Slow Cooked Pork and Peas with Chu Hou Sauce (排骨豬腩炆碗豆)

We've been growing peas this summer, much to the delight of my eldest. She loves to help me to shell the peas whilst sitting in the sunshine, but refuses to eat them!

This is a lovely slow cooker recipe which requires a bit of preparation, but it is well worth it. If you don't have a slow cooker, you can cook it in a casserole and place in a low oven (say 120 degrees fan) for 90 minutes or so.

Ingredients

• 300g pork belly strips, cut into large chunks, about 3-4cm length
• 250g meaty pork ribs, cut into 4cm lengths
• 1 heaped tablespoon chu hou (柱侯) sauce - use hoisin sauce if you don't have it, and add a bit more garlic and ginger to the pot
• 3-4 slices of ginger, bashed with the flat of a cleaver
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, bashed with the flat of a cleaver and peeled
• 1 very heaped tbsp of chu hou (柱侯) sauce
• 1-2 tbsp of light soy sauce
• 1 capful of shaoxing rice wine (or substitute dry sherry)
• 1 star anise
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 450ml pork stock
• 2 big handfuls of shelled peas
• 1 tsp sugar
• Few drops of sesame oil
• Sunflower oil for frying

Serves 2 hungry people

Instructions

• Prepare the marinade. Place the chu hou sauce, light soy sauce, shaoxing wine, cornflour and star anise into a bowl and mix to combine
• Place all of the pork into a large pan and cover with boiling water. Boil gently for 5 minutes to allow the scum to rise to the surface. Drain into a colander and rinse the scum from the meat
• Heat about 1cm depth of sunflower oil into a wok until very hot. Add the ginger and stir-fry for 30 seconds, before adding the garlic
• When the garlic begins to turn golden, add the pork. Keeping the heat high, move the pork around the wok, until it is sealed and browned. Remove the garlic and ginger and discard
• Remove the pork with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl. Add the marinade to the pork and mix well to give the meat an even coating
• Heat the oil remaining in the wok, and add the sliced onions. Stir fry quickly for a minute or two until the onions are softened and glossy. Remove from the wok, leaving behind as much excess oil as possible

(optional - at this point I added the onions to the pork and left it in the fridge overnight, as I was putting it into the slow cooker the next morning for dinner)

• Place the pork, onions, peas, sugar and pork stock into the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8-10 hours
• At the end of cooking, skim away any excess fat from the surface of the sauce. If you wish to thicken the sauce, place in a pan on the hob and add some cornflour mixed with a little water - a teaspoon of cornflour at a time. Add a few drops of sesame oil and serve with boiled rice

Slow Cooked Pork and Peas with Chu Hou Sauce (排骨豬腩炆碗豆)

Served with Rice

Fried "Purse" Eggs (煎荷包蛋)

I wasn't entirely sure whether or not to include this recipe. It is, after all, just a fried egg. However, as my wise friend Connie said, "If Delia can write an entire chapter about eggs, then I would say no, it's not too easy". Given that this is such a satisfying accompaniment when placed on a bowl of steaming white rice, or freshly cooked noodles, I hope you enjoy it too. 荷包蛋, according to Google Translate, is a poached egg, but we always had them fried. My Mum used to fry the egg in the wok, then put it between two slices of white bread with ketchup, then fry the sandwich on both sides in the wok too. Absolute bliss!

There's an art to keeping the yolk runny without breaking it in the wok, and I reckon I have about an 80% success rate. You need to use a well seasoned wok that doesn't stick, sufficient amounts of oil, and you need to make sure that the oil is really hot (almost at smoking point) before you add the egg. My children love to devour their eggs on a bowl of white rice. I usually make one for each of us, but more often than not, I end up "sharing" mine with them.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• Sunflower oil for frying
• Light soy sauce

