Tomato Vegetable Soup with Herbs de Provence 普羅旺斯香草番茄雜菜湯

Tomaten Gemüsesuppe mit Kräuter de Provence - Rezept auf Deutsch
普羅旺斯香草番茄雜菜湯 - 中文食譜

Tomato Vegetable Soup with Herbs de Provence

Ingredients for 4 servings

• 2 Tomatoes
• 1 Potato
• 1 Carrot
• 2 sticks celery
• 1 onion
• 2 shallot
• 2 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 4 cups of water
• 1 tablespoon Herbs de Provence 
• salt and black pepper for seasoning

Preparation

• Rinse and cut the tomatoes into quarters, peel the potato and cut into quarters, peel onion and shallot then chop into small pieces, rinse carrot and celery sticks then cut into small pieces.
• Heat olive oil in a soup pot, fry onion and shallot briefly, then add tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and celery. Fry all the ingredients briefly and pour in water.
• Bring the soup to boil, follow with tomato paste, ketchup and mixed herbs, turn to low heat and simmer for 1 hour. To serve, season with salt and pepper.

Emilie Simon - Opium

Ingredient checklist: Tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, shallot, ketchup, tomato paste, mixed herbs

 Pan fry all the ingredients

Add water and the entire seasonings

Provence, located in southern France. The warm Mediterranean weather is a gift for agriculture. Apart from world famous lavender, Provence also producing best quality herbs.

Herbs de Provence- usually mix with savory, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, oregano and basil. The freshness flavour just like the Mediterranean weather. Match with olive oil, white meats and vegetables make uncountable delicious dishes.

Verger en fleurs avec la vue sur Arles 

Orchard in Bloom with a view of Arles

Vincent van Gogh - painted in Arles, Provence 1889

< Now in Neue Pinakothek, Munich >

Sweet and Sour Pork in Chinkiang Style 鎮江糖醋排骨

Schweinefleisch süß-sauer auf Chinkiang Art - Rezept auf Deutsch
鎮江糖醋排骨 - 中文食譜


Sweet and Sour Pork in Chinkiang Style
Ingredients for 4 servings

• 500g pork ribs, for stewing
• Seasoning: 1teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon ketchup, 2 teaspoon rice wine, 2 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon corn starch, 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Sweet and sour sauce: 1/2 piece (50g) slab cane sugar, 2 tablespoon Chinkiang dark vinegar, 2 tablespoon dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon water.

Preparation

• Rinse and pat dry the ribs, then cut into chunks and marinade with seasoning ingredients for 30 min.
• Break the slab cane sugar into small pieces, mix with the entire sweet and sour sauce ingredients and set aside.
• Preheat a small pot with oil and pan fry the ribs briefly, when the ribs surfaces turn golden brown. Then pour in the sweet and sour sauce, after the sauce is boiled, cover the pot and reduce to low heat. Stew for half hour, rotate the ribs occasionally.
• Once the sauce becoming thick and the ribs absorbed the flavor. Turn off the heat and serve with fresh rice.

Boys Noize - Jeffer

Sweet and Sour Pork in Chinkiang Style - I was able to make this dish since I was a kid. But the ingredients and preparations were slightly different. 


One day, I chatted with a staff of the neighborhood food store. She told me that since she always deliver goods to restaurants, thus she knows their recipe.  She was very generous and told me all the details. After I tried this at home, I found it gave more sweetie aroma compare to my home recipe. So I decided to post in my blog and share with others.

Bavarian Goulash 巴伐利亞式燴牛肉

Bayrischer Gulasch - Rezept auf Deutsch
巴伐利亞式燴牛肉 - 中文食譜


Bavarian Goulash
Ingredients for 4 servings

• 600g Beef
• 2 onions
• 120g sour cream or quark
• 1/2 cup water or beef stock
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika powder
• 1 teaspoon flour
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 piece untreated lemon peel
• 1 cayenne pepper
• 1 stalk fresh parsley
• Salt for seasoning

Preparation

• Rinse and pat dry the meat, cut into chunks and set aside.
• Peel the onions and chop finely.
• Rinse and dry the parsley, remove the hard stalks, chop finely and set aside.
• Heat oil in a soup pot, fry the beef until golden brown. Add onions and fry until transparent. Then add the tomato puree, flour, paprika powder and butter. Mix well all the ingredients and pour in water or stock. Add lemon peel and season with salt. Bring the goulash to boil, reduce to low heat and simmer for 1~1.5 hour. Add water if necessary.
• When the meat is tender, add sour cream or quark, increase to medium heat and cook for few more minutes. Then sprinkle with parsley and serve with noodles, bread or potato dumplings. 

Bartók, Béla - Roumanian Folk Dances, Sz.56: Stick Dance (By Zoltán Kocsis)

If I search Goulash in Google and Yahoo Chinese dictionary, I will get the only explanation - "Hungarian" stew meat, which is not totally correct. Of course, the name Goulash originates from Hungary, but after time to time, different countries developed their own recipes. 

I tasted the very rough Goulashes on the flight and Berlin, and homemade creamy goulash in Bavarian. The Slovenian style offer some sweetie taste. And the Prague meaty style goulash was the tastiest and most unforgettable : )


Reference: Goulash ,  Potato Dumplings - Kartoffelknödel

The Slovenian Goulash

Frankfurter Green Sauce with Jacket Potatoes 法蘭克福香草醬配馬鈴薯

Frankfurter Grüne Soße mit Kartoffeln - Rezept auf Deutsch

法蘭克福香草醬配馬鈴薯 - 中文食譜

Frankfurter Green Sauce with Jacket Potatoes

Ingredients for 2 servings

• 500g Potatoes
• few bunches (20g) fresh mixed herbs. e.g. parsley, chives, dill, chervil or watercress
• 1 teaspoons lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 125g sour cream
• 125g pain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon hot mustard
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• salt and white pepper for seasoning

Preparation

• In a soup pot, boil the potatoes till soft and hard boil the eggs.
• Rinse and dry the mixed herbs, remove the roots and hard stalks. Chop finely and mix with lemon juice, cover with cling film and stand for 15 minutes.
• Remove the eggs from water, shell and finely chop it. Then mix with sour cream, yogurt, mustard, olive oil and herb juice. Season with salt and pepper. 
• Pour the cooked potatoes and into a colander. Drain excess water and serve with the fresh green sauce immediately. Enjoy!

Purchased in Berlin - The Little German Cookbook

Beethoven Diabelli Variations Op.120 - 23 Variation XXII.
Allegro molto. Alla Notte e giorno faticar di Mozart. (Maria Yudina)

I do not recall any German restaurants in Hong Kong serve this dish. Maybe because this is too simple for serving in a restaurant. When I was living in Germany, it was like an every family dish. Also, the names and ingredients are vary from South to North. "Ilona" a friend of mine who lives in Germany. Just sent me her own recipe today. She said this is a perfect German recipe ... especially Berlin : )

Jacket Potato with Spring Quark Cheese

Pellkartoffeln mit Frühlingsquark

• Mix the quark with finely chopped onions, garlic, fresh chives or other mixed herbs. Add milk as desired to increase smoothness, and season with salt and pepper. Serve the warm potatoes with butter or linseed.

Thanks Ilona!

Reference:  The German Soft Cheese - Quark 

Baked Portuguese Chicken with Egg Fried Rice 焗葡國雞飯

Gebacken portugiesisch Hähnchen mit gebraten Reis - Rezept auf Deutsch
焗葡國雞飯 - 中文食譜


Baked Portuguese Chicken with Egg Fried Rice
Galinha à Portuguesa
Ingredients for 3 servings

• 1/2 chicken
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 2 medium size potatoes
• 2 bowl (400g) cooked rice
• 1 egg
• 1 table spoon desiccated coconut
• 1 table spoon butter
• few pieces of ginger
• Chicken seasonings: 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 tea spoon rice wine, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon corn starch, a pinch of salt
• Portuguese sauce: 3 teaspoons Turmeric paste (yellow ginger paste), 200ml coconut milk, 200 ml full milk, ~200ml water

Preparation

• Wash the chicken and cut into chunks, marinade with the seasonings and set aside.
• Peel onion, dice half of the onion into small cubes and thickly slice the other half.
• Carrot and potatoes cut into wedges and set aside.
• In a soup bowl, mix turmeric paste, coconut milk and milk together.
• Beat egg and season with salts.
• Preheat a big frying pan, add butter and onion cubes to fragrant, pour in egg and rice. Fry until rice are aromatic, remove from pan and rest in a oven dish.
• Add oil, ginger and chicken, pan fry until the skins are golden brown, remove from pan and set aside.
• Put onions into the pan and fry to fragrance, following with carrots and potatoes, fry all the ingredients for few minutes. Then pour in Portuguese sauce and chickens. Add water depending on the texture desired. Cover the pan and turn to low heat, simmer for half hour. Stir occasionally to avoid burning. 
• Preheat oven to 200°C (Gas Mark 6).
• After the sauce are thickened. Remove from pan and pour over the rice. Sprinkle with desiccated coconut. Set into the oven and bake until golden brown.

Wir Sind Helden - Stiller

Prepare all the Ingredients first!

Then get ready the egg fried rice

Pour over the Sauce

Mini Tips:

• If don't know how to cut a chicken, seek help from your butcher. Or replace by 1 pound of chicken fillets and chicken wings.
• Turmeric pastes already contains herbs to give more fragrance. If using turmeric powder, you may add cumin seed and mixed herbs as desired. These ingredients can found in South Asia food store.

Yum!!!

Yeung Chau Fried Rice 楊州炒飯

Yeung Chau Gebratener Reis - Rezept auf Deutsch

楊州炒飯 - 中文食譜

Yeung Chau Fried Rice 

Ingredients for 2 Servings

• 3 bowls (600g) cooked cold rice
• 100g Chinese barbecued porks
• 300g fresh sea shrimps, or 130g ready peeled shrimps
• 60g green peas
• 2 eggs
• 1 stalk (20g) spring onions, few stalks (20g) coriander
• Shrimp seasonings: 1/4 teaspoon rice wine, 1/4 teaspoon white pepper powder, a pinch of salt
• Rice seasonings: 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation

• Peel the shells and devein the sea shrimps, wash the dirts and pat dry, then marinade with seasonings and set aside. (If using peeled shrimps, then  marinade with seasonings directly.)
• Boil water in a small pot, pour in green peas and cook for few minutes. Drain excess water and set aside.
• Wash spring onions and coriander and slice into small pieces, dice barbecue porks into small cubes.
• Beat eggs and season with salts.
• Heat oil in a wok and pour in the eggs, use a wok spatula to scramble and to cut the eggs into small pieces. Remove the eggs and set aside.
• Add oil into the wok, add shrimps and stir fry. Remove the shrimps after cooked and set aside.
• Add oil again and pour in the rice, use a wok spatula to stir fry and press the rice gently , repeat this step until rice are loosen. Then add barbecued porks, green peas, eggs, shrimps and seasonings. Stir fry and mix well all the ingredients then turn off the heat. Add spring onions and coriander at last, stir fry briefly and it is ready to serve.

 La Roux - In for the Kill (Life Like Remix)

Wrapping the fried rice with iceberg lettuce to serve... Another refreshing idea!!!

Mini Tips:

• Preparing shrimp meats from fresh shrimps: After purchased fresh shrimps, rest the shrimps on ice or chill in refrigerator for half hour. It makes the shells easier to peel off. After the meats are taken out, Slightly cut the back of the shrimp from head to tail with a small knife. Then you can devein the shrimp easily. Also, this cut can make the shrimps more curly and looks better after cooked.
• Preparing the rice:  Fresh rice are too moist for frying. Some people use rice last from the night before. Or you may cook the rice few hours in advance. Then rest it in a large blow to chill it cold and dry. 
• If you don't have a wok, then use a large frying pan : )

Reference:

Chinese barbecued pork - 叉燒
Yeung Chau Fried Rice: 楊州炒飯