Steam three kinds of eggs

My son and hubby loves eggs. You can cook them in any variation, they will still love it.  To me, my mum makes the best steam eggs. This may look simple to do but to get the right consistency and texture are not so.  Before I started this blog, I never pay any attention to how mum makes this dish. I just know that I love it and have not found any restaurant in Kuala Lumpur that can make it better than her. There are times when I craves for it. Whenever that happens, all I have to do is said to mum, I want to eat steam eggs. "PUOOFF!" the steam eggs will be served at dinner time! I consider myself VERY lucky to have mum staying with me.  She is my BEST friend, someone I can confide in and be myself.  There are times when I go cranky and become nasty and blow my top unreasonably.  Mum puts me back on track by giving me a nice scolding which I deserved! She is my guardian angel. 

As usual, mum does not follow any measurement.  When I asked her how she makes the steam eggs, she said, a pinch of this and a bowl of that and use this aluminium plate to hold the eggs. So, I have to explain to her that I need accurate measurement in order for me to share this recipe with my readers and blogger friends.  They don't have the same size bowl or the aluminium plate we use. I told her I need to measure all her "pinch of this and handful of that" and "a bowl of this and that" to get it right. You know what she said to me?  She said "Aiyoh, why so "Ma fan"(troublesome)?, I don't need so many cups and spoons to cook. All I have is my ten fingers!" LOL! So there you go, here is the recipe carefully measured from my mum's ten fingers.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 egg

1 century egg

1 salted egg

¾ cup water

1 tsp chopped garlic, deep fried

1 shallot, thinly slice and deep fried

1 tsp diced chives

1 tsp sesame oil

Method:

Crack the regular and salted eggs in an aluminium plate. Dice the salted egg yolk. Add water and beat them lightly. Remove shell from century egg and cut into bite size and spread out into the salted egg and regular egg mixture.   Heat steam on high heat till water is boiling. Place plate with eggs mixture into the steamer and gently stir the mixture for 30 sec. Keep heat on high and close lid but just allowing a little gap. You can use a spoon or spatula to create the gap, this is a secret to getting the perfect steam egg custard with silky smooth surface. Steam for about 15 to 20 mins. Drizzle sesame oil on top of steamed eggs and garnish with deep fried garlic, deep fried shallots and chives. Serve hot.

Stir fry baby bok choy with almond - an appropriate side dish for Chinese New Year

There are so many variation in cooking baby bok choy. Here is another variation. Quick, simple yet delicious and healthy. This makes a lovely vegetable dish for Chinese New Year if you are looking for one. Since almonds signify goods of life, it is an appropriate dish to include for the celebration.

Ingredients:

350 gm baby bok choy

¼ cup almond, chopped

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp chopped garlic

½ cube bullion chicken stock

¼ tsp sesame oil

¼ tsp ground white pepper

¾ cup water

Method:

Dissolve bullion chicken stock in ¾ cup warm water and set aside. Heat oil in wok and sauté garlic till fragrant. Add almond and stir fry till they a golden brown.  Add bok choy , chicken stock and stir fry till bok choy is limb .  Add sesame oil and ground white pepper and mix well.  Transfer to serving plate and serve hot. 

Kai lan with stewed mushroom and mini abalone and a conversation with a lonely old lady - Featured in Group Recipes

My Mum and I go to the market together every morning and then after marketing, we will go have our breakfast. A few mornings ago, we went to buy Hong Kong kai lan and some other vegetables. After we finished marketing, we went to our usual hawker center in the market for curry noodles. There, we met this old lady, probably in her eighties, eating her breakfast alone, the fragrant bowl of curry noodles in front of her. I noticed that she was watching me and Mum chatting while we were waiting for our order. Looking at Mum she asked, “Is this your daughter?” My mum answered “Yes, she is my daughter”. The old lady continued to ask, “How many children have you?”. Mum said, “She is my only child and I have a step son.” The old lady, with tears welling up in her eyes, answered “How lucky you are. I have nine children and none of them is with me. I am living alone and they only send me money and come see me once a year.” I could not believe what I heard! This is so sad. It breaks my heart to hear that. This is what is happening to a lot of old folks nowadays. Their children are too busy with their lives and have no time for them. Money is not what our old folks want from us, all they ask is for us to spend a little time with them and let them know we are okay. I can hardly imagine not sharing a meal with my mother. She is the inspiration for this blog, and has been a "foodie" as long as I can remember. I can still recall how, at a very young age, I would accompany her to market and subsequently watch the transformation of fresh ingredients into something irresistable. I can not know all of this lady's, or her chidren's circumstances. However, if what she told us was true, then I know that there are several people who are cheating themselves out of some of the fondest memories a person can have.

