[May $20 Budget Meal] Specific Key Ingredient - "Tofu/Beancurd"

Here is the polling result voted by some of the readers over at Cuisine Paradise facebook page (HERE). From the photo you can see that Tofu has "14 votes" which is the highest among the rest of the mentioned ingredients. In the case, for May [$20 Budget Meal], we will use "Tofu" as the specific ingredient for one of the dish in the budget menu (eg: steam tofu, fried tofu, braised tofu and etc).

HOW TO JOIN:

~ Prepare either "2 Dishes plus 1 Soup" or "1 Pot Dish" using a budget which is not more than $20.00 for 2 - 4 servings. If you are from overseas, you can also participate by converting to the appropriate currency value, (ie. US$15.00, RM$50.00, Rp $138,000 and etc)

~ If you do not have a blog, just send in the photos and at least one recipe from your dishes and I will publish on your behalf in my blog, credited to you. (photos can be taken in any form using digital camera or hand phone)

~ All submission entries must be published in your blog or prepared during the month of May from 01 May  - 25th May 2011.

~ Please do mention in your blog that you are sharing this post to “May $20 Budget Meal - Specific Ingredient is "Tofu/Beancurd"” and link it to this page HERE (use this link: http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2011/05/may-20-budget-meal-specific-key.html) to encourage more readers to contribute into the event.

Since this month theme is on "Tofu/Beancurd" you can use your own imaginations or recipe(s) from cookbook to come up with all kind of related recipes using any type of tofu such as Egg, Silken, Traditional, Firm or etc that you prefer.

SUBMISSION:

~ E-mail your "blog link plus Photos of the dishes" or "photos with recipe" to ellenaguan@hotmail.com with a subject "May $20 Budget Meal" in the following format:

Your Name:
URL of your post:
Name of your dishes + soup:
Estimate amount spent for each dish:
Attachment of your photos in your email (each photo, preferably 500kb or less).

To enlighten you with a better ideas on the Tofu dish, here are four different types of preparation methods that you can take into reference. And if you are not sure about the post requirements or how to breakdown the price-list of each dishes/soup, you can refer to one of the example post HERE.

Lastly I would like to thanks everyone who has participated in the last two [$20 Budget Meal] events., all your dishes and ideas are Awesome!!! And till date we have in total, 35 sets of "$20 Budget Meal' which are quick and easy to prepare. If you are interested you can take a look at March Round-up(Here) and April Round-up(Here).

CLOSING DATE:

~ Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 2359 hours  and all entries will be compiled and posted on 31st May 2011.

[Breakfast Ideas] Poached And Soft-Boiled Eggs with Toast

What do you usually have for your breakfast. In Singapore most of us love to have Coffee with toast and soft boiled egg either at home, coffee shop or etc. And the most common hang out will be either at Ya Kun or Toast Box where they serve pretty good toast with soft boiled egg.

Here I will be sharing two quick and easy recipes on how to prepare Toast with Eggs like those western style breakfast serving in most cafe where you can impress your family members during weekend breakfast.

Most of us know that Eggs have excellent nutritional value. They contain protein which is needed for building and repairing the cells in muscles and other body tissues as well as supply valuable minerals and vitamins. Since my boy loves egg(he eats at least 1 egg per day) we usually have at least a tray at home every week. Recently I got a box of this new CP Chilled Fresh Eggs which are known to be sanitised, oiled and chilled within one hour of being laid to ensure that the supreme freshness from the farms is sealed and kept within the eggs.

These eggs are packed in a transparent tray with size range from 65 - 70g per egg that cost S$2.50 per box of 6 Large Eggs. And on the packaging it is also stated that these eggs contain lesser cholesterol than ordinary eggs, and have a lifespan of up to 90 days! As you can see from the photos below, the egg yolk of these CP Chilled Fresh Eggs is rather more firm and orange in colour compared to the normal yellow yolks that we used to see. And we also find that it taste more fragrant while eating poached or soft-boiled too. If you are interested to give it a try, these eggs are available at all Cold Storage, NTUC Finest, Meidiya and Carrefour currently.

You can achieve different texture of soft-boiled egg according to your preference by timing the simmering time such as 5 minutes for medium-boiled and 7 minutes for hard-boiled (mine was about 3 1/2  to 4 minutes as I prefer it to be a bit runny for dipping my toast). The reason for stirring egg occasionally also helps the yolk to stay centered in the egg for even distribution.

