and on my farm I have some chicks ...

WokkingMum has a farm. EIEIO! And on her farm she has some chicks. EIEIO! ..... Oh, look!They just hatched!

This was my son's dinner today. It's quail eggs, pan-fried luncheon meat and Stir Fried Mixed Vegetables

Hmm ... should have saved this for Easter!

Stir Fried Mixed Vegetables

I had these veggies in the fridge I had to clear. My girl who used to love eating broccoli has somehow changes her taste. So, I had to clear them so I can buy other veg for her to try.

Hey, they are a good combo. My son who doesn't really like all the veggies here even finished his share.

Ingredients:

• 1 handful broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 handful cauliflower, cut into florets
• 10 Sweet Peas, ends removed
• 1/3 Bell Pepper, sliced (I kept the rest for my salad ^_-)
• 1/2 tablespoon Minced Garlic
• 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 2 teaspoon Oil

How to do it:

1. Blanch broccoli and cauliflower for 5 minutes and set aside.
2. Heat wok with oil and saute garlic till fragrant.
3. Add sweet peas and bell pepper and saute for 2 minutes.
4. Add in the broccoli and cauliflower and oyster sauce.
5. Saute for another half a minute.
6. Dish and serve.

Note:
Wok longer if you prefer your veg to be softer.

Radish and Carrot Soup

The soup my hubby hated most! Serious! He said it smells terrible. Taste is okay by he just could take it because of the smell. My kids will take it but not their favourite. I love it though.

Ingredients:

• 1 Radish, skinned and sliced
• 1 1/2 carrot, skinned and sliced
• 250g pork ribs
• 1 handful Wolfberries
• 1 piece Dried Octopus
• 4 Red Dates, cored
• 1.5 liter Water
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blanched pork ribs.
2. Put all ingredients except wolfberries in pot and brew for 2 - 3 hours in low fire.
3. Add wolfberries during last 1/2 hour of brewing.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Serve.

Macaroni in Chicken Soup

We had an unexpected guest today and we were chatting and chatting ... and the kids were playing and playing ... They didn't take their afternoon nap until much later. By the time I settled the kids, it was already close to 5pm. So it's macaroni today.

Luckily, I still have my homemade broth meant to make my daughter's porridge. Macaroni is simple yet still yummy. It's not that bad lah, really, because of the broth lah.

I wokked Alphabet Macaroni, the only macaroni my kids eat, with chicken broth and I added carrot, fish cake and chopped Cai Xin.

Chocolate coated Corn Flakes

I was digging into my store to look for tidbits and found a bar of chocolate and a box of Corn Flakes. Eh, why nobody interested in them huh? Surprise, surprise. Nobody eat, I eat lor and I changed them into these ...

Ingredients:

• 1 bar of chocolate, I'm using 70g Milk Chocolate (see below)
• 10g butter
• 1 small box Corn Flakes

How to do it:

1. Boil a pot of water.
2. Break the chocolate and add butter into another smaller pot.
3. Melt the butter and chocolate in the pot by putting it on the pot of boiling water.
4. Stir well till they become smooth.
5. Remove from the pot of water.
6. Pour the corn flakes in and coat well with chocolate.
7. Place corn flakes on wax paper or paper cup.
8. Chill them. Best eaten when it's cold!

Note:

• If you find your melted chocolate too thick, add more butter. The amount of melted chocolate here is enough for 1 1/2 small boxes of corn flakes.
• You can coat bananas, strawberries, marshmallows, etc too! Just make sure your fruits are not wet otherwise the chocolate won't stick to them.
  
  
  

Egg Fu Yong ... father's way

My son had Cod wrapped with Turmeric Leaf and Egg Fu Yong today. The Egg Fu Yong is wokked like how my father did it. Usually the Egg Fu Yong is rather dry but my father's version is slightly damp and my son love it.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Oil

How to do it:

1. Heat wok with oil.
2. Saute onion till they are slightly brown.
3. Add oyster sauce and mix well.
4. Add eggs and mix well.
5. Let the eggs cook and set on one side before flipping it to cook on the other side.
6. Dish and serve with rice.

