I shouldn’t but I did. I went to buy myself two most amazing sweets from B&P Sweet Studio, located at 647 Chapel Street, South Yarra. This was the second time I have been to the shop. It is the most beautiful sweet shop in Melbourne. It is more than a sweet shop. It is an art studio of its own kind. It showcase an array of the most stunning looking cakes, miniature desserts, chocolates, jam and ice cream made in the uber clean and shiny kitchen at the back. Almost everything on display in the shop are edible!

If you love sweets, and even if you don’t, you must walk into the shop and be blown away by the colourful display of the most amazing looking sweets you can and cannot imagine! Be taken away by the sweet sensation of the shop. Not just sweet but a sweet treat to indulge in Darren Purchese’s sweet collections. To keep updated with the latest news and upcoming events, you can follow Darren Purchese’s Sweet Studio on his blog, Twitter and Facebook.

What I have purchased this afternoon from the shop and took home for a little sweet indulgement….

Coconut, Passionfruit, Ginger, Mint….made up of many different flavours – coconut mousse, passionfruit curd, coconut caviar (actually tapioca pearl a.k.a “sago”), passionfruit jelly, salted oat and ginger crumble, white chocolate mint wafer, ginger macaroon and brilliant white chocolate spray.

Pineapple, Mango, Chocolate…I have kept this in my fridge for tonight secret love affair in front of my tele. It was made of coconut sponge, mango mousse, spicy pineapple jam, pimeapple cream, chocolate mousse, white chocolate velvet spray, pineapple jelly and mango jelly.

I like it raw in Caesar Salad, or cooked with Chinese Shiitake Mushrooms. During Chinese New Year, mum would use the leaf to make the Penang traditional style “Poh Piah” or Hokkien fresh spring roll. A small cos leaf is placed on top of a popiah skin (make from tapioca flour and water). Then spread with Hoi Sin and chili sauce and filled with cooked shredded vegetables (made from a mixture of “bankuang” or jicama and carrots), cooked baby prawns, fresh bean sprouts and crunchy fried shallots. The spring roll skin is then folded and rolled up. It is a simple and delicious snack/appetizer but requires a lot of effort and preparation time.

Tonight I made myself a very simple and effective cooked vegetarian dish using baby cos lettuce and dried shiitake mushrooms. It is VERY simple to cook. Less than 5 minutes! The ingredients are simple and basic.

Ingredients
~ 1 baby cos lettuce
~ 5 dried shiitake mushrooms
~ 8 cherry tomatoes
~ 2 dried red chillies
~ 4 – 6 cloves garlic
~ 1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce
~ 1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
~ 1 tablespoon Shaoxing cooking wine
~ 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Preparation
~ presoak dried mushrooms in the morning. In the evening after getting home from work, drain the water and remove the mushrooms. Then slice into 1cm apart and set aside
~ wash the cos lettuce. Use both hands tear the leaves into bite pieces and set aside
~ peel the garlic clove, then chop all of them finely and set aside
~ tear the dried chilies into small pieces and set aside

Cooking
~ heat some vegetable oil in a hot wok
~ toss in chopped garlic and crushed dried chillies. Fry quickly until fragrant for less than 1 minute
~ add mushrooms. A quick toss for 1 minute
~ add cos leaves. Quickly toss and mix through for less than 1 minute
~ add the tomatoes and sauces. Another quick toss for 1 minute
~ add corn starch mixtue with water to thicken the sauce
~ remove and garnish with dried shallots. Serve with steamed rice

Preparation Time: 3 minutes
Cooking Time: 3 minutes
Eating Time: well, what do you think?

I have decided to use tau cheong to flavour my stir fry dish tonight with some free range chicken thigh fillets and Tasmanian organic purple garlics. The garlics were harvested by my friend in her garden in the picturesque Huon Valley. She gave some to me when I went back to Hobart last weekend for a visit. I was surprised her homegrown organic garlic had a mild and less pungent flavour than the supermarket purple garlic variety. In a way, it was good for me. Even though I had used more garlics in tonight’s cooking, it did not overpowered the main essence of my dish, which was the tau cheong.

Ingredients
~ 4 chicken thigh fillets
~ 4 garlic cloves (I used 12 organic garlic cloves – they were very small)
~ use any firm vegetables to accompany the chicken (I used one carrot, one bunch of broccolini and a small can of mushrooms which I had in my cupboard)
~ 1 tablespoon tau cheong
~ 2 dried red chillies
~ 2 stalks spring onions
~ 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

Preparation
~ slice the chicken thigh fillets lengthwise in small strip. Marinade with a sprinkle of salt, white pepper and a teaspoon light soy
~ chop all the garlic finely
~ break the dried chillies in small pieces
~ chop the vegetables into bite pieces
~ section part of the spring onions and chop remaining for garnishing

Cooking
~ in a hot wok, add some vegetable cooking oil. Heat the oil until hot but not smoking
~ toss in the chicken. Stir fry for two minutes or until the chicken is almost half cooked. Remove and set aside
~ in the remaining oil, add garlic and chillies. Stir fry for a minute to release the flavour
~ add tau cheong. Stir fry for 30 seconds, then add the vegetables. Stir fry until the vegetables are almost cooked
~ toss back in the precooked chicken. Add dark soy sauce. Continue to stir fry until the chicken and vegetables are cooked. Sprinkle some cracked black pepper
~ dish and plate. Garnish with some chopped spring onions

Preparation Time: 15 – 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 – 20 minutes
Eating Time: take your time and enjoy the meal!

My first inner west suburb is Footscray. You may asked why in the hell did I go there?! It is like a wild, wild west of a lower to middle working class suburb. I knew it was going to be different and had little expectation. It reminded me of the old Redfern in Sydney – rough, dirty and filthy streets, unkept buildings which can do with a coat of paint badly. I even came across a dried up vomit on the sidewalk. It was disgusting! But, if you can look beyond all that, you will find one of the most affordable shopping streets in an inner city suburb of Melbourne. There are several Vietnamese shops, restaurants, supermarkets and the very popular Footscray Market. If I live in the area, I will shop at Footscray Market every week. I can easily save ten to hundred dollars of grocery bill a month.

The most interesting building structure in Footscray is the overhead pedestrian bridge connecting to the train station’s platforms.

Directly across the station is Footscray Market. An ordinary and uninteresting building. Vastly different from Victoria Market, South Melbourne Market and Prahran Market. But, inside is interesting. Fresh produces – vegetables, fruits, meats and seafoods. Cheap! Cheap! Cheap! Where else can you find a bunch of fresh spring onions for only 99cents!!! Madness! It cost me $3-$4 to buy at the supermarket.

and,…where else can you buy a “pig face”… I mean pig head?! What would you cook with a pig head??

…I can understand if it is fish head. And, they have plenty of fish heads here! Yumm..lots of good Penang style curry fish head.

…everything here is so cheap. Blue swimmer crabs, octopus, squids…gosh, the list goes on!

After a self guided tour of the fresh produce market, which I was thrilled and impressed and wonder why can’t the other markets offer great values like this market. I guess living in a more affluent suburbs come with a cost. A hefty cost.

I wandered outside to the main street – Barkly Street – where the shops and restaurants are mostly Vietnamese. A smaller scale than the famous Richmond’s Victoria Street. At one end of the street, there are new apartment buildings. I had a look at one of the unit. The asking price for a ground floor two bedroom was $399,000! It was reduced from $430,000. There were two other units on the higher floor asking over $460,000! I was shocked at the asking price. The agent told me that Footscray is slowly changing with the less “desirables” moving out further west due to higher cost of living. There are more developments being planned but have not taken off due to a slowdown in the market and the area.

Not all streets are tired and rundown. Barkly Street can do with a bit of work. One of the art deco building, The Royal Hotel, has been redeveloped as an apartment living. There is potential.

One of the street off Barkly Street – the Nicholson Street has a new apartment building with a small shopping centre and a large Vietnamese produce market across the road. The street is tree lined with big federation looking houses.

While I was walking along Barkly Street, I saw a pho restaurant called “Hung Vuong”. I wonder if this is the same as my favourite pho restaurant at Richmond – “Hung Vuong 2″.

Being a die hard “pho” fan, I had to have a bowl of pho at this pho restaurant. The inside was spacious and almost modern with a big TV screen and standard board menu. I ordered a medium size pho with beef and beef balls for $9. It was 50 cents more expensive than the Richmond’s Hung Vuong 2. I later found out that HV2 was previously owned by his cousin.

