Dinner On 大年初二

往往大年初二的晚餐较丰盛 and after some preparations, Dad and I came up with the following dishes...

金玉满堂

金光闪闪七龙珠

和气发财

年年有余鱼头炉

Refreshing Yakult Green Oolong Tea with Ice Jelly

团圆饭 2012

To most chinses, CNY reunion dinner which falls on the eve of Chinese New Year is meaningful and normally during this day, the dishes will symbolise good luck and wealth. Our familys' dinner menu are as follows;

吉祥乳猪

黄金虾条

富贵海参饺

翡翠蒜

福气猪肚海参汤

清淡的豆腐生菜汤

I've been super bz for the past week, under going training and handle different biz which my company is involved in. I worked for about 13 hrs yesterday and onli came home this morning at about 5 am. Hence, was granted an off day today and best thing is that this day off wasn't deducted from my annual leave! :-P
It was way past lunch time when I realized that I'm hungry, hence prepared a light lunch for myself.

-Bring stock to boil, add some mushroom balls, seafood sticks and hotdogs.
-Add tofu and simmer.
-Place lettuce in a serving boil, pour hot tofu soup over.
-Sprinkle with fried shallots and serve.
-Enjoy!

海参排骨花旗参汤

A simple soup which is loaded with delicacies. Dad joked that at this rate where we are eating, we will be bankrupt soon! Lolz... Dried scallop cost $250 per kg and the sea cucumber cost $660 per kg! WOW...

Ingredients;
1 kg spare-ribs
1 sea cucumber, bout 12cm length
Dried scallop
8g american ginsenf butt
Pinch of Salt
Water

Method;
-Blanch spare-risb in boiling water, drained.
-Bring water to boil, add spare-ribs and cook for 1/2 hour till slightly soft.
-Add scallops, american ginseng butt and continue to cook for another 10 mins.
-Add pieces of sea cucumber, continue to cook for another 10 mins.
-Season to taste & serve.
-Enjoy!

What a big piece of sea cucumber!

Crab Soup

Aunty Sarah came over with a big bowl of crab soup for our family during lunch today. It is said that this soup is good for those who slough hard for work, aids the joint, good for those who are having coughs.

Wow... seems like this is a wonderful soup! And the actual fact, it tastes great!

鹌鹑蛋豆腐汤

A very light and plain soup to go with my brown rice. Hmm... yummy and delicious. Erm... all are healthy and low in calories except the quails eggs. Lolz... Oh ya, I raised objection to adding quails eggs but since mum insisted and even says she's been craving for it, I've no choice but to oblige.

Ingredients;
1 box springy tofu
10 quails eggs, boiled and peel
Some minced pork
Stock
Iceberg lettuce
Shallots oil
Fried shallots

Marinate;
Light soy sauce
Salt
Cornflour

Method;
-Marinade minced pork with light soy sauce and salt, mix with cornflour just b4 cooking.
-Bring stock to boil, add shallots oil & tofu, boil for a min.
-Add quails eggs and drop teaspoonful of minced pork mixture into soup.
-Season to taste, off heat and add lettuce.
-Sprinkle fried shallots and serve.
-Enjoy!

止渴汤

Been down with flu and coughs for the past 2 days and since today is Saturday, I decided to double boil this remedy to cure my coughs.

The 止渴汤to stop my cough

Delicious and soothing to the throat.
Simple and easy, just need to pour everything into a small pot, add water and double boil for 2 hours. Done!

Other than these few ingredients, i added in some american ginseng flakes as well.

There's even instructions behind the pack.

Indian Chicken Soup

I visited Aunt Sarah yesterday to pass her some of her favourite red bean soup which mum cooked. She was bz baking all the goodies for Deepavali. Hmm... despite such a bz day, Aunt Sarah still has time to prepare chicken soup for Uncle David, since i was at their house, i was given a bowl to taste.
While drinking the soup, i can tell the soup contain ingredients will be funnel seeds, pepper , Chinese parsley, chicken feet etc...
After drinking soup i tried to find out bout the cooking method from Aunt Sarah. 1st she need to grind all the indian spices till powdery form, mix with some water to form paste. Prepare stock by boiling chicken feet & bone together, add paste & pepper. Lastly stir in chinese parsley. Heard that the soup is good for the body, especially when having a bad flu, it helps after drinking a bowl of it.
Probably i can use my creativity to come up with a different style of spicy chicken soup. :-P

咸菜豆腐紫菜汤

Soup does not have to be those where u spend 1 day to slow cook or double boil. A quick & easy simple soup can oso add colours to dinner, being an additional dish.

Low calories & low in fat!

Simple Ingredients;

1 block tofu

2 leaves of preserved mustard

Some lean meat, cut into strips

Some cherry tomatoes, halved

Some seaweed
Cornflour

Salt

Oil

Chopped scallions

Method;

-Mix lean meat with cornflour.

-Bring stock & preserved mustard to boil for a min. Add salt to taste.

-Add tofu, tomatoes & lean meat.

-Bring to full boil & add seaweed.

-Speinkle chopped scallions & serve.

-Enjoy!

A super healthy soup.

Laksa & Fish Head Steamboat Dinner

I called for a gathering dinner at home with all our family members since its been ages that we last had everyone dining together. Plus i have a craving for steamboat & its a muz to have more pple eating together.

I been wanting to eat laksa steamboat & Jesper seconded with my suggestion. I'm excited about the dinner, went all the way to tekka maeket early morning to get some of the ingredients, followed by sheng siong & ntuc.

Wow......1 side is my favourite laksa base, the otherside is clear fish stock.

The assortment of ingredients for our steamboat dinner.

All these yong tau foo are hand-made by ms kina & i spent about 2hrs getting them ready.

-Stuffed beancured puffs with minced meat & fish paste

-Stuffed okara with fish paste

-Stuffed tomatoes with fish paste

-Crabmeat roll with fish & meat paste with carrots & spring onion strips

My favourite deep fried tau kee with fish & meat paste.

Wow...it taste fantastic, especially when its being cooked in laksa stock. The crispy tau kee skin absorb the fragrance of the soup, brings out the freshness & sweetness of the chopped water chestnuts & minced meat inside the tau kee. It gives u an aftertaste of the freshness & sweetness lingering in your mouth. Shiok ar...............

砂煲昌鱼炉

Dad bought my favourite~fresh promfet through his fren from changi pier last nite. With some fresh prawns, i decided to cook a claypot fish soup.

There's tis very popular dish call 鱼头炉 being sold in many zhu zhao stalls where u can get to choose the type of fish u wan for the soup.
Its actually sort of a fish hotpot with lots of other ingredients inside.

It took mi less than 30mins to cook the dish~砂煲昌鱼炉. All i have to do is to request mum to help mi prepare all the ingredients in advance & when i came home from work, all i need to do is cook them in soup. Simple & easy.

Prepare some ingredients like wong bok, tofu, tomatoes, deep fried yam, button mushrooms, prawns & any kind of fish. Most importantly is to boil the ingredients in the broth under soup is sweet & flavourful. Enjoy!

Red Spinach Soup with Silver Fish

Guess my latest craze will be red spinach. Used to had them very frequent during my childhood & sort of addicted to it.Maybe its becoz of the colour, especially when being cooked in soup, the broth is purple~ish red in colour. So nice rite? haha....Its been more than 10yrs since i last had them.

Normally when i does my weekly marketing at the market near my house, i will juz stand there & "stone" cuz already sianz & dunno wat to buy. As usual, when i was at the vegetables vendor 3 sundays back, they suggest the idea of eating red spinach but i was brush the idea aside.
But when i passed by the supermarket near my workplace last evening, saw very fresh red spinachs, sort of being tempted to buy, which in the end i did. Cooked a yummy soup as my dinner & tis craze shall continue for these few days cuz i bought 3 bunches. haha.....

Ingredients;
1 bunch red spinach
15g dried silver fish
1 handful dried ikan bilis
1 handful soya beans
800ml boiling water
Pinch of salt
Shallots oil
Fried shallots

Method;
-Remove roots of spinach & discard, pluck the rest into sections.
-Wash & soak spinach in water for at least 10mins, drained.
-Wash & clean ikan bilis, soya beans & silver fish.
-In a pot with boiling water, add soya beans & ikan bilis.
-Bring to boil & simmer over medium low heat for 30mins.
-Filter & discard residue.
-Bring stock to boil, add silver fish & cook for about 5 mins.
-Add red spinach & boil till cooked.
-Season with salt & shallots oil.
-Sprinkle fried shallots & serve.
-Enjoy!

四神莲藕淮山排骨汤

四神汤~my childhood soup! Mum used to cook tis soup very frequent, almost every week when i was in preschool. At tt time i dun reali noe how to appreciate tis soup, will always force myself to glup down the soup & discard the remaining ingredients.
When feeling exhausted, tired or feels that u can't concentrate on work or studies, 四神 is the best soup for you (erm...tt's how i'm feeling recently, maybe still in holiday mood ba!).

Ingredients;
200g 四神汤料
20g 淮山
350g spare-ribs
1 section lotus root, sliced
900ml water
Pinch of salt

Method;
-Wash & clean spare-ribs, blanch in hot water, drained.
-Bring water to boil, cook 四神汤料 over medium low heat for about an hour.
-Add lotus root & spare-ribs.
-Bring to boil, add 淮山 & simmer for about 40mins.
-Season with salt.
-Enjoy!

Golden Mushroom Tofu Egg Drop Soup 金针菇豆腐蛋花汤

Golden Mushrooms~~~ a great ingredients to my hearty low calories & low fat soup.
After a super sinful lunch with high fats,calories & high sugar intake at swensens, i'm afraid my calories intake will overshot for the day. So, wat's for dinner? Erm.... hopefully a light soup will help! haha.....

Ingredients;
1 bunch golden mushroom
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
½ block firm tofu
400ml water
1 beaten egg
1 tsp chicken stock powder
Spring onion, chopped
1 tsp oil or shallot oil
Fried shallots

Method,
-Cut 2cm off from bottom of golden mushroom, discard. Soak mushroom in water for about 5 mins, drained.
-Cut tofu into strips.
-Bring water to oil, add tofu & cherry tomatoes. Cook for 3 mins.
-Add golden mushroom & oil, season with chicken stock powder.
-When soup boils, turn to low heat, drizzle in beaten egg.
-Boil for about 3-5 mins, off heat & serve.
-Sprinkle with fried shallots & chopped spring onions.
-Enjoy!

猪皮排骨花生汤

Its been quite sometimes since we had peanut soup with spare-ribs. With pig skin added, other than making the soup slightly thicker, we can oso obtain "collagen" from it. haha....

Ingredients;
400g spare-ribs
220g peanuts
5 clove garlic
¾ pot boiling water, additional water for boiling & cleaning
2 pcs pig skin
Salt to taste

Method;
-Wash & clean spare-ribs, trim off excess fats.
-Boil ribs with some boiling water, drained & discard water.
-Wash & clean pig skin, scrap the top layer with a small knife, pour some boiling water over the skin layer. Drained, set aside for later use.
-Wash & drained peanuts.
-Add boiling water to peanuts & boil till soft.
-Add garlic & spare-ribs, cook for another 20-30mins till ribs soft.
-Add pig skin, cook for another 10-15mins.
-Season with salt to taste.
-Enjoy!

*If u prefers softer pig skin, u can add them in at an earlier stage.

九枝菜蛋花汤

I been searching high & low for 九枝菜, oso known as gao kee cai in hokkien. This veggie is good for eyesight, u can add in some wolfberries to the soup when cooking as both are beneficial to our eyes.(i forgot to add them in as i was in a hurry to cook the soup. my tummy can't wait. haha...)

How come i need to search high & low for this veggie?
well, cuz its rather difficult to find the ones i want. I'm looking for broader leaves as they are not so bitter as compared to those smaller leaves.
I been to fairprice, but i'm always left with no choice as the remaining 2-3 bunch aren't reali fresh. I can't find them at sheng siong supermarket as they onli have mani veggie, which is something similar to gao kee cai, but has a sweeter taste. Finally i found them at the market place near hougang central. Yeah......

Ingredients;
1 bunch 九枝菜 (gao kee cai)
150g minced pork
1 tsp light soy sauce
Pinch of msg
1 tsp cornflour
1 tsp sesame oil
1 egg, beaten
800ml stock
Pinch of salt
Fried shallots

Method;
-Remove all leaves from the gao kee cai, discard the rest.
-Wash clean in water, drained & set aside.
-Marinate minced pork with soy sauce, msg & sesame oil for at least 30mins b4 use.
-Add cornflour to the marinated minced pork & mix well.
-Bring stock to boil, add some wolfberries,teaspoonful by teaspoonful of minced pork, followed by the gao kee cai.
-When soup comes to 2nd boil, add salt to taste.
-Lower heat & swirl in beaten egg, let stand for 2-3mins, remove from heat.
-Sprinkle with fried shallots & serve.
-Enjoy!

Watercess Spare-ribs Soup

Its been ages since i last had watercess. I dun reali like those where the soup stall sells as the watercess tends to be yellowish & will feel very thirsty after drinking the soup.
I've always love to eat my greens "Green".To me the point is, if greens are overcooked,no point eating them as they've already lost its nutrients & vitamins.

Ingredients;
500g spare-ribs
20g wolfberries
6 red dates
3 glove garlic
Boiling water
Salt to taste
1 bunch watercess

Method;
-Wash & clean spare-ribs.
-Cut off stem from watercess.
-Wash & clean garlic, do not remove skin.
-Bring a pot of water to boil
-Add boiling water to the slow cooker, set mode on high auto.
-When boiling water high boils, add spare-ribs, garlic & red dates.
-Let soup slow cook for about 1 hr, add salt to taste.
-Juz b4 serving, add watercess to the soup, boil for another 5 mins.
-Serve hot.
-Enjoy!

*Do not cover the pot while cooking watercess, otherwise it will turn yellowish.

Yong Tau Foo Soup

Dad bought some raw fishballs from the canteen near his workplace & since i had some fish paste in the fridge, i decided to make some yong tau foo, cooked in soup for dinner.
Hoisin dipping sauce is a "must" for yong tau foo soup.Dad loves dipping all kinds of ingredients from soup with sauce.

Ingredients;
10 fishballs
Some yong tau foo
1200ml water
50g Soy beans
20g Ikan bilis
Dash of salt

Ingredients for yong tau foo;
50g seasoned fish paste
1 tsp corn flour
Some chopped red chili & spring onions
1 big piece tau kwa
Some lady’s fingers, bittergourd rings & red chili
2 pieces square beancurd puff

Dipping sauce;
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
½ tbsp chili paste
½ tbsp stock
-mix all ingredients well, topped with roasted sesame seeds.

Method;
-Prepare stock by boiling soy beans with ikan bilis over low heat for 30mins.Drained & discard residue.
-Mix fish paste with corn flour, chili & spring onions.
-Cut a slits on tau kwa, beancurd puff, bittergourd rings, lady’s fingers & chili, stuff them with fish paste.
-Add fishballs & yong tau foo to boiling stock, season with salt.
-Sprinkle some fried shallots over.
-Serve with dipping sauce.
-Enjoy!

冬瓜排骨意仁汤

Been having a feel of heatiness due to all the fried snacks & tid-bits which i been eating recently.

冬瓜排骨意仁汤 is best to disperse all the heatiness from my family.Mum always nag & remind us to drink more herbal tea & soup if we wanna continue eating all these heaty junk food, especially Adam & Jesper.haha....For my case, i'm not the prevention type, i onli drink when i'm feeling sick.keke....

I been searching high & low for winter melon.Despite been to many different market & supermarkets, all the winter melon which they sells are in a whole, but i onli need a piece! Haiz...in the end i've no choice but to buy it. I choose the smallest size as i dun reali need alot, its so cute, a mini melon! :-P

Ingredients;
1/2 mini winter melon
1 handful of 意仁
280g spare-ribs
8-10 red dates
1200ml boiling water
Water for blanching ribs
Dash of salt

Method;
-Soak意仁for at least 1hr b4 using.
-Wash clean spare-ribs, trim off excess fats.
-Blanch in hot water, drained.
-Remove skin & seeds of winter melon, cut into pieces.
-Assemble ribs, melons, dates & 意仁in a pot.
-Pour boiling water over.
-Cook in rice cooker till ready to eat.
-Season with dash of salt b4 serving.
-Enjoy!

Fish Head Tofu Soup

Wow...dad bought a large garoupa fish & its reali fresh. The fish head looks so tempting & we decided to cook fish head soup. I ask mum to deep fried the fish head for mi, so that by time i knock off i can cook the soup for dinner.
Ingredients;
1 garoupa fish head
1 piece 2inch ginger, sliced
1 ti po, toasted
1 box silken tofu, cut into pieces
1 tomato, wedged
1 small bittergourd, sliced
Oil for deep frying
1200ml water
Dash of salt

Method;
-Wash clean fish head, chopped into pieces.
-Deep fried garoupa in hot oil till golden brown.
-Drained on kitchen towel.
-Bring water to boil, add in ginger & ti po pieces.
-Followed by tofu, bittergourd & tomato.
-Bring to 2nd boil, add in fishes.
-Season with salt.
-Sprinkle fried shallots over.
-Serve with fresh lettuce.
-Enjoy!