Stir fried crocodile meat with black fungus

Little Si en's been down with croup for 2weeks, it's time to 补 her lungs.

Crocodile meat and black fungus has been well known to be good for the lungs, so this round instead of boiling crocodile meat soup. 

Presenting my new creation........ 

Ingredients: 

- one packet of crocodile flank meat about 250grams

- 2 tsp baking soda

- 1knob of ginger sliced

- 2/3 stalks of spring onion- cut into  long strips. Separate the white and green parts

- 4 cloves of garlic, minced

- half a carrot, cut into strips 

- a handful of black fungus about 5-6, soak to soften and slice into strips 

- 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

- sesame oil 

Marinade for crocodile meat:

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp sugar

- a dash of white pepper

- 1 tablespoon of shao xing wine

- 1 tsp of light soya sauce

- 2 tsp of cornflour

- 1 tsp of light soya sauce

Method: 

1- mix the crocodile meat and baking soda. Leave for 15 mins to tenderize meat and rinse clean. Leave it to drip dry. 

2- mix the marinade together with the meat for another 15mins.

3- heat up the wok, add oil, and add the ginger, garlic and white part of the spring onion. Stir fry till aromatic.

4- add carrots and black fungus, stir fry till it's half cooked.

5- add the crocodile meat and continue to stir fry till the meat is cooked

6- add the remaining spring onion and season with oyster sauce.

7- drizzle sesame oil before dishing up.

Ways to help relieve Bronchitis or Cough

My little girl unfortunately had Bronchitis at the age of 6mths old, from that period on it just keeps recurring and I had tried several methods to aid in the recovery which I thought might be useful to share with other parents with the same concerns.

1) Thru western medication:
   *Do note that this is preferably to be prescribed by the doctor

Usually she has to undergo through nebulization to inhale the medications, such as atrovent, ventolin and pumicort
   *Tip: For younger babies who doesnt know how to inhale properly for effective medication, you can try to make them cry as crying naturally opens their mouth and lungs to inhale properly.  As my girl started to neuberlize at 6mths old, we had to make her cry in order for the medications to be inhaled as she doesnt know how to breathe in deeply.

Medications such as singulair may also be prescribed by the doctor but do note the side effects so that you can pre-empt the school staff or caregiver.  Extract from wiki about the negative side effects: Side effects include gastrointestinal disturbances, headaches,, hypersensitivity reactions, sleep disorders, and increased bleeding tendency, in addition to other generic adverse reactions.  Its use is associated with higher incidence of Churg-Strauss syndrome.  Drowsiness is also a common side effect. 

2) Thru chinese medication
When she was first having bronchitis at 6mths old, I went to Fu Hua to buy their top grade of Chuan Bei Mu (Also known as Fritillaria) and request to have it grinded to powder.
At 6months old, her dosage was half a teaspoon, three times daily, one hour after her western medication to help dissolve the phelgm.
After she turned one year old, from then onwards we replaced chuan bei with Hou Ning (a type of Hou zao san) from Eu Yan Seng.  Its pretty expensive, so if you want to try a cheaper alternative you could pop by neighbourhood TCM shops to buy hou zao san too. 

3) Thru diet

Most FM that we give to our kids are cows milk which is known to cause more phelgm.

If you're feeding breast milk, do continue doing so to pass them the antibodies. 

Else you can try switching to soy milk for the interim. 

There's also a list of food items which are to be avoided as it will induce phelgm or prolong the recovery. These include: Fish, chicken, cold or sweet food, citrus fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, oranges, certain fruits like grapes also induce phelgm.  

Cordyceps Militaris with Chicken Soup (虫草花鸡汤)

Ingredients

1 Chicken
15grams cordyceps militaris
8 pieces of mushrooms (presoaked)
2 tablespoon wolfberries
Few slices of ginger
8 seedless red dates
2 honey dates
1500ml water
salt

Method

1) Remove chicken skin, trim fats.  Wash and cut into chunks.
2) Blanch chicken
3) Bring water to boil.  Put chicken, cordyceps militaris, ginger, red dates and honey dates, and mushrooms into 1500ml of water.
4) a) For thermal pot, let it boil for 15mins over stove before putting into outer pot.
    b) For slow cooker, let it boil for 10mins on high before simmering for 2hours.
5) Heat thermal pot soup, or switch on high for slow cooker and add wolfberries and boil for another 5mins.
6) Add salt to taste if desired.

