Tuesday, July 29, 2008

RM3.30 Rojak

This what I had for lunch today. Couldn't decide what to eat.. grabbed it on my way home. Price has gone up by 30sen. So it's RM3.30 of a Biasa Rojak. i.e. no sotong.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Impromptu dishes

Chicken with Potatoes, Carrots & Bamboo Shoots
This was a rather impromptu dish suggested by my MIL for dinner tonight.

Ingredients:
500g Chicken Fillets ~ cut into bite sized pieces & marinated
2 large Potatoes ~ diced into similar size as the chicken
1 small Carrot ~ diced into similar size as the chicken
1/2 can Bamboo Shoots ~ diced into similar size as the chicken



Marinade:
1 Tbsp Xiao Shing Wine
1 Tsp Pepper
1 Tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Corn Flour ~ to be added into marinated chicken just before frying

Sauce:
2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce / Vegetarian Oyster Sauce

1 Tsp Dark Soya Sauce

1 1/2 Cup Water

1 Tsp Corn Flour mixed with 2 Tbsp water



Method:
1. Heat 3 Tbsp oil into wok / frying pan. Stir fry the potatoes for 3 minutes. Dish out & put aside.

2. Stir fry the chicken pieces for a bit and also put aside. Remove access oil, throw in the potatoes again, with carrots & bamboo shoots. Add 1 Cup of water & cover your wok / frying pan. Let it boil a bit.

3. Add in the half cooked chicken pieces and in the sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes for the potatoes to soften. Taste the sauce to check if it's salty enough for your liking.


Waxed Chinese Sausages 2 types
Simple dish to prepare when running out of ideas. Good to keep some waxed chinese sausages in your stock. It's also very appetising when eaten with white rice.

Just blanch them into hot water for 1 or 2 minutes. Remove the skin. Slice them up and sprinkle chopped garlic and a little light soya sauce. Steam for 20 minutes. Ready to be served.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

1st attempt at Sweet & Sour Chicken

Haven't really tried it before I think.... can't really recall. Anyways, this was my improvised version of Sweet & Sour Chicken.

Ingredients:
1/2 Chicken - cut up to bite size pieces
1/2 Red capsicum
1/2 Green capsicum
1 Large Onion


Marinade:
1 Egg
2 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Xiao Shing Wine
Sprinkle of pepper & sesame oil

Sauce:
5 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup
2 Tbsp Plum Sauce (actually suppose to use Oyster Sauce, salty enough to even out the sourness of tomato ketchup)
1 Tsp Sugar
2 Tsp Salt (since didn't use Oyster Sauce)

Method:
1. Marinade bite sized chicken and keep refridgerated for 2 hours minimum.

2. Heat up 1 cup of oil in frying pan / wok in medium high fire. Fry the marinated chicken till golden brown or just right. Lower the fire if the pan / wok starts to "smoke up" too much. It's an indication your oil/pan is too hot already. Put aside fried chicken

3. Remove access oil and leave about 3 Tbsp of oil behind to stir fry the onions & capsicums. Add water till it just about covers the onions & capsicum. Leave it to boil a bit to cook them. When it's just about right, colour of the onion & capsicum still bright add in the sauce. Taste the sauce to your liking and then add the fried chicken bites. Stir in the sauce to the chicken & it'll be ready to be dished out.


Other dishes to compliment the Sweet & Sour Chicken are as follows:-

Stir Fried Cabbage with Tau Kee (Fried Beancurt skin with fish paste)KIV - name of leafy veggie unknown during press time ;pFried Selar Fish

Sui Kau Sunday

Pork Dumplings a.k.a Sui Kau


A local common favourite amongst the Chinese Community here in KL. Pork Dumplings can be found at most noodle stalls served on it's own with soup or with noodles.

Basic ingredients of water chestnuts. Peeled & diced.





A close up of what diced waterchestnuts look like :p
Next basic ingredient is diced carrots. Preferrable diced smaller as carrots can be harder to get cooked. Don't want them too chunky.
The chinese celery and "Mok Yee" (Wood Ear Fungus) should be sliced thinly.


Of course the prawns, deshelled & diced. Seasoning of pepper, Xiao Shing Wine & a little Light Soya Sauce.

Mix the minced pork (approx 1kg) with all the above ingredients and can start to wrap them in wanton skin. Seasoning with Oyster Sauce, Sesame Oil, Pepper.

Cook the Sui Kau in hot water. Once it's cooked, the Sui Kau will float to the top.




