I’m currently doing a diploma course. It’s nice backing to uni haha…
I was planning to write some lunch box recipes, but there’s no motivations to prepare lunch box! Well, now the diploma course could be one motivation! I then decide to cook my lunch everyday and bring it to uni. I was a fan of fast food lunch back to years before. But now I’m turning to a extreme lover of handmade lunch haha. So Today I made something called Oya Ko Donburi. It is a Japanese dish which is consisting of a bowl of rice topped with chicken and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce flavored with Dashi (fish and seaweed stock), soy sauce and Mirin (sweet rice wine). I used the chicken fillet this time as it is tender than beef.
The side dish is the corn salad with mayonnaise sauce, white vinegar, brown sugar and salt. The mayonnaise sauce is also a Japanese originated salad sauce. So tomorrow’s lunch would be purely “Japanese style”☺️
Mung bean cake is a traditional Chinese dessert. The main ingredient, mung bean or sometimes called as green mung bean is a common and daily ingredient in Chinese cooking. In traditional Chinese medicine, those little green beans have a cold property, which can further help to protect our body from hot temperature in summer. Personally, I love various recipes made with mung beans or related ingredients. The mung bean cake is also a perfect match with Chinese tea. Its sweet flavor goes perfect with the tea flavor. I have made two versions of mung bean cakes this time. One batch of the cakes are custard yellow while the other batch is matcha green (reproduce the green color of the cake).
I bought some ribs last week to make the sweet and sour ribs. But there are too much meat attached on the rib. Well, it is good generally speaking; but not good for making the sweet and sour ribs. The sweet and sour ribs needs spare ribs which have less meat attached on the ribs. So my mum cut the extra meat from the rib, and cut those extra meat to pork minces. I then get the idea to make meatballs. And instead of the general Chinese recipe for meatballs (the meatball soup), I decided to make a Thai style meatball dish.
My parents went to visit me this August, brought some dried bird’s nests to me. They are like most Chinese old generations who deeply believed that the bird’s nest, refers to the traditional Chinese medicine, is almost the best ingredient for women. However, it is not originated from China. This ingredient is originated from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. It becomes an Asian culture that using the bird’s nest as a medicine to provide necessary nutritions to women’s body. It is also called the edible bird’s nest, which is a kind of bird’s nest created by swiftlets using solidified saliva. It is especially prized in Chinese culture due to its rarity. The Chinese name for bird’s nest is “燕窝”, translating literally as swallow’s nest. It is always served as different kind of soups. Therefore, the bird’s nest soup becomes a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. And my most favorite bird’s nest soup is the one with papaya and milk.
The corn cake is a popular breakfast at Sichuan, especially at my parents’ hometown – YiBin. It is my favorite breakfast since I was still a little girl. Every time when I was getting hard to get up in the early morning, the corn cake became my only impetus to quickly get up and be ready for my lovely breakfast haha…It is sweet and fresh with the corn fragrance in it; and it is also soft and fluffy like a corn flavored chiffon cake. But it is not traditionally called “cake” as it is not a baked cake, and the shape looks totally different from any western cakes. It is a traditional Chinese cake (steamed cake). And it is healthy, as instead of fried or backed cakes, it is steamed and oil free; and it doesn’t include any artificial colors and any additives. The only ingredients you will need to make the corn cake are just fresh corns and plain flours. 
The fish flavored shredded pork is called “Yu Xiang Rou Si”in Chinese. It is a famous Sichuan food, and also it is said to have originated in Sichuan cuisine, but has since spread to other regional Chinese cuisines. It is called the fish flavored shredded pork, but there’s nothing regarding to fish at all. There’s no fish in this dish, and also without any seasonings relates to fish. In fact, the fish flavor comes from the Sichuan style pickled chili and pickled ginger.
Tried a new dessert yesterday – the almond pound cake. Almost all coffee shops sell pound cake slices, and friends told me that the pound slices are perfect for siding with coffee in an afternoon tea. Well, the flavour is too heavy for me because I am not a dessert lover! The only dessert I love is probably the chiffon cake with lots of cream on top haha…
I have a bit of research about the origin of pound cake. It is believed that the pound cake is a Northern European dish, that dates back to the early 1700s. But over time the ingredients for pound cake changed.
This dessert actually refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. However, any cake made with a 1:1:1:1 ratio, by weight, of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar may also be called a pound cake, as it yields the same results. Pound cakes are generally baked in either a loaf pan or a Bundt mold, and served either dusted with powdered sugar, lightly glazed, or sometimes with a coat of icing. 
The Dong-Po Cubed Pork is a popular dish in the eastern part of China, especially in the ShangHai – HangZhou area. It is made by the cubed pork belly. The pork belly is cut thick, about 4cm square, and should consist equally of fat and lean meat. The skin is left on. The mouthfeel is oily but not greasy and the dish is fragrant with wine (Shao Xin wine). The dish is named after the famed Song Dynasty poet and gastronome Su Dong Po.
The poached chicken with chili sauce is one of the popular appetiser in Sichuan cuisine. The Chinese name for this dish is “口水鸡” (mouth-watering chicken). It may sound quite weird or uncomfortable, but it means a super delicious dish. It is famous in my home town Chongqing with the name spicy chicken, but indeed it is not that spicy (well it is just looks spicy!). I would suggest that whenever you get a chance to visit an authentic Szechuan restaurant, it is worth to have a try on this dish!