Fish Tofu with Assorted Veggies 鱼肉豆腐炒什菜

This is one dish that have everything that the family will like. Sometimes, I'll change the vegetables and it's looks like a new dish for the kids.  The main item here is the fish tofu, which will need a bit work but trust me, the kids even adults will like it.

If you are unable to get ready made fish paste, you can make your own. My suggested recipe is here. I'm lucky that there's a stall selling Yong Tau Foo 酿豆腐 in the wet market at my place here. I can buy just the fish paste from them, which in my opinion far more better than those sold in supermarket.

Ingredients:

• 150g Fish Paste
• 1 tube Egg Tofu
• 1 clove Garlic, minced
• 8 Fresh Shitake Mushroom, sliced
• 12 Sweet Peas, tips removed
• 1/2 Carrot, sliced
• 6 tablespoon Broth
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying
• Cornflour mixture (thickener), optional

How to do it:

1. Squeeze the tofu out of the tube.
2. Mix the smashed tofu with the fish paste.
3. You can add a dash of pepper if you like.
4. Oil a deep dish on all sides well.
5. Pour the tofu fish paste in the dish and level it.
6. Cover with foil and steam for 15 minutes or till cooked.
7. Carefully turn the dish over when it's cooled to let the fish tofu will drop to the foil.
8. Cut the fish tofu into thick equal blocks.
9. Pan fry the fish tofu on all sides till lightly browned.
10. Remove and set aside.
11. Using the same wok, add oil if necessary.
12. Add in sweet peas and stir fry till just done.
13. Dish and set aside.
14. Still using the same wok, add garlic and saute garlic till fragrant.
15. Add in sliced mushroom and carrot.
16. Stir fry till almost cooked.
17. Add in fish tofu, sweet peas and broth.
18. Bring to a boil and season with salt.
19. Gradually stir in cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce if you like.
20. Dish and serve immediately.
    

Shark's Fin Melon Soup with Sweet Corn 鱼刺瓜玉米汤

Both my kids have rather different taste. Usually if one like a soup, chances are, the other doesn't. *faint* Although, I still force ask them to drink it whether they like it or not (cos I spend hours making them), I'll still continue to experiment to get just an additional soup that both will like.

My son loves Shark's Fin Melon soup, so you guess it. My daughter doesn't. I tweaked my original recipe little by adding corn here for the sweetness.

Results ... I don't have to force her to drink it but she didn't quite like it either. Haiz .... Maybe, you'll like this version?

Ingredients:

• 1.2 litre Water
• 800g Shark’s Fin Melon, skin and seeds removed and cut into chunks
• 250g pork ribs
• 8 red dates
• 1 piece Dried Octopus
• a handful Wolfberries
• 1 Sweet Corn, cut to chunks
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blanch pork ribs.
2. Add all ingredients except wolfberries and salt to a pot of water.
3. Bring it to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and continue to simmer for another 3 hours.
5. Add wolfberries 30 minutes before cooking ends
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Serve.

French Bean Salad

This dish is meant to be a side dish for my husband's salmon dinner. He was held up with work and could only return way pass dinner time. Hence, he skipped dinner and had something light (as supper) when he got home.

I added sliced shallot and ate it myself instead. If you are like my husband, who dislike shallot, just leave that out. Try using thinly sliced celery instead. ;)

Ingredients:

• 400g French Beans, top and tails removed and sliced
• 1 - 2 Shallot, sliced thinly (optional)
• Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste

Dressing to mixed well:

• 1 1/2 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 1 teaspoon Sugar

How to do it:

1. Blanch sliced french bean for 5 minutes or till cooked but still crunchy.
2. Drain and rinse in cold water.
3. Drain well.
4. Toss french bean with dressing to mix well.
5. Add shallot, salt and ground pepper.
6. Toss gently.
7. Serve as side.

Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic 蒜蓉奶油蘑菇浓汤

This soup was inspired by Campell's canned soup of the same name. :P

If you like that soup, you'll be surprised how easy it is to make it at home and I dare say, tastier. ;P

Basically, it a combo of Cream of Mushroom and Roasted Garlic but I have tweak my Cream of Mushrooma little here.

Ingredients:

• 200g Brown/White Button Mushroom, chopped
• 100g Shitake Mushroom, sliced
• 15g Butter
• 300ml Chicken Broth
• 250ml Whipping Cream
• Salt to taste
• 1 to 2 tablespoon Roasted Garlic

How to do it:

1. Saute sliced shitake mushroom with 1/2 the butter till absorb the butter.
2. Dish and set aside.
3. Using the same pan, saute the chopped button mushroom with the remaining butter till it sweat.
4. Pour mushroom into the blender.
5. Add the broth.
6. Blend till desired consistency.
7. Pour into a pot.
8. Add in the previously cooked shitake mushroom and roasted garlic.
9. Bring to a simmer.
10. Stir in the whipping cream.
11. Simmer till garlic has soften.
12. Serve.

Note:

• You can use either white or brown or both button mushroom.
• Do consider adding Portobello Mushroom too. It makes the soup's flavour richer. It's slightly more expensive though.

Roasted Garlic 烘蒜蓉

My family except my husband loves garlic I will put lots of garlic in my cooking, if my husband is not eating, because the kids always fight for it. :)

They especially like fried garlic and and onion too! I always make these two items and sometimes ginger shreds.  I stock them up as you can add them to almost any food. Or for my kids, eat them as it is. :P

I prefer to oven roast minced garlic. It's less oily and you can keep it longer as they are much drier than if you fried them in oil. I can also removed those that have turned brown and let the others continue roasting. If you fry them in oil, you can't do that.

