Bee’s Kitchen

I love this dish, it’s so spicy and tasty!

Preparation Time – 15 minutes
Cooking Time -15 minutes

Serves – 4

Ingredients

500 g prawns (shelled & deveined)
1 egg white (beaten till white & frothy)
1/4 cup cornflour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp five spice powder
1 tsp szechuan pepper
4 cloves garlic (sliced)
2 tbsp shallots (sliced)
2 chillies (sliced)
2 tbsp Olive Oil

Method

1. Combine cornflour, salt, five spice, szechuan pepper in medium bowl.  Dip prawns into egg white followed by the flour mixture.
2. Heat olive oil in medium non stick pan on high heat, adding in garlic, shallots and chilli, once fragrant remove from heat and toss in prawns.
3. Once prawns turn pink and start to curl, combine with the garlic, shallots and chilli. Serve with rice.

With an overstock of mushrooms, I tried to figure out what to do with a full bag. So I sliced them up and started to pan fry them. Thinking this was oh so very boring I whipped up some batter and turned them into Herb & Mushroom Fritters.

And here they are ta da!

Preparation Time – 5 minutes
Cooking Time – 15 minutes

Serves – 4

Ingredients

500g button mushrooms
1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
1 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt & pepper
1 tbsp shallots, sliced
1 tbsp parsley, chopped

Method

1. Heat olive oil in a non stick frying pan, then add mushrooms and cook till tender.
2. In large bowl combine flour, salt and pepper, and stir through milk, eggs, mushrooms, shallots and parsley.
3. Using non stick frying pan on medium heat, cook both sides till golden brown.

My first go at making this, and it turned out super in my opinion, well ‘The Man’ only gave me a 67.9% so harsh!!! In Melbourne there is a Chinese restaurant called Chinabar at Box Hill, and it has the best Hainanese Chicken with rice you can buy at a store.

Another good place for this dish is in Perth, my friend Floey’s mum makes the best, she can even make it to feed a few hundred and it still taste oh soo good, now thats a talent, increasing all the quantities and having the flavour just right!!

My Sydney friend TT also makes a mean Hainanese Chicken Rice too, I’ve tried and tasted it, she has told me my comments were something along the lines of its really really good, but not as good as Floey’s mum!! Gosh i’m so insensitive sometimes!!

Preparation Time – 20 minutes
Cooking Time – 45 minutes

Serves – 6

Chicken

Ingredients

1 whole chicken
2 tsp salt
3 cloves garlic
3 slices ginger
2 stems of shallot
1 litre water
1 cucumber, sliced

Method

1. Prepare chicken by washing and removing excess fat then using the salt rub the cavity of the chicken. With the side of your knife squash the garlic and ginger to release the flavours. Then place garlic, ginger and shallot inside chicken.
2. Heat water in large pot and bring to boil. Add chicken into pot and cook covered on medium heat for 15 minutes. Rotate chicken and cook for further 15 minutes.
3. Remove chicken and drain excess liquid then plunge into ice bath for 3 minutes. This will make the chicken tender and juicy, the skin will also contract. Drain well, once chicken is room temperature slice up and arrange on plate with cucumber. Serve with chicken rice.

Chicken Rice

Ingredients

1 cup rice
2 tbsp seasame oil
3 eshallots, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 cups chicken stock (from cooking chicken)
1 tsp salt

Method

1. Wash rice a few times in cold water, then drain well.
2. In a non stick fry pan heat oil, adding eshallots and garlic fry till fragrant. Then add rice and stir fry for 2 minutes after rice is fully coated.
3. Next remove from heat, place rice into rice cooker and add chicken stock plus salt.

If you don’t have a rice cooker, just cook on the stove in a non stick saucepan with lid, bring to the boil, once water reaches just above the rice, stir rice then turn onto low heat for 15-20 minutes.

Cupcakes are great, eating one is like having a whole little cake all to yourself. I have not made cupcakes in such a long time so did a quick search on the web to find a suitable recipe. The recipe is originally from Billy Reece of Billy’s Bakery from New York, who shared his recipe on the Martha Stewart Show.

I didn’t finish making them till very late! I also made some with Billy’s Chocolate Buttercream, and my very own pink ones with the Vanilla buttercream recipe, adding some strawberry jam and pink food colouring. And yes this cupcake recipe is a keeper!

