Indonesian Spicy Roast Chicken

A week ago, PiggBeng purchased a few recipes book from Popular Bookshop as they are having year end sale now. Most of these recipes books get a 20% off if you are a member. They were a good buy I must say.

For this dish, I did not prepare it, instead my dear hubby took over the wok this time. This is the first dish he tried from this 'Mama Recipes' book. There are quite a good mixture of recipes found inside the book and hopefully I get to share them with all of you here...

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Ingredients

• 4 Chicken drumsticks


• 250ml Thick coconut milk


• 2 stalks Lemongrass


• 2 pcs Kaffir lime leaves


• 2 tbsp oil


• Salt an sugar for taste

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Grounded Spices

• 2 Red chilies


• 2 Dried chilies (soaked)


• 5 pips Garlic


• 5 nos Shallots


• 1/2 cm thick Turmeric or 1 tbsp Turmeric powder


• 3/4 cm thick Gelangal or Lengkuas (blue ginger)


• 3 nos Candle nuts (buah keras)

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Method

1. Stir fry the grounded ingredients till fragrant and add in coconut milk with salt and sugar.


2. Cook the ingredient till thick then put in the chicken. Stir till the chicken is 80% cooked then lift up and place chicken on a baking tray lined with banana leaf. Pour all remaining sauces on top.


3. Bake the chicken at 200 C for 30-40 minutes till chicken turn brown. Served with white rice.

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Grilled Turmeric Chicken Thigh

I bought some whole chicken thighs during one of the week and have wanted to cook some curry chicken but I forgot to buy the chili mix and coconut milk! I don't normally like to use premix curry powder as PiggyBeng said it is very heaty for him so I will avoid using unless it is absolute necessary...

The chicken thighs have been sitting in the fridge for almost a week and I forgotten about them totally until one day I was rummaging through my freezer. And since I have nothing much to cook, these chicken thighs come in real handy. The problem is, I don't have any ideas or a particular recipe in mind. So, what I do next?

Again I rummaged through my food cabinets trying to find any spices that I can make do with. The thing is, other than my Fried Nestum Chicken, I hardly cook chicken dishes as they may need ingredients that I do not have on hand. Therefore, it can be tough to think of any chicken recipes in a flash.

As I hardly use my oven, I decided to grill these chicken thighs. The outcome: YUMMY! I find them less oily and juicier... so it's healthier too! I even stir-fried some celery with garlic to go along with the rice too. The other good thing, it's little hassle and the kitchen is grease free!

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Ingredients

(Serves 2)

• 2 whole Chicken thighs (cut some diagonal lines so heat can penetrate)


• Turmeric and Cheyenne pepper - Enough to marinade both thighs


• Salt to taste


• A few squeeze of lemon juice


• Some basting oil (Olive oil + light soy sauce + sugar + lemon juice) - Optional

Method

1. Marinade the thighs with enough turmeric (fresh or powder), lemon juice and salt for at least 1-2 hours prior to baking. Best if it's over night.


2. Line baking tray with grease proof paper or silver foil. Place the thighs on the tray and bake at 200 degree Celsius, flipping occassionally.


3. Glaze with basting oil if you want the thighs to be more fragrant.


4. Grill for at least 40 minutes or till thoroughly cooked (when no more blood oozing out).

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Luncheon Meat Fried Rice

There are times when I just like to eat fried rice... any kind. It also depends on what I can find in my fridge or food cabinets... any left overs which are usually good to be used for frying rice. I often buy extra long beans or french beans just in case I decided to fry some rice.

Since I have some luncheon meat left over from one of my culinary sessions, I decided to cook some extra rice the day before so I can use it for my fried rice. The tricks for good tasting fried rice is to use over night rice which have been kept in the fridge. The reason? The moisture will be dried up and when you fried your rice, it will turned be grainy and not all stuck together.

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Ingredients

• 2 bowls Rice (kept over night in the fridge)


• Some French beans - diced


• 4 slices Luncheon meat


• 1 Egg (add a little salt and beaten)


• Some green and red capsicums (diced) - Optional


• 1 Onion (diced)


• Salt or light soy sauce for taste

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil and lightly fry the French beans and capsicums. When it turn a little soft about 3-4 minutes later, lift up from wok, put aside. Do the same for the diced luncheon meat.


2. Add some oil to wok, sautee the diced onion till fragrant, throw in the fried French beans and capsicums, stir for a while then add in the fried luncheon meat.


3. Add in the rice and quickly stir until all the rice disintegrate from big lumps. Continue to add in oil while you fry... little by little.


4. Sprinkle salt or light soy sauce for taste before you pour in the beaten egg into the rice. Stir well. Served.

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Fried Wax Meat Omelette

PiggyBeng loves lap-cheung (Chinese wax meat) and always asked me to cook either fried rice or other dishes. To me, I use lap-cheong when I can't think of anything to cook or I am out of ingredients to cook. These lap-cheong certainly comes in handy! Here is another simple recipe...

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Ingredients

• 1 stick Lap cheong (Chinese waxed meat) - cut thin slices


• 2 Eggs - beaten


• A dash of salt for taste (into the beaten eggs)

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with a tsp oil, toast in the lap cheong and lightly fry them until it appeared crispy on low fire (as it contain sugar, they get burnt very fast)


2. Spread out the lap cheong slices and pour in the beaten eggs, on low fire.


3. Wait till both sides turn golden brown before lifting from the wok.

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Fried ‘Nam-Yu’ Pork

I seldom use all those fermented stuff to cook but will try a dish once in a while as I think they are not too healthy if we eat them too often. My MIL especially like those fermented beancurds and she can finish a whole jar all by herself!

There are two types of fermented beancurds which are widely used in Chinese or Asian cooking. Some people like to eat 'fu-yu' which is whitish in clour and soaked inside some chili solution which we normally eat with porridge as it is extremely saltish. The other is 'nam-yu' which is brownish, slightly sweetend and soaked inside some red colour solution. It has this very pungent smell with wine if I'm not mistaken.

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Ingredients

• 300g Pork belly (Sliced at 5mm thick)


• 1 cube Nam Yu


• 1 egg (beaten)


• 1 cup Flour


• 1 Red Chili (chopped finely)


• 2tbsp Lemon juice


• Salt to taste


• 1tsp Sugar


• Water

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Methods

1. Marinade the sliced pork with 'Nam-yu' and a few dash of salt for about 2 hours.


2. Mix flour with water to create batter for coating the meat before frying. The consistency of the batter should be not too thin or too thick, just nice when you dip in the meat it is able to cover the whole piece of meat.


3. Heat up wok or deep saucepan with substantial oil for deep frying. Test the oil with a wooden chopstick. When there's a lot of bubbles coming out from the chopstick mean the oil is hot enough.


4. Take a piece of the meat, dip it into the beaten egg then dip into the flour batter and put into the deep saucepan to deep fry till it turns golden. Continue till all meat are done. Picking up those that had turned golden and let it drain off the oil on a kicthen towel.


5. Then in another wok, heat up a tsp of oil and stir-fry the chopped chili for 2-3 minutes then pour in the lemon juice and the sugar and stir till it caramelised a little. Scoop it up and pour over meat.

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Stir-fry Sambal Asparagus

It has been a long time since I buy asparagus and cook it. Happened on one of my groceries shopping trip to Tesco I saw some really fresh stalks so decided to grab a bundle to cook with the dried prawns sambal that I made earlier.

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Ingredients

• 1 bundle (+/-250g) Asparagus


• 3 tsp Dried prawn sambal


• Some water

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Methods

1. Wash and cut asparagus about 45 degree slanted 1.5" strips.


2. Heat up wok with 2 tbsp oil and lightly fry the dried prawn sambal till fragrant. Throw in the asparagus and stir.


3. Add a little water and cover for a few minutes.


4. Serve hot.

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Tomato Scramble Egg

Since Darrius can take eggs now, I will try some of the egg recipes once a while. It is good for a change and add varieties to his menu. To add in more nutrition, I will normally add in some milk and cheese with the meal so they are more wholesome.

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Ingredients

• 1 egg


• 1/4 cup Milk


• 1 Fresh tomato (deskin and chopped corsely)


• Some tiny cubes of boiled carrot


• Pinch of salt for taste (optional)

Methods

1. Beat egg, add in the milk and salt, beat further and set aside.


2. Heat up wok or frying pan on slow heat with 1 tsp oil. When oil is hot, pour over the chopped tomato and boiled carrot and fry for a while before pouring in the beaten egg and slowly stir on medium heat.


3. When the mixture starts to harden and no more moisture, lift up, sprinkle with some black sesame powder and serve.


4. Boil some French beans as side dish along with a slice of wholemeal bread cheese sandwich.

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Oreo Cookies Cupcakes with Mint Frosting

In the last 3 days, I have been baking non stop! I started with a batch of these but they started to explode after 10 minutes in the oven! The entire batch was like a erupting volcanoes so I went for another batch. And guess what? Instead of another explosion, I have sinking cupcakes! Not sure what went wrong!!!!

So, in order not to get another heart attack and waste more ingredients, I dicided to give this a try which I got the recipe from here. As I don't like having the raisins in the cupcakes, I omitted them from the recipe. Since I have 2 unsuccessful batches earlier, I halfed the recipe which turned out quite fine.

To top it off, I made the pepper mint frosting which really compliment the cuppies! It has a little salt content so it taste quite appetising too! It was meant for the earlier chocolate cupcakes and since they did not turned out, I tried it on the 3rd batch which was the Oreo Cupcakes. They were absolutely divine....

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Ingredients

Make 12 Cupcakes

• 117 g Self-raising flour


• 50 g Oreo biscuits - chopped


• 115 g Butter (recommend to use unsalted but I used the salted one)


• 90 g Sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1/8 tsp Salt

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Methods

1. Beat butter, salt and sugar till slightly creamy with a mixer, add in eggs (one by one) then the flour and mix till combined.


2. Stir in the chopped oreo biscuits and spoon into paper cups.


3. Bake at 160-170C for 25 minutes (big cup) or until cooked.


4. Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack.

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Frosting

Ingredients

• 120 g Butter


• 1/8 tsp. salt


• 120 g Icing sugar


• 1 tsp Peppermint essence


• A drop of green colouring

*Some draggies for decorations



Methods

1. Cream butter, salt and sugar till smooth preferably with a mixer.


2. Add in colouring and mint essence and pipe onto cupcakes.


3. Decorate with some draggies or other preferred decoratives.

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Braised Peppercorns Pork

I was having a few slabs of pork belly as I intended to cook something else but ended up not cooking them as the time I have to prepare them is too short so has to abort that idea. So, I have to come out with alternative ideas....

Well, I will always go for easy to prepare dish and using the least amount of ingredients if possible. Therefore, I remembered my MIL used to cook this dish which all she do is just dump everything in! And voila! Hot yummy dish on the table.

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Ingredients

• 300g Pork belly (best with those that has a few layers of fats and with skin intact)


• 3 cloves garlic - chopped finely


• 1tsp Peppercorns - crushed


• Black sauce


• Light soy sauce to taste


• Water - for sauce

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Methods

1. In a medium saucepan, heat up 2tbsp oil and lightly saute chopped garlic till fragrant.


2. Add in the pork belly (cubed) and stir till they are about 50% cooked. Pour in dark soy sauce to desired tone. Add in water (ard 3/4 to 1 cup), stir and cover.


