Buddha’s Delight

Celebrate Chinese New Year with this recipe

Celebrate Chinese New Year with Chef Nick Liu family recipe for the classic Buddha’s Delight. Start the new year right with this nourishing meal.

“This is to cleanse the body.”

METHOD

Method: 

Tip – plan ahead when making this dish. You will have to pre soak all of the dry ingredients.

  • Combine all sauce ingredients together and mix well. Put aside until needed.
  • Drain rehydrated bean thread noodles and rinse under cold water. Using scissors, cut the bundle of noodles in half. 
  • Mix ginger, garlic and green onions together in a small bowl.
  • In a wok or large pan, heat oil until lightly smoking.
  • Add ginger/garlic/scallion mix and sauté for 10 seconds, add napa cabbage and celtuce. Season with salt and stir fry for 2 minutes. 
  • Add mushrooms, tofu puffs, and bean curd stick, season with salt and stir fry until slightly coloured, 3-4 minutes. 
  • Add bean thread noodles and cook, tossing and stirring, for 1 minute. 

Tip – keep your pan moving after adding noodles. Noodles will want to stick to the pan until you add sauce. 

  • Remix sauce before adding to wok and sauté while stirring to coat ingredients, cook until sauce thickens and the noodles and tofu puffs have absorbed some of the liquid, 2-3 minutes.

Transfer to a serving plate and enjoy!

Crème Brulee

Satisfy your sweet tooth with crème brulée!

Indulge yourself with this fruit topped creamy and caramelized dessert.

METHOD

  1. Combine heavy cream and coffee beans. Seal and infuse together in the fridge overnight.
  2. The next day – Preheat oven to 300 F and heat some water in a kettle.
  3. In a saucepan, strain heavy cream, reweigh and top back up to 400 g. Combine innards of vanilla bean, and the pod.
  4. While this comes to a simmer, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and sea salt.
  5. When the cream comes to a gentle simmer, remove the vanilla pod and slowly start to pour it into the yolk mixture while constantly whisking. Please do this slowly so not to cook the egg yolks.
  6. Pass mixture through a mesh sieve into a large pouring vessel. You may use a large glass measuring cup.
  7. Place ramekins into a larger, rimmed baking pan.
  8. Fill the pan with hot water so it reaches about ¾ – 1” up the ramekins. Fill ramekins with cream mix.
  9. To eliminate any bubbles, use blow torch very lightly over the cream mix. It will pop all the surface bubbles.
  10. Bake for 45-50 mins. Custard will be set but they will jiggle in the middle. Do not over bake as the custard will lose the creaminess we want. If the whole ramekin jiggles, leave in the oven a while longer.
  11. Remove tray from oven, and then carefully remove the ramekins. Let them cool to room temp, and then place them in the fridge overnight. You can do this process 3-4 days ahead of time.
  12. When you’re ready to serve, coat with a thick layer of icing sugar and toast with a blow torch.
  13. Top with berries and serve.