Red Kidney Bean and Capsicum Hotpot

Karen Martini's recipe, "Feasting" p.133

A fantastic savouring stew of beans and leek yumminess.

Need leek and celery. Worked with Carrot omitted and capsicum quantity increased. Also used five frozen chicken stock cubes when adding the water.

Serve on brown rice as suggested in the book, as well as dressing with yoghurt (Greek style is just fine!) and avocado, lime juice & coriander.

Result: Definitely 5, think this would also be good served with polenta.

Beef & Black bean stirfry

Beef strips, marinated in Chinese wine, dark soy, sesame oil, sugar.

Chop up lots of broccoli and steam in microwave. Thinly slice red capsicum, onion, ginger, and long slices of spring onion, and one clove of garlic.

Stir-fry beef, onion, ginger, spring onion, capsicum. Sauce with black-bean sauce, add broccoli and thicken with cornflour.

Result: 4.5.
Preparation: no time at all.

Pork Wontons

Somewhat following Ken Hom's recipe:
- 250g pork mince
- packet wonton wrappers (or gow gee wrappers)
- fresh coriander, finely chopped, including stems
- ginger, finely diced
- spring onion, finely diced
- cabbage, finely chopped
- mushrooms, finely chopped

Make two fillings:
1) pork + coriander + ginger + spring onion
2) pork + cabbage + mushroom + ginger + spring onion

and add light soy, dark soy, shao xing wine, sugar, black pepper. Refrigerate for 15 mins.

Make wontons. Two ways to cook: steam in steamer, or pan-fry then steam in pan (with not too much water). Cook for about 10 mins.

Serve with: fried tofu, microwaved bok choy, sang choy bao for leftover filling cooked in pan. Serve with chinkiang vinegar + soy sauce.

Result: 5. Wonton pastry turned out a bit funny but the pork + coriander dumplings were very yummy!
Preparation: Somewhat messy and time consuming, and lots of chopping. Worth it, but would take a long time to scale up.