Mix the cooked Sui Kau with some Sesame Oil. This is to avoid them getting stuck to each other.Voila! They are ready to be eaten :)


Tip : Even though you will have alot of Sui Kau that may not be eaten all at once, Cooking them first and then keeping them refridgerated / frozen will prolong it's shelf life.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Dinner for 6

Dinner for 6
That's the preparation bit. There is 1 dish which was cooked last nite by my MIL.. the Tau Fu. It'll be served as a slightly new dish for tonite's dinner. ;)
Menu:
1. Stir Fry Chi Kang Bak Choi
Ingredients:-
600g Chi Kang Bak Choi (literally "Spoon shaped Bak Choi")
3 cloves Garlic - sliced
2 Tbps Kei Zhi - soaked in abit of water
1 Tsp Salt
1 Cup Water
Method:
1. Wash clean & cut off the end bits of the Chi Kang Bak Choi. Throw away any old leaves. After that, keep them soaked in water until ready to be cooked. This will retain it's "freshness"
2. Heat your wok with 2 Tbsp oil. Stir fry the sliced garlic, add in the soaked Kei Zhi with the water it was soaked in (enhances the sweetness), Chi Kang Bak Choi and the 2 cups of water.
3. Leave to boil abit & stir it. It's ready to be served.

2. Stir Fry French Beans
Ingredients:
600g French Beans
2 Tbsp Har Mai (Dried Shrimp)
2 Tbsp Garlic - chopped
4 Tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
2 Tbsp Carrot - shredded

Method:
1. Wash & break the French Beans into 1 or 2 inch in length. Soak the Har Mai to soften them and then chopped finely.
2. Heat your wok with oil. Stir fry the chopped garlic & chopped har mai together. Then add the salt. Lastly throw in the French Beans. Keep stir frying and periodically add water when wok gets too dry & before the beans are cooked. Last add the shredded carrots for colour.

For this dish, you may want to alternate the carrots with fish cake or even prawns for some variety.




3. Fried Fish in Soya Sauce Classic
Ingredients:
1 or 2 slices "Mar Yau" Fish (am not sure what it's called in English - will update)2 Tbsp Ginger - shredded
1 Tbsp Garlic - chopped
3 - 4 Tbsp Light Soya Sauce
1 Cup Oil
Method:
1. Wash & rub salt on the fish and keep it refridgerated until ready to cook.

2. Heat wok with 1 cup oil. Wait till the oil is hot (got slight smoke coming out from the wok). Then add 2 tsp of corn flour into the hot oil ~ this prevents the fish from getting stuck to the wok while frying.

3. Add your fish into the hot oil. Deep fry until golden brown on each side. To check if the fish flesh is cooked, poke it with a knife. If it's not cooked, the flesh would still be tough. Once cooked, keep aside.

4. Remove most of the oil & leave about 1 Tbsp of oil behind. Add the shredded ginger & chopped garlic. Fry till just brown, off the fire & add light soya sauce. Mix it around and dish it unto the Fried Fish.

4. Pork Ribs in Special Sauce










Ingredients:
600g Pork Ribs

Marinade:
1 Egg
1 Tsp Light Soya Sauce
1 Tsp MSG
2 Tsp Meat Curry Powder
1 Tsp Pepper

Sauce:
4 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup
4 Tbsp Chilli Sauce
1 Tbsp Xiao Shing Wine
2 Tbsp Lee Perrins Sauce
2 Tbsp Teriyaki Marinade Sauce
2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 Tsp Dark/Sweet Soya Sauce
1 Tsp Sugar (if like)

Method:
1. Wash pork ribs and add in the marinade. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or longer.

2. Heat your frying pan with just enough oil for deep frying. I personally prefer to use a non-stick for this. Keep the flames at medium heat. Once the oil is hot enough, start to deep fry your pork ribs. Put them aside.

3. Remove the access oil from frying pan. Pour in your sauce mix & heat it up. Taste it to your liking ie salty enough or not. Then add the fried pork ribs & just stir it into the sauce.

Ready to be served. ~ this seems to be a favourite base on feedback of Inlaws :p

5. Fried Tau Fu (extra dish from yesterday)
6. White & Red Radish Soup (left overs)

Friday, July 11, 2008

No time is Bee Hoon time

I was out working since the morning overseeing some cleaners hired to clean out the place before passing keys to tenants this weekend. In between I did grocery shopping at the nearby Giant Hypermarket & realised veggies were very cheap there& fresh too! Some green leafy veg where selling at RM0.49 a bunch. Mind you the bunch is small but enough to feed 2 pax I think.

