Stir Fried Hokkien Mee

This dish has been a favourite among most Singaporean. I have never try cooking at home as I can never ever get the "wok hei".

Nonetheless I will try cooking it at home cos it will be cheaper and well I can add as much "liao" (ingredients) as I like and most importantly I can control the oiliness of the dish.

At the hawker stall, its all about pork lard (猪油渣). I admit it does make any dish more fragrant and taste nicer. Mr W  never ever eats fatty meats. As for me, I wont mind a nice roasted pork belly "Siu Yok". Oops...but its once in a blue moon chance to eat such. And cos Mr W doesn't eat fatty meat, I can't cook "Siu Yok" at home.

Well I have strayed from the main topic - Hokkien Mee. It is easy to prepare except the step of making prawn & pork stock.

Ingredients 
Prawns 
Pork Belly
5 cups/1 litre water
5 to 7 cloves of Garlic
3 Eggs
Yellow noodle (approx 300g)
Thick bee hoon (approx 200g)
Chives (Koo Chye)
Bean Sprouts
Light Soy Sauce, to taste

Preparation

Prawn & Pork Stock
1. First use salt to rub over the pork belly especially the skin and wash off. Set aside. 
2. If it is shelled prawns, peel off the shells and heads. Give these heads and shells a rinse. Set aside.
*If you have prawn shells in the fridge which I do. I usually keep all the prawn shells and freeze them. So in time like this, I will just thaw them to make prawn stock. 
3. Parboil the pork belly.
*Some likes to add a few slices of ginger in to parboil but I didn't.
4. In a stock pot, place the prawn shells. Under low fire, dry stir fry the prawn till fragrant. Once fragrant, add the pork belly and the water. Bring it to a boil. 
5. Lower the fire to simmer the stock. This should take about an hour.
6. Discard the prawn head and shells.
7. Remove the pork belly and slice off the skin and fats at the top. Keep the fats portion (which is directly below the skin). Discard the skin and set aside the fats. 
8. Strain the stock and you should get around 2 cups of stock. 

Ingredients
1. Devein and clean the prawns.
2. Clean the squids and slice the squid.
3. Finely chopped/minced garlic. 
4. Beat the eggs. 
5. Clean the chives and cut them about 2.5inches.
6. Pluck the ends of the bean sprouts. *I keep the head on.
7. Blanch the yellow noodles and thick beehoon separately.

*In case you are interested to know which brand I use. its the above brand in the photo. Using 2/3 pkt of yellow noodle and 1/2 pkt of the white thick beehoon.
I soaked and rinsed the yellow noodles for a few times to remove the "kee" smell.
8. Bringing the stock to a simmer, cook the squids and deveined prawns. Once they turn opaque, remove from the stock. Set aside.
9. Slice the meaty part of the pork belly. Set aside.

Method
1. Using 2 tbsp cooking oil, add in the sliced fats from the pork belly. Allow it to fry till golden brown or a little charred. Remove and discard it. 
2. Add in another 2 tbsp cooking oil, heat it up, then add in the minced garlic. Stir fry till fragrant which should take abou1 to 2 minutes.
3. Add in the beaten eggs. Stir and allow the eggs to cook for a few minutes, stir and break the eggs into pieces. 
4. Add in the yellow noodles, give it a few stir. 
5. Add in the thick bee hoon, stir it in. 
6. Make sure to mix the yellow noodle and thick beehoon. Add in the bean sprouts. Give it a few stir. 
7. Add a cup of the stock that was prepared. Give the noodles a good stir, push and flip. Add more stock till you are left with 1 cup or less. Again, a few push and stir, cover it with the lid and allow it to simmer for a few mintues. 
8. Open the lid, add in the prawns and squid. A dew stir and push motion to get the prawn and squid into the noodle and stock.
9. Add in the remaining stock and the chives. Cover the lid to let it simmer. 
10. Do a taste test. If you find it not salty to your liking, you may add the light soy sauce. I added about 1.5 to 2 tbsp of soy sauce. 
12. Do check in as most of the ingredients are fully cooked. Once the stock is almost absord into the noodles. Turn off the heat and plate up.

Serve it with sambal chili and small lime. 

Its delicious! Trust me. Mr W approves.

Stir fried Mee Sua aka Longevity Noodles

I have always love mee sua. Be it be soup or stir fried.

