Chicken Abalone Porridge

Porridge...aahhhh, the first thing that strike your mind is a bowl of dull, plain porridge serve for the sick. The heart-warming food that your caring mother or your beloved husband will cook for you when you are too weak or worst still if you are bedridden.

Amazingly, a bowl of hot piping porridge can be a delectable palate served on a lazy day when you want a simple, fuss-free meal. There is a wide array of ingredients one can choose from, from seafood, poultry to red meat. You can definitely make the porridge looks more tempting and yummy!

This time, I am going to fix chicken abalone porridge for a quick lunch.

Ingredients needed are (servings for 3 to 4):

• 2 chunks of chicken bone
• a small thumb size of ginger, sliced
• 2 chicken thighs, boiled, shredded and set aside (bone removed)
• 5 big Japan dried scallops (soak in warm water for 5 minutes to soften)
• a can of abalone, abalone thinly sliced
• 2 cups of rice, washed and drained
• salt, and white pepper to season
• spring onion, chopped

Steps to prepare chicken abalone porridge:

1. Bring 4 bowls of water to boil in a pot. Put in chicken bones and ginger. Boil for 30 minutes.
2. Scoop out the bones and ginger from the pot and put in the scallops and washed rice. Let it simmer for about 45 minutes on medium fire.
3. If you wish to retain the abalone juice, you may do so. Pour in the juice into the pot when the porridge is half way cooked.
4. Lastly throw in sliced abalone and cook for another minute or so. Do not let the abalone simmer for long time, as it would be tough and rubbery.
5. Season the porridge with pinch of salt and white pepper to your taste.
6. Dish out hot porridge into a serving bowl, arrange shredded chicken and sliced abalone on top. Sprinkle some chopped spring onion for more flavour.
7. The yummy porridge is now ready with just a dash of extra white pepper powder. ( I prefer pepper powder originated from Sarawak, which gives more oomph and kick)

When I prepare a simple meal, I love to involve my kids. So the shredded chicken was actually their hard work. They will usually eat their meal with pride , knowingly that part of the dish was prepared by them.

As its sufficient just to use chicken bones for above recipe, I love to bring out extra goodness and sweetness of the broth by using premium scallops. It enhances the taste to a greater length. Dried scallop is said to nourish liver and kidneys, activate blood and dissolve lumps, regulate stomach and promote digestion. So go ahead, use scallop generously in your dish for a more flavourful and beneficiary goodness.

Dim Sum @ Wo Peng Cuisine

What's the best thing to do on Sunday? Yes, wake up early in the morning to the rising sun, for a nice hearty dim sum in town. I love weekend, coz its the best time for a family eating out. I chanced upon Wo Peng Cuisine on net, so I decided to try it out for its much renowned dim sum spread.

It was almost 2p.m., so there's not much crowd in the restaurant. The ambience is cosy with soft music playing in the background. The waiter was kind enough to recommend their all-time-fav dishes.

The braised peanuts

A pot of jasmine tea, goes along with the dim sum spread.

The recommended appetizer, fried skin fish with a bowl of superior pork bone broth. The serving potion is a big too much for 2. However hubby and me managed to finish up at the end of the course. 

I must share this worth to try dish with you all. Much to my surprise, the fried fish skin maintains its crunchiness throughout. The bowl of superior stock serves the purpose of dipping the skin, for another way of eating. You can eat the fried skin as cracker or soaking them in the soup, while listening to the cracking and sizzling sound when they are swimming in the broth. I prefer mine eaten as cracker, and gulping down the soup separately.

Steam pork ribs with fermented black beans. The meat is tender and flavourful.

Shrimp dumplings. Best eaten when its still piping hot, with lots of XO sauce. The big chunk of prawn filling inside the dumplings is so crunchy and fresh.

We ordered a bowl of pork&century egg congee and a seafood scallop congee each.

Pan fried carrot cake. This is yummy, with lots of preserved raddish and fried Chinese sausage bits inside, while the outer layer of the cake is crispy. On top of it, is decorated with fat juicy shrimps for better presentation.

BBQ cheong fun, though the skin is silky smooth, but it was a tad too thick for my liking. I prefer cheong fun with papery-thin translucent skin with plenty of filling.

I had 2nd helping of the XO sauce....:)

Fried shrimp dumpling, served with mayo

The waiter who served us, was very honest to advise us to cancel some of our order. But stubbornly, we insisted we would be able to clear the dishes with no problem at all. Helplessly, the waiter put on hold half of our order (as shown in the order list), in case we really can't stuffed ourself any longer. After devouring the 1st half of the order, hubby called upon the waiter to serve the 2nd half. However, I do admit their servings are quite big compare to other dim sum eateries.

Steam pork siew mai topped with fish roe.

Juicy xiao long bao, served with shredded ginger & black vinegar.

Ooh la la....here comes the dish which I love to share. Guess all of us eaten custard bun before, but have you ever come across one with runny custard inside? If you have not, then please do try this. The runny yolk bun, which the waiter told us the filling is made of egg yolk and custard.

When I pinched a piece of the soft dough, the aroma of a steaming bun shifting into the air. I can't help but to sniff closely and savour slowly the unbelievably delicious bun. The yolk is runny that you can even sip using a drinking straw...lol. I gobbled down the bun only after I finished sipping the yolk inside. Its heavenly!

The complimentary mango pudding and sour plum jelly, which is said to aid in digestion after heavy meal.

Kids and me on weekend eating spree.

Anyone who is interested to try out their dim sum spread, the address is as below:

Wo Peng Cuisine

60 Eu Tong Sen St #03-01/02, Furama Hotel,

 Singapore 059804

This is ME, on the way to the next makan frenzy......bye...

Crabbie ala Foo Chow

 Everytime when I start whipping out this crabbie dish, I would think of my dearest dad. This dish is his greatest creation, fast and easy to prepare, yet yummy!

One fine Saturday morning, dragging along my two kids with me, we chanced upon a fish market nearby the neighbourhood. I decided to haul a big fat yummy looking crabbie back home for dinner. It weighed about 1.7kg.

My kids had fun with the humongous crabbie for a short moment, before it fell prey in my cruel hands. Below are steps of how to manage and kill your crab.

Kill the crab before releasing him from string attached around. Just use a knife or any sharp object piercing through its heart and wait for 5 minutes or so.

Alternatively, you can pop the crab into freezer, letting him to die slowly. But because I do not want to wait, so I opted for a faster method.

My mum once shared her 1st experience in killing crab. Guess what she did to her crab? She poured hot boiling water onto pitiful struggling crab! At the end, all the crawlers and pincers fell apart...lol. So lesson learnt, never ever use hot water.

When the crab is motionless, remove the string, and give him a good scrub all over to remove any dirt and mud.

Use both hands, one holding onto the shell and the other on its crawlers, pull apart.

Remove all the filament-look alike thingy from the crab.

Finally, pull out the waste production organ, gently, you do not want to burst the black liquid thing in there, because it REALLY stink! Don't forget to clean the inner shell also, but careful not to remove the cholesterol laden (best stuff) from it.

Finally crack lightly on both pincers using the back of a chopper. This is to let the crab cook easily and to absorb the gravy from the dish. Ultimately, it will give you a no fuss crabbie meal later.

Basic ingredients to prepare crab ala Foo Chow style: Hua Tiaw chinese cooking wine, fish sauce, 4 large chicken eggs, ginger, bunch of spring onion and chinese coriander.

Heat up 2 tablespoon of cooking oil, brown the sliced ginger in the wok.

Throw in the crab, and toss until they are slightly red in colour, put in the shell facing down (like in the picture), pour in beaten eggs into the shell, and the remaining around the wok. Scatter the spring onion on top. Seasoned the dish with lots hua tiaw wine and just enough  fish sauce according to your personal preference. Cover the wok and let it simmers for 15 minutes.

Dish out. Decorate the dish with chinese coriander and chilli flower to impress. Ready to serve.

BON APPETIT

As Age catching UP

Seeing our offspring growing up, as we get more wrinkles and crow's feet around peepers, is the most rewarding gift for most parents. I do felt the joy every time glancing through photos of my kids with puffy chubby cheeks in attempt to blow candles on their birthday cakes.

Time ticking pass like thunderbolt, without waiting for its humankind. In a blink of eye, yesterday I celebrated my son's 5th birthday.

Below are a few pictures of my naughty little prince celebrating his birthday from year 1 to current year. Those are the photos which I have painstakingly ransacked through my long deserted hard disk.

#1   1 year old

#2   2 year old

#3   3 year old

#4   4 year old 

#5   5 year old, as usual he has his favourite character cake for his birthday celeb in school. Nevertheless, we hold 2nd round of celeb with him in the late evening at Long Beach.

#6  His assorted cakes for home celeb* those are cakes of my choice, lol*...5 to be exact, everyone has his own share

#7  Clockwise from top: Chocolateyramisu (with candle '5' on top); Raspberry Romance (for my girl); Appricotte Delight; Cocoa Lava; and lastly a simple piece with printed Light BuzzYear on top (whose else, must be for the birthday boy)

 #8  Buzz LightYear to his most delighted taste bud, and one of his fav cartoon characters

 #9

 #10

 #11

#12  We had our dinner at Long Beach, Dempsey

 #14 You can opt to have al fresco or indoor dining

 

 #15 The menu

 #16

 #17

 #18

 #19

 #20

 #21

 #22

 #23

Some of the dishes which we ordered at Long Beach

#24  Garlic steam bamboo clam

 #25  Succulent, sweetness of the flesh

#26 Seafood hor fun, never a miss for my son

#27  Recommended shell less prawn ball, with buttery creamy sauce and lotsa chopped garlic. So much that you can actually fence off dracula from getting near you :)

 #28 Isn't the hand painted sakura lovely?

#29  Sambal lala

 #30  Finally, the Long Beach Signature chilli Crab. The consistency of the gravy is just too perfect for more dipping of your fried man tou. Definitely yummylicious! Its a concoction of sweetness, sourness and spiciness, which easily whet up one's appetite. I just can't get enough with this crabbie affair, the size was too little to satisfy my craving. As I always expect it to be much larger, as crabbies served in NO SIGNBOARD. I reckon, will whip up my own crabbie dish very soon.

#31  You can never get wrong to wipe clean your crabbie dish with this fried man tou. The outer layer still retain its crunchiness, whereas the inside was warm and soft. Though I had just gobbled a bowl of white rice, but its a misery not to savour another one or two of these man tou.

#32 The empty shell

Overall, was quite satisfied with the meal, the service and the food standard, albeit my tummy was only half-fulled. Gotta ordered more in the next visit. For those who love to try their dishes, below here is the address:

Long Beach @ DEMPSEY

25 Dempsey Road, opposite Singapore Botanic Gardens

#33  OK, now is the time to unwrap his birthday gift

 #34  A gift from popo

 #35

 #36  A gift from daddy, Hotwheels

#37

Thats all for the first blog entry. I am going to hit the sack. Good night and sweet dream...Stay tune