Salad with quail's eggs and tuna

Once in a while, when I don't know what to cook, or don't have much of an appetite, I would prepared salad for dinner. I know it lack some colour, like tomatoes. But I'm not really fond of tomatoes in the first place. Anyway,  it complemented our chicken pie perfectly.

Vegetable Curry- Hai's Instant Lontong Paste

Bought a packet of instant lontong paste and cook a nice big pot of vegetable curry. It was a great dish to go with rice as our dinner when we went vegetarian on Monday. Well, strictly speaking, it's not really vegetarian as dried shrimps were used in the production of the paste.

Anyway, I've added cabbage, long beans, turnip, tou pok, tou kee, eggs and used evaporated milk instead of coconut milk. We've enjoy the vegetable curry very much just that it could be a little more spicy. Next time, I'll add more chilli paste to it.

Po Piah & Spring Rolls

Last Monday, we had Po Piah & Spring rolls for dinner and lunch respectively. This was in line with our plan to be vegetarians on Mondays. It was the first time I tried to prepare this. Another experiment. Was quite satisfied but Jerome was saying he will not eat another Po piah for the rest of the year. We had too much in a day :P All food in moderation!

A few days later, as I still had some turnip left over, I tried to make the deep fried version, the spring rolls, for teabreak.  This time, I added cabbage and dried mushrooms. Jerome prefers this version. He said it was better than old chang kee :) He demanded more. So I promised him that I'll make them again the following Monday.

And on Monday, I made them again. This time, I also added beansprouts to the turnip. So there's turnip, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms and beansprouts. It was the best I've made so far. But in the end, Jerome also said he'll not have another spring roll for the rest of the year. It's hard to cook for 2. When you put a little of everything, you really get a huge pot in the end! Who wants to join us for lunch or dinner next time?

All the ingredients for po piah making...

 Putting all the ingredients nicely on a po piah skin to be rolled up...

 There you go, 2 po piahs done!

I'm glad they tasted better than they looked :)

Deep fried Spring rolls served with sweet sauce and Thai sweet Chilli Sauce.

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. 

Stir Fry Nai Bai Cai

Bought a packet of Nai Bai Cai from the supermarket. It's a smaller version of the bai cai and it's softer and sweeter. I don't often see this available as it's seasonal. So when I saw the last packet ($0.60) there on the shelf, I grabbed it.  This batch of nai bai was small so there was no need to cut them at all. I just stir fry them in garlic and added a pinch of salt for seasoning. Yap, they're so 'good' you can really eat it on its own.

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.

Stir Fry Beansprouts with Oyster Sauce

Just cooked this last night when we had our own version of chicken rice. A quick stir fry, I spent more time plucking the tails of the beansprouts.

Stir Fry Beansprouts in Vegetarian Oyster Sauce

Ingredients:

about 250g of beansprouts (optional: remove the tails & heads)

1 tbsp oil

a clove of garlic, chopped

1 tbsp oyster sauce (I used the vegetarian Shitake mushroom type)

some water

spring onion, chopped

deep fried shallots (gives extra flavour)

(I'll usually have a small glass bottle ready. Shallots cut into rings & deep fried- give extra flavour, especially if it's home-fried)

Method:

Heat up 1 tbsp of oil in the wok. Saute the garlic till fragrant.

Add the beansprouts & some water. Stir fry & when the colour changes, add the oyster sauce.

Dish up and garnish with fried shallots & chopped spring onions.

Stir fry Baby Spinach with Ikan Bilis

Here's another stir fry vegetable dish that Jerome like, especially with the topping of deep fried anchovies/ ikan bilis. The baby spinach is cooked till soft while the deep fried ikan bilis gives the dish extra flavour & crunch.

There are generally a  few kinds of spinach available in Singapore:

Po Cai - sometimes used in steamboat, or served in restuarant cooked with abalone & chinese mushrooms (I think this is the one that Popeye eats that made him strong)

Xian Cai - light green round leaves spinach, softer, used more in soups & for porridge for toddlers.

Xian Cai- dark green pointed leaves spinach. I prefer the darker green types for stir frys.

Baby Spinach with Ikan Bilis

Ingredients:

spinach, plucked into sections (discard the thicker/older stems as they can be tough)

1 tbsp of ikan bilis (choose the smaller type)

1 clove of garlic, chopped

a pinch of salt

100 ml of water

2 tbsp of oil.

Method:

Heat up the oil in the wok. Fry the ikan bilis till they're golden brown. Dish up & set aside.

Saute the garlic in the wok till fragrant. Add the baby spinach & water.

Stir fry till the spinach is cooked (only a couple of minutes).

Add a pinch of salt to season (taste & add more if necessary).

Dish up and add the fried ikan bilis on top. Serve immediately.

Stir Fry Cauliflower

Just to show that we're not just meat-eaters, I've decided to take some pictures & post them up just to show that we do get our fair servings of vegetables daily.

A colourful plate of Stir fry Cauliflower & mixed vegetables

Ingredients:

Vegetables: Cauliflower, snow peas, capsicum, celery, carrot & chopped garlic

Others: some water (100ml), a pinch of salt, 1 tbsp Hua Tiao Jiu

Method:

Heat up 1 tbsp of oil in the wok & saute chopped garlic till fragrant.

Add the cauliflower & water. Cover the wok for a couple of minutes (the cauliflower takes a longer time to cook).

Add snow peas, carrots & fry for a while & add capsicum & celery.

(I like the vegetables to be crunchy here, so I don't overcook them. My mother will usually boil the cauliflower to cook them till soft first before she stir frys.)

Add salt & Hua Tiao Jiu for taste.

Dish up & serve immediately.

Steamed Toufu With This & That

One of our favourite dish- Steam Toufu.
Simple & Tasty, a 10 minutes dish.


Steam Toufu


Steamed Toufu Steam Toufu with Beansprouts


Steamed Toufu with CaiXin


Steamed Egg Toufu with Golden Straw Mushroom

The sauce is the same, just change the combination & u'll get different dishes :)

Ingredients:
1 packet of toufu suitable for steaming
pre-fried shallots (Pre-requisite: Deepfry some shallots beforehand.
Home fry taste much better. Store & use as when needed)
spring onions (for garnishing)

(B) For sauce
100ml of water
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
some chicken stock granules

Method
1) Place toufu on a plate & steam for 10 mins. Drain away excess water.
2) In a small saucepan, bring to boil (B).
3) Put fried shallots & spring onion on top of the steamed toufu.
Slowly & gently pour the hot sauce over the garnished toufu.
4) Serve immediately.

To serve with vegetables/ Mushroom,
boil a pot of water, cook the vegetables/ mushroom.
Drain & place on a plate.
Place the steam toufu on top.
Garnish & pour hot sauce over.

Alternatively, you may want to steam the vegetables & toufu together.