Little Lunch Box #32 小饭盒

It's pink lunch box aka sandwich day, again!

Today's lunch box idea came from the 2 little cure penguins we bought for the kids during our trip to Hong Kong Ocean Park.

I made the sandwich using cheese and chocolate bread bought from local bakery. Sadly, this is going to be last time that they will be selling chocolate bread.

The staff in the bakery said it's not sellable and that they are making a lose for making chocolate bread. :( It tastes and smells really good. Too bad the residents around the bakery don't like it.

Green Tea Latte 抹茶拿铁

I'm not a tea drinker. Other than Pu'er Tea, I only drink Hot Green Tea. I have a bottle of Powdered Green Tea at home which I will make when I want a break.

Although I love green tea, I have never tried Green Tea Latte before. I have a friend, Jessica who loves Green Tea Latte. ;) And I thought I have to tried it one day but it never happen. :P

Since I have green tea at home, I thought I would try to make my own Green Tea Latte. Hey! It taste quite good. Next time, I shall try making Iced Green Tea Latte. :)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of hot green tea, either using tea bag or powdered form
• Sugar to taste
• 1/4 cup of fresh milk

How to do it:

1. Bring milk to a simmer.
2. Remove hot milk from heat and froth it if you like.
3. Meanwhile, add sugar to taste to the 3/4 cup of hot green tea.
4. Add frothed milk to green tea.
5. Serve.

Note:

• This is a recipe based on personal preference.
• Make a cup of cup green tea on how strong you want it to be, taking into consideration that it will be diluted by the added milk.
• The proportion of my green tea to milk is 3 part green tea to 1 part milk. If you prefer a more milky latte, you can adjust to half cup tea to half cup milk or to your preference.
• Size of the cup indicated is not restricted to what is shown in the photo. If you prefer a taller glass, please go ahead to use that.
• Frothing the milk incorporate air bubbles to the milk. You don't have to do that if you do not have the gadget. I'm using a cheap frothing gadget bought from Daiso.

Little Lunch Box #31 小饭盒

This is what I have prepared for my daughter for her lunch today.

It has Soba in Chicken Soup. I have packed separately roasted garlic and spring onion for condiments. My daughter loves garlic. ;)

I have cooked for her, blanched Kailan with Corn, no seasoning here as I blanched the kailan in salted water and the corn is sweet. The other side is pan-fried spam with egg wrapped with nori.

I also prepared a few slices of snow pears for her. She promised me that she will trrrrryyyy eating fruits. So, trying my luck.

Shoyu based Ramen 日式酱油口味拉面

I'm not sure about you but my favourite ramen got to be the Shoyu based.

This my attempt to do a replica based on what I have tasted. It may not be authentic but the family is happy with the results, I'm happy too.

If you are interested to try out my version of the un-authentic Shoyu Ramen, here's my recipe.

Ingredients:

• 750ml Chicken Stock (I'm using homemade)
• 1 teaspoon Instant Dashi Powder (optional)
• 1/2 tablespoon Sake
• 1/2 tablespoon Mirin
• 1 teaspoon minced Ginger
• 3 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon Premium Dark Soy Sauce (if you want the soup darker)
•  Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Bring chicken stock to a simmer.
2. Add dashi powder, sake, mirin and ginger.
3. Season with light soy sauce and salt.
4. It is ready to be added to a separately cooked ramen.

Note:

• I'm using dried soba here. I cooked it separately and pour the soup base over when it's done. You can use ramen or any others.
• The whole corn kennel (from Del Monte) is blanched in hot water before I add to the noodles.
• The recipe for my lava egg can be found HERE.

Chocolate Milk Pudding 巧克力牛奶布丁

We are an odd family who doesn't like soya beancurd (豆花). Well, all except my husband. So even when there was a craze over homemade soy beancurd amongst my Facebook friends sometime back, it never tempted me to make it.

This milk pudding is what I always make for my family which has the smooth texture the soy beancurd has. I tweaked using my old mango pudding recipe, using milk instead of mango juice. As I used gelatin here, it will 'melt' (生水) if you leave it out for too long. So it's best to serve when you are ready to eat.

You can see that my pudding has 2 layers. That's because I stirred in some chocolate syrup before I pour the mixture into the cups. The syrup settled to the bottom and form the darker layer. You can leave that out if you don't want it.

