King Ribs 排骨王

I have always liked King Ribs 排骨王, one of the popular dishes from zi char stall 煮炒店. I was never close to making the sauce till one day, while grocery shopping in a supermarket, I overheard 2 aunties discussing it. I approached them and asked if they could share with me the recipe. :P They shared the 3 main sauces needed to make the concoction and the rest if up to me to decipher.

I would never have guessed that the sauces used were so 'ang mo', mainly A1 sauce, HP sauce and Worcestershire sauce. I have the last 2 sauces but not A1 sauce and found it in Cold Storage. In fact you can get the 3 sauces in Cold Storage if you have none of the sauces

After experimenting a couple of times, I'm pleased with what I have come out with. I have been making this a few times now. The sauce goes well with ribs and pork chops. Not a good idea to use thinly sliced meat though.

Ingredients:

• 350g Pork Ribs or Pork Chops

Marinade:

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 tablespoon Corn Flour

Sauce:

• 1 1/2 tablespoon A1 Steak Sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon HP Sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Sugar
• 5 tablespoon Water
• 1 tablespoon Corn Flour

How to do it:

1. Marinate pork in the marinade for at least an hour.
2. Deep fry the pork till cooked.
3. Mix sauce well and pour into a wok.
4. Bring to a gentle simmer.
5. Add in the pork and toss to coat well with sauce.
6. Dish and serve.

Little Lunch Box #03小饭盒

One of the lunch boxes I prepared for my daughter. Her lunch box must consist of egg and vegetable. :P

My daughter is an odd ball :P Unlike my son, my daughter won't eat food that's 'shaped' (cos she thinks it's not food XD). So it saves me the trouble of 'beautifying' her lunch box. She has very simple and normal looking lunch box for her recess

This lunch box here consist of scrambled eggs, edamame, (fried) fish slices with rice topped to furikake.

No Shark's Fin Soup 瑶柱蟹肉羹

I get quite a few queries about Shark's Fin Soup just before Chinese New Year. Yes, I know there are many people who are against eating Shark's Fin. I won't pretend to be righteous here. If I'm being served a bowl of shark's fin soup, I'll eat it. It's worst to waste food.

I too think it's cruel to slice off the fins of sharks and throw them back to the sea to let them die slowly. But I find the way geese are raised for their livers cruel too. I wont stop anyone from eating anything they like or want. Different people have different cultures, different views and different eating preference. Unless Shark's Fin is banned or fishermen are banned for fishing it, you will continue to see people buying or eating it.

Anyways, this recipe doesn't contain Shark's Fin (happy?) Here's my no shark's fins Shark's Fin Soup  Crabmeat with Dried Scallop Soup. It's pretty decent to serve to your guests too.

Ingredients:

• 1 litre Chicken Stock
• 600ml Water
• 500g Crab Meat, defrost and drained
• 30g Dried Scallop, soak to soften and shredded
• 2 Egg White, beaten
• 2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1 teaspoon Chicken Powder
• Salt to taste
• Corn Flour Mixture To thicken the soup

How to do it:

1. Bring the chicken stock and water to a boil.
2. Add in crab meat and shredded scallops
3. Bring to a simmer.
4. Season with Chinese cooking Wine, oyster sauce and chicken powder.
5. Thicken with corn flour mixture.
6. Turn of fire and stir-in egg white.
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Serve.

Note:

• You may wish to set aside some shredded dried scallop and top some on the soup just before serving.
• If you really had to add in real or imitation shark's fins, steamed them in chicken stock for 20 mins.
• Either add them into the soup before thickening with corn flour mixture (Step5) or top it just before serving, like the dried scallops.

Golden Pineapple Ball 凤梨酥

I finally had time to make Pineapple Tarts by staying up late last night. To save time, I did the close up type and shaped it like a ball. I bought some cloves and want to use it to make it look like a tangerine but totally forgotten about it until I finished making.


I'm using my old recipe as we like the texture. These Golden Pineapple Ball consist of 8g pineapple jam with 12g dough. I baked them this time at 180C for 16mins

I save some dough too, to make Chocolate Cookies for my daughter. She has been pestering me to do it since I failed my 1st attempt. :P This round it was much better with just a 6g dough for each chocolate pastille, dusted with cocoa powder and baked at 180C for 13mins. I bet she loves it. :)

Chocolate Cookies 巧克力酥



This is my failed Chocolate Cookies below :P Just too much dough.

Stuffed Mushroom 花枝招展

I was making Braised Chicken feet with mushroom and decided to set aside a few of the mushroom to make this dish.

This is done using the Happy Call Pan.  If you don't own a HCP, there's always the regular wok or steamer to do the job. Please refer to the alternative method at the end of the recipe for instructions.

Ingredients:

• 200g prawns, shelled, cleaned and minced
• 2 Squid, cleaned and outer 'skin' removed
• 6 Dried Mushroom, soak to soften and stalk removed
• a small handful of Wolf berries
• 1 teaspoon Corn Flour
• a pinch of Salt
• a dash of Pepper
• 100ml Water
• 1/3 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• a pinch of Sugar
• Cornflour Mixture as thickener

How to do it:

1. Squeeze water out of mushroom, dab dry and set aside.
2. Cut squid into thick ring of 2.5cm each piece.
3. Slice squid downward with less than 1cm apart but be careful not to slice thru it. You can use a scissor to do this too.
4. When it's done, the squid will look like a flower with a big opening in the middle.
5. Dab dry and set aside.
6. Mix minced prawn well with 1/2 teaspoon corn flour, a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper.
7. Dab the underside of the mushroom with a little cornflour.
8. Stuff the squid with prawn paste and place it on the mushroom.
9. Top with a Wolfberry.
10. Pour water into the pan.
11. Add oyster sauce, sugar and wolfberries.
12. Bring to a simmer.
13. Add in the stuffed mushroom.
14. Cover the pan and cook in low fire for 15 minutes.
15. Open and remove the stuff mushroom to a dish.
16. Thicken the sauce with cornflour mixture.
17. Pour over the stuff mushroom.
18. Drizzle sesame seed oil if desired and serve.

Note:

• The cooking time depends on the size of the stuff mushroom you have. The bigger the mushroom, the more minced prawn you need. Hence, the longer cooking time required too.
• Try to choose squid that can fit onto the mushroom, so the 'flower' can sit inside the mushroom.
• Unuse parts of the squid, except for the head, can be minced and mixed together with the prawns to be used.

Alternative for non-HCP user:

1. Follow steps 1 to 9.
2. Place the mushroom in a deep dish
3. Steam it for 15 mins or cooked thoroughly.
4. Remove and place it on a plate. Retain the sauce.
5. In a wok, pour in the sauce retained from the steaming.
6. Add 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce and a pinch of salt and sugar to taste.
7. Bring to a simmer and stir in some corn flour mixture to thicken the sauce.
8. Pour the sauce over, drizzle with sesame seed oil and serve.

before it's cooked

Sesame Cookie 芝麻酥

I happened to chance upon a packet of Sesame Powder in the supermarket and knew I had to get it. I love it in Glutinous Ball and I didn't manage to get it when I made Glutinous Ball for Winter Solstice last month. I'm definitely going to get it to make something else and it was the last packet there too.

I'm using my Peanut Cookies recipe to make these. Since the end product is grey in colour, I'm not sure if it will be acceptable as gift for Chinese New Year but they taste really fragrant. My husband preferred the 'original' with just sesame seed as toppings. I preferred it with sesame seed rolled all over, as shown at the end of this post.

Which do you prefer?

Ingredients:

• 300g Sesame Powder with sugar
• 120g Castor Sugar or Icing Sugar
• 250g Top Flour or All Purpose Flour
• 180ml Oil (I use Olive Oil)
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 100g Toasted Sesame Seed for topping
• 1 Egg Yolk, beaten for glazing

How to do it:

1. Mix flour, salt, sugar and sesame powder together to combine.
2. Pour half of the oil into the sesame mixture and mix together. I use hands to do it.
3. Pour the remaining oil and continue mixing and kneading till the (icing) sugar has melted.
4. Roll a ball of 10g sesame paste and if it doesn’t crumble, your paste is ready. Otherwise, add a bit of oil till the sesame ball doesn't crumble when you roll it.
5. Place sesame ball on baking tray.
6. Brush with egg yolk.
7. Sprinkle some sesame seed on top.
8. Bake in a preheated oven for 13mins at 180C till egg yolk glazing turn lightly golden brown.
9. Cool on rack and store in air tight container.

Note:

• If you use castor sugar, you will be able to able to eat into some sugar giving it the crunchy feel. Use icing sugar instead if you prefer it to be smooth.

Sesame Cookie rolled in Sesame Seed and baked in the same way

Peanut Cookie 花生酥

I have packet of Peanut powder left after making Pearl Ball 珍珠圆 for Winter Solstice (cos the blur me bought an extra packet). I decided to shelf my plans to make Pineapple Tarts as these are much easier to make and I didn't have to bring out the mixer.

The peanut powder I'm using contains sugar hence I reduce the amount of sugar used here. If you are using one that's without sugar and prefer it to be sweeter, you might want to increase the amount of sugar. And if you prefer to make your own peanut powder, you have to pan-roast on a dry pan, constantly stirring it to let it brown evenly before you grind it into powder.

