New Recipe from WokkingMum

Threadfin with Ginger Sauce 香煎姜汁马鲅

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:48:00 +0000

I have been trying very hard to make my kids eat fish other than Cod and had only been successful with this dish using Threadfin.

Threadfin, commonly know as 午鱼 in Hokkien and 马友 in Cantonese, is very often use when I made fish porridge for my kids when they were toddlers.

As this is done with ginger sauce, it has a very nice aroma and reminds me of a friend who is doing her confinement. I bet she will enjoys this dish.

There are ready-made (Japanese) Ginger sauce but I prefer to make my own as I don't have to free-up space in my fridge or kitchen cabinet to keep it. I don't have to worry about wastage towards the expiry date too. My major frustration with ready-made sauce is some times I can't find it anymore when I want to get it.

My ginger sauce may not be better than ready-made ones but ingredients are easily found, easy to made and you can adjust the flavour according to your taste too. You can make it anytime you need it too. Do try it out. :)

Ingredients:

1 slice of Threadfin

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

Ginger Sauce for Marinade:

1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce

1 teaspoon Ginger Juice (done by grating the ginger using a grater)

1 teaspoon Chinese Cooking Wine

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

Ginger Sauce for Seasoning:

1 tablespoon Light Soy Sauce

1 teaspoon Ginger Juice (done by grating the ginger using a grater)

1 teaspoon Mirin

1/2 tablespoon Water

1/2 teaspoon Sugar (optional)

How to do it:

Marinate threadfin in ginger sauce marinade for half an hour.

Heat pan with oil.

Drain threadfin and place in pan.

Pan fry on all sides on medium high heat till just cooked, about 10-12 mins.

Dish and set aside.

Using the same pan pour in ginger sauce for seasoning.

Bring to a gentle simmer.

Drizzle over threadfin or use it as a dipping sauce.

Oven Grilled Salmon with Dill 莳萝叶烤三文鱼

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:48:00 +0000

This is my husband all time favourite fish dish and the only (cooked) salmon dish I take. It's another easy dish to make.

My husband has been reaching home past 9pm lately. I just had this prepared beforehand. When he is back, I let the oven do the cooking while he takes a bath. When he is out, it's ready and it's till a hot and 'fresh', not reheated ~~supper~~ dinner. Most importantly, minimum cleaning required. ;)

I'm reposting the recipe I posted a few years ago, with minor adjustment, for easy reference.

Ingredients:

1 slice Salmon

1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder

Zest of 1 Lemon

1/2 tablespoon Dill, chopped

1/2 teaspoon Olive Oil

1/3 teaspoon Salt

a dash of Ground Black Pepper

A wedge of Lemon

How to do it:

Rub salt and pepper on salmon and set aside.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together except lemon.

Spread the herb mixture on both sides of the salmon, more on the top.

Grill in oven at 220C for 15 minutes or till cooked.

Squeeze lemon juice on salmon and serve immediately.

Orange Slices Agar Agar 柳丁菜燕

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 12:49:00 +0000

I first started making these Orange Agar Agar in 2006. It was about then when I started to pick up cooking. :P

Recently, I bought a carton of orange juice that noone wants to drink (cos I bought the wrong brand) :P. I decided to make this dessert to use it up. At least, my son like it. ;) As usual, my 'fruit hater' daughter, won't even want to touch it. :/ Waste my effort remaking them into these orange slices.

I re-posting the recipe here for convenience to those who are interested to make it too.

Ingredients:

700ml Orange Juice (either freshly squeezed or store bought)

300ml Water

100g Sugar (depending on how sweet you want)

Clear Agar Agar Powder

How to do it:

If you are using fresh orange juice, wash the oranges and cut it into halves.

Squeeze the juice out. Be careful not to damage the orange skin.

Scoop out the remaining orange pulp.

To make the agar agar, boil water required as instructed on the pack. Mine requires 1 Liter of water but I'm using 300ml of water.

Set aside 700ml of orange juice (un-chilled) to mix with the agar agar mixture.

Stir in the sugar into the 300ml and agar agar powder in low heat till dissolved.

Turn of heat and add in the orange juice.

Pour the orange juice agar agar mixture to the orange cups or dessert cups.

Sit the orange cups on cups or bowls so it doesn’t topple when you pour the juice in.

Chill till the agar agar sets.

Cut the orange agar agar into 3 slices if using orange cups and serve.

Note:

Do not cook the orange juice otherwise it will turn bitter.

Combine both both freshly squeezed orange juice and store bought orange juice.

If you are using store bought orange juice, remember to bring it out of the fridge first. If you add cold orange juice into the agar agar mixture, it will turn lumpy.

Agar Agar in served cup, with orange pulp and a teaspoon of freshly squeezed orange juice

Grilled Sambal Squid 参巴烏賊

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:05:00 +0000

I have a craving to make sambal belacan yesterday, mainly because my husband is not in Singapore. I good time to make it! ;) He hates the odor. I think it's aroma. XD

I couldn't decided to grilled in the oven or in the Happy Call Pan. Sally, a fellow HCP member, suggested using the pan (but of course). I took up the challenge and put my dinner at risk. XD

I must say I'm lucky I took the risk. The squid is very soft, not chewy at all, even after reheating. Even my son who dislike eating squid, love it.

You will realised that I used a banana leaf. It also helps in the cooking as it acts as a barrier between the squid and the pan. There no direct contact with the heat source, tendency of over-cooking is minimised. The sambal that spilled over the banana leaf were thicken and slightly caramelised but not those that were on the leaf. If you are unable to get hold of a banaa leaf, you will have to cook at a lower heat and move the pan a lot.

Here's my recipe using the sambal belacan I shared before this post.

Ingredients:

3 medium Squid
1 Banana Leaf
1 Shallot, sliced
1 Lime
1 petals from Pink Ginger Flower Bud, sliced thinly (optional)
3 tablespoon Sambal Belacan, homemade or store bought

How to do it:

Add in squid to sambal belacan and marinade for 30 minutes.
Grease pan with a bit of oil and heat pan on medium high heat.
Place a piece banana leaf in the pan and spread the squid with the sambal on it.
Cover the pan and cook for 6 minutes.
Open the pan and cook for another 2 minutes.
Top with ginger flower and cover pan for half a minute.
Open the pan, dished top with sliced shallot and drizzle with lime juice.
Serve immediately.

Sambal Belacan 参巴峇拉煎辣椒酱

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:00:00 +0000

I'm a 'lousy' Singaporean. Why? Majority of Singaporeans can take spicy food. Very spicy food. For me, the curry to go with Prata is considered spicy. :P I belong to the minority who just can't handle the heat very well.

Having said that, I do like spicy food a lot, accompanied by lots of water of course. So, for me, the best thing to do is to make and cook my own 'spicy' food, with spicy level set to the lowest. >.<

I have been using this simple sambal belacan for all my 'spicy' food. You can adjust the level of spiciness according to the chilli you add in. The maximum I have handle is level 2. Give me level 3 and I'll be filled with water. XD

This sambal belacan goes well with both veggies and seafood. I don't think I'll need more introduction on those dishes are. :) In fact, I just used it for my Grilled Squid yesterday. Even my son loved it and suggested I used it on stingray next. :)

So here's the easy peasy and handy recipe.

Sambal Chilli Paste before cooking

Ingredients:

6 Fresh Red Chilli

12 Dried Chilli, soaked to soften (add with Fresh Red Chilli for level 2 spiciness)

3 Chilli Padi (add with both Fresh and Dried Chilli for level 3 spiciness)

3 Shallot

3 clove Garlic

1 stalk Lemongrass

1/3 tablespoon Belacan

1 teaspoon brown sugar

Salt to taste

How to do it:

Grind all ingredients for chilli paste, except for sugar and salt, together.

Heat wok with 1/2 tablespoon of oil.

Stir fry chilli paste till fragrant.

Add sugar and salt to taste.

Leave to cool.

Ready to use.

Note:

I only keep the 'cooked' sambal for not more than 2 days.

If you want to make more of the sambal to keep, please follow the following steps:

Chop the belacan and toast it on a pan till it's dry and powdery like.

Add the toasted belacan to the rest of the ingredients, except sugar & salt.

Blend it.

Add sugar and salt to taste.

Keep it air tight in the fridge for up to a week.

You can use this as an condiment with or without lime juice added.

Sambal Belacan used on Grilled Squid

Short Neck Clams in Clear Soup 日式蛤蜊汤

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:44:00 +0000

I loveeeee clams in clear soup served in Japanese Restaurant but the clams are so miserable after charging so much for a portion. :/

Do you know it's super easy to make it yourself at home. ;) Yes, I always say that :P but it is really easy. Trust me and you have have as much clams you like in the soup. :D

Ingredients:

12 Short Neck Clams or any other Clams (Short Neck Clams are sweeter)

1/2 to 1 packet Enoki Mushroom (optional)

3 slices Ginger, julienned

140ml water

1 teaspoon Dashi Powder

1 tablespoon Sake

1/4 teaspoon Salt

Light Soy Sauce to taste

How to do it:

Soak clams in salted water to let it 'spit' out sand.

Steam clams for 10 minutes or till are slightly opened.

