Pan-fried Bacon Wrapped Tofu

Recipe for  Pan-fried Bacon Wrapped Tofu

Ingredients:

• 1 tube Egg Tofu
• 5-6 strips Low Sodium Streaky Bacon

How to do it:

1. Lay bacon side by side, overlapping a little.
2. Place egg tofu across one end.
3. Roll it till it meets the other end of the roll of bacon.
4. Bacon ends should overlap.
5. Gently place the ends part down to a hot pan.
6. Plan fried on medium heat till the bacon is lightly brown.
7. The bacon should stick well and encase the tofu.
8. Turn and rotate to evenly brown all sides of brown.
9. Remove and slice with a serrated knife.
10. Serve as it is or with Goma (Sesame) Sauce, if you like.

as seen in https://instagram.com/p/7ug_izAdLd/

Lay streaky bacon side by side, overlapping each other with fats below before placing the tofu on top.

{ Breakfast : Burger with Chicken in a Biskit }

This was today's breakfast.

I made the kids' favourite cheesy meat patties, this time with a folded slice of mozzarella cheese in it instead of the usual cheddar cheese.

This time I coat it with Chicken in a Biskit for extra flavour. The usual coating will be with panko for the crunch. You can use cream crackers too for a cheaper way.

If you like your meat patties real crunchy, you got to try using rice krispies!

From left to right: Meatballs coated with Panko, Cream Crackers and Rice Krispies.

Fried Ginger Shreds

I made a container of Fried Ginger Shreds today.  I love to use this to top on dishes like Threadfin with Ginger Sauce, Frog Leg with Ginger and Scallion, Braised Chicken in Ginger, Porridge, etc.  I love to eat them as tibits too.

This reminds me of my confinement days.  The confinement lady knew I loved to munch on them, she made me a big container of it before she left.

You need to be really skillful in order to get thinly sliced ginger slice.  You will have a hard time frying thick shreds as it will brown on the outside but still raw inside.

I have shared how I cheated on shredding ginger years ago, here.  I'm sharing this again for those who loves these ginger shreds but had no idea how to do it thinly.  I even used this to slice Arrowhead to make chips during the Chinese New Year period.

You just need this magical tool.  It's magical to me cos I have this for years and it's still able to shred my skin off my hand if I'm not careful enough. :P

You just need use the peeler to slice out thin slices of ginger, then stack a few slices and julienne it.  That part, no more cheat tricks. You have to keep trying till you get it thin enough.

Fry the ginger shreds in batches on medium low heat till they turn lightly golden.  At this point, they will start to brown and burn very quickly, so remove them as fast as you can. If you have problems removing them fast, I suggest you pour everything out into a strainer.

You can return the oil back to the pan to continue frying the next batch.  Drain the fried ginger shreds on paper towel to remove excess oil. Store them in an airtight container once cooled.

Do not discard the oil.  You can use it to drizzle on your cooking just like how you use sesame oil.

Seafood Tofu 海鲜豆腐

This is one of my earliest creation when I just started learning to cook in 2007. Then, I had a super fussy boy who rejected most food and a little girl who hates meat.

Having to cook 2-3 times a day for them was a torture. But this dish turned "my cooking life for kids" around. :P Finally something both of them liked. Basically, it's was the fish paste that did the trick.  I added grated or chopped vegetables in it, my son ate it happily. I added minced chicken in it, my daughter too gladly accepted it. Hurray!

Even till this day, fish paste is still one of the most used ingredients in my cooking. I'm lucky I found "fresh" fish paste selling in the wet market which doesn't have the fishy smell as some sold in the supermarket. I used to make my own fish paste before I found it and it was a lot of work.

I'm sharing this recipe again, specially to parents out there with kids who have eating problems like mine. Hope you can find that one ingredient/food that your kids like and work around it. Endure for a few more years. That difficult phase will pass. がんばってね!

Ingredients:

• 150g Fish Paste
• 1 tube Egg Tofu
• 5 Prawns, shelled, cleaned and diced
• 1 stalk Coriander or some leafy veggie of your choice, chopped finely
• 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 veggie and diced prawns and mix well.
3. Take a deep dish, oil all sides well for easy removable.
4. Spread fish tofu paste.
5. Cover with foil.
6. Steam for 15 minutes or till cooked.
7. Removed and cut into pieces.
8. Pan fried the steamed fish tofu with a little till slightly brown on all sides.
9. Serve.

Note:

• If you want a smooth mixture blend the fish paste and tofu together.
• If you want it with a crispy outer skin, dust it with corn flour before pan frying the fish tofu.

Bacon Nugget with Broccoli 培根鱼肉金块

This is a re-post of my old recipe, Bacon Nugget, a kids' favourite.

I had some fish paste left from another dish that I was preparing, I use it to make this again for my son. My daughter doesn't like bacon. =_=|||

This time I had broccoli, shitake mushroom and coriander in them. You can try out another our veggies and/or add minced meat too.

I'll be just sharing the instructions on how it's done. The ingredients used are based on your personal preference. Try getting low sodium bacon if possible. If you find bacon too salty or oily, you can replaced it with thin sliced ham too.

How to do it:

1. Chopped vegetables and mix with fish paste and minced meat if using.
2. Wrapped about half tablespoon full of mixture with half a strip of bacon, overlapping it a little.
3. Do not try to use too much filling as it will expand during cooking while the bacon will shrink.
4. Pan fry without oil on low to medium heat with bacon ends/joining down first.
5. Once the joined part is sealed turn to other sides.
6. Continue cooking till the meat has completely cooked.

Pancakes with Strawberry and Cream 草莓鮮奶油煎饼

This is another recipe that I did for the Bosch recipes using the Bosch ErgoMixx Hand Blender MSM67160.

It is the kids' all time favourite. You can use premix pancake or hotcake mix to do this. You can also make it from scratch as all ingredients required are very common and easily available.

The fruits can be replaced with bananas, peaches, kiwi, etc, whichever is in season. You can also simply serve it with pancake syrup or chocolate sauce.

Ingredients for pancake:

• 100g Top Flour or All Purpose Flour
• 1 tablespoon Corn Flour
• 1/2 tablespoon Baking Powder
• 3-4 tablespoon Icing Sugar
• a pinch of Salt
• 1 Egg
• 100ml Fresh Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 tablespoon Melted Butter

Other Ingredients:

• 6 Strawberries
• 100ml Non Dairy Whipping Cream
• 1 tablespoon Icing Sugar
• a handful Blueberries (optional)

How to do it:

1. Sift all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2. Crack the egg in another bowl.
3. Add milk and vanilla extract to the egg.
4. Attached the beating whisk attachment and set speed to 8.
5. Whisk the mixture well.
6. Add the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time to the egg mixture.
7. Using the same beating whisk attachment, set the speed to 5, whisk till the dry ingredients are incorporated to the egg mixture.
8. Repeat until all the dry ingredients are blended into the egg mixture.
9. Pour in the melted butter and give a quick whisk to just blend it in to the batter.
10. Heat a non-stick pan on low heat.
11. Pour 2 tablespoon of batter to the pan and cook until bubbles appear.
12. Turn it over and continue to cook until the bottom side has browned.
13. Repeat to make 4 pancakes or until all the batter has finished.
14. Set the pancakes aside to cool.
15. Haul all strawberries and slice 4 strawberries.
16. Set aside.
17. Pour Non Dairy Whipping Cream into the measuring beaker.
18. Attached the beating whisk attachment and set speed to 10.
19. Whisk until the cream becomes stiff.
20. Either spread whipped cream on a pancake or pipe it out using a star nozzle.
21. Arrange sliced strawberries on the whipped cream.
22. Spread another layer of whipped cream before placing another piece of pancake over.
23. Scoop some whipped cream to the middle of the pancake and place a strawberry on top.
24. Dust with icing sugar and serve with additional blueberries if you like.

Note：

• If you prefer a sweeter whipped cream, you can add a tablespoon of icing sugar to the non-dairy whipping cream to whip up the cream.

5-spice Pork Chop 五香猪排

If you think this dish here looked familiar, you are right. I was trying to do a replica of Din Tai Fung's Pork Chop (Fried Rice).

The end results weren't exactly what I'm looking for but my family gave me 2 thumbs up. They think it's close enough and they liked my version.

I'm using lean pork loin. If you like it with some fats, you can use other parts to make this too.

Ingredients

• 4 pieces Lean Pork

Marinade:

• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon 5-spice Powder
• 1 tablespoon Cooking Wine
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Oyster Sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• a sprinkle of Pepper
• 1 or 2 drop Dark Soy Sauce for colour (optional)

How to do it:

1. Use a mallet to tenderise the meat.
2. Add in the ingredients for the marinade to the meat.
3. Coat the meat well with the marinade and set aside for an hour.
4. Heat pan with 1-2 tablespoon oil, depending on how many pieces you are frying at the same time.
5. Pan fry one side for 1 to 2 minutes before turning over to cook on the the other side.
6. Turn and cook on the other side till just done.
7. Dish and serve.

Note:

• Oil splatter alert! ;) You might want to use Happy Call Pan or any pan with a lid when pan frying the meat.
• Do not over cook the meat as it will lose the moisture and turn tough.

Fish-paste Tofu with Vegetables 鱼胶蔬菜豆腐

In my last post, I mentioned that I will be sharing how I did the sushi-style Fish-paste Tofu.

This is one of my kids' favourite. It's a good alternative to get the kids to eat their vegetables. I used to make this for them when they are younger and they love it because of the colours but had no idea the colours with make using vegetables.

Once they accepted the dish and were always requesting for it, I reveal to them the 'mystery ingredients'. They began to realise then that 'some' vegetables are really not that hard to swallow. ;)

You can also add in some other chopped ingredients for texture. However, do not overload the additional ingredients. As the fish paste may not be able to hold it together if there are too much of it.

Ingredients:

• 200g Fish Paste
• 1 tube Egg Tofu
• 1/3 Carrot or 1 handful Broccoli Florets
• Corn Flour for dusting
• Oil for pan-frying
• Optional chopped ingredients
• a stalk Spring Onion; green part only, if using to tie to rice ball

How to do it:

1. Mix or blend all ingredients, except spring onions, till smooth.
2. If adding chopped ingredients, add only after blending.
3. Oil a dish.
4. Spread paste in dish.
5. Steam for 15 - 20 mins, depending on thickness of paste.
6. Cut into smaller pieces and remove carefully from dish. You can flip it over to a bigger plate if the cooked tofu is not to deep. Otherwise the tofu will break into pieces from the drop.
7. Dust lightly with corn flour.
8. Pan fry on all sides till lightly brown.
9. Side aside.
10. Meanwhile, boil some water with half a teaspoon oil.
11. Turn off heat and place in the fish paste tofu on the rice ball and tie with soften spring onion.
12. Serve.

Note:

• I didn't not add any seasoning as fish paste is usually seasoned.
• You may wish to add 1/2 teaspoon light sauce and a dash of pepper when blending the mixture if you like.
• You can try using other vegetables if you like.

Kanimi Surimi with Koebi Omelette 帝王蟹肉棒与小虾子干煎蛋

I bought a packet of Kanimi Surimi (imitation snow crab leg) to add for making Fried Rice and Steamed Egg Custard. The kids love this particular type (note: expensive type =_=|||)

All the pieces were stuck together frozen. I have to thaw the whole packet and finish it within days because I do not want to refreeze it. I also have half a pack of Japanese Koebi close to expiry. :P

My auntie used to make egg omelette with similar type of Koebi. She bought it from the grocer selling dried food stuff. It adds texture to the omelette and also fragrance too.

Ingredients:

• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 4 - 5 Kanimi Surimi (Imitation Snow Crab Leg) 帝王蟹肉棒, cut into pieces
• 10g Kobei (Dried Baby Shrimps) 小虾子干
• 1 tablespoon chopped Coriander (optional)
• a pinch of Salt
• 1/2 tablespoon Cooking Oil

How to do it:

1. Heat oil and add in the koebi.
2. Stir fry quickly for a few seconds.
3. Add in the the surimi and continue to stir-fry for half a minute.  
4. Add in beaten egg seasoned with salt.
5. Sprinkle on coriander if using.
6. Stir quickly to mix well with ingredients.
7. Spread out and let the omelette fry on both side till done.
8. Dish and serve.

Pan Fried Ribs with Rosemary 迷迭香煎排骨

This is one of the earlier dishes I did using the Happy Call Pan (HCP). Again, this was 'hidden' away in the draft folder till now. :P  Age's catching up. I'll be 41 on my coming birthday. :o Memory is failing. :p

I haven't been using my HCP much lately. Just too lazy. I have been letting the oven do most of the work. Perhaps I should use the HCP to make this dish again.

If remembered correctly, the ribs done with the HCP was rather juicy as compared to using the oven. However, I usually oven grill the ribs with the onions. It adds the sweetness of the onions to the ribs. I'm unable to do so with the HCP as it will burn the onion. The onions here is served as a side. Please omit it if you don't like it. I love onions though. ;)

Ingredients:

• 2 Pork Ribs
• 1 teaspoon Minced Garlic
• 1 sprig Fresh Rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon Dried Rosemary
• 1/2 Onion, sliced
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Marinade:

• 2 teaspoon Cooking Wine
• 1/2 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Minced Garlic
• a pinch of Salt
• a dash of Pepper

How to do it:

1. Add ribs to marinade.
2. Set aside and let it marinate for 20 mins.
3. In the pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil.
4. Add in onions and half of minced garlic.
5. Saute fragant and onions are soften.
6. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Side aside.
8. Using the same pan, place the ribs and sprinkle rosemary over.
9. Covered the pan and cook for 2 mins on each side on medium low heat till just done.
10. To have the ribs more charred and brown, turn up the heat a little and pan fried each side well, uncovered.
11. Remove and serve with onions.

Note:

• Time required to cook the ribs depends on how thick/meaty the ribs are.
• You can use any cooking wine you like.

Cooking a perfect looking egg 煎一粒漂亮的荷包蛋

Last week I shared my dinner shots (below) on Facebook, some of my friends asked how I manage to cook it this way.

The egg white is soft, has no hard and brown bits, not rubbery and not oily. The egg yolk is runny like soft-boiled egg. ;)

My kids hate eating sunny side up (fried egg) that is hard at the bottom and the egg yolk dry. You won't get that with the eggs I do. ;)

I got to admit that I learned this little trick from a tv program many years ago and have since never fry an egg the usual way. What you need is just an extra tablespoon of water!

Interested to do it too? You don't have to wait further. Today, I'm going to share with you what I have learned; and with a video too!

The video is at the end of this post but first, here are the details and instructions:

Items needed:

• a non-stick pan with cover or lid
• 1/2 tablespoon (or lesser) Cooking Oil
• a piece Paper Towel
• 1 Egg (I'm using 60g refrigerated egg)
• 1 tablespoon Water

How to do it:

1. Use low heat. The pan should not be smoking at any time. *1
2. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat pan.
3. Use a paper towel to remove excess oil and at the same time coat pan well with oil. *2
4. Crack egg onto the middle of the pan.
5. Let the egg cook for 40 seconds, still on low heat. *3
6. Tilt the pan a little. If more egg white spread out, let it cook a few seconds more. The thicker part of the egg white around the egg yolk will still remain raw. *4
7. Add water and cover the pan.
8. Let it cook for 45 seconds. *5
9. Remove cover.
10. Dish out and serve.

Note:

1. I'm using the highest heat on the inner small ring on my stove.
2. The idea is to coat the pan well with oil so the egg doesn't stick. We are not using the oil to fry the egg.
3. The timing used is according to the egg used. If you are using smaller or unrefrigerated egg, please shorten the time.
4. This is a little test to check if you are ready to add water. If the outer egg white (not the thick part near the egg yolk) is half cooked, it will spread when water in added and it will look ugly. Imagine egg drop soup :P
5. If you want the egg yolk more cooked, cook a few seconds longer.

And here's the video ...

{ 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

Caramelised Peppered Bacon 焦糖黑胡椒培根

We love bacon cos it makes food taste extra nicer with it. :P My son prefers bacon over ham. However, you might find bacon over salty, even if it's low sodium bacon.

I like to 'season' my bacon so it's not so 'boring' and salty. It will makes a great side to any breakfast or meal. Like the Sausage with Bacon Sandwich I made with these bacon.

You got to try it to believe it. ;)

Ingredients:

• 4 strips Streaky Bacon
• 1 teaspoon Brown Sugar or to taste
• Ground Black Pepper

How to do it:

1. Pan fry bacon without oil on medium heat.
2. Sprinkle ground black pepper on the bacon while it's cooking.
3. Turn over and do the same.
4. When bacon is almost done to your liking, reduce heat.
5. If there are a lot of oil, drain it.
6. Sprinkle brown sugar on both sides of the bacon.
7. Cook for about 20 second till sugar melts but not burn.
8. Remove to cool.
9. Serve as sides.

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. :)

Cheesy Meatball 香煎芝士肉饼

This is one of the dishes that I made often because it's a kid's favourite.

For this particular one one, I tweaked an old recipe of mine which was done by deep frying it. This time I use the Happy Call Pan to do it. It's so much juicer and the kids love it as much.

