Stuffed Tofu Soup 酿豆腐汤

Stuffed Tofu Soup 酿豆腐汤

Recipe source :  Doris Choo


I have been boiling lots of soup lately. The weather was so hot and we really need lots of soup to wash down the food. This is not the type of soup which requires long boiling time. This can be quickly done with tofu, minced pork and shrimp stuffing. I added amaranth greens for a healthier and a more balanced diet.


Just sharing a simple home-style cooking of tofu. 
 

Ingredients 

2 blocks of soft tofu
150g minced pork
100g shrimps, shelled and with veins removed
150g amaranth greens
750ml chicken stock
750ml water
1 tsp salt
dash of pepper

Amaranth greens

 Minced pork

shrimps

Marinade for Minced pork

1/2 tbsp tapioca flour
1 tsp wine
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soya sauce
dash of pepper

Instructions

1.  Chop the shrimps and mix them with minced pork. 
2.  Add in marinade ingredients to the minced pork and chopped shrimps. Mix well and set aside.
3.  Cut the tofu into smaller blocks. Scoop out some tofu to make a small hollow for stuffing.
4.  Sprinkle some cornflour into the scooped out hollows of the tofu.
5.  Fill the hollows with marinated minced pork mixture.
6.  Place chicken stock and water into a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil.
7.  Add in the stuffed tofu pieces and amaranth greens.
8.  Let the pot of soup come to a boil again.
9.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

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

Buta Kabuni (Pork Belly & Turnips)

Buta Kabuni (Pork Belly & Turnips)

Recipe source : Adapted from  Marc Matsumoto's No Recipes


I used sengkuang as the closest alternative to turnips to make this Japanese dish. The rich aroma from the meat, turnips and the sauces wafted through my kitchen as they simmered in the pot. The cooking smelled so delicious that my salivary glands worked overtime, anticipating the great feast to come. 

We were not disappointed. The pork belly tasted wonderful, infused by the rich gravy from mirin and sake. The turnips were sweet and slightly crunchy and were infused by the rich gravy and sauces.

I really love the gravy which was so richly flavoured. In fact I like the gravy more than the meat itself! This is a wonderful Japanese dish!

Ingredients

2 tbsp niboshi or anchovies
1 inch piece of ginger, sliced into 1/4 inch thick
6 cloves garlic, crushed             ( original recipe used 2 cloves )
1 Chinese rice bowl water         ( original recipe used 1 cup )
1/4 cup mirin
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp sake
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt

600g pork belly                       ( original recipe used 1 lb )
2 small turnips, peeled and cut into thick pieces  

 

 

Instructions

1.  Cut pork belly into slices of 1 cm thick. ( original recipe instructed to cut the pork belly into thick chunks of 1 inch thick )
2.  Wrap anchovies in a piece of cheesecloth and tie to make a satchel.
3.  Add satchel along with ginger, garlic, water, mirin, sugar, salt, sake and soy sauce into a medium-sized pot.
4.  Heat pot over high heat until it comes to a boil, turn down heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
5.  Remove satchel of anchovies. Add in pork belly and cook for 15 minutes. 
6.  Add in turnips and cook until the turnips are tender, about 15 minutes.

Note :  

1) Original recipe simmered the thickly-cut  pork belly for 2 hours before adding turnips and cook for a further 30 minutes until the pork belly and turnips are tender. 
2) For my dish, I cut the pork belly into 1 cm slices, therefore cooking time was reduced to only 15 minutes before adding turnips to simmer for another 15 minutes. 
3) This is because I prefer some bite to the pork belly and I prefer the turnips to be slightly crunchy instead of tender. 

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

hosted by Alan from Travelling-Foodies

 

Soya Bean Caramel Pudding 豆奶焦糖布丁

Soya Bean Caramel Pudding 豆奶焦糖布丁

Recipe source :  Y3K magazine Issue 40, 1/2 - 2008


It took me some patience to slowly stir sugar over a slow fire to make the syrup but it was worth every bit of the effort. This sweet caramel pudding was superb! My presentation here may not look nice but let me assure you that the taste is fantastic! 

Chill them well and you really get yourself some sweet indulgence! 

Ingredients 

100g soya beans, soaked overnight
800 ml water
 6 rectangular foil cups

Ingredients For Syrup

125g sugar
75 ml water

Ingredients For Pudding

100 ml fresh milk
130g castor sugar
6 eggs

I started off using these aluminium cups which I found to be too soft. It could not hold its own shape.

After steaming, the pudding were too soft and wobbly to handle. 

So we use spoons to eat the caramel pudding as they broke up when I inverted them onto plates. 

  This type of rectangular aluminium trays saved my day.

Measurement : 13.5cm X 9cm

These are much sturdier and can at least hold its own shape. 

 These rectangular trays have depth so the inverted caramel pudding look much more presentable by comparison. 

 Instructions

1.  Place the soaked soya beans and water into a blender to blend mixture. Use a muslin cloth to strain to extract 700ml of soya milk.
2.  Place sugar for syrup into a small pot and stir over low heat until sugar turns yellow. Add in water and simmer until thick syrup is formed. Spoon the syrup into the foil cups.
3.  Beat eggs lightly. 
4.  Boil fresh milk and sugar for the pudding together. Let is cool slightly, then add in the beaten eggs. Use a sieve to strain this mixture.
5.  Add the beaten egg mixture and the soya milk together. Pour this mixture into foil cups.
6.  Steam them over boiling water for 15 minutes. Uncover the lid a few times to release steam.
7.  Cool pudding. Refrigerate them once they have cooled down. 

I am linking this post to Mich from Piece Of Cake

who is hosting this months 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

Egg Noodles with Shrimps & X.O. Sauce （XO 酱蛋面）

Egg Noodles with Shrimps & X.O. Sauce （XO 酱蛋面）

Recipe source :  Doris Choo

Ingredients

250g egg noodles
3 tbsp XO sauce
2 tsp soya sauce
2 tbsp garlic, chopped
3 tbsp cooking oil
150g shrimps, with shells removed

Instructions

1.  Prepare the egg noodles as described in my previous post and blanched them in boiling water accordingly.
2.  Heat wok until hot. Add cooking oil and saute chopped garlic until fragrant.
3.  Add prawns and stir-fry briskly until cooked.
4.  Switch off the flame and add in XO sauce into the wok and tossed in the par-boiled egg noodles.
5.  Mix evenly and dish up.
6.  Ready to serve.

Pan Meen - Dry Style 干捞板面

Pan Meen - Dry Style 干捞板面

Recipe source :  Doris Choo


I wanted to make "mee hoon Kuay". You know, the type of soupy pan meen where the dough is torn and pulled into odd pieces by hand. I love soupy "mee hoon kuay" with lots of vegetables  and deep-fried anchovies at my favourite mee hoon kuay hawker stall at the bridge.

I started out in high spirits. I took out my pasta machine with the intention of making the dough and then using it to roll out flat sheets of dough to be torn into pieces later. Alas, halfway through gathering the ingredients, laziness got the better of me!  All of a sudden I did not feel like boiling stock from scratch and I began to shudder at the thought of having to pull and tear the dough into bite-sized pieces! So I changed plan and quickly completed the process of making egg noodles and used that as my pan meen. Since I was too lazy to boil stock I decided to make pan-meen dry-style instead.

It was a unanimous thumbs up!

Ingredients

300g  egg noodles
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soya sauce
3 tbsp garlic oil 
1 tsp soy sauce

Preparation Instructions for Egg Noodles

1.  Place the three types of sauces and garlic oil in a large bowl or plate.
2. Par-boil the egg noodles as per the instructions in my post on egg noodles. 
3. For this pan meen - dry style, you will need to rinse the egg noodles with hot boiling water again after par-boiling and rinsing with running tap water.
3.  Transfer the blanched egg noodles into the large bowl of sauces and garlic oil. Mix well. Set aside.

 Egg noodles mixed with sauces and garlic oil

Ingredients for Minced pork & mushroom sauce

180g minced pork

40g dried mushrooms, soaked until soft and cut into thin slices

1 tsp oyster sauce

1 tsp dark soya sauce

1/2 tsp salt

dash of pepper

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp cornflour

1 cup water

Preparation Instructions for the minced pork & mushroom sauce

1.  Heat wok and add cooking oil.

2.  Saute minced garlic until fragrant.

3.  Add in sliced mushrooms and stir-fry for one minute.

4.  Add in minced pork and fry until the  minced meat is broken into pieces and turned whitish.

5.  Add in water and all the seasoning ingredients.

6.  Cook until almost dry. If you like more gravy, add in more water.

Minced pork and mushroom sauce

Optional choices :

I added stir-fried amaranth greens for a more balanced diet. 

If you are interested to know more about this dish, please read up my post on Stir-Fried Amaranth Greens With Anchovies 
 

Stir-fried amaranth green with anchovies

Deep-fried Anchovies

40g anchovies or ikan bilis 

1.  Wash and drain the anchovies. 

2.  Pat dry with paper towels

3.  Deep-fry in hot oil until golden brown and crispy.

Serving:

Now we have the egg noodles, meat sauce , stir-fried amaranth greens and deep-fried anchovies. They are all ready. All you need to do is spoon noodles into individual bowls or plates and add in the meat sauces, anchovies and vegetables of your choice.

Enjoy this very delicious pan meen-dry style !

Thumbs Up!

Pandan Flavoured Snow Fungus & Gingko Nut Dessert

Pandan Flavoured Snow Fungus & Gingko Nut Dessert

Recipe source :  Doris Choo


A simple and sweet  dessert which we love to enjoy every now and then. We like to add hard-boiled quail eggs to this "tong-sui" or sweet soup. This dessert requires just a few basic ingredients yet a very tasty soup is brewed.  

I do not normally add pandan leaves to boil this sweet soup. But today, since I have some pandan leaves left  in my fridge, I added a few blades of these fragrant leaves to enhance the flavour. 

Well, I have no complaints. The flavour is definitely better with the added pandan leaves.
 

Ingredients

50g snow fungus, soak until soft and cut into bite-sized pieces
100g gingko nuts, remove shells and membranes
10 quail eggs, hard-boiled and remove the shells
3 blades pandan leaves, knotted together
120g cane rock sugar
1.5 litres water

Instructions

1.  Bring 1.5 litres of water to the boil.
2.  Add in the pandan leaves, softened snow fungus and gingko nuts and boil for 30 minutes.
3.  Remove and discard the pandan leaves.
4.  Add in cane rock sugar and hard-boiled quail eggs.
5.  Boil for a further 10 to 15 minutes or until the cane rock sugar dissolves.

 
I am linking this post to Joceline Lyn of Butter. Flour & Me

This event is linked to Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids

and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

The ingredient for September is "pandan"

Mini Lemon-syrup Sponges

Mini Lemon-syrup Sponges

Recipe source : Nigella Lawson


When I saw the mini lime-syrup sponges from Joyce,  I had it bookmarked immediately. They looked so cute and delicious. 

I have some lemons sitting in my refrigerator and I immediately thought about those lovely mini loaves which Joyce had baked using Nigella's "How To Be A Domestic Goddess". 

 I substituted lemons for limes. The amount yielded nine lovely pieces of mini sponges.

These mini lemon-syrup sponges were awesome! Super delicious!

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
zest of half a lemon
1 cup +  2 tbsp self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
4 tbsp milk

Syrup

4 tbsp lemon juice
zest for decoration
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Instruction for making the lemon-syrup

1.  Place the lemon juice and confectioner's sugar into a small saucepan.
2.  Heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Set  aside.

Instruction for making the mini sponges

1.  Preheat oven to170 degree C.
2.  Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs and lemon zest, beating well.
3.  Add self-raising flour, salt then milk. Beat well.
4.  Spoon into muffin pan and bake for 25 minutes.
5.  As soon as the mini sponges are baked, take them out from the oven and prick with a bamboo skewer all over.
6.  Spoon syrup all over the mini sponges. Set aside to let the syrup be absorbed.
7.  Remove the mini sponges while slightly warm otherwise it is difficult to remove them when they are totally cooled.
8.  Decorate with lemon zest on top of the mini sponges.

Spoon lemon syrup over the mini sponges immediately upon removing from the oven

Mouth-watering !

Yummy! These are super delicious!

I am sharing this post to Cook-Your-Books #4




hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours