Ginseng Chawanmushi

Chawanmushi(茶碗蒸し) or Steamed Egg Custard is an egg custard dish found in Japan that is usually eaten as an appetizer. It usually consists of an egg mixture flavored with soy sauce, dashi and etc together with ingredients such as shiitake mushrooms, boiled shrimp, gingko nut and placed into a tea-cup-like container.

But for this version of mine, I combined both the Chinese and Japanese way of making this egg custard by adding minced pork at the base and use Chinese herb such as Fresh Ginseng for that extra boost of health value. The fresh Ginseng that I bought was import from China which you could find at local supermarket but the quality was not as good as the one from Korea which has a stronger Ginseng fragrant and taste.

Ginseng has been rated as the top of the "3 Treasures" in northeast china. And it was mentioned in many Chinese medical books as the superlative medicine which is effective to all kinds of illness. Fresh ginseng is also the best medicine for facial treatment as it can soften and refresh skin.

Example: cut 10g of fresh ginseng slices. boil it with 500ml of water for about 30 minutes, immerse towel in the water ginseng water then cover it on the face for 15 minutes. Fresh ginseng can also use for stir-fry dishes, boil soup or make ginseng tea/milk.

Here is how I prepared the Ginseng Chawanmushi with ingredients and steps shown below.

Ingredients: (serves 2)

2 Small Fresh Ginseng, cut into 2 - 3 sections
100g of Minced Meat
2 Medium Egg
210ml of Drinking Water
1/2 Teaspoon Chicken Powder Stock
Dash of Sesame Oil

Garnish:
1/4 Bunch of Shimeiji Mushroom
4 Gingko Nuts
Some Wolfberries
Extra Ginseng Slices

Methods:-

1. Marinate minced pork with 1/2 teaspoon each of of light soy sauce, sesame oil, cornflour together with pinch of pepper for a few minutes while preparing the ginseng and egg custard.

2. Rinse the fresh ginseng, cut 1/4 off from the body with root attached. As for the remaining 3/4 part of the ginseng, cut it into thin slices and set aside.

3. Lightly whisk the eggs in a bowl using a pair of chopsticks (carefully not to over beat it).

4. Add in 210ml of water, chicken powder and sesame oil and give it a quick stir till combine before straining it over a fine sieve to get ride of the egg clusters.

5. Mix in some ginseng slices(reserved a few slices for garnishing) into the minced pork and give it a quick stir before dividing the minced meat into two steaming cups/bowls (preferably with cover).

6. Next gently pour in the prepared egg mixture, covered and place the cups on steaming rack and steam it over medium low heat for about 10 minutes.

7. Lower the heat and carefully lift up the cup cover, arrange some shimeiji mushrooms, gingko nuts and ginseng slices on top. Covered and continue to steam for another 5 - 7 minutes till the egg custard is cooked through when test with a toothpick.

8. When done, garnish with some wolfberries and coriander leaves, serve warm.


If you could not find fresh ginseng in your area, replace it with dried ginseng slices that is soaked in warm water till soften. And you could the ginseng water to make the egg custard for better taste and fragrant too.

Tropical Ice-Block With Yoghurt

During hot summer afternoon, I am sure one or two of these ice-pops/ice-blocks would be great to ease the summer heat and at the same time cool down  your warm and perspired body system. These icy treat can be made by freezing coloured or flavoured liquid such as fruit juice around a stick. Once the liquid freezes solid, the stick can be used as a handle to hold the ice-pop too.

Apart from my "[Durian or Avocado] Sago Gula Melaka" (read more HERE) which fulfil this month Aspiring Bakers theme on "Fruit", I would also like to submit this "Tropical Ice-Block with Yoghurt" as the next following post. This fruity ice-block use 3 different types of tropical fruits such as Mango, Orange and Passionfruits which gives the dessert a nice bright orangy colour which resemble bright sunny day.

Since it is Mango season now, you can easily grab a couples of sweet and decent mango at any supermarkets with valuable price as low as 3 for S$2.00.

Ingredients: (makes 4 - 6, 1/4 cup capacity ice-block)
100ml Plain/Mango Yoghurt
1 Medium Mango, sliced and cubes
100ml(1/2 cup)Fresh Orange Juice
2 - 3 Medium Passionfruit, halved

Notes:-

~ You can get this 4 - 6 holes, 1/4 cup capacity ice-block mould from Daiso(Singapore readers).

~ Cut passionfruit in half, using a teaspoon, scoop passionfruit pulp from halves.

Method:-

1. Spoon 1 tablespoon yoghurt into each ice-block mould.

2. Freeze for 1 hour or until just firm.

3. Blend Mango and orange juice until smooth, stir in passionfruit pulp.

4. Carefully spoon/pour mango mixture pour yoghurt in moulds.

5. Place lids on moulds, freeze for 4 hours or until frozen.

6. To serve, stand the ice-blocks at room temperature for 1 - 2 minutes before removing it from mould.


  For a switch of different flavour, you can also make use of Pineapple, Mango and Passionfruits for this recipes to achieve a more refreshing taste. If fresh Mango is not available at your area, you can always replace it with pre-packed mango juice.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #5 : Fruity March (March 2011) hosted by Jess @ Bakericious.

Domino's Pizza

Domino's Pizza has finally makes it way back to Singapore after it's hiatus for so many years. I remember this was my favourite takeway during my 2 years stay in Brisbane where we always pop-by to the nearest  Domino's outlet near our area on every Tuesday for their 1-For-1 promotion which you can get 2 regular pizza for less than AU$10.

Since last year, Domino's Pizza has re-lunched in Singapore with better flavour, products and services that capture most of the patrons palates. Recently we received some flyers in our mailbox on their value meals and A-la-crate Pizza offers which comes in handy especially during rainy evenings where we just want to enjoy some comfort food without leaving home.

Here is our "Value Meal 1" that costs S$29.80 nett plus an extra S$2.00 for our "Half and Half" toppings. I always love the idea of having two flavours in 1 pizza as I get to enjoy my favourite toppings without wastage of ordering two individual pizza which we could not be able to finish it up.

For this we have half each of the "Hawaiian Paradise" with 100% mozzarella cheese with smoked chicken breast, turkey ham and juicy pineapple while "Classy Chic" was topped with smoked chicken breast, chicken sausage, onion, green pepper and ripe olive. All these succulent toppings were all resting on top of the light and crispy Crunchy Thin Crust which was flat and thin that enables you to really enjoys the toppings instead of the flour dough. For your information, Half and Half only available for Regular, Large and Xtra Large pizza with the same pizza sauce base.

For side orders we had Cheese Onion Ring, Hot and Spicy Chicken Wings and Twisty Bread. But sad to say their hot and spicy wings taste rather tough and it was served in a pool of salty red sauce that soaked up the wings.

We love this Twisty Bread which was another version of garlic bread but with a softer, chewy kind of texture that topped with lots of yummy garlic powder.

Although we might not be very satisfied with the orders that we had but on the other hand I must compliment on their  good customers sservice which impressed us. Their operating staffs actually took the initiative to call and inform us about the possible of delay after 20 minutes upon order confirmation. And a 2nd call was received around another 15 minutes later to check upon the delivery of the pizza as well as their apology for the delay.

And to compensate their delay in delivery they also present us a FREE Regular pizza coupon which we can use on our next order too. Perhaps this coupon will come in handy for our 2nd trial on their speedy delivery pizza which might turn out better than what we had on this order.

Vietnamese Spring Roll (Gỏi cuốn)

In Vietnam there is a non-fried and refreshing spring roll known as "Gỏi cuốn" which include ingredients such as boiled or fried pork, shrimp, chicken, fresh herbs, lettuce, cucumber, rice vermicelli and etc. All the ingredients are all wrapped in moistened rice paper and eaten with a cold dipping sauce.

Here is my version of preparing this Vietnamese Spring Roll using cooked prawns, vegetables and fresh herbs.

Ingredients: (makes 6 rolls)

6 Sheets of Large Vietnamese Rice Paper
12 Medium Cooked Prawns, shell removed
1/2 Medium Carrot, peeled and julienned
1 Small Japanese Cucumber, peeled and julienned
24 Mint Leaves
Handful of Thai Basil Leaves
Some Lettuce Leaves, tear into small portion

Method:-

1. Fill a large dish or bowl with warm water, soak each sheet of rice paper for a second or two then transfer to a slightly damp cotton dish towel.

2. To assemble, arrange 2 cooked prawns, carrot, cucumber, lettuce, 2 mint leaves and some basil leaves at about 1/3 of the way from the edge nearest you.(refer to the photo above)

3. Roll from the edge nearest you and tuck in the sides as you go near to the other end. Carefully not to tear the wrapper with too much strength.

4. Serve whole or diagonally cut in half with dipping sauce.


There are a few ways to prepare this dipping sauce for the Vietnamese Spring Roll but here we love this version without minced garlic and instead I add in some chopped peanuts to enhance the flavour and texture.

Ingredients For Dipping Sauce:

2 Tablespoon Lime Juice
1 Tablespoon of Fish Sauce
60ml Hot Water
1 Teaspoon of Caster/Brown Sugar
1 Small Red Chili, seeds removed and slices
1 Small Green Chili, seeds removed and slices
1/2 Tablespoon of Chopped Peanut, optional

Method:-

1. Whisk together all ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.


Although this might seems a bit troublesome to prepare as it used many ingredients as an appetizer or salad but trying it can be worth for getting away with our usual food routine. For this you can use all kind of vegetables according to your preference and if you do not like the taste of raw herbs, you can omit them in this recipe too. Moreover eating this Vietnamese Spring Rolls can be lots of fun too as you can mix and match the ingredients, wrap it and enjoy a light and refreshing meal while chatting with group of friends around the table.