What's For Lunch?

What's on the menu for lunch? The usual, would be the retort!

Stir- fried Broccoli, Carrot and Roselle

Stir-fried Leek and Beancake (Taukwa)

Braised Belly Pork in Soya sauce

A bowl of rice, please? I'm famished!

Steamed Tofu with Braised Mushroom Meat Sauce

This is a super easy dish that can be whipped up in minutes. That is if you have mushroom meat sauce at hand which I do. I made quite a huge batch and had it frozen in air-tight containers. I only took out the amount needed, thawed and heated it up.

This mushroom meat sauce recipe can be found on Shirley's blog.

http://kokken69.blogspot.com/2010/08/braised-mushroom-meat-sauce.html

I tweaked the recipe to my taste and fancy. I omitted the five-spice powder (my family dislike the flavour), added more mushrooms, more fried shallots and included carrots to make it a one-dish meal.

Next I steamed a block of silken tofu (from a packet) for a few minutes and poured the heated meat sauce over it.

As it was a last minute decision to eat at home, I had neither spring onions nor cilantro to garnish.

The next time, I'll add in cubed potatoes and cherry tomatoes.

Ahhh..... the flexibility of cooking!!

Steamed Tofu with Scallop and Salted Egg

This is one of the dishes for lunch today.

It's a very easy dish to prepare that does not require a fixed recipe.

Anyone can prepare this. Just play around with whatever ingredients and seasoning you have available.

Bottom layer - Tofu

Middle layer - Scallop

Topping - Salted egg yolk with a pinch of finely chopped garlic

Sauce preparation is a little of the salted egg white, garlic, chinese wine and a dash of light soya sauce.

Pour over the tofu.

Steam for 10 minutes and garnish with spring onions.

Leek Omelette, Taukwa and Chives & Soya Bean Paste Fish

Today's lunch menu is :

1. Leek Omelette

2. Stir-fried Taukwa and Chives

3. Soya Beanpaste Fish

Leek Omelette

1. Slice thinly 2 to 3 stalks of leek and chop half an onion.

2. Beat 2 to 3 eggs lightly and season with salt or light soya sauce to taste.

3. Heat frying pan with a little oil and stir fry leek and onion. Add a little water to cook the leek.

4. When water has dried up, pour in beaten egg and let it cook on one side before turning over to cook the other side.

Stir-fried Taukwa and Chives

1. Shell and devein 8 medium prawns. Set aside.

2. Slice 2 to 3 taukwa or beancurd thickly. Pat dry and shallow fry taukwa slices till slightly golden. Remove from pan and set aside.

3. Wash 5 to 6 stalks of chives and cut them into 3-cm lengths.

4. Slice a small portion of carrot into strips.

5. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in frying pan and saute 2 cloves garlic(minced) and carrot.

6. Add taukwa and toss gently to prevent it from breaking. Add prawns and a little water, cover to cook the prawns.

7. Add half a tablespoon oyster sauce and half a tablespoon abalone sauce to a little water to mix and then pour into the pan, followed by the chives.

8. Stir to mix and dish up to serve.

Soya Bean Paste Fish

1. Rub salt and ginger juice onto fish(about 800g) especially the gut area.

2. Slice 2 medium-sized onions, 2 chillies and 3 slices ginger. Chopped 3 cloves garlic.

3. Heat 1 and a half tablespoon oil and saute onions, ginger, garlic and chillies.

4. Add 1 and a half tablespoon soya bean paste and saute for a while.

5. Add 400ml water or more and bring to boil, then put in the fish. Cover to cook the fish. Turn the fish over to cook the other side. This takes about 8 to 10 minutes depending on thickness of fish.

6. Add 2 tablespoon of chinese wine and a little sugar to taste, mix by swirling the pan. Dish up fish, garnish with spring onions and serve.

I used a 800g grouper and cut into 2 parts.

Simple Fare - Potato and Bean Curd

Simple fare

Just for the two of us!

Cheap! Good! Easy!

Stir-Fried Potato

2 medium-sized potatoes, cut into strips

1 piece fish cake, cut into strips(leftover from mee siam)

1 large white onions, cut into strips

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 red and 1 green chilli, sliced

1 tomato, wedged

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

a little dark soya sauce

juice of half a lemon or 2 teaspoons vinegar

sugar to taste

water

1. Heat a little oil in a pan, stir fry potato strips till lightly brown and remove from pan.

2. Add a little bit more oil in pan, saute onion and garlic for a while and add the potatoes.

3. Stir to mix and add some water, bring to a boil, then simmer to cook potatoes.

4. Once potatoes are soft, add fish cake, oyster sauce to taste and a little dark sauce for colour, lemon juice, chilli and tomato and sugar. Stir to mix and let fry for a while and it is done. There's very little gravy for this dish.

Stir-Fried Bean Curd(tau kwa) with Bean Sprouts (leftovers from mee siam)

1 piece of bean curd, sliced and fried

a handful of bean sprouts

some chives, cut to 3-cm lengths

1 tomato, wedged

2 cloves garlic, chopped

oil

any seasoning preferred

1. Heat oil in pan and saute garlic for a while. Don't let it turn brown.

2. Add bean curd, stir fry for a moment, then add bean sprouts, chives, tomato and seasoning all at one go.

3. Stir fry till mixed and remove from heat. Serve with rice.

Steamed Toufu with Otah

I have a few packets of uncooked otah in the freezer - the ones I bought from JB some time ago. I decided to add toufu to it.

I used:

1 packet otah
1 packet silken toufu (I used Unicurd)
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons coconut cream ( used Kara)
a little water to dilute
Sprigs of coriander leaves

What I did:

1. Thaw otah and mash.

2. Add egg, coconut cream and some water. Mix well. Put into plate for steaming.

3. Cut the toufu into cubes and arrange in the mixture.

4. Steam for 8 minutes or till otah is cooked.

5. Garnish with coriander leaves. Alternatively, laksa leaves or kaffir lime leaves can be used.