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.