Steamed Egg Custard 水蒸蛋

I grew up eating home-cooked food by my mother's friend who would visit us rather often. This is one of the dish that she would prepare, some times with minced pork in it, which I hated. :P I preferred the plain one with nothing in it.

This was the original and the kid's favourite before they were exposed to the Japanese Chawamushi, which the main difference is having Dashi in it.

I made this often at home as the kids doesn't have a chance to eat it elsewhere unless they eat from the "Mixed-Veg" Stall. I always tell them, when I'm their age, this was what I had; minus all the toppings. :P

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• a pinch of salt to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• 160ml water or Chicken Stock
• 3 tablespoon Chicken stock, divided into 2 portion
• 3 pieces Imitation Snow Crab Leg, tore into pieces and divided into 2 portion
• 2-3 tsp Ebiko, divided into 2 portion

How to do it:

1. Beat egg lightly in a bowl.
2. Add water or chicken stock and salt. Mix well.
3. Sieve the egg mixture if you want a smoother result.
4. Pour into 2 bowls or cups.
5. Cover the bowls or cups with cling wrap or aluminum foil.
6. Heat a pot of water for steaming
7. When the water is boiling, put in the bowls or cups of egg mixture.  
8. Steam on high heat for 7 minutes.
9. Remove and place imitation snow crab leg on the the egg custard.
10. Add in additional 1 1/2 chicken stock over the snow crab leg.
11. Return to steam at a lower heat for a further 1 minute or till egg custard is completely set.
12. Remove and top with Ebiko.
13. Serve immediately.

Note:

• To make Chawamushi, replace chicken stock with Dashi Stock and 2 teaspoon Mirin.
• You can use other ingredients as the toppings too.
• When steaming the egg, the bowls or cups should not be touching the water. You want to steam it not boil it.

Little Lunch Box #18 小饭盒

My mind was in a blank when I did this sandwich. I didn't draft it the night before. Was upset with my elder kid and I had to 'sit in' to listen to his father lecturing him last night. Haiz ...

Woke up late this morning and had to rush through everything. Doing whatever that comes to my mind, which explained the 'shocked face' for the kitty. I don't know how I managed to do it but I did it. Otherwise, I would have to pack circle sandwiches for the little one.

Anyway, my explanation to the little one for the kitty's facial expression was that, kitty was shocked and surprised that it managed to catch 2 fishes. :P I hate the whiskers, by the way. Could have done a better job.  But bad whiskers are better than circle sandwiches. ;P

BBQ Chicken Winglets BBQ酱烤鸡翼

I ordered McDonald's last week and requested only BBQ sauce for our meals, which include McNuggets by the way. We were given 4 packs of it. We only used 2 and the remaining 2 were kept in the fridge.

While cleaning and packing my fridge last Friday, I decided to just use the BBQ sauce on a pack of winglets to clear it. Yes, I know. Another winglets recipe. :P We love winglets and I always buy it on standby to make as snacks or late night supper. ;P

Oh! Please don't start going to McDonald's to 'collect' the BBQ sauce. Other BBQ should work well for this too.I don't McDonald's to find out and ask me to close my blog. :P

Ingredients:

• 10 Mid Joint Wings

Marinade:

• 2 pack (abt 50g) McDonald's BBQ Sauce (just if you happen to have them) or any BBQ Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Maltose* or Honey
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon Water* (if using Maltose only)

How to do it:

1. Mix ingredients for marinade together. *Please see notes below for further instructions*
2. Marinate mid joint wings with marinade for at least an hour.
3. Drain wings from marinade.
4. Heat marinade in a pan and bring it to a gentle simmer.
5. Cook till it is thicken. Use this as the basting sauce.
6. Meanwhile, grill mid joint wings in a preheated oven at 200C for 25 minutes, basting it with the thickened marinade every 5 to 6 minutes.
7. Serve when done.

Note:

• I have friends who have difficulties mixing the maltose in the marinade. So here's a tip, add half a tablespoon of water to the marinade in a pan.
• Heat it till maltose is starting to melt then turn off the heat immediately.
• Stir the mixture until maltose is completely melted.
• Let the mixture cool before using it as a marinade.
• However, if you are using Honey, you don't have to do this as honey is much easier to mix.

Baked Portabello with Ham and Cheese 火腿芝士烘烤褐菇

Sometimes, I can be so busy at (house) work that I totally forgot to eat. :P It happened again last night. I was feeling hungry after mid-night and realised I had skipped dinner.

I didn't want to do too much cleaning and washing so I used the oven to bake myself these to go with some cabbage salad.  Incidentally, this is the first recipe that got me to start my food blog. It was a dish that I had at a cafe at Borders, which I was trying to replicate.