Preparation Time – 20 minutes
Cooking Time – 20 minutes

Makes – 30

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.
2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.
4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Billy’s Vanilla Buttercream

Makes – 30 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
6 to 8 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. With mixer on low speed, add 6 cups sugar, milk, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. If necessary, gradually add remaining 2 cups sugar to reach desired consistency.

Had a feast on Saturday at my grandparents place to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, which officially falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, it is also known as Double Fifth Day.

We had eight dishes that included

• Stir Fry Scallops and Snow Peas
• Crispy Roast Pork
• Casserole Duck with Prawn Pasta
• Stir Fry Green Beans with Minced Fish
• Steamed Chicken
• Steamed Choy Sum Vegetable
• Chinese Mushroom and Pork Leg Hot Pot
• Pork and Lotus Root

This is super duper easy, all you do, ask the fish shop to scale and clean for you. And when at home just give the fish a quick wash in cold water and pat dry using paper towels. Place the fish on a plate adding finely sliced ginger and shallot on top.

I steamed this for about 10 minutes, then heated up some oil, sprinkled more shallots on top and drizzled with fish soy sauce then the hot oil. (the oil should be hot enough so that when poured you can hear it sizzle!) Serve straight away, a perfect dish with rice.

Yummy pork chop! I’ve made this how I remember my mum doing it by first dusting the pork chop in cornflour then lightly pan frying both sides to seal in the juices and transferring it to the oven to bake on top of onions tomatoes and rice.

Preparation Time – 10  minutes
Cooking Time – 55 minutes

Serves – 2

Ingredients

3 pieces pork chop
3 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 ripe tomatoes, peeled, pureed
1 onion, diced
pinch of salt & pepper
pinch of sugar
1 cup steamed rice

Method

1. Dip the pork chop into the cornflour, then fry using oil in non stick frypan both sides till pork is sealed. Adding in onion till caramelised and then stirring through tomatoes, add salt, pepper and a little sugar accordingly to your taste.
2. Place contents of frypan on top of the rice. Bake in oven at 220 degrees C for 45 minutes.

This recipe requires minimal preparation and cooking time, and is another favourite dish. The secret is in the marinate, the combination of soy flavour goes so well with the sweetness of honey. I prefer to use chicken wings, as they’re easy to cook and come out juicy and tender. A healthier alternative is using skinless chicken breast or thigh fillets instead.

After marinating for a few hours or overnight, the chicken can be cooked in a number of ways, grilled, oven baked, BBQ, pan fried, deep fried. Its perfect for lunch time wraps or sliced up into cubes and skewered for the bbq. Tonight we are having the wings with steamed rice.

Preparation Time – 15 minutes
Cooking Time – 30 minutes

Serves – 4

Ingredients
1 kg chicken wings
Marinate
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp raw sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper

Method

1. Cut chicken wings into 3 segments, removing the tip and discarding, combine soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, honey, salt and pepper in a medium bowl place in chicken coat in sauce, then cover and marinate over night. If you have limited space in your fridge like me, instead of using a bowl, use a zip lock plastic bag.
2. Line the wings up on a baking tray, and grill for about 30 minutes on medium heat or until cooked through.

My friend Dave gave me a challenge last week, to create a vegetarian dish that’s tasty, healthy and easy to make. Well here it is Dave! The stir fry contains a colourful variety of fresh vegetables such as, red capsicum, zucchini, broccoli, fresh mushrooms, Chinese dried mushrooms, bok choy, and corn. Tossed together with Udon, (Japanese thick white noodle made from wheat flour). And no oil is used in this recipe, making it perfect for the health conscious. This is so tasty and can be eaten hot or cold, great for lunch boxes.

Preparation Time – 5 minutes
Cooking Time – 10 minutes

Serves – 2

Ingredients

200 g fresh udon noodles
1/2 red capsicum (sliced)
1 zucchini (sliced)
1/2 cup broccoli (cut)
1 cup fresh mushrooms (sliced)
2 chinese dried mushrooms (re hydrated)
1 bunch bok choy (roughly chopped)
1 corn cob (cut off cob)
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2 cup water

Method

1. Prepare all vegetables and place in a bowl, using a non stick pan, stir fry all the vegetables until semi cooked, add the fresh udon noodles, these only take 2-3 minutes to heat through.
2. Now add the dark soy sauce and water into the pan and stir through. Serve.