Sweet Potato with Sago Dessert

I think this is the first time I post a dessert recipe here. I seldom make Chinese desserts or tong-sui as I don't really have a sweet tooth... yeah, I hardly eat those cakes and cookies I baked too! :P

I have been wanting to cook this particular tong-sui a few times but every time my sweet potatoes will either rot away for being left too long or I ended up steaming them. Then I bought some sago a couple of weeks back for some agar-agar and decided to try adding them into this particular dish. Well, it turns out well!

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Ingredients

• 2 Purple sweet potatoes (medium size - cubed)


• 1/4 cup Sago (washed)


• Water (approximately 1.5 to 2 liter)


• Gula melaka or Coconut sugar (sweetness depends on taste buds)


• Pandan leaves (optional)

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Methods

1. Skined the sweet potatoes and cut them into small chunks or medium cubes.


2. Boil water in a stock pot, toss in cubed sweet potatoes when it boiled and turn on low fire. If you have pandan leaves, bundle them up and toss in together. Let it boil for 30 mins to 45 mins stirring occasionally.


3. Add in the gula melaka and stir till all are melted.


4. Pour in the sago and let it boil for about 5 mins, continue to stir so they won't get lumpy.

Steamed Tangy Lady's Fingers

When I was preggy with Darrius, I had the worst morning sickness that made me lose almost 10kg during the first 4 months. I can hardly eat anything as I will purge after 30 minutes. It was a terrible feeling!

I have to stay with my mom most of the time as PiggyBeng was unable to take care of me while he is way for work so we agreed that it is best for me to stay with my parents so my mom can see to my needs. It was the best decision as my mom pampered me with all the healthy and yummy food she prepared for me.

From that time I learned this very simple dish that she used to cook for me when she saw nice and fresh lady's fingers in the market. Some people referred it as okra but we  normally call it lady's fingers. What my mom will do is just put them in a dish and let them steam inside the rice cooker with a little soy sauce and I can swear it tasted so good!

As I am getting one little fussy eater soon, I decided to make some modifications. I know Darrius loves sourish food (he told me he loves Asam Laksa!) so instead of just soy sauce, I chopped some garlic and saute it with chopped chilli and add some lemon sauce to the soy sauce and it turned out great! Ended up, Darrius wanted to drink the sauce but spitted out the lady's fingers complaining that they have too many seeds! 8)

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Ingredients

• 200-300g Lady's fingers or Okra (cut away the head and tail)


• 1tbsp Chopped garlic


• 1tsp Chopped red chili


• Light soy sauce


• Lemon juice

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Methods

1. Steam the lady's fingers for 5-7 minutes or till soft.


2. In a wok, heat up a little oil and saute the garlic and chili.


3. In a small bowl, add light soy sauce with lemon juice (add some water if you want to have more sauce) and pour over the sauteed garlic and chili, stir for a while till it boils and gently pour onto the steamed lady's fingers.

Braised Chicken Wings with Sweet Potatoes

I have not been doing a lot of creative cooking of late as Darrius is eating the same food as we are so I only cook dishes that are suitable for him to consume... less spicy and fried stuff on the table. The other thing to consider when cooking with toddlers in mind is, to have lot of sauces if there is no soup accompanying that particular meal. Sauce will helps to soften the rice so it is easier on the kids to chew and swallow.

Here is another very easy to cook dish that suits the kids since sweet potatoes are full of vitamins and nutrients. What I like about this dish is, the sweetness from the sweet potatoes penetrate into the chicken as well as the sauce making it so appetizing! :)

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Ingredients

• 1 Sweet potato (medium to large size - chunk)


• 6 Chicken wings (cut the drumplets and wings into 2 parts)


• 3 cloves Garlic (minced)


• Snowpeas/Snap peas (a few pieces - optional)


• 2 tbsp Light soy sauce (or according to preferred taste)


• 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce (or according to preferred tone)


• 1.5 cups Water


• Dash of pepper


• Corn flour solution (to thicken sauce)

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Method

1. Heat up wok with a little oil and gently pan fried the sweet potato chunks. Lift them up.


2. Add some more oil and pan fried the chicken wings till they turned brownish. Lift them up.


3. In the same wok, saute the minced garlic till fragrant and toss in the chicken wings, stir, add dark soy sauce and light soy sauce, stir and add in water. Covered and turn on low fire for and simmer for10 minutes stirring occasionally.


4. Toss in the sweet potato chunks, stir and continue to simmer on low fire for another 10 minutes.


5. When you are about to turn off the fire, toss in the sweetpeas/snap peas, stir, add in corn flour solution and stir till well mix. Cover and switched off the fire.

Salted Eggs Fried Rice

I bought some salted eggs a few months back (yeah, you read it right... a few months!!!) with the intention to cook 3 eggs porridge (porridge with 3 types of eggs; chicken egg, salted egg and century egg) but it did not materialized. PiggyBeng don't fancy having porridge as he said it don't fill him up enough to last through the night. Therefore, the salted eggs has been sitting there...

Not sure how long can we actually keep salted egg... Luckily it did not turned bad. I actually called my mom up to ask her if I can still eat them. She told me to check the 'fragrance' of the eggs and they seemed to smell fine to me so I told her should be safe to be consumed...

