Textured furniture is the latest part of the ridged renaissance that surfaces have seen over the last few years. Glass panes have become fluted, tiles take a tactile twist and the smartest wallpaper ideas explore the three-dimensional. Now it’s the turn of furniture to get involved. Cabinets, wardrobes, sideboards, drawers, and desks are eschewing flat fronts, smooth doors, and level panels in favour of something a little more decorative, as thin, slat-like grooves take over storage in every room of the house.
Such as the rounded oak ridges decorate the Reed sideboard by John Lewis & Partners, echoing the pieces’ subtly curved edges and made more dramatic by the contrasting blacktop, legs and stand-alone front slats the solid oak is painted in. As well as making the most of the vertical pattern’s skill at hiding the entrance to doors, this softer take on the trend introduces a smooth, undulating finish you can’t help but touch.
In the month of May (Chinese lunar calendar), in many countries populated with Chinese, they will celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, 端午节. It is an important event to the Chinese, there will be dragon boat racing, consumption of realgar wine and zongzi, 粽子 which is known as sticky rice dumplings.
Hence Duanwu, which is on the 5th of May according to the Chinese lunar calendar. This year it falls on the 14th of June on a regular calendar. Dragon boat racing isn’t a tradition in the North-west of China where we grew up. But Zongzi is definitely an indispensable delicacy that makes this festival very attractive and special.
When we were young, our aunts and relative they will give us all kinds of fabulous homemade sticky rice dumplings. Our tastebuds were pampered by those delicious bamboos wrapped sticky rice. None of them tastes the same, each family are based on the recipes being passed on from their mothers or great grandmothers. I would say that each family have their own secret recipes that you can’t have outside. While we get older, we have little chance to eat amazing sticky rice dumpling, the commercial ones are just disappointing. It’s sad that our aunts are not making sticky rice dumplings these days anymore, so we decide are time-consuming but each of them is just too nice to
Actually, I’m intimate about making Zong Zi (粽子) but with Joe initiating of making it this year, we decide to challenge with the easier one. Sticky Rice Dumplings can come in sweet or savoury, unlike the savoury ones, the plain or sweet one is rather easy to achieve for a beginner like us. At first, I was reluctant but I’m glad she suggested it as it’s such an amazing tradition to continue and pass on.
The Tale of Dragon Boat Festival
There are so many mystic tales of the Dragon Boat Festival. The most famous one is to celebrate in memory of Qu Yuan, a famous patriotic poet. The story best known in modern China holds that the festival commemorates the death of the poet and minister Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BC) of the ancient state of Chu during the Warring States period of the Zhou dynasty. Qu Yuan became a water spirit after his death, where there are a variety of ways one might appease a ghost but the best and most enduring is to give it food.
For years after Qu Yuan’s death, his supporters threw rice in the water to feed his spirit, but the food, it was said, was always intercepted by a water dragon. After a couple of centuries of this frustration, Qu Yuan “came back” to tell the people to wrap the rice in bamboo leaves, so the dragon couldn’t eat it – and become now Sticky Rice Dumpling. Well, there are many version of the myth, but the good things that we can enjoy this food.
Sticky Rice Dumpling with Red Bean
There is a large variety of Zongzi across China. They differ in size, shape and filling. There are broken down into two types, savoury and sweet. While the sweet usually consist of lye water Zongzi with different types of fillings like red bean, chestnut and dates. While the savoury having meat as the main filling is very popular in the southern regions of China such as Shanghai, Canton, etc. You may also find them filled with salted egg yolks, chestnuts, dried shrimp, etc. Obviously sweet and savoury Zongzi are very different in taste, but as a beginner, we decided to give the sweet dumpling a try.
Bamboo Leaves
The main star of this snack, you can’t complete it with them! Many of you will be familiar with banana leaves and pandan leaves, but bamboo leaves might be new to some of you. Bamboo leaves are harvested when they are no more than thirty centimetres in length and five centimetres in width, and they have a mild, sweet taste with faint notes of green tea.
If you are using dried bamboo leaves. Soak the bamboo leaves in the water for up to 4 hours or overnight till it is soft, using a cloth clean of the dirt. You could also boil them in a pot of water for 8 minutes, till it is soft and turn green. Leave aside to cool. If you are using fresh bamboo leaves. It is easier to prepare the fresh bamboo leaves, soak them in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes. Leave aside to cool.
Red Bean Paste
Red beans (aka azuki beans) are widely used in Northern-style sweet Zongzi. In our recipe, we put homemade red bean paste in the middle. We also like putting a chestnut in each Zongzi to add a different sweet taste. In fact, you can be flexible and creative with the filling. For example, mung beans and dry fruits work well too. Just remember to soak hard ingredients like beans overnight beforehand.
We make our red bean paste from scratch, it is time-consuming but easy to make. If you have a pressure cooker it will make the whole process easier. However, if you don’t have one like us remember to soak the azuki red bean overnight. Boil it in the water till it is easy to mash with a fork, only add in your rock sugar only have the red bean is cooked. We use red bean is to sugar a ratio of 3:1. However, if you are one that doesn’t like sweets, you could reduce the amount of sugar.
Glutinous Rice
Glutinous rice 糯米 (also called sweet rice) is the major component of the filling. It is the only type of rice suitable for making rice dumplings. Look for a good brand of glutinous rice, there are two types of rice, long and round type. Here we are using the long glutinous rice.
Rinse and soak the rice. Rinse the glutinous rice a few times under running water until the water is clear. Soak the glutinous rice in water overnight (or at least four hours). Add lye water aka alkaline water. Drain the water away and mix with lye water. Set aside for wrapping the zongzi.
How to wrap the dumpling?
There are many ways to wrap one and the commonly seen one is in a triangle shape which is what we are going to show you. As it is the first time we made them, we tried a few times before we got this perfect ratio recipe.
Use two wide bamboo leaf to form a narrow cone.
Place some glutinous rice in, then the filling – red bean paste and chestnut. (The perfect ratio is two scoops of glutinous rice, one scoop of red bean paste and one chestnut!!)
Top with more rice (The perfect ratio we used are one and a half scoop) and make it level.
Fold the two sides of the leaf over the rice.
Then fold the top of the leaf down to cover the rice completely.
Wrap the rest of the leaf around the shape. Tie with a cooking string. (If you use the zongzi twine, soak it in a bowl of water for half an hour before using it. The twine will rehydrate and won’t break easily.)
Note that it is important to tie them tightly since we want to cook them for a few hours. As for the knots, nearly everyone will cut the twine when they want to eat. Therefore, it does not matter whether you can easily open the knot. Make sure you end it with a tight knot to avoid the dumpling breaking when cooking.
How to cook the Sticky Rice Dumplings?
Cooking zongzi is simple but lengthy. You can schedule it when you are at home, in which you can do another thing while cooking. There aren’t many things you need to do after you set the pot on the stove. Just wait and add some water occasionally if necessary.
Use a stockpot. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. The amount of water should be enough to submerge all the zongzi. Boil for three hours. Boil over low heat, i.e., reduce to a bare simmer for about six hours. Add only boiling water. Check the water level from time to time. Maintain the level of water to just enough to submerge all the zongzi. Add only boiling water when necessary.
It is advised to make in bulks, expertise level like my aunts, they make at least 100-200 pieces at one time during the festival season, our recipes are good with 15 dumplings. After boiling them in one go, you can cool and store them in the freezer.
Steam it for 10 – 15mins when you when to eat it.
Cooking points to take note
While it is still not perfect as we are still inexperienced, here are some cooking tips to we have learn during this process;
Moreover, when we unfold the leaves, the rice dumpling may crack, deformed and stick onto the leaves. It is messy, and certainly frustrated. A little bit of vegetable oil in the rice prevents the rice from sticking to the bamboo leaves. You could also brush a thin layer of oil on the leaves before wrapping.
Too much lye water will result in a bitter taste, and too little will not yield the beautiful amber colour and signature chewy texture we’re looking for. Measure carefully!
