Author: Ho Lang

Sketch. 2B. Sumida Man.

We were in Sumida City, having breakfast at a local diner and I saw this uncle at the next table to us having his breakfast meal as well.

Just an ordinary guy, eating the same stuff that we were eating, but there was this forlorn and hollow look as he stared into the nothingness that was in front of him. And I felt a connection to that look, that empty gaze, deep in thought, and I wondered for a moment, thinking also what he was thinking.

5 Minute from SG to JB

There’s a community of frequent travellers who travel from Singapore to Johor Bahru via the good old train. They book their trips via the i-ktm app available for download from Apple Store or google play and all they need to do is register a profile and enter their passport details.

Booking trips to and fro Singapore and Malaysia would now be so easy. Select the train timing and day and then you are good to go. Just turn up at the woodlands checkpoint with passport and you are into Johor Bahru in 5 minutes.

The trip from Singapore is 5 SGD and the return leg is 5 RM. Don’t ask me why it is like that, but that’s the way it is. You can reserve tickets up to one month in advance.

Cut and Wash

The best place to cut and wash hair for guys is probably one of the hairdressing salons located at one of the many shophouses along the streets of Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

But which one is good is pretty much a trial and error thing. We walked into one that was just along the same stretch as New Lucky Seafood Restaurant and my oh my what a gem we found. The owners fit the profile that I was looking for and the service render was superb.

Cut and wash is standard, plus the shoulder and back massage is top notch. I love it. And price wise for the value you get, it’s really good. My wife and I love this rare find and we are back again.

Funding for the Heap

I suddenly got whacked with a huge credit card outstanding payment for hosting my heap of words; and some pictures. Yes, the returns on the heap hasn’t been very positive. And after more than 9 years, the heap is still going strong, with some fans, and dare I say, it’s a go to resource for littlest known home recipes.

So I sit on my half broken down armchair musing at the bill of renewal for the heap and wonder if I should ever transit to an app where users can easily whip up their mobiles and then see the recipes that they need and then get started on cooking that essential dinner.

Then again, I am like a 1% Elon Musk. I like to engineer on my own but realise that I have a huge attention deficit to following through what I start. If only programming an app was as easy as spending an intense hour on it as opposed to many gruelling hours with no light at the end of the tunnel.

The main trouble is, I have to learn the know how to know how to programme and that fizzles out any semblance of determination I might have. And I don’t quite enjoy the idea of paying some foreign app developer to conjure up code for me.

So here’s what I would do. I will continue to pay the bills to maintain the site and then continue to add sporadic content every now and then and hope that by a stroke of miracle, the site pays itself. Haha.

Heap of Words

I started blogging when blogging was still in its infancy, back in the day in 1995 in the UNSW computer lab. Sounds like such a long time ago. Ah, those carefree days of being focused on doing one thing and not having to worry about much else, is as they say, over. What came out of that was a whole heap of words piled upon words, and soon the words that came after the initial first words became less meaningful and impactful, and I realised and came to terms that not every word need to have profound meaning, but it was more important for me to put them into words.

And then it came to a point where those words could be homed and placed somewhere that I could always return home to. This is where home really is for these words and for them to continue to exist in this void that is the internet. This old grand dame of zeros and ones.

I am quite bugged out by the irresponsible placement of google ads, and I will do something about it. Maybe shove them discreetly into one corner. Reading my own content has become somewhat of a land mine. I miss those days when content was ad free, I think I will do that. And find some other way to gather support to continue funding this home of words.

How to Make Steamed Egg

I remember my domestic helper whom I referred to as “Ah Soh” (aka Aunty in Hokkien) – that was how we called our domestic helpers back then. She was a Teochew lady who took care of us when we were little. One of the few dishes that she did so well which regretfully I only recently learnt the secret to making it – is this humble and simple steamed egg dish. It sits so well with rice as a staple, even with simple porridge (that’s another video https://youtu.be/9kwPJS0U2_4) it doesn’t disappoint. My son loves it, and now I have perfected the portions of eggs to water ratio and most importantly, the jiggle in the centre of the pudding.

Ingredients:

3 Eggs (each weighing at least 55 grams) – (Once you crack the eggs into a measuring cup, it should be about 150 ml)

150 ml Chicken Broth (naturally salted) – (it should be equal amounts of liquid compared to the liquid volume of the eggs)

Method:

  1. Crack the eggs into a measuring beaker. This is an important step because in order to make a perfectly well steamed egg pudding, the proportions should be one is to one or equal parts.
  2. Pour naturally salted Chicken Broth that you made separately on another occasion or it could be out of a packet at the store or it could be from granulated chicken stock cubes. Ensure that the saltiness of the broth is exactly what would you like before you mix it in.
  3. Mix the eggs in the chicken broth well to combine the mixture.
  4. Place the bowl in a water bath for steaming over medium/high heat for at least 10 minutes. I used a gas stove, so you may want to ensure you have the right heat if you’re using some other heating stove.
  5. Make sure you cling wrap the bowl tightly to prevent any additional moisture from entering the bowl. This will ensure that the puddling is steamed nicely and will be firm once it cools.
  6. Serve with garnish if you like.

Bon Appetit!

Assam Pedas Ikan

This is a quick and easy Assam Pedas Ikan recipe using snapper fish head, and two very basic ingredients, Sambal Hijau (bottle) and tamarind seeds (Assam). Only takes about 10 minutes to cook. I know most people would cook the red sambal version. But I love sambal hijau a lot.

First you stir fry the Sambal Hijau (green chilli paste) in a little olive oil until fragrant. About 3 tablespoons of the chilli paste . Careful to not let it burn too much. You only want the slight smokey flavour. Add 500ml of water into the wok. Then add 2 tablespoons of tamarind paste (directly from the packet). Let it simmer until the tamarind paste is well combined with the sambal broth.

Add the fish heads in and add a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar. Cover the lid and turn on full fire and cook the fish for about ten minutes. Add cilantro leaves and you can serve.

Bon Appetit!

Good Success

The bible’s definition of success, particularly good success is really to meditate on the word of the Lord. Psalms 1:2-3 states it rather succinctly that if the believer were to meditate on God’s words through the bible, he will be like a tree firmly rooted by the rivers of living waters.

He will yield fruit, his leaf will be green and whatever he does will prosper. It’s like having the Midas touch where everything he touches turns to gold. In our modern day context, this person would be referred to as a unicorn. Someone with a breakthrough idea that will make him/her lots of money. The ability to attract wealth is the world’s definition of success, simply because it is the most visible form of success.

So obviously there are two types of successes here, the good one which does not add sorrow as it is written in Proverbs 10:22, and the success that sorrow in it. So the definition of good success is probably the believer that knows God’s word by heart, speaks God’s word to himself day and night through his thoughts and speech (I know it could be quite challenging), and he will have good success. Some examples of successful people in the bible would be King David, Solomon and probably Joseph.

In all these three persons in the bible, they are guided by the lord, they seek His wisdom, and He teaches them how to avoid situations that brings sorrow to their success. So if I pray and ask God for wisdom today, His spirit speaks to me about my situation through the word (bible) about my situation and gives me good success. Yay!

Peeled Not Sliced

If you’re a home cook like myself, you would know that onions are best sliced, not peeled, but where the analogy is applied to the area of relationships, it should be vice versa – peeled not sliced.

Nobody in their right mind would ask all the questions that they would want to ask someone throughout the course of their relationship on the first date. Doing so takes the “magic of mystery” out of the relationship as there would be little to no more questions that one would ask on the second date if there were plans to have a second date that is. That’s how we are wired out, if we knew the ending to the book in the first chapter, we are quite unlikely to continue reading chapter two.

If there are a hundred questions that one would ask in the lifecycle of a relationship before they would ask someone to marry them, then technically, they would have known just about everything that they would want to know about their partner in the first meeting and subsequently decide whether to marry or break it off with them on that first date.

Whilst it is true that people asks questions in a relationship to know someone better and to eventually assess them for compatibility and marriage, it is not a one way street as your partner would also have to have that opportunity to ask you their set of questions as well. That process of answering their hundred questions may prove unnerving as well as it stems from their own internal perspective rather than a shared build up structure of questions that build upon each question asked.

Relationships like peeling an onion, it takes time, and as inefficient as that is, it helps us get to process and tweak our hundred questions to perhaps better questions as the relationship progresses. If we take our time to get to know our partners, we get better answers calibrated through the passage of time, as opposed to the need for quick answers to meet the target of knowing everything that there was to know about someone that you like.

How to Make Orh Nee

I decided to make Orh Nee as a special dessert for the in-laws who were coming over for dinner, and so I googled a recipe that I thought would be just nice based on gut feel.

And guess what? My wife loves it, and she said that it brought back memories of her childhood when her mother would make it the traditional way as well. To me that’s validation.

Ingredients:

500 grams of Yam – sliced half inch thickness (make sure you weigh after peeling it)

3 stalks of Pandan Leaves – cut into 4 inch lengths for steaming with the yam slices

100 grams of Honey Rock Sugar – dissolve in 200 ml of hot water

3-4 shallots – fried in olive oil (to be used as garnish)

Method:

1. Peel/shave the yam, make sure that you weigh the yam and it says 500 grams.

2. Slice the yam into half inch thickness for steaming.

3. Cut the pandan leaves into 4 inch lengths, to be placed with the yam slices during steaming.

4. In a wok, prepare a water bath, and steam the yam slices with pandan leaves for 30 minutes.

5. After the yam slices have been softened, discard the pandan leaves and mash the yam into a pulpy texture.

6. While the yam is steaming, prepare the sugar syrup. Weigh the honey rock sugar, 100 grams and dissolve it in hot water.

7. In a blender, mix the yam pulp and pour in the sugar syrup – all 200 ml of it. Blend until smooth.

8. Pour the blended yam mixture into a bowl and let it cool down. Wrap in cling warp, ensuring that the plastic touches the surface of the yam to prevent a layer from forming.

9. Once cooled, place it in the fridge.

10. Slice the shallots and stir fry in olive oil until golden brown.

11. Serve chilled as a dessert with the fried shallots and oil as a garnish.

Bon Appetit!

How to Make Orh Nee

Shanghai

I asked my wife the other day if there was one country that she missed traveling to in 2021, which would it be and surprise surprised she said that it was Shanghai. I had half-expected her to say Paris, but instead she mentioned Shanghai.

And for a moment there I struggled to recall what was the key highlight for us when we went to Shanghai. It was unremarkable to say the least. I recounted the events of our trip there back in 2017 and remembered that we did a lot of sight-seeing, but it wasn’t particularly beautiful or awesome like most other countries that we visited.

The feeling was quite forgettable as they say. I only vividly remember noting to myself that Shanghai had the best zoo experience because it was literally pay per view and you get to inch up close to most of the animals if you were willing to pay for it.

We went to the flamingo enclosure which was really a big patch of grass with flamingoes all standing around and waiting for us to go feed them seeds off the palm of our hands. This would so not happen in Singapore. So it was literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us – now that we thought about it, literally once in a lifetime because we are not sure when will we ever go to Shanghai ever again.

Red-breasted Parakeet

I decided that I would switch my photographing schedule to the 12pm schedule instead of the 5.30pm simply because I needed the bright sunlight for my photos.

The problem with photographing with a bridge camera as opposed to a fast premium camera with fast speed lenses, is that the max aperture is not big enough and the smallest aperture is not small enough. Woes of a cheap-o photographer (ie. me) but yet at the same time, I want to capture nature as it is from a distance.

So my Canon SX 70 HS fits my budget, and also has the range that I need. More importantly it also allows me to rekindle my latent desire to take great photographs. I have basically buried this hobby since film processing was exorbitantly expensive and digital imaging was as yet advance to the point that it was cheap.

So thankfully, it is now quite affordable, and all I need really is opportunity, right moment, and blazing sunlight. So 12pm, is the best time for my photo. And as I did my walk-about, there it was the beautiful Red-breasted Parakeet sitting on a low branch and chewing on a piece of raw starfruit. I inched my way in and

Getting Around Face ID

These days it’s become a real pain to unlock my iPhone with Face ID because my the visage of my face has been altered due to COVID-19 prevention measures.

No I don’t have COVID-19 (thankfully), but i have a face mask on practically everyday. And admittedly it is a real pain to be having to peel off the mask and do the Face ID scan just so that I could access the billion apps installed on my iPhone.

Thanks fully the brilliant guys came up with a hack for Apple fanboys and fangirls and that’s if you have an Apple Watch paired with your iPhone, it will be able to assist with unlocking your iPhone as a work around to the issue of wearing a face mask due to COVID-19 constraints.

The technology delivery was so seamless that I didn’t even remember when did I even requested for this or the folks at Apple just assumed that I would probably need this feature and asked me if I had wanted it to be turned on. It’s brilliant, I said that already.

Gong Yuan Ma La Tang

I have noticed this stall for a very long time now, possibility almost a year or more when it opened its doors at the Hub. But when they expanded and opened another outlet near my place, I thought I had to give it a try, and wow. I am amazed.

Unfortunately my wife and I loved the fried versions of Ma La dishes and our dear Gong Yuan Ma La Tang is anything buy fried. In fact their boil their dishes and apply their signature Ma La sauce over the boiled ingredients.

It felt like a Yong Tau Foo dish with Ma La sauce drizzled over, and I must say that we were pleasantly surprised. It was so good, that we ate it for lunch three days in a row. The ironic thing was, it was boiled and not fried. We have yet to transition from the dry version to the soup version, but I bet it is probably even better.

The spiciness level of the Ma La is manageable, and there was no big small medium spiciness that most of the Ma La stalls would ask their patrons. This was just one size fits all spiciness and it was just right. Out of 10, it is a 8 for me.

Self Righteousness

A friend of mine posted on his socials the other day recounting a prayer that he had said some many years ago to God. His prayer started off with a declaration of his good works and of his obedience to God’s commandments (whatever those were), and he contrasted it to the other parents that were trying to get their children into a school of their choice.

Except that the school that he had chosen was the school that he himself attended when he was younger. His grouse was that the other parents did not have the appreciation of his school and the traditions of excellent conduct, good academia and long-standing history and culture. Of course he was glad that his child managed to get in, but the fact that these other group of parents also got in, made him unhappy and disgruntled.

Reading his lament on social media reminded me of the Gospel of Luke 18:9-14, where a self-righteous Pharisee obsessed by his own virtue, was similarly contrasted in a story by Jesus where the other person was a tax collector who humbly came before God to ask for mercy. The Pharisee felt that he was more holy then the other man and thus felt that he deserved mercy more than the other person who was a tax collector.

I can’t help but to be brought to remembrance this passage as I felt a sense of de ja vu come on me. The similarity between his complaint and that of the self-righteous Pharisee was just uncanny. Evidently, the mercy of God is not meted out to us based on our self-righteous works or acts, but by faith which pleases God our Father.

Work it Out

COVID-19 challenges has largely changed the way we interact at work, interact with each other and how we connect with our co-workers, friends and loved ones. It’s the ultimate game-changer in terms of how we relate to each other.

If we are not front-line workers or in-service professionals, we would most likely be in a work from home arrangement. That basically throws out every notion that there are X, Y and Z managers and we move to an OKR modality.

Perhaps gone are the days where employees are measured by whether they are hardworking, lazy or a mixture of both qualities. There is perhaps an increasing transition to measuring them via objectives set by management, and measures of performance by way of key results. The outcome driven approach might be the better way to manage our workforce given that it is difficult for middle managers to police how employees work.

In the current work from home arrangement, employers have to allow their stay at home workers work it out on their own way and conduct regular check-ins to ensure that they are suitably engaged on the objectives and on their way to producing the outcomes required.

Taking the Train

Taking the train these days gives me an interesting vibe. Everyone that’s one the train is working on something and I have a feeling that it wouldn’t be long before we find many unicorns appearing in our little island space.

Suffice to say the number of known creatives are many, but the real potential here are the hidden pent up creative energy of those who don’t give up.

This is the key to seeing Singapore become a hub for many innovative products.

Watch Strap Stink

The stink from my watch strap is killing me. It’s an Apple Watch too! Unbelievable. But like all things rubber, the reaction with sweat results in an unmistakable stink. How I wish I don’t have this problem, but it seems to be quite persistent. The salty sweat stink is bothering me and I can’t seem to get rid of it.

So I went to buy a new watch strap and solved the problem.

Mass Vaccinations

The move towards mass vaccinations for entire population has been met with much criticism and controversy. Some opinions coming from the medical fraternity and seemingly with valid concerns.

But for most of us folks who are none the wiser, often taking advice from friends with good intentions telling us which and what homegrown remedy would work.

Undoubtedly the fact clearly remains, people are dying from Covid-19 infections. Nothing is as stark as that eventuality. While these experts slug it out in the mud, calling each other names. I am met with a choice for myself.

