Chinese Chives Soup 韭菜汤

Chinese Chives (gow choy) sounds the same as nine veg.. and many people refrain from eating this after having measles or chicken pox because, they believe they’ll get 9 times of that disease if they consume this 9 veg.

When I was a kid, I hated Chinese Chives… the smell was urgh!!!!!

Then grandaunt made this soup.. that was when it changed my opinion about this member of the onion family. It became my next favourite veg.

From a smelly green thingy.. it became the sweetest veg to my tastebuds…

A very easy soup to make

Chinese Chives Soup
½ cup dried anchovies, wash and drained
1 Tbsp oil
1L water
Salt to taste

10 fishballs
100gm Chinese chives cut into 3cm lengths)
1 egg , beaten

Heat a pot and put in oil. Stir fry anchovies until fragrant and pour in water. Let boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove anchovies and season with salt.

Put in fish balls and wait for them to float.
Put in Chinese chives and wait for soup to boil.
Drizzle in beaten egg while stirring continuously with a ladle.
Turn off the heat and serve.

French Toast 西多司

I learnt to do this when I was a young girl, say, in primary school.

During my confinement, the confinement lady made this for my breakfast, and from then onwards, hubby has been pestering me to make whenever he sees bread around the house

French Toast Recipe

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar

6-8 pcs of white bread (cut into prefered shapes)

Butter

1. Beat eggs, salt and sugar together.

2. Heat a frying pan on low .. put in some butter to melt.

3. Place one piece of bread into egg mixture and lighly coat bread. Do not soak it.

4. Put egg coated bread into pan and fry until golden brown.

5. Add in more butter and fry another batch until finished.

Pasta in Cream Sauce 白汁依粉

This may be a very common recipe to many others, but many of my friends have been asking me how to do a cream sauce for pasta.

Here's how I do it. You can put in whatever you may like.... calamari, chicken, ham, peas, carrots...

I use whipping cream because it is the most common form of cream available in Malaysia.

Pasta in Cream Sauce Recipe

Portion for 2
150gm pasta, cooked al dente.
1 pip garlic (chopped)
1/2 red onion (chopped)
1/2 cup prawns
1/2 cup mushrooms
1 cup dairy whipping cream (Anchor, Emborg... bla bla bla)
1 tsp parsley flakes
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Method:
1. Heat pan and put in olive oil. Saute garlic and onion until fragrant and softened.
2. Put in prawns or whatever meat preferred and stir fry for a while until almost cooked.
3. Put in mushrooms or whatever vegetables preferred and stir until everything is cooked.
4. Pour in whipping cream and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in parsley flakes.
5. When sauce has boiled and thickened, put in cooked pasta and coat pasta with sauce.
6. Remove from heat and serve.

Omelet with Minced Meat Gravy 肉碎汁煎单

Omelet with Minced Meat Gravy

Ingredients
3 eggs (beaten and fried into an omelet)

¼ cup minced pork or chicken
1/3 cup straw mushrooms (quartered)
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
1 shallot (finely chopped)

Gravy:
1 tsp cornstarch
¾ cup water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
Pinch of sugar
1 Tbsp oil

Method

1. Heat wok and put in oil
2. Sauté shallot and garlic until fragrant and slightly golden.
3. Put in minced pork and cook until brown. Put in straw mushrooms.
4. Pour in gravy mixture and cook until gravy thickens.
5. Pour gravy over omelet and serve.

Green Curry Chicken 青咖哩鸡

Mum gave me some green chilies that she didn’t know what to do with them (they were given to her by a friend), so, I suddenly thought of making green curry. I had trouble looking for fresh basil here in Kuala Kangsar, the market peddlers told me there’s no fresh basil in the market, only at people’s houses… So I had to find a
substitute.

Few days later, I got the idea to use ‘daun kesum’ instead, which is also another aromatic fresh herb easily found in Malaysia, especially in Kuala Kangsar where Laksa is the most popular local food here.

As far as I can remember, I’ve never eaten green curry before this, just saw many green curry in jars at hypermarkets

Green Curry Chicken Recipe

Ingredients
(A)3 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
2 cm ginger
2cm cube of belacan
2 lemon grass, bottom white parts only
8 green chilies
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp coriander seeds

2 chicken whole legs (cut into chunks)
1 Russet Potato (cut into 12 pcs)

200ml coconut milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oil
2 cups of water

Handful of daun kesum (laksa leaves) , or u can use basil

Method
1. Blend (A) to a paste.
2. Heat wok and put in oil. Spoon out 2 Tbsp upper layer of coconut milk and fry until it turns to oil.
3. Put in blended paste and sauté until fragrant, for about 1-2 minutes.
4. Put in chicken and potato. Cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Pour in water and simmer on high fire until the potato is cooked and gravy thickens and greatly reduced.
6. Put in coconut milk and salt. When curry has come to a boil, put in daun kesum. Cook until daun kesum wilts.