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.

Spaghetti with Meatballs

Posted by Vivian in Beef, Pasta

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The blog is starting to grow moldy due to the lack of updates. It has been so neglected that I didn’t even realize that the formatting has got haywire and needed some adjustments, until late last week, which then took me another few days to set it right. The thumbnail on the homepage is still not back to what it was. Clicking on it doesn’t link to the post but a bigger-sized photo. I can’t remember how I had revised the html back then and I couldn’t find the old post by a someone, somewhere detailing how to do it. I’m too lazy to squint my eyes sieving every line and go through a trial and error process… so I think I will just have to live with it for now until I am “inspired” to do something about it.

Since we got back from our family vacation, I have been revisiting all the old recipes. Sadly, even though I had practiced hard to make the recipe perfect in the past, I have failed to continue to practice to stay perfect. Not just the recipe, but the food porn (like the one up there!) is starting to look a bit messy.  Will it sound a little too lame if I shift the blame to the not quite photogenic meatballs??

Whatever it was, I finally got my act together last weekend and made something different because I have gotten too used to throwing in the usual suspects each time someone in the family requests for pasta (ABC pasta to be exact!). So I went through my recipe books late one night and persuaded myself to try my hands on making meatballs. The ingredient list didn’t look too complicated, which is always a push factor for me to want to try but I definitely underestimated the amount of time required to prepare the meatballs.

The taste was there but not quite the texture of the meatballs and I blame in on my over-confidence where preparation time is concerned. It was nearing lunch time and I was still buzzing around the kitchen not ready to fire up the stove. PANIC!

In the end, I was only working towards getting the minced beef ball-like looking neglecting the texture. It turned out that the meatball didn’t hold well together and breaks apart with just a light touch. Better luck next time… hopefully.

Ingredients:

• 500 gm minced beef
• 1/2 onion (minced)
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• 3 tablespoons plain flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Tomato based pasta sauce
• 500 gm spaghetti (cooked according to instructions on packing)

Preparation:

• Combine minced beef, onion, dried oregano and worcestershire sauce.  Season to taste with a pinch of salt.  Mixed ingredients well using hands.
• Roll level tablespoons of the mixture into balls and dust lightly with plain flour, shaking off excess.
• Heat olive oil in pan  and cook meatball in batches, turning often until browned all over.
• Transfer meatballs into heated pasta sauce and allow to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Serve over spaghetti. 

Number of Servings: 4

Spaghetti Bolognese

Posted by Vivian in Italian, Pasta

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I have been ignoring my blogs for the past few weeks because I was doing a 3-week non-stop "dramathon".  129 episodes of Korean drama, Cruel Temptation kept me busy every night after the kids had gone to bed.  It is very unusual of me to get hooked to the television.  On an average I only watch one drama a year.  Shan't go into the detail or make a full review here of why this show can keep me a non-tv addict up to 2, 3 am even on a weeknight.  It is probably the same reason why this show can beat another Mediacorp drama airing at the same time belt.

After the 3-week "dramathon", I took the following few nights to catch up on my sleep.  I noticed that in the last 3 weeks, my concealer wasn't doing its magic every morning because the dark eye rings were so bad due to the lack of rest (but hack, I had to press on and get to the end of the show).  Plus I needed to recoup the sleep that I lost before we fly off for our family holiday in Japan next week.

The good thing that came out of the "dramathon" is that I managed to wean off my nightly addiction to the Bejewelzed game on Facebook.  One addiction in exchange for another?  Hmmm....

Back to food... this was what I made for the family weeks ago (ermm can't remember when exactly).  Instead of making the tomato paste from scratch I relied on the ready-made jar type.  Till now I still don't think it is worth my time and effort to whip up one pot of sauce just for our occasional pasta fix.  Cream sauce on the other hand is comparatively less of a hassle.

Ingredients:

• 500 gm spaghetti (pre-cooked)
• 2 garlic cloves (finely minced)
• 1 large onion (finely chopped)
• 1 carrot (finely chopped)
• 1 stalk of celery (finely chopped)
• 50 gm bacon (finely chopped)
• 500 gm minced beef
• Tomato based pasta paste

Preparation: 

• Heat oil in large deep saucepan.  Add garlic, onion, carrot, celery and bacon and cook.  Stirring occasionally over medium heat until ingredients soften.
• Add minced beef to saucepan, breaking up any lumps.  Cook until the beef browns.
• Add in tomato paste (to desired consistency) and allow sauce to simmer.
• Serve sauce over pasta.

Number of Servings: 4 

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

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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!

(My Take On) Honey Stung Chicken

Posted by Vivian in Chicken

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Today would had been described as a "perfect day" by Matty.  McDonalds' for breakfast, trip to the zoo, chicken rice for lunch and fried chicken wings for dinner.  Although it wasn't deliberately planned to be so, it is surely a good way to make up to him for the sufferings he went through the last weekend due to his gastric flu.  But his poor mummy had been up on her feet (literally) since 8.30 in the morning, except during meal time and the car ride between home and zoo, and back.  Only managed to put up my swollen legs at 10 in the evening.

Few weeks back we took the kids to Billy Bombers for dinner to celebrate Elaina being off diaper and to reward them for their well behaviour.  Instead of the usual fish and chips, the kids chose chicken and so we ordered a Honey Stung Chicken for sharing.  The portion as always was big.  2 thighs, 2 drumsticks, 1 big pile of fries and a bowl of coleslaw.  Just nice to feed Elaina, Matty and still enough for myself.  The taste of the chicken was really unique - it was both savoury and sweet.  It left me wondering if this is something I can attempt in my own kitchen.

And so I came back home, did some poking around the worldwide web but couldn't quite decide which was the right recipe to follow.  The only thing I was sure is that the chicken is coated with honey instead of the usual egg.  In other words the logical order should be flour, honey and crumbs.

I took the dive today without a recipe to follow and not knowing the outcome, but the first bite left me grinning from ear to ear.  I can only admit that I was lucky.

Dinner was satisfying... in fact overly satisfying because I bought 16 chicken wings for 3 adults and 2 kids (I must be either out of my mind or too excited about trying my hands on this dish).


Ingredients:

• Chicken drumsticks, thighs, drumlets or mid-joints 
• Light soya sauce
• Plain flour or self-raising flour
• Honey
• Panko, crushed soda crackers or dried breadcrumbs

Preparation:

• Marinate chicken with light soya sauce for at least 30 minutes
• First coat chicken with flour, then with honey and lastly with panko, soda crackers or breadcrumbs.
• Deep-fry chicken until golden brown.
• Drain off excess oil and serve hot.

Number of Servings: Dependent on quantity of chicken used and sanity level of the cook

Today was the first time I had used self-raising to coat the chicken instead of plain flour.  According to my mum-in-law plain flour clumps after coming into contact with the chicken but not self raising flour.  And so I took her advice.  It really did make the coating process much easier... or at least the first step because I cannot say so for the honey as opposed to egg.  It was so sticky that by the time I was done with the coating my fingers were so well-coated and looked as though they were ready to be fried.

Japanese-Style Potato Salad

Posted by Vivian in Japanese, Potatoes, 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

Posted by Vivian in Local, Noodles

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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: 4