Serves 4

Instructions

• Heat the wok and place a decent amount of oil in - I would say about 1.5-2cm depth - swirl around the sides of the wok
• Heat the oil till really hot - when it is starting to move around, but just before smoking point
• Crack the egg cleanly on the side of the wok, and break the egg quickly into the middle of the wok. It will start to bubble and crisp around the sides. Leave it for around 20-30 seconds, turning the heat down a little if it starts get too burned around the edges
• After 20-30 seconds, when the egg should have set at the bottom of the wok, give the wok a little shake - in the best case, the egg should slide off the bottom of the wok and move around the oil in one piece. If it has stuck, use the edge of a spatula to gently tease the edges of the egg, shaking the wok gently to try and get it to dislodge without breaking the yolk
• When the egg is moving freely in the oil, slide a bendy spatula underneath it (trying to keep the yolk away from the leading edge of the spatula), until the egg is steady on the spatula. Flip the egg so that the other side is now in the oil
• Leave for 10-15 seconds, then shake the wok gently to dislodge the egg from the bottom
• When dislodged, slide the spatula under the egg and lift it up the side of the wok, tilting the spatula so that any excess oil drains away
• Splash a little sight soy sauce over the egg, and serve immediately

Fried "Purse" Eggs (煎荷包蛋)

Risotto with Scallops, Lettuce and Parma Ham

The heatwave is making me not want to eat hot food, but many decades of indoctrination are fighting against this instinct. I only recently gave up trying to prepare two hot meals a day for the children! Haven't done much Chinese food at all lately, although I should really have a go at one of my HK favourites, cold sesame noodles with shredded chicken and cucumber.

Cooking with lettuce isn't really a common British thing to do, although we do it quite a lot in Chinese cooking. From chopping up a couple of leaves and adding them to our noodles, to stir-frying them with fermented beancurd (腐乳) for a tasty dish, I love the crunchy bitterness of cooked lettuce.

Tonight I thought I would make a risotto, but didn't want anything too heavy. The delicacy of the scallops married well with the lettuce, which was added towards the end of the dish. A slice of crispy parma ham gave my dish a bit of a poncy finish, but it provided a nice contrast to the softness of the risotto.

Ingredients

• 90g (1 handful) scallops, sliced through the middle (1 scallop makes 2 discs)
• 150g risotto rice e.g. arborio or carnaroli
• 1 glass of white wine
• 1/2 an onion, chopped finely - I only had a red onion but a brown onion or even better, shallots, would be fine
• 20g butter
• 5-6 leaves of hearts of romaine or cos lettuce, torn into rough pieces
• 1 handful of finely grated parmesan cheese
• 1 litre of vegetable stock e.g. Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon
• Handful of chopped parsley (I was missing this, but would definitely add it if I had it to hand)
• 2 slices of parma ham
• Sunflower oil for frying
• Ground black pepper to taste

Serves 2

Instructions

• Melt the butter in a heavy based pan and add the chopped onions. Stir for 1 minute until the onions are glossy and translucent
• Add the risotto and stir well, ensuring that every grain is coated in the butter. When the grains start to look translucent on the outside, add the white wine and continue to stir until the wine is absorbed
• Keep the vegetable stock on a simmering heat next to the risotto, and add it a ladle-ful at a time, stirring continuously, until the stock is absorbed by the rice. The whole process should take around 25-30 minutes, and is ready when the rice is softened, but still with some bite
• Around 10 minutes before the end, heat 1 tbsp sunflower oil in a frying pan (if your pan is non-stick you might be able to get away without the oil). Add the two slices of parma ham, and fry until crispy. Put on a warmed plate into a low oven
• Add the lettuce to the risotto a couple of minutes before the end of cooking, and stir to mix, until the lettuce is wilted and slightly softened. Add the parmesan and chopped parsley, and ground black pepper to taste. Mix well to combine
• Without wiping it, add the scallops to the same frying pan and brown over a high heat - the residue from the parma ham will give the scallops a lovely colour. Once sealed all over, the scallops will be pretty much done
• Spoon the risotto into warmed bowls and scatter the scallops over the top. Add a slice of parma ham to finish the dish

Risotto with Scallops, Lettuce and Parma Ham

Penne with Fresh Tomato and Mascarpone Sauce

The middle child has been strange about creamy, buttery sauces for a while. I guess he takes after me, who would heave at the sight of a croissant when I was young. How times have changed!

This is one of those "Tuesday after swimming" dishes - the tomato sauce can be prepared the night before, then reheated and the mascarpone stirred in just before serving. I was a bit worried about the creaminess, but it turned out that my sociable little children were invited back to a friend's house for pizza, so I ended up eating this dish myself, and it was really very tasty and easy. It used up the remnants of a tub of mascarpone from a disastrous cheesecake, but good old Philadelphia or any full fat cream cheese would do as a substitute.

Ingredients

• 4-5 large, ripe tomatoes (they must be ripe!)
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 heaped tbsp mascarpone cheese
• 3-4 springs of fresh basil, leaves removed and finely chopped
• Olive oil for frying
• A touch of salt and ground black pepper
• 150-200g penne pasta

Serves 2

Instructions

• Using a knife, score a large cross into the bottom of each tomato. Place in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for 10 minutes
• Remove the tomatoes and peel the skin off. Roughly chop and de-seed the tomatoes, and put aside
• Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan to a moderate heat. Add the crushed garlic so that it is just trembling bubbles in the oil, and stir for 1 minute to flavour the oil
• Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, chopped basil, salt and black pepper, and stir well to combine. Bring back to bubbling, then lower the heat to a simmer, cover the pan and leave to cook for 20 minutes. Add small quantities (20ml increments) of water to the pan if you feel that the sauce is getting too thick
• When the tomatoes have softened after 20 minutes, mash them to break them up. Continue to heat for another 10 minutes
• Cook the penne according to the instructions on the packet, and drain when cooked to al dente
• Add the mascarpone to the sauce and stir to combine. Add the penne to the sauce and mix well
• Serve immediately in warmed bowls, garnished with fresh basil

Penne with Fresh Tomato and Mascarpone Sauce

Banana and Chocolate Buttons Muffin Bites

The reason why these are muffin bites, rather than full-size muffins, is because I forgot that I had used the last of the bicarbonate of soda in the toddler's bath when he had chicken pox. By the time I'd gone out to the shops to buy more and come home, 2 of my 3 extra-ripe bananas had disappeared......

I found 3 Easter eggs on the top shelf of one of my cupboards, all Cadburys chocolate buttons. Normally I just chop up a bar of chocolate, but being lazy, used the buttons. They were possibly a bit big for these muffin bites, but the children enjoyed discovering them, like bits of treasure.

I quite like these bites, as I don't have a sweet tooth and find full-size muffins a bit too much. They're about the right size for a young child too. They don't quite fill a cupcake case, as you can see in the picture. Husband complained, but he was the one who had given the bananas to the children to eat! For full size muffins, just triple the quantities, use muffin cases and keep in the oven for 20 minutes. Adapted from a recipe from Good Housekeeping.

Ingredients

• 90g self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• A small pinch of salt
• 1 large, ripe banana, approx. 150g (no less) when peeled
• 40g caster sugar
• 1/2 egg, beaten
• 20ml milk
• 25g butter, melted and cooled
• 20g chocolate buttons or chocolate drops

Makes 12 small-ish muffin bites - triple the quantities for full-size muffins

Instructions

• Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake cases. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt together in a large mixing bowl, and put aside
• Mash the banana in a bowl, using a fork. Add the caster sugar, beaten egg, milk and melted butter and mix together until well combined. Add this to the flour mixture, along with the chocolate buttons and stir briefly. The mixture will be lumpy and rather like a batter in consistency
• Spoon the mixture equally into the cupcake cases, roughly half-filling each one, then bake in an oven at 180 degrees (160 fan) for 15 minutes, or until they are golden and well risen
• Remove from oven, leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool. Serve while still warm

Banana and Chocolate Buttons Muffin Bites

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Basil Butter

My menu plans have been truly rubbish and boring over the past few weeks, but the antibiotics seem to have put paid to the illness, so I decided to try a few dishes this week that I haven't attempted before, or that I don't make very often. Because I'm a control freak not usually home in time for the children's dinner during the week, I tend to prepare their meals in advance the night before and leave them in the fridge or slow cooker for heating up the next day. This means a lot of bolognaise/pie/pasta bake types of meal, or the sausages and fish fingers options. Boring!

