I have started cooking this week, not bad for someone who has been married since June. :p I never had a reason to cook, my dad was a professional chef, the kitchen was always his domain. My sister is a great cook and creates delicious recipes constantly. So, when I cooked, the food never tasted right and I could never get it to their level. But this week, I was just tired of subsisting on Ramen and takeout, and I worried about hubby's waistline and my cholesterol, so I took to the kitchen!
For my first meal, I cooked Chinese Parsley Soup and beef and sweetpeas stir fry. The beef and sweetpeas stir fry was not very good. But the Chinese Parsley Soup was very light and savory. I called my dad up and my recreation (of his soup) wasn't so far off.
Here is the recipe: Feeds 4-6
(I'm mainly posting this for Rosalyn, because she likes chinese parsley/cilantro)
Ingredients:
- Chinese Parsley/cilantro/fresh coriander (several small handfuls)
- Pork Chops (4) or stewing pork with bone (1/2 lb e.g. oxtail)
- Chicken Broth (1 qt, optional, my dad's recipe does not have this)
- Firm Tofu (1 or 2 boxes, depending on how much you like tofu)
- Salt (2 tablespoons)
- Sweet Rice Wine (2 tablespoons, optional, dad's recipe doesn't have this)
Preparation:
Wash the pork, parsley, and tofu. Cut the bone off of the pork chops, and cut the meat into cubes. If using stewing pork with bone, you don't have to do anything. Put the pork in a pot of water (that covers the pork), bring to a boil, drain, put aside (this is to get rid of the brown liquid from the marrow). Cut firm tofu in cubes and place in water (to keep the tofu together). Cut the parsley roughly in approximately 2 inch pieces.
Cooking:
Put the chicken broth and 3 cups of water in a stockpot (or if no stock, 9 cups of water), bring to boil. Put your pork and sweet rice wine in, when it boils again, lower the flame to low heat. Let it boil from 30 min to 3 hours (depending on how much time you have and how savory you want your stew to be). After you have the desired stock, turn up the flame, add the firm tofu, bring that to boil, then lower to medium heat. Let it cook for 15 min, then add parsley, bring to boil. Add salt until it is to your taste and serve.
Happy Cooking!
My sister found this plant for me at Home Depot. I thought the fruit was just decorative. But Bernie (my brother-in-law) told me you can make a drink out of it, like lemonade. And that very night we ate Phillipino at Crystal's and I drank a refreshing citrus-y drink made out of Calamondin Oranges. He ordered the same plant from a grower.
I've always liked Begonias, ever since I saw the plants at Susan's (sister's friend) teacher's apartment. (What a mouthful!). I remember thinking those were the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen. We received a few cuttings, but try as we might, they didn't grow. And we bought more Begonias later and still couldn't grow it. Hopefully this time will be different. Maybe it's because we put them in full sunlight the other times, which Wikipedia claims Begonias don't like.
And here is a sneak peek at what I'm knitting. Pretty yellow feather and fan shape in columns. Can you guess what it will be?