SOFT-BOILED EGGS

Ingredients: (serve 2)
2 Fresh Egg, at room temperature
Multi-grain toast fingers, to serve

Method:-

1. Place eggs in a medium saucepan. Cover with cold water and bring to boil over high heat, stirring occasionally.

2. Reduce heat to medium(once the water boil) and simmer for 3 minutes.

3. Remove pan from heat, using slotted spoon transfer eggs to egg cups.

4. Using a teaspoon, carefully remove tops from eggs and serve with toast fingers and extra sides(optional).

In Poaching method, the egg is cracked into a bowl then gently slid into a pan of simmering water and cooked until the egg white has almost solidified but the yolk still remains soft. And this is a healthy way of consuming fresh egg without using at oil or fat in it's preparation.

POACHED EGGS

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 Teaspoons White Vinegar
2 Fresh Eggs, at room temperature
Butter Toast, to serve

Method:-

1. Pour cold water into a large saucepan at least 8 - 10cm deep. Add in white vinegar and bring to boil over medium heat.

2. Reduce heat to low(water should still be simmering around the edge with tiny bubbles).

3. Crack 1 egg at a time into a shallow bowl, using a spoon stirring water to create a whirlpool. (stir about 5 - 6 rounds)

4. Slowly tip egg into water while with the whirlpool spinning and for 2 minutes for soft yolk or 3 minutes for firm.

5. Using a slotted spoon, remove egg from water, drained well and serve it on toast.

6. Skim foam from water and poach remaining egg.

For this recipe, try to use fresh egg for poaching as the egg white will be at its thickest and it will produce a good shape. Whereas stirring the water with spoon also keeps the egg rounded while adding vinegar to the water helps to set the egg white quickly too.

Cze Char Food Gathering @ JB Ah Meng, Geylang

Time flies, it seems just a few days ago when we had our monthly Food Gathering at Old Airport Road Food Center (read more HERE) and yet last Saturday evening we had a enjoy gathering again for the month of April. This round we set foot at a Cze Char Stall near the alley of Geylang Lorong 23. It was such a fun and exciting night where we have food, dessert and excitement seeing some Police Officers patrolling around the alleys as well as chasing a prime suspect.

When Maureen(Miss Tam Chiak) first told me about going to “JB Ah Meng” for month gathering I was kind of shock as in I thought she was planning a food trip to Johor, Malaysia (JB). But it was till then I realize that JB Ah Meng is actually a Cze Char stall along a street at Geylang Lorong 23, Singapore.

This is one of the Menu from JB Ah Meng Cze Char Stall. They also have some other in-house special dishes which are written on pink paper which pasted in front of their stall.

For starter we have Deep Fried Fish Skin(香炸鱼皮)with serve with Green Papaya Salad and sweet chili sauce. The fish skin was quite crispy and not very oil but the papaya was rather too little, hard and big pieces in size. Perhaps they could improve on the papaya salad like those julienned Thai style version.
Price: Deep Fried Fish Skin(香炸鱼皮) @ $13.00 for Medium serving

This Stewed Chicken with Liang Fen(粉皮焖鸡) comes with chicken pieces, shittake mushroom, black fungus on a bed on liang fen (mung bean noodle sheets). The translucent liang fen is hidden underneath the chicken pieces which appears to look like those soon kueh skin. The gravy is prefect to go with steamed rice with hint of sesame oil fragrant and this is indeed a very home cooked style dish.
Price: Stewed Chicken with Liang Fen(粉皮焖鸡) @ S$15.00 for Large serving

Nothing fancy about this Fried Fish Head(炒鱼头) which is just some fried red snapper fish head pieces that stir-fried with ginger, spring onion and etc. Although it has some wok fragrant but it might be too salty if it is to be eaten alone without any steamed rice. And moreover there is much "meat" pieces which makes it quite expensive for it's price.
Price: Fried Fish Head(炒鱼头) @ S$18.00 for Medium serving

Here comes their famous pancake style fried bee hoon known as J.B San Lou Meehoon(新山三楼米粉). It has a slightly crispy top and a bed of choy sum hidden underneath the bee hoon so the best way is to give it a toss to mix it well before eating so that the choy sum will be evenly spread out.
Price: J.B. San Lou Meehoon(新山三楼米粉) @ S$10.00 for Large serving

