dried scallops

Chicken Macaroni

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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!

Old Cucumber Melon Soup

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Old Cucumber Melon Soup

The old Cucumber Melon can readily be found almost everywhere and is available at your local wet market grocer or NTUC supermarkets. But for some reason, I have resisted cooking it until now.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this traditional soup especially at the Chinese restaurants and sometimes at the food courts. But like the Burdock Soup 牛蒡汤, I have only recently started cooking this melon soup.

Simple, nutritious and delicious. If I can do it, anyone can.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 medium size Old Cucumber Melon
10 pieces Dried Red Dates
5 pieces Dried Scallops
2 pieces Dried Octopus
250 grams Pork Ribs
Salt

Method

1. Cut the old Cucumber in half and gorge out the seeds with a spoon. Then chop into chunks. Place the pork ribs, red dates, scallops, octopus and the prepared melon into the pot. Add a little salt. Pour in a kettle of boiling water into the pot.

2. Boil for at least 20 minutes. Then place the pot in the thermal cooker and re-heat after 12 hours when you are back from work.

Bon Appetit!

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Old Cucumber Melon

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Delicious Old Cucumber Melon Soup

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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When Soups Get Complicated (Musing)

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When Soups Get Complicated (Musing)

There comes a time in the extended new dawn that there isn’t much to be afraid of anymore, where vampires and werewolves are just a figment of ingenious creative writing and gnomes and goblins become neighbours. There was no prodding or shoving of any kind this morning and I naturally got up and decided that there could be a greater purpose today than what it was originally intended for.

Time to make my soup, and perhaps a little more.

Today’s complicated soup of the day (just to prove that I am capable of complicated soups that still taste decent and nice), is none other than my easy as ABC soup, but with a little more pizzazz. So a complicated soup like this, would mean something like an ABCDEFG soup. I personally think that this soup has got great potential. It carries with it all the ingredients that came from near and far, and their masters’ blessings, hopes and understanding. These ingredients would typically hold its own weight, and be staple where they may come from. Carrots from Australia, Scallops from the sea of Japan, snowflakes from the top of the Himalayan ranges near the border. Yes, very exotic.

Ingredients that have no known origins, (actually I know where most of them came from) but where exactly, that is immaterial. What’s most important is that everyone is represented here in this huge pot, all ready to blend together and become one soup. So is it really a complicated soup then? Or is it really just a collation of many varied ingredients with distinct characteristics that would wow even the richest sheik or the wealthiest tycoon? Perhaps.

Recipe

Ingredients

200-250 grams of Pork Ribs *frozen or thawed – it doesn’t matter*

2 Carrots *cubed*

1 Sweet Corn *chopped*

1 Medium Yello Onion *sliced*

5 Dried Scallops (Japanese)

5 Dried Red Dates

1 handful of Wolfberries

 

Method:

1. Par boil the pork ribs and then discard the water. Boil a fresh pot of water, add all the ingredients and bring to an intense boil.

2. Once boiled for 15 minutes. The soup is ready for the thermal cooker.

3. Come back home and drink the soup.

Bon Appetit!