Prawn Pullao

Saw this easy to prepare one dish meal from Stefanie's Cumin & Coriander Blog where she introduce this Prawn Pullao recipe. It simple taste great with all those common spices that we can get from those Indian stall in our neighbourhood market area.


Instant of using basmati rice for this recipe, I just used the normal long rice grains that we commonly used at home. I can said the combination of spices for this dish was not very strong type, it's just nice for our family. And thanks to Tracy who introduce me to this web.....

Other than following the ingredients given from the site, I also add in some golden raisins to cook with the rice. Then upon serving, I spinkler some ready bought toasted cashew nut to increase the crunch of the dish. You can serve this with some chicken or mutton curry if you want so extra gravy to go with the rice.

Assorted Sweet Potato & Red Bean Rice

Sometime rather than a bowl of plain white rice, you can actually come up with different combination of ingredients to make it more tasty and interesting. For eg: This Assorted Sweet Potato & Red Bean Rice. The sweetness and aroma of the sweet potatoes together with some crunch of the red bean will sure made you wants to have a few more spoonful of it.

Sweet Potato are rich in dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin B6. Sweet potato varieties with dark orange flesh are richer in Vitamin A.


Ingredients:
1 Cup Uncooked Brown Rice Mixture/Rice
100g Sweet Potatoes
50g Red Bean, soaked till soften

Methods:
1. Rinse the rice accordingly and soak with the cooking water for about 30 minutes.
2. Rinse red beans in a few changes of water then put it in a small pan cover with water lever above the bean, bring to boil and switch off the heat when it boiled.
3. Let it soaked for about 10 minutes, pour away the water, rinse and repeat the cooking process for about 3 times.(this is shorten the process of cooking the red beans, as well as remove the raw taste and smell of the beans)
4. When it's time to cook the rice, wash and peel the sweet potatoes then cut it into small cubes.
5. Add all the ingredients into the rice cooker, add water and cook until done.

Notes: If you prefer you can add in pumpkin instead of sweet potatoes.

Doggie Malted Cookies

Look are these cute little "Doggie Malted Cookies".... Isn't it too adorable to be eaten? Saw these cookies from MyCoffee's Blog and m4m forum(accordingly to the forum, you can on the link for the recipe). So after getting all the ingredients I decided to give it a try since the recipe mention it contains no Egg and Sugar.

I made two batches of these cookies base on the recipe given and come out to a total of 92 cookies for my son to bring to his playgroup class tomorrow. The process creaming and shape is rather easy, but the most time consuming part is the decoration on the eyes where you need to use the chocolate rice to stick on each cookie.

When you bite on the cookie, it's very crunchy and the fragrant of the horlicks really make it "Yummy"! I think this cookie recipe is good to be make together with your kids and I am sure it's a all time favour of both adults and kids. Even for my son and hubby who is very choosy on cookies ate 4 or 5 straight away when it's out from the oven.... :) Because it's really very irresistible when you start popping in one.

Tips:
For those who interested to make this cookies. Maybe you can take note of these:
1. Top Flour = Hong Kong Flour
2. You can wrap each individual 10g dough with chocolate chips filling first.
3. Upon finished the dough, then you take out the chocolate chips(from the fridge in case it melt) and add on the nose, then the eyes and lastly the ears.
4. When baking, it depend on your oven, so it might take more than 25 minutes to brown the cookies, do check after 25 minutes if still not ok, bake for another 5 - 10 minutes.

Chocolate Lava Cake

First of all, I must thanks Suyin(one of my blogger's pal) who generously shared her "Secret Recipe"(click link for more details) for this chocolate cupcake batter. The ingredients are very straight forward and the method is so easy that even my son can do some help up. This is a very wonderful after dinner dessert that suits those chocolate lover like us.

