Nat & E Homecooking

Easy beef brisket noodles

A Hong Kong classic that you could make at home, so long as you have access to brisket.

Serves 4

Time: 🕰🕰🕰
Effort: 💪💪

Ingredients:

1.5 catty beef brisket from wet market
Bones from the butcher
Small chunk cane sugar (冰糖), around 20g
Small head of ginger
2 spring onions
2 star anise
Water
1/2 Chinese white radish
Rice noodles from wet market (湯河粉, the thin variety)

Method:

1. Tidy up the beef brisket by trimming away
away excess fat, but keep fascia and tendons
2. Smash the ginger with the back of a knife to release juices
3. Bring a pot of water to the boil
4. Boil brisket, bones, and ginger for 3-5 minutes, so as to surface any scum and impurities
5. Strain and reserve the bones and meat
6. Wash the bones and meat in warm water to further remove any clots or impurities on the surface – this keeps the soup base clear
7. In a large soup pot, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and very slightly brown the meat and bones, around 2 minutes
8. Cover meats and bones with water
9. Bring to the boil
10. Lower flame to a medium-low, rather than low (there is no need to be gentle); cook for 2 hours
11. After 2 hours, add radish in large chunks
12. Boil for another 20 minutes, until radish softens but still has some bite
13. Remove excess oil from surface if too much for your liking
14. Season the soup to your liking
15. Before serving, set aside your desired about of beef and season with a small pinch of salt
16. Slice beef
17. Assemble the dish: noodles -> beef -> radish -> soup -> chopped green onions

Swiss Rösti with Fried Egg

Serves 2

Time: 🕰🕰
Effort: 💪💪

Ingredients:

3 potatoes – choose the best you can find; this drives the taste
50g butter
2 eggs

Method:

1. Peel potatoes
2. Shred using the largest hole on shredder
3. Squeeze out as much water as you can, either using your hands or a piece of clean kitchen/muslin cloth (preferred)
4. Heat pan till hot
5. Add half the butter until melted
6. Add shredded potatoes to the butter and press down with either your hands or a potato masher
7. Cook on medium heat until bottom is browned, around 10 minutes
8. Season
9. Flip onto plate
10. Season
11. Add remaining butter to pan
12. Add rösti back to pan to cook the remaining side until also golden, around 10 minutes
13. Turn heat up to high to crisp the outside
14. Flip and crisp the other side
15. Optional – serve with fried eggs, sausage, and a mixture of Greek yoghurt, salt, lemon juice, dill, and raw garlic
16. Hit the gym

Shakshouka (mediterranean poached eggs)

One-pot eggs. Runny, smoky, sweet, burnt.

Make this North African / Eastern Mediterranean dish at home any time of the day for a delicious spice attack. One of the best ways to make eggs.

Serves 4

Time: 🕰🕰
Effort: 💪

Ingredients:

1 onion
Some bitter greens, such as chard or cauliflower leaf
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
4 eggs
Olive oil

Method:

1. Chop garlic, onion and greens
2. Add to a pan
3. Add olive oil
4. Add spices
5. Mix and sautée on medium-high heat until onions soften
6. Add in the tomatoes and stew on low heat for 30 minutes, half-covered, until the tomatoes have started breaking down, but overall still quite moist
7. Check taste; add salt and a bit of sugar if needed
8. Make 4 “wells”
9. Crack an egg into each well
10. Poach until eggs are cooked to your liking
11. Serve in the pan, hot

Salt-crusted chicken rice

Tender and irresistible, presented in salt crust.

This is inspired by great dish made famous by Neighborbood restaurant in HK. It’s a great weekend dish where lots of people can participate in making, especially the salt crust.

Serves 6

Time: 🕰🕰🕰
Effort: 💪💪💪

Ingredients:

1 chicken
1 shallot
3 cloves garlic
1/2 lemon
300g risotto rice
1L homemade chicken stock
3 shallots
Parsley stalks
1 teaspoon turmeric
White wine
1/2 Chinese pork liver sausage (膶腸)
150g beech mushroom, or equivalent
50g butter
1 teaspoon mustard
2 tablespoon flour
1/2 mug milk
50ml whipping cream
Parsley
1.5kg coarse salt
2 egg whites
A few handfuls of water

Method:

For the rice base

1. Slice the shallots and add to a pan with around 3 tablespoons of olive oil
2. Add parsley stalks, turmeric, and cook on medium heat until shallots start to soften
3. Add rice and sautée further
4. Add a splash of white wine to deglaze bottom of pan
5. Add chicken stock, cover and cook on medium-low heat until rice absorbs liquid; around 30 minutes
6. Set aside and keep warm
7. Note: be sparing in your seasoning, because the chicken will be salty

For the salt crust

1. Beat two egg whites until foamy
2. Fold in the coarse salt
3. Add a handful of water at a time, until the mixture sticks together

