Meals Unite Family

Fish Otak Otak (Spicy Fish Mousse)

2011-02-16T21:46:00.000-08:00

HAPPY CHAP GOH MEH or Happy Chinese Valentine Day! Today is the 15th day of the Chinese Lunar Year and also the last day to celebrate the Chinese Lunar Year

Hmmmm, Yum! Yum! I just love my grandma's homemade fish otak otak or some sort of spicy fish mousse. I have "inherited" the recipe from my mum and enjoy making it for the family. It taste great as compared to those commercial ones found in the frozen corners. The great difference between home cooked and commercial ones are the wonderful aroma of banana leaf and daun kaduk when it is cooked. It is a great appetizer.

Otak Otak is one of the Nyonya dishes served either wrapped in small package form with banana leaf or can be served in a tray with the banana leave underlining it. I am not good in wrapping, so I took the alternative choice of steaming in a tray.

Simple Ingredients :

1 big piece of fish cutlet - debone and cut into pieces
6 pieces red chilly
4 stalks lemon grass (serai)
10 shallots
2 thumbsize fresh tumeric
1 thumbsize belacan (shrimp paste)
3 eggs
1/2 cup coconut cream
10 pieces daun kaduk (wild pepper leaves)

Simple Process :

1. Line the steaming tray with a piece of banana leaf and on top of it lay the 10 pieces daun kaduk.

2. Spread the pieces of fish on top of the daun kaduk.

3. Next, blend the chilly, lemon grass, shallots, tumeric, shrimp paste with 1/2 cup water in a blender.

4. Use a big bowl to beat up the eggs, then add in the coconut cream and the blended chilly mixture. Mix well, add salt, a little sugar to taste.

5. Lastly pour the combined mixtures into the tray and cover it with a aluminium foil (to prevent dripping water when steaming). Just make sure the mixtures covers the fish.

6. Pre heat the steamer before steaming, steam the tray of otak otak for 25 minutes and it is ready to serve.

Yam Coin Ball Delight

2010-10-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

I once had this Hakka dish called "yam abacus" many years back at a shop and I really enjoyed eating this "chewy ball". I was so delighted when I saw a stall in the night market selling the freshly made yam ball and as it is easily accessible, now I can have it home cooked and free of MSG.....Wow, that's wonderful!

This yam ball is made from mashed yam plus flour and shape into the form of "coin" and I guess that's where it got its name as yam abacus... :))
Simple Ingredients and Process

Packet of yam coin ball
4 pcs of chinese mushroom - soaked in water and chopped into pieces
handful of dried shrimps - soaked and chopped into pieces
some minced meat
1 stalk of corriander - chopped
1 onion - chopped
3 pips garlic - chopped
1 Tbs dark soy sauce
salt to taste

1. Heat the pan with a little oil and saute the chopped onion and garlic till aromatic
2. Add in the dried shrimps, stir fry for 2 mins, then add the minced meat and chinese mushrooms, sprinkle with some water to keep it moist
3. Put in the yam coin ball, dark soy sauce and lastly the chopped corriander
4. Stir to mix well and keep it well coated with the ingredients for another 3 mins
5. Salt to taste and serve hot

Fried Rice with Pineapple and Chicken Meatball

2010-09-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

An easy to prepare hot meal for the family. Yes, this is Fried Rice with an extra "hot flavor".
Can you see the little green chilly....wow, these little green thing gives the fried rice a punch!

I have added on cubes of fresh pineapples or you may use canned ones (a little sweet as it has been soaked in syrup), chicken meatballs and some chopped french beans.

pineapples from the Can

I have used the following to flavor the fried rice for 4 person :

1 chopped onion
3 Tbs Oyster sauce
1 Tbs light soy sauce
1 Tbs fish sauce
dashes of chilly flakes
10 pcs of chilly padi (little green chilly) - optional

Heat the wok with some oil and saute the chopped onion and chilly padi till it is aromatic, add in the cut chicken meatball, french beans and give it a good stir
Add in the cooked rice, the sauces together and stir to mix well over medium heat
Stir well for next 10 minutes, then add in the pineapple cubes, dashes of chilly flakes
Ready to serve a yummy hot meal

Nasi Lemak Chicken Curry

2010-09-04T02:13:00.000-07:00

A delicious one set meal that can be easily prepared and served at home. Eating at home means eating healthy as we can control the level of oil used to prepare those dishes and definitely NO MSG.. for sure.

Nasi Lemak is a typical Malaysian dish and Malaysians eat it all the time. It can be served as a set meal for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is rice cooked in coconut milk with screwpine leaves or pandan leaves - which produces a beautiful aroma.

I normally served Nasi Lemak with varieties of dishes like chicken curry, chilly prawns, rendang chicken, fried fish with sambal (pounded chilly with prawn paste and lime). The sidelines are fried peanuts, fried anchovis, fried egg, hard boiled egg or even pickled salad which consist of onion rings, cucumber and pineapple.

You may retrieve the chicken curry here posted March 3 2009 and way to cook Nasi Lemak or Coconut Milk Rice posted April 11 2009.

Have fun!

Thai Chicken Rice

2010-08-28T01:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a simple and easy to cook dish for the family. It is Thai Chicken Rice, home cooked, clean and hygienic. The various spices used for this chicken rice produces a beautiful fragrance and it taste real good and healthy. Try it... The recipe below serves 4 - 5.

Spices used : 3 Tbs curry powder, 2 Tbs cummin powder, 1 Tbs cinnamon powder, 1 Tbs turmeric powder

Take 3 Tbs of the mixed spices and marinate 3 pieces of chopped chicken thigh together with 1 cup (140g) of natural yoghurt. Marinate for about 30 minutes or more. Keep the balance of the spices for used later.

Leave the marinated chicken aside for 30 minutes or more
Wash 2 cups of rice and set aside in the rice cooker
Peel and slice thinly 6 shallots for frying
Heat 2 Tbs of oil and saute the shallots and the balance mixed spices till aromatic
Add in the marinated chicken and give it a good stir
Add in the water - enough to cook the rice - and allow the chicken to simmer for 5 minutes, add salt to taste
Arrange the chicken on top of the rice then pour the chicken stock into the rice pot
Finally, let the chicken rice to be cooked in the rice cooker
Serve with vinegar chilly... Enjoy a Good Meal!

Orange Sauce Chicken

2010-08-16T00:06:00.000-07:00

A delicious chicken dish with real orange aroma and it whets the appetite. So next time if you have too many oranges in your refrigerator, try cooking this dish. I have added straw mushroom to enhance the look of this dish, it is optional. Simple to prepare and fast to cook.

All you need to do :

First marinate the 2 pieces chicken breast or 1/2 chicken with the following ingredients for 30mins:

3 Tbs orange juice
2 Tbs ginger juice
1 Tbs chinese cooking wine
1 Tbs sesame oil
dash of pepper and salt

Next, prepare 1/2 cup orange juice, add 2 tsp cornflour and set aside. Peel and cut 1 orange into cubes and set aside for use later.

Next, heat the wok with 2 Tbs oil, and saute the chopped garlic and add the chicken (drain out the marinated liquid and set aside), stir fry till slightly browned or medium cooked

Finally, add in the 1/2 cup orange juice mixture and the balance marinated liquid onto the chicken, lower the fire and allow it to simmer for 10 mins. Add in the straw mushrooms and the orange cubes.

Seasoned with salt and sugar to taste, ready to serve with hot steamed rice...

Spicy Sour Tasty Chicken

2010-08-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

Easy and fast to cook....This chicken dish is yummy! I was browsing through some old recipe books recently and found this recipe card that read "Masala Chicken" and I find it appealing. Masala Chicken is an Indian cuisine. The most important factor for me is the dish must be easy to prepare and easy to obtain ingredients. This dish is spicy and has soft sour flavour and goes well with bread or rice, sounds appealing to you, try it then... :))

Simple Ingredients

Half chicken or 3 Chicken Thigh - chopped into small pieces

3 Tbs chilly powder
2 large red onion - cut it into 1/2 rings
2 cm young ginger - shredded
2 cloves garlic - cut into thin slices
4 dried chilly - cut into 3cm length
1 pc cinnamon stick
1 tsp cummin powder
some curry leaves
1 Tbs rice vinegar
salt and sugar - to taste

Simple Process :

1. Heat 2 Tbs oil in the pan and saute the onion rings, garlic, ginger, dried chilly, cinnamon stick and curry leaves till aromatic

2. Add in the chicken and sprinkle the chilly powder and cummin powder all over the chicken, stir mix well

3. Add 1/4 cup water, lower the heat and let the chicken simmer with the lid covered for the next 15 - 20mins or till meat is almost cook

4. Lastly, add in the rice vinegar, salt and sugar to taste, give it a good stir for 2 - 3 mins

5. It is ready to serve. You may eat with steamed rice or bread

Seafood n Vegetable Curry

2010-07-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hi there.....thank you so much for continuously visiting my Blog.... and it is a quite a while I have not been updating my Blog....so, here is one of my collection for a hot and spicy dish..... and I am sure you would enjoy a good meal either with rice or noodles.....

Here is a simple process of preparing a seafood curry with vegetables...easy to prepare and no fuss about getting the ingredients grounded..

Simple Ingredients :

4 Tbs of dried Curry Powder for Meat (I use Babas)

1 Tbs dried Chilly Powder

3 Large Onions - blended and mix with the curry powder to make it into paste

1 box Concentrated Coconut Milk (200gms) or 300 ml Fresh Milk

600 gms Prawns

4 Squids or 1 Medium size Cuttlefish - cut into small pieces

6 leaves Cabbage - cut into small pieces

5 Long beans - cut into 3 cm length

5 Ladies Fingers - cut into 3 cm length

1 small Brinjal - cut into 3 cm length and half it

Simple Process :

1. Heat 3 Tbs oil in a pan and saute the curry paste over low heat till aromatic

2. Add 1 cup water, put in the pieces of squids, cabbage, long beans, brinjal and allow it to simmer over medium heat for 10 -15 minutes.

3. Next add in the prawns, ladies fingers, coconut milk or milk and salt to taste. Allow it to simmer over low heat for the next 10 minutes or till prawns are cooked. Do stir occasionally to avoid burnt at bottom of pan.

You may add in extra coconut milk or milk instead and cut down the amount of water to have a more creamier curry based on your preference.

Enjoy A Good Meal at Home!

Will Be Back Soon..

2009-11-19T04:45:00.000-08:00

Thank you for visiting my Blog. I have been busy of late and have not been updating my Blog.

Will be back once I have the time......... Happy browsing for those Recipes that you like and enjoy a good meal at home....

See you soon..

Gulai Assam Pedas

2009-10-30T23:58:00.000-07:00

This is one of the nyonya sour-spicy curry fish and my grandmother called it Gulai Assam Pedas. A healthy curry with no oil added. I remembered when we were small, we would request for blanched vermicelli to eat with the curry soup and it taste so good, an alternative of "Assam Laksa". The important ingredient in this curry is the aromatic herb called "daun kesum", the fresh green leaves that is seen in the photo. The taste of this curry or gulai is a little sour and spicy and it is real appetizing, yummy!

All you need:

1/2 kg small fish - ikan selar
2 sprig of daun kesum
10 shallots
6 red chilly
2 cm size galangal (lengkuas)
4 lemon grass
2 cm size dried shrimp paste (belacan)
2 Tbs tamarind juice
salt to taste

Simple Process :

1. Ground the chilly, shallots, galangal, lemon grass into a paste
2. Put 1 litre of water in a pot and add the daun kesum, grounded paste and put to boil over medium heat
3. Once the soup smells aromatic, add in the tamarind juice, salt to taste, add in the fish
4. Boil over low heat till fish is cooked. If you wish to increase the sourness, just add in extra tamarind juice.

Wow! Super Appetizing, Enjoy your Meal!

Herbal Tau Pau (BeanCurd Roll)

2009-10-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is a beautiful dish and we all love tau pau. Tau Pau or Beancurd Roll is very nutritious and I have this newly created simple recipe to go with steamed rice. The gravy are made up of boiled dongqui, red dates, dried longan, wolfberries and chinese mushroom. Wow, the extracts are very aromatic especially the dongqui (tongkui). Dongqui is a type of roots which is sweet and pungent and it helps in revitalising energy in our body, the chinese called it "blood tonic".

Lightly pan fried the Tau Pau before adding in the "tonic" gravy

All you Need:

a packet of beancurd roll - obtainable from Vegetarian grocery stall
3 pcs dongqui
10 red dates
20 dried longan
some wolfberries
4 chinese mushroom - soaked and cut into slices

Simple Process :

1. Lightly pan-fried the tau pau / beancurd roll till golden brown
2. Boil 1/2 cup water with dongqui, red dates, dried longan, wolfberries and mushroom over low heat till all the ingredients has soften
3. Pour the gravy and the boiled ingredients over the pan-fried beancurd roll
4. Ready to Serve with warm rice

Enjoy the great taste of the herbal tonic

Hand Made Chai Pau

2009-10-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

This is another of my hubby's contribution. Great attempt and he successfully make dozens of delicious Pau for all of us. Hand made Pau taste so great as compared to machine made ones. It taste real good and the Pau is not sticky, unlike those "machine made" Pau. The filling of the Pau is made up of fried vegetables - shredded carrots and yambean aka bangkuang fried with lots of garlic.. Wow! Worth his effort as we enjoyed it very very much! Thanks Daddy... :))

All you need :

500 gms of plain flour
100 gms of shortening
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs instant yeast
1 cup warm water

The Process :

Sieve flour into large bowl, add salt
Mix warm water, sugar and instant yeast together in a bowl and rest for 5 mins
Next pour the mixture into the flour and mix it together
Add in the shortening and start to knead till it becomes a non stick dough
Next, rest the dough for 1 hour to double the size, cover with a cloth
Once the dough has doubled, re-knead it for 10 minutes
Roll the dough into lengthwise and cut into 40gms per piece size
Flatten it with a rolling pin then fill it with the filling of your choice
Shape it and lastly steam it for 15 mins and ready to serve

Have Fun and Enjoy Trying...

