Old Cucumber Soup

Ingredients
250g pork ribs
4 red dates
1 honey date (optional)
8 small dried scallops
1/2 old cucumber (scoop out the seeds and slice)
1ltr water

Directions

1. Blanch pork ribs in a separate pot of water.
2. Bring 1ltr of water to boil. Put in the blanched pork ribs, red dates, honey date, dried scallops and old cucumber.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer the soup for 45-60mins.

Fettuccine Pork Bolognese

Ingredients
Mixed herbs
Salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
Butter
Tomato paste
Water
500g minced pork

Fettuccine

Directions

1. Boil fettuccine enough for 3 pax and put aside.
2. Melt some butter in a pan, saute minced garlic till fragrant.
3. Add in the minced pork and stir-fry till they are slightly browned.
4. Add in the mixed herbs, garlic powder and black pepper.
5. Add in tomato paste and water and let it come to a boil. Let the sauce thicken and switch off the fire.
6. Divide the fettuccine into 3 plates. Pour the pork bolognese sauce over and serve.

Oyster Sauce Baby Bak Choy

Ingredients
1/2 packet of bak choy (4-5 stalks)

(A)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp cooking oil

(B)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1-2 tbsp water

Fried shallots

Directions

1. Steam bak choy for 5 mins.
2. Microwave (A) - 1 tsp oil and 1 clove of minced garlic, at intervals of 1min/30sec/20sec/10sec till golden brown.
3. Mix (B) - 1 tbsp of oyster sauce with 1-2 tbsp of water and add in the golden brown garlic and oil. Pour over the steamed bak choy.
4. Sprinkle fried shallots and serve.

Steamed Rice

Recently I learnt something new from a facebook page I am following - that is to cook white rice via steaming... very convenient if you are cooking just a bowl of rice and you know how it is tough to cook just a tiny weeny bit of rice in a rice cooker.

So I prepped my tupperware steamer. I washed half a cup of rice in a corelle bowl, and put rice:water mixture 1:1. I popped it into the steamer for 20mins and I had a nice hot bowl of rice in just 20mins! And it was cooked purrrrfectly!

There are other ways to do this, like boiling soup in the rice cooker (rice cooker nowadays can do so many things), and then pop the rice in to steam. Or popping it into the thermo cooker with a hot pot of soup underneath. So easy, versatile and convenient.

Honey Baked Wings

Recipe adapted from Noobcook.

Ingredients
12 midwings
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp light soya sauce
2 cloves of minced garlic
Some grated ginger and juice

Directions

1. Marinade the wings with all the ingredients for at least an hour or overnight.
2. Arrange chicken in a tray lined with baking paper. Bake at preheated oven of 180°C for 20mins till golden brown, basting the remaining marinade and turning once halfway (after 10mins).

Comments
Hubby mentioned that the wings were not salty enough... will increase the oyster sauce to 2 tbsp next time.

Stir-fried Chinese Eggplant 鱼香茄子

Recipe adapted from omnivorescookbook.

Ingredients

(A) Grilling eggplant
1-2 long eggplant, cut lengthwise
1-2 tbsp of cooking oil

(B) Sauce
A handful of dried shrimps, pre-soaked
1 tsp of fish sauce
1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tsp of fermented soya bean, crushed
1 tsp of cooking oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Instructions

1. Cut eggplant lengthwise.
2. Place eggplant in a large bowl and add water to cover. Add 1 teaspoon salt, mix well. Place a pot lid on top to keep the eggplant under water for 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
3. Sprinkle eggplant with cornstarch and mix by hand, until eggplant is evenly coated with with a thin layer of cornstarch.
4. Add 1 tablespoon oil in a nonstick pan and heat over medium high heat until warm. Spread eggplant across without overlapping. Grill the eggplant one side at a time until all the surfaces are charred and the eggplant turns soft, approx 2 mins per side (3 sides in total). Transfer to a plate.
5. Add the 1 tsp of cooking oil, garlic, pre-soaked dried shrimps and fermented soya bean to the pan. Stirfry till fragrant.
6. Add all the eggplant back into the pan. Stir a few times, add fish sauce and oyster sauce. Toss a few more times. Add some water and stirfry for a minute or two till eggplant is evenly coated with the sauce.
7. Serve with rice.

Shaped Butter Cookies

Recipe from my ex-colleague, Jessica.