A few of our rice dumpling “leaked”. Don’t wrap the twine too tightly when securing the bamboo leaves, as the rice needs room to expand when cooking.
This is a two-day process, so I’ve broken down the recipe into three parts: the day before, the night before, and the day of assembly! There are so much to learn from this simple traditional snack, can’t wait to improve the recipe and share it with you soon.
Rinse the sweet rice a couple of times until the water runs clear rather than cloudy. Next, transfer the rice to a large bowl with enough water so that the water line is ½-inch above the rice. Stir in 1½ tablespoons of lye water and ½ tablespoon vegetable oil. Once the lye water hits the freshwater, both the rice and water will turn a light yellow colour––that’s normal. Soak the rice, covered, in the refrigerator overnight.
In a large basin (or your kitchen sink), soak the bamboo leaves overnight. Weigh the leaves down with something heavy to make sure all of the leaves are submerged.
The Next Day
Clean each bamboo leaf, front and back, with a clean kitchen towel, shaking off any excess water and trimming off about a half inch of the bamboo leaf at the base (this part is too tough and rigid to handle). Set aside.
Take the soaked rice out of the refrigerator, and drain off all of the liquid. Set it aside.
Take out the red bean paste, and divide it into 15 equal-sized balls.
Now you’re ready to assemble the zongzi! Take two bamboo leaves and follow the steps shown in the photos, tying them off with kitchen string. Each rice dumpling takes about 3 tablespoons of soaked rice and one portion of red bean paste and one chestnut. Just remember not to tie the string too snugly, as the rice will need room to expand during the cooking process. After unwrapping a zongzi, it shouldn’t look like it has been wearing a pair of pants that’s two sizes too small. 🙂
In a large pot, arrange the zongzi neatly, and fill the pot with water–about 1-inch above the top of the zongzi. Add 1 ½ teaspoon of lye water to the pot, and place a heat-proof bowl or plate on top of everything to weigh down the zongzi. Bring the water to a boil, and then turn the heat to medium to slow cook the zongzi for 2½ hours. Check the water levels periodically, replenishing the pot with boiling water when the waterline falls below the top of zongzi.
After 3 hours, turn off the heat, and take out the zongzi to let them cool. Serve the zongzi at room temperature with sugar or the syrup of your choice!
We inspired this Thai Mango Sticky Rice Shake from the traditional Thai Mango Sticky Rice Dessert. A sweet snack that combines the richness of sticky rice, the sweetness of ripe mangoes and the creaminess of coconut milk. However, rather than eating them, we will be enjoying them as a drink. Turning the sweet dessert into a refreshing drink for the summer. It consists of mango white tea, topped with coconut cream, sticky rice ball, vanilla ice cream and mango.
Sticky Rice
Sticky rice is also known as glutinous rice because the rice is sticky and gluey in texture. It’s widely cultivated in Southeast Asia and one of the mainstays of Thai cuisine. Sticky rice is commonly served with a sweet or savoury topping of lentils or beans. However, the best sticky rice recipe comes with ripe and juicy fresh mangoes.
How to make Sticky Rice Ball?
Prepare a steamer for steaming. Drain the glutinous rice and spread it out inside the steamer.
Steam the glutinous rice for 20-25 minutes or until translucent.
Add coconut milk to the cooked glutinous rice until it becomes a thick and sticky consistency.
Shape it into a ball. Leave aside for serving.
Mango White Tea
Rather than the usual mango bland shake, we decided to incorporate our favourite tea into the shake for a refreshing taste. You can use any tea that you prefer, however, for us we choose the White Tea by TWG. White tea is known to be one of the most delicate tea varieties because it is so minimally processed.
Why we choose White Tea? White tea is harvested before the tea plant’s leaves open fully when the young buds are still covered by fine white hairs, hence the name “white” tea. The white tea has an overall flavour profile include floral, grassy, honey, fruity, melon, peach, apricot, vanilla, chocolate, citrus, herby, mild, subtle, delicate and sweet. Which is a good combination with the mango.
