Prawns With Broccoli and Pine Nuts

For the last few months, I'd been eating quite a lot of seafood even when I travelled, I never missed tasting seafood specials of the regions. Of course, prices are hefty compared to my hometown - well, no fret I'll be back and ready to have seafood spree -actually the fishmongers are happy to see me, you know :-D They even remembered when was the last time I patronised their stalls :-P

I think there will be more meat and vegetables recipes coming (seafood is 'errhmmm' in Europe you know...) There's one scene I wanted to tell... any country I went, my first visit would be their fresh markets. I love the hustle and bustle of the local life, far away from tourists (except me of course :-D ) and sometimes, you may find odd food or specialty of the season amongst the vans, trucks and carts. The scene, I mentioned earlier was the first time I'm in Europe, I was shocked to see pre-cooked crabs and crevettes grises on display in baskets, trays and crates :-D I'm used to see 'live' crabs in tanks or ponds ready for selection and cook to your specifications. Well, except Flower Crabs and Blue Swimmers, other crabs are kept alive until further notice! What I can say is, today I'm a huge fan of Crevettes Grises! They are yummylicious and I always reserved the peeled shells and heads as stock for soups, stir-fries, steamed seafood, noodles... etc.

Looks like my next seafood tryout is going to be the cooked crabs but judging by the size and weight, it's going to pinch my purse soon :-D Anyway, I'm not doing fish... yet but here's a yummy recipe that may take sometime to cook but I love the results. It's like eating 2 flavours in one dish! Most important thing... mise en place... ingredients within reach, very hot wok or pan and fast stir-frying. Lots of handwork involved but all of us can do it! Serve this dish hot with steamed rice or made extra gravy, ladle on top yellow noodles. ramen or egg noodles as a delicious side dish to your main meal!

Prawns with Broccoli and Pine Nuts

Serves 2

25 g Pine Nuts

150 g Broccoli

150 g Prawns

1/2 pc Carrot

2 slices Ginger

1 Tbl Ginger wine

Some boiling water for scalding the vegetables

Marinade for Prawns:

1/8 tsp Salt

1 tsp Cornflour

1 tsp Oil

Seasoning for Broccoli:

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Chicken Stock

3 Tbl Water

3/4 tsp Cornflour

Sauce (Gravy) Mix:

3 Tbl Water

1/8 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp Sesame Oil

1/2 tsp Cornflour

Method:

1. Rub the pine nuts with clean damp cloth. Let them dry and toast the nuts until fragrant and golden. Set aside. It's important to stir the pine nuts constantly to avoid burnt. You can also bake the nuts in oven at 120 ºC for 10 to 12 minutes until golden. I used fan to have even roasting.

2. Wash and cut the broccoli into small florets. Slice the carrot into rounds or any shapes you fancy (for this recipe, I shaped the carrots into flower and sliced them about 2mm thick, to maintain the shape of the design). Set aside.

3. In a small pot/pan, heat some water to a rolling boil. Scald the broccoli florets and carrot for about 1 minute. Drain immediately and set aside.

4. Shelled and devein the prawns. Rinse and pat dry. Marinate for about 5 minutes.

5. Heat some oil in a wok or deep pan. When it's really hot, add in the broccoli and stir-fry for while. Sizzle with ginger wine, the seasoning and mix well. Dish out in a serving plate. (Keep it warm with another plate on top if you prefer).

6. Wash your pan or wok with some water and heat it up again to high heat (to evaporate the water before adding oil to avoid splattering).

7. When the wok or pan is dry, add in some oil. When oil is hot and smoky, add in sliced ginger and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the marinated prawns and stir-fry quickly for few seconds. Add in the sliced carrots and the sauce/gravy mixture.

8. Mix well until the gravy thickens. Dish out on top of the cooked broccoli. Sprinkle some toasted pine nuts and serve.

Note:

If you can't find ready made Ginger Wine in your local Asian shops, you can try to make your own.

15 g old ginger - bruised or sliced into pieces

60 ml Rice Wine or Sake (please choose quality rice wine)

Add them together in a air tight jar and leave it to soak overnight before using. Strain the liquid as needed. This quantity will keep for several weeks, depends on how frequent you use in your cooking :-)

♪ ♥ Enjoy ♥♬

Soojunggwa (Dried Persimmons In Cinnamon & Ginger Tea)

A dessert that not only easy to cook but tastes delicious in cold winter but also a digestif, breath freshener and air-freshener??? Are you game enough??? Read on... :-P

I love persimmons but living in a tropical country, such delicious fruit is mostly imported with a quite a hefty sum to pay. Nevertheless, my solution to enjoy persimmons through out the year was in dried fruit which is far cheaper than fresh. Of course, if I chance upon promotional offer, you don't have to make me think twice! For those who are lucky to have persimmon trees and don't know what to do with them besides cooking or baking, here's a link on how to preserve or dried the lovely fruit. You can even oven-dried them if you don't have the facilities to do so.

First time I tasted this sweet Soojunggwa was in a Korean Restaurant. We arrived there quite late and other restaurants in the same block was either full or the menu wasn't interesting. We stumbled this Korean Restaurant because of the unique entrance door which looked like a traditional Korean gate or door in village. We peeked through the window and saw that there was no customers inside except a Korean lady behind the counter. Since we're willing to try something new and starving, we went inside to check with her if the kitchen was still opened. We're glad they were and were informed that most of their patrons came after the usual office hours or later. Indeed after half way through our dinner, a group of Korean men came in and the place was quite noisy with their chatters (I thought women supposed to be the most chatterbox) :-D

Now, Korean cuisine is very interesting and I was surprised the way they serve their food. I ordered Samgye Tang (stuffed young chicken with glutinous rice cooked in ginseng soup), Kimchi and Bori Cha. When my dish arrived, it was accompanied by several smaller dishes like radish pickles, soya bean sprouts and others which I never tasted before. There were 6 little bowls of this side dishes. The best part was... if I want extra of those side dishes, no problem with no extra costs :-D Well, I did asked for 2nd helping of the pickled Radish :-P At the end of our meals, this sweet Persimmon Tea was served as a digestif which also like mouth freshener with the addition of cinnamon and ginger. It's actual very good for cold Winter. Kind of warms up your body :-) At the restaurant it was served cold but I like it hot during winter... and you know what? Each time I cooked Soojunggwa, my whole home smelled so fragrant! Let's start cooking!

Persimmons In Cinnamon & Ginger Tea [Soojunggwa]

Serves 2-4

3 pcs Dried Persimmons

1 pc Cinnamon stick/bark~about 6 cm-8 cm long

5 g Fresh Ginger~ slice into several pieces

750 ml Water

30 g Raw Cane Sugar

Some pine nuts or more if you like.

Method:

1. In a pot, boil the water, cane sugar, cinnamon stick and ginger for 3-5 minutes. You will smell the combination of ginger and cinnamon filled up your kitchen... and whole house too!

2. Add the dried persimmons and let it boil for 1-2 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it steep for 1-2 hours.

3. Remove the persimmons and sliced into several pieces. Set aside.

4. In individual serving bowls, add few pieces of the sliced persimmon and top it up with the sweet liquid. Garnish with pine nuts.

This tea can be serve Cold during hot summer months or Hot in the winter. For cold Persimmon Tea, after the liquid cools down, remove the persimmons and strain liquid into a jug. Put into the fridge for 2-3 days and before serving, add few sliced persimmons into chilled bowls. Garnish with pine nuts. You can omit the persimmons if you want but tell me who doesn't like to eat it! :-D

Note: Dried persimmons has a thin layer of whitish coating when you buy from Asian stores. It's actually natural fructose from the fruit itself when dried. If you like you can give a quick wash before cooking. You can also use Rock Sugar or usual White granulated sugar, which ever you have as sweetener. Don't forget to adjust the sweetness. If you like sweeter, add extra sugar or add more water if it's too sweet. The quantity in this recipe is just nice for me. I always start with less sugar and slowly add in more to taste.

Enjoy!!!