Burdock and Red Bean Soup - Soup Week #2

I have 2 sticks of burdock in my fridge, due to a miscommunication between my MIL and aunt. Both helped me get burdock for my Miracle soup. But since Mike refused drinking more of the detoxifying soup after getting black stool, which was a good sign that it was working, I had to try using the excess burdock in another way.

My soup recipe book didn’t have a recipe for this, so when I saw Blessed Homemaker who loves making all sort of soups getting online in MSN, I asked whether she has one. She recommended me to this site . Ohhh... I don’t like pork trotters in soup, so I substituted it with pork ribs, something that I already have in my freezer, But her recipe is not all that complete with measurements, and I’ve measured out what I’ve used, so that you will know how much to put if you want to try.

Burdock and Red Bean Soup
Recipe loosely adapted from Retrenchee
150gm burdock /gobo (ngau phong)
25gm red dates
50gm red beans
2 candied dates
500gm spare ribs
2.5L water
Salt to taste

1. Soak red beans overnight in cold water or hot water for 2 hours
2. Wash burdock and slice, unpeeled.
3. Discard red date seeds.
4. Put everything into a pot and bring to a boil.
5. Lower heat to simmer for 2 hours and season with salt.

Beetroot and Sweetcorn Soup - Soup Week #1

I was attracted to this by the colour. I’ve never seen a Chinese soup using beetroot. So, this is a must try for me. Few times at Jusco, I can’t get nice beetroots, and then I finally got a nice blemish free, still plump beetroot. But then I forgot the white radish/daikon, but I usually prefer to get the slim and curvy type at a Malay vendor in KK. That variety taste much better than the fat plump straight variety.

But on the day I wanted to boil this, it rained cats and dogs, and I couldn’t go out to get my white radish. So, I just skipped it. It might still taste good, fingers crossed : )

Beetroot and Sweetcorn soup
Recipe adapted from : The Sweet Spot

400gm beetroot
2 ears of corn
200gm waterchestnut (7 large ones)
200gm carrots (2 medium ones)
200gm pork loin or lean pork, or 300gm pork ribs
2.5L water (10 bowls)

1. Bring the water to boil.
2. Peel beetroot, cut into chunks.
3. Peel waterchestnuts, cut into halves.
4. Peel carrots, cut into slanting chunks
5. Shuck the corn and cut into chunks
6. Cut pork into smaller pieces.
7. When water has come to a boil, put in everything and let it simmer for 2 hours.
8. Season with salt.

Verdict:
Yummy. Everybody loved this soup especially my Mother in Law.

Thanks Swee San for this cute soup... Oh yes, I do find this cute.

Nian Gao Taro Rolls - CNY Week #3

 

My father’s 2nd younger sister, my “Sai Ku Cheh 小姑姐” told me last year about how her friend fried her nian gaos. She found it to be very delicious because nian gaos are sweet and when contrasted with a slightly salted coconutty taro filling, it tasted fabulous.

This year, with a nian gao given by my neighbor, I tried out the method she recommended. It was a refreshing change from the usual methods of eating. I gave some to neighbours from both sides and brought them to Mike’s shop. No one knew what I was serving them until they bit into the roll : ). It was fun making people guess. They all thought I was serving them spring roll.

**Charissa, please tell your mom we all loved this version.

Nian Gao Taro Rolls
Recipe source: Wendyywy inspired by Grace Ho
Taro Filling
500gm taro (芋头, keladi )(cleaned weight)
100gm fresh grated coconut
2 Tbsp sugar
1/3- ½ tsp salt (use 1/3 tsp first, taste and add more if needed)
1. Slice taro and steam until cooked(soft).
2. Mash taro while it’s still hot and put in coconut, salt and sugar. Mix until well combined

Assembly
300gm nian gao, cut into 2 inch long strips (mine were anywhere from 8-12gm each)
Spring roll wrappers (125mmX125mm)
Egg white to brush on edges

1. Place wrapper onto a flat surface, eg: a plate.
2. Place 1 tbsp of taro filling onto wrapper (I used 20gm filling since I had about 32 pieces of nian gao), lightly spread it out.
3. Place 1 pc of nian gao onto taro and wrap (see pictures)
4. Brush edge with egg white before rolling up.
5. Fry the prepared rolls in medium- medium low heat until golden.

Frying was a breeze, no splattering and even the wrapping is hot hard to do, because the taro filling is not soggy wet but easy to handle cos it won’t fall apart.
I made about 29 rolls from this recipe.

The sunlight today was bad, my pictures had high noise problems. Somehow I'm beginning to hate taking pictures. It's getting boring, LOL.

Braised Mushrooms with Dried Oysters and Scallops - CNY Week #2

Braised mushrooms is a favourite at my house. But my mom does it with leeks, fried chicken feet and roasted pork, a version I doubt Mike’s family will like.

Since getting married, I never went home for new year eve’s Reunion Dinner. Well, we’re not supposed to, cos once married you have to eat at your husband’s as you now belong to that family. I do know that many practise alternating or eat at both sides nowadays, but that is unless you stay a sea away (for alternate years) or stay within 30 mins drive to eat at both sides, and also provided it’s eating out where no work at home is done. But traditionally, it’s always at the husband’s side. I’ve never seen my mom going home for dinner. Neither do my sister in laws who stay walking distances away. They stay throughout the dinner and may drop by their parent’s house after that for a chat with their siblings, but never for reunion dinner. It’s an understood custom. My mom calls it a "LAW".

