dried Chinese scallops

Stir Fry Nai Bai

Stir Fry Nai Bai

My mother-in-law gave us a packet of what seems to be the nicest looking Nai Bai vegetable that I have ever seen in a long time. In a way, it is like a miniature silverbeet vegetable.

So we decided to keep dinner simple and do a simpler Stir Fry Nai Bai with garlic slices and a tomato just for that additional sourish taste. A little oyster sauce and the meal is complete.

The other Nai Bai that I have been seeing around the supermarket are usually quite dirty looking. There is very little “bai” (aka white) in those packages of Nai Bai vegetable.

* please note that I have included amazon affiliate links to the products I use, so check them out if you wish to support me, and if I can get these items from NTUC Supermarket, I would just indicate.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 packet of Nai Bai [NTUC] vegetable
3 cloves of Garlic
1 medium Tomato
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce (mum uses the Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce for her cooking, and this is really very good)
1 tsp Light Soya Sauce (as mentioned, I only use the Lee Kum Kee Premium Light Soya Sauce exclusively for my cooking because of the flavour)
3-4 dried Chinese Scallops (these are usually available at the dried goods provision stores or at NTUC, or if you need to have it delivered to where you are, you could consider Food Explorer Hokkaido Dried Scallops)
2 tbsp Olive Oil

Method

1. Wash the vegetable thoroughly and remove any grain of sand or dirt. Place on colander and dry.

2. In a wok, heat the oil. Then fry the crushed garlic pieces. You can crush them using the side of the cleaver. Just simply slap them really hard. I like cooking garlic this way so that I can taste the flavour better.

3. Add the sliced tomato pieces in to cook as well. By now there should be some liquid in the pan. Add the dried scallops (no need to soak). Continue to stir fry until tomato start to soften.

4. Add the nai bai vegetables, already trimmed and stems and leafy greens nicely chopped and separated. Personally I prefer cooking them whole. Looks more appealing to me. But you should chop it so that it is easier to eat.

5. Add oyster sauce and light soya sauce in a small bowl of water and give it a good mix. Then pour the sauce into the wok. Now turn the heat up high and cover the wok with the lid. Let it cook or steam for about 4 minutes.

6. When you lift the lid, the vegetables should have shrunk and this is typical as the vegetable loses its water content. In return that water is now your very lovely sauce. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Bon Appetit!

Red Garoupa Fish Porridge

image

Red Garoupa Fish Porridge

If there is a fish porridge that I like better than Batang or Bay Kah fish porridge, it would be Red Garoupa. The firm flesh of the fish just makes for very nice fish porridge, though some older folks will say that it is loh koh (read: hard to eat). I say porridge but you might call it congee. It is the same to me actually.

But it is a fish that is a joy to work with. Slicing is so easy and the flesh is firm and tender at the same time. Just a simple marinate of light soya sauce and the fish slices when cooked is a lovely sweet savoury flavour, and flaky too because that is an indication of freshness. Then add a garnish of shredded Chinese celery and you are good to go.

Recipe

Ingredients

Red Garoupa steak (about 150 grams for 1 portion)
Chinese Celery 2-3 stalks (these are very thin stalks)
Light Soya Sauce 1 tbsp
Sesame Seed Oil 1 tsp
Dried Chinese Scallops 5 pieces
Half a cup of Rice (to be boiled for porridge)

Method

1. Boil the uncooked grains of rice in a pot for about 15 minutes over medium heat. Longer if you want it to be very mushy. Add more water if you like it watery. Throw the scallops into the pot to flavour the porridge.

2. Slice the flesh of the Garoupa meat thinly and marinate it with the soya sauce and sesame seed oil. Leave it in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

3. Once porridge is boiling and rice grains are soft and broken down, you can add the fish slices in to cook. As seafood doesn’t need to cook very long, about 5 minutes would be suffice. The flesh should be paper white and nicely curved after cooking.

4. Add the shredded Chinese celery into the porridge for that lovely flavour. Add some more light soya sauce if you want your porridge tastier.

Bon Appetit!

image

Marinated slices of fish

image

Shredded Chinese celery

Fish Soup

image

Fish Soup

My wife and I went to Putien restaurant for lunch the other day and we ordered their Fish Soup, simply because we love soup. It was then that I noticed that they had a very interesting take on the soup. They used a Yellow Croaker for the broth, which resulted in a light and mildly flavoured fish soup. Personally I thought it was so-so only.

It was oily, gingery but delicious, just that the fish flavour could be a little stronger and the fish itself could be a little tastier. My lightning fast taste-buds quickly deciphered the soup and memorized the ingredients list and reverse engineered the entire cooking process in my mind. So I decided to cook my version of that fish soup, but using my favourite Garoupa fish head. Sure nice one.

I stir fried the ginger slices and a few cloves of garlic. Then fried the fish head without any seasoning or salt. Just in the same oil. In another pot, I was boiling a natural chicken stock. Kind of got tired of the pre-made chicken stocko as I felt it was too salty. Added a few essential ingredients like wolfberries, Chinese scallops and dried oysters. Done.

The final product was a perfect fish soup. The flesh of the Red Garoupa was flavourful and tender, better in taste than the flesh of the Yellow Croaker.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 carcass of Chicken Bones (for making stock)
1 whole Red Garoupa fish head (small)
10 thin slices of Ginger
5 cloves of Garlic
Handful of Wolfberries
5 number of Chinese Scallops
3 number of Dried Oysters
Olive Oil
Sea Salt

Optional

10 slices of Yam (pre-packed yam will do)
4 pieces of Tau Pok (aka dried bean curd puffs)

Method

1. Boil the chicken stock using the chicken bones. Skim off the fat and dried blood as you boil. Soak the scallops and oysters in hot water for about 10 minutes.

2. Fry the ginger slices in the oil until it starts to brown a little. Then take it out. Now fry the garlic whole (not minced) and then take it out when it browns.

3. Next fry up the fish in the same oil. Add a little more oil if need be. Once the fish starts to brown a little add the pre-fried ingredients of ginger and garlic back into the wok. Add the soaked scallops, soaked oysters and also the wolfberries.

4. Now you can ladle the natural chicken stock into the wok and continue to cook the fish soup over a slow simmer. Do this for about 10-15 minutes. Seafood cooks rather quickly especially fish. It is kind of like having steam boat. Add salt to taste.

5. If you want to add tau pok and yam slices, you may do so, and it will be perfect. But if not, it will still taste great!

Bon Appetit!

Chicken Macaroni

image

Chicken Macaroni

The foods of champions, the humble Chicken Macaroni has become the super-foods that parents love to give their kids. More so because it is so easy to prepare. Just boil the pasta, add boiled chicken and salt and you can eat.

Of course it is only true for the pure at heart. However in my less than perfect world, my Chicken Macaroni has to be done the hard way. It has to have all the necessary ingredients to make this dish truly special.

Why? You might ask. Well, why not? I am cooking for my family wat. So it has to be nothing short of special.

Recipe

Ingredients

250 grams of Dried Macaroni (for two servings, I use Barilla Elbows, they are kind of same same.)
2 pieces of de-boned Chicken Thighs
4 carcass of Chicken Bones (for making stock)
Handful of Dried Chinese Scallops
A few Dried Oysters
5-6 whole Garlic Cloves
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Evaporated Milk

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water (about 1.7litres). Add to the pot with the carcasses of Chicken Bones to boil for stock. Skim the scum and excess oil off the surface of the broth.

2. After about 20 minutes boiling at high heat, remove and discard the chicken bones. Add the scallops and oysters to flavour the soup. Fry and sear the garlic cloves in a pan before also adding into the broth to cook. You may reduce the fire to a slow simmer. Now boil another kettle of water. This is for cooking the macaroni.

3. Cook the macaroni in another pot until soften (boil pass al dente). This is so that your kids can eat as well.

4. Marinate the boneless chicken thighs with salt and black pepper. Leave aside for at least ten minutes. Once it is ready, fry the chicken with a little oil in a frying pan, 3 minutes on each side. After searing the sides, remove and slice into thin pieces.

5. Then boil the sliced chicken pieces in the broth by using the slotted ladle technique to further cook the chicken pieces. Once cooked, place in individual serving bowls.

6. Check that the pasta is cooked beyond al dente by doing a taste test. It should be reasonably softened. Once ready ladle the cooked macaroni into the bowls with the boiled chicken pieces.

7. Add salt and a little evaporated milk to thicken the broth. Cook a while longer and you can ladle the chicken broth to the Macaroni. Serve hot.

Bon Appetit!