Braised Mushrooms with Sea Cucumber

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Mushroom

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Ingredients:

• 300 gm sea cucumber (pre-soaked and sliced thickly)
• 10 dried mushroom (soaked overnight)
• 2 pieces of scallops (pre-soaked)
• 5 slices of ginger
• 3 gm fatt choy (pre-soaked, snipped a few times to break up the clump)
• 2 stalks of spring onion)
• 1 ltr of chicken stock
• 1 tbsp potato flour mixed with 1 tbsp of water

Seasoning:

• 2 tbsp of oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• 1 tsp of sugar 
• Dash of pepper
• 1 tbsp shaoxing wine

Preparation:

• Heat oil and fry ginger until fragrant.
• Add in mushroom and stir well.
• Add in dried scallops and sea cucumber.  Fry for a minute or two.
• Mix in seasoning.
• Pour in chicken stock and let it boil.
• Reduce heat and let simmer for 45 minutes until sea cucumber is slightly softened.
• Add in fatt choy and spring onion.
• Simmer for another 3 to 4 minutes and thicken with potato starch.

Number of servings: 4 to 5

Heng Hua Beehoon (兴化米粉)

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Noodles

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 Ingredients:

• Choy sum (cut 1 inch long)
• Chinese parsley (cut into 1 inch long)
• 50 gm dried shrimp (soaked and pounded/minced)
• 12 pieces of tau pok (sliced into 1 inch long)
• 500 gm pork belly (julienned)
• 6 cloves of shallots (minced) 
• Heng hwa beehoon (no soaking required)
• 10 pieces of dried mushroom (soaked overnight and julienned)
• 200 ml of water (reserved from soaking of dried shrimp)
• 1.5 ltr of chicken stock (with extra on the side)

(weight of ingredients purely based on estimation.)

Preparation:

• Heat oil. Add in shallot, allowing it to brown.
• Add shrimp and mix well.
• Lower heat slightly and add in pork belly. 
• Once the pork belly is half cooked, mix in the mushroom, followed by tau pok.
• Add in around 1.5 ltr of chicken stock.
• Mix in choy sum and parsley.
• Season to taste with salt.
• Add bee hoon in batches, allowing the bee hoon to soak up the stock.
• More chicken stock can be added if the mixture is drying before all bee hoon are well cooked. 

Number of servings: 10 to 12

Sweet and Sour Pork (咕嚕肉)

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Pork

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One of my favourite dish and had been thinking of trying my hands on it for a long time now.

“Research” has thrown up very varied recipes. Not surprising since it does often look and taste a little different even at various restaurants and eating places. I did a mash of what I think might work.

Putting this down for reference for now. The taste department got a tick but the meat wasn’t crispy enough in my opinion. Need to try and coat the pieces individually with corn flour and plain flour rather than mixing the flour in and see if it works better.

Ingredients:

• 500gm Pork Collar (cut into bite-size cubes)
• ½ onion (cut into cubes)
• 1 tomato (seeds removed and cut into cubes)
• 1 mid-size capsicum (seeds and stem removed and cut into cubes)
• 3 to 4 slices of canned pineapple (cut into wedges)

Marinate:

• 1/3 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• A dash of white pepper
• ½ tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons corn flour

Sauce:

• 1½ tablespoons white vinegar
• 2½ tablespoons tomato sauce
• 4½ tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon light soya sauce
• ½ tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 to 3 tablespoons syrup from canned pineapple

Thickener:

• 2 leveled tablespoons of potato flour
• 150 ml of water

Preparation:

• Mix marinating ingredients except corn flour to pork. Add in corn flour thereafter and leave to marinade for at least 1 hour.
• Deep fry pork in batches until golden brown. Set aside to drain off excess oil.
• Heat oil in work and stir fry onion. Add in capsicum when onion starts to turn translucent.
• Stir in pineapple and tomato when capsicum is almost cooked, and leave the mixture to cook slightly.
• Pour in sauce mixture and stir to combine.
• Turn the heat down and add in thickener.
• Leave to simmer until the sauce thickens.
• Serve over rice.

Number of Servings: 4 to 5 pax

Chicken Congee (鸡丝粥）

Posted by Vivian in Chicken, Chinese

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This is probably the third time I have ever made porridge for the family because asking the boys in the family to eat that is akin to making them swallow poison.

We had initially booked ourselves in for a Japanese buffet today since it was a public holiday.  Unfortunately, Matty had fallen sick and we decided to have something light for lunch instead.  Since I hardly stock too much ingredients at home, this was what I could come up with. Usually I will make soup and add in macaroni or mee sua when someone is not feeling well at home.  I figured that the objective is to get the patient to eat rather than to put him off and reject all food.  So no point forcing it.  

After today, it will probably be another 5 to 10 years before I make another pot of porridge.

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken drumsticks
• Chicken bones for added flavour (if available and desired)
• Few stalks of spring onion bulb
• 2 to 3 slices of ginger
• 3/4 cup of rice (best to soak overnight)
• Few stalks of spring onion (finely chopped)

Preparation:

• Bring about 2.5 litres to 3 litres of water to boil in a pot.
• Add in chicken drumsticks, chicken bones, spring onion bulbs and ginger.
• Allow the soup to boil for 10 minutes before lowering the heat and let the soup continue to boil for another 35 to 40 minutes.
• Season soup with salt before turning off the heat.
• Once the soup is done, remove the chicken and set aside.
• Discard bones, ginger and spring onion bulb .
• Strain the soup to remove excess oil.
• Add rice to soup and let it boil for 10 minutes before lowering the heat.  Allow it to boil for another 30 minutes.  Stir the mixture every now and then to prevent the congee from sticking to the bottom of the pot.  More water or chicken stock can be added if the congee appears too thick.
• In the meantime, shred the chicken and set aside.
• Season with more salt or light soy sauce if desired.
• Stir in the shredded chicken to the congee.  A small portion can be set aside and served by the side or topped on congee before serving.
• Sprinkle with spring onion and serve hot.
• Other ingredients like fried shallot, white pepper or sesame oil can be added on top of congee before serving.

Number of Servings: 4

Seafood Crispy Noodles (海鲜生面)

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Noodles, Seafood

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One miserable post for the year thus far… that’s truly a record low!

Planning a meal has been quite a challenge this year. Being pressed for time on most days is only but one reason. Logistic arrangements, from transportation for grocery shopping to other activities taking priority on most weekends, complicate matters as well. So it has been “back to basics”, and nothing fancy has came out from the humble kitchen of mine for many moons now. I used to bookmark interesting recipes and will attempt to get to it when I find the opportunity to. Convinced myself to stop doing that because it will only make me more depress with an ever growing list, as if a promise made to own self that I couldn’t keep to.

Even the recipe below is nothing terribly exciting - same recipe for Hor Fun except for some very slight changes. At the very least, it satisfy myself that I won’t end the year with only one entry!

Ingredients:

• 5 pieces of crispy noodles 
• 200 gm of lean pork or chicken fillet (sliced)
• 1 medium size squid (sliced) 
• 2 fish cake (sliced) 
• 15 medium-sized prawn 
• 1 bunch of choy sum 
• 4 cloves of garlic (diced) 
• 5 cups of chicken stock 
• Oyster sauce 
• Light soy sauce
• Sesame oil 
• 2 eggs (lightly beaten) 
• Cornstarch (4 tablespoons of cornflour mixed with a small bowl of water)
• Cornflour

Preparation:

• Marinate both chicken/pork and prawns with corn flour, sesame oil and light soy sauce. 
• Heat up oil  and stir-fry garlic. 
• Add chicken to pan and stir-fry until it is almost done and add in prawns and squid.
• Remove ingredients from pan when cooked. 
• Add chicken stock, 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce and 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce to pan. Bring to boil. 
• Add in choy sum and fish cake.
• As soon as the choy sum is cooked, lower heat and add in cornstarch and bring to boil.
• Once the sauce thickens, return all ingredients back to pan. 
• Turn off heat and stir in beaten egg. 
• Dish gravy over noodles. 

Number of Servings: 5

Braised Ee Fu Noodles with Conpoy (瑤柱干烧伊府面)

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Noodles

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Finally after so long, I get to put on a new posting. I seemed to be running out of luck with my photos lately and often ended up chucking the whole lot. It was either due to the lack of natural lighting or the entire composition just doesn’t look right and the photos turned out to be in a total mess. Plus, I haven’t sighted any new recipes recently to get me excited and had been working perfectly fine just recycling what I had collected in the past.

Actually this recipe is just a variation to the Ee Fu Noodles I posted on months back. Some time ago, I bought a packet of Ee Fu Noodles with conpoy that cost me $30 and could barely feed two. I was really expecting something double that size If not for the free cash voucher I bought it with, I would have let out a big and long ouch. What’s more, there were only 2 miserable dried scallops in that box of noodles. I know dried scallops are expensive but still I felt cheated.

I decided that I was too cheapstake to pay $30 bucks for something that would only cost me half the price for double that portion if I whip it up in my own kitchen. And what’s more, a recipe that is almost idiot-proof.

The only additional step to the original recipe is to add in the shredded dried scallops with the other ingredients during the frying process. Simple as that.

6 to 7 mid-sized dried scallops were soaked overnight, and shredded using finger tips just before cooking.

Dried scallop also known as conpoy is viewed as a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.
Often added to congee and soup for added flavor

Cantonese Style Soy Sauce Chicken (酱油鸡）

Posted by Vivian in Chicken, Chinese

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Sometime back I attempted this same dish (the recipe came from some source that I cannot recall by now) which turned out to be an utter failure and got tossed out of the window... I mean the recipe not the chicken!

I guess that I wasn't passionate enough and didn't continue in my pursuit for the right recipe until recently when I got lucky and managed to find the one without much fuss.

To round up the meal, I paired the chicken off with Hong Kong style egg noodles and Choy Sum, drizzled with the sauce leftover from stewing the chicken and made it "See Yao Gai Min" （酱油鸡面）

The following recipe is adapted from Rasa Malaysia.

Ingredients:

• 10 chicken drumsticks
• 2-inch ginger (skin peeled and lightly pounded)
• 4 cloves garlic (lightly pounded)
• 2 stalks scallions (cut into 2-inch lengths)
• 2 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick (about 2-inch length)
• 200 ml of light soy sauce
• 150 ml of dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
• 3 dashes white pepper powder
• 4 tablespoons of white sugar
• 4 cups water

Preparation:

• Add all ingredients (except the chicken) into pot and bring to boil over high heat for 15 minutes. 
• Add the chicken into the pot and boil over high heat for another 10 minutes. 
• Lower the heat and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.
• If possible, leave chicken in the soy sauce mixture for at least an hour to soak in the flavor.

Wantons - the improved version (云吞)

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Pork

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Since the last post on wantons, I have gone on to make this repeatedly and experimented with different tweaks by adding different ingredients or condiments.  By far this are the best tweaks combined to deliver the best result:

Tweak #1 - Instead of cooking the wantons in a big pot of soup, use chicken broth.  The wanton skin takes on a different flavour.

Tweak #2 - Add minced shrimp to the minced pork for a better bite.  Mix well and preferably with (clean) hands in a kneading motion.

Tweak #3 - Replace ginger water with concentrated chicken stock.

Steamed Tofu with Minced Meat

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Tofu

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I personally find that the hardest dishes to get to perfection are usually the simple fanfare.  Take for instance, frying an omelette to the perfect hue and flipping it over without breaking the egg apart, or making an onsen tamago with the right consistency - runny yolk with harden egg white, and peeling the shell off without  nicking the egg (a separate post will be dedicated to my onsen tamago soon).

Egg aside, my main lead for this post is just as bad.  Getting the tofu out of its packaging in one whole piece without breaking a corner off is harder than stir-frying sliced beef to the right doneness!  Unfortunately, the tofu didn't turn out to be as presentable as I had pictured as a result, but at least I wasn't disappointed with the taste. 

This recipe was inspired by my mum.  It was one of those quick-fix dish that she fed me and my siblings with when we were little.  No fuss, low budget but full of proteins.  I tweaked it a little by making a base sauce to go along with the tofu, but otherwise it is still fine on its own.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of tofu (either sliced into 8 pieces or used as it is)
• 100 gm of minced meat (pork of chicken works fine)
• 1/2 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of cornflour
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1 packet of Shimeji mushroom (roots removed and separated)
• 150 ml of chicken broth or water
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 100 ml of cornstarch (100 ml of water with 1 tablespoon of cornflour)

Preparation:

• Marinate minced meat with light soy sauce, sesame oil and cornflour for at least 30 minutes.
• Spread the minced meat evenly on top of tofu.
• Steam tofu for 10 minutes or until the minced meat is thoroughly cooked.
• In the meantime, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in frying pan and add in garlic.
• Add mushroom to pan and stir fry until well-cooked.
• Pour in oyster sauce and chicken broth and mix well. 
• Lower the heat and drizzle in cornstarch.  Let simmer until the sauce thickens.
• Once the tofu is done, remove from steamer and transfer to serving plate.
• Ladle sauce over tofu and serve.

Steamed Minced Meat on the spoon for someone who thinks that he will get poisoned for eating tofu!


And the kids asking that I take a photo of them with the minced meat.....

Braised Ee-Fu Noodles (干烧伊府面)

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Mushroom, Noodles

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I need to declare that there is a shortage for chives in the market right now because it took me 2 trips to 2 supermarkets before I laid my hands on a bunch... and it was the last packet left on the shelf.  Tough luck to the person who came after me... whoever he or she is.  I can't believe that this is happening to me even after lowering my expectations and willing to settle for chives instead of yellow chives (which is really what this recipe calls for).

Despite replacing the yellow chives with chives, the taste is still close enough and I really couldn't tell the difference.  At least to me... I didn't think it was a great deal even though I had deviated from the original recipe.


Ingredients:

• 3 pieces of Ee-Fu noodles
• 100 gm bean sprouts (head and tail removed)
• 2 packets of enoki mushrooms (pulled and separated apart)
• 8 pieces of fresh shitake mushrooms (stalk removed and sliced thinly)
• 5 stalks of yellow chives (julienned diagonally across about 1 inch long)
• 3 to 4 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 4 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon of Shaoxing Wine
•  2 cups of chicken broth
• Dark soy sauce

Preparation:

• Combine oyster sauce, sugar, Shaoxing wine and chicken broth to make braising sauce.
• Heat wok with 3 tablespoons of oil and 1/2 tablespoon of sesame seed oil.
• Add garlic to wok and fry briefly.
• Add in bean sprouts, chives and mushrooms and fry for 1 to 2 minutes.
• Pour in braising sauce and let simmer for another 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add Ee-Fu noodles into mixture.  The noodles will start to soften due to soaking in the braising sauce.
• Slowly drizzle some dark soy sauce (about 2 to 3 tablespoons) over the noodles and stir to combine well.
• Continue to stir occasionally to ensure that noodles are evenly coated with braising sauce.  Once done, there will not be much sauce left.
• Top with more chives as garnish before serving.

Number of Servings: 4

"Braised Ee-Fu noodles is a typical noodle dish served towards the end of a Chinese wedding banquet."

Sesame Oil Chicken (麻油鸡)

Posted by Vivian in Chicken, Chinese

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It has been a really busy month both at home and office and I am making use of that as an excuse for taking so long (like almost 4 weeks) to post this up.

Well at least that is just one of the "reasons".  Partly also because I wasn't quite motivated to keep this recipe.  There is nothing wrong with this dish, I adore it because it is so flavourful and sesame oil itself is a good enough reason to make me want to eat it over and over again.  I go crazy over sesame oil to the extent that I can have a bowl of porridge covered with sesame oil resembling an oil slick or my chee cheong fun overdosed with sesame oil, and people around can feel so grossed out just by the sight of it.

Unfortunately, I have my suspicion that heating sesame oil over fire gives Elaina a bad cough and which was what happened on that fateful day when I made this.  She couldn't stop coughing for a few hours and it went on until after the house was thoroughly aired.  She had a similar episode once in an eatery not too long ago and we couldn't quite figure out the reason.  My guess now is that sesame oil is the suspect here.  She is fine if the sesame oil is added as an ingredient but not when used in place of cooking oil.

I reckon it will be a while before I attempt this again.  Probably when Elaina is slightly older and her airway is less sensitive, or when she becomes a mother and I need to make this as a confinement food for her LOL.

This recipe originated from Rasa Malaysia, and reproducing it here for easy reference.  The only tweak I made was to add some cornstarch towards the end to thicken the sauce slightly.  As usual, I like my dish to be more saucy than normal.


Ingredients:

• 3 chicken drumsticks (chop into 3-4 pieces each, bone-in)
• 2-3 inches knob of ginger (peeled and cut into thin strips)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine or Chinese rice wine
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 dashes white pepper powder

Preparation:

• Heat up a wok over high heat and add the sesame oil.
• When a swirl of smoke appears from the wok and the oil is fully heated, add the ginger strips and stir fry until light brown or aromatic.
• Add chicken to the wok and stir fry for about 10-15 seconds before adding the soy sauce, oyster sauce, wine, and white pepper powder.
• Continue to stir-fry until the chicken is 70% cooked. Add water and do a few quick stirs. 
• Cover the wok with the lid and turn the heat to medium to low heat and let the chicken cook for a few minutes or until the sauce thickens and the meat becomes tender.

Stir-Fried Spinach with Mushrooms

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Vegetable

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Each time I go on vacation, the first thing I start to miss is stir-fried vegetables, Chinese style. While I am ok with salads, I tend to get sick of it after eating for 3 days in a row. No matter how many types of different salad dressings we can possibly find, the baseline is that it still tastes raw. My Asian palate is too used to the garlicky green leafy vegetables. When I got back from the recent vacation in Japan, the first thing I did the next day was head down to the supermarket for a big bunch of bak choy and stir-fried it with garlic for dinner, just to satisfy my craving that had been suppressed for days.

As far back as I can remember, the usual stir-fried vegetables that my mum will serve (and same goes for my mum-in-law) are either bak choy, spinach or choy sum and they are all done the same way – garlic with light soy sauce. I tried to come up with a slightly different sauce the other day for my stir-fry and I quite like how it turned out.  It reminded me of the spinach with abalone mushrooms we normally get at a Chinese wedding dinner.

Ingredients:

• 500 gm spinach (cut into 3-inch length)
• 3 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 10 shitake mushroom (sliced thickly about 1-cm wide) *Fresh or dried can be used. For dried shitake, soak overnight before use
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon light soya sauce
• ½ tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 level tablespoon corn flour (or chestnut flour)

Preparation:

• Mix oyster sauce, light soy sauce and sesame oil with 150 ml of water. Stir to combine.
• Mix corn flour with 100 ml of water.
• Heat oil in wok. Add in half of the minced garlic and stir-fry until fragrant.
• Throw in mushrooms and stir occasionally.
• When the mushrooms are almost done and juices start to run, add in sauce mixture and let it simmer for 4 to 5 minutes. The sauce will thicken slightly.
• Remove mushrooms and sauce.
• Using the same wok, heat another tablespoon of oil and stir-fry the balance minced garlic until fragrant.
• Add in spinach and stir-fry continuously.
• Return the mushroom and sauce to wok when the vegetables are just about to be cooked.
• Lower heat and add in cornstarch.
• Remove from heat when the sauce turns clear and thickens.

Stir-Fried Beef with Oyster Sauce

Posted by Vivian in Beef, Chinese

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I was first "introduced" to Kylie Kwong by Cathy.  Not a physical introduction but more like I got to know about this Australian Chinese chef, TV presenter, restauranteur cum cookbook writer when Cathy got me one of Kylie's cookbook for my last birthday.  I got my hands on another book of Kylie Kwong while doing Christmas shopping a few months ago.

This time round it was a back to basic cookbook on Chinese cuisine.  The recipes are no where near fancy but more day-to-day dishes that our mothers put on the dining table.  While it is easy to find a gazillion food blogs for simple recipes like these, it is one in a million to get a book written by a true professional on elementary stuff for ordinary people like me whose only desire is to put together a decent home cooked meal for the family.

Even though it was a very basic dish, it took me 2 tries to get this one right (I am that dumb!).  I had sliced the beef to 1 cm thick was instructed by the book but somehow the meat turned out to be too chewy.  I am certain that I must have done something wrong during the frying process but I couldn't pin my finger on the exact cause. At least the taste was there and sufficient to nudge me to attempt a second try.  This time, I sliced the beef real thin and seasoned with cornflour.  I happily declared victory when I took the first bite.

To get a thicker consistency of the sauce, I had added cornstarch instead of just water and the broccoli (which was really because Matty had requested that I cook some for him this weekend) turned out to be a great garnish because we could use that to dip into the sauce and clean out the whole plate.


Ingredients:

• 500 gm beef (sliced thinly)
• 6 slices of ginger (can be julienned as well)
• 3 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1 medium-sized onion (cut into think wedges)
• 4 to 5 stalks of spring onion (cut into 1-inch long)
• Cornflour
• Light soy sauce
• Malt vinegar
• Shaoxing wine
• Oyster sauce
• Sugar
• Sesame seed oil

Preparation:

• Marinate beef with 2 tablespoons of Shaoxing wine, 2 tablespoon of light soy sauce and 2 teaspoon of cornflour for 30 minutes.
• In the meantime, mix together 1 1/2 tablespoon of oyster sauce, 1 1/2 tablespoon of light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of malt vinegar, 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine and a dash of sesame seed oil.
• Using another bowl, mix 100 ml of water to 2 teaspoon of cornflour and set aside
• Heat wok with some oil and stir-fry half of the beef for 30 seconds and remove from heat.  Stir-fry the other half of the beef likewise.  (I like to remove beef when it is still a little pinkish to avoid overcooking when it gets returned to the wok)
• With the same wok, heat up more oil and stir in onion, ginger and garlic until the onion starts to brown.
• Add in sauce mixture and let it simmer slightly.
• Place beef back into wok , giving it a quick stir.
• Low the heat slightly and add in spring onion and cornflour mixture.  Mix well.
• Remove from heat as soon as the sauce starts to thicken and while the beef is still tender.

Number of Servings: 4

Shrimp Fried Rice 2.0

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Rice

0 comments

In an attempt to simply things, I made some changes to the Shrimp Fried Rice recipe (or more like I rewrote it).  These were the steps...

• Marinate shrimps with light soy sauce and cornflour for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat wok with oil.
• Stir in garlic and fry till fragrant.
• Add in diced carrots.
• When the carrots are partially cook, throw in corn kernels and stir lightly.
• Add shrimps to wok.
• As soon as the  shrimps are cooked, remove from wok and set aside.
• Pour in beaten egg and allow it to set partially.
• Add it pre-cooked overnight rice and chopped spring onions.
• Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
• Season with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce (optional) and sesame oil.
• Return shrimps to wok and give it a final stir to mix well.

Although the shrimps didn't have the pan-fried taste to it, it tasted just as good.  I think I will stick to this recipe from now on. Ok... I admit that I am just lazy!

Pork Rib Soup with Potato and Carrot

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Soup

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The above is a bowl of fuss-free, no frill, idiot-proof soup.  Simple but oozing from it is nothing but flavour, goodness and natural sweetness.  Good with a bowl of steaming white rice and even when eaten on its own.

I admitted that because I am such a spud lover, I had added in a tad too much potatoes in the soup today.  Taste-wise, of course it has to be the more the merrier.  But I can't say that it did much good to my waistline by the time I wiped out the entire pot LOL.


Ingredients:

• 300 gm of pork ribs
• 1 stick of carrot (skinned and cut into 1 inch thick)
• 3 mid-size potatoes (skinned and cut into 1 inch thick or into wedges)

Preparation:

• Bring a small pot of water to boil and add in the pork ribs.
• Allow pork ribs to boil for 3 to 4 mins to remove the scum.
• In the meantime, bring another bigger pot of water (about 1.2 litre) to boil and transfer the pork ribs from the smaller pot to the bigger pot.
• Throw in potatoes and carrots.
• Allow soup to boil for 10 to 15 minutes before lowering heat to medium-low.
• Leave the soup to brew for another 30 minutes before serving.

Number of Servings: 4

Mummy's Fried Rice

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Rice

0 comments

Finally something new to add to this blog! I have been in a "recycling mode" for the last 2 months due to lack of time either because of work or other commitments during the weekends. And when that happens, the inclination is to go for dishes that I can whip up without much thinking and with eyes closed. The maid being on home leave for 2 weeks added to that need since I had to juggle all the other household chores alone.

There are many variations to how a fried rice can be done. The ingredients can range from peas, corns, carrots, ham, luncheon meat, button mushroom to pine nuts. The list is contained only by one's imagination. For me, I still like it the the way my mum does it - char siew, Chinese sausage, eggs and spring onion. Perhaps I am bias because I grew up eating her fried rice and to me that is how it should be. I even recall that the zhi char stall had their fried rice done this way back when I was just a kiddo. It was only in the recent years that I started to see all sorts of ingredients being added to it.

When it comes to my fried rice, I am very anal particular about the size of the ingredients. I like it finely chopped, just so that all the ingredients can get into every mouthful. The taste is just not the same if otherwise.

Ingredients:

3 cups of jasmine rice (cooked and left in fridge overnight)
3 cloves of small onion (finely chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
5 stalks of spring onion (finely chopped and white colour end separately set side)
200 gm char siew (finely chopped)
2 Chinese sausage (case removed and finely chopped)
1 stick of carrot (finely chopped)
4 eggs (beaten and seasoned with light soy sauce)
Light soy sauce
Dark soy sauce (optional)

Preparation:

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in wok.
Add garlic and onion to wok.
Once fragrant, mix in white end of the spring onions and allow the mixture to cook slightly.
Add in Chinese sausage and carrot.
Stir-fry Chinese sausage to almost 90% cooked.
Add in egg and continue to stir to create a scramble-liked texture.
While the egg is still a little runny, add in rice.
Break up any lumps of rice and mix thoroughly with ingredients in the wok.
Mix in char siew and spring onion.
Drizzle some dark soy sauce for added colour to rice (optional)
Season with light soy sauce to taste.


Number of Servings: 4 to 5

Cream-Style Corn and Crabmeat Soup

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Soup

0 comments

The verdict for this soup – thumbs up from the big people and thumbs down from the little people. I suppose Matty and Elaina are so used to drinking clear soup since young that to them soup should be that way. Really love this soup but I guess until the kids acquired the taste of drinking creamy soup I probably won’t be dishing this out anytime soon.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of creamy corn kernels (about 300 grams) 
• 1 litre of chicken stock 
• 100 gm crabmeat (washed and pat-dry) 
• Shaoxing wine 
• 2 egg white 
• 1 tablespoon of corn flour (mixed with small bowl of water) 

Preparation:

• Heat oil in wok and stir-fry crabmeat. 
• Add in some shaoxing wine to crabmeat. 
• Add in creamy corn and chicken stock. 
• Season with some white pepper and salt to taste. 
• Reduce heat slightly and stir in cornstarch. 
• Add in egg white, giving it few quick stirs to break it up. 

Number of Servings: 4

Stir-Fried Prawns and Broccoli

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Seafood, Vegetable

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Quite honestly I am starting to run out of ideas for one-dish meal and because now that I am starting to get more organised when it comes to meal preparation, I do find myself attempting to put together a typical home-cooked Chinese meal more frequently, that consists of rice and 2 or 3 dishes.

This is an idiot-proof recipe that can be easily whipped up and taste like something you order from a Chinese restaurant. In my opinion, anything that has oyster sauce usually won't go wrong....

Ingredients:

• 1 kg prawn (peeled and de-veined, with tail left intact) 
• 3 cloves of garlic (diced) 
• 1 kg broccoli (cut into florets) 
• 1/2 cup of water 
• 1 tbsp cornflour 
• 2 tablespoon oyster sauce 
• 2 tablespoon light soy sauce 
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil 

Preparation:

• Combine cornflour with water and mix to a smooth paste. 
• Add oyster sauce, light soy sauce and sesame oil to cornstarch and mix well. 
• Partially blanch broccoli in boiling water and set aside to drain Heat oil in wok and stir-fry prawns with some garlic. 
• Remove prawns from wok when it is about 80% done and set aside. 
• Add remaining garlic and broccoli to wok and stir-fry broccoli. 
• Pour cornflour mixture to the wok and mix through. 
• Add prawns and cook until heated through. 
• Serve hot with rice. 

Number of Servings: 4

Macaroni in Thick Soup

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Noodles, Pasta

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Matty came down with a slight flu last Thursday and I decided that I shall cook something soupy for him over the weekend.

On top of wanting to go easy with the boy's digestive system, after 2 full weeks of meal planning and meal preparation I really want to go easy on myself as well. "Keeping it simple" was the operative word. But to prevent someone going on hunger strike because the food wasn't exciting enough for his palate, I jazzed up the boring macaroni in chicken soup and came up with this (which didn't turn out to be quite as simple in the end!)....

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken thigh (with bone-in) 
• 2l of water 
• 5 dried Chinese mushroom (soaked overnight and cut into thin strips) 
• Half a stick of carrot (cut into thin strips) 
• 50 gm Xiao Bai Cai (cut into thin strips) 
• 200 gm dried elbow pasta (pre-cooked) 
• 5 tablespoons of corn flour 
• 200 ml of water 
• 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce 
• 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce 
• 2 teaspoon of sesame oil 
• 2 eggs (beaten) 

Preparation:

• Bring 2l of water to boil and add in chicken. 
• About 10 minutes into cooking, add in dried mushroom 
• Continue to let the soup simmer for another 10 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. 
• Season soup with a bit of salt. 
• Remove chicken and mushroom from the soup 
• Strain the soup and set aside. 
• Shred chicken using finger tips and discard the bones. 
• Bring soup to boil again and add in green vegetable and carrot. 
• Mix in chicken and mushroom when the vegetables are almost done. 
• Combine corn flour with 200 ml of water and mix thoroughly. Add in oyster sauce, light soy sauce and sesame oil, and stir well. 
• Turn down the heat to slightly lower than medium and stir in corn flour mixture to soup. 
• Once the soup has thicken, turn off heat and pour in beaten egg. Give a stir or 2 to break the egg up. 
• Serve soup over precooked elbow pasta 

Number of Servings: 4

Wonton

Posted by Vivian in Chinese, Pork

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This is an extremely overdue post due to the lack of time and energy. The past week was simply crazy with the mother-in-law on a 2-week vacation and me having to play the role of a stay-at-home-mum on certain days and a working-mum on other days. Draining when I need to live 2 days in 1. One more week to go before life goes back to normal.

In a short span of 7 days, I have attempted making wontons twice. The beauty of this dish is that I can freeze the wontons after wrapping and simply throw them in boiling water minutes before serving, without even the need to thaw them. Simple enough for the maid to manage and I don't have to worry that the kids will be having the same menu for lunch (the maid lacks creativity when it comes to meal planning!).

Ingredients:

• 30 wonton wrappers 
• 1 knob of fresh ginger (crushed) 
• 200 gm minced pork 
• 1/2 egg (beaten) 
• 1 tablespoon shaoxing wine 
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil 
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce 
• Pepper 
• 50ml cold chicken stock 

Preparation:

• Soak crushed ginger in chicken stock for 5 minutes and discard ginger thereafter.
• Mix together minced pork, egg, sesame oil, light soy sauce and a dash of white pepper. 
• Add chicken stock in stages while mixing. 
• Place 1 teaspoon of filing in centre of wonton wrapper. Fold wonton skin diagonally and seal two sides together with a bit of water. Repeat steps for all wonton wrappers. 
• Cook wontons in boiling water. Cooked wontons will rise to surface of water. 

Number of Servings: 30 wontons