How do we make the Mango Tea Shake? Start with brewing your tea ahead; to brew your white tea correctly, steep your tea using 85C water, strain and let it cool to room temperature. Meantime when cooling the tea, cut your mango flesh out into a cube. In your blender, blend the tea and the mango together well.
Assembling it!
Start with adding ice to your cup, then the mango white tea shake, followed by adding in your sticky rice ball, coconut cream, topping it with ice-cream ball and mango cube. Making this a good summer drink, you might wonder that this is weird, however, we make sure that it is delicious for the hot summer!
Prepare a steamer for steaming. Drain the glutinous rice and spread it out inside the steamer. Steam the glutinous rice for 20-25 minutes or until translucent. Add 1 tbsp of coconut cream to the cooked glutinous rice until it becomes a thick and sticky consistency. Shape into a ball.
Steep your tea using 85C water, strain and let it cool to room temperature. Meantime when cooling the tea, cut your mango flesh out into a cube. In your blender, blend the tea and the mango together well.
Start with adding ice to your cup, then the mango white tea shake, followed by adding in your sticky rice ball, coconut cream, topping it with ice-cream ball and mango cube.
Mindful blue is the term to take into account when looking at the stunning interior design project below. A charming blue apartment design, misty blue comes with a haziness that adds softness and calming allure to the rooms. Gleaming in the natural golden tones of the project added stunning elements to complete the whole ordeal.
This Avocado Egg Salad will be the most delightful salad to have this hot summer. It’s light, healthy and can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner (I’m always a fan of breakfast items for dinner). But if you’d like to kick your egg salad recipe up a notch and make your stomach happy, it’s as simple as adding avocado, tomatoes, and your choice of seafood. Think of it as the California spin on the classic, and we guarantee you’re gonna love it!
Avocado, Prawns and Egg are the star ingredients in this summer salad, but just look at all the other goodness we’ve got here! Creamy avocado – umm, hello! Juicy cherry tomatoes and fresh leafy greens, all tossed through with lemon & olive oil dressing.
A superfood bowl of meal replacement
No single food — not even a superfood — can offer all the nutrition, health benefits, and energy we need to nourish ourselves. However, there are a few foods that can be singled out for special recognition. These “superfoods” offer some very important nutrients that can power-pack your meals and snacks, and further enhance a healthy eating pattern.
Couscous Couscous might not be the best option when coming to dieting. But couscous is a good source of fibre. Fibre is good for you in a lot of ways. It can stop your blood sugar from spiking and can keep you fuller longer. It also can help lower cholesterol, which can reduce your chances of heart disease. Eat it occasionally as grains/pasta replacement it will bring your meal with lots of Avocado One of my favourite food is definitely Avocado. There is no reason to fear that avocados will be fattening, as long as you eat them as part of a healthy diet based on whole foods. On the contrary, avocados have many qualities of a weight loss friendly food.
Egg The egg is the most important source of all staple food. “Eggs are little nuggets of nutrition, providing protein, choline, vitamin D, lutein and more…” – the expert said. Eggs are indeed high in cholesterol – but they are “good” cholesterol as it’s commonly known – and this is one reason why eggs have been found to have little to no effect on heart disease risk. Leafy Green Vegetables Consume leafy greens are an important part of a healthy diet. They’re packed with vitamins, minerals and fibre but low in calories. Eating a diet rich in leafy greens can offer numerous health benefits including reduced risk of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and mental decline.
Lemon & Olive Oil Dressing
This lemon & olive oil dressing recipe is so easy to make! With its zingy, bright lemon flavour, it’ll blow any store-bought dressing out of the water. It’s zippy, fresh, and bright, it comes together in minutes, and it keeps well in the fridge. With its vibrant lemon flavour, it’s a dressing that you’ll use for so much more than salad.
Sure, it peps up greens, but it also makes roasted veggies more exciting, adds life to grain bowls, and more. So whisk it up, pop it in the fridge, and start drizzling it over everything. Easy, versatile, and delicious, this lemon vinaigrette recipe is one you’ll make again and again.
