Soy, Soy, Soy, Join Me to Cook Soy Related Products

INTRODUCTION

I doubt if any Chinese , Japanese and Koreans do not know any thing about soya beans. Some soya bean products such as bean curds are so common that the Chinese name (“Tofu” or “ 豆腐“） have been accepted as an English word. I was once told that Japanese women had one of the lowest breast cancer risk because of their long term consumption of soya beans based products. However, for this post, I did not do a detail research on this.

Soya beans have isoflavones that may inhibit the risk of breast cancers and there is an inverse relationship between the intake of isoflavones and miso soup with the risk of breast cancer.  (source: Soy, Isoflavones, and Breast Cancer Risk in Japan) . I have to be fair that there are also subsequent, contradictive research studies that rebutted its properties of inhibition and proved that “it may not necessary be able to inhibit the risk of breast cancer…”. Well, just from these two simple conclusions without going into details, in my humble opinion, soya based products are general good and nutritious to your body. If it’s able  to inhibit breast cancer, it will definitely a plus point. However, without this property, tofu are packed with vitamins and proteins which are essential for our body growth.

Miso Soup with Egg Tofu and Tofu Puff Meat Balls

There are really many types of soya based products which are used as Chinese cooking ingredients. This post will roughly highlight to you the various common types of soya bean related products in Chinese household cooking. Due the worldwide globalization and improve in communication systems, some of the soya bean related products originated from Japan and Korea are also being accepted by Malaysian and Singapore Chinese households. One good example will be the Miso soya bean paste.

Meat stuffed taukwa and tofu puffs with fermented black bean sauce.

The post will have two recipes – Tofu Puff Meat Balls In Miso Soup and  Meat Stuffed Taukwa with Sweet Black Fermented Beans Sauce. In addition, I will refer you to another few recipes that I have written on soya bean products. These recipes will use the following common type of soya beans products.

• Tofu puffs –  This is a type of tofu that were deep fried with a golden yellowish skin. It is fluffy and light and can withstand long hours of cooking;

• Taukwa – This is also called hard bean curd, a type of tofu that has less moisture content than the normal silky bean curd or tofu. It is firmer and with a meaty texture. It is good for stir frying and deep frying.

• Chinese black fermented beans – This is a type of fermented soya beans made by fermenting and salting. Usually, it is used in Chinese cuisines for flavouring and used in making the black bean sauce (as in the recipe below) for dipping or as toppings. The normal type of Chinese black fermented beans can be slightly spicy and very salty. However, today, the brand I used had a totally different taste. It is a product from Taiwan ROC, sweet and no other condiments are deemed necessary when cooking using these black beans.

• Japanese Miso pastes – Most will know that Miso is another type of fermented soya bean paste. It is brownish and in a paste form. It is tasty in its unique way and most commonly used in the cooking of Japanese seaweed soup.

• Egg Tofu – Egg tofu is rather common in recent years. It is just like the normal tofu except with the addition of eggs in a certain prescribed ratio. It is soft, full of egg fragrance and one of the well received dishes by kids. Egg tofu are usually used in soups or some light stir frying dishes due to its silky texture.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

These ingredients are for both recipes (servings: 3-4)

Minced meats to be used for both dishes

• 500 grams of minced meat
• 200 grams of fish paste (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of corn flour
• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon of white pepper
• Some chopped spring onions (optional)
• Some winter vegetables (optional) 

Tofu puff meatballs in Miso Soup*

• 5-6 square small tofu puffs
• 5 big tablespoons of Miso Paste
• 1 tube of egg tofu
• Some lettuces

Meat Stuffed Taukwa with Fermented Black Bean Sauce*

• 1 big piece of taukwa (drier bean curd)
• 2 big tablespoons of black fermented black beans (sweet)
• 1 shallot minced
• 1 cm ginger minced
• 1 tablespoon of corn starch

* Ingredients in these two categories were not in the picture above.

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

Marinating The Meat (both for recipes)

• In a big bowl, put all the ingredients together (fish meat, corn flour, spring onion, minced meat, sesame oil, white pepper, winter vegetables). Use a pair of chopsticks or a tablespoon to stir it until well mix. Marinate for 15 minutes.

Meat Stuffing The Tofu Puffs

• Take a piece of tofu puff. Cut it diagonally into two halves. Use a teaspoon to “poke” the centre and make a tofu puff boat. Put 1-2 teaspoons of the marinating meat inside the cavity. Try to stuff as many as possible until it resemble the shape of a volcano (as my kids called it). Set aside and put it in the fridge.

 My kids “insisted” they want to help before they take the bath

 Uncooked Meat Stuff Tofu Puffs

Meat Stuffing The Taukwa (Firm Tofu)

• Cut the taukwa into 4 smaller pieces. Use a knife to cut the centre a bit, use a tablespoon to dig out a cavity. Stuff as much minced meat as possible inside the taukwa. Set aside and put it in the fridge.

Making the Meat Balls

• Put some minced meat in your hand. Squeeze until a small ball appeared. Use a teaspoon to scoop out the balls. Set aside for later use. Store in the fridge. If it is too sticky, put some water in your hand and continue.

Cooked Tofu Puff Meatballs

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TOFU PUFF MEAT BALLS IN MISO SOUP

• To summarize, for the dish, you should have the tofu puff meat balls, half of the meat balls, some lettuces, 2 tablespoons of miso paste, 1 egg tofu.

• Bring a pot (about 5 cups) of water to boil under high heat. Add in tofu puff meat balls and meat balls. Let it boiled for about 3-4 minutes. The meat balls will considered to be cooked when it starts to float in the Miso soup.

• For the egg tofu, cut into small pieces and put in the boiling Miso soup. Add in lettuces and off the heat. No seasoning or condiment is required as the Miso soup is already very tasty.

Cooked Miso Soup with Tofu Puff Meat Balls and Egg Tofu

• Best served hot as a soup item to go with a full set Chinese meal.

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MEAT STUFFED TAUKWA WITH BLACK FERMENTED BLACK BEAN SAUCE

• To summarize, for the dish, you should have some minced ginger, minced garlics, corn starch solution (1 tablespoon of corn starch in 3 tablespoons of water), 2 tablespoons of sweet black fermented beans, half of the meat balls and the meat stuffed taukwa.

• In a frying pan, put some oils, heat the oils under high heat. Deep fry the meat stuff taukwa and meat balls until the outer layer is golden in colour. The taukwa may take about 5 minutes but the meat balls will be cooked within 2-3 minutes. Drain and transfer to a serving plate. If you prefer, you can put these in an oil absorbing paper.