So happened I have some left over rice so decided to clear all the salted eggs (I have 2) using them to do some fried rice. And it turned out... yummy! :)

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Ingredients

• 1 big bowl/plate Cooked rice (cold or over night)


• 100g Chicken breast meat (cube and marinade with some salt, oil, pepper and corn flour) 


• 1tbsp Minced garlic


• 2 Salted egg yolks (chopped)


• Some red and green capsicum


• 2 Chinese mushrooms (soaked and cute into cubes)


• Some Japanese cucumber (cut into cubes)


• Salt/soy sauce for taste

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Method

1. Heat up wok with some oil and saute the capsicum, mushroom and cucumber cubes, lift up and set aside.


2. Add some more oil and saute the garlic and chicken breast till brownish, lift up.


3. Add a little more oil to the wok again and toss in the chopped salted egg yolks, stir for a while, add in the rice and mix well.


4. Toss all the sauteed items and stir till all well mixed.


5. Add in taste (salt/soy sauce/pepper) to preference.

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Note
You can actually put in your own preferred ingredients

Steamed Minced Pork with Preserved Mustard

All of us just recovered from a terrible flu earlier so I am still preparing simple dishes which are mild and don't require much frying. In fact I did a lot of steaming which is less oily and less heaty too.

This dish is one one of my childhood favorite too. When I was working, I normally cook simple dishes like this that require very little preparation time since it will be so late when I reach home but I always yearn for home cooked food, that I will troubled myself even after a tired day in the office.

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Ingredients

• 200g Minced pork (not too fatty but can't be too lean either)


• 1-2 slices Preserved Mustard or Ham-choi (finely chopped)


• 1-2 tsp Corn starch (to hold the minced pork and preserved mustard together)


• Salt or light soy sauce for taste


• A  few drops of oil (to make the meat smoother)


• Water

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Methods

1. Add minced pork and finely chopped preserved mustard together with 1-tsp corn starch.


2. Add in some salt to taste and placed it on a not too deep set plate. Smothen the top and add some water before sending it to steam.


3. Steam till the suace (water) starts to boil or you can poke the centre with a chopstick after 10 minutes in steamer to make sure the meat is thoroughly cooked.

Pan Fried Soy Sauce Chicken

Ever since I started doing Bento, I have to find some easy to prepare dishes so I can put up my Bento in a jiffy. Then again, I have to consider whether my boy will like what I prepared for him... so sometimes it can be brain draining just to think!

It was a relief that my boy is not that fussy with food and would gladly gobble down what I packed for him... well, certain standards must apply lar! *grin*

This dish is one simple ones which I used to do back in my uni days when food are expensive when you are living on a budget. I was lucky I stayed with my aunt back then, and though she will prepare meals for me most of the time but I do not want to be such a free loader all the time so I will cook when ever I can... with stuff I bought myself.

And in Down Under, BBQ is a very common occasion so this dish is that flexible... can be pan fried as well as grill or roast!

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Ingredients

• 3 Chicken drumsticks (cut lines so heat can penetrate)


• Light soy sauce (enough to cover when marinade)


• 1-1.5tbsp Dark soy sauce (or enough to cover all the chciken)


• Dash of pepper

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Methods

1. Clean all the chicken drumsticks and cut lines on the thick area so heat can penetrate into the meat while you pan fried especially if you are using frozen chicken.


2. Marinade the chicken drumsticks with all the ingredients and let them sit for at least an hour before frying.


3. If you are using frozen chicken, after you are done frying, put them in the microwave for 1 minute high just to make sure the drumsticks are thoroughly cooked inside (you will see some blood oozing out).


4. There will be some sauce left after you fried the chicken which you can cook them after you lift up the chicken from the wok and glaze them after you boiled them on the wok till they thicken up.

Steamed Banana Cupcakes

I have 2 over-ripe banana sitting on my table and I really wanted to use them to make banana cake but 2 is not enough for the recipe I have so what shall I do? Another was, I was lazy to bring out the mixer coz I already going to have some cupcake projects later in the week... excuses.. excuses... :mrgreen:

Then I remember I came across a few sites about making steam cakes and I thought, why not? So I went to google about 'Steamed Banana Cakes' and first on the list was from Chow Times.

Was extremely happy that the ingredients called for the recipe are so easy! Save me lots of time and electricity too! And of course they are less oily (no butter) and not heaty at all! The only thing that needs to compromise is of course the texture and taste... got to eat them fresh!

I took the opportunity to try out my silicon cups... just to test them if they can take the heat... and yes they did! :) The cakes turn out to be quite springy... like sponge... hehheehe

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Ingredients

• 2 ripe banana, mashed (if you have large banana, use one will do)


• 1 egg


• 1 teaspoon oil


• 2 teaspoons water


• 2 teaspoons baking powder


• 1/4 cup icing sugar (I used brown sugar)


• 100g (close to 1 cup) all-purpose flour


• 2 tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips or raisins (optional)

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Methods

1. Mashed the bananas and leave aside.


2. Mix the rest of the ingredients in another mixing bowl and it is well mixed add in the mashed banana.


3. Heat up the steamer and steam till all the banana cupcakes are cooked which is around 10-15 minutes.

Braised Chicken Rice in Sesame Seed Oil

I love One-Pot dish not only they are convenient and easy to prepare but full of flavors.

This is another one-pot dish that I often cook as the ingredients can be easily purchased. In fact I have most of them stuffed in my freezer! How convenient is that right? :)

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Ingredients

• 3 Chicken drumsticks (cut into about 4 pieces each)


• 2 cups rice (wash and sieve dry)


• 6-8 Dried mushrooms (soaked and sliced)


• 1 Chinese pork sausage (Lap cheong)


• 1/2 bulb Garlic (minced)


• 1" Old ginger (sliced)


• 2tbsp Sesame seed oil (1tbsp to marinate and 1tsp for frying)


• Dark soy sauce


• Light soy sauce


• Fish sauce


• Pepper to taste (optional)

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Methods

1. After cutting chicken, prop them into a deep bowl and marinade with dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, fish sauce, pepper and sesame seed oil.


2. Heat up wok with some oil + sesame seed oil, saute the ginger till brownish then add in the minced garlic and saute till fragrant. Toss in the rice, stir and add in the chicken pieces (together with the sauce) and continue to stir till all well mixed.


3. Add in the mushroom pieces and Chinese sausage slices and mix well. Lift them up and put into rice cooker, add sufficient water (cover all the rice mixture) and cook like normal.


4. Alternatively, you can put into the steamer and steam till the rice cooked.

Home Made Char Siew

When I was back in KL 2 months ago, my mom showed me how to do home made Char Siew (BBQ Pork) with the Lee Kum Kee Char Siew sauce. It was pretty delicious so I thought I'll try to make some when I'm back in Penang.

However, I did not have the Lee Kum Kee Char Siew sauce but I have some really nice pork belly sitting in my freezer so I thought, 'Why don't I concoct the Char Siew sauce myself?' It was pretty easy and only require a few ingredients.

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Ingredients:

• 300g Pork belly (get those that are not too lean or too fat)


• Black soy sauce (enough to cover the entire piece of pork belly)


• Light soy sauce (based on your own taste bud)


• 3tbsp Brown sugar


• A few dash of Fish sauce


• Sprinkle some pepper

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Methods

1. Marinade the pork belly with all the ingredients and leave it for about half a day or over night (if over night please put in the fridge)


2. Heat up the oven to about 200 degree Celsius  or you can you can heat up your frying pan with some oil and fry it on small fire till it is cook. For grilling, grill for about and hour, turning it every 20 or 30 minutes.


3. The sugar and black sauce will caramelize so do turn it every now and then so it won't stick to the frying pan and get burnt.


4. Cut them into slices. For added taste, I did some sauce of brown sugar, light soy sauce, black sauce sauce and a little corn starch which I cook them until sticky and glaze the Char Siew.

Stir-fry Preserved Mustard Head with Pork Strips

Normally we will cook soup with preserved mustard head but it is a little spicy for Darrius so I will boil non-spicy soup if I could. PiggyBeng loves the soup but the Lil' Master comes first in cases like these. :P

PiggyBeng bought a piece so I decided to do some stir-fry instead... at least can eat with white rice or plain porridge.

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Ingredients

• 1pc Mustard head (cut into thin strips)


• 150g Pork (not too lean and not too fat - cut into thin strips)


• A few pips of Garlic (chopped finely)


• Black soy sauce


• A few dash of Pepper


• Some water


• Chili padi - optional

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Methods

1. Cut the preserved mustard head and soak in a bowl of water for at least 30 minutes changing the water after a few minutes. This will wash away the saltiness.


2. Heat up wok and saute the chopped garlic till fragrant, toss in the pork strips and stir-fry till cook, add in the preserved mustard head strips.


3. After stirring for a while, pour in some black soy sauce and add a little water, stir and cover under a small fire. Simmer for at least 20 minutes before serving.


4. if you prefer to have a thicker sauce, add a little corn flour solution before removing from wok.

Tuna Macaroni

Most carbo food like rice and noodles will let you pile up on weight - most of the time so these days I tried to consume less of such food though they have been my favorite all these while! Need to give a thought to our bodies mah! :P

Since Darrius has been a huge pasta fan, I tried to come up with more recipes that hopefully will entice him to eat more besides the pasta. I introduce a varieties of pasta both in shapes and types to him and let him enjoy his meals with fun.

This recipe I learned from an ex-nightschool mate which she prepared for one of the BBQ nite when I was in Singapore. A very easy to prepare and can be eaten cold... so perfect for Bento or lunch boxes!

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Ingredients

• 1 can Tuna (chunk) in water or brie


• 250g Elbow pasta/macaroni


• 1 Hard boiled egg (smashed into small pieces)


• Button mushrooms (sliced a few)


• 2tbsp Mayonnaise


• 1/2 cup Corn kernels


• Raisins (yellow) for garnishing


• Pepper, black pepper and salt for taste


• Lemon juice to kill the fishy taste/smell


• French beans for garnishing (optional)


• Bacon bits for garnishing (optional)


• Sunflower kernels for garnishing (optional)

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Method

1. Boil half a sauce pan of wate, add some salt and oil to cook the pasta/macaroni. When cooked, test the softness before draining the water away.


2. Boil another pot of water for cooking the French beans, corn kernels and button mushrooms slices.


3. Pour the can of tuna (drain away water/brie) into a bowl, smash them up and add in the mayonnaise and mix them well together with smashed up hard boiled egg. Add in sliced button mushrooms.


4. Sprinkle pepper, black pepper and salt to desire taste. Squeeze some lemon juice to kill the fishy smell of the tuna.


5. Toss in raisins, sunflower kernels and bacon bits to garnish. Top with some French beans for presentation. Voila!

Seafood Fried Rice

Sorry that I have not been posting regularly here as I have too much to handle! I have quite a few photos lined up and are just waiting for me to finish up the recipes.

