BEAN CURD BAMBOO SHOOT

Soya sauce pork with eggs and fried bean-curd is a delectable dish to go with rice, especially when boiled for long hours till the pork is soft and melt in the mouth, and the bean-curd absorbed the flavor of the sauce.  With only the bean-curd left after all other ingredients had been consumed, I used the bean-curd to create another dish by stir frying with preserved bamboo shoots and chilly & pepper corns.

VEGETARIAN COUSCOUS

To eat healthily we occasionally replace rice with couscous.  Couscous are healthy whole grains and  is good for the body and helps with weight loss. Couscous gives a feeling of fullness, thus curbing hunger.  It is a specific cultural dish mainly found in Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean areas.

Steam couscous till fluffy.  When cold add in whatever food or vegetables you fancy and it makes a healthy and balance meal.  For this meal I added in zucchini, cucumber, sun dried tomatoes and flaky salmon.

TOMATO MOZARELLA CHEESE SEAWEED SALAD

Just mix the cut-up tomatoes with dried seaweed and mozarella cheese, drizzle with olive oil.  The flavor from the seaweed and cheese is the seasoning for the salad.

VEGETARIAN FILLINGS

Once a while I will cook some stew vegetables and freeze it. It will be used as side dish or for cooking pasta and lasagna, which is convenient where you have no time to prepare elaborate meal.

Steam egg plants still soft and scrap the flesh out of the skin.  Season it with sesame oil, salt and pepper.  Other ingredients are fresh mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, garlic, bacon bits and a bottle of Italian tomatoes sauce

Fry onions and garlic with olive oil till fragrant

Throw in all the ingredients, except bacon and egg plants.  Fry over high heat


Add in the egg plants, season ingredients with salt and sugar and mix thoroughly

Pour in tomatoes sauce, add in basil and bay leaves.  Cover and let it stew for 15 mins

Cool and freeze it

WINTER MELON

Winter melon in chicken stock with Japanese mushrooms and dried scallops

Soak dried mushrooms and scallops.  Use the water, together with chicken stock steam water melon together with mushrooms and scallops (tear into strips).  Sprinkle with wolfberries.

FUNGUS CUCUMBER SALAD

Japanese cucumber with coral fungus.  Mix all with yuzu soya sauce, sesame oil and mirin and refrigerate till ready to eat.

2-DISH MEAL

Simple dishes to prepare - fried minced pork with curry leaves and spices, luffa with mushrooms.  Within an hour dinner is on the go

Marinate meat with spicy shrimp paste.  Fry minced garlic, onions and curry leaves till fragrant.  Add in minced meat and fry over high heat and sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of water.  Simmer the meat till thoroughly cook.  Throw in 1 sliced chilly, stir and dish up.

Cut luffa into thick slices (choose small luffa as big ones contain a lot of seeds).  Stir fry garlic and dried prawns.  Add luffa and fresh portabella & straw mushrooms.  Do not add too much water as luffa gives out a lot of water during cooking.  Season with oyster sauce.

COUSCOUS STUFFED CAPSICUM

Cooking can also be a stress releasing tool.  My daughter cooks whenever she is under stress to release tension.

A healthy and easy dish to prepare.

Cut zucchini, onions, brinjals and tomatoes into wages.  Season vegetables with olive oil and salt, add fresh rosemary and basil.  Place in the baking tray.

Wash and boil couscous with chicken stock, seafood, onions and raisins.  Keep stirring to prevent sticky mush until liquid is absorbed.  Fluff to separate.

Stuff capsicums with couscous and roast together with vegetables in the oven

PICKLE STUFF CHILLIES

I enjoy pickle stuffed chillies but is not easy to get nice green papayas.  Often ended up buying papaya that was half-ripe or too soft for grating even though it looked emerald green outside.  I finally got a nice fruit from my colleague who owns a papaya tree.  

Peel off the skin and grate the papaya finely.  Rub with salt and squeeze out the juices completely.  Dry the grated papaya under the hot sun till completely dry.  Pound 3 to 4 candlenuts (can be bought at Seng Siong Supermarket) with soaked dried shrimp till fine.   Fry the shrimp mixture in oil till fragrant and add in the dried papaya strips.  Season with salt and sugar.  Dish aside and let cool completely.

De-seed the fresh green chillies completely and soak them in boiled salt water for a while.  Dry chillis thoroughly.

Fill chillies fully with papaya mixtures

Fill saucepan with half bottle white vinegar and add water (ratio of 1:3).  Boil in high heat and add in sugar.  Adjust to your preferable sweetness.  Arrange chillies in a glass bottle and pour in the vinegar slowly till full (make sure that chillies are fully submerged in vinegar) when cool.  Tighten lid and put in a cool dry area for 2-3 weeks for the flavor to develop before consuming.

CAPSICUMS & PORTOBELLO MUSHROOM

3 color capsicums fried with marrow and portobella mushroom, together with tomatoes make a healthy dish.

KAI LAN

I seldom fry kai-lan as it smells of strong insecticides.  But I cannot resist the crunchiness of its stalk.  The greenery of the stalk attracted me when I saw it at the market and brought it home.

The vegetables was totally soaked in water for at least half an hour and rinsed many times to get rid of the chemical.  It was stir-fried in high heat with marinated pork and rice wine.

RADISH STEW

Eat more vegetables during hot weather.  A vegetable stew cooked in a crock pot with dashi stock and let it simmer till tender.  Soaked and rinsed cuttlefish, cut into medium pieces and add into the radish till softened.   Add in seasoning. 

The flavor of the radish is overwhelming when you bite into it.

HAM SALMON BURGER

Cured salmon is indeed expensive but delicious, and able to pamper family with quality food is a blessing.

Salmon cured in dill and brine

Super fresh

Preserved sliced onions in lime juice and salt

Spread bun with butter and hot mustard

Topped with ham and onions

Big pieces of salmon followed with juicy tomatoes

A perfect meal

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.

家 常 飯 - 三 菜 一 湯

A simple and nutritious meal, what we usually have, 3 dishes plus a soup.   We normally do not eat out during public holidays or festive seasons as prices charge are double or triple.  Moreover most of the eating places are crowded and finding a parking lot is a headache.

These dishes do not take up alot of time preparing.  The liver sausages are already precooked, all you need is to just put over the boiled rice and steam.

Radish Cuttlefish Soup  - Soup is a must for every meal

Stir-fry marrow with dried shrimp. 

Fried onion omelette - a dish my children love