Memories in the Cooking

I often do not know what to do with the leftover crushed peanuts after cooking the store-bought Tang Yuan. This is one good use for it - peanut dipping sauce for steamboat. Ingredients: - 2 packets of crushed peanuts (about 100g)  - 2 tablespoons of peanut oil  - 2 teaspoons of sugar  - juice from 5 limes  - 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce  - salt  Procedures: 1) Place crushed peanuts, peanut oil, sugar, lime juice and oyster sauce in a blender. Blend it until smooth.  2) Add water to get the consistency you desire. 3) Add salt to taste. 

This garlic chili sauce accompanies us for almost every meal and we always have a slash of it in our fridge. It is inspired by my husband's late grandmother who also had her own signature homemade garlic chili sauce. Sometimes when we reminisce about her and her hakka dishes, we know those dishes will not taste the same without her garlic chili sauce. Ingredients: - 4 large chili - 7 chili padis - 40g of ginger - 1 bulb of garlic, - juice from 150g of small limes (sometimes I mix some lemon and lime) - 3 tablespoons of sugar - 3 tablespoons of light soya sauce - 3 tablespoons of sesame oil - 1 teaspoon of salt Procedures: 1) Blend chilis, ginger and garlic together. Set aside in a large bowl. 2) Add lime juice, sugar, light soya sauce and sesame oil to the chili. Mix well. It can last for 1-2 weeks if kept it in a bottle in the refrigerator.

How to host a Chinese New Year meal when you do not have time to prepare? Treat the guests to steamboat! Yesterday, I hosted a CNY steamboat dinner for my colleagues. All I needed to do was defrosting the ingredients, cutting the vegetables and adding 3 soup bases (herbal, seafood and Mala, my favourite is Mala) into 3 boiling steamboats! To add a little distinctiveness to the steamboat, I made 3 dipping sauces. Ingredients: 1) Thai Suki Sauce (top)  - 4 cloves of garlic, minced  - 3 cubes of spicy fermented beancurds  - 2 tablespoons of sugar   - 3 chili padi, chopped  - 2 tablespoons of Thai sweet chili sauce  - 2 tablespoons of fish sauce - juice of 1 large lime  - 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds - few stalks of green spring onions, chopped  - 4 tablespoons of water  2) Spicy Peanut Sauce (bottom right)  - 3 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter  - 2 tablespoons of sugar  - 2 t...