Discard those that remain closed.
Remove clams and set aside

Sieve and reserve liquid from steaming the clams.

Meanwhile, bring water to a boil.

Add in the reserved clam juice and the rest of the ingredients, except salt and light soy sauce.

Bring it to a gentle boil.

Season with salt and light soy sauce.

Serve.

Note:
I did an extra step of steaming the clam to make sure all clams are good. I don't want to risk having a clam that is bad cooking in the soup. It happened to me before and I had to throw away the whole soup. :( This extra step also help filters any sand/dirt that was not expel out previously from the soaking.

Seaweed Shaker Fries 紫菜摇摇薯条

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:45:00 +0000

I had some leftover fries I had from lunch. I didn't want to throw it away, so I reheated it in the oven and added my homemade Seaweed Seasoning. It resembles some seasonal fries from a certain fast food joint eh?

Try this if you have leftover fries that you don't want to toss out. You can pan fry it too if you don't have an oven.

Ingredients:

8 pieces Japanese Seaweed Snack

1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/2 teaspoon Chicken Powder/Salt (Chicken Powder taste a lot better)

1 portion of Large French Fries

How to do it:

Grind the seaweed to almost powder like.

Mix well with garlic powder and Chicken Powder.

Add french fries into a paper bag with the seaweed seasoning.

Shake till fries are well coated.

Tear open paper bag and dig in.

Note:
You don't have to use a paper bag if you don't have one. Just toss in a deep dish.

Egg, Ham and Cheese in Pandan Crepe三色香兰卷

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:14:00 +0000

If you have been making Ham and Cheese Sandwich for your kids and they no longer longer show interest in eating it, this might be a good alternative.

I did a small modification to my original recipe. I added cheese and using pandan paste instead of pandan juice. Yes, it's not natural but it saves lots of time and work. You can still go ahead to use the home made pandan juice or you can leave the crepe plain too.

Ingredients:

100g Plain flour, shifted

3 Eggs

150ml Water

2-3 Ham, sliced in strips

1-2 slice Cheese, cut into strips

1/2 teaspoon Pandan Paste

a pinch of Salt

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

How to do it:

Stir in water to flour slowly.

Add in 1 egg.

Add pandan paste to make the batter green.

Add in the salt and sugar.

Beat egg and set aside

Using a non-stick pan, pour in some pandan batter.

Let the batter spread into a thin crepe.

Turn it over and remove when both sides are cooked.

Using the same pan, slowly pour in 1/2 of the beaten egg.

Let the egg mixture spread into a thin egg crepe.

Turn it over and remove when both sides are cooked.

Place the egg on the cooked pandan crepe.

Put cheese and ham strips on one side and roll both egg and pancake together.

Cut into smaller pieces, hold with food picks and serve.

Note:

The pandan batter makes about 4 crepes.

You might need 2-3 eggs, depending on the size of your eggs, to make the same number of egg crepes.

Pot Stickers 锅贴

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

I have been craving for Pot Stickers for a while and decided to make some myself. I could find the usual dumpling skin I used to make Pot Stickers. I bought normal round wanton skin instead.

My son likes it so much he requested I made it again; 3 days in a row! My husband wants soup so I cooked the dumplings with Chicken Broth and Pot Stickers become Dumpling Soup.

Ingredients:

250g Minced Pork or Chicken

300g Prawns, shelled, devein and diced

3 Waterchestnut, skinned and diced

50g Chive, chopped

Wanton Skin or Gyoza Skin

Seasonings:

1/2 tablespoon Fish Sauce

1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine

1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce

1 teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil

1/2 teaspoon Ginger Juice (grate ginger and squeeze for juice)

1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder or 2 clove Garlic, grated till paste like

1/2 teaspoon Chicken Powder (optional)

a dash of Pepper

Dipping Sauce:

2 tablespoon Black Vinegar

1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce

1/2 teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil

1/2 teaspoon Ginger Juice

How to do it:

Mix all ingredients, except Wanton Skin, with seasonings well.

Preferably to set aside for half an hour before you start making the dumplings.

Prepare dumpling as shown in the instruction video at the end of this post.

Heat pan with a teaspoon of oil.

Place pot stickers in pan and close.

Pan fry 2 side for 30 seconds each. You can skip this step if you like.

(On the 3rd side) Add 3-4 tablespoon chicken stock or water, cover pan to let cook for 5 minutes or till stock is dry.

Dish and serve with dipping sauce.

For Dumpling in Soup:

Have 2 pots ready, 1 filled with water and 1/2 tablespoon water and the other with Chicken Stock.

Bring the pot with water to a boil and the pot with chicken stock to a simmer.

Place dumpling in the pot of water and cook for a minute.

Remove and place the dumplings into the pot with Chicken Stock.

Bring the pot of dumplings to a boil.

Add salt to salt.

Pour into a bowl, drizzle with sesame seed oil and serve with spring onion.

Note:

If you are using a regular flying pan, you will just need to have a cover and cook a minute or 2 longer.

Traditional Pot Sticker are fried only on one side, I like it slightly brown on the other 2 sides, hence I did Step 6. You can skip that if you like.

All ready to be cooked.

Tangy Oven Grilled Winglets with Herbs 香烤鸡翼

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 04:16:00 +0000

I usually use the same marinade for a whole chicken. For this case, I used it on winglets as I can grill them when we want to eat them. If I want to cook it faster, I pan grill them. Taste just as good except it's drier.

Ingredients:

10 Winglets

Marinade:

1/2 teaspoon Dried Thyme

2 teaspoon Dried Rosemary

Rind of a Lemon

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Juice of 1 Lemon (half if you want it less sour)

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

How to do it:

Mix Marinade.

Add chicken to marinade and set aside for at least 1/2 hour.

Drain winglets from marinade.

Grill in preheated oven at 200C for 30mins, turning the winglets mid way.

Remove and serve.

Note:
You can pan grill the winglet too. You just to brush your grill pan with oil to grill them.

Pandan Chicken 香兰炸鸡块

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:35:00 +0000

Deep Fried Pandan Chicken

This is one of dishes that I like so much that I kept modifying it. It's the 3rd revision on the blog. The first was in Year 2006, second in Year 2007 and a couple modifications after that which I did not post.

Deep Fried Version Oven Baked Version

For this latest recipe, I'm still sharing the usual deep-frying method (refer to top photo of this post). In addition, there will be an alternative, oven baked method (refer to the photo below). Those who wants a healthier choice will welcome it.

I'll be sharing how to wrap the chicken meat using pandan leaf without using any toothpick at the end of this post.

Oven Baked Pandan Chicken

Ingredients:

3 Chicken Drumstick, Deboned and cut into small pieces

1 stalk Pandan Leaves (about 12 - 14 leaves)

Marinade:

1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce

2 tablespoon Maltose

1 1/2 tablespoon Fish Sauce

1 teaspoon Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/3 teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce

1/4 teaspoon Turmeric Powder

1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder

How to do it:

Mix ingredients for marinade well

Marinate chicken for at least an hour.

Drain chicken but do not need to pat dry.

Wrap chicken with pandan leaves. Refer to video below on the instructions.

Set aside to deep fry or oven bake.

To Deep Fry:

Fill a small pot of oil to cover at least half the wrapped chicken.

When the oil is hot but not smoking, add in the wrapped chicken.

Remember to turn it if the oil doesn't cover the chicken.

Remove and drain on paper towel when it's cooked. Takes about 10 minutes.

To Oven Bake:

Drizzle wrapped chicken with some oil and toss.

Place on baking tray and bake in preheated oven at 200C for 15minutes, turn once in-between baking.

Increase temperature to 250C and continue baking for another 6 minutes.

Remove and serve.

All wrapped and ready to be deep fried or oven baked

Scrambled Eggs 炒鸡蛋

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:57:00 +0000

You probably already know how to make scrambled eggs. Well, this is the way I make mine and I did a little video on it. :p It's a bit 'dreamy' as I had the camera shooting through the glass of my cooker hood. ;)

In the video, I used cold eggs with no seasoning. Most of the time, I will break the eggs straight into the pan and break it up while cooking cos I will have 1 bowl lesser to wash this way. :P

For the video I made, I had the eggs beaten for convenience. I used a small 16cm pan to cook eggs so it will take a little longer to cook compared to using a bigger one as the eggs will have more space to spread and cook. The rest of the details is quite self-explanatory in the video so I won't be going further here.

Not sure if anyone will benefit from the video but I hope you enjoy it anyway. :)

Golden Sand Prawn 金沙虾球

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:01:00 +0000

This is a modified version of this dish. We love prawns but sometimes we are just too lazy to remove the shelled. At times, we just remove the shells without enjoying the flavours on it. Hence, I modified the recipe a little so the prawns now get all the flavours and not just on the shells.

Since the shells are removed, you have to be careful not to overcook the prawns. I didn't deep fried them, just a bit more oil to shallow fry.

Those who doesn't like to get their fingers dirty will like this. :)

Ingredients:

10 Large Prawns, shelled and devein

2 Salted Egg Yolk

1 stem Curry Leaves

1 tablespoon Butter

2 tablespoon Evaporated Milk

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

Marinade:

1 teaspoon Oyster Sauce

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil

3 tablespoon Corn Flour

1 Egg

a dash of pepper

How to do it:

Marinate the prawns for 10 minutes.

