Chilli (Flower) Crab

There are so many ways to cook crab. Chilli Crab is one of the more popular one, which is also one of Singapore's national dishes. 

My family love chilli crab, except the younger one, who is can't even take a tiny bit of chilli.  However, it's not easy for me to get crabs at my area.  Hence, I have been cooking the same chilli (crab) sauce with other seafood.

The other day, I happened to get 2 big flower crabs but the kids didn't want to eat porridge. So I kept the crabs and cooked it for supper. :P  It's not as tasty as the regular crabs which have firmer meat, but it's good enough for me.   Like what we always say, No fish, prawns also good. ;p

Ingredients:

• 2 Crabs (in my case, flower crabs),  scrubbed clean and remove the gills and internal organs
• 1 teaspoon Apple Cidar or White Vinegar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Salt to taste
• Cornflour Mixture (thickener)
• 3 tablespoon Oil

Spice to grind coarsely:

• 5 Fresh Red Chillies
• 5 Dried Chillies, soaked to soften
• 5 clove Garlic
• 2 tablespoon Dried Shrimp, soaked to soften

Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon Cooking Wine
• 5 tablespoon Tomato Sauce
• 2 tablespoon Chilli Sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon Fermented Soya Bean Paste (Tau Cheong)
• 500ml Water or Stock

How to do it:

1. Chop the pincers from the crabs and chop the body into halves and then into 2 parts.
2. Heat wok with oil.
3. Stir fry crabs till they turn red but not completely cooked.
4. In another wok, heat 1 tablespoon oil and stir fry the spices till fragrant.
5. Add in crabs.
6. Stir fry till the crabs till well mixed with spices.
7. Add in the sauce and stir well.
8. Cover and simmer over high heat for 5 minutes or till thoroughly cooked.
9. Add apple cider and salt to taste.
10. Gradually stir in cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce.
11. Add in egg while stirring slowing.
12. Dish and serve immediately.

Note:

1. To kill the crab, turn it over to have the belly up.
2. Lift up the round (for female crabs) or triangle (for male crabs) tab.
3. Stab using a pair of chopsticks or knife.
4. Turn it over and pry off the shell.
5. Remove the internal organs near the eyes/mouth and use a scissor to cut the mouth part off.
6. Remove the gills from the body of the crab.
7. Clean and chop the crab in to smaller pieces.
8. Smash the pincer slightly so it's easier to eat later. 
9. For flower crab, please skip step 1 to 3 as they are usually frozen dead. The shells are a lot softer so you can actually pull then apart using your hands. 
10. You can also use shellfish, like crawfish or prawn to go with the chilli (crab) sauce.

Simplfied Hot Plate Tofu

This is a cheat copycat version of the popular sizzling hot plate tofu from zhi char stall. It's a simple hot plate tofu using just a few ingredients that my kids eat.

You can add or replace the the vegetables used here to your preference.

Ingredients:

• 1 tube Egg Tofu, cut into thick pieces
• 2 Fresh Shitake Mushroom, stalk removed and cut into smaller pieces
• a handful Green Peas
• a 1/4 Carrot, skinned and sliced
• some diced Red Pepper for colour (optional)
• 1 clove Garlic, minced
• 1 Egg, beaten
• 1/2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1/3 teaspoon Sugar
• 3 tablespoon Stock or Water

How to do it:

1. Dab dry egg tofu and deep fry in hot oil till golden brown.
2. Remove, drain from oil and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, blanched the carrot till it's slightly soften.
4. Drain and set aside.
5. Heat pan with a tablespoon oil.
6. Saute garlic till fragrant but not brown.
7. Add in the vegetables.
8. Stir-fry for awhile.
9. Add in the tofu.
10. Add in the oyster sauce, sugar and stock.
11. Stir-fry till the vegetables are cooked and stock is almost absorbed.
12. Meanwhile, heat up a oiled pan or hot plate.
13. Pour in the the beaten egg and swirl around to make sure the egg covers the whole pan.
14. Pour in the cooked tofu and vegetable.
15. Serve immediately.

Note:

• If you are using hard vegetables such as baby corn, carrot, sweet peas, etc., you can either blanch them or stir fry them first before adding the rest of vegetables as they need a longer time to cook compared to the rest.
• Turn off the heat before you crack the egg. If the pan or hot plate is heated well enough, there will be enough heat to continue cooking the egg. This way also prevents the egg from over-cooking before adding the tofu and vegetables.

Hor Fun 河粉

Hor Fun is one of the common local zichar food. My husband tried cooking for me once many years ago but the hor fun ended up in the trash bin.  LOL Shhhh .... don't tell him I told you. :P He hasn't cook anything since except maybe instant noodle and only once in a blue moon. :/

Too be fair to him, I did struggle with the frying of the kway tiow (hor fun) at first. You need to add enough oil and have to work fast otherwise it doesn't brown evenly and may get burn on some parts where other parts are still white.

Honestly, I think cooking Hor Fun is a lot harder than it looks especially at home with a small wok and fire. My tip for first timers, fry in small portion. If you can get thru frying the kway tiow, the rest is easy peasy. 

Ingredients:

• 300g Hor Fun aka Thick Flat Rice Noodles, separated
• 1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• a few drop Dark Soy Sauce

Other Ingredients:

• 5 slices Loin Pork
• 4 Prawns, shelled and sliced on the back
• 1 Squid, cleaned and cut into smaller pieces
• 3 stalk Young Choy Sum
• 1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon Cooking Wine
• 1 teaspoon Corn Flour
• 1/2 tablespoon Minced Garlic

Sauce:

• 500ml Chicken Stock
• 1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Fish Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2 Egg White or 1 Whole Egg, beaten
• Cornflour Mixture as thickener

How to do it:

1. Heat wok with a tablespoon oil.
2. Stir-fry Hor Fun tossed with light and dark soy sauce.
3. Continue frying till the hor fun are well blended with the sauces. The hor fun should be brown and a little charred at the sides.
4. Dish out and place in a serving plate to be used later.
5. Meanwhile, marinate the pork with light soy sauce, wine and corn flour. This is to make the pork velvety.
6. At the same time, blanch the choy sum in a pot of water with 1 teaspoon oil. This is to give the choy sum some shine.
7. Drain and place the choy sum with hor fun.
8. In the same wok used to stir-fry the hor fun, add 1 teaspoon oil.
9. Stir-fry garlic till fragrant but not brown.
10. Add in the pork and stir-fry till they are just done.
11. Dish and place on top of hor fun.
12. Pour stock in the wok and bring to a boil.
13. Add in the prawn and squid.
14. Add in all the seasoning for the sauce except for egg and cornflour mixture.
15. Gradually stir in the cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce to your desire consistency.
16. Turn off the heat then gently stir in the beaten egg. Stirring vigorously will break up the beaten egg and make the sauce cloudy.
17. Pour the sauce over the hor fun and serve.

Note:

• The use of "toppings" depends on your preference. You can use fish slices, fish cake, etc instead.
• Hor Fun is usually served with pickled green chilli.

{ Brunch : Open Face Mushroom Sandwich }

This was what I prepared for myself for breakfast but I didn't realised that it was close to lunch when it was done. I ended up having it as my brunch.

As mentioned in my previous post, my son's tutor having trouble finishing the big bun. Hence, I only use (the bottom) half of the bun. I spread some butter and sprinkle some garlic powder and grilled the bun.

At the same time, I stir fried the sliced button mushroom with butter and sprinkle on some (truffle) salt and served it with the half bun.

I had earlier boiled some potatoes. I half them and tossed them with some bacon bits and the oil from the frying the bacon before roasting them in the oven till they are slightly brown.

Brunch done.

Sauteed Mushroom 香炒双菇

Mushroom is the vegetable that we eat the most and it's my daughter's No. 1 favourite. Canned, fresh, dried ... she loves them all. She can finish this serving on her own.

I have to cook with mushroom at least twice a week. I have been making mushroom soup every week for her and she never get sick of it.

She calls herself a Mushroom Lover. =_=|||

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon Butter or Cooking Oil
• 1 box White Button Mushroom (about 150g), sliced half or in 3 depending on size
• 6 Fresh Shitake Mushroom or equal amount as above, sliced half or in 3 depending on size
• 3 clove Garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon Sake
• 1/2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• a pinch of Sugar
• Salt and Pepper to taste

How to do it:

1. Melt butter in pan.
2. Stir fry garlic till fragrant.
3. Add in all the mushrooms.
4. Sir fry for while to coat mushroom with melted butter.
5. Add in sake and continue cooking for a minute.
6. Add in oyster sauce, salt and pepper to taste.
7. Continue cooking till (button) mushrooms have softened.
8. Dish and serve immediately.

Note:
If you do not want or cannot take Sake, you can replace it with stock or just water.

Stir Fry Silky Scrambled Egg with Prawns 滑蛋虾球

I used to have scrambled eggs with tomatoes when I was younger. It was cooked by my aunt and usually the egg was fried till it's brown and fragrant.

I preferred it more fluffy and moist. Here, I added prawns to it to make more tasty.

Ingredients:

• 2 Egg
• 8 - 10 small Prawn, shelled and de-veined
• 1 small Tomato
• 1 teaspoon Cooking Oil
• 1 stalk Spring Onion, diced

Marinade:

• 1/2 teaspoon Cooking Wine
• a dash of Pepper
• a pinch of Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Cornflour

Seasoning:

• 2 tablespoon Chicken Stock
• 1/2 tablespoon Cornflour
• a pinch of Salt

How to do it:

1. Marinate prawns with the marinade and set aside in the fridge till ready to be used.
2. Gently slice an 'x' on the surface (skin) of the tomato.
3. Place in a pot of boiling water to cook till the skin curl out.
4. Drain and place the tomato in cold water.
5. Peel off the tomato skin and dice.
6. Mix diced tomato with cooking oil and set aside.
7. Heat pan with a tablespoon oil.
8. Pan fry prawns till about 80% cooked.
9. Dish and set aside.
10. Beat eggs with salt.
11. Add in prawns, tomatoes, spring onions and chicken stock premixed with cornflour.
12. Give it a gently mix to blend all ingredients together.
13. Heat a pan with 2 tablespoon cooking oil.
14. Pour egg mixture into the pan.
15. Reduce heat and cook till egg begins to solidify.
16. Dish out when the egg is about 90%.
17. The remaining heat will continue to cook the egg without browning it giving it the silky texture.

Conch with Miso Garlic 海螺炒蒜香味增

The local name for these type of sea snails is 'Gong Gong' which means Blur Blur in Hokkien. No idea why it was given that name. Maybe it's very 'gong'? :P

It was the first time I see this in the wet market hence I have to get it. It's one of my favourite when I have BBQ seafood like Sambal Stingray. It's always blanched and dipped in chill and light soy sauce.

Since I have a chance to cook them, I definite try other ways of seasoning it. Although, very little seasonings can get to the inside of the conch, it still tasted good when eaten with the miso garlic that I have prepared. At least it's something different from the usual blanched conch.

Ingredients:

• 600g Conch, scrubbed
• 1 Fresh Red Chilli, sliced
• 3 tablespoon Chopped Garlic
• 3 tablespoon Mirin
• 1 tablespoon Miso Paste
• 1 stalk Coriander, cut into small section

How to do it:

1. Blanch cleaned conch for about 10mins.
2. Drain and set aside.
3. Mix mirin and miso paste together and set aside.
4. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in wok.
5. Add chopped garlic and fried till slightly brown.
6. Add chilli and stir fry for a few seconds.
7. Add the blanched conch and the miso sauce.
8. Stir fry to mix the conch well with the sauce.
9. Continue cooking till the sauce has dried up.
10. Add in the coriander and give it a quick toss.
11. Dish and serve. And don't forget the toothpicks!

Hokkien Prawn Noodles 福建虾面

This is not to be confused with any other Hokkien Mee. It is THE Singapore Hokkien Prawn Noodle.  It's my son's favourite hawker food. Even my daughter likes it too.

Those we have in hawker center are always cooked in pork lard which make it very fragrant and tasty. I'm not a fan hence I'm not adding it. If you like that, fry about 2 tablespoon of pork lard and use the oil for the cooking. Add the fry pork lard for extra crunch.

Ingredients (for 1 serving):

• 100g Thick Rice Vermicelli 粗米粉
• 80g Yellow Noodle
• 1 Squid, head, innards and 'skin' removed
• 4-5 Prawn
• 1 thin strip about 30g Pork Belly
• a handful Bean Spout (I had the head and tail removed)
• Some Chinese Chive 韭菜
• 1 Egg
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 250ml Chicken Stock

How to do it:

1. Blanch squid (tube), prawn and pork belly in stock till almost cooked.
2. Remove and cut squid into rings, shell the prawns and cut pork belly into smaller pieces.
3. Set them aside.
4. Heat 1 tablespoon oil and stir-fry garlic till fragrant.
5. Push the garlic aside in the wok.
6. Crack egg and scramble it.
7. Add in both the rice and yellow noodles.
8. Add in 1 tablespoon fish sauce.
9. Stir-fry in middle high heat for a few minutes.
10. Add stock to the noodles.
11. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes.
12. Add the blanched prawns, squid rings and pork belly.
13. Add in bean sprout and Chinese chive.
14. Continue stir-frying till sauce has reduced and thickened.
15. Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce or according to taste.
16. Stir fry well.
17. Dish and serve with Sambal Chilli and Calamansi.

Black Pepper Crawfish with Fried Garlic 蒜香黑胡椒小龙虾

As mentioned in this post, I'll be sharing the recipes that I have cooked for my family in July.  This is one of the 3 dinners I have cooked in July for the #cookforfamily, as seen below.

Well, I cooked almost everyday for my family, except it's not an everyday thing that we are able to eat together. We had dinner together on 3 occasions in July and this happened to be one of of the 3.

What we had on that dinner, were:

• Steamed Tofu with Prawns
• Sweet and Sour Squid
• Lotus Roots Soup with Peanut, which will be shared on a separate post.
• Black Pepper Crawfish with Fried Garlic, which is what I'll be sharing in this post

This is a remake of an older recipe I shared in 2007. I tweaked it a little to add roasted garlic to make it more fragrant.

You can find the recipe for the roasted garlic here. You can use fried garlic too if you are unable to make roasted garlic. It works the same. You can use crabs instead of crawfish if you like.

Ingredients:

• 3 Crayfish, scrub to clean and chopped in half
• 3 tablespoon Butter
• 2 Red Chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• 4 tablespoon Black Pepper, crushed
• 1/2 tablespoon Minced Garlic
• 1 tablespoon Minced Onion
• 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 5 tablespoon water
• 2 teaspoon Sugar
• 3 tablespoon Roasted or Fried Garlic
• Cornflour for dusting
• Oil for frying

How to do it:

1. Dry-fry black pepper till fragrant.
2. Remove and set aside.
3. Pat dry the crayfish and dust with flour
4. Deep fry till golden brown
5. Heat wok, add the butter.
6. When the butter has melted and begins to sizzles, add the garlic, onions and chilli and stir fry fragrant.
7. Add the oyster sauce, light soya sauce, sugar, pepper and cooking wine.
8. Mix well.
9. Add in the water.
10. Add the crawfish and stir fry on high heat till the sauce has dry.
11. Spinkle the roasted or fried garlic.
12. Toss to coat well.
13. Dish and serve.

Note:

• You can add some curry leaves when you are frying garlic and onion to add fragrance.
• Remove when the leaves turn dark green and are crispy. Add them only at the end for garnishing.

Stir-fried Hokkien Mee 福建面

My mother used to cook this or something like this when I was a kid. She always said she cook it 'anyhow'. ;) My mother never really do much cooking.  She came from a big family and according to her, she was assigned the duty of washing clothes for the family. Hence, she knows nuts about cooking. So, this explains why I started picking up cooking only after my elder son turned almost 3.:P

I never get to learn how to cook this from her in the end, because each time she cooked, it looked and tasted a bit different (due to the ingredients she used) and she would said just 'anyhow' cook if I asked. LOL

Years later when I started working, I realised that what my mother did could be the local zichar's Hokkien Mee.:D

This, here you see, is my replica of the zichar's Hokkien Mee (without using lard) though. Not my mum's version. XD

Ingredients:

• 200g Flat Yellow Noodles
• 100g Lean Pork, sliced
• 6 medium Prawns, shelled and deviened
• 200g Choy Sum
• 1 tablespoon Minced Garlic
• 2 tablespoon Cooking Oil
• 1 teaspoon Corn Flour
• a pinch of Salt

Seasonings:

• 300ml Water or Chicken Broth
• 1/2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• Corn flour Mixture

How to do it:

1. Marinate pork slices with a pinch of salt and corn flour.
2. Set aside.
3. Blanched noodles, drain and set aside.
4. Stir-fry 1/4 tablespoon garlic in a tablespoon oil till fragrant.
5. Add in the pork slices and prawns.
6. Stir fry till just cooked.
7. Dish out and set aside.
8. In the same wok, add in the remaining oil and garlic.
9. Stir-fry till fragrant.
10. Add in the blanched noodles.
11. Toss to coat well with garlic and oil.
12. Add in water and bring to a boil.
13. Add in the seasonings, except for salt and corn flour mixture.
14. Cook till noodle is well cooked but not marshy.
15. Add in the choy sum, the pre-cooked pork slices and prawns.
16. Mix well with noodles and sauce.
17. Gradually, stir in the corn flour mixture to thicken the sauce.
18. Serve immediately.

Note:

• Adjust the 'darkness' of the sauce by adjusting the amount of Dark Soy Sauce. Usually a premium Dark Soy Sauce is thicker and darker.
• The amount of Oyster Sauce and Light Soy Sauce used to season the noodles also depends on if you are using water or chicken broth. Please adjust according to your taste.

Spicy Miso Clams 辣味味噌炒蛤蜊

This got to be one my of favourite dish. I can eat this alone and once you start, you can't stop till they are all gone. :P

I usually cook it using my wok pan. However, this recipe here that I'm sharing is done using the Happy Call Pan.

It's harder to cook this way as you can't stir-fry it to get a good mix. I shake the pan instead, trying to get the clams to be coated well with the sauce. Definitely not as convenient compared to using the wok but it works.

Ingredients:

• 600g Clams, cleaned
• 3 Shallot, chopped
• 4 clove Garlic, chopped
• 2 fresh red chilli, chopped
• 1 tablespoon Miso
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Cooking Wine
• 1 tablespoon Oil
• Cornstarch mixture (thickener)

How to do it:

1. Soak clams in salted water for 20 mins to let it spit out the dirt.
2. Drain and set aside.
3. Mix miso, sugar and wine together and set aside.
4. Heat oil in wok.
5. Stir fry shallot, garlic and chilli till fragrant.
6. Add in clams.
7. Cover pan for 1/2 minute; shake pan.
8. Open pan and add in the miso mixture; shake pan to mix well.
9. Cover and continue cooking till all the clams are opened.
10. Discard those that did not open.
11. Gradually stir in cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce.
12. Serve.

Cabbage with Mung Bean Noodles 高丽菜炒冬粉

This is one of my favorite childhood dish. I don't cook this often because my husband hates the dried shrimps. It just won't taste right without it. I'm glad I found someone else to enjoy this dish with, my son. Well, he eats mostly the Mung Bean Noodles though.

I'm using the Happy Call Pan to cook this but you can use your regular pan to do it too.

Ingredients:

• 1 small head Cabbage (round type)
• 1 small handful Dried Shrimp, soaked to soften
• 40g Mung Bean Noodles, soaked to soften
• 100ml Chicken Stock
• 3 clove Garlic, minced

How to do it:

1. Cut cabbage into strips and set side.
2. Heat pan with a tablespoon of olive oil.
3. Add garlic and dried shrimps.
4. Saute till fragrant.
5. Add in the cabbage.
6. Cover the pan and cook for 8 minutes on medium high fire.
7. Open the pan and add in the mung been noodles.
8. Give it a stir before adding the chicken stock.
9. Cover the pan and cook for another 4 mins.

Season with salt and serve.

Prawns with Regular Egg Yolk 鲜虾炒鸡蛋黄

You probably knows about Prawns with Salted Egg Yolk. But what you see here is done using regular egg yolk instead.

My daughter loves eating hard-boiled egg but there are times that she doesn't want the egg yolks. I'll use the egg yolks to make this. It's not as good as salted egg yolk but it's still rather tasty.

It's a good alternative, especially if you don't eat the salted egg white after using the salted egg yolk. Try this if you have left-over egg yolks next time.

Ingredients:

• 10 Large Prawns, shelled and devein
• 2 Regular Cooked Egg Yolk, smashed or chopped into bits
• 1 stem Curry Leaves
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar

Marinade:

• 1 teaspoon Oyster Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil
• 3 tablespoon Corn Flour
• a dash of pepper

How to do it:

1. Marinate the prawns for 10 minutes.
2. Shallow fry the prawn till 80% cooked. 
3. Drain well and set aside.
4. Melt butter and add in curry leaves and fried till fragrant.
5. Add in egg yolks to stir fry quickly till fragrant.
6. Add in the prawns and toss well.
7. Add salt and sugar.
8. Stir till well combined and prawns completed cooked
9. Dish and serve immediately.

Mushroom Dried Scallop XO Sauce 香菇瑶柱XO酱

My husband had to go China every month for their company's new project and half a year ago, one of their partners in China gave him a big pack of Dried Scallop and Dried Shitake Mushroom each.

Dried Mushroom                             Dried Scallop   

One of the stuff I have been experimenting using them is the XO sauce. It's an great condiment to have. We love it with fried rice and I add it to some of the dishes I ate for dinner too. As much as I like ready-made XO sauce, they are either to spicy or too strong for the kids to handle. It's best if you can made your own XO sauce adjusted it to your own taste.

There isn't any hard and fast rule on my homemade XO sauce. If you prefer it more oily (ingredients will be softer soaked in oil), add more oil during cooking. If you want it hotter, add more Dried Chilli.

I'm using the Happy Call Pan to do this. You can use a regular non-stick pan too. The biggest difference is that the HCP cooks faster and is more moist. I used the HCP to steam cook the dried scallops too. If you do not have the pan, you will have to soak the dried scallop and steam it for an hour before you can shred them.

Ingredients:

• 60g Dried Scallops, soaked with 4 tablespoon water
• 1 1/2 tablespoon Dried Shrimp, soaked to soften and chopped
• 3 Red Chilli (replace with Dried Chilli if you want it spicy)
• 3 tablespoon Chopped Garlic
• 3 tablespoon Chopped Shallot
• 5 Dried Shiitake Mushroom, soaked to soften and chopped
• 5 Dried Shiitake Mushroom, soaked to soften and sliced
• a dash of Pepper
• Sugar or to taste (optional)
• 4 tablespoon Oil

How to do it:

1. Pour dried scallops with water into the pan after soaking it for 15 minutes.
2. Close pan and cook it in medium low heat for 4 mins or till water is almost dry.
3. Use the back of the spoon to press the dried scallops. They should be soft enough to break into pieces. If not, add a bit more water and cook longer.
4. Remove the dried scallops, tear into smaller shreds if necessary or give it a pause in the blender and set aside.
5. Heat oil in the same pan in medium low heat but not smoking.
6. Add in the garlic and shallot and saute till fragrant.
7. Add in the rest of the ingredient except shredded dried scallops.
8. Saute till fragrant by covering and shaking for 2 minutes.
9. Add a tablespoon of mushroom water.
10. Cover and continue cooking for another 2 minutes.
11. Add in shredded dried scallop.
12. Stir-fry till mixed well.
13. Cover and continue cooking for 4 minutes, shaking the pan to prevent burning. I open the pan occasionally to give it a good stir too.
14. Add pepper and sugar to taste if necessary, stir-fry to mix well.
15. Dish and store for later use.

Note:

• The dried scallops I used are very small (pls refer to photo above). Hence, it's easier and faster to steam and shred it. If you are using larger one, you might need a longer time to soak and soften it.
• The mushroom I used are slightly larger than a 50cents coin. If you are using larger one, you might want to reduce the number of mushroom.

My simple fried rice with homemade XO Sauce for extra flavours

Clams in Miso 味噌炒蛤蜊

My original plan was to make spicy clams but realised I had some ingredients short. Hence, I decided to tweak the recipe a little.

I had some miso left. I save a little to use on this dish after using some of it to make miso soup my kids.


My husband  could tell I used miso and thought it tasted a little like fermented bean bean but like it anyway.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg Clams, cleaned and soaked in salted water for 20 mins
• 1 tablespoon Oil
• 2 tablespoon minced Garlic
• 1 tablespoon Miso
• 2 tablespoon Mirin or Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1 Red Chilli, de-seeded and chopped
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• Corn Flour Mixture

How to do it:

1. Heat wok with oil and stir fry garlic and chilli till fragrant.
2. Add miso and sugar and contine to stir fry for another minute.
3. Dish everything out.
4. In the same wok, add in the clams and mirin.
5. Stir fry for about 5 minutes.
6. Add in the miso seasoning made earlier.
7. Stir fry and cook for 1 - 2 minutes.
8. Remove clams that did not open.
9. Thicken the sauce with corn flour mixture.
10. Dish 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.

Pork Fillet with Salted Egg Yolk 咸蛋黄炒腰肉

One of our all time favourites which I will cooked when we are not so bothered by the cholesterol level contributed by the salted egg yolks.

In fact, sometimes, I'll use 3 yolks instead of 2, like in this case. Hence, I leave the egg yolks in bigger pieces so we are able to nibble on it. However, 2 egg yolks are sufficient.

You'll notice that I'm using pork loin, which is really tender, instead of the usual prawns for this dish. It's as good!

Ingredients:

• 250g Pork Loin
• 2-3 Salted Egg Yolk
• 1 stem Curry Leaves, discard stem
• 1 Red Chilli, cut
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 2 tablespoon Evaporated Milk
• 1/3 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar

Marinade:

• 1/2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil
• 4 tablespoon Corn Flour
• 1 Egg
• a dash of pepper

How to do it:

1. Cut meat into bite size.
2. Marinate the meat for 30 minutes.
3. Deep fry till just done. 
4. Drain well and set aside .
5. Meanwhile, steam the salted egg yolks for 10 minutes or till just done.
6. Smash cooked yolks.
7. Melt butter and add in curry leaves and fry till fragrant.
8. Add in cut chilli, salted yolks, evaporated milk and pre-cooked meat.
9. Toss well quickly.
10. Add salt and sugar to taste.
11. Stir till well combined.
12. Dish and serve immediately.

Garlic Fried Rice

I had to re-do my blog again as I was informed that it was 'out of sort'. It seems that the side widgets are all over the place. It was fine viewing from my computer. Hopefully, it's proper now and do let me know if you find it taking an unreasonable time to load. Thanks!

This is my son's current 'favourite dinner'. He as been asking me to cook fried rice almost everyday last week. This is the base of the fried rice and I'll add other ingredients, like sausages, beans, carrots, corn, peas, etc to it. This meant, he had different fried rice everyday; in a way. ;)

Ingredients:

• 1 bowl of cooked rice
• 4 tablespoon Oil
• 4 clove Garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1 Egg

Seasoning

• 1/4 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon Fish Sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon Sugar
• a pinch of salt
• A dash of pepper and ground black pepper

How to do it:

1. Add oil and garlic in wok.
2. Fry garlic while oil is heating. This prevent the garlic getting burn to fast and the oil will more fragrant.
3. Drain garlic once it's lightly golden and set aside.
4. Using the same oil for frying the garlic, add in the rice.
5. Stir in the seasoning.
6. Toss and fry well till the rice is well combined with the seasoning and heated.
7. Break the egg on the rice and quickly stir fry to mix the rice and egg well.
8. Continue frying till egg is cooked and rice is dry.
9. Add in the fry garlic and toss to combine.
10. Dish and serve.