Ingredients (for 4 cups):

• 400ml Chocolate Milk
• 100ml Whipping Cream
• 15g Gelatin
• Sugar/Chocolate syrup to taste (optional)

How to do it:

1. Mix Chocolate Milk and whipping cream well.
2. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
3. Add in gelatin.
4. Stir gently to melt gelatin completely.
5. Add sugar or chocolate syrup if you like. Sugar to melt completely.
6. Pour mixture into cups.
7. Chill in fridge till set.
8. Serve chilled.

Little Lunch Box #30 小饭盒

It's pink lunch box day again! And what's in there? Sandwiches, again! :P Every Monday is pink lunch box containing sandwich, it seems. Actually, Tuesday too!

As usual, it's simple sandwiches with Kaya. This time, I made a Mother Hen and some Chicks or at least that's what I'm trying to make. :P

The comb and wattle on the mother hen are food picks. The beaks are all made using egg yolk. The eyes on the mother hen and the outline shape of the feathers are cheese. The rest all seaweed. :)

Minty Cranberry with Apple Drink蔓越莓加苹果清饮

It was extremely hot last month and I kept making drinks for my family and this was one of them.

This is something I learned from a magazine many years ago. Unlike most fruit juices, which are usually thick  and rich in flavours, this is very light but refreshing. Not too heavy. I love it's pretty colour too, which came from the cranberry. No artificial colour used here.

But the plants in the background is artificial though. ;P

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoon Dried Cranberries
• 1 Red Apple, cored, peeled and sliced thinly
• 1 sprig Mint, use leaves only (use more if you like it more minty)
• 1 tablespoon Extra Fine Sugar or to taste
• 400ml Freshly Boiled Water

How to do it:

1. Put all ingredients except sugar in a preferably in coffee press. A jug works fine too.
2. Make sure you crush the mint leave a little.
3. Let it stand for a hour.
4. Press to let the flavours from the ingredients release. If you are using a jug, use a large spoon to do the pressing.
5. Stir in sugar to taste.
6. Make sure sugar is totally melted.
7. Filter and chill till ready to serve.

Oven Grilled Winglet with Fermented Beancurd 腐乳烤鸡翼

I love Fermented Beancurd and I always  find it a waste to throw away the leftover sauce in the bottle. I used that to season chicken wings. :P

I love the taste of chicken wing but I'm hesitant to share the recipe as I'm not sure how many would accept it or find it weird. However some Facebook friends have been asking for the recipe since I shared the photo.

So, for those who has the same taste as me ;P, here's the recipe ...

Ingredients:

• 8 Chicken Winglets or other parts
• 3 tablespoon of sauce from Fermented Beancurd
• 2 piece of Fermented Beancurd
• 1/2 tablespoon Sugar

How to do it:

1. Smashed fermented beancurd and mix with the sauce.
2. Add in the sugar and mix well.
3. Marinate winglet with the mixture for at least an hour.
   Grill in the oven at 220C for 25 minutes.
4. Serve it with lime if you like.

Note:
If you want a more intense flavour, bring reserve to a simmer and use that to bast the winglet inbetween grilling.

Steamed Snapper with Cordyceps Militaris 虫草花清蒸白鲷鱼

This is the second time I experiment on  this dish and this time it turned out good.

On the first time, I used Tilapia. We just didn't like the taste of that fish, even with the sweetness of the Chinese Herbs used, it just didn't taste right. Love it with snapper though.

I bought the snapper from the wet market. You can always use Cream Snapper Fillet, which can be easily found in supermarket.

Ingredients:

• 1 thick slice Snapper Fillet, cleaned and pat dry
• 3-4 slice Ginger
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 6 Seedless Red Dates, sliced
• 7g Cordyceps Militaris
• 2 tablespoon Stock (I'm using Chicken Stock
• 1/3 teaspoon Salt

How to do it:

1. Rub snapper with salt and set aside.
2. Place red dates and Cordyceps Militaris in stock. 
3. Seal with cling wrap or foil and steam for 10 minutes.
4. Place ginger slices in a deep dish.
5. Place snapper over the ginger.
6. Pour stock with red dates and Cordyceps Militaris and Chinese Cooking Wine over snapper.
7. Steam for 10 to 15 minutes or till snapper is completely cooked.
8. Spoon the sauce from the dish and pour over snapper generously.
9. Drizzle with sesame oil if you like and serve immediately.

