East Meet West Pasta

This is a delayed post... supposed to put it up on Sunday but only download the photos last night.

We have abundance of dried mushrooms (MIL brought bak from Germany where my SIL operate a Chinese restaurant) and if we do not finish them up those tiny beetles will start to invate as our fridge is over stuffed with so many things so we can't keep them in there. Since we had another round of spring cleaning last Sunday, I decided to help by cooking.

Had a bottle of pasta sauce and a packet of clourful vege spiral pasta so came out with this idea... another east meet west dish! :P

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Ingredients

• 1 pkt Pasta (I used the 3 colours vege pasta)


• 1 btl Pasta sauce (tomato with onion base)


• 1 can Button mushrooms (sliced)


• 4pcs Dried mushrooms (cubed)


• 1 stick Carrot (cubed)


• 5pcs Onions (cubed)


• 4pcs Tomatoes (cubed)


• 1 or 2pcs Green bell pepper or capsicum (cubed)


• Water (add less for thicker sauce)


• Salt for taste


• Magerine or butter to loosen cooked pasta


• Mixed herbs


• Pepper (black pepper preffered)

Marinade

• 1 whole Chicken breast meat (deboned and cut into cubes)


• 2tsp Corn flour


• 1tbls Soya sauce


• Pepper for taste

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Methods

1. Boil pasta till soft then drained, add some magerine with a sprinkle of mixed herbs and stir till all loosen, put aside.


2. In a separate saucepan, boil the cubed carrots and dried mushrooms.


3. Heat up wok or large pot with 4-5 tbls cooking oil or olive oil and sautee the onions till soft and add in the sliced button mushrooms, capsicums, dried mushrooms, all stir for around 3 minutes each in between before adding the next item.


4. Next add in the marinaded chicken cubes, stir till 70% cooked, pour in the pasta sauce, stir and add desired amount of water, stir and covered for a few minutes. (I had 2 cups or 250ml)


5. Lastly, add in the cubed tomatoes, stir and add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle some mixed herbs.

East Meet West Mixed Vegetables

Mixed vegetables or chap-chai is one of my favourite... especially the east meet west type. Why east meet west? I used dried mushrooms, which is considered very Chinese so I named it East and West because I used broccoli as it's more of a western type of vegetable. (the dried mushrooms were hidden below, hence can't see in the photo)


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Ingredients

• 1 head Broccoli


• 1/4 stick Carrot (sliced thinly)


• 3 pcs Dried mushrooms (sliced thinly)


• 200g Lean pork (cut strips)


• Few slies of ginger

Marinade (pork strips)

• 1 1/2tsp of corn flour


• 1tsp oil


• 1tbsp soya sauce


• pepper for taste

Sauce

• 2tsp Corn flour


• 1tbsp Soya sauce


• 1/2 cup Water

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Methods

1. Boil brocoli and carrot in a saucepan for about 3 mins, sieve away water.


2. Heat up wok with cooking oil and lightly fry the ginger till golden brown, pour in marinaded pork strips and stir for 3-4 minutes (till pork is about 70% cooked).


3. Add in dried mushrooms, stir for 2-3 minutes and add in the boiled broccoli and carrot. Add a little water and cover for a minute.


4. Pour in the sauce mix and continue to stir until sauce thicken, lift up and serve.

Dried Mushroom Pork Patties

With the recent case of beta-agonist used by pig farmers in Malaysia, many people tried to avoid buying and eating pork. I don't do so much marketing these days since my MIL is doing the marketing and cooking. Unless she is unable to cook then I will help her out. My MIL has assured me before that the stall she bought the meat from are free from the beta-agonist jab.

The past few days MIL has been entertaining a friend visiting from Singapore so has been out most of the time. PiggyBeng prefers to eat home cooked food so I have to do the cooking but MIL will do the marketing every morning before she go off with her friend for the famous Penang hawker fare...

Found a packet of minced pork meat in the freezer so thought of cooking something with it. And here is what I came out with....


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Ingredients

• 300gm Minced pork


• 2pcs Dried Mushroom (cut square)


• 1 Chili padi (chop finely)


• 1tsp Cooking oil


• 1 1/2tsp Corn flour


• 2-3tbsp Water


• Salt and pepper for taste

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Methods

1. Mix minced pork with dried mushroom, chili padi, cooking oil, corn flour, water, salt and pepper.


2. Press and roll the mixture into a ball and try to do the passing from one palm to another until the mixture is well glued together. Divide into smaller portion and roll them into patties.


3. Heat up wok with oil and fry on slow fire.

Anchovies Fried Rice

There was half a pot of rice left from last night and since I was going out for dinner with MIL tonight, I decided to fry the rice for PiggyBeng... he has got a conference call so can't join us.

I did not managed to get any chicken meat and not wanted to let PiggyBeng eating too much salted fish, then I thought of using those anchovies (ikan bilis) that I bought during my previous KL trip. The anchovies gave the fried rice a good fragrance and it's definitely healtier than salted fish. :)


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Ingredients

• 3 cups Cooked rice (best if kept in the fridge over night)


• 40-50g Anchovies


• 1 Onion (sliced thinly)


• 2 Chili padi (chopped)


• Carrot (cut to strips)


• 1 Egg (beaten)


• 1/2 tsp Dark soy sauce


• 1 tsp Light soy sauce


• Pepper for taste

Garnishing:

• 1 Egg - Beat and fried into ommelet then cut into thin strips


• Carrot - Sliced and boil


• Brocolli - Boil

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with 2 tbsp oil and fry the anchovies until turned light golden brown and lift up.