I spray some oil on my tray, spread the garlic and spray a little oil over the garlic. It's much easier if you use the oil spray but if you don't have one, you can use a brush to brush the tray then toss the garlic with the oil before spreading them flat. Just use enough oil to spread the tray so the garlic doesn't stick to it. You don''t need a lot of oil for this.

I roast it at 180C for a totally 20 minutes but checking in-between to give it a stir and spread them flat again so they will brown evenly and to remove those that have browned. You won't have this problem if your minced garlic are about the same size. With my 'kungfu', my minced garlic are still not quite uniform.  Hence, I need to do the in-between picking. :P

The roasted garlic will turn out very dry, crunchy and not oily at all. The minus point is it takes a much longer time to do it compare to oil frying.

I'll be using these for my next post, Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic. :)

Steamed Egg Custard with Clams 蛤蜊蒸蛋

I bought a kilogram of clams today to cook spicy clams.I decided to set aside 6 of them to steam them with eggs.

The clams I bought were rather big hence I only used 6 for 2 eggs as I don't want the egg custard to be only full of the sweetness of the clams.

However, you may add more if your like.  You can even remove half empty shell and steam using with the shell with the clam only. I prefer to use the whole clam for easy picking. =)

Ingredients:

• 6 Clams
• 2 Eggs
• 160ml Stock
• a pinch Salt

How to do it:

1. Soak clams in salted water to let it 'spit' out sand.
2. Steam clams for 10 minutes or till are slightly opened.
3. Remove clams and reserve liquid.
4. Beat egg lightly in a bowl
5. Add water and liquid from clams together
6. Mix well.
7. Sieve the egg mixture for smoother result.
8. Pour egg mixture in a dish and place clams in it.
9. Cover dish with foil.
10. Steam till egg is set
11. Serve.

Note:

• Timing for steaming depends on how deep your dish is. I divided my egg mixture into 2 single portions and steamed them for 10 minutes.
• Don't steam the clams for too long as you will be steaming them again with the egg mixture. The clams will be over cooked and will not be tender if you do so.

Black Bean & Lotus Root with Chicken Feet Soup 黑豆莲藕鸡脚汤

This is a combo of a few different soup - Black Chicken with Black Bean Soup, Chicken Feet with Peanut Soup and Lotus Root Soup with Peanut. With that, I now have a new soup that everyone at home likes.

The soup is dark due to the black beans but don't be deceived but it's outlook, ie, tinted chicken feet, ribs and even lotus roots. It's really light and sweet.

Ingredients:

• 200g Pork Ribs or Chicken Bones
• 8 Chicken Feet
• 200g Lotus Root, skinned and sliced
• 100g Black Beans, roasted for a minute on pan without oil
• 10 Red Dates, pitted
• 1 small piece Dried Cuttlefish, cut into strips
• 2 slice of Ginger (optional)
• 1.8 litre Water
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Blanch chicken feet.and pork ribs/chicken bones.
2. Put all ingredients except salt in a pot of water.
3. Bring to boil then lower fire and simmer for another 3-4 hours.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Serve.

Salted Yolk Prawns 咸蛋黄炒虾

This is definitely an once in a blue moon indulgence because of it's cholesterol. I used to make it more 'wet' by having more butter and salted yolk. I have cut-down on both items here for health reasons. Hence, it looks a bit dry here. Nonetheless, the taste is still the same.

Ingredients:

• 350g Prawns
• 2 Salted Egg Yolk
• 1 stem Curry Leaves
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 2 tablespoon Evaporated Milk
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar

Marinade:

• 1/2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil
• 4 tablespoon Corn Flour
• 1 Egg
• a dash of pepper

How to do it:

1. Trim off the legs, antenna and the sharp thingy on the head off the prawns. 
2. Slit the back of prawns, using either a kitchen scissor or knife. 
3. Devein and clean the prawns.
4. Marinate the prawns for 10 minutes.
5. Deep fry till 80% cooked. 
6. Drain well and set aside .
7. Meanwhile, steam the salted egg yolks for 10 minutes or till just done.
8. Smash cooked yolks.
9. Melt butter and add in curry leaves and fried till fragrant.
10. Add in salted yolks and evaporated milk and prawns.
11. Toss well quickly.
12. Add salt and sugar.
13. Stir till well combined.
14. Dish and serve immediately.

Popcorn Chicken 2-ways 鸡丁双拼

I cooked this dish with and without sauce. So both the kids and the adults can enjoy it. I chopped the chicken into bite-size so it's easier for the kids to eat.

The spicy sauce is optional. If don't want the extra step, you can dip the 'plain' chicken in mayonaise, tomato, chili sauce, etc

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Breast, deboned & cut into small pieces
• 1 tablespoon minced Garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon minced Ginger

Marinade:

• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Corn Flour
• dash of Pepper

Sauce to mix well:

• 1 tablespoon Thai Chilli Sauce
• 2 tablespoon Tomato Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 1 teaspoon HP Sauce or 1/2 tablespoon Apple Cider
• 5 tablespoon Water

How to do it:

1. Marinate chicken in marinade for an hour.
2. Deep fry till golden brown.
3. Dish out and drain on paper towel.
4. Serve with your preferred sauce or continue below.
5. Saute garlic and ginger till frangant.
6. Pour in sauce and bring to a boil.
7. Add in pre-fried chicken and briskly stir to coat well with sauce.
8. Dish and serve.

Fried Chicken without sauce