I should vaccinate for myself, my family’s sake. For in doing that, it is much better than not taking any action in this fight against the unseen terror.

Japanese Ramen Broth

There is probably nothing more important than the broth in every bowl of Japanese ramen, and rightly so as every other ingredient in that bowl of ramen seems to be an accompaniment as opposed to be the star of the show. In fact, the broth either makes it or breaks it.

How to Make Your Own Dashi. https://youtu.be/CY4eRp61pr4

That’s one of the reasons why I decided to make my own dashi so that I could use it for my Japanese ramen broth and possibly make it from great to fantastic.

Cabinet Reshuffle

I have also embarked on reshuffling my kitchen cabinet, as PM Lee also just announced today his slate of ministers. Of course his is a higher level reshuffling whereas my idea of a reshuffle is to facilitate easier access to the items that I need when I need it.

To me a cabinet reshuffle would allow me to have better access to the resources that would allow me to quickly address the challenges that I may have going on in my kitchen. The moment I open my cabinet, I know exactly the resources to deploy to meet the needs of the moment.

Uncle Ho’s Egg Fried Rice

Uncle Ho’s Egg Fried Rice

There has been much buzz over the simple and delicious Egg Fried Rice that I had to put up my simple Egg Fried Rice Recipe for all to follow as well. I am no Uncle Roger, so I cook it the way I know how and the way I know that will bring about the flavour of the dish.

I don’t use MSG (Many Sick Gourmands) in my cooking simply because if you use good ingredients, you already have the flavour embedded in the items that you use. In this recipe, I have 8 medium sized grey prawns, half a chicken breast, one length of Chinese blood sausage (my favourite), garlic, small onions, sesame seed oil and my favourite premium Lee Kum Kee light soya sauce.

And since this is all about the egg, I loaded four large eggs into the dish just so that I could see the colour of the eggs when I fried it up. It’s not as flamboyant as some other Uncle’s Egg Fried Rice, but I think my version is just as solid.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup of cooked rice (the rice could be left overnight in the fridge, or if you are in a hurry, you can also cook it and just throw it in) – Of course the texture is very different. No right or wrong.

4 large eggs (each weighing in at 55grams at least) – I use all the egg in my recipe just so that I could see the yellow in my Egg Fried Rice.

1 length of Chinese Blood Sausage (aka lup cheong) – this is an all time favourite ingredient for fried rice which I find a lot of folks don’t really use these days. Especially the Zi Char stall, they really sting on ingredients I feel. Remember to slice them thinly.

8 Medium Sized Grey Prawns (Fried Rice must have prawns, especially grey prawns. Again I cite the example of the Zi Char stall, and their minuscule prawn bits) – since this is for family, I whack the prawns, but rough cut them so that you can see how big they are when you’re eating them.

Half of a Chicken Breast (rough slice into chunks) – chicken breast is best for this dish. This serving of Egg Fried Rice can feed 4 persons.

4 cloves of garlic (minced fine) – the more garlic you add, the tastier the dish

2 small onions (minced fine) – same for the onions, but I only needed two for this recipe.

1 tablespoon of sesame seed oil (this adds to the fragrance of the dish)

2 tablespoons of premium Lee Kum Kee light soya sauce (my all time favourite condiment)

Method

  1. Add some olive oil into the wok – yes, I use olive oil like Jamie Oliver. Heat the wok until slightly smoky and then lower the heat. Add garlic and onions to stir fry, be careful not to burn the fine ingredients.
  2. Once fragrant, add the eggs to fry. You can break up the eggs at this point into bits or you can let it cook and congeal a little before you break it up. Up to you.
  3. Add the chicken breast pieces, prawns, and Chinese sausage slices to continue to stir fry. You can turn the heat up a little. Make sure the ingredients are cooked before adding in the cooked rice.
  4. Once the colour changes for the ingredients in the wok, add the cooked rice and continue to stir fry. If you used overnight night, the cooking will be easier. If you used just-cooked rice, it would be moist and may stick to the wok. The choice is yours. If you’re spoilt for time, just do this method.
  5. Add the sesame seed oil and light soya sauce and continue to stir fry. If you like, you can also add a little white pepper. Otherwise it is not necessary (some kids like mine can be quite picky if it is peppery).
  6. Again, you can add lots of spring onions if you like (I love spring onions, but my kid hates it, so I usually leave out the spring onions). Getting your child to eat their dinner is more important!

Bon Appetit!

Omakase

I love omakase. The thought of having an expensive meal meticulously prepared for me mysteriously just intrigues me. The meal takes the all important decision making burden out of my hands as I place my trust wholly into the hands of the professional sushi chef.

I never knew this before, but in an authentic Omakase meal, the salmon fish is not considered premium. One of the most premium items would be fatty tuna or tuna belly. I totally love that.

Are More Retrenchments Coming?

Much has been said about the dulling economy and the impending slew of retrenchments that is coming our way. The challenge here would be to flatten the curve before we experience these spikes. Much like the COVID-19 efforts of the government to ensure that the spikes in number of COVID-19 infections are well controlled, likewise, spikes in unemployment within the economy should also be smoothen, to allow for newly unemployed persons to be matched with suitable jobs so as to transit them seamlessly.

Would the creation of COVID resistant jobs be the answer to the million dollar question? What kinds of jobs are resilient enough and can thrive in an uncertain economy? As they say, the problems of tomorrow cannot be solved with the solutions of today. What paradigm shifts of mindsets would help us combat this uphill batter?

Is it just a case of re-skilling the workforce with new knowhow to fit new jobs? Would investment into R&D to create these new services be the answer to transit workers with suitable transferable skills? Would government aid help to tide over the short-to-medium term structural unemployment?

Would technology enable us to create new income streams against conventional ways of making money. Would we see the birth of the new Tik Tok celebrity or YouTube sensation? Would rank and file retrenched workers have the creative resolve to innovate beyond their troubled circumstances?

That remains to be seen.

Dig and Flick

Ho Sim Lang

Nothing is as shiok as digging nose in privacy, but recently I realised that it is even more shiok to dig nose wherever you like. To be able to dig nose whenever, is real living.

I have always wondered, why digging nose is so exhilarating, and to be honest, I am not sure. But not knowing is also part of the excitement. It’s really interesting because everyday I would have some booger developed along the sides of my nasal cavity, and everyday I get to have a shiok feeling of digging the booger or pi sai in hokkien language in Singapore.

Digging nose is one of the cheapest thrills in this part of the world. Last time when I drove my uncle’s car — I borrowed it from him — I used to dig my nose at the traffic lights. It was also about that time that I realised that everyone digs their noses at the traffic lights. It’s like the national past time. Could it be the air-conditioning blowing too hard into our nostrils that’s causing the semi-moist boogers within the lining of the nasal cavity to harden and become slightly itchy? Maybe. Or maybe we are lulled into thinking that the time frame while waiting for the traffic lights to change is good opportunity for a good heartfelt dig.

I don’t really know, but it’s super shiok when I dig a nose one out, and it is semi-dry and still malleable and clay-like. I can dig and flick, which is the next best thing to digging. The flicking action of priming the pinky with the flesh of the thumb gives it that extra flexible action like a catapult, and there it goes! Flying cast into the wind and letting it fly unfettered towards whichever direction that you want it to go. It’s a very carefree feeling.

It’s like sharing your love with someone else.

There was once I was with the wifey and the son and we were waiting for the lift to come in Shanghai China and I felt the great need to do as the romans do, and I reached in and dug out a semi-moist piece only to be discovered by the wifey because the son shouted to her and sabo me. In my hurried guilty state, I did a quick dig and flick and the booger flew and landed on my wifey’s chick.

I nearly died. The son laughed so loud, I almost couldn’t bear to open my eyes. It had landed on the round of my wifey’s lovely cheeks. Semi-moist and lime greenish due to the intense pollution in the dusty air.

Surprisingly, she half-screamed and gave me a icy cold death stare before all of us broke out in rapturous laughter because the son was so amused by the quick dig and flick that landed so horribly on my wife’s face. It was so funny, I didn’t dare to do another dig and flick for the entire trip. Just glad to be alive.

Let Nature Walk You

We have recently started walking into the many nature parks in Singapore and it’s no surprise that many have also embarked on their little treks around the island. Interestingly, there are quite a lot of nature parks for us to wander around.

We were at Lower Pierce Reservoir Park just over the weekend and came across a beautiful stink bug, a baby wild boar, a cricket, a large school of water boatmen, a spider, a snake head fish, a squirrel which scared me silly, a terrapin that took a peek out of the water to see who we were, an interesting electric blue dragonfly that I didn’t managed to capture using my iPhone 11 Pro. I have always thought the iPhone 11 Pro was a camera marvel, I guess I was wrong. The image came out blurry and all I could see was the fuzzy electric hue of the insect.

I was decked out in my brand new evadict trail running jacket, and my evadict trail running shirt, and I was literally melting. Look good, but might be a little of an overkill. In a sense, everyone seems to be trying to outdo everyone else, walking with the latest trail gear money could buy that would have otherwise been invested in that holiday away. Alas, everyone’s stuck at home on sunny island.

We found a little piece of trail that had almost nobody walking while we were there. The Venus Loop at Windsor Nature Park. A small and narrow trail, that most would shun, but it was a gem. The trail was rocky, and uneven, and sometimes, eerie, but it was precious and priceless. Kind of like having nature walk you as a guide.

Sea Snails

Sea Snails

It’s not everyday that my favourite fishmonger uncle would bring in Sea Snails, so naturally when I saw these beauties this morning, I decided that I shouldn’t hesitate and bought myself a kilogram of the shells.

Cooking them is also pretty easy. But before that, you have to soak them in water with a teaspoon of sea salt to remove any sand debris that could be stuck in the shells. Maybe after 30 minutes, you can pour them to the pot to boil until it is foamy.

Remove the shells and empty the pot of the water and replace it with a cup or two of white wine. Throw the shells back in and stir fry. Add some sea salt and black pepper. Garnish with chopped parsley. I did a simple video to show how this could be done.

Bon Appetit!

Grilled Crayfish

Grilled Crayfish

I saw some crayfish today at Market 628, and I just had to get it. 1kg $15, not sure if it was cheap or what, but when you want something, it doesn’t matter if it is expensive or not, you just go for it.

I got myself 4 large ones. I have a feeling it is gonna be shiok. The good thing about crayfish is that you don’t really need to season it all that much or even cook it for too long. The whole idea is to halve the fella with a large cleaver and then powder it with corn starch.

Then place the flesh side on the hot pan and left it sear the meat until a golden brown. Prior to that, you can fry some sliced garlic and allow that to brown a little. Add some Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu and some Premium Lee Kum Kee light soya sauce and watch the magic happen.

After a good two minutes of searing the flesh, just rough fry the rest of the crayfish so that it would change colour. But really, all you are interested in, is the flesh – in fact, that’s all you usually eat – everything else is shell.

Add a little white wine to scrap off the pan and you will have a flavourful sauce for the dish.

Bon Appetit!

Bombay Duck Fish Soup

Bombay Duck Fish Soup

This is officially one of my favourite fish dish. It’s my wife’s favourite fish dish as well. But I think it’s my favourite because of its scary looks and delicious taste. The only other reason it is my favourite dish is the cost of the fish is measured by weight. 1 kg usually around $8.

Unbelievable right? I am gonna get 2 kg the next time and just cook tang hoon with it, plain and simple and delicious. That will be a very nice lunch for me and the wifey.

It’s really simple to cook. Just boil a pot of hot water, add some tang cai, premium light soya sauce, and the slippery slivers of Bombay duck fish. Make sure to remove the guts, main dorsal fins and whatever fins and ugly heads and then halve the fish.

Add tang hoon, cook for a minute. And you can serve it. Add lots of Wang Sui or Chinese Parsley and the dish is complete.

Actually I feel like deep frying the ugly heads the next time and sprinkle them with truffle salt. It should be crunchy like a snack. Maybe serve that up as a entree for my friends just for the simple pleasure of scaring them. I bet the crispy crunchy heads are delicious.

Bon Appetit!

Shoyu Ramen

Shoyu Ramen

I am lazy again today, it’s after all still covid-19 season and I don’t particularly like the smell of my face mask (even though it is a good face mask), and so here I am, writing this blog post for a recipe that I think is a no-brainer.

If there is something that I love about Ramen Noodles, it would be the simple basic types of Japanese Ramen with a basic Shoyu base. Shoyu sounds like Teochew – Si Yew – which basically means “sauce”? I am not entirely sure because I am not Teochew, I am just surrounded by that culture where I lived and grew up. Anyway, the “yu” in Shoyu means “oil” and we know oil is pressed from grains, fruits, etc.

So Shoyu watered down to my kitchen means the Lee Kum Kee Premium Light Soya Sauce that is sitting in my condiments pantry. To be honest, it tastes the same, and is probably the same. Just that it is not Japanese sounding. And for the Ramen noodles, it just means my Nongshim Korean Instant Noodles that I have in my cabinet. I usually stock these for those lazy days of not wanting to go out for my meals.

I ransacked my vegetable compartment, and saw one carrot, a punnet of mushrooms and white cabbage. And the reason became clear that I must have Shoyu Ramen for lunch.

Recipe

Ingredients

Nongshim Instant Ramen – 1 packet – (I usually boil the noodles once through to get rid of the yellow preservative)

Carrot, Mushroom, White Cabbage – some of each item will do – (cooking for one person be easy)

Lee Kum Kee Premium Light Soya Sauce – just enough in a bowl of hot water will do

Method

  1. Carve a small portion of carrot, and carve out flowers or some rough shape. I like doing that so that it doesn’t look like boring round carrot slices – which is usually the case.
  2. Slice the mushrooms – just one will do. Chop thin slices of the White Cabbage, just enough for one portion.
  3. In boiling water, cook the vegetables for about a minute or so, then take them out and place in cold water.
  4. Cook the instant noodles, and then it is ready, just place it in a bowl of hot water – with the soya sauce already added – and then decorate the noodles with the blanched vegetables.
  5. Optional: I added a hard boiled egg using my Runny Egg Yolk recipe. Kind of messed up the egg yolk part, it is supposed to be runny instead of cooked through. Oh well.

Bon Appetit!

Shoyu Ramen

Kimchi Ramen with Tamagoyaki

Kimchi Ramen with Tamagoyaki

It is a marriage of two opposing cultures – Korean & Japanese – when you add Tamagoyaki made traditionally the way Japanese chefs around the world make it, and add it unreservedly to the instant ramen (noodles) albeit Kimchi flavour with toppings of real Kimchi (Bibigo Brand). The verdict is a unanimous – shiok!

This meal is so easy to cook that it’s a no brainer. So I added the Tamagoyaki – Japanese rolled egg omelette into the noodles just to make it a little more complicated. You should check out that video to see how that was done. I did a OTS – One Take Session – on how to prepare Tamagoyaki the Japanese chef way – just to see how easy (or difficult) it is to make it. It was tough.

I used this brand of Kimchi instant noodles for my lunch today, but they also have another taste which is my favourite – Nongshim – very nice with the seasoning. For me I usually add everything in the packet to get the best out of the noodles. Some folks prefer not to add the seasoning, but I think it is perfectly fine.

However, if you add real Kimchi into the instant noodles, it literally comes alive. I bought the Bibigo brand of Kimchi as it had nice packaging – haha! – okay, I will admit it, I am shallow like that, and I was attracted by their packaging. Taste-wise, I think it was okay for my own lunch, although I would have pretty much prefer a sweeter version of it. I had another brand recently that I got from Jason’s Supermarket. Maybe I will go back there to get that brand.

The end result is a delicious bowl of Kimchi Ramen noodles with Tamagoyaki.

Happy can liao.

Bon Appetit!

How to make Tamagoyaki

How to make Tamagoyaki

I have been wanting to learn how to make this dish for a long time now, mostly inspired by watching Japanese drama on Netflix – Midnight Diner – and seeing how the Master whips up the Rolled Egg Omelette so easily in a square non-stick pan. The recipe of the egg seemed so simple, but the technique of cooking the egg evenly may not be so easy.

So I was at Yishun North Point City the other day for lunch and I saw this Tamagoyaki pan – I think that’s what it is called – and decided that I would end my misery and buy the pan so that I can make this delicious Japanese rolled omelette.

There are quite a few ways to make it, but I was most interested in making the standard one though I wasn’t sure if I were to actually do it myself, if it would look half decent. The only way to find out is to try it. I also recorded it down on video so that I would remember it for a while – my first attempt at making Tamagoyaki.

So you start by beating four eggs into submission, and for seasoning, you can add a little Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu, a little Premium Lee Kum Kee Light Soya Sauce and some Pu Ning Fermented Soya Beans. Using a pair of chopsticks, just whip them silly. Quite standard.

That’s basically the ingredient seasoning. The hard part is to actual method which is the frying of the egg omelette using the square pan. Fire must be kept on medium and you actually adjust the heat by moving the pan around so that it doesn’t burn.

