Shells pasta with bacon and cherry tomatoes.

Shells pasta

Shells pasta with bacon and cherry tomatoes

I am pleased to share with you a simple but delicious recipe. It is called ‘Shells pasta with bacon and cherry tomatoes’. It is a dish that my kids love. A single helping is never enough for them.

 

Ingredients

500 gm shells pasta

250 gm cherry tomato (halved)

3 slices of short cut bacon (cut in pieces)

1½ tbsp unsalted butter

1 brown onion (blend into paste)

½ tsp chopped garlic

100 ml stock (chicken and anchovies)

2 tbsp thicken cream

parmesan cheese (shredded)

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

100 gm baby spinach leaves

Basil leaves

Olive oil

 

Procedure

Heat a pan. Slightly pan fried cut bacon and set it aside.

How to cook pasta al dente? Prepare a pot (25 cm diameter x 14 cm height). I roughly half fill the pot with water and place over high heat. When the water begins to boil, add 6 tsp of salt. After the salt has dissolved and the water is really boiling, add pasta to the water and stir frequently the first two minutes, then occasionally until the end of the cooking process. Drain the pasta and toss back into the pot. Pour some olive oil and mix well. Lid on.

Meanwhile, upon waiting for the pasta to cook, we shall continue to cook the pasta sauce.

On the same pan, melt butter over a medium heat. Fry onion till lightly brown. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add chicken and anchovies stock. Let it boil. Add bacon and cherry tomatoes. Season the stock with salt and ground black pepper. Add thicken cream and lastly parmesan cheese.

Pour the sauce together with the baby spinach into the pot of pasta. Stir and mix well.

To serve, top with fresh basil leaves and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bon appétit!!!

Stir Fry Squid



Stir fry squid

Stir Fry Squid

Stir fry squid is one of my mother’s signature dishes and this dish is also our (my siblings and I) favourite. I cooked this dish recently and my kids love it too.

It is a simple dish to cook. Please allow me to share with you this recipe.

 

Ingredients

250 gm squid (cleaned)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 brown onion (cut into 4)

½ tsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp soy sauce

¾ tbsp dark caramel sauce

¾ tbsp oyster sauce

¼ tsp white pepper

1 fresh red chilli (sliced thinly)

 

Squid

 

Chilli and brown onion

 

Procedure

Score each piece of squid to make a crisscross pattern, cut the squid into 2 x 2 inch squares.

Heat a wok or pan over high flame. Pour vegetable oil into it. Fry onion till brown. Add garlic. Saute garlic till golden brown.

Add squid and continue to fry in very high heat as quickly as possible. When pieces of squid begin to curl up, add the sauces. Stir and mix well.

As a result of using very high heat, the squid is perfectly cooked. It becomes tender and juicy and not chewy or rubbery.

 

Lastly add cut chilli and toss briefly to mix.

Dish and serve immediately with rice.

 

 

Stewed meat, mushrooms, eggs and intestines

Stewed meat, mushrooms, eggs and intestines

This is my favourite dish. Once the intestines are thoroughly cleaned, subsequent cooking procedure is easy.

 

Ingredients

 

750 gm big intestines (cleaned and blanched)

700 gm lean pork (cut into 4 big pieces)

5 big shiitake mushrooms (soaked, rinsed and remove the stalks)

3 slices of ginger

8 cloves of garlic

2 cloves

2 star anise

5 cm cinnamon stick

5 hard boiled eggs (de shelled)

 

Sauces

 

5 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp dark caramel sauce

1 ½ tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp vegetable oil

 

Procedure

Blanch big intestines and pork in hot boiling water for 3 minutes.

Heat a pot. Add oil.

Low heat, saute ginger till lightly brown. Add garlic and all the spices.

Add intestines, pork and shiitake mushrooms. Add soy sauce and dark caramel sauce. Mix well. Add a little bit of hot boiling water. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes with lid on, stirring occasionally. Add another 200ml of hot boiling water. Simmer for an hour with lid on, add oyster sauce and hard boiled eggs. Cook intestines and meat until tender (stirring occasionally).

Add more soy sauce to taste.

Leave to sit in the gravy overnight. Heat up before serving.

 

How to fry fish roe - A step by step guide

Fish roe

How to fry fish roe – A step by step guide

 

   1.    Leave fish roe to drain after cleaning and washing it.

 



2. Marinade with salt, fish curry powder (Baba’s brand).

Fish curry powder

 

 

3. Coat it with some corn flour.

Use canola, peanut or sunflower oil for deep frying. Those oils are relatively cheap, flavourless oil with high smoke points.

 

 



4. Prepare a pan or wok on the stove and wait until it is hot, then pour oil into it.

                 5.Once oil is hot, turn the burner to low flame.

 

6. Use a tong. Gently lowering the fish roe piece by piece into the oil before dropping it.

 

7.   If the oil splashes, turn off the burner.

 

8.  Once you have placed the fish roe into the oil, adjust the burner to low flame again.

 

9.  Fry for 3 to 4 minutes.

 

10. Cover the wok or frying pan with a lid.

 

Low Flame





11. Use your lid as a shield when you flip the fish roe. If oil splashes, turn off burner. Then only flip the fish roe.
 

After flipping, turn on burner again to low flame.

 

Note  :  Adding too much fish roe into the hot oil in a single go will cause the oil temperature to drop rapidly, reducing the effectiveness of your fry.

 12. Lid on again and let it fry for 3 to 4 minutes. Once cooked, turn off burner.

 

13. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Leave it to cool.

