Braised Ee Fu Noodle

Ee Fu Noodle is frequently used in wedding banquets and other important celebrations. It's prepared with the finest ingredients, deep-fried to a golden yellow and served as a royal dish. The most common one is Braised Ee Fu Noodle with Enoki & Yellow Chive.

For today's dinner, we are having Braised Ee Fu Noodle with Prawns, Pork Fillets & Spring Onion. It's a very simple and yet delicious dish that suits everyone in the family..... Especially for those who loves to eat Ee Fu Noodle.......


Ingredients:
1 Piece Of Dried Ee Mee
2 Stalks Spring Onion, cut into section
6-8 Medium Prawns, shelled & devein
150g Lean Pork, cut into strips
1 Teaspoon Grated Ginger
1 Teaspoon Grated Garlic

1. Marinate the pork strips with some pepper, soy sauce, cooking wine and cornflour. Set aside with the shelled prawns while preparing the noodles.
2. Bring half pot of water to boil, add in the dried Ee Mee and stir till soft then drained, rinse with cold water and set aside.
3. Preheat a pan with about 2 Tablespoons of oil and stir-fry spring onion until fragrant, add in prawn, pork strips, garlic and ginger.
4. Continue to fry until almost cook then add in the noodles and seasoning sauce.
5. Cover and let it braised over low heat for about 3 minutes until sauce thicken and serve.
6. You can add in abit more water or stock if you want it to be more wet.

Seasoning Sauce:
1 Tablespoons Oyster Sauce
1/2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
3/4 Cup Instant Chicken Stock
1/4 Cup Water

Methods:
1. Mix all the sauce ingredients together and set aside for later use.

Notes:
You can get this Hong Kong Conton Style Ee Mee at local supermarket like NTUC.

You can add in different ingredients such as mushrooms or vegetables to create your own style of Ee Fu Noodle.

Salad With Breaded Fish

Other than having rice, dishes and soup for dinner..... We decided to have a change for tonight's menu. We are having some vegetables and fruit salad together with breaded fish. Although it might look simple but it's a rather filling meal.

In order to make the salad more complete and filling, I added the breaded fish which I come across this idea from eating out.


Ingredients:
2 - 3 Small Butter Lettuces
8-10 Baby Potatoes
6-8 Fresh Chestnut
1 Tomato, or some cherry tomatoes
1 Avocado, cut into slices
1 Medium Japanese Cucumber, peel and cut into 1" thick
1 Apple, peel and cut into cubes
1 Lemon Juice & Rinds
1/2 Red Onion, thinly shredded
2 Tablespoon Extra Light Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Mayonnaise Sauce
Some Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Methods:
1. Cut and wash the lettuces then drain and set aside.
2. Boil the baby potatoes and chestnut in a small pot of water until tender.(around 15 minutes)
3. Drained the water, rinse the potatoes and chestnut then peel off the skin and cut them into half each.
4. In a big mixing bowl, add in cucumber, apple, avocado, onion, lemon rinds, potatoes and chestnut. Then drizzle 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice, 1 1/2 Tablespoons Olive Oil, Mayonnaise Sauce and some black pepper into the bowl and mix well.
5. Place the salad and lettuce in the fridge while preparing the breaded fish.

Breaded Fish Fillet:
8-10 Pieces Of Fish Fillet Strips
2 Tablespoons Cornflour
1 Egg, lightly beaten
1/2 Cup Dried Breadcrumbs

Methods:
1. Marinate the fish fillet strips with some salt and pepper for about 10 minutes then dust with some cornflour.
2. Dip the fish strips in beaten egg then coat with dried breadcrumbs and set aside for a few minutes before deep-frying.
3. Preheat a pot of oil and deep-fry the fish strips until golden brown, drained and set aside.

Assemble The Salad:
1. Toss the lettuce into the vegetables salad and mix well then place it on a plate and top with breaded fish and serve.

Notes: You can used with hard boiled egg or breaded chicken instead of fish for the salad.

Sweet & Sour Chicken Meatballs

Although nowadays there are some people who are having phobia of eating chicken because of the H5N5 Bird flu Virus. Chicken is still an excellent source of protein and a rich source of most B Vitamins. However, chicken skin is high in saturated fat and should be removed before eating. Chicken breast fillet is an ideal meat for any weight loss diet. Chicken meat is also low in carbohydrate, low in fat with a moderate protein content.

So for today's dish, we will be using Chicken Breast fillet to make the meatballs and deep-fry in with breadcrumbs. We also incorporate a few colourful vegetables to make this dish more vibrant and nutrition.

For those who loves to eat sweet and sour pork but scare of it fats contain, maybe you will wish to try on this low-fat version using chicken breast meatball. It taste just as good as well........


Ingredients:(can make 16-20 small meatballs)
1 Chicken Breast Fillet, skin removed
2 - 3 Tablespoons Cornflour
1 Egg, lightly beaten
4 - 5 Tablespoons Dried Breadcrumbs
1 Medium Japanese Cucumber, peel and cut into 1" section
1 Medium Tomato, cut into wedges
1/2 Red Onion, cut into wedges
1/2 Yellow Pepper, cut into wedges
1 Piece Fresh Pineapple, cut into wedges

Methods:
1. Remove the skin from the chicken breast, wash and cut it into small cubes and put it in a food processor.
2. Add in 1 Teaspoon Cornflour, 1/2 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce, 1 Teaspoon Cooking Wine, 1/2 Teaspoon Sesame Oil and some pepper then blend the diced chicken into a paste form.
3. Let the chicken paste rest in the fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
4. Roll the chicken paste into a small meatball (about the size of a normal fishball), coat it with some corn flour, then dip in beaten egg and roll onto some breadcrumbs.
5. Leave all the breadcrumb meatballs aside for 2-3 minutes so that the breadcrumbs won't fall off easily when deep-frying.
6. Prepare a pot of 80% boiling hot oil and slowly add in the meatballs in two batches and deep-fry till golden brown, drain and set aside.
8. Preheat a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of oil, saute the Onion until fragrant then add in the tomato, cucumber, yellow pepper and pineapple and stir till combine.
9. Next add in the sauce ingredients and bring to boil, gradually add in some cornflour mixture(1 tablespoon cornflour + 1 tablespoon water) and stir well.
10. Lastly add in the meatballs and stir fry till all the meatballs are coated with the sauce and remove to serve.

Sweet & Sour Sauce:
6 Tablespoons Water
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Fine Sugar
2 Tablespoon Tomato Sauce
1/2 Tablespoon A1 Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 Tablespoon Chilli Sauce
1 Tablespoon White Vinegar

Methods:
1. Mix all the above sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside for later use.

Notes: You can also used those pre-mix sweet and sour sauce that is found in most supermarket like Lee Kum Kee Brand.

Making Nyonya Rice Dumpling

Every year during the "Five-month, Five-day" of Lunar calendar is known as the "Dumpling Festival". In Singapore, this traditional Chinese festival is celebrated by the eating of a variety of steamed glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves call "Zong Zi". Dumpling Festival (Duan Wu Jie) is also known as Dragon Boat Festival. It is celebrated in rememberance of Chinese poet Qu Yuan, who was a loyal official in the court of the Chu Kingdom in old China.

Fishermen who heard that Qu Yuan drowned himself in the river set sail on boats to look for his body When they could not find it, they threw rice wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river so that the fish in the river would eat the rice instead of his body. Thus began the tradition of dragon boat races (creating a din to scare away the preying fish?) and eating rice dumplings on Duan Wu Jie.

The usual local favourites of rice dumpling in Singapore are - Bak Chang(with salted egg), Nyonya, Mung Bean Rice Dumpling, Red Bean Rice Dumpling, etc. So for today we are making the Nyonya version which is towards the sweet side of Rice Dumpling.