Ingredients:

• 100g Minced Pork or Chicken
• 100g Fish Paste
• 3 slice Chesse, cut into 9 pcs each
• a dash of Pepper
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil for frying

How to do it:

1. Mix pork and fish paste together.
2. Scoop about 2 - 3 tablespoons of paste onto your (clean) oiled palm.
3. Place 4 pieces of cheese stacked together in the middle.
4. Fold in the paste so that it covers the cheese stack.
5. Shape it with your palms before frying it.  
6. Meanwhile, spread oil on the pan and heat it on medium low heat.
7. Place all the meatballs in the pan.
8. Close the pan and cook it for 4 minutes.
9. Open the pan and turn it over to cook for another 3 minutes till it turn lightly brown.
10. Dish and sprinkle on some Parmesan Cheese if you like.

Note:
I do not season the meat paste and fish paste is usually seasoned and the cheese in it will give it the extra saltiness.

{ Mini Chicken Burger } 迷你鸡肉汉堡

I made these Mini Burger for my daughter and her friend for their school recess. The size is just nice for them.

The buns used at Butter Rolls. You can picture the size of these burgers now? To made it more acceptable for my daughter, who is very selective when it comes to eating meat, I added her favourite vegetables, crabstick and fish paste to the chicken to make the patties.

I can't miss out cheese and especially egg for the burger too. I used 'Chicken in the Bisket' as breadcrumbs. You can use just normal breadcrumbs.

I'm glad my daughter finished it and I understands that her friend like it too.

Ingredients (for patties):

• 2 Chicken Drumstick, de-boned and minced (you can use breast meat or fillet)
• 100g Fish Paste
• 1 stalk Xiao Bai Cai, chopped
• 2 Crabstick, chopped
• a bowl of Cracker, crushed (or breadcrumbs)
• a pinch of Salt
• a dash of Pepper
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

How to do it:

1. Mixed all ingredients except olive oil and breadcrumbs together.
2. Oil your palms then scoop some mixture about the size of palm.
3. Roughly roll into a ball.
4. Roll the mixture on the breadcrumbs and coat well.
5. Meanwhile, heat pan with oil.
6. Place coated meat mixture on the pan and press into gently to flatten it.
7. Cover pan (if using HCP) and let it cook for 8 minutes medium high.
8. Turn patties over and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or till patties are completely cooked.
9. Dish and serve. Seen here with cheese and omelette on butter roll.

Note:

• The butter bun is sliced half and toasted
• Vegetable and crabstick are optional. You don't have to add those or you may use your preferred vegetables.

Threadfin with Ginger Sauce 香煎姜汁马鲅

I have been trying very hard to make my kids eat fish other than Cod and had only been successful with this dish using Threadfin.

Threadfin, commonly know as 午鱼 in Hokkien and 马友 in Cantonese, is very often use when I made fish porridge for my kids when they were toddlers.


As this is done with ginger sauce, it has a very nice aroma and reminds me of a friend who is doing her confinement. I bet she will enjoys this dish.

There are ready-made (Japanese) Ginger sauce but I prefer to make my own as I don't have to free-up space in my fridge or kitchen cabinet to keep it. I don't have to worry about wastage towards the expiry date too. My major frustration with ready-made sauce is some times I can't find it anymore when I want to get it.

My ginger sauce may not be better than ready-made ones but ingredients are easily found, easy to made and you can adjust the flavour according to your taste too. You can make it anytime you need it too. Do try it out. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 slice of Threadfin
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

Ginger Sauce for Marinade:

• 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Ginger Juice (done by grating the ginger using a grater)
• 1 teaspoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar

Ginger Sauce for Seasoning:

• 1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Ginger Juice (done by grating the ginger using a grater)
• 1 teaspoon Mirin
• 1/2 tablespoon Water
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar (optional)

How to do it:

1. Marinate threadfin in ginger sauce marinade for half an hour.
2. Heat pan with oil.
3. Drain threadfin and place in pan.
4. Pan fry on all sides on medium high heat till just cooked, about 10-12 mins.
5. Dish and set aside.
6. Using the same pan pour in ginger sauce for seasoning.
7. Bring to a gentle simmer.
8. Drizzle over threadfin or use it as a dipping sauce.

Note:
You can dust the threadfin with corn flour before pan frying it to prevent it from breaking.