Spicy Beancurd Roll

2009-10-06T00:59:00.000-07:00

Look at this plate of yummy spicy beancurd roll. We just love this beancurd roll, it taste good and nutritious. It is made up of layers of thick soft beancurd skin and it is tender when it is not cooked. What I did was pan fried it before serving with this wonderful sauce of mine.

The sauce are made up of grounded fresh chilly, chopped ginger and onions, some fermented soya beans and to your taste tamarind juice. Wow! it is very appetizing and goes well with hot steamed rice.

Simple and Delicious....

All you need :

3 fresh chilly - pounded
1 chopped onion
1 thumbsize young ginger
1 Tbs fermented soya bean
2 Tbs tamarind juice
a little sugar to taste

Simple Process :
1. Saute the the pounded chilly, chopped onion, ginger, fermented soya beans till fragrant
2. Add in the tamarind juice, a little sugar and bring to boil
3. Pour it over the lightly fried beancurd roll
4. Serve hot with steamed rice

Have a Healthy and Happy Meal!

Steamed Fish Cutlet

2009-09-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

This is a piece of very fresh fish cutlet (ikan kurau) which cost me less than $15. it is meaty and sweet and I had it steamed with lots of chopped garlic and ginger and chinese cooking wine.... Emmmm, it is yummy! Cooking it at home means able to control the amount of oil used thus eat healthy. To keep the meat tender, just put in a ready steamer and steam for 15 mins and serve hot... Garnished with chopped spring onion.

Simple and healthy way of cooking....

Enjoy a happy and healthy meal at home..

Penang Law Mee (Noodle)

2009-09-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

Wow...I am so happy to taste my own home made Penang Law Mee. A truly Penang delicacy which I missed very much. With a little exploration based on taste and remembering the beautiful aroma of the thick gravy and the braised meat and eggs, I can proudly say "I am almost there"... :)) Yummy and delicious!

All you need :

400gms lean meat
2 eggs - whisked
4 hard boiled eggs
1 kg prawn shells (keep the prawns and use the shells)
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbs dark soy sauce
2 tsp 5-spice powder
5 Tbs tapioca flour

Simple Process:

Marinate the lean meat with dark soy sauce, salt and pepper for 2 hours before cooking

Braised the marinated meat over low fire with garlic and 5 spice powder added in together with 1 litre water over low heat for 1.5 hours or till meat is tender. Also, add in the hard boiled eggs to braised together.

Stir fry the prawn shell till shell turns red and boil it with 500 ml water for 20 minutes to extract the prawn stock. Separate the shells and the stock by sieve.

Set aside the cooked braised meat and eggs, use the meat stock to mix with the prawn stock

Bring the two stocks to a boil, stir in the tapioca flour to thicken the gravy for the noodles

Lastly, drip in the whisked egg into the thicken gravy and off the heat

Blanched the Noodle, beansprout and garnished it with the pieces of braised dark soy meat and eggs

Pour the thick gravy over the garnished noodle and serve with fried shallots

Enjoy a good home made Penang Law Mee...

Savoury Pulut - Sticky Rice

2009-09-22T03:26:00.000-07:00

A yummy savoury glutinous or sticky rice aka pulut in our language. A beautiful contribution from my wonderful niece CKE - an authentic recipe from her mum. See, how well she has cooked this delicious dish for all of us, it is not too sticky and we just love the texture of the pulut. Bravo to her for sharing this recipe :))

The rice is soaked overnight before cooking. Drain the water and add some light and dark soy sauce to the rice. Steam the rice for 40 mins, sprinkle some water in between the steaming process to ensure pulut is soft and cooked.
For the ingredients to add to the steamed pulut - prepare thin slices of meat, thin slices chinese sausage, sliced black mushroom.
1. Saute the chopped onion and garlic till aromatic
2. Add in all the ingredients and stir fry
3. Add 1 Tbs oyster sauce, some dark soy sauce, pepper to the ingredients
4. Next, add in the steamed rice and stir fry till it is well mixed with the ingredients
5. Garnish with chopped spring onion and serve.

Enjoy a Delicious Savoury Pulut

Nasi Ulam Nyonya

2009-09-17T05:19:00.000-07:00

This is a healthy plate of rice called Nasi Ulam *Nasi is Rice - Ulam is Raw vegetable* It is one of the Nyonya cuisine. The variety of leaves are grown in my little garden and I was so happy when it is time to harvest them to make into a good healthy meal for the family, they love it very much :)) All the leaves used has good nutritional values.

It taste so wonderful as the leaves used has a beautiful fresh aroma. The finely cut leaves are made up of turmeric leave, wild betel leave aka daun kaduk, peppermint leave, kaffir leaves, lemon grass and together with the fresh turmeric. I have not yet master the skill of fine cutting of the leaves as compared to my wonderful mum and grandma.

Extract of photos below are taken from the google image for reference.

With the all the finely cut leaves, it is then mixed with pounded fried salted fish and pounded fried grated coconut (kerisik), fine slices of shallots and dash of pepper. This is then mixed with the hot rice.

This plate shows the ingredients already well mixed with the rice, just before eating

Enjoy a good and healthy meal!

Coke Chicken

2009-09-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

This dish surprisingly turns up to be yummy. A friend of mine tasted this menu for CocaCola Chicken in a restaurant and she was describing it to me, so I thought why not, let me re-create it and see how it taste like...well, we enjoyed it very much... yeah! It is simple and easy to prepare, just marinate it for few hours and just cook it...that's it :))

It is a blend of sweet-savoury and lemon taste....yum-yum taste great!

All you need :

1/2 chicken
1 bottle coke
1 lemon - extract juice
some chopped ginger and garlic
1 Tbs dark soy sauce

Simple Process :

1. Marinate the chicken with 3/4 bottle coke and lemon juice for 3 - 4 hours
2. Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the chopped ginger and garlic till fragrant
3. Pick up pieces of chicken and put it into the wok, stir fry till chicken turns white, keep the liquid aside
4. Add the dark soy sauce and mix well, put in the left over liquid and allow the chicken to simmer over med heat till the gravy thickens.
5. Serve hot

Have a Happy Meal

Broccoli with Pumpkin Sauce

2009-09-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

Look at this yummy nutritious pumpkin sauce which I have made to spread on the beancurd and broccoli...nice color combination yeah! I have this dish created out of left over small amount of vegetables found in my refrigerator, so I thought, why waste it, do something then... Here comes the great rich taste pumpkin sauce... Pumpkin has a rich source of vitamins and definitely it gives us lots of benefit if consumed well.

All you need :

some broccoli
1/4 pc pumpkin
1 pkt of seaweed beancurd
30 ml milk
salt to taste

Simple Process :

1. Steam the pumpkin for 10 mins and blend it, set aside
2. Blanched lightly the broccoli and set aside
3. Steam the seaweed beancurd for 5 mins
4. Lay the broccoli and seaweed beancurd on a plate
5. Heat the blended pumpkin, add the milk, salt to taste and bring to a boil
6. Pour the pumpkin sauce over the broccoli and seaweed beancurd
7. Serve well with steamed rice

Enjoy a Nutritious Meal!

Baked Aromatic Chicken

2009-09-09T00:27:00.000-07:00

Look at this very "sexy" delicious aromatic baked chicken for the family. A friend of mine shared this beautiful recipe with me not long ago and she is absolutely right, the baked chicken taste so-ooo good, words just cannot describe how good it taste, you got to try baking it. The meat is so tender and moist and yum yum... :)) And of course it is healthy to eat!

I used to baked the chicken with salt rubbed all over its body together with screwpine leaves (pandan leaves) but without the lemon grass (serai), and I just realised by adding the lemon grass together makes a lot of difference! (ie. provided you like the smell of the fresh lemon grass)

Simple Process :

Clean and drain dry the whole chicken which has been slit at the centre
Rub salt all over including inside the walls of the chicken
Put about 10 screw pine leaves and 10 lemon grass on the aluminium foil papper
Let the chicken sit on top of the herbs
Wrap it up nicely with the aluminium foil paper and put in the baking tray
Bake at 200 degrees C for 60mins

Have Fun and Enjoy!

Chicken with Sesame Seed Oil

2009-09-02T06:26:00.000-07:00

A beautiful set meal for the family.....voila! There are days, a lazy mum like me trying to juggle my time for the day and still ensuring a good meal for the family. So, here goes a set meal - it's steamed rice with chicken stir-fry with young ginger in sesame seed oil. Wow, it's so aromatic and taste real good. I have add on butter- grilled french beans to make a complete meal.

Sesame seed oil is very aromatic and it has good nutritious value too. It is normally served for chinese ethnic mommies during their post-natal (1 month confinement days)

All you need : * half chicken - chopped into pieces * slices of young ginger * 1 clove chopped garlic * 3 Tbs Sesame seed oil

Simple Process :
1. Heat the wok with the sesame seed oil and saute the chopped garlic and ginger slices till aromatic
2. Add the chicken and stir well till chicken turns white, add 1/2 cup water, salt to taste, to add a little color, add in 1 Tbs light soy sauce
3. Simmer over low heat till chicken is cooked
4. Serve hot with steamed rice

Enjoy a simple delicious set meal!

5 Spice Pork Chop

2009-08-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

A taste good and smell good recipe for pork chop. Pork Chop can be tough with it's not managed right. I did not use any meat tenderizer instead I have used my mum's method to ensure the meat is not tough when cooked by simply "pounding" it with the back of the chopper till the grains of the meat are loosen up. To add flavour to the pork chop, I marinate the meat with 5 Spice Powder aka "ngoh hiang hoon" which is a beautiful Aromatic Spice together with dark soy sauce, sprinkle of sugar and salt and a little cornflour for 2 hours before cooking.

All you need :

6 pieces slices of pork chop
1/2 Tbs 5 Spice Powder
2 Tbs dark soy sauce
1 Tbs cornflour
a little sugar n salt

Simple Process :

Marinate the meat with all the above for 2 hours or more
Drip dry the marinated meat, heat the wok with some oil and lightly fry the meat on both sides
Once that is done, add in the remainder marinated sauce on to the meat, allow the meat to simmer over low heat for the next 20 - 25 minutes or till meat is tender and gravy has thicken.

Have a Wonderful Meal at home!

Shrimp Roll in TomYam Sauce

2009-08-29T01:11:00.000-07:00

A simple and fast to prepare dish for the family. It is Shrimp Roll (vegetarian) in Tomyam sauce. We enjoy eating this vegetarian shrimp roll which is made of beancurd skin wrapped with shreds of yambean (bangkuang) and carrots. It is easily obtainable from hypermarket or any vegetarian grocery stores. An added variety to the day to day meal at home. The tomyam sauce gives the lightly fried "shrimp roll" a great taste and because of the savoury-sour flavor, it really boost the appetite of everyone. Goes well with steam rice...yummy!

This is a packet of the vegetarian shrimp roll

All you need :
a packet of the vegetarian shrimp roll, 1 onion, 2 Tbs tomyam sauce, some green lettuce

Simple Process :
1. Heat the wok with a little oil, lightly browned the vege shrimp roll
2. Saute the onion slices in a litte oil till fragrant, add the tomyam sauce, some water and bring it to a boil
3. Pour the sauce on top of the shrimp roll that has been laid on the green lettuce
4. Ready to Serve

Happy Trying!

Pai-Kut n Potato Set Meal

2009-08-27T06:37:00.000-07:00

Look at this simple and delicious set meal which I called it Pai-Kut n Potato Set Meal. I love preparing this especially for days when I have a busy schedule. It can be Pai-Kut (pork ribs) or chicken using the same method of cooking. I have lots of gravy to pour over the steamed rice, coupled with some pieces of fresh carrots and green lettuce and the kids love it very much. I just love this simple recipe which I have learned from my grandma n mum. A good blend of ingredients like the garlic, ginger and fermented soy beans are all chopped together and stir fry with the meat, allow it to simmer till meat is tender, sum up with some cooking wine and it's ready to serve. Simple to prepare and great tasty gravy :))

All you need:

800gms of pork ribs or 1/2 chicken
5 potatoes - cut into half
1 clove garlic - chopped
1 med size young ginger - chopped
3 Tbs fermented soy beans - minced
2 Tbs cooking wine - optional
1 Tbs dark soy sauce - optional (not use in this presentation)

Simple Process :

Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the chopped ingredients till aromatic
Add in the pork ribs (lightly blanched to remove excess fats before cooking)
Stir fry to mix well with the ingredients, add the potatoes and 1 bowl of water and allow it to simmer over low heat for next 40 to 45 minutes or till meat is tender
When meat is tender and gravy has almost thicken, add in the cooking wine, stir and ready to serve

Have a Happy n Appetizing Meal

Brinjal Softie

2009-08-26T01:28:00.000-07:00

** New Photo Added - Sept 1 (brinjal with skin)**

Cool, look at this yummy simple and delicious brinjal dish. This is just another way of preparing this high in potassium fruit - Brinjal or Eggplant. It is simply cooking with fermented soya beans and minced meat and garnish with spring onion. I have removed the beautiful purple skin (as shown below, new photo with skin, post edited on 1 Sept) for easy digestion thus the colour of the dish may not be so appealing, but it just taste so good with steamed rice. Try it.. :))

All you need :

2 long brinjal - peel the skin and cut into small strips
some minced meat
2 Tbs fermented soy beans
5 pips garlic - chopped
1 sprig of spring onion
1 Tbs cooking wine
1 Tbs oyster sauce

Simple Process :

Heat the wok with a little oil, saute the garlic and fermented soy beans till aromatic
Add in the minced meat and stir fry till meat turns white
Add in the brinjal and a little water and allow it to simmer over low heat
Stir occasionally till brinjal has soften, add the oyster sauce and cooking wine
Stir well, add in the spring onion and ready to serve

Have a Happy Meal

Butter Chicken

2009-08-20T01:05:00.000-07:00

I love this easy to cook tasty recipe for Butter (Vegetarian) Chicken. We love the "buttery" flavor and creamy taste with a beautiful aroma from the curry leaves and dried chilly. This vegetarian chicken is made of soya bean protein powder + its seasoning.

