Stir-fried Green Beans with Minced Pork

Green beans (or string beans 四季豆) are in season right now. They are fresh, cheap, and nutritious. Amongst heaps of different ways of cooking them all over the world, I really like the Chinese way. There’s a popular Chinese dish, Fried String Beans (乾扁四季豆) that uses a unique way of preparing green beans. It’s quite simple, just deep fry the beans to bring out their natural sweetness before using them to stir fry with any other ingredients you like. Believe or not, you won’t taste this heavenly sweetness of green beans, if you blanch them in boiling water. It’s worth trying.

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Pork Chops in Tomato Sauce (Chinese Recipe)

This dish, Pork Chops in Tomato Sauce is best served with white rice. My mother really knows how to cook the tomato sauce just right to our taste, sweet but not too sour. I liked her way of cooking tomato sauce so I follow until now. She is very clever to choose the brown sugar in pieces, not white sugar, that perfectly matches with the taste of cooked tomatoes. I won’t taste the delicate balanced effect if white sugar is used. So I keep using my mother’s way to cook tomato, until I learnt from my mother-in-law how to prepare tomato. She deseeds tomatoes before cooking every time. This trick makes the strong sour taste of tomato go away and helps us enjoy eating tomatoes even more. Well, I didn't peel the tomatoes because the tomato skin could retain good looking, avoiding from being turned into a mess easily while stir-frying.



Do you have any tips on how to cook tomato sauce? Welcome to drop a line in the comments.

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Hot Cross Buns (Easter Recipe)

Would you be surprised if you know that I hadn’t tried the cross buns until I moved to Australia?



As Easter’s coming around the corner every year, lots of hot cross buns are on sale at every supermarket here in Australia. Well, I think I’m not exaggerating. Who would not try some when seeing those soft and fresh buns? Neither would I. They are really delicious for those who love eating buns with currants and/or mixed dried fruits inside. The crosses on the buns indicate that it’s a festive snack for Easter. But I wonder how many people would care.



I tried to bake some cross buns for this year’s Easter as my husband likes bread with raisins very much. Although these cross buns are good for Easter seasons, they can also be healthy snacks for morning teas. Just skip the step of making the cross over tops of buns if desired when baking on ordinary days.

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Japanese Pork Loin chops Recipe

Whenever my family dines out for some special occasions, like celebrating anyone’s birthday, we often choose Japanese cuisine simply because my kids are BIG fans of Japanese foods. I, myself, love their crispy pork chops with curry, either served with white rice or salad.



Recently I tried to cook the crispy pork chops in Japanese style at home. It’s quite easy and quick, yet I don’t like deep-frying in my home-cooking. To recycle the giant amount of used oil is a troublesome job for me. So I experimented to use pan-frying with a bit more of oil instead in order to save money and avoid the troublesome job. Here’s a trick to cook with less oil, still resulting in enjoying delicious Japanese pork chops with crunchy outside and juicy inside.

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Braised Pork Ribs with Coco-cola Recipe

You might have tried Coco-cola. But ever tried to cook anything with it? Here’s a very delicious and popular Chinese dish, using Coco-cola to cook sauce with pork ribs. The Coco-cola penetrates pork ribs and make the texture of them so tender. You won’t taste the original and special taste of Coco-cola anyway. If you are a fan of Coco-cola, like my daughter, get a cup of coco-cola to go with this dish. Is it a good idea?

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