Quick Home Made Chicken Soup

I had been busy. I was longing for some comfort food, but I don't have the luxurious time to cook something time consuming recently. Looking at the cold weather, I decided to cook this bowl of quick home made chicken soup on a fine weekday for dinner.

Well, you know what? You don't have to be sick to deserve or enjoy it - you do, so do! Good for body and soul. My crave for this soup is partially because of Wendy's Shallot Chicken Soup post. Wendy's version is more Umph! and intense. Mine is quick and easy version, made with simple ingredients I have on hand. All thanks to Wendy for that, her blog never fails to give me ideas. Although it might not be the best chicken soup in the world, but it definitely comforting :)

The beauty of this soup is in its simplicity, and how a drumstick could make delicious soup that serves two. This recipe is not the most traditional chicken soup recipe and you won't be seeing any exotic offerings and whatsoever. It's just home made chicken soup. That's it.

Lemon Aloe Vera Dessert

Wanna have a bowl of cooling Aloe Vera Dessert to refresh yourself?

No? Once you read on, you will want one bowl after another. Trust me. Hahaha!!!

I had been wanting to make this long time ago. As I remembered I read from Little Joy Blog about Aloe Vera Dessert quite sometimes ago. But this need abit of time to prepare, as this supposed to be eaten chilled. And handling the Aloe Vera itself need abit of skills here. Hehehe...

I saw a slice of really nice piece of Aloe Vera at Sheng Siong Supermarket the other day. Immediately, this Aloe Vera Dessert flashed thru my mind. Something cooling, something sweet and refreshing with a hint of delicious citrus flavor from fresh lemons. Wooohh!! I can't wait! Hahaha...

KL Style Hokkien Mee wannabe (Dry Version)

There's something different about weekend. Weekend is meant to be lazy. Meant to wake up slightly late, eat brunch instead of breakfast. Drag the usual lunch time to super late lunch, like 2.30pm or something. And naturally.... it will lead to late dinner. I love the way. I love how it feels. Hehe..  :)

I cooked this over the weekend for late lunch. This is not the nicest looking fried noodles, but definitely flavorfully delicious.

Fried Tomato Omelette (番茄炒蛋)

One thing about comfort home cooked food is that, there's no rules. It can be simple, inexpensive, not pretty looking, no fancy decoration, but it might be one of the dish that you will never forget it's taste. Sounds like your mama's cooking yea?

What about a plate of Fried Tomato Omelette? Or can I say, scrambled egg? Whatever. I prefer it to be a lil' overcooked tho.

Ingredient

• 3 eggs
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 spring onion
• 1 coriander for garnishing (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

Simple ingredient isn't it?

Papaya and White Fungus Beauty Soup (木瓜雪耳滋润汤)

I had not been blogging for the past 2 weeks because I had been busy running around, trying to get a new house. My kitchen in my current house sucks anyway. Please pardon me for my slowness in updating my blog. I will try my best to catch up.

Today, I'm gonna introduce you this nutritious soup. I called it Beauty Soup. Haha.

I learnt this from one of the cookbook that I've bought 3 years back. It is said that this soup helps to prevent loss of calcium, improves detoxification functions, skin beauty and removes dark spots. It can burn fats, prevent bacteria, expel heat and improves spleen too. Wooooo.... Beauty Soup!

Are you sold by now?

Fresh Huai Shan with Spare Ribs Soup (鲜淮山排骨汤)

This is another clear but exceptionally flavorful soup recipe that I wanted to share. I'm confident that you would love this soup as much as I do. Now read on...

The main ingredient for this soup is Huai Shan (淮山). Cantonese pronounced as Whye San. Also known as Shan Yao (山药) or Nagaimo. Whatever. In short, it is a root vegetable that belongs to the Yam family.

Huai Shan is commonly known in dried form for typical Chinese tonic soup ingredient that you can easily get from Chinese Medicinal Shops. It is not surprising that some people doesn't even noticed that we actually seeing fresh Huai Shan in wet market and supermarket often. Well, maybe you do, but you just probably can't recognize the fresh Huai Shan. It's appearance looks different from the dried one which has already been thinly slices and harden before placing up the store rack for sale. The fresh one will be found in long stick-like root form with skin intact.

Asian Style Beef Stew with Radish

A rich, aromatic and spicy soft-braised stew to be served along with a bowl of piping hot steamed rice. How about that? Drooling?

Anyway, the point of a stew, it should go without saying, is it's flavour rather than it's form. So, while a bowl of piping hot steamed rice do make a great partner to this irresistable dish, a cuppa nice tea to go along would be perfect! And that makes your life even more beautiful isn't it?

This Asian-flavoured bite provide the perfect partner for the rich, aromatic spiciness of the soft-braised stew. I found some lovely pieces of beef shin in the supermarket and knew they would be just lovely done in slow cooking method, or rather let the slow cooker do the job I would say. A long and slow is what really brings the best out of cheaper cuts of meat. I have never cooked shin of beef before, but my Mother-In-Law did. I have assumed that these kinds of cuts, as they work so very well in the slow cooker and it makes for incredibly effortless, tasty and very affordable cooking.

Muah Chee (麻糍)

Ahh... This soft, chewy and gooey rice dough cut into small pieces and coated with finely chopped peanuts and sugar. Really love this!

I had been wanting to make this long time ago. I knew it is easy, but I'm just lazy to do it. While buying Muah Chee outside is so convenient, who actually bother to make it on their own? By the way, this is commonly available at any night market in Singapore or even in Malaysia. Although this snack doesn't cost much, but still, I somehow felt that it is over-priced. Paying S$1.50 or even S$2.00 at some high-class place for a miserable portion. Urgh!

The texture is not very similar to Japanese Mochi. Japanese Mochi is more chewier, while this is much softer and easier to make. It is like... Cantonese sticky rice balls? Ah! Yes! It's the Cantonese Style Mochi called Lor-Mai-Chee! (糯米糍). But this Muah Chee is simpler version.

To me, it is a messy food. Just like the well known western eaton mess kind. This is indeed not the prettiest snack but it will make you want to eat one after another.