Feb 1st, 2008 by xina
With the global slump of the stock markets just before Chinese New Year, will it deter a bit of our eating spree? Let’s review the program “fishless seas” which is filmed 3 years ago. Just a little deed of eating less will mean a lot to our mother earth…
Feb 1st, 2008 by xina
I have updated my HK Veggie Food Map, 3 of the new restaurants offer fine-dining dishes, which is a good choice for family gathering. Prices is a bit expensive at $160-200 per head.
Xin-zhai (literally meaning Mind Room 心 齋)
Wan Fo Ge (literally meaning “Ten thousands Buddha Pavilion” 萬 佛 閣 )
Vegelink: fusion cuisine from a private kitchen
Others:
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喬 妃 齋 |
多 利 民 |
寶 蓮 苑 |
Jan 28th, 2008 by xina
Learn to cook with mom today. She taught with a touch of sarcasm which makes you remember the tricks (or mistakes) well!
Pickled Chinese cabbage (醃梅菜): Don’t buy the sweet ones. A shopkeeper told her that most pickle makers substitute sugar with Saccharin. It’s safer to take the salty ones. Just immerse them in water for a while, then boil them briefly. Seasoned with sugar and oil and ready for cooking.
Chestnut skin peeling: lady from the vegetable stall suggested that one can easily peel the skin by pan-frying the chestnuts dry — a method belittled by my mom, as that’s the cause of the burnt marks on my pan! Just boiled the chestnuts in water for a while, skin will be off pretty easily with a towel.
Veggies pre-cooking preparation: boil them with a pinch of salt briefly, then refresh with tap water. Not only for cleansing, veggies are more crispy and look greener. For veggies with hard skin, you can rub them with cleaning pad to get rid of the preservatives.
Here are what we’ve cooked today (click images to enter recipes)…
Jan 27th, 2008 by xina
It’s a phenomenal experience visiting the Central Police Station Compound for “HK & Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture: Refabricating City,” which is comparable to exhibitions hosted in top modern art museums in New York or London.
我想讓政府在西九弄個什麼具氣派的展覽場地，也未必比得上中區警署這個獨特的空間! 尤其在監獄那邊的展覽最好玩，一逛便近五個小時，還未來得及慢慢細看，已是五時多了，不過這天約了朋人在家煮素菜，要買餸了! 這個展覽我一定會找個平日再去，假日人太多了，未能好好享受…
這天準備了這兩個菜式:
果皮麵豉蒸豆腐
中環老店「永和雜貨店」有很多好東西，而且老板很好人，邊買邊向他請教煮食心得，他都樂意一一解答。這裡的東西價錢也很實惠，例如說: 八元一兩果皮，他說比得上黃雙如數百元一兩的貨色呢！打開蓋給我嗅嗅，果然很香。就用它加上麵豉醬來蒸豆腐…
西蘭花炒日本菇(薑蒜炒)
食材新鮮品質好，偶爾也可以彌補煮食技巧的不足，這款菜式是一例。 我用了大量的薑絲和蒜粒去爆鑊，香極了，就這樣簡簡單單的去炒菜和菇，那只需灑一點鹽去調味，已經很可口了，炒菜要中高火以上，那蔬菜的水份會給保留，味道會較好。
另外，我不喜歡把菜炒得大熟，仍帶一點生的，可吃出蔬菜的新鮮味道，哈哈，就好像al dente 的意大利麵條吧！
Jan 25th, 2008 by xina
I like green curry vegetables very much. But restaurants only prepare the dish with limited variety of vegetables; it’d better cook it myself. With fresh ingredients and seasoning easily available from market, making a good pot of green curry veggies is really easy! I pick what is available and choose as many colors as possible:
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Cut all the ingredients in bite size. Don’t peel the skin of pumpkin and sweet potatoes, which is very nutritious. Skin of chestnuts can be easily removed by pan frying them dry (no oil, no water, but keep stirring). Skin will come off when you hear the sizzling sound. You can easily rub them off when they are not too hot. The veggie shopkeeper taught me this clever method! I bought the ingredients on Third Street in western district near the Sai Ying Pun Market. Lady from the Jan Kee New Territories Veggie store told me proudly that her veggies are fresher and better — I can verify her claim 
Tofu comes from a very old shop named “Kwan Hing Kee” which is also a grocery store. Established in 1928, their tofu is filled with the aroma of soya beans, which is rare nowadays! Their hard tofu is good for barbecue too.
After heating the wok/pan on high fire, just add little oil (you can add water and lower the fire to avoid burnt), then add onions or garlics to enhance aroma. Then add your veggie bits and stir fry for a while. Mix the green curry paste (50g) with a bowl/cup of water, pour into the pan and keep the pot frying for 15-20 minutes. Close the lid to avoid the source getting dry up.
Take a look at my beautiful veggies in cooking:
When it’s almost done, add coconut milk, and cook open lid briefly until the source is well blender. It’s delicious to eat with red rice, especially mine are carried all the long way from Guangxi in my last filming trip. My red rice comes from the duck rice field of a CSA (community supported agriculture) project started by Farmers’ Friend Co-op. My luggage got so heavy together with all other work equipments!
Green curry veggie with red rice, yummy!
Jan 3rd, 2008 by xina
Brief English summary with photos extracted from the food review of local magazines. For those I’ve tried (in green links), I will add a column “Xina’s review.” Hope this is useful to you. You can also visit my google veggie map where I have located useful info of even more vegetarian/vegan restaurants in HK.
HK Veggie Map on Google: click the link and a bubble popup with basic info of the restaurant, photos and link to food review (in chinese only). Click here for larger map！
Enjoy veggie music by (the Vegetable Orchestra) too! They have been performing in HK last X’mas!
Apr 28th, 2007 by xina
牛 奶 總 令 人 聯 想 起 綠 悠 悠 的 大 草 原 上 ， 黑 白 乳 牛 快 樂 地 在 吃 草 。 總 想 不 到 養 牛 竟 比 汽 車 排 放 更 多 溫 室 氣 體 ，引 致 全 球 暖 化！
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報 告 重 點 數 字 ：
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