Oven Roasted Maltose Ribs烘烤麦芽糖排骨

I love ribs but every time I make them at home, I have to eat them fast as they tends to turn harder when they start to cool down. This is largely due to the sugar used. Of course you can use honey to replace sugar but I dislike the taste of honey. I find it over-powering.

I have some maltose left from my roast chicken, I decided to use that on my Caramelized Pork Rib recipe. As I didn't stock up my pantry, I have many missing ingredient :P Hence, I also replace the Chinese Cooking Wine aka Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chiew with Mirin. I didn't add vinegar or apple cider here too. Therefore, there isn't any vinegar based sauce to make the meat 'melt in your mouth'.

Although, the meat did not slip of the bones this time, it's still tender enough. I love how the maltose caramelized but without turning hard when the ribs cooled. And it doesn't make the ribs over sweet too.

My husband commented that this is the best ribs I have made so far. ;) I can't wait to make it again for the Christmas get-together at my place. I hope my friends will like it too. :)

Mirin                                          Maltose

Ingredients:

• 700g Meaty Prime Ribs, slightly fatty preferred

Marinade:

• 5 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 4 tablespoon Maltose
• 3 tablespoon Mirin
• 2 tablespoon Tomato Sauce
• 40ml Water 

How to do it:

1. Place marinade and ribs in a zip-loc bag and marinate for at least an hour.
2. Place ribs, with meaty side down, in a deep baking dish with the marinade.
3. Roast at 200C for 1 hour.
4. Bast with sauce in-between roasting.
5. Turn rib over after 1 hour, bast with sauce and continue roasting for another 15 minutes.
6. Remove and place on dish and serve.

Easy Pizza 简易比萨饼

It has been raining non-stop recently. The kids are stuck at home most of the time. I decided to let them make pizza for dinner to pass time.

They get to have some fun and I get to make them eat what they made. ;p My kids don't eat pizza. Hence I told them if they want to make it, they will have to eat it too. I'm glad my plan worked because the elder one finished almost the whole pizza and the younger one finished half of it.

Using Wraps as Pizza Base

I used Wraps as the pizza base and pasta sauce for the pizza sauce. I prepared a few ingredients that the kids would like and some that they didn't. *trying my luck* They went ahead to prepare the pizza that they like.

I baked the pizza at 200C for 15 minutes and the easy peasy pizzas are ready to be eaten!





In case you are interested, I have prepared hot-dog, ham, canned button mushroom, pre-cooked bacon, tomato, bell peppers, onions and Mozzarella Cheese.

My pizza, using whatever the kids have left over and what they didn't want.
It has lots of bell pepper, onions & tomatoes. I love it! ;)

Strawberry Ice Blended 草莓冰沙

Christmas is around the corner and one of my best friends suggested if having a Christmas 'Party' at my place this year. (We used to have random makan sessions at my (old) place.)

It wouldn't be a party, just a get-together with a few of my very good friends. Incidentally, they were also my bridesmaids too, all three of them. ;) It's going to be my 13th Wedding Anniversary soon. Hence, you might have guessed that our friendship must be longer than that. The longest being 26 years? I don't know them all at the same time but during some time of my life. However, it's great that they somehow became friends themselves too. :)

Oh! There's a torn among the roses (other than my husband) too. He is my husband's ex-co-worker, who also become all the gals' friend somewhere in time. He was also one of my husband's best-man too. In case, he reads this and I didn't mention him, he will think he is not invited to the get-together. Actually, I bet he is secretly hoping that I will forget about him. LOL

Anyway, being a kiasu, I'm already thinking what to cook and trying them out to reduce blunders on that day. No more BBQ & Steamboat this time. One of the dishes will be an Oven Roasted Maltose Ribs (more on that next time). I'll be making this very easy Strawberry Ice Blended for after meals. I can make this a day before and blend it on the day itself so there is lesser things to do and lesser clean up. I love the colours! Very Christmassy. :)

I'm looking forward to the Xmas Makan Session, that is after our makan session next week! LOL. And like what my husband said earlier today, hopefully my food wont be burned. :P

Ingredients:(serves 2-3)

• 1 punnet of strawberries (abt 450g), hauled
• 1 tablespoon Golden Granulated Sugar or regular sugar or to taste
• 2 glasses of Ice Cubes

How to do it:

1. Blend strawberries till smooth.
2. Blend in sugar with the strawberries paste.
3. Add in the ice cubes and blend till ice cubes are crushed and smooth.Serve immediately.

Note:

• I'm using very small ice cubes; abt the size 15mm x 15mm. It makes blending easier.
• The amount of sugar depends on how sweet/sour your strawberries are, so adjust the sugar contain on your own.
• I prefer Golden Granulated Sugar but regular sugar works fine too.
• If you intend to make it a day before, you can use water instead of ice cubes. After blending, put the mixture into ice cube tray and freeze it. You can blend the strawberries ice cubes the next day.
• Please use a blender that is able to cut ice to do it in order not to damage the blade.