• In the pan, use some oil from deep frying the meat stuffed taukwa, put in minced gingers and garlics, stir fry until aromatic. Add in Chinese fermented black beans, stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add in half cup of plain water and let it simmer for 1-2 minutes. Slowly add in the corn starch solution. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes or when the sauce is transparent (meaning not milky). Off the heat.

• Place the fermented black soya sauce on the serving plate. Arrange the meat stuff taukwa and meat ball in the desired pattern. Drizzle some fermented black bean sauce on the top of the meat stuffed taukwa and meatballs. Garnished with some spring onions or coriander leaves before serving.

• Best served hot as a side dish in a full Chinese meals.

Note: If there are no black fermented beans, you can just serve the fried meat stuff taukwa with mayonnaise or Thai sweet chilli sauce, or just oyster sauce alone.

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OTHER SOYA BEAN RELATED POST

For other soya bean cuisines, you may want to refer the following post:

STEAMED EGGS WITH TOFU (Please click the link or the picture below)

HOT AND SPICY TEMPEH (Please click the link or the picture below)

SEAFOOD TOFU (Please click the link or the picture below)

GADO GADO (Indonesia Salad) (Please click the link or the picture below)

CHINESE MEAT ROLLS (Wrapped with dry bean curd sheets) (Please click the link or the picture below)

Others:

• Minced Taukwa Omelette （豆干蛋饼）
• Braised Eggs and Bean Curd (豆干卤蛋）
• Bean curd Omelette (豆干蛋饼）
• Braised Eggs and Taukwa (卤蛋和豆干）
• Stir Fried Taukwa With Fish Cake (豆干鱼饼“碰”)

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CONCLUSION

This is a rather long post. As can be seen the various recipes here, soya bean play a very important role in most Malaysian and Singapore Chinese diets and cuisines. We can easily put up a meal that are full of “tofu relatives”. What I have covered in this post may only accounted for 20-30% of the soya bean products used in our cuisines. There are many other ingredients such as the silken tofu, tofu jelly, dried bean curd stick, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, bean curd sheets etc…

Hopefully for my international readers, you will have a better understanding about tofu and its related products. Do try to have some simple tofu dishes at home and I am sure it wouldn’t disappoint you. Hope you like the post today.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake at this post.

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE.

For Four Seasons Blog Hop where I am the Co-host, please join us for the party where you can get a lot of the family related posts. Please click the above logo to enter your post.

Fish Paste + Bean Curd = Presentable Seafood Tofu Dishes!

INTRODUCTION

This is a simple dish without much history or anything to introduce. It is quite a common dish in Malaysia restaurants. It is just combining a few ingredients and make it a presentable dish to serve your house guest. It is tofu or bean curd mixed with fish paste and become “SEAFOOD TOFU”……

Tofu or bean curd is one of the most nutritious food in Asian cuisines. Not only nutritious, it is healthy.. It is made from soya beans and there are tons of soya bean based products in Asian cuisines. I am sharing this simple recipe which I hope readers will like….

It is rather easy to buy fish paste in Singapore. Households and chefs used fish paste to make a variety of cuisines such as fish balls, meat rolls,stuffed into vegetables and etc. to make Yong tau foo.. However, in countries where this is not common, you can just follow the following simple steps to prepare your own fish paste:

• Have some fish fillet (e.g mackerel) that have little bones or very big bones that you can take it out easily;

• Put all the fish meat into a food processor, add some corn flour (about 200 grams of fish meat with 1 tablespoon of corn flour), some black or white pepper, some salt and other seasonings of your choice.

• Blend until fine, scoop out and keep it in the fridge.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

• 2 packets of tofu (about 600 grams)

• 1 stick of egg tofu (optional)

• 300 grams of fish paste

• Some seasonings to taste

• 2 tablespoons of corn flours *

• Adequate corn flours for coating *

• Adequate cooking oil for deep frying *

Optional ingredients

• 1 egg*

• Some coriander leaves or spring onions or Chinese celery (for green colour)

• Some red cut chilli (for red colour)

• Some mushrooms (for black colour)

• 2 tablespoons of rice flour for coating*

* Not in picture

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Lightly grease a 6” or 8” baking tin or dish with some cooking oil. Set aside for later use.

• Put all the coriander leaves and/or spring onions and/or Chinese celery, red chilli, mushroom into the food processor, and slightly blend it a few time.

• Add in 2 tablespoons of corn flours, fish paste, egg tofu, normal tofu, seasonings of your choice (light soya sauce, white pepper, sugar, salt etc.) into the food processor.

• Blend the ingredients until very fine and transfer to the greased baking tin. Level the mixture.

• Cover the top with clingy wrap. Steamed under high heat for 15-20 minutes or until the seafood tofu is set. Let it cool or if you have time, chill it in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Chilling is to make the tofu slightly harder and easier to cut and handle for later deep frying.

• Cut the tofu into desire size.

• In a plastic container, put some corn flour and some rice flour in the ratio of 4:1. This basically means if you use 80 grams of corn flour, mixed with 20 grams of rice flour. You can use 100% corn flour if desired. The rice flour have the ability to keep the fritters in shape when cold but it is optional.

• If desired, you can dust the flour with some white pepper.

• Coat the seafood tofu with the flour mixture as evenly as possible. Be careful with the seafood tofu as it is soft and can break easily.

• In a big pan, put about 5 cm high of oil and heat the oil using high heat. Put a wooden chopstick to assess if the rice temperature  is hot enough for frying. It is considered as hot enough if bubbles start to emit from the wooden chopstick.

• Fry the seafood tofu in the hot oil until the outside is crispy and golden brown. Take out the tofu, drained and put on a piece of oil absorbing paper in an airy area before transfer to the serving plate.

• Best served hot as one of the dishes for a Chinese meal. Suggested dip is Thailand sweet chilli sauce.

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CONCLUSION

Simple dish, nothing much to conclude. Serving guests with tofu and fish cake appeared to be a disgrace to one’s household cooking.. Well, combining the two simple, cheap ingredients and put in a bit of effort to “process” it will make it become a presentable restaurant dish …. 

Hope you like the post today and cheers. Have a nice day. 

For more recipes, you can refer to my RECIPE INDEX here and you can follow me at PINTEREST or visit this blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake at this post.

What I Cooked Today Series (Special Post)- 2013 Mid Autumn Festival

INTRODUCTION

I have not forgotten about this series –  “What I Cooked Today Series”! I have discontinued for a while because I am a vegetarian and the dishes were usually cooked by my mother in law who is visiting me. Therefore, I can’t claim the credit of the dishes cooked if I posted it.

Well this series will be starting soon in one two weeks time after end of my vegetarian diet. This year, I have calculated wrongly about the starting date of my diet, therefore, I am having slightly more than 2 months of vegetarian diet and it was pointed out by my neighbour when I keep on rejecting her meat dishes. She asked curiously why the diet is so long this year, she said it cannot be ! I asked my wife to recalculate again and yes, we are wrong as both of us are not that concern about anniversary dates.

Yesterday is the Mid Autumn Festival, one of the very big festivals for the Chinese worldwide. Even People’s Republic of China’s government have declared this day as a holiday in recent years. Usually, in big festivals, family gathering and get together is very important.

I only confirmed to invite my nephew’s family for dinner yesterday morning and I told them that I would only cooked what I have at home. As they are my very close relatives, I need not really concerned about what I should cooked as he have been staying with me for the past few years. I did not have the time to plan for the meal as I have to take care of the kids and I have to rush out my report for Eight Treasure Porridge.

I only started cooking at 4.00 pm in the afternoon. I looked at the fridge, I have some tofu, one pumpkin, one luffa, some chicken fillets, some asparaguses, minced meats, chicken thighs, drumsticks and fish fillets.

What influenced my dish menu last night was what I perceived what my family members like to have. I know anything soft and silky will be welcomed by them, so tofu and pumpkins would be good choices.

While the family always have bitter gourd with minced meat, but luffa with minced meat is something new to them. In addition, my kids loved luffa so luffa with minced meat was in the menu.

Preparing these two dishes had resulted some mesh pumpkins, minced meat and tofu left, therefore, I have decided to turn these 3 ingredients into  a dish.

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PORK STUFFED LUFFA (丝瓜酿肉碎）

This is a dish adapted from pork stuffed bitter gourd (苦瓜酿肉碎). The luffa was first de-skinned, and cut into 2 cm chunks. Make a hole in the centre and set aside. Minced pork were marinated for about 10 minutes with sesame oil, corn flour, light soya sauce, flavour enhancers, sugar, pepper, chopped coriander leaves and chopped winter vegetables. Stuff the minced pork into the hole of the luffa chunks, placed it in a serving plate nicely and put a goof berry on top of minced meat for garnishing. Before steaming, put some water in the plate of the meat stuffed luffa. (A bit of water is important as it will speed up the process of cooking the luffa. The luffa will be “water bathed” causing it easier to get cooked). Steamed for about 20 minutes or until your luffa is soft.  More juices will be secreted out and these gravy was very tasty as it was essentially a meat and vegetable broth.  You can put some corn starch to thicken this juices if desirable.

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TOFUS SAIL IN PUMPKIN SEA (豆腐金瓜海）

I have to admit that I do not know how to name this dish. Since it looks like a seas of mashed pumpkins, I  named this as “tofu sail pumpkin seas”. Firstly, I cut opened a pumpkin, de-seeded and steamed the pumpkin until the pumpkin was soft. I then scratched out the pumpkin flesh, put some sesame oils, salt, mushroom concentrate, mixed well and let the mashed pumpkin to cool.

Two packets of tofu’s were cut into 8 pieces and arrange in a serving plate. I used a teaspoon to make a hole on the tofu, put some mashed pumpkins to cover the hole. Use the remaining pumpkin to put beside the tofu and steamed for about 10 minutes. Surprisingly, the tofu and pumpkins really blends well.

 

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MINCED PORK FRIED WITH MASHED PUMPKINS AND TOFUS (山寨蟹粉豆腐）

From the above two dishes, I have some mashed pumpkin left , some tofu left (from making a hole in the tofu cubes), some minced meat left (as I have prepared one package of minced meat for the luffa dish, therefore, I still have about half of the minced meat left). With these 3 ingredients, I have decided to mash the tofu and fried these 3 ingredients together.

I first stir fried some spring onion (white part) in a frying pan of hot oil until aromatic, followed by the minced meat and once the meat was 50% cooked, add the mesh pumpkin and mesh tofu. Stir fried for another 2-3 minutes, add white pepper, sugar, light soya sauce and salt and it become a rather presentable dish..like the famous Shanghai dish, “Tofu With Hairy Crab Roe”. Therefore I have named this dish in Mandarin the “Fake Tofu With Hairy Crab Roe”.

The dish was very tasty and smooth, it is well liked by the kids because of the aromatic spring onions.  I have placed the cooked dish in the empty shell of the pumpkin for serving.

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BLANCHED ASPARAGUS WITH CHICKEN FILLETS （芦笋鸡柳）

This is really an easy dish.

Asparagus were de-skinned (depends on whether it is too mature or not) and cut into same length. Chicken fillet were first cut into the desired sizes, marinated with sesame oil, pepper and light soya sauce for about 10 minutes,

Have a pot of boiling hot water, drizzle a few drops of cooking oil and pinches of salt. Get ready a serving plate and put some oyster sauce on the plate.  Blanched the asparagus in the hot boiling water for 3 minutes and dip in icy cold cooked water.

Place these asparagus neatly in the serving plate on top of the oyster sauce. Coated the chicken fillet with some corn flours and blanched the chicken fillets in the hot boiling water for about 5 minutes. Scoop out and placed on top of the blanched asparagus. Sprinkled some fried shallots on top of the chicken and the dish was done.

This was definitely an easy and healthier dish as it involved no frying like the traditional method. Though I did not taste the asparagus but I can tell you that it was sweet as all the juices were being sealed inside the asparagus via blanching method of cooking.

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CENTURY EGGS WITH PICKLED GINGER (皮蛋酸姜）

This dish was usually treated an appetizer in Chinese full course dinners and did not really need any preparation. As I have quite a lot of pickled ginger left from my demonstration in Guaishushu’s Page, therefore, I have decided to prepare this dish as an appetizer. You may want to learn about how to prepare the pickled gingers HERE.

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POMELO (柚子/文旦）

When I was young, we did not celebrate Moon Cake Festivals with pomelo.

However, in recent years, it seemed that it is very common that pomelo became one of the festival fruit  during the  Moon Cake Festivals. I checked the internet, pomelo have the syllables as “have kids” (有子）in Mandarin, therefore, having pomelo means that it will bring you luck in conceiving a kid. Well, definitely not for me.

It is my usual way to de-skin my pomelo like what is in the picture to make it easier for my kids to eat. Therefore, all my kids loves to eat pomelo as they do not need to peel the internal white membranes separating the lobes in the fruit. They have been pampered, Unlike me, I never like to eat pomelo when I was young because of the difficulty to peel of the internal white membranes.

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GREEN DATES (甜枣）

This is nothing to do with this festival. I just spotted in the supermarket a few days ago and I really love these green dates. I always called it mini apples. In my humble opinion, it taste like apples and is a one bite size. I am able to finish one box within a day. I don’t know but I do believe it is a very healthy snack, much healthy than any carbohydrates and sugar loaded snacks. Yesterday, it was served together with pomelo after dinner.

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MOONCAKES (月饼）

I have a few boxes of moon cakes and I have decided to  serve a durian moon cake that my nephew gave me from the international “Three” Seasons Hotel.  However, I am rather disappointed with the moon cakes. Put in bluntly, it is just pure durian flesh wrapped in snow skin. When you eat the moon cakes, it is very soft and just like when one is eating fresh durian (though it don’t taste that fresh any more after so many days).

It was definitely not cheap and my nephew told me even after discount, one small moon cake cost SGD 12. I honestly believed that should I received the moon cake earlier, I will be able to replicate the moon cake  .. and how much is one durian is this season? May be 3 durians for SGD 10?  Well the one below is equally disappointing as they have incorporate orange flavour in the lotus seeds fillings.

Lastly, I hoped that you like my cooking adventures today and unlike previous festivals, I have cooked something very simple. In other festivals, majority were meat dishes and I managed to locate an old picture in my Facebook to share with you. This was taken by one of my nieces in 2012 to celebrate Chap Goh Me (元宵）during Chinese New Year.

Have a nice day and cheers.

Eating “Rat’s Shit”? You AreTotally Gross! –Vegetarian Fried “Beethyemak” Rice Noodles

INTRODUCTION

Beethyemak (“米大目”） is the name stated in the package of rice noodles that I bought from the supermarket. It is also called “Loh Su Fun” (“老鼠粉”） in Cantonese literally translated as  “Rats flour” …In my Chawan dialects group, it was called “ngiao chu sia” （”老鼠屎“） literally translated as “Rat’s shit”. My mother in law who is a Teochew, called it “ngiao chi ni” (“老鼠奶“） literally translated as “Rat’s milk”..

If you ask me what is the English translation? I will just translated it into a type of rice noodles taken in different form of the shape of disgusting “worms”. Apparently, it was shaped liked a “rat” .. Does it? I don’t know! I looked for some write up for this noodle dish and I managed to get a Chinese description in http://www.baike.com , the Chinese equivalent of Wikipedia. What is written is:

“米苔目是闽南语，又叫米筛目，漳州龙海特色小吃，是用米和番薯粉做成的。制作米苔目的工序颇为复杂：先要将米浸泡磨成米浆，然后放进布袋加压脱水成“饭脆”，将“饭脆”加入番薯粉，揉搓成饭团，再把饭团做成细条状，放到锅里煮熟捞起后用冷水冲洗，使之滑嫩。米苔目加入糖水、刨冰，可以做成冰凉可口的甜品，咸吃则可以用乌醋拌食或放入柴鱼熬煮成汤，再加入爆香的作料；像河粉一般热炒的米苔目很有嚼劲。 米苔目现在是闽南地区以及台湾著名的美食。” (Source: http://baike.baidu.com/view/68002.htm)

I have used Google Translation to translate and this is what I got:

“Mitai Mu is the Taiwanese language, called m mesh , Zhangzhou Longhai snacks, with rice and sweet potato flour made. Making process is quite complex Mitai Mu: Soak the rice milled rice milk first and then put into a pressure dewatering bag “rice crispy”, the “rice crispy” adding sweet potato powder , rub into balls , then made ​​into balls thin strips, into the pot boiled picked up after the rinse with cold water to make it smooth and delicate. Mi Taimu added sugar , ice, can be made ​​into delicious cold desserts , salty food, you can use the black vinegar mixed with food or put dried fish boiled into soup, then add the spices until fragrant; like rice noodles stir-fried rice general moss mesh very chewy. Mitai Mu is now southern region as well as Taiwan ‘s famous cuisine.”

Well, if readers can understand, it is best. However, if you can’t, I think that is unfair to you and I will try my best to translate for you.

“ Beethyemak is the name in Mingnan (Fujian or Hokkien) and the “thye” can also be translated or treated as “sift” in Hokkien. It is a famous snack in Longhai County, Zhangzhou (People’s Republic of China) and it is made of rice and sweet potatoes flour. The manufacturing process is rather complicated. Firstly, the rice grain have to be soaked and ground into rice batter, These are then put in a bag made from cloth. A heavy object is then placed on top of the rice batter to exert pressure and squeeze out the water making it to become a drier batter. Sweet potatoes flour are then added and mixed well. It is then made into long stripes by pouring the batter into the hot water. When cooked , the noodles are immediately dip in cold water such that the texture will be smooth and springy. To serve as a dessert, syrups and crushed ices were added to beethyemak . For savoury dishes, beethyemak can be stir mixed with black vinegar。 It can also be cooked with Bonito broth, and garnished with aromatic deep fried garlics or shallots. It can also be stir fried like Horfun (Kway Tiao) and both noodles have almost similar textures. Beethyemak is now a famous cuisine in the Mingnan (Fujian) area and Taiwan.”

I have been eating this noodle dish since I was young. Because of the name “Rat’s shit”, psychologically, I do not really like it. In addition, when I was young in Kuching, Sarawak, the Beethyemak is mostly made from pure rice flour. The texture is rather coarse and tasteless. It is not until when I came to Singapore that I started to like Beethyemak. The Beethyemak in Singapore is more springy and if properly cooked, it taste better than rice vermicelli or Kway Tiao (another flat type of rice noodles). 

This noodle is not easy to prepare as compare to rice vermicelli or Kway Tiao. You can either cook it in soupy version or stir fry it.

For stir frying, if you want to maintain the shape, the oil for frying will have to be quite a lot. Otherwise it will stick to your frying pan making it hard to fry. The purpose of this post is to illustrate how to stir fry this noodle dish, the ingredients can be anything from prawns to meat to the vegetables of your choice.

Again, as I am still on my vegetarian diet, this dish will be a vegetarian version. But remember, you can always add meats, prawns, fish cakes etc. of your choice. In addition, you can always used the same method to fry rice vermicelli and Kway Tiao or Horfun.

