[Blog Event] 2 Dishes plus 1 Soup

Recently we have come out a blog event on $20.00 Budget Meal with aim to encourage those who loves to prepare simple homecooked meal to share with us their meal planning and budget tips. We hope to take this opportunity to learn from each other on how to plan and prepare some quick and easy nutritious dishes even with minimum sum of budget given.

So far I have a few responds and enquires from readers but I do hope to see more supporter(s) for this event if you/your helper do prepared a budget meal smilar to this post. For example below shows the 2  Dishes plus 1 Soup menu which I spent a total of S$19.20 to prepare and serves 4.



STIR-FRY BITTER GOURD WITH EGG

Ingredients: (serves 4)

1 Small Bitter Gourd(苦瓜), about 150g
1/2 Tablespoon Dried Shrimps, soaked till soften
2 Eggs
3-4 Garlic Cloves, minced
50ml Hot Water

Seasonings
1 Teaspoon Chicken Stock Powder
Dash of Light Soy Sauce

Methods:-

1. Remove seeds from the bitter gourd and slice it thinly before rubbing it with with 1 teaspoon of salt. Rinse well with water and set side to drain.

2. Preheat a frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, saute dried shrimp(pound lightly before use) until fragrant, add in garlic and continue to fry for another 10 seconds before adding in the drained bitter gourd.

3. Fry for a another 10 seconds, add in powder chicken stock, water and let it simmer for 2 minutes.

4. Lastly crack in eggs, give it a quick stir and simmer till the mixture became thicken.

5. Add in dash of light soy sauce, stir, dish up and serve.


Bitter Gourd (苦瓜) being rich in all the essential vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin A, B1, B2, C and Iron. It can also be use to treat complications such as hypertension, eye complications if consume regularly. For this quick and nutritious dish it cost around S$2.10 with breakdown shown below:-

Cost of Ingredients:
~ Bitter Gourd = S$1.00
~ Egg = S$0.40
~ Dried Shrimp and Garlic  = S$0.70




STEAM KURAU FISH WITH SALTED VEGETABLES

Ingredients: (serves 4)

400g of Kurau Fish(马友鱼), tail portion
150g of Preserved Salted Vegetable, cut into slices
2 Fresh Shittake Mushroom, thinly slice
1 - 2 Stalks of Spring Onion, cut into sections
3 Slices of Ginger, cut into thin strips
1 Chili, seed removed and cut into slices

Seasonings:
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Teaspoon Cooking Wine

Method:-

1. Clean and remove any scales from the fish, rinse and pat dry using kitchen paper towel. Set aside.

2. Rinse salted vegetables under tap water, drain well and cut into slices. Put 1/3 portion of it on steaming plate together with some ginger and spring onion before placing the fish on top.

3. Top fish with the rest of the ingredients and drizzle with seasonings.

4. When the pot of water comes to boil, steamed fish over medium high heat for about 12 - 15 minute till the fish is cooked through.(you can test using a fork to flake the fish meat after 12 minutes to check)

5. To serve, drizzle some extra sesame oil and dash of pepper on it and spoon some sauce at the bottom of the fish to moist the fillet and enhance the taste.


  Out of the 3 dishes, this steamed fish is consider to be the most expensive as the Kurau Fish cost around S$3.00per 100g. Total cost for this dish is about S$14.40 with breakdown shown below:-

Cost of Ingredients:
~ Kurau Fish Tail = S$12.90
~ Salted Vegetable = S$0.60
~ Mushroom = S$0.40
~ Chili and Spring onion = S$0.50



BLACK MOSS TOFU SOUP

Ingredients: (serves 4)

1 Box of Silken Tofu, cut into small cubes
50g Minced Pork
1 Tablespoon of Black Moss, soaked in water till soft
1 Shallot, finely chopped
2 Slices of Ginger, optional
1.2 Litres Hot Water
1/2 Chicken Stock Cube
1 Tablespoon Cornflour Solution
Some chopped Spring Onion

Method:-

1. Rinse the beancurd and cut into small cubes. Rinse the soften black moss and cut into shorter lengths.

2. Marinate mince pork with 1.5 teaspoon light soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, 1.5 teaspoon cornflour and dash of pepper. Stir well and set aside.