The pho’s broth was a bit richer and darker at HV compared to HV2. I still prefer my pho at HV2, which was slightly more delicate in flavour and not as sweet and salty as HV. After my pho lunch, I caught a train to Yarraville. The only problem was I caught a wrong train! That stupid platform staff told me to take the next train at Platform 2. Instead, it was going west! I knew immediately that I was on a wrong train and got off at the next station – Middle Footscray. I was the only person who got off at the station, and the only person left standing there! Out in the wild, wild west! Shit! Shit! Shite!!! What was I going to do???!!! When will the next train arrive? No staff, no one at Middle Footscray station! Luckily I had my iPhone. I clicked on Google Map. Blink Blink Blink in a blue dot. That was me! No need to panic. I used Google Map as a guide and guided myself out of the station, headed south on Victoria Street towards Yarraville.

In a way, I was glad I got onto a wrong train and had to walk. I saw more things. Mind you. It was not comfortable walking in a pair of thongs. I already had a V-shaped tanning line on both my foot.

There are groovy, interesting and colourful little shops and cafes along Victoria Street in the tiny suburb of Seddon. What a difference – this tiny Seddon looks quaint, neat and tidy compare to the neighbouring Footscray. More interesting shops as I turned west on Charles Street and then south on Gamon Street towards Yarraville. It was a lovely area, quiet and layback. I guess this part has been gentrified years ago and probably quite expensive now.

Few people told me that Yarraville is nice. Nice. What do they mean? I had to see for myself. I have also heard from my colleague that there is a nice art deco theatre, “Sun”. . So, with lots of anticipation I was looking forward to see what is so nice about Yarraville.

I reached the residential side of Yarraville train station. There was an apartment block behind what I would guess is a heritage listed facade of an old “St Georges Theatre” covered with graffiti. There was an auction in progress. I stood and watched. There were only 2 bidders. Started at $420,000 with another bid at $430,000 which was later passed in. It was subdued.

Finally, I reached the main attraction of Yarraville village – a little enclave of cafes and Sun theatre, with part of the street closed with an artificial green lawn, deck chairs and umbrellas for an atmospheric garden feel. I wonder where are all the “beach sands” and sand castles for kids??

Now I understand why Yarraville is “nice”. It has a small village feel to it. Yet it is only a few kilometres from the hussle and bustle of Melbourne city. Yarraville is slow and set back in time. It feels peaceful and relax, unlike the other inner city suburbs of Melbourne which are overly crowded, busy and noisy. And, what is Yarraville without going to the Sun theatre. I went in to see “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”. Nice and comforable seats. Great show and great theatre. But, I still prefer the more intimate and personable cinema of North Hobart’s The State Cinema.

Update to post this morning, 5th Feb because of an article I just read in The Age Magazine. Great timing as I read with interest. The divides of Yarra River between the South and North sides inner suburbs of Greater Melbourne. The argument about which sides is better made me laugh.

I didn’t know about the signficance of 26th January for the indigenours people rights until I was at the “Share the Spriti Festival” at Treasury Garden for an afternoon of music and cultural experience. There were a few tents set up at the garden. Someone handed me a flyer which chronicles “The Aboriginal Embassy”.

It was not until I got back to my apartment, logged on to my internet and saw on a Breaking News on our PM, Julia Gilard, and the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, being rushed away by the PM bodyguards from a group of aborigine right protestors at nearby “tent embassy”. It was appaling and ugly. I could not believed reading the breaking news and saw the picture of our distressed PM being dragged away, stumbled and lost one of her shoe, which was later picked up by one of the protestor and put on eBay to try and sell it! It was later removed and returned to the PM. I still cannot believe this actually happened here on Australian soil, and to our PM, which was internationally broadcast. It was a shame such unfortunate event had taken place, and made a mob out of our PM across the world scene.

Back to the festival, I was looking forward to an indigenous experience with traditional and cultural performances, but it turned out to be a festival of modern live music, hip hop and break dancing performances, with a few interesting aborigines art and craft stalls and a couple of food stalls. I bought a small hand crafted bracelet made from tiny fish bones and woods for $4.

An opening act – The Kangaroo Dance

There was an Argentinian Barbeque stall with mouth watering ribs and sausages.

The crowds, performers and garden at the festival. Melbourne is truly a garden city. Public spaces and parklands are plenty around the city. Even the CBD is green with trees lining the streets.

The faces of the children were my favourites.

I was at Chinatown before I went to the festival. I went there for food. I got off the train at Parliment Station and started walking from the Spring Street end of Chinatown. I have never walked around the northeast end of the CBD, which has some stunning buildings.

The State Parliament House.

Historic Hotel Windsor.

The Old Treasury Building.

Saint Patrick Cathedral.