2. Use the remaining oil in the wok and sauteed onion till soft and add in carrot strips and chopped chilies, continue to stir.


3. Mash up the rice before pouring it into the wok and fry together with the onion and chillies. Add in dark soy sauce and light soy sauce while continue to stir.


4. Beat egg and pour in slowly while continue to stir until all are well mixed.


5. Add in the fried anchovies, stir and lift up from wok.

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Tips: Keep adding cooking oil little by little while frying and not pouring so much oil at one go as the rice will absorb the oil very quickly and make the rice too oily when you are done. :P

Old Yellow Cucumber with Pork Ribs Soup

Soup soup soup.... ok... I'm addicted to soup drinking... hehehe :)

Like winter melon, old yellow cucumber is another soup that have a cooling effect. So, if you are in your early stage of pregnancy, do try to avoid those soups that have melon as a main ingredient.

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I seldom prepare this soup but I used to drink a lot when I was younger as this is one of my mom's favourite soup. Even my grandmother loved to prepare this soup and during the bygone days, there are not so much choices in the market everyday anyway, so the old yellow cucumber is one of the daily item you can find in the vege stalls... ok... I hope I don't sound too crapy with this yesteryear stuff... hehhee

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Ingredients

• 400g Pork ribs


• 3L Water


• 1 Old yellow cucumber


• 8-10pcs Red dates


• 3-5pcs Dried osyters (ho-see) or dried squid


• 1 stick Carrot (optional)


• Fish sauce or salt for taste

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Methods

1. Cut the two tips off the old yellow cucumber and gently rub the end of the cucumber using one tip on one side. You will see some foamy stuff coming out after a few seconds. Do for about 20 seconds and wash away the foam. (I was told that this process will wash away the bitterness from the cucumber) Cut the cucumber into half and remove the centre (seeds) then cut into thick long strip (1st picture above). Leave the skin on.


2. When the water come to a boil, put in the pork ribs then boil for 5 minutes. Add in the cut cucumber and carrot (cubed) followed by red dates and dried oysters.


3. Wait for it to boil for 5 minutes and turn to slow fire. Continue to boil for 2.5 hours.


4. Add in fish sauce or salt before serving.

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Steamed Water Eggs

Bought 2 trays of 30pcs of eggs for Darrius birthday and we only used 1 tray... there is still a tray left in our fridge! It is certainly taking up space and those eggs might expire soon too! So, MIL has been telling us to quickly clear all the left over eggs and this is what I did today.... steam water eggs (jing-sui-tan). A very simple dish to prepare and can be ready in a jiffy too.

To get a silky smooth surface, wrap the plate with cling wrap so the water vapor will not drop on the eggs during the steaming process, if not it will be moonface! :P

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Ingredients 

• 3 pcs Eggs (medium size)


• 1 Cup water (125ml)


• 1tsp Sesame seed oil (optional)


• 1tsp Shoa Xing Wine or Chinese wine (optional)


• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Beat eggs then add in salt and pepper. Pour in water and sieve, throw away the residue.


2. Add in sesame seed oil and Shoa Xing Wine into the beaten eggs and gently mix them before pouring it in a plate.


3. Wrap the plate with cling wrap and steam for about 7 minutes (time varies depending on the depth of the plate or bowl used).

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UFO Soup

Another of my all time favourite... UFO soup! I got this name from an old friend (of Ceylonese descent) who enjoys Chinese food and she explained to me why she called it UFO... because when it is sliced, it looked like a flying saucer! Well, it is no other than the good ole lotus roots which has many nutritional values and of cause very yummy too.

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According to a nursing mom from the breastfeeding forum I participated in, said that lotus roots soup with added peanuts can help to boost milk production. As I am still nursing, there is no better reasons to boil this soup every week! Yeap! I make sure I have at least a serve of this soup every week to help me with my milk production.

I'm not sure how true it that but my little monster who needs his mama's milk is one satisfied baby till today! :P

Ingredients

• 3 L Water


• 400-500g chicken pieces (old mother hen)


• 2 sections of Lotus roots (sliced)


• 2? Salted preserved vege (tai-tao-choy) cut into strips


• 8/10 pcs Red dates (remove seeds)


• 150g Raw peanuts (pre-boiled in another sauce pan)


• 3-4 Slices of dried cuttlefish (about 3x5 cm)

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Methods

1. When water come to a boil, add in pork ribs or chicken pieces and boil for 5 minutes.


2. Add in sliced lotus roots and boiled peanuts and let it boil for another 10 minutes. Then add in the other ingredients and let it boil for a further 5 minutes.


3. Use slow fire and boil soup for 3 hours.

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Pork Masak Pedas

Previously I came out with Ayam Masak Pedas and I thought the recipe can also be used for pork so I tested it out.... taste not too bad but I still prefer the chicken dish better. That was because when we fried the sliced pork, it will dried up a little and unlike chicken meat which will be juicy after being fried.

