From Home With Love

Warms the body right up, and burns its way down your throat with a sweet aftertaste. For girls: ginger tea also eases menstrual cramps. 

Level: Easy

Prep Time: 1-2 minutes

Cook Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients: ginger, brown sugar, water

1. Pour one bowl of water into pot. Use a lesser amount if you want it to be even stronger, or a larger amount to dilute it.

2. Cut off about 1/3 a piece of ginger and wash the skin. Pound the piece of ginger using a mortar and pestle until it separates into pieces. This makes the ginger flavor stronger.

3. Put the slightly mashed ginger into the pot of water. Cover with lid on high heat until it boils. When the mixture boils, turn to low heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Add brown sugar to taste and serve!

Level: Easy

Prep Time: 3-4 hours

Cook Time: 5-6 minutes

Ingredients: cochayuyo seaweed, celery, olive oil, dried red pepper, water, scallions, pork, garlic  

1. Soak seaweed in water for a few hours until soft. Wash and rinse seaweed twice until no longer sticky. 

2. Wash and chop celery stalk into pieces about 3-4 inches in length. Don't use celery leaves because the flavor from those will overwhelm the seaweed flavor. Also cut up dried red pepper, garlic, and scallions.

3. Defrost some pork.

4. Put a few spoons of oil in a pan and turn to medium heat. Put in minced  garlic and let cook for about 30 seconds with lid on.

5. Add the celery, scallions, and red pepper. Put lid on and cook for 30 seconds.

6. Add pork, and cook for 1-2 minutes on medium high heat until almost done.

7. Add the seaweed and a 1/4 of a bowl of water. Cook for 2-3 minutes with the lid on until the seaweed is soft.

8. Add 2 spoons of salt and serve. 

Level: Easy

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Cook Time: 4-5 minutes

Ingredients: yu choy, black fungus, olive oil, garlic, salt

1. Wash yu choy. Make sure to separate leaves when washing to ensure you clean out all the sand and dirt.

2. Cut off a couple centimeters from the bottom of each stalk. Cut up the yu choy into pieces about 4-5 inches long, making sure to separate the stalk and the leaf into 2 piles. 

3. Peel and mince several cloves of garlic. One trick to make it easier to peel the garlic is to use the bottom or the side of the knife to hit the cloves several times. This will make the peel break open.

4. Wash black fungus. Using your fingers, pinch off about 1cm or so of the part of the fungus where it puckers up. 

5. Heat oil in pan on medium heat, and then put in minced garlic. Put lid on and let it cook for about 30 seconds.

6. Put in yu choy stalks and black fungus. Turn heat on high, and add about 1/4 a bowl of water. Let cook for about 1-2 minutes with the lid on. The stems are denser and take longer to cook, so that's why we put them in first.

7. Next, add the yu choy leaves. Using chopsticks, fold them in. If needed, add a spoon of oil. Cook for 1 minute without the lid on.

8. Turn heat to low and cook for 30 seconds. Add a little bit of salt, then, put on plate and serve!

Level: Hard

Prep Time: ranges from 5-10 minutes to 2-3 hours

Cook Time: 45-50 minutes

Ingredients: olive oil, pork belly, ginger, garlic, dried red pepper, star anise, cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, brown sugar

1. Defrost pork belly. You can do this by transferring it from the freezer into the refrigerator for a few hours, and then place in cold water on counter. If you want to cook it immediately, you can rinse it under warm water.

2. Use knife to scrape clean the top layer of the pork belly. Rinse with cold water. 

3. Boil a few cups of water in a pot. When the water is boiling, throw in the pork belly and let it cook on high heat for 1-2 minutes, flipping it occasionally with chopsticks until the outside is brown. This step will clean the meat and get rid of the smell.

4. Drain the water, and rinse the pork belly and the pot with cold water. 

5. Cut the pork belly into pieces a few inches thick. You will notice the outside looks cooked, but the inside is still raw.

6. Use knife to peel and cut ginger into slices.

7. Cut up a few cloves of garlic.

  8. Heat up oil in pan on medium heat.

9. Put in garlic and let cook for 30 seconds with lid on.

10. Put in ginger and dried red pepper, and stir with chopsticks for about 15 seconds.

11. Transfer everything in the pan to a pot with a few cups of cold water.

12. On medium heat, pan fry the meat for 5-6 minutes until almost done. It will turn a golden brown color. This step is optional, but will take off some of the fat, and give the meat some consistency.

13. Transfer the meat to the pot and turn to high heat.

14. Wash and add a few star anise. Then put in 2 spoons of cooking wine, and 3 spoons of soy sauce. Put the lid on and cook for 4-5 minutes.

15. After, turn the heat to low and let cook for about 10 minutes. Stir with chopsticks and let cook for 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low, stir with chopsticks, and let cook for another 15 minutes. At this point, if there is still too much water in the pot, turn the heat to high to let the water evaporate.