Apple Carvings

You probably must be wondering what happens after the Mushroom Apple. Why no more apples shown here anymore? So here you are! Some of the apple slices that were served.

Salted Vegetable and Duck Soup

This is one of my and my hubby's favourite but I don't wok this often because eating too much salted vegetable is not good for health. It seems that it may cause *gulp* Cancer ~~~

Anyway, eating everything sparingly won't kill lah. Don't eat then will die! hahaha

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Duck, chopped into 2
• Salted Vegetable, sliced into smaller pieces
• 3 chili, seeds removed and sliced
• 2 tomato, halved
• 3 slice Ginger
• 1 whole Garlic
• 1 Pickled Plum (水梅）
• 3 litre Water

How to do it:

1. Blanch duck and set aside.
2. Blanch salted vegetables for 1 minute to cut down the saltiness.
3. Put all ingredients in a pot and boil for 2 to 3 hours in low fire.
4. Serve with rice.

Note:

No seasonings required as the salted vegetables is salty enough, we don't want to have any other health problems associated with salted vegetable, do we? Hahaha!

... the mouse went up the clock

Hickory hickory dock, the mouse went up the clock ... er, *ahem* Not rhyme time huh.

Anyways, my son had a clock and some mice for dinner today hahaha .... along with Steam Egg Custard and Niang Tau Fu Soup. When he was about to have his dinner, I realised I had forgotten about his vegetables which was still 'in process'. Sigh! So no veggie for him today.

For the Niang Tau Fu Soup, I just buy the things he likes and cooked with some broth. It just that simple.

Ham Daisy

Another boring Monday meal. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will come up with something better for you okay, son? I'll be able to think better if you don't annoy me everyday lah. Do that for a change will you? Please?

Be a good boy and just eat the mushrooms and tofu okay?

Tempura Mushrooms

I just told myself to cut down on fried stuff last week and it's only the 1 day of the week. Here I am with another fried dish. I'm just plain lazy to come up with some ideas to cook the mushrooms I have in my fridge. I could have dump it in my other dish I cooked today but then I would have to think of another dish to cook. Lazy right? It's like this on Mondays lah.

Ingredients:

• 4 Shitake Mushroom, sliced
• 5 White Button Mushroom, sliced
• 1/2 pack Shimeiji Mushroom, ends removed
• Batter for frying
• Oil for frying

How to do it:

1. Coat mushrooms with batter before deep frying them in hot oil.
2. Remove and put on paper towel to drain away extra oil.
3. Serve with dipping sauce, tomato or chili sauce.

Additional Add-on
Ingredients for Tempura Batter:

• 3 tablespoon Plain Flour
• 6 tablespoon Ice Cold Water
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt (if using on food that is not seasoned or marinated)
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda (optional - this is to make it crispier)

How to do it:

1. Beat egg.
2. Add water into egg.
3. Gradually add flour and mix till smooth.

Note:
If you prefer a thicker batter, add 1 more tablespoon of flour. Most of the time, I don't add egg and it works fine too!

Mini Muffins

I haven't been baking for a looooooong time. Well, if you consider using a muffin maker baking. But then again, I haven't been using my muffin maker for a loooooong time too. Hahaha!

I had some spare time on Saturday and since I had all the ingredients needed to make muffins, I brought out my cold storage muffin maker. I'm sure 'she' is happy to be able to get hot again. hehehe ...

Ingredients:

• 250g Plain Flour
• 100g Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
• 2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 250ml Milk
• 2 Eggs
• 50g Coloured Candy Rice (optional)
• 50g Chocolate Chips (optional)

How to do it:

1. Shift flour and baking powder.
2. Add in salt and sugar.
3. Mix ingredients well.
4. Whisk milk, butter, eggs and vanilla essence until it is smooth.
5. Make a well in the dry ingredients.
6. Pour the mixture into the well of the dry ingredients
7. Mix well.
8. Separate the mixture into half.
9. Add Coloured candy rice in one and Chocolate Chips in another and mix well.
10. Pour some mixture in paper cups and bake.

Note:
I do not know the temperature and timing required to bake the muffin as I'm using a muffin maker. Mine just need about 7 minutes and it's done.

*The outer and inner view of my trusty muffin maker*

Bean Sprout with Salted Fish

This is my daughter's No. 1 favourite. If she sees bean sprout being served, she will keep holding out her hand with her spoon and says, 'Been Spout ... peas!' and 'Been Spout ... nineee!' Do you understand that? hahaha! She can stuff herself full with bean sprout. She just love it!

Ingredients:

• Bean Sprout, heads and tails removed (I hate to do this!)
• 1/2 Red Bell Pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 2 stalk Spring Onion, cut into sections, greens only.
• 5 to10g Dried Salted Fish, depending how salty you want it to be.
• 3 Shitake Mushroom, stalk removed and sliced
• 1/2 tablespoon Minced Garlic
• 2 tablespoon water
• 2 teaspoon Oil

How to do it:

1. Heat wok with oil.
2. Saute garlic and salted fish till fragrant.
3. Add in bell pepper, spring onion and shitake mushroom.
4. Saute for about half a minute before adding the bean sprout. This is to bring out the flavour of the various vegetables.
5. Cook for about 5 minutes or longer if you prefer your bean sprout more will done.
6. Add in water if you find it too dry.
7. Dish and serve.

Note:

I don't add in seasoning as the salted fish is saltish enough.

Type of flour and their uses

Mama Seah asked me about the different types of flour and their uses in my tag board.

That really started me thinking. What's their individual use huh? There are really many different types of flour. Different cuisine uses different flour. I read in a magazine, Italian uses Semolina Flour to make pasta.

Here are the flour I know and how I use them.

• All-Purpose Flour/Plain Flour - used to make noodle, waffles, pancake, crepe, batter for frying. Can add a bit of baking powder to become self-raising flour.
• Glutinous Rice Flour - used to make ma chee, ang ku kueh, mochi. A bit chewy and elastic. (I have not tried this yet)
• Tapioca Flour - used to thicken sauce and soup. Used in Chinese confection, Kueh Bangkit.
• Rice Flour - use to make chwee kueh, chwee jiong fang, kway teow. I use this to dust my food before frying to give the it a thin and crunchy outer layer.
• Potato Flour - use to thicken sauce and soup.
• Corn Flour - use to thicken sauce and soup. Some uses this as a batter for frying too.

All the flour listed here, except of Glutinous Rice Flour (I'm not too sure), are used in baking too!

The essential flour in my wokking are All-Purpose Flour, Rice Flour and Corn Flour. I use a lot of these 3 flour.

The other flour I have in my kitchen store is Top Flour. I use that to make muffins (using a muffin maker) and no bake cookies (using frying pan). I think it great for cakes too (I won't know because I don't bake. Hahaha)

Then there are Cake Flour, Pastry Flour, Bread Flour, Self Raising Flour, etc. All these are flour used in Baking. Probably, Angeleyes will know better lah.

Hope this information is useful.

Nori Egg Roll with Carrot and Spring Onion

I think this is one of the most unhealthy dinner I prepared for my son - all fried stuff. I actually wanted to make my own soya bean tofu but only remembered after I see the bag of soya bean milk 豆花水 on the breakfast table. And that was after I finished wokking. Sigh! I really need to eat more fish. Tomorrow ... I will remember to buy another packet to make my tofu.

Meanwhile, my son still ate the unhealthy Chicken Rolls on Skewer and his 'Strawberry' rice. Black sesame seeds will be more convincing but I only have the white ones. Doesn't look too bad lah.

The other dish, which is also my daughter's favourite, is an egg dish. I thought I have already post this recipe but I couldn't find it. Hmm .... old age, old age ....

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs (makes 3 thin rolls)
• 1/3 carrot grated
• 2 springs Spring Onion, chopped finely only the greens
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 1 1/2 piece nori, cut into 3
• 2 teaspoon oil

How to do it:

1. Mix all ingredients except oil together.
2. Heat pan with oil.
3. Pour some mixture into pan.
4. Swirl pan to coat it complete with egg.
5. When the egg is 3/4 cook, place 1 piece of nori in the middle.
6. Start to roll the egg.
7. Continue to cook further for another half a minute.
8. Remove and cut into smaller pieces.
9. Repeat until mixture is finished.