Prep ahead? How long can you Store?
This recipe is best made fresh, but you can store it in the fridge for up to two days. That’s less than regular egg salad because after two days the avocados in this recipe will start to oxidise and turn brown. We highly doubt that you’ll ever have any leftovers though. In fact, you can easily double or triple this recipe as well.
In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper, and honey, if using. Drizzle in the olive oil while whisking and continue to whisk until the dressing is emulsified. Alternatively, combine everything in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake to combine.
Salad
In a bowl, combine lettuce, couscous, prawn and tomatoes. Season with dressing, salt and pepper, mix well. Add in eggs and avocado before served.
We have been procrastinating if we should write about the estate we lived in as it’s a most comforting place we spend most of our time. So we decided to compile a post of our favourites within the Chinatown Estate. “Huh, there are flats at Chinatown?”, “You lived in Chinatown, erm”… there are so many exclaimers when we shared with our friends. This estate is unlike other neighbourhood – to others who might not know; it seems messy, old and noisy (indeed during the Chinese New Year period) but actually it’s safe and quiet during the night with lots of amazing eateries nearby.
It’s located at the very centre of Singapore, close to CBD and other friendly estates like Tanjong Pagar and Tiong Bahru. It is compact but you can reach out to all the destination within your palm. But I do hate all the walking during the hot summer because everything is so near that I can’t even take a bus.
Walk and discover the shophouses
There are many heritage shophouses along the South and North Bridge road as it located among the heritage estates. If you take time to discover, among all these shophouses there are many unique restaurants and cafes, and some old stores been there for decades; such as tea houses (south-bridge road), herb and fragrance store (north-bridge road). In recent years, there are tons of new eateries and cafes open in Chinatown, the old neighbourhood became a hipster location.
Here are some of our favourites list that including:
Tea Chapter When you want to take a pause and enjoy the slow pace of life with an appreciation of the Art of Tea. This isn’t a modern hipster place but it captures our heart without a beat! It located along a row of shophouses at Neil Road. It’s well-furnished despite the interior release vibes of a Chinese traditional courtyard (Siheyuan, 四合院). Level one is their retail shop while level 2 and 3 is the Tea House. It might look small exterior but it’s another world of the city.
It’s a great place for you the learn more about Chinese culture, you will learn about how to taste tea (品茶) instead of drinking it, as tea appreciation is an art and it is similar to the Japanese tea ceremony. There is also a wide range of snack and desserts somewhere is really interesting as they use tea in the dishes, such as the Oolong Sweet Potato and the Tea Egg that we all know. It’s a place to have a small snack after your main meal. Tasting tea is also good for digesting the heavy meal that you had.
Address: 9 Neil Rd Operating Hours: 11.00 am – 9.30 pm
Punch Are you a cafe person like us? Punch at North Canal Road (opposite Kreta Ayer Police Post) is a short walk away from Chinatown point. This courtyard offers up an al-fresco dining experience, but it’s the greenery around complimenting the wooden furniture that really sets the mood.
The food served in Punch is great for the price, what we love about them is that they serve the food warm to you. The coffee was fantastic. The mocha was beautifully presented and had the right mix of coffee, chocolate and milk— easy to do on paper but hard to do well. Even you don’t want a meal, Punch is also a good place for you to enjoy a good cup of coffee.
It is not a new estate therefore many places including the narrow streets among all the street houses, around the neighbourhood look much rundown. That is the reason, it is the best places for you to take some retro-looking street photography. Don’t forget to put on your retro clothes, you may get some Hongkong movie vibe in some of the places.
People Park’s Complex You could never miss spotting People Park’s Complex, with its, retro yet vibrant yellow and green exterior “waving” to you. The People’s Park Complex was completed in 1973, and is one of the remaining Brutalist-styled architecture in Singapore, along with the likes of the Golden Mile Complex and Shaw Towers. It lacks fancy ornamentation or embellishments, and parts of the building have exposed concrete. This is because the term Brutalist comes from the French word béton-brut or raw concrete. It is simple and rough yet bold!
It was once a place that seats a hipster bar – Lepark, where single-handedly transformed a once-abandoned car park space into vibrant grounds. However, with it moving out it is back to a quiet car park. To get there, take the lift to level 5, out of the lift turn to your right where the back stairs located. Head up to the tight, smelly stairs you can find the wide car park there.
The best timing to go there will be after 3 pm, where the sunlight is not so harsh, as it is an open space, there isn’t much shelter. if you are lucky head there after the rain, we water on the floor you could take a creative shot of the reflection.
Lovely Street Views
On your way to places above you would also discover different iconic building, such as; (东亚, Dong Ya) Singapore’s oldest Coffee Shop, where it currently holds the popular Potato Head Folks, Singapore’s oldest Coffee Shop, Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, and Jinrikisha Station (where it is now been blocked by construction work). Don’t miss out on the walks and window of the streets too, every building is individually designed that it could be an Instagram wall.
There are just such many places that we want to share with you yet couldn’t cover them in just one post. While we are now in P2HA (phase 2 heightened alert) during the self-quarantine period, it is best for us to #stayhome. Can’t wait to travel out and experience the hidden part of Chinatown/Singapore when’s it got better. Stay tuned for more exploration.
Tiled floors can look cold in the interior but luckily you can choose terracotta floors. The earthy tones of terracotta tiles bring warmth to your home. If sustainability is high on your design agenda, you can look at salvaged terracotta floors, it’s not only good for the environment to chose reclaimed materials but it also adds more character to your space.
There was a time when we were saying good riddance to terracotta tile, but surprisingly, the material is back, and we’re not mad about it. One of the oldest tile materials, terracotta was a stalwart of ‘80s and ‘90s coastal and Mediterranean design, and it can be hard to imagine it used outside of that style of interior. But in its new resurgence, we see the material used in sleek modern rooms and charming farmhouse-style spaces alike. Better yet, terracotta tile is available in a variety of shapes, shades, and finishes, so you can truly customize your look. Using the warm tiles on black or whites wall tiles, in different shapes gives a different deep feel to space.
While the Summer approached us quietly with the unlimited free heatwave, salad has become our favourite breakfast and snack. Salad recipes are our favourite way to showcase vibrant, in-season produce – fruits and veggies that are so good on their own that you don’t need to do much to make them into a delicious meal. On beautiful, warm days when I’d rather be outside than in the kitchen, summer salads are the perfect solution: they’re simple to toss together, but they’re totally delicious nonetheless.
With everything from green salads to the Mediterranean, Asian, and beyond, these recipes are perfect for passing at potlucks, serving as dinner sides, and enjoying full meals on their own. Here are our Top 10 Summer Salad for you!
Summer time is the epitome of the no-recipe, recipe style cooking that we like to do. The first on our list is the Fig and Mozzarella Salad – a twist on a classic Caprese salad. The ripe fresh figs replace the tomatoes, making this a fruity yet savoury addition to your dinner table. What could be better than ripe figs, fresh mozzarella, good olive oil and fragrant basil? A perfect lunch or light dinner.
And while you can (and should), grill up some bread, this is lovely served just as is. We also like a good drizzle of balsamic vinegar over ours. You could replaced the fig with any other fruit. We especially love stone fruits in this combination, leaning on plums, apricots, peaches, pluots, you name it! So good.
This grilled chicken salad combines marinated chicken, fresh veggies, and bold Greek flavours all in one tasty and easy dinner. There is a reason this Greek chicken salad with the tastiest tzatziki sauce is one of my go-to supper salads! It starts with yoghurt-marinated chicken tenders (yup, very much what we do with our homemade gyro recipe). But instead of the usual pita wraps, the grilled chicken sits on top of a fresh salad with loads of fresh crunchy veggies and Greek favourites like tomatoes and onion.
But, one of the biggest draws to this Greek salad with chicken is the tzatziki sauce of this salad, not to mention it is delicious yet easy to make. It’s a simple cucumber sauce made with fresh dill, red wine vinegar, Greek yoghurt, and garlic. This dish is great for the day when you want something more filling.
When it is time for summer, our summers consist of two things: the beach and watermelons. While it’s easy to enjoy the watermelon with just a spoon but tastier to make it into our favourite snack. This watermelon salad is full of sliced cucumbers, crumbled feta cheese and mint, all tossed in an easy lime dressing. An easy, fresh and super light Mediterranean watermelon salad with cucumbers, creamy feta, loads of fresh herbs, and a zesty lime dressing! A simple yet unusual summer salad that’s sure to get rave reviews.
*Tip: Cut the watermelon and feta cheese into the same cube form making the dish look more well-composed.
So far you could see the trend of our favourite salad, the keywords will be Mediterranean, feta and bright. We like using bring ingredients during the summer, on the top of our list it is tomatoes. One summer we combined my love for onions with a bumper crop of tomatoes and a homemade oil dressing. The result was this salad that receives thumbs-up approval whenever it’s served.
The recipe calls for a mix of heirlooms and cherry tomatoes, but you know what? Buy the best-looking, ripest, most fragrant tomatoes wherever you happen to be shopping, be it the farmers market or grocery store. Or pick them from your own garden, if that’s your situation! Good tomatoes should smell like something when you press the skin against your nose and inhale, and they should feel heavy for their size, which means they are filled with juice and are not mealy.
A classic Asian cucumber salad you would like to serve along with your meals. Thus Easy Cucumber Salad (拍黄瓜) is a light and refreshing appetizer. The crisp cucumber is mixed with plenty of garlic, drizzled with an appetizing blend of soy sauce, vinegar and sugar, then finished with a few drops of sesame oil. The sauce is light, yet it has a distinct sour flavour with a hint of sweetness, enhanced by the strong aroma of garlic.
This cucumber salad is a dish we’ve been eating since childhood. It’s one of those easy dinner rotation dishes that we make all the time, especially when it’s hot and humid outside and we don’t want to turn on the stove to cook stir fry. This cucumber salad only takes 5 minutes to prepare. It’s refreshing and tasty. The salad goes very well with pretty much any Chinese dish. Stir-fry, braised meats, noodles, and deep-fried goodies. You name it!
This salad may look more like a winter salad in term of colour but eggplant is one of the vegetables we like to use in our dishes during the summer. For those who are not green vegetable person, this is the best salad for you. We can certainly understand why eggplant can be hard to love, it so often can be bland and spongy when not prepared correctly and quite heavy as well since it soaks up oil so readily. But just like the aforementioned kale and beets, the key to transforming eggplant haters into eggplant lovers is in the preparation. In this case, the secret is to heat.
We’ve added a harissa glaze before going into the oven to accent the mellow creaminess of the eggplant. Honey helps the cut surface of the eggplant caramelize under the heat while the harissa brings plenty of spice to offset the sweetness. There’s also garlic and cumin to round out those North African inspired flavours.
What you end up with is a dish that’s vibrant with flavour and fantastically creamy. Sprinkle it with some fresh mint to finish or serve it on a bed of lightly dressed greens with some crumbled goat cheese on top for a more substantial meal.
Yes you could never imagine having peas in your salad! However with them in this salad offers great taste with all the health benefits. Above it all, it is super easy to put together. A perfect alternative when you do not know what to cook or do not have a lot of ingredients at home. A zesty grilled shrimp salad, and green peas. The best bright, colourful, and fresh autumn salad, full of grilled shrimp, and peas. All made in under 30 minutes, and all done on the grill. This is quickly going to become your new summer staple salad recipe.
There are days that we all wondering how to have delicious meals yet also controlling our diets. Yes, surely exercising is the most amazing way as it allows you to eat all the food you want but keep you in shape! However, apart from that we also could control the way we prepare our food and the choice that we intake. A healthier choice is always the best option as it gives our skin a boost as well.
This recipe was inspired by my love of sour flavours and light, nutritious entrees. The pretty salad has an appealing variety of textures. We make it year-round because it’s fast and easy to prepare after a long day at work. Although you can use any leafy green in this spicy main-course salad, we suggest rockets because it adds another subtle, peppery layer of heat to the dish. For those who are not much of a salad eater, a little meat to that boring bowl of greens is the solution for you, at least that’s what works for me.
This is one of our favourite dressing made at home – we love to make use of the extra citrus we got and marinade into jars for serving. This is one of the non-green salad that we like to eat – it can be eaten like this (a new way of eating fruits) or you can mix them with vegetables too. Add a palate-cleansing pop of colour and refreshing flavour to your next meal with a quick and easy recipe for Citrus Salad with Honey Vinaigrette.
*Tip: Use different kind of oranges and citrus in a bowl, will gives you different level of flavours. Peeling the citrus is the most time-consuming part of this recipe, but it’s important to remove as much of the white pith as possible to steer clear of any bitterness.
This dish simply will just take 15 mins of yours and it could be easily prep ahead if you are too busy to prepare on the spot. To avoid the potato too creamy, adding chive and red onion enhances the flavour of the dish. When potato meets potato chips it is doubled the flavour of it and it tastes absolutely delicious! We love sour cream and it is so rare for me to have it without feeling guilty. To spike some of the chip on top allows me to fulfil my temptation of having chips but at the same time, we will not overdose on it as the main leading is the potato salad.
Forget the boring caesar salad, there are many more options the just vegetables and caesar sauce. We like to head to the market and get the fresher ingredients for the salad, as no much technique is used the key for a good salad is good ingredients. Be creative, not to worry about the recipes.
Lately, the rasing of the temperature make you feel flushed and burning all the time. Wondering what to drink to stop the thirst through the hot summer? Limequats Sparkling Water with Honey will be the instant cure for your dry throat and immediately reduce your body heat.
This recipe was inspired by our mom’s favourite cup of warm limequat tea. She always encourages us to have it when we have a sore throat and during the cold weather – it’s a natural version of throat lozenges. While many don’t know actually limequat helps to quenches our thirst when we are thirsty and hot for the summer. Unlike drinking harmful artificial drinks to quenches our thirst, the summer drink can help you make your best choice, even though scorching temperatures.
Benefit of limequat, lemon, honey, rosemary
Buying drinks on shelves is fast but unknowing we are drinking harmful chemical mixed without knowing. Therefore, making your own drinks is far more interesting and you could understand more about the ingredients you use.
Limequat
contain a large amount of vitamin C
help lower cholesterol and absorb iron from food
have very few calories, so they are used in diets
mitigate the effects of anaemia
help treat any infection that affects the respiratory system, as well as sore throats
Lemon
like limequat it contain a large amount of vitamin C, which is very important for our immune system
it also improve digestive health, that’s if you consume the pulps of the lemon
Honey
good source of antioxidant, where it protect your body from cell damage due to aging
help to soothe a sore throat
assist in healing wounds and burns
Rosemary
rich source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds
help boost the immune system and improve blood circulation
Interesting Facts
Did you know that among all the citrus, limequats last the longest in your storage? We found out that limequats stop ripening once collected and can be refrigerated for a few weeks. Therefore you could buy it in bulks. Wash and dry it well, wrap it in a newspaper and store it in the fridge it will remain fresh.
No matter how hectic your day is this flavoured sparkling water is always a refreshing choice. Try adding a squeeze of lemon juice for more citrus zing. Our favourite part is that it’s a vacation in a cup – one sip you can almost feel the ocean breeze in your hair.
This trend moved so quickly it almost gave us whiplash — it was only last summer that Jacquemus’s Oursin restaurant kicked the recessed shelves revival into high gear, and it’s already been reimagined by the Urban Outfitters home design team in a vignette that hits so close it seems almost like pastiche (complete with amphora-shaped vases and footed bowls). Credit is due to the French design duo Haddou & Dufourq, however, who used this trope at Design Parade way back in the summer of 2018.
