Fish paste omelette roll

My mom used to complain that she is tired of thinking up the menu daily.  I can't blame her as she has to cook two main meals a day.

During her era she doesn't have the internet as inspiration.  I am blessed in a way that I have many friends who love to bake and cook and they are my inspiration!  Thanks gals!

I have tried buying fish paste at the supermarket before and I hated it.  When we were young, mom will travel all the way to Chinatown wet market to get 西刀鱼肉 which is my favourite.  I remembered those are really fresh and there is always a queue for it.  

While checking out my facebook, I saw someone posted this fish paste omelette roll and it looks yummy.  Since my kids love omelette, I decided to give this a try from the usual uninspiring recipe that we always used.  Thanks to AL who pointed out to me where I can get some decent fish paste. 

My girl had fun helping out frying the omelette and dicing the onions and chillies.  

Indeed a nice change from the boring omelette that I used to prepare for the family.

Next on the list was an impromptu decision to do a steam dish.   My family is not really tuned to eating much steamed food (only have to blame myself) but I am glad that they were happily lapping up this Steamed Pork Patties with pickle vegetable 冬菜 !

Sorry for the poor lighting as it was getting dark by the time I finished cooking.

Am really exciting as my little one will be done with her exam by tomorrow!  Yes, time to start planning fun activities to do.

Stir fry pork with salted vegetable

These days, it is really difficult to have mommy's home cooked food.  As she ages, cooking for the family takes a toll on her health.  Thus, our gathering are normally pot luck style or store bought.

Well, she deserves a break.  After all, she has been cooking for the family for 30 years or so.  

Of course, my kids misses her home made soup but I am now trying to live up to that expectation.  Still have lots to improve on though.  Call me a slow learner, as I started cooking seriously once I become a home maker and to date, I still have not master that 够火 taste.  Anyway, enough of that soup talk. 

Besides making soup, mom excel in cooking and baking too.  There are so many dishes that cling onto my childhood memories.  One of them is Stir fry pork with salted vegetable.

A simple dish but yet so satisfying.  Even my help who doesn't take leftover kept it for herself the next day.

What you need:

Pork fillet, cut into thin strip
Salted vegetable (soaked in water to reduce saltiness)
Chillies, cut into thin strip
minced garlic
soya sauce
sesame oil
pepper
Corn flour

Method:

Soaked salted vegetable to the level of saltiness that you like.  For me, I soak it for 2 - 3 hours.  Squeeze dry.  Cut into strip.

Marinate pork with soya sauce, sesame oil, pepper and corn flour.

Heat up wok till hot, put in salted vegetable and dry fry for a min or two.  Remove.

Add oil and stir fry garlic till fragrant.  

Add in pork and stir fry.

Add in salted vegetable and mixed well. 

Add a little water and bring to a boil.

Add in chillies (I add in last as I am afraid the chillies is spicy for my girl but you can add in together with the salted vegetable.)

Season to taste.

Serve with jasmine rice.

Mint Pork Omelette

As I wanted to eradicate the problem totally, today I went for my second treatment. 

I actually had a scare mid week because I bend too forward to shampoo my hair and suddenly my legs gave way.  Luckily I was able to steady myself with the built in bench in my shower room.   The sinseh told me that my back is not strong and thus resulted in that.

To assess my situation apart from that little incident,  I am happy to say that I have improved tremendously.   Thanks to all my friends' prayers, I strongly believe that I will get well.

Now let's talk about happier stuff.   My mom was sharing with me a recipe, Mint Pork Omelette that she said my fussy eater dad enjoys eating.  I was indeed keen to try especially when my dear friend, PW was coming in from Guam and wanted to pay me a visit when she heard that I was ill.

I haven't seen PW for a long time and my kids missed that time that they spent on her boat. Thanks to Facebook, I was able to keep updated with her well being.  Just love to hear about her sailing adventures.  Afterall, how many people are willing to give up everything to pursue a dream.  For her and her hubby, it was sailing round the world.

As for the dish, I didn't have enough mint to harvest from my own pot but nevertheless, I was glad that she enjoyed the dish.   My little one also like it as she gladly polished off the leftover. 

The evening ended with sad good byes.  I don't know when I will see her again as she will be heading off to Japan next year.  Perhaps I can convince hubby to spent our next yearly holiday there.

Since my dish was only an estimated recipe I was adamant to get it right as per mommy's recipe.  After getting a pack of mint from the supermarket, I was ready to impress hubby who just gotten home with this new dish.  Unfortunately, this time round I didn't get a top score for it.

Well, I guess this is an acquired taste.

Thus if you are like my hubby, reduce the mint by half.  If you are like me, who loves it, go full force.

Time flies, I just realised that we hit August and very soon it will be my kiddos' birthday.

What are you going to do for this long weekend? 

What you need:

1 cup of fresh mint (you may reduce it to half a cup)
300 - 400g minced pork
pepper
soya sauce
sesame oil
a little corn starch
minced garlic
4 eggs, beaten

Method

Remove mint leaves from stalks.

Sautee garlic till fragrant, add in seasoned minced pork.  Stif fry till cooked.

Add in mint leaves.  Fry till fragrant.

Add in beaten eggs, distributing it evenly.

Pan fried till golden brown and flip over.  I used Happy call pan and finds it easier than the wok.

Serve hot with rice.

Sweet and sour prawns/ Stir fry pork fillet with assorted mushrooms/ Marmite chicken wings

Since I took over the kitchen, cooking three meals a day, I found that I am practically getting surprises every single day. Expired food that are waiting to be thrown out. Food that left in less than one single portion, also waiting to get thrown out. Frozen food that are kept in mini portions but don't know how long ago.

Geesh, I have been throwing food away and I felt so sinful.

Also thinking that I lack dish cloths, I brought more and guess what, I have 5 dish cloths hanging around and yet today I found that my helper "open" a new one again.

Haiz.... I think from today onwards, I better take over the responsibility in the kitchen.

Okay I have to be happy and these are what I churned out these past few days.

Sweet and Sour Prawns

I hardly buy prawns because somehow my helper can't cook prawns well. She is always deep frying prawns fritters. If she attempts others, the prawns always tasted as if it is not fresh, even if I buy it in the morning and have it cook in the night.

I always wonder why because her dad is a fisherman, so cooking seafood should not be an issue, right?

This dish reminded of my mom's cooking. Stir fry pork fillet with assorted mushrooms. I love straw mushrooms!

Hubby bought me a bigger size Happy call pan while he was in Korea. He wasn't able to buy the Ocher Deeper Pan as it was out of stock but he got me this version which is pretty similar to the brown one, only 5mm difference in dept.

I am happy because it matches the colour of the smaller one!

and this is what I churned out. Marmite Chicken Wings. I will definitely cooked this again!

Okay, I had been packing and my baking taken a back seat. I got to start the last round no matter what by tomorrow.

So stay tuned.

Source: Audrey Tan

What you need:

12 chicken wings
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp Marmite or Bovril
3 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp honey
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

Method:

Heat pan. Set to low heat.

Add chicken wings.

Cook for 3 mins, flip over and continue 3 mins. Turning it often to avoid burnt.

Char Siew

This week starts a busy hectic for the whole of 2012.

Firstly, my daughter is embarking on her compulsory CCA in school. Though she knows how to swim (taught by her dad), she needs to go through formal training to attain her certification. Actually I am not sure how useful these certificates will be for her in the future.

Then it also starts with all the tuition going full blast. Actually I had a very interesting conversation with SC over the weekend. A new friend I got to know via E.

As much as I am not in favour of letting my kids going for tuitions but I did it. Reason was not so much for academic achievement but rather for self confidence.

You see, my girl is not on the mid range learning scales. We accepted the fact that she might be slow in learning but starting from late P2, I can see that she is very timid in attempting her homework. She has a fear of making mistakes.

After a year with several tuition agencies, we noticed a sense of triumph from her. Out of the 4 tuition classes she attended, she shows improvement in her creative writing and especially her Maths.

She is now a much happier child. These days, I can see the drive and motivation she gets from these subjects.

Anyway, I told her that she can stops all these classes if she feels that she cannot cope with it and this is what she said : "Mom, I can do it."

As for my son, he is already very much an independent kid. I no longer need to ferry him to and fro from school.

Now what have I been up to today? I wanted to start my cookie baking but then I realised that I ran out of some ingredients and had to do a trip down to the supermarket.

With us taking an early dinner tonight, I decided to hold on to my cookie baking and to focus on our dinner.

Been procrastinating for nearly a month I think on this recipe. I love Char Siew and the only stall that I patronise now is from Toa Payoh. His char siew is lean and juicy.

As for my experiment with this recipe using Happy Call Pan, I think this is relatively an easy recipe. As long as you gave enough time for the marinade, this won't go wrong.

Also I used a very lean pork fillet for this. Should have opted for more fatty ones.

What you need:

500g pork fillet
2½ tbsp Hoisin Sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp soya sauce
1 tbsp rose wine
½ tsp 5 spice powder
¼ tsp salt
pepper

Glaze

1 tbsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp oil

Method

Marinate pork for 2 hours

Heat up the pan for 1 min, place in the pork and some marinate (about 1/2)

Cook the pork with lid close for about 5 mins

Open the lid to manually flip the pork and continue to let it cook with lid close not tight (i.e magnet not closed up)

Slowly cook the charsiew and check now and then (about every 1-2 mins) till the sauce dries up and meat starts to charred. Can add in more sauce to hasten the browning process

Chicken Curry bun, chocolate cheesecake brownie, Pan fried pork loin

I haven't really been into baking lately. Somehow I have so many things to do that baking seems to be my last "to do" list.

As much as each night I browses through my favourite forums and recipe books, I just cannot find strong motivation force. I kept telling myself that I should not let failure eat me up. So here I am, trying my third round of bread making. Really high time for me to go to the bookshop and get a decent bread making book now.

I was pretty excited when my Chicken Curry Bun turned out so beautifully from the oven. Besides having them nearly sticking to each other, I think I didn't do such a bad job in shaping them.

Initially my son refused to have a bite at it, after much coaxing and ensuring him that these are different from the last, he gingerly took a tiny bite.

Minutes later, he came back asking for more. Good sign? Have yet to see how it stays till tomorrow.

A slight disappointment was that my curry chicken filling wasn't well done at all. I don't know whether I got the wrong type of curry powder or not. I feel that it doesn't have that YUM factor.



What you need for the fillings

2 tbsp oil
2 onions, diced
2 med sized potatoes, cubes
240g chicken, cubes
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp salt a little soya sauce
a dash of pepper

Method

Season meat with curry powder

Heat oil and lightly brown onions.

Add potatoes with a little water and fry till soft. I prefer it a little mushy.

Put in seasoned meat and stir fry till cooked

Add in seasoning and fry till dry.

Remove and cool.

What you need for the dough

A

240g bread flour
60g all purpose flour
50g caster sugar
10g milk powder
2 tsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp bread improver

B
1/2 egg
150ml cold water

C
30g unsalted butter
5g salt
Egg wash
1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 tsp evaporated milk

Method

Mix (A) till well blended.

Add (B) to form a dough.

Add in (C) and knead until dough is elastic and smooth (approx 10 - 15 mins) Gather dough to form a ball and cover dough with cling wrap.

Place in the warmest area and let it rest for abt 50-60 mins or double in size.

Divide dough into portions of 50 or 60 gm each.

Shape into balls and leave it to rest for abt 10 mins.

Roll out dough and wrap with desired fillings.

Shape as required and let it proof on lined or greased baking tray for another 50-60 mins or until dough is double in size.

Egg wash dough.

Bake dough at 180-190C for abt 12 mins

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I crave for a Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie and going through my huge stack of recipe clippings, I found this. I don't know where the source is from though. Nevertheless, these are really delicious.



What you need

185g butter, melted
¼ cup cocoa powder, sifted
100g castor sugar
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted

Cheesecake

285g cream cheese
30g castor sugar
2 eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C

Mix butter, cocoa, sugar, eggs and flour in a bowl till smooth.