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

There will be no quantity stated here and you have full flexibility to change the ingredients. This illustration is the vegetarian version and please add in any other ingredients that you like.

• Some cabbage cut in slices

• Some black fungus – soaked and cut into small slices

• Some tofu puff – cut into small square cubes

• 1 package of Beethyemak rice noodles (about 500 grams – servings of 4-5 adults)

• Some eggs, lightly beaten

• Some celery – cut into small cubes

• Some mock meat – cut into strips

• Some dried mushrooms – soaked and cut into strips

• Some shredded gingers and/or shallots and/or garlics

• Condiments of your choices – light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, flavour enhancer like mushroom concentrate, white pepper, salt)

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

• Put one to two tablespoons of cooking oil in the frying pan. Add in shredded gingers and mushrooms (non vegetarian version can put in shredded shallots and garlics) and stir fried under high heat until the fragrance starts to spread.

• Add in cabbage, stir fry for one minute and follow by celery, mock meat, tofu puffs, black fungus, stir fry until well mixed. Add in half a cup of water (estimate) and let it cooked for one – two minutes.

The above garnishes of spring onion for picture taking purposes, Religion vegetarian cannot have spring onion in the dish.

Note

• The purpose of adding the water is to soften and cook the vegetables. Remember, unlike stir frying rice vermicelli, the water has to be minimal as the noodles are rather wet and will not be able to absorb any more water.

• If your are frying with meat, meat will be the first item to be stir fried followed by hard vegetables (carrots, cabbage, celery etc.), leafy vegetables and tomatoes in this order.

• Add in the noodles and stir fry until well mixed. Add in dark soya sauce, light soya sauce, pepper, salt and flavour enhancer. Stir fry until well mixed. Add in beaten eggs and fry until all the noodles were coated with the eggs.

Note:

• In this illustration, I have purposely used this method of adding the eggs to the noodles. The purpose is to let the eggs coating the noodles. If you do not like the moist soft egg coated noodles, you can prepare the omelette and cut it into strips. You can refer to Vegetarian Tom Yam Bee Hoon for making of omelette strips. The difference is this way of frying noodles will result in moister noodles.

• Add in tomatoes and and stir fry for another minutes before scoop out to the plate for serving. Best serve hot with your preferences of garnishes such as coriander leaves, freshly cut chilli or Chinese celery leaves.

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CONCLUSION

This noodle dish looks easy to prepare but in fact, it need some practise. The challenges is to ensure the noodles are well coated with eggs and not stick to each other or soggy. To get this texture, the following points have to be taken into considerations:

• The heat has to be high heat throughout the stir frying. Therefore action have to be fast. If you can’t handle, this, you have to use at least medium heat. High heat is required to ensure that all the fragrances of gingers/shallots/garlics mix well with the noodles and any moisture or water contents dries up quickly. With this, there is less chance for the noodles to get soggy.

• There is always a trade off between the look of your final cooked noodles and the amount of cooking oil used. You have to chose whether you want to have a healthier dish (using less oil) but an uglier dish (may be a bit out of shape as some of the noodles may stick to your frying pan). If you want to have an impressive non stick noodles, you will have to use quite a lot of oil to achieve that effect.

• Unlike fried rice vermicelli and Kway Tiao, the water used for simmering the vegetables or side ingredients cannot be too much, otherwise, your noodles will be soggy and stick to the frying pan. If you have accidentally added too much water, you would rather let the water dry up first (meaning cook a bit longer) rather than having some soggy noodles.

• If you do not like moist egg coated noodles, you can use egg omelette strips.

• All side ingredients in this illustrations are optional and substitutable. Please use what you like to fry the noodles. I have raid my fridge to come out with this and is a vegetarian version. Otherwise, I would have added pork belly meat, prawns and even some dry shrimps. So, use whatever that your family likes to cook the noodle dish.

• Though all ingredients appeared to be optional, however, the selections will usually based on the colour of the side ingredients and a good combination of colour will make the dish looks appetizing. I usually used tomatoes or carrots for orange, chillies for red colour, choy shym or leafy vegetable for green, dried mushrooms or black fungus for black,  and corns or eggs for yellow colour. This minute detail of colour combination will make this simple dish becoming a presentable dish.

• Remember that this method of cooking is equally applicable to fried yellow noodles, rice vermicelli, Kway Tiao, Pad Thai and etc..

Hope you like the post today and have a nice day ahead. Cheers.

Devilled Egg- Simplicity Rules…

INTRODUCTION

I loved eggs. Be it poached, fried, boiled, braised I liked it. My kids loved eggs, be it poached, fried or boiled, they loved it any forms. My whole family loved eggs, we fight for eggs, fried rice will definitely come with eggs. eggs cooked in any form will be appreciated. If I am not baking, on the average, we will need about 40 eggs for a month. If I am baking. we will need about 20 eggs per week.

We cooked eggs in omelette form, like salted turnip omelette, braised tofu and eggs, minced taukwa omelette, steamed tofu and eggs and etc. We use eggs in almost all the noodles dishes like Singapore fried prawn noodles, Sarawak Laksa and etc. We used eggs to cook our vegetable dishes such as braised luffa with eggs, and etc. We also used them for soup dishes such as shark fin melon soup and etc. Therefore, you can see that we used eggs almost daily in the foods I cooked.  However, I never cooked any egg dishes from Western cuisines besides the normal hard boiled eggs or scrambled eggs.

While I am searching of some eggs recipe, I came across this term devilled eggs! It caught my attention! What is this cuisine? I goggled and managed to get some definition from Wikipedia.

Devilled eggs (US) or devilled eggs or ‘eggs mimosa’ are hard-boiled eggs, shelled, cut in half and filled with the hard-boiled egg’s yolk mixed with other ingredients such as mayonnaise and mustard,but many other variants exist internationally. Devilled eggs are usually served cold. They are served as a side dish, appetizer or a main course, and are a common holiday or party food. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deviled_egg)

There are many many recipes in the internet and most of which I can’t followed as it utilizes ingredients that I do not have. Therefore, I have decided to prepare my own devilled eggs based on the ingredients that I have.

This is a simple recipe and easily tailored to meet your families taste buds. If you love eggs, you will not be able to reject this simple dish!

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WHAT IS REQUIRED

• 6 eggs

• 1 big tomatoes (optional)

• 1 teaspoon of Italian dried herbs

• 2 tablespoon of mayonnaise

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STEP OF PREPARATION

• Hard boiled the eggs and shelled the eggs.