Perhaps you might want to try this recipe and prepare a simple meal for your old folks today? I know this will bring them much joy!

Ingredient:

250gm Hong Kong kai lan

1 can 140 gm canned mini abalone (optional)

6 big shitake mushroom

1 ½ tbsp vegetable oil

3 bibs garlic, sliced

2 tbsp oysters sauce

1 tsp dark black sauce

1 tsp light soya sauce (optional)

½ tsp sugar

¾ tsp ground white pepper

1 tsp corn starch

1 tsp water

1 tsp salt

water to boil kai lan

Method:

Wash and soak mushroom in a bowl of warm water for 30 mins. Squeeze dry the mushroom and set aside. Retain the mushroom water. Add salt and ½ ts of vegetable oil in a pot of water and bring it to boil. Add kai lan and cook till the color is dark green. Remove from pot, drain and set aside. Heat 1 tb oil in the wok and sauté the garlic till fragrant. Add mushroom, abalone, oysters sauce, dark black sauce, light soya sauce and sugar and stir fry till mushroom and abalone are well mix with the sauce. Add the mushroom water and turn heat to low and it stew till both mushroom and abalone are soft. Mix in ground white pepper. Dissolve the corn starch in 1 ts water and add into the gravy to thicken it. Lay the kai lan on the serving plate and pour stew over the vegetable and serve.

Stir fry soy bean sprouts and minced pork

This dish brings me back to my school days where we were asked to grow some bean sprout during our biology class.  It was interesting to see how they grow.  Of all the three science subjects, I love biology the most.  Probably the reason is because I was neither good at chemistry or physics . 

Bean spouts are nutritious and it is popular among restaurants and salad bars.  It has high concentration of essential vitamins, protein and starches.  They can be used in making soups, stir fry with salted fish and many more.  Being an "Ipoh Mali" girl (a girl from Ipoh), it is easy to love bean sprouts because Ipoh bean sprouts are the best!

Ingredients:

270gm soy bean sprouts, chopped

270gm minced pork

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp chopped garlic

½ cube bullion chicken stock, mashed.

Mehtod:

Heat oil in wok and sauté garlic till fragrant.  Add minced pork and sauté till whitish in color and add soy bean sprouts and stir fry till pork is light brownish and completely cooked.  Add chicken bullion and mixed well. Serve hot.

Stir fry baby bok choy with dried shrimps and yam - Featured in Group Recipes

It is very hard to come by a good piece of yam, one that is very starchy.  When you see one, it is like striking a lottery.  Caution: Yams, unlike sweet potatoes, are toxic so don’t eat it raw. Cooking helps to destroy its toxin. There are many variations of cooking yam but seldom with green leafy vegetables. The flavor of this dish is unique and unpronounced.  

Ingredients:

300 gm yam, cut into small cubes

400 gm baby bak choy

20 gm dried shrimps

1 tb vegetable oil

1 ts chopped garlic

1 cube bullion chicken stock

3 cups water

1 ts ground white pepper

2 tb fish sauce

Method:

Dissolve a cube of bullion chicken stock in 3 cups of warm water and set aside. Wash and blanch baby bak choy in salt water.  Deep in cold bath, drain and set aside.  Wash and soak dried shrimps in warm water for 30 mins. Drain dried shrimps and set aside.  Retain the  shrimp water.  Steam yam for 25 mins.  Heat oil in wok and sauté dried shrimps till it is soft. Add yam, fish sauce and chicken stock. Reduce heat to medium and let it simmer till yam is very soft and gravy reduced.  Add baby bak choy and mix well for about 2 mins. Transfer to serving plate and serve hot.

Watercress pork rib soup - featured in Group Recipes

Chinese soups are so easy to make.  I think most of the recipes are “idiot proof”.  This one is for sure.  The outcome usually cannot go wrong and almost every Chinese soup has some benefits to your health.  To name a few for watercress soup:

It helps to protect the eyes because it contains a high level of two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin.

It helps increase production of breast milk so lactating mum should drink lots of watercress soup. 

If you do not mind the bitterness of raw watercress, chewing raw watercress leaves will help stop bleeding gums.

Watercress leaves are used as a poultice for the relief of enlarged prostate gland. The poultice can also treat swollen feet and sprained ankles.

On top of all the above, the taste of the soup is soothing and pleasant, not like some herb soup that is bitter and hard to swallow.

Ingredients:

600 gm watercress, wash and cut

500 gm pork rib

5 pcs big red dates,

6 pcs honey dates

80 ml water

Method:

Blanch pork ribs and drain.  Add all ingredients into the pot and bring to boil for 15 mins and turn heat to low and simmer for 3 hours.

Stir fry abalone mushroom with ginkgo nuts and wolfberries - featured in Group Recipes

When my mum cooks this dish, I cannot help but eat 2 bowls of rice. I love the combination of flavors and ingredients. Abalone mushroom has little flavor or aroma when they are not cooked. However, when they are cooked with ginkgo nuts and wolfberries, they develop an ‘umami’ of flavors no one can resisit. I love abalone and this mushroom has a texture similar to it. Definitely this is more affordable than abalone and I don't need to think twice or count my pennies when I crave for it.

Ingredients:

350gm abalone mushrooms

100 gm ginkgo nuts (remove shell and skin)

20 gm wolfberries

1 tb vegetable oil

2 tb oysters sauce

2 tb Chinese wine (hua tiao)

1 ts sugar

1 cube bullion chicken stock

½ cup water

½ ts ground white pepper

Method:

Dissolve a cube of bullion chicken stock in ½ cup warm water and set aside. Wash wolfberries and set aside. Soak gingko nuts for 1 hour. Cooks gingko nuts in boiling water till it is soft, drain and set aside. Blanch ablaone mushroom briefly, drain and set aside. Heat oil in wok, saute gingko nuts, add oysters sauce, sugar, chicken stock, and abalone mushrooms. Simmer for 1 min and add wolfberries and simmer for another min. Add Chinese wine and simmer for 30 secs and transfer all to a serving plate.

Long Bean Rice - Featured in Group Recipes

This recipe was given to my mum by a neighbor about 45 years ago.  Her name was Siew Hong and a nice lady.  I used to go to her house to play with her kids almost everyday after I finished my homework from school. She had lost her life to cancer at a rather young age leaving behind her hubby and 2 children.  Each time, mum cooks long bean rice, it reminds me of aunty Siew Hong.

Ingredients:

(A)

1 1/2 cups of rice

130 gm log beans, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 pc Chinese sausage

70 gm waxed meat

Seasoning:

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder

2 teaspoon light soya sauce

1 tablespoon dark soya sauce

Method:

Heat oil in wok and fry shallots till golden brown. Remove fried shallots and set aside. Add (A) and mix well with the shallots oil.  Add seasoning and stir fry for 2 mins. Transfer all ingredients into rice cooker. Add  water till it covers rice completely just like how you usually cook rice. Turn on the rice cooker and wait for it to cook automatically. Sprinkle fried shallots over rice before serving.  This taste delicious when wrapped in Romanian lettuce.  

Chicken and Ginseng soup

This soup is a no brainer to make but my Mum is an ardent believer in ginseng. She said this herb support overall health and boost the immune system if taken regularly.  One caution though, don’t take it at night unless you want to count sheep.

Ingredients:

1 pc 200gm Chicken breast

6 honey dates

100 gm ginseng

900 ml water

Method:

Blanch chicken breast and set aside. Add water and ginseng to pot and bring to boil.  Add chicken breast and honey dates and simmer for 2 hours.

In memory of 911 a simple but favorite family recipe

Char Siu Chicken Wings

Yesterday my page visits totaled 911 and it made me think of those who lost their lives on the 11th of September, 2001. I still find myself deeply affected by that horrible day. Not to trivialize but I would like to suggest this recipe as a tribute to the victims and those they left behind. Let’s always keep them in our hearts and let them live there forever, and let us never forget. So many family's lives were disrupted by the events on that day. As we have often noted, enjoying food is most special when it is a family affair. We should relish every moment that we have with our families, and we should support and pay our respects to families who survive the disruption of events such as 911.

The recipe that follows is a family favorite. I would probably not serve this as a main dish in a Western setting, but rather as an appetizer, or one of several dishes for a festive meal. For the Chinese setting, it would be a meat dish, likely in addition to others. For non vegetarian Chinese families, the epitome of prosperity, generosity, and celebration are to have several meat dishes at one meal. Meat is often used in our vegetable dishes as well. Modern consumption practice is likely to result in attenuating serving sizes rather than to cut back the number of dishes containing meat or fish.

The barbecued chicken wing recipe here is a very simple dish to make. Just make sure you marinate the chicken wing for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator.

There are so many variations of char siu sauce and it is, of course, key to the taste. Here is ours, but some of you may want to experiment with other choices of ingredients. I've listed some ideas below. Char Siu literally translates from the Cantonese as fork cooked referring to way the meat is skewered and hunk over coals or in an oven. It's origins are distinctly Southeastern Chinese and it accompanied the diaspora to the Asia Pacific of all of the Cantonese speaking people who came here. More often found as a pork dish, it's adaptation to chicken wings is seamless and delicious.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
• 4 tbs soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons rice wine
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 rounded teaspoon of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice mixed powder
• red chili powder to taste (optional)

This should yield more than enough for the recipe below, which can be kept refrigerated several days, or served as an extra dipping sauce when your serve the wings. Some possible substitutions could be to replace the rice wine with Japanese Mirin, add ginger chili sauce for some punch (commercially available), add a tbs or 2 of tomato sauce for a redder color and a more tomato taste, I suspect the list is endless.

Ingredients:
8 pcs of chicken upper wings

4 tb char siu sauce

oil to fry chicken wings

2 tb corn flour

Method:
Add char siu sauce to chicken wings and let it marinate for 3 hours. Mix chicken wings with corn flour. Heat oil in wok and when it is hot, add in chicken wings and fry till they are cooked. Transfer to serving plate.

Taucu sliced pork with chilli

Each time my Mum cooks this dish, I always go back for second helping.  This is one of those dishes that will taste better the next day. For me, I don't any other side dish to go with steamed rice when I have this one.

Ingredients: 

150gm thinly sliced pork

3 green chilli

1 red chilli

4 chilly padi (optional)

2 tbs tau cu paste

1 ts chopped garlic

3 tbs water

1 tbs sugar

 (A)

1 ts corn starch

1 ts sesame oil

½ ts ground white pepper

1 ts mashed bullion chicken stock

Method:

Marinate sliced pork in (A) for at least 2 hours.  Heat oil in wok and fry garlic till fragrance.  Add tau cu and fry for 1 min or so.  Add slice pork and stir fry till pork is whitish in color.  Add green chilly and chilly padi.  Stir fry for another min and add water and sugar and let it simmer till pork is completely cooked.

Stir fry roast pork with dark soy sauce, garlic and mint leaves - Featured in Group Recipes

Roast pork is always served during a Chinese Wedding. It is most important to have a roast pig as part of the gifts for the bride. “Ju” or Pig is the sign of virginity for the bride. If the bridegroom is satisfied that his wife is a virgin, he will send her home to visit her parents with a roast pig complete with tail and ears to show his satisfaction. If not, he will break the pig’s tail and ears to announce that his wife is not a virgin. This, I do not understand. I thought we Chinese are afraid to lose face, so how could a man in those older times be willing to announce to the world that his bride is not a virgin? Go figure!

For a long time, I ate roast pork as it is, simply roasted over a spit to a crusty fat layer over the lean meat. It was my sister in law, Jeanie, who introduced me to stir frying the roasted pork with dark soy sauce, garlic and chili. I love the way she cooks it. In my opinion, this is a better way to eat it because we consume less fat which gets rendered in the frying process. Moreover, the garlic and chili add extra flavor that seem perfectly complimentary and, of course, the frying puts a lovely caramelization on the meat to add even more flavor depth. Still, as I am always tinkering with recipes, I thought of something to add that worked out well. The new ingredient - mint leaves - give this dish a whole new dimension!

Ingredients:

250 gm roast pork

2 cups mint leaves

3 tbs chopped garlic

1 tbs sugar 

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tbs dark soy sauce 

3 chili padi (bird chilli), finely diced

Note: (measurements of the ingredients are just a guide, you can add or lessen to your own preference)

Method:

Heat the work and add 1 tbs garlic and the roast pork. Stir fry till you see some oil in wok and add 2 more tbs of garlic. Stir fry to get more oil out of the roast pork for about 5 mins. Add dark soy sauce, soy sauce and chilly padi. Stir fry for another another 5 mins. Add sugar and mints leaves and stir fry another 5 mins. Transfer to serving plate and serve hot.

Choy Geok (Mustard leaves left over soup) - featured in Group Recipes

According to my Mum, there is a story about this dish in Chinese legend. It seems that Emperor Qianlong disguised himself as a commoner and was on a mission to see how his citizens lived especially the poor farmers. Then, he came across this young chicken farmer who had a sick old mother. He was impressed with the young farmer for being hardworking and at the same time took good care of his sick mother. He became good friends with him and through him he got to know the hardships faced by his poor citizens. The young and innocent farmer, not knowing that his new friend was Emperor Qianlong had invited him to his home for dinner. When he could not find any decent ingredients to cook for his guest, he regretted the invitation, but it was too late to back out. What he had were just some left overs. So what he did was gather some mustard leaves from his neighbors mustard farm, and came home and threw everything inside the big clay pot with the left overs, along with some dried chilly, assam, and water. He cooked it all slowly. He served the dish to his new acquaintance worrying that he would not like the taste, but to his surprise, his new friend enjoyed the dish so much and wanted to know it's name. As he was too embarrassed to tell the truth, that the dish was made out of left overs, he invented a sophiscated name – “Yat Pun Woh” which literally means, the No.1 tasty dish! So when Emperor Qianlong returned to his kingdom and ordered his chefs to make the dish called “Yat Pun Woh”, none of them had a clue what the Emperor was talking about! I guess Emperor Qianlong had to return to the poor farmer’s home to have this dish, or he sent someone to ask about the recipe. Whether or not this legend is true, it is not important, but I have to say, this is one of my “DIE FOR” dishes! I can eat this dish continuously for a week and still want more!  Chinese cuisine,  just like everyday life, is full of legends like this.  

Ingredients:

4.5 kg of mustard leaves
water, enough to cover all ingredients

(A)

2 roast pork trotter

25 gm assam slices (adjust according to your own taste)

20 gm dried chilly (adjust according to your own taste)

2 cubes bullion chicken stock

3 tbs lard (optional)

Method:

Wash mustard leaves and cut them in big pieces. Separate the stalk from the leaves. Add mustard stalk and (A) in a big pot and enough water to cover all the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Let it boil for 30 mnst before you add the mustard leaves and let it boil for 15 mins and turn down heat to simmer for 1- 2 hours until vegetables are soft and you can smell the aroma of the dish. This dish tastes better the next day.

Mein Sin or mee sua in chicken soup

Everyone in my family love noodles. The are so many different type of Chinese noodles. Mein sin is just one of them. Most Chinese mothers cook mein sin with chicken soup when a loved one is not well. We have mein sin available in our pantry all the time because it is so handy and easy to make. On days that we wanted something light and simple for lunch, we just have a bowl of mein sin in chicken soup and we are very happy. However, there is another elaborate way of cooking mein sin. Mein sin with chicken in Chinese red wine! If I can convince my neighbor to share her recipe with me, I will get it posted here soon. Her recipe is out of this world! For now., let me share the simpler version below. Thisis truly "comfort" food.

Ingredients:

Serving : 1

10 thinly sliced pork

50 gm mein sin

3 fish balls

5 leafs of lettuce

½ ts garlic

1 tb vegetable oil

1 ts soy sauce

¼ ts ground white pepper

½ ts corn starch

1 cube bullion chicken stock, mashed

2 cups water

1 or 2 drops of sesame oil

Method:

Marinate sliced pork with soy sauce, ground white pepper and corn starch. Set aside. Heat oil in wok and fry garlic till fragrant, add sliced pork and stir fry till pork turn whitish. Add water, mashed bullion chicken stock and bring to boil. Add fish balls, lettuce and mein sin. Cook till mein sin is slightly limp and turn color. Add sesame oil and serve hot.

Ba Chang (rice dumplings ) - Featured in Group Recipes

I dedicate this post to my Mum’s best friend, whom I call her “Ah Sum” (aunty). She is 85 years old, very healthy and alert and still cooks and sews fabulously!  One of her specialty is Ba Chang which she makes every year on Ba Chang festival which falls on 5th day of the 5^th month of the Chinese lunar calendar. According my Mum, this festival is to commemorate the death of a famous Chinese poet called Qu Yuan who lived during the warring states period in China. He drowned himself because he failed to warn his king of the expansionism of their Qin neighbor who eventually took over their capital city.  According to legend, people throw packets of rice into the river where he was drowned to prevent fish from eating his body.

It is not difficult to prepare the rice but the difficult part is the wrapping of the rice.  “Ah Sum” is the expert.  She make it look so easy but when I do it, everything falls apart.. haha. 

Here is the link to a video to show you the ba chang chronicles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNtzi3jC9fU

Serving : 10 ba chang

INGREDIENTS:

300 g Belly Pork
200 g mei dou, (black eye pea)

10 Preserved egg yolks

600 g Glutinous rice

10 pieces dried shitake mushrooms

2 tsps Five-spice powder

100 gm dried shrimps

10 roasted chestnuts

black sauce, according to taste

3 tbsp garlic

3 tbsp shallots

rice wine according taste

Seasoning:

2 tbs Spicy salt

1 Chicken cube

¼ ts Pepper

1 tbs Sugar

2 tb Oil

¼ ts Salt

1 tbs Oil

1 tsp Sugar

Wrapping Materials:

10 Dried lotus leaves

20 Straws

30 Bamboo leaves

Method:

In a wok, heat oil and stir fry garlic and shallots until fragrant. Add rice and continue to fry for 5 to 7 minutes. Add black sauce and five spice powder and continue to fry for 5 to 7 minutes and set aside. Cut the belly pork into 10 large chunks and marinate for 2 days with 2 ts five-spice powder and 1 ts salt. Wash and drain the glutinous rice. Mix well with ½ tbsp sugar, chicken cube, oil and pepper. Soak the mei dou (black eye pea) in water to for 3 hours. Drain and set aside. Soak the dried shitake mushrooms in warm water for 1 hours. Squeeze dry and cut slices and set aside. Steam for 10 minutes. Wash and boil the lotus and bamboo leaves until soft. Drain and towel-dry. Place 3 bamboo leaves on a lotus leaf. Put a layer of glutinous rice on the bamboo leaves and add a layer of mei dou. Top with a preserved egg yolk, a piece each of belly pork, 2 slices of cooked shitake mushroom and 1 piece of roasted chestnut. Cover with a layer of mei dou and another layer of glutinous rice. Fold in the leaves to form a triangle dumpling, then tie firmly with straw. Prepare a deep saucepan and line with several bamboo leaves. Put in the rice dumplings, then fill with enough water to cover them. Use high heat to bring the water to a boil, then reduce to moderate heat and continue to boil for 6 hours. R emove and drain. Serve hot.