So, for 5 years, I’ve never had reunion dinner at home. At Mike’s place, we share the cooking work. His aunts will do some dishes and I’ll do some. And every year I wonder why is there no mushroom dishes. Is it that they do not know how to do it because since Mike’s grandma passed away, a lot of recipes followed in her footsteps too. So, I made this but not the version I had at home, as they don’t consume chicken feet.
I made up the recipe based on 2 persons. My 3rd uncle will always braise his mushrooms in garlic oil broth before he adds in other flavours and meat. My mom told me, dried oysters taste a lot better than oyster sauce and a few pieces in braises totally perks things up. And it so happened that I have some dried oysters and some scallops that has been sitting chilled in my fridge for almost 3 years.

Here, I present to you my maiden attempt in braising mushrooms and I’m very happy with the result. Flavourful and fragrant. I didn’t need to add any sugar as the scallop was sweet enough and I didn’t need any other sauces(besides the basic soy sauce) to season the dish as the oyster gave out so much flavour to the dish. I didn’t even use salt.

But, it was labled as “old people’s dish” when it arrived at the dinner location. The younger generation didn’t appreciate the dish but the older folks loved it. I was told that only Mike’s grandma will cook this, and since young my hubby will call it “old folk’s dish” and he said now he’s getting older already, he loved it. What a nice explanation. Huh! A far cry from my family where braised mushrooms are loved by the young and old.
I don’t think I’ll be cooking this for next year’s reunion dinner. If ever they ask for this dish again, I’ll do a much smaller portion. I think I’ll just fry chicken to feed those kids in their late 20’s next year.

Braised Mushrooms with Dried Scallop and Oysters
Recipe Source: Wendyywy
Serves 12-20 (depends on how much they eat)

200gm dried shitake/Chinese mushrooms, soaked for 1 hour or overnight
50gm dried oysters (10 pcs)
50gm dried scallops/conpoy (5 large pieces about 2cm diameter)
2 tbsp light soy sauce (30ml)
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce (15ml)
1 Tbsp Shao Xing wine (15ml)
1 bulb of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
4 Tbsp cooking oil (you do need this amount of oil to make the mushrooms look shiny and taste smooth)
1 tsp cornstarch +3 tbsp water (may need more if not thick enough)

1. Clean mushrooms and snip smaller if they are too big. Squeeze mushrooms to remove excess water.
2. Rinse oysters and scallops.
3. Heat a heavy based pot and put in oil.
4. Put in chopped garlic and sauté until it smells fragrant, no need to be golden.
5. Put in cleaned mushrooms and stir until coated with oil.
6. Put in rinsed oysters and scallops, Stir to mix around.
7. Put in water, enough to cover mushrooms.
8. Bring to a boil, cover with lid and turn heat to low.
9. Braise for 2 hours. Check pot once a while to make sure the liquid in pot doesn’t dry up.
10. After 2 hours, season with soy sauces and Shao Xing wine.
11. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes.
12. Prepare cornstarch mixture and thicken gravy according to preference.
13. Dish up and garnish with blanched veggies.

Golden Skin Tri-Colour Egg - CNY week #1

Happy Chinese New Year to all!! Still many days of celebration to go...

It's been 10 days of rest. I was feeling a bit lazy to start posting again. Haha, but can't lose the momentum, once it slows down, then it'll just get slower and slower. Anyway, here I am again.

I made this dish for this year's reunion dinner. This is not my creation. I first tasted tricolour steamed egg in restaurants, and it's usualy silky smooth, like silken tofu, or steamed egg. But this version that I tasted in a Japanese buffet in Sunway Giza is very different. It's sliced and firm. Mike fell in love with it. So, how can I not recreate something that my hubby loves. But I'm sure the restaurant didn't use soy milk for this. I purposely made a small amount of soy milk for this dish so that it'll create a firmer texture.



Golden Skin Tri-Colour Egg
Recipe source: Wendyywy

Ingredients

Base layer
3 salted egg whites
2 egg whites
200ml unsweetened soy milk (check volume of eggs whites before putting in)
3 century eggs

Golden skin layer
3 salted egg yolks (steamed and mashed)
2 egg yolks
1 egg
50ml unsweetened soy milk (check volume of eggs whites before putting in)

Method:
1. Prepare base layer. Coarsely chop century eggs.
2. Mix salted egg whites and egg whites. Measure volume. Put in equal amounts of soy milk.
3. Prepare golden skin. Mix egg yolks with egg. Measure volume and put in soy milk. The soy milk should be 50% of the egg volume.
4. Mash steamed salted egg yolks and mix with egg yolk mixture. Pour mixture into a strainer and mash balance of salted egg yolks in strainer. Pour egg mixture over strainer (with the egg yolks that can’t pass by the strainer) and strain again, stirring all the while to facilitate the yolks to pass the strainer.
5. Line a 6X6 steaming dish with cling wrap for microwave cooking(or any heat safe cling wrap). Prepare your steaming vessel (wok or ur steamer)
6. When steaming water has come to a boil, mix prepared egg whites with chopped century eggs and pour into steaming dish.
7. Cover with lid and steam on medium low heat for 5 minutes or until surface sets but still wobbly.
8. Gently pour in egg yolk mixture and cover with lid again.
9. Turn heat to low and steam for another 10-15 minutes until surface sets.

There were leftovers of this dish after the dinner, and Mike's aunts prepared some porridge the next day with leftover roasted chicken and threw in these as well. Yummylicious!