On Sunday night I prepared a chicken for roasting, using tips from Jamie Oliver. This went down well yesterday with gravy, mash, sweetcorn and peas. We had leftover chicken with pasta after the children had gone to bed and tonight I'm happily picking at the carcass. I used the halogen cooker to roast it, which results in a deliciously moist chicken, and a collection of lovely aromatic juice in the bottom of the cooker, which just needs to have the excess oil skimmed, and can be poured directly over the chicken with no further fuss.

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, preferably free-range or organic
• 50g butter, slightly softened
• 2 teaspoons of pancetta cubes or sliced streaky bacon
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 2-3 sprigs of fresh basil, leaves removed and finely chopped
• 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 red onion
• 2 cloves garlic, squashed but skins intact
• Salt and pepper to season

Serves 4-6

Instructions

• Trim the neck and cut off the parson's nose, remove any excess fat around the cavity and wash the chicken thoroughly inside and out. Pat dry with kitchen towels, and rub a small teaspoon of salt around the inside of the chicken. Place onto a chopping board, breast side up, and put to one side
• Place the crushed garlic clove, pancetta cubes, chopped basil and butter into a bowl. Using a fine grater, grate the lemon zest into the mixture and add 3-4 twists of ground black pepper. Using your fingers, mix all the ingredients together until well combined
• Starting at the neck, place your fingertips between the skin and the breast meat of the chicken, and gently separate the skin from the breast meat, to form a pocket
• Place the butter mixture in the pocket between the skin and the meat, then using your hands, apply pressure on the breast, to squidge the mixture out over the whole breast. Slash the chicken thighs once or twice, and rub any remaining butter mixture over the thighs
• Using a fork, stab the lemon a couple of times and place it in the chicken cavity, along with the red onion and the cloves of garlic
• Place in a roasting dish, breast side up, and cover the wing-tips and drumstick ends with foil, to prevent them burning
• Place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for approximately 60 - 75 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken. 
• (If using a halogen cooker, place the chicken directly onto a rack, ensuring there is room for the heat to circulate around the chicken. It would be best to place the chicken breast-side down, then turn half-way through, to ensure crispy skin all over)
• When the chicken is cooked, remove from the heat, remove the foil, cover and rest for 20 minutes whilst you prepare the potatoes and vegetables
• Serve with roast, boiled or mashed potatoes, lots of different veg and lots of gravy made from the chicken juices

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Basil Butter

Barbecued Chicken Drumsticks in Soy and Honey Marinade (豉油蜜糖雞腿)

This marinade is a kind of "chuck it all together and hope for the best" concoction. I've been making it, or variations of it since 2000, when myself and my fellow committee members at ABACUS Cambridge, hosted a garden party catering for over 100 people. I remember being literally up to my elbows in chicken, soy sauce and garlic, whilst our secretary and treasurer washed 100 punnets of freshly picked strawberries in the sink in my room. Happy memories!

Although we did these drumsticks on the barbecue, I tend to be quite careful and pre-cook most meat in the oven before finishing them on the barbecue. There are a few remaining, and they will do nicely for dinner - pop them in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.

Be generous with the marinade, and leave it to steep for as long as you can - overnight would be perfect.

Ingredients

• 8 chicken drumsticks (or wings)
• 3-4 tbsp runny honey
• Thumb-sized piece of raw ginger, peeled and grated finely
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced finely
• 4-5 big sploshes of Lea and Perrins Worcester Sauce
• 4-5 big sploshes of light soy sauce
• 2-3 good shakes of sesame oil
• A large pinch of ground white pepper

Serves 4

Instructions

• Wash the chicken drumsticks and pluck away any stray feathers
• Place the drumsticks in a large bowl and add the honey, grated ginger, garlic, Lea and Perrins, light soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper. Stir well to combine.
• Cover with clingfilm, refrigerate and marinade for as long as possible, but at least 1-2 hours. Turn every so often to ensure even coverage
• Roast in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. If you are finishing on a barbecue, then cook at 160 degrees for 25 minutes and blacken the skin on the barbecue. Make sure everything is cooked throughout before serving

Brabecued Chicken Drumsticks in Soy and Honey Marinade (豉油蜜糖雞腿)

Cantonese Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Spring Onion (清蒸鱸魚)

Saturday is fish-buying day. The fishmonger in Chester market has a decent range of seafood for the UK, and is always cheerful and friendly - even today, when the 4 year old stated loudly and baldly "I don't want to buy your smelly fish!". He took my order, vac-packed my salmon as I requested, kept it refrigerated whilst I took the 4 year old for an ice-cream, and assembled a little ice pack to put in my bag, so the fish didn't go off on this glorious day. The clams on the stall brought about a craving for spaghetti alla vongole, but I procrastinated for so long that they had all gone by the time I decided to buy them. Oh well, maybe next week.

Ingredients

• 1 sea bass, scaled and gutted
• 2 slices of raw ginger, peeled and cut into fine matchsticks
• 2-3 spring onions, cut into 6cm lengths and sliced into fine slivers
• 1-2 tsp Shaoxing rice wine (or sherry as a subsitute)
• 3-4 shakes of seasoned soy sauce for sea food (use light soy as a substitute)
• A pinch of ground white pepper
• 2 tbsp sunflower or corn oil

Serves 2-4, depending on size

Instructions

• Rinse the sea bass inside and out and remove any remaining scales by running a knife in the opposite direction to the lie of the scales. Pat dry with kitchen paper, and place in a heat-proof steaming dish
• Add a pinch of white pepper to the fish, then scatter the ginger over the fish and pour over the Shaoxing rice wine and seasoned soy sauce

• Place the dish on a rack over water in a wok, cover, and steam for 10-12 minutes, depending on the size of the fish
• When the fish is cooked, remove it from the heat and scatter the spring onion slivers on top of the fish
• Heat 2 tbsp sunflower or corn oil in a pan until very hot (just at smoking point). Pour the oil over the spring onions
• Serve immediately with boiled rice

Cantonese Steamed Sea Bass with Ginger and Spring Onion (清蒸鱸魚)

Stir-Fried Egg and Tomato (番茄炒蛋)

This is an incredibly easy dish to make, and I suspect a weapon in many a harassed Chinese parent's armoury. Its sweet flavour and soft texture goes down well with children, takes literally about 10 minutes to cook and maybe 5 to prepare. When the toddler has decided that he will complete a couple of laps of the kitchen between every mouthful of food, this is the sort of dish to be cooking. At least when you have both given up after 5 mouthfuls, you won't be weeping at the wasted expense and effort.

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 3 large tomatoes, washed and diced
• 2 spring onions, white and green parts cut into 5mm lengths
• (Optional) 1/2 tsp chicken powder
• 2-3 large squirts of tomato ketchup
• Sunflower oil for frying
• Salt and pepper to season
• Few drops sesame oil

Serves 3-4

Instructions

• Break the eggs into a bowl and beat lightly with 1/2 tsp chicken powder and 1 tsp sunflower oil. If not using chicken powder, sprinkle some ground white pepper into the egg mixture
• Heat the wok until very hot and add 2 tbsp sunflower oil. Swirl the oil around the wok and add the chopped spring onions. Stir-fry quickly for 10 seconds - don't let the spring onions burn
• Pour the beaten egg into the wok and lift and fold with a spatula, allowing the uncooked egg to drain to the bottom of the wok
• When the egg has solidified, add the chopped tomatoes and 2-3 large squirts of tomato ketchup to the wok. Mix well to combine, turn the heat down to moderate, cover and leave for roughly 5-10 minutes, until the tomato has softened and released its water to form a sauce. If necessary, add 10-20ml water to the wok to loosen the sauce. Lift the mixture from the bottom every few minutes with a spatula, to ensure that the egg does not stick to the bottom of the wok
• Remove from the heat, add a few drops of sesame oil, and season with salt and pepper if required. Serve immediately with boiled rice

Stir-Fried Egg and Tomato (番茄炒蛋)

Tomato, Mozzarella and Aubergine Pasta Bake

Pasta bakes are for those afternoons when there are swimming lessons after school, everyone gets home late and tired, and dinner needs to be on the table pretty quickly. The oven has an automatic timer, so it's just a case of popping the bake into the oven, setting the duration and end time, and being greeted by the gorgeous smell of melting cheese as you walk through the door. No photo unfortunately, as this was one I prepared the evening before and left in the fridge for our nanny to put on the next day.

