Double Boiled Winter Melon Soup - Featured recipe in Group Recipes

Double boiled Winter Melon Soup

Winter Melon in Cantonese is call “Tong Kuah” so a big winter melon is called “Tai Tong Kuah”  This reminded me of a story during my childhood.  My mum’s second step sister was one year younger than me so we were weekends playmates.  If I remembered correctly, when she was 6 years old, she had to perform for her school concert. She had to sing a song and I clearly remembered there was one line in the lyrics in Mandarin “Woh se ker tai tong kuah” (I am a big winter melon). During the peformance, when she sang that line, the audience started to laugh but she started to cry!  She was basically a very shy and sensitive kid and I guessed she felt embarrassed when people laughed. She thought they were laughing at her.  Actually, they were laughing at the lyrics of the song not her.  The reason being, when one calls you a “Tai Tong Kuah” means you are a clumsy and stupid fellow.  However, drinking this soup is not so stupid after all.  It has all the best ingredients in it and it is so delicious!  This makes a perfect healthy one dish meal. All you have to do is to have a bowl of steamed fragrant rice with it. 

Ingredients

1.8 to 2 kg Winder Melon

5 or 6 dried scallops (whole)

3 dried shitake mushroom (finely diced)

4 water chestnut (finely diced)

150 gm chicken breast meat diced)

20gm young ginger (finely diced)

1 ts vegetable oil

1 ts sesame oil (optional)

1 cube chicken stock (without MSG) (if you have homemade chicken broth, then you replace water with it and you do not need the cube chicken stock)

Salt and white pepper to taste

Method:

Preparation of Melon:

Stand the melon on a flat surface.  Use a pencil to make markings around it about ¼ height of the melon from the top.  On a cutting board, place melon on its side and cut along the markings to make the lid.  Scoop out seeds and pulp until wall is about ¾ inches thick.  Discard the seeds and pulp and place melon in a heat proof dish. 

Preparation of ingredients:

Heat vegetable oil in wok and sauté ginger and dried mushroom till ginger is fragrant.  Put them in the melon. Then add all the other ingredients in the melon and cover them with water. Close the top and secure the lid with tooth picks. Transfer the dish on the rack in a large wok or steamer and steam over medium heat for 1 – ½ hours.  Before serving, season with salt and white pepper and a drop or two of sesame oil.

How to serve:

You can serve the whole melon in the heat proof dish or you can scoop our the flesh of the melon into the soup and transfer everything into a serving bowl.  

Roasted Pine Nuts White wine creamy sauce - Featured in Group Recipes

This is my own recipe of white wine sauce or gravy if you wish to call it.  I use three types of herbs, fennel, roasted pine nuts and roasted garlic in this recipe and they really make this sauce special! It is very versatile and can used with fish, meat, chicken or pasta. You can even serve it as a dip with crackers for appetizer.  Oh, this is a nice gift for a friend too. Okay,I do not want to elaborate further but let you find out for yourself  and if you like it, give me a buzz or leave a comment:D 

Roasted pine nut white wine creamy sauce/gravy

Ingredients

  1. ½ medium size chopped onion

  2. ½ clove roasted garlic (roast with skin on and then removed it)

  3. 1/3 cup chopped fennel

  4. 1 tsp chopped rosemary

  5. 1 tsp chopped thyme

  6. 1 tsp chopped dill

  7. 1/3 cup roasted pine nuts

  8. ½ tsp salt

  9. 2 cups full cream milk

10. 3 tb olive oil

11. 2 tb butter

12. ½ cup white wine

13. 1 cube chicken stock (without MSG)

14. salt & black pepper to taste

roux:
equal part of flour and fat.

Method

Put items 1 to 10 into blender and blend well.  For some blenders, you might want to add 1/2 cup milk to get the blender works better.  So when you add milk later, add  only 1 1/2 cup of milk instead of 2.  Heat wok with butter and when butter is completely melted, add the mixture from the blender and bring to boil. Add wine and chicken stock.  Let the wine evaporate and turn down the heat and add in milk.  Stir to mix well let it simmer for 10 – 15 mins. Use 1 teaspoon of roux to thicken the sauce. Finally add salt and pepper to taste.

Mint leaves and egg soup - Featured in Group Recipes

Mum taught me to be independent at an early age. When I was 9 years old, she taught me how to cook rice and fry eggs. The first soup I was taught to make is Mint leaves and egg soup.  This soup is extremely aromatic and delicious. I love it and whenever I see fresh mint leaves in the market, I never fail to pick up a bunch or two to make the soup.  The Chinese believe this light and clear soup is very cooling for our body system and and drinking the soup will also help relieve flatulence.

Mint leaves and egg soup

Ingredients

2 bibs of garlic (chopped)

80 gms mint leaves (leaves only)

1 egg (lightly beaten)

1 ts vegetable oil

½ litre water

Salt and white pepper to taste

Method

Heat wok with oil and fry garlic till fragrant.  Add min leaves and stir fry for just a while.  Add water and bring it to boil. Lower heat and simmer till mint leaves is limp. Add in beaen egg and stir.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Stir fry bitter gourd with canned fried dace in black bean sauce - Featured in Group Recipes

This recipe is given to me by a good friend who is an excellent cook.  She is one of my line dancing mates.  This one falls into the category of quick and easy one dish meal.  It goes very well with both porridge and plain white rice. A suitable recipe for working couples who want a one dish meal that is easy and quick to prepare after a hard day's work.

If you do not like bitter taste, try to choose the lesser green and bigger bitter gourd because the smaller and greener ones are very bitter.  My mum always use bitter gourd as an anology for someone who doesn't smile and frown all the time.  She called that "foo kuah kon mien" (dried bitter gourd face) haha. I asked her why and she explained that the frowns look like the skin on the bitter gourd and usually with people do not smile but frown always, they can't be sweet right?  So start smiling more if not, very soon you will look like a dried bitter gourd lah! LOL!

On a serious note, Mum said  bitter gourd juice can lower blood sugar level.  She makes bitter gourd soup for us once in a while believing it will help maintain our blood sugar level. I asked her if it is so good, why can’t we have it more often?  She said we cannot over do and consume too much because it may cause mild abdominal pain or diarrhea. 

Stir fry bitter gourds with canned fried dace in black bean sauce

Ingredients

½ kg bitter gourd sliced (get rid of the seeds)

2 bibs chopped garlic

1 canned fried dace in black bean sauce (de bone the dace and shred into smaller piece)

1 red chilly (finely diced) or 1 ts red chilly padi if prefer real spicy

1 ts vegetable oil

Method

Heat oil in wok and add garlic.  Fry till fragrant and add bitter gourd, fry till it is slightly translucent.  Add fried dace in black beans sauce and stir fry till bitter gourd is limp. Add chilly and mix well and serve.

Colors for health

Colors for health

When I go marketing, I think of colors.  Brilliant colors of vegetables and fruits uplift my spirit.  When I serve food, I enhance it with colors. Colors make the food looks appealing and taste good even before we put them in my mouths. Furthermore, colors improve health.  According to Scientists, highly colored fruits and vegetables contain a disease-fighting agent called phytonutrients.  The red in tomatoes, the orange in carrots, the blue in blueberries, the green in leafy vegetables and the purple in grapes all  helps in reducing the risk of heart disease and cancer.  The yellow in corns helps protect against muscular degeneration.  See the power of colors? So the next time you go marketing, make sure you put lots of colors in your cart and then on your plates:D Fill your life with colors and you will always stay happy and healthy!

If you want to know more about colors, here is a fun link:

http://www.colorconnections.com/health.html


ENJOY!

Two days ago, when I was shopping at the Jaya Grocers, Empire, I saw lovely colorful cauliflowers.  I could not resist picking up one head of each color. They are so fresh and beautiful.  I can imagine what the scenery would be like in a cauliflower farm. If I am not mistaken, there is orange color cauliflower also but I have only seen it in pictures.  


Cauliflower is known for containing nutrients that fight against many diseases. If you can eat it raw, it will give you better nutritional benefits but as long as you do not overcooked it, its cancer fighting agent is not lost.  I am surprise to find out that just 3 florets of cauliflower a day will provide us 67% of our daily vitamin C requirement. Amazing!


When you buy cauliflower, please make sure there is no brown spots on the florets because if there is, then it has probably lost its nurtirents and you are just eating fibre.
Cauliflower Polonaise is a western dish but after I added the oriental taste to it, it will definitely pleases the oriental palate better. Even my Mum said it is delicious but I did not tell her there is butter in it because if she knows there is, she will not touch the dish.  Sssh!!

Oriental Cauliflower Polonaise

Ingredients

 

 2 eggs

1 1/2 heads of cauliflower (choice of color is optional)

Water

4 tablespoons butter 

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 tb fried shallots (thinly sliced and fried)

1 tb extra virgin olive oil

2 tb soya sauce

Salt and black pepper to taste
a drop or two chilly oil (optional)

Method

 

Thinly sliced shallots and fry till golden brown.  Make sure all the oil is drained and free of oil so that it is crispy and set aside.  Hard-boiled eggs - peeled and chopped and set aside. Boil cauliflower for about 10 mins until tender and drain.  Place cauliflower on a a big mixing bowl. In small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  Add bread crumbs, and cook, stirring until golden. Stir in chopped eggs, parsley, orange juice and water. Mix well and put them on top of the cauliflower. Add extra virgin olive oil, soya sauce, salt and black pepper and toss well and transfer to a serving bowl. This dish can be serve hot or cold according to personal preference.

Stir fry egg plants with crispy prawn chilly sauce

Looks like now, we have a house full of cooks!  I am sure you have heard of the saying “Too many cooks spoil the soup” haha.  In our case that doesn’t apply.  Mum, my hubby and I cook and we all enjoy our food and the only person who does not cook is my son, Nick.  He came to visit yesterday and saw the eggplants on the kitchen table that my  god daughter, Cheryl and her hubby, Valen brought from Cameron Highlands. He turned and said to me, “Mum, I will show you a bachelor’s recipe, quick, easy, yummy and HOT!!”  He picked up the biggest eggplant and took out the jar of crispy prawn chilly sauce and started working on it.  Chop chop and fry?  I asked, "Is that it?" and he replied confidently, "Yes, that's it!".  How true, it takes him less than 30 mins to get the dish ready.  Nick asked all of us to taste but his Dad said he would rather not because it looked very spicy. So grandma and I tasted it and we were impressed….it tasted good! Ready to see what the bachelor’s recipe is all about? There you go! LOL!  

Stir fry egg plants with Tean's Gourmet crispy anchovies chili

Ingredients

1 large egg plant (sliced)

1 heaped table spoon crispy anchovies chili

Salt to taste

1 ts oil

Method

Heat oil in wok and fry egg plants till it is slight limp and brown.  Set aside.

Add crispy anchovies chili and fry till fragrant, add egg plant and stir fry till well mixed with chilly sauce.  Add salt to taste.  Wala!! Ready to serve.

Note: I recommend you use Tean's Gourmet crispy anchovies chili.  It is a product of Malaysia.