Simple Fried Rice

My girls prefer to eat the egg on it's own so I fried the egg separately rather than coating the rice with it

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup rice, cooked and kept overnight in fridge 

(This is approximate amount because I did not really measure it. I usually cook more rice the day before, and keep the extra in fridge overnight)

2 chinese sausages, diced

80gm french beans, diced

4 cloves garlic, diced

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Oil for frying

Seasoning

2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp water

Method

1) Mix all seasoning and set aside.

2) Heat 2 tbsp oil in pan. When hot, pour in beaten egg and stir with the spatula to "cut" up the egg. When done, dish out and set aside.

3) Only take the rice out from fridge at this point. Use a fork to break up the rice if they are sticking together.

4) Heat another 2 tbsp oil in the same pan. When hot, add in garlic and chinese sausages. Fry on medium heat till slightly brown and fragrant. Add in french beans, stir to mix everything. You don't have to cook the beans through at this stage.

5) Add rice last. Use the spatula to mix everything up. Turn heat to high and add in seasoning. Adjust the amount of seasoning to pour in depending on the amount of rice and other ingredients. Keep "digging" up the rice from bottom of wok, and break up those that are still sticking, until the colour become even. This has to be done fairly quickly to prevent it to get burnt.

6) And tada ... it's done!

* Usually the professionals will use high heat from beginning till end to have the "wok hei", and they do it very quickly to prevent burning. But I am no professional so I have used medium heat throughout and only turn up the heat at last step. The high heat helps dry up the rice a little to prevent it from becoming too wet.

Steamed Chicken with Chinese Herbs 药材蒸鸡

Always prefer the taste of chinese herbs than western herbs

Ingredient

Main

2 fresh chicken legs

5 dang-sheng (党参)

2 slices dang-gui (当归)

10 red dates

1 tbsp wolfberries

10 pieces dried longan (圆肉)

5 slices young ginger

500ml water

Seasoning

1 tsp salt

1 tsp light soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Dash of pepper

Method

1) Add main ingredients (except chicken legs) and seasoning into sauce pan and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

2) Arrange chicken legs in a deep plate, pour herbal soup from step (1) onto the chicken leg. 

3) Steam chicken together with the soup for another 30 minutes.

Chinese Spinach in "Superior" Broth 上汤苋菜

Healthier choice is to make the chicken broth yourself. But I have opted for speed and simplicity so I used store-bought broth

Ingredient

200gm round spinach, pick out only the leaves
100gm minced pork
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 cup of anchovies
1 egg
500ml chicken broth
250ml water
1/2 tsp tapioca flour
1 tsp shaoxing wine
Salt to taste
2 tbsp oil

Method

1) Season minced meat with salt, shaoxing wine and tapioca flour. Set aside.

2) Wash spinach. Drain and pick out only the leaves. Discard stems. Set aside.

3) Rinse anchovies slightly. Dry with kitchen towel.

4) Heat oil in pan. When oil is hot, add in garlic and anchovies. Stir-fry till garlic is lightly browned.

5) Pour in chicken broth and water. Let it boil till bubbling.

6) Add in minced meat. I pinch a small amount and add in bit by bit.  

7) Add spinach last and continue to boil till spinach soften. At this point, you can add salt to taste, or not at all depending on the broth used. I have used store-bought broth which is already salty enough so I did not add any additional salt.

8) Dish out and serve immediately.

Easy One Pot Cook (Rice, Mushroom, Chicken, Tomato & Beans)

All cooked in rice cooker. No open fire, no pan. Only need to chop chop cut cut ...

Ingredient

3 cups rice (Chinese rice, not Japanese, not Italian)

3 cups chicken broth (I have used 500ml chicken broth. Then top it up with water to become 3 cups of liquid in total. Then remove 6 tbsp of the liquid.)

2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

3 tsp salt

1 tomato

50gm french beans

50gm shiitake mushrooms

100gm lean meat

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp tapioca flour

1 tsp sesame oil

Dash of pepper

* I find that the amount of beans, mushrooms and meat are not enough for 3 cups of rice. I will at least double the amount for these 3 ingredients next round.

Method

1) Diced lean meat. Add salt, tapioca flour, sesame oil and pepper. Marinate for about 30minutes.

2) Wash french beans and tomato. Dice french beans and shiitake mushrooms. Remove the stem on top of the tomato. Then cut a shallow cross at the bottom of the tomato.

I have used 2 packets of this broth, plus some water to top it up to a total of 3 cups of liquid

3) Wash rice then drained. Add the rice, measured chicken broth, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and salt into the rice cooker. 

4) Add in diced meat, beans, mushroom and tomato like in picture above.

5) Turn on rice cooker and cook like you cooking white rice using the rice cooker automatic function.

6) When rice cooker turned to "keep warm" function, leave it for another 10 minutes.

7) After 10 minutes, open rice cooker and take the tomato out. Remove the tomato skin and put the tomato back into the rice. Stir everything up to mix well and serve ... yummy!

* You can replace or add in any ingredients of your preference. But the tomato gives another layer of taste other than the normal saltiness from oyster sauce and chicken broth (that of course if you like the tomato taste)

Baked Honey Lemon Chicken Breast with Garlic, Onion & Basil

The onion and garlic are delicious too!

Ingredient

300gm chicken breast meat, skin on

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 small yellow onion, sliced

3 tbsp honey

3 tbsp water

1-2 tbsp lemon juice

Salt to season chicken 

3 tbsp olive oil

Method

1) Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius.

2) Pound the chicken breast using the back of the knife to make the meat thiner. Alternatively if the chicken meat was frozen, you can cut the chicken breast into half when it is half thawed. It is easier to cut when the meat is still slightly harder.

3) Season the chicken with salt on both side.

4) Heat oil in pan. When the oil started smoking, put the chicken breast in, skin side down. Fry on high heat, about 1-2 minutes each side to brown it. The chicken meat does not need to be fully cooked at this point as you need to bake it in the oven. When browned, dish out and put on baking pan.

5) Mix honey, water and lemon juice. Stir well.

5) Sprinkle garlic and onion on the chicken. Then pour honey mixture all over the chicken.

6) Bake the chicken for about 8-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chicken breast. If the onion and garlic start to burnt and the meat is still not cooked, cover the baking pan and continue to bake until inside of chicken is cooked.

7) When done, sprinkle dried basil leaves (or your favourite herbs) on the chicken.

ABC Soup

ABC Soup ... 

Another pot full of nutrition. My girls love the carrots and potatoes.

Ingredient

2 large carrots, cut diagonally into big chunks

2 medium tomato, quartered
2 large potatoes, quartered
1 large yellow onion, quartered

1 small chicken bone (or 4 pieces of pork soup bone, or you can  even use lean meat)

3-4 litre water

8-10 large red dates
A handful of wolf berries 

1 tablespoon soya sauce (I like to use soya sauce just to make the soup a little darker)

Salt to taste

Another pot of water for cleaning the bone

Method

1) Heat water in a small pot just enough to cover the bone. Once boiling, put in bone and continue boiling for about 5min. After 5 minutes, run the bone through tap water to wash away the gunk and remove excess fat that is still stick to the bone. Drain and set aside.

*This step is to clean up the gunk and any excess oil to make the soup cleaner and less oily.

2) Heat 3-4 litre water in a stockpot. Put in carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, onion and red dates. Bring to boil. You can also add in  some peppercorn at this stage if you like the the slightly pepper spicy taste. 

3) Add in bone and let it continue boil at high heat for another 15min, with lid open. 

4) After 15min, cover stockpot and turn heat to low. Continue to simmer for 1.5 - 2 hours. I cover the stockpot so that the liquid does not evaporate too much. If the liquid overspill after you covered the pot, you can either leave the lid slightly open, or turn the heat even lower, but make sure the soup still bubble slightly.

5) Add in wolf berries, soya sauce and salt to taste, 10 minutes before done.

6) Turn off heat after the soup has been simmered for about 2 hours. 

Teriyaki Sliced Pork

Didn't have spring onion, so I garnished with garlic

Ingredient

200gm lean pork
2 onions (red or yellow)
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/8 cup of water

A dash of coarsely ground black pepper

Some spring onion for garnish (I didn't have spring onion, so sliced some garlic and brown it slightly for garnishing)

Marinate
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce (I used the thick honey soy type)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp corn flour
A dash of white pepper

Method

1) Slice pork thinly.

2) Add marinate to pork and marinate for at least 30minutes. 2-3 hours if time permits.

3) Cut onion to half, then slice.

4) Heat oil in pan. Add in onion when oil is hot. Stir-fry onion on low heat till soft and translucent.

5) Add in pork and stir-fry on medium heat until 90% cooked.

6) Add in water, dark soy sauce and black pepper. Continue to stir-fry for another 1-2 minutes.

7) When done, dish out and garnish with spring onion.

Prepacked Chinese Herbal Soup

Whenever I feel like it's time to nourish my body I would go buy these prepacked chinese herbal soup. It's much easier than buying each type of ingredients from the chinese medical hall.

For good complexion and eyesight 养颜明目



This is specially for woman. Drink one week after menses ended each month.



