红（萝卜）运当（菜）头 | the approach of good luck!

• Ingredients
• 1 kg white radish, grated (reserve water)
• 50g red carrots, grated (reserve water)
• 150g rice flour
• 50g corn starch
• 1 Chinese sausages, removed from casing and diced
• 8 pcs dried black mushroom, soaked and diced (reserve water)
• 1 piece of dried cuttlefish, soaked and cut into bitesized strips
• 30g dried shrimps, soaked (reserve water)
• 2 shallots, finely sliced

• 
  
• 
  
• Method: 
• 
  
• Marinate the black mushroom, cuttlefish and shrimps with 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp wine and a small pinch of sugar.
• 
  
• Combine the corn starch and rice flour with 21/2 rice bowls of water including reserve water from the radish, carrot, black mushroom, scallops and shrimp, soaking the mushrooms and cuttlefish. Stir and mix well to form a smooth batter.
• 
  
• With 3 tablespoons of oil, sauté shallots till fragrant with chopped sausages then add in shrimps, mushrooms and scallops. Toss in grated radish and carrots, add 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp ground white pepper and 1 tbsp oil before stirring well. Toss it well to mix and keep frying till the liquid appears from the radish and carrot strips.
• 
  
• Turn to low heat, slowly stir in flour mixture into the turnips. Turn and mix well until it forms a sticky dough. 
• 
  
• Grease dish for steaming. Transfer the batter into the pan and over high heat for about 40 minutes.

 Leave to cool and cut into slices to be pan fried. Or steamed and garnished with parsley, spring onions and chopped
  chilli.

Recipe adapted from : http://www.tastehongkong.com/recipes/featured/turnip-or-radish-cake-with-chinese-sausages/

I substituted cuttlefish for scallops. It tasted good too but I'll probably stick with scallops in future :)
Have adjusted the sugar because I used red carrots for natural sweetness.
I'll probably try it with just white radish in future to try and recreate the ones served at dim sum restaurants! 

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

"Mix It Up" on Health Perch

Sea(see)food Diets : Squid in dark soya sauce

Ingredients

2 large squids, clean and cut into pieces

2 medium sized red onion, chopped into pieces

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp of soya sauce

1 tbsp of shaoxing wine 

1.5 tablespoon of dark sweet soy sauce (I used Dark Soya Sauce for Chicken Rice)

2 large red chillies, seeds removed and sliced into thick slices

50 ml of water (Depending on amount of gravy preferred)

Method 

Heat 1 tbsp of oil and fry minced garlic and chopped red onion till fragrant. Add in red chilli slices.

Add in the squid and stir fry. Add soy sauce, shaoxing wine and dark sweet soy sauce.

Add in 50ml of water and ensure squid is well coated with the sauce. Once the sauce comes to a boil, turn off fire and serve hot.

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Eating clean: Steamed chicken with Chicken Essence

Ingredients

1.2 kg chicken, chopped into parts
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp hua tiao chiew
1 + 1 tsp of sesame oil
 A knob of ginger sliced into matchsticks

1 bottle of Chicken Essence

8 large chinese mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons of wolfberries

Handful of black fungus, sliced

Method

Put everything into a large bowl and mix well together to marinate.
Arrange chicken parts in a steaming plate. Place black fungus and chinese mushrooms on top of the chicken. 

Pour Chicken Essence over. 

Press in all ingredients to ensure that all parts are well coated with the liquid. 

Finish with a dash of sesame oil before putting it into the steamer.

Steam for 20 minutes or until cooked.

*Add red dates for added sweetness :)

I added soya sauce for added fragrance

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

One pot wonders: Stewed pork & chicken rice | 红烧排骨鸡肉饭

Ingredients

1 large can of stewed pork chops, roughly shredded with bone removed (I used Gulong brand)

1 chicken breast, sliced and marinated with 1 tsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1 tsp of sesame oil, a dash of pepper and shaoxing wine)

1 carrot, sliced

1 packet of baby bok choy, stem removed and chopped into thirds

20g of dried shrimp (1 small handful)

1 tbsp of chilli scallop floss (Sun Kee brand)

Soy sauce mixture: 2 tbsp of dark soya sauce + 1 tbsp of soy sauce in 250ml of water

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp of oil

4 cups of rice

8 cups of water + 200ml of water 

Method

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan, add minced garlic, dried shrimp and scallop floss. Stir fry till fragrant. Add chicken breast and fry till cooked before setting it aside.

In the rice cooker, rinse rice and add water. Add stewed pork chops and gravy. 

Place carrot slices into the rice. Add the cooked chicken breast, soy sauce mixture and stir thoroughly to ensure that rice is evenly coated with the sauce. Set the rice cooker to cook.

Midway in the cooking process, add baby bok choy and stir it into the half cooked rice. Add water if necessary. 

Serve topped with chopped spring onions and cut red chilli. 

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

*Lean pork slices can be used instead of chicken breast with the same marinade
*Chinese cabbage can be used instead of baby bok choy
*I would add chinese mushrooms :) except that I already had a miso barramundi soup with mushrooms.
*Only when my rice was partially cooked, I added the soy sauce mixture and stirred it into the rice to ensure that the sauce is evenly distributed throughout.

Gula Melaka Steamed Cake

Ingredients 

150g gula melaka

100g milk

3 eggs

150g self raising flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

80g corn oil

Method

Melt gula melaka and milk over slow fire. The aroma will be amazing. :)

Beat 3 eggs until creamy.

Add sifted self raising flour and baking soda to the egg mixture. Making sure that there are no lumps. Add the corn oil. 

After the gula melaka mix has cooled slightly, add that into the mixture as well and stir till incorporated. The syrup is denser than the rest of the mixture so when you pour out the mixture, don't worry if you see gula melaka left over. Just stir it well into the final batter before steaming.

Steam for half an hour or until cooked. (Use a bamboo skewer. Cake is done when skewer comes out clean :))

It tastes a lot like the steamed Malay Cake. Although it's really rich in the coconut sugar taste, I think I might add a knot of pandan into the sugar to boil next time for added fragrance :)

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Not having a hotplate shouldn't stop you from cooking this! :)

Ingredients (Serves 8)

10 king prawns, deshelled and deveined

200g of minced pork, marinated with a dash of pepper and a dash of shaoxing wine, half a tsp of soy sauce, 1 tsp of sesame oil

3 tubes of egg tofu, sliced into 1 inch thickness

A knob of ginger, sliced to matchsticks

3 cloves of garlic, minced

Spring onions, chopped

1 tbsp of oyster sauce

3 tbsp of spicy bean paste (available from NTUC, Triple A brand from Taiwan)

1 tsp of light soya sauce

1 tbsp of cornflour, mixed with water for thickening the sauce

5 eggs, beaten with a dash of pepper, half a teaspoon of soy sauce

Method

Pat dry the egg tofu pieces to prevent oil splatters before shallow frying. (You could deep fry it, but I'd rather the healthier and less mess alternative). :) Fry till both sides are golden brown. Set them aside on kitchen towel to drain excess oil and water.

In a heated pan, add two tbsp of oil and fry ginger, garlic and the white ends of the spring onion till fragrant. Add minced pork, oyster sauce, spicy bean paste, soy sauce. Add prawns and fry till well mixed with the seasonings. Then add about 250ml of water (depending how much gravy you'd like) and the pre-fried egg tofu pieces. Thicken with cornstarch and set it aside.

Heat up the pan again with 2 tablespoons of oil. Coat the pan well before pouring in the beaten egg and fry till brown on one side and cooked through. 

Place the egg on the bottom and spoon the tofu mixture generously over the egg base. 

Sprinkle the chopped spring onions over the top and serve with rice :)

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x 

Fried rice paradise using the rice cooker :)

So I've cooked a lot of extra rice to be frying rice for dinner tonight. And only half of that was going to fit into my happycall pan. But then, there's always the rice cooker. 

And after tonight's attempt at using the rice cooker, I have decided that I would forever be frying rice in the rice cooker. Until further notice. 

Ingredients

1 tbsp of oil + 1 tbsp of sesame oil

2 cloves of garlic, chopped 

Half a yellow onion, diced

Overnight rice (Filled a 1.5L ice cream tub) 

1 cube of Knorr chicken stock dissolved in about 500ml of water

Five slices of Luncheon meat, diced

Dry fried white bait, 80g to 100g

1 tube of Egg tofu, diced

1 egg, beaten

Dash of pepper

Method

Set the rice cooker to 'Cook' function and once hot, add the oil into the pot.

Fry the garlic and onion till fragrant before adding in the luncheon meat, white bait and egg tofu. 

Add in the rice, breaking it up as you add it in.

Pour in the stock and a dash of pepper. Stir the rice till everything is mixed thoroughly. (Be gentle, you don't want to break up all your luncheon meat and egg tofu further)

Close the rice cooker and let it cook till it pops up to the 'Warm' function.

Add in the beaten egg and give it another stir to make sure everything's well mixed. (Use more eggs if you'd like. Daddy would've loved loads of eggs.) Wait for a bit till you get to switch it to 'Cook' function again and once it pops up to 'Warm', turn off the switch and you're all good to go :)

And there you have it. Fried rice paradise from the rice cooker, no less! 

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Capturing sunsets :)

Serves 5

400g of fish fillet, sliced
2 tablespoons of shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon of sesame oil + 1 tablespoon of sesame oil to finish
30g of old ginger, chopped into matchsticks
0.5 teaspoon of pepper
0.5 teaspoon of salt
0.5 teaspoon of soya sauce
8 medium sized scallops, soaked and shredded
3 cups of rice, washed
1 salted egg, hardboiled
1.5 cubes of Knorr chicken seasoning (No MSG Added)
1 stalk of spring onion

Prepare the fish by marinating the sliced fish fillet with shaoxing wine, sesame oil, ginger, pepper, salt and soya sauce. Use your hands to really work the seasoning into the fish slices but be careful not to break the fish meat with too much force. Set it aside.

Boil the rice, scallops and add the chicken seasoning cubes when the porridge is almost cooked. Then top up with more water and keep stirring till the consistency of choice is achieved. I estimate myself to have used about 2.5 L of water in total.

Add the fish slices and simmer on low heat till fish slices are cooked thoroughly. Bring the porridge to a boil and add in one tablespoon of sesame oil to finish.

Serve topped with spring onion, more old ginger, pepper and with salted eggs on the side :)

They say a person just needs three things to be truly happy in this world

Ingredients: (For 5 servings)

15 small black flower mushrooms, reserve mushroom water

150g spare ribs

100g pork ribs

2 small saito fishcakes

10 pork & mushroom balls

1 carrot peeled and sliced

5 leaves of lettuce chopped

200g of rice vermicelli presoaked

500g of prawns, deshelled and deveined, marinate with a dash of soy sauce, shaoxing wine, pepper, a dash of sesame oil. reserve head and shells.

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil

Oyster sauce 2 large tablespoons

0.5 teaspoon of salt to taste

1 cube of Knorr chicken stock (no MSG)

500ml of pork rib stock

2L of water

Parsley, chopped red chillies

Method:

Blanch spare ribs and pork ribs and set aside.

Once pan is heated, add sesame and vegetable oil. Fry minced garlic till fragrant and add prawn shells and head. Fry and lightly press the head while frying :) 

Add 2L of water, 500 ml of pork rib stock, flower mushrooms and reserve mushroom water. Once it comes to a boil, add sliced carrots. Let the soup continue boiling, add 1 chicken stock cube, oyster sauce and salt to taste.

Let the soup continue to simmer over low heat. Add in the pork ribs and spare ribs, fishcake and prawns.

Once ready for dinner, let soup come to a boil and add in the presoaked vermicelli to cook in the soup. Divide the vermicelli into 5 portions and the sliced lettuce before arranging ingredients and adding soup. Finish with a dash of white pepper to taste. 

Top with parsley and serve with cut red chilli padi :)

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Sweet and sour fish :)

Ingredients:

1 Fresh gold band snapper - 1kg, descaled, degutted, sliced into half with head and tail removed. $9

2 tomatoes, sliced into eighths each $0.60

1 yellow onion, sliced into eighths $0.20

A knob of old ginger, sliced $0.20

5 tablespoons of tomato ketchup $0.20

1 teaspoon of Kikkoman soya sauce $0.20

2 teaspoons of corn flour $0.10

100 + 10 ml of corn oil $0.40

A dash of pepper + a pinch of salt $0.20

20 ml of water

Method:

A pinch of salt and a dash of pepper sprinkled on both sides of the fish.

2 teaspoons of corn flour sprinkled on skin side of fish and patted in lightly.

Heat 100ml of corn oil (reserve just one tablespoon) and place 5 slices of ginger into the oil when heated. 

Place fish skin side down to fry on high heat for a couple of minutes. 

Turn the fish over to fry on high heat till thoroughly cooked. 

Leave the fish aside to drain the oil on some kitchen towel.

Pour away the oil and clean the pan with kitchen towel before adding the 10ml of corn oil. 

Once heated, add the ginger (sliced into matchsticks), onion and fry till fragrant.

Add the 5 tablespoons of tomato ketchup (or more if more gravy is favoured) and soya sauce.

Add water when the mixture bubbles till consistency of choice.

Add the tomatoes to fry for a couple of minutes till well mixed with the sauce.

Plate the fish and spoon the sweet and sour sauce over the fish. :)

Optional : Diced pineapple slices for the sauce.

From our kitchen to yours,

Brenda x

Comfort food looks like a dish of pork, potatoes and baked beans :)

 

1 large yellow onion, sliced

 2 garlic cloves, minced

4 small China potatoes, diced and parboiled

1 can baked beans

300g hind/ loin meat, sliced

 a quarter tsp salt

 1 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tsp light soya sauce for marinate, 1 tsp for sauce

1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine

 half a teaspoon of pepper

 2 tbsp of cooking oil, 0.5 tbsp of sesame oil

1. Slice the pork and marinate with 1 tsp light soya sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, pepper and sesame oil.

2. Dice the potatoes and parboil for 5 minutes on high heat. Drain water and set aside.

3. Use 2 tbsp of cooking oil and a dash of sesame oil to fry minced garlic till fragrant.

4. Add in parboiled potatoes to pan fry with the garlic.

5. Then add in the sliced onion and marinated pork to fry till the onion turns translucent.

6. Add in the can of baked beans and 1 tbsp of tomato ketchup. (Add in a pinch of sugar if the tomato ketchup/ brand of baked beans is a tad too sour), add in 1 tsp of light soya sauce and bring to a boil.

7. Serve hot with rice.