Scramble Egg With Tomato

Are you one of those tomato lover who eats any kind of tomato that is on the shelf of the supermarket? Or you will just pick your choice of those that you love like cherry tomatoes or vineyard tomatoes or ?

Tomato fruit is classified as a berry. As a true fruit, it develops from the ovary of the plant after fertilization, its flesh comprising the pericarp walls. Tomato is also an excellent source of Vitamin C and a good source of Vitamin A. So if you are trying to get one of your kids or love one to incorporate some tomato into their dish. You can try one of this Scramble Egg With Tomato serve in tomato cup as party food breakfast side dish.

Ingredients: (serve 2)
2 Medium Size Red Tomato
1 Medium Egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon Milk/Water
1/2 Tablespoon of Chopped Tomato
1 Tablespoon of Chopped Spring Onion
1/2 Tablespoon of Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

Method:
1. Cut the tomatoes, horizontal into halve and carefully scoop out the seeds in it. Pat the inside dry with kitchen paper towel and set them aside.
2. Take 1 of the tomato cup and chopped them into cubes.
3. Whisk the egg with either water or milk until well combined.
4. Drizzle some Olive oil onto a small preheat non-stick pan and add in the chopped tomatoes, give it a few stir until fragrant then scatter in the chopped spring onion.
5. Next pour in the egg mixture and cook the scramble egg accordingly, using a spoon to stir the mixture occasionally.
6. Lastly stir in the Thai chili sauce mixture and give it a quick stir until it combined, fill the egg mixture into the prepared tomato cups and serve as together with some cut fruits as side dish.

Note:
a) You can replace the Thai Sweet Chili Sauce with Tomato Sauce for kid's version.
b) You can also scatter some extra shredded cheese onto the egg tomato cups and put it into the toaster oven of about 3 minutes or so until the cheese started to melt.

Avocado ~ Egg ~ Tomato

This is my combination of appetiser meal, Avocado Vs Egg Vs Tomato. I simply just love the taste of Avocado, when this is in season I'll always have it in my fruit basket. I love to eat it with plain yogurt, or blend it with some fresh milk and honey and serve it as a health afternoon snack or after meal refreshment with a few ice cubes.

There are so many ways and ideas that you can eat your avocado with. And also high avocado intake has been shown to have an effect on blood serum cholesterol levels and it is also rich in B vitamins, as well as vitamin E.

In this appetiser, I used 1 avocado, 1 hard boiled egg and 2 ripe medium size tomato to come out with 3 different taste and texture of the combination.

Mashed Avocado & Egg Salad
~ Mashed half of the hard-boiled egg with about 2 to 3 slices of avocado and serve it in a tomato cup.

Avocado Slices With Plain Yogurt
~ Arrange some avocado slices on plate and top with a dollar of plain Greek yogurt(or you can choose yogurt of your favour).

This is great to serve as a an presentable appetiser when you have guest around the house. You can top with with other fresh fruits of your choice or you can use tomato or cucumber or any combination that you prefer.

~ Cut the avocado into half, carefully scoop out the fruit and leave the shell in shape.
~ Place half of the hard-boiled egg in the middle and filled the space of the shelf with avocado & tomato cubes.
~ Drizzle with some BBQ or Thai Chilli sauce before serving.

Steam Cod With Tangerine

Chinese New Year is just two weeks from today. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month (Chinese: 正月) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th day. So for this coming festival, let me share with you one of the dish that I have prepared for my Chinese New Year Menu :) It's called Steam Cod With Tangerine and "如鱼得水" in Mandarin.

This is a very eye catching colourful dish that is full of favour. As you can see from the ingredient pictures, I actually used the New Year Tangerine as one of the ingredients because of it's wonderful colour and fragrance. The tangerine is an orange or red coloured citrus fruit and it is a variety of the Mandarin orange. The fresh fruit is also used in salads, desserts and main dishes. Tangerines are a good source of vitamin C, folate and beta-carotene. They also contain some potassium, magnesium and vitamins B1, B2 & B3. The combination of Cod and use of some Chinese Herbs will eventually brings out the natural taste of the dish with any seasonings.

There are a few versions that you can come out with using the ingredients shown in this dish. It's just a matter on how you prepare it to suit your family taste-buds. Eg. If you or your family don't like the strong fragrance of the Dang Gui - 当归片, you can omit it and it be be just like an normal steam cod dish without herbs. But since I am serving this as an individual portion, the usage of Dang Gui is only a small slice per plate just in order to fragrance the cod and cover the fishy smell......This is a very simple, and easy to prepare dish which you can do it even if you don't have tangerine, just replace it with Orange.........

Ok I will leave you with this Chinese New Year dish and I would also like to take this Opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Lunar New Year earlier just in case I am too busy to post anything till then.........

Ingredients: (serves 2)
6 Slices of 2" x 4.5" Cod Fillet(雪鱼)
2 Medium Size Prawns
1/2 Tablespoons Wolfberries(枸杞)
2 Small Slices Of Dang Gui(当归片)
2 Tablespoons Rice Wine(黄酒) or Mirin
1 or 2 Tangerines(桔子)

Methods:
1. Remove the shell of the prawns and leave the tail part on, devein and cut a small opening slit at the middle of the back and push the tail through the hole bending on the belly side.
2. Slowly remove the peel of the tangerine, then cut it into thin strips and set aside. Next remove the white pits of the tangerine flesh and separate each wedges and set aside.
3. Place 3 slices of the cod fish one on top of each other but leave about 1/2 cm allowance between each slice then roll it up and place it on a small plate.
4. Next place the prepared prawn on top of the fish slices (refer to ingredient picture, 1st row - column 2).
5. Break a slice of the dang gui into half then place it on the both side of the fish pyramid, sprinkler with some wolfberries and arrange some tangerine wedges on the side of the plate.
6. Upon steaming, drizzle 1 tablespoon of rice wine on the fish, top with tangerine peel strips and steam over medium heat for about 5 minutes or till cooked through depend quantity used.
7. Serve hot with rice or as starter.


Notes:
a) If you don't like cod, you can replace it with other fish fillet that is suitable for steaming, eg. Grouper - 石斑.
b) You can also omit the prawn and just purely using fish slices.
c) If you don't have Rice Wine, you can replace it with 2 Teaspoons of Hua Diao Jiu (花雕酒) instead as the taste is much stronger than the sweet rice wine.
d) You can also replace it with 2 Tablespoons of Chicken Stock if you do not wish to serve liquor to kids.

Comments from my food taster :)
* You can actually taste a few favour and fragrance in this dish. When you drink the gravy, it's full of tonic and sweetness because of the rice wine, cod and wolfberries and it's also scented with some tangerine fragrance.

*When you give a bite to the fish, it's smooth, silky and it has a combination of dang gui and tangerine peel taste which make it light and refresh.

Related Post:
1. Steam Cod Fish & Double Boil Frog Soup

2. Steam Cod Fish With Crispy Bean

Double-Boiled Apple With Gingko Nuts

I believed most of you have heard or even tried the Double-boiled Chinese Pear with either Almond or White Fungus or even both before. It is actually a very good and effect sweet tonic drink to smooth the lungs and ease the phlegm if you are having bad cough. Usually Chinese Physician believed that there are two different types of cough which is the dry and cold cough. As in dry is mainly due to heat in our body due to lack of sleep or consuming too much heaty food.
Dried Figs(无花果)
It is rich in vitamins A & C, proteins and fibers. It strengthens the Spleen, lubricates intestines and helps with dry cough and sore throat. There are two types of figs, fresh and dried. Dried figs are usually used to make soup.

As for myself, I am consider as a weak body build so I cannot take too much of the cooling stuffs, so rather than using Chinese Pear (which is suppose to be cooling) I replace it with Apple which is neutral. The overall effect of this soup will still be the same but the different is it will not be too cooling for those who are having weak body function.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 1/2 to 2 Big Apple, cut into wedges
10 Gingko Nut(白果), pre-packed type
1 Tablespoon of Sweet & Bitter Almond( 南北杏)
2 Red Date(红枣), cut into wedges
1 Teaspoon Gou Qi Ji (枸杞子)
3 Dried Fig(无花果), cut into halves
800ml Warm Water
Some Rock Sugar, to taste

Methods:
1. Wash and cored and cut the apples into thick wedges, rinse the rest of the ingredients and put everything(except rock sugar) into a double-boiler and double-boiled in the slow-cooker on auto for about 2 hrs.
2. Remove the cover and add in the Rock Sugar and contine to double-boiled for another 30 minutes.
3. You can served it warm or cool and this is very effective for dry cough.

Notes:a) I used those big pinky type of Apple (refer to the picture above)

Salmon With Passionfruit Sauce

Cooking with Passion fruit is never to come across my thought as I don't really have passion with this fruit. But after hearing good comments from my friend Tracy on this fruit, I decided to give it a try and at one go I have whipped up a main course and a dessert to pair with it. So today's Menu will be Salmon With Passion fruit Sauce served with Passion fruit Salad and PassionMisu(recipe) here for dessert.

The passion fruit is round to oval, yellow or dark purple at maturity, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous seeds. The fruit can be grown to eat or for its juice, which is often added to other fruit juices to enhance aroma. Fresh Passion Fruit is known to be high in vitamin A, Potassium and dietary fibre. Passion fruit juice is also a good source of ascorbic acid (vitamin C).


For this dish I used the passion fruit to make the serving sauce for the salmon and sweet potato as well as the passion fruit salad. I made use of the empty shell of the passion fruit as a serving plate for the salad to the overall dish more presentable. You can make use of any kind of vegetables or fruits that you can find in your fridge compartment. For my Passion fruit Salad the ingredients used are as follow:-

Salad Ingredients : (serves 2)
2 Tablespoons of Cucumber Cubes
2 Tablespoons of Apple Cubes
1 Tablespoons of Tomato Cubes
1 Tablespoon of Passion fruit Pulps
1 Tablespoon of Pomegranate

Methods:
1. Cut all the items into similar shape and sizes then mixed them together and set aside in the fridge.
2. Scoop the salad into the reserved passion fruit shell.

Note:
a) You can use whatever fruits and vegetables that is in your fridge but try to choose those with mild favour to compromise with the passion fruit taste.

As for the main course, I used salmon fillet to accompany the fragrant of the passion fruit sauce and it really blend well with this combination. This salmon dish consists of 3 portion of preparing method for the fish, sauce and side dish. You can use any side dish you prefer, eg. fresh salad greens, mash potato, potato wedges or etc. For my case, I served it with pan-fry sweet potato slices.

Sauce Ingredients:
2 Medium Passion fruits
1/2 Teaspoon Butter
3 Shallots, sliced & roughly chopped
1/2 Teaspoon Honey
1 Tablespoon Cooking Wine

Methods:
1. Halves the passion fruit, scrape flesh into strainer and push it through the stainer and get about 80 - 100ml of juice. Set aside.
2. After frying the salmon, use the kitchen paper towel to wipe the pan then add in the butter and saute the shallot till fragrant, about 1 minutes or less.
3. Add in cooking wine, passion fruit juice and honey then simmer on medium low heat till thickened, about 30 seconds then remove and set aside.

Note:
a) The use of honey is for seasoning purpose as in sweeten and enhance the favour of the passionfruit and it also act as a caramelised agent to thicken the sauce.

Main Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 Pieces of Salmon Fillet, about 200g each
Salt & Pepper
1/2 Tablespoon passion fruit juice
1/2 Tablespoon Cornflour
1 Teaspoon Olive Oil
1 Teaspoon Butter

Methods:
1. Season the salmon with salt, pepper and passion fruit juice then coat it with some cornflour on both side then set aside for about 1 minute.
2. Heat up the pan with olive oil and butter then pan-fry the salmon, skin-side down for about 4 minutes on each side until cooked through. the timing will depending on the thickness of the fillet.
3. Removed the fillet and arranged on serving plate together with the side dish, salad and drizzle some passion fruit sauce on the fillet and served extra sauce on the side.

Lavender-Cointreau Baked Seafood

Lavender is a genus of about 25–30 species of flowering plants in the mint family. The plant is also grown commercially for extraction of lavender oil from the flowers. This oil is used as an antiseptic and for aromatherapy. Lavender flowers can be candied and are used as cake decoration. Lavender is also used as a herb, either alone or as an ingredient it is also used to flavour sugar, the product being called "lavender sugar", and the flowers are occasionally sold in a blend with black, green, or herbal tea, adding a fresh, relaxing scent and flavour.


You can use this Lavender-Cointreau Dressing for baking other seafood like Prawn or Scallop. Since I still have some frozen scallop in the freezer, I took one of it to bake with the reminding sauce.

Ingredients:
1 Large Scallop
1 Tablespoon of Lavender-Cointreau Dressing
Some Fresh Lemon Rinds
Pinch Of Chilli Flakes

Methods:
1. Rinse and clean the scallop well, pad dry and place it on a big of aluminum foil, fold the sides up to form a parcel so that the sauce will be within the foil when baking.
2. Top the scallop with lemon rind, Lavender-Cointreau Dressing and chilli flakes and baked in the toaster oven for about 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness.
3. Remove it from foil and place it on serving plate.

Lavender + Cointreau + Blueberry + Lemon Rinds + Cod Fillet = Lavender & Blueberry Baked Cod Fillet. What do you think of these combination? Do you dare to give it a try? It's really a combination of favour, fragrant and taste. If you have these ingredients in your pantry, do give it a try and you will be surprised with the outcome :)

Ingredients:
1 Piece of Cod Fillet, about 150g
6 Fresh Blueberries
Some Fresh Lemon Rinds
2 - 3 Cherry Tomato, halves
2 Tablespoons of Lavender-Cointreau Dressing

Methods:
1. Wash and pad dry the cod fillet then place in on the middle of an rectangle aluminum foil, fold the four sides up to form a rectangle parcel so that the sauce will be within the foil when baking.
2. Top the cod fillet with blueberries, lemon rind, cherry tomato and the Lavender-Cointreau Dressing and baked in the toaster oven for about 7 - 10 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillet.
3. When the fillet is cooked, remove it and place it on serving plate and drizzle the sauce from the fish parcel to the fillet.

To make the Lavender-Cointreau Dressing, it's not necessary that you must have Cointreau. You can replace it with Grand Marnier or Orange Juice if this dish is to serve to kid.

Ingredients: (makes about 150ml dressing)
1 Teaspoon of Honey
3 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Dried Lavender
1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon of Cointreau

Methods:
1. Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan or frying pan over moderate heat, stirring with a spoon at all time, until ingredients caramelised into a sticky sauce. (it will be about 3 - 4 minutes)
2. Remove from heat and allow to cool then use it for drizzle over the seafood before baking.