This is the packet of vegetarian chicken which is obtainable from vegetarian grocery stores

All you need : 1 packet of the vegetarian chicken or chicken, 2 Tbs dark soya sauce, 2 Tbs butter, 50 ml evaporated milk, 1 sprig curry leaves, 5 dried chilly and 4 pips of chopped garlic.

Simple Process :

Heat the pan with a little oil and lightly fried the vegetarian chicken, dish out and drain
Heat the 2 Tbs butter and saute the chopped garlic, curry leaves and dried chilly till aromatic
Add in the lightly fried vegetarian chicken, evaporated milk and stir well
Allow it to simmer till gravy is almost absorbed, add in the dark soya sauce
Ready to Serve with steamed rice

Have a Happy n Healthy Meal

Tonic Vegetarian Chicken

2009-08-18T05:18:00.000-07:00

Wow...look at this healthy vegetarian dish which I have created and I named it Tonic Vegetarian Chicken. The vegetarian chicken is made from layers of seasoned beancurd and obtainable from any vegetarian grocery. It is a simple dish and has good nutrition especially the gravy extracts from slices of the american gingseng, wolfberries and dried "yuk-chok".

The gravy consist of boiled american ginseng, wolfberries, dried yuk chok and black fungus or woodear mushroom. The american ginseng is able to energise our body and the wolfberries are good supplement for healthy eyes. Black fungus or woodear mushroom are supposedly able to cleanse the fats in our body system, helps to lower cholestrol.

I have boiled all the below over low fire with 1 bowl of water for 20 mins to get a good extract.The vegetarian chicken piece is first steamed for 5 minutes and taken out to be cut into
small pieces. Once the boiled tonic are ready, just add 1 Tbs of cornflour to thicken the gravy, salt to taste and lastly pour the gravy on top.

Voila....the dish is now ready to be served
Delicious Tonic Vegetarian Chicken

Have a Healthy Meal!!

Lemon Turmeric Delight

2009-08-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

Share with you this beautiful color and flavorful meat dish which I have created for my family. I called it Lemon Turmeric Delight, well it brings lots of joy when my loved ones tasted mummy's new creation... :)) Alright, Turmeric or Kunyit is extremely good for our health as it has lots of nutritional value in it and I uses it quite constantly in my kitchen as we just love the fresh aroma of it. I enjoy creating and here is to share, a simple to prepare delicious and healthy dish for those who wish to explore.... :))

It is simply marinating the meat with pounded fresh turmeric, galangal (lengkuas), lemon grass(serai), shallots and cooked together with kaffir leaves (daun limau perut) and lemon juice....ohhh, it taste heavenly!

The meat (lean pork or chicken meat) need to be marinated for at least 2-3 hours in order to get a great taste when cooked. When the marinating process is over, just heat the wok with a little oil and stir fry a while, add some water to simmer the meat. Add in the slices of kaffir leaves and a good squeeze of lemon juice (depending on the level of sour flavour you opt), allow it to simmer for next 35 minutes or till meat soften, keep the wok moist at all times.

Beautiful and healthy-licious dish!!

Have fun and enjoy a Happy Meal at home!

Achar Fish

2009-08-11T01:03:00.000-07:00

Well another nyonya dish to showcase. I have learnt this dish from my mum, it is called Achar Hu or Achar Fish. It has a beautiful aroma of turmeric, garlic and ginger on fried fish. This dish taste good overnight as the fried fish has been well soaked with the fried ingredients like turmeric, ginger and garlic. To add a little color, chilly has been added. As all of us is aware that turmeric is a healthy stuff and it provide us wonders.

I just love the aroma of fresh turmeric, it is refreshing and gives the dish a beautiful color and flavour. This is a beautiful dish where we only get to eat during nyonya baba wedding luncheon during my childhood days. As for now, we can have it anytime so long as we know how to cook it or frequently we can order it at Nyonya Restaurant...though it can be a little commercialised the way it is cooked.

All you need :

small fish or fish cutlets
big piece fresh turmeric
big piece young ginger
1 clove garlic
2 pc red chilly
2 Tbs rice vinegar
salt n sugar to taste

Simple Process :

Fry the fish and set aside
Cut the turmeric, ginger, garlic into thin slices
Heat 1/2 cup oil and saute the ginger strips till golden brown, set aside
Using the same oil, saute the garlic till golden brown - set aside
Using the same oil, saute the turmeric till it is aromatic
Add the rice vinegar, salt, sugar to taste , allow it to cool
* for health purposes, I have add a little water to the mixture as I do not use too much oil, the original recipe is without water added
Next pour it over the fried fish and garnish with the fried ginger and garlic, store for a few hours before serving

Have a Happy n Healthy Meal

Oatmeal Butter Shrimp

2009-08-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

Look at this aromatic vegetarian shrimp cooked with butter and oatmeal. The aromatic curry leaves produces a wonderful aroma to the dish. This vegetarian shrimp is made from soya bean protein, starch and its spices and can be found in any vegetarian grocery stores. It taste real delicious and be assured the kids would love it very much. Fast and easy to prepare too. It is not spicy at all, the dried chilly is to add extra aroma together with the fried curry leaves.

If you are not in favour of soya bean protein (vegetarian shrimp), then just use the fresh shrimp and cook it with the same recipe.

This is the vegetarian shrimp or some called it vege nuggets
label shows it consist of soya bean protein, starch + spices, salt, sugar

All you need :

packet of the vegetarian shrimp - defrost before use
5 pieces of dried chilly - cut into 3cm length
3 sprigs of curry leaves
3 Tbs of butter
3 Tbs of oatmeal

Simple Process :

Heat the pan with butter over medium heat and saute the dried chilly and curry leaves till aromatic
Add in the oatmeal and stir well before adding the vege shrimps and give it a good stir to coat it with the ingredients
Ready within 15 mins of cooking time

A real yummy dish...Enjoy your Meal

Mixed Vege Delight

2009-08-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

I love this beautiful combination dish of broccoli, baby corn, sweet peas with straw mushroom and taukua (fried beancurd) strips in oyster sauce. Hmmm...Yummy as it is! A simple dish though, but taste great and goes well with steamed rice :)) Yeah, eat healthy!

All you need is to have some of each and stirfry with ginger slices and complete with oyster sauce before dishing it out for serving.

Simple Process :

Blanch the broccoli in boiling water for 2 mins and set aside
Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the ginger slices
Add in the beancurd, mushroom, baby corn and stir fry
Add a little water, simmer to allow the corn to soften a little, add in the broccoli and sweet peas
Lastly add 2 Tbs oyster sauce and stir well to mix
Ready to Serve...

Eat Healthy and Enjoy Your Meal!

Black Pepper Garlic Chicken

2009-08-04T00:33:00.000-07:00

Look at this yummy black pepper garlic chicken. It taste real good and nice aroma of the black pepper, hmmmm, appetizing truly, and goes well with steamed rice. My kids just love the dish and it makes me real delighted to see everyone enjoying their dinner. I just make it real simple to cook by first, marinating the chicken with dashes of black pepper, a pinch of salt and dark soy sauce for 2-3 hours before cooking.
All you need :

2 pcs chicken thigh - marinate with dashes of black pepper, salt and 1 Tbs dark soy sauce
1 clove garlic - chopped
4 Tbs black pepper sauce

Simple Process :

Marinate the chicken for about 3 - 4 hours before cooking
Heat the wok with a little oil, saute the chopped garlic till aromatic
Add in the marinated chicken and stirfry till chicken turns white
Add 1/2 cup water and allow it to simmer over low heat for next 20 minutes
When chicken is almost cooked, add the black pepper sauce and allow it to coat well the chicken for another 3 minutes
Ready to Serve

Truly Yummy and have a happy meal!

Spicy Fried Fish

2009-07-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

Look at this delicious fried fish coated with fried chilly mixture. Yummy! Yummy! The fried chilly mixture is a "re-cycle" from the left over which we had for our nasi lemak meal few days ago. So instead of leaving it lying in the refrigerator, I decided to "recreate" by adding some tamarind juice and use as a good tasty chilly coat for the fried fish. Yeah...another good dish for a good meal for the family.

All you Need :

some fried fish
some cornflour to coat the fish
1 Tbs tamarind paste - add 3 Tbs water
1 onion - cut into wedge

For Fried Chilly Mixture - Grind all together the ingredients below and saute the paste with 3 Tbs oil till aromatic, add salt and sugar, ready for use.

6 fresh chilly or 5 Tbs chilly paste
2 onions
2 pc lemon grass
salt n sugar to taste

Simple Process :

Coat the fish with cornflour and fry till golden brown - set aside
Heat a little oil and saute the cut onion till aromatic, add in the cooked chilly paste, tamarind juice, bring to boil
Put the fried fish into mixture and coat well with the chilly paste
Ready to Serve

Have a Happy Meal!

Oyster Sauce Stewed Pork Ribs

2009-07-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

This is a simple recipe and easy to prepare too. It has a tasty gravy to go with steam rice. Simply stew the pork ribs with young ginger, oyster sauce and cooking wine and add a can asparagus mushrooms for a nice combination. The young ginger add a good aroma to the stew and it also helps in clearing excessive gas in our tummy. A simple dish where you could just leave it in a claypot and allow it to cook slowly over low heat. I notice the meat is much tender cooking in claypot. :)) taste great!

All you Need :

600 gms pork ribs or half chicken (optional)
1 med size young ginger - cut into strips
5 Tbs Oyster Sauce
1 Tbs Light Soy Sauce
4 Tbs Cooking Wine
1 can of Asparagus Mushroom

Simple Process :

1. Blanch the pork ribs in boiling water for 3 minutes - set aside
2. Heat the claypot, add 1 Tbs oil and saute the ginger strips till aromatic
3. Drop in the blanched pork ribs and add the oyster sauce, soy sauce and a small bowl water
4. Close the lid of claypot and allow the meat to cook over low heat for next 40 minutes
5. Add in the cooking wine and asparagus mushroom and allow it to cook for the balance 5 mins
6. Ready to serve with warm rice

** no claypot, just use the wok.

Enjoy Your Meal - Be Happy!

Spicy Shrimps with Tomatoes

2009-07-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

A beautiful and delicious Spicy Shrimps with Tomatoes which I have taken the recipe from Rina's blog @ rinasrecipe.blogspot. :)) thanks Rina, it's beautiful. However, I have made a slight modification in the ingredients and cooking steps. Happy with the result, as it taste good and I like this recipe very much. It is simple and easy to prepare too.

This dish has a nice aroma coming from the good blend of curry leaves, fresh turmeric and coriander leaves and it is yummy to eat with steamed rice.

All you need :

600 gms medium size shrimps
2 tomatoes - cut into small cubes
2 onions - chopped
1 clove garlic - chopped
2 sprig coriander leaves - chopped
1 Tbs chilly powder
1thumb size fresh turmeric - pounded

Simple Process :

Marinate the shrimps with the chilly powder and pounded fresh turmeric + salt for an hour
Heat a little oil in the pan and saute the onions, garlic and curry leaves till aromatic
Add the prawns and stir fry over medium heat for 5 minutes and add in the tomatoes and coriander leaves, stir to mix well
Allow it to simmer over medium heat till the gravy thickens
Ready to Serve

Happy Cooking and Enjoy your Meal!

Nyonya Curry Mee

2009-07-16T06:26:00.001-07:00

Wow..look at this delicious yummy bowl of nyonya curry mee or simply nyonya curry noodle. I find great achievement in cooking the curry soup as I am basically using my memory and sense of taste and I believe it is close to accurate just like the ones prepared by my beloved grandma... :)) The difference between this nyonya curry mee and normal curry mee is it's sour flavour soup and the refreshing aroma of limau perut aka kaffir lime leaves and bunga kantan aka ginger bud. Smells so great, we just love it!
I have used fish for the topping as my kids loves this "boneless fish" or alternatively I do add dried curry chicken as the topping.