I love to do fried rice when I have extra left over rice from the night before. Sometimes I will even purposely cook more rice if I have ingredients for fried rice the next day.

One of the days, I managed to get some baby octopus from the afternoon market behind my house and was excited to cook them. PiggyBeng cooked some and I still have about half which I ended using them to cook Seafood Soba and this yummy seafood fried rice on a separate day.

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Ingredients

• 4 bowls of Cooked rice (refrigerated)


• 150g Prawns (shelled)


• 150g Baby octopus (cut into small chunks)


• 100g French beans (cut into 1/2" long)


• 2 Eggs


• Chopped garlic (optional)


• Bonito flakes for garnishing


• Salt/light soy sauce/pepper for taste

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil and gently stir fry the French beans till soft, lift up and set aside.


2. If you like to have garlic in your fried rice, using the same wok but add more oil and saute the chopped garlic until they are fragrant.


3. Break the eggs and continue to stir until eggs are 'fried'.


4. Toss in the prawns and baby octopus and stir until they are half cooked.


5. Toss the French beans back into the wok and mix them well with the rest of the ingredients.


6. Add in a few dash of salt/light soy sauce and pepper for taste.


7. Sprinkle some Bonito flakes as garnish.

Seafood Soba

I've always love noodles. In fact when I have nothing better to eat I will first think of cooking a packet of instant noodles to nurse my hunger. That means, I have a huge stock of instant noodles nestling in my kitchen. :mrgree:

Besides instant noodles, I will buy other types of noodles occasionally. One of my latest craze is Korean and Japanese noodles. I bought a packet of Soba sometimes back from Daiso during my last trip to Singapore. I have wanted to cook the cold version but my hubby is not a fan of cold noodles so I decided to make it hot instead.

During a visit to the afternoon market near my place, I found some baby octopus and bought a kilo. At home I found some frozen prawns my hubby bought and the idea hit me... why not some seafood Soba? This is definitely a healthier choice! My boy love his bowl of Soba too. Without the baby octopus of course...

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Ingredients

• 2/3 packet Buckwheat Soba


• 200g Prawns (shelled and leave tail unshelled)


• 200g Baby octopus (clean and cut into 4 sections)


• 150g Hong Kong choy sum


• 2tbsp Wakame (Japanese seaweed)


• 1.5L Water


• Fish sauce + pepper for taste

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Methods

1. Boil water in a medium large pot. Throw in the prawn shells and let it boil for 20 minutes so the soup will have a good aroma.


2. While waiting for the soup to be ready, heat up another pot of water in a medium saucepan. Add a little oil and sugar. When the water boil, blanch the Hong Kong choy sum till 90% cook and remove from pot. Using the same pot of boiling water, blanch the Soba till springy soft and set aside. Do the same to the Wakame.


3. Remove the shell from the soup.


4. While the soup continue to boil, toss in the prawns and the baby octopus till they are cook. Remove them from the soup and put aside. Add fish sauce and pepper


5. In a bowl, place some Soba and top with Hong Kong choy sum, prawns, baby octopus and Wakame. Pour enough soup to cover Soba before serving.

Herbal Chicken

This is another of my favorite dish which I have modified from the more 'difficult' version. A relative taught me how to make the Emperor Chicken which uses plastic and foil to wrap up before sending it to steam.

I find the usage of plastic (the glass paper used for craft) is not a healthy choice as we are not sure if they are considered as food grade. Hence, I omitted it. Steaming the chicken the way I'm doing it now does not compromise the taste that much and it is a more healthy alternative.

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Ingredients

• 1/2 Kampung chicken (farm run chicken) - cut into small pieces


• A few slices of Dang Gui (Angelica sinensis)


• A few slices of Yuk Chok (dried polygonatum)


• 1tbsp Wolfberries (Goji berries)


• Salt


• Water

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Methods

1. Wash, clean and rub some salt to the chicken and place in a deep set plate.


2. Place all the herbal ingredients all over the plate and add in enough water to cover the chicken pieces.


3. Steam for 15-20 minutes until chicken are thoroughly cooked. Serve.

Sweet Buttered Prawns

PiggyBeng likes to buy prawns once in a while if he sees good ones in the wet market that he frequents. He knows the prawns much better than me so I will let him do the buying most of the time.

So happened while watching a food show on TV one weekend, there is this restaurant that prepared a very easy prawn dish which is also one of their signature dishes... I decided to try it out since we have some prawns in the freezer.

It is a little unhealthy but the taste was really good!

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Ingredients

• 300g Medium prawns (cut away the legs)


• 3tbsp Margerine


• 3tbsp Sugar


• Pinch of salt (optional)


• Curry leaves (optional)

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Methods

1. Heat up wok and melt the margerine. Add in the sugar and continue frying.


2. Toss in the curry leaves (if you have) stir for a while before tossing in the prawns. Stir fry till the sauce starts to caramelized. Sprinkle with some salt if you like it to be saltier as margerine already contains salt.


3. Serve.

Papaya Pickles (Jeruk Betik)

Sometimes I will crave for those pickles and if I do buy them from the shop, I don't get too much. Why? They could be pricey (as most are quite cheap ingredients), not fresh (only God know's how long they have been kept) and taste funny (don't know what other preservatives they added in). Therefore, I try to learn to do my own if I really enjoyed them... and if I could get all the ingredients.

