Kway Chap AKA Braised Pig Innards

As the saying goes, Chinese eats everything with four legs except tables and chairs. Not only do we eat all sorts of animals, even their entrails are not spared.

This dish is flat rice noodles served with salted veggies, tau pok(fried beancurd), pig skin and braised egg etc but consists mainly of pig innards. People find this dish either heavenly or ... plain disgusting.

My husband love this dish to bits. Even without the rice noodles, he will get himself a bowl of plain rice to go with it. His eyes will lit up when he sees this dish on the dinning table. Reason being, I cook it only once in a blue moon as it is high in cholesterol and uric acid.

Crucial part of preparing this recipe is the cleaning and washing of the innards. When not done properly, the stench can make anyone throw up even last week's dinner. Wash the innards carefully and inside out if you must. For large intestines, trim away the dirt-covered lining. As for sweet intestines, if you are not keen in the powder/cream inside, shove a piece of garlic from one end of the intestine to the other end. Repeat for 2-3 times and everything inside the sweet intestines will be cleared. To reduce the stench, soak the innards in a can of Coke for 1/2 an hour or more.

Ingredients
150g of lean pork (blanched)
200g of large intestine
200g of sweet intestine
200g of pre-cooked pig maws
1 hard boiled egg
1whole clove of garlic
1 teaspoon of cloves
1 teaspoon of black peppercorns
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce
Salt/ Soya sauce

Preparation
In a deep pot, add in 500ml of water followed by dark soya sauce, garlic, cloves, black peppercorns, star anise and cinnamon stick.
Bring water to a boil before adding in meat and the rest of the innards.
Cook for 30 minutes.
Add in the hard boiled egg and make sure that it is submerged.
Add salt/soya sauce to taste.
Simmer for another 15 minutes. (cook longer if you prefer the innards to be softer and less chewy)
Take everything out from the sauce and cut into bite-size pieces.
Arrange on a plate and pour the sauce over the braised meat and innards.
Serve immediately with chili.

Stir-fry Broccoli with Prawns

Ingredients
1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 broccoli
5-6 prawns (shells removed & devined)
1.5 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 teaspoon of sugar

Preparation
Stir fry the garlic in a oiled pan.
Add in the broccoli when the garlic turns fragrant.
Add in the prawns when the broccoli is semi-cooked.
Mix the oyster sauce, sugar and around 1/2 cup of water together.
Pour into the pan and bring everything to a boil over medium low heat. (keep lid covered if you prefer your broccoli to be softer)
Ready to serve.

Seafood Aglio Olio

Aglio Olio is a simple and classic pasta dish that consists of mainly 2 ingredients - garlic and olive oil. I remember reading somewhere that this traditional Italian pasta dish is the one dish that all Italian men know how to make. Is that just great or what?!

A satisfying and easy dish that you simply have to try.

Ingredients
100g of preferred pasta
25g of scallops
75g of prawns
50g of squids
100g of clams
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
5 tablespoons of olive oil
Black pepper
Salt

Preparation
Cook pasta according to the instructions at the back of the packaging.
Set aside and drain.
Heat 5 tablespoons of oil in a pan and stir fry the minced garlic under low heat till golden brown.
Toss in the seafood.
Season with salt and pepper when the seafood is done.
Return the cooked pasta to the pan and toss well with the seafood.
Add in grated cheese. (optional)
Serve immediately.

Stir-fry Potatoes with Pork

Just another humble home-cooked dish for my family. ;)

Ingredients
150g of pork (thinly sliced)
3 potatoes (sliced, about 1/2" wide)
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
2 tablespoon of soya sauce
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of dark soya sauce (optional)

Preparation

Using medium-low heat, stir fry the garlic till fragrant before adding in the meat.
Toss in the potatoes when the meat is half-cooked.
Mix the soya sauce, dark soya sauce and sugar with 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil together with the potatoes and meat.
Leave the dish to cook for at least 15 minutes or till the desired softness of the potatoes over low heat.
Ready to serve.

Tomato Prawns AKA 蕃茄虾

Sharing with you my Nana's recipe.

Ingredients

4 tomatoes (cut into quarters)
6-8 prawns (cleaned and deveined)
1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic
4 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon of sugar

Preparation
Stir fry the garlic in 1 tablespoon of oil till fragrant.
Add in the tomatoes followed by the prawns when the tomatoes start to soften.
Dissolve ketchup and sugar in 200ml of water and pour onto the prawns and tomatoes.
Bring to a boil under medium low heat.
Add pepper before serving.

Stir-fry Clams in Spicy Bean Sauce

Ingredients

700g of clams

2 tablespoons of oil

1 tablespoon of minced garlic

2 tablespoons of spicy bean sauce

2 stalks of spring onions (cut into 3" long)

1 cap of shaoxing wine

20ml of water

Preparation

Soak clams in a bowl of water with a generous amount of salt added. This allows the clams to spit out the sand.

Remove the salt water after 30-45 minutes.

Repeat the procedure.

Scrub the clams with a brush to remove any sand or mud from the shells.

Set aside.

Heat up the oil in a pan.

Stir fry the minced garlic till fragrant before adding in the bean sauce.

Toss in the clams and stir to mix.

Add shaoxing wine, water and spring onions to the clams.

Toss well.

Bring everything to a boil, cover and cook using medium low heat for another 5 minutes or till the clams are cooked.

Discard any unopened clams.

Serve immediately.

Stir-fry Beansprouts with Salted Fish

A simple and easy stir-fry dish. Not to mention delicious too! Definitely worth the hassle of plucking the tails of the beansprouts. If you don't mind paying more, you can always get a bag of beansprouts with the tails already removed from the supermarkets.

Ingredients
250g of beansprouts (tails removed)
50g of dried salted fish
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
3-5 small chilies (chopped/shredded)
A small stalk of spring onion (cut into 3" long)

Preparation
Cut salted fish into pieces.
Pan fry them in an oiled pan.
Remove from pan and set aside when they turn golden brown.
Stir fry the garlic till fragrant before adding in the beansprouts and chilies.
Return the salted fish to the pan and stir well.
Add in the spring onions together with 30ml of water.
Remove from heat when the beansprouts are cooked.
Serve hot.

Ma Po Tofu AKA 麻婆豆腐

Ma Po Tofu is a well-known dish from the Sichuan province of China.It is a combination of tofu (bean curd) and minced meat(usually pork or beef) in a spicy bean-based sauce.

There's also a story behind the name of this dish (story may be purely mythic/anecdota) - Ma stands for "Ma Zi" (麻子) which means a person disfigured by pockmarks. Po (婆) translates as "old woman". Hence, Ma Po is an old woman whose face was pockmarked. Legend says that the pock-marked old woman (Pinyin: má pó) was a widow who lived in the Chinese city of Chengdu. Due to her condition, her home was placed on the outskirts of the city. By coincidence, it was near a road where traders often passed. Although the rich merchants could afford to stay within the numerous inns of the prosperous city while waiting for their goods to sell, poor farmers would stay in cheaper inns scattered along the sides of roads on the outskirts of the ancient city.

It is said that the first people who tasted the old woman's cooking were a farmer and his son who arrived late to the city during a terrible rainstorm. They were forced to find shelter in the old woman's home having found that all of the inns were full.

Pleased with the company, the old woman prepared them a meal from her paltry larder, including the dish now known as Ma Po Dou fu. The dish was so delicious that soon each time the father and son passed the old woman's home, they would stay for a meal. In this way, the old woman's renown spread as others joined the father and son in visiting and staying at her home. These visitors would often bring the ingredients for her dish so as not to burden her larder.

As time passed, the dish evolved. However, the staple ingredients have always been ground pork/beef, tofu, and ground Sichuan pepper. - Wikipedia

Ingredients
300g of silken tofu (diced)
150g of minced pork
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
3 tablespoon of chili bean sauce

Preparation
Stir fry garlic in 2 tablespoons of oil till fragrant.
Toss in minced pork and continue to cook till pork is slightly browned.
Stir in the chili bean sauce.
Pour in 150ml of water together with the tofu.

Stir very gently to mix well.
Bring everything to a boil and simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
Garnish with chopped spring onions before serving. (optional)

Nonya Achar AKA Pickled Vegetables

I found a wonderful and delicious nonya achar recipe here!!

The taste of this recipe is the closest to what I had in the past...
I used to buy the chicken rice near my parents' house all the time because the stall there serves a generous portion of nonya achar together with the rice. And their nonya achar is simply SEDAP! But sadly, the chicken rice stall has closed down a few years ago. And now that I have found this nonya achar recipe online which shares that familiar taste! Even my 10 years old nephew likes it!

*I have altered the ingredients and preparations of the original recipe a bit according to my personal preference.


