Sambal Seafood Omelette

Sambal Seafood Omelette (serves 2)
Ingredients:
- 2-3 eggs depending on size of egg, whisked
- 1/2lb your favorite seafood combination,
- ~1-2tbsp sambal chili paste (depending on how spicy you like it)
- 1 pinch of sugar
- 1 stalk green onions, julienned diagonally

Method:
1. Heat oil in pan, and fry the seafood mixture till cooked (Note: Remember when I made fish soup, I said something about frying the seafood and keeping the "juice essence"? Well, you can keep some of the "juice essence" from here since you do not need much moisture when you fry this omelette). After that, add in sambal chili paste, continue stir frying to mix well with seafood. Sugar to taste, if too spicy. Then, set aside.
2. Add in more oil, and add in whisked egg mixture(Note: save ~1/4 cup egg mixture for later use). Let the egg pan-fried on one side till golden yellow (about3-4mins)
3. Add in seafood mixture, top with green onions, and use a flat turnover ladle to fold the egg into half in order to "envelope" or cover the seafood mixture. (Note: Try not to add the seafood mixture in the center of the egg. Slightly bias it to one side so that it is easier to fold the egg into half)
4. Add in remaining egg mixture from (2) at the "open" edges after you fold the egg into half to seal the omelette

Then you get a neat egg omelette like this - you never know what you gonna get till you attack the omelette with a fork!


And this is what you get - seafood laden, and sambal spiciness!

Halibut and asparagus soup

Asparagus & Fish Soup (serves 2)


Ingredients:
-2 fish fillets (I used halibut this time), seasoned with salt and pepper, pan fried; then sliced to smaller pieces. Set aside.
-3-4cups diced onions
-1tbsp pancetta, finely cubed
-~1lb asparagus, woody ends removed
-1tbsp wolfberry (goji berry)
- 3-4 cups chicken broth
- water, adjust accordingly
- dashes black pepper
-1 stalk spring onions, chopped finely (garnish)
-cilantro leaves, chopped finely (garnish)
-1 red chili, sliced finely (garnish)
-1tsp fried shallots (garnish)
-1 cup Jasmine rice (cook as per normal)

Method:
1. Cook rice as per normal
2. Heat oil in heavy pot at low-medium heat and cook the pancetta until the edges begin to color a bit. Scrap it out, leaving the oil behind.
3. Add the asparagus stir fry with the oil, till the asparagus are lightly colored, and cooked to tender (al dente state). Set aside the asparagus.
4. With the remaining oil, stir fry and cook the onions slowly, until they are soft and translucent
5. Then add the stock, and water, dash of pepper and bring to a boil. When boiled, turn down hear and bring to a simmer
6. Add in wolfberries, and add in asparagus and mix well. Cook for 2-3 mins, then turn off heat
7. Top with pre-sauteed fish slices, and garnish with spring onion, red chili, fried shallots
8. Serve with steamed rice.
(Note: If you prefer a rice soup, you could pour the soup over the cooked rice, top with pre-sauteed fish slices, and garnish with spring onion, red chili, fried shallots. I ate it this way)

Asparagus, goji berry, cilantro, green onions, red chili, fried shallots...but cannot see the fish


Now you can see the fish


A spoonful of goodness


Tag: fish, halibut, fish soup, seafood

Organic heirloom tomatoes, and blue cheese

Organic heirloom tomatoes, and blue cheese crackertizer

Less stove-top cooking, or in this case, no stove-top cooking :D


These tomatoes say "I'm organic heirloom", with the green heirloom shouting out "go green, go green"! And the (distinctively stinky) blue cheese admitting "I'm stinky but I've got personality"

Pan fried radish/turnip cake

Pan fried radish/turnip cake (serves 2)
Ingredients:
-Ready made turnip/radish cake (available in some Asian supermarkets, together with the frozen buns sometimes)
-2 eggs, whisked
-green onions, chopped finely

Method:
1. Cut the radish/turnip cake into rectangles
2.Add the chopped green onions in the whisked egg
3.Heat some oil in a shallow frying pan. Add the rectangular pieces of radish/turnip cake in the eggs and mix them well for coating to spread evenly
4.Add 5-6 pieces at one time. Pan fry 2-3 mins one side till browned, then flip over and fry 2-3mins other side, till browned
4. Serve warm

Dipping sauce to recommend : Chilli sauce (garlic, or sweet...your preference)


Crispy egg edges and firm cake texture. I prefer my carrot cake "cubes" to be softer.

