Eastern herbs-flavoured medallion of beef fillet with black vinegar sauce

Ingredients
240 gm beef fillet
30 gm black fungus
30 gm white fungus
60 gm ginger (shred finely)
10 gm kei chee
2 stalks Chinese parsley
250 gm black vinegar
2 tsp cornflour
Salt, pepper

Method
1. Marinate beef with pak kei, kei chee, black peppercorns and coriander leaves for four hours. Soak black and white fungus.

2. Heat oil in wok and sear fillet until browned. Then bake in pre-heated oven at 250C for 8-10 minutes.

3. Deep-fry ginger until crispy. Set aside. Drain fungus and saute, seasoning with salt and pepper. Set aside.

4. Steam kei chee for five minutes. Heat black vinegar and thicken with cornflour.

5. Slice fillet into medallions. Arrange on plate and garnish with black and white fungus. Arrange ginger and kei chee on plate. Serve with vinegar sauce.

Century/hard-boiled eggs with fried ginger and dark Chinese vinegar

Ingredients
4 century eggs (cut into two)
3 hard-boiled chicken eggs (cut into two)
1 Tbsp chopped young ginger
1 Tbsp cooking oil
2 Tbsps Chinese black vinegar (or balsamic vinegar)
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsps soya sauce
2 Tbsps chopped Chinese parsley
1 Tbsp chopped red chillies (optional)

Method
1. In a serving plate, lay all the eggs, set aside.

2. Heat the cooking oil in a small shallow pan, brown the chopped ginger, turn off the fire and add dark vinegar, soya sauce and sesame oil.

3. Pour the sauce on top of the eggs; sprinkle chopped parsley, chilli and serve.

Tips:

1. Century eggs in supermarkets are usually chicken eggs. I used the duck century eggs which can be bought from the Pudu wet market in Kuala Lumpur.

2. More black vinegar could be added for more sauce.

3. A little brown sugar could also be added to the sauce.

4. Instead of cutting the eggs into two, they can be cut into cubes too.