Winter Melon with Barley Dessert (冬瓜薏米糖水)

This is the type of food that is far from gourmet and which, I would generally would categorize it as epitomize home cooking.

Winter Melon with Barley Dessert (冬瓜薏米糖水) - One of the common dessert that my mother cook for us when the weather is really hot.

I still remember how much my deceased father loves this bowl of sweet and fresh home-cooked dessert. He will never fail to ask my mother for another bowl. This is the 1st time I cook this dessert for Max. He loves it so much! After he finished the 2nd bowl, he asked if he can have another bowl. Hahaha.. It can be eaten hot or cold. It's up to you.

I purchased a big cut of winter melon from the wet market. This cost me about S$1.50 I think? I forgotten. Anyway, this fresh melon doesn't cost much. So, go ahead and be generous.

Please don't opt out the candied melon. This is really good to have. I love it's crunchiness of the candied melon. And I think you would love it too.

Ingredients

• 200g Candied Melon 糖冬瓜
• 100g Barley 薏米
• 500g Winter Melon 冬瓜
• 50g Rock Sugar 冰糖 (Adjust amount to your preferred sweetness)
• 2L Water

Method

1. Give Winter Melon a quick rinse, cut away the skin and cut them into huge cubes. 
2. Wash Barley, drained, set aside.
3. In a pot, add water and Barley. Boil under high heat. Once it's boiling, reduce to medium low fire and let it cook for 30mins.
4. After 30mins, still on medium low fire, add in Winter Melon and Candied Melon.
5. Continue to boil for another 2 hour or more if you want.
6. Add in rock sugar and stir until the rock sugar is totally dissolved, heat off.
7. Fish out half portion of the Barley grains and discard. And your dessert is ready to serve.

Since I'm cooking only 2L water, 100g Barley is quite alot. But trust me, u need lotsa Barley. Only with lots of Barley, the dessert will gives you the starchy "volume" and the glueiness. Once the dessert is done, I will always fish out half of the barley grains and discard. Leaving half barley grains behind. You won't be eating all the barleys for sure. I doubt your family member would be interested too.

Both winter melon and barley regarded as “cooling” in traditional Chinese medical practice. So, this is really really good if the weather is really hot and if you have heaty body. As I mentioned. You could serve it hot or keep them in the fridge and serve cold.

I don't know if your mom does this dessert or not. Because, the usual version that I saw out there is just Winter Melon. They don't have barley. For me, this is just simple and yet welcoming.

Whenever I had a bowl of this dessert, it really invoke feelings of nostalgia. I think I really miss those were the days :)

Random : Treasure hunt in the kitchen

I had been busy packing up and gotta move over to my new residence by end of this week.

While both me and my Mother in law busy packing up, we found alot of "treasures" that is hidden beneath the kitchen cupboard. Those are my mother in law's stuffs. But she herself didn't even know she has all these "treasure"!!!

I won't post every single treasure here. They are really... too much. But these two item, it's CLASSIC~!!!

Treasure 1 : Childhood old-fashioned mini fork.

Looks familiar?

Yes! This is what we used to eat cakes and fruits during our childhood times! I took a photo of this, and then I sent it to Wendy. And then, my mother in law threw it away. She said no point keeping em'. I told Wendy "This is 20 years old!!!".... Wendy responded "Noooo!!! This is 30 years old!!!".

Ok. I think I should keep it. I go to the dustbin and dig it out again. Next time, when I have my own child, I should show this mini fork to my child. Hehe... Even Edith told me that she wants it.

Another treasure....


Treasure 2 : Grandma's style old earthen pot.
Ok, I don't know how old is this pot. But my Mother in law also not sure, but she says this should be around 9 to 10 years old. Somebody pass this pot to her, and there, she continue to use it. She wanted to threw this away. But when I saw it, I said "Noooo!!! Cannot throw!!! This is good stuff!!!".... She looked at me with her two big eyes... hahahaha...

I tested, no leakage. Still in good condition! I'm gonna use this pot to boil a pot of good soup using charcoal when my new residence settled down! Or maybe Vinegared Pig's Trotter? Hehehe...

Actually, there are more treasures, not only these two item. The good old days stuffs that not all younger generation know how to appreciate it. Just like the earthen pot. It can really cook up the unforgettable flavor that makes us reminds of the real traditional taste. My grandma's cooking.... You get what I mean?

But the house is in a mess, sometimes, I just don't have the time to take picture of those stuffs. Anyway, nevermind... Do stay tuned! I hope I can show u more! :D

Chicken Feet Peanut Soup (花生鸡脚汤)

There's a reader requesting for Chicken Feet Peanut Soup (花生鸡脚汤) the other day. I cooked this 2 weeks ago, but I don't have the time to write about it.

This is a common soup during my childhood time. My deceased aunt always cook this for me when I was small. But no more now. Whenever I wanna drink this soup, I will have to cook it myself.

The ingredients are easily available. You could get chicken feet from wet market or even supermarket too. No need to elaborate further. But for the conch (Sea snails), it might looks not common to some people.

When you want to cook this soup, please be generous on the chicken feet. If you are stingy, thinking that you wants a pot of nice soup by just adding 5 pairs chicken feets for 2.2L water, forget it. You want nice soup, you will have to be generous.

1 pack of chicken feet (5 pairs) cost only S$1.00 at the wet market. Put more chicken feet, and you will get really collagen-rich and thick soup.

Ingredients

• 200g Raw Peanut 花生
• 10 pairs Chicken Feet 鸡脚
• 200g Pork Ribs 排骨
• 5pcs Dried Conch (Sea Snails) 海螺肉
• 2.2L Water
• Salt to taste

Note : Please go ahead and substitute the Conch into dried octopus or dried cuttlefish. It would taste even better. Read on, and I'll tell you why I used Conch for this soup.

Method

1. Remove peanut skin by rubbing it hard with each other. The reason is because I would prefer my soup to have a clearer broth. Don't bother if you are lazy. It's just that peanut skins gives your soup darker color. That's all. Pre-soak the peanuts overnight (or at least 5 hours) before use.
2. Rinse pork ribs, scald in boiling water for awhile, remove and rinse.
3. Rinse chicken feet, check if all toe nails from the feet are removed. Cut away any bad part (if any). Parboil the chicken feet for 5mins, remove and rinse. 
4. Pre-soak dried conch (sea snails) for at least 2 days. This is to ensure the conch is really soft enough to use.
5. If you are using dried octopus or cuttlefish, wash and snip them into smaller pieces.
6. In a soup pot, add pork ribs, peanut,conch and water. Bring to a boil for 10mins. And then, add chicken feet. Boil another 10mins again. Then reduce heat and simmer the soup over low heat for 4 hours, until the peanut turns really soft.
7. Your soup will definitely have the Umph! after 4 hours! Woohoo!!! Remember to add salt to taste before serve.

This is one of the way to remove peanut skin by rubbing them hard. You could see the dark color of the peanut water. If you didn't pre-soak your peanut and wash them, these water is going to be in your soup.

Parboil your chicken feet is a must. This is to ensure that your chicken feet soup has nicer broth.

I'm not supposed to use conch for this soup actually. But my mother-in-law pre-soaked a few pieces of conch and she told me she don't know what to do with it. When she knew I wanna cook soup, she ask me to use conch instead of the usual dried cuttlefish / octopus. Although I knew that conch will not gives this soup really good seafood taste, but then, I'll just use it.

I dig out one of my nutritional cookbook, and realized that conch is quite nutritious. And the book says - It is warm in nature and taste bittersweet, living inbetween the rocks in the shallow sea-bed. It is rich in Vitamin A, protein, iron and calcium, amino acid and trace elements. It treats conjunctivitis 红眼症, jaundice 黄疸, athelete's foot hemorrhoids 脚气 Piles 痔疮 and so on.

Not bad eh? Hahaha...

See my soup again. It has nice and clear broth. That is because I soak and wash my peanut several times. Don't judge the soup by it's pale look. This soup is reall really thick and nice. How thick it would be? Take a bowl of soup and put it in the fridge, it will turn jelly. Haha... You could imagine now?

This is a super collagen soup. My grandma once told me that this really good for complexion and knees cartilage problem. This is when you hear ’squeaky’ noise if you walked long distance or some seniors who have weak knees.

So, this is another beauty soup. Please drink more. Haha...

Babi Pongteh / Nyonya Braised Pork - (MFF - Melaka)

This is my 2nd submission to Malaysian Food Fest (MFF) for Melaka month.

Babi Pongteh is known as braised pork with fermented soya bean. This is a signature Nyonya dish that every Baba Nyonya family cook.

How would I describe this? I don't know. To me, this is a flavorful melt-in-your-mouth pork belly, and when you see this, you will definitely ask for a bowl of steamed rice, and then, drizzle the sauce over the rice. You know what I'm trying to say?

And then, all our self-realization is gone, cuz you're gonna ask for another bowl of rice without even feeling guilty. Hahahahahaa!!!

My 1st submission was Ikan Gerang Asam earlier, and I'm happy that my friends likes it. And it's been featured in AFC (Asian Food Channel) facebook, which I really don't know what is actually happening. But nevermind. It's happiness!!! Haha...

I'm recreating Babi Pongteh using the recipe Alan posted here. The recipe that Alan is sharing is extracted from Cooking for the President – Reflections & Recipes by Wee Eng Hwa, the daughter of Dr.Wee Kim Wee, the late former Singapore's President. It is said that the book compiled all the recipes which Mrs.Wee cooked for Dr.Wee Kim Wee. I didn't knew the book was so great until I'm done with my Babi Pongteh and tasted it on my own. Seriously, I feel like buying the book. I love every single instruction and details in the book. I have to thank Alan for recommending me this, but.... it's selling S$115 at Kinokuniya. The book is too atas (pricey / high class) for me to invest for now. Haha.. Maybe next time? But I really like the book loh!!!

Okay... Come back to the dish.

This dish is really rich in flavor and it could easily make you eat 2 bowls of rice easily. It also tastes good the next day when all the flavours have melded together.

Basic Onigri - The real taste of Akitakomachi Rice

Does Japan grown rice taste more delicious? I don't even need to hold my breath and I could straightaway give you the answer. It is a big YES!

I had been eating Koshihikari rice recently, and I really love it to the bit. I love Koshihikari more than Hitomebore, and more than any other grains. But I never had a chance to give Akitakomachi rice a try, not until recently.

In this post, I'll share with you how to make basic Onigri and also my verdict on the real taste of Akitakomachi.

Ikan Gerang Asam / Nyonya Tamarind Fish (MFF - Melaka)

In conjunction of Malaysian Food Fest (MFF), as a Malaysian, I don't find any reason for not supporting this. A group of bloggers (included myself) would like to introduce culinary specialties of all states in Malaysia, and wished to encourage readers to give a try replicating state dishes at home. I think this is really fun and interesting.

We will have different state specialties in different month. This month is about Melaka. So, Nyonya dishes :)

As my 1st submission to MFF for Melaka month, I'm recreating the Ikan Gerang Asam (Nyonya Tamarind Fish) recipe that Wendy posted.


Ikan Gerang Asam / Nyonya Tamarind Fish

I'm not a Nyonya person. And I know not much about their dishes. I only know how to eat. Haha. Nyonya Cuisines is about combination of Chinese and Malay cooking. I really adore the ingredients they used, especially their perfect spices combination. And this a kind of dish that usually make you eat more rice.

I feel stressed when I knew I'm gonna recreate this dish. Not on the cooking part, but the part when I knew I have to gather all these ingredients. Living in Singapore, not all markets sell everything that you wanted. Some important traditional ingredients has obsolete in some places because modern people doesn't really use such ingredients for their cooking.

Something missing in the picture. Yes! Galangal is missing. Read on... and you will know about "The tale of galangal" later part.

I have hard time looking for kaffir lime leaf. I showed the picture of kaffir lime leaf to my mother-in-law, and also my colleague. They argue with me, says that this is Pomelo leaf wo. This is so... Fail! Haha! I went to the wet market, I asked the curry powder stall owner, he told me that this is lemon leaf, they don't sell. I was like... "Urgh! Ok, thank you uncle", and I walked away. In the end, I found my kaffir lime leaf at a veggie stall. But with that small amount of leaf, they asked me for 30cts! Expensive can?! I show my super unhappy face while I so unwillingly digging my coins from my pouch, and end up, he ask me for 20cts only. Hahaha!

Now, prepare the ingredients 1st. All the ingredients I used is exactly the same. But for the ratio, it's slightly different. Because I adopt the "agak-agak" (estimation) logic here. Hehe..

Ingredients (Recipe Source : Wendyinkk / Original recipe from Florence Tan)

• 400gm Mackerel (Tenggiri)
• 38gm Tamarind Pulp + 380ml Water
• 10 Young Okra, trimmed
• 2 pcs Kaffir Lime Leaf / 枫柑叶
• 5 tbsp Cooking Oil
• ½ tsp Salt
• 3 tsp Sugar

Spice Paste - Grind everything into a paste

• 10gm Dried Chilli / 辣椒干, remove seeds and soak for 10 mins.
• 100gm Shallots
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 2½ Candle Nut / Buah Keras / 石栗
• 5gm Tumeric Root 黄姜, cleaned weight
• 10gm Galangal / 南姜, cleaned weight
• 2 Lemongrass / 香茅, 4 inches from the base
• 5gm Belachan / Dried shrimp paste

Method 

1. Prepare spice paste and grind everything together. You could prepare this 2 to 3 hours in advance. Clingwrap it and keep it aside or in the fridge if you want. No problem at all.
2. Scoop Tamarind into a bowl of 380ml water. With both hands, rub the tamarind pulp, strain the water and discard the seed. We only need the water.
3. Heat oil in a wok, under medium heat, add in spice paste. Fry it for awhile, and lower the fire to medium low heat. Continue to fry until the paste is ready. Be patient. You will know it is ready when the paste looks slight glossy and the oil seems to ooze out. As if the oil started to separate with the spice paste. And the spice paste aroma is all over your kitchen by now.
4. Add tamarind water and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer for 4 minutes. Add salt and sugar. Taste and adjust to your individual liking. If you find it too spicy, you could add more sugar to neutralize it.
5. Add in fish and kaffir lime leaf, gently scoop the sauce to cover the kaffir lime leaf and fish. Still under low heat, let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Flip the fish gently. Add in okra, simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes. Heat off and dish up.

Note : Incase you have problem removing seed from the dried chillis. Here, use a scissor cut the dried chilli into half, and remove the chilli. Don't bother about the shape of the dried chilli, because you are going to grind them into paste anyway.

And it's now ready to cook? At 1st, I thought so. But actually, not...

Before I start cooking, I did a quick revision by reading Wendy's blog one more time. To my horror, I realized that missed out something!!! I missed out Galangal!!! *Arrgh!!*

My heart sunken..... like a Titanic. I thought I have to give up this dish.

I screamed and I wanna bang my head to the wall. I kept asking myself how could I left this ingredient out??!! For instance, my mind turned blank and don't know what to do.

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Okays, I cooled down. I tell my husband about it. He asked if I could proceed without galangal. I'm not too sure. So, I text Wendy and I text Alan too. Both Wendy and Alan told me that galangal is important for this dish. But it is already late. All wet markets are closed. NTUC and Cold Storage won't have galangal loh.

How?

I asked my mother in law where to get galangal at this hour. She say "Oh! Use ginger lah! Same mah!"

. . . . . Seriously (*__*)

Okays, nobody could understand how I feel. I think I wanna go and hunt for galangal. But I don't know where to head to. Max is so supportive to this mission and he suggested to go Sheng Siong Supermart to give it a try. So, he drove me there...

And I found my galangal!!!! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED... Yay~!!! 老公万岁!!! :D

I couldn't imagine how would my Ikan Gerang Asam taste without galangal. But I'm pretty sure that it will taste totally different. The aroma of the galangal gives this dish a twist from the usual asam pedas that I had out there. And here, let's see what they say.

Verdict (Husband) : The dish is really nice in overall. But he commented that it is not sour and spicy enough to his liking. Maybe he compare with those asam pedas that is selling outside. He asked if I could double up the Tamarind for more asam (sour) taste, and make it more spicy too.

Verdict (Mother-In-Law) : She seems to love this dish very much. She is a person who can't take too sour and too spicy food. But she likes this dish, and had two bowls of rice.

Verdict (Myself) : I love the thickness of the sauce and the taste of the spices combination. It taste so so so so Malaysia! Hehe... I think I will repeat this dish in future, and increase more Tamarind and dried chilli as per my husband's request. Well, this is really very much depends on individual tastebud.

When I'm stir-frying the spice paste, I already knew I would love this dish like mad. I took the okra and a small portion of fish. I scoop two big tablespoons of the sauce and drizzle it straight on top of my white rice. Yea, 1 bowl of rice is gone! Wuuahahahahaa!!!

Although this dish require some effort. But when I see them enjoyed the dish, I think all my effort is really worthwhile :)

I am submitting this to Malaysian Food Fest, Melaka Month

Hosted by Cindy of Yummy Little Cooks



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This post has been featured in Asian Food Channel (AFC) Facebook

Hong Kong Style Steamed Cod Fish (港蒸鳕鱼)

By just reading the name of this dish, you knew it is healthy and absolutely delicious.

The ultra fresh, sweet, clear consistency, and the fish is so tender and smooth. And the umami sauce! Wosh!!!

Max always tells me how he loves steamed cod fish. But..... Hello? Who don't? This 1 inch thick cod steak cost me S$20 ok?! Say me stingy, but to me, eating fresh steamed cod is a luxury. So, I don't buy cod fish often, because in Singapore, it cost about S$50 to $55 per kg here.

You do not need excessive seasoning or heavy garnishing for fresh cod. Fresh cod itself taste really good. Rich with Omega 3. And well, there must be a reason why this fish is so expensive. Right?

I topped some crisped fried garlic and some spring onions after the steamed fish is done. And you may embellish further with some red chili julliened and maybe coriander for colorful presentation. It's up to you.

Now, let's start cooking...

Ingredients

• 1 thick slice of Fresh Cod Fish Steak (About 1 inch thick)
• 2 slices Ginger 
• a dash of pepper

For the Sauce

• 1 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Rock Sugar (You could use normal sugar if you don't have rock sugar)
• 1 tbsp Water
• 1 tbsp Hsao Xing Wine 

For Garnishing

• 3 bulbs of garlic, finely chopped.
• 1 tbsp Cooking Oil
• some spring onions, cut into 1 inch length

Method

1. Clean fish, pat dry. Place ginger on a steaming dish, place fish on top.
2. Bring water in the steamer to a boil and steam fish over high heat for 6 minutes. 
3. While the fish is steaming half way, heat sauce ingredient in a pot and bring to a boil.
4. Remove fish from the steamer, pour away the steaming liquid .
5. Add a dash of pepper and drizzle sauce over.
6. Fry chopped garlic with oil in another pan until golden brown. Don't burnt it.
7. Pour the hot garlic oil over, garnish with golden brown garlic and spring onions. Serve!

Note 1 :  The purpose of ginger (or sometimes we used spring onions) slides under the plate is to provide ventilation to the underside of the fish and or avoiding the skin sticking on the plate. But of course, it gives better flavor to the dish in whole.

Note 2 : There is a delicate balance between perfectly cooked fish and overcooked fish. First of all, remember the principle of residual heat. A pan will hold heat when it's removed from the heat source, continuing to cook the food for several minutes. For best results, cook fish until it is almost done, then remove the pan from the stove. Let it stand for about 1 or 2 minutes before serving. I know, waiting is really torturing.

The criteria we go with is that the meat still has a tinge of red but the meat comes off the bone easily with chopsticks or a fork. If the meat sticks to the bone then it is under cooked  If you overcooked your fish, the texture will turn harder and not as tender as what you expect. Different fish size requires different steaming time. I'm not sure about others, but to me, my fish steamed nicely according to below timing. Fish must be in room temperature.

• 400g Fish = 6 to 7 minutes
• 450g Fish = 7 to 8 minutes
• 500g Fish = 8 to 9 minutes
• 600g Fish = 9 to 10 minutes

If you are steaming a whole fish that has thicker body, you probably would wanna steam it slight longer. Like, another minute or so. But if you are steaming fish steak like I did, no need.

There are a ton of different variations on how to do a proper steamed fish, and as long as your fish is not overcooked, I think they’re all wonderful.

This recipe is simple and absolutely delicious. Cooking fish at home isn't difficult. If you wanted to make your home-cooked fish more perfect, it just requires a little knowledge.

You don't have to live near the ocean to enjoy fresh fish. We have it there near the wet market. And you don't have to go to the restaurant and pay high price to enjoy this scrumptious fish dish. You can do it at home! :D

You know what? I drizzle the sauce over my bowl of hot Koshihikari rice, and I can eat half bowl of rice just like that. It's simply umami! It's awesome!



Do visit my other steamed fish recipes too :)

Prosperity Steamed Cod (富贵鳕鱼)

Canto Style Steamed Red Grouper (清蒸红石斑）

TeowChew Style Steamed Pomfret (潮州式清蒸鲳鱼)

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This post has been featured in Asian Food Channel (AFC) Facebook

And Asia Food Recipe

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Stir-Fried Cabbage with Glass Noodles (包菜炒冬粉）

I do understand that cooking at home involves the risk of incomplete recipes, smoke clouds, and sometimes, the advances of an oven in heat. The worst part, messy kitchen!

You don't need to think too much. It could be simple. What about the childhood dish that your mother or your grandmother cooked for you? Some really simple and effortless dish like this? Stir-Fried Cabbage with Glass Noodles - my all-time favorite!

This dish uses simple ingredients. The common cabbage, glass noodles and dried silver fish. That's all. It isn't as complicated as what you imagined. I used HCP (Happy Call Pan) to cook this dish. So, cooking time cut short by a minute or so. 

Ingredients

• 300g Cabbage (包菜 / 高丽菜）
• 30g Dried Glass Noodles （冬粉）
• 20g Dried Silver Fish （银鱼仔）
• 2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• 50ml Water
• ½ tbsp Fish sauce
• Salt and Pepper to taste 

If you couldn't get dried silver fish, go ahead to use dried shrimps (虾米). It is equally welcoming. Infact, my mother uses dried shrimps for this dish.

Oh, incase if you are not sure. We called glass noodles tang-hoon (冬粉) in hokkien, literally mung bean noodles. I have some Taiwanese glass noodles at home, so I just use it. It's slight thicker and chewier than the ordinary glass noodles.

Method

1. Cut cabbage into strips. Soak glass noodles in water till soft. Set aside.
2. Heat pan, a tablespoon of oil, and fry garlic and dried silver fish till fragrant.
3. Add in cabbage and give it a toss. Cover with lid, cook for 2 minutes.
4. Open the lid, add in glass noodles, water and stir. 
5. Add fish sauce, pepper and salt. Stir well.
6. Cover with lid and cook for another minute, or 2 minutes if you are not using HCP, or until cooked.

And it's done :)

I like the glassy look and texture of the glass noodle.

This is what I called the real home-cooked dish :)

Pan-Fried Pomfret with Caramelized Onion Topping

I love this fish! But I love the caramelized onion more!

It's mild, sweet, and delicious! Ahhh... I will never had enough of this. But this is not the ordinary caramelized onion that we see in western dishes. This is asian style. Or... my style? Haha. I used Soy Sauce. That's why I said so.

Whatever! As long as it taste nice.

But I don't cook this often. I will try to steam my fish more as it is a healthier choice. Frying fish at home can be lots of work. Because the fish smell and the oil ... you know? But again, I wanna eat. So, must work for it lah. Cannot eat steamed fish all the time also. It's boring!

Ingredient

• 1 black Pomfret
• 1 large Onion
• 3 slices of ginger, julienned
• 1 + 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
• ½ tbsp Sugar 
• ½ tbsp Sesame Oil
• 1 tsp Salt
• some Spring Onion for garnishing

This is a good recipe for any whole fish, but these small Pomfret are well-suited to soak up all the flavors and smaller Pomfret cost cheaper too.

Simple ingredients also can create nice dish :)

Method

1. Clean fish, pat dry using kitchen towel. Rub 1 tsp salt all over the fish.
2. In a non-stick pan, or Happycall pan if you have. Heat a tablespoon of oil, pan fry the fish under medium low heat. Just fry it slowly. Like that, you will have nice and crispy fish skin outside and soft fish meat inside. Heat off, dish up.
3. Using the same pan, add in ginger and sesame oil, fry till fragrant. Heat off. Pour a tablespoon of soya sauce on it, set aside.
4. In a skillet, heat a tablespoon of oil, add in onion, under medium heat, fry till onion turned soft. Add 1 tbsp soy sauce and ½ tbsp Sugar. Continue to fry till onions turned caramelized. 
5. Pour caramelized onion on top of the fish, pour over the ginger and soya sauce, sprinkle with onion and there you are.

This should be the way, from raw onion turned into beautiful caramelized onions!

And then, the dish is ready. I believe your mama cooked this dish too. Right?

With this dish alone, Max can finish 1 big bowl of rice :)

Quick Meal : Smoked Duck Spaghetti

Like people, food items require adequate partner pairings for healthy social development and reduce tendencies to mutter to oneself at home. Make friends, spread love, with food. Probably the common but comforting Spaghetti and of course... Salad!

I always believe in good combination of meat, starch and vegetables in a meal. I always do :)

I don't think I need to give this plate of spaghetti any fanciful introduction. The post title says it all.

Cold Storage grilling section sells delicious smoked duck. I still remember how much my deceased father love the smoked duck that I bought from there. They grill it fresh everyday and they are ready to eat. I will grab one home whenever I'm feelin' good. Although it's not often, but I had been buying smoked duck from Cold Storage for a number of years, and I'm still doing it. They are really good. You could say me cheat, but who don't? You will have to agree that some shop-bought stuffs are really good, inexpensive and really convenient!

Here, this is what I usually do after I brought the duck home. Leave it cool abit, so that it's easier to handle. I will cut away the two drumsticks and wings, and I eat them fresh on the same day. And for the body part, I debone it, pack it up nicely, airtight, keep it in the freezer. It comes in really handy when I wanna do stir-fry. Be it noodles or grill it hot and serve along with salad or something. Smoked duck is really good alternative when bacon has become boring.

Aside the smoked duck, the main ingredients in this spaghetti is shallots and olive oil. It's like the traditional aglio olio, but aglio olio called for garlic and oil, and some likes to sprinkle with some chilli flakes. It's so simple.

Ingredients  (Serves 2, easily)

• 230 grams Smoked Duck Meat, cut into pieces
• 130 grams Spaghetti
• 3 shallot, finely sliced.
• Thyme infused or Garlic infused Olive Oil, Ordinary Olive Oil works fine too
• a splash of White Wine (if you have it at home)
• Parmesan Cheese for topping (Optional)
• Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and add the spaghetti. Stir well and boil rapidly until the pasta is al dente.
2. Strain spaghetti, set aside. Keep the starchy water that you used to cook spaghetti. It's useful.
3. Meanwhile, combine the oil and garlic in a small saucepan. Fry the shallots till fragrant. And then, add in smoked duck pieces. Continue to fry until you could smell the smoked duck's fragrance.
4. Add in spaghetti, salt and pepper. Toss. Add abit of the starchy water along the way, to give the noodles more moisture.
5. Give a splash of white wine, give it a quick toss before you turn off the heat. If you have Parmesan Cheese at home, grate some on top before serve.

It's easy, right?

Oh yes! Side track abit. Salad! The veggies must be fresh from the market. I love and I'd always try my best to make my salad to looks more vibrant. It's like, when I look at it, I will smile. You know?

I will always wanna put our bellies in a good mood over the weekend. Although it might looks simple.

Max prefers such simple spaghetti to the more traditional tomato-based or creamy based variety. The smoky flavor of smoked duck gives the spaghetti a twist!
 

For a lazy sunday, I wanna make it simple. Just give my spaghetti a quick toss and serve with a bowl of effortless salad.

Yumms!

Pig's Stomach Soup (猪肚汤)

I had been really craving for this soup for very very very long time. Like years? Sigh!

Hokkien called this "too-thor th’ng", literally Pig's Stomach Soup. Hokkien version too-thor th’ng has Ginko Nuts in it. Some added mushroom too. Mine is Canto version, or rather, my mother's version. I'll just do it in a traditional way. The way my mother taught. 

Boiling a pot of Pig's Stomach soup is easy. But the part where you need to clean the Pig's Stomach is tricky. If you are not familiar with cleaning pig's stomach, you will end up with a smelly soup.

Before we start with the soup making, this is something I need to highlight, especially for those who never handle pig's stomach before. If you don't have the patience to read up the whole post of mine, thinking you could just note down the recipe and do it blindly (with that half-cleaned smelly stomach maybe?), drop it. Don't bother to follow this. Because you will end up complain that my recipe gives you smelly and murky soup.

For the amateur cooks who want to make this soup, you can go to the wet market butcher and ask for Pig's Stomach. Wet market do sell both cleaned and un-cleaned Pig's Stomach. So, here's the difference :

If you can get cleaned ones :-

• Probably more expensive?
• It's convenient, because you will save the hassle of doing the dirty job. 
• They used chemicals to get rid of all the gunk from the stomach I heard.

If you get the un-cleaned ones :-

• Cheaper, and fresher I assume.
• Need to clean it at home. Lot's of hassle. 
• Cleaning using the traditional method to remove the slimy or greasy residue. Usually, Tapioca Flour, Salt, Oil, Coke, boiling water & etc is used.

Supermarket like Giant, NTUC and Sheng Siong do sell Pig's Stomach. But they usually categorized it as Raw (un-cleaned) and Cooked version. See picture below. Left picture is raw stomach (the one I bought), and right picture is cooked stomach. 

I couldn't convince myself to get the cooked stomach out of convenience. Seriously, NO! I really not sure if they did put in effort to get rid of the gunk completely before they cook it. And the cooked stomach are frozen, and then thawed, and re-packed to sell. I never taste this readily packed cooked stomach before, so I won't comment much. But I could assure you that, if buy cooked stomach, the soup will not taste as good as the one from the butcher. This is the fact that you have to face it. Your mouth wants to eat good food, you will have to work for it. Right?

It is my 1st time washing Pig's Stomach. Seriously, it's stinky if it is not washed properly. So, if you're really not ready for the challenge, never attempt to cook a pig’s stomach. Unless you are mentally prepared. You don’t want your kitchen to smell like a pigs’ farm.

So, how to clean the stomach? It requiring multiple scrubs with salt and tapioca starch, along with a bit of knife scraping. Now... Cleaning Stomach method :

1. Prepare a bowl of salt and a bowl of tapioca flour. You will need alot of this.
2. Apply a handful of salt on the stomach surface, turn the stomach inside out, and apply another handful of salt. Give it a good rub. Like washing a piece of cloth using hand. Then, add tapioca flour on both inside and outside the stomach. Give it a good rub. Don't be gentle.
3. Rinse with running water. By now, you should get rid some of the slimy and greasy residue. Use knife to scrap the stomach as and when, so as to scrap away the fats and other impurities on the lining. Rinse with running water.
4. Repeat step 2 and 3 process a few times. Smell the stomach. Until the "pigs’ farm" smell is gone, you are there.
5. Then, I used Coca Cola to rinse the stomach. Then, rinse away the Coca Cola with running water. Coca Cola could get rid of the smell totally. However, this step is optional. I'll explain why later. 
6. Boil the stomach in a boiling water for 5 minutes. The five minute boil will set it's shape. And you're done.

Now, take a look at the photo :

The water is in pale milky color. These are the slimy impurities. If you didn't wash the stomach clean enough, once you blanch it, you will have super murky water, and even your soup! You won't wanna drink that, don't ya? I washed the stomach clean. So, during the blanching you only see pale milky water.

And you see the brownish color lining? It looks dirty? Nope! Those are a thin layer of lining / fats. This brownish color is stained by Coca Cola. oI rinse the stomach using Coca Cola, remember? Coca Cola has caramel in it. So, the caramel color stained on it. Not dirty. It's edible. If you prefer the stomach not to have such brownish color at the lining, then, skip the Coca Cola part.

Once it's out of the boiling water, scissor it apart and do a check inside. This is to make sure they are clean within. It shouldn't have slimy feel anymore. They are like towels with funny surface, and the color differs at different part. That's normal. And here, the stomach is ready to use.

Now, get ready all the soup ingredients we need.

Ingredients

• 1 Kampung Chicken / Free Range or Organic Chicken.
• 1 Pig's Stomach - (Cleaned and prepared as written above)
• Ginger - About double size of your thumb. Skinned, smashed.
• 15g White Pepper, cracked. (Amount depending on the spiciness to your liking)
• 1.8L Water.
• Sea salt to taste. 

I got my Kampung Chicken from the wet market. Standard wet market price for Kampung Chicken is about S$8.00/kg. Mine is slightly heavier, it cost me S$11.00 for this bird.

Talking about this wonderful and extremely peppery broth containing the organ, good quality pepper is important. Especially those from Sarawak one's. It has the Umph! But too bad, I got mine from the wet market. Not particularly good. But fairly okay. And now, let's crack the pepper. Slightly wet your chopping board, place the pepper on the wet chopping board. Like this, the pepper won't run around. Crack it using the back of your knife or the mortar.

Method

1. Pig's stomach should be well prepared. Rinse chicken. Rinse and crack white pepper. Skinned ginger, smashed. 
2. Pig's stomach, white pepper and ginger in a pot. Add in 1.8L water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to medium low heat, simmer for 30mins.
3. Add in chicken, turn heat higher and bring to a boil, and then reduce to medium low heat, simmer for 2 hours. I used slow cooker, so I leave it there for 3 hours. Discard the scums that float on top.
4. Dish up the stomach, leave it cool abit if you can't handle the stomach while it's hot. Chop them into pieces (Like... maybe about 2cm x 5cm? It depend's on how big chunk you want it to be). Put the chunked stomach back to the soup.
5. Before serving, remember to salt your soup.

Saw the soup base? It should looks clear, still slight cloudy, but not murky. But it doesn't mean that this soup base is watery and plain. The broth is really thick and peppery. This is the soup base color you should get if you did put in effort to really clean the stomach. Some shop-bought pig's stomach soup looks murky color - due to the slimy impurities, due to the half-cleaned stomach and whatever. I don't wanna describe further. Now you know the difference between shop-bought and the home-cooked one.

For those who never taste pig's stomach before, this offal has a nice meaty sweet pork taste and pleasant chewy texture. The broth is thick, sweet and peppery.

If you'd had a bad week, not eating well, feels very much missing home and your mama, have a bowl of Pig's Stomach Soup! I'm sure you will feel that the world isn't that bad afterall :)

Ling Zhi Black Chicken Tonic Soup (野山灵芝乌鸡汤)

We all knew that herbal soups are central to the chinese diet, and are essential for maintaining good health. I noticed that my mother-in-law is getting really busy with her work recently, and she seldom cook tonic soup for us, not as frequent as before. Although I knew she tried her best to.

Max looks weak and tired recently. I feels the same too. Is it the weather? Or is it we are not eating well? Or is it we are getting older or what?

I forgotten when was the last time I cook tonic soup. I think it's time to cook some to boost our vitality. The philisophy that food is like medicine, and that prevention is better than cure, you know? It sounds boring. I know. But still... It's the truth and it is good.

I do learn very basic chinese herbs knowledge from fellow seniors before. From my grandma, my mom, and now my mother-in-law. Not much, just abit of here and there. I know what is the basic chinese herbs to be used to boil nourishing soups.

This Ling Zhi Black Chicken Tonic Soup, it promotes general good health, improves vital energy, complexion, stamina, helps rejuvenate body and prevent cancer.

I've got myself a nice black chicken in NTUC. This bird cost me S$5.95, which I think it sounds reasonable. Henny complained to me that she got her black chicken from Cold Storage, and it cost her S$7.00. So, this is the price comparison for you, incase you wanna get one.

The ingredients that I'm using for this soup is actually the basic ones. Those are general herbs for chicken soup. But I have to be frank that the Ling Zhi 灵芝 that I used cannot categorized as the basic ingredient. It can be costly. Moreover, I'm using wild-life Ling Zhi here. I bought my wild-life Ling Zhi from Taiwan when I visit a very beautiful place called Sun-Moon Lake (日月潭) sometimes ago. You can get Ling Zhi from any of the general Chinese medicinal hall. Or you may opt out Ling Zhi if you face difficulties getting it due to the high cost. For the rest of the ingredients, they are general ingedients for chicken soup. Not difficult at all.

I'd named the ingredients accordingly. For easy reference and verification when you purchase ingredients :

Ingredients

• 1 Black Chicken 黑鸡 / 乌鸡 / 竹丝鸡
• 6g Ling Zhi 灵芝 (Ganoderma Lucidum)
• 6g Dang Shen 党参 (Codonopsis Pilosula)
• 3g Dang Gui 当归 (Angelica Root)
• 1g Gan Cao 甘草 (Licorice Root)
• 5g Chuan Xiong 川芎 (Sichuan Lovage Root)
• 15g Huai Shan 淮山 (Chinese Yam)
• 20g Yu Zhu 玉竹 (Solomon seal rhizome)
• 7g Goji 枸杞子 (Wolfberries)
• 1.5L Water 清水, or upto 1.8L if you want.
• 1tsp Sea Salt 海盐

If you are lazy and or rather feelin' stressed over the list of ingredients here, go grab a pack of Chicken Soup Convi Pack from any of the chinese medicinal hall. You should be getting such standard ingredients, but not 100% same as mine of course. At least I know they won't include Ling Zhi into the convi pack.

You must be wondering why didn't I use Chicken soup convi pack instead. Reason is simple. I do keep stock for all above ingredients in the fridge. Especially Ling Zhi, Dang Gui,Yu Zhu and Goji. For the rest, my mother-in-law kept them. So, it's not something difficult for me to gather all these and put them into my soup. Stress free :)

Method

1. Rinse chicken and the rest of the ingredients.
2. Everything in a pot, except salt. Add in 1.5L water. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce to medium low heat, simmer for 2 hours. I used slow cooker, so I leave it there for 3 hours.
4. Salt to taste and serve hot. 

And incase you are unsure on the goodness of the ingredients, below info sourced from one of my recipe book named Tonic Soup For Vitality. I only listed down the function of 4 main ingredients, which I think it is always good to know :

Ling Zhi 灵芝 (Ganoderma Lucidum)
It is neutral in nature and taste bitter sweet. It is the parasite mushroom in the roots of oak trees or broad-leaved trees. It is rich in water-soluble proteins and amino acids. It is nourishing, enhances the body, helps digestion, cures asthenia, insomnia, warms the stomach, relieves pain and prevents cancer.

Dang Shen 党参 (Codonopsis Pilosula)
It is warm in nature and tase bittersweet. It contains protein, starch, glucose, Vit B2, B2 ad other nutriens. It regulates the functions of the spleen and stomach, replenish qi, improves lung-asthenia and qi-asthenia and cures Leukopenia.

Dang Gui 当归 (Angelica Root)
It is warm in nature, tastes savoury and bitter sweet. It contains oil essence with a unique flavour. It accelerates body circulation, replenish blood, treats menstrual disorder and physical weakness. 

Chuan Xiong 川芎 (Sichuan Lovage Root)
Warm in nature and taste savoury. It regulates qi, expels wind and heat, revitalizes blood, stops pain, relieves headache, expands blood vessels, relieves joint pain and muscle soreness

This bowl of goodness, it is probably one of the most nourishing meals because of the long, slow cooking makes the ingredients easier to absorb into our body. I don't know about others, but me, whenever I see mothers serving their family member a bowl of soup is like showering them with lots of love.

It is virtually a medicine for invalids and tonic for your family. At least the home-made version is. And why would you not make your own soup?

It takes only minutes to put together a large pot of soup and it could feed the whole family, happily :)

Quadruple Cheesy Pizza!

It's Sunday. I'm baking pizza for lunch again.

This version of home-made pizza is doughier, and with more topping, but very good on it's own in a different way. It consist of 4 types of cheese. Mozarella, Parmesan, Cheddar and Camembert! Yumm~!!!

How would I describe this?

It tastes like a slice of melted cheese with a slight crisp to it. The cheese is so good. A little salty with a gooey satisfaction. The zetsy flavor of the tomatoey taste blended so well with the bread dough. The crust is slightly salty, fluff and crispy at the bottom. It's awesome. And the cheese sausages that I added on it that adds a whole another dimension.

Oh! I almost forgot my plate of fresh salad and a big cuppa ice-cold Ribena!

I'm sorry man, a slice of real cheesy pizza would be like a slice of heaven to me. I love my Sunday lunch!

The thing about a pan of delicious pizza is that the pizza crust must be good, and the topping must be from fresh ingredients. I feel bad about using canned tomato paste. But sometimes I really gotta heck it! Haha!

For those friends who knows me well, I'm a big fan of Nigella Lawson. She's one of the best and most influential of British food writers. This time, I followed the pizza crust recipe from Nigella Lawson's Pizza Casareccia. But for the topping, I just do it freely on my own.

Quadruple Cheese!!!

Although you don't see a real thick layer of cheese on the pizza, because I control the amount of cheese I put. It's sinful you know? :(

So, here's the cheese for the pizza. I purchase those cheeses in a block, and I grated them myself. As much as I could, I'll try not to purchase readily grated cheese. For cheddar, it depends. I do purchase them in block, and sometimes in slices. I have some left-over cheddar cheese slice in the fridge. So, I'll just use it.

Incase you are confused with all the cheeses. Here, read this...

Cheddar
Everybody eat cheddar cheese. The most common ones are Cheesedale, Kraft & etc brand that we usually seen in asian supermarket. Those are good for general sandwiches. Cheddar is rich with a tendency to melt in the mouth, the flavour full and fine. But if it is a good quality cheddar, it tends to have a sharp, pungent flavour, often slightly earthy. To me, Cheddar and bread is a perfect combination!

Mozarella
A mild semi-soft Italian cheese that has a rubbery texture and is often eaten melted on pizza. Good quality fresh mozzarella is generally white. But may vary seasonally to slight yellow. Those that general stores selling ones are usually slight yellow in color. Having mozarella on pizza is a must! No mozarella, no pizza. Hehe..

Parmesan
To me, Parmesan is a hard, sharp, dry Italian cheese that usually served grated as a garnish on top of my pasta or pizzas. I love it's sharp flavour. I think this is one of the important topping for all Italian dish.

Camembert
The cheese itself is really soft and runny and strongly flavoured as it ages. I love it very much. People normally eat it uncooked on bread, burgers, with wine or meat. Just like Brie, the subtle flavour and texture do not survive heating. That is why I always freeze the whole block of Camembert and grate it later. By doing so, I could prolong it's shelf life too.

Okays! I'm done with my cheese.

Now, you could prepare some basic ingredients of your preferred choice. Fresh seafood, ham, chicken or whatever you want. It's really up to you. I use whatever I have in the fridge. Those standard stuffs but it will never goes boring. Fresh tomatoes, my all time fave white button mushrooms, and since I'm gonna make cheesy pizza, it must be cheesy sausage this time!

Ingredients

for the dough: 

• 250 Plain Flour - I used bread flour. It works fine.
• 1 heaped tsp Active dry yeast - I used about 10 grams.
• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
• Approx 150ml warm water
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil - I used Truffle Infused Olive Oil.

for the topping (Quadruple Cheese):

• 2 Fresh Tomato
• 2 Sausages of your choice - I used Cheese Sausages. 
• 4 White button mushroom 
• 1 tbsp Canned tomato paste
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil - I used Truffle Infused Olive Oil.
• Paramesan Cheese
• Mozarella Cheese
• Camembert Cheese
• 2 slices of Cheddar Cheese.

It's slightly different this time. Other than the additional existence of Cheddar and Cheese sausages, I doubled up the fresh tomatoes, and I reduced abit on the white button mushroom. 

Method

1. Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir in the warm water and the olive oil. Add more water as necessary to form a dough. When you've got a shaggy mess, that's on it's way to being a dough. Leave the mess to your mixer, beat until smooth and bouncy, though expect this still to be on the sticky side. The beating should be about 5mins should be fine. (I used KA Mixer, bread dough hook) 
2. Stick some flour on your palm, take the dough out of the mixer bowl, just give it a quick roll and form the dough into a round shape. 
3. Then, oil your palm, and give your dough a roll again. Just to give your dough a really thin layer of oil.
4. Once your dough is oiled, put the dough back to the mixer bowl, covered with cling film, let it rest for 1 hour till the dough's doubled in size. Although it is not advisable, but if you really don't have the 1 hour luxurious time, you may consider to shorten the proofing time to at least 30mins. I proof my dough for 40mins only. I don't have the patience. And I know, it's bad.
5. Preheat oven to 240 degrees C (bottom heat, switch on the fan).
6. Knock the air out of the dough using well-oiled hands, knead a little, and press onto the baking pan.  
7. All ingredients ready, the bread dough is also ready, and let's assemble the pizza :

a)  Line stripped cheddar cheese along the side of the pizza. Fold in the cheddar cheese and give it a press. I mentioned before... Cheddar and bread is the best combination. So, I want the cheddar to hide inside the bread :)

b)  Use fork to poke some holes on the crust, apply a layer of olive oil on top, and put it into the oven for 15mins, or even upto 20mins if you wants your bread dough to be more crusty. It's like, until the dough has a hollow sound when knocked. It's up to you, because it can be quite individual when it comes to the crust level that you are looking for. I only baked mine for 15mins, and I think it is fine.

c) Once the crust is out of the oven, apply a layer of tomato paste on it.

 c)  Add in tomatoes in sequence and the rest of the ingredients.

d)  Sprinkle the cheese generously on top and put the pizza back in the oven and cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the base is crisp.

Once it's out of the oven, it is advisable to let the pizza rest for 5mins before you start cutting em'.

But I know you wouldn't be able to wait for 5mins to cut it. I don't have such patience, and I don't pretend to be one.

You want a slice? I'm sure you want.

Did you see the cheddar cheese at the side of the pizza?

I'm seriously considering if I should get a pizza stone. If I have pizza stone at home, I believe the pizza will be even better! :)

With this homemade pizza recipe, including pizza dough and toppings, step-by-step instructions with photos. I can't find any reason why you can't make your own pizza at home.

It's true! You never try, you won't know. Max swallowed 3 big slices of the pizza! When I see the way he eat, happily, just like a big child, and I know that home-made pizza is really good :)