Tauhu Goreng / Fried Beancake with Peanut Sauce

Lunch was tauhu goreng. It was easy to prepare just as long as you have the ground peauts at hand, an essential ingredient for this dish.
I do not have specific quantities for the ingredients used. I just estimated the amount of this and that and go by taste with lots of finger-licking!

Ingredients:

Tau Kwa, pan-fried or deep-fried and cut to size
Tempeh, optiional (fermented soya beans), sliced and deep-fried
Taugay (beansprouts), scalded
Cucumber, sliced

Peanut Sauce: (to be prepared before frying the tau kwa etc)
Ground peanuts (I used store-bought)
Sugar and salt to taste
Lime juice to taste
Dark soya sauce to taste and colour
Garlic, minced, preference of how garlicky 
Chilli padi, preferred spiciness
Water

1. Place garlic, chilli, lime juice and a little water and mix well.

2. Add ground peanuts, sugar and salt and mix together and add some water and soya sauce while mixing to the consistency and colour preferred.

3. Taste and add more of whatever you feel is required. Spoon a portion of the sauce over tau kwa and other veggies and tuck in!

Baked Broccoli and Cheese

An easy dish to prepare

No fuss and bother

Just add in anything available

Bake it

And place it on the table

Now tuck in!

I don't have a fixed recipe for this. The basic ingredients are:

broccoli

low fat milk

a teensy bit of butter (in my case, half a teaspoon)

a little olive oil

half an onion, chopped

some flour

diced ham

a dash of worcestershire sauce

pepper

a small bowl of cooked brown rice (leftover)

grated cheddar cheese and mozzarella

no salt required as ham and cheese are used

I simply sauteed the chopped onions with a little olive oil and a dash of worcestershire sauce and the diced ham till soft and fragrant and set it aside.

Next I microwaved the broccoli florets on high for 2 minutes and drained any moisture.

Then I cooked some white sauce, using a little butter, milk and some flour.

After that I mixed the broccoli, white sauce, some grated cheese, brown rice, ham and onion with a little pepper. I drizzled some milk and topped up with more cheese.

I placed it in a pyrex bowl and baked it at 190 deg C for 20 minutes.

Sloppy, sloppy job!

The orangey hue is red cheddar!

Creamy enough and not cloying!

That was my daughter's and my dinner! We polished up everything!

But uggh! Baked cheese stuck to the bowl is hard to wash off! I'll just soak it with water and leave it till tomorrow to wash.

Pasta & King Oyster Mushroom in Whipped Cream

Tonight's dinner was quick and simple.

My hub had curry keema with baguette. (I always cooked extra and freeze for lazy/busy days.)

My daughter and I had pasta.

The Pasta:

200g Fusilli, boiled with a little salt till al dente, drained and set aside

2 king oyster mushroom, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

oil (Used canola, ran out of olive oil, didn't want to use butter)

salt to taste

a little water

whipped cream

dried oregano, basil from bottle

parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a pan and saute garlic for a while. Then add mushroom and stir fry till slightly soft.

Add in pasta and salt. Pour in about 75ml whipped cream and a little water. Stir to mix. Bring to a boil and it's done.

To serve, sprinkle oregano, basil and cheese.

The King Oyster Mushrooms

Fusilli, Basil and Cherry Tomato

With Oregano

Laksa Yong Tau Foo

I have not cooked laksa for a very long time and wanted to make it on Monday. The image of laksa remained in my mind and I felt that if I didn't make it sooner, I'll probably have nightmares about it. ;P

Now, the question is which version should I cook - the usual 'lemak' or healthy one???

The difference lies in the gravy.

LEMAK is COCONUT MILK!

HEALTHY is UNSWEETENED SOYA BEAN MILK!

I went with the first choice. :) :)

For the health-conscious, plain soya bean milk makes a good substitute for coconut milk in cooking.

I used soya milk when I did a cooking demo on healthy laksa a long time ago. It was good!

What I used:

A

250g onions

2 cloves garlic

1 thumb-sized turmeric

4 to 5 slices galangal

6 dried chillies, soaked to soften

1 teaspoon belachan

5 candlenuts

1 6cm-lemongrass stalk, sliced

30g dried prawns, soaked and drained

2 teaspoons coriander powder

2 packets coconut milk (Kara) or 500ml unsweetened soya bean milk

400ml water or prawn stock, more or less depending on choice of gravy consistency

oil

salt to taste

laksa leaves, finely chopped

Assorted yong tau foo

What I did:

1. Grind ingredients A.

2. Heat some oil and saute A till fragrant.

3. Add stock, coconut milk and yong tau foo. Stir to mix.

4. Bring to a boil, add salt to taste.

5. Serve garnished with laksa leaves.

The gravy is not too spicy. You may add more chillies.

Fried Bee Hoon with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto

A meal for the two of us - Me and my daughter!

I had planned to cook laksa but shelved it. So it's fried bee hoon instead.

What I used:

1/3 packet bee hoon (rice vermicelli) I used double-chilli brand, soaked in water for 1/2 hour

1/2 carrot, cut into strips

1/2 can button mushrooms, sliced

1/2 large white onion, chopped coarsely

1 clove garlic, chopped

a small piece of fillet meat, sliced thinly (I used pork)

stock, enough to cook to soften the bee hoon

salt to taste

2 heaped teaspoons sun-dried tomato pesto

What I did:

1. Heat a little oil in pan, saute onions and garlic for a short while.

2. Add meat, carrot and mushroom and stir to mix.

3. Add tomato pesto and stir fry to mix. Then add bee hoon and some stock.

4. Stir fry to mix, lower heat to simmer to cook bee hoon.

5. Add a pinch of salt to taste. Mix and it is done.

6. To serve, place a teaspoon of pesto on top of bee hoon, mix and eat. Yum!

I bought this pesto at a factory in Woodlands. Besides producing different types of pesto, the factory churns out cakes, brownies, cookies, bread etc and supplies the goodies to hotels, restaurants etc.

This pesto is made of sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, black pepper, almond, apricot, salt and canola oil. Sounds healthy! That's the reason why I bought one to try.

I like the taste of this pesto. It's not salty, yet it's flavourful. I couldn't help it and had two helpings!

I might end looking like a tomato. ;p

A Savoury Moment

What do you do with near-expiry bread?

Think, think, think..........

Ah ha!

Bread.......

Pudding!!!

Nowadays, bread comes with expiry date. My family could hardly finish a normal loaf of bread before its shelf life. What do I do? I store the remaining 2 to 3 slices in the freezer.

Then comes another fresh loaf and the same happens to it.

Eventually I have a new loaf of 'expired bread' in the freezer.

I thought I would keep it for my grandsons to feed the fishes at a nearby pond but I remembered coming across a recipe by Mochachocolata-Rita and changed my mind.

A Savoury Bread Pudding! It got me excited. I have eaten the dessert type of bread pudding which is sweet and I would drown it in vanilla cream! YUM!

But a savoury one - this I had to try!

What I Used: (I tweaked the recipe to suit my taste)

2 slices wheat bread (I used 3 slices wholemeal), buttered and ripped

2 eggs (I used 3 eggs)

1 cup milk (I used low-fat milk)

1/2 cup grated cheese (I used 3/4 cup cheddar), keep some for topping

1/2 tin cornbeef (I used 1/3)

1 medium white onions, coarsely chopped

2 red chillies, thickly sliced

1 teaspoon mixed herbs

1/2 teaspoon parsley

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

What I Did:

1. Beat eggs and milk lightly. Mix in cornbeef.

2. Add in spices, some cheese, onions and chilli. Mix well.

3. Grease and line tin. (I used a 20-cm round tin and lined with foil.)

4. Pour mixture into tin and sprinkle top with remaining cheese.

5. Bake at pre-heated oven 180 degrees C for 40 to 50 minutes.( After 25 minutes, I covered the top with a foil as it was getting quite brown and left it on till end of baking time.)

6. Cool slightly and serve while still warm.

As I did not grease the foil well, it was quite difficult to remove the pudding without getting part of it stuck.

I had it for dinner with some greens. Satiation was the feeling!

All-in Curry

Got up late today at 9 plus. Actually I got up earlier at 5.20 to wake my younger girl who has a 3-day camp to attend. After dropping her off at the train station, I resumed my snooze. By the time I was done with breakfast, it was already approaching 11. You must wonder why I took so much time for breakfast. Well besides food, I usually feast on the daily news. ;p

It was too late for me to rush to the market. I have to work this afternoon. I had originally planned on cooking mee goreng and needed some vegetables to go with it. Okay, what should I do now??? Think! Aha! CURRY! This dish never fails to delight my hubby. Since there are only the two of us, again I resorted to a one-dish meal. I managed to raid my fridge and came up with eggs, a carrot, a tomato, a capsicum and meatballs. The veggies were in the fridge for almost 4 days. If they're kept any longer, they would just waste away. So I decided to 'dump' everything in.

This is what I used:

A

2 medium-size onions

4 cloves garlic

1 1/2 cm ginger

3 chilli padi

some curry leaves

B

50g curry powder mixed with some water to a paste

1 packet coconut cream (Kara 200ml)

C

3 potatoes, cut to size

1 whole carrot, cut to size

4 hard-boiled eggs

8 swedish meatballs (from Ikea)

1 tomato, quartered

1 capsicum, sliced

Oil

water, depending on how much gravy you want

salt

How I did it :

1. Grind all ingredients in A.

2. Microwave carrot and potatoes with enough water to cover on high for 6 minutes. This is to soften them partially and they cook faster in the curry. Do not discard the water as it can be added into the curry during cooking.

3. Heat enough oil in a pot and saute the ground ingredients till fragrant. Add in the curry paste and continue to stir fry for a few minutes.

4. Add in the carrot and potatoes together with the water. Add more water to boil till they are almost soft.

5. Then add in the meatballs and boil for a short while before putting in the eggs and the coconut cream. Bring to a boil and add salt to taste.

6. Lastly, add tomato and capsicum and let it boil for a minute and it's done!

"Keema" Curry My Way

Anything curry or spicy goes down well with my husband. I try to cook such dishes as often as possible. I cook the healthier version as compared to those served at food courts or hawker centres. Less oil, healthier type of oil, less salt and better cuts of meat with minimum fat make a 'healthidelicious' meal.

This dish is easy to prepare. It is usually eaten with french loaf, baguette or roti prata.

What I used:

200g minced meat (I minced the meat myself. Avoid buying ready minced meat as they contain a lot of fat)

1 1/2 packet curry powder for meat, mixed with some water to a paste (I used Earthern Pot brand and they come in packets of 50g)

3 large onions, chopped finely or ground
3 cloves garlic, chopped or ground
1 cm thick ginger, grated or ground
some curry leaves
coriander leaves, chopped

1/2 carrot, grated finely or chopped
3 potatoes, cubed
2 large tomatoes, chopped coarsely
2 tablespoon milk or coconut cream (optional)

salt to taste
some water, depending on how much gravy you want
oil for frying spices

other possible additions : chick peas, green peas

What I did:

1. Heat enough oil and fry onions, garlic and ginger for 1 minute or so.

2. Add in the curry paste and some curry leaves and stir fry continuously till fragrant.

3. Then add in carrot, potatoes, meat and some water and stir to mix.

4. Add sufficient water, cover and simmer. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking to the base of pot.

5. When potatoes are about done, add in tomatoes, coconut cream and some curry leaves and salt to taste.

6. Bring to boil and turn off heat.

7. Garnish with chopped coriander before serving.

Fried Bee Hoon

For lunch today, I had fried bee hoon. A favourite of mine but not for the rest.....
I use Tai Sun Chilli brand bee hoon because I like the texture. It doesn't break up easily even though it is stirred thoroughly unlike certain brands which break up into very short strands after frying.
Fried bee hoon has no specific recipe. Just add in any ingredients according to your fancy.

Here's what I did:
I used whatever I could find in my fridge or cupboard.

half a packet bee hoon soaked in warm water for 15 minutes
6 cloves or more garlic, minced
quarter of chinese cabbage, sliced
a medium-size carrot, coarsely grated
about 300g meat, sliced thinly (I used part pork fillet and chicken breastmeat. You can use prawns etc)
some button mushrooms, sliced
stock (chicken or prawn)
fish gravy
oyster sauce
light soya sauce
pepper
corn flour
oil

For garnishing:

red chilli, sliced
coriander leaves
spring onions
fried shallots


1. Drain away water and put bee hoon aside.

2. Marinate meat with some light soya sauce, pepper, cornflour and a little water so that it easily mixed.

3. Heat some oil, about 25ml and fry garlic, carrot for a few minutes. Then add meat and mushroom and stir fry till meat is slightly cooked.

4. Add some seasoning to taste and the cabbage.

5. Pour in stock and add beehoon. Stir fry till the bee hoon and the ingredients are well-combined. Cover and let it cook for 3 to 5 minutes.

6. Dish out and garnish.

Today's Lunch - Otah

I used one packet of otah. I added a little coconut milk and water and some sliced polygonum odoratum Lour which is also known as Vietnamese coriander or in Malay, daun kesom or locally, laksa leaves. I mixed it up and microwave covered for about 4 and a half minutes.

Besides adding coconut milk, you can add in one egg, lightly beaten. Instead of laksa leaves, use kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut). Instead of microwaving, the otah can be steamed for about 6 minutes depending on thickness of otah.

A Simple Meal For Two

My younger daughter has not been coming home for dinner lately. That leaves only my husband and me. We had been eating out for a few days and I decided that I had enough of eating oily and msg-ladened food. I came up with these two simple dishes - stir-fried meat in oyster sauce and xiao pai cai with shredded carrot.
The stir-fried meat had lots of sliced onions because it is one of my husband's favourite 'veggie'. I also added another of his favourite, potato.