Oyster Sauce-Chicken Delight

My kids love this yummy gravy, natural sweetness coming from the wonderful onions and chicken cum some oyster sauce which sums up the great taste for this dish.

Onion is a wonderful vegetable and coming from a Chinese family, we believe that it has lots of medicinal values in it. My grandma would tell us that it is good for flu/colds and onions also helps to eliminate bad bacteria in our intestines...we love you onions and thank u for being so wonderful!

See this extracts I got from a magazine :
Onions have a variety of medicinal effects.
Onions are a rich source of flavonoids, substances known to provide protection against cardiovascular disease.
Onion extracts, rich in a variety of sulfides, provide some protection against tumor growth.

Have fun trying this simple and easy recipe and make it a part of your meal...

What do you require :

• 1/2 chicken - chop into pieces
• 3 potatoes - cut into wedges
• 2 onions - cut into rings
• some oyster sauce
• a drop of black soya sauce - optional
• a dash of pepper
  

Simple Process :

1. Heat a little oil in the wok, saute the onion rings till aromatic, add in the chicken and stir well, add some water and lower the heat
2. Add some oyster sauce (tends to be salty), you may add a pinch of salt / pepper - to taste and mix well
3. Add in the potatoes and simmer the chicken under low heat for the next 25 minutes or till potatoes soften and gravy thickens
4. Voila.........Ready to serve with hot steam rice

Enjoy A Nutritious Meal!

Chilly-Sour Pai Kut

Non-Halal Dish


The color of this dish is real appetizing, good color with a spicy-sour savoury flavor... It takes time to simmer over low heat to get the pai kut (pork ribs) to become tender...thus need a little patience before getting the dish served. A simple recipe and with an appetizing gravy to go with hot white rice.



What do you require:

• 1/2 kg pork ribs (alternative beef or mutton can be used)
• 6 red chillies - chopped
• thumbsize young ginger - chopped
• 1 clove garlic - chopped
• 1 Tbs tamarind juice
• salt, sugar - to taste

What to do next :

1. Scald the pork ribs in boiling water for 2 mins to clear the fats - set aside
2. Heat a little oil, stir fry the chopped chilly, ginger, garlic together till aromatic, add in the pork ribs and stir well to mix
3. Add 1/2 bowl water, tamarind juice, salt and sugar to taste. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent being burnt.
4. Simmer for the next 1 hour, add a little water if necesary to ensure meat is kept wet all the time
5. When the meat is tender it is ready to serve...the amount of gravy is per your preference, some like more gravy (just like the photo above), some prefer less gravy.

Happy Cooking and Enjoy your Meal!

Yummy Chilli Crab

Look at this plate of delicious looking chilly crab. We named it "flower crab" basically of its beautiful texture and it is from the sea. It is white with blue-purple spots when it's raw and changes to sweet orangy-red when cooked. The female crab has lots of eggs and this is one reason it makes the gravy looks thick and creamy....you agree with me it looks yummy? Oh..to get the female crab with eggs..it depends on your luck..oh no, just pulling your legs, it is seasonal.

There are many ways to cook the crabs, but I just love my mum's simple recipe - yep, the Nyonya way....It's finger licking good.

Believe me, it is much more economical to cook this dish at home - total cost is less than $18 as compared to eat out, this dish will cost not less than $35. If you have passion to cook, just try this out? Let me share with you...

What you need :

• 1 kg crab
• 6 fresh chilly + 6 dried chilly - grounded - (alternatively you may use chilly paste)
• 1/2 clove garlic - chopped
• thumbsize young ginger - chopped
• 1 Tbs beanpaste
• salt and sugar - to taste

Simple Process :

1. Heat wok with a little oil, stir fry grounded chilly, chopped garlic, ginger and beanpaste at low heat till fragrant
2. Add in the crabs, plus a little water to keep the wok moist, stir well to mix the crabs with the ingredients, let it simmer at low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Once the crabs has turned to a full orangy-red color, it is almost ready

Mmmm! Simple Recipe And Yummy!

Note : Appreciate your comments or sharing if you have tried cooking this dish...just feel free to feedback via Comment at Blog...cheers

Sour Fish Soup - Assam Hu Th'ng

I miss my mum colorless assam fish soup, so thought of serving it differently this time but maintaining the tasty appetizing soup quality....Yeah! I decided to serve the soup with blanched beehoon to create a complete meal for the day.