Ingredients

• 200g dried casarecce pasta (penne, fusilli or other such pasta shapes are a good alternative)
• 125g mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes
• 200g aubergine, cut into 1.5cm cubes
• 2 dessert spoons of pancetta cubes or sliced streaky bacon
• 400g Jamie Oliver's simple tomato sauce - see recipe here - or use a ready made tomato pasta sauce
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• A handful of grated parmesan
• Olive oil for frying
• Ground black pepper

Serves 3-4

Instructions

• Cook the casarecce pasta in a large pan of salted, boiling water. Remove from the heat and drain when the pasta is 3-4 minutes short of the cooking time on the instructions
• Heat a couple of teaspoons of olive oil in a heavy based pan. When the oil is hot, add the pancetta cubes and fry until browned 
• Add the aubergine cubes to the pan and fry on a moderate heat for 5 minutes, until the aubergine begins to colour and shrink. Add the crushed garlic and fry gently for 1 minute
• Add the tomato sauce to the pan and heat until simmering gently. Add the drained pasta, season with ground black pepper to taste, and stir to combine the ingredients throroughly
• Place the pasta mixture into a baking dish and dot the cubes of mozzarella evenly around the top of the pasta
• Sprinkle over the parmesan cheese and place in the oven at 185 degrees for 30 minutes
• Serve with a simple green salad

Oxtail and Black Bean Soup (牛尾黑豆湯)

I've been feeling utterly utterly rotten over the past couple of weeks. After a week of soldiering on (taking telephone calls from my bed when I couldn't even walk!), and just not being able to shake it, I consulted Dr Google, who told me I had a terminal illness.

It turned out to be a nasty attack of tonsillitis, but it's been a sobering couple of days. You just expect to pick yourself up and get on with it, but everytime I exerted myself even a little, my recovery backtracked a few paces. Coupled with that, the toddler came down with a nasty case of chicken pox, meaning he couldn't leave the house - and he was so unsettled with a sick mum at home, I ended up hiding at my mum and dad's empty house, snatching a couple of hours' sleep when I could.

With my parents abroad on holiday, I've had to DIY it with the Chinese tonic soup. Their answer to everything lies in soup and I'm inclined to agree with them as the years go by. I searched high and low for a guinea fowl (found one in Sainsbury's Christleton), in the absence of a black-skinned chicken (烏雞) for improvising a soup, and I lived on it for a couple of days.

Tonight I'm making oxtail and black bean soup in the slow cooker. This is a lovely, hearty soup. The taste is fresh and savoury, with only a few simple ingredients. The oxtail and beans can be drained and served as a separate dish with rice - sprinkle over some light soy sauce, some ground white pepper and a few drops of sesame oil.

 

Ingredients

• 750g oxtail
• 150g dried black beans, soaked overnight
• 2 thick slices ginger, peeled and bashed with the flat of a cleaver
• 1/4 dried tangerine peel
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted in hot water (keep the water)
• 2 dried jujubes, reconsitituted in water, or alternatively 1 tsp sugar
• Salt to taste

Serves 4-6

 

Instructions

• If you have time, soak the oxtail for a couple of hours. Trim off as much excess fat as you can, place in a pan and pour over boiled water. Boil gently for about 5 minutes to remove the scum and impurities. Drain and rinse with cold water
• Drain the black beans and rinse with water. Place in a pan with fresh water and boil vigorously for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water
• Soak the tangerine peel in hot water until soft. Using a sharp knife, scrape any pith from the peel - this will make the soup bitter. Discard the pith
• Place the black beans, oxtail, tangerine peel, ginger, jujubes and shiitake mushrooms into a slow cooker. Add the mushroom-soaking water, then add 6 bowls of water until all of the ingredients are covered
• Switch on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours
• After cooking, skim any oil from the surface, taste the soup and add salt to taste. If you have not used jujubes, then add a teaspoon of sugar
• Serve with rice and vegetables - the oxtail and black beans can be served separately from the soup, with a little light soy sauce, white pepper and sesame oil to dress

Meat and beans served separately from the soup

Hearty dinner with some steamed rice and boiled broccoli