It worth a try if you have some lean pork and not sure what to do with them...

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Ingredients

• 400g Lean pork


• 1 tsp Tumeric powder


• 1 pc Onion (sliced into rings)


• 2 pcs Chili padi (sliced)


• 1 stalk Lemon grass (sliced thinly)


• 1 tsp Lemon juice


• A pinch of salt

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Methods

1. Marinade sliced pork (5mm thick) with tumeric powder, lemon juice and salt for at least 1/2 a day… the longer the better!


2. Heat up oil in wok/frying pan and fry the sliced pork until slightly dry and remove from wok


3. Stir-fry onion, chilies and lemon grass until fragrant


4. Add in the fried sliced pork and any left over juices from the marinade and fry for 2-3 minutes


5. Serve with hot rice

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Storing Chilies

Ever wonder how to keep your chilies and some other fresh produces Fresh in your fridge for weeks?

When my MIL was not around, I will normally do my marketing once a week and to keep some of the stuff fresh is a real headache sometimes. Then I got this tips from my mom and I'm glad to have know this so a lot of my fresh stuff, especially chillies (I used a lot at times) can stay fresh for a long time. Can you believe it that my chillies stayed fresh even after 2 weeks sitting in the fridge? :P

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Make sure you have an air-tight container and lined it with kitchen towels or tissue papers. Dry your chillies before putting them in the container and that's it! You can put another piece of kitchen towel or tissues on top of the chillies before covering as the tissues will absorb all the moisture/water vapor when you move your container in and out of your fridge.

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Winter Melon Soup

Again, I have to apologise to all of you who has been dropping by but there's no updates for such a long time. I have lots of recipes to share but I always want to make sure there is a nice photo to accompany each of my post. As we only have one digital camera at home and if PiggyBeng brought along with him for his business trips, I will not be able to snap any of the dishes I made.

Yesterday, my MIL bought a piece of winter melon for soup but she was too busy to cook so I've offered to do the job. As I have a Cantonese background, soup drinking plays an important part in my life. My MIL on the other hand is a Hokkien and she will usually just boil her soup for 45 minutes max which is not enough to bring out the fragrance of all the ingredients. The way Cantonese prepared their soup is about 'heart' as it takes a good few hours to boil the perfect soup and it's meant for the loved ones to consumed.

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Ingredients

• 1 slice Winter melon (based on the diameter of 8" and thickness 2")


• 400gm Pork ribs or Chicken pieces


• 3.5-4 litre Water


• 8-10pcs Red dates


• 3-5pcs Dried oysters (ho-see)


• 3tbsp Fish sauce or salt to taste

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Method

1. Boil water and add in pork ribs/chicken pieces and let it boils again.


2. Cut winter melon into small cubes of 1" (removed seeds and cut away skin) and add into boiling water with pork ribs/chicken pieces, continue to let it boil for 10 minutes.


3. Add in red dates and dried oysters and boil with slow fire for 2.5 hours.


4. Add in fish sauce or salt for tastes.

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Dang Shen (Codonopsis Pilosulae) Soup

I don't boil herbal soup that often but PiggyBeng loves this 'dang-shen' or 'yu-chai' (in Hokkien) soup very much so to make him happy I bought all the neccesary ingredients to prepare his favourite soup. I am very caution when I take herbal soup these days as I am still nursing Darrius. Not too sure which herbs are suitable to be consumed for nursing mothers... I will avoid taking any unless I know of their attributes as I am afraid it will affects my milk production.

One thing good about preparing herbal soup is... you can just dump everything in and after 3 hours... bowls of hearty soup on the table. For those who do not have time to boil it over the stove can actually boil it using slow cooker... just boil it longer... about 5-6 hours.

The following recipe is to serves about 4 person. The lesser the water, the thicker the soup... so it's tastier... :) When purchasing the herbs, just tell the medical hall person that you are preparing the soup for 4 and they will weight the appropriate amount of the ingredient for you.

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Ingredients

• Pork ribs or 1/2 lao-mu-ji (old hen)


• 3L Water (or depending on how many pax you are preparing for)


• Dang Shen - the ginseng look-alike


• Shan Yao (Chinese Yam /Dioscorea Opposita) - the white pieces


• Yuk Chok (Solomon's Seal /Polygonatum Officinale) - the thin yellowish slices


• Red dates (seedless)


• Dried longans - the brown looking stuff


• Chinese Wolfberry (Fructus Lycii) - the tiny red stuff

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Method

1. When water boiled, add in the ribs and boil for 5 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients.

*All herbs' scientific names taken from www.foodnherbs.com

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Pork in Worchestershire Sauce

Ok... my apologies to fellow Muslims readers that this has to be another non-halal dish. The market I always patronised do not have quality fresh chicken so I normally don't buy chicken there. Hence, I seldom cook chicken dishes. (Not sure if some of you heard before that feeding too much chicken to kids will make their breast grow bigger due to the 'growth jabs' that was injected to the chicken :|)

I will usually buy fish or lean meat or 'yuk ngan' to cook porridge for Darrius as these have the least fat content. 'Yuk ngan' is the best part to cook Chinese Style Pork Chop too. However, you will need to tenderise the meat before you marinade so it will be tender and not tough as rubber when you bite!

