Hot And Spicy Prawns

There are many ways to cook prawns/shrimps.  I love them without their shell on and if they are fresh, I can eat many * roll eyes...ahem...but I am not permitted to eat freely as the other partner's eyes will be watchful during meal time when there is a prawn dish :)  So to guard my uncontrollable intake of seafood like prawns and crabs , I normally cook a small portion enough just for the two of us.  A simple stir fry with homemade chilli paste, garlic and spring onions and chilli padi.   So easy to whip up and I wish I could have the whole plate to myself :p  Fresh prawns will give you a natural sweetness and sea water scent and the texture will be springy. Love love this simple and mouth watering hot spicy prawns.

so succulent and springy...mmm nom nom

Hot And Spicy Prawns  - WB's  Kitchen

14 pieces of sea prawns - shell, devein and marinate with a tsp of sugar
1 tbsp of grapeseed oil

1/2 tbsp of chopped garlic
1 tbsp of sliced spring onions
1 tbsp of homemade chilli paste ( consists of blended shallots,serai ,dried chilli cook with oil and sugar and salt to taste until it become a thick paste ( 1 hour of stirring )
1 tsp of cut bird's eye chilli
 salt to taste

Method:

Heat up 1 tbsp of oil in a non stick pan, saute the chilli paste and garlic and cut chillies till fragrant. Add in the marinated prawns and stir fry till the prawns is cooked.  Before dishing up, add a pinch of salt to taste and add in the spring onions.  Dish up and serve with rice.

Enjoy !

Hot And Spicy Street Food Tofu

I used to buy this street food tofu from the night market.  The queue can be three quarter of an hour wait. But those days, I can really wait for my turn because it was really lip smacking good :)  But today, I have perfected it to my taste. I used mint leaves instead of basil leaves ( the night market uses basil leaves ) and raw garlic , sea salt and chilli flakes for the seasoning to coat the deep fried tofu.  I love this delectable lip smacking snacks.  Now I don't have to wait until night market night to savor this street food tofu.  I heard it originated from Taiwan.  Of course , the only think I can't replicate is their tofu ( a special flavored tofu deep fried )  I used the ordinary brown tofu.  To make the tofu crispy on the outside. I used potato flour mixed with mixed herbs, cayenne powder and sea salt and coat the tofu with this seasoned flour.  It stays crispy until the last piece is in your mouth.  So tell me, how could I resist such delectable homemade street food tofu :)  I wallop the whole plate as I watch my favorite Korean drama...as usual I am found guilty of two things...first the addiction to street food and second addiction to Korean drama.  I am pronounced GUILTY and I admit to committing food gluttony ! :p

Whoa...this is simply so good that I want to eat this again...look

at the amount of chopped raw garlic I have in there

and the lightly deep fried mint leaves crushed and mixed together

with the deep fried tofu.....simply delicious !!!!!

a whole plate of this tofu snack all to myself

I am guilty on all accounts :p

Hot And Spicy Street Food Tofu  - WB's Kitchen

5 pieces of brown semi firm tofu - cut into cubes
vegetable oil for deep frying

ingredients for seasoned flour for coating tofu
mix together
1/2 potato flour
1/2 tbsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp sea salt
1-2  tsp cayenne powder

a handful of mint leaves - wash and dry of excess water
5 tbsp of chopped raw garlic
chilli flakes - depends on how hot you want it to be
sea salt to taste

Method:

Cut the brown tofu into cubes and  coat the tofu with the seasoned flour ( make sure every corner is covered with the flour.  Heat up vegetable oil  in a wok until you see bubbles at the end of the chopstick when you place the end of chopstick into the oil.  Slowly put in the tofu and deep fried till crispy and golden brown.  Take out and placed the fried tofu on a kitchen paper towel to absorb the excess oil.  Put in the dry mint leaves into the hot oil and give it a stir until you see the mint leaves are crispy.  Dish up and place them in kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil.

In a small mixing bowl, add in the raw garlic, fried mint leaves ( crushed it ) chilli flakes and sea salt to taste. Add in all the tofu and stir mix till the deep fried tofu are well coated with the seasoning.  Serve it while still warm.

* This street food tofu can be served as snacks or as a dish stand alone.

Enjoy !

