Thai basil minced pork

 The hubby and me love Thai food!  On days that we feel like having something different, it will be "let's have Thai food!"  On days we have no appetite, it will be "Tom yam will bring back the appetite". Hahaha, so, anything Thai, will surely work for us.

For today, I did up the Thai Basil Minced Pork for the first time and we love it!

Ingredients: 

Minced Meat

Basil leafs (about 8-10 leaves)

Chopped Shallots

Chopped Yellow Sweet Onions

Chopped Garlic

Chopped Chilli Padi (about 3-4 pcs)

Brown sugar 1 tbsp

Salt 

Fish Sauce

Sesame Oil

Marinade for the minced pork:

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp light soy sauce 

Dash of salt

Step:

1. Heat the pan with oil and add in all the chopped ingredients when oil is hot. Fry till fragrant. 

2. Add in the marinated minced pork and loosen the meat to prevent lumpiness. Keep frying. 

3. Add 2 tbsp of water and continue frying. 

4. Add a dash of salt and fish sauce and continue frying. 

5. Add in the brown sugar and fry. It will start to caramelise, giving the meat a nice sticky texture and a beautiful brown hue. 

6. Throw in the basil leaves and give a good stir. Continue frying.  

7. Add a dash of sesame oil just before dishing up. 

8. Add in some fresh chopped to enhance the colors and presentation. 

8. . Ready to serve. 

Hope u will like this! 

Happy mium!

Sambal Ikan Bilis

Whipped up some home made sambal chili to go with my home made nasi lemak. And I tell u, it's really easy and goes nicely with fragrant rice, noodles and or everything, even on its own. Lol!

Ingredients:

(The below amount of ingredients make about a bowl of sambal. Increase everything if you want to make more to store)

Set A:

2 big fresh chillies

5-6 chili padis

5 Shallots

5 garlic

I tsp Oil + 1 tsp water

Set B:

2-3 tbsp oyster sauce

Salt (to taste)

Sugar (to taste)

Ikan Bilis / Anchovies

Oil

Steps:

1. Fried some Ikan Bilis till crispy and set aside. 

2. While frying, blend Set A into paste. 

3.  Heat oil in pan, pour in above mixture, fry till turn darker shade of red. 

4. Add in oyster sauce and continue to fry. Add in salt and sugar to taste*

* adjust the taste accordingly. If too spicy, add in more sugar to neutralize. 

5. Add in the Ikan bilis^ and fry again.

^ you can always add in fried tau kwa, hard boil eggs, fried fish balls etc. :)

6. Dish to serve. 

This promise to go well with even plain rice!  

Happy sambal-ing!

Happy Mum

Shredded Pork with Salted Vegetables

Shame shame shame!  Work has once again engulfed me the past few months and as much as I cook to distress or clear my cluttered mind, there was simply no way I could get pass myself to cook a decent meal for the family.  Its like "want to cook? cook the best'.  Hence, I rather let the helper cook or buy back then to coop myself in the kitchen preparing terrible dishes.  Also, I figured whatever available time I have, I am better off spending with the kids. 

So, I am back to the "half day PTWM" again, now that school has reopened.  Being in a happy mood, I craved for some comfort food.  And salted vegetables came to my mind.  Hence, its 'Shredded Pork with Salted Vegetables" as one of the dishes for tonight.


Ingredients:
- Loin Pork (shredded)
- Salted Vegs (shredded)
- Cloves of garlics (4-5 cloves unpeeled + 3 cloves chopped finely

Marinades for Pork:
- dash of salt
- dash of white pepper
- 1 tsp of sesame oil
- 1 tsp of light soya sauce


Step:

1. Marinate the shredded with the above and set aside for 20 mins.  Soak the shredded salted vegetables and set aside.

2.  After 20 mins, prepare the wok.  Heat 2 tbsp of oil.  Add the chopped garlic and fry till aromatic.

3. Add in shredded pork and give a good fry.  Loosen the pork and ensure the pork are evenly fried.

4.  Add in salted vegetables and the unpeeled cloves of garlic.  Continue to fry under high heat.

5. Add in 2 cups of hot water and lower the flame to allow simmering for 20 mins.

6. Dish to serve.

This is basically very simple to prepare yet very comforting dish.  Suitable with porridge or rice.  Brings back nostalgic feel each time I eat this.

Hope you will like it.


Happy mum

Muah Chee

So the last round I attempted a new way to eat the nian gao, I.e. wrapped by sticky chewy glutinous sesame balls. And becos of that, I have 3/4 pack of the glutinous rice flour left. Decided to try doing muah chee becos the eldest son had mumbled about craving for this sticky chewy sweet snack. Apparently, it's really really easy and taste good. Hence, am sharing the recipe here. 

Ingredients:

1 cup glutinous rice flour

1 cup water 

1/2 cup ground peanut powder

2 tbsp white sesame seeds roasted

2 tbsp fine sugar

2 tbsp oil 

Steps: 

1. Roast the white sesame seeds

2. Mix the flour and water and stir till dissolve. Set aside. 

3. Combine the grounded peanut powder, sesame seeds and sugar in a Tupperware and mix thoroughly.   Set aside. 

4. Pour the oil in a non-stick flat pan and pour the flour mixture. The oil should not be hot. Using a chopstick, keep stirring the mixture and within seconds the mixture will turn lumpy and will start to turn semi transparent. 

5. Using the chopsticks, fold in the corner of the dough to become a ball. Keep on folding till textile becos bouncy. When the dough is done, u can either cut a bigger slab and throw into the peanut mixture or like what I did, using the chopsticks, cross section the dough to cut it. 

6. Add the muah chee into the peanut mixture and mix well before dishing up. 

Enjoy!

Happy mum 

Claypot Fish Head

I think I have covered this dish before but as I have used new seasonings and added other ingredients this round, i thought I will blog it down as well. Between this and the last one I blogged, the family preferred today's. 

Ingredients:

- grouper fish head (wash and pat dry)

- corn flour (to powder the fish head)

- roast pork

- long white cabbage (chopped into big pieces)

- cauliflower

- yam (sliced into semi circle)

- bean curd (chopped into rectangular cubes)

- carrot (sliced)

- garlic (chopped)

- ginger (approx. 5-6 slices)

- spring onion (chopped only the white parts)

- others (basically to ur likings. I added Japanese fish cake, crab sticks etc for the kids)

Sauces:

- fish sauce (abt 1 tbsp)

- scallop sauce (abt 1 tbsp)

- oyster sauce (abt 2 tbsp)

- pinch of salt (taste to test the saltiness)

- cornstarch (for thickening)

- water

Early preparation works:

Before we can start cooking, some of the ingredients need to be prepared in advance, like the fish head, bean curd and yam. 

1. Fry the sliced yams and set aside. 

2. Using same oil, fry the bean curds and set aside. 

3. While frying, pat some salt onto the Fishhead and then powder the fish head with corn flour. Set aside for deep frying. 

4.  Once yam and bean curds are ready, pour out the oil and set aside for later use. Add in new oil for deep frying of Fishhead. 

5. Using medium fire, when the oil starts to get hot, (note: not booking), add in the fish head into the oil, with the outer skin facing up. 

6. Using a tong, flip the fish head over after 7mins. Continue to fry again till the fish meat shows traces of brown. Set aside when done. 

At this point, preparation work is over. The actual cooking starts here:

Steps: 

1. Heat the clay pot with 2tbsp of the remaining oil leftover from frying of yam and bean curd. Add in the spring onion, chopped garlic and sliced gingers. Fry till aromatic. 

2. Add in carrot and cauliflower and give a good fry for about 5mins. Add in 1 bowl of water and continue stirring. 

3. Add in the scallop, oyster sauce and the fish sauce. Stir well over high heat. Add a pinch of salt to taste. It should not be too much. We can always add in more towards the end. 

4. Add in the white cabbage. 

5. Add in the bean curd.

6. Add in the roast pork and the Japanese fish cake. 

7. Create a well by pushing the rest of the ingredients to the wall. Gently place in the fried fish head and let it simmer for about 3 mins.

Stir in some cornstarch to thicken the gravy. If the sauce is not salty, add in some salt to enhance the taste. Do rem, saltiness can cause bad health effects. 

8. Add in the crab stick, fried yam and the spring onion last. Close lip to simmer for another 2 min. Off fire, add garnishing and serve. 

Here's the finished product :

Hope you guys will like this one-pot dish. :)

Happy mum

Wongbok Seafood Pork Wraps

GONG HEI FATT CHOY!


hoooohooo.... so I have been busy and lazy.  Its the CNY and its also the pigging out season.  After all the shabu shabus, the luxurious abalone meals, its time to return to something simpler.  But since its still within the CNY period, lets do up something interesting using simple ingredients.

I am using pork ribs and the broth for this.  As the broth used for this dish is actually only about a small bowl worth but I do not want to waste the time and effort, I actually prepared more broth and pork ribs.  The balance meat and broth, I used them to cook porridge for the next meal.  That's like another meal/dish on its own.

Ingredients:
- Pork Ribs Broth (boiled for 1.5hrs or until pork ribs are tender)*
- Pork Ribs (you may substitute for loin meat too, but ribs meat are softer)*
- Yellow Onion (quartered and add into the broth)
- Crabsticks*
- Carrots (shredded)*
 - Spring Onion (chopped lengthwise, approx. 1inch)*
- Scallop Concentrated Sauce (1 tbsp)
- Wongbok (long white cabbage leaves) - leave the leaves in their original forms.

* for the above that I had asterisked, it is really up to you to decide what you wanted to have in your rolls.  Some suggestions: prawns, pork/chicken mince meat,fish paste, scallops etc.  The possibilities are endless.  Let your creativity flows! :)

Steps:
1. Boil the pork ribs, add in the chopped onions.  Boil till the meat are soft.  Estimated 1 hr.  Do not add salt.  Sieve out the pork ribs, remove the bones, slice the meat into chunks.  Set aside.

2. While boiling the pork ribs, set to work on the wongbok.  Using a wide pan, boil with water.  Gently add in the leaves and let it blanched for about 2-3 mins.  Sieve to dry.  Do be gentle with the leaves so as not to break/tear them as they are pretty soft at this stage.

3. Lay the leaves on a clean work station.  Add in one chunk of pork, carrot shreds, spring onion at the thickest part of the leaves, i.e. the stems.  Start to roll inwards.  Continue the next leaf with crabstick, spring onion and carrot shreds.

4. Place the wraps onto a plate and arrange nicely. 

5.  Prepare the Steamer.

6. Using another pan, scoop 1 ladle of pork broth (unsalted still) into the pan.  Add in the scallop concentrate and bring to a simmer.  When the stock starts bubbling, pour over the wraps.  You can now send the plate of Wongbok into the steamer.

7.  Steam for 6 mins.

8. Dish, garnish and serve.

Happy steaming!
Happy mum

Braised Ee Fu Noodles

Apparently 2 of the kids and myself are down with stomach flu this week.  I have been feeling nauseous and does not have much appetite.  Having chanced upon a picture of a home-cooked ee fu noodles, I thought this will be good to whet the appetite a bit.  Plus, I have never tried whipping this particular dish, so, its a "let's get working".

After doing up this dish, I think I will be cooking this with various ingredients subsequently as this is relatively easy, not time consuming as well as very economical.  The packet of 4 ee fu noodles cost $2.30, good enough for 3-4 servings.  Estimated cost for this dish is $5?  So economical!

Ingredients:
- a packet of 4 ee fu noodles
- 2 shiitake mushrooms (soaked, slice and set aside water for sauce)
- 1/2 or 1 can button mushroom (your desire)
- 1 packet golden mushrooms (I replace the usual chives with this)
- chopped garlics
- 1 tbsp cooking oil

Sauce:
- 3 spoons of oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp of light sauce
- 1 tbsp of dark sauce
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of chicken powser
- 1cup of water

Steps:

1. Boil a pot of water and toss the noodles in.  Loosen the noodles and remove to drain when the water comes to a boil.  Run the noodles under tap water to stop the cooking.  Set aside.

2. Heat a pan with cooking oil.  Throw in the chopped garlic and stir fry till aromatic.  Add in the sliced shiitake mushrooms and button mushrooms to stirfry.

3. Add in the sauce and stir continuously to prevent charring.

4.  Gently introduce the cooked noodles in and give a good stir.  If the sauce is drying up, add in the mushroom water bit by bit and let the noodles continue braising.

5. Add in the golden mushroom last and continue to stir fry.  When the golden mushroom has soften a little, it is ready to dish.

* Why do I add the golden mushroom last?  I realised that if we add the golden mushroom too early, the texture will become overly soft and slime-y.  Also, the golden mushroom when braised too long, with produce some sticky substance, causing the gravy to thicken.

Happy Braising!



Happy mum