Ingredients
200g plain flour
100g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
80g icing sugar
1 egg yolk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 150 deg celcius.
2. Mix flour and icing sugar well.
3. Rub butter, flour, icing sugar until mixture resembles bread crumbs.
4. Add egg yolk and knead until it forms a dough.
5. Roll out dough until 3mm thickness.
6. Cut out shape and place on baking paper.
7. Bake at 150 degrees for 12mins. The cookies will appear pale and not golden brown,
8. Cool on rack immediately after taken out of oven.
9. Store in airtight container.

Note:
There is no need to knead the dough excessively, if not cookies will turn out hard.
You can use 2 tbsp of plain flour for dusting to prevent sticking. Or, you can roll the dough between two pieces of baking paper before cutting with a mould.
Add more flour if dough is too sticky.

Butter Cake

Recipe adapted from Annielicious Food.

Ingredients
250g Salted Butter, room temperature.
4 eggs
40g + 140g Castor Sugar
200g Self raising flour, sifted
60ml Fresh Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Essence (optional)

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven at 180C (Conventional).
2. Prepare a 8 x 8 inch square pan. Line the base, grease the sides.
3. Separate egg whites & yolk.
4. Cream butter and 140g sugar until pale and fluffy. Add in Vanilla essence, beat for awhile, and followed by egg yolks one at a time.
5. Put in half the flour and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add in milk in 2 additions and mix until well incorporated. Mix in balance flour.
6. Beat egg whites until soft peaks, gradually add 40g sugar and beat until stiff.
7. Put in half the egg whites in and mix on low speed. Pour the balance egg whits in and FOLD using your spatula.
8. Bang the mixing bowl a few times to get rid of air bubbles.
9. Pour batter into pan and level. Bang the pan a few more times.
10. Bake for 45min or until skewer comes out clean. Adjust accordingly.

Pork Congee with Dried Scallops

Yields

4 bowls

Ingredients

500g 五花肉cubed

10 medium sized dried scallops

1 tsp salt

2.5 of water

1 packet of MMMM pork bone stock

75ml of Nabe seafood soup base

2 cups of rice

Instructions

1. Rinse 2 cups of rice. Put in the freezer overnight. This breaks down the rice and cuts down the cooking time (learnt from 阿基師 偷呷步).
2. Cut 五花肉 into 1" cubes. Marinate with 1tsp of salt. Leave aside.
3. Boil 2.5ltr of water together with 1 packet of MMMM pork bone stock and 75ml of Nabe seafood soup base. Once the soup is boiling, put in the 五花肉 cubes, pre-soaked dried scallops and rice.
4. Keep stirring till the porridge is thick and smooth.
5. Switch off the stove and cover the pot for at least 15mins to allow the porridge to thicken.
6. Scoop and serve with pepper and spring onion.

Note

You can also add salted eggs or century eggs into the porridge.

Steamed Egg

Recipe adapted from Angela Chia.

Silky smooth, like 豆花.

Yummy!

Nabe seafood soup base bought from Isetan.

Ingredients
220ml water
30ml Nabe seafood soup base
2 eggs

Instructions

1. Mix water, soup base and 2 eggs. Strain the mixture using a sieve, so that it will turn out soft and silky after steamed. Pour into a bowl.
2. Prepare a pot with some water for steaming. Bring to a boil before placing the bowl of egg mixture in.
3. Steam for 15mins,
4. Serve hot.

Milo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe adapted from Bake for Happy Kids.

Ingredients
125 g unsalted butter, softened
80g light brown sugar
40g caster sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
150g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
25g Milo
180g chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 170°C (fan forced).
2. Using an electric mixer or a wooden spoon, cream butter, then add both sugars and cream until fluffy. Add eggs and beat slightly, then add vanilla and beat until combined.
3. Sift flour, baking powder, milo and salt together. Do not discard the larger bits of Milo that are trapped in the sieve and add the bits back to the flour mixture. Add to butter mixture, beating gently until just combined.
4. Add chocolate chips (keep some to put on the cookie later) and stir in gently.
5. For a bigger cookie, drop a tablespoonful of cookie dough on the prepared tray with about 3 inches apart from each scoop. For a smaller cookie, drop a teaspoonful of cookie dough on a prepared tray with about 1.5 inches apart from each scoop.
6. Place more chocolate chips on top of the cookie dough.
7. If you prefer chewy cookies, bake for about 8 mins. For firmer cookies, bake for around 10 mins.

