FRIED PEA SPROUTS

This is a homey mixed ingredients with pea sprout dish.  The combination of ingredients is actually according to individual preference.  Just increase the portion of the ingredients you like or use less of others which you like less.  It can be served as a One Dish Meal with rice as it is complete with proteins, carbo and fibre.

I only had this healthy dish with rice for dinner over the weekend.  Love the 5 spice flavoured firm beancurd  [Ng Heong Taufu Kon] of this dish and the crunchy pea sprouts.  

Ingredients

[serves 2-3]

1-2 pieces 5 spice flavoured firm beancurd - cut 1 cm strips

2 dried mushrooms - soaked, drained and shredded

1 small carrot - peeled and shredded

1 tbsp shredded ginger

100 gm chicken breast meat or with some pork strips

150 gm pea sprouts

1 red chilli - seeded and shredded

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp cornflour with 1 tbsp water [mixed]

Seasoning A

1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

dash of pepper and msg

salt to taste

4 tbsp water

Seasoning B for Pea Sprouts

dash of salt, pepper, msg and sesame seed oil to taste

1. Heat oil in a non-stick wok, pan fry firm beancurd until golden and crispy at the edges, dish up.
2. Using the same wok, saute chicken strips until it turns white, add in mushrooms.  Stir fry until fragrant.
3. Add in ginger, carrots and seasoning A.  Toss well to combine ingredients.  Add in water and fried beancurd.  Bring to boil and thicken with some cornstarch water.
4. Dish up onto a bowl.  Press and invert onto serving platter.
5. Using the same wok, put in pea sprouts and seasoning B.  Quickly stir to mix well.  Dish up and place sprouts around the fried ingredients.
6. Serve immediately.

EZCR#52 - ERYNGII MUSHROOMS WITH GINGER AND BASIL

Recently, bought several packets of fresh Eryngii mushrooms at very low price from Tesco and used it to cook this dish. 

It turned out to be a nice vegetarian dish.  
This dish tastes sourish and savoury which blends well with the natural sweetness of the Eryngii mushrooms. The strong, pungent, sweet and menthol aroma comes from the Basil leaves that makes this dish refreshingly good.

Initially, didn't intend to post this recipe but since it is good, I have to record it here for future reference.  I wouldn't mind having just this dish with plain rice.

Ingredients

1 packet fresh Eryngii mushrooms - cut wedges

2 cm piece ginger - cut fine shreds

1 red chilli - seeded and cut shreds

1 bunch of Basil leaves - use only the leaves

1/2 tbsp oil

Seasoning

2 tbsp Apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp preserved soy bean paste [taucheong]

dash of pepper

1. Rinse mushrooms under running tap water.  Drain and cut wedges.
2. Heat up a non-stick wok without oil, dry fry mushrooms until lightly brown, fragrant and water vapourised.
3. Dish up, add oil in wok, saute ginger and red chillies until fragrant, then add in mushrooms, taucheong and seasoning.
4. Stir fry to combine ingredients, add in some water.
5. Bring to boil and turn to high heat, add in Basil leaves and fry until leaves are bright green in colour.
6. Dish up to serve.
   
   
   
   
   

THERMAL COOKER - MIXED VEGETABLE CURRY

It is so easy to cook a lovely mixed vegetable curry using the Thermal Cooker.  The difference is only water, add less water compared to cooking in a normal wok.

The curry is thick, aromatic and tasty.  The vegetables are soft but not soggy.  It stays warm in the pot for several hours. Nice.  

Ingredients

Curry Paste [Blended and Mix with powdered ingredients]

4 red chillies

10 dried chillies - soaked

3 lemongrass

5 candlenuts [buah keras]

100 gm shallots [optional]

3 tbsp meat curry powder

2-3 tsp mixed halba

1 tbsp coriander powder

1/2 tbsp tumeric powder

4-5 tbsp cooking oil

250 gm cabbage - washed and break into pieces

1 carrot - peeled and cut wedges

1 eggplant - washed and cut thick wedges

150 gm long beans - washed and cut 4 cm length

200 gm tofu pok [tofu puff]
some kaffir lime leaves - optional for garnishing

Seasoning

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp sugar

enough water to cover ingredients

150 ml thick coconut milk 

1. Heat up oil in the inner pot of the thermal cooker, saute aromatic, spices and curry paste until fragrant and oil separates.
2. Add vegetables, seasoning and stir fry to mix ingredients well.  Add in water just enough to cover the vegetables.
3. Bring to boil and cook until vegetables for about 15 minutes.  Add in tofu puffs and coconut milk.
4. Bring to boil and off heat.  Cover pot with lid.
5. Transfer to outer pot and leave to cook for another hour.
6. Dish out to serve with plain rice.
   

   

   

   

   

   

FRY MINI CHINA CABBAGE WITH DRIED CUTTLEFISH

 In my home, there must be at least a vegetable dish in every meal.  Sometimes, there are more than one with assorted vegetables, best if there are 5 colours in one dish.  Is this possible?  Practically, it is not possible daily cos' families are getting smaller and most would go for quick meals, too.

During hot weather times, it is best to eat more vegetables to boost our immune system.  This dish is a homey dish with at least several coloured ingredients like carrots, Chinese cabbage, mushrooms and dried cuttlefish.  You can add black fungus, meat according to own preference.

Here, I will state the ingredients used without the quantity cos' you can simply cook them in small or big portions according to individual family needs.

Ingredients

Mini China cabbage - washed and shredded

red carrot - shredded

a few dried mushrooms - soaked and shredded

a handful of dried cuttlefish - rinsed and soaked for 10 minutes, drained

some chopped garlic

cooking oil [I used lard]

Seasoning

salt, msg, black pepper, oyster sauce

dash of sesame seed oil

1. Heat up wok, add in mushrooms and garlic, saute until fragrant.  Add in dried cuttlefish and fry until there is a crackling sound.
2. Add in all the shredded vegetables, stir to mix well.
3. Add in seasoning and some water, continue to cook until vegetables are cooked through.
4. Dish up and serve immediately.
   
   
   
   
   

CHINESE CABBAGE WITH MUSHROOM SAUCE

This is a simple vegetable dish that is packed with nutrients. You can omit the fried egg crisps and it is a vegetarian dish.

Read further and you may like to add this vegetable to your diet.

Benefits of Chinese Cabbage / Bok Choy for Health

1. Chinese cabbage is one of the most effective natural remedies for cancer. Being a cruciferous vegetable, it contains a fair amount of glucosinolates – an organic compound that fights against cancer. Brassinin, which is basically a phytoalexin and has excellent cancer-preventing properties, is also present in this plant. Apart from these two vital elements, Chinese cabbage is also loaded with the anti-oxidant beta-carotene. Studies have proved that it can reduce the chances of developing cancer along with healing the damages caused in our body by cancer cells.
2. Dietary fiber is essential for proper digestion of food and Chinese cabbage contains a lot of that. When you eat this veggi, you consume enough of this nutrient and develop bulk inside your digestive tract. It eventually accelerates your digestion by removing unnecessary materials from our body.
3. Including Chinese cabbage in your diet can be extremely beneficial for your heart. It is because the vegetable is full of two most important minerals – calcium and potassium, which can regulate the blood pressure levels efficiently. The amount of sodium present in it is also quite low, which is good for maintaining the health of the cardiac system.

Want to know how Chinese cabbage nutrition benefits can make you healthy and beautiful? Click Here

Recipe adapted from Home Cooking Magazine [January 2001] - modified [My selected cookbook for Cookbook Countdown Event #3]

Ingredients 

[serves 4] 

250 gm Chinese cabbage [I used the small ones]-julienned 

100 gm carrots - scraped with a metal spoon 

5 dried mushrooms - soaked and cut strips 

1 tbsp chopped garlic 

1 egg lightly beaten - optional - lightly beaten 

1-2 tbsp light soy sauce to taste 

1 tbsp sesame seed oil 

2 tbsp cooking oil 

2 tsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp water 

1. Heat some oil in a non-stick wok, pour in eggs and quickly stir fry with a pair of chopsticks. Stir constantly until eggs are cooked and crispy. Dish up. 
2. Bring some water to boil in a wok, blanch Chinese cabbage for 3-5 minutes, drain and set aside. 
3. Heat oil in wok, saute garlic until aromatic, add in mushrooms and carrots. Fry until fragrant, add in seasoning and water. 
4. Thicken with cornflour mix and add in blanched vegetable. Toss to mix well, add in some fried egg crisps. 
5. Dish up, garnish with remaining egg crisps. Serve immediately.

I'm linking this post with Cookbook Countdown hosted by 

Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking (Makan2) Foray

KUIH PAITI/PIE TEE [TOP HATS]

What is Pie Tee aka Kuih Paiti or Top Hats? 

Answer from Wikipedia - " Pie Tee is a thin and crispy pastry tart shell kuih filled with a spicy, sweet mixture of thinly sliced vegetables and prawns. It is a popular Peranakan dish. The shells are made of flour. Similar to Popiah [spring rolls], the main filling is shredded Chinese turnips and carrots and  some other ingredients". 

For the Filling Recipe, please refer here.

I am sharing here the recipe for Pie Tee.

Recipe Source for my selected Cookbook for February 2016 – Nyonya Flavours [modified]

Ingredients

Batter Ingredients For Pastry Shells

180 gm rice flour

50 gm plain flour

50 gm cornflour

1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 egg

350 ml water

500 ml or more oil for frying

1. Sieve all the 3 types of flour into a mixing bowl.  Add in salt and baking powder.
2. Lightly beat the egg and add in to sifted flour together with water.  Use a whisk to mix the batter well until smooth [the batter is watery].  Leave to stand for about 1 hour before use.
3. Heat Pie Tee mould in  oil over a low fire.  When hot, dip the mould into the batter to cover up to 2/3 of the mould or almost to the rim.
4. Deep fry in the oil until set.  Shake pastry shells off the mould and fry until golden brown.  Drain well on paper towels and cool before storing in air-tight containers.
5. Serve pie tee with pei tee filling, garlic chilli sauce and some fried crispy shallots.
   
   

Note: Keep well for at least a week. If shells have lost their crunch, toast them for a few minutes in a preheated oven.

This post is linked to Cook and Celebrate: Chinese New Year 2016 hosted by Yen from GoodyFoodies, Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe

and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids

 

I'm submitting this post to Cookbook Countdown 2 hosted by Kitchen Flavours and Emily's Cooking [Makan2] Foray