Smooth & Silky Beancurd @ Rochor Beancurd House

Sometime, rather or how I would get mixed up by all those names of the beancurd store such as “Rochor Beancurd House - 梧槽豆花水“, “Rochor Original Beancurd You Tiao - 梧槽豆花油条.” or “Beancurd City - 豆花城”. But no matter which stall you prefer, I am sure there is always one that captures your heart and makes you go back for more. Out of three beancurd stalls mentioned above, I have only tried the two, which are Rochor Beancurd House and Rochor Original Beancurd You Tiao.

Through the recommendation of my best friend Joyce, who always frequent their stall I decided to drop by their one of their outlet at Upper Thomson area. Despite of the normal beancurd with sugar syrup, I added some chewy pearls topping for my beancurd and surprisingly the pearl are so soft and chewy. Personally I would prefer Rochor Beancurd House’s beancurd which I feel is much tastier and silky smooth that it can just glides down through your throat.

After trying we also bought some extra beancurd with lotus seeds and a few other toppings to share with other family members at home.

You can easily spot their shop along Upper Thomson Road with its ‘huge” blue signboard that is at the opposite road near famous LongHouse food center. Other than their signature beancurd and soya bean milk, you might also want to try some of their local snacks and kueh such as You Tiao, Portuguese egg tarts, Crystal bun and etc.

Rochor Beancurd House
232 Upper Thomson Road
Singapore 574363
Delivery: 8288 7020
Facebook site: Rochor Beancurd House

Operating hours: 11.00am – 3.00am daily.

Stir-fry Dual Broccoli Flower

You might have notice that I seldom or I only blog about vegetables dish once in a blue moon. It is not that we don’t eat vegetables at home but usually we just had blanched choy sum with a bit of oyster sauce, stir-fry broccoli or Chinese cabbage which I think there is nothing fancy to write about. But today, I would like to share with you this “new” all-in-one seasoning from Knorr. You can use it to season chicken wing for deep-fry or grill, add a teaspoon or so to your vegetables and etc.

This is our Dual Broccoli flower dish that I used to cook for my family. Why dual? That’s because, I love the green broccoli where my family only eats the white cauliflower so usually I would mixed them together into one dish. If you don’t prefer to use these instant seasonings, you can replace it with salt or oyster sauce. Add a few medium prawns or mushroom to this dish will make it taste even better too.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
80g Broccoli, cut into florets
80g Cauliflower, cut into florets
2 Medium Tomatoes, remove the seeds cut into wedges
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Teaspoon of Knorr HaoChi All-in-1 Seasoning
30 – 50ml Water

Method:
1. Trim the broccoli and cauliflower into florets soaked them in a basin of water with 1/2 teaspoon of salt to remove dirt and worms if any for about 5 minutes.
2. Remove, rinse and set aside.
3. Heat up the wok with ½ tablespoon of oil, sauté the garlic till fragrant, add in the cauliflower first and let it cook for about 1 minute before adding the broccoli and tomato.
4. When the broccoli turns to brighter green in colour, drizzle in the seasoning, give it a quick stir and add in water.
5. When the mixture comes to boil, let it simmer for another 30 seconds before switching off the heat.
6. Remove on plate and serve.

Braised Fish Head with Fermented Black Bean

I am sure for those who frequent Cze Cha Stall(煮炒摊) would have tried the "Fish Head with Bitter Gourd and Fermented Black Bean - 苦瓜豆豉鱼头" before. Some stalls marinate the fish head parts with seasoning then coat with some flour and deep-fried till slightly golden in colour before cooking it together with the bitter gourd and etc.

For those who have little one at home, eating fish in such manner might be slightly difficult and have to be extra careful. But if you wish to give this a try, I suggest perhaps you can consider to swap the fish head with fish fillet or chicken wings, for a similar recipe read HERE.

Ingredient: (serves 2 - 3)
1 Packet of Fish Head Parts, about 500g
3/4 Tablespoon Fermented Black Beans(豆豉)
2 Small Red Chilli, cut into slices
1 Medium Size Red Onion, cut into wedges
1 Stalk of Spring Onion, cut into sections
3 Clove Garlic, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon Cooking Wine

Seasoning:
100ml Water
3/4 Tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Sesame Oil

Method:
1. Wash and wipe fry the fish parts then Marinate them with 1 teaspoon each of light soy sauce and corn flour together with dash of pepper and sesame oil. (leave it in the fridge for at least 20 - 30 minutes before cooking)
2. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in the wok, pan-fry the marinated fish parts on both side till slightly golden, removed and set aside.
3. Next add in the chopped garlic, red onion, spring onion, chilli(optional) and fermented black bean, give it a quick stir and sauté till fragrance.
5. Add in the fish parts and seasoning (mix all the ingredients till combined) together, when the mixture comes to boil, lower the heat and let it simmer(remember to cover the pot) for about 5 minutes so that the fish can absorb the seasonings while simmering.
6. Removed and serve warm with rice.

Note:

~ You can get pre-packed fish head parts in major super markets or you can purchase whole fish head from wet market and ask the fishmonger to cut it into pieces for you.

I have omitted the bitter gourd in this dish but if you prefer you still can add them in by referring to this recipe HERE. As you can see from the photo, although this might be some fish head parts but they are still worth buying with those thick chunk of meat attached. Sometime you might be able to find some real good salmon fish head for making miso soup too.

