FU YONG OMELETTE

There are times when my mind is blur, blur of ideas on what to cook eventhough there is a long list of recipes in hand.  Come such time, eggs come in handy.  So long as there are eggs in the fridge, you can easily make a dish of it.  

This Fu Yong Omelette is one that you can improvise with little bits of ingredients you have in hand such as char siew, Chinese sausage, onions,  carrots, prawns, etc.

Just mix a combination of some of the mentioned ingredients with eggs, here you are a delicious omelette to add to your meal in a jiffy.

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 Chinese sausage [lap cheong] - diced

3 tbsp diced red carrot

1 onion - diced

1 stalk spring onions - chopped

1 tbsp red chilli

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp light soy sauce

dash of pepper and msg or chicken stock granules

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl with seasoning.  Mix well.
2. Heat up 2 tbsp oil in a non-stick wok, pour in half of the mixture and pan fry over low heat until set.
3. Turn it over and continue to fry until golden brown.  Dish up onto serving platter.
4. Finish frying the remaining portion as in Step 3.  Dish up to serve.
   
   

THERMAL COOKER - LOTUS ROOT AND MEAT SOUP

It has been raining almost all evening for over a month and the most welcome dish at the dinner table is a pot of boiling hot soup to warm the body after a hard day at work or in school.

This homey soup is one of the many soup dishes which I have prepared which was made easy with the use of the Thermal Cooker.  There is a combination of ingredients [both protein and fibre] for this soup and the taste is awesome.   The only seasoning is just some salt to taste.

Ingredients

1 section of lotus root - skin scrapped and sliced

200 gm lean meat or a section of meat from the pig leg - cut chunky pieces - blanched

3 stumps Eryngii mushrooms - cut wedges

9 red dates

1 small carrot - peeled and cut chunky pieces

30 gm peanuts - rinsed and soaked for several hours

1 small piece of dried cuttlefish - rinsed

3 pips of garlic with skin

salt to taste

1. Bring water to boil in the inner pot with peanuts, dried cuttlefish and garlic for about 15 minutes.
2. Add in the remaining ingredients.  Bring to boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add in salt to taste.  Cover pot, off heat and transfer to the outer pot, close the lid and leave to cook for 2 hours or until time to serve.
3. Reheat soup till boiling before serving in individual bowls.
   
   

A FRIEND'S CHICKEN

This chicken dish is my close friend's very own creation years ago. It is a very simple dish, aromatic, full of flavours and healthy.
All you need to do is just to marinate the chicken, wrap it up in aluminium foil and bake in the oven or grilled over a BBQ stove or steamed until cooked. The ginger,garlicky flavours are all sealed up in the package. No water is added, the juices are from the chicken and sauces.

We will prepare this whenever we have a BBQ gathering and it is always a hit with guests.

Ingredients

2-3 pieces meaty chicken thighs - skin removed, cut bite size pieces [ I used deboned chicken whole legs]
3 dried mushrooms - soaked and cut [optional]

3 tbsp chopped garlic

some chopped spring onions

Marinade
1 tbsp each of light soy sauce, 2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp dark soy sauce [optional]

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3 tbsp ginger juice or finely grated ginger

1 tbsp sesame oil

1. Wash and cut chicken into bite size pieces. Pat dry.
2. Marinate with marinating sauce and chopped garlic for several hours or preferably overnight. 
3. Place marinated chicken pieces in aluminium tray or foil. Wrap into a neat package. 
4. Place package in a wok, pour in 300 ml water.  Bring to boil and cooked until water dries up.  Leave package in the wok for a minute.  Remove and garnish with spring onions. OR
5. Bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked. You can open up the package and grill the chicken for another 5 minutes. 
6. Remove and garnish with chopped spring onions. Serve immediately.
   
   
   
   
   

THERMAL COOKER-BRAISED PORK TROTTER, YAM IN SPICY FRAGRANT SAUCE

This recipe looks complicated with numerous ingredients but if you are used to braising pork, it is not that difficult as most ingredients are easily available in one’s kitchen.

It was the picture of this dish in the recipe book that attracted my attention.  I love to eat the nice soy sauce coloured  QQ [chewy] trotter skin pieces.  The aroma is awesome.  Moreover this dish has the soft, sticky yam pieces that match so well with the other ingredients and sauce.

This dish is good serve with hot plain porridge or rice.  There was a  typo error in the article and some seasoning ingredients have been omitted here.

Recipe from Amy Beh adapted from Feminine Magazine No. 584 with modifications

Ingredients

750 gm boneless meaty pork trotter  - chopped into pieces

Marinade – 1 tbsp light soy sauce, ½ tsp each pepper and salt

350 gm yam – cut into pieces and pan fried/deep fried

2 piece firm beancurd – quartered and pan fried/deep fried

5-6 dried mushrooms – soaked [optional]

2 tbsp sesame oil

Aromatics

1 piece cinnamon stick, 3 bay leaves, 2 star anise, 4 dried chillies, 4 cloves garlic, 40 gm ginger – sliced,

2 pieces Dong Quai, 2 stalks spring onion – white part only

Sauce Ingredients

50 ml light soy sauce, 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 35 gm rock sugar, dash of msg, 700 ml water, adequate salt to taste

Thickening - 1 tbsp potato starch + 2 tbsp water

1. Blanch trotter pieces in boiling water for a minute.  Rinse clean and drain. Season pork trotters with marinade for several hours.
2. Pan fry or deep fry yam pieces and firm beancurd until golden brown.  Dish up and set aside.
3. Heat sesame oil in a heavy base thermal cooker pot, sauté aromatics until fragrant.
4. Put in the mushrooms, trotter pieces, stir fry to combine well, add in seasoning ingredients.  Leave to braise for several minutes before adding the water.
5. Bring to boil, then low heat to simmer for 15 minutes.  Stir in the yam  and beancurd pieces.  Mix well.
6. Bring to boil, then transfer to the outer pot. Cover and leave to continue cooking in the pot for an hour or until meat pieces are tender and chewy.
7. Remove pot from outer pot, bring to boil and thicken with thickening.
8. Serve in claypot with salad leaves.
   
   
   

MIXED VEGETABLES FISH & MEAT PATTIES

Meat Patties are like burgers and an all time favourite with children.  These patties have a combination of several ingredients like fish paste, minced meat and a few vegetables like waterchestnuts, cabbage and carrots.  A good way to get children to eat vegetables without noticing them.

These patties are easy and worthy to prepare cos' they are awesome serve with mayo dip or just tomato and chilli sauce.  The patties are soft, chewy and rich in proteins. Really nice.

They need not be deep fried but easily done by pan-fry which does not require much oil.

Recipe adapted from Yum Yum Magazine No. 102 with modifications

Ingredients

200 gm fish paste

200 gm minced meat

3 water chestnuts - skinned and chopped

3 tbsp chopped red carrot

1 cabbage leaf - chopped

1 stalk spring onions - chopped

Enough oil to pan fry patties

Seasoning

1 tsp sesame oil

1/4 tbsp salt to taste

1 tsp chicken stock granules

1 tbsp cornstarch

1. Combine all the ingredients in and mixing bowl.  Add in seasoning and mix well.  Stir in one direction until paste is very sticky.
2. Divide into 12 equal portions.  Form into balls and flatten into patties.
3. Pan fry the patties in a non-stick wok until golden brown or cooked through.
4. Dish up and drain. Serve with some salad leaves.
   
   
   
   

I'm linking this post to Cookbook Countdown Event#11 hosted by Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking [Makan2] Foray