Shallow fry the prawn till 80% cooked.

Drain well and set aside .

Meanwhile, steam the salted egg yolks for 10 minutes or till just done.

Smash cooked yolks.

Melt butter and add in curry leaves and fried till fragrant.

Add in salted yolks and evaporated milk and prawns.

Toss well quickly.

Add salt and sugar.

Stir till well combined.

Dish and serve immediately.

King Ribs 排骨王

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:02:00 +0000

I have always liked King Ribs 排骨王, one of the popular dishes from zi char stall 煮炒店. I was never close to making the sauce till one day, while grocery shopping in a supermarket, I overheard 2 aunties discussing it. I approached them and asked if they could share with me the recipe. :P They shared the 3 main sauces needed to make the concoction and the rest if up to me to decipher.

I would never have guessed that the sauces used were so 'ang mo', mainly A1 sauce, HP sauce and Worcestershire sauce. I have the last 2 sauces but not A1 sauce and found it in Cold Storage. In fact you can get the 3 sauces in Cold Storage if you have none of the sauces

After experimenting a couple of times, I'm pleased with what I have come out with. I have been making this a few times now. The sauce goes well with ribs and pork chops. Not a good idea to use thinly sliced meat though.

Ingredients:

350g Pork Ribs or Pork Chops

Marinade:

1 egg

2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 tablespoon Corn Flour

Sauce:

1 1/2 tablespoon A1 Steak Sauce

1 1/2 tablespoon HP Sauce

1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 1/2 tablespoon Sugar

5 tablespoon Water

1 tablespoon Corn Flour

How to do it:

Marinate pork in the marinade for at least an hour.

Deep fry the pork till cooked.

Mix sauce well and pour into a wok.

Bring to a gentle simmer.

Add in the pork and toss to coat well with sauce.

Dish and serve.

No Shark's Fin Soup 瑶柱蟹肉羹

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:09:00 +0000

I get quite a few queries about Shark's Fin Soup just before Chinese New Year. Yes, I know there are many people who are against eating Shark's Fin. I won't pretend to be righteous here. If I'm being served a bowl of shark's fin soup, I'll eat it. It's worst to waste food.

I too think it's cruel to slice off the fins of sharks and throw them back to the sea to let them die slowly. But I find the way geese are raised for their livers cruel too. I wont stop anyone from eating anything they like or want. Different people have different cultures, different views and different eating preference. Unless Shark's Fin is banned or fishermen are banned for fishing it, you will continue to see people buying or eating it.

Anyways, this recipe doesn't contain Shark's Fin (happy?) Here's my ~~no shark's fins Shark's Fin Soup~~ Crabmeat with Dried Scallop Soup. It's pretty decent to serve to your guests too.

Ingredients:

1 litre Chicken Stock

600ml Water

500g Crab Meat, defrost and drained

30g Dried Scallop, soak to soften and shredded

2 Egg White, beaten

2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce

1/2 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine

1 teaspoon Chicken Powder

Salt to taste

Corn Flour Mixture To thicken the soup

How to do it:

Bring the chicken stock and water to a boil.

Add in crab meat and shredded scallops

Bring to a simmer.

Season with Chinese cooking Wine, oyster sauce and chicken powder.

Thicken with corn flour mixture.

Turn of fire and stir-in egg white.

Add salt to taste.

Serve.

Note:

You may wish to set aside some shredded dried scallop and top some on the soup just before serving.

If you really had to add in real or imitation shark's fins, steamed them in chicken stock for 20 mins.

Either add them into the soup before thickening with corn flour mixture (Step5) or top it just before serving, like the dried scallops.

Golden Pineapple Ball 凤梨酥

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:20:00 +0000

I finally had time to make Pineapple Tarts by staying up late last night. To save time, I did the close up type and shaped it like a ball. I bought some cloves and want to use it to make it look like a tangerine but totally forgotten about it until I finished making.

I'm using my old recipe as we like the texture. These Golden Pineapple Ball consist of 8g pineapple jam with 12g dough. I baked them this time at 180C for 16mins

I save some dough too, to make Chocolate Cookies for my daughter. She has been pestering me to do it since I failed my 1st attempt. :P This round it was much better with just a 6g dough for each chocolate pastille, dusted with cocoa powder and baked at 180C for 13mins. I bet she loves it. :)

Chocolate Cookies 巧克力酥

This is my failed Chocolate Cookies below :P Just too much dough.

Stuffed Mushroom 花枝招展

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:37:00 +0000

I was making Braised Chicken feet with mushroom and decided to set aside a few of the mushroom to make this dish.

