Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day!

I hope you are having a great day celebrating your Moms, Grandmas, and all the special ladies in your lives! 

In Chinese culture, both mothers and fathers often have to work and so the primary care taker is the grandmother who is often retired and has time to look after her grandchildren.  I was born here in Canada, however my family was a typical Chinese immigrant family.  My Mom and Dad had to work long hours in our family restaurant, so Grandma and my Aunties looked after me.

Grandma Tam with me and my little cousin

I have fond memories of making supper with Grandma, homestyle Chinese comfort food, such as jook (a savory rice porridge), steamed buns, tong yuen, braised beef belly, etc.  Today I will be honoring Grandma’s memory for Mother’s Day by making some of her favorite dishes; Tomato egg stir fry and steamed baby bokchoy in oyster sauce.

Tomato Egg Stirfry

4 eggs

1 tbsp oil

3 tomatoes

½ cup water

1 tbsp chicken broth powder

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp sugar

½ cup ketchup

1 tbsp corn starch dissolved in 3 tbsp water

 

Method:

 

1)      Break eggs into bowl and scramble.  Add oil to wok or large skillet and heat on medium until starting to smoke.  Add eggs and cook, stirring with the spatula until the eggs are slightly broken up.  Remove cooked eggs and put aside.

 

2)      Cut up the tomatoes into wedges and add to wok.  Cook on medium heat until the tomatoes have broken down slightly.  Once the tomatoes are broken down slightly, add ½ cup of water, chicken broth powder, garlic powder, sugar and ketchup.  You can add more or less to taste ie) if you would prefer it to be sweeter, add sugar, more salty, add more chicken broth.

 

3)      Once the tomato flavoring is to your liking, add the eggs.  After about a minute, add the corn starch in water to thicken the sauce.

 

4)      Put into serving dish and enjoy.

 

 

 

Steamed baby bokchoy with oyster sauce

 

2 or 3 bunches of Baby bokchoy

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

Steamer/pot/water

 

Method:

 

1)      Separate baby bokchoy leaves and stems and rinse

2)      Place steamer on pot of water about ½ way full on med/high heat

3)      Once the pot is poiling and steaming, place baby bokchoy into steamer and steam for 5-7 minutes or until tender

4)      Place on plate and drizzle oyster sauce and sesame oil over the baby bokchoy.  Enjoy.

 

 

Grandma always loved to cook, but what she loved most about these dishes is its simplicity and benefits of these dishes.  “It’s good for you! Eat more!” she would always say while putting more vegetables into my bowl.  We always had rice with our meals, but Grandma only wanted us to have a little rice, because she knew too much white rice wasn’t good for you, being a starchy carb with less nutritional value than our main dishes.  As we always said around the table before suppertime, "Sik Fan"!

 

To everyone out there, Happy Mother's Day!