• Cut off 1/3 top part of the eggs and take out the egg yolks.

• Chopped the tomatoes and top part of the egg whites (1/3 portion). Add in the herbs, few drops of olive oil or cooking oil, pinches of salt and mixed well;

• Scope one table spoon into  your choice of egg holder.

Note, depending on how you want to present your dish, this step is optional if you preferred not to use an egg holder.

• Mash the egg yolks with a big spoon and add 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise. Mash until as finely as possible.

• Add in herbs and mixed well. Spooned the egg yolk into the egg whites portion. Sprinkled with more Italian herbs if desired.

• Can be served as a party snack

Notes

You can cut the eggs into half and make 12. However, because my eggs are rather small, therefore I have decided to cut out 1/2 and retained the remaining two third. Otherwise, if you cut into half, you can cut it symmetrically and cut of the bottom to let it “sit” stably in the plate.

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CONCLUSION

It is rather easy to make this dish and have full flexibility of tailoring to meet your family’s taste buds. It is definitely a good choice of party foods due to its simplicity of preparation but elegant presentation!

Hope you like this short post! Have a nice day!

I am submitting this post to Little Thumbs Up “Eggs” event organized by organized by Bake for Happy Kids, my little favourite DIY and hosted by (Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out). You can link your egg recipes here.

FOOD PREPARATION SERIES INDEX

 

 

The following are temporary indices for all recipes issued by Guaishushu in both https://kwgls.wordpress.com and Guaishushu’s Facebook Page. The index shall be for temporary references only.

 

 

