Udang Asam Belimbing

Well! It's been a while since I shared a recipe with you. So here's one of my old time favourite. A very simple Peranakan dish that requires minimal ingredients but produces a whole lot of flavour. You'll find this dish a winner if you dig the 3 S's; sweet, sour and spicy :)

Ingredients:

• 200g fresh prawns, off with the head! or leave the tail on if you fancy
• 1 tbsp tauchiu (preserved soy bean paste)
• 2-3 fresh green chillies, halved lengthwise (try to retain most of the seeds for that extra zing)
  
• 3-4 belimbing asam/buluh, quartered lengthwise (for best description of this starfruit like plant, please check out this fantastic link)
  
• sugar to taste
• 1/4 cup water
  
• 1-2 tbsp oil for frying
  

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok.
   
2. Add in tauchiu paste, green chillies and belimbing asam, stir fry till fragrant. Careful, the pungent smell of the fried chillies might just make you sneeze :)
   
3. When tauchiu paste starts to 'clump' (that's when the vegetables start to wilt too), add in prawns and give it a good stir, followed by some water and sugar.
   
4. How sweet you want the dish to be depends on you. For me, I like a good balance of sweet and sour. So I normally add in about 1 tablespoon. But then again, it depends on how sour the belimbings are. So do the taste test before adding more sugar.
5. Fry for another few minutes and you're done!
6. Serve hot with white rice.
   

Fresh green chillies are normally not overly spicy but they add that nice pungent flavour,
a few bird's eye chilly would definitely turn the heat up

We had this dish with herbal corn soup and stir fried spinach, wholesome goodness I tell ya. Do try it soon!

Easy Peasy Steamed Egg Recipe

This dish is a request from my old school mate, Ben who sms-ed me the other day and said that she's been craving for steamed eggs and were looking for a simple recipe. Well look no further Ben, this recipe is as simple as Simon!

Incidentally, this is my first time making this dish too. And it turned out gorgeously! No unsightly bumps and the texture was as smooth as tofu. The secrets; medium fire, a sieve and a plate ;)

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 1 egg, 1 salted egg (you can add century egg too if you like)
• water
• a few drops of liquid chicken stock
• garnish: chopped spring onions, pepper and sesame oil

Steps

1. Heat enough water for steaming in a wok.
2. Break eggs into a bowl, set aside the salted egg yolk.
   
3. Cut salted egg yolk into small pieces.
4. Add a few drops of liquid chicken stock to eggs and beat using a pair of chopsticks or fork. Do not get too excited, gently does it :) We don't want too much of those pesky bubbles on the surface.
5. Add equal amount of water to egg mixture (if your egg mixture measures half a bowl, then add half a bowl of water too), stir well. 
6. Sieve into a shallow metal dish then add the egg yolk pieces. 
7. Remember step 1? The water should come to a boil by now. Reduce heat to medium. Put the metal dish (covered completely with a plate - important if you want that smooth surface) on the steaming rack, put on the lid for the wok and steam for 15-20 minutes.
8. When it's done; add a dash of pepper, a few drops of sesame oil and some chopped spring onions.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. Was feeling a bit under the weather yesterday. But anyway since this recipe is a huge success, I'll be making it again in the near future (especially when supplies are running low in the kitchen....). I'll be sure to take some pics then.

Happy trying!

Lap Cheong Fried Rice

Do you like lap cheong (chinese dried sausage)? TW & I lurveeee them. It's one of those dry food stuff that we stock up, because it's real handy when you run out of ideas on what to cook. You can add them to omelette, stir fry leek, fried bee hoon (rice vermicelli) or just steam them with white rice if you're just too lazy. But my personal favourite is to add them to fried rice. The sweet and savoury taste of the lap cheong gives an additional kick to the dish and you won't really to add a lot of other ingredients, just some eggs and vegetables. And if you're really really lazy or don't have much time to spare, use Adabi Chinese Fried Rice powder. It tastes reaalllyy good!

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

• 2 cups of rice, best to use leftover
• a handful of french beans, chopped
• 2-3 bird's eye chilly, sliced
• 3 sticks lap cheong, soaked in water for a few minutes, cut the top off a little, remove the casing and sliced diagonally
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned with a dash of white pepper
  
• 1 packet of Adabi Chinese Fried Rice powder
• some oil

Method

1. Heat enough oil in a wok and fry eggs, scramble style. Dish out and set aside.
2. No need to clean the wok, add in lap cheong and fry till desired state of crispness. Drain and dish out. And oh, please do not throw away the melted lard that remains in the wok, no matter how much your conscience tells you that it's not good for you. That's the BEST part.
3. Add french beans and chilly, fry for a couple of minutes till vegetables start to wilt.
4. Put in rice, followed by lap cheong and eggs; add some oil if you find it too dry.
5. Sprinkle chinese fried rice powder over rice and toss till everything is mixed evenly. Add a dash or two of dark soy sauce if you like.
6. Tuck in!

chinese fried rice and a bowl of watercress soup

simple and satisfying

Steamed Tofu & Cauliflower with Crispy Garlic

What's with the weather lately? It's been crazy! Bright and sunny one minute and thunderstorm the next. Funny how it never rains whenever I carry an umbrella though.

