Dinner with Rice (:

Here are some of the home dishes that mum whips up to go with plain white rice. (:

Pork Ribs Marinated in Red Yeast



Steamed Pomfret (Teochew Style)



Crispy Tempura Prawns


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Mum's Experiments: Faux Tiramisu!

Mum saw this quick tip on making "Faux" Tiramisu on TV, and we tried it out!

It's really simple and easy to make! All you need is some full cream, mascarpone cheese, sugar and some chocolate swiss roll from your nearest cake shop. Just beat the full cream, mascarpone cheese and fine sugar until it becomes smooth and velvety, then layer it on top of slices of chocolate swiss roll. Alternate and finish with the cream layer. Chill and before serving, sprinkle some cocoa powder on top! Alcohol is optional.



Try to use a smaller container, or there won't be enough for multiple layers, like what happened in the picture above! You can see why it's called "Faux" Tiramisu. There's no coffee, egg or liqueur in it, but it's just so easy to make!

And I has fun making the cream! :D

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Mum's Experiments: Okonomiyaki

Sorry everyone for the major lack of posts! I've been rather busy with school, and there wasn't much to post anyway. ): But Mum's making new experiments again, this time it's the Japanese Pancake: Okonomiyaki!

I wrote words on with Mayonnaise! Mmmm! :P


This is what is looked like before serving. Pan fry the pancake then add Okonomiyaki sauce: 2/3 part Tonkatsu Sauce, 1/3 part Tomato Ketchup.


Sprinkle generous amounts of Bonito Flakes and it's ready to eat! :D

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New Year: Mum's Stir-fried Glass Vermicelli

Every Chinese New Year, Mum will cook this staple dish without fail. These "glass vermicelli", or also known as mung-bean vermicelli or "Tang Hoon" is extremely delicious because it is cooked in a concentrated stock. Stir-fried with Jew's Ear and various veggies, I can wolf several servings of this down at dinner time! :p

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Mum's Traditional Foo Chow Nian Gao

This is Mum's Traditional Foo Chow "Nian Gao", a kind of New Year pudding made from tapioca flour, sweet potato flour, red sugar and shredded yam. It is wrapped in beancurd sheet and garnished with red dates. She made 3 cakes to share and give to family and frieds! :)

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Experiments: Baked Pumpkin Gratin

Mum and Dad were so impressed with the Pumpkin Gratin at Sushi Tei's Hokkaido Promotion, that they decided to try baking their own!

Loads of mashed potato in the hollow pumpkin, plus topped with cheese and black pepper! I don't usually like pumpkin, but this really had me getting second helpings!

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Mum's Steamed Crab with Glutinous Rice

While everyone had loads of delicious Butterball Turkey, (this year's turkey was really tender!--from Cold Storage) Blackforest Ham, 240 days aged Roast Beef, Leg of Lamb, (generously sponsored by our loving Uncle :P) Mixed Salads, Jamie's Corn Soup, Jamie's Mashed Potato etc etc.. (and not to forget Jamie's really awesome Tiramisu!!) Mum made Steamed Crab with Glutinous Rice specially for Grandma this Christmas!

The crab was specially selected by the fishmonger, who claimed that the crab was 'neither male nor female', but the roe is the best.. and true enough! The meat was succulent and the roe, aplenty and deliciously sinful!

Merry Christmas, everyone! :D

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Mum's Indian Curry Chicken

My first daring attempt to tackle Mum's Indian Curry Chicken! (I can't tolerate spice very well) And may I say... I LOVED IT!

Mum used only the wing and thigh parts, and the tomatoes added a sweet-sour twist to the palate. It turned out, the only gripe everyone had (but me) was... it wasn't spicy enough! :P

Mum's Indian Curry Chicken Recipe

To be prepared before cooking
Ingredients
Dry Chilli (Mum suggests the ones from China)
A little Cooking Oil
Coriander Seeds

Method
1. Clean the chilli with a slightly damp cloth; do not wet.
2. Cut into half. Seeds need not be removed.
3. Fry the chilli in a little oil, DO NOT BURN!