If you thinking of making Chinese New Year goodies, you might want to try this first cos it's really easy and there's minimum washing to be done.

Ingredients:

• 300g Peanut Powder with sugar
• 120g Castor Sugar or Icing Sugar
• 250g Top Flour or All Purpose Flour
• 180ml Oil (I use Olive Oil)
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 Egg Yolk, beaten for glazing

How to do it:

1. Mix flour, salt, sugar and peanut powder together to combine.
2. Pour half of the oil into the peanut mixture and mix together. I use hands to do it.
3. Pour the remaining oil and continue mixing and kneading till the (icing) sugar has melted.
4. Roll a ball of 15g peanut paste and if it doesn’t crumble, your paste is ready. Otherwise, add a bit of oil till the peanut ball doesn't crumble when you roll it.
5. Place peanut ball on baking tray and top it with half a peanut if desire.
6. Brush with the egg yolk.
7. Bake in a preheated oven for 10mins at 200C till lightly golden brown
8. Cool on rack and store in air tight container.

Note:

• This is a 2-bite cookie. If you prefer a smaller cookie, roll a ball of 10g peanut paste instead and bake at 180c for 12 mins.
• If you use castor sugar, you will be able to able to eat into some sugar giving it the crunchy feel. Use icing sugar instead if you prefer it to be smooth.

Pan Fried Fish Tofu 香煎鱼肉豆腐

I have been making this Fish Tofu for a few years. In the beginning, it was to incorporate vegetables to food that my veggie hater son likes to eat.

4 years passed and I'm still making this but it never fail to make my son to eat more even it's stuffed with chopped veggies. Yes, he still hates veggies. :/

Ingredients:

• 150g Fish Paste
• 1 tube Egg Tofu
• 2 stalk Baby Bok Choy, chopped
• 2 Crabstick, chopped
• a dash of Pepper (optional)

How to do it:

1. Cut the tip of egg tofu and squeeze tofu out to a bowl.
2. Add in fish paste, chopped baby bok choy and crabstick.
3. Add pepper and mix well.
4. Take a deep dish, oil all sides well for easy removable.
5. Spread fish tofu paste.
6. Cover with foil.
7. Steam for 15 minutes or till cooked.
8. Removed and cut into pieces.
9. Pan fried the steamed fish tofu with a little till slightly brown on all sides.
10. Serve.

Note:

• You can use other type of vegetables if you like.
• If you want it with a crispy outer skin, dust it with corn flour before pan frying the fish tofu.
• I used the Happy Call Pan to pan fry the fish tofu.
• I placed the tofu cubes on the sides of the pan so I can pan fry 2 -3 sides at the same time.
• Cover the pan and pan fry for a minute each time over medium low heat.

Pan Fried Prawns 香煎虾

My kids had a change of taste mind and decided they do not want to eat prawns after all. Since I had already bought prawns, I decided to do a quick and simple prawn dish using the Happy Call Pan (to minimise oil splat). You can use your regular pan to do this too.

Ingredients:

• 10 medium Prawns
• 1 teaspoon Chicken Powder
• 1 tablespoon Corn Flour
• a pinch of Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Oil

How to do it:

1. Clean prawns, cut off antenna and pat dry.
2. Marinate with Chicken Powder, sugar and corn flour.
3. Heat oil in pan over low heat.
4. Place prawns in pan and close the pan for 2 minutes
5. Shift the pan so the prawns can get evenly cooked.
6. Open the pan and turn prawns over.
7. Close pan and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes till all prawns are cooked.
8. Removed and serve with desired dipping sauce.

Dipping sparingly with Spiced Salt

Spiced Salt 椒盐

Spiced Salt 椒盐 is yet another handy condiment to have in your kitchen. Sometime back I had a bamboo clams baked on a dish of spiced salt, which I will find time to experiment. It adds aroma to the dish that's baked with it.

I remembered when I was a kid, one dish that's often served during wedding dinner was fried spring chicken and it always came with spiced salt.

It's pretty easy to make it yourself. You can adjust the how spicy by adjusting the amount of pepper you add in. After making it, I like to store it in the salt shaker and use it with french fries. :)

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoon Sichuan Peppercorn
• 2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Pepper
• 2 tablespoon Salt

How to do it:

1. Add Sichuan Peppercorn to a dry pan.
2. Pan fry it over low fire for 5 minutes till fragrance.
3. Add salt and continue to stir fry for a minute.
4. Add both the ground black pepper and pepper.
5. Stir-fry for another half a minute.
6. Remove and it's ready to be used.

Using the Spiced Salt here with Prawns