You can have a look the original 1st version of the recipe here and the 1st revision to the recipe here. This is my 2nd revision. ;) I can only say that I'm glad  it's looking better each time. :P  Maybe I should really consider doing a revision of all my older recipes here. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 Portabello Mushroom (I'm using medium sized here)
• 1 teaspoon Butter
• Sprinkle of Garlic Powder
• 2 tablespoon coarsely chopped Ham
• 2 tablespoon Perfect Italiano's Pizza Plus or a mixed of Mozzarella, Cheddar and Parmesan 
• Parsley Flakes (optional)

How to do it:

1. Remove stalk from mushroom and clean it with a damp cloth.
2. Spread a little butter on the cap of the mushroom and spread the the rest on the underside. If you have butter spray, use that instead.
3. Sprinkle some garlic powder
4. Bake in preheated oven at 200C for 5 minutes.
5. Remove and sprinkle some cheese, place ham and cover with the remaining cheese.
6. Bake at 220C for 15mins or till cheese melts and brown a little.
7. Remove and top with parsley flakes if you like.
8. Serve immediately.

Konnyaku Coconut Jelly 蒟蒻椰子果冻

Weather is scorching hot today and I happened to be at Giant to buy eggs. I decided to get 2 coconuts as well. I had wanted to drink it but changed my mind and used it to make jelly instead.

I always make coconut jelly using gelatin. I decided to change and tried using konnyaku jelly powder since I have a packet at home.

If you like it more firm, you will like konnyaku jelly version. I still prefer the gelatin, soft, smooth and squishy. However, it's much easier with the konnyaku jelly as you just need to follow the instruction as printed on the packaging, replacing the water with coconut juice.

Whichever jelly you like, it's a refreshing dessert to have especially in this hot weather. If you would like to try out the gelatin version, hop over to this post. And if haven't read my post on how to crack the coconut on your own (in case you bought it that's not cracked), it's here.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of 10g Konnyaku Jelly Powder
• 950ml Coconut Juice, approximately the juice of 2-3 coconut with additional water
• Sugar to taste

How to do it:

1. Crack the top of the coconut using the back blade of your chopper by hitting it.
2. Pour the coconut juice out to a bowl.
3. Scrap off the meat.
4. Discard meat if it's hard. Only retain the soft and tender ones.
5. Dice the meat and set aside.
6. Bring coconut juice and water if any to a simmer.
7. Stir in sugar to taste.
8. Gradually, stir in the konnkayu jelly powder.
9. Keep stirring till it has totally dissolved.
10. Return the dice coconut meat to the coconut jelly mixture and mix well.
11. Pour the mixture in the coconut shell, cup or mold.
12. Refrigerate it to set.
13. Serve cold.

Note:

• The instructions of different brand of konnyaku jelly may differ from one another. So you may have to make your own amendments.
• The recipe I'm sharing is based on the adjustment of the instructions on the packet of konnyaku I'm using.
• Basically, you will just need to replace the water needed with the coconut juice.
• You can top up with water if you don't have enough coconut juice. 
• Sugar is added according to taste.

Little Lunch Box #17 小饭盒

It's another Wednesday, another sandwich day for my daughter. Starting next week, she will have her Art & Craft Enrichment in school, which is what she has been waiting for, on Mondays and Tuesdays. She will be having her lunch in school too. Which means I will have to crack my head on what to prepare for her for at least 3 days a week.

As usual, she doesn't want cooked food. It's sandwich again but I managed to persuade her to bring ham sandwich for a change. She loves kaya and can have kaya everyday. So what's she will be having today will be a crabby ham sandwich. ^^

The crab sandwich itself is stuffed with shaved ham too. The googly eyes are hard boiled eggs. I have a special tool, which my baby sister's boyfriend helped me buy from taiwan many years ago. I used pokey sticks to hold the eyes and claws to the crab body. The legs are also pokey sticks. I did an extra clown fish cheese sandwich for crabby for company.

Toasting Belacan 干炒峇拉煎

Belacan is made from fermented ground shrimp. It's in usually in a block form and is extremely pungent. Try cooking it and you house will be filled will the smell of belacan that doesn't seem to go away and your neigbours will probably smell it too! :P You either hate it or love it. And I love it! :P

You can only use belacan when it's cooked, so the best way (for me) is to cook the whole block of belacan so I will have ready belacan on hand and my place only smells once. :P

It's simple to 'cook' it but the process is a long one. Basically, you just need to chop the belacan into smaller pieces and dry-toast in on a pan, on medium low fire.

I keep using the the spatula to press on the belacan at first to 'mash' it and at the same time keep stirring it. Keep repeating till you start to see the belacan drying up. Stir it so it doesn't get burned. Continue stirring until all belacan is dried up and they start turning powdery and sandy.

The whole process takes about 25 - 30 mins. You can further grind it into fine powder if you want but as you can see from mine (below), the toasted belacan are like granules.

Oh! And don't be surprise on how much the block of belacan 'shrunk'. I appropriately only get about slight more than half from the original block of belacan.

Once it's cooled, you can store it in an air-tight container for future use.

Note:
I was told that light a candle next to where you toast the belacan can help minimum the spreading of the smell. You might want to give it a try next time when you do it. I will. :)

Sambal Chilli 参巴辣椒酱

I'm not sure how many people out there are like me, who can't really take spicy but yet like it. The best solution is to make my own chilli sauce. I can adjust the level of spicyness my own by adjust the type chilli used.

