Mr & Mrs Jason Ang's Culinary Adventures

Chicken Parmesan Pasta

2008-11-13T17:39:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

-4 chicken breast halves
-1 cup soft fine bread crumbs
-1/4 to 1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese, fresh shredded
-1/4 teaspoon dried leaf basil
-1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
-dash pepper
-1/4 teaspoon salt

-1 large egg
-2 tablespoons milk

-1 jar (16 ounces) spaghetti sauce or marinara

-Small onion

-Mushrooms

-hot cooked pasta, drained

Directions

1) Mix bread crumbs, Parmesan Cheese, Pepper, Parsley flakes, Basil leave and salt together

2) Beat egg combine with milk

3) Wash chicken breasts and pat dry

4) Line a baking tray with baking sheet or spray pan with olive oil or non stick cooking spray

5) Heat oven to 250 degrees celcius

6) Dip chicken breast in egg and milk mixture, then coat with crumb mixture

7) Bake chicken breast in oven for about 30mins

8) Heat some olive oil and fry onions and mushroom till fragrant then add pasta sauce and bring to a boil

9) Pour 1/3 of the sauce into a baking dish, place the pieces of chicken breasts onto the sauce then spread the rest of the sauce onto the chicken breasts

10) If you have Mozzarella cheese. sprinkle some onto the sauce and bake for 15 to 20mins or until bubbly or cheese melted

11) Viola! Serve over hot cook spaghetti or other pasta!

Ophe's Braised Spare Ribs

2008-09-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1) 10 to 12 pieces of Spare Ribs
2) Marinate (1 tbsp of dark soya sauce, 1 tbsp shaoxing wine, 1 tbsp of sugar)
3) 1 tbsp oil
4) A few slices of ginger
5) 1/2 onion, sliced
6) 6 cloves of whole garlic, peeled and bruised
7) 2 tbsp sugar
8) 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
9) 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
10)1 star anise
11) About 2cm of cinnamon stick
12) 1-2 tsp light soy sauce
13) 1 tbsp tomato sauce
14) 1 cup water
15) Salt & ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1) Marinate spare ribs with Marinate
2) Heat oil in small pan
3) Fry ginger, garlic in oil till fragrant
4) Add marinated spare ribs, add remaining seasoning
5) Bring to a boil using medium heat
6) Reduce to low heat for cook for about half an hr
7) Cook meat till gravy thickens
8) Serve and granish with spring onion is desire

Seafood Bee Hoon Noodles Soup

2008-09-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Easy easy! Can whip the meal up within 1/2 hr! For those lazy days and when you need something light!
Yields 2 portions

Ingredients for soup stock
1) 5 cups of water
2) 1/4 cup of ikan billis
3) 1/4 cup of dry scallops

Directions for soup stock
1) Rinse ikan billis and scallops
2) Combine all ingredients and boil under medium heat for half an hour

Ingredients for bee hoon noodles soup
1) Yellow Noodles
2) Bee Hoon
3) Different seafood (Prawns, Scallops, Crab Meat, Fish Ball)
4) Cai Xin or tow gey
5) Shallots, chilli padi and pepper to garnish before serving

Directions
1) Blanch and cook yellow noodles and bee hoon
2) Keep aside in a serving bowl
3) Bring soup stock to a boil add seafood, bring to boil for a 3 to 5 mins
4) Pour cooked seafood and soup stock onto noodles and bee hoon
5) Garnish and serve!

Sesame Oil Chicken

2008-09-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

INGREDIENTS
2 pounds chicken wings
1 1/4 cups water
10 tablespoons dark soy sauce
5 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 clove crushed garlic
1/4 cup sesame oil
1 dash sesame oil

DIRECTIONS
1) Cut the chicken wings into 3 separate portions.
2) In a large pan, combine the chicken, water, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, garlic.
3) Stir together and cook for 15 minutes over medium heat.
4) Add the 1/4 cup sesame oil and simmer for another 15 minutes over low heat.
5) Bring mixture to a boil and add dash of sesame oil.
6) Remove from heat, let cool and serve.

Salted Black Beans Minced Pork - Teochew Muay Style

2008-09-23T20:23:00.001-07:00

Darling keeps asking if we can have his favorite minced pork for teochew muay and I decided to come up with my very own version. Its pretty yummy, I'm surprised! Goes especially well with sweet potato plain porridge!

So here it is, Ophe's version of Black Beans Minced Pork

Ingredients
1) 250g of Minced Pork
2) 2 tbsp of Chopped Garlic
3) 1 tbsp of oil
4) 1 tbsp of Light Soya Sauce
5) 1 tsp of Sesame Oil
6) Dash of White Pepper
7) 2 tbsp of Lee Kum Kee Black Bean Sauce
8) 1 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Chilli Bean Sauce
9) 2 tsp of Black soya sauce
10) 1/4 cup of water

Directions
1) Marinate minced pork with light soya sauce, sesame oil and white pepper
2) Heat oil in shallow pan
3) Add chopped garlic and fry till fragrant
4) Add minced pork and stir fry for about 20s
5) Add Lee Kum Kee black bean sauce, chilli bean sauce, black soya sauce and the cup of water.
6) Fry till gravy turns thick, serve with porridge

PS: I also serve the teochew porridge with "Cai Poh Egg",

Giam Chye

and

Sesame Oil Chicken

One Pot Rice

2008-08-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe shared by a dear friend of mine, Lynn.
Instead of Roast pork, I substituted the meat with my Ophe's Char Siu Pork. You can click on the following link for my Char Siu Pork.

Ophe's Char Siu Pork

Ingredients
- 4 to 5 shallots, sliced
- 4 to 5 shallots, chopped
- 8 large Shitake Mushrooms, soaked and sliced
- 300g of dried shrimps, soaked
- 300g of cabbage, sliced into 2cm
- 300g of rice
- 150g Char Siu Pork or Roasted Pork
- 1 tbsp of oil
- 450ml to 500ml of warm unsalted chicken stock or water (I used water just as tasty!)

- (Mixture) 1 tbsp of sesame oil, 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1tbsp of shaoxing wine, 1tbsp of light soya sauce, 1/2 tsp of white pepper

-(Garnish) Chopped Coriander leaves

Directions
1. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat
2. Add dry shrimps and fry until fragrant
3. Add shallots and fry till soft
4. Add mushrooms and garlic and fry for a minute or so
5. Add cabbage and fry till wilted then add sesame oil mixture
6. Add rice, stir to coat the grains with the seasoning.
7. Add char siu pork and mix it well
8. Scoop rice mixture into a rice cooker and pat down gently, add enough water or stock to cover and cook
9. Leave to stand for about 10mins after its cook, then scooped onto plates
10. Top with chopped coriander and serve

Ophe's Char Siu Pork

2008-08-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

I don't really enjoy the red coloring on the char siu pork so I decide not to use it for my version of char siu pork... The Japanese ramen type :) Brown ones...

Ingredients
-1 1/4 lbs pork tenderloins
-1 1/2 inches fresh ginger, grated
-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
-1/4 cup light soy sauce
-1/4 cup rice wine (Mirin)
-2 spring onions, chopped finely
-3 tablespoons brown sugar
-1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
-2 tablespoons soy bean paste
-1 tablespoon vegetable oil
-1/3 cup honey
-1 pinch salt
-1 pinch fresh ground black pepper

Directions
1) Using a sharp knife, make slashes along the top and bottom of the pork fillet.
2) Combine all the remaining ingredients, and marinade the pork for 2-3 hrs or overnight if you can
3) Preheat the oven to 350.
4) Drain the pork from its marinade, and place on a rack set over a roasting pan, half-filled with hot water.
5) Cook the pork for about 15 minutes, then coat with some sauce.
6) Turn the meat over so it colors on all sides.
7) Baste regularly with the extra marinade while cooking.
8) Cook for 15-25 more minutes more, testing at 15 minutes to see if it's done to your liking.
9) Let sit for 10 minutes to distribute juices, then slice into 1/4" pieces, and serve.

Crispy Fried Chicken Spring rolls

2008-08-25T22:22:00.000-07:00

Crispy Fried Chicken Spring rolls

These are delicious! I was surprised... Sweet and tangy! Yesterday, attended Waldo's 1st birthday and we bought a roast chicken from Safeway to the party. And we had so much of the leftover chicken I decided to shred it into pieces and made chicken porridge today. After making the chicken porridge, there were still more shredded chicken left and so I researched online and chanced upon this nice easy recipe. Carrots checked! Popiah skin checked! Cabbage checked! Mushrooms checked! Shredded chicken meat checked! So crispy fried chicken spring rolls here we go!

Ingredients (Makes approximately 30pieces)
-2 tablespoons peanut oil
-1 medium carrot (shredded)
-1 small cabbage (shredded)
-100 g mushrooms, thinly sliced 200 g cooked chicken (shredded)
-1 pinch white pepper
-3 teaspoons caster sugar
-1 tablespoon light soy sauce
-1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
-2 teaspoons sesame oil
-2 tablespoons cornflour
-30 spring roll wrappers
-vegetable oil (for frying)

Directions
1) Heat the peanut oil in a wok.When hot,stir fry the carrot for 1 minute.Add the cabbage,mushroom,and chicken and fry for another minute,stirring all of the time.

2)Season with a little pepper,add the sugar,both soy sauces and the sesame oil.

3)Combine 2 tsp of the cornflour with about 3 tbsp of water and stir into the filling while still on the heat.Any juices will soon thicken.Remove from heat and leave to cool.

4)Combine remaining cornflour with enough water to make a thin paste.Lay out a spring roll wrapper and put 1 tbsp of filling across one end.brush the edges of the wrapper with cornflour liquid to help it stick.

5)Fold the two opposite edges of the wrapper over part of the filling and roll into a tight cylinder.Pinch the edges together to form a good seal.

6)Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.

7)Heat the veg oil in a deep fryer,and cook rolls in batches until golden and crisp.

Serve with your favorite sauces... Chili sauce, ketchup, mayonaisse?!

Potato Croquette (Pork or Beef )

2008-08-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb potato
1/4 lb ground beef or ground pork
1/2 onion
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to season
vegetable oil for frying
flour and panko (breadcrumb)

PREPARATION:
Peel and cut potatoes into medium chunks. Boil potatoes until soften. Mash potatoes. Mince onion and saute in a fryin pan. Add ground beef in the pan and saute. Mix mashed potato and onion and beef or pork in a bowl.

Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Make flat and oval-shaped pieces. Coat each piece with flour. Dip in beaten egg. Coat with panko. Fry in 350 F oil until brown.

Serve with Mayo and Ketchup!

Mee Goreng

2008-08-05T00:16:00.000-07:00

Recipe taken from Hawker Food

Ingredients
-2 eggs
-1 tbsp of chopped garlic
-3 tbsp of sambal chilli paste
-1 onion slice
-500g of Hokkien Yellow Noodles
-Bean Sprouts
-Cai Xin
-Prawns (Blanched)
-Sotong (Blanched)
-Tomato Wedges
-Red Chilli, sliced
-Limes

Seasoning
-3 tbsp of water
-4 tbsp of tomato ketchup
-1 tbsp of dark soy sauce
-1 tbsp of sesame oil
-2 tsps of sugar
-a pinch of pepper

Method
-Fry chopped garlic in oil till fragrant
-Add sambal chilli paste and eggs
-Stir well, add onion, Noodles, Cai Xin and bean sprouts
-Stir in prawns, sotong and seasoning
-Stir fry till fragrant
-Add tomatoes and chili
-Serve with squeezed lime juice

Hokkien Mee

2008-08-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Recipe serves 4 pax

Ingredients
-200g of Yellow Noodles
-150g of Thick Bee Hoon
-Bean Sprouts
-Cai Xin
-2 eggs (Beaten)
-1 tbsp light soya sauce
-1 tbsp chopped garlic
-Prawns (Steamed for 3 mins)
-Sotong (Steamed for 3 mins)
-Fish cake
-About 750 ml of stock (Pork ribs/belly, prawn shells, rock sugar/sugar cane)
-1 tbsp of fish sauce

Garnish
-Lime
-Belachan Chilli

Mummy's style of cooking
-Fry garlic in oil till fragrant
-Add in beaten eggs and light soy sauce, fry into light scrambled eggs form, scoot eggs to the side of the pan
-Add in noodles, bee hoon, beansprouts and Cai xian. Fry briefly.
-Add prawns, sotong, fish cake.
-Stir noodles well with egg.
-Add stock and fish sauce, simmer for a little while then serve with lime and belachan

Tau Sar Piah

2008-07-25T01:15:00.000-07:00

Dough A (rest dough for 30mins)

- 115g flour (1/2 cup of plain flour)
- 58g oil (1/4 cup of veg oil)

Dough B(rest dough for 30mins)
- 230g flour(1/2 cup of plain flour)
- 110g oil (1/2 cup of veg oil)
- 90g water (1/2 cup of water)
- 1/2 tsp vinegar(white vinegar)

Filling

- 90g oil
- 10 shallots - thinly sliced (i used one big onion)
- 150g sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 300 peeled Mung beans :: those that you use to make tau suan (soaked for 2hrs, steamed and mashed)
**For me the mung beans, I had to soaked longer and steamed for about and hr plus maybe because of the low humidity in the house I'm not sure...

Directions:
1. Add sugar, salt and white pepper to mashed beans
2. Heat oil, fry the shallots till brown and fragrant.
3. Pour in bean mixture, fry the mixture til become dry and able to form into a ball.
4. Dough A divided in 4g ball size
5. Dough B divided in 12g ball size
6. Wrap B around A, flatten it and roll it up. Repeat again, flatten and wrap the filling in it.
7. Brushed with beaten egg and top with sesame seeds.
8. Baked at 375 degrees F or 180 degrees C for 20mins or leave it in the oven till it turns to your desired browness.

Roast Chicken with Chicken Rice

2008-07-22T20:05:00.002-07:00

Roast chicken Recipe- From Forum
Easy and Yummy!

Marinate
-1/2 cup soy sauce
-1tbsp chopped ginger
-1tbsp chopped garlic
-3tbsp honey
-2tbsp 5-spice powder
-2tbsp hua-tiao wine
-1tbsp sesame oil
-3tbsp salt
-1/2tsp pepper
-750ml water

1. bring all marinate to a boil
2. add clean chicken and boiled for briefly for 2mins
3. off the fire and leave it to soak for 2hrs at least
4. drain off the marinate before pouring the oil
5. Heat the wok of oil, use a ladle and pour oil until the skin is golden brown (the forum lady says it takes about 10mins)
6. let it cool down before serving

ETA: baking method, bake the receipe at 365 Farenheit for 20mins, turn the chicken for another 15mins. After which for me, I shallow fry the chicken a little bit so as to make the Roast Chicken skin nice and crispy! Be careful of sprouting hot oil!

Serve the chicken with
-Boil bean sprouts and Cucumbers
-Sauce ( 90mls of chicken stock, 2 tbsp of Oyster Sauce, 2 tbsp of light soya sauce, 3 tsps sesame oil, 1 1/2 tsps sugar, 3 tsps of shallot oil)

Chicken Rice
-2 cups of uncooked rice (Rinsed)
-1 tbsp of chopped garlic
-1 tbsp of chopped shallots
-1 tbsp of cooking oil
-10 cloves of garlic with skin on
-1 bunch of pandan leaves
(Seasoning)
-Chicken stock enough for 2 cups of rice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp of ginger juice

Directions
-Heat oil.
-Fry chopped shallots and garlic till fragrant
-Add the rice and stir well\
-Pour the mixture into rice cooker, add seasoning, whole garlic and pandan leaves
-Cook until rice is done

Banana Nut Muffins

2008-07-22T20:05:00.001-07:00

Ingredients
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw)

Method
No need for a mixer with this recipe.

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

2 Mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla.

3 Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

4 Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

5 Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

Black Bean Peanut Pork Ribs Soup

2008-07-22T20:04:00.001-07:00

Ingredients (Serves 2):

- 1/2 lb Pork Ribs
- 1/4 cup Dried Black Beans
- 1/4 cup Dried Peanuts
- 1 tsp Dried Mini Shrimp
- 1 tsp Dried Mini Scallops
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- a few slices of ginger
- 5 cups water
- salt
- white pepper

Method:

1. Pre-soak the black beans and dried peanuts in seperate bowls of water for about half and hour. Drain.

2. Heat a saucepan with 1 tbsp of vegetable oil. Medium heat.

3. During this time, boil about 5 cups of water in the kettle.

4. Season the pork ribs with salt and semi-cook them in the saucepan with garlic, ginger, mini dried shrimp and mini dried scallops, until you can smell the fragrance of the pork. (The pork is saying “I am ready!”)

5. Pour the boiled water into the saucepan.

6. Add the black beans and peanuts.

7. Allow to boil and then bring to a simmer for 1.5 - 2 hours.

8. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cooking Tips:

The black beans and peanuts are pre-soaked for half and hour so that they can cook faster.

Steam Cod Fish

2008-07-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Simple recipes from Jane and Gail.

From Jane
Ingredients
-Gou Ji Zi, washed
-Light shallow fry shallots and let cool
-Light Soya Sauce
-Slices of ginger
-Cod Fish

Directions
-Place fish with gou ji zi, cool fry shallots and drizzle a little of the shallots oil onto the fish
-Drizzle light soya sauce over fish
-Prepare steamer, steam fish for 7mins and turn off fire, do not remove cover, let fish stay in steamer for 3 more minutes before serving

From Gail
Ingredients
-Cod fish, sliced
-Chopped Garlic
-Chopped Ginger
-Oyster Sauce
-Hoi Sin Sauce
-Seasame oil

Directions
-Marinate fish in the above ingredients for about an hour in the fridge
-Prepare steamer
-Steam fish slices in steamer for 10mins then serve!

Wala, simple steam fishes recipes!

Lo Mai Kai

2008-06-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

Yummy Lo Mai Kai anyone?

Recipe yields about 4 share...
Ingredients:
250g glutinous rice
2 cups chicken stock
100g chicken meat
1 Chinese sausage (lap cheong)
10g black Chinese mushrooms, soaked and cut into thin slices

Seasoning (A) with Chicken and put aside for 2hours
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp ginger juice
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Shao Hsing Hua Tiau wine
1 tsp oil
1 tsp tapioca flour

Seasoning (B) with steam glutinous rice (Look below for details)
1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp Chinese five spice powder

Method
-Wash glutinous rice, then soak it for two to three hours. Pour away water, steam it for 30 minutes.
-Cut chicken into slices. Marinate with seasoning (A) for about two hours.
Heat oil in big glass bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Add the chicken and mushrooms, microwave on high for 2 minutes , stir and cook for another 1 minute more.
-Mix cooked glutinous rice and seasoning (B)
-Grease four small-size rice bowls. Arrange mushroom slices, a few slices of Chinese sausages ,chicken.
-Top up with glutinous rice and press down with a ladle.
-Fill the bowls with chicken stock, make sure the water level is above the rice.
-Steam for 30-40 minutes.
-Turn over the rice bowl onto a plate and serve or leave to cool before wrapping tightly with wrap and then foil, leave in the freezer. When you need to eat them, remove the foil and microwave until heated through.

***Loh Mai Kai taste great with chilli sauce.

Lesson on Oil!

2008-04-16T12:57:00.001-07:00

The other day, I was chatting with Dawn over the phone about Canola oil, Sunflower oil and Corn oil and when she imparted her knowledge on her exam question...

Something about flash point, about peanut oil, about vege oil, about crisco shortening... About how the different type of oil can be use for deep frying and how some oil minimise Splattering...

Then I realize after the conversation, "Wa Piang, there are so many different types of oil and they are of very different uses!" And so after some research... Hehe... here's what I've compiled from the Internet!

What is smoke point?
Smoke point is the temperature to which an oil can be heated before it smokes and discolors—indications of decomposition. If you are cooking with oil and it begins to smoke, you have reached its smoke point. At the smoke point, the oil begins to emit unpleasant odors and impart unsavory flavors to your meal. Watch out for the smoke point signs as it means you are getting close to the flash point, which is when the oil can erupt into flames. Knowing the smoke point warn you about the flash point and fire points. At the flash point, there are tiny wisps of flame; at the fire point a fire is blazing. The best oils for cooking and frying are those that have a high smoking point – that is, they can be heated to high temperatures before burning.

This is so cool right?! The oil can reach a point that it can erupt into flames leh!!! Phew, up till now my vege oil haven't kill me as yet! How lucky!

Flash point and Fire Point
Other heat points for fats include "flash" and "fire" points at 600 and 700 degrees, respectively. Do not put out an oil fire with water, the water will splatter the burning oil and spread it more quickly. Smother the fire with a tight-fitting lid. If the fire has spread outside the pan, suffocate it with baking soda or a fire extinguisher formulated for oil fires.

Super important tip to note ok!!! My oven caught fire one time from bacon oil!!! I was so shocked!

Cooking oil that has reached boiling point (bubbling) is very dangerous. If the oil starts to boil, remove it from the heat source immediately. Simply turning off the heat source may not be enough to reduce the heat immediately for electric appliances, or cook tops because they retain heat even after they are turned off. An oil reaches its flash point at about 600°F. when tiny wisps of fire begin to leap from its surface. If the oil is heated to its fire point 700° F. for most oils, its surface will start vaporising and spontaneously ignite, surging up and out almost instantly.

So the oil you need:
Deep frying must have a high smoke point
1) Peanut Oil
2) Sunflower Oil
3) Soy Oils

Light Sautering, low smoke point
1) Butter
2) Magarine

Tip: Reusing of oil- you can remove food particles from deep frying oil by using a coffee filter. Cover, tightly sealed and refergeriate and this oil can be reuse for one more time.

Temperature
This is important too...
If its not hot enough the food will absorb the oil and thus becoming greasy!
Normal temperature is 325°F to 375°F however, it'd quite likely that higher temperatures of 375°F to 400°F also are used.
Most foods cook rapidly in the 325°F to 375°F range and develop a golden color, crisp texture and good flavor.
High-temperature frying leads to thinner crusts and less oil absorption. YUMMY!!
Frying time is longer at lower temperatures. Frying at lower temperatures results in lighter color, less flavor development and increased oil absorption. EWWWW....

Ok ok... there are more to learning about oil!!! But for us novice... here's all we need to know at the moment! :) Have fun frying!!!

Canola Oil
Uses: Stir frying, grilling. Has very mild taste.

Coconut Oil
Uses: Deep frying, other high temperature cooking. Discard after each use.

Corn Oil
Uses: Little taste and good at high temperatures, good for frying. Use only if other oils are not available.

Hazelnut Oil
Uses: Stir frying, deep frying

Olive Oil
Uses: Salads, any Italian or Mediterranean dishes, grilling vegetables. Gives a distinctive (yummy!) flavor to foods.

Peanut Oil
Uses: stir fry, deep frying

Sesame Oil
Uses: Great for stir frying and for a hint of flavor in marinades

Sunflower Oil
Uses: Salads and sauces

Nasi Lemak

2008-04-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

This is more like it lor! After my last failed attempt at the rice... :( Hehehe...

Rice
Ingredients
-2 cups of rice soaked in water for about 15 to 30mins then drain (Tip from Dawn)
-1 1/4 cup of water (I dun like it to be too thick with coconut milk, so I play around with the amount of water and coconut milk, I'm a glutton but still health conscious!)
-1 cup of Coconut Milk
-1 drop of green coloring or in my case I put Pandan paste, 2 teeny drops. (Please dun put too much else your rice gonna turn LUMNIOUS GREEN hehe...)
- Pandan Leaves 2 pieces tie in a knot (Would suggest to put another 1 or 2 pieces if your pandan leaves are the small type)

Directions
-Combine all ingredients and cook in rice cooker

Chicken (Recipe from Big Jess)
Ingredients
-8 pieces of Chicken wings or 4 Chicken Drumsticks
-Marinate with fish sauce, salt pepper, tumeric powder and oil

Directions
-Marinate chicken for an hour or more
-Remove from marinate and air dry
-Microwave for 5 minutes
-Bake in oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20mins, for drumsticks, bake slightly longer

Ikan Billis (Recipe from Big Jess)
This is sooooo easy and so delicious lor!
Ingredients
- A handful or 15g of ikan billis (I love them so I made more hehe)
- 2 tbsp of oil
- 1 tsp of chilli powder or curry powder (optional for people who don't like spicy food)

Directions
-Wash Ikan Billis and air dry
-Add oil and chilli powder
-Place in microwave for 2 mins, remove and stir, repeat until desired degree of crisp

You can add other ingredients to your Nasi Lemak like I did, eggs (boiled, overeasy, or even omelet) luncheon meat, vege lemak, etc!

Rememeber to serve, garnish with cucumber and Sambal!

Pizza Toast

2008-04-14T14:07:00.001-07:00

Homemade pizza toast...
Recipe obtain from dear Aifang!!!
Its so simple and so delicious... Dun think we need to go hunt for pizza deliveries anymore haha...

Ingredients
-1 slice of bread or 1/4 of baguette
-1 piece of ham
-1/4 green pepper, slice thinly
-1/4 tomato, slice thinly
-2 mushrooms, slice thinly
-mozzarella cheese (or just cut some normal sandwich cheese into small pieces)
-tomato ketchup
-oregano
-salt

Method
-preheat oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit
-spread the bread generously with tomato ketchup (this will give you the pizza taste)
-sprinkle mozzarella cheese
-arrange green pepper, mushrooms and ham on the bread
-add salt and oregano (the oregano gives it a really nice fragrant)
-top up with more cheese (this will help to hold the toppings in place)
-bake for 10 min, I baked slightly longer coz the first time round, the centre of the bread is still soft...

Alfredo Shrimp Linguine

2008-04-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

This is so simple and so delicious!!! I dun really like Cream sauce but this one is different. Love it! Recipe shared by Ah Lei!!!

Adapted exactly from Ah Lei...

Ingredients
-Half cup of heavy whipping cream
-Half cup of parmesan cheese
-chopped / minced garlic
-Olive oil
-Garlic powder
-salt / pepper
-your favorite meats ( sausage / shrimp etc etc)

1) mix the whipping cream with some sprinkles of garlic powder ( optional) , and beat it to some extent.
2) heat 2 tsp of olive oil on med heat, fry the minced garlic till fragrant
3) Add your meats and let it cook for 1-2 mins
4) Once that's done, pour in the cream , leave on med heat. A little boiling is ok, not too much.
5) Add in cheese as required, and salt & pepper for taste ( usually quite a bit of salt is needed, maybe that's just me) plus some chilli flakes if you want.
6) Add in your cooked pasta. Serve!

For the pasta cooking wise, i found that the dried ones are usually the best. I cook them first with water & salt plus 2 tsp of olive oil. leave it to cook for 10 mins. I just drain the water away , no requirement to soak in cold water.

Cheese Toast with Eggs

2008-04-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

This is delicious, I learnt from a lady in a forum... Super easy and delicious with a nice glass of Chilled orange juice!!!

Ingredients (For 2 pax)
- 4 slices of bread
- 2 eggs
-2 pieces of your favorite cheese
-pepper, salt and basil leaves

Directions
-Make a tiny hole in the center of 2 pieces of bread
-Place a piece of cheese in between a piece of bread and the piece you had made a hole in
-Place the eggs in hot water for 3- 4 mins
-Beat one egg into the center of the hole in the bread
-Pre heat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
-Place bread and toast till desired browness...

Steamed Egg

2008-04-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Steam Eggs, recipe found from Lily Wai's Blog...

Ingredients:

2 eggs
200 ml water
1 tsp sherry
1/2 tsp salt
a dash of white pepper
a tsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of soya sauce
chopped spring onions for garnishing

Method:

Bring water to boil in a steamer and turn down heat to low simmer.

Beat eggs, water, sherry and salt with a fork or a pair of chopsticks(a whisk creates too much foam). Sieve into a 6 inch deep dish and put to steam.

The time it takes to cook depends on heat of the water. Have patience and the eggs will be done when it is no more runny when a knife is inserted in the center or from experience, shake the dish and it will jiggle but will be firm.

Remove and sprinkle will sesame oil, soya sauce and spring onions.

Serve while it is hot.

Fish slice Bee Hoon

2008-04-10T19:28:00.001-07:00

Yumz Yumz Yumz...Recipe as requested
(Soup recipe courtesy Shirley)

Ingredients for Soup:
Amount at your own disretion!!!
1 Tbsp Cooking Oil
Slice Ginger about 7pieces
A handful of Ikan Billis
About 2 litre Water
3 Tbsp of Shao Xin Rice Wine
3 Tbsp of Fish Sauce
4 pieces of Dried Cuttlefish
Evaporated Milk depends on how milky you like your soup to be
1 Tsp of Sesame Oil
Spring onions

Directions:
Heat oil in pot
Fry Ikan Billis and Ginger till crispy and fragrant
Add in water
Bring to a boil then simmer
Add Shao Xin Wine, Fish Sauce, sesame oil and cuttlefish, simmer
Add Evaporated Milk before serving
Add Spring onions to the soup

Ingredients for Fish
-4 pieces of frozen Tilapia or any other fish you like
-Salt
- Oil enough for deep frying

Directions for Fish
-Cut Fish in 2cm pieces
-Sprinkle some salt onto the fish pieces
-Heat oil using Medium heat/fire
-Place fish and fry till golden brown approximately 3-5mins

Noodles
-Can use spaghetti or thin bee hoon if you can't find the thick bee hoon.
** Sphagetti tatse just as yummy!!!

Garnish
Garnish with shallots, corriander and pepper before serving

Kuay Chap

2008-04-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

Was inspired to make Kuay Chap after trying out Dawn's last week, so here it is, my very own recupe, adapted from the Kong Ba Bao! I would like to serve it with duck meat too but duck meat's really expensive over here and must travel all the way to the Chinese Super Market, So lazy!

Meat, Tau Pok and Lor Eggs PLUS Soup Base

Ingredients
-Tender Pork Loin- 2 medium sized pieces (I forgot to weigh)
-Rock Sugar
-1 whole garlic separate into individual cloves
-Warm Water
-1 Clove of Cinammon, 3 Star Anise
-3 to 4 tablespoons of dark soya sauce
-1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 5 pieces of tau pok
- 2 boiled eggs

Method
1.Add rock sugar into a wok / saucepan which has been heated up. Let the sugar caramelise (turn liquid and brown).

2. Once sugar fully caramelised, add the whole pork tenderloin and let it “sear” for 1 minute on each side. Add warm water to cover the pork belly by 1 to 2cm. Add the rest of the ingredients and seasoning. Once water begins to boil, reduce to medium low heat. (You can use the slow cooker to make this dish too, which is what I did!)

3. Cover lid and let it simmer for two hours.

4. Remove the meat from the pot

5. Add eggs and simmer for 30 minutes, remove from pot

6. Add tau pok or tau kwa, simmer for 15mins, remove from pot.

7. Add about 4 cups of water for soup base. Taste at this moment, if too salty, add in more water, if tasteless, add in more soya sauce and dark soya sauce

Cai Buay

Ingredients
-Kiam Chye
-Chicken Stock or pork stock
-Garlic
-Pepper
-Fish Sauce

Method
1. Add 1/2 litre of stock to salted vegetable and garlic. Boil for 10 mins.

2. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, topping up stock when the water level goes low.

3. Season to taste

Kuay Teow

Ingredients
-Kuay Teow
-Garnish (Fried Shallots, Pepper, Coriander leaves)
-Sambal Chili

1. Blanch the kuay, then add soup base

2. Before serving, garnish with fried shallots and corriander or spring onions and pepper. Serve with Sambal Chili

Black Pepper Chicken with Green Pepper

2008-04-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hehe... Had the inspiration today to come up with my own dish as there were 2 chicken thighs that were sitting in the freezer for some time!

My very own black pepper chicken with green pepper!
How should I name this very simple dish of mine??? Sigh no creative juices flowing at the moment so we are stuck with black pepper chicken with green pepper!

So here goes.

Ingredients
-2 Chicken Thighs or breastmeat cut into cubes
- Half Green Capsicum cut into cubes
- 1 Tbsp of oil

Marinate
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 tbsp of Oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp of soya sauce
- 1 tbsp of shao xing wine
- 1 tbsp of ground black pepper
- 1 tsp of sesame oil

Direction
1. Marinate Chicken overnight or 1 to 2 hours in the fridge, I marinate mine for about 5hrs.
2. Heat oil in pan, add meat, fry for about 2mins, add green capsicum.
3. Cover pan and let simmer for about 3mins.
4. Serve hot!

Mee Rebus

2008-04-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

Mee rebus courtesy of Kak Zainorah! Not sure the recipe serves how many persons, but seems quite a lot, maybe 10pax? I use lesser coz only for Jason and me... Half and it serves about 4-5 shares...

Ingredients
- 0.6kg beef, sliced thin and small
- 1.2kg yellow noodles (hokkien mee), parboiled
- 0.9kg beansprouts

Garnishes
- 6 beancurd cakes (tau kua), fried and sliced
- 10 limau kesturi, cut half
- 5 stalks spring onions, cut crosswise
- 10 stalks Chinese celery, cut small
- 10 green chilies, cut crosswise
- 30 shallots (bawang merah), sliced and fried
- 6 to 8 eggs, hardboiled & quartered

Gravy
- 4 tbsp curry powder, mixed with 8 tbsp water
-6 tbsp salted soybeans (taucheo), pounded slightly
-4 tbsp dried prawns, pounded
-160g peanuts, toasted & ground
-300g potatoes, boiled, peeled, mashed, & mixed with 1.42 litres/ 50 oz water
-1 tbsp salt
-1 tbsp sugar
-15tbsp oil

Rempah
-12 slices lengkuas
-5 slices ginger
-8 candlenuts (buah keras)
-20 shallots (bawang merah)
- 5 cloves garlic
-10 dried chillies, discard stem & soak in water to soften
-1 tbsp shrimp paste (blachan)

Directions
1. Heat a frying pan until very hot, add in 15 tbsp oil. When the oil is very hot, stir-fry the rempah. After a few minutes, add in the curry paste, pounded taucheo and sprinkle with a little water to prevent burning. Stir-fry in the dried prawns and the sliced beef. Add in the potatoes mixed with water, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tsp monosodium glutamate, 1 tbsp sugar, and the peanuts. Bring to boil and then simmer until fragrant (about 15 minutes).
2. To serve: Place the bean sprouts, and the noodles on a serving platter. Pour the gravy over the noodles. Arrange the limau kesturi and green chilies around the edges of the plate and then spread the remaining garnishes over the noodles.

Chocolate Nut Brownie

2008-03-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

Brownie, recipe shared by my darling Manqi! Courtesy of Women's weekly I think.
Ice cream and Hershey topping, idea thought of by me! =) Enjoy!

Serves 4
Ingredients
-90g of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
-4 tbsp of canola oil
-2 eggs
- 90g of sugar
-1 tsp salt
-55g of plain flour, sifted with 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/8 tsp of baking powder
-60g nuts, chopped coarsely

Directions
-Pre heat oven at 160 degrees celcius or 320 degrees Fahrenheit
-Grease lightly a 20cm by 20cm baking pan
-Melt chocolate by stirring in a bowl over a pot of hot boiling water
-Cool slightly then slowly whisk the oil into the chocolate, mix well
-In another bowl, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt together
-Stir in chocolate then flour, until lump free
-Add nuts, reserve about 1 tbsp
-Pour mixture into pan, Sprinkle remaining nuts over
-Bake for 25mins
-Cool and cut into slices

Serving
-Before I serve, I warm the brownie in the mirowave for 30secs (Who doesn't love nice, warm brownie?!)
-A scoop of vanilla ice cream (Vanilla goes best with chocolate, that's what I felt) and drizzle hershey's double chocolate sauce all over the dessert!

Tada... Enjoy!

Fu Chok Tong Shui

2008-03-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

Fu Chok Tong Shui
Recipe googled from the Internet and you can plus minus your favorite ingredients!
Darling dun really like it though but i do and its so good for the skin plus barley is "liang" ya?!

Ingredients

- 3 to 4 cups of water

- 3 Pandan Leaves tie in a knot

-100g of barley

-50g dried bean sticks, soaked (Fu Chok)

-100g of ginko nuts

-Rock sugar to taste

-10 quail eggs, hard boiled & shelled

Directions

1. In a pot, bring water and pandan leaves to boil

2. Add other ingredients, except rock sugar & quail egss. Bring to boil and lower fire to simmer for 1 and 1/2 hrs until braley softens

3. Add rock sugar & eggs and cook for 3 mins until roack sugar dissolves

4. Serve hot or cold

Mee Soto

2008-03-24T17:34:00.000-07:00

Mee Soto Recipe (Serves 6)
:: credits to " The cooking of Malaysia and Singapore" by Ghillie Bahsan

Ingredients
- 1 small Chicken about 900g
- 2 lemon grass, bruised
- 25g of fresh root ginger, peeled and sliced
- 2 fresh kaffir lime leaves
- 1 dried chilli
- 30ml/ 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
- 50g of yellow noodles or other noodles you like, place in boiling water for about 2mins, then drain
- 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and halve
- 115g of beansprouts, place in boiling water for about 1-2mins, then drain

Garnish
- a small brunch of cilantro roughly chopped to garnish
- fried shallots to garnish
- fresh chili to garnish
- fresh lime

Rempah
- 8 shallots chopped
- 8 garlic cloves chopped
- 6 candlenuts
- 50 galangal chopped
- 2 lemongrass chopped
- 4 fresh kaffir lime leaves
- 1 tbsp of ground coriander
- 2 tsp of ground tumeric
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions
1. Use a motar/pestle or food processor, grind all the rempah ingredients to a paste and set aside.

2. Put the Chicken, lemon grass, ginger, lime leaves and chilli in a deep pan, pour enough water (chicken stock to make it tastier) to cover. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for an hour, until the chicken is tender, remove chicken and shred the meat. Strain the stock.

3. In a wok or heavy pan, heat the oil, stir in the rempah and cook for 1-2mins until fragrant. Pour in stock and stir well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Divide the noodles. Add the hard boiled eggs, beansprouts and shredded chicken. Serve immediately with lime wedges, chilli, fried shallots and cilantro. Can drizzle soy sauce over if not tasty enough.

Mee Siam

2008-02-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

Mee Siam
Thank you Kak Zainorah! For sharing the recipe!

Mee Siam
Ingredients
Gravy:
1 tbsp cooking oil
5 shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 dried chilli, pounded
1 tsp belacan (shrimp paste)
2 onions, sliced
4 tbsp preserved yellow beans, pounded
3 tbsp tamarind
2 litres water
sugar and salt to taste

Spiced Rice Vermicelli:
500gm rice vermicelli
4 tbsp cooking oil
3 shallots, chopped
2 tbsp chilli paste
3 tbsp dried shrimp, pounded
150gm bean sprouts, peeled.

Mee Siam Garnish:
1 egg, hard-boiled, cut in wedges
20gm local chive (ku chai), fresh
1 local lime, trim top
3 prawns, medium size, peeled
20gm soya bean cake, deep-fried, diced
20gm fish cake, sliced
sambal sauce (optional)

Instructions
Gravy:
Mix tamarind with water. Strain off pulp and reserve the juice. Cook shallots, garlic, dried chilli paste and onions until fragrant. Add remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 mins. Check seasoning.

Spiced Rice Vermicelli:
Soak vermicelli in cold water to soften. Drain dry, blanch in boiling water for 30 secs and strain. Heat oil in wok and cook shallots, chilli paste and dried shrimp until fragrant. Add vermicelli and bean sprouts and mix well. Remove from heat.

Serving
Place spiced rice vermicelli in bowl. Add piping hot gravy. Garnish with egg wedges, chopped chive, prawns, soya bean cake, fish cake and lime. Sambal sauce may be added.

Dong Gui Chicken-Bebe's recipe

2008-01-31T22:33:00.000-08:00

Dong Gui Chicken
Our favorite dish and its uber simple thanks to Bebe for sharing!

Ingrdients
(A)
-2 Chicken Thighs of 4 Chicken Drumsticks
-1/2tsp of Sugar
-Salt and Pepper to taste
-4 Slices of Dong gui

(B)
-2tbsp of oyster or abalone sauce
-1/2 tsp of sesame oil
-1 tbsp of chinese cooking oil
-1 tsp of wolfberry (qi zi)
-3 tbsp of water

Method 1:
1) Mix all of Ingredients (A) in a large bowl - She never state how long, but I steamed it for 2 hours for the chicken to be tender
2) Add juices derived from Ingrdients A to Ingrdients B and boil and thickened with cornstarch solution
3) Poured over steam chicken and serve

Method 2: (Lazy version)
1) Marinate chicken with Ingredients (A) & (B) for a couple of hours and keep it in the fridge
2) Cook over stove using Medium heat and when the sauce boils, lower the heat and slow cook till meat is tender

Chicken or Pork Katsudon

2008-01-30T15:27:00.000-08:00

Recipe found in a forum known as Les Dames!

Ingredients to make chicken katsu
2 slices of chicken thigh, deboned
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour, mix with 1/2 tsp of salt and half tsp of pepper
2 - 3 cups panko
oil enough for deep frying

Method
1) Beat the 2 eggs in a medium bowl
2) Coat chicken with flour mix, dip into beaten egg, then coat with panko.
3) Double dip the chicken once again to ensure a nice crust after frying
3) Fry in oil till cooked & golden brown.

Ingredients to make the broth
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup mirin
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp of sugar
4 slices of ginger
1 white onion, thinly sliced

Method
1) Simmer onions, broth, mirin, soy, sugar and ginger in a large pan over low heat for 15 minutes

To serve the Chicken Katsudon
1) 4 eggs, beaten
2) 2 stalks green spring onion, cut into 2 inches slice
3) Heat a frying pan
4) Add in 1 cup of the broth
5) Once the broth is simmering, add in the Chicken Katsudon
6) After about half a minute, pour in half the amount of egg
7) Let the egg curdle, then pour in the rest of the eggs. Allow the egg to be fully cooked.
8) Serve over hot white rice and top up the dish with the left over gravy

*Pork may be substituted for Chicken to make Pork Katsudon

Chai Tow Kuey

2008-01-28T21:33:00.000-08:00

My very own recipe with credits to Jessica Yap!
Copied her Cantonese Style carrot cake and reproduce our very own!

Ingredients for the kuey
-80g rice flour
-10oz water
-½ tsp pepper
-½ tsp sugar

-100g shredded radish
-60g shredded carrot

To Do
1. Combine ingredients for savory cake mixture. Set aside.
2. Fry radish and carrots.
3. Add in rice flour mixture.
4. When it thickens, pour mixture into greased tin .
5. Steam for 1 hr.

Allow steam kueh to cool before cutting

Ingredients for White Chai Tow Kuey
-1 Egg
-1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce
-Pickled radish (Chai Po)- depending on how much you like it
-1 chopped garlic
-1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil

Directions for White Chai Tow Kuey (For 1 person)
-Beat egg, fish sauce and pickled radish together, set aside
-Heat oil in pan and add in chopped garlic
-Once garlic is aromatic, add in the Kuey
-Fry for about 2-3 mins
-Stir egg mixture and pour into the pan
-Flip the mixture of Kueh and egg until desired crispiness
-Garnish with Coriander leaves
*My mum used to put squid and prawns on the white chai tow kuey and and I find them exciting!!!

Ingredients for Black Chai Tow Kuey
-1 Egg
-1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce
-Pickled radish (Chai Po)- depending on how much you like it
-1 chopped garlic
-1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil
-2 tbsp of Kechap manis (More if your desire it to be darker)

Directions for White Chai Tow Kuey (For 1 person)
-Beat egg, fish sauce and pickled radish together, set aside
-Heat oil in pan and add in chopped garlic
-Once garlic is aromatic, add in the Kuey
-Fry for about 2-3 mins
-Stir egg mixture and pour into the pan
-Add in the kechap manis
-Black Chai Tow Kuey are "wetter" in texture then in the white ones

Bird's Nest with Honey Rock Sugar

2008-01-28T21:26:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my darling mummy for buying the bird's nest and sharing the recipes with her sweet daughter! Haha...

Ingredients
: A handful of Bird's nest
: 2 x 50cents piece of rock sugar (according to mummy-but if you prefer less sugar or more, adjust accordingly)

Directions
: Rinse Bird's nest
: Soak Bird's nest in the ceraemic pot for 1 -2 hours
: Do not pour away the water that you use to soak the Bird's nest instead add more water if desire into the pot
: Add rock sugar into the Bird's nest mixture
: Prepare a bigger pot of boiling water, place ceraemic pot into the big pot of boiling water and under low fire, boil for 2hours

Kong Ba Bao

2008-01-26T19:21:00.000-08:00

Recipe from Cash's famous Kong Ba Bao!

Ingredients
-Pork belly 600g ( I use Tender Pork Loin though)
-Rock Sugar
-1 whole garlic separate into individual cloves
-Warm Water
-2 Cloves of Cinammon, 3 Star Anise
-3 to 4 tablespoons of dark soya sauce
-1/2 teaspoon of salt

Method
1.Add rock sugar into a wok / saucepan which has been heated up. Let the sugar caramelise (turn liquid and brown).

2. Once sugar fully caramelised, add the whole pork belly/ tenderloin and let it “sear” for 1 minute on each side. Add warm water to cover the pork belly by 1 to 2cm. Add the rest of the ingredients and seasoning. Once water begins to boil, reduce to medium low heat. (You can use the slow cooker to make this dish too, which is what I did!)

3. Cover lid and let it simmer for two hours.

4. For the pork belly to look brown all over, cut the pork belly into inch-thick slices, put them back to the gravy to simmer for another 10 minutes. Then lay them out on an oven tray with some gravy and place them into an oven pre-heated to 450 degree F, for 10 minutes.

5. After 10 minutes, set the oven to broil and let the pork belly crisp up a bit for another 5-10 minutes. See how the pork belly has browned in the picture below.

6. To serve, shred the pork into bite sized pieces. You may choose to remove some of the fats at this stage. Then insert the pork and skin into the “bao skin”.

Claypot Chicken Rice

2008-01-08T12:06:00.001-08:00

This recipe is from Lily Wai's blogspot!

Serves about 4-5 pax

Ingredients:

2 cups rice, washed and drained

3 cups chicken stock

2 chicken drumsticks cut into pieces (bone in chicken pieces can also be used)

5 Chinese mushrooms, soaked, cut into half

1 Chinese sausage, sliced

1 ½ cm thick salted fish, sliced thinly, fried till crispy

1 tbsp black soya sauce4 tbsp garlic oil

Marinade:

2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

1 tsp of ginger juice (grated a knob of ginger and squeeze)

1 tbsp sesame oil

½ tsp pepper

½ tsp sugar

½ tbsp corn flour

Garnishing:

Spring onion chopped

Method:

1. Mix chicken, mushrooms with marinade and ginger, season for 30 minutes.

2. Put rice and chicken stock into a clay pot, cover and bring to boil lower fire and cook with low heat till holes are formed on top. (About 15 minutes)

3. Spread marinated chickens and mushrooms, Chinese sausage on top, cover and cook with low heat till rice is dry and chicken pieces are cooked (another 15 minutes).

Remove from fire.

4. Sprinkle salted fish on top, cover and leave to stand for 10 minutes till rice is dry and fluffy.

5. Before serving, sprinkle spring onion , black soya sauce and garlic oil, mix in to combine toppings and rice.

Braised Duck

2007-11-06T12:57:00.000-08:00

Braised Duck

Recipe from my mum to Jason... Super yummy! Had made it about 3 times and the 3rd time I accidentally "overbraised" it! Just braised for about 45mins to 1 hr and it will be perfect! Enjoy... Not a lot of work... Just the chopping up of the duck!

Ingredients:
-1 Duck
-1/2 Tbsp of Five Spice Powder
-1/2 Tbsp of White Ground Pepper
-2 Tbsp of cooking oil
-1 Tbsp of Soya Bean Paste (Tow Cheo)
-1 Big Clove of Garlic Peeled
-5 to 6 slices of Galangal (Lengkuas)
-4 to 5 Tbsp of Dark Soya Sauce
-1 Tbsp of Sugar
-Salt where required
-Water enough to cover 2/3 of the duck
-3 Star Anise
-3 Cinnamon Stick
-4 Hard Boiled Eggs
-2 Blocks of Tau Kwa(Firm Bean Curd)

Directions:
*Remove the duck head and feet...
1. Rub Duck with Five Spice Powder and Ground Pepper, leave in for about 15mins
2. Heat the cooking oil under small fire
3. Fry Garlic and Galangal till fragrant
4. Add in Tow Cheo, stir fry for about a minute
5. Add in Dark Soya Soy Sauce. You can add more according to your own desire.
6. Add in sugar
7. Add salt as required
8. Put in the duck
9. Add in water till it covers 2/3 of the duck
10. Add in the Star Anise and Cinammon Sticks
11. Increase to Medium fire
12. Bring down to low fire when gravy boils
13. Braised for about 45mins to an hour depending on your flame of fire
14. Flip the duck a few times during the hour

If you wish to add tau kwa and hard-boiled eggs, removed the duck and some of the gravy when cooked. With enough gravy to cover the Tau Kwa and eggs, just leave these whole to simmer until gravy is well soaked and tau kwa and eggs are brown.

Deep Fried Shallots-For garnishing

2007-10-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

Recipe found on the Internet! Nice...

Ingredients
-10-15 shallots, peeled and sliced very thinly crosswise with a knife
-4 teaspoons flour
- Vegetable oil, enough for deep frying
-1 teaspoon salt

Directions
-Heat the oil to 360 degrees.
-Separate the shallot slices into rings and place them in a medium bowl.
-Make certain the shallots are not moist, since otherwise they may splatter when they go into the oil.
-Sprinkle flour over the shallots and toss them lightly to coat evenly.
-Working with a small quantity, sprinkle the shallots over the oil and stir gently to keep them separated.
-Fry until golden brown, about 12-14 minutes.
-Remove with a slotted spoon, then put on paper towels to drain the oil.
-Sprinkle with salt while still warm.
-Continue frying the rest of the shallots, salting each batch while it is still warm.

Bak Chor Mee

2007-10-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

Well as all of you know, I'm not really a pork lover because of my previous Australia experience. But now over here in USA, I'm trying out pork a little... I'm sure mummy will be really proud of me! Haha... And today, I made our own bak chor mee! Jason kept saying its yummy so I must share the recipe... Hehe...

Serves about 4 pax

Bak Chor Ingredients
-Fresh Shallots, Sliced Thinly
-1 Tbsp of Cooking Oil
-1 pound Minced Pork
-Dark soy sauce, to taste
-10 - 15 caps Shiitake mushrooms, cut julienne
-Chinese black rice vinegar, to taste
-1 - 2 tablespoons water

Bak Chor Directions
-Heat the oil over medium heat in a large frying pan. Fry the shallots until they are light brown
-Remove shallots from the pan, leaving oil in the pan.
-Add minced meat, fry for 3-4 mins, add dark soy sauce, stirring and breaking up the meat until it is browned and fragrant.
-Add the shitake mushrooms, lightly fry for 1-2 minutes.
-Add the vinegar.
-If the mixture looks dry, add a small amount of water.
-When cooked, transfer to a bowl

Sauce for Noodles
-1 teaspoon red vinegar
-1 teaspoon oyster sauce
-1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
-1 teaspoon light soy sauce
-1 teaspoon shallots oil
-Sambal, depending on how spicy you like it to be
-1 tablespoon of hot water

Directions for sauce
-Mix all together

Noodles
-Mee Pok or You Mee
-Water (Boiling/Tepid)
-Salt

Directions for noodles
Place noodles in boiling water keep stiring to prevent them from sticking together
Rinse in Tepid water
Place noodles back into boiling water again
Serve

Serving
10.When serving noodles, mix together with sauce, garnish with shallots and top noodles with portions of meat and mushroom. Garnish with some chinese lettuce too for that extra fibre!

Poh Piah (Spring Rolls)

2007-10-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

Adapted from "Grandmother's Recipes" by Rosaline Soon

For 20 to 24 rolls
Filling
-2kg Bangkuang (Turnip)
-400g Carrots
-160g Tau Cheo (Brown Fermented Soya Bean)
-200g of Minced Pork(We used Lean pork though-preference)

Method for filling
-Shred Bangkuang and Carrots
-Fry Tau Cheo in a little oil till fragrant
-Add in pork and fry
-Add in Carrots, Buankuang and fry
-When juice appears, turn to simmer for half an hour to an hour

Garnishing
-Popiah Skin-buy it!!!
-2 heads of lettuce (pluck each leaf, rinse and dry, keep only the leafy part)
-200g of coriander (rinse and dry, keep only the leafy part)
-150g tow gey (clean beansprouts and blanch)
-1 cucumber (skinned, discard centre and shredded or slice finely)
-10 cloves garlic (chopped and deep fry till crispy)
-1 Chinese Sausage (steam and slice finely)
-500g small prawns (De-vein prawns, boil, shell, slice into halves and set aside)
-6 eggs (3 to hard boiled and cut into pieces, 3 to make thin omelettes, depending on your preference)
-ABC kechap Manis
-Sambal chilli

WALA, leave your friends and family members to wrap their own poh piah! Fun and yummy!

Pineapple Tarts

2007-09-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

Recipe found on Jess Yap's multiply but I actually prefer's Lily Wai's melt in your mouth kinda cookies, shall post the recipe when I have time!

Pineapple Jam

Ingredients:
3 Pineapples
1 packet Rock Sugar
½ Cinnamon Stick
Fine Sugar to taste

Method:
Mince pineapple, remove excess juice.
Cook the pineapple with rock sugar and cinnamon.
Add sugar to taste
Keep stirring till almost dry and golden brown.

Pastry

Ingredients:
500g Plain Flour
250g Butter
1 Egg + 1 tbsp cold water
Pinch of Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Method:
Sift the plain flour and baking powder.
Add butter, a pinch of salt and beaten eggs into flour mixture.
Rub in method till crumbly.
Knead into a dough.

Bake completed tarts at 360F,
for about 20 minutes or till they turn golden brown

Yields between 92 to 96 pieces.

Mee Siam

2007-09-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

Bee Hoon Ingredients:
500g rice vermicelli
2 tbsp sambal paste
300g prawns, shelled
2 tbsp dried prawns, soaked and minced
10 stalks chives, cut into 4cm lengths
1 tbsp light soy sauce

Gravy :
10 dried red chillies, finely ground
10 shallots, finely ground
2 tbsp taucheo (preserved soybeans), minced
3 tbsp tamarind paste, mixed with 60ml water + 200ml coconut milk
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp sugar or to taste
1/2 cup peanut oil

Garnishing :
2 eggs, hard-boiled and sliced into rings
crispy fried shallots
2 firm soybean cakes, fried and cut into strips
5 small limes, halved
fried sambal paste
200g beansprouts blanch

Method:
1) Soak rice vermicelli in water for 8-10 minutes or until soft. Drain and set aside

2) Heat 2 tbsps oil in a saucepan and fry ground chillies, shallots and presered soybean until fragrant. Add tamarind juice, water and coconut milk. Season with fish sauce and sugar and bring the gravy to a boil.

3) Heat wok with remaining oil and stir-fry the chilli paste and dried prawns until fragrant. Add fresh prawns and fry until they turn pink.

4) Add rice vermicelli and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Toss in the beansprouts and fry briskly for 1-2 minutes. Add light soy sauce, and sprinkle a little water. Mix in chives and continue to fry for another minutes. Dish out

5) Put fried vermicelli into individual plates. Ladle some gravy over the vermicelli and top with various garnishes.

Butter Cake

2007-09-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

1.5cup all purpose flour
0.5tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
0.5cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
0.75 cup milk(i use evaporate milk)

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 175degress C, grease 9 inch sq baking pan. Line bottom with wax paper and dust lightly with flour.
2. Sift together flour, salt and powder.
3. Cream butter and blend in sugar, egg and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Add sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternatively with milk.
4. Baked for 50-55mins.

Beef Brisket Noodles

2007-09-05T18:25:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
-1lb stewing beef
-1lb beef tendon
-1 full garlic bulb, halved
-2 thumb size pc of ginger root, minced
-2 tsp 5-spice powder
-soya sauce
-oyster sauce
-ketchup manis
-1 cup water

To do:
Blanche tendons
Add ginger and garlic to already hot oil, fry till fragrant
Add beef and tendon
Add 5-spice powder, condiments and water
Bring to a boil
Put into slow cooker overnight

When it's time to serve, cook noodles and garnish with scallions.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

2007-09-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

Ingredients
1) 8 egg yolks
2) 1 cup sugar (210g)
3) ½ cup corn oil (100ml)
4) 1 cup all-purpose flour (140g)
5) 2 tsp baking powder
6) ½ tsp salt
7) 170ml coconut milk
8) 1 tsp vanilla essence
9) ½ tsp pandan flavor
10) ½ tsp pandan paste
11) 9 egg whites
12) 1 tsp cream of tartar

Method
1. Preheat oven at 350F (180C)
2. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff
3. Combine egg yolks, sugar and corn oil – mix well
4. Double sift flour, baking powder and salt
5. Add flour mixture to egg yolk mixture – mix well
6. Add coconut milk, vanilla and pandan paste – mix well
7. Fold in egg white mixture
8. Pour into an ungreased chiffon cake tin, bake for 45-50min or till cake springs back when touched
9. Invert the cake tin to cool before removing cake

Ayam Pong Teh

2007-08-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

One authentic Peranakan dish, I am sorry the picture doesn't do justice to the food. It's simply mouthwatering. A recipe from Jason's aunt...

Ingredients
3 Chicken thighs (cut each chicken thigh into 3 - 4 pcs)
1 - 2 Potatoes (cut them into 4 - 6pcs depending on the size of the potatoes ie 2 - 2.5 cm each)
2 - 3 Black mushrooms (soaked them and cut them into half depending on the size of the black mushrooms)
1 small Carrot (cut it into 4 - 5 pcs ie about 2 cm thick)
6 pcs of Garlic (chopped)
12 - 14 pcs of Small Onions (minced)
2 tbsp of blended Salted Tau Cheo (Soya bean paste)

Method
a) Heat up some oil on the frying pan and add in the minced onions. Fry it till you get some nice aroma.
b) Add in the garlic and continue to stir fry both the garlic and onions. All the frying is done with Low to Medium fire.
c) Add in the blended Tau Cheo once both the garlic and onions are ready and continue to fry the paste.
d) Add in the black mushrooms stir fry for awhile and then add in the pcs of cut chicken thighs. Continue to stir fry it for another 2 - 3 mins.
f) Add in the potatoes and carrots and continue to stir fry it for another 2 - 3 mins before adding some water and half tsp of sugar
g) Bring the item to boil and then cook over small fire. Cover it with a lid and the water level should be enough to cook the chicken, potatoes and carrots. You can always add some water along the way if you think it is not sufficient versus putting in too much of water and the whole dish would be diluted.

PS - Remember you need to taste it before adding any light sauce because the blended soya bean paste is saltish.

Prawn Fritters

2007-08-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

This is pretty yummy... Before frying the mixture looks abit wierd but once the prawn fritters are done its delicious! You can dip it in sweet and spicy sauce or even like me, Mayonnaise!

Ingredients
:: 300g of raw prawns
:: 50g of dried vermicelli (dong fen)
:: 1 egg:: 3/4 cup of water
:: 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
:: 1 cup of plain flour
:: 1/4 teaspoon of bagoong (shrimp sauce- I didn't have that so i substitute it with belachan paste):: 3 spring onions, sliced
:: 1 small red chili. finely chopped
:: oil, for deep frying
:: sweet chili sauce or mayonnaise

Directions
1. Peel and devein prawns
2. Place half of the prawns in a food processor and process until smooth
3. The other half of the prawns to chop and combined with the processed prawns in a bowl
4. Place the vermicelli in a heatproof bowl, cover with hot water and soaked for a minute. Drain and cut into short lengths
5. In a small bowl, beat the egg, water and fish sauce.
6. Sift the flour in another bowl and make a well in the centre, gradually add the egg mixture and stir until smooth
7. Add the prawn mixture, bagoong, spring onion, chili and vermicelli to the bowl and mix to combine
8. Heat the oil in a large pan or wok; add tablespoons of the mixture to the pan and deep fry for 3 mins or until the fritters are crisp and golden
9. Drain on paper towels
10. Serve with sweet chili sauce

Prawn Mee Soup

2007-08-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

This recipe was shared by Manqi... Thanks babe, its DELI!!! From Women's Weekly August edition

PREP 1 HOUR
COOK 2 HOURS
SERVES 6

Ingredients
:: 1 kg medium or large prawns
:: a cup oil
:: l tbsp dried shrimp paste (belacan)
:: 5 litres water
:: 500 g pork ribs
:: 300 g pork bones
:: Salt and fish sauce. to taste (optional)
:: 1 kg noodles of your choice (yellow mee, beehoon, etc)
::100 g kang kong
:: 100 g bean sprouts
:: Fish cake, fried and sliced
:: Fried shaliots
:: Pepper, to taste

Directions
1) Steam prawns for about 3 mins till opaque and cooked Allow to cool before removing shells. Set aside. Reserve shells.
2) Heat l tbsp oil in a wok over medium fire. Fry belacan briefly till fragrant. Add reserved prawn shells and remaining oil. Stir-fry for 10 mins.
3) Remove prawn shells from wok, Keep shells and pick out the heads to blend in a food processor with 3 tbsps water. Place pounded mixture in a cloth bag.
4) Bring 3 litres water to a boil in a pot.
5) Immerse cloth bag of pounded prawn heads in it. Add reserved shells and boil gently for about an hour.
6) Meanwhile, scald pork ribs and bones in another pot of boillng water for 10 mins. Pour away water. Rinse ribs and bones in cold water.
7) Place pork ribs and bones in a deep pot. Pour prawn stock through a sieve, keeping shells and heads. Add sieved prawn stock to ribs and bones in the pot. Bring to a boil. Lower fire to a simmer.
8) Put prawan shells and heads into another clean pot. Add remaining 2 litres water and bring to a boil.
9) Gently simmer for another hall hour,Pour the second round of prawn tock [discarding shells and heads) nto the pork rib broth. Gently boil broth till pork ribs are soft. Adjust to
taste with a little salt and flsh sauce.
10) Blanch a portion of noodles, kang kong and bean sprouts in boiling water. Remove and place in a bowl.
11) Ladle stock and top with fish cake, steamed prawns and pork ribs.
12) Sprinkle shallots and pepper over.

Steamed Fish, Nonya Style

2007-08-13T15:42:00.000-07:00

I love fish! Do you? In Malay and Indian cooking, whole fish is often grilled or fried with spices, whereas the chinese and peranakans prefer to steam it. Plump promfrets rank as one of the favorites to steam whole. Peranakans will serve it with chilli sambal. ( I got the fish from Ranch, chinese supermarket. It's been frozen for approximately 1 and a half weeks but it was still fresh after steaming!)

Ingredients
::3 spring onions cut into strips
:: 25g fresh root ginger peeled and cut into strips
:: 4 dried chinese mushroom, soaked in water until soft and squeezed dry
:: 1 whole fresh fish (Promfret or sea bass)
:: 30ml or 2 tbsp of vegetable oil/sesame oil
:: 30ml or 2 tbsp of light soy sauce
:: salt and ground black pepper
:: red or green chilli seeded and cut into thin strips
:: Fresh coriander leaves to garnish
:: chilli sambal to serve
( I love to jut drizzle the soy sauce over my white rice and wala... yummy)

Directions
1) Fill a wok 1/3 of a way up with water and place a metal steaming rack into the wok. Cover with the lid and bring the water to boil
2) Score the fish diagonally 3 or 4 times and rub the meat with salt and pepper
3) Place the fish on a heatproof plate and scatter the spring onion, ginger and mushrooms over the top
4) Place the plate on the rack and cover with the lid and steam for 15-20mins until cook
5) When the fish is cook, heat the oil in a small pan, Stir in the soy sauce and pour it over the fish
6) Garnish the dish with the chillies and coriander leaves and served with steam rice and chilli sambal.

Chicken Chop

2007-08-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

This recipe is from a forum known as Les Dames.
Very simple to make and yummy!

Ingredients (depending on whether you prefer pork or chicken....
1) Slice pork or chicken in ur desire cut
2) Marinate with soy sauce, pepper, sesame oil
3) one egg beaten
4) bread crumbs
5) one small pot of oil to fry

Directions:
1) After marinate for 1/2hr, dipped in beaten egg then to bread crumbs.
2) Fry the pork or chicken once the oil is heated, do not stir.
3) When it is golden brown, take out n drained off the excess oil.

I serve it with fries, some side vegetables and toasted garlic bread. I think salad would be lovely...

Bagged Salmon with Capsicums and Olives

2007-08-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

Quite savory... I didn't really like olives and so decided to take it out.

Ingredients
1) 4 Salmon fillets
2) Olive oil
3) 2 tsp honey
4) 2 cloves garlic, chopped
5) Sprinkling of dried herbs of your choice(Oregano, fennel, rosemary, etc)
6) Salt and Pepper to taste
7) 1 Red Capsicum, chopped
8) 1 Red yellow Capsicum, chopped
9) 12-15 cherry or honeyed tomatoes, halved
10) 12-15 black olives, pitted and halved
11) Large squares of grease-proof paper for wrapping fish

Cooking Method
1. Rub Salmon fillets with salt and pepper, honey, olive oil, chopped garlic, and if using, about 1 tsp of herbs of your choice.
2. Place one piece of fish in the centre of each sheet of grease-proof paper.
3. Divide capsicums, olives and tomatoes among the fish. Place them on top and around the fish
4. Wrap each fish in grease-proof paper and scrunch the top to secure
5. Place them in a baking tray so that the juices will not run out.
6. Baked in an oven at 200 deg C for 10 minutes until cooked

Cantonese Lemon Chicken

2007-08-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

A pretty easy recipe and very yummy esp with white rice!The recipe uses chicken breast but I personally prefer chicken thigh, I find the chicken part much more tender... Enjoy
*Recipe adapted from "The essential Asian Cookbook"

Total cooking time: 25mins

Ingredients-
Chicken
:: 500g of chicken breast fillets
:: 1 egg yolk beaten
:: 1 tablespoon of water
:: 2 teaspoons soy sauce
:: 2 teaspoons dry sherry
:: 3 teaspoons cornflour
:: 1/2 cup of cornflour (extra)
:: 2 and 1/2 tablespoons of plain flour
:: Oil (for deep frying)

-Lemon Sauce
:: 1/3 cup (80mls) fresh lemon juice
:: 2 tablespoons water
:: 2 tablespoons sugar
:: 1 tablespoon dry sherry
:: 2 teaspoons cornflour
:: 1 tablespoon water (extra)

-Garnish:: Spring Onions
:: Lemon pieces

Directions
1) Cut the chicken meat into long strips and set aside
2) Combine the marinate and mix until smooth (Egg, water, Soy Sauce, Sherry and Cornflour)
3) Marinate the chicken meat into the mixture and set aside for 10 mins
4) Sift the extra cornflour and plain flour together on a plate
5) Roll each piece of chicken in the flour
6) Place the chicken in a single layer on a plate ready to be fried
7) Heat the oil of deep frying in a wok or pan
8) Carefully lower the piece of chicken individually into the oil and cook until golden brown
9) Remove the chicken and drain on paper towels
10) Let the chicken stand while you prepare the sauce
11) To make lemon sauce, Combine the lemon juice, water, sugar and sherry in a small pan.
12) Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.
13) Stir the cornflour into the extra table spoon of water and mix to a smooth paste
14) Add it into the lemon juice mixture ( I did not add all, just a bit at a time until the sauce thickens to your liking) stirring constantly
15) Set the sauce aside

NOTE: The first frying of the chicken can be done several hours in advance

16) Just before serving, reheat the oil in the wok to very hot and add all the chicken pieces and fry for 2 mins until very crisp and a rich golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
17) Pile the chicken onto a serving plate and drizzle the sauce over, sprinkle the spring onion and serve immediately.

Hand Made Mee Hoon Kuay

2007-07-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

Its really easy! But kneading of the dough is tiring... Well it helps to keep your forearm muscles tone... which is nice, work out those forearm muscles and enjoy a bowl of steaming hot mee hoon kuay after!

INGREDIENTS for the Dough
:: 500g of Plain Flour
:: 2 Eggs
:: 160ml of water (This amount was from a recipe I found but it wasn't enough, the dough was rather lumpy so I added a little bit more water to smoothen the dough)
:: 1 tsp of Salt

DIRECTIONS for the Dough
1. Add sifted flour into a mixing bowl.
2. Beat the salt, eggs and water together.
3. Make a hole in the centre of the flour and add 2/3 of the salt, eggs and water mixture. Keep 1/3 of the fluid mixture as the dough becomes very dry.
4. Mix the last 1/3 of the egg and water mixture in until the ingredients adhere and knead into a dough until smooth.
5. Cover with a wet cloth for 1 hour.
6. After 1 hour, roll dough till desired thickness on a dusted table (dust with plain flour)
7. If you like Ban Mian, cut ino 0.3 cm broad strips, other wise just tear into pieces and it becomes Mee Hoon Kuay

INGREDIENTS for the soup
-Chicken and Ikan Billis Stock
-Cai Xin and Beansprouts or any other vegetables you like
-Mince Chicken-Fried Ikan Billis and Shallots (For garnish)
-Optional: Braise Slice Chinese Mushrooms

DIRECTIONS cook the noodles
1. Boil the soup stock in a pot.
2. Cook the noodles(a handful at a time) in the boiling water for approximately 2 mins. I like it softer, so cook it longer
3. Add the mince chicken and vegetables
4. Serve with ground white pepper and Fried Ikan Billis and Shallots

DIRECTIONS on how to keep the extra noodles
Ideally, roll and cut what you need for one serving. Unused dough can be kept in a zip lock bag, in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. Each time, just roll enough dough and cut into strips

Chicken Pie

2007-07-11T17:41:00.000-07:00

INGREDIENTS (Ingredients depends on how much and what kind you like to have in the pie.)
:: 2 pieces of Frozen Puff Pastry
:: 2 big chicken thigh meat-excess fat trimmed
:: A cup of brown mushroom ( I used the small portobello mushrooms) sliced or chopped
:: 1 Carrot chopped, steam or boil to soften
:: Half a French Onion
:: 1-2 Bay Leaves
:: 2 tbsp of butter or oil
:: Salt and Pepper to taste
:: 1 tbsp of cornflour mix with 1 tbsp of chicken stock

DIRECTIONS
:: Place chicken meat, onion, water and bay leaves to cover. Boil then simmer for 30 mins.
:: Remove, strain stock, shred chicken meat and discard bones (Darling prefers pieces of chicken instead of shredding them, so it depends on whether you prefer chicken chunks or shredded pieces)
:: Melt butter in pan over medium fire
:: Stir fry chicken, and mushrooms. Add vegetables like carrot and onions if you want at this point.
:: Add stock, simmer until mixture is runny.
:: Season with salt and pepper
:: Add the cornstarch mixture, stir and simmer for 30secs.
:: Preheat oven at 220 degrees celcius.
:: Meanwhile grease your baking dish and lined it with the Frozen Pastry. I lined the sides as well.
:: Prick the base with a fork. Spoon the filling into the dish.
:: Cover with a second pastry sheet.
:: Trim excess and press edges to seal.
:: Make light cuts on top and bake for 15 to 20 mins until lightly brown.

