七彩神仙鱼

Daddy's precious "grandchildren".
The discus which Dad has been rearing some years gave birth again. Yes, its again. Erm...if i'm not wrong tis should be the X times the discus gave birth to little eggs, and little ones hatches from them.
Aren't they cool? They are day 12 old, clinging hard to their parents' body.

Cool rite? Its such a wonderful feeling to watch them hatch from eggs, grow up into little fishes, swimming freely in the tank.
I will continue to watch them grow, feeding them on time. ;-)

超"经济" 的炒米粉

经济米粉is a classic breakfast in Singapore. The bee hoon is being fried plain or with some beansprouts, add some dark soy sauce for colouring, tt's it. Simple and easy. People usually request to add fried eggs, luncheon meat, fried chicken wings etc....many many other sides depending on which ever u wanna add.
I had a sudden urge to fry bee hoon for dinner and serve with battered luncheon meat. Wow... my own style of 经济米粉. haha...

Erm...well i noe its not 经济 to the extend cuz I added some eggs, hei bee hiam and carrots as well.
Close up pic on the lovely bee hoon. At tis moment of time, I'm feeling hungry again! haha....

Ingredients;

1 pkt dried bee hoon, soaked and drained

Some beansprouts

Some carrots, cut into strips

1 glove garlic, minced

2 eggs

2 tbsp hei bee hiam

1 tbsp chili paste

Water

Some sweet dark sauce

Pinch of salt

Oil for frying

Method;

-Scrambled eggs in oil, dish up and set aside.

-Fry garlic with carrots till fragrant, set aside.

-Fry chili paste with oil, add hei bee hiam.

-Add water, salt and dark soy sauce.

-Add bee hoon & toss till liquid bout to dry up, bee hoon springy.

-Toss in beansprouts and the remaining ingredients.

-Serve and enjoy!

*Add more water if bee hoon is too dry or as and when required.

Battered Luncheon Meat

I'm not a fan of luncheon meat as its very fattening. Been avoiding it for quite sometimes though. Luncheon meat is oso known as spam and there r a few brands in the market.

Had a sudden crave for it but i simply dun wanna admit nor eat it. But but but.... in the end i ended up cooking and eating 1 slice of it. Ya, all thanks to mum who bought a can of it and she suddenly mentioned that she feels like eating deep fried luncheon meat. I told her its very fattening but mum since once in a blue moon, doesn't reali matter. Oh i din't noe that actually mum and i had craving for the same type of food at the same time.

Ingredients;
1 can luncheon meat
2 portion self raising flour
1 portion rice flour
Cold water
Oil for frying

Method;
-Remove luncheon meat from can, cut into 12 semi circle slices.
-Prepare batter by mixing the 2 flour together, add cold water.
-Dip meat slices into the batter, let excess batter dip off, drop into hot oil and deep fried until golden brown.
-Drained and place on kitchen towel to remove excess oil.
-Enjoy!

A close up view on the crispy fragrance delicious luncheon meat.

Oooh... feels like eating a plate of fried bee hoon with it.

Hainanese Pork Chop

I took half day leave from the office since I wasn't feeling too well. Had some rest and decided to cook some dishes for dinner tonite since its been ages since I last whipped up some dishes. I been soooo..... bz with class and work. Gosh...tis is truely a gd break time for me to complete my assignments.

Ingredient A;
Pork loin, cut into thin slices
Light soy sauce
Sesame oil
Baking soda
Pinch of salt
Some cornflour

Ingredient B;
1 medium onion, thick slices
1 small potato, diced
2 baby carrots, diced
5 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp vinegar
Some sugar
Water

Method;
-Marinate ingredients A except cornflour.
-Coat with some cornflour, deep fried till cooked. Drained.
-Fry potato till browned, set aside for later use.
-Fry carrots till soft, stir in onions and potato cubes.
-Add sauce, bring to boil.
-Drizzle over pork chop and serve.
-Enjoy!

Close up pic on the Hainanese Pork Chops.

Onion Tuna "Open" Sandwiches

Some "open" sandwiches serve with a cup of hot chocolate, wat a perfect supper for Adam. Open sandwiches are best serve during standing reception or by butlered hors d'oeuvres style.
The spread for the sandwiches depends on individual preferences, you can top with tomato salsa or egg mayo as well.

Simply;
-Spread some butter on cross cut french loaf slices
-Toast for 5 mins
-Spread with onion tune mixture
-Top with shredded lettuce and cherry tomatoes
-Enjoy!

Within few seconds, he's bout to finish off the 3rd piece.

Soooooo......... tempting. I 'm feeling hungry! :-P

Mother's Day Celebration Dinner @ Home

Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day today, a day where we thank all the greatest moms, appreciate the hard work and effort of moms.
Since it's weekend, its my chance to show my culinary skill. I prepared some dishes specially for our family.
Celery Stir Fry with Assortment

Chili Prawns

Ooh...a copycat from chili crab but subsitute the crab with prawns instead

豉油鸡 with some eggs

Steamed Fish Head with Soy Garlic Sauce

A slice of chocolate fudge cake specially for mum.

豉油鸡

豉油鸡 reminds mi of the famous dark soy sauce chicken rice somewhere near chinatown point. Come to think of it, the last time i had them was more than a year ago. Since I bought a fresh chicken tis morning, decided to cook a 豉油鸡 for mum since its mother's day. However, the chicken seems more like a chicken junior where mum keep making fun that i purchase a pigeon instead. haiz....

Ingredients;
1 fresh chicken
Some hard-boiled eggs
Thickening agent
Some corriander

Sauce;
120ml light soy sauce
100ml dark soy sauce
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anis
3 cloves
2 honey dates
5 clove garlic
1 bunch spring onion
2 slices gam chou (liquorice)
Few slices of ginger (bout 3")
Pinch of salt
Some rock sugar
100ml water

Method;
-Blanch chicken in hot water, drained and discard the water.
-Bring 1000ml water to boil, mix in all ingredients for sauce.
-Bring to full boil.
-Cook chicken for about 8 mins on each side.
-Simmer for another 15-20mins until sauce slightly thicken.
-Remove chicken when cooked, add in hard-boiled eggs and cook for another 10mins, off heat and let eggs soaked in sauce till ready to serve.
-When chicken cooled, chopped into serving size, cut eggs into 1/2.
-Bring sauce to boil, thicken with thickening agent, drizzle over chicken.
-Sprinkle corriander over & serve.
-Enjoy!

*Longer cooking time required if chicken is bigger in size.
*Proporations for the sauce ingredients depends on individual preferences.

These are the few main ingredients.

"素菜"双色糙米炒饭

Mum is finally influenced by me. Surprisingly she requested to eat brown rice today but she still prefer the mixed colour brown rice whereas I prefer unpolished red rice. Since mum made some request, I decided to fry some fried rice for lunch.

Ingredients;
1 cup cooked brown rice(with some red unpolised rice)
2 baby carrots
5 french beans
1/2 beancurd
1 piece mock chicken
1 handful beansprouts
1 glove garlic, minced
1 egg
Oil for frying
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sambal chilli paste
Some roasted sesame seeds

Method;
-Cut carrots into stick, mock chicken and beancurd into strips, shred french beans.
-Scramble eggs with oil and set aside.
-Fry garlic with carrots for a min.
-Add french beans, beancurd and mock chicken, fry for 2 mins.
-Add cooked rice, eggs and seasonings and mix well.
-Toss in beansprouts, continue to fry for another min and serve.
-Sprinkle sesame seeds over.
-Enjoy!

Ramily Buger For Breakfast

Had a hearty breakfast tis morning since I had the ingredients for ramily burger. Ramily burger is a very popular pasar malam snack prepare by the muslims. Adam 's been mentioning bout his crave for ramily burger for the past few days/

I went to JB with Tabby for dinner and I bought some ramily chicken patties from the supermarket. Woke up very early in order to prepare breakfast for all as Adam needs to go for class early tis morning.

Ingredients;
Ramily chicken patties
Sesame burger buns
Eggs
Low fat cheese
Salad cream or mayonnaise
Chili sauce
Butter

Method;
-Cut burger into half, spread some butter and grill burger till brown with butter side face down.
-Remove and let cool.
-Pan fry chicken patties without oil 4 mins on each side till browned.
-Prepare omelette, place chicken patty in the centre, drizzle with sauces & wrap up.
-To assemble, place wrap chicken over cheese and buns.
-Enjoy!

Quick Dinner at Station 1 Cafe

Reali missed those days where i always hanged out with Tabby, Aunt Rosa and Grace where we used to frequent JB every Wednesday. We reali make it a point to drive in every wed after work juz to had dinner, chilled out.
Its a rare opportunity that there's no class tis wed and i gio tab for chilled out session. Tab had a craving for the xo fried rice from station 1, in the car we been planning wat to order when were reach there. To our disappointment, there was a black out on that fateful wednesday and wat the cafe can serve is only grill chops. :-( No snack no fried rice no nothing......

Some drinks b4 our food arrive.

Wow...thick creamy mushroom soup. I love it, too bad it isn't piping hot.

Tabby enjoying her favourite mushroom soup.

The signature BBQ chicken chop.
Gosh, the chicken shop is soooo... tender, u can eat it without the sauce.

Assam Mee Siam

I cooked a different style of mee siam this time round as mum is craving for the type which is being served at a muslim stall. They usually add dried baby shrimps to the mee siam like what they always does for mee rebus.

Mee siam can be serve in either bowl or on plate and i still prefer it to be in a bowl due to the gravy.

Ingredients A,B & C

A: Fried Bee Hoon

Bee hoon, soaked and drain

Beansprouts

2 tbsp tau cheow

2 tsp chili paste

Pinch of msg and salt

Some water

-Fry bee hoon, add seasoning and beansprouts

B: Stock

Rempah

1500ml water

230g assam paste

1 1/2 tbsp tau cheow

1 tsp home made chili paste

Some dried shrimp water

5 tbsp sugar
-Bring everything to boil

C: Garnishes

Hard boil eggs

Limes

Chives

Toasted dried baby shrimps

Beancurd puffs

Assemble ingredients A, B & C serve & enjoy! Its simple and easy as abc. Rempah can be prepared the day b4 and for this time round, i used different proportion of the ingredients for rempah.

Rempah:

100g dried shrimp

150g shallot paste

20g onion paste

5 chili padi, minced

-Soak and drain dried shrimp, pound.

-Fry dried shrimp till fragarnt, remove

-Fry shallot, onion and chili till oil ooze out.

-Stir in dried shrimps.

-Rempah is done.

Close up on our favourite breakfast.

I still prefer ingredients in the rempeh to be coarse, bcuz upon enjoying the finished product, you can get to savour the crunch of the ingredients.

回锅肉

Another nearly forgotten dish which we haven been cooking for quite sometimes. Dad's been craving for this dish, thus decided to grant his wish since i bought some pork belly from the market tis morning. Lots of pre-praparations to be done as the meat gotto be cooked in advance b4 frying, tt's y its called 回锅肉whereby the meat gotto be return to the wok to fry during the later stage.

Ingredients;
1 thick strip pork belly, width bout 3cm thick
1 large onion, cut into wedges
1 clove garlic, minced
5 dried chili, soaked in hot water, drained
Some spring onion, shred
Oil for frying

Sauce;
Oyster sauce
Sugar
Dark soy sauce
Pinch of salt
Water

Method;
-Boil pork belly till cooked, slice into slices.
-Fan fry till outer layer crispy.
-Remove and set aside.
-Fry garlic till fragrant, stir in onion and dried chili.
-Add meat and sauce, simmer till gravy thicken/
-Toss well and serve.
-Sprinkle with with spring onions.
-Enjoy!
Close up on the delicious dish. Adam can have a second serving of rice with tis dish. Yummy~licious!

Fried Endives

Endives is oso known as "pak bo chye" in hokkien. Pak po means beating the wife and chye means veggie. There's a story on how the name came about.

There's a man who bought a super big bunch of endives, ask him wife to fry it for their dinner. When he came back from home, he was stunned to see the pathetic small plate of endives for dinner. He was so angry that he took it out on his wife, beat her up for pinching the dish until a small plate left for him. The story spread and that's how endives got its name in hokkien as pak bo chye.
The thing about endives is that its a big bunch b4 cooking but the size will shrink to 1/3 left after cooking, its does not apply to other kinda veggie.

When dad saw the pathetic plate of endives which I cooked for dinner, his 1st qns is "u only bought so little? Only meant for urself izzit?" I told dad "I bought a bunch tis morning hor, dun accuse mi of pinching food ok, otherwise the name will change from "pak bo chye to pak zha bo kia chye" Instead of beating wife becomes beat daughter. erm...onli applicable to our family haha...

Ingredients;
1 bunch endives
1 tsp dried shrimps, soaked
1 clove garlic
Some fried shallots
Some toasted dried baby shrimps
Oil for frying
Oyster sauce
Pinch of salt

Method;
-Separate endives stem and leaves
-Chopped the soaked dried shrimp
-Fry garlic in oil till fragrant, add in chopped dried shrimp
-Add endives stem fry for a min
-Toss in endives leaves and seasoning
-Give it a quick stir and dish up
-Sprinkle fried shallots and toasted dried baby shrimps over
-Enjoy!

A close up pic on my favourite veggie.

弹珠汽水

弹珠汽水was a trend in the 60s where mum and dad grew up drinnking tis interesting drink and as kids, they seems more interested in the marble inside the bottle. The 1st time i saw tis kinda drink was more than 10 yrs ago where there's a short craze over tis drink as its been advertising widely over the island.

Adam and I were excited when we saw 弹珠汽水in pengarang last week and thus decided to buy a bottle to try "playing" with it. Its been lying in the fridge until now & Adam is anxious to "play" with it.
1st step: take out chilled soft drink.

2nd step: remove bottle cap.

3rd step: invert bottle cap and fit into mouth of bottle and PUSH down with palm.

Ta rang.......the marble goes into the bottle to allow drinking.

See, the marble isn't blocking anymore.

Almost finishing the drink, the cute thing is that the bottle is being designed in a way whereby the marble will stay in the center of the bottle and not sink to the bottom of the bottle.

Macadamia Butter Cookies

Coming up next after my mocha chips cookie will be macadamia butter cookies. Come to think of it, I should have baked the butter cookies 1st den the mocha cookies, so i no need to wash the mixter and spatula. haha... But aniway, its a last min decidion to bake these macadamia cookies so i find that there are still sometimes b4 preparig dinner.

Ingredients;
180g butter
100g brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
2-3 drops vanilla essence
100g chopped macadamia nuts

Sifted ingredients;
150g flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
50g icing sugar
Pinch of salt

Method;
-Cream fats and sugar till fluffy
-Add in beaten egg, vanilla essence
-Fold in dry ingredients and chopped nuts
-Drops teaspoonful of mixture onto baking sheet
-Bake at 180 degree celcius for 20-25 mins or till browned.
-Enjoy!

Close up on the fantastic lovely cookies where Adam keep praising on the fragrance and cruch of it.

Oh...i feel like eating them, but too bad they didn;t last long, only left 4 miserable pieces by nite time! haha... Tis recipe yields about 46 cookies. The next time round when I'm gonna bake them, I muz remember to buy some white chocolate to add into the mixture, gosh...sounds so fattening ya! :-P

Mocha Chips Cookies

Its been ages since i last bake. Today is May the 1st Labour Day and its a great chance for me to do all my baking. I been wanting to bake some cookies since months ago and I even wrote a list of my "muz bake list" (",)


Ingredients;
125g butter
35g sugar
1 tsp coffee granules, dissolve in hot water
100g chocolate rice
145g plain flour
5g unsweetened coco powder
30g icing sugar

Method;
-Cream fats and sugar, add coffee
-Fold in the last 3 ingredients
-Mix in chocolate rice
-Pipe onto baking sheets
-Bake at 180 degree celcius till cooked
-Let cool, dust with icing sugar
-Enjoy!

Another presentation of the cookies, its best enjoy with a cup of coffee.

Close up on the mocha chips cookies