This soup may not be recommended for too young kids as it has a spicy and sour flavor. The hot and spicy feel comes from chilly padi, ginger and the sour flavor comes from tamarind skin or alternatively use the salted mustard green (kiam chai), this will give a powerful sour taste. Kiam chai is Not recommended for those who has gastric, it is very acidic.


What do you require :

• Fish head - chopped into pieces or any medium size fish - cut into cutlets
• 3 stalk Lemon grass (serai)
• 6 Chilly Padi (small green chilly)
• Thumbsize ginger - slices
• 3 pieces Assam keping (dried tamarind skin)
• 1 Tomato - for garnishing
• sprig of chinese celery - for garnishing

Simple Process :

1. Boil 1.5litre of water in a pot, put in the smashed lemon grass, chilly padi and slices of ginger and tamarind skin over medium heat for 20 mins
2. Add in chopped fish head / fish cutlets and boil over low heat for another 15 minutes, add salt to taste
3. This sour fish soup must be served HOT....

** Just add in blanched beehoon if you wish to create a complete meal with the soup just like what I did.

Have an Appetizing Meal!

Cincalok Lime Meat

Wow, I love this dish, it makes ones eyes "blink blink". A typical nyonya homecook dish and the sour flavor from the lime excites one's appetite..... See the bottle at the right top corner, that's the cincalok I got from Malacca...taste great not too salty as compared to some other brands.

Cincalok (pickled shrimps) blends well with lime, no chilly is required here, the chilly in the photo is just for decoration, the dish has its natural pink color...the color looks sweet, can you see the little little shrimps in the dish?

Cincalok is normally served as cincalok sauce and it is a mixture of chopped chilly padi, shallots and lime.... let's look at grandma's simple to make recipe..... If you have never eaten cincalok, it is a must to try this dish, very sedap! (delicious)


What you require:

• 1 pc chicken breast meat - cut into small slices (alternative lean pork meat)
• /2 bowl of cincalok - drain over running water to lessen the salt content
• 2 big onions - cut into wedges
• 3 lime - get the juice

Simple Process :

1. Heat a little oil, fry the big onions till fragrant, add in the meat and stir fry
2. Add in some water, next, add the cincalok and lime juice, simmer over low heat for 15 mins
3. Voila...ready to serve with Hot hot rice

Real Appetizing.....try it!

Ah Mah Fish Curry

Here comes the delicious Fish Curry for a change. I love this curry as it is an original recipe from my grandma's kitchen, pass down to my mum and now I " inherited" it...wah, so lucky...hahaha. It is truly appetizing as it has a good blend of natural sweetness from the fish, taste the spicy and sour flavour gravy to grrrrrr the palate.....

Again, being a lazy and busy mum, I dont have the time to gering (to grind) the rumpah (grinded spices) using batu gering (ancient stone grinder) but instead modern society has made many things much easier for us, that's great. I have a simple and easy approach to cook this Fish Curry without sacrificing the original taste. Most important I ensure the critical part of cooking this dish is not missed. I believe my late grandma will definitely be proud of me as my mama gives me compliment for my Fish Curry....no joke, my mum dont simple praise as she is a good cook...


What you require:

• 2 bawal hitam (black pomfret) - cut into cutlets
• 10 lady's fingers (kacang bendi)
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 sprig of curry leaves


• 2 small pkt FISH curry powder (brand Babas is recommended)
• 6 red chillies
• 4 big onions
• some assam juice (tamarind) - amount to suit your preference

How do you cook it :

1. Grind the red chillies and big onions together. Put it in a bowl and mix it together with the Fish curry powder to form a curry paste


2. Heat up a little oil in the wok over low fire, add in the curry paste, curry leaves and "tumis" (stir fry) till fragrant


3. Add in 2 soup bowl of water and stir the mixture well, add the tamarind juice, add the fish and let it simmer over low fire for 15 minutes


4. Simultaneously, blanch the lady's fingers in boiling water till it softens lightly


5. Drop the lightly soften ladies fingers, tomatoes wedges into the curry, stir well for 5 minutes and it is ready to serve

** Complement with dark soya sauce on your rice together with your fish curry

Have a Good Appetite!

Yum Yum Brinjal

Once a while I feel free to indulge in "fried stuff"....yummy for the palate, no deny about it except not too often if we want to maintain good health status, haha!