For the chicken

1. Preheat oven to 200’c
2. Pat chicken dry
3. Lightly season inside of cavity
4. Stuff parsley, half a lemon, a shallot, and 2 cloves of garlic into cavity
5. On a baking tray, pat down a layer of salt mixture, around 2cm thick
6. Place chicken on top
7. Cover rest of chicken with the salt mixture until evenly covered
8. Bake for 80-90 minutes, depending on size of your chicken

For the sauce

1. Wash mushrooms and remove any dirt at the roots
2. Slice 1 clove of garlic
3. Poach mushrooms and garlic in butter for a few minutes
4. Remove mushrooms; set aside
5. Add flour, cream, and milk to the butter and cook while stirring, until a thick sauce is formed
6. Add dash of white pepper and nutmeg

Bringing it all together

1. Crack open salt crust on dinner table
2. Bring back into kitchen to carve chicken into pieces
3. Layer baking tray with the rice base
4. Arrange chicken pieces on top
5. Decorate with de-skinned and crumpled Chinese sausage (pre-soaked in hot water and drained) plus the poached mushrooms
6. Bake on top rack of oven at maximum heat for 3 minutes
7. Spoon over sauce onto each chicken piece
8. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve

Spaghetti with Romanesco

Romanesco broccoli, or simply romanesco, is a super veg that is starting to be grown locally in HK. Looks super awesome and has a crisp but reserved taste that combines the best of broccoli and cauliflower. Like its cousins, it’s outer leaves are super flavourful and not to be thrown away.

Serves 6

Time: 🕰
Effort: 💪💪

Ingredients:

240g spaghetti
Florets of 1/2 head of romanesco
2 outer leaves of romanesco
2 garlic cloves
Dried chili flakes
Olive oil
Grated pecorino

Method:

1. Steam romanesco florets with small pinch of salt, for around 15 minutes
2. Finely chop; set aside
3. Finely chop the outer leaves – these add colour as well as flavour; set aside
4. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil
5. Add pasta to the water and maintain an active boil
6. In a separate pan of olive oil, brown garlic cloves on both sides
7. Add chili flakes, chopped leaves, and chopped florets to to soak in flavours – on low heat, keeping ingredients separate
8. Remove everything from pan except the florets
9. Spread florets out and switch to a high heat to toast the bottom until slightly burnt, while the top remains light and soft
10. Season; set aside
11. Slice the browned garlic into strips
12. Add 3-4 ladles of pasta water to the pan, which should still have some oil in it
13. Reduce volume on high heat until a creamy sauce forms
14. The pasta should be almost ready by now, but still very firm to the bite
15. Transfer pasta to the pasta water sauce and continue to mix and throw around until well covered with the creaminess of the cooking sauce
16. Stir in toasted florets, garlic strips, and chopped outer leaves
17. Plate
18. Add remaining sauce to the centre of each pasta nest
19. Finish with grated pecorino

Eggplant and Red Pepper LASAGNA

Serves 6

Time: 🕰🕰🕰
Effort: 💪💪

Ingredients:

18 lasagne sheets
1 eggplant
1 red pepper
2 garlic cloves
800g pelati
Dark greens, such as romanesco or cauliflower leaves
Basil
Bechemel sauce (See below)
Mozzarella
Grated parmiggiano

Method:

Make ahead of time:

1. Slice eggplants into strips
2. Arrange red pepper and eggplant strips on baking tray
3. Drizzle with olive oil and season
4. Roast in oven until fragrant
5. Keep red pepper whole and cut into strips only on the day, so as to preserve moisture within
6. Make tomato sauce by boiling garlic cloves, olive oil, and canned tomatoes on low heat, around 45 minutes, until slightly sweet; break apart tomatoes with fork

On the day:

1. Preheat oven to 190’C
2. Make bechemel sauce by whisking butter and flour on low heat until a roux is formed, then add milk gradually while stirring
3. Chop up dark greens and stir into tomato sauce
4. Boil 3 sheets lasagne until slightly pliable, around 2 minutes
5. Line bottom of baking tray with a few spoons of bechemel sauce
6. Line tray with the 3 sheets of lasagne
7. Put in 3 new sheets to boil in the meantime
8. Layer on tomato sauce, eggplant, pepper, bechemel, mozzarella, and a twist of black pepper
9. Repeat steps 6-8 for a total of 5 layers (15 sheets)
10. In one of the layers, add a few leaves of basil with a splash of olive oil
11. Finish the pie with a sixth layer of lasagne sheets, more tomato sauce than usual, mozzarella, and a splash of olive oil
12. Bake for around 40 minutes, until cheese on top has browned and edges have crisped
13. To serve, cut into slices, then sprinkle over grated parmiggiano for balance