sea salt

White Cabbage and Chicken Soup

image

White Cabbage and Chicken Soup

This is the classic chicken rice soup that is served whenever I order hainanese chicken rice. It is a very simple soup packed with flavour and it goes very well with chicken rice.

I am not making chicken rice tonight, just making the soup.

I am using Cameron highlands cabbage to flavour the soup as they taste better than those other types from China. It’s a preference thing. You can agree to disagree. I realized this when I was doing my usual marketing routine at the wet market (it seems only the wet market sells these types) and the uncle said “these are from Cameron Highlands..” and that was all that he would say before getting flustered with my questions.

I also realized wet market vegetable stall uncles and aunties tend to have very little friends. Oddly enough, it is supposed to be one of the best PR jobs in the world as you are serving customers everyday, day in day out. I guess it also depends on their MBTI profile. Some people get energized through interactions with people. Others become emotionally drained the moment they have to say “hello..”

But I cant blame them really. It’s not a profession that many would opt to do if they had a choice. I am sure most would have preferred a cushy nylon polyester swivel chair to twirl their day away.

If I had to spend a large part of my day talking to vegetables and haggle with uncles and aunties who are out to get a good deal – I would too become emotionally wretched. I guess some people are wired that way.

So newspaper wrapped cabbage good; unwrapped cabbage good for someone else.

For the chicken parts, I am using chicken wings as it is very easy to eat. Also there is more fats in the wing portion and would also add to the flavour for the soup. No need too many, just 5 small chicken wings would be suffice.

Recipe

Ingredients

5 Chicken Wings (they are usually offered in two sizes, big or small.. I usually take the small ones)
1 whole Cameron Highlands White Cabbage (this type is usually sold at wet markets and the vegetable seller will wrap them up in newspapers..)
See Salt – 1 tsp for 1.8 litres of water

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water (around 1.8 litres). Cut the cabbage into small bite size pieces. Place the prepared cabbage together with the frozen chicken wings in the pot, add sea salt and add the boiling hot water. Turn on high heat for 15 minutes with lid closed.

2. Place in thermal cooker and allow the magic to happen. Come back 12 hours later and boil again for dinner. Serve with spring onions garnishing if you like.

Bon Appetit!

image

Cameron Highlands White Cabbage

Bitter Gourd Soup

image

Bitter Gourd Soup

I have done another version of this soup previously and it is called Bitter Gourd and Pork Ribs Soup. In that version, I added a slice of dried octopus to which my wife complained that she did not like it that much. I thought initially that the flavours of the dried octopus would have sweetened the soup. I guess some people really like their soups basic.

Which is not a bad thing for the cook. It is already quite tedious to cook on demand as a routine, so cooking basic and simple is definitely something that I like. And it tastes better in an interesting way as well as the soups are not complex and is easily understood. Sometimes whenever I am eating out, I am guessing what actually went into the making of the soup. Great tasting soups should be singular in nature and if possible with a simple meat base to make the soup stronger in flavour.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 whole Bitter Gourd (I usually like the larger size ones as my family loves bitter gourd)
250 grams Pork Ribs (my pork ribs are usually frozen when I cook them. There is no need to thaw the meat before cooking.)
1 tsp Sea Salt (for 1.8 litres of water)

Method

1. Boil a kettle of water (about 1.8 litres). Wash and cut the bitter gourd into 1cm slices.

2. Place the pork ribs into the soup pot. Place the bitter gourd slices into the pot as the picture above. Add salt. Add the boiling water. Boil at high heat for 15 minutes.

3. Then place the pot into the thermal cooker for cooking either overnight so that you can make a bee hoon bitter gourd soup for breakfast or just as a soup accompaniment for dinner. Allow the thermal cooker to do its work for at least 8 to 10 hours. That’s it. Easy.

Bon Appetit!

Watercress and Fish Ball Soup

image

Watercress and Fish Ball Soup

People say watercress soup is good for this and that. Some say can even prevent cancer. All I know is when it is boiled as a soup, it tastes great. It is one of my go-to soups whenever I eat out at the food court.

I cooked the watercress by boiling it in the water as opposed to boiling the water then putting it in. I like the taste of the soup to be stronger. Instead of using pork ribs like I always do, I am opting to use chicken bones instead for a lighter flavour.

Add a few red dates to balance the sweetness against the bitter peppery taste and finish it off with non-spicy fish balls. Fish balls and watercress are unlikely travel buddies that have become great friends.

I also added a handful of mini-scallops (dried) to strengthen the flavour and a pinch of sea salt. The soup is sure to taste delicious by tonight. I am boiling the ingredients in water for about 10 minutes at high heat and then allowing it to cook further in the thermal cooker for about 12 hours.

Recipe

Ingredients

One bunch of Watercress (I always buy them fresh from the wet market)
A handful of mini-scallops (dried)
Chicken Bones for boiling the stock
A pinch of Sea Salt
A few Red Dates
A packet of non-spicy fresh Fish Balls

Method

1. Boil a kettle of hot water. While it is boiling. Place the chicken bones or carcass into the thermal cooker. Soak the watercress and remove dirt and debris.

2. Pour the hot water into the pot and boil the chicken bones. Add the mini-scallops and a pinch of salt. Then add the rinsed watercress and red dates. Boil at high heat for about 10 minutes with lid on.

3. Once the flavour of the watercress soup starts to emit from the lid, you know the soup is about ready. Add the fish balls and place the entire pot into the thermal cooker.

4. Come back 12 hours later and boil the soup again for dinner. East recipe.

Bon Appetit!

Sambal Kembong

Ho Sim Lang

Sambal Kembong

I love Kembong Fish, and if there was a choice between Selar and Kembong, I would choose the latter. The flesh of the Kembong fish is sweet and delicious, much nicer than the Selar. Try it.

I love having the fish fried with a little oil and making diagonal cuts along the slides of the fish to fill its guts with freshly chopped red chillis that have been mixed with a sprinkle of sea salt.

I like it fried until it is crispy and crunchy when you bite into it and with a squish of lime – it is perfect. The confluence of salty, sour and spicy flavours mixed together just makes you want to munch the crispy fish head. The perfect dish to accompany any meal, especially porridge.

Recipe

Ingredients

Kembong Fish (a few will do actually, usually I am only cooking for me and my wife)
Red Chilli 2 pcs (chopped with a sprinkle of sea salt)
Sea Salt (just a sprinkle will do)
Calamansi Lime 2 Whole

Method

1. Wash the fish and remove the guts if you haven’t already. If you are not eating the fish on the same day, it is better to keep the guts of the fish in when buying the fish. This helps to keep it fresh longer.

2. Score the sides of the fish deep enough to create pockets to fill the sambal (aka chilli) paste.

3. Chop the red chillis until a fine paste. This paste I also call sambal. It’s a Malay word that means chilli? Sprinkle a little sea salt and give it a good mix with the spoon.

4. Fill the fish with the sambal paste and the fry it under medium heat in a frying pan. Make sure there is sufficient oil so that it can be crispy and crunchy when you bite it.

5. I usually use Olive oil or soya bean oil. The last thing you should be using is any vegetable oil that lists palm oil as its main ingredients. Palm oil is not healthy for you. So Olive or soya bean is best.

6. Serving suggestion: you may add a little bit of coriander leaves for colour, a drizzle of dark soya sauce if you want more flavour and a slight sweetness. Otherwise it is good just as it is.

Bon Appetit!

Beef and Carrot Soup

image

Beef and Carrot Soup

I am making a very simple Beef and Carrot Soup for dinner tonight. Beef provides the necessary iron nutrition for my toddler and I am pairing it with carrots because they both do very well together.

My son loves carrots, so I have added a little more carrots just so that he can mix it into his rice for dinner. I am adding a few slices of ginger, just 5 thin slices (5 being the number of Grace) just so that the beef soup would taste really nice. My maternal grandmother used to make this really nice beef and carrot soup for us kids when we visit on Sundays. So this is a really nice memory for me.

I am also adding half a slice of dried cuttlefish into the soup to sweeten the broth. Cuttlefish has that magic touch to bring the soup together and make it extremely tasty. I will complete the soup tonight with Chinese Celery. I recently discovered that food stall holders have been using a lot of the Chinese celery as opposed to the Chinese parsley for their garnishing. It appears, and I think it is true as well, that the Chinese celery’s strong flavour works very well with meats in general.

Just a simple and very easy recipe for dinner. Cooked in a thermal cooker for a good 10-12 hours so that the meats will be tender and soft for toddler and delicious for everyone.

Recipe

Ingredients

250 grams Shin Beef cubes
2-3 medium Carrots
Half a Dried Cuttlefish (really good for flavour)
Sea Salt (adjust according to your tastebuds)
5 thin slices of Ginger
2 stalks of Chinese Celery (to be added into the soup just before serving)

Method

1. As I am using a thermal cooker, I need a large kettle of boiling water for the soup. I am boiling the meat for a good 15 minutes at high heat before putting it into the thermal cooker for slow cooking.

2. I got Shin Beef cubes as they are cheap and since I am slow cooking the meats, it will be tender by the end of the day anyway, so the cheapest cuts of beef will be good enough.

3. The only thing that I need to prepare would be the carrots and ginger as the beef cubes are already prepared by the butcher, so that’s very convenient as I am always short for time in the mornings.

4. Peel and cut the carrots into bite size pieces. Then put all the prepared ingredients into the pot (just like the picture above) for the grand opening ceremony. Pour the hot boiling water into the pot and turn up the heat. Boil at high heat for 15 minutes and by then you should also be able to smell the fragrance of the beef soup taking shape.

5. Come back by the end of the day to re-boil the soup. This time, add the chopped Chinese celery and boil until it bubbles. The soup is now ready to be served.

Bon Appetit!

image

Delicious beef and carrot soup

Pasta Pommodoro

image

Pasta Pommodoro

If there is one thing that I enjoy more than rice is pasta. I would rather have pasta anytime of the day and they are great for that much needed quick meal.

So I was hungry the other day, and decided that I would whip up a very classic Pasta Pommodoro aka Tomato Pasta. Italian pastas are usually like that, singular and simple. Uncomplicated would be the other word that I would use when describing this particular pasta.

The main ingredient and star of the dish is none other than tomatoes. With a little help from the usual suspects like garlic and good quality olive oil, the end result is a very nice single flavour pasta.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 large Tomato (you can have more if you like)
150 grams Pasta (you can have any kind of pasta, but I used Barilla Farfelle.)
2-3 pieces of Garlic
Olive Oil
Salt
A sprig of Thyme
A small can of Tomato Puree (Gilda brand has very tiny came of Tomato puree)

Method

1. Boil the pasta until al dente then reserve. In another pan, add 2 tbsp olive oil, add the minced garlic and stir fry until fragrant.

2. Then add the diced tomato and continue frying. Add some tomato paste or puree. Add a little water to dilute the sauce a little. Add the pasta into the pan. Combine the ingredients. Add the leaves of Thyme for flavour. Add salt to taste.

3. Once cooked serve with grated parmesan.

Bon Appetit!

image

Pommodoro aka Tomatoes

image

Pasta

image

Thyme

image

Pasta Pommodoro

Wagyu Steak in Anchovy Butter

image

Wagyu Steak in Anchovy Butter

Dinner time has been mostly steam fish this boiled vegetable that. So for tonight’s dinner, I am making a very simple wagyu steak in my favourite anchovy butter sauce.

I came across a rather large wagyu steak on offer at Cold Storage and knew at once that this was going to be a very nice dinner. It was on specials and honestly I couldn’t tell if it was any different from the normal priced wagyu steaks. So I got myself a whole slab. Yum.

