Chye Sim

I got this recipe from a blog. I find the taste quite okay, but my hub begged to differ. And this means that I will only post the photo for my records... At least it looks pretty decent on photo, yes? :)

Bean Sprouts with carrots and mock meat

I crave for the Taiwan breakfast I had a few weeks back. Congee and beansprouts. Healthy, simple and yet tasty.




Ingredients

• 1 cup Bean sprouts
• 1/2 carrot cut into strips
• 6 pieces of mock meat
• 1 tbsp oil

Seasonings

• 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
• 30 ml water
• salt to taste

Method
1) Heat oil
2) Add carrot strips and stir-fry till moderately soft
3) Add mock meat and stir-fry till cooked
4) Add bean sprouts
5) Add water
6) Season with light soy sauce and salt


I have really enjoyed eating this dish I have cooked today. And yes, I had it with congee... :)

Spicy French Beans with Minced Meat

I guess the role of a home cook is not only to produce tasty and healthy meals, but also to avoid any wastage of food. Careful meal planning is needed especially for someone like me, who only cooks twice a week.

I wasn't quite sure of what I should do to the extra minced pork initially. There is no way that I will leave it for next week, as it wouldn't be fresh anymore. So I decided to use it together with the french beans and my, what a good choice! The two ingredients really complement each other well.



Ingredients

• 100g minced meat
• 1 handful of French beans
• Spicy Dou Ban Jiang
• 1 tsp minced garlic

Seasonings

• 1 tbsp spicy Dou Ban Jiang
• 50ml water
• 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Method

1) Stir-fry garlic
2) Add minced meat and stir till it changes colour
3) Add spicy Dou Ban Jiang and French beans and continue stirring
4) Add water
5) Add light soy sauce and sugar
6) Simmer until french beans has slightly soften

Sambal Kang Kong (Ma Lai Feng Guang)

I cook this with a ready-made-sauce. Just heat the sauce and throw in the kang kong and you have a really delicious dish to go along with steamy white rice... :)



Hey, don't go yet. Hee! Although this is not home-cooked-food from scratch, but it is not as unhealthy as other ready-made sauces.

Ta-da! Allow me to introduce, Ah Hai's Shrimp Sauce! No preservatives, No colourings and no MSG! It comes with that Healthy Pyramid sign too!

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! :)