Chinese-Style Chicken and Corn Soup

I made this last night and I have to confess it wasn't perfect so this recipe is really a draft, but I think it's good enough to go :) If you do try it as written here please leave your feedback so i can adjust as needed! i didn't even take a picture as i wasn't happy with how it looked lol

Chinese-Style Chicken and Corn Soup
serves 4-6

2" / 20g fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 2-3 chunks
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1-2 chicken breasts (200-500g) with no skin attached, cut into large 2" chunks
10-20g dry sherry
20g sesame oil
30g soy sauce or to taste
1 tspn chicken stock powder if desired
corn kernels cut off 5 cobs of corn, or a 400/440g can of corn, drained
400-440g can of creamed corn
approx 450-500g water, as required
2 egg whites
finely chopped coriander and shallots / spring onions as garnish

1. chop ginger for 3 seconds on speed 6
2. chop onion for 2 seconds on speed 6, remove from thermomix
3. place chicken in and mince on speed 8 for 4 seconds
4. add the onion and ginger back in and cook at 100' for 5 minutes on reverse speed 2
5. add the sherry, sesame oil, stock powder, soy sauce, corn kernels and creamed corn. top with water to come about 1.5-2" below the top of the tmx bowl
6. cook at 90' for 10-15* mins on reverse speed 2
7. cook at 90' for 5 more minutes on reverse speed 2-3** as it starts slowly pour the egg whites in through the top of the lid
8. around 60 secs before finished add the coriander and shallots through the top of the lid to mix through.
9. serve***

* 10 minutes for tinned corn, 15 minutes for fresh
** i found that 2 was a bit too slow for the quantity, but 3 was a bit too fast lol give both a try and see what you think...
*** to make ours go further, and more filling i served them over some fresh rice noodles and finely shredded asian greens

a varoma adventure!

dinner tonight was a combined effort and was very delicious as well as quick and easy! as some of you know i have been a bit varoma phobic since some early disasters...

anyway, we wanted a fairly light dinner tonight and decided to give karenleigh's steamed dim sim recipe a go. then we decided we should try cooking the rice in the tmx basket too, and might as well steam some vegies to go with it at the same time! remembering karen's tip to add the vegies for less time this is how it went:

make dim sims as per karen's recipe (except we will leave the salt out next time, use extra soy sauce instead ;))

place them on the tray/flat part of the varoma, on a sheet of baking paper

weigh the rice in the basket as per the book (400g rice) and remove the basket (we'll add it later) and add the water (700g water) and put the lid on. place the varoma over the tmx

cook them for 5 minutes on varoma speed 3

open and place rice in bowl of tmx. place the lid and varoma back on

steam for 15 minutes on varoma speed 4

take the lid and dimsims in the varoma off carefully (very hot!) and add your chopped vegies (chop quick cooking vegies into larger pieces and slower cooking veg into smaller pieces) into the base of the varoma. place the dimsims and lid back on

cook for a further 3 1/2 minutes on varoma speed 4

check everything and cook for a further few minutes if needed

serve with soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, oyster sauce or whatever takes your fancy :)

note: we used 400g pork fillet and we have enough left to make more dimsims, though not as many as this time - we probably needed about 500g to make enough for the family for 2 dinners. i froze the leftovers in portions in ice cube trays so they'll be super quick for next time!

Steamed Dim Sims

a few new recipes thanks to one of guest bloggers - karenleigh :) (sorry i forgot to put them up sooner karen!)


Steamed Dim Sims (adapted from "Full Steam Ahead")

1 pkt of gow gee wrappers
100gm pork
1.5cm chunk of fresh ginger
3 tbsp fresh coriander
1/4 teasp salt
1/2 small brown onion
30gm swiss brown mushrooms
1 egg

Place pork and ginger into TM31 and mince 10 secs @ speed 5.

Place rest of ingredients into TM31 and process for 5 secs @ speed 5. Check mixture. Process for longer if too many chunky bits. I removed any stringy tendons in mixture.

Put 1 teasp of mince into centre of gow gee wrapper. Gather up the edges and pinch wrapper in the middle so you have a money bag shape.

Place dim sims into the top and bottom varoma trays.

Pour 600 gm of boiling water into TM31 bowl.

Steam 20 mins, Varoma @ speed 3.

Serve with soy sauce.

Makes around 30.

Thermomix Asian Pesto

I have been a bit neglectful, so am publishing a post here to keep our blog alive and active.

This recipe came about as a result of having Thai basil and coriander in the crisper after making a couple of dishes at the weekend. Often these herbs just find their way into a variety of creations to add some fresh flavours, but while looking for a particular recipe I found a couple of similar Asian pesto recipes and decided that these herbs should be used thus.

Two of the books that had Asian pestos were “Asian Greens” by Anita Loh-Yien Lau and “Travels with a Hot Wok” by Ken Hom. I am sure there are plenty of variations on the theme, so please don’t feel limited by the recipe.



Thermomix Asian Pesto :

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic
2 cm piece fresh ginger
1 fresh red chilli, seeded
3 tablespoons Thai basil
2 tablespoons fresh coriander
2 tablespoons rau ram (Vietnamese Mint)
1 tablespoon fresh mint
250 g roasted, unsalted peanuts (optional)
1 tablespoon palm sugar
2 teaspoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Method:

Place garlic, ginger and chilli in TM bowl and chop for 10 seconds on speed 7.

Scrape down sides of bowl and add basil, coriander and mints and chop for another 15 seconds on speed 7.

Add peanuts, if using, and palm sugar to TM bowl and chop for 20 seconds on speed 5.

Add remaining ingredients and blend for 30 seconds on speed 5. Add some boiling water through the hole in the lid if the mixture appears too thick when using the peanuts.