Noodles

Bak Chor Mee

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Bak Chor Mee

I love Bak Chor Mee so naturally when I find one that I like a lot. I will keep quiet about it simply because I really like to eat it without having to queue for it. I can’t tahan having to queue for food. Especially when it is my favourite food place.

But that said, there are times when the Bak Chor Mee is so good that I have to share it. This is one of those places. I can’t really remember if I have done a review of this simple stall at Block 524 Hougang Ave 6, but it is a true gem of a noodle stall. The Bak Chor Mee is delicious and interestingly there is something in the mix of the noodles that makes you want to have some more.

I ordered a small bowl with extra fish ball for $3.50, which is a steal if you think about it. Some food courts are already selling a standard portion of Bak Chor Mee for about $3.50 or even $4.00. The Jing Ying Coffee Shop is really old school with some really awesome foods, but this stall is my favourite. Here’s a link to the location, just in case you want to pay them a visit.

Bon Appetit!

Ragu Pasta with Poached Egg

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Ragu Pasta with Poached Egg

I love Italian cooking and always love trying new recipes and different styles of cooking traditional dishes. This is an improvised Ragu Pasta recipe from my friend and mentor Joe Kwan and his lovely wife Winkie.

They cooked this delicious Ragu Pasta for our social last weekend and it was such a subtle dish that I too wanted to recreate it for our dinner tonight. Truly it was wholesome Italian cooking, peppered with lots of unmerited flavour.

It’s fairly easy to cook although the poached egg part requires a little skill. Typically to poach an egg, you have to add a little vinegar into a pot of boiling water and stir the water so that the egg retains its shape and slowly cooks. But because I needed to quickly cook and make sure that dinner was served on time, I took some short cuts. Read on to find out how it is done, the ho sim lang way.

Recipe

Ingredients

250 grams Minced Beef
125 grams Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
1 box of Barilla Friget Penne
1 can of Anchovies
Handful of Pine Nuts
2 stalks Sweet Basil Leaves
2 stalks Flat Leaf Parsley (aka Italian parsley)
1 large Yellow Onion (I was supposed to be using a French Shallot and a Red Onion)
1 piece Bay Leaf
1 bottle of Barilla Bolognese Sauce
1 bowl of Sweet Cherry Tomatoes
1 cup of Cabnernet Sauvignon red wine
3 tbsp Olive Oil (and some for cooking the pasta)
Black Pepper
Sea Salt

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water. Pour the box of penne dried pasta into the pot. Add a little salt and olive oil. Add the kettle of boiling water and cook the pasta for 11 minutes to al dente or longer if you like.

2. While the pasta is cooking, add salt and pepper to the minced beef and give it a good mix. In a small frying pan, roast the pine nuts until they are brown. After the pasta is cooked, scoop the pasta and dry them out in a colander but reserve the water in a bowl.

3. Wash the pot and then add olive oil. After you have marinated the beef for about 10 minutes, fry the beef in the pot over low fire. While that is cooking, cut and chop the onion. Slice the cherry tomatoes and tear up the parsley leaves and basil leaves.

4. Add the prepared ingredients including the roasted pine nuts, into the pot and stir fry, turning up the heat a little. Add the can of anchovies along with the olive oil in the can into the pot. Continue to stir fry until the onions are softened and you can smell the fragrance of the beef sauce. Add a cup of red wine. You can use any red wine. Add a bay leaf. Continue to cook over a medium fire. Do this until the wine evaporates and the sauce thickens.

5. Add the bottle of bolognese into the pot and cook with the minced beef sauce, maintain medium heat over the pot.

6. In another smaller pot with boiling hot water but with the fire off, poach two eggs. You can crack an egg into cling wrap, give the package a twist and then sous vide the egg in the water bath until it is cooked. Depending on your preference, the eggs can be either firm or watery-runny.

7. Once the Ragu sauce is ready, add the cooked penne pasta into the pot and give it a good mix. Add the reserved broth of pasta water into the pot to allow the sauce to combine with the pasta easily.

8. Once pasta is well mixed with the Ragu sauce, grate the entire block of Parmigiano Reggiano (aka Parmesan) cheese into the pasta and give it another good mix.

9. Serve the pasta with additional parsley and basil leaves and gently place the poached eggs into the pasta. Serve hot.

Bon Appetit!

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Roast the pine nuts until they start to brown.

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Cook the penne 11 minutes

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Marinate the minced beef with salt and black pepper.

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Chop the yellow onion

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Slice cherry tomatoes into halves.

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Sweet Basil Leaves

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Italian parsley and a can of anchovies.

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Stir Fry the ingredients

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Preparing to poach the egg in cling wrap.

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Twist it into a small package for the water bath.

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In a hot water bath, poach the eggs to desired doneness.

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Grate the entire block of Parmigiano reggiano cheese into the pasta.

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Deliciously yummy Ragu Pasta with poached egg.

Siam Square Mookata (Review)

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Siam Square Mookata (Review)

It’s date night and thank God for precious date nights after marriage. My parents offered to take care of the toddler while we enjoyed a semblance of time together when we were dating. Thank God for understanding parents.

And as my aunty told me before so wisely, “don’t waste time watching movies when you date.. Go have a meal..” she advised. Those were words worth its weight in gold. The simple reasoning behind those words were, you can’t get to know and understand each other if you don’t communicate. Conversations over a good meal are way better than watching a movie.

So we decided to have Thai BBQ for dinner as we could better afford the time and what better place than to try out Thai Mookata Steamboat and BBQ (in a nutshell it is BBQ meats, seafoods and vegetables on a rather unique looking hotplate with soup combination). I did a search and realised that there was only one outlet in Singapore. It was at East Coast Road and kind of out of the way.