One of such is papaya pickles. I love them especially if they are extra spicy! Yeah, I love to put cili padi (bird eyes chili) to give me that extra kicks which those store bought usually don't have. I have made this a few times and some friends have been asking for the recipes so I decided to share it here.

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Ingredients

• 1 Papaya (the unripe - dark green color)


• Vinegar


• Sugar


• Salt


• Cili padi (to the spiciness you want)


• Hot boiling water

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Methods

1. De-skin the papaya, cut into smaller piece before slicing them using a slicer (for equal thickness).


2. Once they are done, put them in a big bowl (non-metal) and rub them with salt and let it stand for a few minutes. This process is to make the papaya slices crunchy.


3. Then boil a pot of hot water and pour over the sliced papaya and drain away the water after stirring for a few minutes.


4. In a glass bowl ( I used a big corning pot) place the sliced papaya and add enough vinegar and sugar to your taste before putting in the cili padi.


5. Cover the bowl and stir occasionally. Once it has reached room temperature put them in glass or plastic containers before storing them in the fridge.

Pan fried Salmon in Homemade Terriyaki Sauce

I hardly cook Salmon now as they can be a little costly. My PiggyBeng don't fancy them as he complaint that salmon is too oily. While I was preggy with Darrius, I ate a lot as I read from some medical articles that salmon has the highest amount of Omega 3 which is good for brain development.

Then while I was in Jusco during one of my shopping trip with Darrius, I decided to get a few slices for the both of us. And this is my fish dish...

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Ingredients

• 1 slice Salmon fillet


• 2tbsp Light so sauce (preferably the Kikoman special fragrant sauce)


• 1tbsp Sugar (I used brown sugar)


• 2tbsp Water


• Few dashes of ground black pepper


• Corn flour

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Methods

1. Wash salmon and dry it completely with a kitchen towel. Sprinkle some light soy sauce and corn flour lightly coating both surfaces. Heat up frying pan and pan fried on low fire. Remove from pan when both surfaces turn golden brown.


2. Using the same pan, add a little oil (1tsp) and pour in the mixture of light soy sauce, water, sugar and grounded black pepper and let it boil. The sugar will caramelized after a while and pour onto salmon fillet.

ABC Pasta Bosco Soup

I guess I have been neglecting this blog big time! I have been extremely busy minding my  demanding 'boss' and also the long stay in KL plus my cupcakes e-shoppe as business was quite good when I was in KL.

This is a dish I concocted after our meal at one of these Hong Kong Char-Chan-Teng or eateries. Bosco soup is extremely popular among the Hong Kong people. From my understanding, this particular dish/soup has something to do with the European/Portuguese influence. It tasted very much like the minestrone soup.

Normally these eateries or restaurants where this soup is served, they will use macaroni but I am cooking for little boss so I used the Alphabets noodles instead.

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Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Alphabets noodles (boil in a separate saucepan)


• 2.5 cups Water


• 1/2 stick Carrot (cubed)


• 1/2 stick Celery (cubed)


• 1 Onion (cubed)


• 1 Tomato (removed seeds and cubed)


• 15g Silveryfish


• 2tbsp Tomato puree/paste (NOT ketchup)


• Sugar, salt and pepper to taste

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Methods

1. In a medium saucepan, saute the onion first with some oil. Then saute the carrot, celery and tomato cubes till fragrant and add in the Silveryfish and stir for a while.


2. Pour in the water, stir till it starting to boil and add the tomato puree. Let it boil for a while.


3. Drain the alphabets noodles and pour into the tomato soup and continue to let it boil for a further 5 minutes or so. Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste.


4. Sprinkle some dried herbs before serving.

Braised Chicken with Chinese Mushroom

Here is another easy and yummy chicken dish. I've always like braised chicken dishes as they are just so simple to cook and great for toddlers. Previously I'd put up a similar recipe but instead of chicken I used pork.

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Ingredients

• 3pcs Chicken drumsticks (cut into smaller pieces)


• 4-5pcs Chinese Mushrooms (soak and cut into half)


• 4-5 pips Garlic (coarsely chopped)


• 1x1" Old Ginger (sliced)


• Dark soy sauce


• Light soy sauce


• Oyster sauce


• Water

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with oil (2-3 tbsp) and saute the ginger slices and chopped garlic till fragrant.


2. Put in the chicken pieces and stir fry for 2 minutes then add in mushroom and dark soy sauce. Continue to stir before adding in water (around 1 -1.5 cup), stir and cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes.


3. Add in light soy sauce and oyster sauce (depending on your taste) and continue to stir.


4. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes or so before serving.

Spagetti with Chicken Meat Balls in Olive Pasta Sauce

When one cooks with a toddler in mind, there will always be pasta dishes as these are one of the kids' all time favorite. Like any other toddler, Darrius has also started asking for pasta or any noodles dishes. As compared to rice vermicelli or rice sticks, pasta or spaghetti are the healthier choice.

Though preparing such dishes can be time consuming sometimes, but when you see your kids gobble them down, the work are all worth it! :)

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Ingredients

• 100g Spaghetti (I used the wheat based)


• 120g Chicken pieces (use the thigh part as they will be more tender)


• Small section of Red and Green Capsicum (coarsely chopped)


• 1 Red onion


• 1 Chinese mushroom (soaked and cut into small cubes)


• 5tbsp Pasta Sauce (I used the one with olives)


• Salt and pepper for seasoning


• Some oil

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Methods

1. In a medium stock pot, boil half a pot of water with some salt (1tsp). When it boiling, put in your spaghetti and cook until desired softness.


