Blueberry and Mint Lemonade (Using Lemon Sparkling Water)

A bottle of lemon sparkling water has been sitting in my fridge for months. It came along with a house guest, who brought over some soda, beers, and sparkling water. Well, soda was gone instantly. Beer, still one left and no one wants to touch it. Lemon sparkling water, we don't really drink sparkling water at home, but if mixing it with something fruity, something sweet, I should be able to see that bottle gone in no time.

Blueberry and mint lemonade -

Ingredients (for 2)?

Simple syrup:

• 1/4 cup drinking water
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 drops vanilla extract 

Lemonade:

• 280ml lemon sparkling water
• 100 grams fresh blueberries (plus extra for garnish)
• 1 to 2 sprigs mint leaves
• Few lemon slices
• Some ice cubes

How?

Mix 1/4 cup drinking water with equal amount of honey and 2 drops of vanilla extract. Stir till the honey has been fully dissolved in water.

Transfer fresh blueberries to a food processor and purée till smooth.

Use a jug for mixing if available. Add in blueberry purée and lemon sparkling water. Give it a few stir. Take a fine-mesh strainer and pour the juice through it to a pitcher set below. Push the pulp down to get more juice from it.

Even though we don't need the pulp here, doesn't mean it's worthless. In fact, I simply scoop it out with a spoon and eat it right away. Packed with antioxidants, of course I'm going to have few mouthful of such nutritious boost. 

Pour some simple syrup to the pitcher and mix till blended. Taste and add more simple syrup if a sweeter taste is preferred.

Pour to individual serving glasses. Add in few ice cubes in each glass, garnish with fresh mint leaves, lemon slices, and extra blueberries.

If you're not sure how much simple syrup you're going to use, you can always make more and store unused portion in the fridge. Just remember the basic idea is equal amount of sweetener to equal amount of water.

A success transformation for the lemon sparkling water to a much upgraded and desirable drink. Now all I have to do is trying to figure out how to get rid of that beer.

Extended reading:

Strawberry lemonade for two

 

Salt and Pepper Century Eggs 椒鹽皮蛋

Back in the days, there weren't that many food shows available, and through the ventures of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, which might be the most popular food show on TV at the time, we learnt many interesting ingredients used all around the world.

One episode was about century egg, or preserved egg, thousand-year egg. Its Darth Vader appearance might frighten some, but to me as a Taiwanese, century egg is like a finely condensed, flavor-packed egg with gooey center and jelly-like egg white. Actually, egg "black" to be exact. 

Salt and pepper century eggs 椒鹽皮蛋 -

Ingredients (for a small portion)?

• 2 century eggs
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 stalk scallion
• 1 red chili
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• Some corn starch

How?

You can enjoy century egg straight up, or serve alongside with other ingredients without further cooking it. However, this time I'm going to stir-fry some salty, spicy, and garlicky seasonings to go with the eggs. Once cooked with such heavy aromatics, that distinct taste gets diluted. Also in exchange, the eggs are soaked in the flavors from garlics, scallion, and chilies. One might be scared of century egg's original form, but this Chinese flavor-kicking version, can change your perspective once and for all.

The century eggs I've got here were still with shells attached. So I bring a medium pot of water to a boil and cook the whole eggs, to help further harden the shape. About 5 minutes. Once ready, drain and set aside until cool enough to handle by hand. Peel off the shells and slice each egg into four even pieces.

Dust the eggs with corn starch.

Destem the scallion and finely chop the remaining section. Destem the red chili and give it a fine chop too. Peel and chop the garlic cloves.

Use a non-stick pan, drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil or other light flavored oil. Turn to medium high heat and wait till the surface warms up. Add in the eggs and sear till slightly hardened on the sides. Remove and set aside for later use. You can place the eggs on top of a kitchen towel to soak up excess oil, but not necessary.

Use the same pan, add in scallion, red chili, and garlics. Cook for about 30 seconds, make sure not to burn the garlic. Transfer the eggs back along with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper. Give it a quick mix and plate to serve.

It's a fairly small portion recipe, but I was just cooking for myself. I know even the cooked version tastes better than straight-up century egg, but Mister at home still not a fan of it. I love it though. 

Just double up the ingredients if cooking 4 eggs, but watch out on the amount of salt and black pepper. Better go easy on the seasonings first. Add more if needed after tasting the mixture.

Also don't be afraid of using more scallion, garlics, and red chilies if you can handle the heat. The more the merrier. In fact, these cooked aromatics might be even more addicting compare to the eggs, totally stole the spotlight there.

Other Asian egg recipes:

• Tomato eggs and ground pork rice 番茄蛋蓋飯
• Japanese and Chinese hybrid tenshinhan 天津飯
• Piggy chawamushi 小豬茶碗蒸
• Lightly marinated egg yolks for my version of TKG