Japanese-Style Potato Salad

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Most people believe that what you bring over to the next year will continue to stay for the rest of the year.  With barely 2 hours left to go before bidding goodbye to 2009, I am trying hard to complete as much as I possibly can just so that "procrastination" will not stick to me in 2010 too often and hopefully less leftover tasks to tackle.  So here I am bashing away on my MacBook working hard to put up this post because the photo has been sitting in the compact flash card for way too long.

The last time I made this salad dish was... hmmmm... eons ago that I cannot remember when.  This recipe originated from my mum-in-law and I believe a Japanese friend of hers gave it to her.  It is a handy recipe to have - good for parties and special occassions, a definite crowd pleaser.  It keeps well overnight and can therefore be prepared a day beforehand.  We had a potluck party in the office recently and the first thing that came to mind was this salad.  The whole pot was wiped clean before the lunch was over.

This is really simple to put together but in order to bring the best out of it a lot of patience is needed because the ingredients need to be diced finely (like all things Japanese, "delicate" is the operative word!).  Somehow the taste is odd when the ingredients are chunky.


Ingredients:


  • 6 medium-sized Russet potatoes
  • 1 stick of carrot
  • 5 eggs
  • Mayonnaise (I use a mixed of Japanese Mayo and Kraft Mayo)
  • 2 tablespoons of white vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons of white sugar


    Preparation:


    • Bring a big pot of water to boil and place potatoes in.  Allow potatoes to boil until soft.
    • Place eggs in another pot and bring to boil.  Allow eggs to cook for 10 minutes.  Turn off heat and cover the pot.  Let the eggs continue to sit in the hot water for another 10 minutes before removing the eggs from water.  This is a way to prevent the greyish ring forming around the yolk.
    • In the meantime, dice carrots finely.  Cook in boiling water till soft and set aside.
    • Once the eggs are done, remove shell.  Halve the eggs and scoop out the egg yolk.  Dice the egg white finely.
    • Peel potatoes and dice finely.
    • Using a big mixing bowl, mash and break up the egg yolks with a tablespoon.  Add in vinegar and sugar.  Mix well until a smooth paste is formed.
    • Pour in egg white, carrots and potatoes.
    • Top with Mayonnaise.  A sinful amount is need to get it to the right consistency.
    • Mix all ingredients together.
    • More Mayonnaise to be added if required.
    • Transfer to serving dish, cover and chill.
    • Can be served with shrimps or Japanese cucumber on the side.


    Number of Servings: 6 to 8

    Celery can be added to this salad dish for added crunch.  Just dice and boil.  Mix in with all ingredients during preparation stage.

    Fried Kway Teow - Take 2

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    This is an extremely overdue post which I have been sitting on for weeks.  I gave the excuse that I am flat out from all that is happening both at work and home front and I should cut myself some slack.  Now that the busy November is over, Christmas tree is up and Christmas shopping and wrapping are done all within a week there is no more reason to continue to slack.

    Because this was made so many weeks ago I cannot quite recall the exact ingredients that went in or the steps and there is nothing to make reference to only because everything was done based on gut-feel.  But this is what and how I think it should be....


    Ingredients:

    • 300 gm fresh yellow noodles
    • 300 gm fresh kway teow
    • 100 gm fish cake (sliced diagonally)
    • 4 eggs
    • Few stalks of spring onion (cut into 2-inch length)
    • Few cloves of garlic (minced)
    • 4 Chinese sausages (sliced diagonally)
    • 200 gm bean sprouts (tailed removed)
    • Kecap manis
    • Light soya sauce


    Preparation:

    • Blanched the noodles and kway teow slightly if they are not the fresh type to loosen the clumps.
    • Heat wok and add oil, followed by garlic once the oil is hot.
    • As soon as the garlic gets fragrant, stir in Chinese sausage and allow it to cook until the sausages release its aroma.
    • Throw in bean sprouts, kway teow and noodles.
    • Once the noodles and kway teow starts to cook, season with kecap manis and light soya sauce to taste.  Mix well.
    • Push the noodles to one side of the wok and add the eggs. Using the spatula, stir to break the eggs and quickly cover the eggs with the noodles.
    • Add in spring onion 15 seconds later and give the noodles a quick stir to mix.


    Number of Servings: