BURDOCK SOUP WITH BLACK BEAN

Nowadays I never use meat to boil soup.  The herbs and vegetables give out natural sweetness and enhance the flavor.  Moreover the soup looks pristine.

Burdock is used to treat a host of ailments and also as "blood purifier" to clean the bloodstream of toxins, as a diuretic and also as a remedy for eczema, acne and psoriasis.

UDON

Udon is wheat flour noodle in Japanese cuisine.  In Japanese restaurants udon is served either as soup in flavored broth or stir fry with cabbage and meat.  I normally like to order a stir fry but often ended up in great thirst, maybe due to ajinomoto

For my family I will fry up to six packets of udon as they enjoy eating.  Boil the udon in boiling water till they come lose and pour into cold water to stop the cooking.  Pour udon into coriander till water runs dry.  

Ingredients  :  minced pork, vegetables, 1 big onion (sliced), garlic, 1 egg, fresh mushroom, mirin, terriyaki sauce, dark soya sauce and seasoning.  

PEARL RICE

Sushi rice is short grain rice.  It is short and sticky and has a glossy sheen when cooked.   When season with vinegar, mirin and salt it gives out a fruity scent.  I like to eat pearl rice as they held their shape and had great texture.  

When the rice is completely cooked add in seasoning and a tin of black beans dried fish to the rice  and stir thoroughly.  The fish and beans gives the rice a rich flavor. 

I added in slices of lotus root and fresh mushrooms over the rice.  Cover the pot for 5 mins before turning off the fire.  Stir in 2 tablespoon Japanese soya sauce over the rice before serving

EIGHT TREASURES SOUP

For slimming and immunity

Ingredients :
Carrot, figs, lotus root, water chestnuts, winter melon, barley, red dates and corn

You may play around with different ingredients.  I prefer to add in fresh sugar cane but is hard to come by and the best type is the purple sugar cane.

ZHOU'S KITCHEN

Nothing is better than having a leisure dinner with colleagues after a day's work.  When one of our lunch partners' birthday fell on the weekday , we celebrated for her in Zhou's Kitchen at Anchorage Point.

Crunchy vegetable pickles, not too sour

Cold platter - wine chicken, spinach balls, meat roll and fried crispy tofu

The spinach ball was fragrant and full of flavor.  The tofu with outer crispy skin and inner texture silky soft

Delicious and bubbling nam yue (preserved) vegetable tang hoon pot.  A good dish to go with rice

Peking duck already sliced to be eaten with crepe

Pumpkin paste and salted egg prawns.  We mistaken that only salted egg was the only ingredient but turned out that mashed pumpkin was one of them. 

A must dish for longevity - fried mee suan.  Very well cooked, not soggy

Duck meat from Peking duck stir fried with bean sprouts.  The bean sprouts were fried well and still remain its crunchiness

Dessert to start off with longevity buns

Mango mochi, soft and chewy. 

Red bean pancakes - crispy and sweet

Very well done

The only setback is that the dishes tend to arrive too fast.

We adjourned to another place for further "discussions" and desserts

PLUM CRUMBLE

Plums on sale and bought too many back but were sour to consume much.  With the leftover plums I baked them into crumbles.

Slice plums into thick pieces.  Mix in elderberry syrup and honey to the plums o your preferred sweetness.  Fill up the ramekins with plums to the realm as the plums will shrink when bake.  Sprinkle oats over the top of the plums evenly.  Bake till plums are bubbling and aromatic.

A satisfying meal with sweet ending

FRUITS ASSAM

Star fruits, pineapple, ladyfingers and tomatoes are ideal fruits and vegetables for assam.  An appetizing and flavorful dish to eat with rice.

COZY MEAL

Rain pouring down, the bamboo tree and orchids swaying & dancing to the direction to the wind in the backyard make the kitchen a cozy comfortable place to cook.  Thinking of a warm meal in such cold weather after a hard day's work makes me raced against time to prepare a hot meal.  Chopping, cutting and washing, meal is ready in a short time.

Dinner is ready!

Salad of yellow bell pepper, carrots, fresh mushrooms and celery in mirin sauce, soya sauce and pepper

Fried salmon in manago chutney and salsa

VEGETABLES QUICHE

My great interest is watching Hong Kong TVB Cantonese serials. Whenever they are being broadcast on local channels I will not miss.  However sometimes the broadcasting time coincides with my cooking or dinner time, and in order not to miss any parts of the show I will cook food that can be eaten conveniently in front of the box.  Quiche is one of the convenient food.

Pastry can be prepared ahead and put in the fridge till ready to use.  For this vegetables quiche, I include 1 big onions, half a leek, preserved artichokes in brine, fresh mushrooms and 6 pieces of cheese tofu, slice in half.  Mix all fillings together and season with salt, mirin and pepper.

The size of the pie pan is 8 inch and so 7 eggs is needed.  Beat eggs well and mix in 2 tablespoon of thick cream.  Pour over filling and bake in medium hot oven (for my oven I use 120 degree) till egg fillings set

Pie is ready when skewer comes out clean

Accompany pie with a bowl of hot soup and enjoy the show

SUN KEE

Whenever there is a new "tong sui" (sweet soup) shop we will definitely patronize as I like sweet dessert.  There is a new dessert store at the basement of Tampines Lot 1 when my daughter and I came across while having lunch there.

The store deco is simple and not big with less than 20 wooden tables and benches, but all tables are occupied

How can we not order the glutinous rice ball, especially when filled with durian

The durian aroma is pungent but the texture of the glutinous skin is too thick

Mistaken black glutinous rice for red bean paste for the mango sago

The mango puree is sweet with plenty of sago but glutinous rice is hard and not fully cooked

Beautiful osmanthus jelly with wolberries

The jelly is tasteless