Category: Noodles

Braised Noodles in Oyster Sauce

I am very sure I belong to the category who live to eat. I love food (full stop). And most importantly I appreciate all those who make eating possible. What I mean is that I appreciate people who grow the rice, mill the wheat, rear the chicken, catch the fish, bake the cakes and down to those who serve the food. Basically, everyone whom participate in the ‘Food chain”. This food chain is not the one which we learn in Science classrooms. This food chain is the supply chain that makes eating a dining experience. 

Some of the people I know rather spend money on luxury goods, some prefer to spend on cosmetics and spa and I prefer to feed my stomach. Despite saying that, I do not believe that every meal must be a lavish affair. I believe even a humble bowl of noodles can be satisfying to both the palate and the stomach.  

So one Sunday… I was waiting for my hubby to return home so we can go for lunch. I waited and waited. My stomach started growling. Yes, ‘she’s’ hungry. In fact, quite hungry. So I pulled out few items from the fridge and started whipping up a wok of Braised Noodles in Oyster Sauce. It was sumptuous. Do not worry if you do not have all the ingredients. They are easily replaceable with others. (See below for alternatives) 

Guess what, after I finished cooking and had two helpings of the noodles. I realised that I have numerous missed calls from my hubby. 😛 



Recipe (Serves 4) 
Ingredients:

  • Fresh Shanghainese Noodles
  • 100g Pork Belly, thinly sliced 
  • 3 pieces Fresh Black Fungus. thinly sliced
  • 2 stalks Scallions, cut into 1 inch long
  • 2 cloves of Garlic, Chopped
  • 2 Eggs, Lightly beaten
  • 1 1/2 cup Chicken Stock
  • 2 tbsps Oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp Light Soya Sauce
  • 1 tbsp Dark Soya Sauce
  • 1 tsp Sesame Oil
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Cooking oil 
  • 2 litres of water

 Steps:

  1. In a pot, boil 2 litres of water. Boil the noodles for 1 minute or al dente. Rinse in tap water to remove some of the starch. Drain. You do not want to over cook at this process as it will be cooked again later. 
  2. In a heated wok, add 2 tbsp of oil. Stir fry the eggs. Set aside. 
  3. In the same wok, add 2 tbsp of oil. Add chopped garlic and fry till fragrant. Add in the white sections of scallions. 
  4. Add pork and fry till it turns opaque. Add in black fungus. 
  5. Add in chicken stock, oyster sauce, sesame oil, light soya sauce and dark soya sauce. 
  6. When it starts boiling, add in drained noodles. Stir and add in fried eggs.
  7. Cover and let it simmer for 3 minutes in low heat or until gravy thickens. If you find the gravy too thick, add water accordingly. This varies due to the noodles you use. 
  8. Season with salt and pepper. 
  9. Add in the rest of the scallions. Stir and remove from heat. 

I cooked this with what I have from my fridge so do not fret if you do not have the ingredients. Just use something you like. Who knows? It could be an epic recipe! 

Alternative ingredients:
  • Fresh Shanghainese Noodles – Fresh/ Dried Egg noodles, Ee fu noodles, Bee Hoon 
  • Pork belly – Pork loin, Chicken breast, Shrimps
  • Black fungus – Fresh/ Dried Shitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms
  • Chicken stock – Water (but it will lose the depth in taste)
by Categories: Noodles Leave a comment

Parmesan Sauce with Peas and Bacon

Recently…

Question: What is the theme of your blog? 
My answer: Hmm… There isn’t a theme. I cook the things I like to eat and the things I want to try. 
Question: What is your blog about? 

Yes, there are many people who blog about food. And I blog about food and cooking because it has a special meaning to me. 

My family started humble with little food to eat. I remember my mum told us that they had to fork out the last few coins to feed the family because we were very poor then. At that time, the coins managed to only get three steamed cupcakes (if you noticed, steamed cupcakes is one of the earlier posts on my blog) to feed a family of five. Since, my parents worked very hard to feed the family and slowly our family began to live more comfortably. Because my parents had to work, I started to help out in the kitchen at a young age. I am blessed that my mum is a good cook so I learnt to love cooking and baking. Over the years, I built on my cooking repertoires through culinary classes, cook books and research over the internet. My family and friends are my great supporters of my trials. Even though some of my experiments failed terribly, they have been very encouraging. I got to understand the phrase that food binds people together and often I like to invite family and friends over for dinner and sometimes bring baked goodies to friends and colleagues.  

So what is my blog about? 

My answer: It is about cooking for love. I hope I can inspire you (everyone) to cook at home. To cook for the ones you care and love and to enjoy the goodness of home-cooked meals together. 

