Honey Mustard Pork Loin

Another recipe I created on my own *pat on the back*

I find the pork was a tad tough, I guess it's due to the thick cut of meat I'm using. Maybe I should use pork chop in future. However, the meat and gravy was yummylicious and Chris loved it.

Ingredients

2 pcs pork loin or pork chops

3 tsp honey

3 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp wholegrain mustard

1/2 onion, sliced

salt & pepper

1. Marinade pork with salt and pepper, honey, red wine vinegar, mustard and sugar.

2. Leave in the fridge for a few house or overnight for more intense flavour.

3. Heat oil and cook pork over medium heat for 2 mins on each side until lightly browned.

4. Pour about half the marinade over the pork and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 5-6 minutes. Remove pork.

5. Pour remaining marinade into pan and add in onions. Cook uncovered for 2-3 minutes until reduced to thick gravy consistency.

6. Spoon over pork and serve.

Baked Peach with Crumble Topping

These succulent summer fruits are sweet and packed with vitamins. There's nothing like a ripe peach eaten out of hand - it's sweet, juicy and fragrant. If you are set to wow your guest, you have to try this! It can be served as dessert or for breakfast/brunch..it would be just as impressive.



Ingredients

2 peaches, halves and pit removed

4 tbsp muesli, toasted

1 tsp brown sugar/caster sugar

dash of cinnamon

ice cream or vanilla yoghurt to serve

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius

2. Cut peached in half and remove pit.

3. Mix muesli, sugar and cinnamon together. Place equal amounts on top of each peach half and bake for 15 mins.

4. Serve warm with ice cream or vanilla yoghurt.

Thai Style Seafood Tang Hoon

This is an amazing recipe which is ideal for lunch or light dinner. This simple dish can be whipped up in minutes.

Ingredients

1 pc blue flower crab, washed and cleaned, cut into pieces

2pcs squid, washed and cleaned, cut into pieces

8-10 pcs prawns, cleaned, shells intact

2 slices ginger

2 large slices galangal

2 stalks lemongrass, bruised

5 shallots, diced

5 cloves garlic, diced

3 fresh chillies, sliced (leave some for garnish)

100g coriander, cut into batons (leave some for garnish)

2 eggs, beaten with a dash of sesame oil

5 tbsp water

1 tbsp oil

300g tang hoon, soaked in water

1 kaffir lime, cut in wedges



Seasoning

1 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp sugar



1. Heat oil in wok and fry ginger, galangal, lemongrass, shallots, garlic and chillies over high heat.

2. When fragrant, add crabs and 2 tbsp water and cook covered for 4-5 minutes or until crabs turn red. Add in prawns and squid, stir fry for a few miutes.

3. Add tang hoon, seasoning, coriander, egg mix and remaining water. Stir and cook covered for 4-5 minutes.

4. Garnish with coriander, chilli and kaffir lime wedges.

5. Serve immediately.

Two important updates

ONE: It's been a while since the last time i update this blog. We got our FIRST HOUSE together!! Went to the lawyer's office on 7 dec to settle the remaining 15% (we are totally broke - no more holidaes) and sign all the documents. Come 17 dec, we will officially be the owner of Azalea Park blk 8 #03-01!! However, the house is tenanted until 31 Jan..so we can't do any reno until then. At the moment, chris and mum is working out on the design of the house. Chris has put in a lot of effort in designing the house especially the kitchen to make sure it is to my requirements! ;) *pat on the back*

TWO: On 18 nov, i attended the ROM of poh sim and adrian. Poh sim is my childhood friend and we were classmates since primary 3. Not only that, our parents know each other since they were young!! I'm really glad that i did not miss out on that special day! Congratulations Mr & Mrs Wong..wishing you both a happy and blissful marriage!! Looking forward to the customary next year :)

photo courtesy of poh sim

Shark's fin melon soup

Shark's fin melon got its name from its similarity to shark's fin. When cooked the flesh will disintegrate into strands hence the name shark's fin.
This is a melon is packed with lots of taste and nutrient..and best of all, it will not cost you a bomb.


Ingredients

1 small piece of shark's fin melon, skin & seed removed, cut into chunks
1 pkt of pork ribs or chicken bone
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into pieces
3-4 red dates
handful of wolfberries (kei ji), optional
1000ml water
salt to taste

1. Cut away the skin from the melon and using a spoon, scoop out the seeds. Cut the melon into chunks.
2. Blanched pork ribs in a pot of hot water for 3-5 mins. Drain and set aside.
3. Place blanched pork ribs, carrot, melon, wolfberries and dates into pot of boiling water. Bring to a boil and continue boiling on high heat for 10 mins.
4. Reduce the heat and simmer on low heat for 40 mins or longer if time permits.