Anyways......TW & I had these for dinner a couple of days back. We didn't have rice as both us were quite stuffed from a late lunch.

cauliflower, corn and button mushrooms drizzled with crispy garlic oil

Recipe is based on an estimate as I didn't take measurements that day. It's just one of those days :)

• A small bouquet of cauliflower, cut to bite sized florets
• 4-5 shoots of fresh young corn, sliced diagonally
• 3-4 button mushrooms, sliced
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• a dash of osyter sauce

1. Boil cauliflower and corn for a few minutes or till just done, drain and run over cold water. (Do not overboil or they'll lose their crunchiness)
2. Heat oil in a wok. Fry garlic till golden brown and dish out, leaving some oil behind.
3. Do a quick stir fry of the mushrooms, cauliflower, corn and oyster sauce.
4. Dish out and serve with crispy garlic.

steamed tofu with minced pork, shitake mushrooms, spring onion

and TW's favourite; bird's eye chilly

• 1 block of soft tofu
• about 100g of lean pork, minced and seasoned with white pepper, sesame oil and salt
  
• 1/2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 stalks of spring onion, cut to 1.5" length
• 2-3 shitake mushrooms, soaked to soften and sliced thinly, discard stem
• 2-3 bird's eye chilly, roughly chopped

1. Drain water from tofu and steam over high heat for about 15 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a wok, stir fry mushrooms followed by minced pork for a few minutes.
3. Add in oyster sauce, mix well.
4. Add in spring onion and chillies and fry for another few minutes.
5. Dish out and pour over steamed tofu.
6. Best eaten while hot :)

Now isn't that simple? Enjoy my dears!

A Simple Meal for Two

Well, the title says it all. Really, there's nothing fanciful about our dinner today (when has it ever? lol!). But it's still yummy and nutritious, goes well with rice and most importantly, darn easy to put together. So here are my recipes for Steamed Fish With Ginger Paste and Stir Fried Kangkung (Water Spinach). 

Steamed Fish With Ginger Paste

• 2 fish fillets (honestly I don't know what type of fish I used. Take a look at the picture and let me know will you :) But I think dory fillet would be great for this recipe)
• salt & pepper
• 3-4 inches young ginger, skinned and sliced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• a stalk of spring onions and a sprig of coriander, chopped (for garnishing)

1. Boil water in a wok or rice cooker (mine comes with a plastic perforated steamer tray that fits into the top).
2. Rub some salt and pepper on both sides of the fish. Put fish on a metal or heatproof dish.
3. Blend ginger and olive oil to a smooth paste. Pour paste over fish.
4. Steam fish over rapidly boiling water for about 20-30 minutes.
5. Combine sesame oil, oyster sauce and soy sauce and pour over cooked fish. 
6. Garnish with spring onions and coriander.

My photography 'skills' (if you can even call it that) is extremely basic so it doesn't look quite appetising here but it's really nice....really! 

 Gives you that warm feeling after eating (probably not because it was so lovingly prepared but the ginger)

Stir Fried Kangkung

• 300g kangkung, soak in water, washed and drained (I do this at least 3 times as I find that kangkung may have lots of foreign stuff lodged between the stalks...don't wanna risk biting into a snail or something...acckk!) Roughly chop your squeaky clean kangkung, about 1-2 inch in length.
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, smashed and discard skin
• 4-5 cili padi (bird's eye chilly), sliced diagonally
• 1 tsp concentrated liquid chicken stock
• 1-2 tbsp oil

1. Heat oil in wok and fry crushed garlic till fragrant, but not crisp.
2. Add in cili padi and give it a quick stir.
3. On high heat, toss in kangkung and stir fry till the leaves start to wilt.
4. Add chicken stock and stir for another 30 seconds or so.
5. Dish up and you're all set.

A different take from the usual kangkung belacan (water spinach with prawn paste). 

Those bird's eye chillies sure were hot, as good as chilly paste I tell ya.

TW loved it!

Maybe next time we'll have this with plain rice porridge :)

Black Bean Soup

I love soup! A bowl of steaming soup makes me feel at home, well taken care of. This is because when I was a kid, grandma would feed my siblings and I a simple meal of white rice with soup. I remember how she would prepare a huge bowl of rice and mix it with soup of the day (most often on the menu was lotus root or peanut), added a dash of soy sauce and lots and lots of crispy shallots. If it was lotus root, she would dice them into small cubes and shred the pork as well. We would run around the living room and she would patiently feed us spoonful by spoonful, until every single grain of rice was finished. Love you grandma!

Here's one of my all time favourite soup. A simple nourishing concoction yet very easy to put together. Here's what I used.