This recipe is requested by a friend. She has a beautiful family and three wonderful children. I am sure she has asked for this recipe to cook a nice meal for her family. This sauce is good for any pasta. I had it with fresh linguine and ravioli too. Once my hubby and I invited my brother-in-law over for dinner, (Yes, we like to host and have been inviting people for dinner on weekends) he was obsessed with this pasta sauce and had been requesting for us to cook it again and again. 


Recipe (Serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
  • 100g Bacon, thinly sliced
  • 100g Frozen Green Peas
  • 3 Garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 Shallots, chopped
  • 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter
  • 2 cups Heavy cream
  • 1 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
  • Pinch of Nutmeg
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 200g Cooked Pasta 
Steps:
  1. In a large pan, heat heat on medium and cook garlic and shallots. 
  2. Add in bacon and fry till bacon turns light brown. 
  3. Add in heavy cream. Cook on medium high heat till cream reduce to 2/3 of the original the amount. 
  4. Add in nutmeg, peas, salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes.
  5. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan cheese. 
  6. Toss with cooked pasta. 

Enjoy! And do enjoy cooking, yea? Yes, I know cooking takes time. But if you do not spend time cooking for your love ones, who will? 


by Categories: Meat, Noodles, Sauces, Vegetables Leave a comment

Nyonya Mee Siam

I am on a local food fare craze recently. As I observe the local food scene, I could see that real authentic Singapore food will slowly disappear and only be talked about as memories as it gets lost in the midst of commercialization. 

This is probably one of the reasons that I decided to learn more about local delicacies. Recently I attended a cooking class in a community center and got to learn about making great local dishes. Mee siam is one of them. Mee siam has been always a puzzle to me. What is the secret to the spicy, salty, tint of sweetness and sourish gravy? It has a complexity of taste which it is not easy to tune. There are few versions of mee siam and I prefer this nyonya one. 

After learning, my friends came over and we had a Mee siam cooking party. It was really fun to have friends to cook together and catch up at the same time. We even added fishballs and calamari into our mee siam. 

Nyonya Mee Siam (8 portions)
Ingredients:
A) Spice Paste (Make approx. 3 portions of rempah)
  • 200g Shallots
  • 90g Lemon Grass
  • 80g Galangal
  • 30g Garlic
  • 40g Ginger
  • 4g Tumeric Powder
  • 10g Belachan 
  • 50g Buah Keras (Candle nuts)


Steps:

  1. Using a electric blender, blend all ingredients in paste form. 

 B) Noodles
  • 1 pkt of Bee hoon (400g), soak in water for 30mins and drain
  •  6 tbsp Oil
  • 4 tbsp Chili Paste
  • 30g Dried Shrimp, grounded
  •  2 tbsp Belacan 
  • 150g Beansprouts
  • 300ml Water

Steps:
  1.  In a wok, heat oil and fry the chili paste, dried shrimps and belacan.
  2. Add in beansprouts and bee hoon.
  3. Add in 1/3 of the water. Toss the bee hoon. Cover wok and reduce to low fire.
  4. Add the rest of the water slowly.
  5. Cook the bee hoon until it is soft on taste.
  6. Transfer bee hoon to a serving tray.

C) Gravy
Ingredients
  • 8 tbsp Oil
  •  4 tbsp Tau Cheo
  • 200g Dried Anchovies
  • 1 no Large Onion
  • 2 stalks lemon grass
  • 120g Spice Paste
  • 200g Chili Paste
  • 4 tbsp Tamarind Paste (150g)
  • 2 litres Water
  • 250ml Coconut milk
  • 4 tbsp Sugar/ Gula Melaka
  • 200g Ground peanuts

Steps:
  1. In a pot, heat oil. Add anchovies, sliced onions and lemon grass.
  2. Add tau cheo, chili paste and spice paste.
  3. Add taramind paste and water.
  4. Bring gravy to boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Strain gravy and discard solids.
  5. Add in coconut milk, peanuts and simmer for another 30 minutes.
  6. Adjust gravy accordingly with sugar and extra tamarind paste.

D) Condiments
  • Hard boiled eggs
  • Fresh prawns, boiled and shelled
  • 4 stalks Chinese chives, chopped
  • 4 pcs Tau pok, chopped
  • Limes, halved

by Categories: Noodles Leave a comment

Mummy’s Mee Hoon Kuey

There are times that we will miss our mum’s cooking (well, unless she is not a good cook) when we are away from home. There will be some dishes that you will put a label on them and named them Mum’s signatures. I would call Mee Hoon Kuey as my mum’s signature. It is very different from the ones sold in Singapore hawker centres and foodcourts. It is healthier and tastier. And you know that every piece of the dough is handmade uniquely. 


I remember the times which my brother and I kneaded the dough and made them into bite size pieces. We would try to make them into different shapes. Heart, diamond, snake and many more. This added fun when we eat them. 