Many ways of getting the brinjal aka egg plant served. One of the ways my mum used to cook for us is just to season it with a few stuff and deepfry, wa....served with sambal balacan...phuhyo...taste so good. I created something new today as I happened to have some balance fillings used for wantan (minced meat wrap in flour skin) .... Surprise eh...my son said "Wa mum smells so good, wat's new".... Wow! so motivating, someone appreciates....let's get moving, try this simple and easy to cook brinjal





What you require:

• 2 nice long brinjals - cut into 5cm long, half it


• lean chicken meat - minced


• some prawns - minced


• spring onions - chopped


• salt, pepper - to taste

Simple Process :

1. Put the steamer ready, and steam the brinjals for 5 minutes, just to soften it


2. While steaming brinjal, mix the minced meat and prawns with the chopped spring onions, add salt and pepper - to taste


3. Once brinjal is ready, put the minced meat/prawn paste on each piece of brinjal, pressed on the brinjal so that it does not fall off when deep-frying


4. Next, heat the pan with some oil and fry the brinjal face down - meat prawn paste on top of the oil for 3-4 minutes. Do not overcook as the brinjal will soak up the oil.


5. Gently lift up the brinjal from the pan, using the help of chopsticks and fork.

Serve hot....yum! yum!

Garlic Fried Asparagus

Asparagus, the power veggie.... my kids love this garlic fried style more than the sambal fried ones. I bought this Cameron Highlands-mari asparagus from the wet market and found it taste as good as the imported ones....economical too. My kids loves it because it is crunchy and I guess it brings fun to their mouth......hahaha

I read in an article that says Asparagus is a green power veggie that has good medicinal properties in it. It has lots of nutrition and useful in vascular problems eg. hypertension and heart disease. WoW! Hmmm...so do cook and eat at home..

What you require?

• A bundle of asparagus
• 1 carrot
• handful of prawns
• 1/2 clove chopped garlic
• some chinese cooking wine
• salt - to taste

As easy as ABC, this is how it goes:

1. Heat some oil in the wok and fry the garlic till aromatic, drop in the prawns and stir fry
2. When prawns gets pinky, drop in the carrots and stir fry, add in salt and a little water, close lid for 5 minutes
3. Finally, drop in the asparagus and stir fry for 5 minutes and sum up with a few drops of cooking wine.
4. Ready to be served....

A colorful plate of vegetable dish for the family.....happy trying!

Tamarind Prawn - Assam Hae

Look at those Assam Prawns...I bet you gonna like it. It is really " Finger linking Yummy!" Yep..a must to eat with your CLEAN fingers, starting from the "garing" (cripsy) head of the prawn and slowly venture deep to the flesh ..taste so good...mixture of sweet, savoury and sour flavour... This is one of mum's and grandma's speciality. I have the improved version, the fried prawns are not so dark as compared to mum's recipe...

To get a good flavour, the prawns need to be marinated for at least 3 hours before deep fry.

What you require?

• Medium or Big size prawns
• 2 Tbs Tamarind add some hot water (assam juice)
• some sugar, salt and pepper to taste

What's Next?

1. Marinate the prawns with the assam juice, sugar, salt and pepper for at least 3 hours
2. Heat oil in the wok at medium heat and deep fry the marinated prawns till cooked - reddish brown
3. Remove and drain from oil and...it is ready to be served

** sliced chillies n spring onions are for garnishing only..

Simple yet Delicious!

Nyonya Gado Gado

When I was a little child it makes me wonder why grandma named her scalded vegetables mixed with tangy peanut sauce "gaduh gaduh"...... ah huh...it's actually "Gado Gado". This dish is quite similar to Penang Indian Pasembur minus the fried fritters (flour stuff with prawns) ....

It is a healthy dish and can be served as lunch. I love having this dish for home parties or even during pot luck parties. It is easy to prepare except just need a little skill in preparing the "kuah" - tangy peanut sauce. The success of the dish comes from the good tasty "kuah"..

What you require?

Vegetables :
1 Turnip /1 Cucumber /8 Long Beans / 1/4 cabbage / Taugeh optional
4 pcs Beancurd (taukua) - deep fry
3 Boiled Eggs, 4 Boiled Potatoes
* Blanch the longbeans and taugeh

Ingredients For the Sauce:
600gm Toasted Peanuts - grounded - Serve 5-6
some Assam juice
1 box coconut milk
sugar and salt - to taste

8 chillies and 2 big onions- grind together
2 thumbsize lengkuas (galangal) - cut into slices
4 stalks serai (lemon grass) - smash it

How to get this Peanut Sauce?
1. Heat some oil and fry (tumis) the grounded chilly and onion till aromatic
2. Drop in the lengkuas and serai and stir fry at low heat
3. Add in the assam juice and stir in grounded peanuts, let it boil and lastly the coconut milk
4. Add sugar and salt - to taste

To serve, just drop sufficient tangy peanut sauce on top of the blanched vegetables, eggs, potatoes, fried beancurd...


Stay Healthy with this Yummy Nyonya Salad

What do you think? It looks good and simple? Happy Trying...

Soup Appetizer - Nyonya HomeCook

This colorful soup brings back lots of sweet memories of my late nyonya grandma. Grandma called this soup "Titik Si Kua" aka as Titik Watermelon. It is really appetizing, taste a little spicy and recommended to drink when it is hot. According to grandma this is a nutritional soup, it clears away excessive air in the digestive system....hahaha, a good burp will take place after drinking this wonderful soup...yes it is true, no joke!

So next time dont throw away the watermelon skin after you have cut out the flesh of the watermelon... peel of the green skin and keep the white portion for the soup... You will not find this Titik Si Kua at any Nyonya restaurant, if you wish to experiment this healthy soup, then cook it at home..

What do you require?

Watermelon skin - peel off the green skin

some dried prawns

10 biji white pepper

5 small shallots

a thumbsize balacan

salt - to taste

What's Next?

1. Pound the dried prawns, white pepper, shallots, belacan together.

2. Boil 1 litre water together with the pounded stuff, add the cut pieces of watermelon

skin and boil over slow fire for about 30 minutes or till the watermelon skin turns soft

3. Serve soup when it is hot....

Wow! it is real appetizing and simple to cook....

Healthy n Nutritious SteamChicken

My hubby loves this dish, it's non oily (chicken skin removed), simple and a tasty steam dish.

If you enjoy eating a healthy and nutritious dish...go for this, no fuss to cook and taste great, natural sweetness minus the MSG, truly a homecook food.

To get a great steam dish, always marinate the chicken for at least an hour or more before steaming..... I normally marinate the meat and leave it in the fridge and ready to steam when back at home in the evening....

What do you require?

1/2 chicken - chop into pieces

some black mushrooms - soak and slice

some black fungus (mok yee) - soak and slice

some dried dried kim chiam - tie into knots and soak

thumb size ginger - get the juice

2 Tbs rice wine

salt - to taste

What's Next?

1. Marinate the chicken with ginger juice, a little salt and rice wine and leave it in the fridge for at least an hour

2. Boil the black mushroom, black fungus and kim chiam in a little water for 10 minutes

3. Pour it over the chicken and cover with a plate before putting into steamer

Prepare the steamer 5 minutes before putting in the dish

4. Steam for 20 minutes and it's ready to be served

It's nutritious and tasty, simple and easy to cook....

Gorgeous Fish

I like this sweet sour fish cutlets....it looks so "gorgeous"...simply looks good and taste good ...consume more tomatoes as they are rich in beta carotene and it is good for the body.

..

This little dish brings along bright beautiful colors and it automatically wets the appetite of kids....it is not spicy. It comes with a good blend of nice sweet and a little "sourish" taste... With this two pieces of kurau cutlet it cost quite a lot if you were to eat it at the shop... I paid for RM11 only.

What do you require?

a medium size fish or 2 pieces of cutlets - kurau or angchoe

2 big onions - cut into wedges

2 tomatoes - cut into wedges

3 Tablespoon tomato sauce

3 Tablespoon plum sauce

1Tablespoon chilly sauce - optional

a sprig of spring onion - for garnishing

salt - to taste

What is next?

1. Dry the fish and coat the fish with some cornflour

2. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the fish till golden brown - leave aside

3. Heat some oil in the wok and fry the cut onions till aromatic, add

in a little water and drop in the tomato, plum sauce, chilly sauce (optional)

4. Bring to a boil and add in the tomatoes and stir for 1 minute

5. Pour over the fried fish, garnish with chopped spring onions and voila...

ready to serve....yummy! yummy!

Cheap to cook at home and appetizing!

Fried Bee Tai Bak

Fried Bee Tai Bak....wow! can you see the prawns, fried eggs, beansprout and chives.....looks yummy right!

Wa, what's that?...the name sounds so alien... but it look simply delicious, gee? Penangnites called it "bee tai bak" and it is a.k.a. loh si fun. It is from the family of noodle kueh teow except it is short and in strips and it's slippery...

There are 2 ways of preparing, one in a soup form and alternatively fry it. We love the fried version. This takes a little "wok" skill, try it...never try, never know!

Let me share how you too can enjoy this plate of yummy loh si fun...here it goes..

What you require?

1 packet loh si fun - serve 2.5

some prawns

1 piece fish cake - slice it

2 Eggs

some beansprouts (taugeh)

2 sprig of chives (ku chai) - optional

- or alternative is spring onion

some grounded chilly - get it from hypermarket

4 pieces of garlic - chopped

3 Tablespoon light soya sauce

salt - to taste

What to do next?

1. Heat the wok with a little oil and fry the chopped garlic and grounded chilly

2. Add the prawns and sliced fishcake and stir till the prawns turn pink

3. Next, add in the loh si fun and add in the light soya sauce and stir well for 5 minutes and if you like the "dark" look, just drip 2 drops of dark soya sauce

4. Drop in the cut chives and taugeh and stir fry well

5. Knock the eggs into the wok and let the eggs cook slightly before stiring thoroughly

and mixing it with the loh si fun

6. Ready to serve hot.....

Yummy! Yummy! Muaaach....Simply Delicious!

* if you like crunchy beansprout, then you add it in after Step 4..

Nyonya Ju Hu Char

This is a beautiful dish...and it taste really good even for some kids who do not like to eat vegetables. They will simply love it. This dish is normally served during festives season in a Nyonya Baba home. My grandma has taught us the way to eat it. A small portion of ju hu char is wrap in green lettuce and complement with a small portion of sambal belacan...Wow it taste so delicious!

I have simplified the way the vegetables are cut now. My grandma and mum have very good cutting skills and they can shred the vegetables so finely with the knife. As for me, no way I can do it, I end up with a plaster on my finger. Not to worry, with the help of the shredder, things are made easy for us...hahahha.

This is how it goes........within 40 minutes you will have this delicious dish

What do you require?

1/4 cabbage

1 round turnip (bangkwang)

2 carrots

2 big onions - half it n cut into slices

dried cuttlefish strips (yau yee shi)

What is next?

1. Shred the cabbage, carrot and turnip finely

2. Fry the onions till aromatic, add the dried cuttlefish strips

3.Add in the shredded vegetables and stir well, add a little water, salt to taste

4. Close the lid of the pan and let it simmer at low fire till vegetables soften

5. Well, that's it, ready to serve.

Eat it as it is or wrap with green lettuce*shown in photo

Simply Delicious!

Sweet Sour Spicy Tempeh with Ikan Billis

Do you know that Tempeh is a good and healthy food, full of protein?
Tempeh is actually steam fermented beans and can be obtained from the makcik stall at wet market or Giant hypermarket.
The photo above shows the tempeh I got from the wet market....cheap, cheap @ 50 cents per packet. My husband and girl simply loves this dish....there are few ways to cook tempeh but they just love this sweet, sour and spicy flavor recipe and it goes very well with rice....

Wanna try it? Yep, this dish is easy and fast to cook. Here it goes......



What you require

4 packets of tempeh - cut it into small pieces
Ikan billis (anchovies)
5 red chillies and 2 big onions
Assam juice (tamarind)
sugar and salt - taste



How do you cook it?

1. Fry the tempeh till golden brown - set aside
2. Fry the ikan billis till golden brown - set aside
3. Fry the grounded chillies and onions till aromatic, add the assam juice,
sugar and salt to taste
4. Add in the fried tempeh and mix well
5. When ready to serve, sprinkle the fried ikan billis on top

Yum! Yum! It taste so goooood.......

Chicken Curry Jean

I enjoy simplifying recipes, same time ensuring getting the good taste. I called it the simple version Curry Chicken as compared to my Granny and Mum's way of cooking. Surprisingly, my nyonya aunty gave me lots of praises recently when she tasted my version curry chicken....phuhyo! You know something, it is not easy to gain praises from a good cook and I did it, WOW!

Cooking has been part of my hobby and also I have a great family who truly enjoy what I served...it's truly motivating, yeah! The cooking time for this dish is less than 1 hour.

What you require to make this curry....for a family of 4

1/2 chicken or 2 chicken thighs

5 potatoes

1 tin evaporated milk

2 lime - squeeze the juice

salt - to taste

Curry Paste

1 small pkt Fish Curry Powder

1 small pkt Meat Curry Powder

4 blended big onions

What is next?

1. Fry the curry paste till aromatic and add in the chicken and potatoes, stir well

2. Add a little water to keep the pan moist at low heat

3. Add in the lime juice and simmer the chicken till tender

4. Add in the evaporated milk and give it a final boil

5. Ready to serve....

a. Serve it as a dish by itself

b. Serve it as "kon lo curry mee" - Dry Curry Chicken Mee/Beehoon

garnish with Mint Leave (Pudina)....it taste Voila!