Cider chicken stew

Chicken Cider Stew (serve 4)
Ingredients: some chicken thigh meat, carrots, potatoes, onions, spicy cider juice, pepper, cornflour

Method:
1. Heat some oil in a pan, and saute the onions till soften
2. Add chicken, carrots and potatoes, and fry for 2-3mins. Sprinkle some cornflour over this mixture and mix well

3.Add spicy cider juice and pepper. Lightly stir till mixture thicken
4.Add the mixture into a slow-cooker or crock pot and cook on high for 45mins. Then turn to low, and cook for another 1 hr



Tag: apple cider, apple cider juice,yuzu

Shrimps with Crispy Rice/Barley Bits

Shrimps with Crispy Rice/Barley Bits, or Guoba prawns/shrimps, or (serve 2)

Ingredients:
-12 medium-sized prawns/shrimps, cleaned and peeled
-1tbsp cornflour
-1 egg, whisked
- some rice or barley crisp-cracker (store-bought)

Sauce:
-2tbsp tomato sauce/ketchup
-dashes of Worcestershire
-1tsp black vinegar
-1-2tsp citron honey
-3tbsp water, adjust accordingly
-few slices of ginger, julienned to thin strips
-spring onions, julienned to thin strips, by the bias

Method (making the shrimps) :
1. Dab the shrimps dry with a kitchen paper towel


2. Dip the shrimps in the egg mixture, then coat lightly with flour and deep-fry till golden brown. Set aside or place on top of crackers.


Method (making the sauce) :
3. Whisk together all the sauce ingredients (except ginger and spring onions/scallions) in a bowl and set aside.
4. Heat oil in a shallow saucepan over medium heat. Add ginger and stir-fry for 1min, till fragrant. Add the sauce mixture and bring to boil.
5. Check for the sauce consistency. If not thick enough, add some cornflour to thicken.
6. Simmer the sauce for a few seconds and remove from the heat. Stir in the scallions.


7. Assembly ingredients


8. Pour the sweet and tangy sauce over the shrimp+ crispy cracker assembly. Serve immediately

Crispy shrimps with drizzles of sweet and sour sauce, who could resist that ?


Even the cracker gets drizzles of sauce, and "sizzles" in my heart


Oh, did you hear it? I could not :( ...but the cracker "tainted" with the sauce was equally good!

Do you prefer this to drunken prawns ?

Tag: prawns, shrimps, guoba prawns, rice crisp , seafood

Assam Fish

I tried Assam fish too when the Assam prawns turned out delicious.

Anyhow, the recipe is exactly the same as Assam prawns, so I will not be posting it again. Pictures only!




























Tag: fish, pomfret, assam, tamarind, assam fish

Mini fruit medley orange cups

Find peaches.


Find watermelons.


Find bing and rainier cherries.


Find blueberries.


Find paradise.

Tag: fruits, tropical paradise, dessert

Fish soup

Fish soup (serves 2)
Ingredients:
- 2-3 Alaskan cod fish fillets (I like to stick to wild-caught, non-farm-raised fishes, where ever possible). Buy fresh or flash-frozen. Cut fish fillets into slices of about 0.7-0.8cm thickness, marinade("pat") lightly with salt and pepper
- Seafood stock* (Note: I will talk about making the stock at the bottom of the post)
- Canned straw mushrooms (option)

- any green leafy vegetables (lettuce, bok choy, bok choy sum) of your choice, blanched
- 2 stalks spring onions, julienned into thin strips at the bias
- fried shallots and red chili, garnish
- salt and pepper, to taste

Method:
1. In a soup pot, boil the seafood stock* with mushrooms. When boiling, turn to low heat, simmer
2. While simmering, add in the fish slices, in small batches; once cooked(turns opaque), remove from simmering soup and set aside (Note: Do not overcook the fish)
3. Add in spring onions, salt and pepper to taste (Note: By this time, the soup is already robustly flavored in seafood-, and fish- flavor)
4. Lay the blanched vegetables in a bowl, top with cooked fish slices, then spoon the hot soup into the bowl over the vegetables and fish slices
5. Garnished with more spring onions, fried shallots and sliced red chilli
6. Serve warm with rice

How nutritious is this...

*Making the stock for fish soup:
1. Teochew-style - boil a pot of water with pork bones, soybeans and peppercorns for about 20mins or longer. Salt to taste. Best if additionally garnished with pre-fried dried shrimp, pre-fried pork belly slices and pre-fried dried Chinese mushrooms.
2. Cantonese-style - If available, get some fish bones and marinate with a little salt. Then fry the fish bones in oil till they are fragrant, add a dash of chinese cooking wine. Pour in water (soup will turn whitish), then add ginger and simmer for 30mins. Remove the bones.
3. Short-cut/cheat-sheet style - This is more of a tip. When stir-frying seafood - shrimps, bay scallops, calamari, clam etc., you will usually get instant "seafood broth" due to the moisture content of the seafood. Most of the times, you may not need all the seafood "essence" at once(unless you are making seafood soup in which you do not want "dilution" of flavors). Keep some aside - store in air-tight container and freeze for future use.


This fish soup turned out unexpectedly good. Another "almost naked" way of tasting fresh fish. "Naked" in this meaning - minimal cooking of the fish


Quite common to dip the fish slices in a condiment of dark soy sauce with some sliced red chilli in it, or maybe some Thai chili condiment, for a change.

Enjoy.

Tag: fish, cod, fish soup, seafood

Drunken prawns

Drunken prawns
Ingredients:
- Live spot prawns (or any live prawns)
- dashes of cooking wine, shaoxing
- some ginger, sliced thinly
- some goji/wolberries

Method:
1. "Marinate" the prawns with some cooking wine (errr....in other words...make them "drunk")
2. Boil some water or stock in a pot. When boiling, add slices of ginger and some goji berries.
3. Then add in the prawns, and cook till they turn pink


4. Dish out and serve (Note: Set the remaining broth/soup aside to drink, as it contains the goodness and flavors of shrimps, ginger and goji berries - nutritious)


Cooked whole, eat whole, AND...you just have to suck out the juices from the prawn head :O


Soooo succulent and juicy...now this can be in my memory

Drunken prawns...the story continues: You could find this dish in most Chinese seafood restaurants, sometimes in a Chinese wedding course-dinner. In the Chinese seafood restaurant, live prawns are brought to the table in a bowl of soy and wine in which they, literally, drown. :O You will realize the prawns are still alive when they start flapping about in a transparent casserole bowl. The prawns will be cooked over the portable stove-top, right in front of you. Within a few minutes (when the prawns stop moving, or are slow and painfully dead), peel off the shell and eat immediately. Not so much of being cruel, the restaurant just wants to ensure the freshest prawns being served to their patrons. Seeing is believing, isn't it?

Well, I have here, the restaurant delicacy simplified for the home cook. The main ingredient - shrimps/prawns certainly demonstrate its nutrition benefits; and the cooking method - boiling, does not introduce any unhealthy elements to the dish. All perfect for the heart. Just maybe, the story of the drunken prawns, may not be for the weak-hearted.

Tag: prawns, shrimps, steamed prawns, steamed shrimps, seafood

Vegetarian Beancurd Roll

Vegetarian Beancurd Roll (makes ~6 rolls)
Ingredients:
- some beancurd sheets, and nori sheets (Note: If you cannot get beancurd sheets, you can substitute by spring roll wrappers, but you may have to deep-fry the final product)
-1 pack regular firm tofu
- 1-2 cups brown crimini mushrooms, chopped finely to small pieces (Note: Substitute with shitake mushrooms if you wish)
- 1 stalk of celery, cleaned throughly, chopped to small pieces
- 1 cup mixed (frozen) vegetables - corn, carrots, peas and/or long beans
- 1tbsp oyster sauce
- salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Heat a little oil in a saute pan and stir fry the mushrooms, celery and mixed vegetables. Add in oyster sauce and some salt and pepper to taste
2. Turn off heat and allow the mixture to cool.
3. Meanwhile, mash the tofu in a deep mixing bowl. When the vegetable mixture has cooled slightly, add the mixture into the mashed tofu and mix well


4. While waiting for mixture to cool, prepare the beancurd sheets (Note: available in most Asian supermarkets) and nori sheets


5. Wrap the rolls like what I did to my shrimp rolls
6. Steam the rolls for 6-8mins to soften the beancurd skin and warm up the entire tofu fillings (Note: If you have uncooked meat in the rolls, steaming is one way to cook the meat before deep-frying. Usually, the deep-frying, particularly if the rolls are big and fat, is done just to give that nice golden brown outer on the rolls, and not to cook the meat inside the rolls)


7. Before serving, bake and warm in oven, ~5-8 mins, to get some crispness on the rolls (Note: This will also ensure your guests are always served warm food)






Tag: beancurd skin, vegetarian, tofu, beancurd skin roll, appetizer, snacks

Citron honey chicken

Yuja is a round, lemon-like citrus fruit, also known as yuzu in Japanese and English. It has an aroma which cannot be substituted, a powerful acidity and a plentiful supply of vitamin C. Along with berries, this citrus fruit contain antioxidant- flavonoids, unique to the citrus family. In Korea, it is used to create a syrupy tea - Yuja cha. The fruit is thinly sliced (peel, pith and pulp) then soaked or cooked in honey or sugar to create a chunky syrup. This syrupy candied fruit is often mixed with hot water as fragrant tea.

The citron fruit is slow-growing and often preserved in syrup for the cold months - the citron tea made from syrup is often served as a source of fruit in winter. It's not winter in the U.S (still months and months to go...) but I've already turned to Korean honey citron tea (yujacheong) or Yuzu tea.

Citron honey does not come comforting only in winter, it is an all-rounder in my opinion, since I can use it to flavor up my savory dishes all year-all-round. If you use honey and lemon as ingredients in your cooking, citron honey is almost a perfect substitute ingredient - adding that tang factor. "Sweet and sour" poultry and meat dishes can be made a little different and special, by adding citron honey. Citron Honey Chicken. The name by itself is already so tasty. The dish itself - a covet balance of tang and sweet.



I was quite sure adding citron honey (as the substitute) would not go too wrong since I've done lychee chicken before - another sweet and tangy chicken dish.


The citron honey chicken is definitely a keeper, with the other "chicks" - herbal, satay, braised, deep-fried spicy , & ginger-steamed


Tag: citron honey, citron honey chicken,yuzu