Memories in the Cooking

Oyakodon can be translated as "mother and son rice bowl". It comprises a layer of chicken and silky egg mixture on top of a bed of fluffy Japanese short grain rice. It is one of the staple dishes that my family will order in Japanese restaurants. Other rice bowls that we love are gyudon (see another post) and chirashi don (similar to Pokebowl, see previous post). My husband and sons love oyakodon for the velvety egg mixture which goes so well with rice. To add more nutrients to the dish, I would serve it with some stir-fried carrots and broccoli. Ingredients (for 4 people):  - 5 tablespoons of mirin - 2 tablespoons of sake - 2 tablespoons of sugar - 4 tablespoons of Japanese light soya sauce - 2 cups of dashi stock (1 packet of instant dashi powder with water) - 2 large onions, sliced - 4 cups of Japanese short grain rice - 3 large boneless chicken thigh meat, sliced - 6 eggs - edible seaweed for garnish Procedures: 1) Cook Japanese rice according to pac...

Being a half-Hokkien, this is a dish that I grew up with. My maternal grandmother, aunties and mum would often cook it at gatherings and special occasions as a staple dish. This dish not only feeds the body but also the soul. But it is not very good for my waistline because I could never stop at one portion. Ingredients: - 1 packet of bee hoon, soaked in tap water just before cooking  - 1 carrot, shredded  - 2 eggs  - 1 can of luncheon meat, cut into small cubes  - 5-6 dried mushrooms, softened and sliced  - 2 can of pork trotters - 1 packet of french beans, sliced  - 3 cloves of garlic  - 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce - pepper  Procedures: 1) Fry luncheon meat cubes lightly in oil. Set it aside.  2) Fry omellete and cut into thin shreds. Set it aside.  3) Stir fry crushed garlic, shredded carrots, french beans, mushrooms. Add luncheon meat and omelette.   4) Add bee hoon. Add pork trotters on ...

This dish can be considered the centre-piece of the Chinese New Year meal. Not only does it look impressive, the poached chicken meat is so tender and sauce is so flavourful. Ingredients: - Big fresh chicken  - 1 cucumber  - ginger  - onions  - garlic  - spring onions  - 1.5 litre of chicken stock  - soya sauce, sesame oil, sea salt, sugar Procedures: 1) Clean chicken. Add 1 stalk of spring onion and few slices of ginger in chicken cavity. Sprinkle some sea salt in the cavity. Seal the cavity with toothpicks. Sprinkle sea salt on the skin of the chicken.  2) Boil chicken stock. Lower the chicken in the boiling water. Wait for it to reboil (around 5 minutes). Let the chicken stay in the boiling water for 10 minutes. Switch off the fire, cover it with the pot lid and let it poach for 45 minutes.  3) Prepare a basin of ice water bath. Transfer the whole chicken in the ice water bath.  4) Chop and arrange t...

The new dish for this year's Chinese New Year is the Thai Lime Chili Steamed Fish. I first tried this dish during a trip to Phuket with the extended family last December. The tanginess of lime and spiciness of chili excite the tastebuds in such a refreshing way. Ingredients: - 1 large sea bass - juice of 4 large Thai green limes - 2 tablespoons of sugar - 4 large chili, chopped very finely - 6 tablespoons of fish sauce - 10 lime leaves, shredded  - 1 cup of chicken or fish stock Procedures: 1) Wash sea bass. Score it. Add ginger slices in the stomach. Steam for 15 minutes. 2) Mix all sauces and seasoning. Pour on the steamed fish.

I love hosting! Cooking to me is not a chore but a project that gives me tremendous satisfaction at the end of it. Moreover, food bonds people and I love to bring families and friends together through this act of service. This year Chinese New Year 初三, I hosted my siblings- in-law and prepared a 9-course feast. The feast comes with a satisfying fish maw soup. Here is the recipe. Ingredients: - 6 large fish maw, soak it in hot water, cut into small pieces - 2 eggs - 400g of shredded crab meat - corn flour - chicken stock Procedures: 1) In boiling chicken stock, add fish maw and let it simmer for 20 minutes. (The chicken stock comes from the Samsui Chicken dish) 2) Add crab meat.  3) When the soup reboils, add corn starch to thicken the soup. 4) Season with pepper and salt. 5) Add 2 beaten eggs. Serve. My more artistically-inclined husband arranged a cute dog design for our Yu Sheng this year.

Every family will have their own traditional Chinese New Year celebrative dishes. What about my family? Every year, we would host about two celebrations at home and bring 1-2 signature dishes for potluck parties (see the previous post on Black Moss Oysters). Of the two home celebrations, one would be a steamboat meal (see the previous post on 3 Steamboat Dipping Sauces) and the other would comprises 8-9 cooked dishes. This year, the latter menu includes Smoked Salmon Yusheng, Thai Lime Chili Steam Fish, Samsui Chicken, Roasted Pork Belly, Herbal Drunken Prawns, Leek Tofu and Clams, Fish Maw Soup, Home-made Pineapple Tarts (see previous post) and Lo Mai Kai. This post will show the recipe for Lo Mai Kai. Lo Mai Kai can be prepared in advance, chilled and then reheated for the CNY home parties. My elder boy loves Lo Mai Kai. He recently shared with me that he has been eating Lo Mai Kai from the school's Dim Sum Stall for almost every recess this year! Personally, I love glutinous r...

