Memories in the Cooking

My mother's favourite ice-cream is the old-school Magnolia Raspberry Ripple Vanilla Ice-cream held together by 2 pieces of thin wafers. Inspired by the ice-cream, I have been making her Raspberry Strawberry Cheesecake for her birthday. I know she loves this cake for its sour-sweet raspberry goodness. Ingredients: - 250g of digestive biscuits - 100 g of butter - 500g cream cheese - 350ml of whipping cream - 1 can condensed milk - 300g of frozen raspberries  - 2 tablespoons of gelatin - 8-10 fresh strawberries - 1/2 cup of sugar  - 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract  - 1 tablespoon of corn flour  Procedures: 1) Crush the digestive biscuits. Melt the butter using microwave. Mix the butter and the digestive biscuits crumbs into texture that resembles wet sand. Press it in a cake tin as the base.  2) Cut washed strawberries into halves. Arrange it around the side of the cake tin on the biscuit base.  3) In a saucepan, heat raspberries, sugar, cor...

This is my mother's recipe where the pork belly is cooked in its own fats. So, unlike the usual braised pork belly, this is a dry version which equally goes well with steamy hot rice. Ingredients: - 1kg of pork belly, cut into strips - 2 bulbs of garlic, chopped - 3 tablespoons of dark soya sauce - 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce - 2 tablespoons of sugar Procedures: 1) Without adding any oil, add pork belly strips to frying pan. Let it dry fry until oil comes out from the pork belly. 2) Turn to low fire. Add crushed garlic and fry for 5 minutes. 3) Add dark soya sauce, light soya sauce, water and sugar and cook to desired softness. 4) Add chopped spring onions and fry a while. Garnish with chopped parsley.

I am a Teochew, a cat when it comes to steamed fish. I often wonder why Chinese shares one whole fish amongst 10 people while I can finish one whole fish all by myself! Meow... so, here is the recipe for the ubiquitous Teochew Steamed Fish. Ingredients: - 1 promfet (white or golden) - 5 large dried mushrooms, soaked and shredded - 1 thumb-size ginger, shredded - 3 tomatoes, sliced - parsley for garnishing - 3 sour plums - 4 tablespoons of light soya sauce - 1 tablespoon of sesame oil - 2 tablespoons of hua tiao wine - pepper Procedures: 1) In a mixing bowl, place mushrooms, ginger, sour plums, tomatoes, light soya sauce, sesame oil, hua tiao wine and pepper. Mix well. 2) Lay some of the vegetable mixture at the base of the steaming plate. Insert some into the stomach of the promfet. Lay the promfet on the steaming plate. Place some of the vegetable mixture on the promfet. 3) Steam for 25 minutes (adjust according to the size of the fish). Garnish with parsley. S...

My husband is the baker at home. And I often like to decide on the toppings. Being a fan of variety, I am happy to present to you this 3-in-1 Foccacia Bread! Ingredients:  - 500g of bread flour - 330 ml of water - 1 pack of yeast (around 11g) - salt - 1 teaspoon of mixed Italian herbs - 1 pack of cherry tomatoes - 1 pack of fresh basil leaves - 1 tablespoon of olive oil - topping 1: steamed Japanese sweet potato and cream cheese - topping 2: cherry tomatos and garlic - topping 3: sauteed onions Procedures: 1) Mix flour, herbs and a pinch of salt together. Add olive oil to the flour. 2) Add yeast into 300 ml of room temperature water (30 degree celsius). When yeast bubbles, add it to the flour and knead the mixture into a dough. Let the dough rest for 1 hour. 3) Add some flour to a baking tray. Pull out the dough on to the baking tray. Make some indentations on the dough. Drizzle some olive oil on the dough. 4) Add 3 different toppings into the dough. ...

