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.

My Colourful Aglio Olio

Nowadays I tried to wake up early in the morning to prepare lunch for work. So being a working wife, I need to ensure we get all the nutrients from what we eat. Most of the time, we eat out and I do not know what seasoning they add and the food - are they fresh??? So I decided to prepare lunch at least twice a week on weekdays.

Last evening, I saw my friend prepared aglio olio for her family, so I was hmm...I have pasta at home and I have some seafood as well. So I might as well cook this for lunch tomorrow.

Easy to prepare and well all the ingredients use are packed with their respective nutrients.

Ingredients
Pasta
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 chili padi, finely sliced and deseeded
Olive oil
3 - 4 anchovies
Cod fish fillet, skin removed
Prawns, deveined & deshelled
Scallops
Cherry Tomatoes
Broccoli Florets

Method
1. Boil water for pasta. Cook the pasta til al dente. Drain and set aside.
*Note: I cooked my pasta the night before. Make sure it is undercooked & do not rinse the pasta. Drain the water and allow it to dry. Keep it in a air tight container and put it in the fridge. The next morning, I boil a pot of water with salt and place the pasta in for it to warm up and cook to the doneness you prefer.
2. Remove the pasta from the pot of water. Using the same pot of water (heat off), add in the broccoli florets.
3. Heat a pan with olive oil, sautee the garlic till fragrant.
4. Add in chili padi and anchovies. Saute the anchovies till somehow they melt.
5. Using low heat, add in the prawns and scallops. Allow it to cook.
6. Once the prawn and scallops are almost cooked, add in the al dente pasta, cherry tomatoes and broccoli florets into the pan. Add olive oil, as desired. Combine well.
8. Plate it up and set aside.
9. Season the cod with pepper and salt. Pan fry it for about 6 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet.
10. Flake the cod and combine with the rest of the ingredients.

There you have it, a sumptuous meal that is easy to prep. Garnish with parmesan cheese and chili flakes and even chopped Italian parsley, which apparently I don't have any of the three.

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.

Refreshing Capsicums & Black Fungus with Shrimps

It's been a while since I cooked and also post something on my blog.

While I was at the supermarket, I was thinking of cooking something new and I saw the "traffic lights" (red, yellow & green) capsicums/bell peppers.

I happily came home with the bell peppers, not knowing how best to cook them. Luckily for me, there was my precious black fungus. So I thought perhaps I can try using it. And being the usual lazy me, I added the prawns I bought earlier. This will reduce the hassle of perparing another dish. Hehe...

Ingredients 

3 halves of the traffic lights capsicums each

2 handfuls of dried black fungus

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

9 de shelled & deveined glass prawns

2 tbsp oyster sauce

A dash of hua tiao shaoxing wine

A dash of pepper

2 tsp cornflour with a tbsp water

Directions

1. Soak the black fungus in water for them to pump up and set aside.

2. De seed the bell peppers and silver them. Set aside.

3. Heat the wok with a tbsp oil, add in the garlic. 

4. Once the garlic is fragrant, add in the shrimps. Stir fry for a few seconds.

5. Add in the silvered capsicums and the pump up black fungus. Stir fry.

6. Add in the oyster sauce & hua tiao shaoxing and make sure that the sauce coats al the ingredients in the wok. Add a dash of pepper in. *I added half a bowl of water and close the lid for a few seconds.

7. When the prawns are almost done, add in the cornflour mixture to thicken the sauce.
8. Stir well and dish up. 

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. 

Spicy Chili Prawn

In one of entry, I cooked spicy chili prawns with egg tofu using Singlong Chili Crab sauce. But I didn't have that yesterday, so I whipped out my own chili crab sauce. 

Ingredients

Marinate for the shrimps

• 25 medium size shrimps

• 2 tbsp of shaoxing wine

• a pinch of salt 

• 2 to 3 dash of white pepper

• 1 tbsp of corn flour

For chili sauce

• 2 slice of a inch ginger

• 4 garlic cloves

• 2 white part of scallion

• 3 tsp of Spicy Chili Bean Paste

• 3 tbsp of tomato ketchup

• 2 tbsp of chili sauce

• 2 chili padi

• 1/2 cup of chicken broth

• 1 tbsp shaoxing wine

• 2 tsp of sugar

• 2 tsp of sesame oil

• 2 eggs

For thickening

• 1 tbsp of corn flour + 2 tbsp of water

For garnish

• scallions

Directions

1. Wash, deshell and devein the prawns.
2. Pat dry the prawns and marinate them with the above mentioned marinate ingredients for prawns. Set a side.
3. Mince the ginger, garlic and the scallion. Set aside.
4. Slice the chili padi and remove all the seeds. Set aside. 
5. Pan fry the prawns on each side. Remove once it turn orange. *Note: It is okay if the centre is grey. Set aside. 
6. In a pan, heat a tsp of sesame oil over medium heat, fry the mince ginger, garlic and scallion till fragrant. 
7. Lower the heat and add in the chili bean paste and tomato ketchup. Stir well. 
8. Pour in the chicken broth, shaoxing wine and sugar. Mix well.
9. Allow the sauce to simmer for a few minutes. Add in the half cooked prawns. Coat the prawns well. 
10. Add in the slice chili padi and 1 tsp of sesame oil. Thicken the sauce with the corn flour mixture. 
11. Beat 2 eggs and pour them onto the sauce. Over the pan with a lid for a few minutes and turn off the heat. 
12. Dish up. Garnish and serve it hot. 

Note: my family loves spicy food, that's why chili padi was added. 

XO Scallops

Many times I have cooked prawns with XO Sauce. So I decided to change it to scallops! 

Well mainly because I have to clear my freezer for some space. So all the small scallops be gone! 

Stir Fry Scallops in XO Sauce

Ingredients

18 pieces of scallops 

1 green onion

3 cloves of garlic 

2 tbsp XO sauce

Sauce

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1 tbsp shaoxing hua tiao wine

1 tsp sesame oil

Thickening mixture
2 tsp of corn flour
2 tbsp room temperature water

Method

1. Chopped the garlic into small pieces. Slice the green onion.
2. Mix the ingredients under the Sauce and set aside. 
3. Heat up the frying pan with 1 tsp of cooking oil, add in to the chopped garlic & onion. Stir fry for a few seconds. 
4. Add in the scallops &  XO sauce. Stir fry for 1 minute. 
5. Pour in the mixture that was prepared earlier. Stir and coat the scallops evenly. 
6. Pour in the thickening mixture. 
7. Cover with lid for a few minutes and dish them. 

Garnish with spring onions and enjoy!

Note: You can add asparagus in this dish. As I don't have any on hand, I have to make do with it. 

Oven baked Garlic Shrimps

Being a working wife, we need to think of simple and easy way to settle a meal and this dish turns out to be one of them. Toss them with garlic, chili padi and olive oil. Bake it in the oven and voila one dish up and ready.

I got this inspiration a year ago when we organised a BBQ at our place. Being lazy bums, we catered all the BBQ dishes. And the shrimps turn out to be a hit. It was just plain shrimps with some seasoning. So I decided to trial and error. It turns out good. So it is one dish that can be done in less than 30 minutes. Of course, I bought frozen shrimps that have be deshelled. So I just need to remove the shell on the tail and devein them. Haha...one chore less. 

All you need for this is just the shrimps, cloves of garlic, olive oil and of course, I love spicy food - so I added chili padi.

More garlic the more fragrant it is. So I like mine with loads of garlic.

Directions

Wash and devein the shrimps and pat them dry. Add some olive oil. T

oss in the a tablespoon full of garlic and chili padis into the bowl of shrimps. Mix and set aside. 

Lay the rest of the finely chopped garlic on the aluminium foil. Pour the shrimp and garlic mixture on top of it. 

Drizzle more olive oil on top.. 

And in they go to the oven. 

I baked mine in 150 degrees celsius. I will open the oven and stir them alittle to check because I worried if I have too many shrimps, some won't get cook. 

Once the shrimps turn orange and curl, remove them from the oven.

Garnish with coriander. But I usually don't have that in my fridge. haha...maybe I should grow some. 

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. 

韭黄伊面 Ee Fu Noodles / Seafood Ee Fu Noodles

I cooked this many times and with different ingredients. And it always turns out to be one of the favourite among my family and friends.

It is simple and easy to cook. Plus you can be flexible with the ingredients. If you like, you can use either seafood or just yellow chives or add in meat. Just remember, if you are using meat, I will recommend you to season them with Hua Tiao Wine and cornstarch for 10 minutes before tossing them into the wok/pot.

For vegetarians, please use vegetarian mushroom sauce instead of oyster sauce. And just use bean sprouts, yellow chives (韭黄) and mushroom for this dish. Omit the garlic. Here you have it! This is the vegetarian one! The Braising sauce is the same. 

Seafood Ee-Fu Mian

Ingredients

• Prawns
• Scallops
• A combination of enoki and shiitake mushrooms
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
• 2 handful beansprouts (heads & tails removed)
• 2 dried mounds Yee Fu Noodles
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil + 1 tsp white sesame oil

Braising sauce

• 2 tbsp oyster sauce (vegetarian mushroom sauce can be used too)
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce for colour
• 1/2 tsp of white sugar
• 1/2 tsp of Chinese Wine (Hua Tiao/Shaoxing)
• A dash of white pepper (optional)
• 1 cup of water

Directions:

1. Mix the braising sauce together and set aside.
2. Heat the oils in the wok/pot & add in the garlic.
3. When fragrant, toss in the bean sprouts and mushrooms. Stir fry for about 1 minute.
4. Pour in the braising sauce and allow them to simmer for 1 minute. Maintain medium-high heat.
5. Add in the seafood and simmer for 3 minutes.
6. Add in the Yee Fu noodles, make sure they are submerge in the braising sauce for 3 to 5 minutes. Cover with a lid and let the noodles stew in the sauce for 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Open the lid and check for the tenderness of the noodles. There should be little or no sauce when the dish is done.
8. Off the heat & allow the residual heat to continue cooking the noodles.
9. Dish up on serving plate and enjoy!