Also I knew it can’t be true as I was sure there were plenty more of these Thai BBQ places around, most notably the ones located all over Golden Mile Complex. So I did another search but this time more ambiguous and that result yielded more than 50 weblinks of Thai BBQ places in Singapore. Nice.

Plus my friend told me that there was a tiny stall at a coffee shop located at Block 332 Ang Mo Kio Ave 8 (just behind Christ The King Catholic Church). Siam Square Mookata was the name of that stall and it seems the reviews of the place are that they were “cheap and good”.

That sounded good with us and off we went. I remembered there was a time almost all of our construction was completed by Thai foreign workers. And that just makes sense that Thai food places begun springing up all over the island to cater to their tastes and needs and over time everyone loves Thai foods as well.

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It was just a tiny little stall space in a coffee shop and their BBQ plates of ingredients were reasonably priced at either $1.80, $2.80 or greater as you order the more premium stuff like scallops ($3.80).

They have a rather interesting price menu where they offer ala carte prices first and if you feel at any one time you would wanna go all out at the buffet, you can change to buffet price (about $29 per person). Of course the caveat is you can only switch to buffet price if you are still ordering another round of items and not when you are paying up. But the stall people are very nice about it, they will frequently ask if we wanted to convert to buffet. Such nice people, always thinking for their customers.

Apart from that, the freshness of the ingredients was undeniably good, and for what it’s worth, the entire experience was very nice. They offered both marinated and meats without marinate, but I preferred them plain without the sauces. They taste much nicer after BBQ-ing. Plus it wasn’t crowded even at dinner time, so that was an added bonus. I always love these quaint coffee shop places that are located next to a big spacious carpark, it just gives me a feeling of comfort and I am naturally at ease.

Conclusion

So would I go again? Maybe, if I lived nearer. They didn’t offer anything very special, and in the end we almost ordered the equivalent of their buffet price. But still a very nice experience.

The Beef House (Review)

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The Beef House (Review)

Got a rare chance to go Jalan Besar today, and I thought I would grab myself a bowl of this delicious Hakka Beef Balls. I asked the boss for a $4 bowl of beef balls otherwise known as “kosong” (read: only beef balls and no noodles or bee hoon).

The boss or the guy that cooks the beef balls is quite funny. I say this because he speaks to his customers like we are all kids. But I guess that’s his way of overcoming his awkwardness and it could be his feeble attempts at small talk. Cooking beef balls all day is not exactly very exciting as you can imagine.

But who cares right? As long as the food is good, everything else is forgivable.

The Hakka Beef Balls are a mixture of meat and tendon bits and they are very juicy and delicious. Mix this with their chilli and the umami in this dish heightens almost immediately. One wonders how they actually manage to do it so well.

Presentation-wise, they score a big fat zero; but it’s 100 marks for taste. It’s a very simple meal to say the least. Even the soup they gave me was so little, as if it was so precious. Sometimes I think they forget that we are paying customers. I usually have it with bee hoon (read: white vermicelli noodles).

Few things are so perfect together as Hakka Beef Balls and bee hoon noodles. If you want a bowl, make sure you get there before they close at 5pm. They only operate Monday to Friday, so you can basically write them off for your usual Saturday morning fooding adventure.

Located at 217, Syed Alwi road, the beef house sells other Hakka favourites like suan pan zi (read: abacus discs), Hakka Yong Tau Foo and Hakka Soon Kueh (read: tapioca steam dumplings).

Bon Appetit!

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Yu Kee Bak Chor Mee (Review)

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Yu Kee Bak Chor Mee (Review)

The NTUC Foodfare at Sembawang MRT just opened after a brief period of renovation and this time around I think they got it right. The layout of the place is now more sensible and it actually is much more spacious for their customers. Maybe they heard the cries of the populous masses that flow through their doors everyday.

But that’s not the purpose of my rambling, don’t worry. I don’t usually rant and rave about food court renovation designs.

So it seems Yu Kee has opened its own Bak Chor Mee. Yes, the famous Duck Rice guys are also selling BCM. I can’t say that I would disagree with their move, after all there is no existing Bak Chor Mee place at the food court.

So by this offering, their profits increase. People are predisposed to eating bak chor mee in the morning especially me. I love bcm and I can eat it everyday. It is comfort food to me.

So the question is, “is this yu kee bak chor mee any good?” The honest answer would be, “it fills the gap” (tongue in cheek). It is not exactly the best bcm, but it has all the elements of a standard bcm should carry.

My wife thinks I love bcm too much to give these guys a bad review. But there is nothing much to penalise them for. It’s not fantastic but it is not bad either. And especially so in the early morning when the other shops are not yet functioning, I think they make a very nice bak chor mee.

Try it if you are nearby, but I won’t drive my Ferrari down for this.

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Wanton Mee (Review)

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Wanton Mee (Review)

Some people say it is sacrilegious to do a kway kar mee review (read: Chicken Feet Noodles) and not have one for the quintessential wanton mee. Alright, guilty, as charged. Here you go. But it’s the same stall at Sembawang Estate wat. Google maps it: postal code 751313

Anyway my wife wanted sui jiao mian (read: shrimp/meat dumplings) for breakfast and I thought I may as well have wanton mee (read: dumpling noodles). And thus the opportunity to do this somewhat half-baked review on a very lazy Saturday morning.

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It was going to be a long wait for the delicious noodles. The queue on weekends was usually long and convoluted. It was insane to say the least. The stall this morning was surrounded as if the wanton mee uncle kena ambushed. I bet something’s up.

It was always interesting to see the reactions on the faces of the people waiting. And they usually like to crowd around the stall waiting for their orders. I think more so if they felt that the queuing system had been compromised for whatever reason. It’s usually like that.

As a seasoned Singaporean foodie, I was determined and unfazed by these petty squabbles, my mission is to get my wanton mee and nothing short of a nuclear explosion would stop me. But I totally understand the frustration of waiting and having your orders missed out.

So I thanked the guy, albeit silently, when he left in a huff of deprived anguish of having to wait “very long” for his takeaway. I guess he decided that pride and dignity was more important to him than being slow talked
by some wanton mee uncle. As for me, I have no problems with waiting, and quickly made my order.

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Two eggs and a cup of kopi is the best way to “wait for the wanton mee order” IMHO. The kopi auntie told me 4 minutes and this time I decided to use my heightened powers of estimation to time the cooking of my precious soft boiled eggs.

Sadly, I was unfortunately distracted by Candy Crush and my eggs were slightly overcooked, and the rest is like they say – history. I slurped the eggs in a hurry and just as I was about to wash it down with coffee, the wanton mee uncle came by and said “你有order吗? 好了! Wanton Mee 跟水饺面 c bo?”

Very nice indeed.

Bon Appetit!

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Chicken Feet Noodles (Review)

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Chicken Feet Noodles (Review)

I don’t usually review heartland delights, but sometimes these boutique cooks of local delicacies are so adept at their craft that it warrants notable praise. Sometimes they behave like artisan chefs much like the ones I recently met at DSTLLRY.

The only difference between them is that the heartland uncle and auntie working at the wanton mee stall spend, and also have, less time making small talk with their customers but spend more time churning out the food. But that aside, the intensity with which they operate is just fever-pitched madness if you think about it. Sometimes customer orders for their wanton mee can be 10 packets at a time. It’s an endless stream of noodles flying in and out of the strainer scoop. The signature whacking of the ladle against the edge of the cooking pot is also very telling – “the chef is making brisk bucks”. Okay I just had to say that.

So today, I decided to try their kway kar mee (read: chicken feet noodles) and it’s nothing short of oh-my-gosh awesome!

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The delicately braised chicken feet or kway kar was just simply delicious. I added an extra order of their fabulous wanton which I couldn’t get enough of. It cost me an additional 50 cents! Amazing value.

The way they make their meat dumplings just reminds me of those dim sum places, very Hong Kong style. You probably had better wanton noodles but for the price ($3 and if you add wanton it’s additional 50 cents) and the fact that it was within my estate, I thought it was a rare find and a gem. It is the same price for the kway kar mee, so that’s a major plus for me. Some places sell chicken feet noodles a little more expensive than the regular wanton noodles.

Here’s the postal code location for those die hard fans who would want to venture a kway kar mee expedition. Go ahead Google maps it, it’s chicken feet I’m sure.

Postal Code: 751313

Bon Appetit!

Crab Bee Hoon

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Crab Bee Hoon

If you have tasted Singapore Chilli Crab and like it, you will most probably love crab bee hoon like you love your mother-in-law. Okay, maybe not a good example, but think of crab bee hoon as a softer option compared to the spicy version.

Cooked in a milky buttery broth and served with bee hoon or white noodles, this masterpiece dish is very easy to cook. I say again, anyone can cook this dish. It’s a walk in the park. Add a little tang-orh vegetables and it is a perfect meal.

We usually go to this place at Ang Mo Kio named Melben for our craving for crab bee hoon, but honestly, they have become quite pricey and sometimes the journey there and the long waiting time just makes the whole experience much to be desired.

So I decided that I would make my own crab bee hoon but make it more fabulous with what my wife and I love to eat. Udon noodles instead of the bee hoon. LOL. In fact, I think it tasted better with Udon.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 “live” Mud Crabs (about 800 grams)
2 packets of Udon Noodles
20 thin slices of Ginger
1 tray of Fresh Clam Meat (NTUC got sell)
1 box Mini Toufu Puffs
60 grams of Unsalted Butter
Half a cup of Evaporated Milk
A pinch of Sea Salt (I use the Maldon Brand of Sea Salt Flakes)
2 tbsp Shao Xing Hua Tiao Jiu
2 tbsp Hakka Rice Wine
1 tsp Castor Sugar
1 tbsp Fish Sauce

Method

1. Boil 1 and a half kettle of water. (1 kettle is about 1.7 litres) Once the water is boiled, pour into a large pot. Turn on fire to a slow boil and add the clam meat and 10 slices of ginger. Boil for about 30 minutes. Then discard the clams and ginger.

2. In another pot, fry the rest of the ginger slices in butter and then add the mini Toufu puffs (sliced diagonally) and continue cooking. Once the Toufu has softened. Add them into the main pot.

3. Turn the heat up to medium. Add evaporated milk. Add that pinch of salt, the fish sauce, hua tiao jiu, hakka rice wine and sugar. Continue to stir. Do a taste test to make sure the it is not too salty, but creamy.

4. Kill the crabs. Using a cleaver, chop right down the belly of the crab. Then remove the pincers and then the body parts. Reserve the eggs (if any) and wash the crabs. After the crabs are cleaned, using the back of the cleaver, break the shells.

5. Once crabs are ready, throw them into the broth. Cook until the colour changes to a hue of red. Add the Udon noodles (or white noodles) and cook for a few minutes. After that serve hot.

6. Prepare and wash the tang-orh vegetables. This is to be dipped into the broth and eaten immediately.

Bon Appetit!

