Stir-fried Hor Fan

Just prepared Stir-fried Hor Fan (my version of 'San Lau Hor Fan') for lunch on this rainy afternoon. Really simple and most importantly, it was tasty :) And I've used my Chinese wok for the 2nd time! The first time was for Pad Thai...

Ingredients:
200g of Hor Fan/ Fresh Fat Rice Noodles ( I bought them for $1 at Cold Storage)
a handful of beansprouts
some chopped garlic
1 fishcake, sliced
1 few slices of fresh fish, seasoned with some light soy sauce and corn flour (optional)
2 eggs
some oil
1 stalk of spring onion, cut into short strips

Seasoning:
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sugar

Method: (Takes about 10 minutes)
Add about 1 tbsp of oil to the wok. Fry and scramble the eggs and set aside.
Add another tbsp of oil and fry the fish. Set aside.
Add  some chopped garlic, then the beansprouts. Stir fry for a while before adding in the rice noodles.
Add the seasoning (add more according to taste) and stir fry well.
Add all the other ingredients and sir fry for about another 2 minutes.
Turn off the fire and stir in the spring onion.
Serve hot and enjoy :)

Baked Chicken MidWings in Hoisin & Char Siew Sauce

Marinade the chicken well (leave overnight if possible) and leave it to bake in the oven while you do other stuff. It was really simple and Jerome loves them. :)

Ingredients:

12 pieces of chicken's mid-wings

Marinade well in :

1 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Char Siew Sauce

1 tbsp Lee Kum Kee Hoisin Sauce

1 tbsp water 

Spread the chicken on a baking tray bake in preheat oven at 160 degrees celcius for 30 mins.

Turn over the chicken after 15 minutes for an even bake.

Ku Low Yok

Prepared Ku Low Yok (Sweet & Sour Pork Cubes) for dinner this evening. Served it in half a pineapple. Going to try to use the other half tomorrow for pineapple fried rice :)

Ingredients:

300g pork (wu hua rou) (Pound with back of chopper before cutting into cubes)

oil for deep frying

corn flour for coating

1 green capsicum, cut into small pieces

1 tomato, cut into wedges

1 onion, quartered

a quarter pineapple, cut into pieces

Marinade pork in:

1 egg

1 tbsp shaoxing wine

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (helps to tenderize the meat)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp water

Sauce:

1 tbsp plum sauce

3 tbsp tomato sauce

1 tbsp chilli sauce

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp white rice vinegar

100ml of water

Method:

1) Coat marinate cubed pork in corn flour.

2) Deep fry pork till golden brown. Dish up & drain. Set aside.

3) In another frying pan, heat a tbsp of oil. Stir fry onion till fragrant. Add capsicum, tomatoes & pineapple. Pour in sauce & cook until it thickens.

4) Add in fried pork & mix well. Dish up & Serve.

Double Chocolate Chips Cookies

Baked some double chocolate chips cookies yesterday afternoon...

Yap, these are "Not so Famous Sheryl's Chocolate Chips Cookies"...

Have received some orders to bake more of them. Great for keeping me occupied at home :P

Hope these cookies bring some cheer to those who eat them :)

Chocolate Cake with Strawberries

Made this simple chocolate cake covered in choclate ganache and strawberries for my sister SL's birthday back in April. I'm glad that she love her cake :) A year older, a year wiser... Aim for the stars!

Phad Thai

After the trip to Bangkok last Dec, I ate my first plate of Phai Thai and fell in love with it :)

A plate of delightful Pad Thai at a street stall in Bangkok

Another plate of Phad Thai from the food court at the Bangkok Paragon

Another plate of Phad Thai at the airport :P

Upon returning home, I went in search for a recipe to cook this Thai most popular hawker dish. My search on the net led me to Chez Pim's Pad Thai for beginners.   Her very detailed step-by-step instructions were almost over-whelming... I kept it at the back of my mind... thinking of trying it out one of these days...  Then, back to work, no time to experiment in the kitchen and I forgot about it... until...

It's the school hols and a start to a long break, I'm once again looking at food blogs, looking for experiments to conduct in the kitchen... Stumbled into The Little Teochew's blog and read her entry on Chez Pim's Pad Thai and salivated over the photographs of her sinfully good Pad Thai... I knew I had to try the recipe somehow to satisfy my craving!

After reading through Chez Pim's write-up, I've decided to keep my $200+ wok and bought a new $18 stainless steel chinese wok. I tried to season the wok as instructed. I poured in a full cup of oil into the wok and started to 'smoke' out the entire wok. There was so much smoke that Jerome had to come into the kitchen to check if I had set the kitchen on fire :P From a shiny stainless steel wok, I eventually ended up with a dirty/burnt-looking wok. I wonder if this was meant to be... Jerome said I've damaged the wok :P

According to Chez Pim, the Pad Thai will taste good in a seasoned chinese wok. If the wok is well-seasoned, the rice noodles will not stick to the wok. So I guessed my wok was seasoned alright. And the thing about using a seasoned chinese wok is this... you can't wash it with soap! Just a gentle scrub and a rinse of water before putting in back to the fire to dry it up before storing it away. I know I'll be looking for signs of mould the next time I use the wok again...

Anyway, after all the trouble, here's my Pad Thai... looking kinda pale...but fortunately, it tasted good!
 Sorry, but my efforts are really far from Chez Pim's and The Little Teochew's. Look at their pictures of Pad Thai to know what I mean... Will definitely try the recipe again and make some improvements.

My 1st Pad Thai... out from my kitchen...

The 100th Post!

This mark my 100th post since I started this food blog last August. Was getting bored at home, playing games on Facebook, surfing the net, just a month after my no pay leave (NPL) last year. So decided to start a food blog to 'document' my experiments in the kitchen.

Once back to work, I could hardly find time and energy to cook and bake, let alone blog... Hence, I have not updated the blog since last Dec. But I'm kinda encouraged to see that everyday there are still visitors visting the blog. :)

Now, I'm again on another long long NPL. And once again, I've time to play in the kitchen. For the time being, I'm just using the recipes that I've tried and tested. And I find myself referring to my blog entries for the recipes :P Hmm... Did I really made all these in my kitchen? I can't remember... Now, getting a little lazy too... Some 'recipes' seem so troublesome now :P

Well, but I do look forward to trying new recipes soon :) and update this blog more actively once again :)
Meanwhile, thanks for visiting :)

Mango Fruit Flan Cake

Baked this mango fruit flan cake yesterday to celebrate my father-in-law's 70th birthday. Nothing fanciful like a peach shaped cake, this is what I can manage at the moment. It's been a while since I baked and decorated a cake. Been too busy at work. Anyway, since I'm going on leave again, I'll be back to baking, cooking & blogging soon :P

Mango Fruit Flan Cake

I think it's difficult to cut the mango into uniform slices and lay them nicely on the cake. So I cut them into cubes instead.  Somehow, the sponge cake turned out to be really soft and fine yesterday and my mum-in-law commented that it was the best that I've baked so far, better than a store-bought cake that they just had the day before. This cake is just right after a steamboat. Jerome was disappointed that I didn't keep any cake left for ourselves. So, I've promised to make another mini mango cake just for him. 

It's great to be baking again :)