All you need : Serve 4

For the Stock : 2.5 lit water

2 pieces chicken breast meat
Blanched the fish and use the stock
3 stick lemon grass (serai) - smashed
few kaffir lime leaves (limau perut)
1 ginger bud (bunga kantan)
4 limes - extract juice
1 pkt of santan cream

Grounded Paste :

10 red chilly
1 clove garlic
3 big onion
thumbsize belacan

Simple Process :

Heat the wok and saute the grounded paste till aromatic
Add in the chicken/fish stock, add in all together the lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, ginger bud and lime juice and allow it to simmer slowly
Lastly add the coconut cream and bring to boil.
Ready to serve. Pour soup over blanched vermicelli and fresh yellow noodle. Garnish with the toppings accordingly.

** Toppings : Beansprout, longbeans, fried soft beancurd, fish.

Have An Enjoyable Meal!

Hokkein Rice Tapioca Cake

2009-07-13T01:07:00.001-07:00

This is a beautiful authentic dish from the Chinese Hokkein clan. My grandfather used to serve this simple and healthy dish for all of us to enjoy during our visits. These pieces of kueh is very "springy" when bite on and it is very much like eating sea cucumber. It is made of tapioca flour mixed with porridge, form into a dough and steamed it over high heat. Then the cooked rice-tapioca cake aka "moi kueh" is then fried with dried shrimps and chinese celery and spring onions in dark soy sauce....wow, it taste great! It is an "old fashion" home cook dish and cannot be found in any eating outlets. Well, it is a dish that brings back very sweet memories of my childhood days where me and my cousins were busy running around chasing the little ducklings, chicks in my grandfather's backyard little orchard... :))

To make the rice tapioca cake, you need to pre-cooked the porridge. All you need is about 3/4 bowl rice cooked with 1.5 litres of water and turn it into a thick porridge (just like the picture below). Cool the thick porridge first before use.

Next, mixed the thick porridge with 3.1/2 bowl of tapioca flour and knead it into a dough. Flatten it into a greased steaming tray and evenly pat the dough to 1 cm thickness. Next, steam for 20 minutes. Leave it to cool and refrigerate for 2 hours before cutting into slim slices (just like the picture below).

Great....now the Rice Tapioca Cake is ready for frying into a savoury dish. All you need is some chopped garlic, chinese celery, spring onions and dried shrimps, alternatively, you may use prawns too.

Saute the chopped garlic and fry the dried shrimps till aromatic, add in a plate of the rice tapioca cake, 1 Tbs of dark soy sauce, dash of pepper and stir fry to mix evenly. When rice tapioca cake has soften, add in the chinese celery and spring onion. Serve Hot.... Yummy! The balance can be kept in small portion in the freezer and thaw it before use when you want to enjoy this dish.

Here it is, an authentic Hokkein savoury dish

Thank you Grandpa for the authentic recipe :))

Creamy Tofu Soup

2009-07-09T01:29:00.000-07:00

This is a delicious and tasty Creamy Tofu Soup, the food outlets called it "Tofu Kang" in Cantonese - one of the chinese dialects. We all love this yummy thick creamy tofu soup, a resemblance of sharkfin soup. I have omitted crab meat and replaced by crab stick. Kids would love this thick creamy soup to go with steamed rice. It has a savoury taste blended with some rice vinegar....wow, it is super delicious when taken hot. A simple and fast to cook dish for the family :))

All you need : Serve 4

2 pcs of chicken breast meat
1 packet of soft white tofu - mashed it
5 pcs of chinese mushroom - soak to soften & cut into thin slices
5 pcs of crab stick - cut into small cubes
2 eggs
1 sprig of spring onion - chopped
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1/2 Tbs dark soy sauce
1 Tbs cornflour - add 2 Tbs water

Simple Process :

Boil 1 litre of water with the chicken breast meat for 20 mins
Dish out the cooked chicken meat and hand shred it into pieces
Put the mashed white tofu, chinese mushroom into the chicken soup, allow it to boil over medium heat for next 5 mins
Add in the shredded chicken, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, dash of pepper and salt to taste
Next add the cornstarch, bring to a boil, quickly stir in the beaten eggs, off heat
Ready to Serve Hot - garnish with the chopped spring onion and a dash of sesame oil

Enjoy a Healthy and Yummy Soup!

Marmite Chicken

2009-07-07T05:31:00.000-07:00

All of us in the family love Marmite and it has been part of the family ever since when our little kiddies started their soft diet. Marmite has very good nutrients for us. Till this very day, our little kiddies now turned big boys n girl still love Marmite... :)), so frequently we will have chicken or pork cooked with Marmite, simply Marmite in warm water = Soup or Marmite in Mixed Vegetables Porridge.

Look at this tasty dish of Marmite Chicken, it is very simple to prepare and taste very delicious indeed! It is a healthy dish too.

All you need :

1/2 chicken or 2 pc chicken breast meat
1 onion - chopped
4 pips of garlic - chopped
2 Tbs Marmite
** 2 tsp honey (optional)

Simple Process :

Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the chopped onion and garlic till fragrant
Add in the chopped chicken and stir fry over medium heat
Add in 1/4 bowl of water and allow the chicken to simmer over medium heat for next 20 minutes
When water has almost evaporated, add the 2 Tbs Marmite, stir well to coat around the chicken for about 3 - 4 mins. No salt is required as Marmite has a salty taste in it.
Honey is optional, add it in and dish out - Ready to Serve

Have a Healthy and Happy Meal.....

Chap Chai - Mixed Vegetables

2009-07-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

A simple, tasty mixed vegetables aka "chap chai" dish to share. This vegetable dish is made up of a little of each : cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, dried lily buds, woodear mushroom (black fungus) and chinese mushroom fried with ginger and an added flavour of fermented red beancurd.....a little of each makes up a big plate for the family to enjoy.

Simple Process :

Saute the chopped ginger till aromatic, add in the chinese mushroom, woodear mushrooms and stir fry till the fragrance of the mushroom appears

Add in the rest of the vegetables and stir fry to mix.

Add in a piece of the fermented red beancurd, few tablespoon of water and cover it with wok lid for 5 minutes

Give a good stir and when cauliflower has soften slightly, the dish is ready to be served

Nice, simple mixed vegetables!

Have a Happy n Healthy Meal!

Balanda Vegetarian Salt Fish

2009-07-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

Look at this beautiful appetizing sour-sweet flavoured vegetarian dish, suitable for all ages. It is simple and easy to prepare recipe. We all enjoyed a good meal with this dish, the kids love it greatly. The gravy that I have made is from my grandma recipes' collection and it is called "Balanda" and normally cooked with the fried salted fish. It consist of big onion, garlic and some slices of red chilly saute till fragrant, then added with tamarind juice and a little sugar, cornstarch to thicken the gravy....So with a little innovation, I have used the same recipe for the vegetarian salted fish instead!

Basically this packet of "vegetarian salted fish" is made up of seasoned beancurd wrapped in beancurd skin and a layer of seaweed, obtainable from any vegetarian grocery shop or hypermarket. It is wonderful to add "meatless" dish once a while as to add varieties on the dinning table.

All you need :

a packet of the vegetarian salted fish - cut into slices
1 big onion - cut into wedges
4 pips garlic - cut into slices
1 red chilly - cut into slices
1 Tbs tamarind paste - add with a little water
sugar to taste

Simple Process :

Heat the pan with some oil and lightly fried the vegetarian beancurd - set aside
Heat the pan with a little oil and saute the onion, garlic and chilly till aromatic
Add in1/2 bowl of water, add the tarmarind, a little sugar to taste
Bring to a boil, add the cornstarch to thicken the gravy
Pour the gravy on top of the lightly fried vegetarian beancurd
Serve immediately with steamed rice

** Tips: As the vegetarian beancurd is salted, do not add anymore salt

A Simple Tasty Vegetarian Salted Fish

Have an Appetizing Meal!

Rendang Chicken

2009-06-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

Look at this beautiful and flavorful dish, it is called Rendang Chicken ** (see extracts from Wikipedia). This is my version of Rendang Chicken aka dried spicy chicken with fried grated coconut. There are many versions of recipe for preparing Rendang and as long as the key ingredients are used I believe it would taste just as good the homecook way, sure we cannot beat the ones served commercially.

A friend of mine onced shared with me that the Rendang Beef sold at the Nasi Kandar stalls are cooked over those balanced and kept for days...no wonder it taste so good! hahaha....

Rendang Chicken dish is a little spicy and creamy to taste with a beautiful aroma from the kaffir leaves (daun limau perut), lemon grass (serai) and fresh turmeric (kunyit) plus coconut milk and a good blend of fried grated coconut to make it complete.

Extracts from Wikipedia :

Rendang is made from beef (or occasionally chicken, mutton) slowly cooked in coconut milk and spices for several hours until almost all the liquid is gone, allowing the meat to absorb the spicy condiments. The cooking process changes from boiling to frying as the liquid evaporates. The slow cooking process allows the meat to absorb all the spices and to become tender.

Look at those herbs n ingredients that were used for this dish :

All you need : for 1/2 chicken

10 shallots
1 clove garlic
3 pcs of lemon grass (serai)
1 thumbsize turmeric (kunyit)
5 pcs red chilli
Blend all the above together to form a paste
some kaffir lime leaves (daun limau perut) ** a must!
1 box coconut milk 200 gms
1/2 grated coconut - fried it till golden brown (kerisik)

** I have omitted galangal (lengkuas) to prevent it from "overshadowing" the beautiful aroma of lemon grass, kaffir leaves and tumeric

Simple Process

Heat the wok with some oil and saute the grounded paste till fragrant
Add in the chicken and mix well with the grounded paste, add kaffir lime leaves
Add the 1 box coconut milk and let it simmer over low heat for next 30 minutes
Allow the meat to slowly absorbed the coconut milk and its ingredients
Keep stirring and when gravy starts to evaporate, add in the fried grated coconut and give it a good coat all over
Ready to serve with steamed rice

Have a Happy and Enjoyable Meal....

Omelette Bittergourd

2009-06-27T06:50:00.000-07:00

A tasty vegetable dish and quick to prepare - Omelette Bittergourd. Most of the time, the kids tried to avoid eating bittergourd but since this Omelette Bittergourd was introduced years back by my mum, they would once a while put up their request to mummy...marvellous, at least we can all eat it together and happily... My hubby and I loves bittergourd, to know more of the wonders of bittergourd , just click the link. The tips my mum gave was inorder to avoid choosing the very bitter ones, tried picking those with wide line width on the surface of the vegetable and rub it well with salt and rinse before cooking.

So Simple, Beaten eggs and thin slices of bittergourd makes a great dish

All you need :

1 small bittergourd - cut into thin slices
4 beaten eggs
rub salt onto the cut slices of bittergourd and rinse to reduce the bitterness

Simple Process :

Heat a little oil in the pan and stir fry the bittergourd for 3 mins

Drop the stir fried bittergourd into the bowl of beaten eggs, mix it up

Next, using the same pan, drop a portion of the mixture filling the pan

Let it cook till golden brown and slowly turn it over the other side

Dish it out once both sides are golden brown

Ready to Enjoy...a healthy plate of Omelette Bittergourd

Fried Turmeric Meat

2009-06-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favourite dish since young and I really really like the wonderful flavour of this dish, it is fried meat marinated with fresh turmeric or kunyit, it is very aromatic and the smell whets your appetite. Since young, we have been guided that taking fresh turmeric keeps our body healthy by my grandma and at present moment I have managed to share with my family the joy of having a healthy dish make from fresh turmeric. This beautiful root has great medicinal values in it and check this out yourself what this magical turmeric can provide for your body...believe it or not, see it for yourself!

I love this dish as it very simple and easy to prepare, minus the frying part, of course...hahaha. It is simple because I just need to marinate the meat and refrigerate and start frying when it is time to cook... that's it!

All you need :

some lean meat (pork or chicken) - cut into small pieces

2 thumbsize fresh turmeric (kunyit) - pound finely

2 stalks of lemon grass - use only the bottom portion (cut into slices and pound finely)

salt and sugar to taste

Simple Process :

Marinate the meat with the pounded turmeric and lemon grass, salt, sugar for 2 hours or more

Heat a non stick pan with a little oil and pan-fried it till golden brown

Ready to Serve. Goes well with steamed rice

Have a Healthy Meal..

Sour Pork Ribs

2009-06-24T00:54:00.000-07:00

Wow...hohoho...look at that...here goes a simple and easy to prepare 1 set meal for the family. I had this Sour Pork Ribs cooked and served as 1 simple set meal..the aroma of the garlic and ginger is irresistible, and of course the sour flavour brings thrill to the palate. Anyway, we had a wonderful dinner, it taste so good and yummy, it's totally complete with garlic fried vege and steam rice... Alternatively, I do use this easy to cook recipe for chicken too. As again chicken gets tender very fast, so just reduce the simmering time to get a "just right" tenderness of the meat.

See the beautiful color of the cooked sour pork ribs, complement with garlic fried green baby bok choy. Delicious looking :))

All you need : Serve 4

2 pork ribs - chopped into small pieces

2 clove garlic - chopped

2 thumbsize young ginger - chopped

1 Tbs chilly paste - add more if you want it extra spicy

2 Tbs tomato sauce

1 Tbs tamarind paste

1 Tbs cornflour
salt to taste

Simple Process :

Boil a pot of water and add in the pork ribs, give it a quick boil and dish out, set aside

Heat the wok with some oil, saute the chopped ginger, garlic, chilly paste till fragrant, add in the pork ribs, stir to mix well

Add 1 cup of water, 1 Tbs tamarind paste, 2 Tbs tomato sauce and simmer over low heat for the next 40 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burnt *

When meat has soften and cooked, add the cornflour to thicken the gravy

Ready to Serve...

** Tomato sauce is an extra ingredient here

Have a Happy Meal with your family...

Kerabu Cucumber - Salad Cucumber

2009-06-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, look at this beautiful appealing color kerabu or salad. Well as all of us is aware, eating uncooked vegetables are good to our little body and it is fun to add varieties to the way we prepare the greens. This is a typical Nyonya dish and it is called Kerabu Timbun or Salad Cucumber.

As again, no cooking is required and it is just mixing all the required ingredients together and that's it..perfectly yummy for those who loves spicy and sour stuff. It can be an appetizer or as a dish to eat with steamed rice.

There are varieties of choices where we can make as Kerabu or Nyonya Salad , just click the link to see more.

No cooking is required here, just a good mix of sambal belacan (pounded chilly with roasted shrimp paste), lime juice, roasted dried prawns and slices of shallots. Here are the ingredients required and the process is simply "Mixing the cut cucumber in it".... Voila!

Be Happy and Enjoy a Healthy Meal

Chicken with BitterGourd

2009-06-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

Look at this yummy Chicken BitterGourd in Black SoyBeans which I have prepared for my family. :) they enjoyed it! It is a delicious savoury dish with thick yummy gravy to go with steamed rice.

BitterGourd has great nutritional values. My mum used to make bittergourd n celery juice for mantainence of good health. Bittergourd as the name suggest, it sure has a bitter taste, my mum's advice was to choose those bittergourd with broad width lines on the surface and that should taste just good.

All you need :

1/2 chicken or 2 pc chicken breast meat - chop into pieces

1 med size bittergourd - cut into slant pieces

6 pips garlic - chopped

2 Tbs fermented black soy beans

1 Tbs fermented soy beans

1 Tbs cornflour * mix with 1 Tbs water

Simple Process :

Marinate the chicken with dark soy sauce for 30 mins before cooking

Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the chopped garlic, fermented black soybeans and fermented soy beans together over med heat

Add in the chicken and stir well, add in the pieces of bitter gourd together with a little water (3 - 4 Tablespoonful) and allow it to simmer over low heat. The chicken will release some water during the process of cooking.

Allow the chicken and bittergourd to simmer slowly till chicken is cooked or till gravy has more or less thicken

Lastly, add the cornflour before dishing it out.

Have a Happy Meal!

Steamed Meat Toufu

2009-06-18T05:34:00.000-07:00

Toufu or soft beancurd is a good healthy food and we all love toufu especially those from Ipoh town, Perak. It is so soft and smooth..simply taste great! Infact it is the most simple, fast and easy to prepare dish to serve with steamed rice. All you need to do is pre-heat the steamer, steam the toufu for 5 mins and drain excess water from the plate and just spread the cooked minced meat and dried shrimps on top of the steamed toufu and that's it...Voila!

All you need :

a piece of toufu
1 piece of breast meat - minced
handful of dried shrimps
1 big onion - chopped
1 sprig of spring onion - for garnishing
1 Tbs cornflour
1 Tbs dark soy sauce
pepper to taste

Simple Process :

1. Pre-steam the toufu for 5 mins and drain excess water

2. Heat the pan with a little oil, saute the chopped onion till fragnant, add the dried shrimps and minced meat, stir well

3. Add 1 Tbs of dark soy sauce, pepper, a little water and allow it to simmer over low heat till meat is cooked

4. To thicken the gravy, add in 1 Tbs cornflour and stir well

5. Spread the cooked minced meat on top of the toufu, garnish with chopped spring onion

Have a Happy Meal ^ _ ^

Tom Yam Soup

2009-06-16T17:37:00.000-07:00

Well there are days when we just feel like going for some nice sour flavor to excite our palate and the first thing I thought of is Tom Yam.....yummy! I prefer home cook Tom Yam as I can determine the level of sour n spicy flavor to suit our family taste. The one found in the restaurants are just too sour for us and gives a bad effect for our stomach. I love the beautiful aroma of the lime peel and lemon grass in the soup, it is truly refreshing. This is a simple and easy way to prepare Tom Yam Soup at my kitchen....

Besides enjoying just the Tom Yam Soup, I have also served it with vermicelli. Just add the blanched vermicelli into the Tom Yam Soup and you have a one complete meal - Tom Yam Vermicelli Soup....

The Main Important ingredients that you MUST have is just right below. I just use 4 Tbs of the Tom Yam Paste to 2 litre of water. Add 3 sticks of Lemon grass (serai) and some Lime Peel as an alternate as I dont have the Lime leaves (daun limau perut). Add extra 1 Tbs of Tom Yam Paste if you wish to have a more sour flavor

The add on ingredients to the soup are : some Prawns, Fish Balls, Chinese Cabbage, Tomatoes, Onions, Straw Mushrooms, Abalone Mushrooms, fresh baby corns. The amount to use is up to your preference.

Simple Process : Serve 5

Boil 2 litre of water in a pot. Add in the lemon grass, lime peel and tom yam paste and boil over medium heat for 15 minutes.

Add in the cut chinese cabbage, cut onions and allow it to simmer till chinese cabbage has slightly soften

Add in the rest of the ingredients, salt to taste and let it simmer for the next 15 minutes

Here you are.........Ready to Serve

Enjoy an Appetizing Meal!

Yummy 1 Set Meal

2009-06-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

I enjoy preparing a "1 set meal" especially on a busy day or should I say on lazy days...hahaha. I have this delicious meat recipe cooked with straw mushrooms, spring onions, young ginger and a good blend of oyster sauce to go with steamed rice. You can use pork ribs or chicken meat for this simple to prepare dish. The young ginger and spring onions gives a wonderful fragance to this dish. For this meal I have used pork ribs instead.

All you need :

Chicken Breast Meat or Pork Ribs

1 can straw mushroom - slice into half

2 sprig of spring onions - cut into 3 cm length

1 big piece of young ginger - cut into slices

4 pips of garlic - chopped

3 Tbs Oyster sauce

1 Tbs cornflour

Simple Process :

Heat a little oil in a wok, saute the chopped garlic and young ginger slices
Add the meat, some water and the oyster sauce, stir well and simmer at low heat for next 20 mins * for pork ribs, let it simmer for 40 mins
Add in the straw mushrooms and spring onion, stir to mix well, let it simmer for next 5 mins, and to thicken the gravy, just add the cornstarch and bring to boil
Ready to Serve with steamed rice
Optional : 1 Tbs of rice wine to be added before serving

A Simple 1 Set Meal for the Family...enjoy your Meal!

Sweet Sour Seaweed Beancurd

2009-06-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

I got this packet of seaweed beancurd from a vegetarian shop and it's labelled as Vegetarian Fish.. My kids love seaweed and thought this seaweed beancurd would excite their appetite when served... yeah, it does! They love it very much especially the yummy sweet sour flavour sauce to go with steamed rice... It is simple and easy to prepare as compared to frying the "real fish"...honestly I dislike the after effect of deep frying.... :))

Lightly Fried Seaweed Beancurd

All you need :

1 packet of seaweed beancurd
1 tomato - cut into wedges
1 japanese cucumber - cut into wedges
1 big onion - cut into wedges
2 Tbs tomato sauce
1 Tbs plum sauce

Simple Process :

Lightly fried the beancurd base till golden brown and set aside

Heat a little oil and saute the onion till aromatic, add a little water, drop in the sauces

Bring it to boil, add in the cut japanese cucumber and tomato and pour sauce over the fried seaweed beancurd

Serve immediately

**Tip : You may prepare the sauce and set aside, only pour the sauce over the fried seaweed beancurd when you are ready to serve

Have a Happy n Healthy Meal

Chicken with Water-chestnut

2009-06-06T00:09:00.000-07:00

Beautiful sweet colored non spicy chicken which has lots of nice crunchy water chestnut (ma-tai) in it. Water chestnuts are crunchy and sweet in flavour. This savoury chicken dish goes well with steamed rice and it is very simple and easy to cook. The drained chicken were marinated for about an hour before cooking. The seasoning are simply made up of light soy sauce, fermented beancurd (tau ju), sesame oil, cooking wine, pepper, sugar, salt and some cornflour.

Water Chestnut, Chopped Spring Onions, Red Chilly

Extracts from the website : Water chestnuts - The knobby vegetable with the papery brown skin is a staple in Chinese cooking. The water chestnut is actually not a nut at all, but an aquatic vegetable that grows in marshes. Nutritionally, water chestnuts are a good source of potassium and fiber. They are low in sodium, and fat is virtually non-existent.

All you need :

2 pieces chicken breast meat - cut into pieces
10 water chestnut - cut into small pieces
some chopped spring onions - for garnishing
some red chilly - for garnishing
1 thumbsize ginger - chopped
4 pips garlic - chopped

Seasoning for the chicken : 1Tbs light soy sauce, 1 pc fermented beancurd (tau ju), 2 Tsp sesame oil, dash of cooking wine, dash of pepper, some sugar, salt and 1 Tbs cornflour

Simple Process :

Marinate the chicken with the seasoning for 1 hour before cooking

Heat the wok and saute the garlic, ginger till aromatic and add in the marinated chicken

Stir fry and add a little water, the water chestnut and simmer the chicken over low heat for the next 20 minutes or till gravy thickens. Do stir occasionally..

Garnish with chopped spring onions and red chilly

Have a Enjoyable Meal....

Vegetables n Salted Fish Curry

2009-06-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

Vegetables n Salted Fish Curry or fondly called Kiam-Hu Kut Curry, was one of my grandma's authentic collections. Grandma was a great cook and so is my mum... I love this dish and do cook once in a blue moon for daddy and kids and they seem to love it too, especially to eat it with blanched beehoon aka vermicelli.....oh it taste so yummy! I have a slight modification on this dish - I use low fat milk instead of coconut milk and also "no gering rempah" (using the old fashion grinding stone to grind the chilly paste, oh no!).... :)).

Besides the vegetables, few pieces of salted fish bones are added to give an extra flavor and beautiful aroma to the vegetable curry. Shrimps are added to add extra natural sweetness to the curry.... WoW! words just cannot describe the taste, you need to cook it and enjoy this good bowl of curry with rice or simply eat it with beehoon.

Can you see the "salted fish bones" lying in the plates with some of the prawns in the photo? Ya...not healthy to consume often but once in a blue moon, I believe it is fine. To clear the excessive salt in the salted fish, it need to be soaked and wash for at least 3 times before cooking.

I have used 2 small packet of the fish curry powder mixed with 4 big onion (blended) to form a curry paste. On standby is a bottle of 450ml lowfat milk to add in after the curry paste is well sauted and turns fragrant. Just add on some water if you wish to have more gravy...which I did. The vegetables I have put in are some brinjals, long beans, ladies fingers, cabbage and taufo pok (fried soft beancurd).

Simple Process :

Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the curry paste till fragant, add in some water followed by the bottle of milk.

Add in the salted fish bone, vegetables and let it simmer over slow fire for the next 20 mins till you can smell the beautiful aroma of the curry

Next add in the prawns and taufo pok and give a short boil, once prawns are cooked, it is ready to serve

Serve with warm rice or blanched vermicelli... it is Yummy!

Chicken with Fish Maw

2009-06-01T01:38:00.000-07:00

A very tasty dish which consist of chicken, fish maw and chinese mushroom in oyster sauce. Another common way to cook fish maw is to make chicken soup with cabbage, carrot and chinese mushroom..wow, it is yummy!

In the olden chinese community, fish maw is considered a delicacies and normally served during Chinese Lunar Year or during special family occasion.

Here is to share a little about Fish Maw. The photo below is dried fish maw which has already been fried and it is the same which I used for my dish.

extracted from chinesefoodrecipe.com
Fish Maw plays the role of a texture ingredient like the sea cucumber in Chinese food, fish maw is actually the air bladder of large fish, the function of which is to regulate water and oxygen flow so that the fish can ascend or descend in the water. The price of fish maw is far from cheap and it's one of the luxury ingredients in Chinese cuisine.
Like a lot of ingredients in Chinese culinary traditions, the fish maw is also regarded as a nourishing tonic that helps blood circulation and beneficial to the general health.

All you need :

1/2 chicken - chopped into pieces
4 pcs of dried fish maw - soak well and blanched before use
8 pieces of chinese mushroom - soak well till soften
some ginger slices
3 Tbs oyster sauce
1 Tbs cooking wine

Simple Process :

Soak for 2 hours the dried fish maw or till it soften, then blanch it in hot boiling water - set aside

Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the ginger, add the chicken, chinese mushroom, add a little water and oyster sauce and allow it to simmer over low heat for next 15 mins

Add in the blanched fish maw, cooking wine and allow it to further simmer for another 10 mins

To thicken the gravy, add a little cornstarch and it is ready for serving

Enjoy a happy meal

Broccoli with Scallops n Oysters

2009-05-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

Wow...look at this yummy dish. It is one of the typical dish served during Chinese Lunar Year as the dish is called (in cantonese) "Hoe Xi Fatt Choy" - literally "prosperity comes your way"... How wonderful! You can find this menu in chinese restaurant during the Lunar Year. Hahaha....as I know how to prepare this dish, so it can be served anytime when we feel like eating it, dont have to wait till Lunar Year. My kids love broccoli and they came with the suggestion, so mummy make their request available on the dining table.

