Bird Nest Soup

Bird Nest Soup is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine, some called it the 'caviar of the east'.  It is actually the saliva of the swiftlets that are used to make their nests. I remember when I was young, my mother  would be spending hundreds on buying birds nest to cook bird nest soup for the family. It was really a rare treat then. Now, we have them almost every week :P

About 5 years ago, my father got into a swiftlet farming craze. With a kilogramme of the nests costing up to $2000, it's easy to see why swiftlet farming has become very popular. My father decided to buy a plot of land in Malaysia and build a swiftlet farm. The swiftlets came and the bird nests started coming in gradually. He managed to convince Jerome that this is a viable business that can be invested in and it requires minimal monitoring. Basically you just build a multi-storey building, play the calls of the swiftlets using a good sound system, and 'invite' the swiftlets to build nests in your farm. After the baby chicks hatch, grow and leave the nest, you can then collect the nests.

Hence, we decided to buy a 3-storey shophouse and converted 2 levels into a swiftlet farm. Glad to say that we have had our first harvest of about 30 nests in the beginning of the year. It will be a few more years before we can start selling the nests. Now, it's just enough for our own personal consumption. But before we can really enjoy the fruits of our labour, there's a lot of work to be done...

Look at all these feathers, you can't eat them, can you? You can't pull out the feathers now as they're stuck to the harden nests.

So first, we need to soak them in water until the nests are soft.

After about 2 hrs, the nests are soft...

Pour everything into a sieve and wash it under the running tap to get rid of the small bits of egg shells and feathers. This will help to clear up the 'mess' faster...

Using a pair of long tweezers, you can then start removing the fathers bit by bit, feather by feather. 

You will need a few bowls of water to do this. 

After 2 hours, no more feathers!

(Removing the feathers is a time-consuming and almost 'back breaking' process, so you can see that's why the bird nests have been in storage for over 6 months now :P)

Can't see the bird's nest as well?

Here, drain out the water... 

Looks like jelly...

Bird's nest on its own is quite tasteless, you'll need other ingredients...

red dates, pao sheng (American Ginseng slices), rock sugar...

Pour everything + water into a double boiler...

30 minutes later, enjoy your birds' nest soup...

you deserve it... or rather I deserve it :P

I have some leftover... Put in the fridge...

And tomorrow cold bird nest soup!

Benefits of Birds' Nest: High in protein & amino acids, aids in digestion, good for complexion, promotes growth & tissue repairs. 

Eu Yan Seng Bak Kut Teh

My father loves to eat Bak Kut Teh. When I was young, I remember my father bringing the family to the coffee shop at Bugis for Bak Kut Teh almost every week. But the stall had to shift as the site was redeveloped. The current site is the empty plot of land next to Bugis Junction.

My father still eat Bak Kut Teh frequently. In Singapore, he would go to Rong Chen Bak Kut Teh at Sin MingRoad. The soup is clear with a huge spare rib and lots of pepper. Not really my kind of Bak Kut Teh. I prefer the darker soup served in claypot with more herbs. In Johore Bahru, there are a lot of coffee shops just serving claypot Bak Kut Teh.

Had tried a few brands of Bak Kut Teh premixes and some of them are quite good. I like Uncle Sun but I think it's expensive at $4.90 a packet. But if you're preparing a big pot of soup for a bigger family, it's a good choice to consider. Since there are so many brands of Bak Kut Teh premixes in the market, I thought I can slowly try them all :P in search of the best Bak Kut Teh premix...

Anyway, I bought a box of Eu Yan Seng Bak Kut Teh last week and finally used it this evening...
Well, when the soup was boiling, it was fragrant, just like bak kut teh should be...

But when I finally got to taste it, I was really disappointed. It was really bland and I can't taste pepper at all. I had to add my own soy sauce and peppercorns. 

Personally, I think it's the worst Bak Kut Teh Premix that I've tried so far. But the worst is yet to come... I still have another 9 packets in the box...

Double Lotus Soup

Double Lotus: Lotus root and lotus seeds :)

Double Lotus Soup (Serves 2 to 3)

Ingredients: 

300g of meat (pork or chicken)

lotus root

red dates

lotus seeds

a carrot

1 litre of water 

a pinch of salt (optional)

Method: 

1. Parboil the meat to remove the scum.

2. Put all the ingredients into a pot. 

3. Bring to a boil on low heat. (Meat will be tender if cooked using low heat).

4. If using a thermal pot, boil for 20 minutes before transferring to thermal pot. 

(The residual heat and the thermal action will ensure further cooking)

5. Add salt to taste before serving. 

Benefits:

Lotus roots help to release fatigue & improve imbalance of the nervous system.

Lotus seeds nourish the spleen, improve digestion, prevents diarrhea, strengthens the kidneys and have astringent properties. 

Red dates help to release anesthetic toxins, protect the liver, reduce pain after surgery, improve pale complexion and coldness of the limbs. 

Parboiling

Parboiling - the partial boiling of food in order to finish cooking it later.

This helps to remove the scum from the meat for soups. 

Your soup will remain clear and free from scum...

A layer of scum on top of the water...

To parboil the meat for cooking soup:

Boil a pot of water. Put the meat in and cook for 5-10 minutes. 

Remove it from the pot and do a quick rinse with water from tap.

Parboiled meat is now ready for use to cook your soup.

