Memories in the Cooking

Seafood goes very well with glass vermicelli as the glass vermicelli would soak up the flavourful seafood stock like a sponge. You can use either crabs, clams or prawns for this dish. Ingredients: - 400g of prawns  - 4 cloves of garlic, minced  - half a large onion, diced  - 1 thumbsize ginger, sliced  - 250g of glass vermicelli, soaked - shells and heads of about 20 prawns  - 50g of coriander, chopped  - 50g of spring onions, chopped  - 3 tablespoons of huatiao wine  - 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce  - 20g of white pepper corn  - 2 tablespoons of sugar  - 1 ikan bilis cube  Procedures: 1) In a claypot, add some vegetable oil. Fry onions, garlic and ginger until fragrant.  2) Add prawn heads and shells and fry until pink. Add white pepper corn, chicken cube and sugar. Add 4 bowls of water. Simmer it for 30 minutes.  3) Add soaked glass vermicelli to the stock. Add oyster sauce.  4) When it reboils, add prawns on top of the glass vermicelli. Ad

This is a dish that I used to enjoy during Chinese New Year when my paternal uncle was around. My grandmother came from a Peranakan family so this dish has some Peranakan influence. Ingredients: - 15 large prawns (with or without shells) - 10 shallots, sliced - 4 garlic, minced - 2 tablespoons of ketchup - 2 tablespoons of sambal chili - 2 teaspoons of sugar - few stalks of parsley and spring onions, chopped Procedures: 1) Add vegetable oil in a frying pan. Fry shallots and minced garlic until fragrant and soft. 2) Add ketchup, sambal chili, sugar, 3 tablespoons of water. Fry until fragrant. 3) Add prawns and stir fry until pink. 4) Add chopped parsley and spring onions. Serve.

This is one of the most auspicious sounding Chinese New Year dish. The chinese translation of Black Moss Oysters is 蚝鼓发菜 which sounds like 好事发财, which means good fortune and wealth. This dish reminds me that as a child of God, I am already very blessed with God's guidance and provision throughout life. There are many variations to this dish. My favourite version is cooked by my husband's paternal grandma (Por Por), who had passed on a few years ago. Cooking this dish would often stir up memories of her. I remember the times when Por Por was so proud to introduce me as her grand daughter-in-law to the seniors in church while I was dating my then-boyfriend. Por Por would cook this dish for Chinese New Year and I would be so looking forward to it. Por Por "plumped up" the already big oysters with minced pork. The combination of oysters and minced pork was an unexpected perfect match. Ingredients - 25 big-size dried oysters - 1 packet of black moss - 1 ic

This dish symbolises wealth as the chinese word '蒜' for leek sounds like '算', which means counting lots of money. The fried tofu slices are supposed to look like gold bars. I hope this dish will reminds us to count of blessing too. To jazz up the dish, you could add clams or even abalone. Ingredients: - 3-4 stalks of chinese leek, chopped - 2 pieces tofu, cut into slices - 1 can of clams - oyster sauce, pepper Procedures: 1) Fry tofu slices until both sides are golden brown. 2) Add chinese leek and stir fry until soft. Add canned clams and fry a little. 3) Season with 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce and pepper. Serve