4. Wash coriander seeds, then let dry.
5. Fry the seeds without oil. (roasting)
6. Grind Chilli and Coriander Seeds separately. Set aside to be used later.

Seasoning for Chicken
Ingredients
3 Tbsp Ground Chilli Powder (made as above)
1 and 1/2 Tbsp Ground Coriander Powder (made as above)
1 slice of ginger, diced
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste
1 chicken, chopped into bite-size pieces
10 shallots

Method
1. Cut 10 shallots longitudinal-wise; slightly thick. (Knife perpendicular to two ends)
2. Mix the Chicken pieces with the Ground Chilli Powder, Ground Coriander Powder, Diced Ginger, Mustard Seeds, Turmeric Powder, 10 Shallots and Salt.
3. Leave in the fridge overnight.

Cooking
Ingredients
Marinated Chicken Pieces (as prepared above)
5 shallots
Cooking Oil
1 to 2 Tomatoes
2 stalks of whole Green Chilli
5 stalks of Curry Leaves

Method
1. Cut 5 shallots transverse-section into thin slices. (Knife parallel to two ends)
2. Heat the oil in a wok, then add the 5 shallots and fry until fragrant and slightly brown.
3. Add marinated chicken pieces and fry on medium fire.
4. When chicken is about 1/2 cooked, add Tomatoes, Green Chillies, Curry Leaves and 1/2 cup water.
5. If the chicken appears too dry, add 1/2 cup water each time. (Do not add too much)
7. When chicken is cooked, remove from heat and serve.

*Please adjust the ingredients according to taste and level of spiciness! ;)

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The Hairy Crab Season's Here!

'Tis the season to be jolly... for it's hairy crab season again! I'm not exactly crazy for this expensive delicacy, but I have to admit the roe is really good.

To quote TTC, “农历八月挑雌蟹，九月过后选雄蟹”, meaning you should choose female crabs in the Eight Month and male crabs from the Ninth Month onwards (Lunar Calendar). The one in the picture is a female. You can tell from the underbelly; if it's shaped like a triangle, it's male. If it's more rounded, it's female.



Mum purchased 4 crabs from Capital Restaurant and steamed this herself at home. The deeper red roe is hard and dry. The yellow-orange soft roe is the more delicious roe, being softer and more aromatic. (:

Capitol Restaurant
Bukit Pasoh Shop Houses
44 Bukit Pasoh Road (S)089857

P.S. The gills (shown in the second picture) aren't edible, but not poisonous either.

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Blog's back online again! :D

Sorry for the long hiatus, everyone! Had Science Attachment programme after Chinese O Levels, but now I'm back online with lots of pictures to make up for it! Meanwhile, here's Mum's experiment: Red Yeast Pork Belly! :p

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Mum's Tigerskin Omelette!!

Awesome stripey "tigerskin" pattern on this omelette, huh? This is another one of Mum's groovy experiments. There are prawns, cai poh and long beans inside!

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Mum's Experiments: Char Siu Baby Pork Ribs

Yet another one of Mum's recipes: Char Siu Baby Kurobuta Pork Ribs!

Mum managed to get some baby Kurobuta pork ribs from the market when they were testing the market. She marinated the pork with Char Siu sauce and a little Red Yeast for added sweetness. We used the ever-versatile Turbo Cooker to roast! YUMS!



When it came out hot from the Turbo, I was the privileged one to taste-test it first! It was so tender!! It was really juicy and had just the right "bite" to it! Unfortunately, the marinade was slightly overwhelming, and I couldn't taste the juices of the meat. I suggested that instead of a heavier marinade, a simple salt-pepper-garlic seasoning would be just sufficient. (:



My biggest gripe was that there is just too little meat to relish! Aww..! :P

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Mum's Recipes: Red Yeast Chicken

One of our usual home food: Chicken in Red Yeast Gravy (红糟)! My favourite part is the knuckle (pictured in the centre!) Another great accompaniment to rice!