To make the cheesecake, whisk the cream cheese, sugar and eggs till smooth.

Scoop a large spoonful of the chocolate batter into disposable souffles cups.

Place large spoonfuls of the cheesecake mixture on top of the chocolate mixture and another spoonful of the chocolate batter.

Bake for 20 - 25 mins or till set.

Cool on rack and remove paper cups.

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Whipped up a simple dinner of Pan Fried Pork Loin aka Pork Chop.

This dish is really simple and my family love it.



Though I am not a fan of beancurd (tow kwa), the lady at the supermarket convinced me to get some home. I know my hubby loves these. What I had in mind was a Five Spice Pan Fried Tow Kwa.

I rememebered many years ago, I tasted something like this and it was really wonderful. I do not have the recipe but based on instinct, I just coated it with five spice powder and a little salt.

Anyone out there tried these before and care to share the recipe?



So much of pan fried, so Blanched Kailan with Oyster Sauce is a way to go. I love this method of preparing vegetables.

Blanched the vegetable and drizzle a little oyster sauce, a tiny bit of oil and a dash of fried shallots. Yum.

Pork cutlet Udon

After a long period of homebound, hubby is starting his travelling again. Well, back to me holding the fort single-handedly once more.

So tonight, I prepare a practical oil-free meal Pork Cutlet Udon in preparation of him dinning heavily during his business trip.



I don't know whether Japanese restaurant serves this but at least he likes it.

What you need
4 servings of udon noodles

4 big shiitake mushrooms (washed)
2 tsp soy sauce
a dash of pepper
4 good size pork chops
breadcrumbs
1 egg (beaten lightly) flour

Broth

5.5 cups premier dashi stock
2 tbsp miso paste
2 - 3 tbsp mirin soy sauce to taste

Method

Add all the broth ingredients and bring to boil.

While broth is boiling, add mushroom to cook for about 5 mins. Remove and set aside.

Cook the noodles as per package instructed. Set aside.

Marinate pork chop with soya sauce and pepper.

Coat meat with flour, egg and then breadcrumb.

Follow the sequence. Deep fry till golden brown.

To assemble

Reheat broth.

Pour broth over the udon and mushroom.

Cut pork cutlet and set on top of the udon.

Garnish with seaweed and serve.

Long time ago

This dish, 123 Spare Ribs was taught to me by my mom (who learnt it from somewhere) around 12 - 13 years ago.

When I was still staying at my first matrimonial home, I attempted it once and eversince, this recipe was shelved. Though it looked really simple but I personally feel that it needs to be modified as it is either too sweet or salty for some people.

What you need

600g spare ribs
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp sugar – adjust accordingly
3 tbsp wine
4 tbsp soya sauce (less salty type) or deduct to 3 tbsp
½ litre of water

Method

Heat wok with a little oil. Seal meat.

Add in the sauce and once boil, turned down heat and slowly simmer till meat has soften.

Stirring occasionally to avoid burnt.

Note: Adjust the sweetness last.

I had bought a box of frozen prawns and was wondering how is the quality as this was my first time trying out. I decided to cook quickly it just in case I need to top up my fridge before the CNY holiday.

Took this recipe from Zarina's Home Cooking, my first attempt at South Indian cuisine, Pepper Prawns.

Verdict: Thumbs up from both son and hubby.



What you need

600g medium sized prawns - shell, devein
1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
4 tbsp of tamarind juice

Marinate the prawns with above for 1 hour.

2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 spring of curry leaves salt to taste

Method

Heat oil, add garlic and curry leaves. Fry till fragrant.

Add in marinated prawns and fry till dry.

Season with salt.

Braised Pork (no recipe)

There are so many different versions of braised pork that I am constantly seeking for one that my family will love. Even though I didn't have any pork belly on hand, I still go ahead and try out Joshua's recipe. I have modified it a little with lesser sugar and more sauce.

 Verdict: Family members love it!!!

 Thanks Joshua!