One Tonne of Wontons! :)

 Marketing started at 8am this morning. 

Two packets of baby bokchoi.

A handful of chestnuts, prawns and minced pork.

Blanch the baby bok choi in a pot of boiling water with a dash of oil and a sprinkling of salt.

To the minced pork, diced prawns and chestnuts,

Add:

A generous sprinkle of white pepper.

A dash of light soy sauce.

A heaped tablespoon of oyster sauce.

A generous drizzle of sesame oil and shaoxing wine.

Toss them up till well combined.

Rope in the family to join in for the wonton wrapping. :)

Prepare a pot of boiling water to boil up batches of wontons.

Till you get a whole tonne of them.

And while we're at it.

Chop up some onions (since we ran out of shallots)

and fry them over low heat for some shallot oil.

These weren't burnt.

They were actually sweet and pretty yums!

Don't underestimate the fragrance that the shallot (fried onion) oil imparts to the dish.

Add it to the soup or the noodles.

Or both!

Pick up some of those roasted meats from your friendly local roast meat seller at the wet market.

Which comes with a soy based gravy.

Toss the wonton noodles in a tablespoon of the soy sauce gravy.

Top with blanched baby bokchoi, roast meats and a generous serving of wontons! :)

Serve with a bowl of piping hot chicken broth.

That was one tonne of work for some wonton noodles.

Well worth the effort.

Well fed for the night! :)

one minute chocolate obsessions :)

Ingredients

• (makes enough for a cupcake sized microwaveable container)
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
• 1 teaspoon nutella or more to taste
• 2 teaspoons of egg, lightly whisked
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chocolate chips or more to taste
• half teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)

Method

1. Add dry ingredients to the container and mix well, making a well in the centre.
2. Add in the egg and mix well.
3. Add milk and olive oil and mix again.
4. Add nutella and vanilla extract if used and lastly, add in chocolate chips mix well to get a smooth consistency.
5. Place in the microwave for 1 minutes on high.
6. Top with diced fresh fruits or rainbow sprinkles and eat while it's warm! :)

Chicken soup for the soul.

Black charcoal and white hot ash. 

I watch as she toils over the well-worn stove. 

Her movements restricted. 

Her hearing impaired. 

Her speech lacking in life. 

Her pride, 

however, 

intact. 

As a proud woman who devotes her life to keeping the house in order. 

She will clean. 

And cook. 

For as long as she lives. 

Her stubborness translates into a perfect bowl of chicken soup. 

She feeds my soul. 

My grandma.

Buta Kimchi Chigae

Homemade kimchi.

Napa vegetables quartered and soaked overnight in salted water.

Drain and wash two to three times to remove salt and sediments.

Radish salted and drained.

Scallions quartered.

Mix Korean beanpaste (gochujang) with 

Salted shrimp (saeujeot),

Fish sauce,

Chilli spice powder,

Sugar,

Minced garlic/ ginger,

And some flour mixed with water.

Carefully spread the paste over the vegetables leaf by leaf.

And mix thoroughly.

Pack into an airtight bag/ jar and let it ferment.

We made this in Jeju when we were staying at our guesthouse.

This kimchi making class cost us way more than we were prepared to pay for a huge pile of vegetables but I must say that it does taste pretty awesome.

What better way to bring back my K memories but for a bowl of pork kimchi soup.

Boil kimchi with water and add one cube of Knorr chicken seasoning to 1 litre of water.

Add in sliced pork once it comes to a boil.

Don't bother with marinating the pork.

That kimchi flavour will do all its magic for you.

:)

Beat the heat with some peaches and iced honey lemon aiyu

This was heaven in a bowl.

A packet of Signwin brand Aiyu Jelly powder available at NTUC Fairprice to make the jelly.
Chill and cut into cubes.

These Del Monte Peaches come in a can.
Reserve some heavy syrup to make the dessert base.
Finish with a squeeze of lemon and a dollop of honey.

Amazing way to beat the heat in this crazy weather.

Thanks to godmummy for the refreshing love. <3 p="">

Chicken, pork rib, mushroom stew.

Grandma's back in the game.

She's got an amazing strength and great talent when it comes to the kitchen and all that which 'home cooking' stands for.

Today's stew was cooked over charcoal.

Which really made all the difference in the world.

The best part?

The stew is kept heated and never burnt, gently bubbling over the leftover white-hot ashes.

Generous cuts of chinese black flower mushrooms,

meaty pork ribs with soft bones, 

chicken drumsticks and hardboiled eggs.

Stewed in a light soy gravy.

The mushrooms were fully absorbent of the gravy and burst into a plethora of juices on first bite.

The pork ribs were stewed till tender and fell apart almost immediately.

Likewise for the chicken drumsticks.

The gravy.

Was fragrant and light enough on tastebuds to be drunk almost like a soup.

Which was perfect since that meant I could happily skip rice. :) 

Home cooked.

Always the best kind of yum.

Preserved salted vegetables in sweetened dark soy sauce

The taste of my childhood-

Is redolent in this dish.

The simplest indulgence for a lunch affair.

A pot of sweet potato porridge.

Shallow fried pieces of luncheon meat complete with crisp edges.

And a plate of preserved vegetables.

What's that about?

Sweet salty never took on better combinations.

Two cloves of garlic, roughly chopped.

Half a head of preserved salted vegetables, chopped.

Half a bowl of dark soya sauce.

2 tbsp of sugar.

1 tbsp of canola oil.

Heat up pan and fry garlic till fragrant.

Add in chopped salted vegetables and stir fry for a few minutes.

Add in half a bowl of dark soya sauce and 2 tsbp of sugar.

Fry till vegetables are well coated in sauce.

Turn to low heat and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes.

Serve hot.

With all those other dishes above.

Childhood.

The tastes that bring us back to where we started.

But where did all that time go?

Simple Stir Fry- Cabbage and dried shrimp

#eatclean 

Doesn't mean having to eat tasteless food.

Today's simple stir fry shows you how.

Half a head of medium sized cabbage, chopped, rinsed and drained

A small handful of dried shrimp washed and soaked

Two cloves of garlic, minced

Canola Oil, 1-2 tbsp

Soya sauce, 1 tbsp

Heat up the wok.

Add in canola oil.

Stir fry the garlic and dried shrimp and fry till fragrant.

Pour in drained chopped cabbage and 1 tbsp of soya sauce.

Stir fry on high heat.

Then leave to simmer on low heat till cabbage has been cooked to your choice of doneness.

**Some like it with bite (drain some of the liquid that is produced by the cabbage) and stir-fry till dry.

Some like it softer (leave to simmer in liquid).

Eat clean and eat well :)

   

A taste of summer :)

There's really nothing more to be said about the versatility of the humble potato.

I grabbed a bag of these Golden Russet Potatoes in a pre-packed 2.27 bag 

which gives you about 15 potatoes at $3.20.

And decided to encapsulate the remains of the summer holidays 

and all its happiness into today's salad.

What you'll need:

Potatoes, peeled and diced

Chicken thigh, roughly shredded

Mayonnaise, Kraft to taste

Corn, Del Monte Fresh Cut

Sea salt

Cracked black pepper

The how-to:

Boil diced potatoes in water with a teaspoon of salt.

Bring to a fierce boil for 3-5 minutes depending on size of the diced potatoes and drain the water immediately to prevent overcooking.

Set that aside to cool.

Drizzle olive oil over chicken thigh pieces and lightly roast till done.

Roughly shred chicken and set that aside too.

Prepare a big mixing bowl and place potato pieces, shredded chicken meat and a dollop of mayonnaise.

Add sea salt and black pepper to taste.

Toss all the ingredients together.

Once ready, top the salad with a generous helping of corn kernels for that fresh burst of summer colors.

And finish with a sprinkling of black pepper.

I added dried cranberries as an afterthought.

Try cherry tomatoes, walnuts, cashews, ham, bacon bits.

Best eaten chilled to beat the summer heat hey! 

Enjoy. :)

Grandma's Bak Chang

Grandma's Bak Chang

1kg pork- thigh meat
300g chinese mushrooms, soaked and cut into halves
6 shallots, chopped and divided equally in 2 bowls
2kg glutinous rice
100g candied winter melon, chopped
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp five spice powder
pinch of pepper
150g of dried scallops, contained in a small pot.
30 dried bamboo leaves, soaked till soft and wiped dry.
1-2 bundle hemp/ rafia strings, soaked

For the glutinous rice:

1. Rinse and strain water from glutinous rice.
2. Brown 1 bowl of shallots in oil till fragrant. Take away half of the shallots, leaving the oil and the remaining shallots in the pan.
3. Fry the rice with shallots and oil till half cooked. Put the half cooked rice in a big bowl and set aside.

For the fillings:

1. Fry 1 bowl of shallots till their amora is liberated. Add in the mushrooms and continue frying.
2. Add in pork after a minute or so, followed by the candied winter melon.
3. Before the pork is done, add in soy sauce, five spice powder and pepper to taste. 
*Seasoning based on personal preferences. 

Boil wrapped dumplings for approximately one hour.

Makes around 20 dumplings

Cooking for family

Diced 4 water chestnuts.

Peel and chop 12 medium sized grey prawns into three parts.

Mix 400g of minced pork and diced water chestnut with 2 tbsp of oyster sauce, a dash of sesame oil, white pepper and a tsp of soya sauce.

Chop spring onions to be used either mixed into the filling or as a garnish for the soup.

(I divided the pork into two portions for two different types of filling- for a 云吞: minced pork, chestnut and spring onions/ for a 水饺: minced pork, shrimp and chestnut)

Makes enough filling for one pack of wanton wrappers, approximately 34 sheets.

For each wanton wrapper, place a generous ball of pork and shrimp filling in the middle before sealing with beaten egg and crimping the ends tightly.

Bring water to a boil before putting in the dumplings to cook. 

The dumplings are ready when the skin turns slightly translucent and they float up to the surface.

Serve in a stock made from simple boiled ikan bilis and peeled prawn heads reserved from earlier (or simply use Knorr ikan bilis MSG free cubes).

Serve dried with the noodles blanched and tossed in a base of sesame oil, oyster sauce, a little soup stock and sambal chilli (optional)

Top with dumplings, roasted bbq pork and chinese kale.

Or simply serve in soup. :)

The dumplings were no sweat.

It's the separate blanching of vegetables and noodles together with the final assembly of soup/ dried orders of noodles that took a while.

But all worth it.

Tummy satisfied!