The process of making Rice Dumpling can be consisted as tedious preparation. Because from the boiling,washing and soaking of bamboo leaves and strings to prepare all the necessary ingredients. It could take up to a few days to prepare ahead and after the wrapping up the dumpling, you still need to boil it in water for about at least 1.5 hrs to 2 hrs in order to get it cooked. But it's always good to make your own dumpling because you can add in whatever ingredients you prefer. I had include a short video clip for those who is interested in wrapping the dumpling, hope it helps.



Ingredients: (make about 35, depending on the size)
2Kg Glutinous Rice
1 Tablespoons Salt
3 Tablespoons Oil
3-4 Cloves Garlic
2 Tablespoons Bunga Telang Juice/Blue Food Colouring
12-15 Pandan Leaves,cut into 1.5" length

Methods:
1. Soak Glutinous rice for at least 3 hrs or overnight, drain and set aside.
2. Preheat pan with oils and stir-fry garlic till frangrant then add in the drained rice and stir for a few minutes then add in salt, stir till combined.
3. Divide the rice into 2 portions, mix 1 portion of rice with colouring then set all aside to cool.

Bamboo Leaves
50-60 Pieces Bamboo Leaves
3-4 Bunch of Hemp Stings

Methods:
1. Bamboo leaves and hemp strings have to be pre-treated in advance too.
2. Heat a large pot of water, when water starts to boil, place bamboo leaves and hemp strings in. Make sure bamboo leaves and strings are fully immersed in water.
3. Continue boiling for 5 minutes, turn fire off remove the leaves and strings.
4. Roughly wash them in water then soak it in a pail of water overnight.
5. Remove leaves and strings from water before you need to use them.

Fillings:
800g Pork Belly/Chicken
300g Candided Winter Melon
30g Dried Mushrooms,
150g Dried Shrimps
150g Dried Chestnut, optional
50g Chopped Garlic
200g Chopped Shallot

Seasoning:
2 Tablespoons Black Pepper
6 Tablespoons Coriander Seeds
2 Tablespoons Dark Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Sugar
Pinch Of Salt
8 Tablespoons Cooking Oil

Methods:
1. Soak the dried chestnut overnight and drained.
2. Soak dried mushroom and shrimps separately until soft.
3. Dice the mushroom finley then chopped the shrimp.
4. Cut pork or chicken into small cubes/thick strips.
5. Heat 8 tablespoons of oil in a wok, fry shallots and garlic until fragrant then add dried shrimps, chestnut and mushroom.
6. Fry further till fragrant, stir in pork and seasoning and fry till pork is cooked.
7. Turn off heat and add in candied winter melon and mix well and set aside to cool.

Notes: If you are making Bak Chang, then you can omit the candied winter melon and add in 1 /2 Tablespoons of 5 spices powder when frying the filling.

You can either cooked all the ingredients together or you can separate the chestnut, dried shrimp and meat & mushroom in 3 different sections.

Wrapping the Dumplings:
1. Overlap two bamboo leaves and fold into a cone.(wipe the leave if it's too wet)
2. Put 1 tablespoon colour glutinous rice, 1 tablespoon plain glutinous rice, 1.5 tablespoons of filling and another 1 tablespoon plain glutinous rice on top.
3. Press gently with a spoon and top with a small pices of pandan leaves and wrap dumpling into a pyramid shape.
4. Tie with a string.
5. Boil some water in a pot, add 2 tablespoons of salt to the water, put in the tied dumpling and cook over high heat for 1.5 - 2 hours until rice is cooked through.
6. Remove the dumpling and hang it up to drip away any excess water and you can leave it at room temperature over night or keep unfinished dumpling in the freezer for a few weeks.

Notes: The ingredients and taste of the fillings are depend on individual, you can add in different kinds of meats(eg: chicken instead of pork) or beans(black-eyed bean, mung bean or red bean) and even salted egg) according to your taste.

There is no bean, chestnut or salted egg for traditional Nyonya Rice Dumpling, but you can create any favour when you get the hand on how to prepare the filling and wrapping.