Tomato Egg (番茄炒蛋）

 
This is my first post after the Covid. And i just wanted to document this favorite home cook so i could reference to. Here we go.

INGREDIENTS:
3 pcs Tomato, sliced
3 raw Egg, beaten
Handful of Coriander leaves, sliced

SEASONING:
3 tbsp Del monte ketchup (According to Mum, "it has to be Del Monte ketchup")
1/4 tsp Salt

STEPS:
1. Add salt to oil in heated pot, mix well.

2. Top up with diced Tomato. Mix well. Then the Tomato ketchup. Off fire, and leave this aside.

3. On a new pot, add salt to oil. Fry the beaten eggs in low fire. Top up with the fried tomato in 'STEP 2'. Mix well. Off fire and make sure not to overcook the dish.

Garnish with Coriander. Serve.

安溪肉丸, Anxi Meat Balls

Weeks nearing the CNY, and i suddenly have craving for the Hokkien meatballs, one which mum used to prepare for us to go with her signature Lor Mee (braised sauce noodle)! And she suddenly planned to do it today! I could saliva as i'm typing this.


INGREDIENTS:
500g Minced Meat
200g Water Chestnut, skinned and diced
3 pcs Onion, diced
1 pc Carrot, diced
1 raw Egg

SEASONING:
2 tbsp Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
2 dashes of White Pepper

STEPS:
1. Add minced meat to water chestnut, onion, carrot and seasoning. Top up with an egg. Mix well.
2. Form the meat balls with your hands. Then fry them in wok with oil till fragrant.

Pan-Fried Chives Dumping (韭菜水煎饺)

INGREDIENTS:
3 tbsp Dried Shrimps, soaked and finely chopped
300g Chives, thoroughly washed and cleaned, then cut into bite pieces
20 pieces Dumpling Wrappers, round shaped (bought from the market)
1 tbsp Oil
150ml Water

SEASONING:
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
3 dashes of White Pepper

DIPPING SAUCE:
Chinese black vinegar + fresh Ginger, peeled and cut into fine strips.

Wrapping the Dumpling.

STEPS:
1. Heat oil. Stir-fry dried prawns well. Remove from heat, let cool before adding in chives, and all seasoning. Mix well.

Coating sides of wrapper with corn flour mixture.

2. Prepare cornstarch (corn flour with water, as in picture above). Coat the sides of wrappers with corn starch mixture, making it into the shape of a dumpling.

Wrapped Dumplings.

3. Heat oil. Pan-fry dumplings over mid fire. Cover the pan with a lid.

Golden brown bottoms.

4. Fry the dumplings until golden brown and crisp. Prepare diluted cornstarch with 150ml water.

5. Pour in cornstarch, cover immediately and cook until the water dries up. Maintain mid-low fire.

6. Dish up. Serve upside down, with vinegar dipping sauce. Easy.

White Fungus Tea (雪耳桂肉鸡蛋茶)

Ingredients

I don't usually take notice of the many herbal soups or cooling tea, which mum cooked for us. But this time it's different. Because once i gulped a mouthful of it, i felt my entire respiratory system being nourished! I really feel it. So i went back to the kitchen to ask for more to drink, and the recipe for you too.

When i asked for the recipe, mum showed me an old recipe book, dictated in olden Chinese. There's a translation in English. Do email me if you need the copy in Chinese.

The benefits are: Moisten complexion, brain feeding, calming effect for quality sleep, improve memory, tinnitus due to weakening kidney, cold and cough, easing constipation.

INGREDIENTS:

A handful of White Fungus, and Dried Longan.

4 Eggs

Water

Rock Sugar (optional)

STEPS:

1. Soak the white fungus in water. Wait for it to soften up, as in the above picture. Wash and remove any silt/ sand from it.

2. Cook your hard boiled eggs and remove the shells.

3. Add all ingredients, including the dried longan into soup pot and cover with water.

4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 30 mins, or more if you like a syrupy texture. We do. If you have a thermal pot, leave it in for half a day before serving. 

5. After removing from heat, add rock sugar to taste.

Overnight Oats - My Daily Breakfast

Banana Fresh Milk, with Oats, Chia seeds and Walnuts

INGREDIENTS:

7 Tbs Rolled Oats

1/2 Cup Fresh Milk/ or Soya Bean Milk/ or Yogurt 

1/2 Tsp Chia Seeds

Topping (Optional): Nuts or Fruits of your choice.

This has been my weekday breakfast for the past 4 months - 7 tablespoonfuls of rolled Oats with fresh Soya milk and Chia seeds. Now you don't freak out, because this is a tasty and healthy breakfast to start a busy morning. And it kept me well energized till lunch.

1. Chia seeds, Rolled Oats and few Raisins with Melon seeds.

2. Pour in Soya milk, with just enough to cover.

Every evening, i'll prepare the oats for the next morning. The Chia seeds and rolled oats will go first, then the milk poured to cover them sufficiently. Left in the refrigerator, the oats would have softened up by the next day. Even if you have a change of plans, the oats can be kept till the second morning. My hour journey to the office, left it at a comfortable temperature for consuming. This recipe is certainly more manageable than cooking up a hot gooey cereal paste for breakfast. 

Selecting cow milk over soya milk yield a creamier mix, so we didn't like it so much. It can be made with yogurt too. But our favourite is still the soya milk. And do try to include Chia seeds as it adds a delightful crunch to the otherwise dull mushy bite of the soaked oats; or consider melon seeds and raisins (Lowan Original Harvest has all of this). Play around. Find a taste that best suits you. 

We experiment with the many brands of fresh Soya milk and rolled oats available in our local supermarket. Our favourites are the NTUC Hi-Calcium Fresh Soya Milk Reduced Sugar, 1L ($1.55); NTUC Rolled Oats, 1kg ($4.35); Lowan Rolled Oats, 1kg ($5.75); Lowan Original Harvest, 1kg ($7.95)

Homemade Achar (Pickled Vegetables) - No cooking required!

Much horror of consuming overly sweeten pickled vegetables from the Supermarket. This is the simplest and healthiest Achar recipe we've come across. We were determined to try.

You only need to purchase the Mae Pranom Sweet Chili Sauce from Sheng Siong supermarket, and dump in all your favorite vegetables! No added sugar.

Mae Pranom Sweet Chili Sauce, 260g ($5.20)

INGREDIENTS:
1 large cucumber (halved, do not peel away the skin. Trimmed off the seeds portion, and thinly sliced it)
1 large carrot (peeled and cut thinly)
1 sweet pineapple (peeled and cut into bite pieces)
130g of Thai sweet chili sauce
2 tbs of white sesame (toasted on low heat)
3 tbs of coarsely grounded peanut

STEPS:
We julienne the vegetables and add in Thai sweet chili sauce. Mix well. Before transferring everything into a glass container, sprinkle on the sesame seed and peanut. Mix gently.

Leave the Achar in the refrigerator for at least 12hrs, or overnight before consumption. Before serving, garnish with more ground peanut.

This will be our side dish for tonight!

Steamed Yam Cake - A Detailed Guide!

After her many years of preparing yam cake, this is mum's evaluation of the house most successful rendition. By this, we meant the texture of the kueh which we like best - the right amount of moisture and softness. You could have an addition of 50ml water if you prefer your kueh in a semi-solid state - one that falls apart while serving!

This is a virgin try by yours truly. For Ric; it is his favourite ;) The recipe is my most complicated so far. But following it step-by-step, you could do it too, definitely.

INGREDIENTS (feed 8 adults):
600g Yam, diced and rinsed under running water
2 tbsp Dried Prawns, soak to soften and chopped
3 tbsp Preserved Turnip (Chai Po), soak to remove foreign particles like stones. Squeezed dry.
4 Dried Mushrooms (soak to soften and sliced thinly)
4 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 tsp Five Spice Powder
6 tbsp Oil
1 Chinese Sausage, soak to remove outer plastic skin. (optional)

SEASONINGS:
4 tbsp Oyster Sauce/ or 1 cube Chicken Stock
2 tsp Salt

BATTER (mixed):
300g Rice Flour
75g Corn Flour
1/2 tsp Pepper
1200ml Water

GARNISHING:
1 stalk Spring Onion, diced
2 Red Chilies, chopped
3 tbsp Fried Shallots
3 tbsp Roasted Peanuts, coarsely chopped

Chili Sauce:
4 Red Chili, 3 Chili Padi and 3 cloves Garlic pounded and mixed with 1 tbsp Vinegar, 1 tbsp Sugar and 1 tbsp Tomato Sauce.

STEPS:
1. Preparation of all ingredient. Take care to glove up, in your preparation of the yam as its starchy white liquid causes serious skin itch and pain.

2. Heat wok on medium heat with oil, saute garlic until fragrant, add dried prawns and stir-fry until fragrant. Add preserved turnip, dried mushroom, five spice powder and salt, work for 3 mins before adding in the Chinese sausage. Lastly, add in the yam and oyster sauce.

3. Prepare batter. (We don use a spoon actually; prefer using our bare hands to work the batter as we could feel the lumpy flour bits at the bottom of the bowl, and crush it!).

4. On low heat, pour and cook batter in wok, working the bottom to avoid the sticking of the batter to the wok. Stir until batter is half-cooked, turn off fire.

5. Scope the thicken mixture into a steaming tray, and poke 'breathing holes' using a wooden chopstick. Lightly grease the top surface of the mixture. Steam with high heat for 45 mins - 1hr until cooked.

6. Remove from heat, sprinkle all garnishing on top and leave to cool.

7. Cut and serve with chili sauce.

Healthy Tuna Sandwich

After hundred years of preparing tuna sandwiches - learned during my cafe's apprentice days, i'm finally doing a healthier version of it by omitting the mayonnaise that goes into the entire tub. Omission of the liquid also better extends shelf life (4 days in refrigeration) of the sandwich with its wet cuts of celery, onions and peppermint leaves. A generous dash of pepper helps too.

After spreading the tuna on bread, mustard sauce, nonfat salad dressings, salsa or nonfat mayonnaise was used as condiment, sparingly - just a few drops for taste.

Still too dry a sandwich for you? Heap up with slices of juicy tomatoes or green lettuces. Now eat.

My Fried Rice Don't Stick to the Wok!

How do you do that? And with lesser cooking oil!

You see, fried rice tastes good when you add eggs to it; but often eggs cause the sticking of the wok. The gist of it would be "when" you add the eggs. Never do it after heating up the rice, do it way before.

Crack the no. of eggs you like onto the cooked rice, mixing them well. Let it sit for at least 10 mins - for the eggs to dry up a little. Following this, you need just add enough oil to grease the wok. Heat it up before adding in the rice that's coated with eggs - this way, the rice just wouldn't stick to the wok as the fried eggs layer gave it a dried, hardened crust.

Continue frying the rice, then proceed to add in your usual pepper, salt/ light soya sauce, ingredients and every other things. Just 2 mins before dishing up, turn up the fire to give it a final char, and serve.

Supreme Soy Sauce Fried Noodle, “炒黑面”

Nothing beats mum's simple fried noodles! The final step of the cooking is already looking delicious; i can't wait! But I had to - let the cooked noodles sit for another 5-10 mins in the off-heated wok, and the overall finish will improve tremendously before serving!

Yummy! Am as happy as a lark!


INGREDIENTS:
2 tbs       Cooking oil
3 cloves  Garlic (minced)
0.5kg      Yellow noodles
1kg         Thick bee hoon (Thick rice vermicelli)
0.5kg      Bean sprouts
1 cup      Water

SEASONINGS:
4 tbs Dark soy sauce
2 tbs Oyster sauce
4 tbs Sweet flour sauce (Mum insists on the Buddha Brand which is less salty)
Dashes of Pepper

STEPS:
1. Heat up a wok on medium heat with oil. Add in garlic and fry them till slightly browned.

