radish, carrot and pork stew

It is actually manageable to prepare some authentic Chinese dishes here even without the need of any special Chinese sauces. I would like to share a Chinese dish to you all that I have prepared recently. After trying the first bite, Mr Vineyard immediately said it tasted "Lekker" (delicious in Dutch), especially the sauce. The ingredients below are accessible in local Swiss supermarket except the Chinese cooking wine which is available in the Asian grocery store. If you don't have Chinese cooking wine, you can replace by other strong spirits at home, e.g. Tequila. I have tried and it worked perfectly for me.

Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Cooking Wine

Ingredients:

• 800g radish (German: radis)

400g pork spare ribs or pork chop

3 thin slices of ginger

2 cloves of garlic bashed

2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

250ml water

1 sprig of spring onion (chopped in small pieces) - optional

Seasoning:

• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce (optional)
• 40g coarse brown sugar (sugar cane)
  

Method:

1. Peel the radish and cut into big cubes (4cm x 4cm), cut the pork into pieces (2cm x 2cm).
2. Cook some boiling water in a pan, and place the pieces of pork into the boiling water for 1 min, stir and then remove them from water and place the pork in a sieve and clean them briefly in cold tap water. The purpose of this is to make the sauce of your dish cleaner and clearer.
3. Heat some oil in a wok or flat frying pan, then add the ginger and garlic in it. When they turn golden brown, add in the pork and radish. Stir-fry them for 1-2 mins, then add in the Chinese cooking wine and the seasoning. Keep stirring and then add in the water gradually. When everything is mixed and dissolved, let it boil for 5-10 mins and then transfer to a deep pan, bring to boil and turn to medium heat. Cover the pan and simmer for 40 mins to 1 hour until the pork and radish are tendered.
4. Ready to serve with rice, garnish by sprinkle some spring onion on top.

guacamole

I am not a Mexican food fan but this dish is so easy to prepare. I have a short version if don't have much time to prepare or a long version if you have time to prepare a more sophisticated one. We have it from time to time as an evening snackie when we watch movie at night. I know it's not good to have snacks at night but avocado is antioxidant....meaning anti-aging!!! OK, OK, we only eat this occasionally, I don't need to rationalize and be so mean to myself, right?

Guacamole can be prepared a few hours ahead, and keep in the fridge. To prevent it from being oxidized, you will need to cover the bowl with Clingfilm, pressing it onto the surface of the guacamole to avoid contact to air.

Ingredients for Quick version:

• 2 big ripe avocados
• a packet of guacamole mixing powder
• 2-3 tbsp lime juice (if available at home, this will help preventing oxidation)
• a pack of Nachos
  

Method:

1. Cut the avocadoes in half, peeled and cut into cubes. Then use a fork to mash the avocado into a paste in a big bowl.
2. Mix in the guacamole mixing powder and fresh lime juice.
3. Serve immediately with Nachos or keep in fridge as described above.

Note: I don't use the whole pack as it may be too spicy.

Ingredients for long version:

• 2 big ripe avocados mashed
• 1 small onion (or red onion), finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno chile (seeds and ribs removed and finely chopped), the canned one works as well
• 1 plum tomato (seeded and cut into small cubes)
• a handful of chopped coriander (or cilantro, how it is called in the US), you can chop the stems and leaves.
• 2-3 tbsp fresh lime juice
• a bit of salt if necessary

Method:

Basically the method is same as the quick version except we use more fresh ingredients here. You can add some guacamole mixing powder if you like but if I am making such a big effort to make this one, I would opt out the powder as this give you a more natural and fresh flavor.

So why not pick a movie and try it out this weekend!