This garlic chili sauce accompanies us for almost every meal and we always have a slash of it in our fridge. It is inspired by my husband's late grandmother who also had her own signature homemade garlic chili sauce. Sometimes when we reminisce about her and her hakka dishes, we know those dishes will not taste the same without her garlic chili sauce. Ingredients: - 4 large chili - 7 chili padis - 40g of ginger - 1 bulb of garlic, - juice from 150g of small limes (sometimes I mix some lemon and lime) - 3 tablespoons of sugar - 3 tablespoons of light soya sauce - 3 tablespoons of sesame oil - 1 teaspoon of salt Procedures: 1) Blend chilis, ginger and garlic together. Set aside in a large bowl. 2) Add lime juice, sugar, light soya sauce and sesame oil to the chili. Mix well. It can last for 1-2 weeks if kept it in a bottle in the refrigerator.

My eldest son calls Cantonese Steamed Fish the wedding banquet fish. While the dish may look 'grand' (associated with banquets), it is simple to cook and tastes so delicious. Ingredients: - 1 seabass, "butterflied" - 1 pack of spring onions, chopped into 6cm long shreds - 20g ginger, sliced - salt and pepper - 5 tablespoons of light soya sauce, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, 3 tablespoons of hot water, 2 tablespoons of sugar, pepper - 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons of shaoxing wine Procedures: - Season the seabass with shaoxing wine, salt and pepper. Lay the seabass on a bed of sliced ginger. Steam it for 10 minutes. - Transfer the seabass on a serving plate. - Mix light soya sauce, sesame oil, hot water, sugar and pepper in a bowl. Pour the seasoning on the fish. - Sprinkle spring onion shreds on the fish. - Heat up vegetable oil and pour hot oil on the spring onions. Serve.

This is a recipe improvised by my mother who cooked it very often when I was little. She would add special ingredients such as chili and lime juice which gave the dish a surprisingly refreshing note. She no longer cooks this dish anymore as she says she cannot recreate that particular taste. Today, I decided to give it a try and the taste seemed close to what I remember. One thing I did differently - I steamed the pork ribs over leftover rice so that the yummy sauce could add flavour to the rice. Ingredients: - 500g of prime pork ribs, chopped into smaller pieces  - 1 tablespoon of beanpaste  - 1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce  - 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced  - 1 tablespoon of sugar  - pepper - 1 tablespoon of sesame oil  - chopped chili, line juice (optional)  - spring onion for garnishing  Procedures: - Marinate pork ribs with beanpaste, dark soya sauce, garlic, sugar, pepper and sesame oil. Add chopped chili if de...

Maggi Chicken is a dish my husband grew up with. His family version is a stew which involves 'boiling the chicken to death' (in his own words). I decided to modify it into a stir-fry dish so as to retain the juicyness and tenderness of the chicken wings. Ingredients: - 1kg of chicken mid-wings - 2 carrots, diced - 4 potatos, diced - 1 onion, diced - maggi sauce, 2-3 tablespoons - 1 tablespoon of sugar - 2 tablespoons of sesame oil - 3 tablespoons of hua tiao wine - pepper Procedures: 1) Add a little oil to the frying pan, fry onions until fragrant. 2) Add potatos and carrots. Fry slightly. 3) Add chicken wings and fry until brown. 4) In a bowl, add seasonings and half a cup of water. Add to the frying pan. Let the dish simmer until the chicken wings are cooked and the vegetables are soft. Serve.

Spinach is a highly nutritious vegetable. However, it does not seems to appeal to the children. In order for the children to eat more of it, I would cook it in the form of the zi char favourite- spinach with 3 types of eggs. Ingredients: - 2 packs of round spinach - 2 century eggs, cut into small pieces - 2 salted eggs, cut into small pieces - 1 egg - 1 chicken cube - 1 handful of wolfberries Procedures: 1) To a pan, add 2 bowls of water, 1 chicken cube and a handful of wolfberries. 2) When the stock boils, add the stems of the round spinach, century eggs and salted eggs. 3) When the stems soften, add the leaves of the spinach. Beat an egg into the dish. Serve.