Stir Fried Long Beans with Garlic 蒜头炒豆角

I know this is an easy dish that many people will know how to do...

And I also know that many people do not cook long beans this way..

I just want to share with you that long beans are extremely fragrant when cooked this way..

and this method can be applied to other leafy vege dishes in order to achieve that 'wok smell' (wok hei) that we can only get in restaurants.

Ingredients

2 cloves of garlic, smashed with the side of a cleaver(even if u want to chop it, u must smash it first. If not the fragrance will be different)

200 gm long beans (washed n cut into long slants)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp water (if u want it slightly softer)

Method

1. Heat wok until hot.

2. Put in salt, stir a bit and wait for them to be jumping around.

3. Put in oil (at this point, the wok will be smoky)

4. Put in garlic and stir.. be careful, it'll burn easily at this point

5. Put in long beans (should be slightly damp at this point) and toss well for 1 minute.

6. Pour water around the wok, not onto the beans. The steam will soften the beans a bit.

7. Dish up.

Warning: If u cannot stand the "green smell" of vege, you may find this too raw for ur liking. Adding more water to further cook it will spoil the original intended texture & smell. But in the end, u're still the one that'll eat ur own stuff... Up to u then.

Lydia's Birthday

My daughter will be having her Cow One soon... kekeke.... Wot's that??

In cantonese, 'ngau yat' is a nickname for birthday.. and it's her
1st birthday!!!!!

She's going to have 3 parties! One this Sunday, the next on next Saturday and the next on next, next Sunday. 3 parties over 3 weekends. The actual date is Aug 28.

Why so many?? Just take it as, she's loved by too many people!

I'll be cooking for the first and last party.

Menu for 1st party: (few kiddies in mind)
Lasagna, Stock Fried Rice Vermicelli, Chicken Ham Sandwiches, Honey Chicken Wings, Pink Dragon Fruit Jelly, Tuna Patties, Caesar salad, Flower Pot Cakes, and Ribena

Menu for 3rd party: (all adults, except Lydia)
Kerabu Bihun, Spaghetti Bolognese, Garlic Baked Potatoes, Coleslaw, Mango pudding, Honey Chicken Wings and lime juice, and of course, birthday cake! No exact plan yet on what cake to bake..





This was taken when she was just 15 days

I will be posting abt her parties...

Btw.... I still dunno the gender of the bun in my oven.. it's 21 weeks now

Pearl Balls ( 珍珠球 )

It's been years since I last made these... and I mean... 15 years at least..
The last time I made these were when I was 15... that long ago..so, u can guess how old I am now.. kekekeke..

I got this recipe from my mother's only cookbook.. haha.

The recipe is almost the same... but this time I added in prawn meat and discarded the ginger..

Pearl balls look like dimsum.. very nice for breakfast or as snacks.

This amount of ingredients yield about 50 balls

Ingredients:

500 gm minced pork (lean+fatty pork)

60 gm minced prawn meat

3 Tbsp finely chopped water chestnut

2 Tbsp finely chopped green onion

1 Tbsp corn starch

1 tsp sesame oil

1 egg white

3/4 tsp salt

good dash of white pepper

1 cup glutinous rice (soaked for at least 1 hour, better 3 hours, it'll expand to abt 1.5 cups)

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients together except rice

Maggi Goreng (抄Maggi 面)

In Malaysia, many brand names have turned to become generic names..

Diapers ... Pampers

Correction fluid... Liquid Paper

Photostat.... Xerox

Plastic containers.... Tupperware

and instant noodles are called Maggi noodles.. Maggi Meen in Cantonese, and very curly hair is called Maggi hair

So, if one is ordering maggi goreng (fried instant noodles) at the mamak(Indian Muslim) eateries, sometimes, it may be noodles of some other brand... well, no need to be at mamak... even at home.. Maggi Meen la!!!

Different mamak shops will have different versions of maggi goreng.. and I fell in love with the first version I came across from a mamak shop called Mubaruk in Kampar. My friends and I used to go to this shop after our Girls' Brigade meetings on saturday mornings.. so, this noodle dish sort of reminds me of the good old times. I watched the mamak guy cook it..so I copied it.. hehehe

Ingredients

1 packet of instant noodles (curry flavour)

1 Tbsp sliced onion

2 Tbsp sliced tomato

1 stalk choy sum (cut short lengths)

1 egg

2 Tbsp oil

1. Boil a saucepan of water and cook noodles until just soft (it'll still retain it's square shape). Cut noodle cake in half.

2. Heat wok and put in oil.

3. Fry onion until softened, put in tomato, fry until fragrant (it'll turn mushy)

4. Put in choy sum and stir.

5. Put in cooked noodles and stir well.

6. Sprinkle in seasoning from noodle pack. Stir well.

7. Push noodles to the side of wok and break in an egg. Stir and push noodles back onto egg.

8. Stir and toss for 1-2 minutes, until noodle becomes very fragrant.

Wintermelon Tea 冬瓜茶

Days are hot...

Wintermelon tea is a nice drink to cool down a bit

There's this Malaysian brand of drinks called Yeo's and to me, they make the best asian beverages (in packaged form, of course)

And they do have Wintermelon Tea as well... rather pricey.. About RM4 (depends on where u buy) for half a dozen of 250ml packs.

Well, I decided to try and make mine... all for less than RM8 for 4L of Wintermelon tea or more.

To make a less sweet version, just wash (or even soak in cold water) the dried wintermelon pieces to get rid some of the sugar.. if u prefer sweeter, just leave them as they are. Don't cut on on the wintermelon if u want it less sweet, that way, u'll cut on the aroma too...

Ingredients:

3 cups dried wintermelon pieces (washed and sliced thinly to release flavour)

1/2 cup dried longan

5 L water (the dired wintermelon will soak up a lot, and you'll be left with about 4L

Method:

Bring water to a boil and put in dried longan and wintermelon slices. Simmer for 1 hour.

Strain the beverage and leave to cool before chilling in the fridge.