16. After about 7 minutes, taste it and turn off the heat. Add a small spoon of salt, and half spoon of brown sugar. Serve!

Level: Easy

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes- 1 hour

Ingredients: yam

1. Wash yam and cut into several pieces.

2. Pour about 1-1.5inches of water in the pot, enough to cover 1/3 of the yam. Turn to high heat and put lid on.

3. When the water boils, turn to medium heat. Cook for 45 minutes with lid on.

4. Poke the yam with a chopstick to see if it's soft all the way through. Turn to high heat and put lid on. This will allow the remaining water evaporate.

5. Cook for another 5-6 minutes until the water is gone.

6. Serve!

Level: Easy

Prep Time: 5－7 minutes

Cook Time: 5-7 minutes

Ingredients: garlic, onion, olive oil, eggplant, satay paste, 

1. Mince garlic.

2. Peel one medium onion. Cut in half, and then chop into slivers.

3. Cut eggplant into pieces about an inch wide.

4. Put 1-2 spoonfuls of oil into pan, let heat up on medium heat.

5. Put in minced garlic, let it simmer with the lid on for about 30 seconds.

6. Add onions.

7. Turn heat to high. Add eggplants and a spoonful of satay paste. Mix with spatula so that the satay paste is evenly spread on the eggplant.

8. Add about one bowl of water, and then put the lid on. Let cook for about 3-4 minutes.

9. Use spatula to mix up the ingredients. After another 1-2 minutes, turn the heat to medium, and add about one spoonful of salt. Use the spatula to mix the salt in evenly in the eggplant.

10. Serve!

Level: Easy

Prep Time: 5-7 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients: olive oil, green beans, ham, garlic, ginger, onion

1. Wash and chop off ends of the green beans. Then, chop green beans into pieces about 4-5 inches long. 

2. Cut ham into strips about half an inch wide.

3. Chop up ginger.

4. Mince garlic. 

5. Put 3 spoonfuls of oil in pan and let heat up on medium heat.

6. Put in minced garlic, and let it simmer for about 30 seconds with lid on until golden brown.

7. Add ginger, and let it simmer with the garlic for about 30 seconds with the lid on. Then add the ham, and then the green beans.

8. Add about one bowl of water, turn the heat to high, and put the lid on. Let it cook for about 10-15 minutes until green beans are soft.

9. Add about a spoonful of salt to taste. 

10. Serve!

Level: Easy

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 4-5 minutes

Ingredients: olive oil, garlic, cabbage, dried shrimp, scallions

1. Mince up some garlic.

2. Roughly chop up cabbage. 

3. Chop up green onion (scallion) into pieces about 3 inches long. 

4. Add oil to the pan, let the oil heat up.

5. Add garlic, let the garlic simmer at a medium temperature with the lid on for about 30 seconds until it turns golden brown. This brings out the flavor and smell of the garlic.

6. Add the scallions. 

7. Add the cabbage, dried shrimp and a half cup of water.

8. Cover with lid and cook on high heat for about 3 minutes. Then, turn off the heat and let it cook for another minute in the pan

9. Done!

Level: Hard

Prep Time: 20-30 minutes

Cook Time: About 20-25 minutes

Ingredients: olive oil, scallions, ginger, garlic, fish, salt

1. Defrost fish. Marinate fish in salt water for about 10 minutes.

2. Chop up garlic, scallions, ginger.

3. Descale fish. 

4. Make a cut on the bottom side of the fish and take out dried blood. 

5. Make three cuts with the knife on both sides of the fish. This will help the fish cook faster, and let the flavor of the ingredients steep in.

6. Sprinkle a spoonful of salt over fish.

7. Heat up oil in pan on medium heat.

8. Put garlic in pan, let it simmer for about 30 seconds on medium heat with lid on until golden brown. 

9. Add the ginger, scallions, and fish, and turn heat to HIGH. This will ensure the freshness of the fish as it cooks.

10. Make sure to put some of the ginger, scallions, and garlic on top of the fish to ensure that the flavor soaks in.

11. Add about half a bowl to one bowl of water, and cover with lid. Let boil.

12. After about 9-10 minutes, turn heat from high to medium. Use the spatula to gently unstick the bottom of the fish from the pan. Then, put the lid back on the pan, and let cook for another 5-6 minutes.

13. Take lid off and spoon some of the broth onto the fish to make sure the flavor soaks in. Replace lid and let cook for another 5-6 minutes. The eyes of the fish should be bulging out, which is an indication that the fish is done.

14. Take lid off, and let it cook for another 2 minutes to let some of the water evaporate.

15. Use two spatulas to pick up the fish and transfer it onto a plate.

16. Pour the broth, ginger, scallions, garlic onto the fish. 

17. Serve!