This is done using the Happy Call Pan. By the way, the a Facebook Page on HCP and a Recipe Site too. Both set-up by a few ladies. Do check them out to see what you can cook using the pan. You'll be shocked!

They have a Monthly CookOff Challenge using HCP and for the January's Challenge, the ingredient is Dried Mushroom. I have already submitted mine some time back. ;) If you are interested to join in the fun, please do so quickly. You have till 25 January 2012 to submit your recipe with a photo to the recipe site.

Back to this dish. if you don't own a HCP, there's always the regular wok or steamer to do the job. Please refer to the alternative method at the end of the recipe for instructions.

Ingredients:

200g prawns, shelled, cleaned and minced

2 Squid, cleaned and outer 'skin' removed

6 Dried Mushroom, soak to soften and stalk removed

a small handful of Wolf berries

1 teaspoon Corn Flour

a pinch of Salt

a dash of Pepper

100ml Water

1/3 tablespoon Oyster Sauce

a pinch of Sugar

Cornflour Mixture as thickener

How to do it:

Squeeze water out of mushroom, dab dry and set aside.

Cut squid into thick ring of 2.5cm each piece.

Slice squid downward with less than 1cm apart but be careful not to slice thru it. You can use a scissor to do this too.

When it's done, the squid will look like a flower with a big opening in the middle.

Dab dry and set aside.

Mix minced prawn well with 1/2 teaspoon corn flour, a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper.

Dab the underside of the mushroom with a little cornflour.

Stuff the squid with prawn paste and place it on the mushroom.

Top with a Wolfberry.

Pour water into the pan.

Add oyster sauce, sugar and wolfberries.

Bring to a simmer.

Add in the stuffed mushroom.

Cover the pan and cook in low fire for 15 minutes.

Open and remove the stuff mushroom to a dish.

Thicken the sauce with cornflour mixture.

Pour over the stuff mushroom.

Drizzle sesame seed oil if desired and serve.

Note:

The cooking time depends on the size of the stuff mushroom you have. The bigger the mushroom, the more minced prawn you need. Hence, the longer cooking time required too.

Try to choose squid that can fit onto the mushroom, so the 'flower' can sit inside the mushroom.

Unuse parts of the squid, except for the head, can be minced and mixed together with the prawns to be used.

Alternative for non-HCP user:

Follow steps 1 to 9.

Place the mushroom in a deep dish

Steam it for 15 mins or cooked thoroughly.

Remove and place it on a plate. Retain the sauce.

In a wok, pour in the sauce retained from the steaming.

Add 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce and a pinch of salt and sugar to taste.

Bring to a simmer and stir in some corn flour mixture to thicken the sauce.

Pour the sauce over, drizzle with sesame seed oil and serve.

before it's cooked

Sesame Cookie 芝麻酥

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:44:00 +0000

I happened to chance upon a packet of Sesame Powder in the supermarket and knew I had to get it. I love it in Glutinous Ball and I didn't manage to get it when I made Glutinous Ball for Winter Solstice last month. I'm definitely going to get it to make something else and it was the last packet there too.

I'm using my Peanut Cookies recipe to make these. Since the end product is grey in colour, I'm not sure if it will be acceptable as gift for Chinese New Year but they taste really fragrant. My husband preferred the 'original' with just sesame seed as toppings. I preferred it with sesame seed rolled all over, as shown at the end of this post.

Which do you prefer?

Ingredients:

300g Sesame Powder with sugar

120g Castor Sugar or Icing Sugar

250g Top Flour or All Purpose Flour

180ml Oil (I use Olive Oil)

1/2 teaspoon Salt

100g Toasted Sesame Seed for topping

1 Egg Yolk, beaten for glazing

How to do it:

Mix flour, salt, sugar and sesame powder together to combine.

Pour half of the oil into the sesame mixture and mix together. I use hands to do it.

Pour the remaining oil and continue mixing and kneading till the (icing) sugar has melted.

Roll a ball of 10g sesame paste and if it doesn’t crumble, your paste is ready. Otherwise, add a bit of oil till the sesame ball doesn't crumble when you roll it.

Place sesame ball on baking tray.

Brush with egg yolk.

Sprinkle some sesame seed on top.

Bake in a preheated oven for 13mins at 180C till egg yolk glazing turn lightly golden brown.

Cool on rack and store in air tight container.

Note:

If you use castor sugar, you will be able to able to eat into some sugar giving it the crunchy feel. Use icing sugar instead if you prefer it to be smooth.