Here’s another video I shot to demonstrate that, and you can see that it is not easy at all.

So you have to grease the pan lightly with oil, soaked in a Scotts paper-towel folded into a small square. With a pair of chop-sticks, you glaze the small pan with oil so that the egg mixture doesn’t stick. Then you use your chop-stick to break up the mixture to get it to cook better. And then gently lift the edge of the egg, and as if to peel it backwards.

As you can see I don’t do a very good job at making the Tamagoyaki – haha – oh well, at the end of it, no matter how you swirl or burn or cook it, it will be delicious.

Bon Appetit!

Chwee Kuey and Coffee

Chwee Kuey & Coffee

Nothing is quite as comforting as Chwee Kuey and a glass of piping hot coffee (coffee with condensed milk). I need to get my fix from Market 628 otherwise located at Ang Mo Kio St 61. I love this place for many reasons, most of which are fond childhood memories.

Plus the marketing experience here is what I have grown accustomed to and I like it a lot. Every Saturday morning I would go all the way to the market as early as 7am in the mornings just to get the freshest produce from my favourite stall holders.

And then after that, I would sit down at one of the table benches and have my favourite Bedok Chwee Kuey which has the best Cai Por and chilli sauce. My favourite coffee stall would have to be Boon Hwa Coffee stall who bucks the trend and only open their stall at 9am everyday. So naturally I would often miss having my cup of coffee as I would be done by about 8am with marketing.

If you do ever chance upon the trip to that market, do hang around until 9am for the coffee stall to open, they are the best coffee makers in the whole stretch.

Cotton Clouds

Cotton Clouds

I remember walking on grass, at the park, pre-covid, wandering aimlessly and enjoying the sun, the wind, the buzzing of insects. And then I saw this economy of red insects in cotton clouds laid haphazardly on the ground. It was like a chance meeting for me, but to these little fellas, they have been doing this threading work for many generations. And I am just a passer-by today, taking in an experience that is priceless.

The cotton pod explodes into a dizzying array of soft pillows, like the fine hairs of an elderly dame. They look like cotton clouds descended on mortal lands. But on a bedding of green grass. Grass that carried these little soldiers and brought them onto its lofty fluffy candy floss like entanglements. Ah, the red army marches on at the opportunity to work its fine fibres. Perhaps, they too are looking for rest, and a place to laid their weary heads. Maybe they too like to lie down on comfortable cushions, staring gazing into the blue sky, and smile.

Macadamia White Chocolate Cookie

Macadamia White Chocolate Cookies

If there is such a thing as an unsung hero in the battle for best cookie, it would have to be the cookies baked by (or for) Subway the sandwich shop. Subway is known for their simple and standard sandwiches, almost like an assembly line of ingredients put together by expert hands.

They are already doing great just simply putting out the many varieties of sandwich mains options with the standard toppings and dressings, but the additional offerings of the packet of chips or even better the chewy moist Subway Cookie – really takes the whole Subway experience to a whole new level. Now sure if there is a proper review of the cookies, but I love their Macadamia White Chocolate Cookie. The white chocolate is a tad too sweet for me, but the chewy cookie is to live for. I always choose that cookie.

Not sure how they do it, but I have a fair idea of how it could have been baked. Maybe one day I would do it, but for now, I am enjoying it.

Bon Appetit!

Quick and Dirty Fish Head Soup

Quick and Dirty Fish Head Soup

I made this fish head soup on the spur of the moment, which is essentially the way all fish head soups should be prepared and cooked. I had already bought the fish head way in advance and it is just sitting there in the fridge waiting for the moment to be unleashed.

That in a nutshell should be how we prepare dinner. The decision process is completed the moment I opened the door to the freezer and I decided there and then that I would make fish head soup. Quick and dirty is just the expression that I like to use for dinner that is prepared under half an hour.

It’s not that far fetched considering that it is also about that kind of waiting time when you visit the fish head steamboat stall at the hawker centre, they are already all pre-prepared waiting for you to come and it is usually delivered in about that same amount of time as well.

Once you know the basics to a great fish head soup broth, the rest is as they say, clock-work. The machinery is so well oiled that you know exactly how the soup would taste like the moment you decided to cook the dish.

Recipe

Ingredients

Fish Head – Just one fish head will do for a small family. (that’s $5 bucks if you think about it compared to the $20 bucks if you ate outside)

Tit Poe – this is the key ingredient for making a great soup base, you can usually get it from the Chinese provision shop selling dried seafoods like cuttlefish, scallops, etc. Not sure what is the name of the item, but the Teocheows call it Tit Poe. Since you’re cooking for the family, make sure you get good quality ones.

Salted Sour Mustards – these days I much prefer the sour version of the salted mustard as compared to the salted version. The salted mustard here is also know as Kiam Chye in Hokkien. But the sour version is much better for fish soups. I realised this when we went to Guang Zhou about two years ago and the sour mustard also known as 酸菜 was just amazing with soup.

Leeks – or scallions as some others would call them, are great for soups, you can get them quite easily anywhere, and I like the Malaysian version as they tend to be more fragrant. Cooked in soup, they are just awesome.

Tomatoes – the simplest basic vegetable that I simply must have in my fridge, they add a variety of textures, colours and flavour to any dish I cook. With soups, they stand out really well.

Salted Sour Plums – the key to a great tasting soup if the salted sour plums (whole). These are usually soaked in brine and they really add a lot of flavour to fish dishes and especially fish head soups. I use some Chinese brand, but you could also opt to use Woh Hup brand.

Ginger, Garlic – these are you usual suspects for this dish, a must have. The garlic you can just peel them clean and drop them in, and the ginger, you can julienne them into tiny slivers. Great for getting rid of the fishy smells.

Himalayan Rock Salt – or any Sea Salt alternative will also do fine. I have been using pink Himalayan rock salt in my cooking just because it’s pink and cute, and at the same time, they say it is healthy – but that’s subjective in my opinion. I like it because I know how it would taste in my cooking and it features really well so far.

Method

  1. Boil water. Hot water must be used for cooking anything, and it’s essential. And of course, the water must cook fast for you to execute your cooking.
  2. Defrost the frozen fish heads in a large bowl or basin of water, but no need to wait until it is very softened at room temperature. Once the fish is sort of defrosted (5 minutes?) can just throw it into the pan or pot. I use a shallow pan and it works.
  3. Arrange all the vegetables, salted plums, sour mustards, condiments etc and the salt in the pan and pour the hot water in. Boil at high heat until bubbling and then turn it down. The soup should have the flavours of the tit poe, rock salt and sour mustards with the mild flavours of the fish.
  4. Once the fish head’s eye balls pop out, it is ready. Maybe about 15 minutes of cooking. Serve with rice (or porridge if you like).

Bon Appetit!

Kway Chap @ Brew Cafe 171

Kway Chap @ Brew Cafe 171

I am not bragging, but this is the best kway chap stall since Xin Yun Kway Chap at Tampines Round Market closed down and also the old uncle shop at Old Airport Road Hawker Centre closed as well.

As they say, one mountain will be taller than one mountain. Never mind if you didn’t understand that, that’s fine. Just know that if you bow out of the race for the best kway chap, then the next best stall will eventually over-take you as they continually hone their craft and execute their unique flavours.

Pork as we all know, is pork, and the sauce is just sauce, but the art of combining pork and sauce just makes this stall at block 171 Yishun Ring Road a rare find and a gem in the making. The chilli that is served complimentary with the dish rocks and is totally delicious. Haven’t had something so nice in the mornings for a while now. Oh, if you wanna visit, better come earlier in the mornings because they tend to start to run out of stuff as the morning dims to start of noon.

Located at a strange coffee shop known as Brew Cafe 171, I guess the boss is probably a younger son of a coffee shop big boss? Trying to sound cool perhaps? Anyway, there is sufficient seating for a small coffee shop. Social distancing in place but really, it’s so crowded that it looks socially dangerous at some points. Dangerously delicious mostly.

Bon Appetit!

Steamed Mud Crabs

Steamed Mud Crabs

It was just after circuit breaker (only Singaporeans will know what I am talking about), and we were informed that a little semblance of life can return to normalcy, though not really all that normal. My wifey wanted to visit her parents and there was a visitation cap on the number of people that could visit seniors, and so, sonny boy and me went back to my parents place for dinner.

That morning as it was my practice to go to the wet market at Ang Mo Kio St 61, I thought that I would buy some mud crabs for dinner at my parents’ place – I bet they would love it – I love mud crabs too. The uncle that I always frequent usually sells them in his cages that he places on the slimy floors of the wet market. But the dirtiness doesn’t bother me. I love the old grind of the wet market, and the feeling of squeezing and haggling at the stalls with the aunties. Except that with Covid-19 concerns looming all around us, we had to be extra careful and maintain social distancing. It was tough.

Thankfully I have my new Copper Line mask, and that made it a little better for breathing, and it gave me the assurance of being able to remain focussed and staying safe. Although I am not really bothered by Covid-19, as I was bothered about being able to breathe through the mask.

So uncle selected the crabs for me – I told him I wanted heavy ones and that I didn’t mind paying the price for them – two would just do fine for a nice steamed mud crab dish. Or I could do Chilli Crab, but steaming style was always the best for fresh crabs as it brings out the best flavours of the sea. $30 dollars for two crabs, not bad, about 1 Kg.

Recipe

Ingredients

Mud Crabs – these are your local variety and they usually are between small to medium sized, so if you do get a large one, you should get it. I got two of them, and they were super fresh.

Garlic, Spring Onions – these are your best friends in any steam seafood dish, bruise the garlic slightly, and chop the spring onions in longer lengths.

Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu – I only use the most expensive bottle that I can find at NTUC, it is usually about $19 over dollars. The bottles all look more or less the same, but the price differentiates them. Of course, more expensive means better. Isn’t that the old adage?

Premium Lee Kum Kee Light Soya Sauce – I am a fan of this bottle of light soya sauce, nothing else will cut it for me.

Method

  1. Wash the crabs thoroughly, was an old toothbrush, if you have one. Give them the premium spa treatment for the sauna ritual later. Smash them good and proper, reserve the eggs (if you got the female ones) otherwise, a good smashing will help you when they are ready to eat.
  2. Decorate them with garlic, spring onions, two tablespoons of Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu, two tablespoons of the light soya sauce into the steaming pan. I like the metal pan that you can buy at any hardware store or NTUC.
  3. Steam the crabs over the wok for about 15 minutes over high heat and sufficient boiling water below the steamer.
  4. Serve with steamed white rice.

Bon Appetit!

Worry

Sometimes we worry too much, and other times we don’t worry at all. So if you’re worried now about something, don’t worry so much and take it easy. No amount of worrying can help you overcome your challenge. Rather focus on speaking to someone close to you about it and get yourself sorted out.

Garlic Prawns Butter seared Scallops in Mushroom Risotto

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Garlic Prawn Butter seared Japanese Scallops in Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients:

Grey prawns – medium size – about as many as you like

Scallops – as many as you like

Shiitake Mushrooms – fresh – one punnet

Chinese celery – 4 stalks

Rice – uncooked – one cup

Chicken bones – 1 pack

Garlic – 6 cloves

Shallots – 4 pieces

Himalayan rock salt – 1 tsp

White wine – quarter cup

SCS butter – salted – 30 grams

Mozzarella cheese

Thyme or mixed Italian herbs (bottled)

Cracked black pepper

Olive oil

Method:

1. Boil the chicken bones to make chicken stock

2. Boil the rice in hot water for 6 minutes. Then drained and set aside.

3. Slice the mushrooms and fry it on the pan without oil to get the moisture out of the mushrooms. When fragrant, add mixed Italian herbs, or thyme, a little butter, a few slices of garlic or whole garlic and stir fry till fragrant. Then set aside.

4. Stir fry the minced shallots in a pan with a little olive oil. Sweat the onions until fragrant. Add in the blanched rice. And stir fry for a minute over medium heat. Then turn it down to low heat and drizzle a little white wine and continue to scrub the pan of the flavour.

5. As rice tends to soak up the flavours slowly, gradually ladle the chicken stock that you have been boiling on the side. Turn the fire to low for the chicken stock. Gradually stir the rice to ensure that it doesn’t burn. Once it dries up, continue to add more stock. Add the rock salt. Cook the rice (aka risotto in Italian) until it is al dente. Al dente means the rice is cooked but yet has structure. Before it reaches al dente, add the fried mushrooms, and chopped Chinese celery. Give the risotto a good mix. Taste test to ensure that it is fragrant. Once ready set aside.

6. For the garlic prawns, add oil in the pan, 1 tbsp of minced garlic, stir fry until fragrant. Then add the prawns and fry over medium heat until the prawns start to curl into the shape of the letter “C”. This means the prawns are cooked. If the prawns curl into the shape of the letter “O”, it means they are overcooked. The prawns should be juicy and cooked just nice. Plate them on top of the risotto.

7. For the scallops, ensure that they are patted dry. You want to sear them in the pan, not steam them. The scallops usually have a lot of water in them, so you really want to dry up as much moisture before adding the salted butter. The heat of the pan will add the lovely brown burn on the scallops. Plate them on the top of the risotto.

8. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese and eat.

Bon Appetit!

Rosemary Creamy Chicken Pasta​

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Rosemary Creamy Chicken Pasta

Rosemary and Chicken are like two unlikely lovers in a hot tub. They are placed there for whatever reason and then the magic happens. The rest of the graphic details are not really important. The end result is beautifully flavoured chicken. The effects are almost immediate.

Season the flesh with a little sea salt and black pepper, and you have a killer combination that is unbeatable. Now to cook it ala Michelin-star restaurant style and you have yourself a very fine meal at home.

Pair it with a sweet sparkling lychee champagne and nothing could be more perfect — except for being in the Michelin star restaurant itself.

Recipe

Ingredients

Chicken Breast Meat (skinless, just one slab can cook for three)

Rosemary (just a 2 sprigs would be enough)

Spaghetti (the cooking directions are on packaging, if it is 3 minutes, then cook to three, if it is 8 minutes, then cook till eight, one portion should be 170 grams of cooked pasta)

Sea Salt (I like the grainier crystals, but you can use whatever you like)

Black Pepper (cracked black pepper is best but if you wanna grate it by hand, do it)

Olive Oil (just enough to fry the chicken breasts will do)

Chicken Stock (I usually boil carcasses to get this, but you can buy it off the shelf at the supermarket, but the commercial ones are usually salty)

Chicken Seasoning (usually comes in powdered form, just a teaspoon will do, or you can use the sea salt. I like to intensify the chicken flavours)

Cooking Cream (just get 200 ml of it will do. No need to get the big packet types)

Garlic (3 pieces, minced)

Button & Shitake Mushrooms (2 each, sliced)

Salted Butter (just a quarter of a 250 gram slab, this is for frying the mushrooms)

Method

1. Cook the spaghetti in boiling water with a few droplets of oil and a teaspoon of salt. Cook according to the instructions on the packaging. The entire pasta must be submerged before you start the timer.

2. Once the pasta is cooked, run cold water through it to stop it from cooking further. Then add olive oil to prevent it from drying out and becoming clumpy.

3. Perform prep work on the garlic and mushroom. Mince the garlic and slice the mushroom.

4. Slice the chicken breasts meat into half by using a sharp knife cutting across the middle of the fillet with a palm down on the meat approach. Now you would have two thin chicken breast fillets.

5. Season with salt and cracked black pepper and allow it to slightly marinate.

6. Heat the griddle or flat pan with two tablespoons of oil and heat it till it is smoking. Bring the heat down to medium and then press the fillets into the pan, searing each side for 2 minutes or until the flesh is cooked through until white.

7. Make sure the fillets have a slightly brown crust with the meat cooked through. Reserve the fillets aside.

8. In the pan, pour the chicken stock, cooking cream and cook the sauce, scrubbing the burnt bits from the pan. This will make a rich sauce for your pasta. Season with a little salt.

9. Once the sauce is ready, pour into the cooked pasta noodles and decorate it with the sliced chicken fillets and serve with grated cheese and pepper.

Bon Appetit!

 

Steamed Hairy Crabs

Steamed Hairy Crabs

I wished i could say that these beauties were from Yang Cheng Lake, in Shanghai, but guess what? They were from NTUC Supermarket. Surprise surprise.

Hairy Crabs are such a delicacy that most people would go the extra distance and trouble just to take the dish. So I am now presented with the next problem. How to recreate that wonderful dish? Thankfully I have had plenty of experience cooking crabs and I bet this shouldn’t be too different from our local variety.

I say steamed it. Plain and simple. That’s always the best way to cooking anything especially seafood. Add a little cooking wine like Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu and you are definitely on your way to a delicious steamed hairy crab – albeit cooked in your very own home kitchen. My place is no Michelin Star, but I have cooked my way into the hearts and stomachs of many.

