Savoury Prawns in Chili & Ketchup sauce

My family loves seafood and one of the most common shellfish is prawn. Thus I have been trying various way to cook shrimps or prawns. I have cooked this recipe for my husband and he kinda likes it because of the sauce. Well my husband is the only person who doesn't fancy seafood. Maybe it's because of his cholesterol. Ah who cares. My parents and my brothers love seafood. So it can be quite a challenge to prepare different method of the same ingredient. Of course there are hits and there are misses. This one is a hit. Serve it hot with a bowl of steamed rice. Heavenly!!!

My recipe is based on my agar-ration (estimation).

Ingredients 

600g of glass prawns 

4 to 5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

3 tbsp of tomato ketchup (Hunts brand)

3 tbsp of garlic chili sauce (Sinsin brand)
*1 tsp of lychee chili sauce (a new twist)

A handful of cherry tomatoes

2 eggs

Coriander, for garnish (which I don't have on hand today)

Method

1. De-shell and de-vein the prawns. Wash and set them aside.

2. Wash the cherry tomatoes & quarter them. Set aside.

3. In a pan, heat up the oil and stir fry the chopped garlic.

4. Add in the prawns and toss them for two minutes (depends on the size of the prawns).

5. Toss in the cherry tomatoes and stir.

6. Add in the sauces and mix the prawns well in the sauce.

7. Beat 2 eggs and pour them over the prawns. Do not stir*. Once the sauce is bubbling, turn off the heat and cover the pan with its lid.

8. Once the eggs have solidify, dish it up and serve it hot. 

9. Garnish it with coriander.

*I learnt it the hard way. I have stirred and the eggs disappeared into the sauce. So if you want those eggs lingering around, DO NOT stir. 

绿豆汤 Green Bean/Mung Bean Dessert

Just a little background, my parents-in-law are both Baba-Nyonya. My mom-in-law's style of cooking is very different. Something one cannot find in Singapore. Both my in laws are from Terengganu. Hence I believe her method of cooking Peranakan cuisine has incorporated some of flavours of Terengganu.

I am still trying to find time to learn to cook most of her dishes. Perhaps one day. Perhaps one day.

But there is one which is simple and easy to prepare. Green bean or Mung bean - well this can be easily found anywhere in Singapore and to many, it is very easy to cook. Is it really that easy?

But it is the way to cook it. And for me, I adopted my mom-in-law's way of cooking and introduced a little of my own. A slight difference does make a huge difference in taste.

A dessert that my family loves

Ingredients
1 cup of mung beans
1/2 cup of sago
270ml coconut milk (I use one can of Ayam brand Premium Coconut Milk)
5 cups of water
Honey rock sugar, to taste
Gula Melaka, to taste (I use those bought from Terengganu)
3 to 5 pieces of pandan leaves, tie them into a knot

Directions
1. Rinse the mung beans and pick out the bad beans.

2. Drain all water. Stir fry the mung beans in a pot till you can smell the fragrant of the mung beans and when the beans turns a little brown.

See how green the mung beans are

After frying for a while..it turns a little brown

3. Add in the water and the pandan leaves to the pot and bring it to a boil. 

Add in the pandan leave & water

4. Lower heat and allow it to simmer. Remove the pandan leaves.

While waiting for the mung beans to soften, time to cook the sago. You can always cook the sago before cooking the mung beans or cook them both at the same time. Recipe for cooking sago pearls.

5. Now back at the mung bean that is simmering. Once the mung bean has "broken", add in the coconut milk and honey rock sugar, to taste. Stir well.

6. Allow it cook for a few minutes till the honey rock sugar melts totally. Add the piece of gula melaka to the pot. Stir till it melts.

I use gula melaka from Terengganu

7. Add more honey rock sugar or gula melaka, to taste.

Here you have it. Give it a try at home. You will love this mung bean dessert.

Voila...rich in coconut but it doesn't overpower the taste of mung beans.

Art of cooking sago

I used to be very lazy. Just dump all the sago into whichever dessert I'm cooking. The dessert always turns out to be starchy...very starchy. So I decided to cook the sago separately.

See how translucent and pretty these little pearls are...it's worth the trouble to prepare them separately.

Ingredients
1/2 cup of sago
A small pot of water

Direction
1. Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add in the sago.
2. Under low heat and cook the sago for 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Stir occasionally to avoid it sticking to the bottom or sides of the pot. Turn of the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Allow it to sit for another 10 to 15 minutes.
4. After 10 to 15 minutes, the sago will be translucent but with the starchy residue.
5. Use a soup ladle, take one scoop and place it in a sieve.
6. Under running water, stir the sago with a soup spoon. Turn off the running tap and stir the sago in the sieve till most of the water drains.

7. Transfer the sago to a clean and empty bowl. Repeat this step for the rest of the sago. Set aside. You will find the sago are cooked and translucent.