3. Heat up 1/2 tablespoon of oil in soup pot, add in chopped shallot, ginger and saute it till fragrant.

4. Add in minced pork, press and stir with a spatula to break the pork into bits.

5. Pour in water and let it simmer for about 5 minutes before adding the stock cube, beancurd and black moss.

6. When the mixture comes to boil again, stir in some cornflour solution(mix 1 tablespoon cornflour with 1/2 tablespoon water) to thicken the soup.

7. To serve, top with ground pepper and chopping spring onion or coriander.


This quick and easy soup is done in less than 15 minutes of cooking time which you can prepared while steaming the fish so that you do not need to reheat it before serving. Total cost for this dish is about S$2.70 with breakdown shown below:-

Cost of Ingredients:
~ Silken Tofu = S$0.90
~ Minced Meat = S$1.00
~ Black Moss = S$0.50
~ Shallot and Spring onion = S$0.30



For more read up or ideas on how to submit your homecooked dish for this event, you can also refer to these 2 submission below:- or follow the link HERE. Hope to see your entry soon, closing date EXTEND to next Sunday, 27 March 2011, 2359 Hours.


SINGAPORE: with total costs of S$19.50


2 Dishes, 1 Soup (两菜一汤 ) by WaiFong of Fong's Kitchen Journal

BANGKOK: with total cost of THB 340 or S$14.30

2 Dishes plus 1 Soup by Amy of  Mothering Corner

Closing Date: Sunday, 27 March 2011, 2359 Hours.

Stir-Fry Leek with Firm Beancurd

Time flies fast as February is coming to an end in about less than 10 days time. And the last day of the 15 Days of Lunar Chinese New Year (CNY) has just past on the 17th February where everyone grab the last opportunity to enjoy the CNY feast and atmosphere. For our family I just prepared two simple home cooked dishes that my dad used to cook during CNY.

First I cook this “Stir-Fry Leek with Firm Beancurd” which is one of our family dishes that my dad often prepared during CNY where he will stock up a lot LEEKS either to stir-fry with white spotted rabbitfish(recipe HERE) or beancurd. Below is the recipe of our quick and easy way of eating Leek during Chinese New Year.

Ingredients: (Serves 2)

3 Stalks of Leeks
1 - 2 Pieces of Firm Beancurd
3 Cloves of Garlic
1 Red Chili, optional, cut into thin slices
1/2 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
50ml Hot Water

Method:

1. Rinse and remove any soil that trapped in between the green leaves of the leek, pat dry and sliced the leek diagonally into sections and set aside. (refer to the photo above)
2. Heat up frying pan with 1/2 tablespoon of oil to pan-fry the beancurd till slightly golden brown on each side. Remove, cool and cut into bite-sized portions.
3. Using the same frying pan, saute garlic till fragrant before adding in leek, chili slices. Continue to fry for another 1 minute until leek leaves are cooked, stir in oyster sauce and give it a quick stir.
4. Add in beancurd and hot water, mix well and simmer the mixture on low heat for about 3 - 4 minutes till the leek turn soft and beancurd absorb the flavour from the sauce.
5. Dish up and serve with steamed rice.


If prefer something more meaty for this dish perhaps you could add in some minced meat, roasted pork belly, preserved pork(腊肉) or even firm fish slices instead of beancurd. This leek can also be used for making soup broth together with potato and carrot which will produce a great stock for cooking noodles or etc.

Will share more about the 2nd dish of "Steamed Chicken with Pandan Leaves and Garlic" on the next post. Stay tune and have a great weekend.

[Chinese New Year Dish] Stir-Fry 7 Assorted Veggies

Time past so quickly that today is the 7th day of Chinese Lunar New Year(CNY) which traditionally known as “Renri (人日)” or  common man's birthday where everyone grows one year older. During this day in Asia countries like Singapore and Malaysia, people gets together to toss and eat a colouful salad called “YuSheng(鱼生)” or “LoyHey(撈起)” in Cantonese.

Besides having “YuSheng(鱼生)”, some of the families will also prepare this traditional “Stir-fry 7 Assorted Vegetables(七样菜)” dish with 7 different kinds of Auspicious vegetables to celebrate “Renri”. And some older folks believes that by eating these “Assorted Vegetables” dish all misfortune and bad luck will be eliminated and good luck will be bestowed on each family members in the New Year. While others explain that since everyone is having big feasts during the first 6 days of CNY, the 7th day shall be reserved for this “7 Assorted Vegetables” dish in order to clear our body system from those rich cuisines that we consumed.

Below are the 7 types vegetables(pre-packed) that I bought from one of the vegetable stall near my wet market.

1. Chinese Leek(大蒜)
2. Chinese Celery(芹菜)
3. Organic Choy Sum(菜心)
4. Choy Sum(菜心)
5. Chun Cai(春菜)
6. Chinese Cabbage(白菜)
7. Lettuce(生菜)

There is no fixed rules on which vegetables you must include in this "7 Assorted Vegetables" dish. You can mix and match any 7 different types of auspicious CNY vegetables to prepare this dish and the most common vegetable will be, "Chinese Leek(大蒜)", "Lettuce(生菜)", "Black Moss(发菜)" ,"Spring Onion(葱) and etc.

Ingredients: (serves 2)

1 Stalk Each of 7 Assorted Vegetables(七样菜)
1 Chinese Preserved Sausage(腊肠), sliced
1/2 Bunch of Shimeji Mushrooms, optional
3 Slices of Ginger
3 Cloves of Garlics
1 Red Chili, sliced
1 Teaspoon of Chicken Stock Powder

Method:

1. Trim and cut the assorted vegetables accordingly, rinse well and set aside.
2. Preheat frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, saute ginger, garlic and chili till fragrant then toss in the sliced preserved sausage and fry for another 30 seconds.
3. Toss in the sliced leeks and stir for another 1 minutes before adding in the rest of the vegetables ,give it a quick stir before seasoning it to taste.
4. Serve hot with rice.


Lastly on this "Renri(人日)" I would like to wish each and everyone of you Happy Birthday , Good Health and Prosperous in all area whole year round.

Scramble Egg Whites with Seafood

This stir-fried Egg Whites dish is also know as "芙蓉赛螃蟹" in Mandarin, which is a very popular dish in the Qing Dynasty. According to legend one day Empress Dowager Cixi suddenly want to eat crab but due to the long traveling journey to and from the ocean they could have get the crab in time to prepare this dish. So the chef has no choice but to use egg whites to imitate a similar “crab” dish for her. Surprisingly Empress Dowager loved this dish very much and it became a famous dish that is pass down till now.

My first experience with this dish is during my food tasting at Eastern Restaurant early this month. We have this dish called “Fu Rong Special Scramble Egg (芙蓉赛螃蟹)” which you might be interested to read more about it HERE. So after trying out this dish I am very excited to replicate it at home because I love its’ smooth and delicate texture that is great for both kids and folks.

The first trial on this "Stir-fried Egg Whites with Shrimps" is not a total success as we find the overall dish a bit too wet and the texture of the egg whites seems to be overcooked. So after some run-through I think the problem might be due to the amount of liquid used (stock and fresh milk) or the size of the eggs. So after amendment to this recipe, I came out with another modify version using salmon and the end result is much better compared to this. You can take a look of the recipe below and compare the texture of these two versions, maybe you could come out something even better than my version.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
3 Egg Whites
1 Egg Yolk
150ml Stock
150ml Fresh Milk
8 Shrimps, shelled and deveined
4 Pieces Imitation Crabstick, cut into portion
1 Tablespoon Green Peas
1.5 Tablespoons of Oil
Some lettuce leaves

. The collage photos show the ingredients and steps on preparing this "Stir-fried Egg Whites with Shrimps":-

