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!!!

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. 

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. 

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.