Chicken Rolls on Skewer

I think I pan-fry and fry too much lately. Must switch to a healthier method. But first I got to clear my fridge of food. It's so stuff with food now. Gila one, keep forgetting I still have lots of food at home and I still buy. Must be age is catching up. Must eat more fish to improve brain power! Hahaha ... Anyway, here's another not so healthy recipe ...

Ingredients:

• 4 Chicken fillet (makes 8 rolls)
• 8 French beans
• Parsley Flakes (optional)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon light soy sauce
• Rice flour for dusting.
• Oil for frying

How to do it:

1. Slice the chicken in the middle to thin it into 2.
2. Pound the chicken using a tenderizer or the back of the chopper.
3. Marinade with light soy sauce for 1/2 hour.
4. Saute the french beans for 1 minute.
5. Cut the french beans to the width of the chicken and set aside.
6. Take a piece of chicken sprinkle some parsley flakes on it.
7. Put french beans at the end of chicken and roll it.
8. Use a toothpick to hold it.
9. Dust with rice flour.
10. Pan fry in medium fire till chicken is cooked (about 10 minutes).
11. Remove and serve with tomato or chilli sauce.

Note:

Parsley flakes are used here to only create the swirl you see in the chicken. The 3rd piece does not have parsley flakes. Purely for visual effects only. ^_-

Spinach with Light Soy Sauce

I happened to see a recipe in a cookbook that is similar to this spinach dish I wok even the presentation is the same. But the one in the cookbook added an extra ingredient - shredded bonito. Since I have that, I tried it.

Ingredients:

• 300 g Spinach, cut into equal sections
• 1/2 tablespoon oil
• Some shredded bonito
• 2 teaspoon light soy sauce.

How to do it:

1. Add oil in a pot of water and blanch spinach. 2-3 minutes is enough.
2. Drain and squeeze out water.
3. Sprinkle some shredded bonito.
4. Drizzle the light soy sauce.
5. Serve.

Note:

• I like to place spinach this way (standing up) because they tend to absorb sauce very fast. Then those on the bottom will be too salty.
• This presentation makes sure the sauce gets even distributed.
• I find this dish best eaten at room temperature not hot.

Happy Fried Rice

I'm busy shifting furniture and packing rooms today. I had to move the children's bed from the playroom to the master bedroom for my daugghter because the playpen she sleeps in is now so torn up that she can roll out of it.

I'm so tied up with the housework that I have little time left for cooking for 4 of us. So today we are ALL having the same thing - Fried Rice. Today's Fried Rice is slightly different. The ingredients I used were Carrot, Pea, Baby Corn and Sausage and the egg is on the outside.


PS. In case you do not know, I sometimes have to cook many dishes for the 4 of us. It maybe be up to 5 different dishes. You should know, my son has his own meal. My daughter too eat differently from us sometimes. My hubby and me have different taste, so when I cook some dishes that my hubby doesn't eat, I would cook another one just for him. Anyways, everyone will have 2 dishes and a soup for dinner. Troublesome huh?


Additional Note:
Someone (Babylon) asked me in my tag board how I folded the egg. Yah, I should have put this down. Thanks for asking, Babylon!

• Put the egg in a bowl. Don't use a big bowl. Use one that is enough for the rice.
• Fill in the rice.
• Fold the remaining egg inwards, covering the rice.
• Pull a plate over it and turn it over. This is why I advise not to use a big bowl. If your bowl is big, you won't be able to do this.
• Cut the egg open with a knife.

Unagi Don

My mother-in-law bought this Teriyaki Eel and a few more others stuff from her friend and pass it to us because she doesn't eat all these stuff lah. I think they call it Unagi although the packing say otherwise. Anyway, they look and tasted like Unagi.

This is really simple to prepare. Just remove the other packing, heat the inner one which is with the eel in a pot of boiling water. Remove and serve with rice. It doesn't taste that bad. I just find it too soft/thin. Maybe it will be better if I had served them as Nigiri instead.

We had rice with this Unagi, Miso Soup and Wakame Salad yesterday.