2. Mince the chicken pieces and put in a bowl. Add in the chopped capsicums, mushroom and onions and mix with some salt and pepper and oil. Stir till they are well mixed. Then roll them into small balls.


3. In a frying pan or sauce pan, heat up with some oil and pan fried the chicken meat balls till golden brown. Lift them up when all are cooked.


4. In another sauce pan, heat up some oil and pour in the pasta sauce and stir till it is cook.


5. In a dish, put some of the cook pasta with the chicken meatballs on top. Then pour some of the pasta sauce over and garnish with some chopped capsicums.

Oyster Sauce Chicken with Potatoes

Since Darrius has started taking rice, I tried cooking more dishes that has abundance of sauce or gravy. This is so he can have those gravy to help soften the rice.

During my younger days, my mom used to prepare this particular dish for us too. It is easy and very appetizing especially for kids.

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Ingredients

• 3 Chicken drumsticks with thighs (cut to smaller pieces)


• 2 Potatoes (medium size cut into big chunks)


• 1 Onion (sliced)


• 3 cloves Garlic (smashed/chopped)


• 1/2" Old ginger (sliced)


• 2 tbsp Oyster sauce


• 1 tbsp Black soy sauce


• Water (depends on how much gravy you wanted)


• Light soy sauce for taste

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Method

1. Heat up wok with some oil and saute the ginger and garlic then the onion slices. When they  turned soft, add in the chicken pieces and stir vigorously.


2. Pour in the black soy sauce and continue to stir so the sauce covers all the chicken pieces. Next add in the potatoes chunks. Stir to get them well mixed.


3. Add in oyster sauce and water and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.


4. If you added too much water and the gravy is too watery, you can add a small amount of corn flour solution to thicken it.

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Mee Siam ala Malaysia

I apologize for the long and extended silence in this blog! There were so man things going on with the Lunar New Year, Valentine's and birthdays. Finally I got some time to give everyone some more ideas in the kitchen.

Can't remember when it started but my first encounter with Mee Siam was quite accidental. It was during an outing with some of m dad's colleagues in Port Dickson. I was not even 10 then! Gosh! How time flies! Since then I have been a great fan of Mee Siam ala Malaysia style. Why?

Well, I've lived in Singapore for more than 8 year and I can swear their Mee Siam and ours are quite different. First of all, we don't normally drench our Mee Siam with gravy or sauces. Though the gravy can be nice sometimes, I still prefer the dried version.

This recipe was adapted from Kuali but I made some modifications to suit our taste.

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Ingredients

(Serves 2)

• Half packet rice vermicelli or meehoon, soaked for five minutes and drained


• 200g beansprouts, remove root tips


• 250g medium-size prawns, shelled and remove dirt


• 6 pieces tau pok (tofu puff), sliced (tau kua is preffered)


• 100g chives, cut into 4cm-5cm lengths


• 1/4 cup oil


• 1 cup stock or water

Pound

• 3 cloves garlic


• 6 shallots


• 50g dried prawns


• 12 dried chillies, soaked

Seasoning

• 1 tbsp fish sauce

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Side dish

Grilled Turmeric Chicken

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Method

1. Heat oil in a wok and stir-fry ground ingredients until fragrant. Add prawns and stock, then bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes.


2. Add meehoon, chives and beansprouts. Stir for a while before mixing in the tau pok slices and toss the meehoon so it mixed well. Add in seasoning and a squeeze of lime juice and toss again.


3. Served with sambal belacan is highly recommended.

Keeping them Green

I think a lot of people often wonder how come the green vegetables they ordered at the restaurants always looked so green and fresh? Well, there's a trick to it that not many people know.

The few vegetables that we always want to maintain their freshness colors are such as broccoli, kale (kai-lan) and mustard (choy-sum).

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How to do it? Very simple. Boil enough water in a saucepan, add a few drops of oil and some sugar and wait till it boils. Toss in your green vegetables and boil till a little colors appear in the water. Lift them up. If too long in the hot water, they will ended up turning yellow!
You can then stir-fry or simply eat just like that...

Spare Ribs in Sour Plum Sauce

This is another very easy recipe adapted from the 'Mama Recipes' cookbook that we've bought. All you need to do is to all the ingredients and mix them with the spare ribs before sending it to the simmer.

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Ingredients

• 600g Spare ribs (ask the butcher to cut into 2" long for each piece)

To season with

• 1tbsp Garlic (chopped finely)


• 1tbsp Bean paste (tau-chu)


• 1 Red chili


• 5 Chili padi (optional)


• 4 Salted plums (mashed)


• 1tbsp oyster sauce


• 2 tbsp Sugar


• 1tbsp Plum Sauce


• 1/2 tbsp Corn flour


• A few drops of shallot oil (I used normal oil)

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Methods

1. Wash the spare ribs and season with the seasoning ingredients and mix well with ribs.


2. Arrange on a dish and simmer for 20-30 minutes on medium heat till ribs are soften.

Three Beans with Wakame Soup

For some quick healthy alternatives, I do make some simple and easy to boil soup. It's not those double boil soup where you need to boil for more than 2 hours. These, usually called  'kuan-tong' or simply translate to 'heat up the soup' in Cantonese.

