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. :)

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

Roast Chicken

I imagined that the end product will look like those Roast Chicken in Chicken Rice stalls.

I had this instead.



Surprisingly, this so-so looking duo tasted fabulous! Chicken meat was tender, juicy and succulent! Best of all, it's easy to prepare!

Ingredients

• 2 chicken drumsticks

Marinades

• Chopped garlic (I used a lot because hub likes the taste)
• 1 tbsp cooking wine
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce

Method

1) Marinade chicken drumsticks and leave in fridge for at least half an hour
2) Remove chopped garlic (optional)
3) Rub salt over the chicken
4) Place in Healsio and roast for 20 minutes (180 degrees) or until it turns brown.

Crispy Hotdog and Meatballs

I didn't have the chance to buy meat over the weekend and I knew my hubby would not be satisfied (in terms of volume and variety), if I were to serve fried rice and soup only.

So I 'ransacked' my fridge and found some meatballs and hotdogs. *eyes lit up*



Ingredients

• 1 strip of hotdog cut into bite-sized portions
• 6 meatballs
• Flour
• Egg (beaten)
• Cream crackers (crushed)

Method

1) Coat the hotdog and meatballs with flour
2) Dip into egg mixture
3) Roll in crushed cream crackers
4) Grill in Healsio for 15 minutes or until it browns.

I was so glad that I tried this because the taste of the hotdog resembled the hotdog fritters I had back in my Primary School days. I have been searching for this food item ever since I left Primary school, but no one cook hotdog the way the stall vendor did. I really didn't expect that I will be able to taste something similar from my own cooking.

I am pretty sure that I am going to try this again soon. :)

Fried Rice with beansprouts

I have been cooking fried rice far too often because my hub kept asking for it. :P For some variation, I added beansprouts to the recipe and it tastes even better with the 'crunch' from the beansprouts. :)



The combi

Christmas Dinner 2007

My hub invited his secondary school buddies and their wives to our house for a Christmas Dinner.

I thought it was going to be an easy affair since we bought the so-called ready-made turkey/pork ribs/ham from NTUC and would be using disposable plates and cutlery. But I was oh, so wrong. :P There were certainly much more preparation work than just that.

Just the food alone took me nearly 2 hours to prepare. >_<"

Ham: To make it look presentable, I had to slice the ham into equal thickness. However, it wasn't easy to do so.

Pork Ribs: Cutting this into pieces was easier than it seems. I had all the pork ribs cut into sections in a jiffy. :)

Turkey: Then we need to stuff the turkey with the necessary ingredients (aka good stuff), namely Gourmet sauce and waterchestnut stuffing (that has to be steamed for 15 minutes before it can be put 'in place'). See, I used plastic gloves in the preparation of my food. Hygienic hor? ;)





We roasted the turkey in Healsio for a good 30 minutes. My good ol' Healsio.



Beef: The meat was really tough. It was like sawing a piece of wood. My dearest hub was so worried that I will cut myself as I was using so much strength. I kept telling him I wouldn't. I don't know if it was self-fulfilling prophecy or what, but I did poke myself on the hand in my haste to cut that piece of meat into half. :P

This was followed by the roasting of the ham, pork ribs and beef for 8 minutes each. The end products...

Roasted Turkey

The torn skin is such an eyesore, isn't it? My hub wanted to stuff ALL the waterchestnut stuffings and the gourmet sauce given to us into the turkey and in the process of doing so, tore the skin apart. *shakes head*



This is embarrassing, but I have never tasted a roasted turkey before. Thus, I was really looking forward to have a slice of it this Christmas dinner.

I was a little disappointed. It tasted like chicken and the meat was a tad too dry and bland for my liking. What's more the 'ho leow' (good stuff) didn't seem to have any effect in enhancing the flavour of the meat. I had to add tomato sauce to it. Maybe the part my hub has cut for me, just wasn't the 'right' part?

Ham

Pretty standard. It tasted very nice when it was just taken off the oven but it didn't taste as nice after it has turned cold.



Pork Ribs

I thought that was pretty nice and savoury. However, it was rather difficult to handle it as we were using plastic forks and knives! :P



One of the girls commented that it was a guys' gathering as there were no vegetables around. I didn't realised that until she mentioned it. I told my hub that this is just like the 'Carnivore' dinner we had in Vivocity and he agreed. hee!

Beef

I overcooked it. I guess this kind of 'habit' was inherited from my mother. My mother is someone who would rather overcook than risk letting us eat something that is not fully cooked. His poor friends have to spend minutes just to chew on that bite-sized meat. I was so paiseh on this. :P



I did not take the beef (as usual) nor the sauce, but the latter looks absolutely tasty.



Assorted sushis from Sakae



From the empty space (the size of a sushi), It seems as though I have popped a sushi into my mouth while preparing the food, huh? But nah... I didn't take much from this plate of sushis. In fact, I only had one! The star shaped egg. :P

Just the above orders from NTUC costs $155. We ordered 2 medium pizzas from Canadian 2-for-1, some tidbits, drinks and a bottle of wine. That sums up to more than $200!

We were so busy over this seemingly simple dinner, but I guess it was really worth it because my hub said he really enjoys going through the planning, purchasing and preparation (3 Ps!) with me. I thought that was rather sweet of him to say that. :)

I am also glad to be able to co-host this get-together to give his friends a simple, but enjoyable dinner. Now, that's the spirit of Christmas eh?

Merry Christmas, Everyone! :)

Steamed Tofu with Egg and Minced Pork 2

Remember this post? Yeah, this dish is long overdue. I have been really busy, trying to catch up with the household chores and work after my 2 weeks holiday overseas.

Anyways, I have mustered up enough courage to try this for a second time and I am glad it worked. :)

I guess sometimes you really can't follow what you see on recipe books too closely. That explains for my previous failed attempt.

My hub actually likes it!



But when he scooped up the liquid at the bottom of the bowl to drink, I was like, 'Eh, 什么态度?' The main dish is the solid food, not the liquid. >_<" But then again, I did that with Chawanmushi too... so I can understand the tempation to do so. :P



Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 150g of tofu
• 100g of minced pork
• 50 ml of chicken stock (not 400ml! as stated in the recipe book. *slaps forehead*)

Seasonings

• 1/2 tbsp of light soy sauce
• A dash of pepper

Method

1) Beat the eggs
2) Add the minced pork into the egg mixture and mix well
3) Add the stock and the seasonings
4) Add the tofu
5) Steam in Healsio for 20 minutes

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. :)

Pork Cutlet Spaghetti

Add this and this, and you will have the following. :)

It was a yummy treat and a good change from the usual chicken/sausage spaghetti. I added fresh diced tomato to improve the taste. :)

Steamed Tofu with Egg and Minced Pork

It looks succulent and delicious eh?

It is! :) However, this dish has its imperfections, so I will not be putting up the receipe as yet. Keep a lookout for my next try though! ;)

Crispy Mock Meat

Ingredients

• Mock Meat

Method

• Just leave the Mock Meat in Healsio to roast for 20 minutes and you've got yourself a crispy treat! Goes very well with congee (beh) :)

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! ;)

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! :)

Kung Pao (Mock) Chicken

"Is this sauce ready made?'

This question from my hub lifted me up and away from my seat. I didn't know it tastes as good as those ready-made sauces off the shelf, especially when this is just an experiement. Still, I have to agree that this is my most successful attempt in cooking this dish. ;)




















Ingredients

• Mock Chicken
• Cashew Nuts
• 2 tbsp oil
• A few slices of ginger
• 3 Dried chilli (cut into 2 inches)
• 1 tsp flour
• 3 tbsp water

Mixture

• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp sweet soy sauce
• 1/4 cup of stock
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp sugar

Method

1) Roast Mock chicken in Healsio for 12 minutes or until crispy.
2) Heat oil in high heat
3) Fry Garlic 15 seconds
4) Turn to medium high heat and fry dried chillis
5) Stir mixture over medium heat until it bubbles
6) Coat mock chicken in mixutre
7) Thicken gravy with flour and water
8) Turn off the fire, add mix with cashew nuts
9) Serve

Lemon Chicken

I chanced upon a Philsbury cook book (with recipes filed in a folder) when my hub and I were at the Funan IT mall. I spent so much time browsing the cook book that my hub came over.

"Can I buy this cookbook?" I whispered. "But it's quite expensive - $20"
He immediately said, "of course! $20 is not expensive for such a thick cookbook"

My hub is always very generous with his wallet when it comes to buying things related to my cooking. He would buy almost anything (Oh wells, except for baking products) that I asked for and I always feel very much loved each time he does that. :)

When I went home to scan through the folder, I realised that the recipes were mostly western ones. I felt very upset that I have wasted my hub's money on the book as I doubt I will use it often for cooking dinner.

Nevertheless, I decided to try one of the recipes out so that I would have deemed to use the cookbook, somehow. Lemon chicken seems good so I decided to try that out.




















Although we finished up all the lemon chicken on the plate, I wouldn't consider the cooking a successful attempt. My hub doesn't find it crispy enough. >_<>

Mock Chicken with Mushroom Sauce

The sauce recipe I found online nearly destroyed my taste buds with the very very huge portion of oyster sauce. It's either a typo error or some act of mischief. In any case, I was quite skeptical of the recipe and decided to try half the suggestion portion. Even then, it was way too saltish for any human tongue. I was lucky to be able to remedise the situation to turn it into a nice sauce fit for consumption.


















Ingredients

• Mock Chicken
• Mushroom (cut into small slices)

Mixture for sauce

• 1 tbsp (not 12!) oyster sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 small bowl of stock
• 1/2 tbsp sweet soy sauce

Method

1) Put Mock chicken in Healsio and set to roast for 10 minutes
2) Cook sauce and mushroom until the gravy bubbles
3) Add Mock chicken to sauce while the fire is still on (I separated the mock chicken and sauce because my hub came back late. Don't want it to turn soggy). Serve.

French Fries

Fries, Glorious Fries - When Dinner is just not enough...

What happens when I do not have enough for dinner and am too lazy to get out of my house to da bao or even take out my pot to cook instant noodles? This.



















Fries has always been my favourite since young. I always find it so difficult to resist a packet of fries that, somehow, find its way to me. Most people would pop one into their mouth at any one time, but I would usually do a two or three. They eat fries. I devour. *roar* Yes, I love fries THIS much.

Today, I shall share with you how we can eat fries with less (but definitely not without) guilt. Let Healsio do the magic of cooking fries without oil! Here goes...

Ingredients

• Packet Frozen Fries
• Salt

Method

1) Place the fries on the Healsio rack and bake for 40 minutes at 200 degrees*

2) When the fries are ready, sprinkle salt evenly while it is still hot

*It's quite a bit of time, I know. But for a less oily (and thus sinful) snack, it's kinda worth the time. :) To cut down the time, you may want to increase the temperature to 220 degrees. I don't really encourage that though, as the heat will not be evenly distributed and you may get some parts of the fries charred. I know because I have tried that before :P

Geez... as I post this crispy fries photo, I can feel my hunger again. I must resist the temptation to eat at this late hour. *dongz* >_<

Steam Fish

Ingredients

• Fish (Xue Yu)
• Ginger (sliced)
• Spring Onion (cut into 2 inches)
• Red Chilli (cut into strips)

Seasonings (mixed together)

• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3/4 tsp sesame oil

Method

1) Place sliced ginger below and above the fish (to remove the fishy smell)
2) Steam for 10 minutes in Healsio
3) Pour mixed seasonings over the fish and add the spring onion and red chilli
4) Steam for another 10 minutes
5) Serve with steamy rice


The texture of the fish after it has been steamed for 20 minutes is just nice. The gravy (mostly from the water that were formed during the steam), taste great when poured over the rice. Savoury. Love it! :)