Walnut Butter Cake

When I was young, my mom used to order really nice walnut cakes from a home baker.  The cake was very moist and fluffy. My mom will help her colleagues order and orders were always large. The auntie will spend hours the day before baking. The funny thing is my mom never met the auntie before, only my dad has seen her before, as he is the one who goes to collect the cakes. I can't remember when, but eventually the auntie stopped taking orders, but will still give us walnut cakes every CNY... but we didn't have walnut cakes as often. That eventually stopped too. The ones from Bengawan Solo were too oily, and couldn't match up. My parents tried to get the nearby bakery to bake walnut cake but somehow, it just doesn't seem to be the same... probably cos they have to sell cheap (or else no one will buy) and compromised on quality. And that is why I have always wanted to bake a walnut cake when I first started baking. I went through a few websites and finally settled on two... tried to combine the two and also add what I knew about the famous Mrs Ng's butter cake.

Recipe adapted from My Baking Cottage and Guai Shu Shu.

8-inch pan

Ingredients
250g Butter
140g caster sugar
4 eggs, separated
200g plain flour
4g baking powder
30g chocolate chips
150g walnuts, toasted and finely chopped
80g milk

Instructions

1. Prepare and line a 8-inch square pan.
2. Lightly toast in an oven for about 5 minutes. Use Turbo Chopper and chop finely (with some bigger pieces is ok).
3. Sift flour and baking powder. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, cream slightly softened butter with half of the sugar (70g) using an electric beater until light and fluffy.
5. Add egg yolks, one by one and cream and cream till well mixed.
6. Put in half the flour and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add in milk in 2 additions and mix until well incorporated. Mix in balance flour.
7. In another mixing bowl, beat egg whites using an electric beater until soft peaks. Add the other half of the sugar (70g) slowly and continue beating until the egg white reaches stiff peaks (when you lift the beater, the tip droop slightly, and beaten egg whites becomes stiff and shiny).
8. Add toasted nuts and chocolate chips into the cake batter.
9. Fold in beaten egg whites into the cake batter, in two to three additons, until egg whites is well-incorporated into the batter.
10. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven at 160C for about 50 minutes.

Note:

• I had wanted to get a 7-inch pan, but wasn't able to buy one. The 8-inch pan yields quite a short cake, but it was still ok for me. The first time I baked this, I used a 9-inch pan and it was OMG short!
• I tried out chopping 150g walnut into quarters - too big. Then I tried having half finely chopped and half quartered - still too rough. Finally I tried 150g finely chopped - perfect! My mom and hb doesn't like walnuts that are too big and totally loved the finely chopped version. My MIL on the other hand, prefer having the bigger walnuts. I personally liked the finely chopped version... so bite but not too much.
• Some found the cake a bit sweet, but it is because of the chocolate chip... so no real control on that. Not a choice to leave the chocolate chip out, as it tastes good in the cake.

I baked this for Mothers' Day today - well received by the adults and kids. :)

Fried Shallots using Microwave

No, you didn't see it wrongly... this recipe is for making fried shallots with a microwave. It's very easy and convenient, and best of all, no splatters or oily kitchen!

Recipe adapted from Blessed Homemaker.

Ingredients

Sliced shallots

Cooking oil

Salt

Directions

1. Put the sliced shallots in a Corelle microwavable bowl.
2. Pour cooking oil and make sure the oil covers the shallots. Give the shallots a good stir to make sure the oil coats all.
3. Put the shallots and oil mixture into the microwave, microwave on high for 5 minutes if using about 20 shallots. Open the microwave and check the shallots. Give it a stir, and microwave for another 3 minutes. Keep checking and decrease the microwave timing gradually until the shallots are a light golden brown. Usually 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 sec.
4. Once the shallots look light golden brown, take out from the microwave, put 2-3 pinches of salt and give the mixture a good stir. The shallots will continue frying in the hot oil. Be careful not to scald yourself.
5. Once it reaches a nice golden brown, drain using a strainer.
6. Use scotts towel to absort the excess oil from the fried shallots. Once cooled down, store in a airtight glass container.
7. Put the cooled down oil into a glass bottle. This can be used for stir-frying.

Oil just covering the shallots.

After microwaving for 5mins.

After another 4mins - I split into 2mins each and check.

After another 2 minutes, light golden brown. I split into 1min, 30sec and 10sec.

Golden brown.

Sieve and drain.


Put the fried shallots on scotts towel to get rid of excess oil. Once cool, store in a glass air-tight bottle.

Shallots infused oil... very fragrant.

Kept in a glass bottle for stir-frying. :)

Ngoh Hiang

Recipe adapted from Noob Cook and Travelling Foodies

Ingredients
40 grams bean curd skin wipe both sides with slightly damp cloth; then cut to 15x10 cm (6x4 in) pieces
1 egg white for securing the ngoh hiang or use the marinaded meat mixture
Some vegetable oil

(A) Meat Filling
600g minced pork (ask for more fats)
200g shallots, finely chopped
500g prawns coarsely chopped, shelled and deveined
10 water chestnuts, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tbsp chopped spring onions
1 carrot, finely chopped

(B) Seasoning
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp five-spice powder
Dashes of white pepper powder
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tbsp plain flour

Directions

1. Add (A) to a large bowl and season with (B). Mix thoroughly and marinade overnight in the fridge.
2. To fold the ngoh hiang, lay a piece of cut bean curd skin on the work surface. Place two and half tbsp of meat filling in the lower half of the bean curd skin, leaving a small gap at the bottom and at the sides. Fold the bottom flap up and dab the side edges with egg white. Fold the sides over the meat filling and roll the meat roll tightly towards the top. Secure the remaining corner with egg white to seal the roll.
3. Prepare a steamer lined with parchment paper. Arrange the ngoh hiang such that they do not touch one another, and steam in batches for 10 minutes each time. Let the steamed ngoh hiang cool and air dry completely on a wire rack.
4. Brush the ngoh hiang with vegetable oil. Airfry at 180 deg celcius for 3 mins on each side. Serve hot.

Chinese Wild Yam with Pig Coccyx (Tailbone) Soup 淮山猪尾骨汤

Yields:
2 - 3 servings

Ingredients:
300g Pig Tailbone (about $4 worth), cut into pieces
300g 淮山, cut into pieces
1 litre of water
A handful of wolfberries, soak with boiling water for a minute, discard the water

Instructions:

1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Put in the pig tailbone, and boil for 40mins.
3. Put in 淮山 and boil for another 15mins.
4. Put in pre-soaked wolfberries and boil for 5mins.
5. Serve.

Stir-fried Snow Peas

Yields:
2-3 servings

Ingredients:
Snow peas, remove tips to remove the stringy fibre running across both sides of the pod
Baby corn, halved
Carrot, sliced thinly
250g prawns, shelled and de-veined
Dried shrimps, soaked and softened
Garlic, minced
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp corn flour

Seasoning:
2 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
Dash of pepper
1 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Marinate prawns with light soya sauce and pepper.
2. Blanch snow peas, baby corn and carrot with a tsp of salt. Drain and put aside.
3. Heat cooking oil, add in garlic and stir-fry till fragrant. Add in dried shrimps and continue stir-frying. When fragrant, add in prawns and greens (carrots, corn, snow peas).
4. Add fish sauce and oyster sauce, pour in some water.
5. Mix cornflour with some water and add it in to thicken the sauce.
6. Serve with rice.

Steam Minced Pork with Salted Fish 咸鱼蒸肉饼

Recipe adapted from Fong Kitchen Journal

Yields:
3-4 servings

Ingredients:
300g minced pork (asked the butcher for more fats)
Tung chye 冬菜
1 piece of salted fish
Shredded ginger

Seasoning:
1 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp cooking wine
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp of sugar
Pinch of salt
Dash of pepper
1 tbsp of water
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cooked shallot oil (drizzle on top before steaming)

Instructions:

1. Marinate the minced pork with tung chye and seasoning and chill in the fridge for an hour.
2. Spread and press the meat patty evenly onto a plate. Put the salted fish and shredded ginger on top of the meat patty.
3. Drizzle some shallot oil onto the patty.
4. Steam on high for 10 minutes.
5. Serve with rice.

Fried Carrot Cake

Yields: 2 servings

Ingredients:

Hiap Chen carrot cake 480g, cubed (use half of it)

Garlic minced
Chye por (preserved salted radish)
Fish sauce

5 Eggs
Pepper
Light soya sauce

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in pan, put in minced garlic and fry till fragrant and add in chye por.
2. Once fragrant, add in cubed carrot cake and continue stir-frying.
3. Add fish sauce and continue to stir-fry.
4. Crack 5 eggs, add some light soya sauce and pepper and beat lightly.
5. Add in the egg mixture from 4 to the carrot cake. Scramble and toss. Once eggs are slightly browned, serve.