Spicy Marinated Lime Spareribs

Do you have your own barbecue? How is your experience with it? I never barbecue before but I do consider of having one myself.

This week, we made some spicy spareribs with a hint of lime. The spareribs are marinated overnight and baked in their own sauce. I guarantee you that you will love the taste of spicy and acidity. BBQing must taste even better.

Serves 4
Marinade Time: overnight
Baking Time: 1 hour
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
1-inch ginger, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 red chile pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 lb pork spareribs, separated
salt and pepper
cilantro for garnish

Procedure

1. In a bowl, combine all ingredients except for spareribs and cilantro.

2. Place spareribs in a ziploc and pour in the marinade. Refrigerate and marinade overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 375F.

4. Place spareribs in a baking dish, covered with aluminium foil. Bake for an hour. Baste spareribs with the marinade and repeat this process every 5-10 mins. Serve.

Lion's Head Meatball Stew

At first glance, the name might sound weird for a dish. The Lion's Head Meatball Stew is traditionally cooked in Shanghai which consists of oversized pork meatballs and greens. The large meatball size represent the lion's head and the greens for its mane. For the stew, we added some leftover pork and beef balls.

Serves 4-6
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb ground pork
1 tsp ginger, minced
2 water chestnuts, peeled and minced
1 egg
1 tsp sake
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper
1/2 nappa
5-6 cups chicken stock or water
2-3 scallions, diced

Procedure

1. In a bowl, combine pork, ginger, water chestnuts, egg, sake, soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper.

2. Shape ground pork into large meatballs, about 3'' in diameter. Flatten them a bit so it is not completely round.

3. In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Pan fry meatballs until golden on the outside.

4. In a soup pot, cover bottom with nappa. Place meatballs on top of the nappa.

5. Pour chicken broth and bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30-45 mins until meatballs are fully cooked. Garnish with scallions.

Tiramisu

Have you ever tried making your own tiramisu? I received a few suggestions from you readers to post a tiramisu recipe. The first time that my Taiwanese friend made this dessert, I didn't know it contains strong brewed coffee as I never drink coffee in life. I am more of a tea person.

For those who don't know what is tiramisu, it is an Italian dessert, made of layers of lady fingers and mascarpone-based mixture, topped with cocoa powder. Unfortunately, I didn't take the final picture of the dessert.

Serves 16
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 package of lady fingers
475g mascarpone cheese
1 1/2 cups brewed coffee
1 cup Marsala wine
3 tbsp Kahlúa or any coffee flavoured liqueur
6 egg yolks
cocoa powder

Procedure

1. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks with sugar until it becomes pale.

2. Add mascarpone to bowl and fold it into the egg yolk mixture with a rubber spatula.

3. In a separate bowl, combine brewed coffee, Marsala wine and Kahlúa.

4. Dip lady finger into the coffee mix and place it onto a 8'' x 8'' baking pan. Repeat the same process until it covers the bottom of the pan.

5. Spread the dipped lady fingers with half of the mascarpone mixture. Repeat the layering process.

6. Sprinkle with cocoa powder and store in the refrigerator overnight.

Thai-Style Yellow Curry Shrimps

Here is a quick and satisfying shrimp dish made by my Taiwanese friend. The curry sauce is a simple mix of coconut milk (or whole milk) and curry powder. I can guaranteed you that you want to remake this sauce for dinner parties.

Serves 4
Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup milk or coconut milk

2 tbsp yellow curry powder

1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon of oyster sauce

1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 red chili peppers, seed removed, cut in half lengthwise
300g shrimps with shell and head still on
1 scallion, chopped

Procedure

1. In a bowl, mix milk with curry, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar.

2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook onion until transparent. Add in chili peppers and garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 1 min.

3. Pour in sauce and stir for about 1 min. until hot.

4. Add shrimps to skillet and cook until it turns pink. Serve over rice and garnish with scallions.