Tiramisu

2007-07-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

INGREDIENTS (Think we left out the eggs here in the pic haha... )
-Savoiardi or sponge finger biscuit (ladyfingers)
-Baileys Irish Cream (we used) - or whichever liquer you feel would add zing to your Tiramisu
-Marscapone cheese (Italian cream cheese)
-Sugar to taste
-2-3 Eggs
Cocoa powder

DIRECTIONS (It was a trial and error since there wasn't specific amount of ingredients instructions given in the recipe we found)
1)Dissolve some sugar in Kahlua, sugar to taste.
2)Amount depends on how wet you like your tiramisu.
3)Drizzle over/soak into Sponge finger biscuits, Savioiardi.
4)Seperate eggs.
5)Beat egg yolk with some sugar till pale and foamy.
6)Beat egg white till soft peaks.
7)Beat marscapone cheese till stiff.
8)Well, can add some light flavoured liquer if you like, Amaretto, Grand Marnier (orange), Kirsch (cherry), Arrack (made from coconut).
9)Fold all 3 together.
10)Line dish with soaked sponge fingers and layer on marscapone mixture and repeat.
11)Dust over with cocoa powder.
12)Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
13)DONE!
14)Some recipe substituted some of the marscapone cheese with sour cream which we did cause we couldn't fine Marscarpone cheese and it tasted a little bit salty- like cheese case filling. SO we suggest Marscarpone cheese if you want to stay true to Tiramisu!The more egg white you put in, the lighter and fluffier your tiramisu.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

2007-07-08T12:04:00.000-07:00

INGREDIENTS
Chicken Part
-1 fresh whole chicken (about 1kg)
-1 tsp salt
-1 Tbs light soya sauce
-1 tsp Chinese rice wine
-2 pieces of ginger, each 1-inch thick, lightly bruised with the back of a knife
-1 garlic clove, peeled and lightly bruised
-1 spring onion
-1 tsp sesame oil

Rice Part
-2 cups long grain jasmine rice
-2 1/2 cups chicken stock (obtained from cooking the chicken; see recipe)
-chicken fat (from preparing the whole chicken; see recipe)
-1 Tbs finely minced ginger5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
-1 tsp sesame oil
-1 tsp salt
-1 pandan leaf, tied into a knot

Chilli and Ginger Sambal Part
-10 fresh red chillies, seeds removed from half,
-chopped10 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
-2 Tbs peeled and chopped ginger
-1 Tbs vegetable oil
-1Tbs chicken stock (obtained from cooking the chicken; see recipe)
-salt, to taste
-sugar, to taste
-calamansi juice, to taste

When Serving
-1 cucumber, halved length-wise and thinly sliced
-sprigs of coriander
-dark soy sauce
-salt
-ground white pepper
-2 spring onions, finely sliced

PREPARATION
1) Remove the fat from the cavity of the chicken and set aside for use in flavouring the rice later. 2) Vigorously rub the cavity and exterior with salt.
3) Then rub the chicken cavity with 1/2 tablespoon of the soy sauce and all of the rice wine.
4)Stuff the cavity with ginger, garlic and spring onion.
5)Set aside for 1 hour (not in the fridge).

Cooking the Chicken
1) Bring a deep stockpot, filled with enough water to cover the chicken, to the boil.
2) Lower the chicken into the pot—it should be completely immersed.
3) Immediately turn off the heat, cover, and leave to stand for 1 hour.
4) At 15-minute intervals, lift the chicken and drain the water from the cavity to ensure that the chicken cooks inside as well.
5) At the 30-minute mark, reheat the water almost to boiling point, then turn the heat off.
6) Never having been allowed to boil, the chicken should be cooked to succulent and juicy perfection.
7) At the end of the hour, remove the chicken from the pot, and plunge into a large bowl of iced water to arrest further cooking.
8) Once cool (about 15 to 20 minutes), drain the chicken thoroughly.
9) Rub it down with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce and sesame oil.
10) Snip off the chicken wing tips, neck, and legs. Toss these into the liquid left in the stockpot. 11) Set the chicken aside, covered, until ready to serve.

Cooking the Rice
1) Rinse it in a sieve under cold running water until the water runs clear.
2) Drain thoroughly.
3) Bring the pot with the chicken stock to the boil, simmering until the liquid is reduced to about 5 cups, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface.
4) Strain the stock. Measure out 2 1/2 cups for cooking the rice. Set the rest aside.
5) Place the chicken fat set aside earlier in a medium saucepan.
6) Cook on a low heat to render the fat (there should be about 3 tablespoons worth).
7) Add the ginger and garlic, and fry gently until aromatic without browning.
8) Add the drained rice and sesame oil, stirring well to coat each grain with fat.
9) Add the 2 1/2 cups of chicken stock to the rice, and bring to the boil.
10) Add the pandanus leaf and salt.
11) Simmer briskly until there is no water left on the surface of the rice.
12) Clamp the lid of the saucepan on tightly, and immediately reduce the heat to the lowest.
13) Leave for about 10 minutes. Turn the heat off, and allow the rice to stand for another 10 minutes before uncovering.
**Alternatively, after frying the rice, place it in a rice cooker with the pandan leaf and salt. Substitute chicken stock for the amount of water you would ordinarily add to cook the same amount of rice.

Making the Chilli
1) Process or blend the chillies, garlic and ginger to a fine paste, adding the oil and chicken stock (from what was reserved earlier) to facilitate the process.
2) Scrape into a bowl.
3) Stir in salt, sugar and lime juice to taste.
4) Dish some into 4 individual saucers.

Ready to Serve
1) Chop the chicken Chinese-style into bite-sized pieces with skin and bone intact.
2) Place on a serving platter over the sliced cucumber.
3) Garnish with sprigs of coriander.
4) Dish some dark soy sauce into 4 individual saucers.
5) Bring the remaining chicken stock back to the boil.
6) Season to taste with salt and ground white pepper.
7) Ladle into 4 small soup bowls and garnish with the sliced spring onions.
8) For each serving, pack a small bowl with rice, then invert rice onto a plate.
9)Each person gets a plate of aromatic rice, a bowl of shimmering chicken broth, and 2 small dishes of dipping sauces—the chilli and ginger sambal, and the dark soy sauce. Everyone helps himself or herself to the platter of Hainanese chicken placed in the centre of the table.

Fried Bee Hoon

2007-07-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

INGREDIENTS
- 7 to 10 Chinese dried mushroom
- 20 to 30 Fresh grey prawns
- Cabbage or other vegetables you like
- 3 Pcs Fish cake
- Garlic chopped
- Salt
- Pepper
- Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce
- Four tablespoons of oil

DIRECTIONS
1) Soak one packet of Bee hoon in container with tap water for 25 minutes.
2) Soak about 10 dried mushroom for about an hour until it soften.
3) Wash & drain cabbage
4) Remove the prawns from its shell and devein it
5) Fry the garlics in low heat till it fragants for about 5 minutes. But not black in colour.
6) Follow by the mushrooms. Stir fry constantly for about 7 minutes
7) Then add cabbage and fry. Add the oyster sauce sparingly.
8) Add bee hoon and stir fry for another ten minutes.
9) Follow by salt & pepper (Can add a bit of light soy sauce if you like, which i did)
10) Add about half a bowl of hot water. Remember too much water will be too soggy.
11) Add prawns and stir fry together with the rest for another ten-fifteen minutes
12) Follow by fish cake and stir fry for about 2-3 minutesTaste and if you prefer it to be saltier, then add a little bit more of the oyster sauce

Deep Fry Promfret

2007-07-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

INGREDIENTS
-Promfret
-Ginger
-Salt
-Flour
-Water
-Egg White

DIRECTIONS
1) Wash the promfret well and rub salt onto the promfret
2) Mix the flour and egg white
3) Coat the promfret with the egg white and flour mixture
4) Place a piece of ginger in the head of the fish
5) Make gashes on both sides of the promfret Set aside in the refrigerator for at least an hour
6) Heat a heavy bottomed pan on medium flame
7) Pour oil into the hot pan
8) Let it fry undisturbed on medium flame for 10 minutes
9) Flip & turn over the promfret on the other side, let it fry for 10 minutes more

Bacon and Sweetcorn Tarts

2007-07-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

This makes 12 tarts, using moulds measuring 7cm across the base and 9cm on top.

INGREDIENTS:
-Some Butter
-1 loaf wholemeal bread, preferably at least a day old
-200g streaky bacon
-1 to 2 onions
-3/4 can of corn kernels
-6 to 7 eggs, depending on size
-pepper
-1 teaspoon mustard powder (optional)
-parsley for garnishing (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1) Lightly grease base of tart moulds with butter.
2) Cut bread into round shape using cutter/rice bowl.
3) Press bread firmly into moulds.
4) Slice bacon and dice onions.
5) Fry together until bacon is nearly cooked.
6) Remove from heat and allow to cool.
7) Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl and add corn, followed by cooled bacon/onion mixture.
8) Add pepper and mustard powder, mix well.
9) Scoop into moulds and bake for 10 min at 160 deg C (preheated oven).
10) Add 2 minutes if you like really brown tarts.
11) Remove tarts from mould and allow to cool on a wire rack.
12) Don't let tarts cool in the mould as the bread crust will turn soggy.

Review:: The tarts taste alright but I am thinking with salt would be better. Cause it tasted a bit bland. And I think my bacon a little bit too chewy... It might be better if it is just corn and tomato I think.

Stir Fry Prawns in Tomato Sauce

2007-06-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

INGREDIENTS:
-1 pound prawns
-1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 3 tablespoons water
-3 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed
-1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
-1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
-1 tablespoon french onion, chopped
-Half a green capsicum
-1 tablespoon rice wine
-4 tablespoons catsup
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 teaspoon sugar

DIRECTIONS:
1) Wash and devein prawns.
2) Prepare water/cornstarch mixture.
3) Heat wok. When hot, add three tablespoons oil.If adding vege, add them now, stirring while you add them.Stir-fry vegetables for about one minute, then push them up to the side of the wok and add the prawns.
4) Mix well.When prawns have turned pink (very quick), add garlic, ginger and green onion, and rice wine and catsup, stirring all the while.
5) Add the salt and sugar.
6) Give the water/cornstarch mixture a quick restir, and pour it in.Stir.
7) If you like, you can a bit of chicken broth at this point to season