The problem with steaks of any kind is usually the preparation of the meat. Cooking time is essential if not critical to the success of the dinner. You can fry up all the premium ingredients to complement the main, but if the doneness of the steak fails, you would have also failed miserably.

For the vegetables that accompanied the steak, I had stir fry Japanese button mushrooms, whole garlic cloves and white button mushrooms with boiled cherry tomatoes and baby potatoes. But what makes this steak really special is the anchovy butter sauce. So simple, just mix the anchovy with the butter in the pan with rosemary herbs and you have a very light butter sauce that works very well with the meat.

Recipe

Ingredients

Main
700-800 grams Wagyu Steak (if you’re not living near a specialty butcher, you could opt to order online Wagyu Kobe Steaks)
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
1 tbsp Olive Oil

Anchovy butter sauce
A small can of Anchovy in Olive Oil
20 grams of Unsalted Butter
A sprig of Rosemary (herb)

Assortment of Vegetables
A pack of Japanese Button Mushrooms
A punnet of White Button Mushrooms
A punnet of Red Cherry Tomatoes
6-7 cloves of Garlic
6 pieces Baby Potatoes
Olive Oil
Black Pepper

Method

1. Boil the baby potatoes in a small pot for about 10 minutes or until a skewer can pierce through. Once done, remove the potatoes and blanch the tomatoes for about 30 seconds. Then remove and arrange vegetabkes on serving plate.

2. In a wok, stir fry the Japanese mushrooms and mildly crushed garlic cloves in 2 tbsp Olive oil for about 2-3 minutes. Quart the white button mushrooms and add the whole lot into the same wok. Continue stir fry. Do this for another 5 minutes. Mushrooms shoukd either sear or shrink down in size. This is common as it loses water content. Once done, dish onto serving plates.

3. Sprinkle the steaks with sea salt and black pepper. In another pan, heat olive oil until smoking, then reduce heat to low. Place the steak into the pan and start pan-searing. 3 minutes on the first side and then another 2 minutes on the other side. Check doneness for medium rare. The meat centre should be a rose pink. If it is a dark red, then maybe you have to cook it a little longer.

The reason why I chose low heat as opposed to high heat is because I don’t want to over-cook the steak. So you have to time the steak strictly. Cut the middle to check for desired doneness. As the wagyu steak is very fatty, it is better to cook over low heat so that the fats will be tender. Once cooked to desired doneness, place it on serving plate.

4. In the same frying pan with the steak infused oil, add the butter and two fillets of anchovies. Break the anchovies and mash it into the butter. Throw in a sprig of Rosemary leaves. Cook until the sauce bubbles and spoon it into the steak. That’s it!

Pair it with a Cabernet Sauvignon or a spicy Shiraz.

Bon Appetit!

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!

White Button Mushrooms

image

White Button Mushrooms

There is nothing more delicious than a dish of roasted mushrooms at the dinner table. That to me is the main meal, the highlight. It was what I look forward to at dinner time.

It may be odd to place so much emphasis on just the humble fungi, but we all know how much the truffle can fetch in the open market. A few grams can mean some serious dollars at the vegetable marketplace of high end ingredients.

For me, I am happy with the basics. The white button is probably one of the few mushrooms that I got acquainted with when I studied in Sydney. It was a must and it had since become a staple.

My most favorite way of cooking them would be just simply roasting them in a pan without oil at first and getting the moisture in the mushrooms to dry up and getting them to brown a little.

Then I would drizzle extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt for flavor. Sometimes I would add a little rosemary and a dash of cayenne peppers when serving.

Simply divine.

Recipe – serving for one

Ingredient

White button mushrooms

Sea salt

Extra virgin olive oil

Cayenne pepper

Rosemary (optional)

Method

1. Quart the mushrooms and then fry them on medium heat without oil.  This is to brown the mushrooms.

2. Add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and sea salt. This will give it the shine and the taste of sea salt just makes the dish exciting and delicious.

3. Add a little rosemary for that quintessential flavor.

Bon Appetit!