What I normally do for such dish is to have some ingredients for the soup base as these type of soup do not requires spare ribs or chicken pieces. I substitute with dried anchovies and some soy beans. These two ingredients give the soup some nice sweet taste.

And most of all, it taste good and takes very little time preparing!

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Ingredients

• 1.5L Water


• 30g Dried anchovies (debone)


• 50g Raw soy beans


• 1" Ginger (sliced)


• 1/2 block Silken tofu (cut into small cubes)


• 2pcs Fu-chock (bean skins)


• 10g  Wakame (Japanese seaweed)


• Salt and pepper to taste

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Methods

1. Heat up stock pot with a little oil and fry the ginger slices till fragrant before adding the dried anchovies and stir a bit. Then slowly add in the water and soy beans and bring it to boil. Bring down the heat to small and let it boil for 30 minutes.


2. Remove all the ingredients (dried anchovies, soy beans and ginger slices) and leave the soup to continue boiling.


3. Add in the silken tofu, wakame and fu-chock and stir till they are soft.

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Fresh Fake Cordycept Soup

Most of us have seen the dried cordycepts but not many have seen the fresh and fake ones. The dried ones looked like dead caterpillars but the raw ones don't really look like one except for the sectioned body.

I've seen the actual plant of the fresh fake cordycept in Cameron Highlands but have never seen those that grew the dried ones. The dried ones which come from China is very costly but the fresh ones is rather cheap. I found them in Tesco and saw some of the stalls in the markets sell them too.

It is said that the cordycepic acid from cordycept Sinesis found in the dried cordycepts can relax the bronchia and strengthen the adrenal glands. They are normally used as health supplement food thus the high price.

 Fresh Cordycepts

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Ingredients

• 250g Fresh fake cordycepts


• 2.5L Water


• 300g Spare Ribs or Chicken pieces


• Some Wolfberries


• 8-10pcs Red dates

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Methods

1. Heat water until boil and add in the spare ribs or chicken pieces and let it boil for a few minutes.


2. Toss in the cordycepts and red dates and let it come to a boil before switching the flame to low. Boil for 1.5 hours.


3. Add in the wolfberries before you switch off the fire.

Stir-fry Celery with Spiced Pork

A few weeks back I suddenly have the crave for celery. Not sure why. Then I was thnking I can use them to cook porridge for Darrius too so I bought a bundle every time I go to Tesco.

I normally just do a clear stir-fry without any other ingredients except some chopped garlic but I decided to try with some spiced pork this time.  I've cooked it a few times before long time ago and  think the taste goes well together. I often stock up some dried stuff or can food so I can use them whenever I'm out of stuff to cook.

So, if you are stuck with some celery and don't know what to cook with, you can try this simple dish...

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Ingredients

• 1/2 bundle  Celery


•  1/2 can Spiced pork


• Water ( just a little to soften the celery)

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with little oil and stir-fry celery till half cooked. Toss in the spiced pork and continue to stir.


2. Add a little water (2 tbsp) and let it simmer with cover on for 2-3 minutes.


3. Served.

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Stir-fry Cauliflowers in Clear Sauce

Lately I've been buying a lot of cauliflowers as Darrius has the liking for them out of the blue. He saw us eating a few times and kept pestering me to give him some. I did not gave him in the past as I don't boil my cauliflowers till they are soft but leave it crunchy.

Since Darrius is keen to have some so I decided to boil all our cauliflowers real soft so he will have no problem chewing them (most of the time he will swallow without much chewing... lazy fella). Previously I don't put in that much water to make the sauce but I decided to create a clear broth just so Darrius can have some over his rice.

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Ingredients

• 1/4 Cauliflower


• Some Carrot slices


• Some Sweetpeas


• 100g Chicken breast meat (thinly sliced, marinate with corn flour and soy sauce)


• 2 cloves garlic (smashed/ finely chopped)


• Few slices of old ginger


• 1 cup Chicken broth (or use non MSG chicken cube)


• 1tsp corn flour mix with some water

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Methods

1. Boil some water with a few drops of oil and sugar in a saucepan. First put in the cauliflower chunks, then the carrot and lastly the sweetpeas and drain them after letting it boil for a few minutes. Put aside.


2. Heat up wok with some oil and saute the chopped garlic and sliced ginger till fragrant and add in the marinated chicken slices and stir till 50% cooked. Toss in the boiled vegetables and stir till they are well mixed.


3. Pour in the chicken broth or chicken cube and stir until the sauce boil before adding in the corn flour solution to thicken the sauce.

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Dried Chillies Pork

I will buy a big chunk of pork belly sometime from my regular butcher whenever I go by that market in the city. Then I will cut them into a few parts and freeze them. I will normally have 3 to 4 parts depending on the size he cut for me with each part just nice for 2 persons consumption.

Like usual, both PiggyBeng and myself prefer to have chilies dishes for most of our meals. And this is one of those easy to prepare pork dish which I normally cook.

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• 250-300g Pork belly (with skin intact)


• 3-4 Dried chilies (pre-soak with hot water and remove seeds)


• 1 Red chili


• 1tbsp Bean paste (tau-chu)


• 1tbsp Dark soy sauce


• 4 cloves Garlic (smashed/minced)


• 1" square Ginger (thinly stripes)


• Some water

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Methods

1. Wash the scums away from the pork skin (use a tweezer to remove any hair) then sliced thinly about 5mm thick.


2. Heat up wok with some oil (not too much as pork belly has lard) and saute the garlic, then the ginger, the chili and the dried chili till fragrant before toasting in the sliced pork belly.