I saw a bottle of Lea and Perrins Worchestershire sauce sitting in my fridge so decided to try cooking a dish with it. It turned out quite ok.

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Ingredients

• 400gm Lean pork meat


• 1pc Bombay onion/big onion


• 1pc Red tomato


• 2tbsp Corn flour (1tbsp for marinade & 1tbsp to thicken sauce)


• 1tsp Soy sauce


• 1tsp Black sauce


• 1tbsp Lea and Perrins Worchestershire sauce


• 1tbsp Tomato ketchup


• Pepper


• Water


• Cooking oil


• Sugar

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Method

1. Sliced pork into about 3 or 5 mm in thickness by using the back of the clever and lightly chop it in a criss-cross pattern. Tenderise/marinade it with soy sauce, black sauce, pepper, some cooking oil and corn flour.


2. Heat up wok and fry the marinaded meat on a slow fire. Removed and put aside.


3. Mix 1tbsp corn flour with water (put more if you wanted a more diluted sauce), sugar, tomato ketchup, Worchestershire sauce and a dash of pepper.


4. Fry cut onion and red tomato until it started to turn brown and pour in the mixture.


5. When the mixture comes to a boil, pour in the meat and stir for a while. Served.

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Silky Smooth Tofu with Shredded Chicken

Another easy to prepare and healthy dish for tofu lover. I love tofu regardless of its texture, shape and taste. I have tried many types including those imported from Japan. Of course our local tofu can't be compared to the Japanese tofu but they are still edible. I especially like the silky (silken) smooth tofu which we normally used in steaming or soup.

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Ingredients

• 1 box Silky smooth tofu


• 100 gm Chicken breast meat (shredded)


• 1 pc Dried Chinese mushroom (soak in hot water till soft, diced)


• 1/4 cup Carrot (coarsely chopped)


• 2 cloves Garlic


• 1 Chili padi


• 1tbsp Corn flour


• 1tbsp Light soy sauce


• Pepper to taste

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Method

1. Steam tofu for 5 minutes and removed any water after the steaming.


2. Heat wok with about 2 tbsp of oil and sauteed the garlic and chili padi. Add in carrot and mushroom and continue to stir for 2-3 minutes.


3. Add in the shredded chicken and stir till about 80% cook.


4. Dash in the light soy sauce and pepper before adding corn flour which is mixed with 30ml of water to thicken the sauce.


5. Scoop up and lay on top of steamed tofu and served.

Tom Yam Style Steamed Siakap

We normally see the small siakap fish sold at the market but not those really big type which were from deep sea. Last year, we went to dine at one of the restaurant near by our house and was introduced to this deep sea siakap fillet which was really big and juicy. So, we went around hunting for this fish in the wet markets around our area and was lucky we found them!

I will usually make simple steaming with just ginger and chillies but as I like hot and sour stuff so went on to try this tom yum style instead. The siakap fillets goes well with this style too....

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Ingredients

• 2 pcs Siakap fillets


• 2cm Lengkuas (blue ginger)


• 1 stick Lemongrass


• Kaffir lime leaves (use the young sprouted leaves)


• 4 cloves Garlic (chopped)


• 2-3 Chili padi (if you preffer hot stuff...put more!)


• 2pcs Kaffir lime or normal lime juice


• Light soy sauce

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Method

1. Cut/chop all the ingredients and sprinkle on the fish fillets, a few dash of light soy sauce, all the lime juice and add a little water and steam! It is that easy! :)


2. Remember to check the fish before serving.

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Fried Nestum Chicken

I bought a big tin of Nestum recently as I heard that drinking milk with Nestum can help to increase milk production... not sure how true is that but no harm trying. :) Actually, Nestum is really tasty due to its crispiness. Normally we can order Nestum prawns from most 'Tai-choa' or Chinese Big Fry stalls. However, I did not buy any prawns this week so tilt the recipe a little and use chicken instead... :) All I can say is... it taste just as good!

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Ingredients

• 1 pair of Chicken thigh (drumstick + thigh)


• 2 Chili padi


• 2 strands Curry leaves


• 1 tblsp Brown sugar


• 4-5 tblsp Nestum


• Light soy sauce


• Corn flour


• Pepper

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Method

1. Cut chicken into smaller pieces and marinade with light soy sauce with sprinkles of corn four and pepper for about 1/2 hour.


2. Heat up wok with a little oil and fry the chicken pieces lightly on small fire until golden brown, lift up and put aside.


3. Heat wok with a little oil and fry the chopped chili padi and curry leaves. Once fragrant, put in the brown sugar and fry for a while until half melt and quickly pour in the Nestum and stir until the sugar is mixing well with the Nestum.


4. Add in chicken pieces and continue stirring for 20 seconds, lift up and serve.

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Fried Tofu with Silverfish & Dried Prawns

Some of you must be wondering why I'm using a type of pest for my cooking... don't get me wrong as this type of anchovy is commonly know as 'silvery-fish' or 'ngan-yee-jai' (silver-small-fish) by the Chinese, hence the name given. They are the smallest version of the common anchovy and we can't really see their bones. Normally we will cook the entire fish together with it head. It's salty at time but the level of saltiness is not so extreme as compared to the bigger anchovies. They are nice to eat when being fried till crispy.

