One Hour Spicy Pickled Cucumber

Happy Chinese New Year, my friends!

If you have someone Chinese in your family, you will no doubt have been overfed at some sort of New Year celebration. This is our version of Christmas.

For Chinese New Year meals, I usually play the part of mum's sous chef and get to contribute a few small dishes to the main meal. This year, my contribution was a spicy pickled cucumber. 

I learned this recipe from a new friend last year and it has been part of my menu whenever we have braised pork, dumplings, BBQs and any dish that requires a nice fresh component. 

What I love about this recipe is that it is so quick to make and impressive to look at. In fact, I love this recipe so much that it has replaced my very own.

Laoganma Spicy Chili Sauce and Chinkiang Vinegar

The secret to this great tasting pickle is some Laoganma Spicy Chili Sauce and Chinkian Vinegar.  The Vinegar is a type of black rice vinegar from Jiangsu Province in China and tastes like a more earthy version of balsamic vinegar. 

Laoganma is probably one of the most well known spicy chili sauces in China and is my favourite addition to dumpling sauces, noodles and stirfry dishes. It is a fragrant blend of chilis, soy beans and other goodies ready made for your meals (note: I am not being sponsored by them or anything, I am just a major fan girl).

Step 3: adding all the ingredients

If you're having a meal involving many rich dishes, why not give this recipe a go? 

One Hour Spicy Pickled Cucumber
(Adapted from a family recipe)

Ingredients:

1 telegraph cucumber
2 Tablespoons Chinkiang vinegar
3 Tablespoons light soy sauce (I prefer Pearl River Bridge brand)
2 teaspoons white sugar
1 Tablespoon Laoganma spicy chili sauce

Method:

1. Thinly slice the cucumber on the diagonal, 2/3 way through.
2. Turn the cucumber over and thinly slice 1/2 way through.
3. Place the cucumber into a seal-able tupperware container and add the remaining ingredients.
4. Close the lid and shake vigorously.
5. Place container in the fridge for 1 hour, removing halfway through to shake again.
6. Prior to serving, cut the cucumber right through with a pair of food scissors to separate it into bite size pieces.

Hot and Spicy Tofu Steaks

I cannot believe that I have been blogging for exactly a year now! 

It seems like only yesterday when Asia showed me the Stumbleupon toolbar which introduced me to the wonderful world of food blogging. I have to thank Grace and Kate (the lovely girls in my first ever posts) for helping me come up with the title "Lucyeats" when I got momentarily depressed that "food for thought" was taken.

Firm tofu steaks can be found in the fridge of your local Asian food store

And lastly, I want to thank Jason. The ever supportive boyfriend who doesn't mind being my guinea pig and is always willing to try a new restaurant with me (well.. I suppose it's a win-win situation there). He also reads and edits my posts when I'm feeling tired and bad-at-spelling..

Letting the sauce simmer down

Since I started food blogging, I've suddenly found a common ground with many others around me who were apparently all closet foodies and now I can't get them to shut up!

One of my recent conversations with a family friend of ours started because she noticed that all the food that I had made for a BBQ (Spinach Dip Loaf, Chopped Turkish Salad, Garlic Flat Bread, Potato Gratin) were all european and remarked that it was such a shame that all Chinese children these days (including her own) couldn't cook a Chinese dish to save their own skins and could only make simple things like cupcakes.

Needless to say, I was a little outraged. Can't cook Chinese food? Moi?!

So anyway, I managed to convince her that Chinese food was one of the easiest things to get right as long as you have the essential ingredients that form most dishes: soy sauce, rice wine, garlic, ginger, sugar, and a little chili if you like spicy food. Anything can be made to taste good if you have these in your pantry -like these tofu steaks I cooked up for lunch the other day. Enjoy =) 

Hot and Spicy Tofu Steaks 

Ingredients:


5-8 Tofu steaks (you can find these at your local Asian store. Make sure they're the firm kind)
2 Tablespoons cold water
1 Teaspoon Masterfoods Chilli
1 Tablespoon coriander, chopped
2 Cloves garlic
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Teaspoon brown sugar
Extra coriander for garnish
Oil for frying


Method:


1. Pour enough oil to just cover the bottom of your frying pan (a small one will do)
2. When the oil is hot, fry the garlic till fragrant and carefully place your tofu steaks in the pan. Be careful, as the oil may spit. Give each side about 30 seconds on each side.
3. Turn the heat down to medium and add the rest of the ingredients making sure the brown sugar dissolves completely in the water. 
4. Cover and simmer until the water evaporates and sauce becomes sticky.
5. Garnish with extra coriander before serving.