我的试验室 My Lab

A type of veggie called 田川七

2013-04-28T20:26:00.001+08:00

Have you heard/seen of the above veggie before? Actually I have been growing them for years, but, I didn't know the name until I learnt it from a magazine called 有福同享. Sometimes, it is called 田七菜 too because when the plant gets older, it will grow something that looks like 田七 all over the vines. This veggie is very high in minerals especially iron.

We can stir-fry the leaves (I stir-fry with sambal belacan). Sometimes, I cook them in egg soup (蛋花汤) with a hint of sesame oil.

From the magazine, it is advised that the leaves should be cooked thoroughly before consuming.

It has lots of humble white flower strings all over now

My Chili Plants - 最爱的辣椒树

2013-04-21T19:16:00.000+08:00

Last year, there were lots of chili plants grow from my compost. So, I transplant them to my veggie patch. I have a real bumper crop of chili this year. Abundant of them..... Have a look at my handsome chili plants.

I spy with my little eyes, something that is hot and long hanging on the plants :-)

My Lovely Sweet Potato Shoots - 蕃薯叶真好

2013-03-28T20:50:00.000+08:00

Sweet potato shoots are very nutritious. They are also very versatile. You can practically cook anything with it. Try to add it in your curry next time. It may surprise you!

There are many varieties of sweet potato shoots, but, I have only 3 types.

1. Purple - This is the very first type I grow. It has purple stem and it produces purple sweet potato. Please see My Sweet Potato

2. Green - This is the softest variety I have. It tastes the best when stir-fry with sambal belacan.

3. '5 Fingers' - I don't know the actual of this type, but my mum calls it '5 Jari' because the shape of the leaves look like 5 fingers (probably needs some imagination). According to mum, this is the most nutritious type among all. I just got this variety from my friend last month. Hope it will be happy being a part in our garden : )

I like autumn. Many plants like this season too. Especially sweet potato shoots they will just grow, and grow, and grow. So, it is also a 'give away' season too. Believe me, nobody would say 'No' to this delicious veggie.

独乐乐不如众乐乐!!

Waterfall braid

2011-12-28T09:22:00.000+08:00

Learnt it from internet.

Fresh Mulberries in Spring

2011-12-23T13:18:00.000+08:00

These mulberries were freshly picked from our friend's garden.

They are so so so sweet.

Have to wait till next spring to taste it again.

When Malaysian meets Italian

2011-12-13T22:19:00.000+08:00

This is a very aromatic ayam masak merah. I name it Italian ayam masak merah :-)

Ingredients:

Chicken
Lemon grass - grinded
Onion - minced
Garlic - minced
Pasta sauce
cooking oil
water

Procedure:

Fry onion and garlic until fagrance then add chicken.
Brown chicken then add pasta sauce and water to simmer until chicken is cooked.

Imagine ayam masak merah with the aroma of Italian herbs.....

Will cook it for dinner tomorrow : )

Why is weekly/fortnightly mortgage repayment better than monthly???

2011-10-13T20:10:00.000+08:00

This question has been in my mind for quite some time. Silly me, the fact behind is so simple... I would like to share the explanation with you in the link below:

http://www.yourmortgage.com.au/article/fortnightly-vs-monthly-repayments-78306.aspx

It is very clear and easy to understand.

Please let me know if it is incorrect.

Indonesian Nasi Kunyit

2011-09-21T16:00:00.000+08:00

My neighbour made this fancy nasi kunyit.

It is different from my hometown nasi kunyit. Ours is cooked from glutinous rice while this Indonesian nasi kunyit is cooked from white rice.

It tastes really good.

Easy Radish Soup

2011-09-20T20:38:00.000+08:00

I find that this soup tastes better than its look :-)

Ingredients:

1/2 radish - sliced
1 carrot - cut into small cubes
5 mushroom - cut into pieces
1L chicken stock

Procedure:

1. Boil all ingredients for 1/2 hour then add salt to taste.

Worth trying.

So Colourful...

2011-09-13T12:16:00.000+08:00

Have been busy with my gardening lately. This morning, I had a surprise. They are so colourful....
I didn't grow them on purpose. They are the 'side benefit' from composting : )

Look at the one in my palm, it is the biggest found in my garden. I was too curious about the weight. Just cannot resist myself from taking out the weighing machine.

It is 290g!!

Fun of making Sun Dried Vegetables - 晒菜干

2011-08-30T12:14:00.000+08:00

After giving away tonnes of 雪里红(small Chinese Mustard) to my friends and neighbours, I still have so much of them in my garden. So, I decided to give it a try to make them into sun dried vegetables.

Procedure:

Clean the vegetables thoroughly.

Veggies after cleaning

Blanch them in boiling water.
Dry them under the sun.

Veggies after drying for 2 days

When they are ready (when the leaves are brittle), store them at dry area.

Tips:

Remember to collect them at night.
Pay attention to the weather forecast. You need at least 4 consecutive fine days (that also depends on the location) to dry them.

According to weather forecast, my next attempt will have to be some time next week.

Winter veggies in my garden

2011-06-24T20:01:00.000+08:00

One thing good about growing winter veggie here is that, it doesn't need watering. On top of that, with the cold weather, the worms, especially the caterpillars will just make their way out of the garden. Hurray!!

This year is my first year growing Kai Choy 芥菜 (Chinese mustard), to me as a beginner, I think it is a great success : )

Please come through and have a look at my garden.

This is Kai Choy, the big type

This is small Kai Choy - 雪里红

This year, my coriander is not so good, I suspect it is because I grow at the same spot as last year.

This is cress, we like it with 'Tao Yu Bak' - soy sauce braised pork

Will cut some 雪里红 for 杂菜汤 tomorrow.

Fresh from garden. Ha! Ha!

Stitch

2011-06-23T22:08:00.002+08:00

I just found this interesting picture of Stitch, which was taken on 25 April 2011 at the park.

Stitch is our friend, Michael's cute little puppy. He always calls him 'boy'.

In this picture, Stitch was really exhausted after having a good run in the park. So he just dozed off....

Try to look closely, do you know what Stitch was sleeping on?

On his wife's jacket!!

Fuji in my garden

2011-06-23T10:09:00.000+08:00

Look at my Fuji apple tree. It is a 2 years old tree. I think it is way too small for a 2 years old apple tree. So, I have trimed it down hard this winter. Hopefully it will grow bigger(more bushy) next year.

They are smaller than the store bought Fuji, but seems that the taste is a bit more intense, probably because they are organic apple? : -)

My Version of XO Sauce - XO酱

2011-06-16T19:23:00.001+08:00

Actually I am not sure whether it is really known as XO sauce or not, but I think the name is not important, is the taste that counts.

Ingredients:

10 dried scallops soaked in cold water overnight - cleaned and shredded
3/4 cup dried shrimps - clean roughly chopped
3 onion - minced
1 bulb garlic - minced
2 chilies - sliced
soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster and sugar to taste
olive oil

Note : Ratio of dried scallop and dried shrimp is about 1:1
Procedure:

Fry onion until fagrance, add chili and garlic, continue frying for 1 more minute.
Add chopped dried shrimp and shredded scallop and continue frying.
Add all the sauces and sugar to suit your taste.
Continue frying until it is dry.
Cool down and keep in refrigerator (up to ~1 week).

It tastes good with white rice/ bee hoon/ bread... or even on its own.

All about the sky 3 - Jupiter, Venus and Mercury

2011-05-19T16:33:00.000+08:00

On 13 May 2011, we woke up at 5:35 am to watch them. Wow, first time in our whole life..... It is magnificant!! If we missed it, the next chance will be in 2056!

Attached picture were really blurr, but, I am very reluctant to delete them.

The brightest is Venus(at the bottom), Mercury is on the right. The one on top is Jupiter. Mars is very near to horizon. So, it is blocked by trees and buildings.

Below Pictures were taken on 18 May 2011 5:50 - 6:05am.
Can see that Jupiter is further away now.

All about the sky 2 - 我的天空2

2011-05-17T16:46:00.000+08:00

Wow, it is raining now, finally......

Thinking of my sunny sky pula :-p

Pearls - 珍珠

2011-05-08T15:47:00.000+08:00

My kids' favourite drink at home town is 珍珠奶茶 (pearl tea).

Once, I went to oriental shop to look for pearls, I found them, but I didn't ended up buying. They looked like little rocks to me, very very hard!!

I found this 珍珠 recipe last month on the net. It is by 周老师. I decided to give it a try. Wah, dreams come true!!

Ingredients:

70g brown sugar
130g water
200g potato starch
blue colouring (I used dried blue flowers from my 三姨, she calls it 'little blue flower') - this is optional

Procedure:

Boil brown sugar and water until sugar dissolved.
Pour boiling water onto potato starch. Stir well and start kneading it slightly to make it into a dough.
Roll it into about 0.6mm thickness.
Cut them into about 0.6mm strips, then to about 0.6mm cubes.

You may want to roll it into beads in your palms. Personally, I don't mind square pearls : )
Cook for 3 minutes in boiling water. Then, rinse 3 times in cold water.

They are now ready to add into your favourite dessert or drinks.

Give it a go, pearl lovers!

Goji Berries Flowers - 枸杞开花了

2011-05-07T20:05:00.000+08:00

My Goji berries plants are flowering now. The purple flowers are very tiny and sweet.

Frankly, this is my first time to witness goji berries flowers. I simply just have not had imagined, red goji actually started from a purple flower!!

I find it very interesting and would like to share it with you.

My Sweet Potato

2011-04-20T22:10:00.000+08:00

To me, there are 3 purposes of growing sweet potato.

Sweet potato shoots are delicious in stir-fry, especially the purple type, seems to be 'meaty' to me.

Sweet potato soup is one of our favourite afternoon tea.
Sweet potato leaves can keep the ground cool during day time.

Have a look at this. Tell me whether it looks like a duck/flower/pumpkin.... : )

Useful toilet rolls

2011-04-06T14:00:00.000+08:00

Other than the common usage, toilet roll is really good at absorbing funny odour in the kitchen cabinet.

Sometimes, when you accidentally keep the dishes which are still wet, this will create an odd smell in the cabinet.

Try to put a toilet roll at the corner of your kitchen cabinet as a smell buster.

You won't regret doing it.

Homemade Bak Kua - 肉乾

2011-04-01T18:46:00.000+08:00

I made Bak Kua just now. It is not as good as '我来也', but it is good enough for a beginner like me : )

Do you think it is going to be very difficult? If you do, after looking at the recipe and the procedure, you would think that you have paid too much for the market bought Bak Kua all this while....

Ingredients

1 kg minced pork
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp 5 spices powder
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp cooking wine (I use Shao Xing)
200g sugar

Procedure

Marinate minced pork for about 1/2 hour.
Over-turn the baking tray, coat with oil, spread the marinated pork on it thinly(about 5mm or thinner if you like it thin).

Bake it in the oven at 75-80C with oven door partially open for about 15min (no need to preheat). This is actually a simulation of sun-dry process(sort of).
Once cool, cut with scissors to desired size.
Grill them.

Tell me whether it is finger licking good.

Pork Meat Ball Soup - 贡丸冬粉汤

2011-03-25T10:56:00.000+08:00

We had pork mean ball soup last weekend. Light and easy...
Those are homemade pork meat ball. I wouldn't say that it is as crunchy as the store bought meat ball, only about 70% of it? Use the 30% crunch to exchange for a chemical free meat ball. I think it is worth it. On top of that, you can include your favourite flavour in it too.

Ingredients

1 kg minced pork
10 big prawn - shelled and cut thinly
1 bulb garlic - chopped (optional)
1 big red chili - chopped (optional)
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp pepper
1 egg white
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp salt
4 tbsp corn flour

Note : I got the original recipe from
http://lilyng2000.blogspot.com/2005/06/meat-balls-ala-don.html
It is a fabulous recipe.

As I could not get 1of the ingredient which I have absolutely no idea what that is... so I omit it. I also add some other ingredients....Try an error!!

Procedure

Process the minced pork, prawn, chopped chili and chopped garlic until paste like.
Transfer it into a big bowl. Add the seasonings, corn flour and egg white.
Use hand to mix well.
Try to take a handful and throw it back to the bowl. Repeat this process until the texture of the paste has changed to 'spongy'. (You will feel that as if the paste is not so sticky anymore) It is then ready.
Boil a pot of water. Once the water is boiled, turn to low heat. Shape the meat ball and throw it into the hot water. When it is cooked, it will float. Put them into cold water.
Once they have cool down, you can freeze them for future use too.

Worth trying!

How to keep silken tofu fresh for 3 days in the fridge?

2011-03-21T17:29:00.000+08:00

Our family love silken tofu a lot. I buy tofu only once a week. So the tofu has to stay fresh at least for 3 days. I got this tip from my friend which I think is rather useful.

Procedure:

Pour away the water in the tofu container.
Rinse the tofu with clean water.
Add 1 tsp salt to a container of water which just enough to cover the tofu. Stir until salt is dissolved.
Submerge the tofu into it. Make sure tofu is fully covered with the salt water.
Keep in the fridge chilled room.

Note: If tofu still smell 'sourish' rather than soy after 3 days, most likely the sarine is not salty enough, add a little bit more salt the next time.

It should work. The tofu should be able to stay fresh for 3 days. I know it because I usually consumed mine within 3 days.

Aren't they cute?

2011-03-09T16:13:00.000+08:00

They are very huge summer squash. They are so cute....

My neighbour grows them. He gave us 3 last Friday(I think they should be enough for 3 meals). They are still in the fridge now. I have absolutely no idea how to cook them :-p

Any suggestion?