Animal Rice with Tomato Sauce Face

My girl was extremely clingy yesterday, making me really difficult to wok. I had no choice to wok really fast and simple stuff for my boy and we, adults, had sort of 'instant' food which my mother-in-law bought from her friend (see next post).

What's on the dinner plate:

• Rice with tomato sauce
• Asparagus with Bacon
• Long Beans with Eggs

Neat Trick:
For those who are curious how I decorated the rice with tomato sauce, here's the trick:

1. Pour some tomato sauce into a plastic bag.
2. Make sure the tomato sauce is all in one corner.
3. Twist the plastic bag to sort of lock the sauce into a ball, so you can hold it in you palm.
4. Have a tiny cut on the corner. The smaller the cut, the thiner the sauce line will be.
5. Gentle give the bag a squeeze and the sauce will flow out.
6. Now you can decorate your food with it.

Long Beans with Eggs

One of my son's all time favorites. He will not get sick of eating this dish. Sometimes he even asked me to wok this every other day. My daughter loves this too! And it's really easy to wok!

Ingredients:

• 5 strings Long Beans, diced
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon oil

How to do it:

1. Heat pan with oil.
2. Add in long bean and stir till the colour changed
3. Add light soy sauce in beaten egg.
4. Pour the egg over the long bean.
5. Quickly stir to mix well.
6. Now, 'push' the egg and long bean together to let them 'stick' together.
7. When the egg is set, flip it over to fry the other side.
8. Dish and serve.

Note:

You can use salt if you want but I prefer light soy sauce because it's sweeter and it adds colour.

Rice Burger

My hubby is having dinner with his boss. So this means I will cook light today. The food I have prepared to cook of dinner today have to be kept for tomorrow.

I still crave for Teriyaki Chicken so I had Teriyaki Chicken Rice Burger. It's very much the same as the Teriyaki Chicken Burger except the bun is replaced by a piece of rice. But it's so much messier to eat. I ended up wrapping it in cling wrap to cut down the mess.

My son had a similar rice burger except his was with Pork Patties and tomato sauce instead of mayonnaise.

Pork Patties with Vegetables

I used to make this patties when my son refuse to take meat and vegetables. Those times, he only wanted soup with rice and the only other thing he will eat was tofu. But surprisingly he ate these.

Ingredients:

• 50g Minced Pork
• 50g Fish Paste
• 2 slice of Onions, diced
• 2 Cai Xin leaves, chopped finely.

How to do it:

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Heat the pan with 2 teaspoon oil.
3. Scoop some mixture and press out flat on the pan.
4. Pan fry one side till you see the side facing up turns white on the edge before flipping.
5. Pan fry the other side till cook.
6. Dish and serve.

Note:

• You can choose not to use fish paste. Then you have to add 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce and corn flour.
• You may use any other vegetables you wish.

Miso Soup

Since my last soup I make with miso. I have been having craving for it. Since I'm hungry now (an hour ago actually), I went to make myself a few bowls of miso soup to go with my over night garlic bread for pizza hut. Yeah, we had pizza for supper last night.

Anyways, the good thing about miso is you can cook it like instant noodle. Anytime you what to have it just get some paste, mix with water, dump in some ingredients and you have it! A bowl of piping hot delicious soup. You have to get it boil of course. It's so fast and easy.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tablespoon miso paste
• 400ml water
• 1/2 block of silken tofu, cubed
• Shimeiji Mushroom, ends removed
• A small bunch of Wakame

How to do it:

1. Mix the miso paste with water.
2. Add all the ingredients and boil.
3. Because of the ingredients I used (can be eaten even without cooking), it's ready when it boils.

Super simple and super fast! It took me only 10 minutes to get it done!

Sakura Rice

The Cherry Blossoms in Japan have bloomed earlier this year. I guess the petals have somehow managed to find their way to Singapore and landed on my boy's dinner plate. Hahaha. Just being cheeky.

Anyway, he had Rice with Sakura Denbu, Deep Fried Seaweed Fish Paste Rolls and Steam Egg Custard in a cup yesterday.

That's the Deep Fried Seaweed Fish Paste Rolls on the plate if you didn't notice. I added Asparagus and Carrot with the Fish Paste before I rolled them up and fried. Looks like maki?