No recipe needed for these. Just cook according to packet instruction.

Braised Ramen

Used the simplest ingredients and fastest time to prepare this. I prepared the sauce in advance and braised the noodle only after I got the kids back from school. This way the noodle will not be soggy while waiting for them to come home.

You can add more ingredients like prawns and fish cakes. I did not because my girls do not like those ... 

Ingredient

Main

100gm ramen (or more). set aside (Do not soak)

150 gm lean pork

Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp corn flour

Sauce

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

Some vegetable (I used siao bai cai 小白菜)

250ml chicken broth

750ml water

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp dark soya sauce

3 tsp corn flour dissolve in 5 tsp water

Method

1) Sliced pork thinly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Also add in corn flour. Mix well and set aside for at least 10minute. Longer if time permits.

2) Boil 750ml water in a pot.

3) While waiting for water to be boiled, heat oil in pan. Then stir-fry the garlics until lightly brown.

4) Add pork to pan, stir-fry until 80% cooked. At this point, you can add in your other preferred ingredients such as prawns or fish cakes.

5) Then add chicken broth, oyster sauce and dark soy sauce. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.

6) When pot of water is bubbling, add the chicken broth together with its content into the pot. Stir to mix well.

7) Then add in the corn flour solution and stir to mix well. Let it boil for another 5 minutes. Turn off heat and cover the pot. Set aside.

Pot of sauce ready to be used. It is watery at this point. It will be thicken after braising it with noodle because of the added corn flour solution.

8) When ready to serve, pour enough sauce to pan. Keep in mind that the sauce would thicken up and also some would evaporate. Heat till bubbling.

9) Add in ramen (or yee mian 伊面). Cover the pan and simmer the noodle until your preferred texture. I cover the pan so that the liquid does not dry up too fast.

10) Add in vegetable last. When done, dish out and serve immediately.

Steamed Spare Ribs with Black Bean Sauce 蒸排骨

I will use only pork fillet next round because it's easier to eat ... hahah

Ingredient

250gm spare ribs, preferably small size pieces
150gm pork fillet, cut to medium to large size cube
3 coves of garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp salted bean paste
1 tbsp plum sauce
1 tsp black bean paste
1 tsp corn flour
1 tsp sugar (I used brown sugar)
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
3-4 tbsp water (I make more sauce to go with the rice ... yum yum)

Chopped chilli and spring onion, to garnish

Method

Make sure pork meat and rib pieces are similar size so that all get cooked around same time.

1) Mixed everything together and marinate at least 30 minutes. I prepared it in the morning then steamed in the evening just before dinner. Marinated about 6 hours in the fridge.

2) Boil water till bubbling. Put the dish in and steam at low heat for about 20-30 minutes. Time depending on the size and thickness of the pork.

3) Dish out and garnish with chili and spring onion.

More sauce kept separately to go with the rice

Sweet Sour Sauce with Pan Fried Fish

Anyone knows what the name of this fish in English? Really appreciate if you can leave a comment  and let me know ... TQVM!

Ingredient

Fish, of course ... :)

Salt, to season the fish

2 tbsp oil

Sauce

2 medium red onion

3 tbsp tomato sauce

3 tsp brown sugar

1-2 tsp vinegar (I used rice vinegar. Different vinegar might have different level of sourness, so do taste and adjust while mixing the sauce)

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp oil

Method

1) Wash and pat dry fish with kitchen towel. Season with salt.

2) Heat oil in pan. When oil is hot enough, put fish onto oil slowly. Once the fish hit the pan, do not move it anymore. Let it fry until the fish can be moved easily in the pan. I won't say exactly how many minutes because it really depends on how hot and how big is the fish. Use the ladle or tong to gently move the fish. If fish can be moved without having to "pry" it up, then flip it and fry the other side. Once done, set aside.

3) While the fish is frying, cut onion half. Then slice it and set aside.

4) Mix the rest of the sauce ingredient and stir well.

5) Heat oil again, add in onion and let it cook on low heat till soft and transparent. Do not burn the onion otherwise the sauce would taste a little bitter.

6) When onion has turned soft and transparent, pour in the sauce mixture and let it simmer for about 2 minutes. Dish out and pour onto the fish. The girls used the extra sauce on the rice ... delicious!

Yeah! The girls love this dish :)

Baked Butter Garlic Prawns

There is no need for expensive lobster and it is still as delicious! 简单便宜的食材也可以很好吃!

Ingredient

300gm large prawns
1/2 tsp salt
30gm butter
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Some dried thyme and dried basil (or your other favourite herbs)

Method

1) Line the baking pan with aluminium foil & preheat oven to 180 degree C.

2) Washed, shelled and deveined prawns.

3) Season prawns with salt. Line it on the baking pan with the aluminium foil.

The 3 main ingredient. Note: I did not used all the butter shown here for this recipe.

3) Heat up pan. Melt butter in medium low heat.

4) Then add in garlic and stir-fry slightly. Do not brown the garlic as you still want to bake it in the oven. When you can smell the fragrance of the garlic and butter, dish out.

5) Pour the butter and garlic mixture onto the prawns. Add in the dried herbs. If you have fresh ones I think it would be nicer.

6) Bake in preheated oven for about 8-10minutes.

7) When done, add in the lemon juice. Serve hot.

Side Note:

I found out that Italian Seasoning actually is a mixed of different dried herbs like Marjoram, Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Savory and Sage. So if any recipe calls for Italian seasoning, and you have those different dried herbs, there is no need to buy the specific "Italian Seasoning" sold. You can just mix them all together.

Fried Yam "Nian Gao"

When I was buying the ingredient then only I realised the cost of buying ready-made "nian gao" and the yam are quite expensive. Making your own "nian gao" is much cheaper but I am all about speed in the kitchen! Making the "nian gao', especially good one takes time. No, I am not gonna make it myself but I still want to fry it, just to prove that I can ... LOL. So I went ahead and bought the ready-made ones.

Not the best of look because I was rushing to get it done but it taste good!

Ingredient

Main

1 block of "nian gao", sliced

1 yam, sliced (I sandwich each "nian gao" with 2 slices of yam. So make sure the size who the whole yam is enough for the amount of "nian gao" you have) 

Batter for Fritter

1/2 cup plain flour

1/4 corn flour

1 tbsp rice flour

A pinch of salt

90ml ice cold water

Cooking oil for frying

Method

1) Prepare the batter by mixing all dry ingredient together.

2) Pour in ice cold water slowly into the dry ingredient while stirring. Stop adding water when the batter is not runny, but not too thick as well. The batter must be able to stick to the surface of the yam when you transfer the sandwich from the batter to the pan.

3) Heat oil in pan until it is slightly smoking. I used the pan fried method therefore there is no need to use too much oil.

If you are not in a rush and have enough batter, soak the sandwich in the batter for about  5 minutes before putting into the hot oil.

4) Now sandwich the "nian gao" with 2 slices of yam on either side. Dip the sandwich into the batter with enough batter. Then transfer it into the hot oil. Fry each side until it is golden brown and become crispy.

5) Remove sandwich from oil when done and place it onto kitchen towel to soak up excess oil.

* Do not crowd the pan with too many of the sandwich as the "nian gao" will stick together when it is soften in the heat.

** Did some research and found out that to make the fitter crispy, we must use ice-cold water and rice flour.

Pineapple Tart (Not)

I have a silly thinking that if I were to bake pineapple tart, I must also make the pineapple filling myself. If I use store-bought filling, I might as well go for the store-bought tarts.

However, making the pineapple filling takes time and needs lots of patience, right? So I don't plan to bake pineapple tart. Instead I make it ... LOL

没得吃就望梅止咳啦

Refer to this youtube video if you are interested to make it as well : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywm3CXWoUwU

Alternative Cup'cake' 不一样的杯'蛋糕'

Needed to finish up the ham before it expires ... LOL

Ingredient (Makes 3)

3 pieces of ham

2 eggs

Some chopped spring onion

Coarsely ground black pepper

3 baking cup

Method

1) Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

2) Arrange the ham in the baking cup as follow.

I used the aluminium baking cup usually used for egg tarts. You can use the muffin baking tray if desired but do spray with a little baking spray or rub the tray with a little butter before lining the ham.

3) Beat eggs, then pour into the ham-cup. Alternatively if you like the sunny side up type of egg with runny egg yolk, just crack the egg into the ham-cup.

4) Then add in the chopped spring onion. And sprinkle black pepper on top. Stir the egg mixture so that onion and pepper are evenly spread.

I forgot to stir before putting into oven. End result the onion and pepper were cluttered together.

5) Put the baking cups/baking tray into oven and bake about 10 minutes or until egg cooked through.

* Different oven have different behaviour. My convection oven only have top heat. You might need to adjust the heat and timing accordingly.

Oven Baked Broccoli With Shrimps

Can add cauliflower as well ... Maybe cabbage too? 

Ingredient

Broccoli (can replace with cauliflower), cut into small florets

1 small onion, sliced

4 cloves garlic, sliced

15 large shrimps, shelled and deveined. Season with some salt and pepper.