Most of the time, my granny or mom will cook mee sua soup, which is a very simple dish. Because with any soup, just add in mee sua, it will become a filling meal. I can take mee sua day in day out without complaints.

Lately I have been having headache what to cook so I decided to try stir fried mee sua. To my surprise, it tastes good.

Ingredients wise, you can choose whichever you prefer. There is no restriction. Just remember to basic - Fry the mee sua then boil the mee sua. It's one more step but worthwhile.

Ingredients (Serve 4)

4 bundles of mee sua
6 kailan/caixin
8 fresh scallops
8 prawns, deveined
1 cod fillet
Pork tenderloin/Chicken thigh
Half a carrot, shredded

Braising sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 rice bowl of water
1 tsp shaoxing/huatiao wine
1 dash of fish sauce
1 dash of pepper

Method

1. Pour some oil in a frying pan. Amount of oil to use will be determine by the mee sua. Please ensure that it is enough to cover half of the mee sua. after 3 minutes or so, use a chopsticks or tongs to gently turn the mee sua to the other side. The mee sua must be golden brown. Don't worry if you over fried it and it becomes darker brown. As long as it is not char.

2. Once the mee sua becomes a nice brown inside out, remove and set aside to allow excess oil to drip off. I placed them on kitchen towel.

3. Boil a pot of water, place the mee sua inside to allow them to soften. Use a chopstick to loosen mee sua. Once cooked, remove the mee sua and set aside.

4. Season the fish and pork tenderloin for 10 minutes. Set aside.
a. Slice the pork tenderloin thinly. Season with soy sauce and sesame oil.
b. Cut the cod fillet into 1 inch length. Season with pepper, sesame oil and soy sauce.

5. In a bowl, add the ingredients in the braising sauce and mix well. Set aside.

Now you are ready to use a wok to stir fry the rest of the ingredients.

6. In a heated wok, add a tsp of cooking oil. Add pork and stir fry for a 2 to 3 minutes.

7. Add in the prawns and scallops. Stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes.

8. At this time, use a tongs or chopstick, add the mee sua bit by bit and stir fry. This is to avoid breaking the mee sua.

9. Add in the cod and kailan and carrot. Give it a few stir.

Note: I like my kailan crunchy so I added it late. Fish tends to cook pretty quickly, so it is added in last.

10. Pour in the braising sauce. Give it a few stir again. You can choose to cover the wok with a lid til the water reduce or just gently stir fried till the sauce is reduced.

Note: Those who doesn't like fish sauce, like Mr W. You can choose to omit it.

After cooking this stir fried mee sua, I don't think I will order this from any restaurant or zi char anymore.

Watercress Pork Ribs soup

I am not very good in brewing soup. Since I am craving for soup and it is the easiest on the stomach. I decided to try cooking one of my favourite soup - Watercress Pork Ribs soup.

I didn't realise it is that easy to have a pot of good soup. The most important ingredient is time.

Ingredients
500g - 600g pork ribs (I usually use a combination of prime ribs/spare ribs & soup bone)
1 bunch of watercress
4 gigantic red dates, soaked (if you are using small dates, use about 10)
4 conpoy, soaked
Salt, to taste

Method
1. In a pot, parboil the pork ribs. Rinse and set aside.
2. Trim and soak the watercress. Rinse and set aside.
3. Using a large pot, add in the pork ribs, conpoy and red dates. Cover them with water till around an inch away from the ingredients.
4. Bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and add in the watercress.
5. Let it simmer for 2 hours or more under low heat.
6. Season with salt to taste, if necessary.

*Note: if you allow the soup to simmer for a longer time, the soup will be bursting with flavours and you can forget all about the salt.

Non Baked Strawberry Jelly Cheesecake

When I first met this beautiful looking cake was when my colleague bought it for Xmas, so I told myself hmm...It shouldn't be difficult to "bake".

So I did my homework and...here comes my cheesecake. Just love the colour. 红红!

My first "bake" & success!

I made this on 2 January evening and finished the top jelly layer on the 3 January morning.

Cheers to all and have a wonderful new year ahead!

