New Recipe from WokkingMum

Cornflakes Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:54:00 +0000

I enrolled my son a a baking class during the June School Holidays. This is one of the cookies he baked. Well, this is not exactly what he did. It was in the shape of a teddy bear. It was rather nice but we still prefer the chocolate chip cookies. It's still our all time favourite.

Anyway, because the kids wanted to do baking so instead of using the cookie cutter which is more work and more difficult, I get them to roll the dough into balls instead. I think it's more fun. They love to push the chocolate button in the center of the dough. Actually, I think they just love 'stealing' the chocolate to eat. haha ...

Ingredients:

125g Butter
65g Castor Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
A pinch of Salt
125g All purpose flour (I use Top Flour)
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
25g Corn Flour
1 tablespoon Milk Powder
25g Frosties Cornflakes, crushed fine
Chocolate Button, optional (I use Mini M & Ms)

How to do it:

Cream butter, sugar, vanilla essence till white and fluffy.
Add in all the flour and milk powder.
Add in the crushed cornflakes and mix well.
Roll 5g dough into a ball.
Lay all the ball dough in baking pan with baking paper.
Press a chocolate button to the center.
Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 12 minutes till golden brown.
Cool and store in air tight container.

Note:
If you prefer to use a cookie cutter, after step 3, continue with the following steps:

Roll dough between two sheets of baking paper.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Cut shapes out with cookie cutters.
Bake in preheated oven at 180C till golden brown.

Time required depends on how thick and how big your cookies are.

Cheesy Chicken Fingers

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:17:00 +0000

Cheese again! My kids love cheese. And not to mention fried stuff. Who wouldn't? However, as it's heaty to take too much fried stuff, I only once a week. And it's usually comes with water chestnut drink.

This dish is similar to this except I have cut down on the cheese. You can say that it's a cheaper but crunchier version. :)

Ingredients:

1 skinless chicken breast meat
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Breadcrumbs or Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1/2 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 Egg, beaten
1/3 cup Flour

How to do it:

Cut the chicken meat into strips
Marinate with salt for 30 minutes.
Dust the chicken with flour.
Dip the chicken in the beaten egg.
Coat well with Panko mixed with Parmesan Cheese.
Deep fry till golden brown.
Dish and drain away excess oil.
Serve with or without your desire sauce.

Note:

You can sprinkle on some chilli powder or paprika after frying too.
You can use Parmesan Cheese powder instead of the shredded type.

Singapore Blog Awards - Best Food Blog

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:31:00 +0000

My blog has been selected as one of the 10 finalist for the Singapore Blog Awards - Best Food Blog.

Voting is open from now till 31 July 2009. You can vote once a day. So if you like what you see here and you don't find it troublesome to register for an account, vote for me! :) Everyday once, okay? :P

Thank you everyone for your support!

Maple Cookie

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:11:00 +0000

I haven't baked for a long long time. I managed to clear most of my housework yesterday. After washing all the pots and dishes, I set up the water play box for the kids outside our house and started baking with little disturbance. I still have to outside to break up their argument. Haiz!

I'm surprised I'm still able to finished baking the whole lot. In fact, I did a second batch soon after because the kids finished almost all the first lot of cookies as soon as I packed them.

Ingredients:

300g Top Flour or Cake Flour
5g Baking Powder
4g Salt
180g Unsalted Butter
100g Brown Sugar
1 Egg
60ml Maple Syrup

How to do it:

Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy
Add egg and beat well.
Blend in the maple syrup.
Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt till a dough is formed.
Divide dough into 4g balls.
Lay all the ball dough in baking pan with baking paper.
You can flatten it a little or leave it as it is.
Bake in preheated oven at 180C for 13 minutes till golden brown.
Cool and store in air tight container.

Sprite with Plum Powder

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:48:00 +0000

I'm not sure if you practice this but what I was young, my mother would let us drink Coke with salt when we are having a sore throat or if we are heaty. :P Now she still ask me to drink it when she knows I have soar throat. After that she would ask me not to scream so much at the kids to avoid having soar throat. LOL

Honestly, I hates the taste of Coke with salt but sometimes it really works for the throat. Before I cut down on frizzy drinks, I changed from drinking coke with salt to Sprite or 7up with grind preserved sour plum instead. It taste so much better that the former.