Sesame Cookie rolled in Sesame Seed and baked in the same way

Peanut Cookie 花生酥

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:31:00 +0000

I have packet of Peanut powder left after making Pearl Ball 珍珠圆 for Winter Solstice (cos the blur me bought an extra packet). I decided to shelf my plans to make Pineapple Tarts as these are much easier to make and I didn't have to bring out the mixer.

The peanut powder I'm using contains sugar hence I reduce the amount of sugar used here. If you are using one that's without sugar and prefer it to be sweeter, you might want to increase the amount of sugar. And if you prefer to make your own peanut powder, you have to pan-roast on a dry pan, constantly stirring it to let it brown evenly before you grind it into powder.

If you thinking of making Chinese New Year goodies, you might want to try this first cos it's really easy and there's minimum washing to be done.

Ingredients:

300g Peanut Powder with sugar

120g Castor Sugar or Icing Sugar

250g Top Flour or All Purpose Flour

180ml Oil (I use Olive Oil)

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 Egg Yolk, beaten for glazing

How to do it:

Mix flour, salt, sugar and peanut powder together to combine.

Pour half of the oil into the peanut mixture and mix together. I use hands to do it.

Pour the remaining oil and continue mixing and kneading till the (icing) sugar has melted.

Roll a ball of 15g peanut paste and if it doesn’t crumble, your paste is ready. Otherwise, add a bit of oil till the peanut ball doesn't crumble when you roll it.

Place peanut ball on baking tray and top it with half a peanut if desire.

Brush with the egg yolk.

Bake in a preheated oven for 10mins at 200C till lightly golden brown

Cool on rack and store in air tight container.

Note:

This is a 2-bite cookie. If you prefer a smaller cookie, roll a ball of 10g peanut paste instead and bake at 180c for 12 mins.

If you use castor sugar, you will be able to able to eat into some sugar giving it the crunchy feel. Use icing sugar instead if you prefer it to be smooth.

Pan Fried Fish Tofu 香煎鱼肉豆腐

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:06:00 +0000

I have been making this Fish Tofu for a few years. In the beginning, it was to incorporate vegetables to food that my veggie hater son likes to eat.

4 years passed and I'm still making this but it never fail to make my son to eat more even it's stuffed with chopped veggies. Yes, he still hates veggies. :/

Ingredients:

150g Fish Paste

1 tube Egg Tofu

2 stalk Baby Bok Choy, chopped

2 Crabstick, chopped

a dash of Pepper (optional)

How to do it:

Cut the tip of egg tofu and squeeze tofu out to a bowl.

Add in fish paste, chopped baby bok choy and crabstick.

Add pepper and mix well.

Take a deep dish, oil all sides well for easy removable.

Spread fish tofu paste.

Cover with foil.

Steam for 15 minutes or till cooked.

Removed and cut into pieces.

Pan fried the steamed fish tofu with a little till slightly brown on all sides.

Serve.

Note:

You can use other type of vegetables if you like.

If you want it with a crispy outer skin, dust it with corn flour before pan frying the fish tofu.

I used the Happy Call Pan to pan fry the fish tofu.

I placed the tofu cubes on the sides of the pan so I can pan fry 2 -3 sides at the same time.

Cover the pan and pan fry for a minute each time over medium low heat.

Pan Fried Prawns 香煎虾

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:21:00 +0000

My kids had a change of ~~taste~~ mind and decided they do not want to eat prawns after all. Since I had already bought prawns, I decided to do a quick and simple prawn dish using the Happy Call Pan (to minimise oil splat). You can use your regular pan to do this too.

Ingredients:

10 medium Prawns

1 teaspoon Chicken Powder

1 tablespoon Corn Flour

a pinch of Sugar

1 tablespoon Oil

How to do it:

Clean prawns, cut off antenna and pat dry.

Marinate with Chicken Powder, sugar and corn flour.

Heat oil in pan over low heat.

Place prawns in pan and close the pan for 2 minutes

Shift the pan so the prawns can get evenly cooked.

Open the pan and turn prawns over.

Close pan and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes till all prawns are cooked.

Removed and serve with desired dipping sauce.

Dipping sparingly with Spiced Salt

Spiced Salt 椒盐

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:25:00 +0000

Spiced Salt 椒盐 is yet another handy condiment to have in your kitchen. Sometime back I had a bamboo clams baked on a dish of spiced salt, which I will find time to experiment. It adds aroma to the dish that's baked with it.

I remembered when I was a kid, one dish that's often served during wedding dinner was fried spring chicken and it always came with spiced salt.

It's pretty easy to make it yourself. You can adjust the how spicy by adjusting the amount of pepper you add in. After making it, I like to store it in the salt shaker and use it with french fries. :)

Ingredients:

2 teaspoon Sichuan Peppercorn

2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

1 teaspoon Pepper

2 tablespoon Salt

How to do it:

Add Sichuan Peppercorn to a dry pan.

