Memories in the Cooking

Orh Luak or Oyster Omelette is one of my favourite Singapore hawker stir-fry. I have tried many versions - Taiwanese, Malaysian but I still like the Singapore version. Ingredients (3 omelettes): - 5 tablespoons of sweet potato flour - 2 tablespoons of rice flour - 300 ml of water  - 6 eggs  - 500g of oysters - spring onions and parley, chopped - 2 teaspoons of fish sauce - 1 tablespoon of huatiao wine Procedures: 1) In a mixing bowl, add sweet potato flour and rice flour and water. Mix well. 2) Separately, beat the eggs in another bowl. 3) In a frying pan, add vegetable oil. Add one-third of the flour batter. Cook until the underside is crispy and brown. Flip it over. Add one-third of the egg mixture to it. 4) When the underside is crispy and brown, turn it over again. 5) Push the omelette to the sides of the frying pan. Add oysters to the pan, season with fish sauce and huatiao wine. Cook for 5 seconds. Mix well with the omelette. Serve with chopped parsley

Vegetables are not the usual highlight in a dinner. But my family likes this dish the most for tonight's dinner. The crispy garlic makes the dish very fragrant. Ingredients: - 2 bunches of Kang Kong, cut into 1 itch long segments - 1 bulb of garlic, cut into slices  - 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce - white pepper powder  Procedures: 1) Add vegetable into a frying pan. Fry garlic slices until it become brown. Set aside.  2) Add Kang Kong and fry until soft.  3) Season with oyster sauce and pepper.  4) Serve on a serving plate and top up with the crispy garlic. 

I have a penchant for fish head - fish head curry, assam fish head, claypot fish head are all my favourites. Claypot fish head, in particular, comes with my other favourite ingredients such as roasted porked belly and yam. This dish is also highly customisable. According to your preference, you can add egg beancurds, cauliflowers, carrots or snow peas etc. Ingredients: - half a red snapper fish head - half a wong bok - 400g of yam - 150g of roasted pork belly - 1 egg -  corn flour - 3 cloves of garlic, crushed - few slices of ginger - salt, pepper, oyster sauce Procedures: 1) Clean fish head and dry it with kitchen towel. Coat it with corn flour. Fry it. 2) Fry egg tofu. 3) To a claypot, fry crushed garlic and ginger slices. Add roasted pork belly, yam and wong bok. Fry a little. Add 2-3 cups of water and let the ingredients simmer until soft. 3) Season with 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce and pepper. 4) Add the fish head and egg tofu and stew. Let it simmer for 5

I love dim sum and paper-wrapped chicken is one of my favourite items. However, it is cooked by deep-frying, one of my least favourite methods. So, instead of deep-frying it, I have decided to oven-bake it instead. Ingredients: - 1kg of chicken wings  - 3 cloves of garlic - half an onion - 1 thumb-size ginger  - 1 teaspoon of five spice powder  - 2 tablespoons of light soya sauce  - 1 tablespoon of dark soya sauce  - 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce  - 1 tablespoon of corn starch  - pepper  - 2 tablespoons of huatiao wine  - spring onions  Procedures: 1) Blend garlic, ginger and onion into a paste.  2) Marinate chicken wings with the paste, five spice powder, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, oyster sauce, corn starch, pepper and huatiao wine. Let it marinate overnight.  3) Wrap 4-5 chicken wings and a few stalks of spring onions using baking papers into parcels.  4) Bake the parcels at 220 degree celsius for 30 minutes. Serve. 

Bread and Butter Pudding is another dish that transforms stale bread into a marvelous weekend breakfast (see earlier post on French Toast). To prevent burning the raisins, I suggest baking the pudding covered and then uncovered at the last 5 minutes. Enjoy! Ingredients: - 15 slices of stale bread, halved into triangle slices - 500ml of milk - 6 eggs - quarter cup of sugar - 1 teaspoon of vanilla paste - 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder - raisins - butter - icing sugar Procedures: 1) Spread butter on bread. 2) Place a layer of bread on the baking tray. Top up with raisins. Repeat until all bread are used. 3) To a mixing bowl, add milk, egg, sugar, vanilla paste, cinnamon powder. Mix well. 4) Pour the mixture on the bread and let it soak for 10 minutes. 5) Bake at 180 degree celsius covered for 20 minutes and uncovered for 5 minutes. 6) Serve with some icing sugar or ice-cream.