Memories in the Cooking

I have a bottle of sambal in my fridge so I decided to use this simple dish.  Ingredients: - 10 eggs, hard boiled - 2 onions, cut into dices - 2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup  - 2 tablespoons of sambal  - 2 teaspoons of sugar  Procedures:  1) Fry onions until soft.  2) Add tomato sauce, sambal and sugar. Mix well.  3) Add hard-boiled eggs. Stir well. Serve. 

Garlic Spout is a very sweet and tasty vegetable. It goes very well with tofu and carrots. Ingredients: - 1 bunch of garlic spout, cut into 2 inch long pieces - 1 carrot, cut into shreds  - 2 pieces of tofu, cut into small pieces  - 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce - pepper  Procedures: 1) Fry tofu pieces until golden. Set aside.  2) Fry garlic spouts, carrots until soft.  3) Add the tofu and mix well.  4) Add oyster sauce and pepper. Mix well. Serve. 

I love this vegetable dish for its sweetness and crunchiness. Ingredients: - 1 pack of French beans, chopped into small pieces  - 1 carrot, cut into shreds  - 1 handful of ikan bilis  - 3 cloves of garlic  - 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce  - pepper  Procedures: 1) Fry ikan bilis in vegetable oil. Set aside.  2) Fry minced garlic until fragrant.  3) Add carrots and french beans. Cook until soft.  4) Add oyster sauce and pepper. Serve 

Isn't it apt to arrange the ubiquitious Tau Yew Bak in the shape of the Singapore island? I am currently exploring the use of slow cooker to cook some of our common dishes. So, here I shall present the Slow Cooker Tau Yew Bak. This "cook-by-itself" dish is perfect for an after-church lunch or weekday dinner. Ingredients: - 500g of pork belly, cut into one inch pieces - 1 bulb of garlic, remove skin - 1 thumb-size ginger, sliced - 1 tablespoon sesame oil - 3 tablespoons light soya sauce - 3 tablespoons dark soya sauce - 2 tablespoons of sugar - pepper - 1 tablespoon of five-spice powder - 1 cinnamon stick - 5 anistars - 2 pieces of tau kua, cut into bite-size pieces - 10 pieces of tau pok, cut into halves - 1 packet of tau kee, cut into small pieces - 5 hard-boil eggs Procedures: 1) Switch the slow cooker setting to high. Add sesame oil, ginger slices, cinnamon stick and anistars to the slow cooker. Fry until fragrant. 2) Add pork belly and garlic f...

This is a delicious dessert that can feed a crowd with little effort. To make it even tastier, you can top it with a scope of vanilia ice-cream. Ingredients: - 3 large mangos, cut into cubes - pomelo pulps of half a pomelo - 1 litre of Peel Fresh Mango Juice - 1 tin of carnation milk - 50g of small sago - 1 cup of caster sugar - vanilia ice-cream (optional) Procedures 1) Place caster sugar in a large serving bowl (2-3 litre). 2) Boil sago in 1 pot of boiling water until it turns transparent. 3) Transfer the sago to the large serving bowl. Stir the sugar with the sago until all of it is dissolved. 4) Blend half the mango cubes. Add it to the serving bowl. 5) Add mango juice and carnation milk to the serving bowl. Mix all the ingredients well. Chill them in the fridge. 6) Serve with mango cubes and pomelo pulps.

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....

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

This is not really a recipe. But I have finally assembled a cheeseboard and it looks impressive! Ingredients: - 4 types of cheese (a mix of hard and soft, weak and strong) - crackers - 2 fresh fruits (red and green grapes) - cherry tomatoes - 4 cold cuts - 2 jams - 2 types of nuts (almonds and pistachios) - 2 types of dried fruits (apricots, cranberries)