Well we all know that chinese herbs are good for us but how so? Here's how;

• Red dates -Nourishes blood, calms the mind, fights insomnia and restlessness, delays aging; it also prolongs, enhances and harmonizes the effect of other ingredients
  
• Yoke Chok - nourishes stomach and lungs, fights impotence
  
• Dong Sum -benefits spleen and lungs, boost immunity, nourishes blood, lowers blood pressure, restores appetite, promotes digestion
  
• Kei Chi - benefits eyes, liver & kidney, lowers blood pressure, sugar & cholesterol level
  

My, I feel enlightened! :)

Now here's what you need;

• Chinese herbs, as shown above. A little bit of each will do. Rinse before you dump them into the pot.
• A few pieces of pork (ribs, lean meat or bones)
• 1 cup of black beans (more if you love beans), pan fried without oil.
• 2 litres of water
• Salt to taste (or not, up to you)

fresh pork & pan fried black beans

And here's what you should do;

• Boil water in a large pot, let it come to a boil then add pork, pan fried black beans and herbs. Simmer for a few hours, till beans are tender. That's it baby!

boil away!

Simple no? Believe it or not, it could be even simpler. Use a pressure cooker to save time. The result is just as good.

And.....I forgot to take pictures of the end result! I think I'll need to add some other herb that aids memory in the future ;)

Cheater's 'Claypot' Chicken Rice

Here's a wholesome 1 pot meal that you could make in a jiffy. Somewhat similar to yam rice but with more ingredients in it. It's especially good for days when you're just too lazy to cook but still want to have rice for dinner. 

It will be ideal if you could use a claypot for this dish but if not, a rice cooker works too. Hence, the title.

This recipe is just nice for 3 girls. Probably not enough for 2 guys though :)

2 cups of rice

6-8 slices of ginger

2 bulbs shallots, sliced

1 chicken wing/thigh and some breast meat, cut into bite size pieces 

2 pcs chinese sausages, sliced

half a cup of button mushrooms, cut into quarters

1/2 tsp dark soya sauce

1/2 tbsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp of white pepper

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp cooking oil

a pinch of salt

water for 2 cups of rice (fill water according to the markings in the rice pot)

For garnishing

2 small pcs salted fish, fried till crisp, chopped finely

spring onions, chopped

Method

1. Marinade chicken with white pepper, oyster sauce and sesame oil. Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours.

2. Wash and drain rice. Set aside.

3. Heat oil in a wok, fry shallots followed by ginger till fragrant.

4. Add chinese sausages and fry till the lard from the sausages starts to melt.

5. Add chicken and mushrooms. Stir fry for another few minutes.

6. Add rice, dark soya sauce and salt. Mix well.

7. Transfer rice into a rice pot and top up with water.

8. Switch on the rice cooker, wait for the magical 'click' sound and you’re done!

9. Dish out into bowls and garnish with chopped salted fish and spring onions.

The smell that permeates the kitchen that day; an infusion of ginger and sesame oil, simply mouth watering! 

my favourite! the crispy crust found at the bottom of the rice pot

Pong Teh & Sambal Belacan

TW & I have have been deprived of fresh vegetables & fruits for 2 weeks! We have not been going to the pasar malam (night market) lately, mostly because of the weather and also our lack of timing. There was nothing much to salvage from the refridgerator, except for some chicken. Luckily, pong teh came to mind.

Pong teh is a Peranakan dish made of typically; preserved soy bean paste (tauchiu), garlic, shallots, potatoes and chicken/pork. It's a staple dish in a Peranakan's household, from important occasions such as Chinese New Year & Cheng Beng (All Souls Day), to everyday dinner.

Pong teh is actually very easy to make. Trust me. If a first timer like me can pull it off, so can you :) And best of all, it requires very basic ingredients, which I'm sure you can find off the shelves of your kitchen.

I'm sharing with you here, my mom's recipe.

Ingredients (makes more than enough for 2 hungry people)

• 5 cloves of garlic, pounded (preferably with a pestle or if you don't have one, use a blender)
  
• 5 shallot bulbs, pounded
  
• 1 tbsp tauchiu paste
  
• 2 medium sized potatoes, skinned and cut into bite sized pieces
  
• chicken (I used a wing & some breast meat. In my opinion, dark meat compliments this dish well. If you plan to use pork, sam chan yok (pork with fat & rind) is a good choice)
  
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
  
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
  
• 1 1/2 cup of water
  
• a dash of sugar (Back in the days, sugar canes left over from offerings during the Chinese New Year were used)
  
• salt (optional, in fact I didn't use salt at all because the tauchiu paste that I used is already salted)
  

Cooking process

1. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wok. 

2. Fry pounded shallots, followed by garlic till fragrant.

3. Add in tauchiu and fry for a few minutes.

4. When mixture starts to 'dry' up, add in potatoes and meat.

5. Cook for a while more before adding water & seasoning.

6. Simmer till potatoes and meat becomes tender and gravy thickens.

7. You're all set!

For me, eating pong teh without sambal belacan (pounded fresh chilly with shrimp paste) is like having my McValue meal without the fries, it's incomplete. And it's just not right! Haha...

Here's what you'll need; 

2 fresh red chillies

some belacan

To whip up this yummy concoction, toast the belacan and pound it with the red chillies. Add some salt if the belacan is not salty enough. Serve with a generous squeeze of calamansi. Easy peasy rite?