Method:
1. Bring a pot of water to boil, add in the shelled and deveined shrimps and cook it over medium heat for about 1 minute or so till the prawn turns pink and curl up. Remove and rinse them in cold water and set aside.
2. Preheat the wok with drizzle of oil then saute the crabstick and green peas for 1 minute and removed.
3. Now whisk the egg whites with a pair of chopsticks (for the 1st recipe I have actually over beat it foamy) for a few times then whisk in the fresh milk and chicken stock till well mixed.
4. Next rinse the wok and wipe it dry with kitchen paper towel and heat it up using 1½ tablespoon of oil.
5. Slowly pour in the egg whites mixture and stir using a spatula till the mixture became to bind together like a scramble egg texture. (this method with more water mixture will cause the egg to be more watery)
6. Lastly stir in the cooked shrimps, crabsticks and green peas and give it a quick stir before dishing it up and place on top of some lettuce leaves.
7. Arrange the raw egg yolk on top of the egg whites mixture and served hot.


This is another similar version of the stir-fried scramble egg whites which is shown above. For this improved version, I used only 150ml of fresh milk and omit the chicken stock from the ingredient list. With some read up of different related recipes from the websites, I decide to try the method of not over whisking the egg whites in order to retain it’s shapes while cooking. Below are the ingredients for this “Stir-fried Egg Whites with Salmon Cubes”.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
3 Egg Whites
1 Egg Yolk
150ml Fresh Milk
100g Salmon, cut into cubes
1.5 Tablespoons of Oil
1 Bunch of Spinach, cut into sections
1 Teaspoon of Minced Garlic
2 Slices of Ginger
1/2 Tablespoon Oil

In order to bring in some colours and texture to this dish, I have added the stir-fried spinach at the bottom to serve it as a base for the egg whites mixture. Here are the steps to prepare this dish:-

Method:
1. Trim and cut the spinach into sections rinse it in a basin of water for at least 2 - 3 times to remove the dirt and soiled in it.
2. When done remove and drain well 5 minutes prior cooking time.
3. Preheat the wok with 1/2 tablespoon of oil; saute the minced garlic together with ginger slices till fragrant before adding it the drained spinach.
4. Give it a quick stir and continue to fry for about 1 minute or so until the leaves begin to wilt.
5. Lightly season it with some salt, remove arrange it in the middle of the serving plate.
6. Now lightly whisk the egg whites with a pair of chopsticks (do not over beat it until foamy) for a few times then slowly whisk in the fresh milk till well mixed.
6. Next rinse the wok and wipe it dry with kitchen paper towel before adding 1/2 tablespoon of oil to pan-fried the salmon cubes till slightly brown in colour, remove and set side to drain well.

8. Lastly stir in the cooked salmon cubes and give it a quick stir before dishing it up and place on top of the cooked spinach.
9. Arrange the raw egg yolk on top of the egg whites mixture and served hot.

Note:-
~ Remember not to over beat the egg whites mixture till foamy or else the scramble egg white will not form its' shape.
~ Before eating you have to mix in the raw egg yolk with the hot mixture and serve immediately.

Stir-fried Shiitake with Lean Pork

We love to have some mushroom in corporate into our weekly menu. Usually I would just stir-fry it with some olive oil and garlic cloves to retain its nature flavour. But for today’s mushroom menu, I decided to add in some pork fillet and chili to spice up its taste and flavour.

Shiitake mushrooms are originate from China where it has been successfully cultivated for more than a thousand years. With a long history of medicinal use, Shiitake mushrooms are rich in vitamins and minerals. This mushroom is also known to enhance the immune system whereby it aids the body to fight infection and disease.

Shiitake mushroom has a rich and “woody” flavour, with a meaty texture and a distinctive aroma. This versatile mushroom is best used for braises, stir fries, soups and etc.

Here are some of the ingredients used for this dish. You can omit or change the pork fillet to chicken fillet according to your own preference.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
150g Pork Fillet, cut into strips
250g Shiitake Mushroom, cut into thick slices
3 Cloves of garlic, skin removed
1 Red Onion, cut into wedges
2 Stall of Spring Onion, cut into sections
2 Small Chili, optional
3/4 Tablespoon of Oyster Sauce

Method:
1. Rinse and cut the pork fillet into long strips and marinate it with 1/2 teaspoon each of light soya sauce, sesame oil, corn flour and a dash of white pepper for at least 15 minutes.
2. Heat up the wok with 1/2 tablespoon of oil and sauté HALF of the onion wedges and, spring onion together with the garlic and chili (cut into diagonal section) till fragrant.
3. Add in the pork fillet and give it a quick stir for about 1 minute until the meat is almost cooked through, dish up and set aside.
4. Using the same wok, add in another 1/2 tablespoon of oil, add in the remaining onion and spring onion and sauté for 20 seconds then add in the mushroom and continue to stir-fry for another 1 minute till it soften.
5. Transfer the pork fillet back into wok with the mushroom, add in oyster sauce and cooked for another 30 seconds or so.
6. Remove and serve with steam rice.


Adding extra chili bring up the flavour of this dish which gives it a spicy taste. But if this is a family dish for kids, perhaps you would like to omit chili and add in dash of black pepper before remove it from the wok.

Stir-fry Dual Broccoli Flower

You might have notice that I seldom or I only blog about vegetables dish once in a blue moon. It is not that we don’t eat vegetables at home but usually we just had blanched choy sum with a bit of oyster sauce, stir-fry broccoli or Chinese cabbage which I think there is nothing fancy to write about. But today, I would like to share with you this “new” all-in-one seasoning from Knorr. You can use it to season chicken wing for deep-fry or grill, add a teaspoon or so to your vegetables and etc.

This is our Dual Broccoli flower dish that I used to cook for my family. Why dual? That’s because, I love the green broccoli where my family only eats the white cauliflower so usually I would mixed them together into one dish. If you don’t prefer to use these instant seasonings, you can replace it with salt or oyster sauce. Add a few medium prawns or mushroom to this dish will make it taste even better too.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
80g Broccoli, cut into florets
80g Cauliflower, cut into florets
2 Medium Tomatoes, remove the seeds cut into wedges
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Teaspoon of Knorr HaoChi All-in-1 Seasoning
30 – 50ml Water

Method:
1. Trim the broccoli and cauliflower into florets soaked them in a basin of water with 1/2 teaspoon of salt to remove dirt and worms if any for about 5 minutes.
2. Remove, rinse and set aside.
3. Heat up the wok with ½ tablespoon of oil, sauté the garlic till fragrant, add in the cauliflower first and let it cook for about 1 minute before adding the broccoli and tomato.
4. When the broccoli turns to brighter green in colour, drizzle in the seasoning, give it a quick stir and add in water.
5. When the mixture comes to boil, let it simmer for another 30 seconds before switching off the heat.
6. Remove on plate and serve.

Bak Kuet Teh

Bak Kuet Teh is one of the popular Chinese soup found in Asia countries, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and etc. In Singapore there are mainly 3 different types of Bak Kuet Teh and the Teochew version is more popular with patrons with its light color soup base that is more pepper in taste. Whereas for the Hokkien who prefer stronger taste soy sauce is added which results a darker soup. But as for Cantonese extra Chinese herbs, gingok nuts and etc are added to create a stronger flavoured soup.

Stir-fry Assorted Mushrooms With Roast Pork

Recently I really loves to stir-fry assorted mushrooms with different type of ingredients. My favour is the Shimeji Mushroom which is fragrant and smooth when cooked. I love to add in into soup noodles, stir-fry with oyster sauce or braised it with noodles.


In this assorted mushrooms dish, I used 4 different types of mushrooms which are Straw Mushroom, Shiitake Mushroom, Shimeji Mushroom & Enokitake together with some roast pork. If you want to have pure vegetarian dish then u can omit the meat.

Ingredients:
6-8 Honey Peas
1 Packet of Shimeji Mushroom
1 Packet Of Enokitake Mushroom
4 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms, soaked till soften
8 Straw Mushrooms, cut into halves
2 Slices Of Ginger
6 Slices Of Carrot
150g Roast Pork, optional
1 Tablespoon Oyster/Abalone Sauce
100ml Water
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch water

Methods:
1. Wash and trim all the mushrooms and honey pea then set aside.
2. Preheat a pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, stir-fry the roast pork for a few minute until abit crispy on all sides then remove and set aside.
3. Next saute the ginger until fragrant then add in the honey pea, carrot and shiitake mushroom, sitr-fry for a few minutes.
4. Add in the rest of the mushrooms and oyster sauce then pour in about 100ml and let it simmer on low heat for a while then thicken it some cornstarch water and serve.