Steamed Stuffed Cabbage

This is the most interesting dish I have ever prepared and guess what? I have to core out the centre stump of the cabbage and fill up the cabbage with delicious fillings.  I saw this in one chinese magazine ( can't recalled) and I was inspired to try it out and here I present to you the special steamed stuffed cabbage :)  I should have steamed it a bit longer as the cabbage was still crunchy...cooked but crunchy. I would have preferred it to be a bit more softer so that it can absorb in more of the gravy.  Anyway, this is a good try and I love the fillings...so tasty and you can dip the cabbage onto the gravy and mmmmm so yummy good !  I chose a small round cabbage for this steamed sutffed cabbage coz this dish is only for two person.

fillings consists of gingko, chinese black mushrooms, carrots, fried beancurd, 

ready to eat chestnuts

and not to forget to mention dried scallops

you can have your own choice of ingredients as fillings 

Steamed Stuffed Cabbage - WB's Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 round cabbage - soak, clean and dig out the core to make way for the fillings

fillings - amount depends on the size of cabbage

fried beancurd

chestnuts

gingko

carrots

chinese black mushrooms  ( soak and cleaned and remove the stem )

dried scallops ( clean, soak and retain water )

2 cloves of garlic- crushed

seasoning and stock

1 cup of chicken stock

1 tbsp of oyster sauce

white pepper

the retain water of dried scallops

a pinch of salt for taste

cornstarch thickening ( 1 tsp of cornflour to 2 tbsp of water )

Method:

Soak and clean cabbage.  Core out the center of the cabbage from the base...just enough space for the fillings to go in.  Drain off excess water and keep aside while you prepare the fillings.

Braise all the fillings ingredients together with the seasoning and stock till the ingredients are cooked and soften and the stock liquid has reduced and thicken.  Stuffed the cabbage with the braised fillings with the beancurd on top...the beancurd will act as a stopper.  Gently placed the stuffed cabbage that the base is facing top and sits on a 4" deep non stick pan.  Add hot water to the pan and make sure the water height covers at least 2.5 inches of the cabbage. Cover pan with lid and steamed for at least 30-35  mins over medium low heat or until the water has evaporated and the cabbage has soften.  Off heat, and gently overturn the cabbage with the opening facing bottom onto your serving plate .  Cut slits across the cabbage and open the slits to expose the stuffings.   

Enjoy !

My Baby Josh Is Of Marriagable Age :)

Time flies and my baby Josh is already 24 and he is of marriageable age LOL!  I am not kidding, he is going to get married to Elaine middle of next year. He has 7 months to prepare for the wedding. He is now attending a marriage course in his KL church. Surprisingly he enjoys the marriage course given by the Pastor :)  He comes back every weekend to attend the course from the Lion City. Tiring but he enjoys it so it will not be a problem for him and Elaine :)

I asked him what is the course about and how is he taking it, he replied that the topic thus far is what is marriage about and financial management as a married couple.   Before he got engaged with Elaine a year ago, he was frantically searching  for couples rings and now he is just as frantic looking for couple wedding bands for his forthcoming wedding.  I pray that he finds one that is to his taste mmmm Elaine his wife to be must be delighted with it too.  I pray too that the wedding plans goes smoothly for him too.  I still can't believe my baby is all grown up and getting married soon too !

Bacon Wrapped Pineapple Bites

These bacon wrapped pineapple bites were so good that I will be making these again for the coming Christmas dinner as appetizer :)  I used smoked back bacon ( more lean  ) It turned out crispy at the edges and juicy as you bite into the pineapple chunk that is wrapped by the bacon...mmmm so yummy delicious. You can serve these as finger food or appetizer. Every bite is addictive. I concoct my own sauce for glazing and WB was giving me the thumbs up as he was tucking in the bacon wrapped pineapple bites...as the saying goes ...' finger licking good '  :p  You can either bake it or pan fried them.  I pan fried them in shallow 1/2 inch of vegetable oil.   You can use either canned pineapple chunks or fresh pineapple. I used fresh ones for a tangy flavor...it was truly AWESOME bites :)  Try it to believe me !

lining them up for pan frying...you can bake them too

for a healthier version

it is good if you can use fresh pineapple

my own concoct glazing sauce

it consists of toasted sesame seeds, black vinegar, brown sugar

and a drop of sesame oil

ready for serving

Bacon Wrapped Pineapple Bites  - WB's Kitchen

6 pieces of Smoked Back Bacon
6 pineapple chunks

glaze:  mix the ingredients together

2 tbsp of black vinegar
a drop of sesame oil
1/2 tsp of toasted white sesame seeds
1 tbsp of brown sugar

Method:-

Bake

Set your oven to 375F.