Desserts:
Aloe Vera	Some Aloe Vera Sweet Fruit Dessert Just Specially For You, Dear!
Barley Peanut Soup	Easy Peasy Barley Bean Curd Sheets Sweet Soup （腐竹薏米甜汤）
Black Glutinous Rice	What? Having Rice as A Dessert- The Nutritious Black Glutinous Rice Porridge
Sweet Potato Soup	Malaysian Singaporean Chinese Food–Sweet Potato Soup Dessert
Barley/Black Glutinous Rice	X4 – Black Glutinous Rice and Barley Sweet Porridge (血糯薏米甜粥）
Honey Dew Granita	C1 Honey Dew and Cantaloupe Granita  哈密瓜奇异果挫冰
Poached Bosc Pears & Dragon Fruits	X3-Chinese Style Poached Pear and Dragon Fruits Desserts (博斯克梨龙珠果炖冰糖）
Bubur Cha Cha	X5 – Bubur Cha Cha (摩摩喳喳）
Drinks:
Chrysanthemum Tea	Come and have a cup of Chrysanthemum Tea (菊花茶）
Hawthorn Ume Tea	Need A Drink To Repair Your Vocal Cord? Hawthorn Ume Is The Tea For You!
Roselle Tea	Game To Try Some “Wild Hibiscus” Tea………….?（洛神花茶）
Rhoeo Tricolor Tea	Purple is mysterious, purple is nobly and a purple drink is definitely lovely! – Rhoeo Tricolor Tea （如意兰茶，蚌兰花茶，红竹叶茶）
Hedyotis Diffusa	Snake Tongue Tea? Gosh.. I Am Going Away……白花蛇舌草罗汉果茶
Breads
Sarawak Style Butter Buns	Homesick Buns? Yes, I am homesick of Sarawak Style Butter Buns..
Roast Meat Buns	P1 – Roast Meat Bun (烧肉包）
Cakes/Muffins/Scones
Banana Cake	P2 – Banana Cake (香蕉蛋糕）
Butter Cake/Pound Cake	1 Butter + 1 Sugar + 1Egg + 1 Flour + 1 Milk = Mrs. NgSK’s Butter Cake-Guaishushu’s Version
Butter Cake/Pound Cake	Hey, My Chick Want To Eat My Zebra Pound Cake !
Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake	The Plights of Kuey Neng Ko…The Traditional Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake…
Chinese Steamed Sponge Cake	My Steamed Sponge Cake (Kuey Neng Ko) Is Full Of Gas。。。。 (汽水鸡蛋糕）
Steamed Sugar Cake	P3-Steamed Sugar Cake (白糖糕）
Microwave Mug Cake	Microwaved Mug Cakes, Another Quick Alternative to Baked and Steamed Cakes…
Sarawak Midnight Cake	Where is my cake? I Can’t See!–Famous Sarawak Midnight Cake (Cake Seri kaya Sarawak) revisited..
Grapefruit Chiffon Cake	Grapefruit Chiffon with Grapefruit Citrus Glaze,… Ever Try This?
Carrot Muffins	Simple Carrot Muffins for Your Love Ones…
Scones	Basic But Presentable, Basic But Irresistible…Basic Raisin Scones Shared…
Tapioca Cake	CCC – Cheesy Cassava Cake–A Modified Version of The Traditional Nonya Kuih Bengka Ubi
Cake Decoration Ideas	From Plain to Eye Catching…From Muffins to Elegant Celebration Cakes
Cheese Cakes
Ferraro Rocher Ice Cream	Simple, Tasty, Elegant …Chilled Ferrero Rocher Oreo Ice Cream Cheese Cake
Durian Cheese Cake	King of Fruits + Cream Cheese = Durian Cheesecakes, Game to Try?
Cookies
Pineapple Tarts	What A Golf Ball Have To Do With A Pineapple? Well, It Is The Famous South East Asian Pineapple Tarts
Puddings
Bread Puddings	Who Said Bread Puddings Must Be Prepared As Such…..Bread Puddings “Reinvented”
Cake Puddings	P4 – Cake Puddings (蛋糕布丁）
Cookie Puddings	Creative Food Series – Cookie Puddings 1
Cookie Puddings	Cookie Puddings – 2
Snacks
Nonya Chang	Is there any relationship between Dragon in a boat and a Peranakan Women?….The process of making Nonya Chang revisited…(Part I)
Nonya Chang	Is there any relationship between Dragon in a boat and a Peranakan Women?….The process of making Nonya Chang revisited…(Part II)
Popiah	Malaysian Singaporean Chinese Food–Popiah Sarawak Style
Kueh Pie Tee	Malaysian Singaporean Chinese Food -Kueh Pie Tee
Roasted Peanuts	C2 – Spiced Roasted Peanut (香脆花生）
Rice and Porridges
Chicken Rice	Why Not Cook Your Mother A Meal Of Chicken Rice This Coming Mother’s Day?
Nasi Goreng Aruk	Are you kidding? You don’t need oil to fry rice?– The authentic Sarawak Cuisine–Aruk Fried Rice
Fried Rice	N1 – Nameless Fried Rice (无名炒饭）
White Gourd Braised Rice	N2 – White Gourd Braised Rice （白莆焖饭）
Pork Porridge	N3- Pork Porridge (肉粥）
Noodles and Pasta Dishes
Kolo Beehoon	Food Preparation Series–Kolo Beehoon
Sarawak Laksa	Hey, My Laksa Secret Recipe Was Stolen!!!……… An In Depth Analysis and Pictorial Procedural Description Of The Famous Sarawak Laksa (PART I)
Sarawak Laksa	Hey, I have invented my own Sarawak Laksa Paste Recipe !!!……… An In Depth Analysis and Pictorial Procedural Description Of The Famous Sarawak Laksa (PART II)
Sarawak Laksa	Hi, Let Start Cooking the Laksa …. An In Depth Analysis and Pictorial Procedural Description Of The Famous Sarawak Laksa (Part III)
Singapore Prawn Noodles	Prawn noodles? Hokkien noodles?… No, it is Singapore Hokkien Fried Prawn Noodles (新加玻福建炒虾面）
Tom Yam Noodles	Bachelor’s Tomyam Noodles–Quick And Nice…
Tomato Yimin Noodles	What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）– 13-7-2013–Tomato Yimin Noodles (茄汁伊面）
Pasta Sauce	Let’s See How An Asian Make The Tomato Pasta Sauce From Scratch and How He Baked His Pasta….
Meat and Savoury Dishes
Korma Chicken	Special – What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）– 22-7-2013–Korma Chicken (科尔马鸡肉）
Grilled Chicken	M1- Chinese Style Grilled Chicken (中式烤鸡）
Ginger Chicken	M2 – Ginger Chicken (姜丝鸡）
Soya Sauce Chicken	M4- Braised Chicken with Soya Sauce (酱油鸡)
Minced Pork with Taukwa	Creative Food Series–Minced Pork Belly with Taukwa
Miso Pork Belly	M3 – Miso Pork Belly （味增五花）
Meat Rolls	Hey, This is not Italian Meat Rolls, It Is Chinese Meat Rolls Called Ngoh Hiang
Vegetarian Dishes
Tempeh	Tempeh Revisited – Sweet And Spicy Tempeh And Oven Baked Honey Tempeh
Vegetable fritters	Vege Vege Vegetable Fritters–Indonesian’s Bakwan Sayuran
Vegetables	Blanching Vegetables in Chinese Cooking – 利用汆烫准备可口的中式的”菜”肴
Chinese Lettuce	V2 – Blanched Chinese Lettuce With Fermented Bean Curd Sauce (白腐乳生菜胆）- Vegetarian
Bitter Gourd & Chinese Mustard	V3- Braised Bitter Gourd With Chinese Mustard (苦瓜焖芥菜)
Shark Fin Melon Soup	S6 – Vegetarian Shark Fin Melon Soup (素鱼翅瓜羹）
Vegetable Dishes
Luffa	D1-Braised luffa/tower gourd with egg* 蛋汁炆丝瓜
Preserved Mustard	D4 – Foochow Preserved Mustard Fried With Minced Meat (福州糟菜炒肉碎）
Winged Beans	D7 – Fried Winged Beans With Minced Meat (肉碎四棱豆）
Kailan with Prawns	V1 – Blanched Kailan With Prawn (芥兰虾球）
Romaine Lettuce Miso	V4 – Blanch Romaine lettuce with miso sauce (味真酱罗明旦)
Tofu and Egg Dishes
Minced Taukwa Omelete	D2 – Minced Taukwa Omelete （豆干蛋饼）
Braised Egg & Tofu	D3 – Braised Eggs and Bean Curd (豆干卤蛋）
Bean Curd Omelete	D5-Beancurd Omelet (豆干蛋饼）
Celery Omelete	D6- Celery Omelete (西芹蛋饼）
Steamed Tofu	D8-Steamed Tofu With Eggs (豆腐蒸蛋）
Salted Turnip Omelete	D9 – Salted Turnip Omelete (菜脯蛋饼）素
Devilled Eggs	Devilled Egg- Simplicity Rules…
Soup Dishes
Sweet Corn Soup	S1 – Sweet Corn Pork Rib Soup （ 玉米排骨汤)
Carrot Soup	S2 – White Carrot Pork Rib Soup (白萝卜排骨汤）
Double Mushroom Soup	S3 – Double Mushroom Chicken Soup (双菇鸡汤）
Bitter Gourd Pineapple Soup	S4-Bitter Gourd Pineapple Pork Rib Soup (苦瓜黄梨排骨汤）
Chinese Napa Soup	S5 – Chinese Cabbage (Napa) Soup ( 大白菜汤)
Salted Vegetable Duck Soup	Salted Vegetable Duck Soup (咸菜鸭）– A Quick and Easy Way to Prepare This Traditional Soup Dish
Interesting Cooking Ingredients
Chilli	Burnt, Hot, Spicy– I am running away!!!– Understanding Chilli Pepper and Making Of Chilli Sauce
Belachan	Can You Stand The Smell of Belachan (Shrimp Paste)?
Belachan	Z1 – Belachan (Shrimp Paste) – Roasting Belachan

What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）- 6-8-2013

It is another day and time to submit my report.  On 6th August 2013, white rice served with:

1	Steamed Tofu With Eggs	豆腐蒸蛋
2	Blanched Chinese Lettuce With Fermented Bean Curd Sauce	白腐乳生菜胆
3	Sweet corn pork rib soup	玉米排骨汤
4	Salted vegetable duck soup	咸菜鸭

You may be wandering why there are 2 soups. The reasons is easy. I am testing my new pressure cooker. I am using the new pressure cooker to cook my salted vegetable duck soup.

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SWEET CORN SOUP

 

Very simple soup and some soup that’s well like by the kids. When I was young, my mum never use sweet corn to made soup. This soup was introduced to me by my mother in law when my kids were born. Now, i also started to like this soup. I have forgotten to put carrots and mushrooms so it is a rather pure sweet corn soup boiled with goof berry and sweet dates.