Stir-fry Bittergourd WIth Prawns & Salted Egg

Saw this interesting dish from Lilian's Blog(Food Heaven). She had it on a local coffee shop stall and had briefly share the idea and recipe on how to replicate this dish. I had never used salted egg as a seasoning for dish before and this is my very first time.


So far whenever I cooked this stir-fry bittergourd dish, I always followed what my dad did as to add in prawns and egg then season with some oyster sauce. So the adding of salted egg is really something new for this dish. I follow the guideline from what Lilian had mention and come up with my own version.

Ingredients:
1 Small Bittergourd, about 150g
100g Minced Pork/Pork Slices
6-8 Medium Prawn, shelled and devein
1 Salted Egg
1 Fresh Chicken Egg
3-4 Garlic Cloves, minced

Methods:
1.Remove seeds from the bitter gourd and slice it thinly before rubbing it with with 1 teaspoon of salt and rinse well with water.
2. Crack the salted egg in a bowl, remove the egg yolk and mashed it with a folk to break up into pieces, do keep the egg white for later use.
3. Preheat a pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, saute the garlic until fragrant, add in pork and prawn and stir-till half done.
4. Add in the bittergourd and salted egg yolk, stir for a few second until the yolk changes colour then add in 100ml water and let it simmer for about 2 minutes.
5. Lastly add in the salted egg white and fresh egg, stir until well combine. Dish up and serve.

Notes:
a) The salted egg should be able to flavour the dish, you might need 2 salted eggs if you used a lot of bittergourd.
b) The end result of the dish should be mushy dish with lots of eggs.

Stir-fry Cabbage With Golden Mushroom & Woodear

Woodear is a type of mushroom that resembles a large ear when it is fresh and grows as large as half a foot. The surface of the mushroom is purplish-gray in color and the flesh is a dark purplish gray to almost black in color. They have a slightly crunchy texture and delicate, almost bland flavor that more often than not absorbs the taste of any strongly flavored ingredients with which they are cooked. They have both fresh and dried wood ears sold in the supermarket, the dried one usually look like brownish-black, dried chips. Upon soaking in water it might increase 5 to 6 times in size and resemble the shape of an ear. Wood ears are mainly popular in stir-fries and soups.


Saw a few kinds of mushrooms on sales from the local supermarket. So I decided to grab hold of 1 packet of Fresh Woodear and 1 packet of Korean Golden Mushroom. I found that the Golden Mushroom was very special, it's kind of like the normal Enokitake(金针菇), but in shorter and brown in colour. My son said it looks like little matchsticks.

Ingredients:
1/2 Small Beijing Cabbage(北京包菜)
1 Packet Korean Golden Mushroom
2 Pieces of Fresh Woodear(黑木耳), cut into thin strips
1 Small Carrot, cut into thin slices
2 Slices Of Fresh Ginger
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce

Methods:
1. Cut the cabbage into bite size then soak in water for about 5 minutes, rinse and set aside.
2. Cut the stalk off from the golden mushroom, rinse in water, drain and set aside.
3. Preheat the pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, saute the ginger until fragrant then add in the cabbage and carrot.
4. Stir-fry for a few minutes then add in the woodear and oyster sauce, stir for another few second then add 100ml water.
5. Cover and let it simmer on medium low heat for 5 minutes then add in all the mushroom and cover, continue to simmer for another 3 minutes.
6. Slowly add in some cornstarch water to thicken the sauce then dish and serve.(you might not need all the water, just add till the sauce is thicken)

Notes:
a) You can also used dried woodear if you prefer.
b) Cornstarch mixture = 1/2 Tablespoon Potato/Cornstarch mix with 2 Tablespoons Of water.

