and blanch (drop into boiling water) for 2–3 minutes. Remove from boiling water and drain.

1. Heat wok and add oil. When oil is ready, add the marinated pork. Stir-fry the pork until the color darkens. Add salt and stir.
2. Add the salted black beans. Mash the beans with a cooking ladle until they blend in well with the meat. Add the chili paste, then the stock, bean curd, and leek or green onions.
3. Turn down the heat. Cook for 3–4 minutes.
4. While cooking, take a small bowl and mix 1-2 teaspoons of cornstarch, with 1-2 teaspoons of water. While the sauce in the wok has come to a boil, add the mixture and stir gently. This will thicken the sauce. Serve with freshly ground Szechuan pepper.