It is made up of blanched broccoli and served with fresh or dried scallops, dried oysters and fatt-choy (fine hair like seaweed), chinese mushrooms cooked in oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and a little cooking wine... As again, an easy to cook recipe :)) with good combination of beautiful aroma of dried oysters n chinese mushrooms.

All you need... some broccoli, 20 pcs dried scallops, 15 pcs dried oysters and a little fine hair-like seaweed, 8 chinese mushrooms, 2 Tbs dark soy sauce, 2 Tbs Oyster sauce, 1 Tbs cooking wine and chopped ginger n garlic ....and put it all together to get this beautiful delicious dish...

Simple Process :

First blanched the broccoli in hot water with a little salt for about 3 mins - dish out and set aside
Soak the dried oyster, dried scallop, chinese mushrooms, separately, till it soften a little before cooking. Fresh scallops can be used as an alternative to dried ones.
Heat the wok and saute the chopped ginger and garlic, add in the dried oyster,chinese mushrooms, oyster sauce, some water and let it simmer for a little while till you get a nice aroma
Add in the dried scallop, dark soy sauce, cooking wine and allow it to further simmer for 10 mins
Lastly, add the fine hair-like seaweed, a little cornstarch to thicken the gravy
You may pour it over the broccoli or just fill the centre of the plate surrounded with the blanched broccoli (your preference)
Serve with steam rice or eat it as it is ....

Have a Happy n Enjoyable Meal...

Assam Laksa Penang

2009-05-25T23:32:00.000-07:00

Penang island or Pearl of Orient, a beautiful island situated at north of West Malaysia. A beautiful island for relaxation and a place for food lovers. It is a place where we can find plentiful of delicacies and one of which is Assam Laksa. Assam means sour flavour, thus the soup is sour in taste. A noodle that will whet your appetite by it's look and aroma. Agree it is colorful right there?

Assam Laksa Penang is a delightful dish which consist of "slippery" white rice noodle in fish n spicy soup and garnish with various types of leaves such as Peppermint leaves (a must) together with chopped lettuce, stripes of cucumber, chopped wild ginger bub and red onion rings. This dish must be complemented with "hae-ko" or shrimp sticky paste, to add extra flavour to the Assam Laksa. My home cook version is red-orangy colour whereas the commercial ones are close to brownish-orangy color (trade secret and not so healthy for frequent consumption). Okay, here is for me to share for those who miss home food...

These are the ingredients required to boil the flavorful soup. The fish stock are made from either fish like kembong or selar or sardine (mackerel). The cooked fish meat are debone for garnishing on the Assam Laksa together with the various types of vegetables as shown in the picture above.

All you need : Serve 5-6

To make Laksa soup

2 kg fish - ikan selar or ikan kembong or mackerel for the fish stock

To blend together and added into the fish stock

10 red chillies & 1 Tbs chilly paste
5 big onions
4 cm length lengkuas (galangal)
4 pcs lemon grass
3 cm length fresh tumeric
4 cm length belacan (dried shrimp paste)

2 sprig of laksa leaves (daun kesum), 2 Tbs tamarind paste and 2 wild ginger bub (bunga kantan) plus all the varities of vegetables for garnishing.

Simple Process :

Boil the fish in about 3 litre water for 20 minutes
Dish out the fish and to debone and set aside the fish meat
Filter the fish stock, add in the grounded paste (rempah) and add in the laksa leaves (daun kesum), wild ginger bub (bunga kantan) stems, 2 Tbs tamarind paste and let the soup boil for next 30 minutes over medium heat
Add in half of the fish meat into the soup

Serving Assam Laksa Penang

Blanch the laksa rice noodle (fat version)

Garnish with the various cut vegetables, bunga kantan, cut chillies, fish meat

Fill wiith Hot Soup and 1 spoonful of "hae-ko" (shrimp paste)

Happy Trying this "Fuss" Meal :))

Chicken Savoury Delight

2009-05-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

I called this dish Chicken Savoury Delight. Simple and easy to prepare. The kids loves it very much as it has a beautiful gravy to go with their rice. The chicken strips are cooked with the pickled lettuce with a some cooking wine and black soy sauce. The pickled lettuce comes in the can and it need to be well soaked before cooking as it is a bit salty if taken as it is. This pickled lettuce is normally taken with congee aka rice porridge. I have improved the way to consume this pickled lettuce by cooking it with chicken instead, it is real tasty.

All you need :

2 pieces of chicken breast meat - cut into fine strips
1 can of pickled lettuce - soak well and filter with 3-4 times water before cutting
some ginger and garlic - chopped
1 Tbs cooking wine
1 Tbs dark soy sauce
a little sugar - to taste

Simple Process :

Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the chopped ginger and garlic till aromatic
Add in the chicken meat and pickled lettuce and stir fry, add 1/4 cup water and let it simmer for 15 mins
Add the dark soy sauce, a little sugar and cooking wine and stir mix well and let it simmer for another 5 mins
To thicken the gravy, just add in 1 Tbs cornflour starch
Ready to Serve with steam rice

Enjoy Your Meal! :)

Joyful Shrimp

2009-05-22T00:19:00.000-07:00

A rich and colourful shrimp dish...dont be deceived by the color, no, no, it is not spicy. It is my new creation and my hubby n kids are happily enjoying it, hmmm....must be yummy! :)) It goes very well with warm rice.

A simple recipe that comes with a good mix of blended tomato, onion, garlic, a small amout of curry powder and the aromatic curry leaves.

As it brings lots of joy seeing my family enjoying it, I call it a Joyful Shrimps....

All you require are 1 rich orange tomato, 1 big onion, 8 pips of garlic and blend it together. Get ready the paste, mix with 2 Tbs curry powder (for fish/prawns). * & curry leaves. When you blend the paste, add as little water as possible.

Simple Process :

Heat the wok with a little oil and lightly stir fry the shrimps for 3 minutes, dish out and set aside

Next, saute the ready mix paste * add some curry leaves (10 leaves) till aromatic

Add in the shrimps, add a little salt, sugar to taste

Stir fry till gravy has thicken

Ready to Serve...

Have a Happy Meal!

Braised Mui Choy (Preserved Salted Mustard) with Meat

2009-05-21T01:51:00.000-07:00

Braised Mui Choy aka as preserved salted mustard with meat is a wonderful dish to go with rice or porridge. The Chinese loves to have this dish to go with porridge as its savoury flavor blends well with the watery soft rice. As it is a salted vegetable, it takes time to soak in order to clear the excess salt, I therefore would cook a bit more and store the "extras" in food containers in the freezer. The beauty of this dish is it can be stored in the freezer for a week or so and just thaw it and reheat when you feel like eating. Enjoy trying!

Cleaning the Salted Vegetables :

The washing process takes a few rounds of soaking, draining the salt, re-soak and draining it for at least 3 to 4 times, cut into small pieces before blanching it over boiling water before cooking.

All you need :

2 or 3 big bunch of the preserved salted vegetables

1 stripe of pork belly or chicken breast meat - cut into small pieces (we prefer small pieces)

500 ml water

dark soy sauce

Simple Process :

After the cleaning of the salted vegetables process has been undertaken, just put the cut vegetables and meat + dark soy sauce and water in a slow cooker and allow it to slow cook for the next 4 to 5 hours at Auto button

OR, alternatively, just put all the ingredients in a pot with the water and at low heat, allow it to simmer. Just add water bit by bit, if the water dries up and allow it to simmer. The cooking process takes about 3 hours plus and need to be attended occasionally to ensure water is added when necessary.

The dish is ready when the preserved salted vegetables are completely soften and gravy has thicken.

This is how the raw preserved salted mustard looks like in the picture - courtesy from "penangfaces" . It is obtainable from hypermarket or the wet market.

Fish n Yam in Rice Wine

2009-05-19T01:23:00.000-07:00

Many years ago we had this beautiful dish at one of the chinese restaurant and it was one of the restaurant's signature dish at that point of time and as we all love it so much, I explore myself and I did it :) Till now, occasionally we would be enjoying this beautiful tasty dish at home. It is a simple recipe and easy to prepare.

The dish has a good blend of rice wine, longan, red dates and black fungus, ginger together with fried fish and yam in it..... You may use brandy as an alternate to rice wine, it taste good too. It is super delicious drinking it hot during a cold rainy weather. Looking at the the ingredients, the Chinese believe it has good nutritional values especially the red dates, longan which is supposedly good for nourishing our bloodcells. The black fungus are known to reduce bad cholestrol....how wonderful! oops, what about the fried fish..nvm, it's ok to indulge once a while.... Here you are, give it a try and I am sure you will like it as much as we do...

All you need :

A medium size fish and cut into cutlets. A small yam cut into small pieces. Some shredded ginger, some red dates, some dried longan and a handful of dried black fungus together with 1/4 cup rice wine.

Simple Process :

Heat the pan with some oil, coat the fish cutlet with cornflour and fry it till golden brown

Dish out and set aside the fried fish

Boil about 1 litre water, add in the ginger, black fungus, longan, dates and yam over medium fire

By the time the yam has soften, it is almost ready, just add in the fish and 1/4 cup rice wine * and bring to a boil

Serve hot with warm rice

* rice wine or alternate brandy - amount of wine is based on your preference

Enjoy a good and healthy meal

Honey Oyster Shrimps

2009-05-17T20:34:00.000-07:00

A word of thanks to my SIL for her wonderful contribution - a beautiful plate for me ^ _ ^

So here goes this beautiful shrimp/ prawn dish with honey and oyster sauce. An easy and simple recipe and is out for "snatch" when served.... :) . What I did was to marinate the prawns for about 2 hours before cooking. It has a good blend of sweet from the honey and savoury from the oyster sauce, sure, its finger linking good. It goes well with warm rice.

All you need :

some medium or big size prawns
3 Tbs oyster sauce
2 Tbs honey
a little salt

Simple Process :

Marinate the prawns with oyster, honey + a little salt for 2 hours prior to cooking

Drip the prawns from the marinated sauce and oil-fry them till cook.

Use the marinating sauce and bring it to a light boil, add a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce

Put the fried prawns in and coat it with the sauce

Ready to Serve - Voila!

Have a Wonderful and Happy Meal....

Braised Lotus Roots with Chicken

2009-05-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

Lotus Roots are quite commonly used in Chinese cooking. I love to make lotus root chicken soup with red dates and accordingly to my mum lotus roots has lots of nutritional values. There are few ways of making delicious meal using the Lotus Roots. I have this simple recipe, it is braised Lotus Roots with Chicken...sure, it is extremely tasty, try it.

This is a short extract I obtained from this website Chinese Food Recipe. "Lotus Roots also stops diarrhea, clears Heat and improve appetite. Lotus roots contain much iron, vitamins B & C. The rich fibre content of lotus roots stimulates peristalsis and relieves constipation. Drinking 2 to 3 glasses of lotus root juice a day can stop bleeding of the esophagus an stomach (vomiting blood); bleeding of the rectum, intestines or stomach (blood in feces); nose bleeding or gum bleeding".

All you need :

2 pcs chicken breast meat or 1/2 chicken
2 medium size lotus roots - cut into slices
5 pips garlic / 1/2 pc fermented beancurd (tauju) /1 tbs fermented soy bean
2 Tbs plum sauce
2 Tbs oyster sauce

Simple Process :

Blanched the slices of lotus roots in boiling water for 5 minutes

Heat a little oil and saute chopped garlic, fermented beancurd, fermented soy bean till aromatic

Add in the chicken, blanched lotus roots, plum sauce, oyster sauce, stir to mix well

Add a 1/2 cup of water and let it simmer over low heat till lotus roots soften and by then chicken would be cooked too

When it is almost ready, add in some cornstarch to thicken the sauce

Ready to Serve with warm rice

Enjoy your Meal...

Chicken Stew

2009-05-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Chicken Stew is one of our family favorites. A yummy and colorful dish to go with hot rice. Kids would love this dish as it has a tasty thick gravy to blend with the rice. It comes with a simple recipe and easy cooking too. The chicken and vegetables are stewed over low heat together with a good combination of LP sauce (worchestershire sauce), salt, pepper and cornflour.

These are the vegetables that is being added into the chicken stew - carrots, potatoes, yam bean and most important the wonderful onions ** celery can be added (optional)

All you need :

1/2 chicken - chopped into med size
2 carrots - cut into med size
3 potatoes - cut into med size
1 small yam bean - cut into med size
2 onions - cut into wedges
3 Tbs worchestershire sauce
salt, pepper to taste
2 Tbs cornflour
1 cup of water

Simple Process :

Heat a little oil in a saucepan and saute the onions for 1 min, add in the potatoes, carrots, yam beans and give a good stir

Sprinkle in the cornflour and stir mix with the vegetables
Add in the chicken, stir and add in the 1 cup water, lower heat
Add the LP sauce, salt, pepper and stir well
Simmer slowly over low heat for the next 40 minutes, stirring occasionally

Serve with hot rice......so yummy!

Have a healthy and happy meal....enjoy!

Yummy Steam Fish

2009-05-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

Steam fish is one of our favourites. ^ _ ^....wanting to eat healthy and going for easy preparation. LOOK at this beautiful colourful plate of fish, I like this simple and easy recipe of my mum..... as usual the fried garlic makes the difference...yeh!

Simple stuff required : slices of ginger, chopped corriander leaves and spring onions, a clove of chopped garlic for making fried garlic / garlic oil, red chilly for garnishing, few drops of chinese cooking wine.

Got this big fish (oops, don't know the name, me poor in fish names, all I know the meat is very sweet and equivalent to promfret) from the wet market @ $16, if you were to order this piece at the chinese restaurant it will cost you no less than $35.

Simple Process :

Wash the fish well and cut diagonal lines on top of each surface

Rub some salt on the body of fish and spread some ginger strips all over

Put the fish into the boiling steamer for about 20 minutes - or till eyes of fish "pops"

While fish is steaming, heat the pan with some oil and fry the garlic till golden brown - set aside for garnishing

When fish is ready, drop a few drops of chinese cooking wine and simply garnish with chopped corriander, spring onion and spread well the fried garlic and garlic oil, drop a few slices of cut red chilly

Serve Hot and have a Happy Meal

Hot Ladies Fingers

2009-05-10T01:50:00.000-07:00

I just love this spicy ladies fingers aka kacang bendi. It is one of my favourite dish as I love the flavour of the aromatic chilly. This is just another method of getting this beautiful vegetable served. In my earlier post, I have shared one of the simpliest and tasty method of cooking it, feel free to refer recipe here.

This dish is slightly spicy as it is cooked with grounded chilly with dried shrimp paste (belacan), onions and dried shrimps. It taste so good yummy with hot rice....

All you need :

To ground together ingredients 1 - 4

1. 10 ladies fingers *
2. 5 red chillies or alternatively just use 2 Tbs ready-made sambal belacan
3. 1 big onions
4. thumbsize dried shrimp paste / belacan (if sambal belacan is used - then omit this)
5. some dried shrimps (udang kering)

* Tips : just flip the tail end of the ladies fingers to check if its crunchy n "young" :)

Simple Process :

Cut the ladies fingers at a slant into 1cm thickness

Heat the wok with a little oil and stir fry the grounded paste till aromatic

Add in the ladies fingers, put in 1/4 cup water and stir well

Allow it to simmer over low heat till gravy is thickens or till ladies fingers has soften

Ready to serve with hot rice

Taste So Yummy.....Enjoy Your Meal!

Nyonya Achar - Pickled Vegetables

2009-05-08T02:28:00.000-07:00

An authentic Nyonya (Peranakan) dish called Achar which is a spicy pickled vegetable dish. The vegetables are cooked in grounded aromatic chilly paste and rice vinegar. We still find my grandma's achar recipe is the BEST and so far and I have not found any good similar tasty Achar at the eatery outlets. Achar is one of the many delicacies found in any Nyonya wedding luncheon. I remembered this Achar was one of the many dishes served during my wedding luncheon at my house.... wow, sweet memories of Grandma and many aunts were busy preparing so many dishes at the "extended" kitchen... :)

The cooked vegetables are very crunchy, a little skill is required to maintain the crunch.
Some blanched the vegetables before cooking but I dont. This dish can be taken as an appetizer, a dish with hot rice or go with pieces of bread. My kids loves to eat the achar with bread, so do I and my hubby. The taste of achar is simply great, it has a well-blended mixture of spicy, sweet-sour and savoury flavour.

This dish consist of simple grounded ingredients as shown in the photo below. The grounded paste are saute till aromatic before adding in the cut vegetables and stir fry till the grounded paste are completely absorbed by the vegetables and with a final touch of rice vinegar, sugar, salt and grounded roasted peanuts. Yep...It is Yummy!

Drop me a line if you want to try it out........ I will be happy to share ^ - ^

Fried Fish in Savoury-Sour Gravy

2009-05-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

This dish is made up of fried fish cooked in a beautiful savoury-sour gravy. It is very appetizing and goes well with steam rice. It is one of my favorites which I have learnt from my grandma - supposedly a dish from a Nyonya kitchen. The gravy is made up of well blended ingredients of garlic, ginger, soy bean paste and tamarind juice. The colour may be a little dull but the taste is yummy! Well, because it is so simple to cook and tasty too, that's the reason I enjoy preparing it. Care to try?

Tips: The two types of fishes that goes well with this recipe is either ikan kurau (threadfin) cutlets or ikan bawal hitam (black promfret) where it can be deep-fried.

The ingredients required for 3 - 4 pieces of fish cutlets are :

2 Tbs soy bean paste - minced finely

1 clove garlic - chopped finely

2 thumbsize ginger - shred finely

1.5 Tbs tamarind paste - add 1/4 cup water

Simple Process :

Deep fry the fish cutlets or whole fish till golden brown, set aside

Heat a little oil, saute together the garlic, soybean paste and ginger till aromatic

Add in the tamarind juice and let it simmer for 2 minutes

Lastly, put in the fried fish and allow it to simmer for another 5 minutes

Ready to serve with hot steam rice

Enjoy Your Meal..........

Pork Belly with Yam Slices - Woo-Tau KowYuk

2009-05-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

Non Halal

Wow.....we love this dish, it's rich and taste super delicious. The 5-spice powder gives a very good aroma to the dish. This dish is also known as "woo tau kow yuk" - in cantonese, it is layers of yam and pork laid together. There are many ways of preparing this dish but I prefer the few simple steps and but foregoing the most important process that is marinating well the meat before cooking. This dish goes well with hot rice as the gravy is real rich and it is very aromatic.

What you need :

800gms pork belly - cut into 8cm in length

1 small yam - cut into slices

6 pips garlic - chopped

Seasoning for the meat : Marinate meat for 2 hours

1 Tbs 5-spice powder

2 pc red fermented beancurd (tau ju)

2 Tbs dark soy sauce

2 Tbs cooking wine or brandy

some sugar - to taste

Simple Process :

Marinate the meat for at least 2 hours before cooking

Take out the marinated meat and keep the sauce aside **(A)

Heat the wok a little oil, and lightly fry the meat on both sides

Also, lightly fry both sides of the yam

Next...lay them nicely on a bowl and prepare for steaming. Steam for 30 minutes.
While the meat is steaming, prepare the sauce. Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the garlic till aromatic, add in the sauce ** (A) and simmer till sauce thickens. Lastly, when steaming is over, pour the sauce onto the meat and yam. Here you are, a Beautiful Delicious PorkBelly with Yam Slices - "Woo Tau Kow Yuk"

Have a Happy Meal!

Braised Chicken with Mushroom n Peanuts

2009-05-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

Looking for a simple dish to go with rice, take this simple chicken dish with mushrooms and braised peanuts. I like this dish as it is fast to cook and the grave is very tasty. We love the beautiful aroma of the braised chinese mushrooms. All you need to do is put the marinated chicken and mushroom and simmer with some water over a low heat, when it is almost ready, just drop in the canned braised peanuts..... Beautiful simple dish and Mushroom is good for health!

The benefits of Mushrooms , enjoy reading to find out more about the medicinal values of mushrooms.

All you need :

1/2 chicken - chopped into pieces
10 chinese mushrooms - soak and wash well
3 Tbs dark soy sauce
2 Tbs chinese cooking wine
1 clove garlic
salt to taste

Simple Process :

Marinate the chicken with dark soy sauce and chinese cooking wine for 30 minutes

Put in the clove of garlic, marinated chicken and mushroom in a pot, add a cup of water and simmer over low heat

Do stir occasionally, simmer for the next 30 minutes, when the strong aroma of mushroom appears, the dish is almost ready.

Just add in the canned braised mushrooms and it is ready to serve..

BRAISED PEANUTS

Have a Happy Meal!

Nyonya Salad Chicken - Kerabu Chicken

2009-04-28T23:41:00.000-07:00

We all love this signature dish of my grandma, it is a typical Nyonya dish and a healthy dish. No fuss of cooking is required here, it is just exactly how we make a salad. The main ingredients are shredded chicken, black fungus and mix in a unique dressing of pounded chilly, roasted shrimp paste and lime juice plus kerisik (fried pounded grated coconut). It is a typical Nyonya salad, taken as an appetizer or act as a dish to be taken with rice.

This is a simple process of making the "kerisik" or roasted grated coconut **

All you need :

1 pc chicken breast meat
3 black fungus (bok nee) - soak and cut into fine strips
10 shallots - cut into fine slices
5 red chillies - pounded with 1 thumbsize roasted shrimp paste
6 lime - extract juice
1/4 grated coconut - roast it and pound **
salt to taste

Simple Process :

Steam the chicken and when it is cool, hand shred it

Put all the ingredients for dressing - pounded chilly with shrimp paste, lime juice, slices of shallots and salt - in a big bowl

Mix well the dressing and add in the shredded chicken

Finally, add in the kerisik (pounded roasted grated coconut)

Ready to Serve....

Simple Nyonya Delicacies....enjoy!

Chilly-Plum Sauce Prawns

2009-04-28T00:35:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favourite recipe taught by mum for prawns that has been lying for quite a while in the freezer.... :/ this is a good idea to ensure the prawns are still good to taste. It is a simple recipe using grounded chilly and plum sauce to boost up the flavour of the prawns. It is kind of sweet, sour and spicy flavour and it goes well with hot rice.

All you need :

600 gms medium size prawns - with shell
6 red chillies - grounded
1 onion - grounded
4 pips of garlic - chopped
2 Tbs Plum Sauce
salt to taste

Simple Process :

Heat the pan with a little oil, saute the chopped garlic and add in the prawns

Lightly stir fry the prawns till it changes color - dish out and set aside

Add a little oil, stir fry the grounded chillies and onions till fragrant, add in 1/4 cup of water, add in the Plum Sauce, bring to a light boil

Add in the prawns and let it simmer for 5 minutes, add salt to taste

Dish out when the gravy has thicken slightly, Serve with hot rice

Enjoy a Happy Meal...

Apple Chicken

2009-04-26T21:37:00.000-07:00

TatTaaraaa! See this beautiful chicken dish....it taste Voila! Well, something different and it is a Kiwi Recipe. Thanks to my buddy who is currently working in NZ for sharing this beautiful recipe with me. When I read the recipe, I feel it "sounds" tasty especially with the addition of apple in the dish, so I decided to give it a go and wow..it taste good. The name of this dish is "Kia Ora Chicken Curry", and since I have done a slight modification to my preference in term of handling the curry powder and also no bay leave was added, I guess I shall "re-label" it. It is not spicy at all, just a good aroma of curry powder, so "no-no curry chicken". Guess, it should named as Ahau-Dee's Chicken dish.. hahaha..^ *

As promised, once I have it cooked, I shall post it in my blog...here it goes....

All you need :

1/2 chicken - chopped into pieces

1 green apple - chopped

handful of raisins

2 onions - chopped

4 pips of garlic - chopped

2 Tbs curry powder - mixed into paste

1/2 litre chicken stock or water

1/2 lemon juice

1 Tbs cornflour - mix with 1Tbs water

Simple Process :

Heat the pan with some oil and brown the chicken - when ready set aside

Heat a little oil, add in all the ingredients together that is *marked orange* and stir fry till aromatic

Put in the browned chicken, add the chopped apples, add the lemon juice, some salt

Add the 1/2 litre water or chicken stock, stir well and allow to simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes, stir occasionally.

Add in the cornflour to thickens the gravy, dish it out and serve, add the raisins as toppings

^ * Enjoy a Happy Meal * ^

Simple Set Meal - Tasty Combinations

2009-04-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

I was running out of idea what to cook for the day and decided just to grab whatever I can find in the refrigerator and that would be the meal for the day...haha... I came with this simple idea of serving everything in a plate - A Simple Set Meal. Hmmm...looks good and taste good too.

Early preparation is required :
* steam the rice and let it cool before frying it.
* marinate the cut into cubes chicken breast meat for 1 hour before cooking.

A Simple Set Meal with 3 combinations - Garlic Fried Rice with Cashew Nut Chicken, Fried Egg and Butter Saute Asparagus.

Simple Recipes with Simple Ingredients:

Garlic Fried Rice

1.5 cups steam rice - let it cool before frying
Chopped 1 big clove of garlic
Heat the wok with some butter or margarine, add in the garlic and stir fry till aromatic
Add in the rice, a few drops of fish sauce, it gives a very nice aroma to the rice (optional) or pinch of salt - to taste, stir well to mix for the next 8-10 minutes
Rice is Ready

Fried Egg

Heat the pan with a little oil
Break the egg into the pan and allow the sides be crispy, stir the yoke a little before folding the eggs into half
Fried Egg is Ready

Saute Asparagus

Heat the pan with a little butter
Put the cut asparagus in and saute it over low heat
Sprinkle some salt and pepper over it
Saute till Asparagus till soften

Cashew Nut Chicken

Roast the cashew nut in oven at 150 degreesC till golden brown - side aside
Marinate the cut into cubes chicken breast meat for 1 hour prior to cooking with dark soy sauce, a little sugar, 1 Tbs of cooking wine, 1 Tbs cornflour
Diced 2 onions and chopped 5 pips of garlic

Next, Cooking the Cashew Nut Chicken

Heat the wok with a little oil, stir fry the garlic till aromatic, add in the marinated chicken and stir well for 2-3 mins
Add a little water and let the chicken simmer at low heat till chicken is cook or till gravy has thickens
Lastly add in the diced onions, 1 Tbs of dark soya sauce and mix well for 1 minute
Serve with the roasted cashew nut

Have a Happy SET Meal !

Brinjal in Dark Soy Sauce

2009-04-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

I have found a new approach in preparing this brinjal dish, of course modifying a bit from my mum's original recipe. As I dont like my dish to be oily and also partly wanting to eat healthy, I have decided not to fry the brinjal instead I put it in the steamer. I classified this recipe under fast and simple to cook - no fuss at all! It is looks yummy and sure it taste great too. My family loves it, the brinjal is soft, well coated with the thick soy sauce and the aromatic dried shrimps...hmm taste great with hot rice.

