Li Fang Porridge @ Albert Street Food Centre

Taking about porridge/congee in Singapore there are a few choices for patrons to select such as Cantonese Style, Teochew Fish Porridge or Hainanese Lean Pork Congee. Today I would to share with you a stall at the newly renovated Albert Centre Market & Food Centre at Queen Street. Whenever I drop-by this food centre, I could always see people queuing up at this “Li Fang Porridge” stall that is near the lift area facing Fu Lu Shou Complex. This round since we want something light for lunch I decided to join in the queue to try their porridge.

From the appealing menu at the stall, I ordered these two items which are Mixed Pork Congee and Century Egg & Lean Meat Congee. Personally I preferred "Mixed Pork Congee(猪什粥)" since childhood because I love the mixture of pork intestines and liver in the congee. I still remember my granny would always share a bowl of this with me whenever she picks me up from the school. Although the porridge at “Li Fang” is smooth and fragrant but the ingredients were kind of less in quantity that makes the congee look rather empty. I think I only managed to find 2 pieces of deep-fried pork intestines and pork liver in that bowl.
Price: S$3.00 per bowl

This is the "Century Egg & Lean Meat Congee(皮蛋瘦肉粥)" with a few cubes of century eggs and slices of lean meat. The good factor about this porridge is it comes with a compliment hot and crispy fried dough fritter(油条, youtiao) which makes the congee taste even more delicious when eating them together.
Price: S$2.80 per bowl

This congee stall also have other choices such as sliced fish congee, mixed scallop congee, chicken congee, frog congee and even raw fish(生鱼片) to go with the congee. For your information there is another "Li Fang Porridge (丽芳粥品) " located in ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre too. Just wonder are these two stalls under the same boss or related business. Do share with us if you know any place that sell delicious congee that is worth trying.

丽芳粥品 Li Fang Porridge
270 Queen Street
#01-78
Albert Centre Market & Food Centre
Singapore 180270

CP Thai Shrimp Cake

Recently I got a pack of CP Thai Shrimp Cake (泰式虾饼) which I was wondering what I could do with it. And with my busy schedules I would prefer something quick and easy rather than sweating in the kitchen. So here are some quick ways on how I have make use of these delicious shrimp cake to whip up simple dishes to satisfy our hungry appetite in the shortest time.

First let's look at these yummy snacks; you don't even need more than 10 minutes to prepare them before you could enjoy these soft and fragrant Thai shrimp cake bun anytime of the day even on weekday breakfast. All you need is to get the necessary ingredients ready on the night before so that you could save some time on waking up earlier to prepare the ingredients.

For those who are tired of having the usual coffee and bread for breakfast, why not give this a try and you can even add in some lettuce and tomato to make it healthier too.

Ingredients: (makes 4 buns)
4 Plain Leaf Bun
8 -12 Pieces of CP Thai Shrimp Cake
1 Medium Tomato, thinly slices
Some Lettuce Leaves

Method:
1. Steam the leaf bun together with shrimp cakes on the same plate for about 5 minutes, remove from heat and set side.
2. To assemble them, slowly peel open the leaf bun, place some lettuce leave and a slice of tomato then sandwich it with 2 - 3 pieces of shrimp cakes.
3. You can also drizzle some chilli sauce (recipe shown below) over it and serve immediately.


Drizzling Sauce: (optional)
1 1/2 Tablespoon Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce
1 Teaspoon Hot Water
1 Shallot, thinly slices
1 Small Chili, remove seeds & chopped

Method:
1. Mixed all the above ingredients together and served as dipping sauce or drizzle on the fillings.

Note:
~ Drizzling Sauce can be prepared overnight.


Want some quick and easy finger food within 3 minutes to pair with your fried rice, bee hoon or instant noodles? Or you are looking for some authentic party food to impress your guests. No matter what is your intention, I am sure these mini CP Thai Shrimp Cakes would always come in handy for all occasions.

All you need to do is just toast them in oven toaster for 5 - 8 minutes or for a faster alternative, microwave them for 2 - 3 minutes on medum high depending on your microwave power(watt).


Or if you are looking for something more filling for lunch or dinner maybe you can consider using these shrimp cake to whip out some fried rice together with egg and vegetable. I can be assured that you would be surprised on how tasty these shrimp cake can tranform the plain rice into an "Egg-wrapped Fried Rice" dish in less than 30 minutes.

