Blue Dragon Tomato & Sweet Chilli Cooking Sauce

I haven’t cooked with my Blue Dragon cooking sauces in awhile now, and today I just felt like trying their Tomato and Sweet Chilli Cooking Sauce and I’ve got to say, it ranks really high in taste for me!

I made a simple dinner with this sauce so I first sauteed my onions with the chicken slices, until the chicken is almost completely cooked.

Once the chicken is almost done, I add the sauce, and mix it completely. Then, I add the asparagus (or any kind of vegetable). I just had fresh asparagus from the market, so it’s what I used for this day! 🙂

Now, I just let the entire contraction simmer away in the wok until the asparagus is at tender crisp – and I claim it done! It’s a delicious dish of food with tons of sauce to serve over rice – that’s how I had it!

Overall, I love this sauce and it’s a great balance of the spice and sweetness from the tomato. I’m sure I’ll buy this again as I’m sure it’s going to be great with noodles too!

Homemade Vietnamese Pickled Carrots

Home Made Pickled Carrots

Okay, I know a lot of Vietnamese recipes calls for picked carrots and daikon, but I opted for just carrots as that’s what I like on my Vietnamese submarines (Vietnamese Sandwich with Chicken). I pickled my carrots to make these sandwiches, and I’m glad I did!

Ingredients:
Carrots (julienne)
distilled vinegar or rice wine vinegar
sugar
salt

First thing, you clean and peel the carrots, and the cut it into matchbox sticks. If you’re lucky, and you have a food processor or mandoline with a julienne attachment. Place the small pieces into a container with a lid, and I like to use a glass container.

Then, fill the container about 1/2 way full of vinegar, and top off the other half (not to the rim or it will spill) with warm water to help dilute the vinegar taste. Then, add salt and sugar to your tasting. If you like it spicier, add some cayenne pepper or even chili flakes. Let the carrots sit for at least an hour before using – and this will last in the fridge for a week.

Homemade Black Pepper Sauce with Pork Chop

I didn’t know what to make for a meal this one day, and my other half really likes black pepper sauce – on everything! So, I had some pork chop, and decided to make Pork Chop with Black Pepper Sauce

Ingredients:
3 slices of thin pork chop
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 chopped onions
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce

First, start by marinating the pork with salt and pepper. Then wash the mushrooms, and chop up all the vegetables.

Pan sear the pork chop in a pan until you got good searing colour on the pork. If it’s thick, finish the pork off in the oven. I like to use thin pork chop to avoid this step – so the meat can be resting while we make the sauce!

In the same pan, saute the mushrooms, onions and garlic until tender. Then, add some water to deglaze the pan, and it will become the gravy sauce that you pour ontop of the pork chop and the rice.

While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the sauce by combining the cornstarch with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and pepper. Mix it with some cold water to dissolve before pouring it into the pan.

You can serve this on a plate of rice and some vegetables. You can substitute the meat for any other protein – and it works with just vegetable stir fry as well! Of course, you can add less water to the pan if you like the sauce thicker. There’s never any set recipes in Chinese cooking! Always taste it, and when you think it tastes good – it’s good!