Vegetarian Fried Rice

I wanted to cook porridge today, but I had to choose fried rice instead.

Fried rice is especially useful when I am cooking dishes that I am not too confident of. To elaborate, if one of the side dishes I have cooked doesn't turn out good, I still have the fried-rice to fall back on. Fried rice is 'self-sufficient' and is a 'so good, you can even eat it on its own' staple. :P Most importantly, I have hardly gone wrong cooking this one-dish meal. It's a safe bet. :)



Ingredients

• 1 cup Rice (cooked overnight so that it will be easier to manage)
• 3 tbsp of mixed vegetables (comprising green peas, carrots and corns)
• 3 tbsp of mock ham cubes
• 5 tbsp of mock char siew (cut into cubes)
• 2 tbsp cooking oil

Mixture

• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce (for colour)
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 6 tbsp water

Method
1) Heat oil in high heat
2) Add mock char siew and ham cubes, followed by mixed vegetables
3) Pour rice into the wok
4) Add mixture
5) Mix thouroughly

Sweet and Sour Beancurd

"It taste like a dish that we usually find 'outside'!"

This comment made by my hubby swept me off my feet. For home-cooked-food to be rated as good as 'outside' (meaning those sold in Tze Char and hawker) is the utmost honour that any 'wokking' wives could receive, I tell ya! :D

It may sound a bit thick-skinned, but I have to agree with him that this is a dish that deserves compliments. The beancurd is crispy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. The sauce is sweet and had just enough to coat the beancurd with a thin layer and not too overwhelming to sog the crispyness.

"What changes did you make this round?"

I was stumped for a while but rattled on with a long list.

1) I sprinkled some salt after cutting.

2) I used flour to coat the beancurd before deep frying.

3) I used the non-stick pan to deep fry the beancurd. I tried to give it one more chance by throwing one beancurd into my steel wok and it sticks! As usual! I transferred the beancurd into the teflon pan. It makes a whole lot of difference. No more sticking to the wok. No more burnt patches. No more frustration! However, due to health reasons, I promise myself to use the teflon pan less.

4) I used soya bean oil. I have previously used olive oil and almost instantly knew that was a wrong move. My suspicion was further affirmed when an author of a cookbook wrote that deep frying should never be done with olive oil. But there was no mention why. :(

5) I used a different brand of ketchup. His preferred.

6) I added green pepper.

7) I added vinegar.

"Wah, so many. How do you know which is the change that makes it nice then?" my husband asked.

That's a good point. It could be all of the above, but who really cares? As long as it comes out good, I am following this method for good. :P

Still remember that I wanted to improve on sweet and sour dishes? Now, THIS is what I wanna achieve. :)

Ingredients

• 2 small beancurds (sliced into four each and sprinkled with some salt)
• 1/3 green bell pepper (cut into triangles)
• 2 chillis (cut into triangles)
• 1/2 cup oil

Sauce Mixture

• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp chili sauce
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp water

Method

1) Deep fry the beancurd under high heat
2) Remove beancurd from pan
3) Drain oil from pan until 1 tbsp of oil is left
4) Stir fry green pepper and chilli for 30 seconds
5) Add sauce mixture and stir until it bubbles
6) Add the beancurd to the pan, stirring to coat
7) Remove immediately after the beancurds are coated with the sauce

Stir Fried Snow Peas with Mock Meat

We get lazy at times. Especially we found out a trusted and easy way of doing things... :P

Does the following looks familiar to you? LOL!

Yeah... this is almost the same dish as the Stir Fried French Beans I cooked successfully a few weeks back. I merely substitute the French Beans for snow peas. :P

Ingredients

Method

Steamboat

Today, I am not cooking alone. Joining me to prepare a feast are my hub and my mother. :)

Yeah, we had steamboat today. It's easy to prepare (just do some marinading and put all the ingredients together), fun to cook together, and most importantly, it IS a satisfying meal... :)

Ingredients

• Soup base
• Chinese Lettuce
• Corncobs
• Tofu
• Golden Mushroom
• Button Mushrooms
• Hot Dog
• Fishballs
• Meatballs
• Minced Pork
• Pork Slices
• Chill and Light soy sauce for dips

Oh yes, and my good ol' induction cooker. ;)

Method

Just throw all the food in and add water to the pot as and when required

Fried Bee Hoon (Rice Vermicelli)

We really ran out of ideas. Pies are out because he is sick of it and it's not very healthy, anyway. He can't settle for kaya/butter bread. Sausage buns are unhealthy. We had too much of the home-cooked roti-prata too.

For months, I wearily asked my hub what he wants to have for breakfast. Each time, he would shrugged and said, 'Don't know'. For the first time last week, he excitedly asked, 'Hey, why don't we have bee hoon for breakfast?' I can't remember what he saw to make him have this wild idea, but I went, 'ya ya ya' to show indifference. Imagine all the work I have to go through just to prepare this for breakfast!

I never thought that I would actually give in to his idea, but here I am tonight, cooking this dish right after my dinner, so that I can store and reheat in healsio for breakfast tomorrow. A submissive wife, I am! :P



















Ingredients
Bee Hoon (rice Vermicelli)
1/2 a carrot (Shredded)
1 handful of bean sprouts
2 mushrooms (cut into strips)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce

Sauce mixture
1 tbsp Oyster sauce
1 tbsp Light soy sauce
2 tbsp sweet sauce
2 tbsp oil
3/4 cup of stock (obtained from the soaking of mushrooms)

Method
1) Heat oil for 15 seconds in wok
2) Stir fry soaked mushroom with oyster sauce. Remove from wok
3) Stir fry beansprouts and carrots with light soy sauce. Remove from wok
4) Heat oil for 15 seconds in wok
5) Add mixture
6) Add Bee Hoon *
7) Stir continuously until the liquid is almost dried up
8) Mix the bee hoon with the mushroom, beansprouts and carrot.
9) Remove from wok before it is completely dried up.
10) Add fried onion and shredded egg for the extra oomph!

* Side Notes
I didn't know Bee Hoon was cooked this way till my teenage years. All along, I had this idea that the sauce is added to the bee hoon while it is being stir-fried. When I saw my friend's mother cook the 'black liquid' in the wok before adding the bee hoon, I thought she's a weirdo! Haha! It turned out that her bee hoon was really tasty and her method was actually the correct one.

This is already my third attempt at frying bee hoon. I can still remember that my first plate of bee hoon was very dry. At that time, I didn't put enough liquid as I didn't know that the bee hoon can be so 'absorbent'. I also did not remove the bee hoon from the wok when it was completely dry. The end product was like rubber band, no kidding. What touches me was that my husband actually finished up his portion even though he agreed that it is too dry. :P

I learnt from this mistake and added a lot of liquid in the second round. Way too much, I guess. So much so that it seemed like those zi-char bee hoon with gravy.

I have improved much since these two experiences and the bee hoon I fried today is good. My hub gave a loud, encouraging, 'hmMMMmm' when I let him taste a spoonful of it. :)

Although he doesn't find it oily, I would want to cut down on the oil the next round. Health prevails! :)

Sweet and Sour (Mock) Chicken

My hubby wanted me to cook exactly the same dishes as last week because he loved every single dish. Aw... so sweet of him. ;)

I never had such a request from him before, so I agreed to go along with his suggestion. On second thoughts, I thought I would change one dish. For variety's sake and so that I can do a blog. :P

Instead of the Gong Bao Ji Ding, I decided to use the tomato (from last week) to do a sweet and sour dish instead. Wala, it turned out not bad! My hub likes it and commented that it is quite an improvement from my last sweet and sour dish. Still, I feel that I can be better. :P



















Ingredients

• Mock Chicken
• 1 Chilli (cut into triangles)
• 1/2 Tomato (sliced)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp garlic

Sauce Mixture

• 3 tbsp tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp chilli sauce
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 3/4 cup water

Method

1) Roast the Mock Chicken in Healsio (as always) for 15 minutes
2) Heat Oil and stir fry garlic and chilli slices until fragrant
3) Add Sauce mixture and simmer till it bubbles
4) Pour in the roasted mock chicken so that it will absorb the sweetness of the sauce.
5) Add tomato slices about 10 seconds before turning the fire off and serve.