Shark Fin Omelette

 

Gong Xi Fa Cai! It has been a long while since my last update on my blog. Life has been good, albeit hectic. This blog entry would be my very first for year 2014 and today marks the 11th day of lunar new year. Hence, I take this opportunity to share with everyone who has been asking for stir fry shark fin omelette recipe.

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

• dried sharkfin in whole (the amount is based on individual's preference)
• julienned carrot and cabbage
• bean sprout (tail and shoot removed)
• diced char siew
• 3 slices ginger
• finely chopped ginger, less than a thumb size
• chopped spring onion
• frozen crab claw meat (available in supermarkets)
• 5 chicken eggs, beaten

Seasonings

• shao xing wine
• light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon
• oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon
• cooking oil, 3 tablespoons
• dark vinegar

Steps:

1. Boil dried shark fin with 3 slices of ginger in a pot, covered with water, for 2 hours in medium heat. After that, off the fire and let it soaks in hot water while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
2. Drain the shark fin in a strainer and let it cools. Break the shark fin into smaller strips using hands.
3. Heat up a wok, add in the cooking oil, add finely chopped ginger, stir fry in high heat.
4. Add in char siew, fry a little while to bring out the fragrant, follow by adding in julienned carrot and cabbage. Fry and mix well.
5. Add in shark fin and crab meat, use the wok turner to further break the crab meat and shark fin into smaller pieces.
6. Add in beaten eggs, and stir fry quickly. Scrap the wok with the wok turner frequently to avoid charring at the bottom. Stir fry the ingredients until it looks dry.
7. Add all the seasoning except black vinegar.
8. Lastly, throw in the bean sprouts and quickly stir fry for another minute. 
9. Off the fire, add the chopped spring onion and mix well. The dish is now ready to be served.
10. Garnish the dish with some lettuce.
11. The shark fin omelette is best served hot with a sprinkle of black vinegar.

Due to growing awareness in preserving marine ecosystem, you can easily substitute the shark fin with imitation shark fin which is widely available in supermarkets. This dish calls for simple ingredients other than the shark fin, which I try not to consume in the movement to support 'ban shark fin dishes' campaign. I prepared this dish using some dried shark fin which I stumbled upon, while spring cleaning my kitchen cabinet.

This dish is easy to prepare and fast to cook. My family definitely gives 2 thumbs up for this. I hope you enjoy the recipe and this dish as well. 

Bon Appétit!

Sarawak Laksa...a gorgeous Siburian noodle dish



What is more rewarding than a bowl of hot steamy Sarawak laksa on a lazy weekend. I love spicy food, and definitely my weakness on any types of laksa, least talking about my hometown version of laska.

Whenever my parents travel back to Sibu, they will 'import' packets of Sarawak sambal laksa paste. Though it is a ready packed laksa paste, but nevertheless, the end product of the laksa is superbly good as those prepared from the laksa stalls.

Since its ready made paste, the process of Sarawak laksa preparation is whole lot more easy and convenient where chopping, pounding and grinding are not necessary. However you still need to attain some fresh ingredients as followed:

Ingredients:

1. Fresh sea water prawns (quantity according to one's preference)

2. 4 to 6 red onions

3. a few stalks of chilli padi

4. 6 free range chicken eggs, beaten and add a pinch of salt. Pan-fried in cooking oil and sliced into strips.

5. a handful of beansprouts

6. 2 large boneless chicken thigh or 1 kg of chicken breast

7. a packet of dried bee hoon

8. 2 small packets of coconut milk or a big packet of coconut milk

9. 1 packet of Sarawak sambal laksa paste (300g)

10. For garnishing: a few green lime, and some coriander chopped

Instructions:

1. Deshell the prawns and remove its vein. Place the chopped chilli padi, prawn shell, prawns and the chicken thigh or breast into 3 litres boiling water. Cook for about 30 minutes (Remove the prawns which take shorter time to cook). Sift and remove the prawn shell and cooked chicken meat. Put the chicken meat aside to cool. Retain the soup stock and discard the shell.

2. Shred chicken meat.

3. Chop the red onions, and stir fried with a tablespoon of cooking oil in a pot. Put in the sambal paste into the pot, and pour in the soup stock. Let the stock boils for another 2 hours on medium heat.

4. Filter and discard the solids from the laksa soup. Add coconut milk into the soup and bring the soup to re-boil.

5. Boil a pot of water and blanch the beansprouts and bee hoon.

6. Serve the cooked bee hoon in a bowl, ladle in the laksa soup, garnish the laksa with shredded chicken meat, prawns, egg, beansprouts, and lime. Ganish with chopped coriander.

And voila....the laksa is now ready Tips: Squeeze in the lime into the laksa before eating. I love to have my laksa with more lime. Bon Appetit!



Nourishing Chicken Soup

To maintain oneself in a tip top well being, I rely on a healthy lifestyle with sufficient exercise included, as well as balanced diet. Normally my family will have tonic soup in weekly basis, to keep flu or minor sickness such as cough, fatigue at bay. I swear on tonic soups not only it gives extra goodness from delicious soup cooked for hours but most importantly boosts the immune system.

I prefer to have my soup boils slowly in a slow cooker. I find that slow cooker is ideal for making herbal soups. Not only does it have a earthern inner pot, it can control the cooking temperature and achieve a steady simmer without close supervision.

This recipe calls for (refer to above picture, clockwise from top):

Cnidium Root: Promotes circulation of qi and blood, expels wind, relieves pain, calms nerves, lower blood pressure

Wolfberries (gou ci zi): Improves eyesight, beneficial for the liver.

Red dates: It contains Vitamin B, C, E, P, phosphorus, calcium, iron and more. I helps to promote circulation of blood. Core the seed before consume.

Chinese yam (huai san): Enhance vigour, promote muscle growth and repair worn-out tissue, and alleviate bodily weakness after a long-term illness. Also use to counter diabetes, diarrhoea, kidney defects, coughing.
and dehydration.

Fish maw: Contains high level of collagen, multi-vitamins, and minerals such as calcium, zinc, iron, and selenium. Has effect of nourishing yin and kidneys, prevents fatigue, and speeding recovery after surgery.

Codonopsis root (dang shen): Promotes salivation and aid digestion, relieves diarrhoea and severe coughing, reduces nausea and weakness after severe bleeding, activates metabolism and improves blood circulation, stabilizes nervousness, counters extreme mental and physical fatigue
To use, cut pieces of the root into 3-cm length if they are too long and add to the pot.

American ginseng (center): Beneficial to internal organs, stimulates physical vigour, soothes temperament, promotes general well-being and longevity.

Other than above chinese herbs, you also need cordyceps (dong chong xia cao) (below picture).
Cordyceps is usually prescribed to people who have weak constitution. It serves a good reputation as an anti-aging ingredient and is popular among ladies. It also improves breathing functions, and kidney deficiency, reduces pain, strenghten waist, knee, immune system and helps to cure chronic cough.

 Close up picture of Cordyceps.

Dried fish maw, which I bought from Hong Kong. Need to boil in hot boiling water for few rounds before using for soup.

And of course you will need a black chicken. It is fairly small compared to a normal chicken. Research has discovered that the black chicken's level of protein, vitamin B, 18 amino acids and minerals are much higher than normal chicken while cholesterol and saturated fats are much lower.

Bring about 5 bowls of water to boil. Add all the chinese herbs and black chicken into slow cooker and boil for aproximate 5 hours with high setting on electric slow cooker.

Add a bit of salt to taste before serving.

Hopefully this nourishing tonic soup will boost your immune system, and vitality like I do. Bon appetit and enjoy your nutritious soup from today!

Fluffy Fruity Pancake

Nothing beats a healthy nutritious breakfast on weekend morning. I love to prepare hearty breakfast for family as it is the most important meal in a day. So I always make my point not to skip breakfast. Kids love pancakes..topped with strawberry sauce, maple syrup, a slab of butter and fruity goodness. Oh oh and ya, not to miss out sprinkle of icing sugar.

Here is the recipe of fluffy pancakes:

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• milk, just enough to make pourable batter
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil

 

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the egg, milk and vegetable oil; stir into dry ingredients and mix lightly to blend.
2. Pour batter by 1/4 cupful onto a butter greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes; cook until the second side is golden brown.
3. Serve immediately with your favourite sauce (maple/strawberry/chocolate) and fruity toppings. Voila! Enjoy your hearty fluffy pancakes!

Hainanese Chicken Rice

I love chicken rice. So do my kids and family. Love the tender juicy chicken meat served with a bowl of irresistible fragrant chicken rice and chilli sauce. Hainanese chicken rice is a simple and fast dish to prepare, you will need only a few tricks and tips to have a perfect outcome!

You need a fresh kampung chicken. Kampung chicken is preferable as its meat is more solid and less fat. Clean and trim excess fat from the chicken. Keep the fat for later use. Tuck a bunch of spring onion and crushed ginger into chicken cavity. Boil a pot of water and lower the chicken into hot boiling water. Make sure whole chicken is immerse in the water. Cover the lid and boil for 15 minutes on high heat. Off the fire, and let the chicken soak in the pot for another 20 minutes. Take out the chicken and put in an ice bath for a minutes to stop the cooking process. The steps of soaking in hot water and cold, will turn the chicken meat tender and juicy, while the chicken skin is springy.

To prepare the rice, rinse the rice. Add in sufficient chicken stock from previous step, into a rice pot. Fry crushed onion, garlic and sliced ginger until fragrant in 2 tablespoons cooking oil. Transfer them include the oil into rice pot. Add a bit of salt and knot of pandan leaves into the rice. Place the pot in electric rice cooker and let it cook. Your whole kitchen will smell tremendous while the rice is cooking. After cooking, remove the onion, garlic, ginger and pandan leaves from the rice.

For the condiment which is vital when eating Hainanese chicken rice, is the chilli sauce. You will need equal amount of garlic and ginger, chilli padi, lime, oil from chicken fat, sugar and salt to taste. Put garlic, ginger and chilli padi into a blender, add some chicken stock to blend. Tranfer the blended item into a pan to heat up in small fire while stirring at the same time. Add little bit of salt and sugar until you get the taste that you desire.

Lastly add in the *chicken fat oil to the chilli sauce. Remove the pan from heat, and squeeze in lime juice according to your liking. Let the sauce cool completely in a container before storing in a fridge. Scoop some chilli sauce with a dry clean spoon, whenever you cook your favourite hainanese chicken rice dish.

* To get the chicken fat oil, fry the trimmed fat from the chicken until brown in a very little bit of cooking oil. Retain the oil and discard the chicken fat.

Chopped the cooked chicken into serving size after it cools down, and arrange on a plate with some sliced cucumber and tomato. To prepare the gravy, add dash of sesame oil, 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce, and bit of salt in a separate bowl. Mix well and pour evenly onto the chicken.

Reheat the chicken stock from cooking the chicken, add some greens or chinese cabbage to the chicken stock. Add some salt. This is the soup to be served with the dish later.

Its now ready to enjoy your home cooked Hainanese chicken rice. Nice tender chicken meat with a bowl of fragrant chicken rice, alongside with the chicken soup and chilli sauce. I start feeling famished again. Going to fix my growling stomach now.

Bye for now, and please try this simple dish and you will sure fall head over heels on Hainanese chicken rice.

BON APPETITE...

FooChow Fried Noodle Soup

This noodle soup is one of my favourite FooChow dishes. It allows me to reminisce the past fond memories when I spent my childhood life in Sibu, which was also my hometown. My dad would always buy this fried noodle soup from our fav stall for supper without fail, and mum would bring us slurping a bowl, before heading down to wet market on the weekends.

Hence, I picked up the dish from my mum, learnt how to cook the dish on my own. This noodle requires stir-frying of yellow noodles on big fire, to bring out the flavour, follow by simmering in soup base on the later. Thus most kids will love this noodle soup as each and every strain of noodle absorb the goodness from the soup, making it easy to digest.

Ingredients needed are: sliced pork marinated with bit cornflour; sliced pork liver; fishballs; shelled and deveined prawns; some greens, garlic chopped; and of course yellow noodle 1/2 kg for 3 servings. I love my noodle with lots of garlic.

For me, I will get the most tender part of lean pork (shown in the pic) from the market. Its easier to chew and swallow for the kids. Even me, prefer the meat as its far more tender than other lean meat. 

First heat up a wok, add in 2 tablespoon of cooking oil. Fry 1/2 of the chopped garlic till fragrant, throw in yellow noodle, add 2 tablespoon of dark soya sauce and stir fry the noodle till very slightly burnt. This way the noodle will give better aroma to the whole dish after simmering in the soup base.

This is how the noodle will look after frying.

Wash the wok, heat up and add 2 tablespoon of cooking oil. Fry the remaining chopped garlic till fragrant. Pour in 3 bowls of water, let it boils. Throw in sliced pork, fishballs and vege. Add in the fried noodles, and prawns. Add seasoning which are salt, dash of white pepper and fish sauce to your personal liking. Put in the pig liver at the last. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes. Dish out and serve hot.

Yum yum, normally I would eat this FooChow fried noodle soup with some sliced chilli padi in light soya sauce....fantabulous!! Another great simple dish, prepare on the hectic day...

ENJOY.....

Hakka Yong Tau Foo

My mum is a true blue Hakka, for her, Hakka Yong Tau Foo is a dish which brings back her childhood memory, when she spent her days with her dad, which was my dearest grandpa. Although its the biggest regret that I never see my grandpa in person, coz he passed away in his very young age due to illness. As half Hakka, though I am a Foo Chow, I love this dish to the core.

To prepare Hakka Yong Tau Foo, one needs fresh ingredients of fish meat (preferably mackerel), minced pork with little bits of fat (pork belly) and tau kwa. Tou fu can be found in Asian food markets, and this bland ingredient can surprisingly turns into a delectable dish. Its easy to blend into any dish, making it a highly versatile as well as incredibly nutritious diet.

