Fish & Century Egg Soup

The century egg, also known as preserved egg, thousand-year egg, thousand-year-old egg; or in Chinese call 皮蛋 or 松花蛋. It is a Chinese food made by preserving duck or chicken eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime and rice straw for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing.

For this soup, I add in extra ingredients such as mince meat, doufu and tomatoes to make it more complete dish. Century eggs, coupled with doufu are good for treating chapped lips. A small bowl of the soup a day can help to alleviate the symptoms of ulcers and dry mouth. This soup is also good for clearing up and moistening the body, resolving heatniness, cooling the body and relieving fatigue.


Ingredients:
300g Sheng Yu Fish Slices
1 Tomato
150g Pork Mince
1 Tube Plain Doufu
2 Century Eggs
2 Slices Of Ginger
Some Spring Onion, cut into sections
1.5 Litres Of Water
Some Coriander

Methods:
1. Marinate the pork mince with some pepper, soy sauce, cornflour, cooking wine and set in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
2. Wash the fish slices and lightly marinate it with some pepper and salt.
3. Add about 1/2 Tablespoons of Oil in a pot, add in ginger and spring onion and stir-fry till fragrant then add in the tomatoes and stir for a while.
4. Pour in the water and bring to boil, add in pork mine balls, doufu and century eggs and let it boil then simmer on low heat for about 10 - 15 minutes.
5. Before you serve, add in the fish slices and bring to boil for a few minutes until cooked through then sprinkler some chopped coriander leaves and season with salt to taste.

Steam Tapioca Kueh

Tapioca prepared from the tuberous root of the cassava plant. Tapioca is commonly used in making Indonesian Kueh. Cassava was introduced into Indonesia during the Dutch reign. Cassava was the main foodstuff of Moluccans and Irians in Western Indonesia Islands. They ate steamed or boiled cassava roots.

This is one of the Nyonya Kueh delight call Steamed Ubi Kayu which mean Steamed Tapioca Kueh. The Tapioca is blended then mixed with sugar and desire colouring and steam until cooked.

Ingredients:
1kg Blended Tapioca
250g Sugar
Pinch Of Salt
A few Drops of Different Food Colouring Each
250g Fresh Grated White Coconut
2 Pandan Leaves

Methods:
1. Steam grated white coconut with salt and pandan leavs over low heat for about 5 minutes, then set aside to cool.
2. Peel the skin of tapioca, wash and cut into small pieces, blend them in a few batches with some water in a blender until smooth.
3. Squeeze the liquid from the blended tapioca under the running tap for a few times.
4. Mix the tapioca with sugar and a pinch of salt.
5. Divide the mixture into 4 portions.
6. Add one food colouring to each portion, place in a microwave plastic container and steam over medium heat for about 10-15 minutes.
7. Remove from heat, cool completely, and roll it in desire shapes and coat in grated coconut and serve.

Bake Pumpkin With Rice Stuffing

A Pumpkin is a squash fruit, most commonly orange in colour when ripe, that grows as a fruit. When ripe, the pumpkin can be boiled, baked and roasted, or made into various kinds of pie, alone or mixed with other fruit; while small and green it may be eaten in the same way as the vegetable marrow. They are a good source of essential fatty acids, potassium and magnesium.

Brown rice = whole grain rice. Many rice varieties come as either brown rice or white rice. Brown rice isn't milled as much as white, so it retains the bran and germ that makes brown rice more fiber-rich, nutritious, and chewy.


Usually stuffing rice in pumpkin is an a very western dish that they usually had during Halloween. But I had come across this dish from a children TV program and after souring for a suitable recipe for this dish. I invented something new which called Bake Pumpkin With Rice Stuffing using Brown Rice Mixture which is more Nutritious for my family.