The taste of tofu is bland so to add a little silverfish and dried prawns will make this dish a very appetizing starter.

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Ingredients

• 1pc Tofu (9x9 cm type)


• 30gm Silverfish


• 30gm Dried prawns


• 1pc Chili padi


• Light soy sauce

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Method

1. Cut tofu to small square (1 pc of tofu can cut up to 8 small square pcs). Heat up wok with some oil and fry the tofu lightly till golden brown. Lift up and put aside.


2. Wash and chop or grind dried prawns to tiny pieces. Fry dried prawns with some oil for 2 minutes and add in the silverfish and chopped chili padi and fry until golden crisp.


3. Dash some light soy sauce on tofu before topping with the fried dried prawns and silverfish.

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4 Heavenly King with Sambal Udang (Chili Shrimps)

I came to know about this dish just 2 years back. The way they named this dish gave me the impression that it's expensive but surprisingly it is not. In fact, they are all the common vegetable, legumes and bean. The 4 main items are lady's fingers (okra), winged beans, snake beans (or can use longbeans) and brinjal (egg-plant). When such items cooked together with chili shrimps... it's so appetizing that it make you want to eat more! :P

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Ingredients

• 150gm Snake beans


• 200gm Lady's fingers (okra)


• 200gm Winged beans (kacang botol)


• 1 or 2 pcs Brinjal (egg plant)


• 100gm Dried prawns


• 3 Red chilies


• 2 Chili padi


• 4-6 pcs Shallots


• 3 cloves Garlic


• 10gm Belacan (shrimp paste)


• Black soy sauce


• Light soy sauce


• Water

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Method

1. Grind the dried prawns, shallots, chilies, chili padi, garlic and belacan.


2. Cut snake beans to about 1.5" long and dry fried with some oil until half soft. Same proess for brinjal and winged beans. When done, lift them up and put aside.


3. Heat up wok with 3 tblsp of oil and fry the grinded item until fragrant then lift up and put aside.


4. Put in another 2 tblsp of oil and fry lady's fingers for about 2 minutes and put in the fried winged beans, brinjal and snake beans and continue to stir fry for another 2 minutes or so then put in the sambal udang which we fried earlier. Continue to stir and put in some black soy sauce (put more if you like a darker tone).


5. Add in some water, stir and cover for 2-3 minutes and continue stirring. Add in soy sauce (not too much as the saltiness may come from the dried prawns and belacan) and stir until the mixture starts to look a little sticky. Lift up and serve.

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Note: Should you prefer it to be spicier, do add in more chili padi. Alternatively, you can also chop some garlic and sauteed them before going to #4.

Tips: If you do not want to use too much oil to fry the brinjal (they absort lots of oil), you can steam them first before frying but of course it won't taste as good... :P

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Mui-choy with Pork Belly

I've been craving to have this dish for a while. Bought some mui-choy (a type of preserved vegetable) last week but no time to prepare so has KIV it till yesterday.

This recipe is not very acurate in terms of the ingredients' portion so have to adjust according to personal taste preference. :roll:

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Ingredients

• 300gm Mui-choy


• 500gm Pork Belly (must have some fat)


• 3 cloves Garlic


• 3 Chili padi


• 30ml Glutinous rice wine or Chinese cooking wine


• Black soy sauce


• Sugar or brown sugar


• 3 bowls of Water

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Method

1. Wash away all the salt and cut mui-choy into small pieces. Soak all the mui-choy for at least an hour and change water 2-3 time to remove the saltiness.


2. Cut pork belly to cubes. Heat up wok with a little oil and fry the pork belly cubes until 70% cooked and remove from wok.


3. Squeeze all the water out from mui-choy and fry it lightly over small fire without any oil. This process is to dry up all the moisture in the mui-choy.


4. Heat the wok with 3tblsp of oil and put in chopped garlic. Once garlic gets fragrant, throw in the chopped chilies and stir for a while. Put in the pork belly cubes and stir then add in black soy sauce (put more if you prefer a darker tone).


5. Once the black soy sauce are settled evenly on those pork belly cubes, put in the mui-choy and continue to stir. Then add in at least 3-4 bowls of water, stir and cover over small fire before transfering to cook for 1-1/2 hours in a casserol and stirring occassionally.


6. Add in sugar should the taste of mui-choy is still very salty.


7. Just before you turn off the fire, add in the glutinous rice wine and stir for a while.

Watercrest Soup

I was telling PiggyBeng that I ran out of idea for a soup recipe and he told me it has been a long time since he last tasted watercrest soup and *ting!* the idea came. Well, it has been sometime since we had light and clear soup and this is a good idea... Something light and clear for a change... :) A relatively simple recipe and a healthy choice as well.... However, my style is slightly different as I don't just dump in the whole watercrest bundle into the pot and boil but I separate them so I can just eat the sprouts and not the stems.

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Ingredients

• Pork ribs


• Watercrest


• Red dates


• Salt to taste

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Methods

1. Wash and separate the watercrest's sprouts and stems and put them in a different bowl.


2. Boil water in a stockpot and add in pork ribs once it's boiling. Then throw in the watercrest stems and red dates then boil for 1.5 hours.


3. Remove the stems from the stockpot and put in the watercrest sprouts and let it boil for another 1/2 hours.


4. Add salt before serving.

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All-In Fried Noodles

My fridge is stuffed with all the left over from our Hokkien Mee weekend. I must quickly clear all of them or else they will end up rotten in no time! So, I came up with this idea, a "All-In Fried Noodles" since I must use up all the yellow noodles, cooked prawns and beans sprouts. :)

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Ingredients

• 600gm Yellow Noodles


• 300gm Bean Sprout


• 100gm Lean meat (cut to thin strips)


• 150gm Choy-sum


• 100gm Cooked Prawns (disect to half)


• Chilies (3 chili padi & 1 red chili) - omit if cooking for kids


• 1 Onion


• 1tsp Corn flour


• Soy sauce


• Black Soy Sauce


• 4 Bowls of water (rice bowl)


• Pepper

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Method

1. Marinade lean meat with corn flour, soy sauce and pepper and leave for 30 minutes.


2. Sliced onion, chilies and cut up choy-sum to about 4cm length.


3. Heat up wok with approximately 3tblsp of oil and sauteed the onion until soft then add in the chilies.


4. Once onion and chilies are fragrant, add in the marinaded meat and stir till brown.


5. Throw in the cooked prawns and choy-sum and continue to stir.


6. Add in yellow noodles and black soy sauce (depending on how dark you want) then stir for a while then pour in the water, stir and cover for 3-5 minutes.


7. Put in the bean sprouts and continue to stir and cover for a few more minutes.


8. When the noodles soften, sprinkle desired amount of soy sauce and pepper to taste.

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Note: Do not pour in all the water or cover too long if you prefer the noodles to be more springy.

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Fried Stuffed Taupok (fried tofu puff)

Today we had a family gathering at our house as PiggyBeng wanted to show-off his Hokkien Mee (Penang Prawn Noddles) to his relatives. :P Yeah, PiggyBeng is obsessed with Hokkien Mee and he can eat 3 bowls in one serving!

Since we are not sure how many people will turn up, so I decided to cook some snacks to compliment the main meal... So came up with this easy idea... fried stuffed taupok (a type of fried tofu puff). Normally this stuffed taupok is cooked as one of Yong Tau Fu item.

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Ingredients

• 300gm Pork (minced)


• 20pcs Taupok


• 2tsp Corn flour


• Some water


• Salt & pepper for taste


• Oil for frying

Method

1. Minced pork and mix in the corn flour, water (not too much), salt and pepper. Mix well.


2. Cut all the taupok into half and turn them inside out.


3. Stuffed the minced pork mixture into taupok and fried till golden brown starting by frying the stuffed side first.

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Sambal Ikan Bilis (Anchovies) with Snake Beans

Bought some snake beans (the broader and more wrinkles version of the normal long beans) but not sure what to cook with... then saw the ikan bilis my mom bought for me during her last visit so decided to clear them. Since we like spicy with a little sourish type of food, the idea for sambal ikan bilis kicks in. :)

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Recipe

• 350-400gm Snake beans


• 150gm Ikan bilis (anchovies) - medium size


• 2 Onions


• 5pcs Dried chilies


• 2pcs Fresh red chilies


• 250ml Tamarind juice


• 5pcs Shallots


• 2 Cloves garlic


• Salt and sugar for taste


• 50ml Water

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Method

1. Blend dried chilies, fresh chilies, shallots and garlic. Wash ikan bilis and drain all the water.


2. Heat up wok with 2tblsp of oil and fry the ikan bilis till fragrant and slightly crispy look then lift up and fry onions until soft.


3. Then add in the blended items and continue stirring for about a minute.


4. Put in the fried ikan bilis into the fried onions with the chillies paste. Fried for a while and add in the tamarind juice. Cover for 5 minutes with occassional stirring so the paste will not dry up.


5. Once the paste look thick add in salt and sugar to taste and it's ready.


6. Cut snake beans into about 4cm long. Heat up wok with 2 tblsp oil and fry till a little crisp looking.


7. Add in the sambal ikan bilis and continue frying for about 2 minutes.


8. Add in some water and continue frying for another 3 minutes.


9. Once the mixture looks thick, lift up and it's ready to serve.

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Note: For tamarind juice, add more tamarind if you prefer a more sourish taste.

Stuffed Squids

Found some squids hiding in my freezer the other day. They were the left over from PiggyBeng's Assam Curry Fish that he cooked during the weekend.

Have wanted to use them to fry some vermicelli but did not have all the ingredients so came out with this idea instead... stuffed squid since I found a small piece of pork belly. Have not attempted this one before so not sure if it will turn out nice or a total disaster. :|

As usual, there is no definite portion to this recipe as I only have 5 pathetically small squids...

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Ingredients

• Squids


• Pork belly (minsed)


• Chili padi


• Garlic (about 2 cloves)


• Corn flour


• Salt


• Pepper

Sauce

• Juice from the steamed stuffed squids


• Corn flour


• Salt

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Method

1. Minced the pork belly. Add in chopped garlic and chilies with a little corn flour and water to hold them together.


2. Stuff the minced pork mix into squid.
3. Steam the stuffed squid for about 10 minutes


4. Remove the juice (was surprised that there were lots of it - no idea where it came from). Add corn flour with a sprinkle of salt and pour into the wok to cook the sauce. Remember to stir so it would not turn lumpy.


5. Once the sauce began to boil (lots of bubbles), pour over the stuffed squids. Serve.

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Note: Do not stuff the squid till you fill the whole squid as the stuffings will come out when the squids shrunk during the steaming process! So, just stuffed them about half will be just nice. :) That was why you see so many pork balls around the stuffed squids...

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8 Treasure Vegetarian Delight

Finally a vegetarian dish! I seldom cook dishes that made up with just vegetable as PiggyBeng thinks there are not filling... he needs his meat (very carnivorous hor?)

This dish was actually inspired by PiggyBeng's 3rd uncle's wife (sar-jim). They are a staunch Buddhists and will go on a vegetarian diet on every 1st and 15th of the Chinese Lunar month. We went to their house on one of the 15th and they served a similar dish so I thought I can concoct one myself by using some of my favorite ingredients.

It's not a difficult dish to prepare but do take up some time as there are 8 items that needed to be prepared individually before cooking it. And the best part is... there's no exact recipe because I just cut and put in all the ingredients I have with me.... so if you want to feed more mouths.... just put more of the items you like.

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Ingredients

• Lotus roots


• Lotus seeds


• Gingko nuts


• Peanuts


• Carrot


• Brinjal (eggplant)


• Button mushrooms


• Enoki mushrooms


• Water


• Salt and soy sauce for taste

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Method

1. Boil peanuts, lotus seeds and gingko nuts until soft in a small pan (one after another).


2. Sliced lotus roots and carrot thinly. Cut brinjal into a few sections and cut each section into 4 or 6 triangular piece. Cut button mushrooms into 4 sections each.


3. Firstly, heat up wok with approximately 2 tblsp of oil and fry lotus roots, followed by carrot, button mushrooms and brinjal. Then add in the soften peanuts, gingko nuts and lotus seeds.


4. Pour in the water and let it boil and cover. Stir occasionly and continue to boil in slow fire for at least 30-45 minutes until all the vege are soft.


5. Add salt or soy sauce before putting in the enoki mushrooms. Covers for another 10 minutes and serve.

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Note: Remember to remove the 'heart' from both lotus seeds and gingko nuts as they could be bitter.

You can boil them in a claypot too if you own one.

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Sambal Winged Bean (Kacang Botol)

Legume is among one of my favorite food. And there are quite a few types of legume sold in the nearby market. One of the day during my weekly market trip, I saw my regular vege seller is selling winged beans.

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It has been a long time since I last cooked winged beans and knowing PiggyBeng will like spicy dish, I decided to get some and cook some dried prawn sambal with the winged beans I bought.

This is a short-cut recipe as I did not blend the sambal myself (lazy me) but used those ready made sambal belacan which I bought from the market... which is pretty handy! Saves a lot of time and don't have to wash the blender too! :P

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Ingredients

• 300gm Winged beans


• 100gm Dried prawns


• 2pcs Chili padi (cut strip)


• 2tblsp Sambal belacan (from ready made)


• 2 Cloves garlic


• 50ml Water


• Salt for taste


• Soy sauce for taste

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Methods

1. Wash and sliced the winged beans to around 0.5mm thick in a slanting position.


2. Dried prawns can be used as whole or could be chopped into tiny pieces depending on individual preference. I used them whole this time.


3. Heat up about 2 tblsp of oil in wok and fry dried prawns until fragrant then put in the chopped garlic and ontinue to fry for another minute.


4. Put in sambal belacan and fry till fragrant (you will feel your nose starts to itch and feels like sneezing) then thrown in the chili padi and continue stiring.


5. Next, put in the winged beans and stir before pouring about 50ml of water in. Stir and over for 3 minutes and stir and over for another 2 minutes. This will helps soften the beans.


6. Sprinkle some salt or a few dash of soy sauce before serving.

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Chinese Style Pork Chop

Not that I love to eat pork that much but it seems to be a really versatile ingredient in many types of cooking.

Ever since Darrius started taking solid, I have been buying lean pork to add into his porridge. Will buy around RM2-3 of lean meat each week and sometimes I'm left with a huge chunk in the freezer after slicing a few pieces for Darrius's porridge. As it is lean so the best and simplest thing to do with it is to make some pork chops ala Chinese style.

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Ingredients

Marinade

• 250gm Lean pork (slice to about 1cm thick)


• 1tsp Black soy sauce


• 1tsp Light soy sauce


• 1tsp Cooking oil


• Sugar


• Pepper

Topping Sauce (optional)

• 30ml Water


• 1tsp Corn flour


• 1tbsp Tomato Ketchup


• Salt


• Pepper

Decoration

• 1pkt Snow peas

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Method:

1. Marinade pork for 1/2 hour or more.
   Heat up wok with about 1 tbsp of oil and fry the marinated pork on slow fire.


2. When the pork are all cooked, pick them up and use the remaining oil to cook the topping sauce. Mix all the ingredients and pour into wok and stir until boil. Pour in the pork chops and stir lightly before taking out.


3. For the snow peas, boil in water with a dash of salt and oil for about 1-2 minutes (not too long or the peas will not be crisp)

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Note: Before marinating the pork, tenderise it first by using the back of the clever and chop lightly in a criss-cross way for a few times so the meat will not be tough to bite.

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Stir-fry Kai Lan with Pork

Kai lan (kale) is one of our favorite green leaf vegetable. In fact this is the only vegetable I was allowed to eat during my confinement.

So far, the best way to cook kai lan is to stir-fry with either meat or prawns and add in a little rice wine to boost the taste. On lazy days, I will just do the plain stir-fry with some soy sauce... of cause not so delicious lar! :P

If you look closely when you are in the market, there are actually a few types of kai lan on sale. The common ones are those in skinny bundle which was planted locally here. Another type is those they called Hong Kong kai lan where all the bundles came in almost similar sizes. The type I like is those with thick stem and really huge leaves (pictured above).

Today I'll cook it with pork since I still have some left in my freezer. ;)

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Ingredients

• 300gm Kai lan


• 150gm pork/chicken/prawns


• 2cm ginger (sliced into fine stripes)


• 2 tblsp glutinous rice wine /cooking wine


• 2 tsp corn flour


• Water


• Soy sauce


• Sugar


• Pepper

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Methods

1. Marinade meat with some corn flour, pepper and soy sauce and leave it for 30 minutes.


2. Cut kai lan into 5cm long and separate the stems and leaves.


3. Heat up wok and fry ginger till fragrant and throw in the marinaded meat and fry for 1 minute before adding in the kai lan stems. Sprinkle some water, stir and cover for 2 minutes. Add in the leaves and cover for another 2 minutes.


4. When the kai lan looked soft, pour in the rice wine and continue to stir.


5. Mix around 5 tblsp of water with corn flour, sugar, pepper and soy sauce for the sauce in a small bowl. Mix well. Pour into the cooked kai lan and stir until the consistency became thick before scooping out.

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Longbean Baskets with Pork and Salted Fish

I have a bundle of longbeans and have no idea what to do with them. Was thinking to just stir-fry with some meat but the idea was rather boring so came up with this dish instead.

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The process does look rather intricate but fret not! It's rather easy to do and it taste good too! :)

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Ingredients

• 12 stalks longbeans


• 300gm Pork


• 15gm salted fish (mui heong type)


• 2 pcs chili padi


• 1 tsp corn flour


• pepper to taste


• water

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Sauce

• 1 tsp Corn flour


• 30 ml water


• Pepper


• Soy sauce

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Methods

1. Boil water with a little oil and salt and put in longbeans and boil until 80% soft. Take out and let it cool.


2. Minced the pork and add in chopped salted fish and chilies with corn flour and some water (to hold the mixture together). Mix well and add in a dash of pepper.


3. Weave the longbeans into a basket shape.


4. When all the longbenas have been weaved, stuff the minced pork mixture on top of the basket.


5. Heat up the frying pan or wok and add in a little oil and start frying the baskets (the top first).


6. When all the baskets are all golden brown...lift them up from frying pan.


7. To prepare the sauce, mixed all the ingredients. Heat up the wok with a little oil and pour in the mixture and stir slowly until it boils. Glaze the baskets with the sauce.

Ayam Masak Pedas

I seldom cook poultry dishes because these days chicken meat sold in the market are mostly from chicken factory farms where chicken are being fed with feeds that contained high level of chemicals which speed up the growth of these chicken.

As grains (corn and wheat) are getting more expensive, most factory farmers do not feed their chicken the way the small time kampung (village) farmers does. Also, in the village, the chicken will have the opportunity to run about picking on other natural food which are more nutritional and without chemical. That is why, farm-run chicken are far more expensive.

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I bought some yellow-skinned chicken from the Taman Yulek wet market in Cheras during my recent KL trip. Can't find this kind of chicken in Penang and according to my mom, only in this market they sell such chicken. Not sure if these are factory farm reared chicken or not but looking at the size (quite huge), I suspected that it must be but since my mom said it tasted much better than the ordinary chicken meat bought in the supermarkets so I bought a few pieces back to Penang.

Found some tumeric powder in my kitchen cupboard so decided to try cooking a dish with it. I remembered tasting something like that during my college's day near Wangsa Melawati in one of those Malay's gerai makan (food stall). It's not so spicy but the taste of tumeric is really refreshing... I just love tumeric! If using fresh tumeric, the taste would be even better!

Since I only cook for 2 pax, therefore, the portion used may not suffice if you need to feed more mouths! :)

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Ingredients

• 1 pc Whole chicken thigh (chopped into smaller pieces)


• 1 tsp Tumeric powder


• 1 pc Onion (sliced into rings)


• 2 pcs Chili padi (sliced)


• 1 stalk Lemon grass (sliced thinly)


• 1 tsp Lemon juice


• A pinch of salt

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Methods

1. Marinade chicken meat with tumeric powder, lemon juice and salt for at least 1/2 a day... the longer the better!


2. Heat up oil in wok/frying pan and fry the chicken until slightly dry and take out


3. Stir-fry onion, chilies and lemon grass until fragrant


4. Add in chicken and any left over juices from the marinade and fry for 2-3 minutes


5. Serve with hot rice :)

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