Steamed Egg Custard in a cup

Teriyaki Chicken Burger

I decided not to eat rice today but my family is still having rice and the usual dishes. I wanted a change so I made myself a Teriyaki Chicken Burger. Eating a burger is much easier and faster!

What's inbetween the buns:
4 leaves of lettuces
1 piece of Teriyaki Chicken
1 slice of onion, separated into rings
a squeeze of Japanese Mayonnaise

Does it look familiar? Aha! It's a copy-cat from, you guessed it, MOS Burger! Scrummy! Yummy!

Tomato and Egg Soup 番茄蛋花汤

This is another simple soup that doesn't take hours to brew and my family like it too. But then the broth I used took me 5 hours to brew too. I keep stock of my broth (frozen) so I can use it on these simple soup any time.

Ingredients:

• 1 litre chicken broth
• 2 tomato, diced
• 1 egg, beaten
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. When the broth boils, add in tomatoes.
2. Let it boil for about 15 minutes, then gradually add in the egg while stirring gently.
3. Add salt to taste and serve.

Note:

You can add in tofu or other vegetables if you like but we just want the slight sour taste from the tomato.

Egg in Toast 面包包鸡蛋

I wanted to post this a long time ago. I was recipe hopping when I found this recipe. It's looks really good and I gave it a try that very night ... as supper. Hahahaha ... I couldn't wait mah! And it taste as good as it look! Of course have it for breakfast not supper like me and my hubby. That's unless you want to put on weight!

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 slice bread, preferably thick slice type
• Salted Butter

How to do it:

1. Use a cookie cutter or a glass to cut a hole in the middle of the bread.
2. Spread butter on both sides of the bread.
3. Spread some butter on a frying pan and place the bread on it.
4. Using small fire, crack the egg into the hole.
5. When the egg is set, flip it over and continue cooking for a while.
6. Dish and serve.

Note:

• I cooked on small fire so as not to burn the bread and the bottom of the egg. So you have to patient if you prefer a more cooked egg.
• If the egg you are using is big, then you need a bigger hole. Otherwise the egg will 'over flow'.
• You can sprinkle some salt and pepper if you wish but I don't think it's necessary since salted butter is used.
• Don't waste the cut out bread. Toast it and eat it too!

Marimo Rice

Who that look at you?

I hurt my right shoulder on Sunday carrying my daughter using the sarong. Now even lifting the spatula is a bit painful. So I took a break on Monday from wokking. We had Shredded Chicken Porridge yesterday. That didn't take much effort.

My mother in law's friend was selling some frozen food and she felt obligated to buy. She doesn't eat these stuff, so she passed them to us. I tried the Deep Fried Chicken with Seaweed. I don't find it tasty but I guess kids will like it with some tomato sauce.

To make up for the lack of dishes today, I made for my son a cute Marimo on his rice. I think it's cute with 2 eyes looking at him as he eats. Pressuring him to eat, more like it. Hahaha! The only think I wokked is Vegetable Soup in Miso.

Vegetable Miso Soup 蔬菜味噌汤

I bought a packet of miso paste sometime back but haven't got a chance to use it. Thought I'll use it today for soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoon Miso paste
• 1 handful broccoli florets
• 1/2 Carrot, sliced
• 3 crab stick, sliced into 2
• 750ml water

How to do it:

1. Mixed Miso paste with water.
2. Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil.
3. It's ready when the vegetables are cooked.

Soooo simple, right?

Fish Maw Egg Drop Soup 鱼漂蛋花汤

My kids loves this soup. Perhaps it's the sop based I used. My husband and me love this too. The Fish Maw is simply chewy and it's good for us too. If you are anti-aging products, why not try having this instead. It's a good source of collagen.

Ingredients:

• 1 litre of Chicken Broth
• 5 pieces Fish Maw, soaked to soften
• 1 egg, beaten
• Cornflour Mixture (Thickener)
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Cut fish maw into smaller rings.
2. Add into the broth and bring to a boil/
3. Simmer for another hour or an additional hour if you prefer your fish maw to be soften.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Gradually add cornflour mixture to thicken the soup.
6. Turn off fire.
7. Slowly stir in egg.
8. Serve immediately.