Cut the pound of bacon in half. Take a half a slice of bacon, put a chunk of pineapple on one end of the bacon slice and roll up. Secure with a toothpick. Lay the bacon pineapple bundles onto the rack. Brush the prepared glaze sauce over the roll up and  bake for at least 25 minutes, brush again half way through baking. The bites are ready when the bacon looks brown and crispy.  

Pan Fried

Heat up 1/2 inch oil in a shallow pan. When oil is hot, gently put in the roll up and pan fried them till crispy and brown.  Take out and place in kitchen paper towel to drain off excess oil.

Enjoy!

Fried Rice With Porcini Mushrooms

Went for Team Building Camp on 12th and back on 13th. Came back tired ...cook simple fried rice with Porcini mushrooms....yummy...love the chewy texture and strong nutty woodsy sweet and  meaty taste. A few shakes of black pepper and mixed herbs and a pinch of sea salt was all it took to rejuvenate me after a tiring team building programme :)   Thanks WB for helping to get the mushroom and cooked rice ready for me.  Just a sms to WB from the camp with intructions to the T and that is how I managed to get the fried rice ready.  This is what I called  TEAMWORK !   LOL!

Fried Rice With Porcini Mushrooms - adapted from WB's Kitchen
for two persons

3 rice bowls of cooked rice
a handful of dried procini mushrooms- soak, clean and sliced
2 cloves of garlic- chopped
1 tbsp of dried mixed herbs
1/2 tsp of freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 egg
1 tsp of sea salt to taste
sliced spring onions for garnishing

Method:

Heat wok till hot, add in olive oil, chopped garlic and saute till fragrant, add in sliced porcini and stir fry for a 2-3 mins .  Add in the cooked rice and continue to stir fry for a min, add in mixed herbs, black pepper and stir fry till well mixed.  Push rice aside, add in beaten egg and leave till it lightly set at the bottom, push back rice and stir fry till the rice is coated with egg mixture.  Add sea salt to taste.  Off heat and the rice is ready to be served with spring onions as garnishing.

Enjoy !

Tomato Rice

This simple tomato rice is easy to whip up and taste wonderful too...not to mention it is healthy rice for people who wants to eat healthy.  I first saw this on fb when Grace Choo my friend shared on her fb.  I told her I am going to try it out and truly it is easy to whip up and it is delicious..surprisingly WB loves it too for a man who eat meat only !  Sunday is a day we eat simple and making this tomato rice was a good choice.  I used up the sushi rice grains which had been sitting in the fridge for months :p  It turned out a bit wet after mashing the tomato but after it cools down, the grains becomes harder and drier.  My first attempt, haha so was not sure how much water to add in and thus my tomato rice was a slightly wet.   

add a tomato, olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper to your pot

of rice and cook like how you normally cook rice

I cooked mine in a claypot,
used sushi rice instead of normal rice 

after mashing the tomato and mixing into the rice, 

the sushi rice was slightly wet but once it cools down

the grains turned harder and drier :)

Ingredients

rice to follow your normal amount
just add

1 tomato
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp of sea salt

Method:

Once your rice is cooked, mashed the tomato and mix  evenly into the rice
and you are ready to serve .

Enjoy !

Pickled Papaya

After helping out in our community garden, I was automatically accepted as one of the members of this group of gardeners :p and whatever fruits they harvested from their own garden, I too get a share of the fruits LOL! So super happy and feeling blessed when I was given two organic green papaya with one showing slight yellowish on the surface. I decided to pickle one and leave the other one to ripen on its own before eating it . I googled on how to make pickled papaya and thus found one from Wendy's blog. Thanks Wendy for the recipe.  It turned out great...I manually slice them all as thin as I can go.  Crunchy and it tasted so good that WB walloped almost all of it :)

Pickled Papaya  - adapted from Table for 2

ingredients:

1 kg firm papaya ( clean weight w/o skin and seeds )
2 tbsp of salt
300 gm rice vinegar
300gm sugar
10 bird's eye chillies

Method:

1. Boil rice vinegar and sugar, stir so that sugar will not set to bottom. Let it cool down completely before use.

2. Peel papaya. Half the fruit, remove seeds and rinse the fruit.

3. Cut into small pieces and slice with a mandolin.

4. Put salt over sliced papaya and rub salt all over papaya slices.  Make sure the slices do not stick together and are properly rubbed with salt.

5. Leave salted papaya for 5 mins ( not too long ) the papaya is ready to be rinsed when it looks pliable.

6. Rinse slated papaya twice. Shake off excess water.  No need to squeeze.

7. Put papaya slices into a non reactive vessel ( glass, stainless steel, ceramic )

8. Snip bird's eye chillies and pour cooled vinegar syrup over.

9. With a clean dry chopstick, stir papaya slices to make sure the papaya is submerged and coated with the vinegar syrup.

10. Let the papaya sit for a few hours.  Adjust taste.

11. Let papaya pickle for at least 2 days in the fridge before serving.

Enjoy !

Scrambled Egg White with Fish Fillet and Tomatoes

This dish is so freaking healthy...egg whites, fish fillets and tomatoes and home grown spring onions make up one delicious dish for dinner. You can eat them wrapped in lettuce cup or as a stand alone dish.  I browse through tastehongkong.com and found that many of her recipes to my taste and I have KIV many of her recipes to try out.  2015 will be a more healthier and more delicious year for me and WB.  I am glad that I tried this out and I can conclude that healthy food can be delicious too.  Making scrambled egg whites can be a challenge but I overcome it after following the instructions to the T :)  I sprinkled some freshly ground black pepper on top to make the dish more outstanding :)  I will definitely make this again. 

Scrambled Egg White and Fish Fillet and Tomatoes - adapted here

• Ingredients
• 200g white fish fillet, I used frozen code fish
• 4 egg white, beaten (at room temperature)
• 2 tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp fish sauce, or to taste
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp water or stock
• ~4 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• salt to taste
• 1 tbsp chopped green onion

• Marinade for fish fillet
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• pinch of ground white pepper
• 1/4 tsp corn starch

Method

Thoroughly thaw fish fillet. Wash, pat dry and marinade for no less than 15 minutes.

Poach fish fillet in boiling water until just cook through, about a minute. Remove with a strainer or slotted spoon. Drain, flake and set aside.

Skin, seed and dice tomatoes like this. Saute them with oil and garlic until fragrant and softened. Add salt to taste and stir well. Dish up.

Mix fish sauce, sugar and water into beaten egg white, add flaked fish fillet and stir well.

Heat a pan or skillet enough (test with water droplets if they form like dews on leaves and evaporate immediately); add oil, swirling the pan to coat. Remove from heat.

Gently pour in egg mixture, quickly flipping and turning it to help it set. Return to heat source and regulate (lower) the flame as required. The aim is to have the eggs just cooked but not brown.

Dish up, top with sautéd tomatoes and green onion. Serve hot and mix well.

Braised Sponge Beancurd With Luffa

This is another wonderful dish using the spongebeancurd. This time, I braised the sponge beancurd  with luffa in chicken broth with gingko, red dates, dried scallop, dried shiitake mushrooms and goji.  The delicious and tasty broth is absorbed into the soften luffa and sponge beancurd.  I leave you to imagine how wonderful and tasty this dish is.  Healthy too !  :) Simply love the sponge beancurd.  I have to make one load of it and they are so versatile that I can make a few dishes using them. Try making them and I am sure you will not regret taking the time to make the sponge beancurd .  

Regarding making sponge beancurd , some of my friends shared that these firm tofu/beancurd can also be freezed and you will get the same result as the boiled ones.  I am not sure whether the texture will be the same but for the method I used, boiling firm tofu, the tofu remains soft and spongy.   I will try the freezing method in my next round of making sponge beancurd and see the difference in texture.  

delish !

Braised Sponge Beancurd With Luffa - WB's Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 pieces of sponge beancurd - click here
1 medium sized Luffa - peeled and cut into 1.5 inch length and halved it
1000 ml chicken broth
6 pieces of dried scallops
4 pieces of red dates- remove seeds
2 pieces of dried shiitake mushrooms - soaked and cut into strips
6-8 pieces of gingko - remove shells and skin
some goji- soak and wash
a pinch of salt for taste

Method:

Boil the chicken broth in a medium sized soup pot together with , dried scallops, mushrooms, gingko, goji and red dates and sponge beancurd over medium low heat for 40 mins. Add sea salt to taste.  Add in the luffa and once the luffa is soft, the dish is ready for serving. Gently scoop up the sponge beancurds into a servimg deep dish, arrange the soften luffa around the sponge tofu.  Garnish top of the sponge tofu with gingko, goji and red dates and dried scallop. Gently scoop up the tasty broth over the luffa and benacurd. Serve with piping hot rice.

Enjoy ! 

Fish Head Yam Soup With Sponge Beancurd

After having learned  how to make spongy hole riddled texture beancurd, I used them in my fish head yam soup. The reason being the tofu with spongy hole riddled texture will be able to absorb more of the tasting soup and thus making this bland tofu more flavored :)  This is so delicious that surprisingly WB who is not fond of fish, slurp down two bowls of this flavorful fish head soup :) God was on my side..the yam so fluffy and creamy and the fish head was sweet and fresh and the homegrown organic spring onions round up the flavor and making this a winner soup of the year in my family menu .  

love this beautiful soup...love the fish head, love the fluffy creamy yam and

not to forget the spongy beancurd

added tomatoes to mask the fish smell in the soup

and give color to the soup

look how fluffy and creamy the yam is

the longer you boil the bencurd the more spongy it becomes :)

remember to use firm beancurd to make this spongy beancurd

Fish Head Yam Soup With Sponge Beancurd - WB's Kitchen

1 medium size Groupa Fish head

1 medium size yam - peel of skin, cut into 1/2 " thick slices

2 pieces of spongy beancurd - cut into half  ( click here on to make spongy beancurd )

2 tomatoes- remove skin and cut into halves

3 stalks of spring onions - cut into 1" length

1 thumb size old ginger - slightly crush

1/2 tbsp of salt - to taste

1 tsp of white ground pepper

1.2 litre of chicken broth

1 tbsp of vegetable oil

Method:

1.  Heat up oil in a claypot, when oil is hot, put in ginger and stir fry till fragrant.  

2.  Add in yam slices and fry till yam is half cooked and the surface is slightly golden. Dish up the yam.  

3.  Add in the fish head and fry till it is light golden color. Add in the chicken broth and let is simmer under low medium heat for 20 mins.  

4.  Add in tomatoes, yam, and spongy beancurd. Continue to simmer soup for another 3/4 hour under low heat.  When the soup is aromatic...add in salt to taste, ground white pepper and continue simmer a further 5 minutes.  Before dishing up, add in spring onions.  Off heat and serve hot.

Enjoy  !

Sponge Beancurd

Okay, you may already know how to make these sponge beancurd but for me this is the first time making them.  I remembered when I was young , my grandma used to cook this with salted fish tofu soup. I remembered that I love the spongy texture of the tofu but then I was just a teenager then.  When I saw this sponge beancurd recipe in one of my old Flavors magazine...I knew I had to make some for myself.  The process takes 4 hours .  You have to use firm beancurd.  Patience paid off when I finally manged to get good result after boiling the beancurd for 4 hours on high heat.  Exactly four hours and I got a very nice spongy hole riddled texture.  I will be sharing two recipes using sponge beancurd  in my coming posts. Stay tuned :)

after 4 hours of boiling the beancurd, 

take out and soak the beancurd in a bowl of water

to cool

I used a sharp thin knife to cut off the skin

and tada...a nice spongy hole riddled texture appeared before

my eyes...heehee super duper happy with the results

love the spongy hole riddled texture !

Sponge Beancurd  - Flavor Magazine - March to April 2008 Issue

Ingredient:

4 pieces of firm beancurd

To prepare beancurd :

Kep the beancurd refrigerated for at least 1 day , allowing the coagulant to sink to the bottom.  Remove and drain before using.  Bring water to boil in a large uncovered pot and add the beancurd; boil over high heat for 4 hours. Remove and soak the beancurd in a bowl filled with water to cool.  Once cool, trim away the beancurd skin to reveal the spongy , hole riddled texture.

Before using, soak in water and keep in the refrigerator.

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