Mushroom Egg Drop (thickened) Soup 双菇蛋花羹

This is an simple and quick soup especially for mushroom lovers.

Enoki Mushroom in soup is my daughter new found love. :P Previously, she will only eat it if I made Crispy Enoki Mushroom.

She pours this over her rice to turn it into Mui Fan (绘饭). =_=||| Well, as long as she likes it, she can have it anyway she wants it.   

Ingredients:

• 1 litre Chicken Stock
• 500ml Water
• 500g Crab Meat, defrost and drained (optional)
• 1 pack Enoki Mushroom, roots chopped, cleaned and separated into small bunch
• 8 Fresh Shitake Mushroom, sliced
  
• 1 Egg, beaten
  
• 2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
  
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
  
• 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 sliced shitake mushroom.
3. Bring to a simmer till mushroom has cooked well.
4. Add in the enoki mushroom and cook for a minute.
5. Season with Chinese cooking Wine, oyster sauce and salt to taste.
6. Add some chicken powder if you like.
7. Thicken with corn flour mixture.
8. Turn of fire and stir-in beaten egg.
9. Serve with or with black vinegar.

Oven Grilled Ebi Mentaiyaki 明太子焗大虾

I bought a bought of Ebiko for Steamed Egg Custard and since I do not wish to keep them, I decided to finished them by making this dish. This is adapted from my recipe, Hotate Mentaiyaki.

Instead of using Hotate (Scallop), I used prawns instead. In the Hotate Mentaiyaki recipe, Tobiko was used instead of Ebiko. Either one works.

I'm re-posting the recipe here for easy reference.

Ingredients:

• 4 large Prawn
• 1 slice Cheese, cut into 4 strips
• 3-4 tablespoon Ebiko or Tobiko
• 4-5 tablespoon Japanese Mayonnaise
• Additional Mayonnaise for toppings (optional)

How to do it:

1. Prepare prawns by cut the back of the shells with scissor.
2. Slit and half the prawns taking care not to cut thru the bottom of the shells.
3. Wash, clean and remove the intestinal tact at this moment.
4. Gently but firmly press open the shells to each side so it's flat. 
5. Pat dry and set aside.
6. Mix mayonnaise with ebiko together.
7. Place prawns in baking dish.
8. Top each prawn with a piece of cheese each.
9. Cover and spread with Mayonnaise mixture.
10. Grill in preheated oven at 220C for 5 minutes.
11. Remove and top with more mayonnaise if you like and grill for another 5 minutes or till mayonnaise mixture starts to bubble.
12. Removeand serve immediately.

Note:

• The amount of mayonnaise used depends on the size of prawns.
• Do not add seasoning as the mayo, cheese and ebiko already give the seasoning it needs.
• The amount of time needed to for baking depends on the size of the prawn . Shorter time for smaller prawns. It should be done when you see the mayo toppings bubbling gently.

{ Pizza on Hot Dog Bun } 热狗比萨

This was done last week for my son. I made the same thing for my daughter's lunch box but with different ingredients.

It's the same as making the Easy Pizza, which I have shared before, except this time I used the hot dog bun instead.

I sliced the bun into 2 halves here. I toasted the bun in the oven at 200C for 8 minutes to dry it a little as I do not want it to absorb the pizza sauce, which actually is pasta sauce, too fast.

As the bun is rather small, the ingredients may not stick well and drop off, I added some pizza topping cheese after spreading the sauce. It helps stick the ingredients when the cheese melts.

I just do the rest of the toppings as usual and bake it at 200C for 15 minutes or till the cheese melts.

Great for tea or even lunch. :)

Little Lunch Box #29 小饭盒

I realised I have missed posting this lunch box for my daughter which for for last Wednesday. So lunch box #28 became #29 instead. :P

Anyway, it's a simple one which had Fish Paste Egg Roll and Pizza on Hot Dog bun, which you can see HERE.

Prawn Croquette 虾子可乐饼

This was one of the dishes I made for my kids' lunch boxes today.