The aroma of the cake is so wonderful as it fills up the whole kitchen while baking. But the actual excitement begins when you see those melted chocolate floating out from the middle of these little sweetie. For my case, I used "Dark Chocolate" for the filling as to compromise the sweetness of the cake so that it will taste a bit sweet and bitter. Or you can use "White Chocolate" for a better colour effect.

Ingredients: (make 4 - 5 medium muffins size)
60g Butter
60g Dark Chocolate(Cadbury Old Gold)
1 Large Egg or 1 1/2 Medium Size Egg
25g Caster Sugar
25g Plain Flour
1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
50g Of Extra Chocolate Pieces, abit soften

Methods:
1. Preheat oven to 200 degree, line the muffin tray with paper cups.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a microwave safe bowl for about 30 sec high, stir and another 20 sec high and stir till well combine.(this steps will depend on the wattage of your microwave, the timing might be more or less)
3. Sift the plain flour and cocoa powder together in a bowl and set aside.
4. Beat egg and sugar in a separate bowl till pale and fluffy.
5. Stir in the chocolate mixture till combine, then fold in the sifted flour mixtures.
6. Stir mixture till well combine, but becareful not to over stir it.
7. Spoon mixture to prepared muffin tin about slight more than 1/2 fill, then stuffed 1 1/2 pieces of the Chocolate into the centre as fillings.
8. Bake in the preheat oven for 15 - 20 minutes, the cake will look puffed up and set on the surface, but the center should still be moist.

Notes:
I used TOBLERONE(Dark Chocolate with Honey & Almond Nougat) for the filling, you can used any type of chocolate that you prefer.
You had to eat this while still hot or warm or else the chocolate filling inside will dried up instead.

Oatmeal Cookies With Black & White Choco Chips

This is another bake proof recipes from Evan's Kitchen. Although the ingredients are quite similar to the previous Chocolate Chips Oatmeal Cookies. But they do have different in texture and favour. Do give it a try if you are a cookies manic.... You can find the recipe from this link stated : Choco Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Caesar Salad With Breaded Chicken

Caesar Salad is a traditional salad often prepared tableside. It is sometimes termed the "King" of salads. I had being looking for the ready-made Caesar Dressing for quite sometime. Because in the local supermarket, what you can find is usually those common salad dressing. So happen, I managed to grab hold of this "Hellmann's-Caesar Dressing" from Carrefour.

To serve my Homemade Caesar Salad for lunch, I also add in some Breaded Chicken which will make it more filling. Overall this is a very great and healthy lunch, which consists of vegetables, meat and fruits.


Ingredients For Salad:
1 Baby Romania Lettuce
1 Avocado, cut into slices
1 Red Apple, cut into cubes
1 Green Apple, cut into cubes
1 Pear, cut into cubes
6-8 Cherry Tomatoes
4-6 Pieces Basil Leaves, shredded
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pinch of Salt
Some Black Pepper

Methods:
1. Trim, and wash the baby Romania lettuce, drained well and set aside.
2. Place the drained lettuce in a big mixing bowl together with the apples, pear, tomatoes, basil leaves then drizzle the olive oil, pepper and salt and mix well using your clean hand.
3. Wrap it with clingwrap then set aside in the fridge while preparing the breaded chicken.

Notes: Do not cut or add in the avocado, cut it only before serving so that the flesh won't turn black in colour.

Ingredients For Breaded Chicken
1 Chicken Breast Fillet, cut into thin slices
1/2 - 3/4 Cup Breadcrumbs
1 Egg, lightly beaten

Seasoning:
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
1/2 Tablespoon Cornstarch

Methods:
1. Wash, trim the chicken then marinate it with seasoning for at least 30 minutes.
2. Dip the all the marinated chicken pieces in beaten egg then coat with breadcrumbs and set aside for 1 minute.
3. Deep-fry a few pieces at a time in hot oil until golden brown, drained and set aside. Repeat the process until all chicken pieces are cooked.

