Archive for September, 2008

Pork Chops with Baked Beans

September 12, 2008 · Filed under Chinese Oriental Recipes, Recipes

We hardly eat pork at home but once in a while we do not take a little. Not to sure, we are not used to the strong smell of pork and mutton(simply do not eat mutton.) And here’s one of our favourites when we eat pork, “Pork Chop with Baked Beans” or simply another version of sweet and sour sauces just that I did not prepared the sauce instead used Baked Beans.

Ingredients:
500g Pork Loin (Slice into 5-7 pcs and pound on both sides)
3tbsp Cornstarch
10pcs Square Biscuit Cracker (pound into crumbs)
2 tbsp Light Soya Sauce
1tbsp Sesame Oil
1 Egg (beaten)
½pot Oil (very small pot of oil)
1 big can Baked Beans (Heiz)

Method:
1. Add the light soya sauce and sesame oil to the pork and allow it to season for an hour.
2. Heat up the oil to medium heat.
3. Place one slice of pork into the beaten egg, remove and put into the cornstarch.
4. Then, place it into the egg again, remove and place it into the biscuit crumbs.
5. Next, place it slowly into the oil to be deep fried.
6. When it is golden brown, remove.
7. Continue the process with the next couple of pieces.
8. When everything is done, cut them into small slice.
9. Served with heated baked beans.

Hint: Steamed the bake beans on top of the rice cooker while cooking rice.

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Belacan Season Beans

September 12, 2008 · Filed under Chinese Oriental Recipes, Peranakan Recipes, Recipes

I simply love this dish and the fragrant of Belacan. When I was preparing the ingredients for this dish, my little boy thought that I was using chocolate for this dish until I got him to smell the Belacan. And when my dear husband came into the house, he was telling me he could smell the aroma of it outside at the carport.

Been Asian, I love Belacan especially Chilli Belacan (Sambal Belacan), even typing it I can feel my saliva glands working. So here’s the dish,

Ingredients:
600g Season Beans (clean and cut into two)
50g Minced Meat
30g Belacan
1clove Garlic (peeled and chop)
½ Onion (peeled and chop)
1 tbsp Canola Oil

Method:
1. Heat up the wok.
2. Put the belacan in and stir fry till it became dry and powder form.
3. Add in the oil and stir fry it, then add in the onion till the fragrant of onion is in the air before
adding in the garlic.
4. Next, add in the minced meat and stir fry.
5. Add in the season beans and mixed evenly before adding in some oil and allow it to shimmer
for 5 minutes.
6. Served it with rice.

6. Served it with rice.

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Our simple dinner and a lunchbox for work

September 12, 2008 · Filed under Recipes

This is especially for friends who asked me since some of these know that my dear husband and I would bring lunches for work. And even up to today, my dear husband still has this habit and he feels that it is more healthy and that gives him more than to go walk around after lunch to take a break.

I usually prepare more portions of dinner and pack them into the lunchbox before serving. Take a look at our simple dinner, unlike in Singapore or Vancouver where I usually have a soup, over here, we have soup 3 times a week and most of the time we take Chinese Tea.

And here’s one of the packed lunchbox,

Our simple dinner usually has two vegetable dishes and one meat dish (chicken, beef or seafood)over in Australia or one vegetable dish, one meat dish and a soup. I missed those days that I cooked soup for all the meals. We had it simple as I am into full swing of homeschooling and also to cut down time and usually for soups, I tried not to repeat any soup within the week and some time it is hard to get the ingredients that I need unlike in Singapore.

For the simple menu for our dinner, we have Belacan Season Beans and Pork Chops and Baked Beans.

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Mixed Vegetables (Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots and Mushrooms)

September 12, 2008 · Filed under Chinese Oriental Recipes, Recipes, Vegetarian Dishes

Having a dinner cannot go without a vegetables and this is one of the simple and yummy dish that the whole family loves especially my young boy, he is a vegetables, fruits and meats person, hardly any carbohyrates. If any, he takes very little of them and he lots of dishes which we are fine with it.

Ingredients:
2 broccoli (medium)
1 cauliflower (big)
2 carrots
15 fresh shitake mushroom
1 onion (peeled and sliced)
1clove garlic (peeled and chopped)
2tbsp mushroom sauces
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp cornstarch (mixed with some water)

Note: Cannot precooked broccoli, cauliflower and carrot in boiling water before hand.

Method:
1. Heat up the oil in a pan. When it is hot, add in the onion and stir fry till fragrant.
2. Add in the onion and stir fry till golden.
3. Then add in mushroom and stir fried for a while.
4. Next add in all the vegetables and mix well.
5. Add some water for cooking and simmer the vegetables.
6. Add the mushroom sauce, mixed well.
7. When the water in the pan is boiling, added in the cornstarch mixture to thicken the gravvy.
8. Served with rice, fried noodles or fried bee hoon.

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Pandan And Coconut Agar Agar

September 12, 2008 · Filed under Desserts and Pastries, Recipes

Here’s a simple dessert, we love desserts and dinner with guests without a dessert is incomplete.

Ingredient:
2 tbsp Agar Agar Powder
1000ml water
25g Sugar
Pandan Paste
200ml coconut milk

Method:
1. Dissolve the agar agar powder into water and add sugar in to boil. (Keep stirring)

2. When it boils, transfer half the solution and add in pandan paste. Then pour into mould to set.

3. Add coconut milk to the rest of the solution and bring to boil.

4. Put the solution into the preset pandan agar agar.

5. Chill it in the fridge when cool.

6. Serve cold after dinner.

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Nonya Chicken Curry

September 12, 2008 · Filed under Peranakan Recipes, Recipes

Here, I give the actual ingredients used but being home with a little boy, I hardly have time to prepare my own curry paste so I made use of the ready made one. Instead of the usual tomatoes, my dear husband has requested that I add potatoes and carrots.

Ingredients:
2 kg chicken drumsticks (Can used whole chicken cut into pieces.)
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

4 potatoes (Requested by my husband)
2 carrots (Add this instead)
3 tomatoes (Usually use this)

1 clove garlic (chopped)
1 onion (peeled and chopped) – add extra as we loves onion in our dishes
6 tbsp canola oil
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
400ml can coconut milk
2 tbsp lime juice

Process or pulverise to a paste:
8 candle nuts
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
4 large red chillies (seeds removed)
1/2 thumb-sized ginger
1/2 thumb-sized turmeric root (or 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder)
8 thin slices of galangal

Instead of pulverise a paste, I used the ready made one. My mum and aunt will do the traditional ones and I am planning to ask my mum and brother coming for visit to bring me more of the paste as it tastes good.

Here’s the paste that I used:

Method:
1. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper and set aside.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in pot and add it the chicken to stir fry when it is very hot. When the chicken is half cooked, removed and set aside

3. Add in the remaining oil, heat it up and add in the chopped onion, stir fry till fragrant then add in the chopped garlic. Finally, add the paste ingredients when the garlic is golden. Fry the pasted until the oil seeps through and the spices release their fragrance.

3. Add the half-cooked chicken, the potatoes, carrots and (tomatoes). Mixed well.

4. Add lime leaves and the half of the coconut milk. Sauté ingredients over a moderate heat for about 10 minutes. Then add the rest of the coconut milk and lime juice. Simmer on low for 25 minutes or so until the chicken is fully cooked. Add a little water if the curry is too dry for your taste.

5. Served with rice or Fried Bee Hoon.

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Gathering…

September 12, 2008 · Filed under Desserts and Pastries, Peranakan Recipes, Recipes, Vegetarian Dishes

We had a gathering last Friday for a couple of friends from Singapore and Hong Kong at our place. Just in the midst of packing our shipment packages. I decided to cook some simple food.

So I came out with the simple menu for the evening, as most of us loves spicy food. The menu is as followed Nonya Chicken Curry (With request not to add in the tomatoes instead add in carrots.), Mixed vegetables (Broccoli, Cauliflowers, Carrots and Mushrooms) and for dessert Pandan and Coconut Agar Agar.

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About Plastic Wares

September 9, 2008 · Filed under Tips in the Kitchen

A friend sent me this through email, I read about it and find it important to share with all.

Did you ever drink from a plastic bottle and see a triangle symbol on the bottom with a number inside?

Do you know what the number stands for?
Did you guess that it’s just for recycling?
Then you are WRONG !!!!!!
THE NUMBER TELLS YOU THE CHEMICAL MAKE UP OF THE PLASTIC…..

1) Polyethylene terephalate (PET)
2) High density polyethylene (HDPE)
3) Unplasticised polyvinyl chloride (UPVC) or Plasticised polyvinyl chloride (PPVC)
4) Low density polyethylene LDPE
5) Polypropylene (PP)
6) Polystyrene (PS) or Expandable polystyrene (EPS)
7) Other, including nylon and acrylic
What you aren’t told is that many of the plastics used are toxic and the chemicals used to create a plastic can leach out of the plastic and into the food / drink.
Think about it, how many times have you or a friend said “I don’t like this, it taste like the plastic bottle ….. ”
THAT’S BECAUSE YOU ARE TASTING THE PLASTIC
The WORST ONES are Nos: 3, 6, and 7 !!!

DO NOT USE THESE NUMBERS if stated at the bottom of the bottle) !!!

Check out this chart that breaks down the plastic, its uses and chemical makeup
(I find #7 a little scary)
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/guide_ref/guide_plascod3.html

Reusing plastic bottles by refilling them is NOT a good idea. WATCH THIS VIDEO:
http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=238518 (must WATCH!)

Microwaving plastic containers affects the chemical make up of the plastic, allowing the chemical substances to destabilize and leach out more quickly into the food you are reheating. You can check out this article that ran in the Wall Street Journal:
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Microwave-Health-Problems.htm

EVEN one of my favorite “RUMOR DEBUNKING” websites, URBANLEGENDS.ABOUT.COM

Lists the information as: overblown with a grain of TRUTH
READ the FULL 3 pages of the article!
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-microwave-dioxin.htm

AVOID re-using plastic bottles RIGHT AWAY !!!

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MIA for a while

September 9, 2008 · Filed under Recipes

Have been too busy for a while that I could not update my blog, for the later part of last year, my family has been travelling around Canada and also meeting up with close friends that we have made in the two years we were in Canada.

It was tough saying “Goodbyes” to these friends whom had became like our own family. We are really thankful for them and their friendship. Do keep in touch, my dear friends and we hope to have the opportunity to meet up with all of you again.

We were back in Singapore for six months before we relocate again, so as all have guessed, there were lots of packing during the very last month in Vancouver and also bidding our friends, “Goodbyes”. We were glad to be back home to the familiar surrounding for a while though the weather was scorching hot and we discovered that Singapore was getting congested with people, a cultural shock for us for a while after been away.

When I was back in Singapore, I hardly has the opportunity to cook as we were staying with my mum since our own place was rented out and mum did most of the cooking and I was able to take a break from cooking. The only few things that I did were make waffles for my boy, bake bak kwa and pineapple tarts for Lunar New Years as the other goodies my mum and brother have gotten them before we were back in mid-January.

And back in Singapore, we were also busy finding a preschool for my boy and helping him adjust back to the rat-race in Singapore and meeting up with friends and families to catch up. We were glad to play host to our friend from Japan and also to meet up with friends who were back from Vancouver for holiday.

The last month in Singapore was a mad rush for us to get our visa, airtickets and packing done. And in a wink of the eye, we relocated again down south. I do hope that I will be able to update as much recipes as I can on this website as I am also busy homeschooling my boy.

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Mushroom Sausage Strudel

September 9, 2008 · Filed under Desserts and Pastries, Recipes

I got this recipe some time ago from a friend regarding the filling and I used the strudel dough for it. I have forgotten to take a photo when it was ready and will make up for that later on.

Ingredients:
500g bulk hot sausage
750g mushroom, chopped or sliced
1 tsp dried thyme
30ml Dijon mustard
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2cup canola oil
Dough for strudel (Refer to Recipe Dough for Strudel Pastry)

1. Slice up sausage and cook in a medium till they are cooked.

2. Add mushrooms and thyme and saute over high heat until all liquid has evaporated and the mushroom is slightly brown.

3. Cool and stir in mustard and sour cream.

4. Brush the entire stretched dough with melted butter or oil , spread the filling in a log along the long end leaving a 3 inch border.

5. Use the towel to help you roll the strudel. For that take two corners of the towel and lift it a little, so strudel starts to roll up. Proceed until it is rolled up, place on baking sheet with seam side down and brush again with melted butter or oil.

6. Slice into 3cm pieces, cutting only halfway to the bottom.

7. Baked for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden in preheated oven at 350 F (180 C).

8. Before serving, cut through slices.

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