3. When the water begun to boil, add in the crushed peppercorns, stir and cover and let it simmer for at least 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally on low heat.


4. Add in light soy sauce to taste and simmer a further 10 minutes.

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Economy Char Bee Hoon

When I was working in Singapore, I would normally pack something for breakfast as I do not have time to sit in coffee shops or hawker centres for a leisure breakfast. If my office is near McD, then I will pack their Big Breakfast as that can last me the entire day till dinner. Other than that, I will either get a packet of nasi lemak or the popular economy char bee hoon.

Now that I don't go to work anymore, I kind of yearn for those taste so I decided to bring back some memories by preparing my own... This is one of PiggyBeng's favorite too as both of us went through the same type of lifestyle in Singapore....

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Ingredients

(Serve 2)

• 1/2 pkt Rice noodles (beehoon)


• 1 Red chili (sliced thinly)


• 3 clove garlic (chopped)


• 80g Bean sprouts


• 1/2 can Luncheon meat (sliced around 5mm in thickness)


• 2 eggs


• Black sauce


• Light soy sauce to taste


• Water (to soften the rice noodles)

Methods

1. Soak the rice noodles till soft. Slightly pan fry the luncheon meat slices till fragrant. Fry the eggs *sunny side up*.


2. Heat up wok with 2 tbsp oil and saute the chopped garlic till it starts to turn golden. Pour in the pre-soaked rice noodles and continue to stir, add in the black sauce to desired tone, stir and add in enough water before covering the wok for at least 5 minutes but stirring occasionally.


3. Add in the light soy sauce and stir before adding in the bean sprouts. Continue stirring (add a little of oil if need be) and when the bean sprouts started to soften, turn off the fire.


4. Serve hot with luncheon meat and egg together with some sambal belacan.

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Purple Amaranth (bayam) with Dried Prawns Sambal

This is my first time seeing a purple bayam (yin choi [??]) or Amaranth being sold here. In fact, I've never even heard of such thing before. It was on one of my regular marketing session at Tesco that I pick up this packet of purple spinach which I find quite interesting.

The look and feel is somehow different from the regular bayam (yuen choy) that I normally buy. It has short stem and it looked more like ti-wang-chai (also short stem and has a sticky gluey liquid coming out from the stem) than the regular bayam but I was told they were from the same family.

Seeing the texture, I decided to cook with dried prawns sambal as I don't think cooking it in other styles will be suitable. And I was right. It turns out good with the sambal.

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Ingredients

• 1 packet Purple (about 200g) - peel away the end of stems


• 2-3 tsp of Dried prawns sambal


• Water

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with 2-3 tbsp of oil and gently fry the dried prawns sambal till slightly fragrant.


2. Toss in the purple bayam, stir to mix well. Add a little water, stir and cover for a few minutes till the bayam is soften. Serve while still hot.

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Steamed Eggs with Minced Pork & Mushroom

I don't normally eat steamed eggs as I preferred to have my eggs fried. Now that Darrius is eating almost anything we are having so I have to consider him when I prepare our meals.

Steamed eggs is quite simple to prepare and it is not as heaty as fried eggs. Before this, the steamed eggs I used to cook is quite hard as I do not add much water as compared to now. The steamed eggs I am preparing now has more water content which make it really soft and smooth... like the Japanese cawanmushi.

Among the tricks I learned about cooking steamed eggs is, it is recommended to use plates or bowls that have a flat surface as the eggs will get cooked more evenly. The other thing is, always to cover the plate with a string-wrap when steaming so that the water from the steam will not falls on the eggs and scars the surface.

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Ingredients

• 3 Eggs (large)


• 3/4 cup water


• 40g Minced pork (marinate with a sprinkle of salt)


• 1pc Chinese mushroom (diced)


• 1/4 of a Carrot (cut some for garnishing and the bits used for steaming)

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Methods

1. Beat eggs with a little salt and filter it into a flat plate or bowl. Throw away the residue.


2. Add in the water, minced pork, mushroom bits and the carrot bits. Stir and disintegrate them do the minced pork does not clutter together. Then cover with a string-wrap.


3. Put in to steam for about 7-10 minutes. Place the carrot used for garnishing in another small bowl and steam along with the eggs.


4. When eggs are cooked, remove the wrap and make sure the water did not drip on the eggs. Placed the steamed carrot slices on top before serving.

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Blueberries Muffins with Cream Cheese

During my last trip to KL, my mom bought a packet of blueberries muffins premix from one of the local baking supplies shop. It tasted real good as it was not overly sweet and the texture was so cottony that it will make you keep biting.

I've tried looking for dried blueberries in the baking supplies shops but so far I've never seen any on sale before. Most of them do not carry this item. So the next best thing is the premix. It was not that expensive as it cost around RM5+ a packet and each packet can make around 12-14 muffins on a regular muffin pan.

To make it even more yummy, I added in some cream cheese cubes before I send them to bake. The cream cheese did not melt inside the batter but it is soft after it is baked.

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Ingredients

• 1pkt Blueberries muffins mix


• 130g Butter/margerine


• 117ml Water


• 3 Eggs (medium size)


• 70g Cream Cheese (cut into rectangular cubes)

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Methods

1. Add in water to the pre-mix, stir and mixed well. Add in the eggs one by one till all eggs are well mixed to create a smooth batter.


2. Scoop 1 spoonful of batter into regular muffin pan, stuff in the cream cheese cube before covering it with another spoonful of batter.


3. Bake at 175 degree Celcius for about 20-25 minutes.


4. Remove from oven and cool on rack.

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Shan Yào with Spare Ribs Soup

I do not know about raw shan yào or huái shan until my mom showed it to me one day last year. In fact I've never even heard that there are raw ones being sold here. According to my mom, shan yao is quite popular among the Japanese.