To Assemble:
1. Remove the salad from the fridge, then arrange some of it on the plate then top with some pieces of breaded chicken.(cut the chicken into smaller bite size pieces)
2. Next add another layer of the vegetables salad, some cut avocado slices and extra breaded chicken.
3. Finished it off with by drizzling about 1 - 2 tablespoons of Caesar dressing around it and serve warm.

Baked Rosemary Chicken With Jam Apple

Saw this interesting modify French Cuisine from one of the Taiwan cookbook that I loan from the library. So I decided to use it for the Wedding Anniversary Dinner.... Although it might not be up to standard like those French Restaurant but it do taste good as a home-cooked dish and most important this is a one dish meal which is easy to prepare.


The original recipe only had baked apple and chicken but for ours, I added in baked baby potato, button mushroom and avocado salad. The taste of the chicken is very unique, tender and juice. While the baked apple with jam is a bit sweet towards dessert type where the melted assorted jam soaked into the apple... So yummy.....

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 - 4 Apples(1 used 2 small green & 2 Gala red apples)
2 Chicken Maryland(drumstick with another portion of meat)
4 - 6 Tablespoons Assorted Jam(I use strawberry & blueberry jam)
30g Butter, soften or melted
8-10 Baby Potatoes, wash and peel of skin
6-8 Button Mushrooms, wash and peel of skin
1 Avocado, peel and cut into cubes
2 Tablespoons Yogurt
4-6 Cherry Tomatoes

Methods:
1. Wash, peel and lightly coated the baby potatoes with 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil and 1/2 Teaspoon dried Mixed Herbs and toss well. Set aside.
2. Wash, peel and core the apples then stuffed about 2 Tablespoons of jam into each apple and place on a baking dish.
3. Next brush the melted butter all around the apple and bake in a preheat 180 degree oven for 10 minutes together with the seasoned baby potatoes in another baking dish(for the baby use a larger baking dish and place the potatoes in one corner while leave some extra space for baking the chicken).
3. While baking the apples and potatoes, preheat a non-stick pan with some butter and olive oil, saute both side of the button mushrooms until fragrant.(around 30 sec on each side, you can brush extra melted butter on the mushroom when frying)
4. Remove the mushroom, add another 1/2 Tablespoons of olive oil, saute the chicken skin side down for 1 minutes, turn and saute the other side.(you can add in the garlic and rosemary from the seasoning to saute as well, as it will bring out more fragrant on the seasoning)
5. Next remove the chicken from the pan, arrange it on the same baking dish as the potatoes together with the button mushroom.
6. Brush drizzle the remaining marinade seasoning on the chicken then brush with some extra butter on the chicken, potatoes, mushroom and apples then continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes, until chicken is crispy on skin and potatoes are tender.

Seasoning:
3 Cloves Garlic, cut into slices
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon White Pepper
1 Teaspoon Five Spice Powder
1 Spig Of Rosemary

Methods:
1. Wash and trim the chicken, pat dry and marinate it with the above seasoning for about 2 hours or overnight in the fridge for better taste.(retain the seasoning sauce for baking the chicken later)

To Assemble:
1. Mix the avocado cubes with the yogurt(you can use plain or flavour yogurt) then set a portion on the place.
2. Removed the baked items from the oven, arrange them on the plate accordingly then top with some cherry tomatoes and serve.

Notes: You can use whole potato instead of baby potato or you can serve it with vegetables salad instead of baked apples.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chips Cookies

Get to try this wonderful recipe from Evan's Kitchen where she bakes the Oatmeal & Raisin Cookies. As Reyon doesn't like to eat raisin, I replaced it with his favourite tiny chocolate chips. And I also used the chocolate flavored horlicks which I got as a free sample from buying bread. So afterall, mine became something like chocolate and chips cookies.

At first, I still worried that reyon might not like the taste or texture of the rolled oats but luckily he did not notice it and happily munching his end-products. Like what Evan said, this is indeed a very easy to prepare cookies and it would really filled your kitchen with that wonder aroma the you can't resists. Do give it a try and I am sure you can come up with whatever favour of oatmeal cookies that you prefer.