Pan fry it over low fire for 5 minutes till fragrance.

Add salt and continue to stir fry for a minute.

Add both the ground black pepper and pepper.

Stir-fry for another half a minute.

Remove and it's ready to be used.

Using the Spiced Salt here with Prawns

Mushroom Dried Scallop XO Sauce 香菇瑶柱XO酱

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:38:00 +0000

My husband had to go China every month for their company's new project and half a year ago, one of their partners in China gave him a big pack of Dried Scallop and Dried Shitake Mushroom each.

Dried Mushroom Dried Scallop

One of the stuff I have been experimenting using them is the XO sauce. It's an great condiment to have. We love it with fried rice and I add it to some of the dishes I ate for dinner too. As much as I like ready-made XO sauce, they are either to spicy or too strong for the kids to handle. It's best if you can made your own XO sauce adjusted it to your own taste.

There isn't any hard and fast rule on my homemade XO sauce. If you prefer it more oily (ingredients will be softer soaked in oil), add more oil during cooking. If you want it hotter, add more Dried Chilli.

I'm using the Happy Call Pan to do this. You can use a regular non-stick pan too. The biggest difference is that the HCP cooks faster and is more moist. I used the HCP to steam cook the dried scallops too. If you do not have the pan, you will have to soak the dried scallop and steam it for an hour before you can shred them.

Ingredients:

60g Dried Scallops, soaked with 4 tablespoon water

1 1/2 tablespoon Dried Shrimp, soaked to soften and chopped

3 Red Chilli (replace with Dried Chilli if you want it spicy)

3 tablespoon Chopped Garlic

3 tablespoon Chopped Shallot

5 Dried Shiitake Mushroom, soaked to soften and chopped

5 Dried Shiitake Mushroom, soaked to soften and sliced

a dash of Pepper

Sugar or to taste (optional)

4 tablespoon Oil

How to do it:

Pour dried scallops with water into the pan after soaking it for 15 minutes.

Close pan and cook it in medium low heat for 4 mins or till water is almost dry.

Use the back of the spoon to press the dried scallops. They should be soft enough to break into pieces. If not, add a bit more water and cook longer.

Remove the dried scallops, tear into smaller shreds if necessary or give it a pause in the blender and set aside.

Heat oil in the same pan in medium low heat but not smoking.

Add in the garlic and shallot and saute till fragrant.

Add in the rest of the ingredient except shredded dried scallops.

Saute till fragrant by covering and shaking for 2 minutes.

Add a tablespoon of mushroom water.

Cover and continue cooking for another 2 minutes.

Add in shredded dried scallop.

Stir-fry till mixed well.

Cover and continue cooking for 4 minutes, shaking the pan to prevent burning. I open the pan occasionally to give it a good stir too.

Add pepper and sugar to taste if necessary, stir-fry to mix well.

Dish and store for later use.

Note:

The dried scallops I used are very small (pls refer to photo above). Hence, it's easier and faster to steam and shred it. If you are using larger one, you might need a longer time to soak and soften it.

The mushroom I used are slightly larger than a 50cents coin. If you are using larger one, you might want to reduce the number of mushroom.

My simple fried rice with homemade XO Sauce for extra flavours

Season's Greetings!

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Cupcake with Buttercream 奶油小蛋糕

noreply@blogger.com (WokkingMum) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 02:48:00 +0000

It was winter solstice yesterday and incidentally it was my birthday too. :P Nope, obviously I'm not 4 years old but 10 times older. ;)

I decided to bake myself cupcakes and make buttercream (for the first time) to top it. I will have to practice piping more to do it better. Other than that, both the cupcake and butter cream was a successful.

Ingredient:

125g Butter, softened

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

150g Caster Sugar

3 Eggs

225g Self Raising Flour

60ml Milk

Vanilla Buttercream

125g Butter, softened

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

200g Icing Sugar

2 tablespoon Milk

How to do it:

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
Add vanilla extract.

Add one egg at a time and continue beating.

Add in flour and beat well till mixture is smooth and pale.

Spoon batter into muffin cup.

Bake for 20 minutes in preheat oven at 180C.

Turn cupcakes top-side up on wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile prepare the Butter Cream.

For Vanilla Buttercream

Beat butter and vanilla extract till pale.

Gradually beat in half the icing sugar.

Add in milk and continue beating.

Gradually beat in the remaining icing sugar.

Add in a drop or colouring if you like.

Use it to spread on the cupcakes or put into a piping bag with star nozzle to be used.

Recipe adapted from Women's Weekly Cupcakes & Cookies