Pin Si @ Yishun Safra

A few weeks ago, a few of us were invited to attend a food bloggers get-together session that is organized by OpenRice Singapore at Pin Si Chinese Restaurant. This restaurant has being shifted over from it old located at Yishun Central (near the bus inter-change) to Yishun Safra since last year. According to the restaurant manager, the restaurant can cater up to a maximum of 54 tables for different co-operate functions, wedding banquets and special events. They also have two special VIP rooms that is equipped with KTV system (max 1 table per room) for entertainment too.

While at our seat, each of us is presented with a special scroll that highlights the menu of the night. From a glance, we saw it consists of appetizer, soup, a few main dishes and guess what, we are having “Bird’s nest” as our ending dessert.

First dish to be served as starter is this “Trio Varieties Combination Platter - 品食聚财三宝拼”. It consists of Prawn Roll (Xia Zhao), Crispy Roasted Pork Belly (Siu Yuk) and Pork Floss Tofu where you get to try a piece of each mentioned. I love the roasted pork belly that is well season and the meat is so tender that it can just melt within a few bites. Pork Floss Tofu has a very silky texture and it goes well with the floss coating too.
Price: S$10.00 per serving

After the yummy starter, everyone is being served with a bowl of this superior “Double Boiled Shark’s Bone Soup with Twins Treasures - 鲨鱼骨汤炖双宝”. The broth is boiled for at least 8 hours using chicken, pork ribs, scallop and etc to achieve the taste and flavour. When you first give it a sip, it taste sort of like those “pig stomach pepper soup” because of the peppery taste. But after a few mouthful, you will sure start to like it, as it is full of goodness and flavour together with that tender and juice Abalone.
Price: S$12.00 per serving

I love Asparagus especially those that are lightly stir-fried with garlic and olive oil. This vegetable is a low in calories and with a good source of calcium, dietary fiber, protein and vitamin A. Our asparagus dish today is known as “Stir-fried Fresh Scallops & Prawns with XO Sauce - 酱皇露顺玉带伴虾球” where you can see really big fresh prawns and scallop in it. All the ingredients are well blend with the XO sauce and the taste is good with a bit of spicy tingle in your tongue.
Price: S$10.00 per serving

Having this common dialect dish to be served in a restaurant is definitely something new to us. Their “Pan-fried Trio Stuff Varieties Hakka Style - 客家煎酿三宝” is served in a very special mini claypot with 3 different varieties such as stuffed Green Capsicum, Brinjal and Beancurd. The meat stuffing is well seasoned with a hint of salted fish taste, which makes it so delicious together with the sauce. This is indeed a recommending dish for those who love pan-fried style of Yong Tau Foo.
Price: S$8.00 per serving

Their “Roasted Pipa Duck - 美味京酱琵琶鸭” was not as good as what we thought. The meat was kind of tough when bite and it is a bit kind of salty to taste. But overall it still taste good with its crispy outer skin and it goes pretty well with some red wine too. According to restaurant manager, the duck need to be marinated with some spices and dripped dry for a few hours before roasting in order to enhance the taste and achieve good texture on the outer layer.
Price: S$14.00 per serving

If you could remember our recent September Bloggers outing post, there is a scary “paw” dish where we featured uncommon “Stewed Crocodile Palm - 红烧鳄鱼掌” from Café De Hong Kong. And for today’s menu, we have another creepy “feet” dish that is called “Braised Goose Web with Mushroom & Broccoli - 西兰花鹅掌扣花菇”. I have tried similar goose web dish from another restaurant sometime ago and I think the one served here at Pin Si is definitely much tender and tastier on their gravy.
Price: S$16.00 per serving

The last dish of that night is “Stewed Meehon with Minced Salted Fish & Assorted Seafood - 咸鱼茸海鲜粒焖鸳鸯米”. This unusual combination of rice vermicelli (aka bee hoon -米粉) and glass noodle Cellophane noodles (aka bean thread - 冬粉) is stir-fried together using some diced scallop, prawn and hint of salted fish to enhance the flavour. But sad to say, a few of us agreed that there is much fragrant or taste of the salted fish, perhaps they can improve further on the taste for this unique noodle dish.
Price: S$8.00 per serving

Having Bird’s Nest, as a daily dessert is always what most woman dream of it is believed to provide health benefits, such as aiding digestion, raising libido, alleviating asthma and an overall benefit to the immune system. So having a bowl of this “Bird’s nest with Water Chestnut & Egg White - 蛋白燕窝马蹄露” might helps to digest those dishes that we had. Although we can taste the fragrant f the bird’s nest when served, but most of us find that there is too much water chestnuts cubes in this dessert, which unintentionally spoilt the texture and taste.
Price: S$20.00 per serving

Every one of us enjoys the great companies of new and old friends, food and wine as well as exchanging of our views on the dishes and a bits of our current updates. From the above dishes, I would like to recommend the “Double Boiled Shark’s Bone Soup with Twins Treasures 鲨鱼骨汤炖双宝”. As a soup lover, I love the flavour of its' thick and sticky soup texture that leaves your taste buds filled with all the goodness from the broth.

Pin Si also offered daily Dim Sum menu from 11.00am - 2.30pm for those who enjoy dim sum for lunch with different varieties of choices such as Shrimp Dumplings(Har Gau), ShaoMai(Siu Mai), Egg Tart, Assorted Steam Buns, Porridge and etc.

Pin Si Chinese Restaurant
60 Yishun Ave 4
#02-V1
Yishun Safra Country Club
Singapore 769027
Telephone: 6852 8933
Fax: 6852 9669
Website: http://www.pinsi.com.sg

Operating Hours:
Opens Daily: 11am - 2.30pm; 6.30pm - 10.30pm

Dim Sum Ala-Carte: 11am-2.30pm (daily)