Ingredients: (click link for original Evan's Recipe)
100g Brown Sugar
125g Butter, soften
190g Plain Flour
65g Chocolate/Plain Horlicks(malted milk powder)
1/4 Teaspoon Bicarbonate Of Soda
50g Rolled Oats
80-100g Mini Baking Chocolate Chips
1 Egg

Methods:
1. Beat sugar and butter on medium speed using electric beaters until light and creamy. (about 5-8 minutes)
2. Next add in the egg and continue to beat until well combine.
3. Add slowly fold in the sifted flour mixture(flour, bicarbonate of soda and chocolate horlicks) in three batches until well corporate.
4. Lastly stir in the combined chocolate chips and rolled oats in two batches and mix well.
5. Drop 1/2 Tablespoon of mixture onto a lined baking tray and flatten it slightly using a wet spoon or fork.(make sure to leave some space in between each cookies or else they will expand and stick to each other after baked)
6. Bake in a preheated 160 degree oven for 20 minutes.
7. Leave it to cool completely before storing in air-tight container.

Notes:
For my case, I made 1/2 Tablespoon of mixture to produce small cookies that are easier for my son to munch.

The texture of the cookies will be crunch on the outside but a bit chewy and moist in the center.

Home-style Korean Bibimubahu

Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with sauteed and seasoned vegetables, beef, a fried egg, and gochujang (chile pepper paste). The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating. Vegetables commonly used in bibimbap include julienned cucumber, zucchini, carrot, mu (white radish), mushrooms, doraji (bellflower root), and laver, as well as spinach, soybean sprouts, and gosari (bracken fern stems).


Dubu (doufu), either plain or sauteed, or a leaf of lettuce may be added, or beef may be substituted with chicken or seafood. Although what had I prepare is not the traditional or authenticate koran bibimbap, but it really taste good and suits our family. We all agreed that this is a very healthy dish which contains alot of different vegetables and less meat.

Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
2 Cups Of Cooked White Rice
1/2 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
200g Chicken Fillet, cut into strips
1 Cup Bean Sprout, remove tails
1 Small Carrot, Shredded
1 - 2 Japanese Cucumber, Shredded
1/2 Small Cabbage(150g), Shredded
8-10 Small Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms
4 Cloves Garlic
100ml Chicken Stock/Water
2 Eggs

Marinade:
1 1/2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Chilli Powder
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Cornstarch

Toppings:
1 Tablespoon Dried Shredded Seaweeds
1 Tablespoon Of White Sesame Seeds, pan-fry till fragrant
1 Teaspoon Assorted Chili Pepper(Nanami Togarashi)
Some Gochujang(Korean chili paste)



Methods:
1. Marinate the chicken strips and set aside in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
2. Remove the tails of the bean sprouts then rinse in water, drain and set aside.
3. Place the cooked rice in the middle of a big plate. Preheat 1 Tablespoon of Sesame oil in a pan and drizzle on top of it.
4. Next add some oil in the pan, break in the eggs, fry into sunny-side-up egg and place it on top of the rice.
5. Add in shredded carrots and stir for a few seconds then remove and arrange it on the side of the rice together with the shredded cucumber.
6. Add in abit more oil, saute two minced garlic then add in bean sprout and stir for a 1 - 2 minutes, add in some salt and season to taste. Remove and arrange on place.
7. Clean the pan, saute another 2 minced garlic with some oil and stir-fry the shredded cabbage and mushroom for 1 - 2 minutes then add in the chicken stock and simmer for 3 minutes, drain the mixture and arrange the cabbage and mushroom separately on the place.
8. Lastly, preheat the washed pan with some sesame oil and stir-fry the chicken strips till half done then add in some sesame seeds and stir till fragrant and cooked.
9. Remove and arrange on plate. Sprinkle some extra sesame seeds, shredded seaweeds and Korean chili paste.