Chinatown is located on Little Bourke Street, which stretches from Spring Street (northeast end of CBD) to Swanston Street (southwest end of CBD). It is busier towards the Swanston Street end. I started my walk from the Spring Street end, at the corner of Princess Theatre, looking for a place to eat in Chinatown. Little Bouke Street is interesting with little lanes and street arts, good restaurants and a Chinese Museum. Like any Chinatown in a western city, there is the Chinese archway as the demarcation of where it starts and ends. But, that is not always the case, as Chinatown precinct grows onto the next streets and adjacent streets. Everyone knows when they are in Chinatown when they see Asian shop signs and lot of Asians on the streets, or an Asian symbolic structures like the guardian lions.

Parliament Station is an underground station below this garden and public space.

Northeast End of Chinatown on Spring Street is a small Tianjin Gardens public space.

Princess Theatre at the corner of Little Bourke Street and Spring Street. Directly across from the theatre is the State Parliament House.

In the Chinatown area – walk slower and you will discover a lot of fascinating things aside from restaurants after restaurants.

I found my place for lunch when I spotted the big sign, “Straits of Malacca”. I had to check it out. It has to be Malaysian to use that name. But, it was a buffet style restaurant. I browsed through the buffet – roast duck , roast pork, peking duck pancake, curry laksa, variety of Asian salad including kimchi, Japanese corner with sushi, nasi lemak, nonya kuih, sago, beef rendang, sambal prawns and the list goes on. I was more interested to eat the nasi lemak and beef rendang. For under $20 on a public holiday, it was very reasonable and cheap. The food was actually not too bad – the Malaysian style dishes were good. Some of the dishes were just okay. This place was opened only less than two months. It was quite busy when I was there. They even have “ice kacang” which was shaved ice with a mixture of very sweet syrups on top. Inside the shaved ice were some red beans, corns, black grass jelly and “atap chee” translucent palm nuts.

I ended my Australia Day by watching the fireworks from Yarra River, twenty minutes walk from my place. It was a nice cool evening. There were hundreds of bats flying from one side of the river to the Botanical Garden, which added a fascinating roundup to a very long and memorable Australia Day.

Each year, the Prime Minister will named our Australian of The Year. This year, our very owned Geoffrey Rush was named Australian of The Year for his contribution to the art industry. I happened to tune in to the live ABC broadcast from the Parliament compound in Canberra.

I love cooking this dish. It is easy to make and the paste can be kept in the fridge for a week or two. I have previously posted this recipe in my old blog, Foodtrail. In this recipe, which I cooked last night, I made a slight alteration to my paste.

The most important part to this dish is the chili jam paste. The paste can be pre made and kept in the fridge until it is needed. The paste, like any other, can be adjusted to suit your taste. But, it needs to be sweet, salty and spicy to enjoy the all rounded flavour of this dish.

Ingredients
~ 3 red capsicums
~ 6 stalks of fresh spring onions
~ 4 cloves garlic
~ 2 medium size red onions
~ 2 fresh red chilies and 2 bird eyes chilies (or use dried chilies for added pungent flavours)
~ 1 small bunch basil leaves and coriander leaves
~ 4 pieces chicken thigh fillets
~ palm sugar
~ tamarind juice
~ fish sauce
~ toasted unsalted cashew nuts (I didn’t have any in my cupboard last night. Had to do without them)

Preparation
~ chop the onions, garlic, chilies and set aside
~ chop 1 red capsicuim and set aside
~ cut the other 2 red capsicums into large bite pieces and set aside
~ cut half the stems of the basil and coriander and set aside
~ cut the white sections from the green leaves of the spring onions
~ cut the chicken into bite pieces, marinade with a sprinkle of salt, one teaspoon of light soy sauce

Make The Paste
~ put the chopped garlic, onions, chilies, basil and coriander stems and 1 red capsicum into a blender
~ switch on the blender and process all the ingredients until almost smooth. Remove and tip into a heated sauce pan with a bit of oil
~ gently simmer and stir the paste until fragrant
~ add palm sugar. Mix through until all sugar is melted
~ add tamarind juice and continue to slowly simmer until the paste is reduced and almost caramalised into a thick paste
~ add fish sauce a bit at a time to your liking (taste the paste each time. Otherwise it may become too salty)
~ turn off the heat and set aside

Cooking
~ in a hot wok, add some peanut cooking oil
~ toss in the spring onions (white sections only). Stir fry gently until fragrant
~ add the chickens. Stir fry until cooked
~ add the other 2 red capsicums and basil leaves and give them a quick sitr fry
~ when almost cook, add some of the chili jam paste and mix through
~ remove, plate the dish and garnish with chopped coriander leaves, and serve with steamed rice

Preparation Time: 10 minutes + 10 minutes (making the paste)
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
eating Time: okay, I will take my time to eat this time. So, maybe 5 minutes on my own.

Before I finished my pho, I knew what to do next. I checked the Tram Tracker App on my iPhone for the next arrival times of Tram 109, which will take me to Port Melbourne. I love the free Tram Tracker App. It is the most useful App on Melbourne Trams – schedules, routes, maps and stops. I used it all the time to plan my trip on Melbourne trams. Strongly recommended this free App if you are planning to use Melbourne trams.

It was a clear blue sky summer weather. Perfect for the beach. I have never been to the Melbourne beach since I moved here for work. My initial plan was to visit St Kilda’s Sunday Market. There was no direct tram going to St Kilda from Victoria Street, Richmond. Rather there was the 109 that runs to Port Melbourne direct. Awesome! Changed of plan. I will take 109 to Port Melbourne and then walk to St Kilda. I knew it was going to be a long walk. But, I didn’t know it was a 9 km until I started walking under a 32 degree Celsius summer heat, with nice sea breeze. It was a great walk.

There were many people on the road, the sidewalk and on the beach. But, not crowded. There is a cycle path next to the pedestrian sidewalk. There were three to four seafront restaurants along the long stretch of beach. There were dogs on the beach, beach volleyballs, joggers, children flying kites. There was no shades along the stretch of beach. Some people brought their own beach umbrellas. Others brought their own tents for extra comfort. There was a cruise ship and passengers were seen boarding the ship. The sand was a bit coarse but the water was clear.

I was getting very exhausted and hot by the time I reached Fitzroy Street tram stop at St Kilda. I made the choice of catching a short tram ride from Fitzroy stop to Carlisle St/Chapel St tram stop for tram 79 to take me home. While waiting for 79, I sat down next to this lovely girl with a rare pure bred Chinese Crest named “Nugget”. This was the first time I have seen a Chinese Crest. It was better in real life than in a photo. Nugget was gentle and camera shy. Strange to stroke his back which felt like an expensive soft leather.

I decided to walk to South Melbourne then to Southbank and Flinder Street train station. I would have walked 7 km with a few detours, and had a light comfort lunch at an eclectic and popular cafe in South Melbourne, Zappa.

I enjoyed taking my time when I walked, to soaked in the things around me.

Along Domain Road…,

…and, Domain Interchange for the Trams at St Kilda Road.

Fifteen minutes later I reached the main shopping and restaurant strip of South Melbourne – Clarendon Street. It is mildly quiet in comparison to other more popular Melbourne’s inner suburbs such as Victoria Street, Swan Street and Bridge Road at Richmond, or Toorak Road and Chapel Street at South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor. In a way, I quite like it because it is kind of strange that South Melbourne is so close to Southbank and the CBD with Tram service but the pace is slower than the other inner city suburbs. The busiest place in South Melbourne is the South Melbourne Market. This area will soon become my stomping ground when I moved into a new leased apartment.

This was the second time I have been to South Melbourne. I decided to take my time and look around.

The gorgeous Town Hall was across from Zappa, and Zappa is next door to a well known cocktail lounge and cabaret saloon, The Butterfly Club.

Zappa…casual, relax, atmospheric with lots of characters and charms. I am sure this is a place my partner and I will frequent a fair bit with a cabaret show now and then at the next door, Butterfly Club.

…, then the South Melbourne Market…will be my future weekend marketing stop. My dream of living within walking distance to a market is becoming real. I still cannot believe that since I moved to Melbourne in late September last year, I have only driven my car about ten times, and have only been to the petrol station twice!

From South Melbourne, I walked to Southbank next to the Yarra River. The view of the city skyline is spectacular here. Then I made my way to Flinders Street station and caught a train to Box Hill for the Chinese New Year celebration, published in my last post here

At Southbank…., a very tired tourist…

…a wondering young Australian Magpie…

…this place was buzzing and happening.

Next time if you are in the blue, don’t let it get you. Get up and get out. You will feel better after that. Smile and live each day at a time.

It is the Year of The Dragon, the fifth animal in the Chinese calendar. Out goes the “rabbit” year. The first day of the new year starts on Monday 23rd January 2012. Last weekend, the festival was celebrated at the predominantly Vietnamese community suburb of Richmond. This weekend, there were three other festivals ushering in the dragon year. I went to the one held on the Saturday at Box Hill. It was quite different from the one at Richmond, which I thought was much better. The food at Richmond was much more interesting with a focus on the Vietnamese street food. The public space was bigger and wider with more space to move around without being overly crowded.