Ingredients
2 cucumbers (with seeds removed and cut into thin strips, about 3" long)
2 carrots (cut into thin strips, about 3" long)
300g of chinese cabbage (shredded, about 2cm wide)
2 slices of pineapple (cut into small pieces)
3 tablespoons of fried sesame seeds OR 120g of fried and pounded peanuts
125g of sugar
A small bottle of vinegar
100g of small onions
100g of garlic
80g of dried chili
A small piece of ginger
A stalk of lemongrass

Preparation
Rub cucumbers, carrots and cabbage with ample salt.
Set aside for 2 hours.
Drain off excess water and pat dry the vegetables with paper towel.
Blend small onions, garlic, chili, ginger and lemongrass together to form a fine paste. (add oil instead of water to the mixture if a fine paste cannot be achieved)
Stir fry the paste over low heat till fragrant.
In another pot, bring the vinegar to a boil before adding in the sugar. (taste and make sure that its not too sour for your preference, you might want to add a little more sugar at this stage)
Add in the desired amount of the chili paste after sugar has dissolved. (the rest of the chili paste can be kept refrigerated for the next use)
Set aside to cool.
Mix in the vegetables and pineapples followed by the sesame seeds OR peanuts.
Keep achar refrigerated.
Best served chilled.

Aglio Olio

 Ingredients
100g of preferred pasta
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
5 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of chopped small red chilies
Parsley flakes

Preparation
Cook pasta according to the instructions at the back of the packaging.
Set aside and drain.
Heat 5 tablespoons of oil in a pan and stir fry the minced garlic under low heat till golden brown.
Add in the chopped chilies and stir well.
Return the cooked pasta to the pan and sprinkle a generous amount of parsley flakes.
Toss well and serve immediately.

Hainanese Pork Chop AKA 海南猪肉扒

Hainanese, one of the Chinese dialect groups, they are rather well-known for being in the food trade. The early Hainanese immigrants in Singapore mostly work as waiters and servants in the local hotels, restaurants, bakeries and bars. Many of them also became coffee shop owners, stall holders and chefs.

Today, Hainanese cuisine is one of the most sought after cuisines in Singapore. Hainanese Chicken Rice, Hainanese Curry Rice and Hainanese Pork Chop are just some of the popular and classic dishes. (I was told that the traditional Hainanese Pork Chop is not served with tomato sauce.)

Ingredients (Adapted from a magazine cutting - by Chef Zhang Tian)
200g of pork loin
1 egg
1 tomato (diced)
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
50g of sliced onion
20g of frozen green peas
120ml
3 tablespoons of ketchup
1/2 teaspoon of dark caramel soya sauce (optional)
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Cornstarch

Preparation
Pound pork loins with meat tenderizer. Flatten to about 1/2 inch in thickness.
Rub meat with salt and pepper.
Coat the meat with cornflour and shake off the excess.
Dip into beaten egg.
Coat well with breadcrumbs.
Deep fry till it turns golden brown.
Set aside.
Stir fry garlic and onion till slightly brown.
Add caramel soya sauce, water and ketchup.
Bring to a boil before tossing in the tomatoes and green peas.
Leave to simmer.
Thicken sauce with cornflour if necessary.
Add salt/pepper to taste.
Pour sauce over the pork chops.
Serve immediately.

Five-spice Squid

Five-spice powder is commonly found in Chinese cuisine. Other than lending flavors to stir-fry dishes, it is also used as a marinade. Bottled five-spice powder can often be found at supermarkets.

A seasoned salt can be made by stir-frying 3 tablespoons of salt, 2 teaspoons of five-spice powder and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Mix well and stir the mixture over low heat till it gives off an aroma. Turn heat off when the mixture turn into a ash-gray color.

This five-spice salt can be kept and used on any other dishes as preferred.

Ingredients
350g of squids (cleaned and sliced)
200g of bell peppers (sliced)
3 pieces of dried chilies
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
Flour
Five-spice salt

Preparation
Coat squids with flour.
Deep fry using medium high heat.
Remove from heat when the squids turn golden brown.
Leave aside to drain away excess oil.
Stir fry garlic till fragrant before adding in the dried chilies and bell peppers.
Return the squids to the pan, stir and mix well with the rest of the ingredients.
Add a pinch of the five-spice salt to the dish before serving.

Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle AKA 福建炒虾面

Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle is a popular local street food. You can find sometimes not one but two stalls selling Hokkien Prawn Noodle in a Hawker Food Center.

The essence of this dish is the richness of the stock. The flavor of the pork bones and prawns stock should be absorbed by the noodles but noodles should not be overcooked or soggy. The dish should neither be too dry or too wet. And the other contributing factor to a plate of yummylicious Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle is the wok hei aka 镬气. (The flavour, tastes, and "essence" imparted by a hot wok on food during stir frying - Wikipedia)

It is no secret that Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle is one of the most difficult dishes to perfect. That explains why the renowned stalls have long queues for their Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle.

Having said that, I am still going ahead to share my recipe for Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle. Though it's nowhere near perfection for now, but it is good enough to curb my craving.

Ingredients
100g of yellow noodles (parboiled)
200g of thick noodles
180ml of stock
6 prawns (with shells intact, pre-cooked in stock)
50g of pork belly (sliced, pre-cooked in stock)
80g of squids (sliced, pre-cooked in stock)
2 eggs (beaten)
20g of beansprouts
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 stalk of spring onion (cut into 3" long)

Preparation
Heat oiled pan to medium heat.
Stir fry garlic till fragrant before adding in eggs.
Break up the eggs and cook till slightly browned.
Add in the noodles and stir fry for another minute or so.
Pour the stock into the pan and cover with a lid.
Leave stock to reduce for a few minutes.
Toss in the prawns, squids, pork belly and beansprouts.
Stir and mix well.
Simmer for another 5 minutes or till stock thickens.
Adjust taste accordingly if necessary.
Add in the spring onions and toss well.
Serve with sambal belacan chili and lime.

Seafood Baked Rice

One dish meal is usually what I come up with whenever I am racing against time. As rice is a staple on our dining table, one dish meal like Seafood Baked Rice is one of my quick-fix solutions.

Ingredients
Rice (2 servings)
150g of prawns (shells removed and devined)
100g of squids (cut into bite-size pieces)
50g of scallops
3 crab sticks (cut into chunks)
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
4 tablespoons of pasta sauce
1 tablespoon of tomato sauce
Dash of black pepper
Mozzarella cheese

Preparation
Pre-cook rice with chicken broth.
Melt butter in a pan and stir fry garlic till slightly browned.
Add in the prawns, squids, scallops and crab sticks.
Stir fry everything till half-cooked.
Mix pasta sauce and tomato sauce with 40ml of water.
Pour into the pan of the cooking seafood.
Stir well and remove from heat when ingredients are cooked.
Add in the cooked rice and mix well.
Place the combined ingredients in an oven dish.
Preheat oven at 220° C (425° F)
Sprinkle a generous amount of mozzarella cheese on top of the rice.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the top begins to brown.
Serve immediately.

Bunashimeji & Black Pepper Chicken Pasta

May I present to you my new creation - Bunashimeji & Black Pepper Chicken Pasta 

I would say it's quite a nice dish if you ask me. Mushrooms, good. Chicken, good. Pasta, good. What 's there not to love about this dish? Sounds like Joey in Friends? Haha.

If you are concerned about the mild bitter taste of the bunashimeji, your worries are unfounded. The bitterness disappears completely upon cooking.

Ingredients
120g of preferred pasta
50g of chicken (sliced)
75g of bunashimeji (cleaned)
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of black pepper sauce
60ml of low-fat milk
Black pepper
Butter

Preparation
Cook pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
Drain and set aside.
Melt a small knob of butter in a heated pan.
Stir fry the garlic till slightly browned.
Add in the chicken.
Stir and toss in bunashimeji when chicken is just cooked.
Add in oyster sauce, black pepper sauce and a dash of black pepper.
Mix well and pour in the milk.
Bring to a boil, simmer and turn heat off when the mushrooms soften.
Return pasta to the pan and toss well.
Serve immediately.

Asam Prawns AKA Tamarind Prawns

Asam (or asam jawa) - Malay word for tamarind, is widely used from India to Southeast Asia. It is also commonly used in Peranakan dishes. Other than being one of the ingredients in cooked dished, do you know it can be served as a snack as well? The fruit is semi-dried, sprinkled with sugar and a little chili and voila! - A snack on its own.

But better known as a ingredient, the dried pulp is sold in packets. To use, simply add water and dissolve the pulp. Strain and discard residue.

This is a delightful dish suitable for all ages. It's not too spicy for children, it's sweet, yet it has a tinge of sourness from the tamarind. However, do kindly note that the recipe that I am sharing here is the one with sauce. Not the dry one. As I understand that Asam Prawn can also refer to deep fried prawns marinated with asam paste.