2. Then heap up the wok with bean sprouts, followed by thick bee hoon and yellow noodles.

3. Add Seasonings onto the heap of noodles. Then watered-down everything.

4. Using a pair of long chopsticks, stir and toss the noodles to combine well. Cover the wok periodically. Repeat. This process will take 10-15 mins; maintain low heat. Turn up to medium heat for a final finish.

5. Off fire. Rest the noodles for 10 mins before serving!

Nyonya Stir-fry Green Chili，娘惹炒青椒

There's a story behind this Nyonya home-cooked dish which we love to go with plain rice - Mum's proud sister-in-law who marries into a Peranakan family used to visit her maternal family and cook for them. 

Attracted by delicious aroma from the kitchen, and their loud boosting, mum often peeps in and try to steal a taste of their leftovers; learning the recipe by herself!

INGREDIENTS:

500g         Green Chili (scissored, wash and rinse of the seeds)

15 cloves  Shallot (sliced)

1 tbs         Salted Soya Beans

2 tbs         Dried Shrimps (soak to soften in water)

4 tbs         Cooking Oil

STEPS:

1. Heat oil, and stir-fried shallots till it browned with fragrant. Set aside by top of the wok.

2. Add in dried shrimps, frying till the aroma rises. Then add in salted soy beans, frying and crushing it a little using the spatula.

3. Fry briefly for 5 mins, then add the fried shallots that was previously set aside, followed by the green chili. Mix well for another 5 mins. Serve.

Take care not to over-cook the green chili, as a crunchy texture is definitely tastier than squashy ones.

1 Dish Meal: Yong Tau Foo Rice!

When the family was quite poor, this type of 1-dish meal completes our day.

This is one of our so-called "Kiam Peng" in Hokkien, meaning Salt Rice, and it is very tasty. It remains our favorite meal till today. And i need to note down the recipe for my future craving.


INGREDIENTS:
Rice, 2 cups
Water, 2 cups (Our rice cooker requires 1:1 water/ rice ratio for normal cooking)
Yong Tau Foo, any pieces you like from the market

Cooking Oil, 3 Tbs
Garlic, 2 cloves
Dried Shrimps, 1 Tbs

Oyster Sauce, 1 Tbs
Sesame Oil, 1 Tbs
Salt & Pepper to taste


STEPS:
1. Soak dried shrimps in water to soften it. Remove from water. Finely mince garlic and dried shrimps with chopper/ knife.

2. Heat up cooking oil in a wok. Low fire, fry minced garlic briefly before adding in dried shrimps. Now fry both ingredients till it browned with nice fragrant.

3. Add washed rice into the fried mixture. Top up with oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper to taste. Lastly add in the Yong Tau Foo pieces, frying briefly.

4. Remove everything from wok, transfer to rice cooker. Add in water for rice cooking. When rice is cooked, use a long spatula to give the rice a good stir. Keep warm. Serve!

Braised Chicken Feet (Steamed)

This is a recipe of a 73 years old grandma from Eastern China, Hangzhou! So easy to prepare and yummy, I could easily polish off 5 feet at any 1 time!

INGREDIENTS:

Dry ingredients for 1/2kg chicken feet 

1kg of Chicken Feet (washed and drained)
Dark Soy sauce
100ml of Hua Diao wine
1/2 stalk of Scallion, or Green Onion (chopped in 1cm lengths)
1/2 palm-sized Ginger (pounded open)
5 cloves of Garlic (pounded open)
2 Anise stars, 八角
1 tsp of Sichuan Pepper, 花椒
1 tsp of Salt
1 tbsp of Sugar (optional)

STEPS:
1. Marinate all ingredients for 4 hrs. The dark soy sauce should cover half of the chicken feet in the pot, then top up with water till the mixture covers entirely. A heavy porcelain plate over the chicken feets will help push it into the liquid fully.

2. After 4 hrs, remove the chicken feet from marinate. Steam for 1 1/2 hrs. 2 hrs if you prefer an utterly soft texture.

That's it!