Stir-fry Rainbow Vegetables

RAINBOW vegetables...... For those who is a regular visitor of my blog, you will notice that I usually used a lot of colours in my dishes. That's because I love my food to be colour and presentable. For today's veggi dish, I used all common ingredients that is good and health for everyone in the family... I call it Stir-fry Rainbow vegetables because I used 7 different types of colourful vegetables for this. And it really gives different kind of texture when you chew in your mouth.


Ingredients:
10 Sweet Bean
2 Stalks Of Celery, cut into slices
1 Small Carrot, cut into slices
8 Gingko Nuts
5 Cherry Tomato, cut into halves
3 Fresh Lily Bubs, remove the petals
1 Packet of Honshimeiji Mushroom
2 Slices Of Ginger
1 Teaspoon Finely Chopped Garlic
100- 150ml Chicken/Vegetables Stock
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch + 1 Tablespoon Water

Methods:
1. Wash, trim and cut all the vegetables then set aside. (you can used cookie cutter to stamp shapes for the carrot and celery slices)
2. Remove the Honshimeiji mushroom from the packet, cut off the end stems and rinse with water, drain and set aside.
3. Preheat a non-stick pan with 1 tablespoon of oil then saute the ginger slices and garlic till fragrant then add in the sweet bean, carrot and celery to stir till combine for 1 minutes then add in the rest of the vegetables and pour in the stock.
4. Let it bring to boil and simmer for another minutes then thicken the sauce with cornstarch mixture and remove to plate.

Notes: Stir-fry vegetables on medium high heat and must be quick do not over cooked the vegetables or else the colour will turn dark and the texture will not be crunch.

Stir-Fry Cabbage With Assorted Mushroom

This is a very easy stir-fry vegetable dish which combine of two type of yummy mushrooms like Honshimeiji & Shiitake with cabbage and celery.


Ingredients:
1/2 Beijing Cabbage(北京包菜)
6 Fresh Shiitake Mushroom(花菇)
1 Packet of Honshimeiji Mushroom(本菇)
1 Small Carrot, Cut into thin strips
2 Stalks Of Celery(芹菜)
2 Slices Of Ginger
3 Cloves Of Garlic, lightly smash
200ml Of Chicken Stock

Methods:
1. Cut the cabbage into bite size then soak in water for a while then wash and rinse well.
2. Wash the Shiitake Mushroom and honshimeiji mushroom and cut away the root stem and set aside for use.
3. Peel the celery and cut into 1 cm thick slices.
4. Preheat the pan with 1.5 Tablespoons of oil and saute the garlic and ginger slices until fragrant then add in the carrot strips, celery and cabbage then fried till fragrant add in in the chicken stock.
5. Cover and let it simmer on medium low heat for 5 minutes then add in all the mushroom and cover, continue to simmer for another 3 minutes.
6. Add in some cornstarch water mixture to thicken the sauce and serve.

Note: You can add in any types of mushroom that you prefer like wooden ear, black or white fungus or etc.

Steam Cod Fillet With Mushroom

Yeah finally I succeed in steaming Cod Fish Fillet using a very simple method with delicious outcome. The end result taste quite similar to those Cantonese style steamed fish with ginger and light soy sauce.

Detoxifies Soup

These days the weather is pretty bad with super hot and humid afternoon or rainy gloomy sky. So in order to keep healthy, I come up with a new weekly menu planner that includes at least 3 - 4 of these Detoxifies Soup in our dinner. In short, soup is like the rain after drought to keep your skin moist and radiant. Loofah (丝瓜) is rich in vitamins B and C; besides that it also helps to clear heat, detoxifies, promotes blood circulation and prevents skin aging too. Furthermore this soup also whitens the skin and improves wrinkles and prevents freckles.

Stir-Fry Chicken With Aloe & Bell Pepper

Aloe Vera contains naturally occurring antioxidants in the form of vitamins B complex, C and E, plus beta-carotene which is converted by the body into vitamin A.

Dietary nutrients in Aloe Vera also include potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, manganese, chromium and sodium and all are essential for maintaining a healthy metabolism.

Bell pepper is rich in Vitamins A and C so do not over cooked as to maintain its crispy texture. It helps whiten your skin while achieving a pinkish tint, a natural sheen and resilience.