3. Add in the bean paste and dark soy sauce and stir until all are well mixed. Add in a little water (if you need more sauce add more water) and let it simmer for 15 minutes or till the meat is tender.

Stir-fry Udon

Sometime back while I was shopping at Sunshine Far Lim (a local grown supermarket in Penang) I found some udon noodles which is not chilled. This was the first time I found unchilled udon as most of the time they have to be chilled or it will get bad very fast. I guess this unchilled version might have higher portion of preservatives hence it can be kept on regular shelves. I used to cook this dish very often when I was a still a single in Singapore.
Out of curiosity, I bought a packet home and try. The taste was the same as the regular udon in the chilled section. Good that it don't take up space in my fridge and it has a longer expiry date. Within the packet has 3 smaller packets.

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Ingredients

• 2  packets of Udon


• 1/4 of Red capsicum


• 1/4 of Green capsicum


• 1 Onion


• 150g Chicken breast meat (marinate with light soy sauce, corn flour and pepper)


• 2 cups Water


• Salt or light soy sauce or chicken cube or fish sauce for taste


• Wakame (seaweed) for garnishing

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil and saute the onion (cut half ring) till soft before adding in the sliced red and green capsicum. Stir for a few minutes.


2. Add in the chicken strips and continue to stir till half cooked before putting in the noodles.


3. Add water and mix well before cover it and simmer for a few minutes stirring occasionally.


4. The noodles will turn a little sticky after a while. Add in seasoning and stir till sauce appeared thicken.


5. Serve with boiled wakame while hot.

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'Lup-lup' Delight

This is one of my favorite dish which I learned from my mom many years back. I am not too sure if this dish is from Hakka, Hokkien or Cantonese influence as we are a mix of the three. What I like about this dish is the varieties of ingredients used and of course it is extremely yummy and appetizing but required a little more work.

Previously, like some 20 years ago, we can get really good 'tau-kua' or a type of bean curd which is harder than the normal tofu. They used to be yellow in color and has a very fragrant smell. However, I can't seem to find this particular 'tau-kua' anymore. Though they are still selling the same thing but the taste and texture is completely different.

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Ingredients

• 200g French beans (cut into small piece of 1.5cm)


• 2pcs 'Tau-kua' - hard bean curd


• 150g Lean pork or pork belly (not too fatty ones) - cubed


• 2pcs Red chilies


• 150g Raw peanut (toasted with skin removed)


• 10g Preserved black beans


• 3 cloves Garlic (minced)

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil and lightly fry the French beans and tau-kua separately. Lift them up and put aside.


2. Add some more oil into the wok and stir-fry the pork cubes until 50% cook. Lift up and put aside.


3. If the wok has not enough oil, add a little bit more and saute the garlic, add in the red chilies (squares) and stir for a while before throwing in the preserved black beans and continue to stir.


4. Add in the pork cubes, French beans and tau-kua and stir further for another few minutes till the pork is thoroughly cooked.


5. Before you life them up, throw in the roasted peanuts and stir.

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Long Beans with Salted Fish

This is another emergency recipe that I've came out with. Like what I've mentioned before, I will buy beans (long-beans, French beans, Snake beans) to keep almost every week for those 'just in case I don't know what to cook' occasion. At such time, I will rummaged throw my fridge for stuff that I can use and these beans always come in very handy as they are so versatile.

You can stir-fry, braised, boil, steam and even fried them! The possibilities are endless if you have the creativity to use them. The other reasons why I like to buy and keep them as they have a slightly longer shelf life as compared to other vegetables if you keep them in the right way.

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Ingredients

• 200g Long Beans (cut into 4cm strips)


• 1" square Salted fish (use the Kurau/Cod fish type) - sliced


• 2 cloves Garlic (finely chopped)

• Salt and pepper to taste

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil and lightly fry the long beans till about 70% cook. Lift up and put aside.


2. Add more oil into the wok and saute the salted fish slices till it turns sandy, put on one side of the wok.


3. With the balance oil in the wok, saute the garlic till fragrant before mixing with the salted fish and stir.


4. Throw in the fried long beans and stir well for a few minutes, sprinkle with some salt and pepper before serving.

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Rock Sugar Pork Ribs

Happy New Year to all of you my dear Recipes Finders!

To start off the year, I am sharing with you another recipe from the Mama Recipes book which we have bought last month. This is one of the easiest pork ribs recipes as it required very little ingredients and it taste really nice.

I have modified a little from the original recipe as I found it too dry. I have added some water which helps to soften the meat and it did not dry up easily as the sauces from the seasoning is not enough to give moisture to the meat.

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Ingredients

• 600g Spare ribs


• 50g Rick sugar (crushed)

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Seasoning

• 1tbsp Light soy sauce


• 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce


• 1 tbsp Oyster sauce


• 1tbsp Garlic (chopped/minced)


• 1 cup Water

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Methods

1. Marinade all the spare ribs with the seasoning for about an hour.


2. Heat up wok with some oil (2tbsp) and fry the ribs for about 15 minutes adding little water as your stir them so the will not dry up. Use medium fire and cover.


3. Then add in the crushed rock sugar and continue to stir till the sugar caramelized. Make sure your rock sugar are finely crushed or else it will not melt fast enough.


4. Lift up when the ribs look sticky.

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