Was told by doctor that when you're coughing, dont eat chicken as it causes phlegm.  So do take note when not to drink this soup. 

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (about 1 kg) (I used free range chicken/ 甘榜鸡)
12g cordyceps militaris/ chong cao hua (虫草花)
5 sticks dang shen (党参)
2 tbsp wolfberries (杞子)
2 slices of ginger (姜)
12-15 red dates (红枣)
1200-1500 ml water (adjust accordingly)
- See more at: http://food-4tots.com/2009/08/14/chicken-and-cordyceps-militaris-soup/#sthash.QGjyzjlJ.dpuf

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (about 1 kg) (I used free range chicken/ 甘榜鸡)
12g cordyceps militaris/ chong cao hua (虫草花)
5 sticks dang shen (党参)
2 tbsp wolfberries (杞子)
2 slices of ginger (姜)
12-15 red dates (红枣)
1200-1500 ml water (adjust accordingly)
- See more at: http://food-4tots.com/2009/08/14/chicken-and-cordyceps-militaris-soup/#sthash.QGjyzjlJ.dpuf

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (about 1 kg) (I used free range chicken/ 甘榜鸡)
12g cordyceps militaris/ chong cao hua (虫草花)
5 sticks dang shen (党参)
2 tbsp wolfberries (杞子)
2 slices of ginger (姜)
12-15 red dates (红枣)
1200-1500 ml water (adjust accordingly)
- See more at: http://food-4tots.com/2009/08/14/chicken-and-cordyceps-militaris-soup/#sthash.QGjyzjlJ.dpuf

Cordyceps Militaris soup with Shark's fin Melon 虫草花和鱼翅瓜汤

Ingredients:

500grams Shark's fin melon (about half melon)
1- carrots
250grams pork ribs
1.5 litres water
20 grams cordyceps militaris
2 tablespoon wolfberries
8 dried seedless red dates
2 honey dates
Salt to taste ( I usually skip )

Method:

1. Remove the skin and seeds of the shark's fin melon, cut the carrots & melon into chunks
2. Blanch the pork ribs
3. Put the pork ribs, cordyceps militaris, red dates, honey dates, shark's fin melon and carrot to boil in the thermal pot or slow cooker.

 4)   a) -Thermal Pot: Boil over the stove for about 15mins, then place the inner pot into the thermal cooker.  I'll usually either let it cook overnight or from morning till dinner time.
           -Just before meal, heat up the soup.  Add wolfberries and boil for 5mins.
           -Add salt to taste if desired

4)   b) - Slow cooker: Switch on high and bring to boil for about 10mins then switch to low and simmer for about 2hours.
          - Add wolfberries 5 mins before serving
          - Add salt to taste if desired

Cordyceps militaris

Recently a friend reminded me of cooking with cordyceps militaris when Si En's bronchitis has been relapsing too often recently.


In Traditional Chinese medicine, cordyceps has a long history of use as a lung and kidney tonic, to increase sperm production and for the treatment of chronic bronchitis, asthma, tuberculosis and other diseases of the respiratory system.
There are two types of cordyceps, cordyceps sinesis and cordyceps militaris. 

Cordyceps sinesis can cost quite a fair bit from $30 for two strands, whereas militaris cost only about $20 for a bottle that can make 4-5 times of soup. Although the strength of the militaris is less comparable as compared to sinesis, but it's pretty worth it for just a fraction of the price.

I'll post up some soup recipes that you can cook with cordyceps militaris either in the slow cooker, or thermal pots.

Here's the cordyceps militaris that I've gotten from hock hua.

Here's the benefits as stated on the label.