We normally use the dried ones which we categorized it as herbs. I've used the dried ones to boil soup before. However, the raw ones taste even better as it is so much sweeter than the dried ones. The roots actually taste very yam like and it's soft after the long hours under the fire. I was told to add in the shan yao last into the soup so the nutrient will not be lost over the intense heat... not sure how true but I still prefer to boil it for a longer period.

The one I bought was from China hence it is so much cheaper. If I were to get the one that imported from Japan it will cost me a bomb for a small stick. One thing to be aware of is to not touch the raw roots with your bare hands as the gluey and slimmy thing will cause your skin to itch. So, when you are handling these raw roots, remember to put on your gloves.

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Ingredients

• 300g Spare ribs


• 1 stick Shan Yao root


• 10pcs Red dates


• 2.5 L Water


• Salt to taste

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Raw Shan Yao roots

Methods

1. Sliced off the skin and wash thoroughly before slicing diagonally around 8mm thick. Be sure not to hold with your bare hands as the sticky slimy stuff could cause itch.


2. Boil water in a pot till boil. Throw in the spare ribs and let it boil for 5 minutes.


3. Add in the sliced shan yao and red dates and boil on low heat for 2 hours . Add salt to taste before serving.

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Bottled Dried Prawns Sambal

Sometimes it is a hassle to prepare ingredients just to cook a small dish. When I need to grind or ground chillies or other condiments, I prefer to do a huge batch and keep them in the freezer for future use so I don't have to wash my blender every time I want to cook or use the particular ingredient or mix.

This is when the small bottle container comes in handy. I used to give Darrius some bottled/jar food when we were traveling and I will keep these bottles as there are quite useful for keeping moist items. In this case, I stored the excess dried prawns sambal so I can use them when I need to and don't have to go through the hassle to grind just a small portion.

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Ingredients

• 1 cup Dried prawns


• 7pcs Red chillies (cut into big chunks)


• 2pcs Chili padi (cut into small chunks)


• 4-5 cloves Garlic (cut into small chunks)


• 7-8 pcs Shallot (cut into small chunks)


• 1" Belacan (cut to smaller pieces)

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Methods

1. Mix all the cut ingredients into a big bowl. Scoop 3-4 spoonful into grinder and grind till everything are really smashed up. Continue till all ingredients are done.


2. To store, put them into small bottles, around 2-3 portions in each bottle. Store them in the freezer.


3. When you need to use, bring one bottle down to defrost in the fridge. One small bottle can stored up to 3 portions (use 3 times for cooking a normal plate of vege).

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Stir-fry Capsicums with Black Pepper Chicken

I used to use a lot of capsicums or bell peppers in my cooking before I was married as they can be eaten fresh or cooked. However, the price of capsicums had increased so much over the years (especially the red ones) so I don't buy them as often now.

Capsicum is quite a flexible ingredient, just like tomatoes. It adds some flavors to cooking and it has lots of nutrients and fibers which is good for health.

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Ingredients

• 1/2 Green capsicum - cut into squares chunks


• 1/2 Red capsicum - cut into squares chunks


• 1 Onion


• 150g Chicken (sliced or cubed)


• Corn flour


• Black Pepper


• Light soy sauce


• 1/2pcs of Chicken or Anchovies stock cube


• Water

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Methods

1. Marinate the chicken with some light soy sauce, corn flour and black pepper and let it stand for about 10 minutes.


2. Heat up wok and saute the sliced onion till fragrant, dump in the capsicums and stir for a few minutes.


3. Add in the chicken and continue to stir, add about 1/4 cup of water and let it simmer for a while either covered or uncover. Then add in the stock cube and continue to stir.


4. When the chicken is cooked, mix a little corn flour with a little water and pour over the mix to thicken the sauce before serving.

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Cheesy Vegetables Omelette Pockets

These days I have been experimenting various ingredients to prepare some nice meals for Darrius. I think he is quite bored with his usual porridge (though my mom insisted that he should have porridge for most meals) meals so I tried to come out with something that he might enjoy eating.

I have started feeding Darrius with eggs when he turns one end of last year. Though not very frequent as I can't think the way to prepare it besides steamed eggs since he has no molars to help him chew. Now that he's older, he is able to take in more varieties of ingredients which make it easier for me.

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Ingredients

(Prepared 2 omelettes)

• 3 Eggs (medium size)


• 1/3 cup of milk


• 1/4 of Red capsicum - diced


• 1/4 of Green capsicum - diced


• 1/2 cup Button mushroom (Fresh/canned - sliced)


• 2 bulb Shallots - sliced


• 1tsp Black sesame seed (grounded)


• Salt to taste


• 1 slice Cheddar cheese (cut into strips)


• 1 can Baked beans


• Sprinkles of mixed herbs

Methods

1. Beat eggs with milk. Add in the grounded sesame seeds.


2. In a non-stick wok, heat up some peanut oil mixed with margerine saute the shallots, capsicums and button mushrooms till soft and fragrant. Lift up.


3. Clean the non-stick wok, heat up some peanut oil with margerine again (very little) to make the omelettes. Pour half the egg mix on low heat till 70% cooked, pour half the stir-fried items onto half of the egg, add 1/2 of the cheese and fold over the other half to make a pocket. Turn over and fry the other side till the egg is cooked.


4. When done with the the omelette pockets, cook the baked beans by simply stir-fry on the wok for a minute. Before serving, sprinkle some mixed herbs on the surface of the omelettes and bake beans.

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Meat Balls Fusilli in Tomato Pasta Sauce

With Darrius having his molars appearing now, I will be dishing out more kids friendly dishes in the coming days. In fact, I've purchased a few books on kids' menus which are really interesting! Will try them out and share with all of you who has small kids at home.

My little boy loves pasta in all shapes and sizes. He has been a huge fan of tomato ketchup/pasta sauce since the day I introduced pasta/spaghetti to him. He would ask for his pasta dish almost everyday!

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Ingredients

• 80-100g Fusilli (enough for 2 meals)


• 60g Minced meat (you can use pork/beef/chicken)


• 1/2 Onion (medium size) - sliced


• 2 sections Garlic - chopped


• 2" Carrot - cubed


• 4tbsp Pasta sauce (I used mushroom with herbs)


• 1 slice Cheddar cheese (half for each meal)


• 1/2 cup Water


• 1/4 tsp Corn flour


• Salt for taste


• Olive oil (optional)

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Methods

1. In a medium saucepan, boil some water with 2 drops of oil. Add in fusilli and boil till very soft (takes about 15-20 minutes on low heat). When about to remove from stove, add in the diced carrot and boil for 3 minutes. Drained and leave aside.


2. Marinade the minced meat with corn flour and a sprinkle of salt for 5-10 minutes. Then roll them up and keep throwing it back to the bowl to make it compact before roll them into small meat balls. Fry them lightly till cooked, lift up.


3. Heat up wok with 1 tbsp oil, saute the onion slices, then the chopped garlic.


4. When onion and garlic soften, add in the drained fusilli and carrot. Stir, add in pasta sauce, water and continue to stir till it thicken a little. Add in the meat balls and stir till everything are well mixed.


5. Put one portion on a plate, add a drop or two of olive oil, cut cheddar cheese into tiny strips and placed it on top of the hot pasta to allow it to melt.


6. Keep the other portion in a bowl and cover to avoid it getting all dried up.

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Fried Sugared Pork Belly

I was having this strip of pork belly with me which I have intended to cook something else but ended up abandoning the idea after I can't find the recipe. Then I have to go to KL on a short notice so I have to cook it before I forget all about it!

Then I remembered about this fried sugared pork which is quite appetising on rice. The other reason was, it was so easy to prepare! So, if you have some pork belly and not sure what to do with it, try this.

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Ingredients

• 200-300g Pork belly (with layers of fats in between)


• 1 Chili padi - sliced/chopped


• 2 cloves Garlic - chopped


• 1tbsp Brown Sugar


• Dark soy sauce


• Salt to taste

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil (little will do as the pork fats will have oil) and lightly fry the sliced pork belly till golden brown on low heat.


2. Spread the cooked pork belly to the side of the wok (picture above), put in chopped chili and garlic and saute till fragrant. Add a little oil if needed.


3. Mix the pork belly and the sauteed garlic and chili, stir for a while, add in dark soy sauce, stir till all well mixed.


4. Add in brown sugar and some salt and continue to stir till sugar begin to caramelize. Served with white rice.

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Gobo with Spare Ribs Soup

A few years ago, I don't ever remember seeing this roots being sold in our markets. However, gobo has make its way into our markets recently after the cheaper version was being imported from China. Gobo is one of Japanese food and it was said to have plenty of nutrients. And if you have notice, the Chinese herbalists have been using this particular root as a type of herbal called niúpángzi.

I did not know about this particular root until about 2 or 3 years back when my mom introduced it to me. I find the taste is very clear and fragrant. Great news to all breastfeeding mommies, I've just found out gobo is a type of food that helps with lactation!

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Ingredients

• 1 stick Gobo roots - sliced slanted


• 300-400g Spare ribs


• 2.5L Water


• 10pcs Red dates


• Wolfberries (a small handful)


• Salt to taste

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Raw Gobo

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Methods

1. Boil water in a large pot. When boiled, add in spare ribs.


2. Boil the spare ribs for about 5 minutes, add in the sliced gobo and red dates.


3. Boil soup for 1.5 - 2 hours on low heat.


4. Add in the Wolfberries when about to switch off the gas.

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Dong Por Yuk (Braised wine pork)

During one of our trips to KL, we went to eat at this very old je-char stall which has just moved to a new shop unit in Queens Park. This used to be my dad's favourite haunt many years ago and when I was younger we used to dine there on many occasions.

However, we did not order this particular dish until that day.  Hubby was hooked after that! So, I decided to look for the recipe. I searched for quite a while but couldn't find any until I saw a link to Babe in the City's site. And I was so happy to see she has the recipe!

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As I only have half the amount of ingredients required (just nice for 2 person share), I twisted them a little. If you want her version, click here. My verdict on the dish, nice and fragrant and not too sweet. The meat was tender but I should simmer longer so it will be softer. The fats were still intact and cooking longer may give it a melt-in-the-mouth feel.

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Ingredients

• 300g Pork belly with skin intact - recommended to get those with more layers of fats


• 3/4 cup Shao Xing Hua Dioa (Chinese cooking wine)


• Water - enough to cover the pork


• Dark soy sauce - enough to rub on the pork


• 1 Star anise


• Brown sugar to taste (I used 1 tbsp) or Rock sugar


• Corn flour - mixed with a little water to thicken the sauce

Method

1. Blanch the meat in hot water to get rid of the scums, then wash with tap water to clean it further. Dry the meat with paper towels before rubbing with just enough dark soy sauce to coat the meat thoroughly and let it marinade for 10 minutes. In a non-stick pan, add in some oil and sear the meat on all sides except the skin quickly. Watch the heat as the dark soy sauce will caramalised.


2. Let the meat cool down a bit before slicing them into smaller pieces (you can tie the cut meat together with a thick thread so it can maintain some form). Place meat in a pot, pour in the wine (1/2 cup) and add in enough water till it covers the meat pieces. Throw in the star anise and boil/simmer in low heat till soft.


3. In a small bowl, mix a bit of oyster sauce (1.5 tbsp) and sugar and continue to boil/simmer until the meat is really tender (around 1.5 hours) then add the remaining 1/4 up wine before stirring in the cornflour mix (I did this as I want to have the fragrant smell of the wine).