3C Soup

I must admit that I'm quite a lazy cook, resorting to stock cubes most of the time. But last week, decided to get some meat and cook a vegetable soup. I bought a packet of celery and used 2 stalks for chicken pies. Hence, I decided to make this soup in my thermal pot. I call it the 3C soup- celery, carrot and corn. The natural sweetness of the vegetables meant that I didn't have to add any other seasoning.

Serves 2-3
Ingredients:
300-400g of soupbone, parboiled to remove scum
6-8 stalks of celery, cut into short chunks
1 corn, cut into parts
1 carrot, cut into parts
1.5 litre of water or just enough water to cover all the ingredients

Boil water and add all the ingredients. Bring the soup to a boil.
Let it boil for 15 minutes before transferring into the thermal pot.
The thermal pot will further cook the meat and meat will be tender after a few hours.
You can serve the soup straight from the thermal pot or bring it to a boil again.

* Thermal pot retains the heat and further cook the soup without using more electricity or gas.
I view it as a magic pot. 

Spinach Soup with Century Egg

This is one of the easiest soups (ready in 15 minutes) to prepare and Jerome loves it.

Ingredients:

a bundle of chinese spinach (I prefer the baby spinach with pointed leaves)

1 tbsp wolfberries

1 ikan bilis stock cube

1 egg, beaten

1 century egg, cut into smaller bits

some small fried ikan bilis

Method:
Boil 1 litre of water with wolfberries and add the ikan bilis stock cube.
Add the chinese spinach and cook till soft.
Add in the beaten egg, stirring the soup at the same time.
Add in the century egg into the soup.
Serve the soup by sprinkling some fried ikan bilis on the top for that extra crunch and flavour.

Itek Tim (Salted Vegetables & Duck Soup)

My mum cooks this soup very well & my hubby loves this soup. Savoury, a little sourish & most appetising. Found a recipe for the soup from "Classic Nonya Dishes" by Patricia Lee (owner of Chilli Padi) & tried it last month. I followed the recipe & found that the soup was just not favourful eough so I made some adjustments to the recipe & the soup turned up close to my mum's cooking :)

Recipe for Itek Tim

(serves 4)

Ingredients

half a duck, chopped into pieces

2 litres of water

a packet of pickled mustard greens, 400g

(I bought a packet from NTUC, not too salty, so I just rinse & didn't soak.)

6 preserved salted plums

2 thumb-sized ginger, slightly smashed with chopper

4 pcs of assam skin

4 tomatoes, cut into halves

1 tsp white pepper seeds

1) Blanch duck in boiling water & drain.

2) Bring another 2 litres of water to boil. Add ginger, salted plums, asam skin & duck. Simmer over low heat for 45-60 mins.

3) Add pickled mustards green & cook till duck is soft & tender.

4) Add tomatoes & simmer for 5 mins.

5) Add additional seasoning of salt if necessary.

6) Serve hot.

* If you have a thermal pot, just put all ingredients together with water & bring to boil for 20 mins. Then place pot in thermal pot. Do this in the morning b4 leaving for work. And by the time u reach home, the pot of soup with tender duck meat is ready. Just heat up & serve.

Wantan Noodles

Just prepared this for lunch. One of my favourite hawker food since young.

Dry Wantan Noodles with Char Siew & Fried Wantan

Wantan Soup

Ingredients for Basic Wantan:
(Makes about 40 to 50 wantans)

200g of minced pork

wantan skin

3-5 pcs of water chestnuts, chopped (this gives the wantan the crunch)

1 stalk of corriander leaves, chopped

(Optional, prawns (cut into pieces) & chopped carrots)

Seasoning: 1 tbsp of light soya sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, dash of pepper

Method:

1) Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well.

2) Taste Test: Add additional seasoning if necessary.

(Boil a small pot of water. Wrap a wantan, cook it & eat it.)

3) Wrap up all the wantan the way you like.

Prepare a small dish of water to help "glue up".

For Deep Fried Wantan:

1) Heat up oil for deep frying.

2) Deep fry wantan till its golden brown.

3) Drain and remove excess oil of kitchen paper.

4) Keep in oven with low heat to keep it hot & crispy till ready to serve.

5) Serve hot with dipping sauce (eg, ketcup or chilli sauce)

For Wantan Soup:

1) Prepare stock for soup. Cook suitable leafy green vegetables (eg. caixin or xiao bai cai)

( I'm a lazy cook so I just used a Korr Ikan Bilis Cube with a litre of water for my soup base)

Do not overcook vegetables. Turn off the flame.

2) Boil another pot of water & cook the wantan till they float & the colour of wantan skin lightens to very pale yellow.

3) Scoop the cooked wantan into the prepared soup.

* The reason for using a separate pot to cook the wantan is to remove the extra flour/starch on the wantan skin. This will keep the final wantan soup clear & tastier.

For Dried Noodles:

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

200g of wantan/ cantanese noodles

Sauce:

2 tbps Maggie tomatoe ketchup

2 tbsp Maggie chilli sauce

1 tbsp dark soya sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp black vinegar

2 tbps water

1) Mix all the ingredients for sauce in a big bowl (enough to mix the noodles in later on).

2) Boil a big pot of water. Loosen up the noodles and cook the noodles for a few minutes. Test if it's cooked by trying a noodle. Do not overcook the noodles else they will become soggy.

3) Sieve up the noodles, shaking off excess water. Mix the noodles well in the big bowl of prepared sauce.

4) Dish up and divide noodles on 2 separate plates. Serve with boiled vegetables, sliced char siew & fried wantan.

5) Serve immediately & enjoy it hot.