Ingredients needed for Hakka Yong Tau Foo: 6 pieces of fresh tau kwa; half side of deboned mackerel, 400g of minced pork belly; red chillies, seeded and slit half for stuffing; 1 brinjal; 1 bittergourd. You might want to use lady fingers and chinese mushrooms for variety.

 Use a spoon to scrap the mackerel flesh, leaving behind only fine bones and skin.

End product after scrapping

Minced the mackerel meat with chopper

Mix chopped mackerel meat with minced pork belly together. The portion should be 3/4 fish and 1/4 pork.

After mixing and chopping, add in seasoning to the meat paste, which are 2 tablespoon of cornflour; 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce; 1 teaspoon of sesame oil; bit of salt; and dash of white pepper.

Mix well and slapping hard the paste onto the chopping board until the texture looks springy and bouncy.

Meanwhile prepare the soup base for Hakka Yong Tau Foo: Dry fry without oil the soyabean in a wok, till little brownish, tossing continuosly. After frying, transfer the soyabeans into a pot filled with boiling water, roughly 4 bowls of water. Put in the fish bone and skin reserved from the mackerel, and some washed anchovies(ikan bilis). Let it boils for 1 hour with medium fire. Season the soup base with salt after boiling for an hour, discard the ikan bilis, skin and soya beans from the pot.

Get ready with ingredients for stuffing: Half the taukwa into triangular shape. Slit open the tau kwa carefully, make a tiny pocket in between.

Slice the brinjal and make an opening in the middle.

Slice the bittergourd and remove the seeds. Soak the prepared bittergourd in salt water to reduce the bitterness. Chillies are seeded and halved.

Deep fried 2 pieces of salted fish without bone, till crispy.

Chopped the crunchy salted fish into bits.

Add into the meat paste, and mix well again.

Put the stuffing into tau kwa, bittergourd, brinjal, and chillies carefully with a butter knife.

 Now they are ready for steaming. Bring water to boil in a wok, with big fire. Steam them till cooked and done. You might want to fry some of tau kwa and brinjal after steaming. I find that fried version is very yummy too, especially the brinjal and tau kwa coz they absorb the soup better after frying.

The fried version.

Lovely Hakka Yong Tau Foo.....slurppp...

 

Steamed version served in soup  



BON APPETIT.....

TeoChew Steamed Garoupa

Often I overheard that most people giving up preparing their own home-cooked steamed fish because its either turns out fishy or the meat is tough. For me, steamed fish is kind of our staple dish in every meal. This dish is not only easy to prepare, but also a very nutritious high in protein dish especially for growing kids.

Get your fingers crossed, even in some acclaimed seafood restaurant, after you have paid for a hefty meal of a fish dish,much to your agony, the steamed fish served turns out to be overcooked.

Thus, fret not. This time I am going to show you the easy way to prepare a successful teochew steamed garoupa. Steamed fish calls for a very fresh fish bought from wet markets. Personally I do not advise on buying fish from supermarket or hypermarket. I do not know why, maybe because after a few bad experiences of not getting the tip-top fish that I want.

In this recipe, I use mouse garoupa, weighing around 1kg. You might want to use pomfret, seabass, snapper, rock fish, tilapia, or threadfin.

Other ingredients are: pork belly sliced; thumb size of ginger, julienned; a block of soft beancurd, cubed; a tomato, wedged; 3 salted preserved plums; 1 tablespoon of hua tiau wine; 1 tablespoon of superior light soya sauce; and a handful of scallion, parsley and red chilli for garnishing.

I add in rinsed salted vegetable, julienned, to the dish before steaming

First, add a tablespoon of cooking oil, brown sliced pork belly. Retain the oil for the last step.

Arrange the browned pork on top of the fish. Arrange the rest of the ingredients (salted veg, tomato, beancurd, ginger) on the dish as shown in the picture. I mashed the salted plums, and stuffed in the fish cavity. Lastly add the hua tiaw wine and light soya sauce. The fish is ready for steaming. Pour about 2 bowl of water into a wok. Let the water boil before putting in the fish to steam on a rack for 15 minutes, covering the wok, steam on big fire. This step is very crucial, because you do not want to overcook your fish.

Remove the fish, which is done, from the wok, and garnish the dish with scallion, parsley and chilli. Reheat the oil obtained from pork belly which we set aside earlier. Pour the hot sizzling oil onto the garnishing ingredients. The TeoChew steamed fish is ready for serving. Just thinking of a bowl of hot plain porridge, savour with my favourite steamed fish...I start feeling famished already....going to tag along hubby for a porridge supper tonight. Bye....and best trying....

BON APPETIT