Chinese Double-Boiled Carrots and Potato Soup with Pressure Cooker

Serves 1-2

Preparation and Cooking Time: 30 mintues

Ingredients:
1. 1 chicken thigh or 2 drum sticks
2. 1/2 medium carrot or 1 small carrot sliced
3. 1 small potato sliced thin
4. 750 - 1000ml of water
5. 5 goji berries (optional)
6. 1/2 stalk spring onion chopped (optional for garnishing)

Materials:
1. 1 large heat-proof bowl
2. 1 metal stand
3. 1 plate or 1 piece of alumimun foil to cover the bowl
4. 1 large pressure cooker

Directions:
1. Put all ingredients a large bowl and prevent moisture loss by covering it with a plate.

2. Place a metal stand into the bottom of the pressure cooker fill it with 2 - 3 inches of water (at least 250ml of water to create steam). Turn on high heat for the water to boil.

3. When the water boils, place the large bowl in the pressure cooker. Then place all the ingredients in the bowl, fill the bowl up with water or soup base. Cover the bowl with a plate or alumimun foil to prevent moisture loss (optional). The bowl should sit on the metal stand.

4. Close the pressure cooker and bring it to pressure on high heat and cook at setting no. 2 (my stove fire at no. 5 - 5.5) for 5 minutes or under setting 1 (my stove fire at no. 4) for 15 minutes. (If you are not using pressure cooker, you can double-boil it for 1 hour under low heat).

5. Wait until the pressure cooker cool down on its own or cool under water and remove pressure cooker lid. Serve :-)

Chinese Double-boiled Carrot and Chicken Soup Using Pressure Cooker

Serves 1-2

Preparation and Cooking Time: 30 mintues

Ingredients:
1. 1 chicken thigh or 2 drum sticks
2. 1/2 medium carrot or 1 small carrot sliced
3. A handful of Chinese cabbage chopped
4. 750 - 1000ml of water
5. 5 goji berries (optional)
6. 1/2 stalk spring onion chopped  (optional for garnishing)

Materials:
1. 1 large heat-proof bowl
2. 1 metal stand
3. 1 plate or 1 piece of alumimun foil to cover the bowl
4. 1 large pressure cooker

Directions:
1. Put all ingredients a large bowl and prevent moisture loss by covering it with a plate.

2. Place a metal stand into the bottom of the pressure cooker fill it with 2 - 3 inches of water (at least 250ml of water to create steam). Turn on high heat for the water to boil.

3. When the water boils, place the large bowl in the pressure cooker. Then place all the ingredients in the bowl, fill the bowl up with water or soup base. Cover the bowl with a plate or alumimun foil to prevent moisture loss (optional). The bowl should sit on the metal stand.

4. Close the pressure cooker and bring it to pressure on high heat and cook at setting no. 2 (my stove fire at no. 5 - 5.5) for 5 minutes or under setting 1 (my stove fire at no. 4) for 15 minutes. (If you are not using pressure cooker, you can double-boil it for 1 hour under low heat).

5. Wait until the pressure cooker cool down on its own or cool under water and remove pressure cooker lid. Serve :-)

Additional Information:
Using the pressure cooker to double-boil Chinese tonic soup is a fantastic way to save time, and yet achieve the results of full flavoured soup with tender meat derived from Chinese double-boiling soup method :-)

Creamy Danish Rice Pudding with Almonds/Risalamande

Recipe adapted from Ala

Serves 6

Preparation and Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1. 1 cup or 180-200 g pudding rice (Grødris) (you can substitute it with sushi rice)
2. 1 liter of fresh skimmed milk
3. 200g almonds
4. 2 stalks of vanilla pods and use only the beans inside
5. 4 TBS sugar
6. 250 ml whipping Cream 38%
7. 250 ml water for steaming the rice

Directions:

1. Place a metal stand into the pressure cooker, add 250ml water and lower an empty heat-proof bowl into it.

2. Add rice and milk into the bowl.

3. Close the pressure cooker, turn on high heat till the pressure cooker reaches pressure steam under setting 2. Turn down heat (no. 5 on my stove) to maintain at setting 2 and steam for 20 minutes.

4. When the pressure cooker cools down, remove rice pudding from pressure cooker, and add milk to adjust to desired consistency.

5. When it is cool, cover rice pudding and place it in the fridge for at least 2 hours or until the next day.

6. Blanch almonds with boiling water and remove skin.

7. Take an almond from and chop the rest.

8. Add vanilla grains, sugar and ground almonds into the cold rice pudding.

9. Just before serving, whip the cream into a light foam using a hand-mixer and fold it gently into the porridge together with the chopped and whole almonds.

10. Serve with cherry sauce (optional) or frozen raspberries for a healthier alternative.

Additional Information:

This is a very traditional Danish Christmas dessert. The base is made from the risengrød, which is the Danish Rice Porridge or rice pudding. Thus, to make this dessert, you have to make the risengrød first. It is very delicious and I like it a lot, although with the cream and sugar, it is not exactly a healthy dish. The guest gets to serve a bowl and the person who finds the whole almond in his bowl gets a present.

It is very tedious to make, as it is not easy to cook rice with milk without burning the bottom. It requires frequent stiring and requires one to stand for a long time in the kitchen. Many Danes nowadays will buy store bought rice porridge. But one can make it from scratch and yet do away with the frequrent stiring by using the Chinese double-boiling method. It is the same concept as melting chocolate, using indirect heat source from double-boiling. Furthermore, if you double-boil it using a pressure cooker, the cooking time is greatly reduced to less than half an hour, :-) You can also use the double-boiling method on ordinary pot, but it will take hours under simmering. The advantage of using the double-boiling method, whether you use a normal pot for double boiling or the pressure cooker, is that you don't need to stand in the ktichen to stir it, freeing you time for other things :-)

References:

http://www.arla.dk/opskrifter/risalamande/
http://www.arla.dk/opskrifter/Kirsebarsauce/

Chinese Fish Rice Noodle Soup by Double-Boiling Method

Idea from Karen Lim

Serves 2

Preparation & Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
- Rice noodles, mushrooms, broccoli, carots, etc.
- Salmon fish cut into slices
- Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Put all ingredients in the double boiler or a large bowl covered with a plate.

2. Place a metal stand into the bottom of another large pot and fill it with 2 - 3 inches of water. Turn on high heat for the water to boil.

3. When the water boils, place the double boiler or large covered bowl into the large pot. The double boiler or covered bowl should sit on the metal stand and be partially submerged in the water (2 cm up the double boiler or bowl).

4. Turn down the heat to medium low and double boil the soup for 15 - 20 minutes.

Warning:
You can't leave the cooking unattended as if the water in the large pot evaporates, the food in the double boiler will not cook well. If you want the convenience of not worrying about water evaporating in the large pot, put the double boiler in a slow cooker instead of a large pot, and cook overnight.

Additional Information:
Most Chinese double boiling soups take long hours, however, this is a quick and easy double-boiling recipe for the modern working woman, thanks to my friend Karen Lim who gave me this idea.

If you have bigger family, and would like to make bigger portion in one cooking, you can use a Bain Marie to cook a whole pot of soup using the double boil method, and it would still give you similar results :-). Below is a good Bain Marie double boiler from Amazon: