7-up Plum Lollipops

The kids love these. Well, because it's easy to eat I guess. Occasionally, I'll made this for dinner. It always ends up with them finishing the drumlets (they call it lollipops!) first and nothing left to go with the rice. :/ I find it appetizing with the slight sour taste from the plum sauce. My husband loves this. With all the meat pushed down to the end, he just need a bite to finish one drumlet. :P Ingredients:

• 8 Drumlets
• Oil for deep frying

Marinade:

• 1/2 teaspoon Light Soya Sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1 tablespoon Cornflour
• 1 Egg, beaten
• A pinch of Salt

Sauce:

• 200ml 7-up (Soft drink)
• 3 tablespoon Honey
• 1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
• 1 tablespoon Plum Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt

How to do it:

1. Scrape meat from 'skinny end' of the drum and push in down or you can leave it as it is.
2. Marinate the chicken drumlets in the marinade for at least 30 minutes
3. Deep fry till golden brown.
4. Remove and drain well.
5. In a clean wok, heat up 1/2 tablespoon oil (used to fry the chicken).
6. Pour in the sauce mixture.
7. Bring to a boil before lowing the heat to continue cooking the sauce in simmer.
8. When the sauce starts to thickens, add in the fry drumlets.
9. Coat well with sauce.
10. Remove and serve.

Meat and Mushroom Pancake

Every time when I ran out of ideas on what to cook for dinner, I will make this pancake. Nobody will complain about having this as one of the dishes for dinner. In the past, I'll be hesitant to make this often as this requires shallow frying so it's not so healthy to eat it often. With an oven, it different. I use very little or no oil. But honestly, cooking this using the shallow frying way tasted better as it's moist. Baking it makes it dry but crispy on the the outside. So you decide which way you like it. :) Ingredients:

• 150g Minced Meat (I use pork)
• 100g Fish Paste
• 3 Fresh Shitake Mushroom, diced
• 3 Water Chestnut, washed, skinned and diced
• 2 Shallot, diced
• 1/2 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
• A pinch of Salt
• 1 piece Dried Beancurd Skin (腐皮）

How to do it:

1. Mix all ingredients except beancurd skin well.
2. Set aside.
3. Carefully rinse the beancurd skin in water taking care not to tear it.
4. Squeeze out exceed water gently.
5. Lay the beancurd skin flat.
6. Spread the meat paste about 0.5cm thick on half of the beancurd skin.
7. Fold the 3 sides of the beancurd skin over the meat paste.
8. Fold in the the other half of the beancurd skin over the meat paste to cover it.
9. Place on a baking tray to bake in a preheated oven at 200c for 8 minutes.
10. Turn over and continue to bake for another 8 minutes.
11. Remove and cut into smaller pieces to serve.

Note:

• I rinse the beancurd skin so it's not salty. You can also use a damp cloth to clean it but do not add any more salt to the meat paste if you are doing this.
• I'm using a non-stick baking tray to bake. If you do not have one, you might want to sparing spread some oil on the tray to prevent sticking.
• If you are using shallow frying method, heat your pan with 1/2 tablespoon oil to fry it. Turn over to continue frying when it turn golden brown.
• You might want to consider making the pancake smaller to fit your pan.