Don't worry if you cannot make a nice egg sheet to wrap the rice, you could always mix and match the ingredients to suit your preference and time limit. If egg wrap don’t work well for you, try adding it into the rice itself to make normal fried rice with egg. Here are some ingredients and steps for my “Egg-wrapped Fried Rice” dish: -

Ingredients: (serve 1 - 2)
1 Rice Bowl of Cooked Rice
5 pieces of CP Thai Shrimp Cake
2 Medium Egg, lightly whisk
1 Tablespoon of Green Bean/Mixed Vegetables
2 Cloves Garlic, finely minced
Dash of Thai Fish Sauce/Light Sauce Sauce




Method:
1. Cut the shrimp cakes into small portions (about 6 rectangles per piece), set aside.
2. Pre-heat the frying pan with 1/2 Tablespoon of oil, slowly pour in the egg mixture and give it a swirl around the pan so that the egg mixture is evenly spread out.
3. Fry the egg sheet on low heat till slightly brown, slowly loosen the side of the egg sheet and flip it over with a spatula and cook the other side till done.
4. Remove and set it over a small rice bowl while preparing the fried rice.
5. Add in another 1/2 tablespoon of oil add in the shrimp cakes pieces and give it a quick stir for about 30 seconds, dish up.
6. Next sauté the minced garlic for a few second then drop in the green bean and continue to fry for another 30 second or till the garlic turned slightly brown.
7. Pour in the cooked rice, increase the heat to medium then use a spatula to loosen the rice so that it would be grainy instead of lumpy.
8. When the rice is almost done, add in the shrimp cake and dash of fish sauce to season the rice.
9. Remove from heat and spoon the rice evenly into the egg sheet bowl, fill the fried rice to the rim of the bowl and tuck in the sides of the egg sheet to form a bowl.
10. Over turn the egg wrapped bowl onto serving plate, decorate it with some garnish and served immediately.

Note:
~ You can cooked the rice the night before or early in the morning if you are preparing this for lunch or dinner.

For a quick snack or lunch meal for kids, perhaps you can add in some shredded mozzarella cheese to do a cheesy bake rice for them. I am sure they would finished the bowl of rice without fuss and ask for second helping too.

To prepare this dish, you could use the same fried rice shown above by increasing the quantity and dish up some portion to bake it with cheese for your kids. Or you can always served two different flavour of this dish so that each one of the family members could get a chance to taste both of these dishes.

Ingredients:
Some Shrimp Cake Fried Rice
Decent amount of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Dash of Ground Pepper




Method:
1. Place a layer of shrimp cake fried rice in the baking dish and topped it evenly with some mozzarella cheese.
2. Next place the 2nd layer of fried rice on top and continue with some generous amount of cheese again.
3. Put the baking dish into oven toaster and bake for about 5 minutes till the cheese is bubbling and the colour turns golden brown.
4. Removed from oven, served hot with dash of ground pepper.


As you have notice from the packaging it shows that these CP Thai Shrimp Cake are well seasoned with Thai Chilli paste and it is made with 70% shrimp which are raised at CP's eco-friendly farms in Thailand. And most importantly this product contains 0g Trans Fat and has no preservatives used. Overall I love its slightly spicy and refreshing taste especially the "Kaffir Lime Leaf" that is infused in these shrimp cake. This special lime fragrant makes makes it very appetising on each bites. And for your informatin, you can easily find these shrimp cake at the frozen food department of any local supermarkets.
Price: S$4.95 each packet (260g)

Lastly I would like to thanks Melvin of Vibes Communications Pte Ltd and CP (Charoen Pokphand) Food for the invitation to try out some of their products. And I would also like to share with you some other quick and easy dishes from those CP Food that I received in some upcoming posts too.

CP Food also provides a special recipes booklet by Chef Forest Leong to share her tips on how to use CP Products to whip up some delicious dishes for celebratory occasion. You can get this booklet at these selected community centers for FREE on a first-come-first-serve basis:-

1. Cairnhill CC
2. Buona Vista CC
3. Bukit Panjang CC
4. Pasir Ris Elias CC
5. Toa Payoh West CC
6. The Frontier CC
7. Kampong Chai Chee

Purple Sweet Potato Mantou - 紫番薯馒头

Mantou(馒头) often referred to as Chinese steamed bun or bread is a kind of traditional steamed bun origin from China. It is normally made with wheat flour, water and leavening agents that leaves it with soft and fluffy texture. But in modern days now, there are a lot of ready-made frozen mantou that comes in different varieties and flavours which you can purchase from the supermarkets.

But for us, we still prefer to make our own mantou using fresh ingredients and consume it straight from the steamer rack while it is still hot. We love the taste of the freshly homemade mantou where we could add in more ingredients such as pumpkin, dried fruits, sweet potato and etc to make it more tasty and vibrant in colour to enhance the taste and at the same time attracts kids’ attention too.