4. Stir in corn flour+water to slightly thicken up the gravy. Serve hot with plain rice or some plain mantou.

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* Some paragraphs are borrowed and edited from Babe's site.

Accidental - Cranberries Muffins

Last Sunday we did not go any where to shop except to Tesco for groceries shopping. So I have quite a bit of time and since I still have a block of Golden Churn in my fridge, I decided to bake some cupcakes. Initially I have wanted to bake the Nutella cupcakes but I changed my mind when I saw a Blueberries muffins recipe on the recipe leaflet that came with my Blue Key Self Raising Flour.

Then, half way through, Darrius woke up from his nap and was rather cranky. He refused to play on his own or with PiggyBeng so I brought him into the dining room and let him sit there watching me. He was making lots of noise and insisted he wants to play with this and that.

Lousy me, get so distracted and I ended up not putting the eggs into the batter! And that was not all. I even mixed them on the wrong sequence and ended up just dump in everything and mix! And guess what? The muffins turned out lovely!

So, here sharing with you my eggless Accidental - Cranberries Muffins!

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Ingredients

• 300g (2 3/4 cups) Self Raising flour - sifted


• 150g Castor sugar


• 15g (2tbsp) Milk powder


• 30g (5tbsp) Honey


• 120g (1/2 cup) Butter/margerine


• 50g Cranberries - chopped to smaller pieces


• 165g (3/4 cup) Water


• 3g (1/2 tsp) Vanilla Essence

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Method

1. Mix sugar, milk powder, margerine, flour and honey together till well mixed.


2. Add in water and vanilla and mix till all blend in.


3. Add in cranberries and put into muffin pan and bake for 20-25 mins at 180 degree celcius.


4. Removed from oven and let it cool on rack

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3 Eggs Spinach

I bought a lot of 'Yuen-Choy' (Spinach) for Darrius's porridge. Sometimes the bundle can be really huge so I will take half to cook for ourselves. Normally I will just do a simple stir-fry with chopped garlic but there are times when the fancy struck, I will try to come out with something new.

Many years back, when I was still working in Singapore, I often patronise this Chinese restaurant called Crystal Jade. They have this dish '3 Eggs with Spinach' cooked using chicken broth which is really yummy. I tried to dish this out and the result was not that bad after all....

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Ingredients

• 1 bundle Yuen-choy (Spinach)


• 1tsp Chopped garlic


• 1 Chicken egg (beaten)


• 1 Century egg (cut into smaller sections)


• 1 Salted duck egg (cut into small pieces)


• 1/2 cup Chicken broth


• Salt to taste

Methods

1. Heat up wok with 1 tbsp of oil, saute the chopped garlic till fragrant. Add in the spinach (with the stems de-skined) and stir for a minute or two before covering for 2 minutes.


2. When the spinach is soften, pour in the chicken broth and let it boil on slow-medium fire for another 2-3 minutes with cover on.


3. Add in the cut century egg and salted egg (only the yolk), stir for a while till the salted egg yolk turned slightly creamy colour. Beat the chicken egg and pour in slowly while stirring to disintegrate. Served hot.

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Spare Ribs with Pineapple Cubes

I have some pineapple cubes left from my fried rice the other day so I'm trying to clear them. Since i have some spare ribs with me and I have no idea what to do with them, I decided to try the 'Poh-Loh Ku-at' (Pineapple ribs) style. The ingredients are all concocted by me so it might be different from those you order at the 'Je-Char' (big fry) stalls. The taste was quite close so I decided to share with all of you.

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Ingredients

• 300-400g Spare ribs


• 1/4 can Pineapple cubes


• 1tsp Corn flour


• 1tbsp Tomato Ketchup


• 1tsp Light soy sauce


• 2tbsp Pineapple syrup (from the can)


• 1/4 cup water for sauce


• Sugar for taste (optional)


• Oil for frying


• Corn flour to thicken sauce

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Methods

1. Marinate the spare ribs with corn flour and light soy sauce for about 30 minutes.


2. Heat up oil in a deep saucepan to deep fry the marinated spare ribs for about 10-15 minutes on medium to small fire until golden brown. Lift up and let oil drip dry.


3. Heat up wok with a little oil, put in mixture of water, tomato ketchup, pineapple syrup and a little sugar and stir for a while till it started to boil, add in pineapple cubes, stir and add in the ribs and stir.


4. Continue stirring for a few minutes, then add a little corn flour mixed with some water into the wok and let the sauce thicken. Voila!

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Stir-fry Local Brussel Sprouts with Dried Prawns

Not sure if this is the correct term for 'Choy-tam' the local version of Brussel sprouts. PiggyBeng likes this vege a lot and I will normally stir-fry them with dried prawns sambal chili.

As I did not have any dried prawns sambal with me so I twist the recipe a little by just using the dried prawns with chili padi. It turned out quite ok. Also, it is a very simple dish to prepare.

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Ingredients

• 7-8 stalks Choy-tam


• 1tsp chopped garlic


• 1tbsp Dried prawns


• 1 Chili padi


• Salt for taste

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with 1tbsp oil and stir-fry the dried prawns (softened by using the pestle and mortar) till fragrant. Add in the garlic and chili and continue to stir.


2. Throw in the Choy-tam and stir-fry for 2 minutes, add a little water (to help softern the vege), cover for another 1 minute.


3. Add in a little salt (not too much as the dried prawns are salty) and continue to stir till the vege looks soft. Served.

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Corn with Spare Ribs Soup

As I am starting to train Darrius to eat rice, I have been boiling more nutritional type of soup so he can have them with his rice. My mom has been telling me to cook more corn for Darrius as they are quite nutritional.