Sometimes, when I ran out of preserved sour plum, I use the powder form instead. It's not as good as the preserved fruit of course but in cases of emergency, the sour plum powder 酸梅粉 works fine for me.

If you are from Singapore, you will be familiar with sour plum powder. We dip fruits like guava, pear in it and eat it together. Especially good when the fruits are cold. Hence, I always have a packet in my fridge.

Next time, if you want to have a frizzy (lime/lemon base) drink with a twist, try adding sour plum powder. One thing to take note of if you are using the powder and not the preserved fruit. Mix the powder to the drink in a jug, then pour it into your glass.

This is because the salt in the powder won't dissolve easy. If you add the powder directly to the glass of Sprite, the salt will stay at the bottom. Guess what happen when with drink it with a straw? :P

Alternatively, add sparingly. :)

Sour plum powder 酸梅粉

Cheesy Garlic Bread

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:37:00 +0000

My husband decided to go drinking with his pals today. *roll eyes* I get nagged for staying up late to blog but somebody can go drinking when that same somebody just worked past midnight yesterday and had to wake up early as usual to get to work this morning. *shrug* I'm not complaining. At least I get to blog in peace. LOL.

Okay, for this recipe, which is one of my kid's favourite, is really easy to do. It's is actually this recipe plus cheese. But because cheese is added here, I cut down the garlic to 2 clove garlic with 1 tablespoon butter.

For this particular one you see in the photo, 1 tablespoon of Mozzarella Cheese is added into the garlic spread. You can use any cheese you like. Sometimes I use Cheddar with Parmesan Cheese too. It's basically whatever leftover bits of Cheese I have. I have not tried Cream Cheese though.

What you do is to mix the soften butter, garlic, cheese and the optional parsley and garlic powder together. Use that to spread on your bread before you toast it. The bread I use here is hotdog bun. I like it that it's still a bit soft on the inside but cruchy on the thin outer crust. So it won't hurt the kids' gums when they eat it.

Another great idea for pinic. ;) Do remember to wrap the garlic bun/bread with a 2 to 3 pieces of kitchen towels before to wrap it with foil so it will not be too soggy later.

Sandwich Kebab

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:33:00 +0000

It's the kids' school holiday. Yeah, the whole of June. I thought I'll have more time to do my stuff (like blogging) since I don't have to fetch my kids to school anymore. Boy was I wrong! I'm only saved on 4 trips but there are still the tuition classes and enrichment class. On top of that, with them at home most of the time, the house is always in a mess.

To save the house, I bought them out. :P Either to window shopping (to enjoy the air-con), the newly open wet plus dry playground at a shopping centre near my place or to ride on their bikes. Unless, someone buys me a notebook, I won't be able to blog when I'm out. :P But I did however complete a few of my sewings. I hand sew my stuff so I don't need to carry the sewing machine (which I don't own one) with me in case you are wondering how I could sew outside.

Since my husband is still at work (yes, it's past midnight now), I'm taking the time to make a quick post. Otherwise, he nag at me for stay up late just to blog. :P

So, here it is. This is something I did for a magazine sometime ago. I'm not sure if they will be using it. My son likes it, so I thought I'll just share it with you.

It's basically sandwich presented in a fun way. You just need the basic ingredients for sandwich. What I used here are bread, ham, cheese, lettuce, Japanese cucumber and cherry tomatoes.

I used a flower cookie cutter to cut the bread, ham and cheese to cut them into smaller pieces. The lettuce is tear into size. The Japanese cucumber are thin enough, so I just slice them to the thickness I want. The top of the cherry tomato must be cut off so it's easier to pierce through.

You can use bamboo skewers if you like but what you see here is 'pokey sticks'. It's a little fragile. I had wanted to get Mitsuya Tasty Bisuit Stick but it wasn't stocked up at the gocery store at my place.

If you are making sandwiches for pinic this school holiday, try making these instead.

Roasted Dang Gui Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:44:00 +0000

This is another of our favourite chicken dish. I use my Sharp Water Oven to do this. As usual, the chicken turned out succulent. And we love the aroma when we open the cover. :)

Perviously, I did not add water, Gou Qi Zi 枸杞子 (Wolfberries) and Hong Zao 红枣 (Red Dates) when I roast the Chicken. There will still be some liquid at the end of the roasting. I call that Chicken Dang Gui 当归 (Angelica Sinensis) Essence :P It's really thick.

I wanted more sauce so we can dip the chicken meat with, so I add in some water when roasting the chicken. On top of that, I added some wolfberries and red dates to make the sauce sweeter. I also add in a few pieces of Chuan Gong 川芎 (Szechwan Lovage Rhizome) for the aroma.

If you use to making Dang Gui Chicken Soup, try roasting it for a change.

Ingredients:

1 Chicken, cleaned
500ml Hot water
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
10g Dang Gui 当归 (Angelica Sinensis), grind into powder
10g Gou Qi Zi 枸杞子 (Wolfberries)
6 Hong Zao 红枣 (Red Dates)
3g Chuan Gong 川芎 (Szechwan Lovage Rhizome)

How to do it:

Mix the Tang Gui 当归 (Angelica Sinensis) powder together with salt.
Rub the powder all over the chicken, including under the skin and in the cavity.
Place all ingredients and chicken in a casserole and with a lid.
Cover or wrap with foil if you are using just a dish.
Roast for 1 1/2 hours at 190C.
Check for doneness; juices would run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced with a metal skewer.
Remove the lid or foil, season with salt if need.
Baste the chicken with the soup sauce and continue to roast without covering the chicken for another 15 minutes to brown the skin.
Serve.

Baked Cheesy Mushroom Pot

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:54:00 +0000

I had leftovers of some ingredients and decided to put them all together and voila! Only thing missing is perhaps pasta and cream here. But I guess my family didn't care. They like it with rice too. Actually, they are not fans of pasta anyway. ;)

Ingredients:

1 clove Garlic, minced
1/3 tablespoon Oil
4 Shitake Mushroom, sliced
3 Button Mushroom, sliced
1 King Oyster Mushroom, sliced
1 Streaky Bacon, chopped into bits
1 slice Ham, chopped into bits.
1 slice Cheese (Kraft singles)
1 handful Mozzarella Cheese
1 tablespoon Parmesan Cheese

How to do it

Heat oil in wok.
Add bacon and garlic and cook till garlic is fragrant.
Add in ham and mushroom.
Stir fry till mushroom are 90% cooked.
Pour into a oven proof dish.
Tear the singles cheese and mix well with the mushroom.
Top mushroom with Mozzarella Cheese followed by Parmesan Cheese.
Bake at preheated oven at 190C for 12 minutes or till cheese melts and brown slightly.
Remove and serve.

Note:
This the a dish of leftovers. You don't have to follow exactly what I use.
You can use only one type of mushroom if you like. I just want to finish all that was left in my fridge.

Spicy Fragrant Wings

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:12:00 +0000

Wow! How long have it been since my last post? Sorry for the lack of post. My son's first exam is finally over. Phew! It's so stressful trying not to stress the boy too much.

I don't remember my parents and teachers pushing me so much when I was having exams when I was younger. I don't even remember revising for exams. :P Times are different now.

I'm not the type of parents who wants their kids to score As. I do hope and wish but I'm happy if he pass, especially when this is his first exam. I think he is the one who is stress because he kept saying he thinks he failed the exams. Sigh!

Results won't be out till next Tuesday. But I'm not going to think about it anyway. For the first time, I actually looking forward to the June school holidays. I don't care if the kids make a mess of the house and make a lot of noise at home. Okay, maybe just a bit. I have sign up some holiday courses for the kids. No more English, Mathematics and Chinese. It's magic, science and baking!! My son is already looking forward to them.

Okay, so much on updates about me. Here's an over-due recipe (and many more waiting to be posted:P) that me and my husband like a lot. Maybe you will like it too.

Ingredients:

8 mid joint Chicken Wings
1 tablespoon minced Ginger
1 tablespoon minced Garlic

Marinade:

1 Egg
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Cornflour

Sauce

2 tablespoon Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce
2 tablespoon Tomato Sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
1 tablespoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
8 tablespoon Water

How to do it:

Marinate chicken with marinade for at least an hour.
Deep fry chicken till golden brown.
Drain from excess oil.
In a wok, stir fry the ginger and garlic with 1 tablespoon oil till fragrant.
Pour sauce into wok.
When sauce starts to boils, put in the fried chicken.
Cook till the sauce is thickened and the chicken is well coated.
Dish and serve.

Steamed Egg with Tofu

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:35:00 +0000

My daughter loves eggs. Eggs done any way. Hard boiled, soft boiled, scrambled, pouched, fried, braised, steamed, etc. except raw eggs. :P She just loves to eat eggs. The other food she likes very much is tofu.

I combined the two to come up with another dish that she loves too. It's really easy to made too!

Ingredients:

2 eggs
a pinch of salt
160ml Broth
1 tube Egg Tofu, cut into pieces
1 Dried Scallop
1 teaspoon Cornflour
1/2 teaspoon Oyster Sauce

How to do it:

Soak the dried scallop in 5 tablespoon of hot water before hand.
Beat egg lightly in a bowl
Add broth and salt.
Mix well.
Sieve the egg mixture if you want a smoother result.
Pour into a shallow flat dish.
Place tofu in it
Cover the bowl with cling wrap or aluminum foil.
Heat a pot of water for steaming.
When the water starts to boil, put in the dish.
Remove when egg is set.
While the egg is cooking, tear the scallop into strands.
Return the dried scallop strands to the water.
Add in oyster sauce and corn flour.
Mix well.
Bring the sauce to a boil while gently stirring it.
Remove and pour over the steamed egg and tofu.
Drizzle with sesame seed oil if you like.
Serve.

Note:

Use a shallow dish to steam the egg, then you don't have to cut the tofu too thick and you will be able to see the tofu in the egg when it's done.
Use a flat dish so the tofu can be spread out.

Sweet Pork

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:10:00 +0000

Nope, it's not sweet and sour pork, if that's you thought it is. But close though. It's one the results of my cooking experiment. ;)

I ran out of vinegar so I experiment making pork without it and .... Tada! Sweet and sour pork minus the sour equals Sweet Pork! :P hehehe ...

Try this. Not too bad too. ;)

Ingredients:

300g Pork, cubed

Marinade:

1 teaspoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg White
1 tablespoon Cornflour
1/2 tablespoon Rice flour

Sauce:

2 tablespoon Water
1 tablespoon Sugar
1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
1 teaspoon Cornflour

How to do it:

Marinate the pork in the marinade for at least 30 minutes.
Fry in oil till lightly brown.
Dish, drain and set aside.
Bring sauce to a simmer, stirring slowing.
When the sauce starts to thickens, add in the pork.
Stir constantly till the pork cubes are well coated with the sauce.
Dish and serve hot.

7-up Plum Lollipops

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:36:00 +0000

The kids love these. Well, because it's easy to eat I guess. Occasionally, I'll made this for dinner. It always ends up with them finishing the drumlets (they call it lollipops!) first and nothing left to go with the rice. :/

I find it appetizing with the slight sour taste from the plum sauce. My husband loves this. With all the meat pushed down to the end, he just need a bite to finish one drumlet. :P

Ingredients:

8 Drumlets
Oil for deep frying

Marinade:

1/2 teaspoon Light Soya Sauce
1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
1 tablespoon Cornflour
1 Egg, beaten
A pinch of Salt

Sauce:

200ml 7-up (Soft drink)
3 tablespoon Honey
1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine
1 tablespoon Plum Sauce
1/2 teaspoon Salt

How to do it:

Scrape meat from 'skinny end' of the drum and push in down or you can leave it as it is.
Marinate the chicken drumlets in the marinade for at least 30 minutes
Deep fry till golden brown.
Remove and drain well.
In a clean wok, heat up 1/2 tablespoon oil (used to fry the chicken).
Pour in the sauce mixture.
Bring to a boil before lowing the heat to continue cooking the sauce in simmer.
When the sauce starts to thickens, add in the fry drumlets.
Coat well with sauce.
Remove and serve.

Meat and Mushroom Pancake

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:11:00 +0000

Every time when I ran out of ideas on what to cook for dinner, I will make this pancake. Nobody will complain about having this as one of the dishes for dinner.

In the past, I'll be hesitant to make this often as this requires shallow frying so it's not so healthy to eat it often. With an oven, it different. I use very little or no oil. But honestly, cooking this using the shallow frying way tasted better as it's moist. Baking it makes it dry but crispy on the the outside.

