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.

.

.

Ingredients

• 7-8 stalks Choy-tam


• 1tsp chopped garlic


• 1tbsp Dried prawns


• 1 Chili padi


• Salt for taste

.

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.

.

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.

.

.


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)

.

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.

.

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! :)

.

.

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

.

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.

.

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....

.

.

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)

.

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.

.

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.

.

.



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.

.

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.

.

.

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

.

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)

.

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!

.

.

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

.

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.

.


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

.