Bacon Baked Beans

This side dish is so simple. Transforming the ordinary can of baked beans to a yummilicious one. 

Ingredients
1 can baked beans
¼ cup brown sugar

¼ of a yellow onion, chopped

1 tbsp ketchup

1½ tsp English mustard

½ tsp Worchestire sauce

½ tsp red wine vinegar

Salt & pepper to taste

2-3 slices of bacon

Method

1. Combine the above except bacon in a baking dish. Bake it at 150°C for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. 

2. Bake the bacon separately. For crispy bacon, please refer here for the recipe. Once baked, remove from the oven and cut the bacon to smaller pieces. 

3. Sprinkle the crispy bacon on top of the oven baked beans.

You will love the savoury beans with a light crunch of the bacon. 

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. 

Cocktail Appetizer

This is a very refreshing & well appetizing dish. And it is always a hit in any party. Perhaps its something to do with the mint or perhaps the sweet & sour & a little spicy punch. 
No cooking is needed  here. That's why it is so simple.

You can use any types of clams or even prawns. But make sure u drain them well. When using prawns, blanch them and set them aside. 

You have the pleasure to play around with the fruits. Use mangoes or melons instead of apples. Replace pomelo with oranges. 

Pacific Clams Cocktail 

Ingredients
1 can of pacific clams, drained well
1 green apple
1 red apple
Sauce
1 cup of Thai chili sauce (use Kimball)
1/2 a red onion, finely chopped 
2 chili padi (bird's eye chili), finely chopped
5 mint leaves, finely chopped
1 lemon or 2 lime, juiced
3/4 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of olive oil
Garnish
1/4 cup of peeled pomelo or orange (omit if you don't have this)
2 parsley leaves, finely chopped
Method
1. Cube the apples & soak them in salt water.
2. Mix the sauce in a big bowl. 
3. Toss in the pacific clams and apple cubes. Make sure all the ingredients are evenly coated by the sauce. 
4. Cling wrap it and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5. Remove from fridge. Top with pomelo and parsley before serving!