You can make this in advance and fry it when you are ready. You can even add mixed vegetables (corn, peas and chopped carrots). I didn't cos I was trying to get the kids to eat potato. I didn't want to push my luck by adding too much things in it.

I added some cheese instead, obviously not enough of it and the wrong type this time. I would suggest using Cheddar and Mozzarella. Parmesan Cheese is nice too. I usually use those but I was clearing whatever I have in the fridge, so this is it. :P

Ingredients:

• 3 medium Potatoes, cooked and mashed
• 6 Medium Prawn, shelled and deveined
• Cheese of your choice
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• All purpose flour for dusting
• 1 Egg, beaten
• Breadcrumbs
• Oil for frying

How to do it:

1. Blanch prawns till almost cooked.
2. Dab dry and set aside.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste to mashed potatoes.
4. Add mix vegetables if you like.
5. Oil your palms, so the mashed potato won't stick on your palms.
6. Scoop about a tablespoon of mashed potato onto your palm.
7. Add some cheese and place a prawn on it.
8. Add more cheese and cover with half to a tablespoon of mashed potato.
9. Shape and cover the prawn well.
10. Dust with flour shaking excess.
11. Dip into beaten egg.
12. Coat with breadcrumbs.
13. Deep fry till golden brown.
14. Drain and serve immediately.

Note:

• If you are using cheese singles, cut each piece into 4 strips and wrap each prawn with 1 to 2 strips of cheese, depending on the size of the prawn.
• To make it more cheesy, you can mix Mozzarella or Parmesan Cheese together with mashed potato.
• As all ingredients are cooked, you don't have to deep fry it for too long. Just enough to get it into a light golden brown shade.

Little Lunch Box #28 小饭盒

Every Wednesday, I make lunch for both my kids. My daughter eats in school after her enrichment class and my son returns home to have it.

However, my son has tuition shortly after lunch and is always rushing to finish his food. I decided to make prepare lunch box for him too and he can have his lunch with his sister together in school before going home.

By the way, I bring the lunch to school for them so food is still hot.

 This is what my son is having. Rice sprinkled with Furikake, Crabstick rolled in omelette, Asparagus and Carrot rolled in Bacon, and Prawn Croquette.

My daughter has almost the same food as what her brother has except she has sweet peas instead of bacon as she doesn't like bacon.

Ps. the red bottle in the picture is tomato sauce for the Prawn Croquette.

Little Lunch Box #27 小饭盒

My daughter has Contemporary Art Enrichment Prgoramme in school today. I prepared simple sandwiches for her to eat during the break time before she goes to her class.

Not fanciful as usualy, just simple kaya (yes, kaya again!!) filling for the sandwiches. The stars and tiny hearts are cheese.

{ Chicken Burger with Corn and Cheese } 玉米芝士鸡肉汉堡

I made this for my kids lunch and the kids enjoyed it. Looks like fast food and better. :) It's really easy to do too. You can even prepare beforehand and fry it when you need it.

Ingredients

• 1 Chicken Breast, minced
• 3 tablespoon Corn
• 3 tablespoon Mozzarella Cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• a dash of Pepper
• Breadcrumbs or Panko

How to do it:

1. Mix all ingredients except breadcrumbs/Panko, together.
2. Scoop enough meat mixture and coat with breadcrumbs or panko.
3. Heat enough oil in pan, at least able to cover half of the patties.
4. Drop some breadcrumbs into oil, when it start to sizzles, the oil is ready.
5. Oil should not be too hot or it will burn the breadcrumbs.
6. Fry till meat patties are light golden brown.
7. Remove and drain from oil on paper towel.
8. Serve as a burger or as it is.

Note:

• You can add more Mozzarella Cheese and Corn if you like.
• You can also replace minced chicken with minced pork.
• If you want the patties to be more juicy, add 50g of fish paste

Little Lunch Box #26 小饭盒

This is one of the lunch box I prepared for my daughter earlier this week.

It had all her favourite food except for the apple (cos she hates fruits). She promised me she would try taking fruits so I added a few pieces just to let her try.

From top left, it's minced chicken with prawn coated to panko, blanched peas, corn and chopped crabstick, apples and blanched kai lan stem with a dash of light soy sauce. The rice is sprinkled with furikake.