I love corn soup even before I had Darrius. It taste really sweet if milk corns or those organic pearl corns are being used. Sometimes I will add in some dried osyters or scallops or even water chestnuts to give the soup extra sweetness.

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Ingredients

• 3-4 sticks Corns (cut into smaller blocks)


• 300g Spare ribs


• 3L Water


• 1-2 sticks Carrots (cut into smaller chunks)


• 4-5 pcs Dried oysters or scallops (optional)


• 6-8 pcs Water chestnuts (optional)


• 10pcs Red dates (pitted)

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Methods

1. Bring water to boil, add in the spare ribs and let it boil for 5 minutes.


2. Add in the the corn blocks, cut carrots, water chestnuts, red dates and dried oysters or scallops and bring to boil before turning the fire to small.


3. Let the soup boil for 2 to 2.5 hours before adding some salt to taste. I prefer not to add salt since I'll be feeding Darrius some. The soup gets its sweetness from the corn and water chestnuts.

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Pineapple Fried Rice

When I was living in Perth, Australia, one of the food joint that I visit quite frequently is Hans Cafe, an Asian Cuisine place that has a mix of Vietnamnese, Thai and Chinese. In fact there is one branch just 5 minutes walk from the place I'm staying so it's rather convenient for me which I often go for take aways. The other branch that I used to frequent with my mates is their branch in William Street, Northbridge which is in Perth's Chinatown.

One of my personal favourite is their version of pineapple fried rice. It's different from those regular Thai style pineapple fried rice which is yellow in colour and come with either pork or chicken floss as the topping/garnish. A plate will cost around AUD$6.50 which is enough for 2 pax if you are not a big eater.

Since I love to eat this pineapple fried rice so much, I decided to come out with my own version. Hope you will love it too! :)

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Ingredients

• 150g Chicken meat (cut into 2cm cubes or thin strips)


• 11/2 cup Rice (pre-cooked the day before and put in the fridge)


• 1 cup mixed vege (carrot, corn and peas) or other beans of your choice


• 1 Onion (cut thin strips) - optional


• 1/2 can Pineapple cubes or you can use fresh pineapple


• 2 eggs (beaten)


• Light soy sauce


• Corn flour


• Pepper

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Methods

1. Marinate the chicken cubes with some corn flour, pepper and light soy sauce.


2. Heat up wok with about 2tbsp oil, stir fry the mixed vege until soft or lightly brown, lift up.


3. Add another tbsp of oil and saute the onion strips till light brown, throw back the cooked mixed vege in and continue to stir.


4. Open up the the mixture above and leave a hole in the middle of the wok, stir fry the chicken cubes till 80% cooked. Then stir in the rest of the vege.


5. Pour in the cooked rice and stir till all are well mixed. Add in light soy sauce and stir till mixed well. Beat in the eggs and continue to stir. Add another tbsp of oil if needed.


6. Add in the pineapple cubes and stir till well mixed before serving.


7. Garnish with egg omelette strips.

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Fried Mince Meat Wantan Mee

This is a long over-due post.... :mrgreen:

Remember my makan-makan trip up north back in June? We went back to our old hometown and there's this wantan mee stall which was one of the better ones around since my father's time and they are also our ex-neighbour. They actually made the noodles themselves and not get it from the noodles manufacturer hence their noodles are free from all kinds of preservatives.

Since we are going there, my dad called them up and ordered around 50 pcs of wantan noodles from them as my mom want to give to her neighbour in KL. My mom gave me some to bring back to Penang too. And this is what I came out with....

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Ingredients

• 200-300g Pork belly (minced)


• 4-5pcs Chinese mushrooms (soak and sliced thinly)


• 1/2 bulb Garlic (chopped finely)


• 5pcs Wantan mee (noodles)


• Black sauce


• Light soy sauce


• Pepper


• Water


• Choy Sum/green vege for garnishing (optional)

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Methods

1. Prepare the minced meat (topping) first. Heat up wok with a little oil and fry the minced pork belly (don't have to use too much oil as the pork belly will have lots of oil when being fried). When it's half cooked, add in the chopped garlic (add now so the garlic will not get burned) and stir till about 80% cooked add in the sliced mushrooms, stir and add in some black sauce to your desired tone. Add in some water (add more if you want more sauce) and cover the wok to let the water soften the mushroom.


2. In another sauce pan, boil water with a drops of oil to cook the wantan mee. Pepare a bowl of cold water (better if using iced water) to use as 'crossing the cold river' so the noodles will have this springy feel. When the water boiled, put in the noodles and cook till about 80% cooked take out and let it 'cross the cold river' before returning it into the hot water again for a brief moment and lift up.


3. Now back to the short braising of the minced pork, add in light soy sauce and pepper to taste before lifting it up.


4. On a clean wok, pour in the cooked minced meat and the cooked noodles and stir-fry till all are mixed well. Served with boiled Choy sum or other green vege of your choice.

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Pork Patties and Potatoes in Tomato Sauce

I apologise for not updating this site as frequent as I should. :)

The past weeks, I've been buying pork and potatoes so I must think of something using both ingedients. Sometimes eating the same thing can be unappetising but a little creativity can change all that. The secret is, by adding a side ingredient can make a whole lot of difference.

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Ingredients

• 300g Pork belly (not too fatty -minced)


• 2-3 Potatoes (cut into sticks like fries)


• 1-2 Bombay onions


• 5-6 Shallots (chopped finely)


• 1 Red chili (cut strips)


• 1 Chili padi (chopped finely)


• 3-4 cloves Garlic (chopped finely)


• Corn flour


• Pepper


• Salt


• Water


• Tomato ketchup


• Worchestershire sauce

Methods

1. Minced the pork belly, add in chopped shallots, chopped garlic, chopped chili padi, some pepper, salt, corn flour, a tsp oil and a little bit of water and mixed them together. Then even out to smaller portions, form them into small meat patties, and lightly fry till turn golden brown under small fire.
   


2. Cut the potatoes and deep fry till golden brown, lift up and set aside.


3. Heat up wok (or can continue from the heated wok after frying the pork patties) an saute the Bombay onions till semi soft. Add in the chili strips and stir for a while.


4. Add in the patties, stir, add in the fried potato sticks and continue to stir.


5. In a smaller bowl, add ard 2 tbsp of tomato ketchup, pepper, salt, 2 tsp corn flour and 1/3 cup water, mixed well and pour into the patties and let it get thicken.


6. When the sauce begins to thicken, put in a few dash of Worchestershire sauce and stir for a while before serving.

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Spiced Pork Fried Rice

During my last stay in KL, I eat out almost every weekend with my parents as my mom made it a rule of not cooking during weekend unless it is a special occassion. My parents especially like the food served at these Hong Kong styled eating outlets which we normally referred to as char-charn-teng. We have been going to one in 1-U called Wong Kok Char-Charn-Teng located bewteen the old and new wings.

There was this time, my mom ordered this spiced pork fried rice from their menu. It tasted quite good so I decided to try it at home. Since young, I'd love eating this particular spiced pork which is called 'yuk-ting' in Mandarin. It goes well with plain rice or used as meat on stir-fry vegetable dishes.

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Ingredients

• 1 can Spiced pork


• 1.5 Cups of Rice (pre-cooked and kept overnight in the fridge)


• 6 strands Long beans or 12 strands French beans


• 1/2 Cup Carrot cubes


• 1 Bombay onion


• 2 Eggs


• Light soy sauce and pepper for taste

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil and lightly fry the longbeans or French beans till 70% soft. Lift up and put aside.


2. Lightly fry the carrot cubes till soften, lift up.


3. Add a little oil to the wok and saute the Bombay onion strips till light golden brown.


4. Add in the cooked longbeans or French beans and continue to stir before add in the rice.


5. When all are well mixed, add in the beaten eggs and stir continously until mixed before pouring in the entire can of spiced pork.


6. Stir till all are well mixed, add in light soy sauce and pepper (depending on individual preferrence)

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Braised Longbeans Rice

I like to prepare dishes that are not so heaty and also one-pot-cook type of of thing. Sometimes it can be tough cooking for 2 person so I always opt for the simple stuff.

Every time I go for food shopping, I will tend to buy longbeans or french beans as they have a longer shelf lives as compared to other green vegetables.

I am not too sure if this dish is Hokkien or Hakka influenced but I like it as it is easy to prepare and taste just so yummy!

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Ingredients

• 12 strands Longbeans - cut into 1.5" length


• 5-6 pcs Chinese mushrooms (cut into thick strips)


• 200-300g Lean pork - sliced, marinate with some corn flour, black sauce and light sauce


• 4-6 cloves Garlic - finely chopped


• 2 cups Rice


• Sesame seed oil (optional)


• Dark sauce (add more if you prefers darker colour)


• Light soy sauce to taste


• Water

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil and lightly fry the longbeans till about 70% cooked. Lift up.


2. Using the same wok, heat some oil or sesame seed oil and saute the chopped garlic till fragrant. Pour in the marinated meat and stir till about 70% cooked.


3. Add in the Chinese mushrooms, stir for a few minutes then add in the rice, black sauce and light soy sauce and continue to stir for a few more minutes. Then add in the fried longbeans and stir for a while before lifting up.


4. Put all ingredients into the rice cooker, add adequate water (like cooking normal rice) and cook like normal (follow your rice cooker's indicator).


5. Stir the cooked rice before serving.

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*You can also use chicken meat to substitute the lean pork.

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Seafood Tom Yam Kuay Chap

Yes! I finally made my first tom yam soup! Thought it might not taste as good as the authentic Thai tom yam but according to PiggyBeng and my MIL, it tasted just like the real thing lest the spiciness... :P

What actually made the soup super yummy was the fresh coconut juice which I added into the soup and boil to perfection!

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Ingredients

• 300g Fish bones


• 300g chicken bones


• 500g Prawns (medium to large size)


• 3 Squids (cut into rings)


• 200g sliced fish


• Kuay Chap (or any types of rice or glass noodles)


• Lots of Chili padi (mixed red and green and slightly smashed)


• 6 stalks Lemongrass (slightly smashed on the head area)


• 4-6 pcs Kaffir leaves


• 1pc Galangal - 2"x3" (partially smashed)


• 3 Onions (sliced into rings)


• 1 bulb Garlic (partially smashed)


• 4-5 Tomatoes (cut into 4 parts and removed the seeds)


• 3-4 Lime (squeeze out the juice)


• 3.5 litre Water


• 1 Coconut (juice only)


• Salt and Fish sauce to taste

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Methods

1. Boil the fish bones and chicken bones for an hour or 1.5 hours. Removed the bones.


2. In a wok, boil the prawns' shell with 1-1.5 cups of water for 15 minutes and sieve out the juice, put aside.


3. Throw in the lemongrass, galangal, garlic, onions, kaffir leaves and chili padi into the fish and chicken broth and let it boil for another 30 mins.


4. Add in the tomatoes and boil another 20 mins till the skins come off. Add in the prawns juice, lime juice and coconut juice. Stir and let it boil.


5. Add in salt or fish sauce to taste. Tom yam soup is ready.


6. In a saucepan, boil some water with a few drops of oil and cook the kuay chap or rice noodles till soften and drained till dry.


7. To prepare individual bowl, scoop some tom yam soup into a small saucepan, throw in the squid rings, prawns and sliced fish and let it boil. Add in the cooked kuay chap, let it boil and pour into a bowl. Served.