 

 

 

14.  Use a skimmer to fish out any crumbs left in the oil.

 

Preferably use the above skimmer with smaller holes.

 

Repeat step 6 to 14 until you finish frying all the fish roe.

 

 

15. Allow the fish roe to cool, cut into smaller pieces.

 



16.  With the clean oil, turn burner to high flame and fry fish roe till crisp. Lid off.

 

17. Ta dah! Dig in. Enjoy!

Recipe - "Hokkien Mee"

"Hokkien mee"

Hokkien Mee (KL Style) Recipe

Hokkien mee is served in Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding region. It is a dish of thick yellow noodles braised in thick dark caramel sauce with pork oil, pork, prawn, fish cake and cabbage as the main ingredients and croutons of crispy fried pork lard (sometimes pork liver is included). This dish is usually cooked over a raging charcoal fire. As for home cooking, you can cook on a stove with a wok.

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

 

1 packet of Hokkien noodles  (500gm)

  

1½ tbsp pork oil  (refer recipe : http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/recipe-making-lard-oil-and-crispy-fried.html )

 

4 shallots (thinly sliced)

  

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

  

150 gm pork (sliced) – marinade with soy sauce, pepper and corn flour

  

10 medium size prawns (de-shelled and de-veined)

 

1 bunch mustard green (choy sum) – cut

 

2 tbsp of crispy fried pork lard

 

300 ml chicken stock

 

1 tbsp dark caramel sauce

 

2 tbsp soy sauce

  

1 tbsp oyster sauce

  

½ tsp pepper

  

Salt to taste

 
 

Procedure

Rinse and drain the noodles briefly under cold water.

Blanch noodles with hot boiling water. Drain and set it aside.

  

Heat a wok. Add pork oil. Fry shallots till brown. Add garlic and fry both until golden brown.

 

Add meat, prawns, fish cake and crispy fried pork lard. With high heat flame, stir fry until just cooked. Add mustard greens. Pour chicken stock into the wok.

 

Add dark caramel sauce, light soy sauce, oyster sauce and pepper. Mix all and bring to boil. Add salt to taste. Add noodles and mix well with all the ingredients. Fry until noodles are tender but till al-dente.

  

Remove onto a serving dish and add more crispy fried pork lard. Sprinkle some crispy fried shallots (refer recipe:  http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/jennifers-secret-ingredient-in-her.html ) if you wish.

Serve immediately with sambal belacan. (refer recipe : http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/recipe-making-sambal-belacan.html ).

 

Recipe - "Braised Chicken with Shiitake Mushrooms"

Braised Chicken with Shiitake Mushrooms

 

My sister shared this recipe with me. It is a classic dish and easy to cook. This dish is delicious.



Dark caramel sauce and Soy sauce

 

Oyster sauce

Ingredients

1.2 kg of chicken (cut in pieces)

10 shiitake mushrooms (soaked, rinsed and remove the stalks)

2 shallots (thinly sliced)

5 slices of ginger

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp dark caramel sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Salt to taste

 

Ginger, shallots and mushrooms

 

Procedure

 

Heat wok or non-stick pan. Add oil.

Low heat, saute ginger till lightly brown. Add shallots. Saute both till fragrant.

Add chicken and shiitake mushrooms. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes with lid on, stirring occasionally.

There is no need to add water. The chicken will generate water on its own.

Add soy sauce and dark caramel sauce. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

Lastly add oyster sauce and mix well. Taste it. Sprinkle some salt if necessary.

Serve warm with rice.

Recipe - "Popiah"

Popiah Recipe

In my previous recipe, (http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/recipe-making-popiah-skin.html) I shared the making of popiah skin. This time, I will be sharing with you on how to make popiah filling.

 

Ingredients

1 kg yam bean (shredded)

2 carrots (shredded)

6 shallots (sliced)

3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

30 gm dried shrimps (soaked, drained and roughly chopped)

200 gm pork or chicken meat (cut into small pieces and marinade with salt and pepper)

250 gm round beans (diagonally sliced thinly)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Soy sauce to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

300 ml water

Lettuce leaves

 

Toppings

2 chinese sausage (sliced thinly)

1 cucumber – julienned fine

2 firm tofu (tau kwa), julienned fine – slightly fried and set aside

2 eggs (omelette) – thinly sliced

300 gm bean sprouts (blanched)

100 gm fine roasted ground peanuts

Crispy fried shallots (http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/jennifers-secret-ingredient-in-her.html)

Coriander leaves

 

Condiments

Garlic paste, sweet sauce (http://5foodway.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/recipe-sweet-sauce-tim-cheong.html) and chilli sauce

 

Procedure

In a large wok, heat oil and add shallots. Saute shallots for 3 minutes, add garlic. Saute both shallots and garlic till lightly brown.

Add dried shrimps, minced chicken or pork. Fry till fragrant. Add Yam bean. Sprinkle with some soy sauce and pepper. Low heat, fry for 5 to 8 minutes, add carrot. Fry for 2 minutes, add water and let it simmer to about 45 minutes.

Add round beans. Cook for another 15 minutes. Add salt and more pepper to taste.

To assemble the popiah, spread some garlic paste, sweet sauce and chilli sauce on the popiah skin.

Lay a Lettuce leaf on the sauces. Scoop about 2 tables spoonful of filling and garnish with the toppings.

Carefully flip over the right and left sides of the popiah skin and start rolling up the popiah, pressing gently and tightening the fillings as you roll up.

Serve and DEVOUR immediately.