Ingredients
300g of prawns (shells removed up to the tail part & devined)
1/2 a large onion (sliced)
1.5 tablespoon of tamarind pulp
1/2 tablespoon of belacan chili
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Preparation
Dissolve the tamarind pulp in 100ml of water.
Stir fry minced garlic till slightly browned and fragrant using medium low heat.
Add in the belacan chili and continue to stir fry until aromatic.
Toss in the prawns and onions.
When the prawns turn half-cooked, switch to high heat and pour in the tamarind juice followed by sugar and salt.
Mix well and turn heat off when sauce reaches a boil/prawns are cooked.
Serve hot.

Stuffed Mussels

Ingredients
1 dozen of fresh mussels
100g of minced pork
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of soya sauce
1/2 tablespoon of pepper
Breadcrumbs
Lemon wedges

Preparation
Toss mussels into boiling water to cook.
Remove mussels from the water when the shells open up.
Leave to drain and cool before separating the meat from the shells.
Chop up the mussels meat coarsely and mix with pork, garlic, soya sauce and pepper.
Stir in 1 tablespoon of crumbs to the mixture before neatly mounding a heaped teaspoon of stuffing into each empty half-shell.
Dust stuffed shells with remaining crumbs. Press lightly to help to stick the stuffing to the shells.
Fry mussels over medium heat with stuffed side down till golden brown.
Turn over and fry for another minute or so.
Drain on paper towels.
Serve with lemon wedges and Thai sweet chili dipping sauce. (optional)

Steamed Cod Fish with Preserved Olive Leaves

This mild flavored low-calorie white meat is a wonderful substitute for meat protein. It contains a variety of important nutrients and has been shown to be useful in a number of health conditions. Studies show that people who eat fish regularly have a much lower risk of heart disease and heart attack than people who don't consume fish. Cod, specifically, promotes cardiovascular health because it is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6.

In short, cod is considered one of the healthiest food in the world.

Ingredients
200g of cod fillet
1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic
2 teaspoons of preserved olive leaves
1 teaspoon of shaoxing wine
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
Pinch of sugar
50ml of stock
4 teaspoons of soya sauce
Small red chilies (chopped)

Preparation
Mix minced garlic, olive leaves, shaoxing wine, sesame oil and sugar together.
Place mixture onto the cod fillet.
Steam the fillet for 10 minutes or till cooked.
In a pan, bring stock and soya sauce to a boil.
Drizzle sauce over the cooked cod fillet.
Garnish with chopped chilies.
Serve immediately.

Soya Sauce Prawns

Ingredients
250g of prawns
2 tablespoons of soya sauce
1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce
2 teaspoon of sugar
-->1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic
Spring onions

Preparation
Heat up a pan and toss in the prawns. (no oil required)
Remove prawns from the heat when they are just cooked.
Add in 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan.
Stir fry the minced garlic till fragrant.
Add in soya sauce, dark soya sauce, sugar and 50ml of water.
Bring to a boil and return the prawns to the pan.
Leave to simmer for 2-3 minutes, occasionally flipping the prawns over.
Garnish with spring onions before serving.

Prawn Noodles AKA 虾面

Do you always discard the heads and shells of the prawns when you do not need them in your cooking? Don't!

Clean and save them up in a zip-lock bag in your freezer. They can make delicious broth for prawn noodles. I always save mine till they fill up the entire bag before cooking this recipe. (which is about 800g or more)

If you are one of those who seldom buy and eat a lot of prawns yet hope to try this recipe out, you can still do it. Substitute with 2 flower crabs instead. Just pound the crabs and wrap them up in a cheesecloth/ muslin cloth before cooking.

Ingredients
1 small packet of cooked yellow noodles (aka hokkien noodles)
800g of prawn heads and shells
250g of pork soup bones (parboiled)
100g of pork (parboiled and sliced)
50g of beansprouts (blanched)
6-8 prawns (parboiled)
1 fried fish cake (sliced)
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce
Salt
Sugar

Preparation
In an well-oiled pot, stir fry the garlic till fragrant.
Add in the prawn heads and shells and continue cooking till they changes color and start to brown.
Pour in 1 litre of water and bring to a boil.
Toss in the soup bones and simmer for another 45 minutes.
Add in dark soya sauce, salt and sugar to taste.
When ready to eat, blanch the yellow noodles.
Top the blanched noodles with beansprouts, prawns, slices of meat and fishcake.
Ladle hot soup over the bowl of noodles.
Garnish with fried shallots before serving. (optional)