This Vegetable with Golden Mushroom(豆根金针菇) was well received at our table with it's soft and silky fried tofu that braised in the oyster sauce gravy together with cuttlefish, shittake and enoki mushrooms. At the side there are still some generous amount of balanced baby bok choy to accompany it.
Price: Vegetable with Golden Mushroom(豆根金针菇) @ S$12.00 for Medium serving

Maureen's must try Brinjal Potato with Chilli(地三鲜) dish which consists of brinjal, potato and green capsicum. For this dish, the brinjal are cut into long and wide pieces which then coated with batter and fried till golden brown together with potato cubes. These ingredients are then toss in the wok and blend well together with green capsicum and gravy. Although t his might look a bit greasy but it is sure taste great and you won't even notice that "brinjal" in it.
Price: Brinjal Potato with Chili(地三鲜) @ S$15.00 for Large serving

Not much of Fermented Beancurd taste on this Deep Fried Fermented Bean with Belly Pork(腐乳炸花肉) dish and the pork meat was rather tough and dry. This dish could have be better if the key ingredient "fermented beancurd" taste is stronger or even more tender meat that suits everyone in the family.
Price: Deep Fried Fermented Bean with Belly Pork(腐乳炸花肉) @ S$12.00 for Large serving

According to Alice who is one of the regular who patronise this Cze Char stall, this White Pepper Crabs(白胡椒螃蟹) is one of her favourite dish when taking orders. For about S$24.00 you get to enjoy 3 medium size crabs(some still have egg roes) that cook in fragrant white pepper sauce that is a great deal not to be missed. 
Price: White Pepper Crabs(白胡椒螃蟹) @ S$24.00 for 3 crabs

This Snake Bean with Lotus Root(蛇豆炒莲藕) is one of our favourite veggie dish with different layers of "crunchy" texture. They use snake beans (long bean), tossed with celery, salted fish, pork bits, dried shrimps and crispy lotus root chips. Although the lotus chips seems to be a bit over fried but still everyone of us love it's thin and crispy texture.
Price: Snake Bean with Lotus Root(蛇豆炒莲藕) @ S$15.00 for Large serving

The last was supposed to be the best as we are having high expectation for this Salted Egg Prawn Ball(咸蛋黄炒虾球) which was highly recommended by Makansutra and ieatishoot forum. These salted egg yolk prawns with fried battered corn kernels are supposed to be sweet, crunchy and crispy but what we had on that day was rather hard, salty and dried. So most of us were quite disappointed with this dish.
Price: Salted Egg Prawn Ball(咸蛋黄炒虾球) @ S$24.00 for Large serving

JB Ah Meng

新山亚明小橱
No. 2 Geylang Lor 23
Telephone: 6741 2418
Opening Timing: 5.30pm - 3.20am

DESSERT - DURIAN FEAST!

After finishing our 10 Course Dinner at JB Ah Meng, we then proceed to our Durian Feast Session at "Wonderful Fruit Enterprise(旺德福)" which located at 147 Sims Avenue upon recommended by the lady boss at JB Ah Meng.

This is the "horrify" scene when you put "18 Durian Lovers” together with their favourite Durian. As you can see everyone is eager to “rip” off the fruit despite of the spiky shell in order to have a seed of these delicious fruit. Honestly we don't really find the Durian is of good grade at this stall, example the "Hong Xia - 红虾"(shown on the bottom right photo above) that we had is totally lousy with sour, tastless and funny combination of taste which cost us more than S$30++ for just 1 durian.

For Durian lovers out there, do you have any good location or stall to enjoy Durian feast? Do share with us your experience.


Lastly I would like to thanks everyone who join us for this month Cze Char Food Gathering. You can proceed to their fabulous blogs below for more read up too.... So what's up for our NEXT gathering.... stay tune :p

1. Maureen (Miss Tam Chiak, our outing organiser)

2. Lobster (Lobsterpaints)

3. LeRoy (The Hungry Cow)

4. Justin (Gourmetestorie)

5. Charlene and Charles (Foodoshoot)

6. Derrick (SG Food on Foot)

7. Meng Cheng (Jessie Food Trip)

8. Priscilla (I Lov My Scooter)