At Box Hill, most of the stalls were selling the same thing – barbeque meat on skewers and more barbeque meat on skewers, Korean swivel fried potatoes and more of the same. There were two stalls selling the fried raddish cake, which I bought from one stall for $6. It was a disappointment. It was overfried, hard to eat and bland. I threw most of it away.

The festival at Box Hill was far more commercialised than Richmond. There were many more stalls, but more than half of the stalls were promoting their businesses – the Banks, the property developers, several DVD stalls, and retail stalls. It was very Chinese – about wealth and business. The stalls were setup in a small and narrow pedestrian mall next to Box Hill train station, and adjoining small street at the other end of the pedestrian mall. The crowd was mostly Asian. It was hard to know whether I was in Australia or in Hong Kong! It was SO crowded! I kept knocking on people. The main stage was small in a small area. There was another smaller stage at the end of the pedestrian mall for street performancers. The thing I enjoyed most at Box Hill was the lion dance – professional, skillful and entertaining, the Buddha shrine for worshippers and the street Chinese women drum dance.

The crowd kept coming in…

The food stalls…lots of barbeque skewers food stall after stall…,

and,…the stall that sold me the fried raddish cakes. Looks good, right? That was what I thought until I tried them. Maybe he gave me the overcooked ones which he packed earlier in a takeaway container.

The food stalls were quite disappointing. Not as interesting as the stalls at Richmond’s festival. I decided to eat at one of the restaurant in Box Hill. There were quite a few along the main road. The only problem was I didn’t know which one is good, and I ran out of battery on my iPhone to Google Places to find the best eat. I ended choosing “China Bar”.

It is one of those places where you get a quick bite, get up, pay and leave. The service was fast. The table turnover was equally fast. It was the hanging roast meats at the front window that attracted me to this place. But, after looking through the extensive menu, which offers almost everything from dumplings to rice dishes to noodles, from Malaysian style to Chinese style. Kind of a confusing menu. My first impression was it doesn’t sound good, but I was tired and hungry.

I decided for fried dumplings and Hor Fun (flat rice noodle) with egg sauce. Unfortunately, they were both wrong choices and I suppose a wrong choice to eat in the first place. The fried dumplings were not crispy fried, but chewy and spongy. After eating one, I had to leave the dumpling skin and ate the fillings. The Hor Fun dish was a plateful of noodle with lots of gravy, and little ingredients. It was extremely starchy and bland. The good thing was I didn’t have to spend to much for making the wrong choice.

Anyway, it is Chinese New Year. Remember no quarelling, no bad temper, no complaining and be generous, compassionate, understanding, giving, no cursing and foul language for the next 15 days so you can have all the good fortune and luck in the next 366 days. Oh, after that you can start complaining, cursing and blah blah as much as you like for the remaining 351 days! We are only human!

Trust me! The famous last word. But, it is true. It is Simple, Simple, Smple to make this 10 minutes vegetable dish with basic Chinese ingredients. I had some Chinese cabbage and spring onions left in the fridge. Before I left for work this morning, I soak some dried shiitake mushrooms in a bowl of water. That is all the pre-preparation required before I get home from work.

Ingredients
~ some Chinese cabbage leaves
~ six dried shiitake mushrooms
~ three cloves garlic
~ one fresh red chili
~ four spring onions
~ some dried shallots

Sauces
~ one tablespoon fish sauce
~ two tablespoons oyster sauce
~ one tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
~ one teaspoon sesame oil

Preparation
~ slice the garlic into thin slices
~ slice the chili into thin slices
~ roughly slice the cabbage leaves about three to four inches apart
~ slice the spring onion about one cm apart
~ remove the presoaked dried mushrooms from the bowl of water. Discard the stem from the mushroom and slice into two halves

Cooking
~ heat some cooking oil in a hot wok
~ toss in garlic. Stir fry lightly until fragrant
~ add Chinese cabbage, then the mushroom with a bit of “mushroom water”. Then cover with lid for one minute to simmer
~ remove the lid and add the sauce mixture. Mix through and stir fry for another minute. Add a pimch of salt, sugar and a sprinkle of white pepper
~ add half a cup of corn starch mixture to thicken the sauce
~ now it is ready to plate and serve with a bowl of steamed rice. Garnish with lots of chopped spring onions and dried shallots

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Eating Time: Alright! I eat fast and because it was so good, it only took me two minutes to finish my dinner.