Beef Herb Soup

The next few posts will be recipes from our Chinese New Year feast which I made earlier this year during the Chinese New Year feast.


2 lbs Beef shin
10 pieces Bai Shao (White Peony Root) herb 白芍
1/4 cup Goji berries
2-3 inch peeled and sliced ginger
2 TBSP Light soy sauce
2 tsp Chicken bouillon powder
Salt to taste
Water

1. Wash beef well, trim the fat off it.
2. Put everything (except soy sauce) into the cooking pot and fill with water about ¾ full.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat, cover, and simmer for about 1-1 ½ hours. Check from time to time if there is enough water.
4. When the meat is almost tender, add soy sauce and salt to taste. Continue cooking until meat is tender.
5. Remove meat and set aside. Serve soup hot.


*****



Cold Sliced Beef







Using the beef cooked in the herbs, let cool from the soup and then slice thinly. Lay out nicely on a plate and then lightly pour light soy sauce over top.

Shrimp with Tomato Sauce

Since I was a little girl in Hong Kong, my sister used to make this dish, especially at Chinese New Year time. It was my most favourite dish and each Chinese New Year I would always make a special request to her to make this for us.

Now, I continue the tradition and it is a dish that I serve at our Chinese New Year table.

2 lbs Shrimps - best is raw. If using cooked, add at last minute just
to heat through in the sauce
¼ cup Tomato Ketchup
1-inch piece of fresh Ginger, peeled
3 cloves Garlic
1 TBSP Light Soy Sauce (or just salt)
1 tsp White Pepper (optional)
2 spring onion, sliced
1/8 cup Coriander, chopped


1. Cook the shrimp until turned pink, add garlic and ginger*. Cook until you can smell the fragrance of the garlic
2. Add light soy sauce and ketchup (and pepper if using), cook until well incorporated and you smell the fragrance (about 1 minute)
3. Add coriander and green onions, stir a couple of times, and immediately take off the heat.

*To get a really good flavour from the garlic and ginger, blend them together in a blender, food processor, or Magic Bullet with about 2TBSP of regular cooking oil until you have a paste.

NB This is good to use in a very hot wok so that the shrimps will cook very fast. As soon as they turn a little pink, is when you start adding things. This will cook very fast.

You can de-vein the shrimp, but best if you leave the shell and heads on, gives more flavour, and if you like to suck the head, this will give nice flavour for it.