Recipe from Mum:

Ingredients:
Sesame Oil
Cooking Oil
Light Soy Sauce
Ginger Juice
8-10 cloves Garlic
2 - 3 Tbsp Fermented Red Yeast Paste
Red Wine/Cooking Sherry
Salt to Taste

Method:

1. Season chicken meat with sesame oil, a dash of light soy sauce and ginger juice. Keep in the fridge for a few hours.

2. Add 1 part cooking oil and 1 part sesame oil to wok, crush 8 to 10 whole cloves of garlic (lightly smash, do not chop).

3. Fry Red Yeast Paste over slow fire until fragrant (around 3 minutes).

4. Add chicken and stir-fry.

5. Add Red Wine/Cooking Sherry and a little water if it gets too sticky.

6. Simmer over slow fire until chicken is cooked.

7. Add salt to taste.

Note: It's a good idea to taste the Red Yeast Paste before adding salt because some brands of paste can be extremely salty. We bought ours here from:

Foo Chow Fishball Noodles
33/35 Sultan Gate
Kampong Glam Conservation Area

p.s. I love their Foo Chow Fishballs and Wanton (燕皮) too!

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Mum's Experiments: Crispy Seafood Noodle (Sheng Mian)

I love Crispy Hong Kong Noodle with Gravy (Sheng Mian 生面)! The crispy bits are the best, but the noodles with the gravy are tasty! The noodle is crowned with a treasure trove of goodies: Sotong, Prawns, Mushrooms, Sliced Pork and Veggies! Delicious!!

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Mum's Experiments: Crispy Noodle Pancake

Yet another of Mum's Experiments: Crispy Noodle Pancake! It had loads of hidden goodies inside: Mushrooms, Sliced Pork, Bean Sprouts and Wood Ear Fungus! They are smacked inside a huge cake of crispy noodles fried until brown!

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Mum's Experiments: Sweet Vinegar Chicken with Dates

Another yummy experiment by Mum after watching the cooking programme! It had red dates and mushrooms (the ones that look like potato wedges!) too.

It is sweet with just a hint of tangy sour from the vinegar. Goes really well with rice or porridge.

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Mum's Steamed Herbal Chicken Wings

Mum also tried making some Herbal Chicken Wings for dinner. It had Dang Gui (Chinese Angelica Root) and Gou Qi Zi (Wolfberries). This was really fragrant, and all the essence of the chicken seeped into the herbal soup, making the stock golden in colour!

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Mum's Experiments: Crispy Fried Chicken

Remember my 50-50 Fried Chicken experiment a couple months ago? Mum decided to try out her own Crispy Fried Chicken after watching a demonstration on TV.

The trick was to coat the chicken meat in lightly salted water overnight (in the fridge), although other recipes say in milk and lemon juice. Mum used Sweet Potato flour for the batter.

Woah! It was really good! The chicken was so juicy, it squirted out in a bite! The batter, though a little bland, was really crispy. A little too crunchy, but it became much better after adding a little water into the batter. HAHA, take that, KFC!!! >:P

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Mum's Recipe: Chilli Crab

Here's Mum's very own rendition of the Chilli Crab! It's the dry version, without the spicy gravy, but fried with egg, onions and chilli. This was really, really fragrant, and not too spicy!

I suggested making it less dry and adding tung hoon (mung bean vermicelli) to fry and soak up all the lovely aroma. I think it's be delicious! :P



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Mum's Recipe: Oxtail Stew

I loved Stewed Oxtail and Ox Tongue when I had them at a Bistro in Kuching, Sarawak. Oxtail is a more common dish now in Singapore, and you can get chilled or frozen ones at the supermarket.

Stewed for many hours with onions, carrots and tomato paste. I personally like a little tomato paste in my Oxtail Stew, it gives it an additional sweet and sour taste to the savoury gravy.



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