So you decide which way you like it. :)

Ingredients:

150g Minced Meat (I use pork)
100g Fish Paste
3 Fresh Shitake Mushroom, diced
3 Water Chestnut, washed, skinned and diced
2 Shallot, diced
1/2 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
A pinch of Salt
1 piece Dried Beancurd Skin (腐皮）

How to do it:

Mix all ingredients except beancurd skin well.
Set aside.
Carefully rinse the beancurd skin in water taking care not to tear it.
Squeeze out exceed water gently.
Lay the beancurd skin flat.
Spread the meat paste about 0.5cm thick on half of the beancurd skin.
Fold the 3 sides of the beancurd skin over the meat paste.
Fold in the the other half of the beancurd skin over the meat paste to cover it.
Place on a baking tray to bake in a preheated oven at 200c for 8 minutes.
Turn over and continue to bake for another 8 minutes.
Remove and cut into smaller pieces to serve.

Note:

I rinse the beancurd skin so it's not salty. You can also use a damp cloth to clean it but do not add any more salt to the meat paste if you are doing this.
I'm using a non-stick baking tray to bake. If you do not have one, you might want to sparing spread some oil on the tray to prevent sticking.
If you are using shallow frying method, heat your pan with 1/2 tablespoon oil to fry it. Turn over to continue frying when it turn golden brown.
You might want to consider making the pancake smaller to fit your pan.

Simple Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:20:00 +0000

Wow! I'm overwhelmed by the responses from my last post. Thank you so much for all the support and encouragement! Like one of my friends said, receiving this hate mail might not be a bad thing after all. One thing for sure, it showed that I do have people out there who cares about me and like what I'm doing. :) I have received a few more emails from the same person but I choose to send it to the junk box. Hopefully, he or she will stop sending me emails when there is no response from me.

To those who had spend time send me emails and posting your comments here and in my chat box, sorry I have not response but do know that I'm truly grateful for your comforting words. I'm not very good with words. So, it's just thank you, thank you and more thank yous. Thank you so much for everything! :)

Okay, this is for someone who likes me too (you do, right?) :P She works for a local kids magazine and she dropped me an email to check if I would be interested to do food feature for them. Aww ... what an honour! Thank you, Karin! :) I would love to help if I could and if I have the time. Hopefully, I didn't mess it up. :P

She wanted something that kids can do on their own or with a little help from an adult and this is for mummy dearest on Mother's Day. I thought the very versatile, pancake, will be good idea.

It can be served with anything! Just syrup and or butter. With Ice-cream and chocolate sauce. Yums! For the healthy one, with fruits, like what I did. ;) For the very local ones, sandwiched with red bean paste or kaya. I can go on and on.

Kids nowadays are very creative. They will come out with their own creation to please mummy. I bet mummy will be touched to be served with any breakfast made by her children. But I bet she will be even more proud and impressed if the kitchen is cleaned up after that. LOL

Ingredients:

140g Plain Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
40g Sugar
1 Egg, beaten
240ml Fresh Milk
30g Unsalted Butter, melted
Icing Sugar
Strawberries, top removed

How to do it:

Put flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
Mix well.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg, milk and butter together.
Pour the all of the egg mixture into the flour mixture.
Whisk till combined.
Heat a non-stick pan. If using a regular pan, brush it with some butter.
When the pan is hot, turn to low heat.
Pour some batter to the pan. Amount to pour depends on how big you want the pancake to be.
When batter starts to bubbles, flip over to cook on the other side.
Remove when pancake is slightly brown.
Repeat till all batter are used up.
To assemble, place a few pancake together.
Use a cookie cutter or a glass to cut a hole in the middle.
Remove the circle pancake.
Place strawberries in the hole of the pancake.
Dust with icing sugar.
Serve with additional syrup if you like.

Note:
The cut-out pancakes can be use to make sandwich using peanut butter, jam, cheese, etc, as fillings.

Chicken Soup with Pear

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:40:00 +0000

Okay, before I feed you with some nourishing soup, I have something to tell you. Somebody out there hates me.

Yap, I received a long hate mail a couple of weeks ago. Basically, the person hates me and wants me to close my blog. Apparently, he/she says my blog is a waste of space in blogsphere. He/she doesn't understand what I'm writing and looking at what I cooked makes him/her vomit (may he/she happened to have food poisoning), blah, blah, blah, and the list goes on .

I'm a stay-at-home-mum who only started learning cooking when my elder son was slightly over 2 years old, that's about 4 years ago. I never mentioned anything about me able to cook like an expert. Nobody says anything about having to writing beautifully when you blog either. He/she must have really high standards for food blogs. :P

Oh! One more thing! I didn't create a few hundred emails to subscribed to my own blog if this is what he/she meant when he/she said I fake my own readership. And I have never forced anyone to subscribe to my blog too. Did I force you to subscribe?

So, dear "wokkingmum sucks" (that's what he/she signed off as), I'm sorry to disappoint you, this blog will not be closed even it makes you vomit; as least my family didn't. I'll continue to blog even nobody (except me) understands what I'm writing or nobody continues to visit this blog. It was meant as a cooking reference for myself when I first started it anyway. So it just back to square one even if it happens, no worries! :P

Okay, not that I need one but having a nourishing soup now is not a bad idea either. ;)

Ingredients:

1 Whole Chicken
200g Lean Pork
1 large Chinese Pear 雪梨 (round with brown skin)
5 Dried Figs 无花果
20g Chinese Almond 南杏
10g Apricot kernel 北杏
1.8 litre Water
Salt to taste

How to do it:

Blanch chicken.
Skin, core and cut pear into pieces.
Add all ingredients except salt together.
Bring to a boil before reducing heat to a simmer.
Continue to cook for at least 2 hours.
Season with salt.
Serve.

Chicken Soup with Chinese Yam & Almond

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:56:00 +0000

Late last month, we went to Lao Beijing to have lunch. Err... We don't really like the food there. The kids hated it. :P For the price we are paying ... I don't think we will be back there again. It's just not to our liking. But the soup my hubby ordered for me was not too bad. That was the only consolation.

I came back home and try to replicate it with what I saw and tasted. Hey, I didn't do too bad. Mine version doesn't taste exactly like the original but it's close enough. ;) At least, everyone is please with it and it had since took over this soup as the family's favourite.

Before I share the recipe, I just want to put a note that the original soup came with a few pieces of *gulp* shark's fin. I know there are a lot of people who are against eating it. And yes, I know what they did to the sharks after removing their fins. :(

To tell the truth, I had added some shark's fin here in this soup. :P We happened to have a box of dried shark's fin which was part of a gift basket given to us during Chinese New Year. It's a one time thing. I didn't go buy shark's fin to add into my soup subsequently. So please to flame me, okay? ;P

Seriously, adding shark's fins doesn't help make the soup taste any extra nicer. It's used so it would be priced higher. If you want to make the soup looks expensive and classier, vegetarian shark's fin can do the job just as good. ;)

Ingredients:

1 Whole Chicken
300 lean Pork
25g Huai Shan 淮山 (Radix Dioscoreae Oppositae) aka Chinese Yam
20g Chinese Almond 南杏
6 Hong Zao 红枣 (Red Dates)
1.8 litre Water
Salt to taste

How to do it:

Blanch chicken and meat.
Add all ingredients, except salt, into a pot.
Bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer.
Continue cooking for at least 2 hours.
Add salt to taste.
Serve.

Note:

If you must add shark's fin, real or vegetarian, just steam it for 10 - 15 minutes (shorter for vegetarian) with enough stock to cover it. Add it to the soup before serving.
The stock can be returned to the soup to use.
You can also add 1/3 tablespoon of Chinese Cooking Wine to the soup if you like.

Roast Chicken (Rice)

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:13:00 +0000

I have a lot of diners coming to this little cyber eatry searching for Chicken Rice. One of the diners asked if I have the recipe for the roasted version. I managed to asked my mother in law (she sold Chicken Rice before) how to make the roasted chicken.

And I have both good and bad news. The good news is I have the method on how it's done and the bad news is I don't have marinade and the stuffing ingredients. :P

In case you are not aware, our roasted chicken (rice) here (in Singapore) is not roasted, it's cooked with oil. You know, like deep frying. But wait a minute! Take a look at the skin (in the picture). It doesn't look fried but roasted. And the best part is the meat is moist like blanched chicken. So it's actually Fried Chicken that looks like Roasted Chicken and moist like Blanched Chicken. :P

This recipe is not complete. I'm still finding out and experimenting more on it. I'm sharing what I know so far.

For a start, the chicken is rubbed all over with salt, including the cavity.
Set the chicken aside.
Mix 6 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce, 5 tablespoon Maltose, 1 tablespoon Water and Juice of 1 Lime, together.
Bring the marinade mixture to a simmer.
Blanch the chicken with the marinade mixture by scooping the mixture with spoon and pour over the chicken.
Continue doing till the whole chicken coated with the marinade and is tinted light brown.
This chicken should be should be about 30% cooked on the outside.
Hang the chicken to air dry. I cheated by placing it in the refrigerator uncovered. :P
Prepare a pot of hot oil.
Place the whole chicken into the oil to cook it.
Remove when chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Hang to drip the chicken from excess oil.
Serve it with Chicken Rice, fresh cucumber or tomato and drizzle of a mixture of light soy sauce and sesame seed oil.

Note:
I did use that much oil which according to my mother-in-law, is a must to cook the chicken nicely. I took a much longer time, by 'bathing' the chicken like how I did when blanched it with the marinade mixture.

Accordingly to my mother-in-law, she only rub the cavity with salt. No herbs were used. However, most of the roasted chicken I have tasted were stuffed with some herbs. I'm still finding out what herbs were used. If anyone had any ideas, I would appreciate it if you could share it. :)

I'm looking forward to the day I could do the complete and proper local Singapore Roasted Chicken Rice. :D

Lunch Box #14

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:41:00 +0000

This is my last lunch box I prepared for my son. He doesn't want to bring lunch box to school anymore. :(

I suspect that he prefers to bring money to school so he can buy and eat whatever he likes. Noone to stop him. :/ Hmm ... I don't think I'll stop making lunch box for him. I'm just going to let him have some freedom and fun buy food from the school canteen, then start making lunch box again.

This lunch was made according to my son's request. Noodles, lightly stir fried with sesame seed oil and oyster sauce. I added Kai Lan, carrots and fish cakes to it too. I actually wanted to do something with the carrots but run out of time, so I just had to leave it as it is with the hole in the middle. :P

Grilled Squid

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Do you like bbq stuff? I do! Ohh ... I missed the BBQ Stingray at my parent's place. You know I can't take spicy food but I just love the BBQ Stingray there. Each time I eat that, my face with be as red as a cooked crab and my face wet with perspiration. :P

BBQ squid is one of the dishes I will order sometimes. Now occasionally, I will do it at home. It's so much cheaper. ;P

Ingredients:

5 medium Squid
1 Banana Leaf, optional
1 Shallot, sliced
1 Lime

Chilli Paste:

6 Fresh Red Chilli
12 Dried Chilli
8 Shallot
6 clove Garlic
1 stalk Lemongrass
1/2 tablespoon Belacan
3 petals from Pink Ginger Flower Bud
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Salt to taste

How to do it:

Remove soft bone and innards of squids.
Cut squids into rings.
Set aside.
Grind all ingredients for chilli paste, except for sugar and salt, together.
Heat wok with 1 teaspoon of oil.
Stir fry chilli paste till fragrant.
Add sugar and salt to taste.
Leave to cool.
Add in squid to marinade for at least 30 minutes.
Place squid with chilli paste on banana leaf.
Grill in preheated oven at 180C for 15 minutes or till cooked.
Remove and top with fresh shallot sliced and drizzle with lime jucie.
Serve immediately.

Note:
You can pan grill if you do not have an oven.
If you like it hotter, grinde in some chilli padi to the chilli paste.
The pink ginger flower adds a pleasant aroma. If you can't find it, leave it out.

Lunch Box #13

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:08:00 +0000

This is one of the older lunch box I did for my son. He had requested to buy his lunch from the canteen. I guess he just wants to follow his friends.

The lunch box here has spinach packed rice cake. I dip a little light soy sauce and pan fried it. Carrots and sausage are steamed. I 'stick' the sausage with melted cheese. You must make sure the sausage is dry for the cheese to stick. My son asked my to pack some furikake to season the rice. :\ So that's what's in the bottle.

Fried Prawn Tofu

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:05:00 +0000

As promised, Part 2 of the previous Prawn Tofu dish.

For those who doesn't have an oven or toaster, I mentioned you can steam it. What you do is, brush a deep dish with oil. Then spread the mixture into the dish and level it. You oil the dish so you can easily remove the cooked tofu later for further cooking, if you like. Otherwise, the cooked tofu will stick to the dish.

Cover the dish with foil to avoid vapor from adding on to the tofu. Steam it for 15 minutes or longer if your tofu mixture is thick.

Once it's cooked, let it cool before remove it by placing a dish on it and turning over. You can serve it as it is for a healthier choice.

For a not so healthy choice :P, cut into rectangular blocks or into cubes, dust it lightly with corn flour. It will stick as the tofu is wet. Deep fried till lightly brown. Drain on paper towels and serve hot with sauce.

So, which is for you? The healthier or not so healthy version? ;)

Baked Prawn Tofu

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 02:19:00 +0000

Missing for 2 weeks again. You probably got use to me having lesser post now. :P But I'm still here and really grateful that I'm in fact getting more diners to my humble little cyber eatry. Thank you everyone who likes to dine here.

Back to the post. This is a 2 part post. Part 2 will be up early next week. I have schedule to post it automatically, so you won't have to wait for 2 weeks to hear from me again. :P

This dish looks great and is a good consideration if you are hosting a dinner. I'm using the oven to bake this. Toaster works too but if you don't own either one, you can actually steam it. More on that in Part 2.

Ingredients:

1 box Silken Tofu
3 Water Chestnuts, skinned and diced
1/2 kg Small to Medium Prawns
100g Fish/Squid Paste (optional)
Cooking Oil

Seasonings:

1 teaspoon Chinese Cooking Wine
1/2 teaspoon Oyster Sauce
1/3 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
2 tablespoon Cornflour

How to do it:

Shell prawns and keep tails of 10 prawns intact.
Devien all prawns.
Slit the back of the 10 prawns.
Mash tofu and squeeze as much water out using Muslin cloth. You can also use a fine sieve to do this.
Combine all ingredients and seasoning except oil and prawns with tail together.
Mix well.
Brush porcelain spoon with oil.
Put a little mixture in the spoon.
Place the a prawn with it's silted back down to the mixture. Press down a little.
Put more mixture to cover the prawn leaving only the tail.
Brush the top mixture with a little oil.
Bake in preheat oven at 190C for 18 minutes, longer if the mixture is more.
Serve with spoon or removed and served on dish.

Note:
The fish/squid paste gives the tofu the "spring" when you bite it.

Black Chicken Porridge

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 05:12:00 +0000

You see Chicken Porridge very often but using Black (boned) Chicken 乌骨鸡? I have not heard of anyone using it for porridge. For soup, yes but not porridge. At least not the people I know. Hopefully, I'm not the only one out there.

Chinese always use this breed of chicken for double-boiled soup along with Chinese Herbs. The meat of this chicken is finer and sweeter compared to the regular chicken. It is believed that this breed of chicken is more nutritious and is a curative food. I can't confirm this but I do like making soup with Black (boned) Chicken as the soup is clearer.

I have been using Black (boned) Chicken in place of regular chicken to make porridge for many years. It was first for my son when he was a toddler. If you follow my blog from the beginning, you would know he is a very picky and fussy eater. Now, my daughter likes it too.

When they are younger, I would add Chinese Yam 山药 along with Wolfberries 枸杞子 and red dates 红枣 when I cook the black boned chicken porridge. Now that they are older, they are able to tell the taste difference with and without the Chinese Yam and preferred I not add it.

Now I add a couple of dried scallops instead for it's sweetness and a few dash of Chinese Cooking Wine to bring out the taste of chicken porridge.

In case you are curious, my method of making this is by cooking the whole (blanched) chicken with rice, together with the other ingredients. I feel it will be as waste if you only use the meat. The bone was pack with nutrition too. If you don't stir it too hard the whole chicken will be intact and you need not worry about have small pieces of bones in the porridge.

When the porridge ready, slowly lift the chicken out with a large ladle or slotted spoon. You can then shred the chicken and add it to the porridge if you like. Then add in the Chinese Cooking Wine and salt to taste at the end and give it a last stir and it done.

Lunch Box #12

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:49:00 +0000

Another simple lunch box I did for my son. You won't see me making complicated lunch box here. I only have about an hour to complete everything, including clearing the kitchen top.

I have somehow manage to persuade him to have bread instead of his regular rice lunch box. Thank you! Do you know it's so much easier?!

I used sweet bun here and in between the bun are lettuce and pork patties. (Just look that my post from almost 2 years ago! :P ) I used cherry tomato instead of the normal sliced tomato as I think it's easier for him to eat it. Oh, and not forgetting fruits!