Note:

• What you see here is freshly cooked rice. I don't use overnight rice because we prefer rice that's softer. You can use overnight rice if you prefer.
• If you want to add meat or veggies, stir-fry them after frying the garlic. Dish out and set aside. Add into your rice after step 8.

* Garlic Fried with Sakura Ebi*

French Bean with Salted Egg Yolk 四季豆炒咸蛋黄

This is my husband and my favourite dish and we will always order this if it's available when we dine out.  However, it super sinful for it's high cholesterol from the salted egg yolks.

If you are not afraid of the high cholesterol, try this. You can either sliced the french beans or leave it as it is. And if you prefer to be able to bite into bigger bits of the salted yolks, you can chop it instead of smashing with a folk

Ingredients:

• 500g French Bean, top and tips removed
• 2 Salted Egg Yolk
• 1 tablespoon Cooking Oil
• Salt to taste

How to do it:

1. Sliced the french bean diagonally or leave it as it is.
2. Steam the salted egg yolk till cooked.
3. Smash the yolks.
4. Heat oil in wok.
5. Stir fry french beans till just cooked. You'll see the colour of the french beans changed to a deeper green.
6. Stir in the smashed egg yolks.
7. Toss to mix well.
8. Add salt to taste.
9. Dish and serve.

Note:

• I cook the whole salted eggs, like how to do hard boiled eggs.  I remove the yolk from the hard boiled salted egg. I find it less messy this way.
• If you want it more creamy, switch step 5 and step 6. Add 2 tablespoon Evaporated Milk and stir in the smashed egg yolks. After which your return the cooked french bean to toss well.

Fish Tofu with Assorted Veggies 鱼肉豆腐炒什菜

This is one dish that have everything that the family will like. Sometimes, I'll change the vegetables and it's looks like a new dish for the kids.  The main item here is the fish tofu, which will need a bit work but trust me, the kids even adults will like it.

If you are unable to get ready made fish paste, you can make your own. My suggested recipe is here. I'm lucky that there's a stall selling Yong Tau Foo 酿豆腐 in the wet market at my place here. I can buy just the fish paste from them, which in my opinion far more better than those sold in supermarket.

Ingredients:

• 150g Fish Paste
• 1 tube Egg Tofu
• 1 clove Garlic, minced
• 8 Fresh Shitake Mushroom, sliced
• 12 Sweet Peas, tips removed
• 1/2 Carrot, sliced
• 6 tablespoon Broth
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying
• Cornflour mixture (thickener), optional

How to do it:

1. Squeeze the tofu out of the tube.
2. Mix the smashed tofu with the fish paste.
3. You can add a dash of pepper if you like.
4. Oil a deep dish on all sides well.
5. Pour the tofu fish paste in the dish and level it.
6. Cover with foil and steam for 15 minutes or till cooked.
7. Carefully turn the dish over when it's cooled to let the fish tofu will drop to the foil.
8. Cut the fish tofu into thick equal blocks.
9. Pan fry the fish tofu on all sides till lightly browned.
10. Remove and set aside.
11. Using the same wok, add oil if necessary.
12. Add in sweet peas and stir fry till just done.
13. Dish and set aside.
14. Still using the same wok, add garlic and saute garlic till fragrant.
15. Add in sliced mushroom and carrot.
16. Stir fry till almost cooked.
17. Add in fish tofu, sweet peas and broth.
18. Bring to a boil and season with salt.
19. Gradually stir in cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce if you like.
20. Dish and serve immediately.