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BLANCHED CHINESE LETTUCE WITH FERMENTED BEAN CURD SAUCE

This is a vegetarian dish. However, if you are a vegetarian by religion, please omit the shallot oil. The simple recipe is to blanch the Chinese lettuce with boiling water (with drips of oil to preserve the colour) for about 1 minute. For the sauce, get ready 2 cubes of Chinese fermented bean curd (either white or red color), mash it, add a tablespoon of water, drips of sesame oil or shallot oils, 1 teaspoon of sugar (no more salt as fermented bean curd is very salty). Mixed well and pour on top of the blanched vegetables. Sugar is to negate the saltiness of the fermented bean curd.
Variation: Miso paste can also be considered.
Time of preparation – 15 minutes or less

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STEAMED TOFU WITH EGGS

You can refer the recipe in the links in Guaishushu’s Facebook Page as above. A kid friendly dish, soft and smooth with full flexibility.

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SALTED VEGETABLE DUCK SOUP

As explained above, a dish that I cooked using my new pressure cooker. It only take me about 1 hour to cook until the desired texture and taste. That is totally not possible if we cooked using the traditional way. A separate post will be issue to give a detail description on the method of preparation.

Hope you like the post today. Happy reading and have a nice day ahead.

What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）- 25-7-2013

On 25-7-2013， white rice served with:

Miso Pork Belly	味增五花
Tofu, Meatballs and Glass Noodles Soup	豆腐鱼丸冬粉汤
Ginger and Chinese Fermented Bean Braised Fish	姜丝豆酱焖鱼
Blanched Choy Shym with Prawns	虾球菜心

Oh! It is time for me to submit my daily report card! Haha! Tired as I have a lot of “projects” today.

As for the dish, all are rather common dish except the miso pork belly which is a new dish “invented” by me.

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Miso Pork Belly

The inspiration of this dish is from a famous Chinese dish fermented bean curd fried meat（南乳炸肉）. While the fermented bean curd (腐乳）belong to Chinese and Miso is the fermented bean sauce of the Japanese. Therefore, I have decided to “invent” this dish purely using Japanese condiments. Unlike the Chinese fermented bean curd meat dish, the miso paste is much tastier and therefore this dish did not use additional condiments except some sugar to enhance the flavor. Miso is quite salty and the sugar will helps to negate its saltiness to a more balance taste. This newly created dish is a dish that utilizes Japanese ingredients but prepared using the Chinese cooking method! Therefore, shall I called it a fusion dish?

Frankly speaking, a rather unhealthy dish and I do not think I will cook it that often. I will in my next attempt try to use chicken cubes or fish slices or even prawns. I strongly believed the taste will definitely blend.

If you want to know how to prepare, you can follow this link to Guaishushu’s page’s for pictorial illustration.

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Pineapple Tarts

Besides that, today, I have made a batch of closed version of pineapple tarts. The intention is actually for the celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, a Muslim festival. I always think that as a Malaysian or a Singaporean PR, I shall play my part to contribute something for this celebration.

I am not entirely satisfied with this batch because the skin have a slight crack. However, I know that the reason is because I am too “greedy”. I have used too little dough for my filling causing my tarts to crack when the pineapple jams expand. That is not a great deal and I am still likely to share the recipe with readers soon. Again, the method of preparation is totally different from what you may find in the internet as I have discovered this method unintentionally during my Chinese New Year preparation.

 

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Steamed Sugar Cake (Pak Tong Koh) or 白糖糕

I have a recipe book in the balcony where i sit and when my boy looked inside the book, he found the type of Chinese steamed cake that he liked. He immediately asked me to prepare. I have hold up this “assignment” for more than a month and as I was clearing my kitchen shelves, I found some rice flours that have been with me for quite a while. I thought why not I just prepare for him so that he will not pester me any more. I cooked the rice flour, let it fermented for 8 hours and after cooking the dinner, I steamed it and this is what i get!

I have yet to cut it as  I want to leave it overnight and completely cooled. It looks ok and who know what is inside like. Hope everything is okay.

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Okay, that is what I cooked today. For those readers who are new, I have to reiterate that this series was created with the intention for people to “peep” into my kitchen and see how I rotate my dish, create my dish and it is best that readers take this as a casual reading. Pick up something that you don’t know and share with me things that I may have done wrong. Again, long recipes will be posted in this blog and short recipes will be posted in the Guaishushu’s Facebook Page.

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Hope you like the post today. Have a nice day and cheers.

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What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）- 9-7-2013

  

On 9-July 2013, white rice served with:

1	Steamed tofu with egg	豆腐蒸蛋
2	Blanched Broccoli with Prawns	芥兰花虾球
3	Bok Choi with meat ball soup	贸白菜肉丸汤
4	Popcorn chicken	炸鸡球

As I am rather busy today, it take me about 45 minutes to prepare all these dishes. The dishes are rather simple and the soup is a quick soup. Quick soup means soup that you don’t boil the water and put in the vegetables or ingredients when the water boiled. This is different from those soups that you need to boil for 1-2 hours to get meat broth. I usually made this simple soup when I runs of time.

The pop corn chicken is purchased from Kentucky Fried Chicken. My kids seldom have fast food and if I want to add a dish or two, I will consider have this as one of the meat dish.

Steamed tofu with egg is simple and welcomed by my kids. They like the soft texture of tofu and eggs. There are so many variations and today, I have decided to dust with seaweed meat floss.

For blanched broccoli with prawns, please refer to the links above or you can refer to GUAISHUSHU’s Page in Facebook

Hope you LIKE it and have a nice day.

 

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What I cooked today (家常便饭系列）- 5-6-2013

On 5 June 2013

White rice served with:

5-Jun	Ladies Finger fried with Small Shrimps	小虾羊角豆
5-Jun	Mapo Tofu	麻婆豆腐
5-Jun	Bok Choy Pork Rib Soup	大白菜排骨汤
5-Jun	Chinese spinach cooked with goof berry	枸杞子炒苋菜

Yesterday, we dine out with guest.

The dish start to repeat this month and again, I think that should be the case as a month a cycle should be rather reasonable. I was rather surprised that my son starts to like ladies finger this time I cooked. He had gradually eating more and more vegetables nowadays. Unlike last year, his eyes were “full of meat” only. He ate very little vegetables. This year, I have limited my cooking to only one meat dish per meal and try to cook 2-3 vegetables+tofu dishes. 

His change were gradual and not really noticeable. Nowadays, even when I did not cook meat dish, he would not complain anymore. By the way, he body mass index exceeded the standard figures and schools have wanted him to join the “weight reduction” program. While I know this is heredity of my family where all of us were rather heavy weight from 7 years old  until they reach adolescence thereafter, the weight will start to reduce. However, in view of school’s concern, I will do my part by restricting his intake of food – both in terms of quantity and quality. Am I cruel?