Ingredients (for 24 jelly squares)

For the bottom layer - Crust

300g digestive biscuits

150g melted butter

For the middle layer - Cheesecake

2 bloc Philadelphia Cream Cheese (500g)

1½ tbsp gelatin powder

1¼ cups hot water

2/3 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

12 strawberries (I used Korean Strawberries)

For the top layer - Jelly 

160g strawberry flavoured jelly (I bought Jello)

1½ cups hot water

1½ cups room temperature/cold water

Method

1. Melt the butter using in a water bath over the stove. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Using a brush, coat a 9x13 inch baking pan.

    *As I don't want to scratch my pan and also for easy removal of the jelly cheesecake, I lined my pan with baking sheet and brush butter on it as well.

3.  Using a food processor, blend the digestive biscuits to obtain fine crumbs.

4. Place the fine crumbs into a large bowl and add the rest of the melted butter. Stir well to combine.

5. Scoop the mixture into the pan and press them down.

    *I used my spatula to press the biscuit butter mixture as evenly as possible.

6. Now once this is done, cover the prepared bottom layer with a cling wrap or if your pan (like mine) has a lid, cover and chill it in the fridge.

    *I let it chill for almost 1 hour in the fridge.

7. While waiting for the bottom layer to solidify and holds in shape, there are a couple of things to prepare.

a) Bring the cream cheese to room temperature and allow them to soften. 

b) In a small bowl, add in the exact amount of gelatin powder and hot water. Stir till the gelatin powder completely dissolve. Set aside and allow it to cool.

c) Remove the green top of the strawberries and wash the strawberries. Set aside for them to dry.

8. Using a mixer, place the soften cream cheese in the mixer bowl, add in the sugar and whisk till its light.

9. Add in the vanilla extract to the cream cheese mixture. Whisk.

10. Add the cooled gelatin mixture a few tbsp at a time into the cream cheese mixture and combine well.

11. Once all the gelatin mixture is incorporated, the cream cheese mixture should be a smooth runny mixture.

      *There shouldn't be any lumps. If there is lumps, sieve the mixture before pouring them into the pan.

12. Bring out the baking pan out from the fridge, using a fork poke holes into the bottom biscuit layer.

13. Pour the smooth runny cream cheese mixture on top of the biscuit layer. Allow it to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.

14. In the meantime, half the strawberries and cut a v-shape at the top to remove the white portion. This should make the strawberries look like a heart shape.

      *which Mr W failed to make them looks like heart shape. Lol.

15. After the 10 minutes, gently press the halved strawberries into the cream cheese mixture. Space the strawberries 1 to 1.5 inches apart.

16. Cling wrapped it or cover with lid and place it in the fridge for minimum 4 hours or overnight.

17. Using 160g of Jello Strawberry powder, add in 1½ cup of hot water and whisk till the powder dissolve. Add in the room temperature/cold water. Mix well.

18. Bring out the baking pan, using a measuring cup, gently pour the jelly mixture on top of the cream cheese layer. Pour just enough to cover the strawberries.

19. My baking pan comes with a cover & this is how it looks like.

Alternatively you can cling wrapped it before placing it back to the fridge for another 4 hours.

I forgotten to take photos when I cut them. Pretty and delicious jelly cheesecake!!! You can omit the strawberries and jelly and you will have a Tofu cheesecake!

There you have it. It's a easy recipe except time consuming. We need to give each individual layer time to set properly.

For prettier presentation, you may slice away the 4 sides and eat them. Oh remember to pour hot water on your knife, wipe dry before cutting any cheesecake. With each slices, wipe the knife before cutting again.

Give it a try!

Pan seared Oregano Butter Prawns

When I want something that cooks fast and taste good, one of my choice will be prawns/shrimps. Simple seasoning and you will get tasty prawns.

While waiting for the bread to finish baking, I took out some prawns and was thinking how to prepare it since the main course for the evening is Wagyu beef stew. Looking through the spice cabinet, I took out 5 ingredients -

1 tsp onion powder 

1 tsp garlic powder 

1 tsp oregano flakes

Salt & black pepper, to taste 

Method

1. Remove the shell and deveined the prawns. Leave the tail on. 

2. Mix the onion powder, garlic powder and oregano flakes together. 

3. Coat the prawns well in this spice mixture.

4. Heat pan with 1 tbsp of butter and olive oil. Once pan is well heated, place the prawns in the pan. Do not overcrowd them in the pan. Once the prawns change colour, grind some salt and black pepper onto the prawns. When the prawns turns orange on the side facing down to the pan, turn the prawns to the other side. Remember not overcook it.  

