Kitchen Tips from me to U!

Hope u find these tips helpful
Click on the questions to find the tip that is located in my blog.
It's in the posts. You have to read through.

1. How to make green vegetables "green" after blanching, or even prolonged boiling.
2. How to get the "wok hei" , the distinctive fragrance from stir frying, like Chinese restaurants style fried vegetables.
3. How to get a smooth surface for Seri Muka
4. How to make smooth Chinese Steamed Eggs
5. Tenderizing beef using common household ingredient
6. How to get equal layers when baking Sarawak/Indonesian Layer Cakes
7. How to get a smooth tart crust that does not leak
8. Temperature control in making buttercream
9. How to prevent overboiling porridge
10. How to make sure no fish bones in fish porridge
11. How to prevent fishy smell in porridge
12. How to detect food dye in tea




I'll add to the list as I continue to blog.

Stir Fried Pork with Ginger and Onion

Mom bought me these pork pieces.. that had these great marbling....... look at that the pictures below.

I don't know what is the name of the cut, but the butcher that introduced this to my mom said, it was cut off from the fatty layers. Now my mom only buy these for stirfying or cooking quick soups.

This cut of the pork is very tender and has a melt in the mouth texture, maybe like Wagyu or Toro, altho I have never eaten any of those, just what I read abt how they taste like and they are well marbled as well..
What other way to cook such tender and succulent meat than a simple stir fry???

If u cannot find this type of pork, feel free to substitute with pork fillet(mui yoke) or silverside. I don't find pork loin(yoke ngan) to be good with this.

Ingredients:

150gm pork fillet or silverside

1.5 inch of ginger, very thinly sliced, about 10 slices

Half cup of Spring onions/scallions( cut into 2 inch lengths, separate the white and green parts)

2 Tbsp oil

Seasoning: all mixed and set aside
1/3 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
¾ tsp cornstarch
1/3 cup water

Directions:

1. Heat wok until very hot. Put in oil.

2. Saute ginger and white parts of green onion until fragrant.

3. Put in pork slices and fry until it is no longer pink.

4. Put in seasonings.

5.When gravy come to a boil and reduced to desired consistency, put in green parts of green onion. Cook until the green onion wilts.

6. Dish up.

This pic was my 2nd attempt with this meat. The meat this time was more well marbled than the 1st piece.

This pic was my first attempt with this special cut. Very pink and nice

Tuna Potato Cakes

This is one thing that I made out of the pantry while I was posted to Felda Selancar, Pahang, 6 years ago. Selancar is a resettlement with oil palm being its major industry. Surrounded by oil palms as far as the eye can see, going out to the nearest town, Segamat is 50km away. I kept lots of canned food and other not so perishable foods at my quarters.

After making this, only did I realise it actually taste like "bergedil", a Malay "dish", hmm.. I don't know how to categorise it, but bergedil is always found where the rice stalls are, eaten with rice. Sometimes with soto as well.

Something easy to make for dinner or kids parties.
I used to make this using the smallest can of tuna, now that packaging size is no longer available.


1/4 cup tuna flakes, drained amount.Flake tuna finely. (1 regular can of Ayam brand, tuna in brine will need 3 potatoes)
1 russet potato, cut into 1cm cubes
1 heaped Tbsp cornstarch
1/3 tsp salt
dash of pepper
1 egg, beaten
Some oil for frying (U can pan fry or deep fry)

1. Bring a saucepan of water to boil and put in potato cubes. Simmer for 3 minutes. Check if potatoes are cooked, but not mushy. Drain.
2. Place flaked tuna and drained potatoes into a bowl. Put in salt,pepper and cornstarch. Mix well.
3.Use clean hands, place 1/2 tablespoon of potato mixture onto palms and shape into a patty. Place on a plate. Repeat until potato mixture is finished. U can stack the patties, they won't stick to each other.
4. Heat oil for frying. When oil is ready, dip 1 patty into beaten egg and place carefully into hot oil. Fry both sides until golden. Dish up and drain.

Fried Beef Noodles 炒牛肉面

A recreation of what I’ve tasted in Tong Kee in Kampar. But not the current Tong Kee.. the old one. My mom said, my late dad used to eat this with her when they were dating.

I’ve added a pinch of baking soda to the beef to tenderize it. And the beef has to be marinated overnight to dry it up, so that it won’t release juices when it’s being cooked.
This can’t be cooked with the methods we see the restaurants use, because the heat from our burners are no match to theirs. Our beef must be browned in advance to achieve full flavour, and removed to prevent it from overcooking.


150gm beef
2 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
Pinch of baking soda
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 Tbsp sesame oil

3 Tbsp oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
400gm yellow noodles (mi kuning), loosen and snip shorter before use. Don’t let them clump together. Ramen will work fine here as well. Just need to blanch it before use.
3 Tbsp dark soy sauce (depends on how dark ur dark soy is, I used Lee Kum Kee)*
2 Tbsp light soy sauce ( u might need more, I don't recommend salt here)
1 Tbsp sugar (U may adjust the light and dark soy sauce amounts, but this amount of sugar is vital to the final taste)
1 cup water
3 stalks or more choy sum (mustard green), cut into 2 inch lengths

Marinate beef in following sequence, mixing well after each addition, and leave it overnight in the fridge.
1. Baking soda
2. Soya sauce +sugar
3. Cornstarch
4. Sesame oil
Remove from fridge an hour before cooking time. Let it come to room temperature and separate meat pieces , don’t let them clump together.

Cooking:
1. Heat wok until very hot. Put in 3 Tbsp oil and make sure the whole of wok is smeared with the hot oil. Don’t forget the spatula must be heated in the oil too.
2. Put in marinated beef and stir fry until fragrant and browned. It should only take 30 seconds.
3. Remove beef and set aside.
4. Put in 2 Tbsp oil and put in garlic. When garlic is fragrant, put in yellow noodles and stir fry for a while.
5. Put in choy sum and mix. Put the beef back into the wok and put in water and seasonings.Taste, if it is slightly undersalted, it's just nice, cos the water will reduce later and by then it will be just right.
6. Cook until water has half dried up. Dish up and serve.

This whole cooking process is less than 5 minutes.
* If you are using dark caramel sauce, you will need about 1 Tbsp, and jack up the light soy sauce.

Lyanne's 1 today!

Lyanne is my 2nd daughter, born on this day 1 year ago.
Her birth was God's planning and thinking back... it really touches my heart on how God really takes care of everything for me.

I thank God for this girl, this little sister to Lydia, whose first words are not "papa" or "mama" or "nen nen" or "mum mum", but "No More", with actions some more :)

We did some early celebration. My side of family celebrated it on Christmas Day itself as most of them will be back that day.
I created a Light Carrot Cake for her... I'm not 100% satisfied with the outcome, need to perfect the recipe. Something feels missing, might be the cinnamon. Need to find a spot to put that in.




Read more...

2nd Cake:

Celebration on Mike's side of family was done on 27th Dec, cos everybody went or were in PJ that day.

Bought by pretty Aunt Iris, Golden Nugget by Secret Recipe. A new release, and everybody that ate it found that it is not as tasty as Secret Recipe usually will be.

Getting ready for the big blow..

As usual, Lydia wants to have her cut tooo:)

Lydia, u better let Lyanne share ur cake too next year....

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers,

Happy New Year

and

May U have a great year ahead!!!