I guess you can replace the soup with any clear soup. But I really like how this cabbage soup go hand in hand with the ‘kuey’. 


Recipe (Serve 4)
Ingredients:
Dough:

  • 500g Plain flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tbsp Cooking oil
  • Water

Steps:

  1. In a big mixing bowl, mix plain flour with egg and cooking oil. 
  2. Add water 1 tbsp at a time until the sides of the bowl is clean. 
  3. Knead the dough till smooth. 
  4. Cover with cling wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes. 
  5. Boil a pot of water. Let it simmer.
  6. Taking a handful of dough at a time, pinch and stretch bite-sized pieces and drop into the simmering water. Continue with the rest of the dough.
  7. When the pieces floats in the simmer water, it means it is ready to be removed. 
  8. Remove the pieces and soak them in cold tap water. 

Soup:

Ingredients:

Soup:

  • 8 Shrimps, shelled and deveined
  • Pork or chicken slices
  • Half of a small cabbage, sliced
  • 1 clove of Garlic
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Cooking oil
  • 700ml of Water
  • 1 tbsp Soya sauce
  • 1 piece of Chicken flavored cube
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • Dash of White pepper
  • Red chillies, sliced 
Steps:
  1. In a heated wok, add cooking oil. 
  2. Fry garlic till fragrant. 
  3. Add in shrimps and pork slices. 
  4. Fry till they turned opaque. 
  5. Add in cabbage. Fry for 30 secs or so. 
  6. Add in water. Let it boil and add in the seasoning. Taste and adjust to your liking. 
  7. Remove the ‘kuey’ from water and put them into the simmering soup. 
  8. Let it boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. 
  9. Serve with sliced chilli. 
by Categories: kueh, Noodles Leave a comment

Singapore Laksa from scratch!

What is the dish you would name it uniquely Singaporean? There has been a long lasting debate on this. I would say that it is largely subjective and personal. Well, for me… I would personally crown LAKSA as an iconic representation of Singapore Food.
I love the nice blend of taste from the tropical spices and the fresh coconut milk. The rice noodles gives a tender and smooth touch to the exotic gravy. And what I like most is that the gravy goes well with most accompanying ingredients such as cockles (awww…), prawns, fish cakes, fishballs, crayfish, shellfish, cuttlefish, yong tau foo and many more..

However there is something you cannot miss out in this dish. Yes, Laksa leaves. I simply love smelling the plant. Each individual leaf is pumped with fragrance waiting to fill your nose and trigger your appetite. If you have green fingers, you may want to try growing the plant and somehow it seems thirsty all the time.


Recipe (5 Servings)
Ingredients
Laksa Paste
  • 80g of dried chilli, soak in hot water for 1 hour
  • 6 large red chilli
  • 15 Shallots
  • 7 Garlic
  • 2 inches of Blue Ginger (Galangal)
  • 2 inches of Yellow Ginger (Tumeric)
  • 4 lemon grasses (just the bottom 3 inches of the stem)
  • 10 Candlenuts
  • 1 1/2 inches of Prawn paste (Belacan)
  • 5 tbsp of Dried shrimps, soak in hot water for 1 hour and blend till fine
  • 2 tbsp Coriander powder
  • Cooking Oil
Steps
  1. Blend all the ingredients into a paste (except prawn paste, coriander powder, dried shrimps and oil).
  2. Heat the wok, fry the prawn paste till fragrant. Remove.
  3. In the same wok, add 5 tbsp of cooking oil.
  4. Add in the blended paste. Saute over medium fire. Add in belacan.
  5. Saute till fragrant and oil separates from paste.
  6. Add in coriander powder. Stir well. Remove from wok.
  7. In the same wok, add 3 tbsp of cooking oil. Add in blended dried shrimps. Fry till fragrant.
  8. Add in the laksa paste. stir well.
  9. Remove from heat.
Ingredients
Laksa gravy and condiments
  • 500ml Coconut milk
  • 1 litre water
  • Rice noodles
  • 5 pieces of Dried beancurd, cut into slices
  • 2 pieces of Fish Cakes, pan fried and cut into thin slices
  • 5 Hard boiled Eggs, cut into thin slices or quadrants
  • Shrimps, boiled in the above-mentioned water (keep the water as stock)
  • Laksa leaves, chopped
  • 1 tbsp Sugar
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Steps
  1. In the wok with prepared laksa paste, add in water and bring it to boil.
  2. Add in dried beancurd and cook it till softened.
  3. Add in coconut milk. Boil at low heat. Do not use high heat as coconut milk may curdle.
  4. Add in sugar and salt, then remove from heat.
  5. In a separate pot, boil individual portions of rice noodles for 2 minutes. Drain the noodles well.
  6. Pour the gravy over the noodles. Plate it with your favourite condiments.
  7. Enjoy!
by Categories: Noodles 1 Comment