Notes:
You can use any vegetables such as spinach, bean sprouts, or mushrooms (oyster, enoki).
Blanch mushrooms, squeeze, add some sesame oil, salt and sesame seeds.

For those who are looking for korean food ingredients, you can go to this shop:

Shine Korea

175 Bencoolen Street

#01-10/11

Burlington Square

Tel: 6238 8897

Stuffed Creamy Chicken & Vegetables Soup In Loaf

This is a very easy and quick to prepare meal. You can either use the it to stuff into a loaf or as a sauce for spaghetti or baked rice and it can be served in anytime of the day like breakfast or dinner.

The ingredients used can be varies from individual preference. Like you can choose any type of mushrooms like button mushroom, shiitaka mushroom or even can mushroom. You can add in celery if you prefer or change the soup base to corn, mushroom or pumpkin etc.....

For this meal, I stuffed all the cook ingredients into a pre-baked medium French loaf and serve with some extra fruits to make it more colourful and appetizing.

Ingredients:
3-4 Medium French Loaf
1/2 Chicken Breast
1/4 Broccoli
10-15 Baby Potato, cut into halves
1 Small Carrot, cut into cubes
1/2 Brown Onion, cut into small wedges
8-10 Mushroom, cut into quarter
500ml Instant Creamy Soup(2 packets or 1/2 can)
300ml Water

Methods:
1. Wash, trim and cut the chicken breast into small cubes. Marinate it with some white pepper, soy sauce and cornstarch and set aside in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
2. Wash, peel and cut the potato, carrot, mushroom and onion into small bite size.
3. Cut the broccoli into small florets and soaked in water for about 15 minutes, rinse and blanch in hot water, rinse and set aside.
4. Prepare the instant soup(I used Campbell instant cream of mushroom and chicken) according to the cooking instruction stated.
5. Preheat a small saucepan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, saute the chicken pieces(coat with some extra cornstarch first) until golden brown then add in the brown onion and mushroom.
6. Keep on stirring until fragrant then add in the carrot and potato and saute for 1 - 2 minutes then add in the prepared soup and bring to boil.
7. When boiled, lower the heat and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes on low heat until the potatoes and carrots are tender. (stir the soup on and off to prevent it from sticking to the pot)
8. Lastly add in the blanch broccoli florets and stir till combined. Remove the pot from the stove and sprinkle some extra pepper on top.

Assemble The Loaf:
1. Put the loaf either in the oven or toast for 1 minutes to make it abit crisp and hard.
2. Use a sharp knife to cut the top 3/4 off so that it resemble like a box with opening, then dig out all the fresh to make it hollow. Repeat for the rest of the loaf.
3. Put hollow loaves into the toaster or oven again to bake for another 3-5 minutes until crispy and harden.
4. Remove, spread a thin layer of margarine on it then scoop the chicken & vegetables soup into it and serve immediately.

Thai-style Deep-fry Doufu

I had eaten this "Thai-style Deep-fry Doufu" twice from the Sembawang SAF Yacht Club restaurant. I love the crispness of the fried doufu with the sweet and spicy Thai sauce. It's really amazing how this simple doufu dish can be so appetizing.

Doufu(豆腐) or bean curd is a food of Chinese origin, made by coagulating soy milk, and then pressing the resulting curds into blocks. The making of doufu from soy milk is similar to the technique of making cheese from milk.


For soft silken doufu (嫩豆腐) or soy beancurd(豆花) the soy milk is curdled directly in the doufu's selling package. For standard firm Asian doufu, the soy curd is cut and strained of excess liquid using cheese cloth or muslin and then lightly pressed to produce a soft cake. Firmer doufu, such as Asian dry doufu(荳乾) are further pressed to remove even more liquid. The doufu curds are allowed to cool and become firm

Doufu is low in calories, contains beneficial amounts of iron (especially important for women of child bearing age) and has no cholesterol (a risk factor for heart disease). Depending on the coagulant used in manufacturing, the doufu may also be high in calcium (important for bone development and maintenance) and magnesium (especially important for athletes).

