A Week of Experimenting with Chef's The Spicy Way Book

Books...books...books...I love books so much and lately I have been buying more and more recipe books to add to my collection. I lost count already on how many I have. While the new books are exciting because they are more challenging, I miss the simplicity from some of my old recipe books.

Everytime I went back to Taiwan to visit my in laws, I always bought between 10 to 20 recipe books with me. Not all of them I have tried, some of them I just look at the pictures.

So I just pick one book that I haven't tried before, it's called Chef's The Spicy Way Book. From a glance I found that the recipes are pretty easy with common enough ingredients. My kind of book!

Even though I wish I can maKe gorgeous food like some foodies, I found that I don't have the time or maybe the drive to spent hours in the kitchen when I have a newborn baby to take care and a little boy too!

I just like something simple but tasty. Since my husband loves hot spicy food, so I think this book will satisfy his taste. Off course I tame it down a little for the sake of my son....

So I made a shopping list for the ingredients, I am surprise that none of them are expensive or even close to exotic. Very common, and cheap, wow... this book is getting better by the minute!

So everyday I tried 2 or more dishes. Off course not all of them are to my liking, but some do and I am posting the pictures of the dishes that I will want to cook again next time.

TENDER TOFU WITH PORK IN GARLIC

CHILI DEEP-FRIED CHICKEN WINGS

Ingredients:
6 chickens wings
minced garlic as needed ( I use 4 cloves )
yam flour as needed ( I use cornstarch )

Seasonings:
1 Tbs cooking wine
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsp
MSG as needed

Methods:
1. Rinse chicken wings, marinate in garlic and seasonings for 2 hrs.
2. Coat chicken wings with cornstarch ( or yam flour ), deep-fry in oil until
done, remove and drain. Ready to serve.

SQUID STRIPS WITH PEANUTS

Ingredients:
2/3 lb squid meat
2 red chilies
2 cloves garlic
1 scallion
1 Tbs garlic flavour peanuts (I don't have it so I substitute with roasted cashew)
1 Cup egg yolk powder -- I don't understand what it means so I use egg yolk to
marinade the squid then coat them in cornstarch.

Seasonings:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
thick soy sauce as needed
MSG as needed

Methods:
1. Rinse squid, cut into long strips, coat with the egg yolk powder and deep-fry
in oil until done.
2. Cut red chilies into sections, slice garlic and cut scallion into sections, add
to wok and stir-fry with a little oil until fragrant, return squid strips, add
peanuts and seasonings, stir until well-mixed. Remove and ready to serve.

EGGPLANT WITH PORK INTESTINE

CHILI CUCUMBER WITH PEPPERCORN

Ingredients:
2 Chinese cucumbers ( I use English cucumbers )
1 fresh chili peppers
2 cloves garlic
peppercorns as needed

Seasonings:
1 tsp salt
MSG as needed -- this time you really need MSG to achieve the real taste like in
restaurant because the MSG that separate this dish from the usual
cucumber pickle

Methods:
1. Rinse cucumbers, remove inner flesh and cut into small sections, add 1 tsp
salt, let rest for a while to allow cucumbers to release their bitter liquid.
2. Cut chili peppers into sections and slice garlic; stir-fry peppercorns in wok with oil until fragrant, remove and discard, then add chili peppers and garlic, stir well and remove to let cool.
3 Rinse cucumbers under water to remove salt, remove, drain, add method (2), salt and MSG, mix well and chill in refrigerator for 2 hrs. Ready to serve.