Posted in 香料 (Seasoning), 其他文章 (Others Topics)

又平又方便的香料專門店 (Very affortable herbs and spices online store)

作者的烹飪菜式越來越國際化,最近很喜歡烹煮印度菜式,所以對香料的需求增加了不少,可是由於作者在離島居住,購買香料自然又是一大問題,最近也是到去灣仔的有名香料店買,但始終對於作者來說是很長時間及麻煩,幸好前陣子在網上找到一間由印度人開設的香港網店,不但郵寄到香港區,甚至離島也願意郵寄,所以作者先買少量作為試驗,看看服務如何。

Since I’m now cooking more wider and internationally, recently I love to cook Indian cuisine, so I really need more spices at home, unfortunately, I’m now living in an island, I have to go out to town to buy spices, it’s really long way and trouble for me that I’m not go out to urban often.  Recently, I found a HK online store that specific selling spices, it’s operate by an Indian, they are willing to post to the island directly even worldwide, so I just purchase little spices for a trial.

 

今天當作者收到郵包時,已經感覺很好,包裝很美,打開後發現分量比方間的香料店多,價格亦比舖頭的平很多,每買一次,也會附送一包不同的香料以作支持,重點是郵寄不另收費。

I just received my order today, I feel good when I got the parcel, the quantities are much more than I expected and the price are much cheaper than in normal shop, also they will free a pack of other spices for every order, and the most important point is NO POSTAGE FEE WITHIN HONG KONG AREA

 

大家可以去看看啊,真心說是不錯啊。

Here’s the online store and facebook page for reference, frankly, it’s really good at all.

 

網店地址 (Online store) : http://regencyspices.hk/

Facebook專頁 : https://www.facebook.com/regencyspices/

 

Posted in 風乾機 (dehydrator), 香草 (herbs), 香料 (Seasoning), 手提攪拌機 (Handheld blender)

基本製作篇 - 自製香料 (BASIC MAKING – homemade seasoning)

讀者見到標題可能會問,小編不是說過買回來嗎? 是的,大部份也要買回來,但有小數可以自製的,此外,小編分享這些可自製的香料將會時常用於日後所做的食品上,這樣成本也低很多。

As the title above, you will ask why not buy instead of homemade, it’s more convenient to do so.  Yes, most of the seasoning really need to buy from supermarket, but there are some can make it ourselves with lower cost and require to use a lot in the later stage.

說實話,小編及愛人是低收入人仕,所以在製做食品的工具上,會以物盡其用、貴買平用的心態,長遠來說是慳錢的方法。而小編每次買工具時,一定做很多資料蒐集才會買回來。

To be honest, I and my beloved are the lowest income level, therefore, we will try to fully utilized any equipments when we bought it, it is what we invest it as a long term saving money concept.  Furthermore, we will find as much as information we can before buy any equipments.

先說回今次的主題,如何自製香料呢? 其實很簡單,小編之前說過種植香草,但種植是有季節的,當香草適合的季節時,生長速度是很快的,所以我們要收割它,然後風乾,這樣可以把香草儲存。

OK, return back to topics, How to make our own seasoning? Actually, it’s very simple, as I mentioned in previous post, we are growing herbs at home, however, when those herbs in the right season, it will then growing so fast, we just harvest and dehydrated it, store it for later use.

那麼如何風乾呢? 當然我們需要一部風乾機吧。首先,如何選擇風乾機?市面上有平有貴的,有大又有細的,先簡短地解釋一下吧。現時市場上有兩款比較受歡迎的風乾機,一款是美國老品牌,款式較笨重,但設計比較好,拉屜式,風扇在後方,所以風乾平均,小型的沒有時間掣,大型才有,而價錢很貴。 另一款近年在家用很流行,因為體積細,最多可疊高至10層,價錢平很多,所以很受一般家庭使用,可是這些家用風乾機是塑料製做,加上風扇在最下方,如果一次風乾太多食物,要用多好倍時間才可完成。

How to make dehydration food? Of course, you need to buy a dehydrator.  First of all, how to select a dehydrator in the market? There are 2 types of popular dehydrators in the market, One is made in USA, it’s the famous and old brand dehydrator, it’s so bulky, but design is good, front door with drawer layers, the fan at the back, so the circulation is better, but it’s expensive; another one, which is more suitable for home use, it’s made of plastic, small, can be stand up to 10 layers and cheaper price, however, the fan is sitted in the bottom of the machine, so you are required to double or triple it’s time when dehydrating.

所以,以上兩款小編也覺得各有問題,幸好找到一款今年最新在韓國製造的風乾機,不僅外型好看,內涵也很好,價錢比美國品牌便宜些,現時只有它才有的工業式風亁機的紅外線功能,這個紅外線功能是用來冒彷日照的效果,那麼可以用來曬海鮮也可以。小編也試過曬魷魚,幾小時就完成了。

On the other word, as my point of view, I still not really satisfied for the above machines.  Luckily, after many of researches, finally, I found one that made in Korea this year with red-dot award, it’s not just stylish, also have good function on it, but the price is more affordable.  This is the first machine with built in infrared function which only available in commercial use nowadays.  The infrared used as solar/sunlight function, so you can use it to dehydrating Chinese salty food as well.  I tried to dehydrated squid, it’s only took me few hours to finish it.