5. Dish up and serve. 

It still taste good when it's cold.

A Treasured Terengganu dish - Kay Hong

When I first come across this dish, it was at Mr W(then my boyfriend)'s sister's place. This is one of Mr W 's favourite Terengganu Nyonya dish. The name of this dish when I first got to know was "Hong". After 5 years, I got to learn that the name of this dish is Kay Hong. This is a very popular dish for the Nyonya to serve for prayers or Chinese New Year. It keeps well and needs no refrigeration. The more you reheat it, the better the dish becomes.

I am not crazy over this dish but I won't mind eating it. As for Mr W, I can say he is crazy over this dish. He can go for round two when I cook this. He loves having the sauce over his rice and the hard boiled eggs. One thing I have to admit is that this savoury sweet sauce tends to be pretty addictive.

By the way, Mr W said no one except his mom cooks the best dishes, even his sister can't replicate them. My mom-in-law ever told me that she would love to teach me all the dishes she used to cook and all the kueh kueh she used to prepare. But at her age of 94, she doesn't enter the kitchen anymore. Despite her age, she is still very alert and healthy. She will tell me the ingredients for the dish but the rest is all dependent on me. *Stress*

Yesterday was my first trial to cook this dish and I was very pressurized. I need to cook this dish to suit the very picky Mr W's taste. Before I prepare all the ingredients, I gave my mom-in-law a call to confirm the ingredients.

Now let's start with the Ingredients
4 chicken thighs
200g of pork belly
4 hardboiled eggs, peeled
1 pieces of gula melaka, to taste
2-3 tbsp preserved bean paste aka tau cheo
70g shallots
30g garlic
2 cups of water
1 tbsp dark soy sauce, depends on your colour preference
3 tbsp of kicap manis

Method
1. Pound the shallots and garlic. Set aside.
2. Parboil the whole piece of pork belly and chicken thighs. Remove the meat pieces and discard the water.
3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in wok. Fry the pounded shallots and garlic until fragrant.
4. Add in the gula melaka and tau cheo and stir fry for a few minutes.

5. Add the pork belly and chicken pieces and stir fry.

6. Pour in 2 cups of water and allow it to simmer.

7. Add the dark soy sauce and kicap manis, give it a stir. Put the hardboiled eggs in and let it simmer until the pork and chicken are cooked.
8. Dish up the pork belly and slice them into 1 cm thick. Put them back into the wok or you can dish up the chicken and egg with the delicious sauce and serve with a plate of steam white rice. Enjoy!

Do note that the sweetness of this sauce tends to overpower the saltiness, hence there is a need to balance both. Can't be too sweet, can't be too salty. Adjust the proportion to your taste. 

Spinach in Superior Broth with 3 types eggs

Since I have century eggs left after making the steamed tofu with braised sauce, topped with century eggs, I decided to buy a bunch of spinach. While I remember the spinach, I forgot about the salted eggs. Never mind, I will make do with the spinach, century eggs and eggs. I love spinach, who doesn't. Well I know Popeye may prefer this cooking method for spinach. :) Who knows. Hehe. 

Ingredients
A bunch of spinach
1 egg
1 century egg
1 salted egg
1 cup of chicken broth
1 tbsp of wolfberries
2 to 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Method
1. Wash the spinach individually and remove the fibrous layer from the stalk. Bend to break the stalk at around 2 to 3 inches. You will be able to see the fibrous layer, pull it backwards to remove them.
2. Separate the stalks and the leaves. Set aside.
3. Peel and dice the century egg and set aside.
4. Remove the black husk of the salted egg and wash it clean before boiling it.  Once the salted egg is hard boiled, peel and dice it. Set aside.
5. Wash the wolfberries and set aside.
6. Heat at the wok with a tsp of oil. Stir fry the garlic to fragrant.
7. Add in the stalks and fry for a few minutes, add in the leaves. Toss it for a while and pour in the chicken broth. Stir the spinach in the broth and allow it to simmer.
8. Once it is almost boiling, add in the century egg, salted egg and wolfberries. Give it a stir.
9. Lightly beat the egg and pour it over the spinach. Allow it to simmer for a few minutes and turn of the heat. Dish up and serve.

This is a simple dish and its so tasty. Although I miss out the salted egg, it is still delicious and most of all healthy.

For those who has high cholesterol, you may wish to use half of a century egg and salted egg.

Cheers!!!

Slow Cooked Beef Stew

A hearty stew to fill the tummy and it's easy to prepare.

This time round I am using the slow cooker and let it do its job. By the time we get home, dinner is ready. Actually it's not true, cos Mr W will want either rice or bread to go with his stew, especially beef stew.

This stew can be prepared the night before. This will save you the hassle of a rush morning. 

Updated: Slow Cooked Beef Stew

Ingredients

700g beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes

¼ cup flour

½ tsp of salt

½ tsp of ground black pepper

1 tsp garlic powder *updated on 24 Oct

3 garlic cloves

1-2 bay leaves

1 tsp of paprika

1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 cups beef broth *updated on 24 Oct

6 potatoes, diced

4 carrots, coarsely chopped
White button mushroom, sliced *updated 14 Apr 18

3 stalk of celery, chopped 1 inch long *updated 14 Apr 18

Method

1. In a small bowl mix the flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Coat the meat with this flour mixture. Place them in the slow cooker. Pour the remaining mixture into the slow cooker, if any.
2. Pour in the beef broth and stir in the garlic, bay leaves, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, potatoes, carrots and celery.

3. Cover and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High for 4 to 6 hours.

And there you have it, a plate of hot flavourful beef stew. Serve it with baguette or over steam rice. 

Oh I just love stew! They are true comfort food.

Note: 

If you prefer more sauce, increase the amount of broth - which I did. My original recipe called for 1½ cup but I up it to 2 cups. *updated on 24 Oct

If you prefer more vegetables, add them in.

If you have fresh brown or white mushrooms, slice and add them to the slow cooker.

砂锅饭 Claypot Rice

I hardly got a chance to eat claypot rice. On the contrary, my husband (let's call him Mr W) had eaten numerous claypot rice from different stalls in Singapore. Be it the popular one in Geylang or those at Chinatown or at cafes. Thus far, I have been hearing him raved about the claypot rice at Kreta Ayer in Chinatown. Don't ask me which stall cos I don't know. 

So I decided to give it a try and well Mr W's verdict is pleasing to my ears. Except one remark - those that sells claypot rice at the hawker doesn't use so much ingredients! 

Oh...by the way, Mr W can be very picky when comes to food. So I am glad that I am able to make Claypot rice at home and add whatever I like! 

Since this is my first trial, I will keep it as authentic as possible.

Presenting to you - Jeane's 砂锅饭! Adapted from the Meatmen.

Apologies for the ugly photo. I should have taken the whole claypot rather than a small bowl. Nonetheless, it's the taste that matters right? 

Ingredients 

3 boneless chicken thighs

1 lup cheong 

3 shiittake mushroom

3 salted mackerel in oil

1 handful of chye sim

3½ cups of washed rice

3 cups of chicken stock 

3 gloves of garlic

1 inch thick ginger

Chicken marinate

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp cornflour

½ cup of water

Sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp hua tiao wine

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp sesame oil

A few dash of pepper

Preparation
1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients in the chicken marinate. Set aside.
2. Trim away the excess fats on the chicken thighs. Wash and pat dry. Cut them in to 1 to 2 inches in size. Add them into the bowl of chicken marinate. Mix well and let it marinate for at least 2 hours.
3. Finely chop the garlic and ginger. Set aside.
4. Slice the lup cheong and the shiitake mushrooms. Set aside.
5. Dice the salted mackerel. *Can be replaced with dry salted fish.
6. Wash and chop the chye sim into 2 inches. Set aside.

Cooking direction
Cooking time - approx 1 hours

1. Heat 1 tsp of cooking oil and 1 tsp of sesame oil in the claypot. Stir fry the lup cheong, salted mackerel and mushrooms till fragrant. Dish up.
2. Add another 1 tsp of cooking oil into the claypot. Once it heats up, add the finely chopped garlic and ginger. Stir fry till fragrant.
3. Add in the washed rice and the chicken stock. Bring it to a boil.
4. Cover it with the lid and let it cook for 20 minutes. Occasionally give it a stir.
At this time, when you open the lid, the rice smell so good and you may want to just stop there and eat it! No joke.
5. After the 20 minutes, add in the lup cheong, mushroom and salted mackerel into the rice. Give it a stir.
6. Top the marinated chicken on to the mixed rice. Cover the lid and let it cook over medium heat for 20 minutes.  *Remember not to add any of the marinate into this claypot.
7. While the claypot is doing it wonders, let's mix the ingredients in the sauce. Mix well.
8. Add in chye sim on top and cover the lid. Turn of the heat at this time. Wait for approximately 15 minutes and the chye sim will be cooked to perfection.
9. Add 3 tbsp of the sauce, mix the rice and do a taste test. If it is to your preference, scoop a bowl and enjoy!

Note:
i) For those who doesn't like lup cheong, just omit.
ii) Do not be alarm if you smell chao ta, because its claypot...the rice will burn. And this makes it more authentic, just like those selling at the hawker!
iii) I know I am using salted mackerel in oil instead of the traditional dried salted fish. I think I will incorporate the dried ones in my next cook. Fry the dried salted fish to its crispiness and mix it after the whole pot of rice is done. 

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.

Improvised Oven Roast Crispy Chicken

I have been wanting to make my very own crispy on the outside, succulent in the inside chicken. And I think I have created one just the way I want it!

When I first serve the dish to my hubby (Mr W), he turned and looked at me, asked, "What did you use to season? It tastes good." Aww...the green light that I needed. 

It's easy to make this crispy chicken thighs. 

Ingredients 

8 pieces of chicken thighs skin on

Kosher salt

Olive oil

Spices

Ground black pepper

Garlic powder 

Cayenne pepper

Cinnamon powder

Direction

1. Wash the chicken and trim away excess fats.

2. Pat dry the chicken pieces. Sprinkle and run the kosher salt and black pepper on all sides of the chicken. Let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes to take the chill off.

3. In a small bowl, mix all the spices. Set aside.

4. After 15 minutes, pat dry the chicken again. Sprinkle and pat the mixed spices on both sides of the chicken. 
5. Preheat the oven to 205°C. Drizzle olive oil on the baking pan. Arrange the chicken pieces skin side up. Remember not to crowd the pan, allow room between the chicken pieces.
6. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes at 205°c. This will brown the chicken. Then lower the heat to 170°c and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until the juices run clear.
7. Remove from the oven and transfer the chicken pieces to a serving dish. Use an aluminium foil to tent the chicken and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Note:
i) For those using a whole chicken, arrange the largest pieces (usually the breast) of the chicken at the centre of the pan.
ii) For those who has no intention of eating the chicken skin, leave the skin on for baking. This will help to keep the chicken pieces from drying out while they bake.

Give it a try! It's the simplest recipe so far for chicken. :) But be warned, the oven tends to get pretty oily afterwards.

Crispy Bacon

Maybe this post is redundant. But just in case people wonder how best to obtain crispy bacon, here it is.

I have tried pan frying the bacons, using water to fry the bacons. Yes water fry!!!! And oven baked the bacons. The crispiest of all is oven baked!

Remember to bake them at room temperature oven at 200°C for 20 minutes. They always turn out golden, simmering with the goodness (ah well the oil...hahah) & crispy!!!

I have leftover shabu shabu pork belly, so I decided to make bacon!!!

For shabu shabu pork belly, please sprinkle some oil, I used olive oil to coat the base. Lay the bacons on the pan like this. Add the seasoning to your taste.

Into the oven at 200°C for 18 minutes. Why 18 minutes, because shabu shabu pork belly are a lot thinner. 

And voila, it is so crispy that you can't get enough of them.

Broiled/Grilled Salmon

My husband is not a fan of fish but I am!!! So I will find ways to prepare fish for myself. Well of course, for my guests too!

The sauce can be prepared in advance and freeze it for future use. All you need is a slice of fresh salmon, garlic, soy sauce and some other seasonings. 

Ingredients

• Salmon
• Salt 
• Lemon Pepper to taste
• Garlic Powder to taste
• 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/3 cup of soy sauce
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of water
• 1/4 cup of olive oil

Directions

1. Rub some salt on the salmon. Rinse well. Pat the salmon dry. Lay the the salmon on the chopping board.
   
2. Apply and rub the lemon pepper and garlic pepper on the both side of the salmon fillets. Slice the salmon if you got something like mine, one huge piece. 
   
3. In a bowl, stir together the chopped garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, water and olive oil till the sugar dissolve. 
4. Place the salmon fillets into a Ziploc bag. Pour in the soy sauce mixture, seal and coat the fillets with the sauce. Make sure the fillets are well coated. 
   
5. Refrigerate it for at least 2 hours.  
6. You may grill the salmon or wrap it in aluminium foil to oven baked it. 

• If you are going for the grill, 6 minutes per side for the fillet, depending on the thickness of the fish. Always flesh down first. 
• If you are going for the oven baked, make a foil packet to hold individual salmon and 2 to 3 tbsp of the sauce and close it up. Baked at 220 degrees celsius for around 15 minutes. 

If you are a sauce person, you can boil the leftover sauce into a pan and add a little cornflour to thicken it. Pour it over the salmon fillet and serve. 

This is a great recipe to use when preparing salmon. Especially in foil packets. This poaches gently in its sauce and juices. It always comes out tender and flavourful. 

Pineapple Tarts 黄梨挞

新年一到又要忙了。

This year I baked and baked and baked till my husband raised his arms and surrender. Haha...bake for my family, my in laws, my relatives and a handful of friends/colleagues. Ain't they cute. 

I used to bake a lot when I was still staying with my parents. After getting married, I don't bake any more. But this year, I managed to persuade my husband to let me bake. Ha...so we bought the oven. I love my Rowenta oven. Easy to use and pretty big as well. 

I have baked pineapple tarts for the past few years at my parents'. I have tried many different brands of butters on different recipes and I found the ONE recipe I will keep. My way of baking is a little tedious. But looking at the finished product - its satisfaction. 

People who ate my pineapple tarts love the buttery taste and have requested me to sell my pineapple tarts. I never thought of selling any this year. Since there are requests, I will just bake...with my husband's help. 

I cheated. I didn't make my own pineapple fillings. I bought them from bakery stores or supermarkets. This will save alot of time. 

Well...now for my recipe - 

Pineapple Tarts 黄梨挞 .

Pastry
Ingredients
906 g of plain flour
20 oz cold butter, cut into cubes
12 tbsp icing sugar
6 eggs yolks
1/2 tsp salt

For glaze, 3 egg yolks + 3 tsp water

1. Sift the flour. Add in the icing sugar and salt. Mix well.
2. Using the rub in method, rub the butter into the flour using a fork until fine bread crumbs are obtained.
3. Beat the egg yolks and add it into the butter flour mixture. Lightly combine them using fingertips. 
4. Chill the dough with a cling wrap for approximately 30 minutes.
5. While waiting for the dough to chill, roll the pineapple fillings into balls. 
6. Preheat oven to 160°C.  Line parchment paper on the baking trays.
7. Flour the roller and dough. Roll out the dough to 0.5 to 0.7cm thick. Cut the dough with the pineapple tart cutter. 
8. Arrange on the tray. 
9. Bake in preheat oven for 10 minutes; remove from oven. 
10. Glaze the half baked pastry and press the pineapple fillings on the pastry and bake for another 10 minutes. 
11. Keep them in air tight containers when completely cool. 

Updated 23 January 2015:
*Those who does not have confectionery/icing sugar, you may use caster sugar. Always half the required. My recipe calls for 12 tbsp of icing sugar, this is equivalent to 6 tbsp caster sugar. 

*Some may find it hard to handle the dough, chill it slightly longer and flour your roller, tart cutter and the table top. This will help. 
Mr W dipped the entire tart cutter into the flour. Hahaa just remember to dust excess flour away.

Mom in Law's Kueh Bangkit

In my earlier post, I mentioned about the CNY goodies known as Khnuat Khnuat.

Now its time for me to type down step by step directions for the Kueh Bangkit that is so popular with many and they don't mind buying from my in laws. But well, this was the past...maybe more than 20 years ago.

So now I am learning from my mom-in-law. Again, she uses agar agar...so I have to perfect the proportion which is very difficult in her recipe. So I hope you guys understand what I will be writing down.

The typical Nyonya Kueh Bangkit calls for purely tapioca flour and remember no pandan leaves are to be added into the traditional recipe.

Mom in law's Kueh Bangkit

Ingredients
1 kg Tapioca Flour
2 grated coconuts
Caster sugar
*Note: 1 bowl of coconut milk = 1 bowl of sugar
6 eggs yolks

1. Fry the flour till its light. You can fry it on high or low heat. But remember if you are using high heat, your hands must keep frying. Don't stop or it will char. When you first fry the flour, you can feel the weight of the flour. The more you fry it, the lighter it will become. The flour will literally fly and that's the time to turn off the heat and scoop them out to cool down. This flour needs to be completely cool. Thus I will advise to fry the flour a few days in advance and also fry more. Because this flour can be kept in air tight containers and be used again.
2. Roll the grated coconuts into a ball and squeeze it using a muslin cloth. Let the coconut milk be contained in a bowl (any bowl in the household).
3. Important: if you obtain a bowl of coconut milk, you have to use exactly a bowl of sugar. For those who doesn't like sweet stuff, you can reduce it to 3/4 bowl of sugar.
4. Combine the coconut milk and sugar in a pot and boil it till the sugar has melted. Make sure to keep stirring. Once the sugar is melted, off the heat and set aside to cool. 
5. Beat the eggs.
6. Once the coconut sugar mixture is cool, pour in the eggs and combine them using your hand. 
7. Now add in the flour (I used a ladle). Scoop by scoop...and knead it. There is no hard and fast rule on the flour to use. So add the flour and knead till the dough is pliable.
8. Once done, cover it and let it "rest" for 20 minutes or so.
9. Flour the table or baking mat. Scoop a small dough and add some flour to it and knead. 
10. Roll the dough out to 0.5cm thickness and use the kueh bangkit cutter or cookie cutter to cut the dough. 
11. As this will not expand, you can lay them pretty close to each other. As I lined all my baking trays with baking sheets. There is no need to sprinkle flour on to the tray. 
12. Preheat oven at 160 Degrees Celsius. 
13. Bake the trays of dough in the oven for 20 minutes or until the sides of the bangkit is cream in colour.  Take them out. 
14. Leave the kueh bangkit to cool and keep them in air tight containers. 

Brownies

It was the holiday season. So I decided to bake something.
To tell you the truth, I have not been baking for 3 years. Well...maybe the only thing I have baked every year is Pineapple Tarts. I will share my Pineapple Tarts recipe on another day.
As for today, it will be something rich and moist and well...definitely sinful!
Walnut Brownies!!!

Ingredients
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tbsp butter (I used salted)
2 tbsp water
1 1/2 cup of semisweet chocolate chips dark chocolate chips (*I used Hershey's mini dark chocolate chips)
1 cup of walnut
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven at 160°C. Grease a 8x8 inch square pan.

Sift the flour in a big bowl and add in the salt and baking soda. Combine well & set aside.

If you are lazy like me, just microwave the sugar, butter and water for 40 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir. Make sure it has melted completely.

Add in the chocolate chips and stir until melted and smooth. Add in the vanilla extract and the eggs.

Stir dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture. Once combined, add in the walnuts and give it a few stir.

Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven.

Allow it to cool in the pan. Cut them into squares & if you like, sift some icing sugar on top of them!

They are sinfully chocolatey DELICIOUS! Everyone will love it!

Chicken Stew

It was raining cats & dogs. Something warm will be nice. So I decided to make chicken stew. 

It is so easy to prepare and tasty too.

Chicken Stew

Ingredients
1 yellow onion
3 boneless & skinless chicken thighs
6 baby potatoes

1 russet potato

½ carrot
A handful of snow peas (optional)

Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 drops of dark soy sauce (for colouring)

150ml of chicken stock
1 bay leaf
Dash of pepper
Cornflour (for thickening)

Preparation
Cut the chicken thigh into bite size and marinade them with light soy sauce, sugar & cornflour. Leave it for 15 minutes. 

Slice the onions. Quarter the potatoes and chop the carrots into any size you prefer. 

Mix the sauce in a bowl and set aside. 

Cooking method
Heat the oil and sauté the onion until fragrant. Add in the chicken, potatoes & carrots and stir for 30 seconds. 

Pour in the sauce & stir well.

Simmer it at medium heat until all cooked. 

In order not overcook our snow peas, toss them in when the stew looks almost ready. You can choose to omit it.

And there you have it. A bowl of warm chicken stew to warm the tummy!

Comfort food - Chicken Stew

Note: I prefer to use a mixture of baby potatoes and russet potatoes. The baby potatoes are more difficult to peel but the potatoes keep their shape and size. 

Update: Can use water if u don't have chicken stock at home. I forgot to buy...so just use water. It still tastes good. 

Cheers!