粉蒸牛肉 - 我做的年菜 (八) Steamed beef, coated with coarsely-ground roasted rice, and sweet potatoes - a dish I made for celebrating the new year (8)

This is one of my best non-vegetarian dishes. It is extremely delicious. My family and friends would ask for this one at our gatherings. It is very easy to make. Since I always remove any visible fat from the beef for this dish, it is also healthy, I think, if you don't eat too much of it.

素蘿蔔糕 - 我做的年菜 (七) Steamed vegetarian radish rice cake - One of the dishes I made for celebrating the new year (7)

After I made one steamed radish rice cake, sausage-flavored (臘味蘿蔔糕), I have to make its vegetarian version for my dad and my brother. I followed the same recipe with the following exceptions:

1. I replaced dried shrimps with dry pickled radishes and Chinese sausages with bean curd sheets;
2. I skipped fried shallots;
3. I used up all radishes on hand which was definitely (about 60-80% ) more than I had put in the non-vegetarian version.
   

The feedback from family and friends was that my vegetarian version was perfect!

臘味蘿蔔糕 - 我做的年菜 (六) Steamed radish rice cake, sausage-flavored - One of the dishes I made for celebrating the new year (6)

After making two sweet rice cakes in minutes, my confidence was boosted a lot. Making radish rice cakes must not be that hard either, I thought. I googled on the Web and found a recipe for making steamed radish rice cake. I bought 3 large radishes and a bag of "Zai Lai" rice flour. Using the instructions in the recipe as guidelines, I made one steamed radish rice cake, sausage-flavored. It is very delicious, I think. However the feedback from family and friends are: it could be a little softer and use more radishes.

Making the radish rice cake is not effortless, if you manually shred radishes as I did. I don't think I'd make another radish rice cake, unless I have a food processor on hand.

Ingredients: (I have to confess: Since I don't have measuring cups or spoons here in Taipei, I measure ingredients by estimating. I do have a scale for weighing the ingredients; however I don't always use it. )

1. "Zai Lai" rice flour, 1 bag, 500 grams
2. Radishes, 2000 grams (I didn't weigh the radishes that I had used. But I am sure that I used less than 2000 grams. )
3. Shiitake mushrooms, 5
4. Dried shrimps, soaked, 5 tablespoons
5. Chinese sausages, 3
6. Fried shallots, 6 tablespoons
7. Water, 2.5 cups
8. Salt, 2 teaspoons
9. Sugar, 2 tablespoons
10. Pepper, 1 teaspoon
11. Oil, 0.5 cup

Directions:

1. Shred the radishes;
2. Saute the mushrooms, shrimps, sausages in oil;
3. Add the radish shreds and continue to cook until the radish is soft; turn off the stove.
   
4. Add salt, sugar, pepper and fried shallots;
5. Mix the rice flour with the water;
6. Mix the rice flour liquid with the radish mixture.
7. Place the mixture in an oiled pan and steam it in an electric rice cooker for an hour.

紅棗蓮子桂圓年糕 - 我做的年菜 (五) Sweet rice cake with red dates, lotus seeds and longan - One of the dishes I made for celebrating the new year (5)

While browsing the various products in the "grains" section at the Welcome Supermarket, I noticed a recipe printed on the package of a brand of glutinous rice flour. It looked so easy to make the sweet rice cake. So I bought a package of the glutinous rice flour and came home to start making the rice cake. I dissolved 400 grams of brown sugar in 2 cups of boiling water. After the sugar solution cooled down a bit, I mixed 500 grams of the glutinous rice flour into it. I also added some soaked red dates (紅棗),some soaked lotus seeds (蓮子) and some longan (桂圓). I put the mixture in an oiled pan and steamed it in an electric rice cooker for an hour. The sweet rice cake turned out very delicious, even though the lotus seeds were a little too tough and the seeded red dates still had some seed fragments. Next time, I will pick a better brand of red dates. I will definitely cook the lotus seeds until they become very soft, before adding them to the rice mixture. Or I will use the candied lotus seeds (糖蓮子), instead.

素佛跳牆 - 我做的年菜 (四) Steamed mixed vegetables - One of the dishes I made for celebrating the new year (4)

Ingredients:

1. 白菜, 加油炒軟，Nappa cabbage, sauteed until soft
   
2. 炸芋頭塊, Fried taro cubes
   
3. 杏鮑菇, Oyster mushrooms
   
4. 歡喜菇, Happy mushrooms
   
5. 雪白菇, Snow white mushrooms
   
6. 新鮮香菇, Fresh Shiitake mushrooms
   
7. 銀耳, An edible white fungus
   
8. 紅棗, Red dates
   
9. 蓮子, 蒸熟而軟 Lotus seeds
   
10. 紅蘿蔔, Carrots
    
11. 筍片, Bamboo shoots
    
12. 金針, Daylilies
    
13. 栗子，加油稍炒一下，Chestnuts, stir-fried in oil
    
14. 白果，加油稍炒一下，Ginkgo, stir-fried in oil
15. 五色蔬果湯，Vegetable broth

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in a big bowl, and steam for about 40 minutes.
   

雙冬烤麩 - 我做的年菜 (三) Sautéed gluten with bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms - One of the dishes I made for celebrating the new year (3)

雖是雙冬烤麩,我用的筍子卻不是冬筍

十香菜 - 我做的年菜 (二) Ten-ingredient mixed vegetables - One of the dishes I made for celebrating the new year (2)

This is a dish that I would make before the Chinese New Year celebration every year. Sometimes I would make it in large quantity so that I may share it with family and friends. Although the name of this dish is "Ten-ingredient mixed vegetables", you don't have to use exactly ten kinds of vegetables in this dish. You may also use any vegetables to your liking. The 11 ingredients I used this year are as follows.

• 豆腐乾 Dry tofu
  
• 白菜 Nappa cabbage
  
• 紅蘿蔔 Carrots
  
• 香菇 Dry shiitake mushrooms
  
• 木耳 A kind of edible tree fungus
  
• 蓮子 Lotus seeds
  
• 紅棗 Red dates
  
• 百合 Lily bulbs
  
• 芥菜雪裡紅 Pickled gai choy
  
• 筍絲 Bamboo shoots
  
• 金針 Daylilies

I cooked each ingredient separately and then mixed all of them together. Making this dish is very time-consuming since you are in fact cooking 10, more or less, dishes.

筍片慈菰雪菜 - 我做的年菜 (一) Sautéed bamboo shoots, arrowhead tubers, and pickled gai choy - One of the dishes I made for celebrating the new year (1)

再訪眾流素食坊

上週一, 我們三人再度到眾流素食坊, 距初訪眾流只有八天, 這次用的是午餐, 我把上次想試,卻沒試的的"金桔蔬菜湯", "豬排" 和 "有機臭豆腐" 全點了,再加上"蘇子蒸魚"和一籠絲瓜包子,另外午餐有附送甜點和水果, 味道都很不錯. 聽說午餐附送的甜點和水果在春節過後即將取消.
這是蘇子蒸魚:

請點此連接看我們點的其他菜

地址,電話:
台北市中山區龍江路102號1樓
02-2516-5757
(南京東路和龍江路交口)