SPARE RIBS STEW

To cut down on cooking due to flu, stewed a pot of spare ribs.  The stew tastes better the following day.  

Marinate the ribs with 2 cubes of preserved beancurd, 2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce, 1 tablespoon ginger barbecue sauce, 1 tablespoon mirin, 2 big tablespoons tau cheo sauce, 1 teaspoon salt, 5 garlics mashed, 2 big slices of mashed ginger and half cup rice wine.  Let the ribs stand for 1 hour before cooking.

Fry 2 big onions in oil till soft and add in spare ribs.  Cook over high heat and stir frequently to avoid sticking to the pan. Lower heat to simmer.  Add in Japanese mushroom and carrots when ribs are fully cooked.  Continue simmer till the vegetables are soft.  Half an hour before serving add in celery to simmer.

DANG SHEN AND DU ZHONG CHICKEN CONGEE（党 參 杜 仲 雞 粥）

Has been feeling unwell for the past week with bloated stomach and flu, loss of appetite is unavoidable.  Simple food such as porridge with some Chinese herbs to cleanse the body, with heavy seasoning to counteract the blandness of the palate.

Mix long-grain and glutinous rice grain to cook porridge.  Glutinous rice contains more protein and fibre that helps to promote the peristalsis along the alimentary canal while clearing the wastes and toxins in the body.

Boil the grains in water till boiling and add in a piece of du zhong and 4 sticks of dang shen (cut into smaller sticks) and chicken fillets.  Cook porridge till soft.  Add seasoning.

THREAD FIN

Fish are so expensive, a small piece of above thread fin costs me $12 from the market.  With such a fresh fish is best to steam it and consume on the same day.

Marinate the fish with salt and sugar.  Mix fish sauce, sour plum and juice, bashed lemon grass, fresh chillies, garlic and ginger together.  Pour over fish and steam in the rice cooker over steamed rice (rice must be three-quarter dry).  When the rice is ready, the fish is nicely cooked.

LOTUS ROOT MUSHROOM SALAD

The lotus root was used in a salad dish after being boiled for soup.  Fresh abalone mushroom was stir fried with garlic and mixed together with the lotus roots seasoned with mirin and soya sauce.  A sweet and light dish to go with other heavily seasoned food.

POTATO WITH CAPSICUM

When there are not enough food in the fridge to cook, the only way is to cook what is available in the fridge.  With a few potatoes and 1 of each red and green capsicums, I meshed up 2 tablespoons of preserved black beans and minced garlics, fry up the diced potatoes (boiled soft) and sliced capsicums in high heat till smoky, and seasoned with some sugar or mirin sauce.

WESTERN BREAKFAST

My DH is typical China man as he always request for Asian food.  Only once a while that he  indulges in international cuisine, on our firm request (5 against 1, hehe).  During weekends we usually take brunch but likely ended up eating noodles, rice or dim sum, which is his favorite.

There is no lack of good food since we reside in the east, be it in coffee shops, cafes or restaurants.  Royal cafe is the place we frequent often and they food we enjoy which I had blogged about at http://makan-mania.blogspot.com/2009/08/royals-cafe.html.

Below were one of the brunches that I had forgotten about after going through the photos.   

Each course came with 2 slices of wheat bread, slightly toasted, with butter and jam

Mushroom omelette with harsh brown.  A substantial amount.

Omelette with ham and french toast. 

Club sandwiches with coleslaw and potato chips.  The fillings are egg with creamy mayonnaise and ham with tomatoes and lettuce. 

A good glass of ginger mint tea to aid digestion

EASTCOAST CRYSTAL JADE

Crystal Jade extends another arm at Laguna Park Seafood Place.  To promote its new setup the restaurant is giving free offer of half a roast duck for dining in.  When you spend more than $100 a voucher of free whole duck or 500g free for every order of 1 kilo crabs.

Juicy crispy duck with sweet bean and plum sauce

Oats prawns, fresh and tender

Crispy oats make good snack

Mix mushrooms pot

Full of smoky flavor

Belachan shrimp fried rice mix with crispy rice

Deep fried crabs with crispy garlic and black beans

Chillie crabs - a fail dish.  Not spicy enough and no kick

PEACH PIE

To celebrate my youngest girl's birthday, I decided to bake something other than a cake.  A pie as a birthday cake instead and it was a peach pie.

Sweet pastry, canned peaches in syrup - cut into slices, 500ml fresh milk, 120ml peach syrup, 4 egg yolks, 125g sugar, 30g cornflour, 3 gelatin sheets and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Soak gelatin in peach syrup till soft and boil till gelatin melts.  Set aside
Whisk yolks and sugar together with cornflour, add in milk slowly and mix thoroughly
Bring mixture to boil over low heat, stirring till thicken and add in gelatin syrup
Pour mixture over baked pie and leave to cool Arrange peaches over custard Pour a thin layer of gelatin (boil 1 gelatin sheet with 30ml peach syrup) over it and keep refrigerate

Happy Happy Birthday !  A Birthday Pie