Tau Eu Bak (soya sauce pork)

This is C's favourite dish growing up. And according to C, his mum makes the best tau eu bak..so he says :p

So i learned from her..she did not tell me the exact amount of ingredients to use, so i just agak as long as it tastes good, yes?? There are many versions to this tau eu bak, C's mum version has a watery gravy and my aunt's version, the gravy is thick. Both are just as delicious!!

Ingredients

250g pork belly, cut into big pieces

6 pcs garlic, crushed

5 star anise

6 pcs mushroom, soaked

4 hard boiled egg, shells removed

Seasoning

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp light soya sauce

4 tbsp dark soya sauce

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

500ml water

1. In a pot, heat some oil and throw in crushed garlic. Saute until fragrant.

2. Add in pork and star anise. Continue cooking until the pork is brown in color on the outside.

3. Mix in seasoning and stir until pork is well coated. Add water, mushroom and hard boiled egg.

4. Simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes or longer depending on the tenderness of the meat.

The longer you cook, the softer the meat will be.

5. Dish up and serve with rice.

* The seasoning is an estimation. Increase or decrease the portion to suit your taste. If you prefer the gravy to be darker, add more dark soya sauce etc.
I will usually add in 1 piece of beancurd (taukua) but I forgot to get one today.

Sweetcorn pancake with bacon & tomatoes

Lee kiang made this for breakfast when we were in london. Sweetcorn pancake with bacon and drizzle with maple syrup. I was sceptical at 1st..how can pancake, bacon and maple syrup go together. Sweet and salty doesn't go together..so I thought. But I was wrong, they turned out to be delicious!! Still craving for more, I made this for brunch today..and C said it's as good as lee kiang's :D

Ingredients (makes 6)

3 eggs, separated

75g self raising flour

4 tbsp milk

100g sweetcorn kernel
2 tsp vegetable oil (for frying)

6 pieces of bacon (back or streaky), pan fried

2 tomatoes, halved and pan fried

1. In a large bowl, combine egg yolk, flour and milk. Mix together to get a thick batter.

2. In a separated bowl, whisk egg whites into soft peaks, then stir in half the egg whites into the batter. Gently fold in the rest. Mix until well combined.

3. Heat a tsp of oil, add 3 tbsp of batter (depending on the size) and sprinkle sweetcorn on top of pancake. Cook until bubbles form on the top and it's golden underneath.

Flip and cook on the other side for about 30 seconds.

4. Serve with bacon and tomatoes. Drizzle with maple syrup.

Lee Kiang's version

.LONDON.AMSTERDAM.

C and I just got back from our annual pilgrimage to london..yes london again!! But this time round we made a pit stop in amsterdam before returning home. We were in london for 4 days and 2 in amsterdam. People were asking, why london again?? Guess we just love the place but definitely not the underground!!! Delays, part suspended, fire alert..etc and also wrongly deducted 7.60 quids from our oyster card! Besides that, everything went well, thanks to mr & mrs cabrera *wink*
From london, we took a night bus to amsterdam from victoria coach station. It was a 12 hour bus ride The ride wasn't that bad except at the french border, whereby you got to bring all ur stuff down at the custom checkpoint just like at the s'pore-malaysia checkpoint minus the x-ray machine. Over there, the officers will check every single bag and there were almost 60 of us..just imagine how long it took!!
Finally after 12 hrs, we arrived at amsterdam and we were welcomed by the rain - what a great start! We were in amsterdam for 3 days..2.5 days actually. We spent some time walking around and taking in the beauty of amsterdam, chilling out and most of all catching up with niels, japke & family (Niels is C's ex-cluster mate from NUS)!

On 12th nov morning, we bidded farewell to the krummacher's and left for the airport. Another 12.20 mins flight time and we were back in singapore. We enjoyed ourselves VERY much during this hols and most of all, this trip did not burn a hole in our pocket!! More hols to come perhaps??

Assam Prawns

Assam prawns is a simple dish to cook and needs only a few ingredients - prawns and assam paste (tamrind pulp). This is one of my favourite seafood dish. Everytime when i'm back in penang, we will pay a visit to fisherman's village and without fail, assam prawns will be on the menu. My dear grandma used to cook this dish but hers is the dry version and slightly burnt..hmmm, can't remember the time she last cooked it. When writing this recipe, an idea came to mind, instead of pan-frying them, i can bbq them! I'm sure it's gonna be as good, yes?? Shall give it a try~


Ingredients

8-10 prawns, leave shell intact
1 1/2 tbsp tamarind pulp
4 tbsp water
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt
dash of dark soya sauce

1. Mix tamarind pulp with water and extract the juice from the tamarind pulp.
2. Marinate prawns with tamarind paste that has been mixed with water. Add in sugar, salt and dark soya sauce. Leave aside for 20 minutes. Discard the pulp.
3. Heat up a wok and fry prawns till they are cooked.
4. Dish out and serve immediately.

Kung Po Chicken

This is a simple dish to make. According to a recipe that i saw, the secret ingredient to this dish is vinegar in the sauce..yes indeed. It does really complete the kung po flavour - it provides a subtle yet characteristic touch to the dish
Using the same recipe, you can also substitute chicken with others eg. shrimps, squids or clams.
If you prefer a milder version, feel free to reduce the amount of dried chilis used :)

Ingredients

2 pieces chicken breast/thigh, diced (marinate with 2 tsp soya sauce & dash of sesame oil)

1 medium onion, cut into wedges

10-12 dried chilis, soaked

handful of cashew nuts, roasted

2 pieces of ginger

5 pieces of garlic, minced

Seasoning

1 tsp oyster sauce

1 tsp dark soya sauce

1 tsp light soya sauce

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp sugar

pinch of salt & pepper

1 tsp cornstarch

2 tbsp water

1. Cut chicken into small pieces and marinate with the ingredients above.

2.Mix the seasoning in a bowl and set aside.

3. Heat up oil in a wok and add in ginger, garlic and dried chilis.

4. Stir fry until fragrant and they smell spicy, add in chicken meat.

5. Continue stir fry for a few minutes before adding roasted cashew nuts.

6. Add in the seasoning and fry until the chicken meat is well coated with the sauce and well cooked.

7. Dish up and serve with steam rice.

MaPo Toufu

Ingredients

1 block of toufu, cut into chunks

200g minced pork (marinade with salt, sugar & pepper)

handful of green peas (optional)

Seasoning

1/2 tsp tau cheong

1 tsp hot bean paste

1/2 tsp sugar

pinch of salt & pepper

100ml water

1. Heat oil in wok. Stir fry minced pork until almost cooked.

2. Add in seasoning and water.

3. Add in toufu and and stir gently to blend the toufu (do not break them) well with the sauce.

4. Lower the heat and stir for 2-3 mins or until the sauce thickens.

5. Dish out and serve hot.

Sambal okra with sotong

Ingredients

2 sotong, cut into rings
15 lady fingers, sliced
1 tomato, cut into wedges

Seasoning
1 tbsp sambal belachan
1 tbsp assam paste, mix with 1/2 bowl of water (discard the seeds)
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt

1. Remove soft bones and clean sotong thoroughly. Cut sotong into rings.
2. Heat up oil in a wok. Stir fry sambal belachan until fragrant.
3. Add in okra and tomato, stir fry for 5mins or til almost cooked.
4. Add in sotong, assam water, sugar and salt.
5. Stir fry for 1-2 mins or until cooked.
6. Dish up and serve.

* Can substitute sotong with prawns.

Pan fried chicken breast with mushroom ragout linguine topped with arugula leaves

This dish is my own creation. I made this from scratch without referring to any recipes *proud*
It looks good and it taste even better ;)

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 pcs chicken breast

Marinade:
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp of light soya sauce
dash of worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp paprika
dried oregano (optional)
dried rosemary (optional)

Mushroom ragout:
1 pkt fresh button mushroom, sliced
1 tbsp butter
3-4 garlic, minced
dried oregano
pinch of sugar
salt & pepper
150ml milk
1 tsp cornstarch (mix with 2 tbps water)

1 pkt arugula (rocket)
2 portions of linguine, cooked al dente

1. Marinate the chicken breast and leave aside for 15-20 mins.
2. Heat up a pan, pan fried the chicken breast 3mins on each side or until cooked. Chicken breast can be cooked easily, it only takes a couple of minutes. To check if it's fully cooked, poke a skewer in the centre, if it goes right through easily, then the chicken is cooked.
3. Dish up and set aside.
4. To make the mushroom ragout, melt butter in a pan and add in garlic. Saute the garlic until fragrant, add in mushroom with all the dried herbs and seasoning.
5. When it's almost cooked, pour in milk and stir well until gravy thickens. Add in cornstarch if need to thicken the gravy.
6. To plate the dish, place linguine on the plate and topped with mushroom. Cut chicken breast into big pieces and arrange them on top of the mushroom. Finally, topped with a handful of arugula leaves.

*Note:
Ragout is a french word, it means stew. The basic method of preparation involves cooking over low heat.
Al dente is an italian word describing pasta that has been cooked so as to be firm but not hard. It is often considered the ideal form of cooked pasta.

Individual Apple Crumble ala mode

Ingredients (serves 2)

Filings:
2 apples ( I used Royal Gala Apples)
1 tbsp brown sugar/caster sugar
1 tbsp water
dash of cinnammon

Crumble:
2 tbsp oats (can substitute with muesli-it's perfectly fine)
2 tbsp flour
2 tsp sugar
12g butter or margerine


1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Peel and core the apples, cut into chunks or thick slices.
2. Put apple into pan with water, sugar & cinnammon. Cook over low heat for 3-5 mins and place in small oven proof dish.
3. Place flour and oats in a bowl and mix well. Cut butter into small cubes and add in to the flour mixture. Mix with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs, add in sugar and mix well.
4. Cover the apples with the crumble. Bake for approximately 20mins until the crumble is golden brown.
5. Serve hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

5 mins tomato soup

Someone taught me how to make this soup sometime back. I din know it was SO easy until i tried it last night. At first i was worried wondering how the soup will turn out to be..but surprisingly it was good and C likes it - that's the most important!
so peeps, if you want to impress your loved ones, do give this soup a try..and it only takes 5mins!!

Ingredients

1 can of Tomato juice (serves 2)
4 olives (gives the soup a hint of tanginess)
dash of Tabasco sauce
dash of Worcestershire sauce
pinch of sugar
salt & pepper to taste
100 ml milk


1. Pour the whole can of tomato juice into a pan. Add in olives, tabasco, worcestershire sauce & sugar. Bring to a boil.
2. Add in milk and season with salt & pepper.
3. Serve it hot.

* Best served with garlic bread

Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary

I made this as a side for the lamb cutlets. This is a simple dish that can be done in just over a few minutes.

Ingredients

5-6 pcs potatoes (any variety)

2-3 pcs garlic, crushed

1 onion, sliced

olive oil

pinch of salt

cracked black pepper

2 sprigs of rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees.

2. Wash the potatoes and leave the skin intact. Cut it into chunks or slices. Place them on a baking tray together with crushed garlic, onions and rosemary.

3. Drizzle with olive oil and toss the potatoes around to make sure they are well coated with the oil.

4. Put them into the oven and roast for 10-15 mins or until cooked.

5. Serve as a side dish.

Maple-Balsamic Lamb Cutlets

I just came back from sydney and bought a packet of lamb cutlets from woolworths. It cost me aud 11 plus for 6 pcs. I dunno if it's cheaper than in s'pore, but i assumed that it was.
While searching for lamb recipes i came across Honey-Balsamic Lamb Chops courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis. I did some changes based on her recipe. I substituted Honey with Maple syrup, mainly bcoz i only have maple syrup at home.

Ingredients

6 pcs lamb cutlets
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 clove of garlic, crushed
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
cracked black pepper
2 sprigs of rosemary

1. To prepare marinade, mix vinegar, maple syrup, olive oil, salt & pepper in a bowl. Whisk the mixture until it becomes a thick sauce.
2. Place the lamb cutlets in a heat-proof dish, pour the marinade over them and make sure the cutlets are evenly coated with the marinade.
3. Sprinkle crushed garlic and rosemary over the cutlets.
4. Set aside for 20-30 mins. (It can be kept overnight)

5. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.
Sear both sides of the cutlets on a pan over medium heat, approximately 2-3 mins on each side. (This is to retain the juice of the meat)
6. Place them back onto the heat-proof dish and pop them into the oven for approximately 10-15 mins or until cooked.
7. Dish out and serve with roasted potatoes and french beans.
8. Spoon the sauce over the lamb or serve the sauce on the side.

Sweet Caroline

'Sweet caroline' was originally sung by neil diamond. In the movie GLEE - which we are so into right now, it was sung by Puck in a tribute to "musical jewish icon" hahaha. After listening to it over the weekend, i can't stop listening to it now..it's addictive, dang!! And Puck is HOT..better than Finn @ Marshall ;)

from now on

In the past, I would always copied down recipes i read from magazines, online, newspaper etc. Now that my little red book is almost full, I thought to myself - why write when u can type?? And the best part is, u can share the recipes with everyone. Isnt it better? Rather than when someone asked you for recipe, you have to copy down and send it to them. So from now on, this is where i will share with u peeps my latest culinary experiments *wink*