Bread and Noodles

My tastebuds have gone haywired for the past few months and I haven't been cooking since then.

These are the dishes that I have cooked before that happens.

Egg Sandwich

French Toast

Fuzhou fishball noodle soup

Hokkien Mee

Vegetables noodles with gravy

Fried Hokkien Mee (Prawn replaced by mock meat)

I was on leave then and have been cooking everyday. I have saved quite a bit on meals - just imagine 1 packet of noodles lasted me five meals!

Really enjoyed those food that I have cooked. Kinda surprised that it tasted very close to what I have aimed to achieve. Alas, I didn't take down the ingredients, seasonings etc. Looks like I have to do another trial again should I want to sample the same dishes again. :P

Siew Mai

Heh.. my version. :P I know I can do better next time!

Beancurd Rolls

My, it wasn't easy to deep fry the beancurd rolls with pork filling inside. The beancurd skin kept coming off.

I managed to come up with this, which tasted not too bad! *phew*

Stir-Fry Beansprouts

Ingredients

• 1 handful Bean Sprouts
• 1/2 carrot - cut into strips
• 1-2 Mushroom - cut into strips
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp soya bean sauce (modified version - instead of using light soy sauce)
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1/2 cup of water (soaked from mushroom)
• Few drops of Sesame oil
• Dash of Pepper

Method
1) Stir fry ginger
2) Add carrot, followed by mushroom
3) Add oyster sauce and 2 tbsp water and simmer for a while
4) Add beans sprouts and soya bean sauce
5) After stir-frying for a while, add remaining water
6) Just before switching off the fire, add sesame oil and pepper

Yums! Cheap and good. :)

Soup

I really do not know what to call this soup. I merely 'dump' whatever excess ingredients I have to make this. :P Surprisingly, it turned out quite good. ;)



Ingredients

• Bones (from pork chop)
• 3/4 cup Beansprouts
• 1/2 carrot (sliced)
• 3 button mushrooms (sliced)
  
• 6 cups of water
• 3 tsp scallop concentrates (new product from woh hup!)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp light soya sauce
• 1 tsp sugar

Method

1) Bring water to boil
2) Add scallop concentrates
3) Add carrots, buttom mushrooms and bones
4) Switch off fire after a while and let it simmer - my purpose is to soften the carrot without using too much gas
5) When read to serve, turn on the fire again and add beansprouts
6) Add sugar, salt and light soya sauce

The other dishes cooked on the same day are attached for my records. Yeah, you have seen the following recipes too many times in this blog. It's revision period, remember? ^.^

Pork Cutlet



Fried Rice



I passed the revision test. :D

Braised Pork with Mushrooms

Another dish we had today for dinner. :)

Fried Mushroom

"You must have vegetarian food for breakfast on the first day of Chinese New Year. It's a tradition.", my mother instructed.

I had mee sua soup with mushrooms last year. So for variety's sake, I decided to fry the mushroom this time round. It turned out great! The best thing is, it's so easy to prepare and cook!



Ingredients

• Mushrooms
• Flour
• Salt

Method

1) Soften the dried mushroom by soaking them in the water
2) Cut into strips
3) Squeeze the mushroom dry
4) Coat the mushroom with flour
5) Deep fry
6) Drain and sprinkle with salt while the mushrooms are still hot

I couldn't help popping the fried mushrooms into my mouth and only stopped when I realised that it will not be enough for the breakfast the next day. Opps! :P

Mee Sua Soup

My hub can only afford to take PM leave to go out with me as he has many things to clear at work. -.-

I was lazy to walk down to the hawker to buy breakfast, so I decided to cook this for myself. :)



Ingredients

• 1 bundle of mee sua
• 5 small pieces of mock meat
• 2 mushrooms (cut into strips)
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 2 cups of hot water

Seasonings

• 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp concentrated chicken stock
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• dash of pepper

Method

1) Add mushroom and mock meat to heated oil
2) Add oyster sauce and stir fry
3) Set the mushroom and mock meat aside
4) Fry egg and return mushroom and mock meat to the wok
5) Add hot water and concentrated chicken stock
6) Add Mee Sua and stir for 30 seconds
7) Add light soy sauce and salt to taste
8) Before turning off the fire, add sesame oil and pepper
9) Best served with fried shallots (I added it after taking the photo)

It turned out pretty tasty, even though I did not follow any particular recipe. ;)

Baby Kailan with Mushrooms

Nothing beats seeing him finish all the food that I have prepared for him. It really warms my heart to know that I am able to whip up a meal that he truly enjoys, after he had a long and hard day at work. I guess this is the contentment and joy shared by many housewives or working wives like me, who cooks. :)

He particularly liked this kailan dish that I have cooked. For someone who hardly take mushrooms, he surprised me by finishing all the mushrooms I have left for him. I felt so handsomely rewarded. Well, spiritually. :P



Ingredients

• Baby Kailan
• 2 Mushrooms (soaked and cut into strips)
• 1 tsp minced garlic

Seasonings

• 3/4 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup of water (from the soaking of the mushrooms)
• 1/2 tbsp cooking wine

Method

1) Stir minced garlic in heated oil for 30 seconds
2) Add mushroom and oyster sauce
3) Add water and simmer for 1 minute
4) Add baby kailan and stir briefly
5) Add soy sauce and cooking wine
6) Add cornstarch solution (optional)

My Cooking

I invited my mother over for dinner.

What's for dinner?

- Mapo Tofu
- Spicy Kang Kong
- Pork Cutlet
- Bittergourd Soup

All repeated dishes. I personally feel that I have improved... because...

Now you see them...



... Now you don't! :D



It was a complete wipe-out! It has been more than a month since I cooked. Glad that my skills has not gone rusty. :)

Braised Pork with Onions

Ingredients

• Loin Pork
• 1 Large Onion
• 5 button mushrooms
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 cups water

Mixture

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp wine
• Salt to taste

Seasonings

• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Dash of pepper

Method

1. Heat 2 tbsp of oil
2. Fry ginger and garlic till fragrant
3. Stir in onion
4. Add and cook pork till it changes colour
5. Add mixture and stir well
6. Transfer the dish to the thermal pot and heat for 15 minutes
7. Add seasonings before serving

Fried Meat Balls

This is the second time I am trying it and it still doesn't work. Anyone care to enlighten me with some recipes?

But erm... it looks pretty ok, eh? Love how the photo turned out. :D

Fried Bee Hoon

Bittergourd Soup

"hmmm... this is nice" my hub commented as he tasted the soup in the pot that was still on the stove.

Trying to act like a food connoisseur, he added, "But there is something missing. I think you just need to add that something and it would taste like the one in kopitiam"

"Prawns lor", I immediately replied. In which, he responded 'ya ya ya'.

1) It does not make economical sense (cents) for me to buy prawns as I will only be cooking it on one day of the entire week.
2) I only need 2 or 3 of it and I guess nobody in the right mind would want to sell that pathetic number to me.
3) I don't like to handle prawns. Kinda scary to remove the legs and stuff, if you ask me. :P

In any case, I do believe that prawns play an important role in making this soup even tastier. So feel free to add it to the recipe below. :)

Ingredients

• 8 halves of Bittergourd
• Button mushrooms
• Corn cobs
• Sliced Carrot
• 1 Egg (beaten)
• 5 cups of water
• Ginger
• Mock Meat (optional)

Seasonings

• 1/2 tbsp concentrated chicken stock
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp cooking wine
• 1 tsp sugar
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp seasme oil

Method

1) Add concentrated chicken stock and ginger to water and boil

2) Add carrot, mushroom, corn cobs and Mock Meat

3) Add bittergourd

4) Add the remaining seasonings except for sesame oil

5) While the soup is boiling, slowly pour the egg mixture in and stir

5) Add sesame oil 1 minute before switching off the fire and serve

Flavoured Chicken Rice

This dish was intended to be a Claypot Rice dish. We had a craving ever since we first tried this. So I decided to give it a shot in cooking the dish myself.



It turned out that it was 'wetter' than it's supposed to be (thus the change in the dish name :P). I believe it has got to do with my subconscious mind of cooking the rice with more moisture (I love 'damp' rice). My hub, on the other hand, prefers 'drier' rice. He kept complaining that it is too moist. He finished the whole plate, though, leaving only a mushroom or two behind. Heh! It goes to show that the standard is still there ok! kekeke... Btw, I love the taste! I drool even by just looking at the picture. :p~~~

Ingredients

• Rice
• 2 Mushrooms (cut into halves)
• 1 prepacked chicken thigh from NTUC
• 1 Chinese sausage

Marinade (A)

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp corn flour

Seasonings (B)

• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp concentrated chicken stock
• 1 tsp garlic oil

Method

1) Debone the chicken thigh and remove fats
2) Cut the chicken into small parts and and marinade with (A)
3) Cook the rice
4) Stir fry garlic in heated oil until fragrant
5) Cook chicken
6) Once the chicken has changed colour, add chinese sausage
7) Add seasonings (B) and stir until even
8) Pour the cooked ingredients into the rice cooker 5 minutes before the rice is fully cooked.
9) Stir well
10) Once the rice is ready, add another 1/2 tbsp of dark soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil to enhance the colour and flavour.

YUMS!

Stir Fried Dou Miao with Mushrooms

Ok Ok, I agreed that the display of the food was a lil' too deliberate, with the carrot and mushroom all lined up in an orderly manner. (Wait till you see the whole photo, with the carrots round the whole plate. Hee!)

But I had to do a bit of housekeeping because this dish would look extremely weird with all the button mushrooms and carrot slices scattered around... :P

I have a slightly varied way of cooking dou miao this time... glad it works for my hub. In fact, he prefers the way it was done up for this round. :) So here goes the revised receipe...

Ingredients

5-6 slices of Ginger

Dou Miao (pea shoots)

1/2 a Carrot (sliced)

10 Button Mushrooms

1 cup of stock (from soaked mushrooms)

1 tbsp cooking oil

Seasonings

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp cooking wine

Salt to taste

Method

1) Stir ginger in heated oil

2) Add carrot and mushroom and cook under moderate high heat

3) Sprinkle 1 tsp sugar and stir

4) Add 1/4 cup of stock

5) Stir fry Dou Miao with light soy sauce and oyster sauce

6) Add remaining stock, cooking wine, remaining sugar and salt to the wok

7) Add sesame oil just before switch off the fire

Sushi

Cook the rice, wrap it in the seaweed together with other ingredients and you've got yourself a sushi. Piece of cake.

That, was how I see sushi making before this evening. And you know what? I will never underestimate the work behind a piece of sushi again. :P

My mom used to say 'Kuar lin gorng ley jia kuay kean'. It means 'it's not as easy as what you think'. Sushi making is sheer hard work. I took a total of 2 hours in what I would think would be a 20-minute affair to prepare the dinner tonight.

Cook the rice and that's it? No way! You gotta mix it with rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt when it is COLD. Hmm... excuse me, how can I wait for it to cool when I need to whip up a meal within 45 minutes after I reach home from work? >_<

Just fill the beancurd with rice and that's an inari? Noo... You gotta boil dashi soup stock, sugar and dark soy sauce and simmer the beancurds in it for 15 minutes.

I wouldn't say that the dinner preparation is complete failure. Afterall,we managed to finish most of the sushi. In fact, I find that the Chawanmushi turned out pretty well! I would give a 80% resemblance to that of sakae's. :) Was so proud of myself on this. Hee!

However, there are still plenty room of improvement for the sushi, especially to my hub, who kept comparing it with the standard of sakae sushi. >_<'''. With the exception of chawanmushi, I will put up only photos to reward my efforts and for record purposes.

Tuna Roll



Crab Stick Sushi



Tamago Sushi



Inari

I couldn't find the beancurd skin used for Inari. So I used Tau Pok instead. This is so hilarious! LOL. But, but, it turned out quite nice too. No kidding. I had 3 Inaris in a row.

My hub's wasabi



Chawanmushi

Look! So smooooth.

Ingredients

• 250 ml cold dashi soup
• 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 mushroom (cut into strips)

Method

1) Blend dashi soup, light soy sauce, salt and eggs

2) Strain the mixture into two bowls

3) Add mushroom strips

4) Cover top of the bowl, leaving a small area exposed

5) Steam for 25-30 minutes in Healsio

Ok, I didn't cut it even and nice enough. But aw... just look at the soup residue. Always love that part when I have chawanmushi. Yums...



It will be quite a while before I make sushi again. But it will definitely be so much better than this round. Please say you have the confidence in me. heh! ;)

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! :)

Stir-Fried Dou Miao (Pea Shoots)

Dou Miao (Pea Shoots) is by far, the easiest vegetable to prepare and cook.

I don't have to wash very thoroughly because there are not much soil on it and I don't have to worry that the leaf will wither if I leave it in the wok for a slightly longer time.




















Ingredients
300 gm Dou Miao (pea shoots)
1/2 a Carrot (sliced)
2 Mushrooms (soaked and cut into two)
2 cups of Stock*
5-6 slices of Ginger* / 2 tbsp chopped Garlic

*As I was preparing a strict vegetarian meal, I have to use ginger and yellow beans for the stock


Seasonings
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp cooking oil


Mixed Seasonings
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp cooking wine

1 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp water (room temperature)


Method
1) Heat cooking oil in the wok
2) Stir in ginger/garlic until lightly brown
3) Stir fry Dou Miao, 1 tbsp light soy sauce and stock just enough not to let the vegetable dry out
4) Remove from wok and place the vegetables in a plate
5) Add mixed seasonings and remaining stock to the wok and simmer mushroom and carrot in the liquid until the carrot is suitably soft.
6) Thicken the gravy with cornflour mixture
7) Pour gravy over Dou Miao and serve