Summer time calls for light meals that are easy to eat, light and not overpowering, but still appetising for the warmth that we can easily doze off with. More well known light meals may be salads (with appetising tangy dressing), mezze plates (dips, spreads), and antipasto.
What would constitute a light CHINESE style meal then? My family would often cook up a pot of mung bean congee (mung beans and rice cooked into a broth) in the afternoon, so by dinner time it would be just cool enough. Unlike the popular pork and preserved egg congee in yum cha restaurants, mung bean congee is not flavoured and not cooked in stock. Bland and tasteless? Maybe. But the light fragrance of the mung beans makes this congee are refreshing and somewhat wholesome summer staple.
Shallot pancakes are a favourite to accompany mung bean congee. It's not exactly light, but it is very appetising. A plain flour dough is first rolled out as a flat sheet, spread with oil, freshly chopped shallot, and a sprinkle of salt, then rolled up to give the pancake layers. It is then dry-fried until golden, and will have a very light, soft fluffy texture. A plate of stir-fried ONG- CHOI (green chinese vegetable) with garlic provides a wholesome and delicious accompaniment to the meal.
We don't normally have desserts after our dinner, but today we had some left over black glutinous rice cakes layered with taro paste. This is lightly sweetened, slightly chewy thanks to the glutinous rice, and perfect with a bit of Chinese Oolong tea or jasmin green tea. Satisfying yet doesn't add too much to the calories count....
celebration. Some are always made (like the cured meats, assorted sticky rice cake, and a vegetarian dish made of ten different vegetables), as well as dishes we have for special occasions (such as the steamed pork spare rib in pumpkin, giant pork ball stewed with cabbage). Fish is a must as it symbolises "excess" (well, in terms of accounting, a positive balance at the end of the year), just that we have different methods of preparation to jazz it up every year. The steamed rice pudding ("rice mound with 8 
jewels") decorated with dried fruits and lotus seeds are also a must, it symbolises prosperity, and is a favourite with almost everyone. This year we also brought back a very simple yet absolutely divine dessert called "happiness round", made of puffed brown rice and black sesame stuck together with maltose. It is consumed as a "broth" - hot water poured over the rice to melt the maltose. We really wish this lovely dessert with a fantastic festive name can be revived - as we can't find this anywhere in the shops anymore. Happy new years everyone! May the year of the golden pig be a prosperous 
and joyful
就不用自己做啦～
This is one of our favourite and simple stew type meat dishes. It's really just the lamb version of Osso Bucco a la Milanese, with lamb shank shopped into chunks instead of beef osso bucco, cooked in a tomato based sauce. The process is really simple, just fry up some onions and garlic, a can of whole peeled tomatoes, star aniseed, cloves, salt, pepper, and lamb shanks. We added fresh basil and rosemary at the end so the herbs won't overpower the sauce (only coz mum and dad don't like rosemary that much). I think it was stewed for a couple of hours, till the meat falls off the bones. This style also applies to normal osso bucco (of course) and ox tails, and would work with beef brisket on noodle/pasta too. Probably should have added a glass of red wine but we didn't think of it at the time. Maybe next time.........