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Boiling broth of Fresh Clam Meat & ginger slices

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Fry the ginger slices in butter

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Fry the mini Toufu puffs in butter

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Substitute bee hoon with Udon noodles

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“live” Mud crabs (about 800 grams)

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Cooked the prepared crabs

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Cooked till a bright hue of red

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Add Udon noodles into broth

Seafood Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce

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Seafood Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce

A quick and dirty recipe that I love to use whenever I am short of time to cook, is none other than spaghetti. There are so many permutation of recipes that I could think of with just so few ingredients. It is the technique that is most important when cooking pasta, not so much the choice of ingredients. Of course, if you have fresh ingredients, then that makes for an even better pasta experience.

I usually do this lovely Italian styled recipe with a little Singaporean twist to it. It is not al dente but you could make it that if you wanted to. I cook for my family, and that means my toddler needs to be able to eat it and enjoy it. So I do the Singaporean thing which is to make the pasta softer than usual, and very soupy with lots of sauce. You may not like my style of pasta. But my family loves it and that’s all that matters.

So I got home really late this evening, and it didn’t help that the taxi driver tried to be a know-it-all race car driver. He was speeding, taking sharp turns and slamming the brakes all throughout the journey back. By the time I got back, I was near exhausted and almost collapsed. It was really tough.

Plus I promised the family that I would make the most fantabulous pasta in the world. But I was really zoned out and feeling like crap. It doesn’t help that I have motion sickness and that basically worsened my dizziness. It took me longer than usual to recover this time around, but when I managed to overcome the sickness, I jumped straight into the kitchen.

I like my pasta in a certain way, so this recipe had a moderate difficulty rating as compared to my even quicker and dirtier soups that I make every morning. So if you’re ready, let’s get down to it.

 

Recipe

Ingredients

half a packet of Barilla brand Spaghetti (cooks in about 8 minutes al dente, but I usually cook them in about 11 minutes)

8 large Prawns (these are slightly greenish in colour)

8 large Scallops (defrosted)

a can of Narcissus Button Mushrooms (small can will do)

a can of Hunt’s Whole Tomato Sauce

a bottle of Leggos’ Tomato Paste (you can use any brand of sauce or paste, it doesn’t really matter)

Salted Butter

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

 

Method

1. Firstly boil the pasta in a pot of water with a dash of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Boil for about 11 minutes (or longer if you are cooking for kids). After cooking, drain and add some olive oil to prevent it from becoming dry and clumpy. You may wish to douse it in ice cold water to stop the cooking so that the noodles are still firm.

2. Then add butter into the frying pan, with a little olive oil and sauté the button mushrooms. Add a little black pepper and sea salt. Stir fry until the mushrooms sear and shrink down in size. Then add the prawns to cook together with the mushrooms. Keep the heat moderate, and when the prawns start to curl up into the shape of a letter “C”, that is the sign that the prawns are “cooked”. If you don’t watch over this process carefully, what will happen is the prawns will continue curling and will eventually form an “O” shape. That basically means the prawns are now “Overcooked”. Simple tip.

3. Reserve the prawns and mushrooms into their individual plates. Now to cook the scallops. Add some butter, and olive oil to a new pan (if need be, wash the pan that you’re using) and turn the heat to a moderate level. Stir fry the scallops and also allow them to sear on both sides. You want to add a little salt so that they will taste a little better. Now with the scallops, it can be a little tricky, if you fry too long, it dries up too quickly. If you don’t cook it well enough, it may not taste as fantastic. This one requires some skill, and there are not many visible cues like “C” or “O” to help you along. So I will say – use the force.

4. After the scallops are done, place them in their plates and you can now add the pasta into the pan. By now they would be a little dry, and so you would need some water. You may add whatever water that you reserve before pouring out the pot (that you cooked the pasta in). Now the part that I like the most, preparing the tomato sauce.

5.  I use a combination of tomato paste and tomato sauce (I don’t mean Maggi Tomato Sauce, but the real tomato sauce with real tomatoes in the can). Pour the sauce into the pasta, and add two tablespoons of tomato paste and stir. Add a little salt and black pepper and continue to cook. Break up the whole tomatoes and combine the paste into the sauce. Mix well.

6. Once it is ready, using a pair of food tongs, serve the pasta onto the plates with the rest of the ingredients. Typically I wouldn’t cook it this way, but it is my quick and dirty recipe. I usually would use a lot of garlic in my cooking, but I used up all my garlic making the Bak Kut Teh yesterday. Sprinkle a little thyme or basil leaves if you have them. Delicious.

Bon Appetit!

Toast Box Mee Rebus (Review)

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Toast Box Mee Rebus (Review)

As a child I have loved the old school flavours of local delights such as the humble Mee Rebus. I don’t know where this dish originated from, maybe from the kitchen of some makchik or better still as a result of a mistake in someone’s haste to prepare dinner, and this new dish was discovered.

Whichever the manner it was created, we can only celebrate it by enjoying it. Which is what I am doing now. The one that Toast Box offers is by far one of the more consistent and easily available version. The sauce is thick and the ingredients are always superbly prepared. One of these days I am gonna make this dish and it will be the best and easiest thing to do.

But till then, I will continue to enjoy this yummy breakfast meal. Shiok!

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Eat until like that, buay shiok c kek ae!

Herb Pesto Sauce

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Herb Pesto Sauce

Another quick and simple to make herb pesto sauce. Ingredients are easily available and not too expensive. Try it.

Recipe

Ingredients

A bunch of Italian Parsley
A bunch of Basil leaves
7-8 cloves of Garlic
Olive Oil

Method

1. With a good processor, minced all the ingredients together. Add enough olive oil and then mix well. Store in a bottle with lid and throw it into the fridge for use later. Easy.

Bon Appetit!

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Mushroom and Ham Penne (Olive Oil)

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Mushroom and Ham Penne (Olive Oil)

Yesterday my wife and me took leave to go shopping and also have a little couple time together. We decided to have breakfast at our favourite sandwich shop called the sandwich shop and I pondered over the nondescript naming of the cafe. I guess there is no harm in calling a spade a spade.

But we were greeted with a smorgasbord of sandwiches and every permutation that we could imagine that could be placed on tiny shelves. There was roast beef, cold cuts and brie, egg mayo, wild rockets and crayfish.

Wifey wanted pasta and somehow the spirals with sundried tomatoes looked appealing as well. And so we decided on that and ate our breakfast. The pasta was cold and probably sat in the fridge chiller for a tad too long.

It was then that I vowed to myself that I would cooked a better pasta breakfast then that which we purhased at the shop. Here’s the recipe. Enjoy.

Recipe

Ingredients

1. 150 grams of Barilla Penne
2. 4-5 White Button Mushrooms
3. 2 slices of Breakfast Ham
4. 20 grams of Salted Butter
5. Pinch of Sea Salt
6. Sprinkle of Mixed Italian Herbs

Method

1. Cook the Penne in a small pot of boiling water for about 11 minutes to al dente. If you wanna make it softer, continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Don’t forget to add some sea salt.

2. In another pot, melt the butter over low heat, be careful not to burn it, and then add the sliced mushrooms to cook. Turn up the heat to medium. Flambé the mushrooms if you can. If you can’t, don’t worry, I understand.

3. Remove and reserve the mushrooms and add the shredded ham to cook in the juice of the mushrooms. Add a sprinkle of mixed Italian herbs. Cook till you can smell ham.

4. After that’s done, pour the ham and mushrooms into the penne pasta in the other pot and give it a good mix. It should look like the photo above.

Bon Appetit!

Spaghetti Carbonara

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Spaghetti Carbonara

One of my all time favourite pasta to eat as well as to prepare, the spaghetti cabonara, a cream based pasta that will tantalise your tastebuds and bring you all the way to Italy. Truly, there is no pasta that is so distinctively yummy as this one.

I made my pasta a little more creamy just so you guys can see the texture of the pasta. I am using spaghetti here instead of linguine because I still have spaghetti at home. But that said, linguine makes a better pasta as it can soak up the cream based sauce really well.

I know some recipes call for eggs and parmesan cheese, but my version doesn’t require all these, it is simple, and easy to do. Anyone can do it. So are you ready?

Recipe for 1

Ingredients

125 grams of Barilla Spaghetti
50 grams of Streaky Bacon
4-5 pcs of White Button Mushrooms
4 cloves of Garlic
100 ml of Cooking Cream
15 grams of Salted Butter
100 ml of full cream Milk
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Mixed Italian Herbs
Pinch of Sea Salt

Method

1. Firstly we cook the pasta in the pot. I use Barilla Spaghetti which cooks in 5 minutes to an al dente. Remember to add a little sea salt and olive oil. If you prefer it a little softer, add a 1 or 2 to the cooking time.

2. In another pot, stir fry the quartered button mushrooms in salted butter. I find salted butter much better to work with as opposed to unsalted butter when it comes to cooking, but if you’re baking, then perhaps unsalted butter might work better for you. Once the fragrance of the mushrooms can be inhaled (lack of a better word!) you should remove the mushrooms and set them aside. Then in the juice of the mushrooms, cook the minced garlic, cooked until fragrant. Then add the chopped streaky bacon. Fry this until the fragrance of the bacon can be breathed (still trying to find a better word!). I am not using olive oil in this recipe because butter goes better with cream in this carbonara recipe. Furthermore the oil in the streaky bacon is more delicious.

3. The pasta should be about al dente by now. You can remove the pasta or continue to cook it longer until it is softer. In the meantime, you add the cooking cream into the ingredients and cook, add the milk to dilute the carbonara sauce a little. If you like the sauce to be a little thicker, you can just use the cooking cream and leave out the milk altogether. Add herbs flakes and black pepper. A little salt to taste. Cook till the sauce is hot. After that drizzle it over the pasta and give it a good mix. Serve with grated parmesan cheese if you like, but it is already quite rich if you ask me.

Bon Appetit!

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Bee Hoon with Stewed Pork

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Bee Hoon with Stewed Pork

If there were such a thing as comfort foods, then this would be it. Simple, easy to cook and none of the hassle. But to do it well would require some kung-fu skills and minor athletic agility. If you don’t have that basic requirement, no worries, just follow my recipe and you would do fine.

Wifey and me love this easy dish, quick to prepare and full of flavour. We always have a can of stewed pork trotters stashed away in the corner of our kitchen cupboard, and just nice wifey wanted to eat this for lunch. Naturally being the ever optimistic home-cook, I immediately jumped into action *think minor athletic ability* and made the most wonderful bee hoon with stewed pork.

You can too.

Recipe

Ingredients

2-3 pc of dried Bee Hoon *A1 Brand, vermicelli*
1 can of Stewed Pork Trotters *narcissis brand*
Bunch of Kai Lan *vegetables*
3-4 pc Garlic
3-4 pc Pork Belly *reserved from the 漂亮 Pork Belly*
10 pc of dried mini Scallops *buy from Chinese medicine shop*
4-5 pc of dried Shitake Mushrooms *buy from Chinese medicine shop*
1 cup of Fish Stock *optional*
2 tbsp Olive Oil

Method

1. Soak the bee hoon and mushrooms in hot water. This should take about 5-10 minutes for them to soften. Once the mushrooms are done, slice them into small strips. Meanwhile, mince garlic and chop pork belly into smaller pieces. Wash and shred the kai lan.

2. Heat the wok and pour in the oil, then stir fry the garlic over medium heat, taking care not to burn the garlic. Then immediately as the fragrance of the garlic permeates the kitchen, fry the pork belly pieces. Then add the sliced mushrooms and continue frying until fragrant. Add the fish stock and the dried scallops. Cook with lid covered for a few minutes.

3. Add the can stewed pork including the preserved oil/sauce within the can. This adds to the flavour. Then add the shredded kai lan and stir fry a little before again covering the lid to allow the vegetables to soften a little.

4. Once you have softened the kai lan, you can add the bee hoon. Mix and combine the ingredients with a food tong and ensure that the ingredients are well mixed. You may wish to add light soy sauce if you like, but I thought the flavour from the stewed pork and the mini scallops was more than sufficient. Once cooked, serve.

Bon Appetit!

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Anchovy Pasta (olive oil)

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Anchovy Pasta (olive oil)

This is a recipe that I learnt from my friend Andrew Lum. Simple, exotic and delicious. I finished all 170 grams of the spaghetti and my tummy is still rumbling. I think I must be very hungry, or the pasta is really yummy. I suspect it is the latter. Simple to prepare and great for gatherings, you can prepare this pasta in less than 15 minutes. Of course, you need to know what you are doing in order to meet the 15 minute timing. But no worries, can one.

The only problem I find with this particular recipe is the availability of the Anchovy. I use canned Anchovy from Cold Storage, and it seems that NTUC, even Finest, don’t really sell the preserved fish. They sell all kinds of Sardines, Tuna, but somehow I can’t seem to find the Anchovy. Ok, that said, maybe I didn’t try hard enough. Maybe I should also ask someone at the store? I admit that I am the if-I-can’t-find-it-at-the-store-it-is-likely-to-be-sold-out type of shopper. Either that or I don’t bother to ask. Okay, I am lazy.

Recipe

Ingredients

 

250 grams Barilla Spaghetti *cooks in 5 minutes – 2 servings*

1 can Anchovy Fillets in Extra Virgin Olive Oil (50 grams) *Waitrose brand from Cold Storage*

1 Egg *raw*

5 Chilli Padi *reduced the chillis if you can’t take the heat*

1 Punnet Cherry Tomatoes *sliced*

1 Box Sweet Basil leaves

Parmesan Cheese

 

Method

1. Boil a pot of water. Add oil and sea salt. How much depends on yourself. Add pasta in the pot once the water is boiling. Note the number of minutes that is needed to cook the pasta to al dente, this is usually indicated on the packaging of the Barilla Pasta box. If you want it a little softer, then you cook it a minute of two longer.

2. For some folks, they sometimes complain that the pasta noodles have an odd smell. I don’t have that problem. Maybe it might be a case of the quality of pasta? Who knows.

3. Once pasta is cooked, drain the pasta and immediately add the raw egg, chilli padi and anchovies (mashed). Mix thoroughly, and allow the egg to coat the hot pasta. This will also partly cook the egg. The egg acts like a sauce in a way. Add sliced cherry tomatoes and sweet basil and give it a good mix.

4. Serve with grated Parmesan Cheese.

Bon Appetit!

Mdm Nair’s Fish Curry

 

Ho Sim Lang

 

Mrs Nair’s Fish Curry

My romance with Indian food is like an endless bollywood dance. One day, when I have my own food travel show, I will visit India. Maybe my first stop in India would be Kerala. I heard that it is the place for all kinds of spices, kind of like a spice garden. It is like spice capital of India where traders from all around would gather and peddle their wares. I can imagine the marketplace to be perfumed with the scent of exotic spices.

But for now, I will just have to be content with what I smell at the Mama store, or the supermarket.

Anyway, I said all that to say that I love fish curry. The best fish curry in my humble opinion is the one that my friend Mdm Nair taught me. I still remember that Saturday morning in a crowded room with neighbourhood aunties and maids, she revealed her recipe for greatness. The fish curry was fabulous. Since those early days, I have been making Mdm Nair’s Fish Curry much to the delight of my Indian friends who tasted it. They say that it has a very Indian taste, whatever that means.

Where to shop?

The Mama’s Store has everything. The spices, the vegetables, everything is there except for the fish. As for the fish, you can get it at the wet market, or supermarket.

Recipe

Ingredients

Whole Fish (Angoli) 1 pc, 1 kg – (or you can use stingray, I prefer that.)

Red Chilli Paste  3 tbsp

Fish Masala Powder (Baba’s Brand) 6 tbsp

Mixed Spices (Brarath Brand) 2 tbsp

Ladies Fingers 10 pcs

Beef Tomatoes 4 pcs

Onions (sliced) 2 bulbs

Garlic (sliced) 4 bulbs

Fresh Green Chilli (sliced, seeds out) 1 pc

Tomato Puree (Gilda Brand) 1 can

Tamarind (Assam) 1 packet – (you can now get a smaller packet size, in which case it will be the whole portion.)

Carnation Milk 1 can – (I don’t really use that, so that’s optional.)

Curry Leaves 1 sprig

Salt

Oil

To Marinate:

1. Salt the fish for at least half an hour. Then wash and cut the fish into pieces. Mixed 03 tablespoons (tbsp) red chilli paste and 02 tbsp fish masala powder. Add a bit of salt and mixed with fish.

2. Take half packet of the tamarind and soak in half a bowl (5 cups) of water for half an hour.

3. Strain the tamarind and throw away the seeds. Put the tamarind water in a bowl and add 04 tbsp of fish masala powder, 03 garlic and 01 fresh green chilli and a bit of salt and stir.

Method:

1. Heat up the pan with oil. Fry ladies fingers till light brown and keep aside. Add mixed spices (02 tbsp), onions (chopped), 1 garlic (sliced), curry leaves till light brown and add tomatoes and fry till tomatoes are soft. Add the tamarind water with masala together with the earlier ingredients and stir. Close the lid until it boils.

2. Add ladies fingers, 1 tbsp of tomato puree and fish. Then add carnation milk (to thicken the curry). Leave for 5 minutes. Serve with white rice or Korean Instant Noodles.

Bon Appetit!

Eat Bak Chor Mee (review)

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Eat Bak Chor Mee (review)

Today my colleagues and I went to EAT to eat Bak Chor Mee. We really love eating it at EAT. However, it was not to be so at EAT today when we ate it at EAT. There seemed to be something quite wrong with the EAT BCM noodle master’s powers of estimation.

I asked for BCM but I also wanted to add fish cake, thinking that it was going to be the deep fried fish cake that they sell on the side. I love the EAT deep fried fish cakes by the way, they are excellent, even on their own. The stall lady asked me how much fish cakes I wanted to add and suggested a top up of a dollar. I thought it was fine to add a dollar’s worth of deep fried fish cake.

To my dismay and much disappointment, the fish cake that the noodle master gave me was a mere four slices of the delicacy. I had a shocked when he presented the completed product to me and I could only let out a futile yelp of despair.

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I had to portray exactly what $1 of fish cake was worth at EAT or else you might think I was joking and trying to pull a fast one. What you see in the picture above is one dollar’s worth of fish cake. Wow.

Either inflation has swept through Singapore right under my nose or the noodle master had something against customers who liked adding fish cakes to their BCM. Maybe it was against internationally acceptable BCM standards to not have fish cakes added into BCM. Maybe his strict adherence to this rule might have had some manner of impact on his sense of duty in the guild of international noodle masters that caused his deft fingers to show great restraint when scooping the fish cakes into my bowl.

Four miserable slices of fish cakes.

I hope that your $1 was worth more than mine.

Home-Cooked Prawn Noodles

Ho Sim Lang

Home-Cooked Prawn Noodles

I have always loved Prawn Noodles and for a long time now I have always wondered what it was that was included in that special broth that is synonymous with great tasting soup. I think it is largely monosodium glutamate is we were to consume the Prawn Noodles at the coffee shop or the hawker centre. But what if we were to try out that old local favourite at home? Would we do it the same way?

I chanced upon a packet of Prawn Noodle mix by Ah Hai (can find at NTUC) and at first glance, I thought that it was just another pre-mix recipe that will probably yield some salty end result. That may be true for some, but I decided to give it a try anyway, and it was one of the best decisions I made (alright you know I am exaggerating a little. This is Prawn Noodles that I am talking about.)

Most people would think that the pre-mix package is probably not good, and probably not great. But it was all good for me. The taste was just right. In fact I went on to make a fresh version of Prawn Noodles eventually, and it tasted just as good. But here is the recipe that I did for the Ah Hai’s Prawn Noodle paste. Enjoy.

 

Recipe – Serving for four

Ingredients

8 Prawns (Large)

Egg Noodles (500g)

Kang Kong (one bunch)

Bean Sprouts (one bunch)

Yakibuta (prepared separately) [optional]

Fish Cake (1 pc)

Red Chilli (1 pc)

Ah Hai’s Instant Prawn Noodle Paste (1 packet)

 

Method

1. Cut off the heads of the Prawns and fry the heads in a large pot with a little oil. Fry till fragrant.

2. Pour Ah Hai’s Instant Prawn Noodle Paste (NTUC sells it) into pot and pour in 2 litres of water. Bring to a boil and keep it at medium heat for 30 minutes.

3. Sieve the broth and pour into another soup pot. Blanch the egg noodles, Kang Kong, Bean Sprouts and Prawns in hot water.

4. Place all the cooked ingredients into a bowl and ladle the steaming hot broth into the bowl. Serve with Red Chilli in dark soy sauce. I use Yakibuta as opposed to the traditional Pork Ribs simply because it is tastier.

Bon Appetit!

 

Bonus Recipe:

 

Yakibuta – Japanese Char Siu

 

Ingredients

Pork Belly (300gm)

Shao Xing Cooking Wine

Mirin (Japanese Sweet Wine)

Light Soy Sauce

Dried Kelp

 

Method

1. Sear the Pork in the bottom of a pot and allow the sides of the meat to cook. Be careful not to cook the meat for too long.

2. Add in the Shao Xing Wine (1 cup), Mirin (3 Tbsp), Light Soy Sauce (3 Tbsp) and fill with water until liquid slightly covers pork. Add in the Dried Kelp. Bring to a boil and cook the meat over a slow fire for about an hour. Use a wooden skewer to test for doneness.

3. Slice the Pork Belly and decorate over Ramen noodles or in this case, Prawn Noodles.

Bon Appetit!

Singapore Laksa

Ho Sim Lang

Singapore Laksa

After a brief hiatus since my last post, I thought it is about time to share some new recipes that I have been working on.

 

Here’s my favourite laksa recipe of all time. Tedious to make, but guaranteed satisfaction for all of you Laksa lovers.

 

The ingredients are commonly found in NTUC or Cold Storage, so ingredient list building shouldn’t be a problem. Perhaps some of you experts out there might question “why no belachan?”, well I decided not to use belachan because good quality dried shrimp is good enough, but you may consider that if you like.

 

Ingredients:

 

Vermicelli aka Laksa Bee Hoon – 500 grams

Medium Grey Prawns – 250 grams

Fish Cake – 1 large piece

Bean Sprouts – 1 handful

Dried Tau Pok – 10 pieces

Blood Cockles – 200 grams

Laksa Leaves – 1 sprig

Dried Shrimps – 1 cup

Cooking Oil – 100 ml

Water – 750ml

Coconut Milk – 250 ml

Salt

Sugar

 

Ho Sim Lang

Pound into Paste:

Shallots (or Onions) – 2/3 Bulbs

Garlic – 4 pieces

Turmeric (Yellow Ginger) – 1 inch

Galangal (Blue Ginger) – 1 inch

Young Ginger – 1 inch

Candlenuts – 4 pieces

Dried Chillis – 10 pieces (soak in water first)

Method:

1. Blanch prawns in 750 ml of water till 90% cooked. I gauge this cooking process by looking at the prawns and if they curl into a “C” shape. “C” means cooked, but if however, the prawns turn into an “O” shape, then that means the prawns is now over-cooked. Just a little tip for all of us servant-less cooks.

2. Once prawns are cooked, set them aside.

3. Add Laksa leaves into the broth, and bring to a boil. You can also shred the Laksa leaves to sprinkle over your noodles for that extra flavour. 

4. Then turn the fire to a low simmer for about 15 minutes.

5. Heat 100 ml of oil in a wok.

6. Add in dried shrimp (pounded) into pounded condiments (paste) and fry for 5-7 minutes over a big fire until fragrant.

7. Pour the cooked ingredients into the pot of prawn stock. Again, bring to a boil.

8. Add in the coconut milk to thicken the broth. Add salt and sugar to taste.

9. Add in the Tau Pok (sliced diagonally) to cook until soft if you like, before serving.

Serving Suggestion:

1. Present cockles, bean sprouts, fish cakes (sliced) and tau pok (cooked) in a bowl of Bee Hoon Noodles before ladling the Laksa broth over the ingredients.

2. Sprinkle Shredded Laksa leaves for extra flavour.

Bon Appetit!

Fish Sliced Bee Hoon Soup

Ho Sim Lang

 

Fish Sliced Bee Hoon Soup

If there is such a thing as comfort food, then mine would be fish sliced bee hoon soup with thick white bee hoon. Here’s a recipe for fish sliced bee hoon soup that I think will rock your socks off. This is why I think this recipe so totally rock. This is a recipe that’s been tweaked to my liking.

Fish slices (fried):

Ingredients:

Fish *Use Angoli* 500g (Angoli is Hokkien for Red Snapper)

Sea salt

Chicken powder (Chicken stock)

Egg (one)

Potato starch (you can buy at NTUC Supermarket)

Shao xing hua tiao jiu *Chinese cooking wine*

White pepper

 

Method:

1. Cut the Angoli into thin slices about 1cm thick and then salt lightly, leave it to marinate for about 30 minutes. If you don’t like your fish to be too salty, you can wash it after marination.

2. Then prepare 5 tablespoons of potato starch *use measuring spoons* and crack an egg into it. Put half a teaspoon of chicken stock and half a capful of hua tiao jiu, white pepper and then whisk with a fork into a smooth creamy mixture.

3. Then dip the fish slices into the mixture and deep fry it over low heat, this is to ensure that the fish is cooked while the batter doesn’t burn – you want the fish slices to taste cripsy, not rock solid. Also not having a big fire ensures even cooking.

4. Fry till light brown *not too long* as fish cook easily, the texture should be just right, and the fish is not cooked too long. The taste should be soft and juicy and the batter gives it a nice crunchy texture.

Ho SIm Lang

Fish Soup:

Ingredients:

Sea salt (you can omit this and use chicken stock only)

Salted vegetables (Kiam Chye)

Sour plum (preserved salted sour plums)

Carnation milk (if you like)

Tomatoes (quartered)

Spring onions (cut into 2cm lengths)

Ginger (thinly sliced)

 

Method:

1. Bring about 1.5 litres of water to the boil, and add either 1 teaspoon of salt or chicken stock. I use salt instead because I am using salted vegetables for flavouring already, you can use chicken stock if you’re not adding salted vegetables an alternative vegetable is szechuan vegetables as it adds a different taste to it.

2. Bring the water to boil, then add the salted vegetables, sliced ginger and sour plum to flavour the soup (if you like you may also wanna add 4-5 whole garlic). Only add the tomatoes, spring onions last as they cook very quickly.

3. For the bee hoon, I use laksa bee hoon from NTUC and one packet feeds about 4 people easily. Boil the noodles first and then add it to the soup. The trick is to prepare everything ready and then adding it together to make the dish.

Ho Sim Lang

Serving Suggestion:

You can either add the fish into the soup when you prepare the noodles or not. It’s up to you. I prefer not so that I can taste the crispiness of the fish slices.

As an alternative, you can add chye sim, although I prefer to add thinly sliced bitter gourd to give it that extra taste.

That’s it, perfect!

Bon Appetit!

Usually I would end here with “Bon Appetit!”, but there is a YouTube video with my look-alike Adrian Pang and the very lovely Michelle Chia, and incidentally they are both promoting Sliced Fish Bee Hoon, so what the heck: