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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