A note to you

To spammers : FYI, I filter all the comments coming in. I am sorry that you are only wasting your time.

To readers of my blog : You still won't be expecting many food entries from me in the next few months or so. Will probably start a new blog on the new chapter of my life. Do drop me a comment if you would like to be included. I will keep you informed of my new link once it is up. ;)

To those whose links are in my blogroll, I am still following you! Keep those post going ya? ;)

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

Garlic Bread

We had spaghetti for dinner again. Usually that 2 plates of chicken bolognese is not enough for both of us. So I thought of adding an item to the meal - Garlic Bread.

It was a very spontaneous decision and I wasn't very prepared. So I grabbed the minced garlic, spread it over the bread and added some sugar and salt to taste. I set to 'Grill' in Healsio and pull it out when the bread looks lightly crisp.

The end result? Fantastic.

Go try it out some day. It's easy to prepare and the taste is rewarding. :)

To my readers

Hey everyone,

I am pleasantly surprised to see that I have quite a number of comments during my few months of absence, and that most of the comments are related to Healsio!

Welcome to the world of Healsio, a product that you can rely on for all your cooking! :D

Ooo... don't I sound like a Healsio promoter? Alas I don't get paid for that. Sheesh.

I will try to share photos of dishes that I have cooked recently.

Meanwhile, happy cooking!

p/s: More back-dated posts below.

Pandan Chicken

I should have used Chicken drumsticks. :P Looking forward to my next try!

Nasi Lemak

Except for the rice, (which wasn't cooked with enough coconut milk), I thought I did a pretty good job in replicating the Nasi Lemak sold outside! :D



Ingredients

• Rice (1 cup)
• Coconut milk (1 packet of Ayam brand coconut milk)
• Peanuts
• Ikan bilis
• Long beans
• Egg (mix with a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper)

Method

Mix coconut milk with water to make up 1 cup and 20ml of liquid and use it to cook the rice.

1) Stir fry Long Beans with Chili Dou Ban Jiang
2) Fry Egg
3) Deep fry ikan bilis and peanut

Yes, as simple as 1, 2, 3! ;)

Chicken Claypot Rice

I tried, for the first time, to cook the claypot rice in the claypot from scratch as I thought it might taste better.

But no, it not only tasted the same as when I cooked in a rice-cooker, but it also created more work for my hub, whom had use so much strength to scrape off the rice off the claypot. :P

It tasted as good (and moist) as before. :) The only thing I must remember is to make it drier next time as my hub prefers it that way.

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*

Scallop Porridge

I was quite worried that my hub won't like it when it turns out as colourless as this, but it turned out that he finds it quite tasty! Guess I can't go wrong with scallop concentrates (yes, yet again.)

Popiah

I cooked Popiah fillings quite some time back, (using the more tedious method that my grandma used - Cabbage, long beans, turnip, carrot, beancurd, hei bi, 2-layered pork), but ironically, it wasn't as popular as the following, which was so much easier to prepare and cook!



Ingredients

• Cabbage
• Turnip
• Carrot
• Egg (either hard boil or fried, depending on preference)
• Sausage (heated over wok, no oil required!)
• Popiah skin - use the type that can only be found in markets. According to the store owners, they can last up to a few months with proper refrigeration.
• Scallop concentrates
• Sugar
• Salt
• Light soy sauce

Method
1) Stir-fry turnip, cabbage and carrot
2) Add scallop concentrates, sugar, salt and light soy sauce to taste.
3) Add sweet sauce/balachan, 3 tbsp of the veges, egg and sausage to the popiah skin, roll and serve!

Sweet and Sour Pork Balls

That's my feeble attempt at frying pork balls.

Kway Chup

Without the kway. :P

We had congee with this.

I must say it really tasted like the *real* thing in hawker centres. :)

Dinner for 3

I invited my brother over for dinner as my hub couldn't make it last minute. My brother turned up, but not without some grumbles of him as a 'reserve'. :P It was the first time he tasted my culinary skills, so I chose 3 dishes that I am more confident with.

Pork Cutlet

This has almost become my 'signature dish'. heh!



Sweet and sour sauce to go along



Corn Soup

My mother and brother loves the soup, especially my brother who kept helping himself to this dish. The secret? Scallop concentrates and pork ribs! :)



Snow Peas with pork

This is my first attempt at this dish and I must say that I am very pleased with the result!



Cod Fish

One of the first dishes when I started cooking. Yes, I did it again with my good ol' healsio



Both my mother and my brother seemed to enjoy the meal very much. Guess the time (nearly an hour!) and effort spent on this four dish meal was worth it. My hub was actually quite upset that he missed such a feast. heh... :D

Christmas Dinner 2008

Time flies.

Cliche as it sounds, I find it so true. This is especially the case for the year 2008. Many things that happened a year ago seemed like it only happened a few weeks or just a month or two ago.

It's the Christmas Eve gathering again...

There was a label to all the sauces when we took it home. Hub poured it into bowls and confidently said that he will remember, when I ask him to paste the labels on the bowl.

As I have guessed, hub couldn't recall two of the sauces later. When his friends asked, he said, 'Just dip'... what a host. >_<"

Sauces (clockwise): Unknown, Cranbarry, Unknown, Black Pepper.



Turkey Breast Meat



Assorted Sausages

Turkey meat with chestnut stuffings

Cheesy sausages (my favourite!)

Honey baked ham

My Agar agar dessert

I did not serve it to the guests as I made a mistake while cooking it. :P Some parts of it are still quite nice, but I really do not want to leave a bad impression... next round perhaps! ;p

It was such a chore cutting the meat into slices and trying to maintain a consistent thickness.

I took a good 0.5 hours to cut the meat and another 1.5 hours to grill and reheat it in batches. By the time everybody was ready for dinner, all the meat reheated earlier on turned cold and it seemed like what I have done earlier has come to naught. :(

Time and effort is one issue, but I feel so bad serving our friends with a cold and 'carnivorous' meal. I seriously think they deserve something better on a Christmas Eve. :P

I ain't sure if I fancy the idea of doing this again next year. A no-frills, all-pizza meal next year, perhaps? >_<"

French Beans with mock meat

Beancurd stuffings

Watercress Soup

A Hawker told my mom that watercress with round leaves are for soup whereas watercress with sharper leaves are for stir-frying. Wow... This is something new to me!

Ingredients

• Watercress (round shaped leaves)
• Carrots
• Lean meat
• Woh Hup Scallop concentrates
• Salt

Method

1) Blend lean meat in blender

2) Marinade mashed lean meat with light soy sauce, pepper and flour

3) Mold into meat balls

4) Add concentrates to pot of water (see bottle for proportions)

5) Add carrots and meat balls

6) Salt to taste.

Long Beans with minced meat

Broccoli with carrots

Should have taken down the recipe right after cooking it. My bad. These are the ingredients I vaguely remember. :P

Ingredients

• Broccoli
• Carrots
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Method

Blanch the broccoli with water (and salt) before stir-frying and simmering with other ingredients.