Fish and Pork Ball Soup 鸳鸯鱼丸汤

Fish and Pork Ball Soup 鸳鸯鱼丸汤

Recipe source :  Doris Choo

When I first started working I was posted to a small town. In fact it was not even a town, it was a small fishing village near the coast. Life was peaceful and quiet in the fishing village. I was lucky to have rented a room where the landlady cooked for the tenants as well. Luckier still, she was a wonderful seamstress and a great cook!

After work each day, my hobby then was to watch her prepare and cook dinner as we chatted on the day's events. That was a long time ago. 

This was one of the dishes she used to make and I just love it. 

Ingredients

300g fish paste
100g minced pork
20g tung-choi (chopped into smaller pieces)
200g choy-sam
500ml chicken stock 
500ml water 
1 egg, beaten
1/2 piece seaweed, tear into small pieces
1 tsp salt, or to taste

Choy-sum

Tung-choi

Laver or seaweed

Method

1.  Mixed fish paste with minced pork.
2.  Add in the tung-choi and beaten egg
3.  Wet your palms and form the mixture into balls and drop into a bowl of cold water.
4.  Heat chicken stock and water in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil.
5.  Add choy sum and the mixed meat balls (minus the water in the bowl) into the soup.
6.  The meat balls will sink to the bottom of the pot and when they float to the surface they are cooked.
7.  Add in seaweed and salt to taste.

Stir-fried French Beans With Tofu & Shrimps 四季豆炒虾

Stir-fried French Beans With Tofu & Shrimps 四季豆炒虾

Recipe source :  Doris Choo

Ingredients

250g french beans
1 piece five-spice tofu, cut into thin slices
100g shrimps, with shells removed
3 chilli padi
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1/2 Chinese rice bowl water
4 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp salt

French beans and chilli padi

Tofu - cut into thin slices

Shrimps

Instructions

1.  Heat up 4 tbsp cooking oil in a wok.
2.  Fry the tofu slices until golden brown. Dish up and set aside.
3.  In the remaining oil in the wok, fry the chopped garlic until fragrant.
4.  Add shrimps and fry until shrimps turn pinkish, then add french beans and stir-fry for 2 minutes.
5.  Add water and fried tofu slices and salt
6.  Continue to cook until almost dry.
7.  Dish up and serve.

I am linking this post to Mich from Piece Of Cake

who is hosting this month's Little Thumbs Up

 

The theme for October 2013 is Soy beans

The event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids  and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

Stir-fried Razor Clam In Fermented Soy Bean Paste 蛏子炒豆酱

Stir-fried Razor Clam In Fermented Soy Bean Paste
蛏子炒豆酱

Recipes source : Choo Doris


We first ate razor clam at Assam Restaurant in Batu Laut. It was fried "kung poh" style, which was hot and spicy.  We just love the sponginess of the razor clams and we never forgot how good it tasted!

This morning SK was at the market and when he saw razor clams being sold at the fishmonger's, the first thing he did was to check whether they were fresh by poking at them and pouring a little bit of fresh water on them to see if they moved. And moved they did. So SK bought 500g worth.

Today, I am going to share with you how to cook razor clam with fermented soy bean paste, which is just as good.

Ingredients

500g razor clams
20g ginger slices
90g fermented bean paste
3 chilli padi
3 pips garlic, chopped
1 Chinese rice bowl water
2 tbsp cooking oil

Fermented soy bean paste

Fresh razor clams

Instructions

1.  Heat wok and add 2 tbsp cooking oil.

2.  Fry chopped garlic, chilli padi and ginger slices until fragrant.

3.  Add fermented bean paste and stir-fry for 1 minute, then add water.

4.  Add in razor clams and let boil for 10 to 15 minutes.
5.  Dish up and serve.

I am linking this post to Mich from Piece Of Cake

who is hosting this month's Little Thumbs Up

 

The theme for October 2013 is Soy beans

The event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids  and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

Teba Shio (Salted Chicken Wings) 日本烤鸡翅膀

Teba Shio (Salted Chicken Wings) 日本烤鸡翅膀

Recipe source : Adapted from  Just One Cookbook


My family loves grilled chicken wings. We used to snack on them at the local hawker stalls. So when I came across Nami's recipe on Teba Shio, I immediately bookmarked it. Nami's recipe used only a few basic ingredients and the steps are so easy to follow. 

I like the infusion of sake in the chicken wings. Yummy!

Ingredients

8 chicken wings, cut into 2 sections
1 cup sake
1 tsp salt, or to taste   
3/4 tsp  black pepper  

Instructions

1.  Soak chicken wings in sake for 15 minutes. Rotate chicken at least once so that all the sides are covered with sake. 
2.  Line baking tray with aluminium foil.
3.  Pat dry each chicken wing with kitchen towels and place the wings onto the lined baking tray.
4.  Sprinkle generous amount of salt and black pepper onto the chicken wings.
5.  Set oven to grill function and turn to high heat. 
6.  Grill for 15 minutes. Flip over and grille for another 10 minutes. 

Note :  The original recipe used only the mid joints of the chicken wings.

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest  #1 Oct 2013 : Japan

hosted by Alan from Travelling-Foodies

Pumpkin With Curry Leaves 斋南瓜

Pumpkin With Curry Leaves 斋南瓜

Recipe source :  Doris Choo 

This lovely pumpkin dish is inspired by the vegetarian 'chap fan' stall which I patronise during my lunch break. There is always a long queue lining up for vegetarian lunch everyday.  All this while I just watched the long queue but I never wanted to join the line of people. I always opted to eat food from other stalls. My colleagues would rave about the vegetarian dishes while I just listened but not convinced at all that the food is that wonderful!

During one of our lunch breaks, there wasn't a queue at this vegetarian outlet because we were there earlier than usual. So I joined my friends to try out this great vegetarian stall. When I approached the trays of dishes I wasn't impressed at all. My friend recommended that I try out the pumpkin. "This is very nice", she told me and placed a large chunk of what looked like a burnt piece of fried pumpkin onto my plate of rice.  I have to tell you that pumpkin is not my favourite choice of vegetables. But then, I didn't want to decline my friend's very sincere recommendation. 

We found ourselves a table and sat down for vegetarian lunch. One bite into that piece of brownish and unimpressive looking pumpkin and I have to humbly retract all my negative perception of pumpkin! It was so very delicious! It has a hint of curry fragrance yet I did not see any chillies nor curry gravy coating the pumpkins.  It was crispy on the outside and very tender inside. The taste was awesome!

Now, I have to confide that I have swung to the other extreme. I look forward to lunch at this vegetarian outlet and am eager and hopeful that they serve this pumpkin dish for the day! Actually, I was so obsessed with it that  I surfed the net hoping to find the recipe. Unfortunately I have not been successful in my search. 

Finally, I experimented in my kitchen. 

I added chilli padi for the extra oomph!
Here is my version

Ingredients

250g pumpkin, remove the skin and cut into wedges
1 chilli padi or bird's eye chilli
1 tbsp chopped garlic
a few stalks of curry leaves
1 tsp oyster sauce
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup water
cooking oil for frying pumpkin

Ingredients for batter

1 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp tapioca flour
1 tbsp rice flour
3 tbsp water

Blend everything together into a smooth paste and set aside.

Method

1.  Heat enough cooking oil in a wok for frying pumpkin.
2.  Coat the pumpkin wedges with batter and slide them into hot oil. Fry until brown on both sides. Make sure the pumpkin is thoroughly cooked. Dish up and set aside.
3.  Remove the oil used for frying pumpkin leaving only about one tbsp of the oil in the wok.
4.  Saute chopped garlic until fragrant. Add curry leaves and chilli padi and stir-fry until fragrant.
5.  Add water, oyster sauce, salt and pumpkin.
6.  Continue to stir-fry until dry.
7.  Dish up and serve.

Miso Soup 日本豆酱汤

Miso Soup 日本豆酱汤

 

Recipe source : Adapted from   Just One Cookbook

Ingredients

1 piece konbu
4 cups water
1 piece soft tofu, cut into small cubes
3 tbsp miso
2 tsp dried wakame

Instructions

1.  Use a damp cloth to wipe clean the konbu. Make a few incisions on the konbu.
2.  Soak konbu in 4 cups of water for 3 hours.
3.  Remove and discard the konbu after soaking. Strain the stock.
4.  Bring the dashi stock to boil. 
5.  Use a ladle and dissolve miso in the ladle before adding into the dashi stock. Make sure the miso is dissolved completely.
6.  Add in tofu cubes. 
7.  Add in soaked wakame.
8.  Ready to serve.

 Miso

 Wakame

Tofu

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest  #1 Oct 2013 : Japan

hosted by Alan from Travelling-Foodies

I am linking this post to Mich from Piece Of Cake

who is hosting this month's Little Thumbs Up

 

The theme for October 2013 is Soy beans

The event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids  and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

Farmhouse Stew 家乡焖 猪肉

Farmhouse Stew 家乡焖 猪肉

Recipe source :  Chopsticks Recipes ~ Chinese Casseroles

This is the first time I am using soy bean to cook a savoury dish although there were times I used soy bean to boil soup. But then it was different because the beans used for boiling soup were usually discarded. 

This farmhouse stew used soya bean as one of the main ingredients together with meat and gluten puffs. Make sure the soy beans are thoroughly cooked until soft. I prefer them to be soft which taste better.

Ingredients

500g pork belly
160g soy bean, soaked until soft, about 4 to 5 hours
160g gluten or bean curd skin
80g tung-choi
2 slices ginger
2 shallots
1 bulb garlic
1 tbsp oil

Seasonings

1 tsp wine
1 cup stock
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Method

1.  Clean and wash pork belly. Dry thoroughly and cut into large pieces.
2.  Drain the soaked soya beans.
3.  Cut glutton into pieces or leave them in long pieces ( it's up to you )
4.  Soak tung-choi for a while and squeeze dry.
5.  Shred ginger, slice shallots and garlic.
6.  Heat casserole with 1 tbsp oil.
7.  Fry ginger, slice shallots and garlic until fragrant.
8.  Put in pork pieces and sprinkle with wine. Stir well.
9.  Add soya bean, tung-choi and glutton.
10. Pour in stock and cook for 20 minutes till soya bean is soft.
11. Add seasonings and adjust taste.
12.  Serve in casserole.

I am linking this post to Mich from Piece Of Cake

who is hosting this month's Little Thumbs Up

 

The theme for October 2013 is Soy beans

The event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids  and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

I am also linking this post to Cook-Your-Books #5



hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

Silky Soy Curd With Longan

Silky Soy Curd With Longan

Recipe source :  Booklet titled "Vegetarian Malaysia" distributed together with Flavours Magazine


An easy way of making "Tau Foo Fah". So refreshing to have this well-chilled on a hot sunny day. I should have doubled the ingredients to make more!

Ingredients

1 cup thick soya milk, unsweetened
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 tsp agar-agar powder
3/4 tbsp sugar, or to taste
1 tin longan in syrup 
 

Method

1.  Combine soya milk, evaporated milk and agar-agar powder in a pot over medium flame.
2.  Bring to a boil and lower heat. Stir until agar-agar is dissolved. ( About one minute )
3.  Add in sugar and cool slightly before straining into bowls.
4.  Leave to cool further before chilling in the refrigerator.
5.  Add in longans and syrup to the soy curd before serving.

Very refreshing dessert

I am  linking this post with Little Thumbs Up

 

The theme for October is Soy Beans, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake

Organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

I am also linking this post to Cook-Your-Books #5



hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours

Stir-Fried Ridge Gourd With Shrimps & Black Fungus 角瓜炒黑木耳

Stir-Fried Ridge Gourd With Shrimps & Black Fungus 角瓜炒黑木耳

Recipe source :  Doris Choo


Ridge gourd is also known as luffa or loofah. It is reported to be low in saturated fats and cholesterol, high in dietary fibre and rich in vitamins and minerals. 

This is how my mother used to cook ridge gourd. However, she used "wan yee", a type of black fungus which is thinner in texture than the black fungus which I am using. Serve this with hot steaming rice. Very appetising!

Ingredients

515g ridge gourd 
150g shrimps, shelled and with veins removed
30g dried black fungus, soaked until soft and cut into small pieces
1 large onion, about 200g, cut into wedges
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
a dash of pepper
3 tbsp cooking oil
1 Chinese rice bowl water

Instructions

1.  Heat wok and add cooking oil.
2.  Add in onion wedges and stir-fry for 1 minute, then add shrimps followed by ridge gourd and black fungus.
3.  Continue to stir-fry for 2 minutes, add in water. Let simmer until the water is almost dry.
4.  Add in salt, sugar and pepper. Mix well.
5.  Ready to serve. 

Tonjiru

Tonjiru

(豚汁)

(豚汁)

(豚汁)

Recipe source : adapted from  Marc Matsumoto's  "No Recipe"



I was trying out a Japanese soup yesterday which was adapted from Marc's No Recipe. I chose this soup because it had meat and a variety of vegetables and konnyaku all in one dish. I was intrigued when I noticed konnyaku was listed as one of the ingredients. I just wanted to try it out and find out for myself how it tasted to have konnyaku in a soup. 

Well, it was sort of like a crunchy jelly except that it was not sweet because now it was cooked in a savoury soup instead. However, when combined with the rest of the ingredients in this broth, it became a refreshing change from the norm.

This is my second attempt at cooking Japanese dishes and I am beginning to get hooked on mirin and sake!

Ingredients

600g pork belly, cut into thick pieces
2 stalks of spring onion, chopped the white parts and sliced the green parts
1 inch piece of ginger, cut into thin slices
1/4 cup sake
2 litres water
20g konbu
160g burdock
1 large carrot, cut into chunks
250g konnyaku
315g taro, peeled and cut into thick slices
1/4 cup yellow miso

miso

Put the pork belly into a cold pan, and turn on the heat to medium. The pork should release some fat as the pan heats up so you shouldn't need to add any oil. Once some oil has rendered out, add the white parts of the scallions and ginger and fry until the surface of the pork is cooked and a brown crust has formed on the bottom of the pan. - See more at: http://norecipes.com/blog/tonjiru-recipe/#sthash.18ezdPeR.dpuf

Instructions

1. Put the pork belly into a cold pan, and turn on the heat to medium. The pork should release some fat as the pan heats up so you shouldn't need to add any oil. Once some oil has rendered out, add the white parts of the scallions and ginger and fry until the surface of the pork is cooked and a brown crust has formed on the bottom of the pan.

- See more at: http://norecipes.com/blog/tonjiru-recipe/#sthash.18ezdPeR.dpufyellow miso

konnyaku

 

taro

konbu

 cooking sake

 burdock

 carrot

Instructions

1.  Place pork belly into a large pot and turn on the heat.  Dry fry the pork pieces to release some of the lard. 
2.  Add in ginger slices and the white parts of the spring onion and stir the pork pieces. Continue to fry until the pork pieces turned slightly brownish.
3.  Turn up the heat and add in 1/4 cup of sake. Stir and fry until the sake dries up.
4.  Add water and konbu and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam. Cover lid and turn heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes.
5.  Meanwhile, fill a bowl with water and add 1 tbsp of vinegar to it. Peel the burdock and slice into pieces and soak the pieces in the vinegar solution.
6.  After 30 minutes, remove the konbu and ginger pieces. Skim off excess fat and scum floating on the surface.
7.  Add in burdock pieces, carrots, konnyaku and taro. Turn up heat to medium-high and boil until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
8.  Once the vegetables become tender, turn off the heat and add miso to taste.

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest  #1 Oct 2013 : Japan

hosted by Alan from Travelling-Foodies

 

I am also sharing this post with Little Thumbs Up

 

The theme for October is Soy Beans, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake

Organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

Instructions

1. Put the pork belly into a cold pan, and turn on the heat to medium. The pork should release some fat as the pan heats up so you shouldn't need to add any oil. Once some oil has rendered out, add the white parts of the scallions and ginger and fry until the surface of the pork is cooked and a brown crust has formed on the bottom of the pan.

- See more at: http://norecipes.com/blog/tonjiru-recipe/#sthash.18ezdPeR.dpuf