Uncle Sun Bak Kut Teh Spices

In Singapore you can easily get a decent bowl of Bak Kut Teh(herbal pork ribs soup) anywhere near your neighbourhood coffee shop or food centre. And there are also a lot of different types of pre-packed Bak Kut Teh spices available in the market for you to prepare this local dish at home. For me I love these quick and easy pre-packed spices, which could easily provides a bowl of hearty homecook soup to fill our dinner menu by the end of our hectic working day.

Here are the ingredients and steps on cooking this Bak Kut Teh:-

Ingredients: (serves 4)
1 Packet of "Uncle Sun" Sup Herba Oriental(bak kut teh)
1kg of Prime Pork Ribs
2 Litre Water
1 - 2 Bulb of Garlic, depend on the size
1/2 Tablespoon of Black Peppercorn, lightly crushed
4 Red Dates, optional

Method:
1. Trim, rinse and blanched the pork ribs in boiling water for 5 minutes, removed and rinse well. Set aside.
2. Bring 2 litres of water to boil in a soup pot, remove the herbs from the herbal pack and rinse them once before adding them into the boiling water together with the soup spice pack(power pack), garlic bulb, black pepercorns(if you prefer, you can put the crashed peppercorns in a soup bag) and red dates.
3. When the mixture comes to boil, lower the heat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes before adding in the pork ribs.
4. Simmer the soup on medium low heat for about 2 hours until the meat is tender. OR
5. You can transfer the boiling soup after adding pork ribs to a slow cooker and cook it on AUTO mode for about 2.5 hours or more depending on your preference.
6. Serve it with steam rice and cut chilli with dark soy sauce.


You can purchased "Uncle Sun" range of soup spices such as Bak Kut Teh, Ginseng Cordyseps Chicken, Ginseng Chicken and Abalone with Chicken at either Giant, Sheng Siong or Carrefour supermarket. The price is range from S$4.50 - S$5.50 depending on the product that you purchase.

This "Uncle Sun" brand of Bak Kut Teh taste rather different from the usual "Seah's Singapore Bak Kuet Teh Spices" that I have always cook. For this soup the colour is slight darker and you can taste a mild combination of Angelica (Dang gui), Star Anise and Cinnamon flavour that is infused in the soup. So for those who prefer a strong soup broth maybe you can consider to get a pack and try it out if you happen to see it in the supermarket.

Don't worry if you cannot finish the pot of soup as you could always keep the remaining in the fridge and reheat it in microwave on the next day. Or instead of serving it with steam rice, you could also add in some Mee Suah (面线 ) to make a noodle dish for lunch treat too.

Thai Green Curry Chicken

Our family prefers Thai Green Curry when compared to their Red Curry even though sometime it might tends to be slightly spicy and it has that hint of sweetness that is not usually associated with red curries. Plus by adding some fresh Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves together with extra dose of coconut milk it actually lifts up the aroma and taste of this dish too.

Cream Of Mushroom Soup

Out of all the western soups available, “Cream of Mushroom” is always my priority choice when making orders. To be honest, this is my first time making mushroom soup from raw ingredients rather than the all time favourite Campbell can soup.

Since I cannot find any decent button mushroom or suitable replacement from the supermarkets, I decided to replace it with Swiss browns that have a deeper and earthier flavour than white mushrooms. These mushrooms have a firm flesh that hold their shape well when cooked and they are great to be used for risotto, casseroles or even pasta sauce.

These are the ingredients and steps for making the mushroom soup:-

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
10g Unsalted Butter
1/2 Stalk of Leek, thinly sliced
1 Cloves Garlic, roughly minced
200g Swiss Brown Mushroom, cut into quarters
1 Cup Chicken Stock + 1/2 Cup Water
50ml Thickened Cream
Dash of freshly ground pepper
Garlic Toast, to serve

Note:

~ You can replace Leek with 1 medium Brown onion, thinly sliced.

~ You can experiment with different type of mushroom like a mixture of white button mushroom with Swiss brown, shittake mushroom or etc to achieve different flavour.

Method:
1. Give the mushrooms a quick rinse, remove the stalks and cut each mushroom each quarters then set aside.
2. Heat oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium low heat, add leek and garlic and saute for about 3 - 5 minutes till the leek is tender.
3. Add mushrooms to the leek mixture and continue to stir and cook for about 5 - 8 minutes till they are soften.
4. Next add in chicken stock and water to the mushroom mixture and simmer for another 15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and set aside to cool before processing the soup till well combined.
6. Return the soup mixture back into the saucepan, add in 50ml of cream and stir without boiling over low heat until warmed through.
7. Ladle soup into serving bowls, swirl with some extra cream and season with pepper.
8. Serve with some homemade garlic bread.


Garlic Bread is a very tasty sides for soups or pasta dishes especially for those garlic lovers. For me I would always look forward to it to go with my favourite cream of mushroom soup. There are a lot of methods and ways for making garlic bread and below is one of my simplest way of spreading butter garlic mixture on the bread and toast it till golden brown.

Homemade garlic bread is one of the quick and easy snacks to prepare at home without much hassle. All you required is minimum amount of ingredients such as baguette, butter, garlic and some herbs.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Small Baguette, cut into thick slices
50g Butter, soften
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
Dried Parsley/Italian Herbs, optional

Methods:
1. Mix the minced garlic together with soft butter and some dried herbs till well combined.
2. Cut the baguette into thick slices(about 5 equal slices), put them into the oven toaster(this is what i use, photo) and toast about 1 minute on each side.
3. Remove and let it cool off a bit before spreading it with a layer of garlic butter.
4. Return the bread back to the toaster and toast for another 3 - 5 minutes till it turns golden brown and crispy.
5. Serve it with your desire soup or even as a breakfast treat with coffee/tea.


Note:
~ The reason why I pre-toast the bread is to prevent the surface from being soggy after toasting it with the garlic butter spread. But if you are in a hurry you can omit this extra step.
~ You can prepared them ahead, stored in the freezer and toast it as when you like for breakfast treat or tea snacks too.

It is always a good way to take comfort with some piping hot homecook soup during year-end cold and rainy weather. And I am sure anyone or even your guests would be delighted for being served with a bowl of this homemade cream of mushroom soup together with a few slices of garlic bread to accompany it.

Sakae Sushi ~ New Menu Launched

Last week, 08 November 2010 Sakae Sushi has launched a brand new menu with over 40 new & exciting items including "Sakae Candle" in all its outlets islandwide. And for those customers who dine-in at Sakae Sushi you could also join in their November special photo contest in conjunction with their new menu. Here I would like to share with you some of their “NEW” dishes that I have tried.

Look at these gorgeous colour tones of the salmon slices on this “Salmon Blossom” dish. The touch of the burnt edge, salmon roe topping and codfish roe base makes this a perfect combination from the freshness of the sea lingering in your mouth. Love the taste of the different layers of texture for this dish.
Price: S$6.99 per plate (3 pieces)

I was attracted to the photo of this dish at Sakae Sushi Facebook (HERE) which draws my attention to drop by Sakae to try this out. But as usual when the dish served it was only about 80% similar to the photo illustration and the waitress was trying all her best to light up the "candle" which doesn't seems to light up. So in the end I was kind of disappointed with the "Sakae Candle" which has no flame. Guess I would have to try my luck on this dish again at another branch to see whether the "candle" does lights up. Despite of the "flame" issue, this dish is indeed another innovative idea from Sakae that captures both sight and taste of the patrons especially during coming Christmas season which added much atmosphere to it.
Price: S$6.99 per plate (2 pieces)

This new deep-fried tofu dish is supposed to be with Kimuchi sauce and not Kimuchi Soup like what shown in the photo. But despite of the appearance, this "Mushroom Kimuchi Tofu" is very appetizing due to its hot and sour taste from kimchi, great side dish to accompany with rice.
Price: S$5.99 per plate

Although this dish is marked with “New” but the content is quite similar to the previous Lobster Tofu dish in the old menu. Perhaps the only different is this new “Lobster Salad Tofu” is divided into smaller serving sizes compared to the big portion previously. The cold beancurd is sandwich with some lobster salad and topped with shrimp roe and mango cubes and served together with goma dressing.
Price: S$7.99 per plate

Lovely fresh Scallop resting on top of the sushi cubes which are coated with rice crackers. The moment when we bite it, we are all surprised by the hint of the spice taste that is quite similar to curry aroma. Each "Hotate Arare Maki" consists a thick layer of fresh scallop and a good spread of codfish roe that makes this a scrumptious maki dish. If you like adventure taste, try this!
Price: S$8.99 per plate

There are three types of "Carpaccio(raw fish)" dishes available in their new menu which are Hamachi(Yellow tail fish), Maguro(Tuna Fish) and Salmon. Since mum has not tried yellow tail sashimi before, I choose this “Hamachi Carpaccio” which comes with thinly sliced yellow tail resting on top of some shredded white onion and lettuce then drizzle with their special sauce. Love the fresh and sweet taste of the yellow tail would definitely order again during my next visit.
Price: S$8.99 per plate

For vegetable lovers or those who are looking for more healthier bites, Sakae Sushi has a new range of healthy veggie delights specially prepared for you too. You can try their new deep-fried "Vegetarian Mock Prawn", light and refreshing "Rice Paper Maki" or start off with some "Kinoko Salad" if you are mushroom lovers like us. Here we ordered two items from this veggie category such as "Vegetarian Mock Prawns" which is made with beancurd skin and other ingredients, deep-fried till golden brown then served with some vegetables and mayonnaise sauce on the side.
Price: S$4.99 per plate (3 pieces)

When I spotted this "Rice Paper Maki" on the menu, the first thing that flash across my mind is would this taste similar to the "Vietnamese Spring Roll"? I love the light and refreshing taste of Vietnamese spring roll that comes with their special chilli dipping sauce. But this Rice Paper Maki served at Sakae does not come with any dipping sauce which makes it taste rather a bit blend and dry. Perhaps a little dipping sauce to go with this would make it a perfect cooling snacks.
Price: S$6.99 per plate

For more photos of these "new" dishes that we tried, you can take a look at our Facebook page HERE.

In conjunction with the launched of the New Menu, there are five sets of S$30.00 Sakae Sushi Vouchers up for grabs in the month of November! To qualify for the "Foo-de-li-cious" Photo Contest, simply order any NEW item from Sakae Sushi New Menu and snap a photo of you, your family and/or friends enjoying the food to WIN!

To participate, please follow the steps below:
~ Step 1: Join us as Fan on Sakae Sushi Facebook

~ Step 2: Attach your photo(s) on our Facebook’s Wall (on top of the page)

~ Step 3: Add your own captions and include your name, contact no. and email address.

Good Luck~!