So while everything has gone up in price, at least some bare necessities can still be very cheap.

In between, I also did other errands like fetching my son from Nursery & sending him home, go post office to get my petrol rebate, buy some DIY stuff etc.

By the time the cleaners where done, it was 5.30pm! I hadn't seen much of the kids the whole day. Rushed home and had to prepare dinner for the family too! What to cook? Why Fried Been Hoon (vermicelli) of course!

I forgot to take photo ( too tired ). The success of frying Bee Hoon is the actual Bee Hoon quality. Will share with you another day when I remember what Brand it was.

There are many variations to Fried Bee Hoon. Really depends how you like yours. This is the common standard Fried Bee Hoon in my MIL's hse.

Ingredients :
4 bunch Bee Hoon (soak in water to soften it at least for 2 hours)
1/4 Cabbage (cut to desired size~ some like them in chucks, some in shreds)
1/4 Dried Sotong "Cuttlefish" (soaked & cut to tiny pieces)
2 Tbsp Har Mai "Dried shirmps" (soaked & chopped)
2 Tbsp Garlic minced
8 medium size Prawns (chopped into bite bits)
4 pieces Dried / Fresh Shitake Mushrooms

Seasoning:
1 Tbsp Dark Soya Sauce
2 Tbsp Fish Sauce
1/2 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt

3 cups Water
3 Tbsp Oil

Method :
1. Heat oil in wok and fry the garlic, har mai, dried sotong, prawns and then add your cabbage.
2. While frying, add 3 cups of water. Allow it to boil a bit with all the ingredients.
3. Next add the seasoning and keep stirring. Then add your Bee Hoon. Fry it abit and then allow it to boil a bit (cover the wok).
4. Use chopsticks to try to untangle the Bee Hoon and by this time, the water would have already been soaked up by the Bee Hoon.

Garnishing:
Fry plain omelet and slice thinly. Place them at the top of your Fried Been Hoon.

Ready to serve.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008






Ox-tail soup


One of my personal favourites of my Mama's cooking.

Recipe is courtesy of Little Chef's Mama of course ~ Thanks Ma.


Ingredients:


1 large ox-tail chopped

2 big onions quartered

2 big ripe tomatoes

2 carrots or 3 potatoes, cut into chunks

1 bulb of garlic3

thick slices of ginger

1 teasp. (or less) pepper corns
6 cloves(bunga cingkeh)

2 whole star anise(bunga lawang or pak kok)

2" piece cinnamon bark( kayu manis)

Water *( Quantity depends on method of boiling the soup)

Salt to taste


Garnishing: Chopped spring onions and coriander ( yuen sai) & Fried shallots




Method :


1. Remove as much fat as possible from ox-tail pieces.


2. Put everything into pot and add sufficient water to bring to a boil.


3. Remove the scum and oil floating in the pot by ladling gently. This will give a clear appearance to the soup.


4. Lower the heat and simmer until oxtail is soft and tender.


5. Garnish.* If the soup is cooked in a pressure cooker or slow cooker or a thermo cooker, less water is required as it is not reduced due to long simmering.


Pressure cooker : 15-20 minutes or so ( long time since I last used a pressure cooker to cook)

Thermo cooker : more than 4 hours after pot is removed from stove and kept in the thermos. Electric Slow cooker : 4-5 hours

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Pork Fillets with Baby French Beans Special






Ingredients :


600g Pork Fillet Steak ( sliced to desired thickness ~ preferably not too thin nor thick)


1 Large Onion sliced


1 bunch Baby French Beans


Oil

Marinade:
1 Tbsp Cornflour
2 Tbsp Shiao Xing Wine
1 Tbsp Soya Sauce




Sauce :

2 Tbsp BBQ Sauce

2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 Tbsp Dark Soya Sauce

1 Tbsp Soya Sauce

1 Tsp Sugar (alternatively can use honey / maltose)


Method :

1. Slice pork. Then poke it with the tip of your knife to sort of "open" it / tenderise it.


2. Mix in the Marinade into the pork slices & keep refridgerated for 2 hours.


3. Heat frying pan (non-stick preferably) with enough oil to fry the pork slices first. Fry them till golden brown or just cooked colour. Set aside.


4. With clean frying pan, add the sauce mix. As it starts to boil, add the onions & french beans. Stir fry it for awhile and add the fried porks slices. Toss everything for awhile and it's ready to be served.