All you need : Serve 4 -5

3 brinjals - cut into lengthwise, half it

some dried shrimps (hae bee)

6 shallots - slice thinly

a sprig of spring onions, 1 red chilly - for garnishing

3 Tbs dark soy sauce

sugar - to taste (optional)

Simple Process :

Soak the brinjal in salt water once you have cut it - to reduce brinjal turning dark

Prepare Steamer and steam cut brinjal for 10 minutes - set aside

Heat a little oil, stir fry the slices of shallots, dried shrimps till aromatic

Add a little water, 3 Tbs dark soy sauce, a little sugar and the steamed brinjal

Lower heat, stir well the brinjal in the sauce and let the brinjal simmer in the sauce

When sauce has well coated the brinjal and almost dry, dish it out

Garnish with chopped spring onion, cut chilly and ready to be Served..

Yep....Taste Yummy n have a Happy Meal!

Pork Ribs with Pineapple

2009-04-22T05:55:00.000-07:00

Non-Halal

This is yummy, the gravy is rich and tangy and goes well with hot rice. I have used the tin pineapples as I could not get a fresh one. I gave the pineapple a good rinse to lighten the syrup as much as possible. This is a simple recipe, easy to cook and great in taste. I have modified mum's original recipe by excluding chinese celery as my kids says "no no" to the pungent smell.

All you need :

800gms spare ribs or 1/2 chickensome
pineapples - cut small pieces

To Marinate the Meet
some light soy sauce
few drops of cooking wine
1 beaten egg
1 Tbs cornflour

For the Sauce
1 Tbs worcestershire sauce (LP sauce)
3 Tbs tomato sauce
2 Tbs plum sauce
1 Tsp rice vinegar
1 cup water

Simple Process :

Marinate the meat for minimum 2 hours

Deep fry the meat till golden brown, dish out

Cook the sauce and add in the meat, simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes or till sauce thickens

Add in the pineapple and mix well...

Ready to Serve

A Tasty Sour flavour Meat dish.....

Aromatic Spicy Chicken

2009-04-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

Look at this beautiful rich coloured chicken. Daddy says its super delicious and it goes very well with hot rice. I called it aromatic spicy chicken. The beautiful aroma comes from the curry leaves which is very important for this dish. The recipe is simple and so is the cooking. I love cooking at home because we can control the usage of oil thus healthy eating promotes healthy living. Care to try?

The curry leaves are obtainable from wet market or hypermarket - Tesco / Giant / Jusco.

All you Need :

1/2 chicken or 2 pieces of chicken breast meat

2 Tbs curry powder for fish

some dried shrimps (hae bee)

2 big onions - chopped

2 Tbs grounded chilly

2 sprig of curry leaves

Simple Process :

Chopped the chicken into pieces and drain it dry

Heat a little oil and stir fry chicken till slightly brown, dish out

Next, add in 2 Tbs of oil in the same wok, stir fry all together the mixture of chopped onions, curry powder, grounded chilly, dried shrimps and curry leaves till aromatic

Put in the browned chicken, add a little water and stir mix the chicken well over low heat, let it simmer till chicken is cook or till gravy has thicken.

Add a drop of dark soy sauce, salt to taste

** Dried Shrimps will add saltiness to the dish, if you prefer the dish to be slightly salty, add salt to taste..

Voila...a simple and easy to cook recipe is ready to serve!

Delicious Bakut-O

2009-04-19T00:52:00.000-07:00

Non-Halal

This is one of my grandma's recipe for cooking meat. It is Chinese Stewed Pork Chop or my grandma named it as Bak-Kut-O. It comes with lots of gravy to go with the steam rice. This recipe can be applied for Pork Leg, Pork Ribs or even Chicken. A little extra time is required to cook this dish as it has to be simmered over low heat for 2 - 2.5 hours. I have tried using the slow cooker but I find it taste much better over slow cooking on the stove.

All you need are :

3 Tbs fermented soy bean - minced
1 Clove garlic - chopped
2 Thumbsize ginger - chopped
1 Tbs chinese cooking wine

Simple Process :

Heat a little oil and stir fry all together the chopped garlic, ginger, fermented soy bean till aromatic

Add in the pieces of pork chop and mix well, add 2 cups of water, chinese cooking wine and simmer over low heat for the next 2 to 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally. Add a little water if gravy dries up or if you prefer more gravy. Add salt to taste

Serve with Steam Rice.....

Simple Recipe & Happy Cooking.....

Yummy Sweet Dessert

2009-04-18T00:39:00.000-07:00

This is a yummy sweet dessert (tong sui) and it taste great whether taken hot or cold. I happened to spot this wonderful dessert in one of the blog by "simply-june", thank you so much, I love it. My mum used to cook this sweet dessert without the apples and when I saw this recipe, I thought that would be a brilliant idea to include the apples. The dried longan gives sweetness to the dessert, thus I have omitted the rock sugar (optional). This is a reproduction of what I discovered and I am so delighted, everybody in the family loves it!

The combination of the red dates, dried longan, white fungus extracts provides good nourishment to our body. Accordingly to the chinese physician, red dates and dried longans are rich in iron and it nourishes our blood and as for the white fungus it is nourishing for our lungs - it strengthens our respiratory system.

All you need :

4 red apples - peel off the skin and cut into 6 pcs wedges

a cup of dried longan

a cup of dried red dates

some white fungus - break it into pieces and soak for at least 3 hours to soften it

3 screwpines leaves - knot it

2.5 litres of water

Simple Process :

Put everything in the pot except rock sugar, boil over medium heat for 1 hour

Next, add the rock sugar (optional), reduce to low heat and boil for the next 30 minutes,

Wow...It is ready. It taste good when taken hot.

A Beautiful Sweet Dessert..!

Steam Fish Delight

2009-04-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

I have found a new recipe to steam this beautiful "red fish" (red snapper - oops...I am not so good in the names of fishes). Got this wonderful idea while eating out at a Chinese restaurant. It is kind of simple and fast to prepare and the sour flavour from the lime blends so well with the raw onions - no fishy-fishy smell. And the most delightful thing, I have saved half the amount to be paid for this steam fish by reproducing this similar recipe at home.

So if you are running short of ideas, happy trying this simple recipe and get this yummy appetizing steam fish on the dining table for your family...

All you require :

a medium size red snapper

5- 6 limes

2 big onions - cut into rings

some corriander leaves and spring onions - for garnishing

salt and chinese cooking wine

All you need to do :

Sprinkle a litte salt and a few drops of chinese cooking wine on both side of the fish

Steam the fish for 20-25 minutes or till the fish eyes "pops-up"

When fish is ready, spread out the onion rings on top of the fish

Squeeze lime on top of the onion rings, garnish with corriander leaves, spring onions

Ready to be served HOT...

Enjoy your Meal and be Happy......

Braised Meat with Dark Soy Sauce

2009-04-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

Non-Halal

This is a beautiful recipe by my grandma and it is a very simple homecook dish. She called it "kong tau yew bak" (braised black soy sauce meat) and it is simply delicious. We love to complement this dish with sambal balacan (local condiment - chilly and dried shrimps paste) and hot rice. The good blend of garlic and pepper produces a wonderful aroma to the dish, the kids love the gravy very much.

These are the ingredients you need :

alternatively - chicken can be used

600 gm lean meat - photo shows marinated meat
2 cloves of garlic
3 potatoes
some taufo pok (fluffy fried beancurd)

Simple Process :

Cut the meat into medium size cubes, marinate with 2 Tbs black soy sauce and few dashes of pepper - alternatively, you can used smashed white peppercorn - for minimum 2 hours

Next, put the marinated meat and garlic in a pot with 1 cup of water, bring to boil over medium heat, then lower the heat

Add in the cut potatoes and simmer over low heat for the next 1 hour. Stirring occasionally, add a little water if required to ensure pot is kept wet all the time.

When almost ready, add in the "taufo pok" and finally add 2 Tbs dark soy sauce, stir well.

** You may add 1 Tbs cornflour starch to thicken the gravy - optional. I like ORIGINAL so I leave out the cornstarch. If chicken is the alternative, then simmer for only 40 minutes.

Have a Happy and Healthy Meal........!

Egg Pudding Delight

2009-04-12T00:23:00.000-07:00

Yes! another new attempt by daddy. It is "Por Por" (granny) recipe to make steam egg pudding. We miss Por-Por "ton-tan" very much, she is so skillful. The ones made by her is so soft, smooth and taste so much like taufu-fah. Muaaaachh! to my sister-in-law Ann for sharing "Por Por " recipe with us. I would say it is a good attempt. It taste yummy when it is taken hot.

Accordingly to the Chinese, egg pudding is very nourishing for the body, especially good for skin textures...wow! Care to try?

What do you require :

5 medium eggs
525 ml milk
Ginger - about 12 cm length - extract juice
Sugar - to taste

Simple Process :

Beat the eggs up lightly together with the milk, sugar and ginger juice till the sugar completely dissolve
Pour mixture into each bowl or cups, cover up to prevent water from dripping in
Put into steamer and steam for about 20 minutes

Enjoy A Nice Hot Egg Pudding......

Coconut Milk Rice - Nasi Lemak Malaysia

2009-04-11T01:04:00.000-07:00

Malaysia Delicacy - Presented in a Home Served style........

Every Malaysian, young and old, loves this "complete meal" in a plate. The locals call this dish Nasi Lemak aka Coconut Milk Rice. It can be taken at breakfast, lunch or even dinner.

There are many ways of serving this delicious hot spicy meal. The photo shows my authentic way of serving this meal with chilly-sour flavour chicken together with fried anchovis (ikan billis), fried beancurd, boiled egg and cucumber slices together with Coconut Milk Rice....

The Chilly-Sour Flavour Chicken

The ingredients to cook the chicken:

1/2 chicken - chopped into pieces

3 stalks lemon grass (serai), 8 red chillies, 4 onions - to be grounded together into a paste

3 Tbs tamarind paste (assam juice) - add with 1/4 cup water

** The knotted screwpine (pandan leaves) are for cooking the coconut milk rice

Simple Process for the Chilly-Sour Flavour Chicken :

Heat the wok with some oil, stir fry the grounded chilly paste till fragrant
Add in the chicken and mix well with the paste
Add the tamarind juice, salt and sugar to taste, allow it to simmer over low heat
Stir occasionally till the chicken meat is cook. The cooked chicken must have some gravy to go with the coconut milk rice

Tip: If you wish to have more of the cooked chilly paste aka sambal (condiment), you can use the same ingredient as above and cooked it separately without the chicken but you can add in cut onion rings

What do you require for cooking the rice :

2 cups rice
1 grated coconut - extract the milk and add sufficient water to cook the rice
3 pieces screwpine (pandan leaves add a nice aroma to the rice)

Tips : how do I know the rice has sufficient water? Simply use your fingertip and touch the rice lightly, the water level should not be more than the 1st segment (fold) of your finger.

Have a Happy Meal!

Golden Chicken

2009-04-08T06:54:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite grandma's chicken recipes, it is "golden chicken".... It is chicken coated with a rich gravy made of grounded lemon grass, onion, garlic, coriander leaves, lemon juice and a little tumeric powder (kunyit powder). The tumeric powder will give the chicken a beautiful yellow color. I have made a slight modification to grandma's recipe, I have added "lemon juice" and it taste great.

Hmmmm...It smells so good and taste yummy and most importantly to me is...a simple and easy to make recipe. Give a try!

The grounded ingredients are simply these :

3 stalks lemon grass, 1 clove garlic, 1 big onion, some corriander leaves, 1 lemon juice + a little turmeric powder (kunyit powder)

Simple Process :

Chop the 1/2 chicken into pieces
Ground together the lemon grass, onion, garlic and corriander leaves
Take 1/2 portion grounded ingredients to marinate the chopped chicken for 2 hours
Heat a little oil and stir fry till aromatic the balance 1/2 portion of the grounded ingredients
Add in the marinated chicken, add the lemon juice, salt to taste, a little water and mix well
Let the chicken simmer over low heat till the gravy thickens or chicken is cooked
Ready to serve with hot rice.... Yummy!

ENJOY A HAPPY AND HEALTHY MEAL......

Aromatic Lengkuas Chicken

2009-04-07T05:27:00.000-07:00

Lengkuas aka in English as Galangal

A nice aroma root plant belonging to the "ginger family" except it does not have a hot taste. Mostly found in Nyonya or Thai cooking, it produces a nice aroma when cook...

We all love this Nyonya chicken dish especially the tasty gravy, it goes well with hot rice. My grandma call this speciality of hers as Lengkuas Ayam.

It is a simple recipe and very easy to cook just need to simmer it under low heat to extract the fragrance of the lengkuas (galangal). A truly homecook dish.

What you require:

1/2 chicken - chopped into pieces
2 Thumbsize lengkuas - cut into slices
some dark soya sauce
some pepper and salt to taste

Simple Process :

Put the slices of lengkuas into the pot of hot boiling water - about 500 ml and let it boil for 10 minutes

Add in the chicken, dark soya sauce, pepper, salt and simmer it over low heat

Check occasionally to ensure there is sufficient water, if water dries up, just add a little water. Let it simmer till meat is cooked.

You may add in a little cornstarch to thicken the gravy - your preference.

Enjoy this Nyonya dish with hot rice.....