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.