Memories in the Cooking

We brought this starter to a New Year Eve Dinner Party tonight. We prepared the cream cheese spread and assembled it at the party. So here you are, last dish of the Year 2020. A starter dish recipe to end the year.  Ingredients: - 1 box of cracker  - 150g of cream cheese  - 2 tablespoons of pickled cucumber  - lemon juice from half a lemon  - 1 clove of garlic, minced  - 100g of smoked salmon with dill  Procedures: 1) Mix cream cheese with pickled cucumber, lemon juice and minced garlic.  2) Spread the cream cheese mix on a piece of cracker and top up with a piece of smoked salmon. 

Here is another yummy 'ang-mo' soup - Cream of Corn and Potato Soup.  Ingredients: - 2 cans of corns  - 1 kg of potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks - 1 onion, diced  - 4 cloves of garlic, minced  - half a teaspoon of Italian mixed herbs  - 2 chicken cubes  - pepper  - 1 can of nestle cream  Procedures: 1) In a pot, add some vegetable oil and fry onions and garlic until fragrant.  2) Add potatoes and fry until cooked.  3) Add corn and mix well.  4) Add boiling water until it just covers the ingredients. Let the ingredients simmer until soft.  5) Blend the soup using a hand blender.  6) Add chicken cubes, herbs and pepper to taste.  7) Add cream and mix well. Serve. 

I cooked this dish for Christmas lunch and it was a hit. To tenderise the meat, I actually marinated the beef in soya sauce and garlic overnight. However, no one could detect or would have guessed the secret to this dish.   Ingredients: - 2 steaks, 2 itch thick, 400g each  - 2 tablespoon of light soya sauce  - 4 cloves of garlic, minced  - a lot of grounded black pepper  - 1 can of nestle cream  - 1 tablespoon of mustard  - 1 beef cube  - cognac (optional)  Procedures: 1) Marinate beef steaks with light soya sauce and minced garlic overnight.  2) Pat dry the marinate. Coat each steak with ground pepper.  3) In a frying pan, add olive oil. Pan fry the steak until the desired doneness. Place the steak on the meat board to rest.  4) Pour away the excess olive but do not scrap the black pepper from the pan.  5) Add cream, mustard, beef cube and make a creamy sauce. Add cognac if preferred. Serve.  

I wanted to make a pretty side dish today. So, I spent three times the amount of money to bring some cherry tomatoes on vine. Ingredients: - cherry tomatoes on vine  - 200g of ricotta cheese  - 1 can of nestle cream - 1 egg - 300g of mozzarella cheese  - 1 teaspoon of sea salt  - 6 slices of roti prata  - pepper  - balsamic vinegar - olive oil - honey  Procedures: 1) Foil the roti prata until it forms a rectangular pasty.  2) In a mixing bowl, whisk ricotta cheese, nestle cream, egg, half of mozzarella cheese, sea salt and pepper.  3) Fill the pasty with the cheese mixture.  4) Place the cherry tomatoes on it.  5) Bake at 180 degree celsius at 45 minutes. 6) Drizzle some balsamic vinegar, olive oil and honey on it. Serve. 

This recipe of Potato Gratin takes a shorter time (about 30 minutes) as compared to the usual ones (about 1.5 hours) as it was first cooked in the pan rather than entirely oven-baked. I personally also feel that it is also creamier with the potatos first cooked in the cheese sauce. I have also added some smoked duck to transform this side dish to an one-dish meal. Ingredients:  - 7 Russet potatos, sliced  - 2 cups of whole milk  - 1 tablespoon of flour  - 1 large onion, sliced  - 1 bulb garlic, crushed  - 1 tablespoon of mixed Italian herbs  - 1 chicken cube  - smoked/roasted meat (smoked duck in this recipe) - pepper - parmeasan cheese - mozzarella cheese Procedures:  1) To a frying pan, add some vegetable oil. Fry onions until fragrant.  2) Add flour and fry until slight brown. Add milk to form a thick sauce.  3) Add the roasted/smoked meat, garlic, herbs, chicken cube, pepper, parmesan cheese. Fry and mix well.  4) Add potato slices and 2 cu

After a tiring day, it is really great to have a refreshing Vietnamese Salad.  Ingredients: - 1 carrot, shredded - 2 zucchini, shredded  - juice of 2-3 Thai Lime  - 1 tablespoon of fish sauce  - 1 teaspoon of sugar - crushed peanuts  Procedures: 1) Mix everything together in a mixing bowl.  2) Serve it on a serving plate. 

I love Dang Gui so it is nice to come out with another recipe with my beloved Dang Gui.  Ingredients: - 1 kg of chicken mid-wings  - 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce  - 1 teaspoon of salt  - 2 teaspoons of sugar  - 8 slices of Dang Gui  - one handful of wolfberries  - 1 tablespoon of chinese cooking wine  Procedures: 1) Marinate chicken wings with all the seasonings. Leave it overnight in the fridge.  2) Wrap them in one layer of baking paper, followed by one layer of aluminum foil.  3) Steam for 1 hour. Serve.  * We can use the slow cooker for step 3 too

The family spontaneously wanted a movie night. So, we had popcorns to go with it!  Ingredients: - dried corn kernels - golden syrup (leftovers from the making of mooncakes)  - 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder Procedures:  1) In a frying pan, add some vegetable oil and the dried corn kernels. Mix well such that each corn kernel is coated with oil.  2) Cover the pan with a lit. Turn on the fire at low. Let the corn pop. Open the lid when the popping stops.  3) Transfer the popcorn onto a baking tray. Drizzle the golden syrup on it. Mix well and coat the popcorn with golden syrup.  4) Bake it in the oven at 180 degree celsius for 10 to 15 minutes.  5) Sprinkle with cinnamon powder and mix well. 

I finally roasted a whole duck. This recipe is wonderful as it adds a delicate taste to an otherwise gamey duck meat.  Ingredients: - 1 duck (about 2kg), pat dry  - earl grey tea from about 4 tea bags  - 1 teaspoon of five-spice powder  - 2 teaspoons of salt  - 5 potatoes, cube  - 1 onion, halved  - 1 bulb of garlic  Procedures  1) Rub tea leaves, five-spice powder and salt all around the duck and inside the cavity.  2) Stuff onion and garlic into the cavity of the duck and stitch it up using a satay stick.  3) Score the duck skin. Let it continue to air dry for 1 hour.  4) Place the duck (breast-side up) on a rack in a roasting tray. Let it roast for 1 hour at 180 degree celsius.  5) Pour away the duck fat from the roasting tray. Add potatoes into the roasting tray. Transfer the onion and garlic in the duck cavity go the roasting tray. Mix well.  6) Place the duck back into the rack in the roasting tray (breast-side down) and continue to roast for another 1 hour at 180 degree celsius.

Mala has conquered the world! It appears in almost every food court. This is my recipe for Mala Grilled Fish. For the fish, I chose a more than. 1kg pearl grouper. So, you can imagine what a huge dish this is.  Ingredients:  - More than 1kg grouper, butterflied  - 4 preferred vegetables (tau kwa, black fungus, cabbage, taukee)  - Haidilao mala paste  - peanuts, fried  - parsley, chopped - 4 cloves of garlic, chopped  Procedures: 1) Place the butterflied fish on a baking tray. Brush vegetable oil around the fish. Bake at 225 degree celsius for 20-30 minutes.  2) Cut tau kwa into small blocks. Pan fry it until golden brown in a frying pan.  3) Drain away the excess oil. Add chopped garlic. Fry until fragrant.  4) Add softened taukee, black fungus and cabbage. Fry until soft.  5) Add Haidilao paste. Mix well.  6) Pour the Mala vegetables onto the grilled fish.  7) Top it with peanuts and parley. 

This fish soup is similar to a chowder. It has so much ingredients that it can be eaten as a meal.  Ingredients: - 300g of salmon, cut into cubes  - 2 carrots, diced  - 2 russet potatoes, diced - 2 stalks of leeks, diced  - 1 cup of milk  - 1 cup of fish stock (or dissolve 2 fish cubes in water) - 1 can of nestle cream  Procedures: 1) In a pan, add vegetable oil and fry leek until caramelized.  2) Add carrots and potatoes and fry until soft.  3) Add fish stock and let it simmer for 5 minutes.  4) Add cream and milk. Mix well.  5) Add salmon and turn off the fire. Let the salmon poach for 15 mins until cooked. Serve. 

Yesterday, my family had a Nordic countries theme day and we cooked Nordic/Scandinivian food throughout the day. We had this baked salmon with mustard, lemon and dill sauce for lunch. It was amazing.  Ingredients: - about 600g of salmon filet  - 2 tablespoons of mustard sauce  - chopped dill - 1 lemon Procedures: 1) Place wash and pat dry salmon fillet on a baking tray.  2) In a mixing bowl, mix lemon juice (of half a lemon), mustard sauce and dill.  3) Spread the mix on the salmon fillet.  4) Lay a few slices of lemon on top of the fillet.  5) Bake at 180 degree celsius for 25-30 minutes. Serve.