Fish Paste Egg Roll 鱼胶蛋卷

Lately there's this craze about Happy Call. I decided to join in the craze partly because I didn't want my new kitchen to be oily when I fry fish. :p I didn't fry any fish after getting it; only bacon. The bacon didn't turn out crispy but I didn't care cos my kitchen was oil free and it didn't smell like bacon. LOL

Today, I decided to make the fish paste egg roll for my kids and my usual way of doing involved frying the egg and steaming the egg roll after spreading the fish paste. I decided to give the Happy Call Pan a try as I didn't want to use 2 utensils just to cook this. It's a good thing too since the Pan is rectangular shaped. A perfect shape for the egg crepe.

My verdict. Using the Happy Call Pan for this recipe makes the egg roll much juicy. Just look at the top photo! It takes a shorter time to cook. I will definitely explore more on using the Pan but don't worry, I'll still keep my wok pan. :)  I'm not used to cooking without see what's going on in the pan. :P

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs beaten
• a pinch of salt
• 200g Fish Paste
• 6 Crab Stick, chopped into small pieces (I used imitation snow crab stick here)
• Chopped Spring Onion or Spinach or other leafy veggies (optional for colour)
• 2 - 3 drops of Oil (serious!)

How to do it:

1. Heat pan with oil with medium low fire.
2. Pour egg, seasoned with salt.
3. Swirl to spread the egg to cover the whole pan.
4. Cover the pan.
5. Carefully flip the pan after a minute.
6. Open to check that the egg is flipped properly.
7. Cook for another half a minute.
8. Remove from pan and set aside.
9. Meanwhile, mix fish paste, crab stick and spring onion.
10. Spread the mixture evenly on the egg crepe prepared earlier.
11. Carefully roll up the egg crepe with the mixture. *1
12. Return the egg roll to the pan.
13. Cook using medium low fire, covered.
14. Turn every 2 minutes till it's totally cooked, about 10 minutes. *2
15. Removed and sliced when ready to serve.

Note:

• I did not season the fish paste as it's usually seasoned.
• The egg crepe is very soft and may tear easily. So be gentle when handling it. *1
• You can shake the pan if you like. I prefer to turn it manually so I can get it evenly browned on all sides. *2

Blanched Cockles with Garlic 蒜香伴氽烫血蚶

Blood Cockles. You either love it or hate it. Both me and my husband loves it. My son eats it too.

My father used to buy 5kg of cockles to make his famous chilled dark soy sauce cockles. Each time he made it, he will bring some over to him. I tried and tried but I just couldn't get the taste of cockles that my father made. He even bought the dark soy sauce to me once but still I just could get the right taste. His is still the best!

I had wanted to try my hands making my father's version of chilled cockles but realised I didn't have dark soy sauce with me. So change of plans. :P

This is (another) replica of what we have tried at Putien Restaurant sometime back. I shall try to conquer my father's revision another time.

* Giving the cockles a good 'body' scrub. Hate doing it but it's all worth it. *

Ingredients:

• 350g Cockles
• 1 Red Chilli, de-seeded and chopped finely
• 2 tablespoon Minced Garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon Cooking Oil
• 1/2 tablespoon Mirin or Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1/2  tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• Chicken Powder or Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Prepare the garlic first by heat oil in pan.
2. Add in chilli and Garlic and stir-fry till fragrant but not browned.
3. Add in Mirin, Light Soy Sauce and Chicken Powder. If you are using Chinese Cooking Wine, add a pinch of sugar too.
   
4. Stir to coat well.
5. Let the seasoned garlic cool.
6. Now, scrub the cockles clean. I used a toothbrush here.
7. Soak clams in salted water to let it 'spit' out sand.
8. Boil a pot of water enough to cover the cockles.
9. When the water is boiling, turn off fire and throw in all the cockles.
10. Drain them out in 3 seconds. *1
11. Place them in cool water or normal tap water and drain so it's not too hot to handle. *2
12. Remove half the shell and any dirt that maybe be there.
13. Place some seasoned garlic on each cockles and place then on a dish.
14. Chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes. *3

Note:

• I blanched then for 3 seconds here. If the cockles you bought are bigger or if you preferred them more cooked, ie, less bloody, blanch for 5-7 seconds. Anything longer than that, it's likely that will be cooked. *1
• Cool the blanched cockles partially is to stop it from continue cooking and also to make it less hot to while removing the shells. *2
• The cockles taste better when chilled but if you can't wait, go ahead to have it immediately. *2

Prawn Pancake 脆皮虾饼

We love going to 鼎泰豐 and their prawn pancake is one of the dishes we will order. Here I am doing a replicate of the dish but a much meaty version of it. You be surprised how easy it is to do. Do find time to try making it yourself.