Note:
You may wish to add shredded chicken meat and chinese ham to it if you like.

Sausage Flowers on Rice

What's in my son's dinner plate yesterday?

• Deep Fried Breaded Chicken Cutlet
• Braised Chestnut and Mushroom with Carrot

The 'petals' are sliced sausages (slightly saute) and the stems are Kai Lan stems I wokked yesterday too.

Braised Chestnut and Mushroom 栗子焖香菇

I thought I have posted this dish before but I couldn't find it when I when I wanted to link this. Anyways, this is one of the regulars on our dinner table. It's simple to wok and healthy to eat. Can be recommended to vegetarian friends too! Just use vegetarian oyster sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 carrots, skinned and chopped in chunks
• 10 Chinese dried mushrooms, soaked to soften and stalks removed (retain the water)
• 8 Fresh Chestnuts, soaked in hot water to ease the peeling of shell.
• 1 bowl water
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• Oil

How to do it:

1. After removing the shells from the chestnuts, deep fry them in oil for 30 seconds. This helps to cut down the chestnuts from breaking during braising.
2. Saute the mushrooms and carrots for 1 minute.
3. Put all the 2 vegetables in a pot.
4. Add in the water retained from the mushrooms and additional water if required to cover the vegetables.
5. Add in the oyster sauce and simmer for 1 hour or longer if you prefer your vegetables to be softer.
6. The liquid in the pot should be lesser than half and is thick.
7. Add in light soy sauce if you find it too bland.
8. Serve with rice.

Old Cucumber Soup 老黄瓜汤

We love soup! I spend a lot of money on gas making soup because I brew it for at least 4 hours! My boy knows it if I took a short cut. Then he won't even drink it. Well maybe he still does drink half a bowl to give me 'face'. hahaha ...

Anyway, this vegetable I'm using is called 老黄瓜 in Chinese. It looks like a bigger version of cucumber but with brownish-yellow slightly rough, crinkle skin. It's called Old Yellow Cucumber translated directly. I haven't had a clue what its proper English name is. Anyone drop me note if you know.

Ingredients:

• Old Yellow Cucumber, washed, sliced in big chunks and seeds removed.
• 1 piece dried octopus, cut into pieces
• 5 red dates, stoned
• 250g pork ribs
• 2 litre water
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blanched the pork ribs.
2. Put all ingredients except salt in a pot and bring to boil.
3. Once the water starts to boil, turn down the fire to low.
4. Brew for at least 4 hours (to bring out the flavour).
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Serve.

Note:
The meat from the cucumber is so well cooked that it just 'melt' in your mouth!

Kai Lan cooked 2 ways 双味芥兰

I have wok this for a looooong time because it's really unhealthy - too oily for a veggie dish. But once in a while won't kill lah. Actually, I don't eat very healthy stuff either. I'm still kicking leh. Anyway, try this if you want something different but it may not be your cup of tea lah.

Ingredients:

• Kai Lan, leaves and stems separated
• 1/2 tablespoon, minced garlic
• Light soy sauce
• Sugar
• Oil of frying

Dish 1: Deep Fried Kai Lan

How to do it:

1. Chop leaves into thin shreds.
2. Heat wok with 3 tablespoon oil.
3. Deep fried the leaves till they turned dark green and crunchy (NOT Brown).
4. Dish and leave them on paper towels to drain away excess oil.
5. EITHER sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar or drizzle a teaspoon of light soy sauce. I have sprinkle some grind ikan bilis (powder) instead ;p
6. Serve with rice.

Dish 2: Stir Fried Kai Lan

How to do it:

1. Skin the stems and chopped into sections
2. Heat wok with 1 teaspoon oil or you can use the oil for the deep fried kai lan.
3. Saute garlic till fragnant.
4. Add in the stems and saute till the colour changed.
5. Saute for another 5 minutes or longer if you prefer your stems softer.
6. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of light sauce sauce.
7. Dish and serve.

Colourful Veggie and Aromatic Cod with Rice

Hmmm .... I don't know what to call this. Just anyhow come up with a title. Nevermind lah. As long as I know what's in here.

It has Cod wrapped with Turmeric Leaf and a simple stirred fried veggie. My boy loved the Cod!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Carrot, shredded
• 5 Sweet Peas, shredded
• 4 Baby corn, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon Light soy sauce
• Oil for frying

How to do it:

1. Heat wok with oil.
2. Add in baby corn and saute till almost cooked.
3. Add in the carrot and sweet peas.
4. Saute for awhile
5. Add light soy sauce.
6. Saute for a while.
7. Dish and serve.

Cod wrapped with Turmeric Leaf 黄姜叶包鳕鱼

I bought a piece of Cod today. Cost me S$9!!! Gees! So Expensive! I was cracking my head on how I'm going to cook this till I saw turmeric leaves. So it's going to be something different today. Guess what? My greedy boy ate half of the Cod and ask for the other half. No, no, no ... that's for 爸爸.

Ingredients:

• Cod, palm size so it's easier to wrap
• Turmeric Leaf (黄姜叶）
• A squeeze of lime
• Oil for frying

Seasonings:

• 1 teaspoon Garlic
• 2 teaspoon light soy sauce
• A dash of black pepper

How to do it:

1. Seasoning Cod for 1/2 hour.
2. Wrap Cod with turmeric leaf. Secure with toothpick.
3. Heat pan with oil.
4. Pan fry Cod for about 10 minutes on each side or till cook.
5. Remove and squeeze in some lime juice.
6. Serve with rice.

Love the aroma!! My kitchen sure smell nice after this!!

Assorted Mushroom with Oyster Sauce 三菇耗油

Once when we were at Jade Imperial Restaurant at Takashimaya for dim sum, we tried their Assorted Mushroom with Oyster Sauce. It was nice and simple. So I thought I'll give it a try. It turn out not too bad either.

Ingredients:

• 6 large Shitake Mushroom, sliced thick
• 1 pack Shimeiji Mushroom, end, chopped
• 1 pack White Button Mushroom, sliced thick
• 1 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon oil

How to do it:

1. Heat oil in wok
2. Saute the mushroom till it's slightly brown.
3. Dish and set aside.
4. Using the same wok (do not clean away the oil), add in the oyster sauce.
5. When the oyster sauce starts to cook and thicken, add the mushroom and coat well.
6. Dish and serve with rice.

Note:
It's quite a heap of mushroom before wokking but it would soon 'shrink' after you saute. You can add more oyster sauce if you find it insufficient.

Soba - Spaghetti Style 意大利式荞麦面

My family, including me, doesn't really fancy spaghetti. I have tried all kind of pastas. I think the closest is the alphabets macaroni - only my girl enjoy it. We love the sauce though.

Remember, I bought a pack of soba? I did said I'm going to try other ways of cooking soba. This is another way - Spaghetti style. And we love it! I think this is going to be another regular item on our dinner table.

Ingredients:

• Soba
• 1 can of tomato puree
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1/2 carrot, diced finely
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 small can button mushroom, sliced
• 8 fresh button mushroom, sliced
• 12 medium prawns, shelled and deveined
• 2 squid, skin removed, cleaned and sliced into smaller pieces
• 1/2 minced Garlic
• Oil for cooking
• Corn starch with water (thickener)
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Cook soba in a pot of water. Drain water and set aside.
2. Add 2 teaspoon of oil to prevent the soba from sticking together.
3. In a wok, add in 2 teaspoon of oil.
4. Saute the garlic and onion till fragrant.
5. Add in prawns and squid and saute till almost cooked
6. Add in tomato and mushrooms and saute for about 1 minute.
7. Add in tomato puree and water.
8. Boil it to a boil.
9. Add salt to taste.
10. Thicken the sauce with cornstarch.
11. Dish soba on to a plate and pour the sauce over.
12. Serve with some herbs and Parmesan cheese.

Rice Cakes

Which would you like? Strawberry Cake or Chocolate Chips Cake? How? Look like cakes? Hehehe.

The one on the left is Rice with Furikaki. The right one is Rice with Sakura Denbu. I used Scrambled Eggs and Ham with the rice, topped with cherry tomato. The 'cream' is Japanese Mayonnaise.