IMG_6669

小編給多些資料讀者參考吓 :

More information given about the dehyrator as below :

lequip

  • 這款風乾機只用500W耗電量,開一天才幾十元電費
  • 香港同韓國電壓一樣,只需加上轉頭就可以用了
  • 這款風乾機很寧靜,只有40分貝
  • 自動濕度感應
  • 可選擇自動或自定模式
  • This hydrator only 500W, if you use it for a day, only costed you around HK$50
  • Korea voltage is same as Hong Kong, just add the plug
  • This machine have noise reduction, only 40db
  • also built-in humidity sensor
  • can select auto/manual mode

在這裏可以訂購 :

You can order here :

L’EQUIP IR D5 Food Dehydrator Dryer Stainless 5 Trays Timer(1~99hours) Temperatur Control (35~70˚C)

好了,再說回來吧。小編建議讀者自製什麼香料呢?就是蒜粉及洋蔥粉。為什麼要自製?買回來不是方便些嗎? 是的,讀者當然可以買回來用的,但小編之後有很多製作也大量用到,零售店及超市買也要$2X元一小瓶,當你需要用上大量時,那就很浪費金錢了。

Alright, back to the topic again.  What kind of seasonings that suggest for homemade? Garlic Powder and Onion Powder.  Why need for homemade? As the future posts that I will share for food making, we will need to use it a lot, if you buy from supermarket, it cost you at least $2x for a little bottle, so please don’t waste your money, it’s so simple and low cost for making it.

這兩款香料粉容易製作,只需切片,風亁及磨成粉末就可以了。如果你本有磨粉機,就容易吧。如果沒有的,小編建議一款手提型攪拌器,不僅可以磨粉,還可以用來打湯、自製蛋黃醬、雪糕等等,資料如下 :

As you know, to make garlic powder and onion powder, just cut in pieces, dehydrated it and make it as powder. If you already have a grinder, it’s much easier to do so.  However, if you don’t have one, you can consider a handheld blender, not only make powder, you can use it for blend soup, sauce, mayonnaise even ice cream etc, information as follows :

Bamix Deluxe Hand Held Food Processor, Red Metallic, 160 watts

這個配件可以磨得更幼細,還可乾濕兩用 :

You can make fine powder using this mill, you can also blend wet and dry ingredients :

Bamix Bamix PROCESSOR POWDER DISC to pulverize suitable

p.s. 小編之後會分享用風亁機製作不同零食,不但健康又便宜。

p.s. I will also share more recipes for using this dehydrator, not just healthier but low cost.

Posted in 香料 (Seasoning)

基本篇 - 材料必需品 (BASIC – basic necessities)

古語有雲,開門七件事 - 柴米油鹽醬醋茶,這些是廚房必需品。 在古時沒有商業化,人們沒有所用的大多也比較天然的材料;但現代的社會,這些必需品經過商業化後,選擇已多不星數,在選講時真的要小心一點,小編會在這裏簡單地逐一解釋油、鹽及糖的知識。

In old century, people always said the most essential open seven things (daily needs of the household) : firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea. However, people almost got the most natural materials at that time. Although, in todays world, you can have various choices of these items, unfortunately, some are refined, therefore, I hereby, will explain in a simple way of oil, salt and sugar.

油 (Oil)
其實在超市走一轉也發現,食用油真的很多,有花生油、芥花籽油、橄欖油、栗米油、葵花籽油等等等等,但小編只用初榨橄欖油,當然,如果讀者有錢的話,可以選擇椰子油,這兩款油也是比較健康的。
為什麼不用其他油? 老實話,大部份也是配方油,不是真正的提取油,加上那些花生油,葵花籽油在高溫下會釋放有害物質。

Supermarkets in Hong Kong, you can find so so many types of oil : peanut oil, Canola oil, corn oil,olive oil, etc.. But for me, I’m just only use extra virgin olive oil, this is the most healthier choice. Of course, if you can afford, coconut oil is the best choice.
But why not choose other type of oil? Most of time are just a formula oil, not really taken from real and some oil will release toxic material when heating.

鹽 (Salt)
市面上的鹽一般有粗鹽、餐桌鹽、海鹽。 一般來說,海鹽比其他鹽為健康,因為直接從海水抽取蒸發出來的,而粗鹽及餐桌鹽則經過精製過的。

You can commonly find Kosher salt, table salt and sea salt. Generally, sea salt is the most healthiest salt, it is directly separate and evaporate from sea. However, kosher salt and table salt are refined salt.

糖 (Sugar)
最常見的種類有白糖、黃糖、片糖、冰糖、蔗糖和黑糖,所有糖也是從甘蔗提取出來的。但白糖及黄糖則精製過,沒有了甘蔗本身的營養,只保留甜味,而黃糖是從白糖裏加入糖蜜,所以才有淡啡色。片糖及冰糖也是精製糖,但原裝蔗糖及黑糖則是最天然、最健康的,它保留了甘蔗的礦物質及營養,所以小編會用蔗糖來作煮食用,而黑糖卻用於製造麵包。

There are few types of sugar you can find in the market : granulated sugar, brown sugar, slice sugar, rock sugar, raw sugar and black sugar, all type of sugars are taken from cane. However, granulated sugar and brown sugar are refined sugar, no more nutrition but sweetness and brown sugar is using granulated sugar added with molasses. Slicer sugar and rock sugar are refined combined sugar. Thus, the most natural and healthiest sugar is raw sugar and black sugar, they most remain the most nutrition value of the cane. I usually use raw sugar for cooking and curing and black sugar for making bread.