Steam Red Date Meat Dumpling

This Steamed Red Date Meat Dumpling is inspired by one of the economical rice stall (cai fan - 菜饭) near my area. I find this dish rather interesting whiling ordering our usual dishes so I decide to try it out. And after trying I thought maybe I can replicate it using similar ingredients base of what I eaten.

Mini Buddha Jump Over Wall

Wanted to try cooking this soup for a very long time. Usually you can in different kinds of ingredients to into this soup. Some prefer to have some extra herbs into it while other might not so it all depend on what you prefer to eat.


Today what I had cooked is just the mini version because I had omitted things like Abalone, Fish Maw, Ham and etc. What I had is mainly on the dried ingredients and herbs, which is cheaper and easily found in your kitchen pantry.

Ingredients:
3 Dried Ginseng
2 Stalk Dang Shen(当参)
3 Dried Scallops
5 Dried Oysters
4 Slices Of Dang Gui(当归)
3 Slices Of Sea Conch(响螺片)
3 Slices Of Huai Shan(淮山)
5 Red Dates(红枣)
1 Tablespoon Jizi(枸杞子)
1 Dried Mushroom
2 Chicken Drumsticks
300g Pork Ribs
2 Medium Sea Cucumber

Methods:
1. Wash and soak dried oysters and scallop in hot water until soft, then rinse well.
2. Wash all the rest of the herbs and set aside for later use.
3. Wash and blanched the pork ribs and chicken in boiling water then rinse well.
4. Bring a pot of water(about 1.5 litres) to boil then add in all the herbs, chicken and pork ribs and bring to boil again.
5. Wash the sea cucumber and cut into thick section then set aside.
6. Transfer to a slow cooker and simmer on low heat for about 3 - 4 hours then add in the sea cucumber and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes.
7. Season with salt to taste and serve.

Kaffir Lime Leave Chicken

You will sure love this dish if you are a Thai food fans. Because the aroma of this Kaffir Lime Leave will sure infused your dish with wonderful fragrant and taste. Kaffir Lime Leaves are one of the most important ingredients in Thai Cooking. These leaves impart a wonderfully aromatic smell and flavour to, and are an essential ingredient in many Thai recipes. This dish was recommend by one of my blogger friend Tracy who had tried it and gave me a very good feedback about it. So I decided to give it a try as well and indeed this dish will sure be on my re-cook list again. So if you like Thai food, do give this dish a try.....


actually the sauce ingredients which are the spices need to be either pound or blend. But a lazy person like me don't have the traditional pound at home, so what I had done is just finely chopped and grated most of the ingredients to make it an easy homecook meal.....

Ingredients:
1/2 Portion Of Chicken, cut into bite size
2 Tablespoons Of Kecap Manis
4 Pieces Of Kaffir Lime Leave, shredded 2 leaves
1 Tablespoon Of Oil

Sauce Spices
3 Candle Nuts (buah keras), pound into powder
1 Teaspoon Coriander Powder
1cm Fresh Ginger, finely grated
5 Shallots, peeled and finely chopped
1 red chilli, peeled and finely chopped

Methods:
1. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan, stir fry all the spices ingredients and the kaffir lime leaves until fragrant.
2. Add chicken and stir-fry for another 2 - 3 minutes or until slightly brown.
3. Pour in the kecap manis, allow to caramelise then add in about 50ml of water and cook until the chicken is tender.
4. Garnish it with extra shredded Kaffir Lime Leaves and Chillies and serve with rice.

Notes: You can also used chicken fillets or any other parts of the chicken for this dish.

Kecap Manis can be found in any local supermarket like NTUC or Cold Storage under the sauce department.