Ingredients:(serves 2-3)
1 Small Pumpkin, around 1 - 1.2 kg
2 Cups Cooked Brown Rice Mixture/White Rice
2 Tablespoons Frozen Mix Vegetables
3 Tablespoons Finely Dice Taiwan Sausage
6 Fresh Chestnuts
1 Tablespoons Golden Raisin
1 Teaspoon Minced Garlic
1 Teaspoon Minced Ginger

Seasoning:
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Teaspoon Cooking Wine

Methods:
1. Boil chestnuts in a small saucepan over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes until tender.
2. Drain and remove any shell or skin then chopped in pieces.
3. Cook 1 cup of brown rice mixture or white rice accordingly and let it cool to room temperature to obtain about 2 cups of cooked rice.
4. Wash and cut a lid from the top of the pumpkin, remove seeds and fibers from it then drizzle 1/2 Tablespoon of olive oil in it and coat evenly.(remember to coat the lid as well)
5. Preheat a non-stick pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, saute the diced sausage for a few seconds then add in the mix vegetables, chestnut, raisin, ginger and garlic.
6. Stir-fry the above mixture until fragrant then add in the rice and stir through quickly.
7. At the meantime, add in seasonings(can adjust more or less according to individual taste) and stir till well mixed.
8. Scoop the fried rice into the pumpkin and press it tightly until the rice is firm then cover with the lid.
9. Place the pumpkin in a small baking dish that is slightly grease with olive oil.
10. Bake in a preheat 200 degree oven for about 30 - 45 minutes(depending on the size of the pumpkin) until cooked and tender when tested with a skewer.
11. Turn off the oven, let the pumpkin stand in the oven for another 15 minutes.
12. To serve, remove lid and cut pumpkin into wedges with some salad.(if there is still extra rice left from stuffing the pumpkin, you can also serve it beside the pumpkin wedges.)

Notes:
For the fried rice, you can also used those pre-mix fried rice seasoning.
I suggest to use Brown Rice mixture instead of White Rice for it's fragrant and chewy texture.

Thai-Style Mango Chicken

I love any dish that had mango in it... I always order the Thai Style Crispy Fish Or Chicken whenever we eat out at the coffee shop near our area. I love their mango salad within the dish, as it's so appetizing. Although you need a few ingredients more to prepare this dish, but itÂ’s really worth the time and effect. I got a few recipe versions on this dish so I decided to mix and match some of the ingredients. But overall, thanks Hugbear(Lily) for sharing her recipe in her blog.

For my Salad I add in extra carrot, cucumber, lime juice and rind to give an extra boost to the favour and fragrant. I love the taste of the lime juice and rind, it really enhance the favour of the salad. Below is the recipe of this Thai-Style Mango Chicken for those who is interested.


Ingredients:(serves 3-4)
1 Chicken Breast Fillet, skin removed
1 Chicken Drumstick Fillet, skin removed
1 Teaspoon Of Grated Garlic
1 Teaspoon Of Grated Young Ginger
1 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 Egg, lightly beaten
Some Potato Flour/Corn Flour

Methods:
1. Wash and remove the skin of the chicken then cut into large pieces.
2. Marinate chicken with garlic, oyster sauce and ginger for at least 2 hours or more in a fridge.
3. Before deep-frying, add in the egg and mix well.
4. Dust chicken with flour and leave it aside for about 10-15 minutes before deep-frying until golden brown and drain well.
5. Chopped chicken pieces into serving size and set aside.

Sauce:
2 Tablespoons Oil
1 Teaspoon Grated Garlic
3 Shallots, thinly sliced
1 Tablespoons Lemon Grass, thinly sliced
2 Tablespoons Lime Juice
5-6 Tablespoons Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

Methods:
1. Mix the chili sauce with lime juice and set aside.
2. Heat up the oil in a pan, saute garlic, lemon grass and onion till fragrant, then add in the chilisaucee mixture.
3. Bring to boil and add in the chicken pieces and stir through high heat until every pieces are well coated.
4. Remove and place ontop of some mango salad in a plate then top with the rest of the mango salad.

Green Mango & Vegetables Salad:
1 Green Mango, shredded
1 Small Red Apple, shredded
1 Japanese Cucumber, shredded
1/2 Carrot, shredded
1/2 Red Onion, shredded
2 Pieces Chili Padi, remove seeds and cut into small pieces
2 Sprigs Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon Lime Juice
1 Lime Rind, finely grated
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar

Methods:
1. Put all the above ingredients in a large mixing bowl then stir thru well using a chopstick and set aside in the fridge until used.

Notes: Buy the slightly green mango which more firm and suitable for making this salad.