How to host a Chinese New Year meal when you do not have time to prepare? Treat the guests to steamboat! Yesterday, I hosted a CNY steamboat dinner for my colleagues. All I needed to do was defrosting the ingredients, cutting the vegetables and adding 3 soup bases (herbal, seafood and Mala, my favourite is Mala) into 3 boiling steamboats! To add a little distinctiveness to the steamboat, I made 3 dipping sauces. Ingredients: 1) Thai Suki Sauce (top)  - 4 cloves of garlic, minced  - 3 cubes of spicy fermented beancurds  - 2 tablespoons of sugar   - 3 chili padi, chopped  - 2 tablespoons of Thai sweet chili sauce  - 2 tablespoons of fish sauce - juice of 1 large lime  - 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds - few stalks of green spring onions, chopped  - 4 tablespoons of water  2) Spicy Peanut Sauce (bottom right)  - 3 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter  - 2 tablespoons of sugar  - 2 t...

In my opinion, Beef Bolognese, Lasagne and Shepherd Pie are cousins. The preparation of the tomato-based meat sauce are pretty similar. For Shepherd Pie, the only difference is that the meat sauce is topped with mashed potato. The last time I cooked Shepherd Pie, my elder boy asked "why is Shepherd Pie not called Lamb Pie and Fish Pie is not called Fisherman Pie?" I have no answer to the question, except "well... the world is full of inconsistencies." Ingredients: - 500g minced lamb - 4-5 stalks of celery  - 2 large tomatos  - 2 stalks of carrots  - 4-5 large russet potatos  - 1 can of tomato paste - mixed herbs, chicken cube, sugar, pepper  - mozzarella cheese, shredded  - parmesan cheese  - milk  - 1 onion, diced  Procedures: 1) Boil potatos until soft. Mash it and mix it with a quarter cup of milk. 2) Stir fry onions, celery, carrots, tomatos until soft. Add minced lamb and continue to fry.  3)...

Chinese New Year is round the corner! I am a big fan of celebrations and gatherings. My childhood memories often surround these big celebrations. I remember the excitement of shopping for new year snacks, the fun of playing with cousins and going for midnight movies after a whole day of visitations. In the pursuit to create fond memories, I have started involving my little family in preparing festive food during chinese festivals. For Chinese New Year, we baked our favourite pineapple tarts! Ingredients (200 tarts for 10 small tins): - 1kg of plain flour  - 750g of unsalted butter - 150g caster sugar  - 7 eggs (2 for glazing)  - 2kg of pineapple fillings (from Phoon Huat)  Procedures: 1) Whisk soften butter with caster sugar. Add 5 eggs and mix well.  2) Add 1kg plain flour. Mix well until it forms a dough. Knead the dough a little. Cover it with cling foil and let it rest while working on the pineapple filling.  3) Separate the...

Milk Fish Soup is one of my husband's favourite hawker dishes. Generally, fish soups are too 'healthy' for my liking as I have a penchant for rich and flavourful food. But Milk Fish Soup is different. The carnation milk makes the soup so creamy and yummy. Just add some noodles or macaroni, it will transform into a satisfying one dish meal. Ingredients: - red snapper fillet and salmon fish head  - one-quarter cup of plain flour with 1 teaspoon of baking powder - 1 thumb-size piece of ginger  - 2 large tomatos - 1 can of carnation milk - 1 chicken cube - pepper, sea salt, fish sauce  - 1 cup of chinese wine (shaoxing wine or XO)  - additional ingredients: fishball, tofu, seaweed, spinach, noodles Procedures: 1) Cut red snapper fish and salmon fish head into big pieces 2) Mix half a cup of plain flour with baking powder. Coat fish pieces with the flour mixture.  3) Fry fish pieces until golden brown. Set aside.  4) To a lit...

I am against food wastage. To me, food is a blessing from God and wasting food would be taking this blessing for granted. Furthermore, the money saved from not wasting food can be used to bless others. So, I adopted a few habits to avoid wasting food. First, I plan my menu weekly and use it as a reference for grocery shopping. Second, I buy grocery online and this minimise the chance of being enticed to buy unnecessarily. Third, I check my fridge and food cupboard weekly and make sure that I use the ingredients I already have. Fourth, I aim to empty my fridge and food cupboard at least once a year. Not by throwing away expired ingredients and condiments, but by careful planning to use up everything. The cleaning of the empty fridge often gives me tremendously sense of satisfaction.  This Banana Muffin recipe is what I turn to when I have over-riped bananas. It can be eaten as a breakfast or a dessert.  Ingredients: - 2 over-ripe bananas - 1 cup of plain flo...

Today, I had some leftover rice, ideal for making fried rice. The husband loves beef and beef fried rice would please him greatly. There was only one problem. The only beef we had in the fridge was a piece of good quality striploin. Wouldn't the beef be overcooked by all the stir-frying? That would definitely be a waste. Hence, the method for this beef steak fried rice was carefully considered so that the beef still retained its quality. Ingredients: - 2 and half cup of leftover rice  - 250g striploin steak  - 3 eggs - 1 thumb-size salted fish, shredded  - 1 thumb-size ginger, shredded  - a few stalks of spring onions  - vegetable oil, sesame oil, light soya sauce, pepper, 3 cloves of garlic, sugar Procedures: 1) Marinate beef steak with 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce, pepper and 3 cloves of garlic (crushed) for at least 3 hours.  2) Heat the pan with vegetable oil. Place the beef steak in the pan. Fry it for 1 minute before...