I made this for my sister, which is similar to Sambal Chilli  except, this has calamasi in it and it's not cooked. It's used raw as a dipping sauce. However, you can using this replace Sambal Chilli for the Grilled Sambal Squid too.

I made to as close as what she described. Basically, she wants it spicy (from the Chilli), sour (from the Calamasi) and salty (from the toasted Balacan and salt). Apparently, she still find it not spicy enough for her. :P Like I said earlier, you can adjust the level of spicyness.

Ingredients:

• 10 Fresh Chilli, de-seed
• 10 Dried Chilli, soak to soften
• 4 Chilli Padi, de-seed
• Juice of 4 Calamasi
• 5 Shallot
• 4 clove Garlic
• 1 tablespoon  Toasted Belacan
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt or to taste

How to do it:

• Just simply pound or grind all the ingredients finely and you are done.

Asari Miso Soup蛤蜊味噌汤

This is a combination of clams in clear soup and miso soup. It is one of the soups I love to order when I dine-in at Japanese Restaurants but tried not too because it's not worth it. :P

I'm using instant dashi powder here for the stock. You can get kombu and bonito flakes to make your own dashi stock. The recipe can be found HERE.

Ingredients:

• 400ml Dashi Soup Stock or Water with 1 teaspoon instant Dashi Powder
• 200g Clams, (short neck clams were used here)
• 1 tablespoon Miso paste or to taste

How to do it:

1. Scrub and clean clams.
2. Soak the clams in the salted water for an hour to let the clams spit out any sand.
3. Put dashi soup stock and clams in a pot and bring to a boil. 
4. Reduce to a simmer and skim off any foam. 
5. Drain the clams from the stock and discard any clams that did not open.
6. You might want to filter the stock to remove any sand from the clams that were not removed during initial soaking.
7. Return the stock to the pot and bring it to a gentle simmer.
8. Dissolve the miso paste in the stock and turn off the heat.
9. Place clams in bowls and pour miso soup over.
10. Serve.

Note:

• If you find the extra steps (5-7) troublesome, just pick up the clams that remain closed and continue with step 8.

Little Lunch Box #16 小饭盒

My daughter had enough of porridge for the past few days due to diarrhea.

I decided to let her bring rice for lunch today but still ask her to take porridge in school during recess. :P The sides are egg, store bought tofu fishcake and snow peas.

The bees and flowers are made from egg yolk. It's too light (small) and it doesn't stay well on the rice. :( I should have used cheese instead. Must keep it mind next time.

Little Lunch Box #15 小饭盒

My daughter had diarrhea over the weekends and was given 2 days of MC. She is much better so I decided to send her to school today instead of tomorrow.

I prepared a very water porridge for her which will help stop diarrhea and rehydrate the body for the lost of fluid.

All the side dishes are cooked without oil as well. There are omelette with crabstick, blanched spinach with a sprinkle of Furikake and pan-toasted dried white bait to go with the porridge.

Steamed Razor Clams 蒸蒜茸竹蛏

I did this dish sometime back using frozen razor clams I bought from the supermarket. It was really cheap, 500g a pack for under $9.00.

This is another quick and easy dish which I tweak a little from my Steamed Scallop recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 Razor Clams (I'm using frozen ones)
• 1-2 tablespoon Minced Garlic
• 20g Vermicelli, soaked to soften
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• A pinch of Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Chicken Powder
• 20ml Water
• 2 tablespoon Oil

How to do it:

1. Dab clams dry with kitchen paper.
2. Marinade clams with salt and sugar.
3. Place soften vermicelli in a dish.
4. Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan and saute the garlic till fragrant but not brown.
5. Dish garlic with oil into a bowl.
6. Scatter 1/3 of the garlic on the vermicelli.
7. Place the clams on the vermicelli.
8. Mix chicken powder with water and pour over clams.
9. Top the clams with the remaining garlic.
10. Steam for 5-7 minutes or till done.
11. Drizzle garlic oil over and serve.

Note:

• Do not overcook the clams as it will become tough.
• As the clams do not produce as much liquid as Scallops does, during cooking, I have added water with chicken powder. This is done so that the vermicelli will be more flavourful.
• You can replace the water and chicken powder with chicken broth instead.
• The vermicelli is not garnish. It will absorb all the sauce that comes from the steaming. So don't waste it, have it together with the clams.

Little Lunch Box #14 小饭盒

Lately, my daughter has been requesting for sandwiches only for her lunch box. She doesn't want cooked food cos she wants to buy food from the school canteen too. I was a bit surprised as I didn't think she will be able to finished that much food but since she requested for extra sandwich for school, I couldn't refuse her.

This sandwiches here are for her lunch though. She attends an enrichment program in school every Wednesday and won't be having lunch at home (with me). :(

The sandwiches, which has kaya (her fav) for the filling, takes the shape of a fish, in case you haven't noticed. :P The eyes are from the bread crust and the scales made out of cheese. I'm using 2 different cheese so there is a colour difference for both fishes.