Ingredients:
1 Packet of Pressed Doufu,板豆腐
3-4 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1 Beaten Egg

Methods:
1. Soaked the whole box of doufu in water for about 1-2 hours(this is to harden to doufu for deep-frying purpose).
2. Remove the doufu from the packing then cut into 12 equal pieces then use kitchen paper towel to dry it well.
3. Next coat the doufu pieces with some cornstarch then dip in beaten egg and coat with cornstarch again.
4. Set it aside for 1-2 minutes before deep-frying it in hot oil for 2 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Drain and set aside.

Ingredients For Salad Base:
1 Japanese cucumber
1 Medium Carrot
1 Red Apple/Mango
1 Medium Tomato, cut into wedges
Rind Of 1 Lemon

Methods:
1. Wash all the above, shred them finely, mix well and place in a mixing bowl.
2. Set aside in the fridge while you prepare the doufu.

Sweet & Spicy Sauce:
2 Tablespoon Thai-style Sweet Chilli Sauce
2 Small Red Chilli, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon Drinking Water
2 Tablespoons Thai Fish Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Cloves Of Garlic, finely grated
Juice Of Half Lemon
1/2 Tablespoon Finely Chopped Coriander

Methods:
1. Mix all the above ingredients together in a small bowl and stir till well combined.
2. Set aside for later use.(you can prepare it ahead and place in the fridge)

Assemble The Dish:
1. Remove the salad from the fridge, place it as a base on the serving plate.
2. Arrange the tomato wedges around the plate, drizzle 1/4 of the sweet & spicy sauce on the salad.
3. Place the fried doufu on top of the salad base, then drizzle the rest of the sauce evenly on the doufu and serve hot.

Notes:
You can use any vegetables for the salad base as you prefer.

If you don't like the garlic smell, you can omit it from the sauce. And if you prefer a hotter sauce, you can add more chopped chillies.

8 Treasure Chicken Soup - 八宝鸡汤

I am sure you heard of "8 Treasure Porridge-八宝粥", "8 Treasure Rice-八宝饭" or even "8 Treasure Chicken/Duck-八宝鸡". So for my 8 Treasure Chicken Soup-八宝鸡汤 is to add another collection to you treasure box......This soup is good to calms spirit and smooth the intestines function and clear constipation. It also promote and ease urine flow. It's a very good soup for the whole family especially for those who are suffering for minor stress. To know more information of each herbs, you can click on the Basic Chinese Herbs link.


Ingredients:
2-3 Chicken Drumsticks
20g Dried Lily Bulbs, 百合
20g Fox Nut,茨实
20g Lotus Seeds, 莲子/湘莲
20g Chinese Barley,中国薏米
10-12 Fresh Gingko Nuts,白果
3-4 Red Dates,红枣
1/2 Tablespoon Guo Qizi,枸杞子
150g Fresh Huai Shan,鲜淮山

Methods:
1. Wash, trim and blanch the chicken in boiling water, drain and set aside.
2. Wash and peel the fresh huai shan then cut into 3 thick sections.
3. Rinse and drain the rest of the dried herbs and set side.
4. Bring 1.5 litres of water to boil, add in all the herbs and chicken then bring to boil again.
5. Transfer to a slow cooker and simmer on low heat for about 2 hours.
6. Season with salt and serve.

Notes:
If you do not have fresh huai shan, then replace it with 4 - 5 slices of dried huai shan.

In this recipe, I used two types of dried lotus seeds, one with skin and one without.

