Long Beans Rice 豆角饭

My mom taught me how to do this (conventional rice cooker method), but I improvised it with …. an additional egg… cos there’s always lots of oil left after frying the sausages, and the oil remains quite a lot even after cooking the beans.. So, I soaked up the oil (plus flavours)with a scrambled egg…. and I'm cooking the rice in the microwave this time.

2 cups long beans ( cut into 2cm long, I cut 13 strings of beans)
1 chinese sausage (deskinned, sliced)
1 Tbsp dried shrimp (chopped)
1 egg
2 shallots (thinly sliced)
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 ½ tsp salt

1 ½ cups rice
2 cups water (depends on the type of rice, but reduce it slightly as long beans release some moisture)

Method:
1. Heat wok with oil
2. Saute shallots until golden, dish up and drain off excess oil.
3. With remaining oil in wok, carefully fry Chinese sausage. Be careful not to burn them. When they are cooked, remove and put on a plate.
4. There should be oil in the wok, as sausages release oil when cooked. Use the same oil to sauté dried shrimp until very fragrant.
5. Put in long beans and stir fry for 1 minute or until cooked, but not soft. Put in dark soy sauce and salt. Mix well. Dish up.
6. Pour in egg into the same wok and scramble them (u can omit the egg, but I use the egg as a method to not waste the seasonings and oil.. haha).
7. Put rice and water into a covered casserole.
8. Microwave High 4 minutes, Med 6 minutes. Give rice a stir.
9. Pour in everything (sausages, eggs and long beans) except shallots. Spreading them evenly over rice.
10. Microwave again 2 minutes on high, 8 on medium.
11. Remove from microwave and sprinkle on shallots and mix up everything.
12. The rice is ready to be served.

Silken Tofu with Oyster Sauce 蚝油水豆腐

Ever sang Pease Porridge Hot???

Some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it in the pot, nine days old...

Haha.. this is not going to a 9 day tofu..

It's just that some like the tofu steamed hot, some like it fridge cold.

My mom's side of family likes it cold... and to them, steaming somehow makes the tofu slightly tougher.. Well, as u can see, when u steam tofu..some of its water content is released..which explained their reason.

Silken Tofu with Oyster Sauce Recipe

1 pc Silken Tofu (or smooth tofu, around 300gm)
2 Shallots (thinly sliced)
1 Tbsp dried shrimp (chopped)
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp oil
Green onions and red chili for garnish

1. Place silken tofu onto a dish
2. Heat wok and put in oil.
3. Saute shallots on low heat until golden and crispy. Dish out. Retain oil.
4. Put in dried shrimp and fry for a minute or until very fragrant. Then add in oyster sauce.
5. Stir for a while and pour sauce over prepared tofu.
6. Sprinkle on crispy shallots.
7. Garnish with some chopped green onions and red chili.

Chicken with Chinese Mushrooms 冬姑木耳鸡

Whenever this dish was cooked at my home (parent’s), the first thing that gets snapped up were the mushrooms and fungi. The chicken gets left behind… which is the other case when I cook this for my hubby. Different family with different taste buds..

Chicken with Chinese Mushrooms Recipe

1 chicken whole leg (cut small)
½ tsp salt

6 dried shitake mushrooms
2-3 pieces of wood ear fungi (mook yee)
2 Tbsp cloud ears fungi (wan yee)

2 inch ginger (smashed with a cleaver)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
2 tbsp oil
1 cup water

2 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
½ tsp sugar

¾ tsp cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup water

Method:
1. Soak mushrooms and fungi in cold water until they soften. Clean and cut into small pieces. Cloud ears need not be cut, just trim off the ends.
2. Marinate chicken with salt for 15 minutes.
3. Heat wok and put in oil. Saute garlic and ginger until fragrant.
4. Put in chicken and stir fry until meat is browned.
5. Put in 1 cup of water and let simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Put in light and dark soy sauce and sugar.
7. Put in mushrooms and fungi. Simmer for another 5 minutes.
8. When gravy has evaporated to desired amount, put in cornstarch mixture.
9. When gravy has thickened, dish up and serve with rice.

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Wood ears and cloud ears will enlarge about triple in size after being soaked.

Watercress Soup 西洋菜汤

The Chinese boils watercress for soup or for a cooling drink (liang cha). While Westerners use raw watercress for salads and sandwiches.

Watercress in Malaysia is not suitable for use in salads or eaten raw. Because...... they are grown in water that is fertilized by sacks of chicken droppings soaked in the ponds they are grown in. This way... I don't think one will eat raw veg bathed in chicken s**t water.. hehehehe.. lots of bacteria, and they may have a few slugs stuck between the petioles..
But hey.. without those precious stuff from the chickens, u won't get those fat juicy watercress from Camerons..

Watercress Soup recipe
300gm soup bones or ribs
250 gm watercress
6 red dates, pitted
10 white peppercorns, crushed
1 tsp salt
1.5L water

1. Trim leaves and tip off the main stem of the water cress. Keep them seperately.
2. Scald soup bones or ribs.
3. Boil 1.5L water and put in the stems, bones, red dates and peppercorn and simmer on med low heat.
4. After and hour and a half of simmering, remove stems and put in the leaves and tips of watercress.
5. Simmer for another 30-45 minutes and season with salt.


***
Usually my grandaunt will throw the stems away after simmering, saying that they are tough to be chewed. But if I'm around, she'll leave them for me to eat.

I usually see other people cutting the water cress into 2 inches length and putting the whole watercress stems in to boil together with the leaves... hehehe.. but not the way my grandaunt taught me.. she just retained the leaves and tips to be put in at a later stage .

Sweet and Sour Fish 茄汁鱼

Black pomfret, is the usual fish of choice for most of my friends’ mothers to make this dish, and we usually call it, Tomato Sauce Fish (Keh Jup Yue). Malaysian style is done with a hint of chili in it. One of my favourite childhood dishes.

I used sole (ikan sebelah, or jor hou yue-left mouth fish) for this. It goes wonderfully well with this method of cooking.

Sweet and Sour Fish Recipe

1 piece of sole (abt the size of my palm)
½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp corn starch
½ cup cooking oil

1 red onion (halved and sliced)
1 red chili (seeded and cut into strips)

1 red tomato, cut into wedges

A)
3 Tbsp tomato ketchup
2 Tbsp chili sauce (maggi type)
1 Tbsp sugar
1/3 tsp salt
3/4 cup water

1. Run knife across the body of fish to create cuts into flesh, but not through the bone.
2. Marinate fish with salt for 10 minutes.
3. Rub cornstarch onto fish.
4. Heat oil in wok and pan fry fish until golden. Dish up.
5. Discard some of the oil and retain about 1-2 tbsp of oil.
6. Saute red onion and chili until fragrant and soft.
7. Mix A together and pour into wok. Bring to a boil. Put in tomato wedges. If more gravy is desired, add more water and some cornstarch.
8. Put fish back in for 10 seconds each side to soak up some gravy. Dish up and serve.