All Steamed Up

I bought this new book which featured all steamed dishes. Steaming sounds a bit boring doesn't it? But steaming seems to be easiest way of cooking. It's fast, it's healthy and most of the time, the wholeness of the food remains intact. I was attracted by the photos too. Moreover, hubby being a typical chinese loves steamed dishes :)

I made 2 of the dishes from this book for dinner.

1. Steamed Tofu with Ham and Mushroom
I think this one looks interesting enough to earn a place on the Chinese New Year reunion dinner table! To me, it looks like a little gold bar! Huat uh! ( meaning Go forth and Prosper! in the Hokkien dialect :)) The little pieces of traditional/hard tofu is fried before a piece of carrot, ham and mushroom is stacked on it, held together with a string of spring onion and lastly, steamed. A little gravy made from some oyster sauce, soya sauce and chinese wine is then poured over it.


2. Vietnamese Style Steamed Chicken
I am not too sure if adding Sour Plums qualifies this dish as Vietnamese Style! But sour plum was the main ingredient (both the pickled and the sauce), giving it a tangy, sourish and a little spiciness from the fresh chillies.

They both are simple dishes. Not extraordinary delicious but they simple, pleasing and comforting when served during dinner on one rainy night that day.