Steam Rice Wine Chicken

I believed most of you had being to "Soup Restaurant- 三盅两件" and eaten their famous Samsui Ginger Chicken before. This steam chicken is debone and sliced up and the ginger is placed in the centre of the big plate along with a plate of fresh lettuce. The art of eating this dish is by dipping the piece of chicken meat into the ginger sauce and wrapping them with the lettuce. I love to eat this ginger chicken because of it's ginger dipping sauce. Although my "Steam Rice Wine Chicken" do come with the ginger dipping sauce, but the chicken style is a bit different. My chicken wings were marinated with some salt then drizzle with some glutinous rice wine and steam over medium heat till tender.


Ingredients:
1/2 Portion Of Chicken or 6 Chicken Wings
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
Some Sesame Oil
3-4 Slices Of Young Ginger
2 Stalk Spring Onion, cut into 5cm sections
2 Tablespoon Glutinous Rice Wine/Cooking Wine

Methods:
1. Wash and pat dry the chicken then rub it with some sesame oil and salt and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Arrange some ginger slices and spring onion on the base of the plate, place the chicken pieces on top then top with the remaining ginger and spring onion.
3. Drizzle the Rice wine on top and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes or until tender.
4. Remove from the steamer and serve with extra tomato or cucumber slices and the ginger dipping sauce.

Ginger Dipping Sauce
3" Piece Of Young Ginger
1/4 Teaspoon Of Salt
3 Tablespoon Of Cooking Oil
1 Tablespoon Finely Chopped Spring Onion, optional

Methods:
1. Wash and peel the young ginger then grate it finely and put into a small bowl.
2. Add in the chopped spring onion and salt.
3. Preheat a small pan with the oil till hot then pour into the grated ginger.
4. Stir well and set aside to cool, then transfer it to a glass bottle and put into the fridge till serve.(if you do not have any glass bottle then just cover the bowl with clingwrap)

Trio Carrot & Fish Paste Meatball Soup

Saw this original recipe from one of the cookbook call "Local Taiwan Food, 台湾小吃". In the recipe, it used pork strip instead of pork mince to coat with the fish paste. And for the soup base, they only use red and white carrot instead of the trio carrot that I used.

The process of making the fish paste meatballs is rather easy, it's sort of like the "Fuzhou Fishball, 福州鱼丸" that we had here. As you can see from the picture, I used the cookie cutter to cut out leaves and carrot shape from the carrots slices to make the soup look more appearling so that my dear son will find it interesting.


Ingredients:
200g Pork Mince/Pork Fillet
200g Fish Paste, 鱼浆
1 Medium Red Carrot, 红萝卜
1 Medium White Radish, 白萝卜
1 Medium Green Radish,清萝卜
4 Red Dates,红枣
1/2 Tablespoon Gou Qizi,枸杞子
1/4 Chinese Cabbage,白菜
1.5 Litres Water
1 Teaspoon Salt
Some White Pepper
Some Dried Shallot and Oil

Methods:
1. Marinate the pork mince with 1/2 Tablespoon Soy Sauce, 1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil, 1 Teaspoon Cooking Wine, 1/2 Tablespoon Cornstarch and 1/4 Teaspoon White Pepper for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
2. Wash and cut the carrots into small cubes or patterns that you prefer.
3. Wash the Chinese cabbage and cut into bite pieces.
4. Bring a pot with the 1.5 litres to boil, then add in the carrot pieces, red dates and gou qizi then bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes on low heat until carrot tender.
5. Roll the pork mince into small round shape then coat with the fish paste to form another round shape like the size of a fishball.(wet your hand with some water so that the fish paste won't stick to your hand)
6. Bring a small pot of water to boil, drop in the meatballs one at a time, and cook until all meatballs float up, dish and drained.
7. Bring the soup to boil again, add in the Chinese cabbage, simmer until tender then add in the meatballs and bring to boil again.
8. Season with salt and serve with some dried shallot and chopped spring onion.

Notes: If you are using pork fillet, just wash the pork, cut into thin strips then coat with fish paste and drop into the pot of boiling water and cooked until float then remove.

Steam Cod Fish With Crispy Bean

The very first time I had this similar dish is from Crystal Jade restaurant which is their famous "Steam Fish With Crispy Bean". It was very delicious to go with plain rice. But after searching almost all places for that "crispy bean,豆酥 " sauce, I finally gave up. Because I asked alot of places and they don't seems to know what is this crispy bean. Until recently, I saw one of my friend pamy's blog, she managed to find this bottle crispy bean paste in Cold Storage at Takashimaya. So without any delay, I quickly go and grab a bottle to try out this "Steam Cod Fish With Crispy Bean". Like what pamy mention, this small bottle can only used around 2 to 3 times and it's rather costly.


Ingredients:
1 Piece Of Cod Fillet, about 500g
50g Crispy Minced Bean
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Some Spring Onion and Chilli, finely chopped

Methods:
1. Rinse cod fish, pat dry and place on a plate.
2. Marinate it with salt for about 10 minutes.
3. Place cod into steamer, steam over high heat for about 10 minutes, remove.
4. Saute the crispy bean in a non-stick pan over low heat until golden and fragrant.
5. Remove and pour over onto the cod, sprinkle with some spring onion and chilli, serve hot.

Notes: Actually there is another type of crispy minced bean(豆酥) which is sold in a ball shape and needs to be ground before use. The finer it is ground the more flavourful the taste it. But too bad, we can't really find it in Singapore. For those who know where to get it, please kindly leave me a message. Thanks.

Korean Chicken Soup

This Korean Chicken Soup is one of the MUST HAVE soup for the Korean during summer days. They usually stuff all the ingredients in a small chicken and double-boiled it over slow heat. But for smaller family, you also can use chicken drumsticks or pork ribs to achieve a similar taste and texture for this soup.


I find this is rather an interesting soup because of the ingredients used. Like Gingko nut, which is normally used for dessert instead of savory soup. And from the above photo you will also wonder, "Is this Soup or Porridge?". Because I used the slow cooker to simmer this soup over low heat for about 2 hours and it became slightly thicken due to the glutinous rice which will make it taste even better. But for those who prefer a clearer soup base, perhaps you can follow the cooking method below or just simmer in slow-cooker for 1.5 hrs instead. Other than gingko nut and glutinous rice, I also use a new ingredient known as Burdock(click link to find out more) which give a unique Root fragrant to this soup, which taste a bit like Ginseng.

Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
1/4 Cup Glutinous Rice,糯米
2 Chicken Drumsticks,鲜鸡腿
2 Medium Dried Mushroom,香菇
1 Stem Of Burdock,牛蒡
2 Cloves Garlic,蒜
8 Fresh Gingko Nuts,鲜白果
8 Fresh Chestnuts,鲜栗子
3-4 Ginger Slices,老姜片
4 Red Dates,红枣
1/2 Tablespoon Salt
3 Cup Water, 750ml
1 Stalk Spring Onion
Some Black Pepper Powder

Methods:
1. Soak mushroom till soft with 1 cup of water, cut away the stalk and retain the water for later use.
2. Wash and soak glutinous rice for at least 30 minutes, drain and set aside.
3. Wash, trim and blanch chicken drumsticks in boiling water then rinse and set aside.
4. Wash and cut the burdock into 3cm long, blanch in boiling water, drain and set aside.
5. Wash the garlic and light pound it with the back of the knife. Cut spring onion into thin slices and set aside.
6. Remove the shell and skin of the fresh Chestnut(click link to find out more on removing the shell).
7. Add all ingredients in a pot together with 3 cups of water and 1 cup of the mushroom water and bring to boil.
8. Simmer over low heat for about 20 - 30 minutes, season with salt to taste then sprinkle with some spring onion and black pepper, served.

Notes: This version of Korean Chicken Soup contain more ingredients, for those who prefer less ingredients you can also try this: Ginseng Chicken Soup With Glutinous Rice