Green Bean Barley Dessert

With the heat and the haze, we need to cool the internal heat of our body.
Green bean and barley are known to have lots of benefits. And I am not going to bore you guys up with the lengthy goodness. So I will just go straight into the recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup green beans
1/2 cup of pearl barley
1/4 cup of sago
4 pandan leaves
8 strips of candied winter melons
2 pieces of honey rock sugar
2 to 2.5 litre of water
Directions
Wash the pandan leave thoroughly. There tends to be soil trapped between the leaves.
Once washed, tie the pandan leaves into a knot.
Place this pandan knot in the pot of water and start the heat at high,
Rinse the green beans and pearl barley. Add them into the pot of water
Bring it to a boil.
Rinse the sago in a small bowl. Add some hot water and leave it to soak for 5 minutes.
Drain and pour the sago into the pot.
Lower the heat.
Add the candied winter melons and honey rock sugar. Give it a few stirs.
If it isn't sweet enough for you, add more candied winter melons/honey rock sugar.
Let it simmer til your preference. *I like my green beans & barley fluffy just like in the photo.
Turn off the heat.
You can serve it hot or chill it and serve later.
Cheers!

Tori Yaki Udon (Chicken Stir Fry Udon noodles)

Tori Yaki Udon

Ingredients (6 servings)
3 chicken thighs (cut into bite sizes)
3 packets of pre-cooked udon noodles (approx. 200g per pack)
4 shiitake mushrooms (sliced)
1 cabbage (chopped)
1 green onion (thinly sliced)
1 carrot (thinly sliced)
Sliced fishcake (optional)
1 cup of Chicken stock
2 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
A dash of ground white pepper





Direction
1. Pour hot boiling water into a pot with the  frozen pre-cooked Udon in it. Allow it to soak for 5 minutes or so.
2. Heat up the wok with a tbsp of olive oil. Stir fry the chicken pieces with the green onions and mushrooms for 2 minutes.
3. Drain the pot of udon & toss the udon into the wok.
4. Add the carrots & cabbage into the wok and stir fry.
5. Pour the chicken stock, sesame oil and soy sauce into the wok and stir fry until heated through. A dash of ground white pepper and mix thoroughly 
6. Garnish it with scallions and drizzle sesame oil before serving.
Note: If you are a seafood lover, you can add shrimps and clams into this dish. However if you are a vegetarian, simply omit the meat and change the chicken stock to vegetable stock.

Stir Fry Shrimps in XO Sauce

Well it is just another holiday here, so I decided to whip up something easy from what I can find in my fridge. Shrimps! I have abundance of shrimps frozen in the freezer. So I guess shrimp is on the menu. 

Opening my cupboard full of canned food and I saw my XO sauce. I have been thinking what to cook with it. Now its the time!

Stir Fried Shrimps in XO Sauce

Ingredients

15 pieces of shrimps (deshelled)

1 green onion (you can choose to use red onion)

3 cloves of garlic (chopped into small pieces - rice grain size)

2 tbsp XO sauce

1 chili padi sliced

Sauce

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1 tbsp rice wine/sherry wine

2 tbsp water

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp of corn flour

Method

1. Slice the green onion.

2. Mix the ingredients under the Sauce and set aside. 

3. Use a small paring knife, cut along the outer edge of the shrimp's back and de-vein it. This also allows the shrimps to curl into a ball (for presentation).

4. Heat up the frying pan with 1 tsp of cooking oil, add in to the chopped garlic & onion. Stir fry for a few seconds. 

5. Add in the shrimps &  XO sauce. Stir fry for 1 minute. 

6. Pour in the mixture that was prepared earlier and sliced chili padi. Coat the shrimps evenly. 

7. Once all the shrimps are beautifully curl and turn orange. Dish them up immediately. 

8. Garnish with parsley and enjoy!

Note: You can add some vegetables such as celery or asparagus or capsicum in this dish. As I don't have any on hand, I have to make do with it.