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet Dried Bean Curd Skin, cleaned with a damp cloth to reduced saltiness
• 500g Small Prawns
• 1 Egg White
• 1/2 tablespoon Chopped Coriander (optional)
• 1/2 tablespoon Corn Flour
• A pinch of salt
• Corn flour for dusting
• Oil for pan frying

How to do it:

1. Shell and devien prawns. The shells can be retain to make stock.
2. Retain 8 prawns and minced the rest with a pinch of salt.
3. Chop remaining prawns croasely and add into minced prawn.
4. Add egg white and corn flour and mix into paste.
5. Set aside.
6. Blanch the rest of the prawns to almost cooked. Plunge in cool water to stop cooking.
7. Layer a piece of cleaned bean curd skin, size abt 20cm x 40cm, flat.
8. Spread prawn paste on one half of bean curd skin with allowance at the sides for folding. 
9. Fold the bean curd skin to cover the prawn paste.
10. Repeat till the paste is used up.
11. Dust the both sides of pancake lightly with corn flour.
12. Pan fry on one side on medium low heat till golden brown.
13. Flip over to pan fry the other side till golden brown and prawn paste is completely cooked.
14. Dish, cut into smaller pieces and serve immediately.

Dark Soy Sauce Chicken 酱油鸡

This is one of my childhood dish that I often eat at my aunt's place.  Sadly, it doesn't come close to the taste that I can recall but still acceptable. Plus point for this dish is it's fast and easy to cook. I'm using mid joint wings for this dish. You can use drumsticks chopped into smaller pieces, which is what my aunt used to do.

Ingredients:

• 6 Mid Joint Wings or 2 Drumstick chopped into 3 pcs each
• 1 Large Onion, chopped into chunks
• 1 Red Chilli, de-seed and sliced into pieces
• Oil for frying

Marinade:

1. 1/2 teaspoon Salt
2. 1/2 teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil
3. 1 1/2 tablespoon Corn Flour

Seasonings:

• 1/2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce (I use Tiger Premium Dark Soy Sauce)
• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 200ml Water

How to do it:

1. Marinate chicken pieces with marinade for half an hour.
2. Deep fry chicken till golden brown.
3. Drain and set aside.
4. Heat wok with a tablespoon of oil.
5. Fry onion and chilli till fragrant.
6. Add in the chicken and seasonings.
7. Stir fry to coat well with seasonings.
8. Serve.

Baked Cod Teriyaki 日式照烧鳕鱼

Here's another easy and simple. Before I have an oven I use to make this dish using the regular pan.

The ingredients are the same. Only difference is the cooking method. The latter method requires more steps and monitoring. The flavour is more intense too.

Now with an oven, I prefer the easier and the less hassle way to do it. If you want an even easier way, use instant teriyaki sauce which can be easily found in supermarkets. I prefer to make my own marinade as it allows me to control the flavours.

Whichever way you like, this is one easy dish you have to try.

Ingredients:

• 1 piece of Cod or Salmon

Marinade:

• 1 tablespoon Brown Sugar or regular fine sugar
• 1 tablespoon Mirin
• 1 tablespoon Wine
• 2 tablespoon Soy Sauce

How to do it:

1. Mix the marinade.
2. Place cod in a ziploc bag and pour in the marinade.
3. Squeeze the air out and seal the bag.
4. Leave cod to marinate in the fridge for at least 1/2 an hour.
5. Lay baking tray with baking paper (I use Glad Baking Paper)
6. Place the cod with a tablespoon of marinade.
7. Bake at 200c for 15 minutes.
8. Turn over and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes or till cod is completely cooked
9. Remove and serve immediately.

Note:
I use baking paper so the cod doesn't stick to the tray during baking.

Baked Mussels in Tomato Sauce with Cheese 帕斯塔番茄酱加芝士烤青口

I was trying to clear whatever I have in the fridge and in my store before we move house to make thing easier. This was a combination of (frozen) mussels, a can of tomato base pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese which was exactly what I had and wanted to clear.

It's an easy dish. Almost an instant dish. You could have it with pasta but I had it with bread, a la chilli crab. :P

Ingredients:

• 10 Frozen Mussels
• 2/3 - 1 can Campbell's Prego Tomato Base Pasta Sauce
• 1 handful Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste
• Sprinkle of Dried Parsley (optional)

How to do it:

1. Steam mussels for 2 minutes.
2. Drain and set in an oven proof dish.
3. Pour Pasta sauce over.
4. Season with salt and ground black pepper.
5. Give it a toss.
6. Top with Mozzarella Cheese.
7. Bake at 190C for 10 minutes or till sauce bubbles and cheese has melted.
8. Sprinkle on some Parmesan Cheese if you like and serve immediately with pasta or bread.