For this recipe, I am using some mashed Purple Sweet Potato to make this mantou which gives it a very lovely natural Pinkish-purple colour which you can see from the photos. Purple Sweet Potatoes are richly nutritious as they are fat-free and low in calories, high in fiber and great for people who are carbohydrate sensitive and most importantly it is loaded with antioxidants.

These are the dry ingredients and steps on how to make the mantou dough using mashed sweet potato:-

Ingredients: (make 8 3cm wide medium mantou)
120g Plain Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
2 1/2 Tablespoon Caster Sugar
140g Purple Sweet Potato, cooked & mashed
1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
1/2 Teaspoon of Dry Yeast
40ml Lukewarm Water
2 Tablespoon Roasted Black Sesame Seeds, optional


Here are the steps on rolling and dividing the sweet potato dough:-

Method:
1. Add dry yeast into the lukewarm water and give it a quick stir, set aside for about 5 minutes till bubbles appeared.
2. Sift plain flour and baking powder together in a big bowl with the caster sugar till combined.
3. Next slowly add in yeast water into the flour mixture and stir using a metal spoon or clean hand and follow by the mashed sweet potato till it forms soft dough.
4. Add in oil and give the dough a quick knead till well combine or till dough does not stick to your hand.
5. Set the dough aside in a lightly flour/oil bowl, covered with cling wrap and let it proof for about 20 minutes till the dough became slightly bigger.
6. Knead proof dough on a lightly floured work surface for a few second, flatten and roll into a rectangular shape, sprinkle some black sesame seeds on it, roll it up lengthwise into an oblong shape.
7. Repeat the process once or twice depends on your preference.
8. Roll the final dough into oblong shape, cut them into equal portions and coat the top of each slice of mantou with some extra black sesame seeds.
9. Place each shaped mantou on the steamer rack with greaseproof paper below and rest for another 10 minutes.
10. Sprinkle some water on the mantou before placing the steamer rack into the pot of boiling water and steam them over medium heat for about 8 - 10 minutes. (depending on the size of the mantou)
11. When done, removed and served hot/warm.

Note:

~ Lukewarm is about 36 - 37 degree Celsius

~ Rinse and cut the sweet potato into chunks, steam it over medium heat till soft (about 10 - 15 minutes), removed from heat and mashed it into paste form while hot and set aside for later use.

Indeed homemade Mantou is something quite quick and easy if you could get the hand out of it. Moreover you could also mix and match with different ingredients according to your own preference and this can be consider as a healthy snacks for both the adults and kids too. Sometime I would also make a bigger portion and keep some of it in the freezer so that I could re-heat/re-steam them for a quick snack anytime we feel like having our favourite mantou.

Tian Nan Xing Minced Pork Noodle

I seldom eat Minced Pork Noodles because my favourite noodle is Wanton Mee compared to either fishball or minced pork noodles. So when Misstamchiak(Maureen) invites me to go along with her for the search of local delight for her weekly food column I was very excited about it.

According to Maureen, there are roughly about 10 soup version of Minced Pork Noodles stalls around Bedok area. And I believe most of you would have heard or tried either one or two of the famous stalls located at Bedok North, Block 85 food centre. (for more information, you can refer to "Miss Tam Chiak's" website HERE)

But our food sourcing was not about that two well-known stalls at Block 85, instead we have a new location at Block 511, Bedok North Street 3 cooked food centers, "Tim Nan Xing Minced Pork Noodle".

This stall is now managed by the 3rd and 4th generation of the Chen’s family whom great-grandparent was origin from Fujian, China. According to the Chen’s there is no special recipe for this noodle, all they use are “genuine and fresh” ingredients to prepared a bowl of authentic and delicious noodles for their customers.

For those who have tried their noodle before, you would agreed that the soup broth is indeed very tasty and it goes well with their spongy noodles, homemade dumplings and other ingredients such as minced meat and meatballs. Here the minced meat is not those lumpy type but rather scattered loosely in the soup broth.

If you know of any tasty minced pork noodles stall that you used to frequent, do drop me a note/comment to share with us why you love that stall so that more people could get a chance to try it out too.

Tian Nan Xing Minced Pork Noodle
Block 511 Bedok North Street 3
#01-10
Kaki Bukit 511 Market and Food Centre
Singapore 460511

Opening Hours:
7.00am to 1.30pm; 5.30pm to 1.30am
(Closed on every 1st & 15th day of the Lunar Calender)