And for the dipping sauce, I like mine with premium Lee Kum Kee Light Soya Sauce and lots of fresh young ginger slices.

Recipe

Ingredients

Hairy Crabs – you are the one to decide how many you want to eat at a go. (NTUC Supermarket sells them “live” at SGD 5.90 each <<bargain!>> and I got 6 immediately without hesitation – $35.40! wow.)

Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu – pour into the tray until the crabs all get their feet drenched (the more they are soaked in the wine, the deeper the flavours when you steamed them.)

Young Ginger – 3 inches would be sufficient (julienne the ginger into paper thin slices so that they would soak in the light soya sauce)

Lee Kum Kee Premium Light Soya Sauce – just enough for dipping (I love this sauce. It goes into everything that I cook.)

Method

1. Wash the crabs, give them a shave if you really want.

2. They are alive, so leave the handcuffs on. Let’s just say they are ready to run if you cut them loose.

3. Place them in a tray or plate, drizzle enough Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu (aka Chinese cooking wine) until they all get their feet wet. Be generous, these guys won’t disappoint when they are fully steamed.

4. Steam them for 12 minutes. Not less; not more.

5. Slice the young ginger very thinly, and drop them into the soya sauce. Shiok.

6. Once they are steamed, just eat and dip in the sauce if you like.

Bon Appetit!

Stir Fry Peas and Oyster Mushrooms

Stir fry peas and oyster mushrooms

Stir Fry Peas and Oyster Mushrooms

I hate Peas. There, I said it. Don’t judge me. I am like a kid when it comes to vegetables that I don’t like. It’s like a magical tumble washing time machine spiralling me back to when I was just a kid.

Anyway, it’s not the world’s friendliest vegetable to eat. But my Wife bought it and she bought Oyster Mushrooms as well. And not sure if you have a sensitive palate like myself, but there is this peculiar aftertaste with oyster mushrooms. It’s just me I guess.

I was in the restaurant business a while back, and one of the few things that stood out for me were these oyster mushrooms. They were quite bland in flavour, maybe that’s why they were so easy to control in terms of how you would want to flavour it.

But putting them together with peas, takes it to a whole new level. Okay. I am an innovator in the kitchen, so I will give it a shot.

Ingredients

Peas (just ordinary peas, nothing fancy, one pack will do)

Oyster Mushrooms (just one packet from NTUC will do. Again, nothing really fancy)

Fish Sauce (use any Vietnamese make, although some folks say the “long boat” brand is good)

Olive Oil (just a little oil will do)

Method

1. Debone the Peas. There is a spine that is quite difficult to eat, so best to remove it.

2. Oil in the wok, stir fry some garlic pieces until fragrant, then fry the peas and oyster mushrooms together. Add the fish sauce and cover the lid to steam.

3. It should be done in about 5 minutes. So easy. Surprisingly nice too. 🙂

Bon Appetit!

Black Chicken Curry

Black Chicken Curry

Yes, you didn’t read wrongly and neither did you hear it wrongly. I just made Black Chicken Curry, and it is damn good. The Silkie Chicken is such a tiny little fella that the whole chicken would nicely feed one person. Of course I said that because my Wife didn’t want to even taste it, and therefore I had the entire chicken to myself. It was shiok!

The thought of cooking it in anything else other than Chinese medicinal herbs is already in and of itself sacrilegious to many. But, I am an irreverent servant-less home cook, who is always willing to test and try something different. I am almost always ready to challenge the norm. I see it as my tribute to the many who love black chicken dishes, an ode of sorts if you like to black chicken lovers worldwide.

The taste was succulent, juicy, flesh was tender and delicious. The curry blended in very nicely into the relatively skinny poultry and in just 30 minutes, even the gelatinous chicken feet were nicely cooked through.

The curry powder mix was from my mother’s favourite Indian spices lady at CCWM that she would always buy from when she wanted to make her own style of curry chicken. Add coconut milk from freshly grated coconut flesh, and basically you will have a very delicious curry chicken.

Recipe

Ingredients

Black Chicken – 1 whole (also known as a Silkie due to its silk like skin texture)

Curry Powder Mix – $2 mix enough for chicken about 500 grams (I usually get this from my mum’s favourite Indian spices aunty at CCWM)

Coconut Milk – $2 of freshly grated coconut flesh or about 500 grams (you can get this at almost any vegetable shop in the market or any provision shop that sells a mixture of dry provisions and fresh groceries)

Method

1. In a claypot, pour in 3 tablespoons of olive oil (do add more if you need) you generally want to fry the powder into a paste-like state, so the quantity of oil you would need to adjust visually. Fry until fragrant.

2. Add the black chicken pieces to combine with the paste until it is more of less covered.

3. With a cloth bag or metal sift bowl, add the freshly grated coconut flakes. Pour about 2 bowls of water and proceed to press out the coconut milk into a bowl. Then pour the milk into the claypot until it covers the chicken pieces and turn up the heat to high. Cover the lid and let it boil with steam fuming for about 10 minutes. Lower the fire to a simmer for another 15 minutes or when you begin to smell the fragrance of curry chicken.

4. Add a teaspoon of sea salt or adjust the portion until it is reasonably salted. Serve hot with steam rice.

Bon Appetit!

Black chicken pieces, cut into four pieces with skin taken off

Fry the chicken pieces and combine with curry paste

Delicious Black Chicken Curry

Cold Crabs

Cold Crabs

Nothing beats fresh of anything, especially fresh flower crabs. Just saw these beauties at CCWM this morning and I couldn’t resist getting them. Very often I would have a recipe in mind when I go CCWM, it’s easier to buy when you know what it would already taste like.

The flavour profiles in my mind were so intense I could have seared the flower crabs with my fiery eyeballs, just by staring at them. Steamed in my favourite Pu Ning Fermented Soya Beans (these are the bright yellow ones) the flower crabs would just be perfect. No words can describe.

Just ten minutes with the lid on and then allowing them to cool and finally resting them in the fridge will allow the flesh of the crabs to detach and caramelised the multiple flavour profiles that resides within the crab. Okay. The rest is immaterial because it is just garnishing that you could do without.

Cooking anything should be simple and uncomplicated and it should retain the clean signatures of the dish that we have grown to love so much. Some call this dish a Teochew delicacy, served cold with a sweet tangerine sauce on the side. It will be sheer delight to pick the flesh apart later.

Recipe

Ingredients

Flower Crabs (as many as you would like to eat, but they must be fresh)

Pu Ning Fermented Soya Beans (these fermented soya beans from Pu Ning, Jie Yang, China are unique and delicious. Usually a bright yellow and lightly salted, they add flavours to my dishes that no other fermented soya bean can do)

Sweet Tangerine Sauce (this is for dipping the flesh of the crabs, but I like the crabs without it)

Method

1. Scrub the flower crabs and keep the body parts intact. Usually the flower crabs are dead when we buy them, rarely you will get them alive at the markets so don’t worry about them not being fresh. I always get the female ones because of the eggs.

2. Place them in a tray, drizzle the fermented soya bean sauce on the crabs generously. Place in a wok and steam them with lid on for ten minutes at high heat. The water in the wok for steaming must be boiling hot.

3. When they are cooked and a bright reddish orange colour, just let them cool and allow them to rest further in the fridge. This dish is best served cold, thus the name Cold Crabs.

4. The sweet tangerine sauce can over power the natural flavours of the crabs, so I would suggest dipping conservatively.

5. You can garnish them with parsley if you like but that’s mostly for showmanship which is especially important when you have friends coming over for lunch or dinner. Otherwise, you can just serve it just like that.

Bon Appetit!

Fresh Flower Crabs

Florentine Cookies

Florentine Cookies

My colleague baked two huge bottles of Florentine cookies for the office and we have been chomping on them ever since and now working our way down the second bottle.

So I asked her for the recipe and she said, “sure! It’s a no-brainer.”

And trust me, I love a good no-brainer. Her Florentine was a deep dark brown and very neatly cut into shape. Mine was just any-o-how cut into shape with a pizza grater. And she’s right, it’s really a no-brainer. So easy to make I could literally do it in a Houdini asylum suit.

It took me about 8 minutes to bake, which was pretty quick, but I decided that 10 minutes would have made more sense for my oven. And I prefer it to be a little more baked and crunchier.

The end result was a Florentine that I could call my own. I added silvered blanched almonds, pistachio meat, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Mix in the Florentine powder into the ingredients and it was done. Very easy to make. Plus not too sweet.

Recipe

Ingredients

Silvered Blanched Almonds – 250 grams (Phoon Huat sells everything a baker would need, Google it!)

Pistachio Meat – 250 grams (again you can get this from Phoon Huat)

Pumpkin Seeds – 125 grams (you don’t need so many of them, but they add a nice emerald green to it.)

Sunflower Seeds – 125 grams (I would have loved pine nuts, but couldn’t find any)

Sea Salt – half a teaspoon (there is a theory that said whatever sweet thing you do, you gotta add a little salt to it)

Florentine Mix – 250 grams (they only come in 500 grams packets, so you really need a good digital kitchen scale to help weigh out the portions)

Method

1. Pour all the dry ingredients into a metal mixing bowl. It can be plastic or porcelain, it doesn’t matter. Add the sea salt, and then the Florentine mix and give the ingredients a good combine.

2. Pre-heat the oven in fan mode at 180 degrees Celsius, usually about 10 minutes.

3. Spread the ingredients mix onto a baking tray lined with baking paper or grease proof baking parchment. Use a spoon to smoothen it as much as you can. Don’t worry if it is not perfect.

4. Place the tray into the oven and bake the ingredients for 8 minutes first and then moderate it if you feel like it is not as crunchy or if 8 minutes is too long. It really depends on what type of oven you have. I use my Apple Watch to do a count down timer and it’s really useful.

5. Once it is done, the Florentine powder should have melted and bonded with the ingredients. Let it cool down, which is also very fast. The cookie once cooled would be quite brittle, so if you want to cut it, you would need to be quick.

6. A pizza grater works the best. Cut it whilst it is still warm and cooling down. It would be easier to cut without breaking the cookie too much. Once it is hardened, it would quite tedious to shape the slice.

7. Another tip to ensure a beautiful Florentine slice would be to press it down with a flat surface. You could also roll a glass jar on the surface to flatten it.

8. Best served with a cup of coffee.

Bon Appetit!

Use a metal spoon to evenly spread the ingredients.

Steamed Mosaic Mussels

Steamed Mosaic Mussels

I love Mussels, especially the black lip variety, but they are rarely available in these waters. The mosaic variety are pretty and also cheaper in the sense that their shells are lighter as compared to the heavier clams that we usually would use to make vongole.

I got these from the fishmonger that I rarely buy anything from, I knew that she would sell these and bought a kilograms of these shells from her.

Not sure about you, but I am beginning to develop these wet market quirks where I have this belief that this guy or that guy sells his fish fresher and cheaper than the others. And perhaps there is some truth in that thinking as well. It seems other shoppers also tend to gravitate towards certain fishmongers and they also know it.

So these mussels were purchased not from the regular lady that I usually buy from.

Recipe

Ingredients

Mosaic Mussels – 1 Kg (these mussels are rumoured to be from the Philippines and usually don’t live very long, is that true?)

Lemongrass – 3 stalks (lemongrass adds an amazing flavour to the dish)

Young Ginger – 2 inches (julienne it, ginger helps to get rid of the fishy smells. Sometimes it is inevitable to get shells that have gone bad, so ginger really helps with that bad smell part)

Garlic – 4 pieces (slice finely, the garlic adds so much flavour to the dish that I simply can’t cook this without it)

Spring Onions – 3-4 stalks (the more the merrier as I always say. Use only the green portion discard the bottoms)

White Wine – 2 cups (the wine can be expired or some cheap bottle that you can’t finish)

Method

1. Wash and scrub these mussels thoroughly as they usually have a lot of grey colour clay embedded within their shells. Even more so, if the mussels are dead, it would be even harder to wash out the clay.

2. Ensure that they are sustained in clean water before you actually cook them. You never know when you would wanna cook them, so it would be best to keep them alive. Always consume the shells the day you buy them. The last thing you would want would be to store them in the fridge and they all die on you the next day.

3. Slice the lemongrass (wash first please) and garlic pieces, julienne the ginger and finely slice the spring onions. Reserve the spring onions.

4. In a large wok or pan, heat five tablespoons of olive oil and then stir fry the lemongrass, ginger and garlic slices until fragrant. Reserve them aside.

5. Throw all the mussels (discard the water) into the same wok, turn the heat up, and pour in about two cups of white wine (it can be expired wine) and steam the mussels until they all open up.

6. Throw in the fried ingredients, spring onions and give it a good stir to combine all the ingredients and flavour.

7. Optional: Best served hot and with a Chili padi light soya sauce dip on the side. Remember to add juice of one calamansi lime.

Bon Appetit!

Lo-Fi Muse #19-001

Lo-fi musings

See

A customer service officer was attending to a senior and realised that she was using an iphone X .

CSO: “hello Madam, I see that you are a smartphone user! That’s great, you would need to download our app to access the full range of information.”

Senior: “app? What app?!” (Senior glancing at her phone)

CSO: “you got to go to the App Store and search for the app and..”

Senior: “wait wait, I don’t know what you are talking about. I use this phone to call my Daughter only..”

CSO: “There.. thereee.. ” (pointing to the phone) you got to go to your App Store and then search for our app and then download it. It’s easy. All the information will be there after that.”

Senior: “Wait wait. Where is this store? How do I get there? And what is this App that you keep referring to?!

CSO: “erm, the apps on your iPhone?”

Senior: “this?! (Shaking the iphone) For your information young man, my Daughter gave me this so that she can call me.”

Think

Communication is not a one-way street, active listening is involved, and if we don’t listen in to the people around us, how do we then create products that people would buy? How do we channel the right information to our customers? How do we meet the needs of our customers?

Act

What would you do differently?

Bitter Gourd Soup Noodles

Bitter gourd soup noodles

Bitter Gourd Soup Noodles

It’s become a family classic or comfort food as they say. So I think my Son will probably come home next time from National Service on the weekends and request for PaPa’s Bitter Gourd Soup with KOKA easy cook noodles.

He has loved bitter gourd since he was a teeny weeny bitsy toddler. Often reaching out for more bitter gourd than we would have expected him to eat. It’s every parents’ dream to get their child to eat their greens. The other favourite that he likes would be my Stir Fry Bitter Gourd in Salted Black Bean Sauce which he simply loves.

I hope he will one day say he wants to learn how to cook, and this recipe resource can hopefully be his to carry forward.

Ingredients

Bitter Gourd (just one medium sized one would do fine. Cut into thick slices.)

Pork Ribs (250grams to 400 grams. Depending on whether you plan on eating the pork ribs or not)

Sea Salt (just 1 teaspoon to 1.5 litres of water)

KOKA Easy Cook Noodles (my Wife usually gets these easy cook noodles as they are just plainly that – easy to cook)

Method

1. I use a thermal cooker for this recipe, so that basically means boiling the ingredients at high heat for about 15-20 minutes and then allowing them to cook slowly in the thermal cooker for at least 10 hours.

2. Boil a kettle of water and then blanch the pork ribs. I usually use frozen pork ribs for this recipe, so it is important to remove dirt that may be present.

3. Boil another kettle of water (about 1.5 litres) and then add to the pork ribs, add the sliced bitter gourd and sea salt. Boil at high heat for about 15-20 minutes. Then place the pot into the thermal cooker to cook for another 10-12 hours before serving.

4. For the easy cook noodles, I usually boil once and discard the water. Then ladle the bitter gourd soup into the noodles and serve.

Easy.

Bon Appetit!

Macaroni and Leeks

Macaroni and Leeks

Macaroni and Leeks

This is great for little kids. No matter how resistant they may be towards vegetables or generally anything remotely vegetable-ish, they will somehow love this simple dish.

Leeks can be one of the last vegetables in the vegetable family that any child would want to slurp up happily, but interestingly it is. The key is to cook them until they are super soft and its goodness fully extracted into the broth.

Adding leeks into the chicken soup made out of just chicken bones that you could pick up from any wet market or supermarket is probably one of the easiest and fuss free recipes anyone could do. I usually get the chicken bones from NTUC because these are generally cheaper because they go by weight. Whereas the wet market Aunty will just go by per piece.

Ingredients

Macaroni (I usually get Barilla brand pasta as I think it is the best. I could be wrong but the blue packaging appeals to me, so there. For this box of mini macaroni, the cooking time is 6 minutes. Not sure why they call it differently by another name, but just take it from me, it is macaroni.)

Chicken Bones (NTUC sells the cheapest and best chicken bones. They usually pack 2 chicken carcass into a pack and that’s sufficient for this recipe. I like NTUC’s chicken bones because they tend to leave a lot of meat on the bone which is great because for this dish, I save money by not having to buy additional chicken parts. Sometimes the chicken bones from the wet market poultry vendor can be really just bones as they are experts in removing flesh from bones. So that’s a tip for you!)

Leeks (I usually get the Malaysian variety and not the huge ones from China. These are more flavourful and delicious. But you can use the ones from China if you can’t find any local varieties at your local grocer. 4 lower ends of the leeks would flavour your broth real fine.)

Sea Salt (1 teaspoon for cooking the macaroni and another for cooking the chicken broth)

Olive Oil (a few droplets for cooking the macaroni and a few droplets for keeping them from sticking together. I know the olive oil doesn’t have a very big role in this recipe, but it is very important in making this dish work.)

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water, measure out 1.5 litres and pour it into a pot. Add chicken bones and bring to a bubbling boil. Add a teaspoon of sea salt.

2. Once broth is bubbling boiling, add the tail ends of 4 pieces of leeks. The green leafy portions you can use for something else. The flavours are usually in the lower ends of the leeks. Discard the roots. For this, lower the fire and slow cook with lid covered. Cook until the leeks are softened, chicken oils are seen in the broth. And the chicken meats are white.

3. Using a small pair of kitchen tongs, shred the chicken meat into flakes. This will later go into your macaroni.

4. Boil another kettle of water, pour into another pot. Add a few droplets of oil. Add a teaspoon of sea salt. Add the dry macaroni into the pot (for 3 persons, I cooked half a box, you might wish to cook less) and bring to bubbling boil. Set the timer for 6 minutes or as per the cooking instructions on the box.

5. Once the macaroni is cooked to al dente remove from the pot and pour the cooked macaroni into a metal strainer and douse in ice water to stop it from cooking further. Add a few droplets of oil to prevent the cooked macaroni from sticking to each other.

All that’s left is to combine the macaroni with the soup and the shredded chicken and you can serve.

Bon Appetit!

Ginseng Black Chicken Soup

Ginseng Black Chicken Soup

The best Ginseng Black Chicken Soup in my honest opinion (bet you thought I was gonna say humble, right?) is probably the stall located at Jalan Bersih (Hawker Centre). The stall on level two of the Hawker Centre sells Turtle Soup that is totally traditional and out of this world. They also sell a kick-ass Ginseng Black Chicken Soup. It’s really yummy, and the portions of Ginseng herbs is just nice and not too overwhelming.

So I decided that I would replicate that and bought my own Ginseng Beards from the supermarket. They sell a very cheap version of Ginseng Beards and for me, that will do very fine. I mean how hard can it be?

I poured half the packet into the thermal pot to make the soup. And the strength was just about right, a teaspoon of sea salt against 1.5 litres of water, and the soup would be nothing short of awesome.

After 12 hours of thermal-cooking, what turn out that evening, was a very delicious bowl of black chicken soup m, fully infused with the ginseng herbs.

If you would prefer a different taste, you may want to try my Herbal Black Chicken Soup which is equally good IMHO. LOL.

Ingredients

Black Chicken (one whole black chicken, otherwise not enough for my family.)

Ginseng Beards (get the cheapest ones at NTUC and that would be good enough for two portions)

Sea Salt (best form of salt ever, just 1 teaspoon per 1.5 litres of water and it would be Super flavourful.)

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water. Wash the chicken thoroughly, then place it into the thermal pot, then pour the boiling water into it and boil the chicken until water bubbling. Discard the water. This is to remove impurities, dirt, blood, etc.

2. Boil another kettle of water, pour about 1.5 litres into the same pot with the chicken. Add the ginseng beards. Add the sea salt. Boil st high heat for about 15 minutes with the lid covered.

3. Place the thermal pot into the thermal cooker enclosure. Leave it for 12 hours. The slow cooking process in the thermal cooker will slow cook the meats until it is tender and succulent.

When you are ready to eat at dinner time, boil it hot and eat with rice.

Bon Appetit!

Stir Fry Sichuan Cai with Minced Pork

Stir Fry Sichuan Cai with Minced Pork

My Mother came by the other day with Minced Pork for my Son who hasn’t been feeling very well since the beginning of the new year. She said minced meat cooked with porridge would improve his appetite and help him recover faster.

Now before you zip off to google the medicinal benefits of minced pork, please, get a hold of yourself. It is just minced pork.

I decided that it was far more practical to make a dish out of the minced meat rather than put it all into his porridge. For all you know he might take one look and scoff at it for reasons unknown and we would have wasted good minced pork.

Good thing wifey bought Sichuan Cai aka SiChuan Vegetables in easy to cook convenient packaging. NTUC sells it in packs of 6 sachets. And I decided to cook another all time childhood favourite Sichuan Cai with Minced Pork.

These 2-3 ingredient dishes are simple to prepare, singular in flavour, and uncomplicated in taste.

Ingredients

Sichuan Cai (aka SiChuan Vegetables. Apparently it came from Sichuan and it prepared in chilli powder to give it that spicy kick. They not offer it in spicy and non-spicy sachets, pretty good for kids)

Minced Pork (about 100-150 grams will do.)

Old Garlic (sliced thinly for best flavour. Easier to cook also via the tilted wok technique, 3 cloves would do fine)

Method

1. Sliced the garlic first, thinly for maximum effect. Then deep fry the garlic slices in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil using the tilted wok technique. If you are wondering what is this tilted wok technique, I wrote about it in my recipe Stir Fry Ladies Fingers.

2. Immediately add the minced pork, un-marinated, and start frying over low fire just to get the minced to cook slowly.

3. Once minced starts to turn slightly white from pink, add the sachet of Sichuan Cai and continue to stir fry. The saltiness of the vegetables would be sufficient for this dish and no additional seasoning is required.

Once cooked, you can have it with plain porridge. Easy.

Bon Appetit!

Stir Fry Ladies Fingers

Stir fry ladies fingers

Stir Fry Ladies Fingers

I told my Son that we would be having Ladies Fingers that night and he squirmed at the thought of it. Then I thought I heard him say under his breath, “papa, if we must eat, then I will only eat mummy’s fingers.”

I was bemused at the very thought of it and my creative juices kicked in for a nano second and wondered what that would taste like with Teochew Tau Jiu, maybe a little finely chopped garlic with quartered Tomatoes, lightly stir fried and it just might be really yummy!

And then I came to myself. “Did he just say that or did I imagine that he said it when he didn’t really say anything.” LOL. Oh well.

Wifey’s a lady, but to eat her fingers would be so wrong. I mean I know it would be finger-licking good but that’s besides the point! I would never do that to my beloved. As it is I am already eating out of her hand, to have her fingers as well would be simply unthinkable.

So I am cooking a very simple version of Ladies Fingers with Tomatoes, exactly how, is actually even simpler. I like to keep my recipes simple and uncomplicated. It gets complicated only the first time when I am actually trying out someone else’s recipe as I navigate through their rigorous ingredient listing and techniques. If you prefer another way of cooking, you may want to try my Sambal Belacan Okra with Tomatoes recipe. It’s also not bad. LOL.

If you have been following my postings, you would know that I love making quick meals and using techniques that help me save time and ingredients.

Tilt the wok technique

The picture above shows my tilt-the-wok technique to save oil and fry the ingredients evenly. I am sure you have better ways to manage your oil consumption, please feel free to carry on your own way of cooking. I am not here to convince you otherwise.

Ingredients

Ladies Fingers (aka Okra, one of my favourite mushy vegetable. I am using about 21 pieces of Ladies Fingers. Why “21” you may ask, well, no special reason.)

Tomatoes (these are the regular tomatoes, nothing special. I am using 3 medium sized ones)

Old Garlic (3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly)

Dried Shrimps (otherwise known as Hae Bi, these little shrimps add a little punch to the flavour of the dish, I used 2 tablespoons worth)

Light Soya Sauce (2 tablespoons will be quite nice, but if you’re eating them with porridge, a little saltier is not that bad an idea)

Method

1. Wash the ladies fingers and cut them slanted. Quart the tomatoes. Soak the dried shrimps and sliced the garlic.

2. Heat about three tablespoons of olive oil, and using the tilted wok technique, fry the garlic slices until lightly fragrant. Then add the soaked hae bi and continue to fry until fragrant.

3. Immediately throw the cut ladies fingers into the wok and stir fry. Do this until it starts to wilt. Add the sliced tomatoes. Continue to stir fry a little. Then add the soya sauce and a bowl of water and turn up to high heat with the lid covered.

4. Steam the ladies fingers for about 5 minutes until dull green and mushy looking.

Serve with plain porridge.

Bon Appetit!

Garlic Egg Omelette

Garlic Egg Omelette

I love Garlic. My affection for garlic will turn any vampire friend away. Is that why I have so few friends these days?! Perhaps. But I am sure it has got to be my scathing personality rather than my obsession with garlic that has driven my friends away from me.

Or maybe it is my anti-social behaviour that has made me much withdrawn and alone. Or perhaps people around me have become distracted with their handphones to notice that we have become socially isolated from each other. Kind of like being there and yet not fully present. I know the feeling.

But I prefer to think that it is the garlic that has caused the riffs between us human beings (and some lesser mortals) than the pervasiveness of technology in our lives. After all, you are probably reading this off your mobile phone. I can’t fault you for that.

Anyway, Garlic Egg Omelette, what’s there to say except that it is by far one of the best ways of frying up an omelette. Without adding the garlic, your Egg Omelette will be just plain vanilla, it will be lifeless; void of distinctive high notes. It will be less fragrant.

By the way, just in case you’re wondering, I know my photo taking skills leaves much to be desired. I know also you guys out there probably use better equipment, lighting, better photo-editing software, better placement of your dishes to tease the visual senses. Whilst that’s all well and good, my main objective is cooking up a delicious dinner that my Wife and Son will love. So there.

Ingredients

Eggs (I always buy the Seng Choon Golden Corn Eggs from NTUC not because I have a special feeling towards their eggs but rather they have these 10 plus 2 free promos. For this recipe, I use 4 eggs, or else there wouldn’t be sufficient eggs between the two of us.)

Garlic (Old Garlic is the best and you only need 3 pieces for the magic to happen)

Purple Onions (one medium size purple colour onion would do the trick)

Mini Shrimps (these are fresh mini shrimps that you rarely will be able to find at the wet market. But if you do come across it or find it, make sure you get some as they will add so much flavour to your omelette. A small portion of SGD 3 is enough for two portions of Egg Omelette.)

Light Soya Sauce (3 tablespoons of Lee Kum Kee premium light soya sauce.)

Method

1. Break the eggs into a bowl. Add the chopped onions. Add the light soya sauce. Add the mini shrimp. Give it a good whisk.

2. Heat up the wok, add about 3 tablespoons of Olive Oil. Heat it till it is reasonably hot. Add the minced garlic and stir fry first to bring out the fragrance.

3. Add the egg batter into the wok and let it bubble and cook. We are looking for a light brown burnt flavour on one side before turning it over.

Once cooked, you’re done.

Bon Appetit!

Steamed Snake Beans with Chinese Anchovies

Steamed Snake Beans with Chinese Anchovies

Traditionally known as the Oriental Yard Long Bean, this vegetable found commonly at the local wet market around Singapore is a well-loved vegetable by Chinese households. Actually, I am sure other households also love the vegetable, but I know I grew up eating these snake-like long Beans. And I love them.

Some folks refer to them as Snake Beans, which I kind of prefer as well. In Hokkien, we usually call it Cai Tau which literally mean Bean Vegetable.

I have always stir fried these legumes but decided that I would try steaming them instead. No special reason, just like the thought of steaming the snake beans into submission.

Ingredients

Snake Beans (the vegetable Uncle usually ties them into bunches with a rubber band, it makes it easier for him to calculate prices without having to weigh the stringy vegetables.)

Chinese Anchovies (the Malay word for these guys are ikan bilis otherwise known as mini anchovies. These are the mini-mini versions. Sun-dried and possibly full of its local sea flavour. Good to soak them in hot water before frying.)

Old Garlic (3 pieces of Garlic, minced, should be enough for flavour.)

Fish Sauce (I love fish sauce, but the ones that I love the best are the lighter ones from Vietnam. These fish sauces are simple and not complex and usually brings out the flavours of the vegetables. I have been using flavours a lot haven’t I? LOL)

Method

1. Wash and cut snake beans into 3-4 cm lengths. But before that, you would have to strangle them into submission first. I don’t like my stringy vegetables twisting and turning all over the place. So after releasing them from the rubber band, it is important to douse them in cold water to make sure they are all ready.

2. Ready for what?! I hear you ask. Good question. Ready for the chopping board of course. Remember to cut them into equal lengths of 3-4 cm. Okay if you do that they wouldn’t be all that equal, but I know you know what I mean.

3. Soak the Chinese Anchovies in boiling hot water to extra the flavours of the tiny little fellas. 5 minutes would be more than sufficient.

4. Minced the garlic. I am using 3 pieces as I always believe the slave shouldn’t be the master. He wouldn’t know what to do as Master with a Slave mentality, and the dish would be overpowered with garlic and that’s not what we want.

5. Heat the wok, add 2-3 tablespoons of Olive Oil. Wait till the oil is heated, add the minced garlic to fry until lightly fragrant. Add the Chinese Anchovies and continue to stir fry. I like using the tilted wok technique as it helps to brown the garlic pieces rather evenly.

6. Dump the entire bunch of cut Snake Beans into the wok and add about 4 tablespoons of the fish sauce. Add a cup of water and steam those snake beans into submission. 5 minutes at high heat with the lid covering the wok. Usually the Snake Beans will turn into a dull green colour and would stick their tongues out with two crosses for eyeballs. That’s how I like them. Mushy and nice.

Best eaten with plain porridge.

Bon Appetit!

Deep Fried Fish Head with Leeks

Deep Fried fish head with leeks

Deep Fried Fish Head with Leeks

Since discovering the KOGI tempura mix (where have I been all this time, you may wonder – I also say!!), I have decided that this is the go-to flour mix for all my deep fried dishes. Life should be simple right?! Why complicate it by following some purist video on YouTube (nothing wrong with purist videos) on the benefits of mixing your own flour mix? The reality of it is someone went to all that trouble and food technology to develop this perfect flour mix and I the snob is not using it.

Therefore I now use it.

So I decided to follow some other guy’s recipe for making Claypot Fish Head and minus all the unnecessary stuff that I didn’t want (more like I didn’t have in my fridge) and whipped up the same dish but in a different style with the same ingredients.

I deep-fried my fish head following the classic claypot fish head style – Claypot Fish Head (incidentally I also have another recipe on that cult classic). But this time I added leeks. And more importantly, this time I used the KOGI tempura mix!

The end result was needless to say perfect! (Okay lah, as perfect as perfect can be) I am only but a home cook trying to cut corners and make delicious foods with as little ingredients as possible.

Ingredients

Fish Head (any kind will do, angoli aka red snapper or garoupa aka grouper is good, I usually pay SGD 5 for one large one at my favourite fishmonger at CCWM, because I am cheapo, I usually select the bigger head, ask the uncle chop into small pieces and bag into two portions)

Leeks (wet market leeks are the best, you can choose until you bruise the entire batch and the vegetable Aunty won’t be mad at you – do this at your own peril)

KOGI tempura mix (apply this mix on the surface of the marinated fish pieces lavishly)

Light Soya Sauce (I like to use premium soya sauce, not because I am rich, but the premium soya sauce really does taste much nicer! This also goes into the marinate for the fish)

Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu (They sell this at NTUC and there are many different brands that have similar packaging. Again, I buy the most expensive one because it really does make my food taste better. This also goes into the marinate for the fish)

Teochew Fermented Soya Beans (aka tau jiu in Hokkien/Teochew,this is our favourite type of fermented soya beans. Not overtly salty, and consistently great tasting)

Oyster Sauce (I prefer the brand that has an image of a lady rowing a boat with a small boy, Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce)

Olive Oil (I use olive oil to do the deep frying because I use that for cooking anyway, so it works for me. I know I should be using some light vegetable oil like canola etc – not palm oil – but I can’t be bothered really as I don’t use all that much oil anyway. Just enough to fry two pieces at a time.)

Ginger (young ginger is good, but any ginger also can. Grate it so that it forms part of the marinate for the fish pieces)

Purple Onions (instead of saying medium onions, I prefer to just call it like it is. You go to the typical wet market and it is the medium size purple looking onion. Just one will do.)

Old Garlic (there are the two basic types, Chef Garlic and Old Garlic. Use the old ones as they have more flavour. Just three pieces will do.)

Marinate

a. Use a Ziplock bag to marinate the fish head pieces. The Ziplock bag is useful because can Ziplock and seal in the marinate and allow the fish to soak up the juices.

b. Grate an inch of ginger and dump it into the bag.

c. Pour in about 3 tablespoons of light soya sauce.

d. Pour in about 3 tablespoons of Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu. Leave it to marinate for about an hour at least in the fridge.