Any herbs you like to taste (This is totally optional. But I used ground oregon, dried basil leaf and dried rosemary since I already have them)

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoon olive oil

Canola oil and salt for blanching vegetable

Method

1) Heat enough water in pot to cover broccoli. Once boiling, add 1 tablespoon canola oil and 2 teaspoon salt into the water. Oil can prevent broccoli to brown and salt can allow broccoli to soak up some taste.

2) Then add in broccoli and boil till slightly soft (my girls like the vegetable softer). Dish out and drained.
* Can skip step 1 if you like the broccoli crunchy but must bake longer. I have not tested without step 1 though.
** Can also steam instead of boiling the broccoli if you worried losing the nutrition.

3) Put broccoli into an oven-proved dish. Add in onion, garlic, chosen herbs, remaining olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Mixed well. Then sprinkle a little water all over.

4) Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree C for 10min (I cover the dish with aluminium foil to prevent the vegetables from burning too much).

5) Add in shrimps, cover and continue to bake for another 10min.

6) Serve with warm rice ... yummy!

Mexican Bun aka Roti Boy

Back in 2001 when I first started my 10 long years service with Maxis, one little bakery near my office in Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) started selling this bun with butter filling and crunchy coffee topping. It was so delicious that the queue to buy this bun was always so long during lunch time, and everyone would be buying at least 5 or 10 buns each. There was a time when they had to limit the number each customer can buy. I must say the bun was really delicious.

They started selling at around RM1 each (I don't quite remember exactly the original price). And each year they increased their price and they managed to make so much that they have since moved from the little shop in one of the low end commercial centre to inside the high end KLCC shopping centre. One year ago when I was back in KLCC, they were selling the bun at RM3 if I remembered correctly, but the quality of the bun was not as good anymore.

Again I find it expensive to pay RM3 for a bun, I want to see if I can make it myself. And of course Google came to help ... LOL. Found the recipe but I only use the filling and the coffee topping because I want to use my own quick bun recipe. The bun came out so good I should have eaten everything right out of oven! Unfortunately I did not and the coffee topping that is supposed to be crunchy turned soggy the next day.

Excuse the look as it was my first attempt, and I was never good at "art" =P ... The overall taste was great but it should be eaten hot off the oven as the coffee topping turned soggy when left overnight.

Seal the seam tightly after add the butter filling to prevent leaking. Can put the bun into individual baking cup if necessary.

Recipe

The Bun

1) Use Mini Sausage Bun recipe. 
2) Replace the sausage with butter filling. 
3) Pipe the coffee topping onto the bun right before putting into oven.

Butter Filling

100g butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
30g caster sugar

*Beat everything together and chill in the fridge. Divide into 10 equal portions.

Coffee Topping
50g butter, softened
40g icing sugar
1/2 an egg
1 tsp coffee granules mixed with 1 tsp hot water
50g plain flour

1) Beat butter and icing sugar until combine. Gradually add in beaten egg and coffee.
2) Fold in flour.
3) Fill a piping bag with the mixture and set aside.

Adapted from: http://mintyskitchen.blogspot.sg/2013/07/mexican-buns-roti-boy.html

ABC Porridge

Pot full of nutrition! Best for children ...

Ingredient

3/4 cup of rice grain, washed

2L water

1 large potato

1 large yellow onion (I have used 2 small red onion coz I don't have yellow onion)

2 medium carrot

2 medium tomato (I omitted tomato this time also because I ran out of tomato. But it taste better with tomato)

100 gm minced meat (Since this is for my children, I used minced meat. Can be replaced with sliced meat or meat balls if you prefer. Also can use thread fin fish paste, even more delicious)

Salt to taste
White pepper powder to taste (this is optional)

Method

1) Start by boiling rice grain with water.
2) While waiting for the water to boiled, start cutting up the ingredients. I usually diced all until kids can almost swallow without the need to chewing it.

* Carrot, potato, tomato and onion served as the base of this porridge. You can basically add more vegetable like diced celery or other greens according to your own liking.

3) When water with rice is bubbling, add all diced ingredient in. Let it bubble for about another 5 minutes. Then turn heat to medium and let it simmer for another 30 minutes. 

If your pot is deep enough, you can simmer with lid on but leave the lid slightly open to prevent over-spill. Simmer with lid on also prevent it from drying too much and porridge become too thick and sticky. Remember to stir it every 10 minutes, otherwise the porridge would stick to the bottom of the pot.

4) Now prepare the minced meat. Marinate it with a bit of salt.

5) 10 minutes before the porridge is done, add in minced meat and stir to breakup the minced meat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and continue to simmer for the last 10 minutes.

6) When done, serve as it is and your children will be eating a bowl full of nutrition :)