Method

1. Marinate the fish head slices first. Let it stay in the fridge for about an hour.

2. Heat the olive oil in the wok and pour just enough for frying two pieces at a time using the tilt-the-wok technique. If you are using a light vegetable oil, please use that. Olive oil is healthier. Try not to use palm oil. It’s unhealthy.

3. Coat the marinated fish pieces in the KOGI tempura mix, ensuring a good coat and then frying the fish until the fish pieces are a light brown. Place them in a metal strainer with a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Do this until all fish pieces are fried.

4. In a heated wok, with three tablespoons of olive oil, stir fry the ginger until slightly fragrant, then add minced garlic, and sliced onions. Continue to stir fry. Then add two tablespoons of oyster sauce and a tablespoon of the fermented soya bean. Continue to stir fry until fragrant.

5. Add 2 bowls of water, add the sliced leeks (make sure you wash them thoroughly as these usually have sand in between their leaves.) and immediately dump all the fried fish head pieces into the wok. Cover with lid and let it cook for a good 5 minutes over a big fire.

The leeks should be softened, the fish head crispy skins should now be soggy and the water should be a thick sauce.

Serve with white rice.

Bon Appetit!

Deep Fried Prawn Fritters

Deep fried prawn fritters

Deep Fried Prawn Fritters

If there is something that I love, it would be my parents’ Prawn Fritters. I think they have achieved Michelin star status as far as I am concerned. But seriously, the prawn fritters are seriously shiok.

So what is the secret to that delightful crispy crackle? Well, it’s the texture and consistency of the batter, and the secret’s out. It is this fantastic tempura flour mix known as KOGI.

KOGI tempura flour mix

This tempura mix is the bomb. Meant for seafood and vegetables, it is already pre-mixed and all ready to go. Just mix with water to achieve the right consistency of batter, and you are all set.

Ingredients

Medium Glass/Grey Prawns (I made about 12 prawn fritters)

KOGI Tempura Flour Mix (I found it at the wet market at the Indian spice lady’s stall, cheap SGD 1.10)

Olive Oil (must be sufficient for deep frying, I use the tilt the pan/wok technique to save oil, and for optimum deep frying, the oil must be smoking hot)

Method

1. De-shell the prawns. Most people leave the tail, I did as well, you can also do likewise.

2. Prepare the batter to achieve a smooth liquid consistency. Too much batter, the prawns will stiffen, too little batter, you can’t taste the crispy crackle. Do the spoon test. Scoop and let it drip, if it flows too quickly, it is too watery. You want a slow drip. Best thing to do is to take notes and find the best consistency for you.

3. Heat the oil and make sure it is hot. Then deep fry using the tilted wok technique and fry two to three at a time. Of course if you work for the vegetable oil factory, you can fry all at once. But alas, I don’t work for the vegetable oil factory.

4. Once golden brown, take them out and let them rest on a metal strainer with a Scott’s paper towel to absorb the oil.

That’s about it. Serve with sliced tomatoes as decoration.

Bon Appetit!

Stir Fry Garlic Butter Mushrooms

Stir Fry Garlic Butter Mushrooms

You know you have done well when you begin to feel good about what you have cooked and you know the feeling is mutual. Wifey says cook this. And it is so. She can’t be wrong. After all she is my biggest critic. She criticise just about everything I do. And that’s why I love her so much.

I mean besides my Mother, no one else would bother to give me their honest opinion about anything. Okay maybe some. But they are mostly rare and few. So I have arrived at the final conclusion. She loves me. There is no other reason why.

So when she says this is good, it is good.

Ingredients

White Button Mushrooms (I bought my white button mushrooms at Market 628, 1kg SGD 14. For this dish, I am preparing for 12-15 pax, so I bought 2kg)

Garlic (I am using old garlic, about 10 pieces, finely chopped)

Thai Basil (3 stalks of Thai Basil, plucked the leaves)

Chinese Celery (5-6 stalks of local celery, not the Australian kind, these local ones are great for flavour)

Butter (real butter please! Not margarine or low fat whatever it is that you call it. I use SCS because I think it is the best butter in the world. For this recipe, 1 whole slab.)

Olive Oil (use extravagantly, mushrooms tend to soak up the oil and butter, so you would definitely need quite a lot of olive oil.)

Sea Salt (a sprinkle every 500grams I had to cook them in batches as my wok was too small to cook all 2kg at one go.)

Method:

1. Snip the stem off the white button mushrooms. Although the stem is edible, most people wouldn’t eat it for some reason. You may wish to wipe the mushrooms with a paper towel if you like. But there’s no need really.

2. Finely mince the garlic, finely chopped the local celery and pluck all the Thai basil leaves.

3. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil and add 1/8 of the slab of butter to melt it. Once the butter starts to melt, add the mushrooms in to stir fry. At this time the mushrooms will start to soak up the oil.

4. Add the minced garlic, chopped local celery and Thai basil to fry. Sprinkle some sea salt, add another 1/8 of butter. Stir fry until fragrant and the mushrooms starts to brown a little. Repeat this process until all the mushrooms are cooked.

5. Easy only.

Bon Appetit!

Doodles 00005

Saw this bus this morning, and I thought that it would look totally cool. The problem was translating it into lines.

Doodles 00004

My wife loves Dr Suess, and so I made a Dr Suess tissue pouch for her, except that where the opening was, there was the hat, and the bottom part of the opening was the legs.

Doodles 00001

I have decided that one of the things that I would take up is drawing digital cartoons. Here’s one for starters.

Fighting the email monster

“It’s fierce.” Those are the words of a seasoned traveler. And it doesn’t wait for you to touch down. It just keeps coming until your email quota bursts.

Potato and Pork Ribs Soup

Potato and Pork Ribs Soup

After a pretty long hiatus from blogging, and largely due to the fact that I haven’t been cooking as much, I am somewhat starting to cook again, and this is as a request from the Wife, not because she reads my blog or anything but more because we have become more busy and thus the pertinent need to get back to cooking great tasting, simple soups for dinner.

Yes I miss cooking my home feasts too. And maybe she felt it and wanted me to kickstart the nutritious home-cooking again. Admittedly, eating out is so much more convenient. And since our fridge broke down recently, whatever stores we bought would be rotting in the defunct ice box. It didn’t help that the repair man was smoking us (and his company) by making multiple trips down to fix a seemingly simple problem. He kept testing and testing the fridge like as if it was his personal pet project. We were duped week after week into thinking that each week that he came would be the last, and that we could resume our cook-outs for dinner.

Finally, we got another repairman and the problem was solved instantly. But by that time we had already stopped cooking for a while. And I had also gotten busy and stopped going to the wet market on Saturdays. It’s as what one would say a domino effect. I did not do the marketing and therefore did not have the ingredients to cook and therefore we all ate out.

This soup came at her request. A simple no nonsense and fuss free soup. I am still quite curious as to how it would turn out. Just potatoes and pork ribs. Well, we will know soon tonight.

Ingredients:

Pork Ribs (250 grams)

Potatoes (about 3 larges ones)

1 tsp Sea Salt

Method:

  1. Parboil the ribs in hot boiling water to get rid of impurities. Pour the water away.
  2. Peel the potatoes, cut into cubes and then dump them into the pot. Add the sea salt.
  3. Boil at high heat for 15 minutes, turn off the fire and then place the pot into the thermal cooker (vacuum) and allow it to cook for the next 12 hours while you’re at work.
  4. When you’re ready to eat, boil again, and you can serve.

Bon Appetit!

Speak Right

Speaking right is important because it shows your beliefs and your stand on matters arising. Furthermore, the odds of you saying the wrong things are also lowered.

So what happens when you have to mix with people who have different values or beliefs from you? Well, there is such a thing as non-conforming, and keeping to a standard.

So if my friends swear, I would usually not participate. Why not you might say? Why yes is what I would say. Simple reason is I have very little compulsion to swear.

The fact is, I use my mouth to praise Jesus. And I use it to speak good things. So to use it to swear, is not very smart in my opinion. Anyway, your choice.

Being Sick

When you’re sick, it messes with you. My mind loses reality and all that self-condemnation and fear gets intermingled with the fake reality that messes up our confidence in Jesus.

Yet, the reality is, our standing in Jesus has not changed, but our perception of reality has become somewhat warped due to the emotional imbalance of being sick. Our mind loses control of our bodies. We become enslaved to the running nose and itchy skin and woozy feeling of drowsiness. The meds meant to help you are partly causing you to hallucinate and messes up your thoughts.

I know when I get well, my thoughts will be calibrated and my mind in its right place – with Jesus. The beauty of not being in the right state of emotional wellness, Jesus is there with us all the way. Keeping us safe and sound, like now, in my state of semi consciousness I am conscious of my standing in Christ.

Healthy Salad

Healthy Salad

I am not the most healthy of eaters as you can probably see from the stuff that I cook from time to time. But there are times when a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. And there is nothing more self fulfilling than to make your own salad for lunch.

For me, I would prefer being served a salad as opposed to packing one for lunch. And for a good variety of reasons as well. Packing means by the time you eat, it is probably whilting away and soggy. But to not drizzle it with dressing would not be such a great idea also.

Everything tastes just so raw.

So add in moderation. I could also opt to add in a separate container or buy a salad box with a separate compartment for dressing. Blah. I go for comvenience and it has to be fast. I can’t take my time to make a gourmet salad. It is just too troublesome.

Plus I am terribly lazy and we all know there is no cure for laziness.

So I have decided to just make do with one disposable container and learn to enjoy soggy salad.

Recipe

Ingredients

Mesclun Mix (probably cheaper if you buy from the wet market grocer)
Cherry Tomatoes (any kind will do)
Strawberries (I got the Australian ones as they were sweeter, Korean ones look too beautiful to eat.)
Bell Peppers (I got three colours, red, green and yellow)
Hard Boiled Egg (Boil an egg until it is hard boiled)
Salt & Pepper (nuffsaid, just to add to the taste)

Method

1. Is there really a method to make a raw salad? Just mix everything into a metal bowl and mix it all up. And serve.

10 Day Kyoto-Osaka Itinerary

Here’s a snapshot of our Kyoto-Osaka itinerary for those who are keen to follow our trip. The details as they say, is just noise against the backdrop of beauty that is Japan.

Planned to do:
Day 1; arrive osaka in the morning, (that means sleep in plane) and take Japan Rail (JR) to Kyoto to enjoy their many traditional (read: lok kok) Ryokan (hot spring hotels). dump luggage, visit the Kyoto City Zoo next door and then return back to hotel for a hot spring bath and omakase luxurious dinner.

What really happened:
Day 1; arrive osaka in the morning, and we were slightly tired from the lack of proper rest. We went to Tak-Q-Bin to get our luggage sent to our airbnb in osaka, while we repacked a smaller luggage for Kyoto. Then we went to the JR office to buy the “Haruka Ltd Express Ticket” to Kyoto and also bought a ticket to sit the romantic train (Sagano Scenic Railway)..

On Hindsight:
They tell you to buy the scenic train ticket early because it is firstly a small train and everyone wants a piece of the action. So demand is always greater than supply. Don’t ask me how we can get that supply online, but I guess it does make sense if you compare it to buying on the spot at the station. Likely there is not going to be many tickets leftover.

I will explain more when I have time. Check back later!

One Day JB Itinerary

One Day JB Itinerary

JB or Johor Bahru is one of Singaporeans more favourite activity during holidays or long weekends. It seems everyone is going to JB for shopping, eating, etc. There just doesn’t seem to be a lack of activities in JB. Of course if you’re a tourist in Singapore and would like to venture north for a little bit of old school flavours and shopping, then hesitate no more and go JB.

Here are some things to do if you’re planning to go JB for the very first time and you have heard plenty of horror stories of robbers in JB and terrible experiences. I don’t know which blog you read, but my experience in JB has so far been quite positive. Here are some tips to make your journey is a little more efficient and fun.

Getting There

Most people with cars will drive there, while others will opt for the coach, or public bus or event private hire cars (which are in a sense illegal in the eyes of Malaysia). I would strongly suggest taking the train there and back to Singapore. The train ride across is a mere 5 minutes, and all the tedious part is done at Singapore customs. Which is by far one of the most efficient way to get across to JB.

Book a train online and purchase your tickets from Singapore Woodlands Checkpoint to JB Sentral City Square. Here’s a quick link to the train e-ticketing website https://intranet.ktmb.com.my/e-ticket/login.aspx

The best times to go JB is of course during the weekdays and early morning and then late evening.

Eating JB

There are many cheap local eats in JB, some of which you would already know by now. The curry fish head along Jalan Wong Ah Fook is a timeless testimony of how fresh seafoods will never go stale in the hearts and minds of hungry gourmands. Even as I write this post, my savoury tastebuds are activated and salivary glands are reacting. The combination of the curry and the freshness of the fish heads is just delicious, the dried tofu sticks once soaked into the spicy sauce just heightens the flavour. I usually order a large and we would chow down happily.

After fish head curry, we would usually go upwards to have our favourite herbal duck, sometimes charcoal boiled soup and queue up for the banana cake baked traditionally using firewood.

KSL

These three letters have become synonymous with great value for ladies for their numerous beauty parlour either for hair, nails, or just general foot hand pampering. It is also a paradise for cheap handphone accessories and gadgets galore. There is something for everyone, something for every demand and need. KSL is also a hotel and at the same time a private residential property. Hotel rates are reasonable and it is a preferred venue for conferences and group hotel stays.

That’s it in a nutshell, a one day JB itinerary. More to come, but do check back later.

Throw by date

Throw by date

These days I find myself looking into the fridge for items and specifically for their throw by date, which admittedly is a little irritating. “Why did I buy that bottle of whole grain mustard, only to have it thrown out today?”

It is precisely this sense of overt consumerism mentality that irks me. And at the same time on this beautiful albeit damp New Year’s Day (2018) that I am scavenging through the fridge scrounging for scraps to make breakfast.

Alright, mac and cheese it is then. The macaroni in the box is probably still fresh (I hope), which is just about all that I have left in the dry pantry. Some leftover streaky bacon, and some sharp cheddar and we should be good.

Indeed we are. A little chicken stock, some pre-rotting tomatoes and minutes later we have a very nice macaroni and blah blah. There is no proper name for this. But we love it.

Bon Appetit!

Sorry the working title should be “macaroni and cheese” but I need to remind myself to not over consume. Hence the “throw by date” title to remind me to not over consume.

170 grams for adults; 110 for kids

Lor Mee

Lor Mee

Arguably the best Lor Mee this side of Singapore. It’s just a regular stall located at Our Tampines Hub, a sports and lifestyle venue. But the generous toppings and flavour are unmistakable. It really brings back fond memories of the traditional sticky glue that binds all the ingredients together, kind of like how many races in Singapore can coexist harmoniously together in a city-state ecosystem.

We are distinctly different. We quarrel. But there is this social glue like the sticky sauce that keeps everything intact. Of course, there is much more social engineering involved but the recipe has been carefully curated so that it can be replicated.

My ritual is always to allow the vinegar to soak in for a few minutes before I chow down. Somehow the sourish flavours of the vinegar normalise the heat in the chilli and the spiciness of the garlic.

You got to try it to know what I am talking about.

Additional information.

Ten Ways to be Rich

Ten Ways to be Rich

There are many ways to be rich. Here are ten quick and easy ways to be rich.

#1. Buy something for $1 and sell it to someone for $2. If you’re able to get someone to buy from you consistently at $2, then keep on repeating the process and scale up.

#2. Spend less. This is one of the tried and tested ways that people from over the years have been doing. They earn $1, but spend 80% of it, and therefore saves 20% of what they earn. If they are able to cut spending down to 60%, then they would have saved more and would therefore be richer.

#3. Buy the lottery. The only problem with this is that you have to consistently buy and give yourself the opportunity to win the lottery. This process of continuously buying lottery tickets may not be a good thing for you in the long run. But if you strike $1 million, then that’s a different story altogether.

#4. Buy a business. Usually buying a business requires a lot of money to begin with. So if you have the money to buy a business, you are already considered rich.

$5. Invest. The problem is, you do not have enough money to invest. And if you do, you may not know what is worth investing.

#6. Someone dies in your family and nominated you to be their sole beneficiary.

#7. Someone gives you $1 million, no questions asked.

#8. Invest in your job and continuously perform at your work to enjoy promotions and pay increment and performance bonuses.

#9. Start your own business, and create a niche for yourself and become rich.

#10. Print your own money.

 

And there you have it, ten simple ways to become a rich person.

Ramen with Chasu and Egg

Ramen with Chasu and Egg

There is perhaps nothing more satisfying than making your own Japanese Ramen at home in under 2 hours. Yes. No kidding. It’s not for the weak-willed. But if you are not weak-willed you may try. If you read this statement and say you have decided not to try to cook this and you are thinking of cooking instant noodles instead? Well, nuff said, that’s being weak-willed.

So I decided that I would do this recipe slightly different from my usual style of writing. I will make this a narrative and hopefully, you can see this as a refreshing change to my usual style.

I started by boiling a huge ass pot of broth using pork ribs, dried shitake mushrooms and dried Japanese kelp (aka seaweed). I didn’t really measure, but it was about 2 litres of water in that pot. And basically, that soup stock will form the base for my Japanese Ramen.

In another pot, with the heat turned up, sear the pork belly on all sides until almost charred. No oil needed. Just the fats from the pork belly will be sufficed. Once the pork belly starts to brown, add stock from the big ass pot and add 3 tablespoons of Kikkoman soya sauce, 3 tablespoons of Japanese rice vinegar and a tablespoon of raw sugar, 1 inch of ginger smashed, 4-5 pieces of garlic, leeks or scallions. Boil and boil and boil over a constant fire and make sure it keeps on bubbling.

Traditional Japanese cooking usually takes great amounts of time. They usually slow cook the pork bones for at least 20 hours before the pork bone soup base is ready. And here I am trying to squeeze the process in under 2 hours so that I could feed my family. Actually, you can, but all that effort is spent watching the precious stock evaporate right in front of your eyes.

You got to watch the broth disappear and the heat must be furious. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to extract the essence of the pork bones. So the balance and the in-between consistency is important.

So while that was happening, I was cooking the Chasu. The heat has to be constant and furious and you got to keep on ladling the pork bone broth into your pot of soya sauce Chasu. This is to ensure that the Chasu doesn’t burn and that you will have a Japanese Chasu that is both tender and delicious.

In a third pot, cook the eggs. 6 minutes, high heat and then drop them into a bowl of ice cold water to stop them from cooking further. Use a countdown timer. Which I did, but my phone was in silent mode. LOL. And I overshot the cooking time, and the egg yolk basically got cooked. So stuff like that actually happen in the home kitchen, so instead of throwing it away, I dipped the eggs in Kikkoman marinate for about 15 minutes. Just 2 tablespoons of Kikkoman soya sauce would be good enough marinate for 3 eggs.

For the ramen, I use angel hair pasta. There was no way I could use buckwheat flour and eggs to make my own Japanese Ramen. It was impossible to be able to do it in under 2 hours. So I cooked the angel hair pasta for about 5 minutes or until they are soft enough to eat and I serve immediately with the leftover pork bone broth, the leftover Chasu sauce. Placed the cooked Japanese Chasu and the eggs and placed the bean sprouts, thinly sliced scallions and the marinated egg.

All that effort to just prepare 2 bowls of Japanese Ramen for my Wife and me. Was it worth it? Of course, it was. But you got to know exactly what it is that you need to achieve in that 2 hours in order to be successful. I wish you all the best.

Bon Appetit!

Home-Made Hokkien Mee

Home-Made Hokkien Mee

Sometimes I see the food court stall with the title “home-made..” worded nicely before whatever it was that they were selling and I would usually think to myself, “is it clean?” LOL. I know how I cook at home, and it is definitely not Michelin world class standard kitchen. My kitchen; my rules.

But if you are selling something and you have a shop front, just say it like it is, you made it at the shop. Wouldn’t that be less ambiguous and clearer for me the customer? Okay okay. I will stop ranting.

Back to my wicked home-made Hokkien Mee. I don’t mean to brag, but it is really not bad. Of course, I am no puritan chef, I am home cook. I cook what makes sense to me and whatever resources I could get my hands on.

So for Hokkien Mee, the key ingredient is the stock. If you got the stock wrong, you may as well go out and eat. So what goes into the stock, it is no nonsense chicken stock my friend. Let’s not kid ourselves here. How can we cook Hokkien Mee without chicken stock?! You have to be a master chef.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s begin.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 packet Green Lip Mussels (wash and scrub the shells off of any beards or debris)
6 Medium Grey Prawns (leave them whole, no need to peel)
1 large or a few Squids (wash clean and sliced)
250 grams Pork Ribs (blanched and remove scum)
50 grams Lean Pork (sliced thinly)
1 packet Egg Noodles
1 packet White Bee Hoon
A few sprigs of Spring Onions (wash and chop off both ends)
1 packet Chicken Stock (chicken broth)
Half a teaspoon powdered Chicken Stock

Method:

1. Prepare the broth (or stock) for the Hokkien Mee by boiling all the seafood and pork ribs. In a pot, pour about a litre of water, turn up the heat, and start boiling the packet of green lip mussels. The broth is to be used for the stock. The mussel meat can be used for ingredients later or discarded. I usually keep them as ingredients.

2. Boil the squid next for about 30 seconds in high heat, in that same stock. Then quickly take the squid pieces out and run them over cold water to stop them from cooking further. Squid tends to harden if you cook them too long. The key is to cook quickly or cook them long long.

3. Next drop the prawns whole (with shells) into the broth and cook them until they curl into the shape of a letter C. “C” stands for cooked. If it curls into the shape of an “O”, then it means “Overcooked”. The prawns will sweeten the broth further. Once the prawns are cooked, de-shell the prawns and drop the shells back into the broth to continue cooking.

4. Next boil the pork ribs and lean pork. Take out the lean pork slices and reserve aside. You may continue boiling the pork ribs with the prawn shells.

5. This is where you add a packet of that chicken broth and by doing so essentially changes the whole dynamics of the soup stock. Now it should be very tasty.

6. The actual cooking of the Hokkien Mee is actually assembly. Ladle the broth into a wok, turn up the heat, drop the noodles/bee hoon into the wok and stir. Then add the cooked ingredients in to cook and a few sprigs of the spring onions. This is where you add the powdered chicken stock to complete the taste. It really does taste like bona fide Hokkien Mee.

I usually reserve the excess stock so that I can cook Hokkien Mee on demand. Easy.

Bon Appetit!

Green Lip Mussels

Lean Pork Slices

Medium Grey Prawns

Squid

Kaisen Don

Kaisen Don

This is a gem. I say this because it really is. Tucked away on the second floor of International Plaza at Anson Road, nobody would have ever guessed that there will be a Japanese restaurant hidden.

Sad to say I still don’t know the name of the restaurant, plus this is my second visit and I still don’t know the name. So I will call it the nameless Japanese restaurant.

I had just finished my lessons and was just thinking about what I would have for dinner and wah-lah I thought of nameless and decided to go there. I can only tell you how to go if you saw Joe & Dough. Up the escalator and look for Domba Coffee and it’s a right turn and then a left turn and there it is. Alternatively, you can look for a Japanese sounding restaurant name on the second floor at the building directory.

The boss is this Japanese guy. And his Singaporean Wife who speaks fluent Japanese and Cantonese. Sadly again, I don’t know their names. I call her “Aunty” and I call him “Uncle”. Sorry for not being very helpful here. But just a clue, they have operated the business for over 30 years already. And some of their regular customers have been eating their Japanese food since they were students and now they are back with their own children to “carry on the tradition” of eating Japanese food. I thought it a little strange to talk about their business in that manner, but I guessed they were just proud that their customer branding is that strong. I asked Aunty what it was that they specialised in and she said we prepare “ordinary Japanese food, nothing fancy“. I think Aunty was just being modest.

Anyway, I said all that to say their Kaisen Don so totally rocks. Damn good quality sashimi. And everything right down to presentation basically bought me over. It’s a tad expensive at $29 (SGD) a bowl, but heck, I rather pay a little more for quality than to have low-quality Japanese food (think Japanese food in a food court).

So I was chowing down my Kaisen Don and the guys behind me who were pretty drunk started laughing and telling off-coloured jokes to each other. I didn’t care about what they were saying until they mentioned Dstllry and about their Omakase and I thought wow. Not bad at all. To get a bunch of drunk guys to talk about your business in someone else’s Japanese restaurant must mean you guys are doing something right. Keep it up Lum san.

Sar Po Mian

Sar Po Mian

So I have decided that I would add on a new series of food reviews called Bo Ho Jiak. Singapore may be a food paradise but not every stall serves heavenly food. Some places just serve food that really cannot make it.

Bo Ho Jiak will really be recommendations by friends who tell me that this is a must try or that is a must try and I, being the perennial foodie, would actually take time and effort to try the dish and then realise to my dismay that it is only so-so and nothing much to rave about. The phrase Bo Ho Jiak simply means “not nice to eat”. So the recommendation here is not to eat the dish.

Anyway, so my friend told me that this place serves really nice Sar Po Mian which in essence means “claypot noodles”. She dropped a few trustworthy names and I am sold. I am always a sucker for these recommendations especially when they say “so and so likes it” or “so and so swears by it”..

So I decided to give it a try. After ordering it and in just one taste I knew that I have wasted my $5. I can’t really find the words to describe this. But it was so not worth the $5. In fact my other friend who ordered a $4 version which didn’t have the physical claypot told me that it was the same Noodles as the Claypot version. What a rip off.

Does it look nice? Of course it does, but is it nice? Nope. No standard.

Off Track

Off Track

Sometimes I purposely get off the footpath to walk on the grass to get a semblance of walking off the beaten pavement. It’s to help me reframe and rethink my priorities in life and also to feel the earth beneath me. While it is fine for me to walk on solid ground, sometimes the definition of ground can vary quite a bit.

So I would wear my mountain hiking boots and instead of walking on the cement pavement which everyone walks out of convenience. I would opt to walk the undulating grassy knolls of life. Navigating through its contours and hidden potholes created by fantastic beasts and where to find them. I would stare down at the lime green grass and the sometimes deep dark greens of fallen leaves and the browns of broken twigs.

It’s with these brief moments that I take 30 seconds to ponder and reflect on the actions for the moment, and recalibrate my bearings. It is not an exercise for the weak footed traveller. I highly discourage anyone ill-equipped for the journey to venture even the thought.

But if you are ready, and you have your deeply held values girded in your breastplate and you have the requisite weapons to aid your journey, then perhaps you are ready for the warfare ahead. Speak and declare as you stand on different ground. Confident in the victory that has already been won.

Breakfast at Jo Kwon’s

Breakfast at Jo Kwon’s

Seriously I can’t bring myself to call this bus interchange breakfast place it’s proper name, I have always called it Jo Kwon and the name kind of stuck. And my friends know instinctively the quality of the foods there and if they want to spend their precious money there.

I love Jo Kwon’s for various reasons. The family operating the business, the no nonsense home-cooked food that they prepare and the aloof friendliness of the people working there. It’s cordial and not over the top friendliness. They serve an army of bus drivers who ply Singapore’s busy roads to move people, these guys are always on the go, cooking, serving, feeding, and then it’s back to cooking again.

The little kitchen behind is always alive with a hustle of activity and busyness, Jo himself is always whacking the wok with his old school soup ladle, working out those biceps and forearm curls with each hurl of sauce and toss of bitter gourd. It’s like a free gym right where he stood. Left hand lifting up the cast iron wok and continually tossing the greens over high heat. It’s a sauna in there.

Who needs the gym?! Seriously.

And occasionally you have the stray magpie wandering into the little eatery and picking off bits of chicken meat and noodle leftovers. These birds also know how to enjoy good home-cooked food.

I usually would eat their Yong Tau Foo Chilli and bitter gourd stir fry and sunny side up with a mixture of Bee Hoon and Egg Noodles. Not filling but very fulfilling. Like coming home feeling. Definitely Ho Jiaks!

Spit on Red Clogs

Spit on Red Clogs

We have a situation here. The pair of red clogs outside our place for the longest time have been receiving much attention. But in the form of spit. Someone has been spitting regularly on our red clogs which we received on our wedding day. It’s been placed strategically outside for a special reason I guess.

I tried searching online for some significant reason as to the tradition of placing wooden red clogs outside the main door, but alas, I found nothing. So I guess we will have to make it up as we go along. To me it means “home” and “family bliss”. It means a home filled with happiness and wonderful memories. It means a home complete with laughter and joyous feasting. It represents everything wholesome that a family should and would have.

Now that someone has been spitting on it regularly, I can only conclude that this is a case for the PJ Masks! On closer inspection it looked like spit. My woman smelt it (brave) and concluded that it was spit. But the pertinent question was. Whose spit it was. And more importantly why spit on the red clogs only and no where else?

I think they are envious of our family life. We are a household of song and laughter, tears and cries, but everything that we do at home we enjoy doing it very much. So whoever that’s been spitting on our red clogs must probably be feeling bitter, upset, jealous, denial, anger and probably a whole slew of negative emotions that is apart from what a normal functioning family would experience.

My woman wants to install a cctv to catch the culprit. I was more interested in plotting a graph to see the trend and then sharing the findings via info graphics at the door. I think whoever that is doing what they have been doing should be mindfully aware that we are aware and that if we were to find out who it was that has been doing this heinous deed, they would know how powerful a gust of wind can be or how insistent simple droplets of rainwater can erode away rock.

So my woman did the next most pragmatic thing. She removed the red clogs and now there is nothing in front of my main door. Hmmmmm..

Noodles on Prada

Noodles on Prada

It’s definitely one of the great mysteries of life when everything comes together, literally, in a haphazard whirlwind of localised flavours and foreign brands. Yes, the combination is not good, not even in a Warhol fantasy. Andy would turn over in his grave knowing that such sacrilegious acts were happening in sunny island set in the sea Singapore.

Alright maybe you would disagree. Maybe if he knew about it, he might turn a blind eye to it in the name of art. But I bet he would pity the lady who wore the Prada privately under his breath. Some believe he was a closet bad art sympathiser.

So was the noodles even tasty or nice? Hmm.. I honestly don’t know. I was too busy whacking the satay and maybe four sambal prawns. A cup of cold Cheng tng later, I am off to the last station which was the Momolato salted caramel – very nice. Yes, I totally had no capacity left for noodles.

So here I was chit-chatting with some old buddies and we were just deep in conversation, talking about how pervasive social media has become and how one wrong message shared unintentionally could become viral wildfire the next hour. And then this happened.

It was all about hurt feelings at the end of the day, how we hurt each other with the words we say (sounds like a line from George Michael’s “Careless Whisper”). So we just have to muster up courage and say sorry and hopefully we can all move on.

And just as we agreed and nodded our heads at that statement, a girl holding a plate of the lovely noodles walked past us and before we knew it, the oscillating blades of the mobile air cooler swivelled and turned in our direction and let out a blast of cold air, flipped her noodles ala fireworks style (it was very powerful) and all the strands fell sluggishly and unglamorously on some other lady’s turquoise Prada sling shoulder bag.

I could almost hear the girl gasp as she screamed with her inner voice. She must have known the price of the limited edition Prada. The lady was needless to say mortified beyond belief. She gawked at the noodle strands hanging precariously on her bag and stood helplessly, as if immobilised. And I muttered silently under my breath, “quick say sorry..” I could almost hear Bruno screaming Versace on the floor albeit this was Noodles on Prada. It was a crick crick moment.

So was the noodles nice? I think it was.

Hainanese Chicken Rice


Hainanese Chicken Rice 

If there is nothing else to eat, Hainanese Chicken Rice is the go-to meal for me. If the world runs out of other types of foods, I can survive on chicken rice everyday. If the world runs out of chickens. Then I guess I will just have to make do with rice. But God won’t let that happen so I will still have chicken rice.

So is this Chicken Rice any better than the famous ones like Boon Tong Kee or Chin Chin at Purvis Street? Yes. This chicken rice and the accompanying Sio Bak is nothing short of tok kong. For $4.50 (SGD) it is cheaper than the branded ones and much much better than the Sambal Petai Fried Rice my woman had yesterday at Yishun Ring Road.

The Chilli sauce is shiok and the soya sauce sweet and savoury. Mixed together, it’s just perfecto! Best part is the coffee-o is only 70 cents (SGD). Best sia. 

Wanna know where? It’s this coffee shop at Block 531 Bedok North Street 3. Hai Tian 531 Coffee Shop. 

Sambal Petai Fried Rice


Sambal Petai Fried Rice 

I met my woman against her wishes for dinner. Haha. She wanted her own “me time” which was a foreign concept to me. We are married! What “me time” or “your time“, it is now “we time; all the time“.

Anyway, she said she was gonna eat this special Sambal Petai Fried Rice and that she was gonna eat it all by herself. Haha. I was so not gonna let that happen. I sneaked up on her at Block 848 Yishun Ring Road, at the coffee shop where we would usually eat our favourite Kway chap. 

It seems there was this littlest unknown stall that sold this Fried Rice dish.

When I got here, the Fried Rice just arrived. Just nice. I tried a little. And wow. It was nice. But liao very little (Very little ingredients for my international friends). Literally nothing visible except for the few petai beans and some bits of scrambled eggs and salted fish. In terms of value, lunch at Warung aka Rumah Makan Minang was much better.

Was it Ho Jiaks? It was okay-lah. Would I order it ever again? No way. At $5.50 (SGD) a plate, I rather pay $2.00 more for my Warung.

Warung


Warung

A new shop opened at Our Tampines Hub (not mine; our!) basement one and it was rumoured to be the best warung from the famous Arab Street. Or so they say. Don’t ask me who are they.

I queued up, stomach grumbling, can’t wait man! But the queue was sooooo slow. There were about six persons working behind counters but for some reason they seem quite disorganised. I waited in line for 20 minutes at least! This better be good.

When it finally came to my turn, half of the 20 item display were finished. Wahhh.. must be damn nice. Or maybe someone bungkus 10 packets?!

I ordered a fish in yellow curry, a salted fish with petai beans and a spinach dish. And asked them to add my favourite kuah assam pedas. The salted fish and petai is my favourite. Very different style. I like. The vegetables was so so nia and the fish was delicious.

Someone asked me whilst I was eating, “expensive right?” I thought about it, “hmmm.. yah” $7.50 (SGD) for 3 items. And the portions were just enough, so it was a little pricey.


Minang 

The funny thing was someone else came by and asked me where I got this from. And I replied confidently “Warung, just open at the basement of Our Tampines Hub”. The lady had a bemused look on her face and said “there.. it says rumah makan minang on your plastic bag”.

Minang? What does that mean? The lady shrugged her shoulders and left.

Alamak. 

Eat Out Better

Eat Out Better

These days I haven’t had the inspiration to cook, partly because by the time I get back, it is already that kind of timing. Fighting rush hour, fighting time, fighting other rush hour commuters fighting you. 

By the time I am back I have no time to ponder and consider what I need or want to cook for the night. No time for Creative inspired ideas. It’s straight into the OR (operating room) and start washing, chopping, cutting and drying the ingredients. 

So I thought I should plan my menu way ahead, separate the Creative process and give it the space that it needs. Plan simple; cook simple and maybe in the process save some money. 

Here goes:

Menu 

Tuesday:

Dishes: abc soup, tua cai & snapper

Ingredients: 1 x corn, 1 x carrot, 2 medium tomatoes, 250 grams ribs, 1 x tua cai, garlic, dried shrimps, 1 x snapper, ginger, chicken stock, leeks, onions, chinese sausages, hakka wine

Thursday:

Dishes: kiam chye duck soup, minced pork with sichuan veg, fried egg with scallops

Ingredients: half a duck, tomatoes, preserved plums, kiam chye, 3 x tomatoes, ginger, garlic, minced pork, sichuan veg, eggs, chinese scallops

Friday:

Dishes: stir fry frogs, sautéed mushrooms, celery & minced pork, prawns in tomato sauce

Ingredients: 2 x frogs, spring onions, ginger, oyster sauce, sesame seed oil, cornstarch, button mushrooms, minced pork, Australian celery, large prawns, tomato ketchup, garlic

Shopping list:

1 x corn

1 x carrot

5 x tomatoes

250 grams pork ribs

Half a duck

500 grams kiam chye 

Preserved plums 

500 grams ginger

500 grams garlic

Tomato ketchup 

$5 minced pork

Sichuan veg 

6 x large prawns 

Oyster sauce

Australian celery

2 x frogs

Punnet of button mushrooms

Cornflour

Spring onions

Tua cai 

Dried shrimps 

Chinese scallops

Hakka rice wine 

Chinese sausages

Leeks

Chicken stock

1 x snapper

Medium onions

Eggs

Light soya sauce
Ah forget it lah. Eat Out Better.

This is the story of the little boy 

This is the story of the little boy and his power ranger toy and the other toy which I can’t be bothered to remember. So anyway, he was playing with this other toy so much that he neglected the power ranger toy that was in his hands. 

The question was what was so fascinating about the power ranger toy that he needed it and why did he needed the other toy?

No one knows. 

Julie Julia and Me

Julie Julia and Me

I hesitated too much, way too much for my own good. And when it is time to act, the opportunity is often over and the moment has passed. One of the reasons why I started this food blog was the movie Julie Julia featuring Amy and Meryl. I totally loved the story, and it resonated well with my passion of cooking.

And then I thought, “why not write a food blog”, and chronicle my experiences as a servant-less home cook, trying out recipes and venturing to make them my own. It will be all about my journey in the kitchen, preparing and cooking wonderful dishes.

Each time I watch re-runs of the movie Julie Julia, I am instantly inspired, happy, and at peace with myself. And I am reminded of why I often end my recipes with the classic “Bon Appetit!” – as Julia would say. Looking back in retrospect, I am indeed deeply inspired by the movie more than the book.

Blah.

 

Thai Style Stir Fry Tang Orh with Minced Pork

Thai Style Stir Fry Tang Orh with Minced Pork

My wife loves Tang Orh and I love cooking Tang Orh, that’s why we love each other so much. We share a symbiotic relationship and this is one of the ways I show love for her. Words mean only so much, I very much also like to express my affections towards her in cooking the foods that she likes. It makes our relationship multi-faceted and interesting.

She loves Tang Orh cooked in a soupy style, like in a steam boat. In fact, that’s one of the better ways to eat Tang Orh, in a soupy broth. This Thai style stir fry is supposed to be mildly dry with little sauce, but I decided to add a little more “soup” to enhance the flavour of the Tang Orh, since in my opinion the Tang Orh is the star ingredient here.

It’s very easy to cook, and Tang Orh generally cooks within minutes. It’s not a hardy vegetable so be sure to cook it quickly and serve as the last dish. The flavour of the minced pork makes it delicious. I have also added generous amounts of minced garlic and chilli padi. Not for the faint hearted, this dish is fiery hot.

Recipe

Ingredients

5 pcs Garlic (finely chop the garlic pieces)
5 pcs Chilli Padi (finely chopped)
500 grams Tang Orh (also known as garland chrysethemuem)
400 grams Minced Pork (make sure it is fatty minced pork, it adds to the flavour)
2 tablespoons Oyster Sauce
1 tablespoon Thai Fish Sauce
2 tablespoons Olive Oil

Method
1. Minced the garlic and chilli padi together and mix it together into a paste.

2. Heat oil in a frying pan and then fry the garlic chilli paste until fragrant. Add the minced pork and stir fry till pork is relatively cooked. To tell the difference is when the colour changes to slightly white.

3. Add the oyster and fish sauce with a little water. Then throw all the Tang Orh into the pan and cover the lid. Let the heat wilt the vegetable for about two minutes.

4. The water from the vegetables will form part of the soup. That’s it. Easy. Serve with steamed rice.

Bon Appetit!

Tang Orh with Minced Pork

Garlic and Chilli Padi mixed into paste

Soupy style Tang Orh with Minced Pork

Bombay Duck

Bombay Duck

This has got to be one of the best fishes to scare people. Every resource I searched and looked up shows that it is a scary fish or it is best cooked in hot oil deep fried or reduced to a soft mush in spicy curry

I, on the other hand, is just interested in tasting the fish for its flavour. I heard that it is a fish that is great for making fish stock as it tends to be very oily. So no better way to cook this fish than to put it in the hot water boil.

Chop off the heads and snip off the fins and guts and the fish is ready to enter into the water bath. You may want to add some soya sauce into the soup if you want to drink it. But then again, you can do that later when you eat and reserve the rest as frozen fish stock.

Boil the water in a pot till it bubbles. Drop the fishes in and pour out the excess water. It should ideally cover the fishes about 1 inch above. Once it starts to bubble, turn the fire off and let it sit in the pot with the lid on for about ten minutes and then serve.

To eat it is to dip it in a sauce made up of lime juice, chilli padi and light soya sauce. To eat the fish is an art in itself. You are to suck the flesh out and spit the bones out. For me, I just swallow whole and spew the bones. You do what is comfortable for you.

The fish is light and surprisingly delicious when cooked simply. I hope you enjoy it too.

Bon Appetit!

Bombay Duck or “toing hur” in Teochew

Bombay Duck soup, cooked and harmless

Market Tales

Market Tales

Met a market Aunty aka fellow home cook.. And she was so excited to see this fish.. Immediately she asked the fishmonger uncle for a bigger one..

It was already huge as anything about a kilo each.. And she asked for it to be gutted but to have the scales remained..

I being the curious home cook,  asked her how she would eat it.. “plenty of bones, very oily fish, but I love it.” exclaimed the lady in Teochew.. “steam with pandan leaves, lemon grass.. Or cook in assam.. Must dip in lime and blacan chilli or cut chilli and black soy sauce..”

It was as if she had the entire road map for the fish painted out already.. I could see the conviction in her eyes and saliva glands reacting..

Must be damn nice..

Boiled Chicken

Boiled Chicken
I would have loved to call it Hainanese Chicken or some other fanciful name, but it is really just that boiled chicken.

It is so simple and easy to do you would be shocked. Anyone can do it.

In fact, the ingredient list is so simple, you have no excuse not to make this dish.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 whole Kampung Chicken (The chicken seller at the wet market will sell it to you. Very easy.)
1 teaspoon of Sea Salt

Method

1. Boil enough water in a kettle and pour it into a large pot. The pot must be large enough to contain one whole kampung chicken.

2. Once the water bath is ready. Turn on the fire until very small. By now you can see water vapour but you can’t see bubbles. This is perfect.

3. Slip the entire chicken (breast side down) into the water bath and go read a book. Remember to add one teaspoon of salt before you go off.

4. Let the chicken relax in the water bath for at least an hour before taking it out to rest for a good 5 hours.

5. By the time it is ready for serving, debone the chicken and if you like you can add light soya sauce and some sesame seed oil for flavouring. That’s it!

Bon Appetit!

Boil chicken over a slow fire

Resting after bathing is important

Stir Fry Puay Leng

Stir Fry Puay Leng

Puay Leng or Spinach is a vegetable with a good source of vitamins. Even if you didn’t know that if you grew up watching Popeye the Sailorman, you would also have some semblance of understanding that it makes you a strong seaman.

It’s the natural way to have supernatural strength and the healthier way as well. Instead of pill popping to enhance performance, why not eat spinach. Of course eating spinach raw is not very appetizing. You may try and maybe you may enjoy it. But best to cook it the way I do.

It’s easy and simple. And delicious.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 packet Puay Leng vegetables (this vegetable is commonly found in NTUC or any wet market)
1 whole bulb of Garlic (i like lots of garlic and it makes this dish flavourful)
Drizzle of Thai Fish Sauce (IMHO this is the magic ingredient)

Method
1. Wash the Puay Leng. Soak if you need but it is a rather soft vegetable so I would recommend washing only.

2. Crush the garlic whole. If you want, you may slice or chop. But I like it chunky, so I usually bruise the garlic and just fry until slightly brown and you can smell the fragrance of the garlic.

3. After that I dump the whole tray of chopped Puay Leng. No need to chop too small because the vegetable will lose its water content and reduce in size. Add the fish sauce for flavour. Moderate the saltiness. Done!

Bon Appetit!

Boiled Vegetable Salad – Quick Meal

Boiled Vegetable Salad – Quick Meal 

Here’s a hack to those wanting a truly healthy diet, without the fuss associated with cooking or preparing for it.

Method: Go to the local food court or coffeeshop with ala carte yong tau foo and order the kinds of vegetables you want.

I usually order the minimum number of vegetable items required by the stall and that portion is usually sufficient for a light meal. Of course you would have to live in a country like Singapore in order to enjoy this convenience. The number of these bespoke yong tau foo stall on a per square meter radius to your existing location is simply amazing. All within walking distance of wherever your starting point may be.
Plus it doesn’t break the wallet either. Depending on where you eat it, it can be very economical, most importantly healthy too!

I usually ask for the dry version and I don’t add any additional sauce. No spicy chilli or sweet sauce. Usually these food stalls have these condiments arrayed at the side of the counter for patrons to add as much as they wanted. But you can be different and opt out. It will be exactly the same as how I would cook boiled vegetables at home, minus the washing up or mise en place for the ingredients.

The stall vendor will present a bowl of nicely boiled vegetables with probably a small bowl of soup as your complete meal. The soup is usually full of flavour and MSG, so you can opt out of drinking the soup if you like. Just eat the boiled vegetables.

So easy. So simple. Try it.

Bon Appetit!

Crab Udon – Quick and Fuss Free

Crab Udon – Quick and Fuss Free 

My wife told me to get my own dinner tonight and as usual I would struggle with what to eat. I would usually go for the quick-and-dirty fishball noodles soup as it was usually one of the cheaper options and I would be done with dinner before a 3 year old can finish an ice cream cone.

But I decided that I would cook a simple dinner instead – more importantly a fuss free one. Of course we all know cooking your own dinner is never fuss free. You are already going out of your way to buy ingredients when takeaway would have been a more sensible alternative. Fuss free is what the professional television celebrity chef would have you believe. It is never fuss free.

So whilst waltzing through NTUC – the National Trade Union Congress – supermarket, I spotted a whole container of extra large mud crabs, everyone of them looking up and feeling hopeful and I had compassion. I decided I had to cook crab for dinner, and that it had to be quick because time was really not on my side. The wife has already commissioned me to bathe the toddler and I needed to get it done before she completes her facial.

So off I went, bought what I needed and I managed to cook the meal in 20 minutes in my kitchen. 5 minutes more then Jamie Oliver and 2 minutes less than 周杰伦 (Jay Chou).

Recipe

Ingredients 

Mud Crab (or any other crabs that you would like to get, 1 extra large crab for 1 person)
Udon (1 packet per person, doesn’t matter which brands)
Mini Tofu Puffs (1 box should be enough)
Campbell’s New England Clam Chowder (this is the key ingredient to sweetening the deal)
Thai Fish Sauce (not much just a drizzle will do)

Method

1. Pour the canned soup into a claypot and add two cans worth of hot water. Turn up the heat.

2. Then cut the tofu puffs into diagonals and add to the claypot.

3. Let the tofu boil and soften. Wash and chop the “live” mud crab into pieces. Smash the shells with a mallet.

4. Once the tofu puffs are softened, add the crab pieces and cook till the shell is a reddish hue. This is a sign that the crab is cooked.

5. Add the udon noodles and continue cooking for another 3 minutes.

6. Serve immediately. Shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes. Since it is for one person, I ate directly from the claypot.

Bon Appetit!

Campbell’s New England Clam Chowder

Mini Tofu Puffs

Udon Noodles

Wash and Chop Crab

Cook Mini Tofu Puffs till softened

Lay the crab on its back and Chop it down the centre.


Frozen Mangosteen

Frozen Mangosteen

I got myself a bunch of mangosteen from Japan the other day and they were the prettiest mangosteen I have seen in a while. They were unique in that they had a relatively pointy bottom and lovely green leaves (I think they are leaves).

The flesh inside was sweeter than the local variety, where the local ones would be more sour than sweet. Of course these were more expensive. At $6 a kilogram, you could find them at Ah Seng’s Durian if you want to get your hands on any of them. The uncle said to try them and I have always had a liking for fruits and especially when they look so beautiful.

Uncle said to place them in the freezer for a quick 10-15 minutes and then to just eat it. The taste and texture will be like a frozen fruit yoghurt.

I tried it.. And plain forgotten about it. Ha! I left it overnight and when I had them the next day they were rock solid like marbles. Sigh. Oh well. My learning you gain. Don’t freeze it overnight. Once the fruit defrost and softened enough for eating, it would have turned too moist inside. At least it was too mushy for me.

If you want to try it, make it the right way. Have fun!

Bon Appetit!

Salmon Cauliflower Porridge

Salmon Cauliflower Porridge

This is my wife’s favourite quick and easy to prepare meal. It’s easy and it is fuss free, but more importantly, it is delicious.

The tail end of the salmon makes this dish suitable for toddlers as well and cauliflower once cooked this way is a simple and easy way to introduce vegetables to kids.

Top it up with chinese parsley and you can eat. Less than 30 minutes and it is done.

Recipe

Ingredients

Fresh Salmon (I usually get the tail end of the salmon as it is the best part for kids and lesser bones)
Cauliflower (half of a head of cauliflower would be sufficient)
Chinese Parsley (my wife loves lots of parsley in her porridge, so I would usually add in a lot for garnishing)
White Pepper just a dash.
White Rice 1 cup will do.
Thai Fish Sauce add till desired taste.

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water. This is for boiling the porridge faster. Pour the cup of rice into a pot once the water is booked, add it in to boil till rice is broken down.

2. Rough chop the cauliflower and add the pieces into the porridge to boil. The consistency of the porridge has to be watery not thickened. Add more water if necessary.

3. Slice the salmon into thin pieces and add these into the porridge. As salmon cooks relatively quickly, you don’t want to cook for too long. The trick is to cook it for 5 minutes and then off the fire to allow the heat to continue cooking it.

4. Once cooked the salmon should be a hue of bright pink, the cauliflower softened and the rice porridge texture broken down and watery.

5. Add Thai fish sauce to taste and white pepper for flavour. You can add the fish sauce during cooking or after. It is the same. Serve with chopped parsley.

Bon Appetit!