Stir fry Buddha's palm squash and glass noodles - Featured in Group Recipes

I started to like Buddha’spalm squash after a trip with the family to Cameron Highlands 2 years ago to visit my god son-in-law.  He took us up the hill to a vegetable farm where there were lots of Buddha’spalm squash (Chayote Salad). The owner of the farm was so generous and gave us more than 10 squashes for free.  After we returned home from Cameron, my mum started to cook this squash in many variation and one of them is to stir fry with glass noodles, dried shrimps and topped with crispy tiny anchovies.  This is so good especially when the glass noodles soaked up all the broth.  For those who are curious to know why this squash was given its name, here is the answer. It resembles the Buddha’s palm when in medidation and its medicinal properties are well-known in Chinese food lore as able to clear coughs, chest infections, and urinary tract infections. Interesting right?

Ingredients:

1 whole Buddha’s palm squash (about 200gm) – peel skin and jullien

50 gm glass noodles 

¼ cup tiny anchovies

¼ cup dried shrimps

2 tbs vegetable oil

½ cup vegetable oil to fry tiny anchovies

1 tbs chopped garlic

1 cube bullion chicken stock

½ tsp dark caramel sauce

1 cup water

white pepper to taste

Method:
Deep fry tiny anchovies till golden brown, drain oil and set aside. Soak dried shrimps in luke warm water for about 15 mins. Drain the dried shrimps but save the water and set aside. Heat 2 tb oil in wok and fry garlic till fragrant. Add dried shrimps and fry till a little brown then add Buddha’s palm squash and stir fry for 2 mins.  Add glass noodles, thick black sauce and 1 cup of water and the water from soaking the dried shrimps.  Lower heat and add chicken stock and let it simmer till squash is limp and glass noodle is soft.  Add white pepper to taste. Add in the fried tiny anchovies and mix well before serving.

Many people wonders how the Buddha's palm squash looks like.  Here is picture of it:

If you cannot find this squash, you can substitute it with "Chit Kuah" another kind of squash that has slightly hairy green skin.

Cod fillet in lemon grass shallot sauce

Lemon grass is one of my favorite spices and a perfect spice for fish. My Mum's Lemon grass shallots sauce paired with grilled cod fish makes a perfect fusion dish.

Ingredients:

2 pieces x 200gms of cod fillet

1 tb vegetable oil

1 ts oysters sauce

½ bullion chicken stock

2 ts sugar

2 stalk of lemon grass

10 shallots

6 bibs garlic

Method:

Preparation for sauce:

Dice lemon grass, sliced shallots and garlic and pound till very fine in pastel and mortar.  Add oyster sauce, chicken stock and sugar and mix well.  Scoop up 1 table spoon to marinate the cod fille.  Heat sauce pan with oil and add balance of mixture and sauté till fragrant. Turn off heat. Set the pan aside.

Grilled Cod fillet:

Marinate cod fillet with 1 table spoon of the uncooked sauce mixture for 30 to 40 minutes, uncovered at room temperature. Spray a light coat of vegetable oil to the grill pan. Heat the grill pan and place the cod fillets on the pan.  Cook the fish for 3 mins on each side or until lightly brown. Check the center of the fish for doneness.  The color should be barely opague.  Remove the fish from the grill pan and transfer to serving plate.  Heat up the cooked sauce mixture in the sauce pan and pour onto the cod fillets and serve immediately.

  

Couscous - Featured in Group Recipes

I was introduced to couscous 6 years ago by my good friend Fernand who is another fabulous cook.  I fell in love with this dish and decided to make this one of our regular meals.  I will always have a box of instant couscous in my pantry. Couscous is one of the healthiest grain-based products. It contains riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, pantothenic acid as well as protein.  Furthermore, it contains less fat than pasta and white rice. For lunch, I like to make couscous salad and for dinner, I will serve it with soup that has lots of vegetables and either meat or sea food.  Both variations tasted great!

Ingredients Serves 4 4 pieces chicken (upper thigh is perfect) 2 cups of instant couscous 1 medium white onion sliced 2 stalk of celery 1 medium carrot 1 medium turnip ½ cup green beans (optional) 1 tb kunyit (tumeric powder) 1 cup chopped parsley 1 tb butter ½ ts saffron ½ ts white pepper 3 cubes bullion chicken stock (without MSG) Water to completely cover the ingredients and about 1 inch above them Method Preparation for Couscous: Cook (boil or steam) the couscous, following the instructions on the package. Add butter once it's cooked. Allow to cool. Note: use the broth from the following instead of water. Marinate chicken meat: Marinate chicken with tumeric powder and salt for at least 2 hours. Preparation for Soup: Heat 1 tbs butter in wok, sauté onions, celery, carrots, turnip for about 5 mins.  Add water to cover the ingredients and about 1 inch above it.  Add saffron, white pepper and chicken stock.  Bring to boil.  Add chicken thighs and lower heat and simmer till turnip is translucent, carrots are soft, and chicken is cooked through. Add green beans last. Serve couscous and soup separately.

Canned chili tuna, cauliflower and potato salad

This is a salad that my good friend Reena used to prepare for us. My son and I love this salad so much so we asked her for the recipe.  The only difference here is using canned tuna in chili instead in oil. That is because my son and I are chili heads! It is up to your preference if you wish to try this recipe. If water packed is your choice then increase the olive oil accordingly. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 can of chili tuna (mashed)

180 gm cauliflower, cut into smaller florets

1 medium potato (cut into small chunks)

½  medium white onion chopped

10 leaves of iceberg or romaine lettuce

1 tb finely chopped garlic

2 tb extra virgin olive

1 tb lemon juice

Salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

Wash lettuce, spin dry and keep chilled in the fridge. In a large salad bowl, flake the canned tuna, then add extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, chopped white onion, chopped garlic and mix well.  Blanch the cauliflower, just enough so that it remains crunchy.  Boil potatoes till they just soft (but careful not overcook).  Drain both potatoes and cauliflower till completely dry and put into the salad bowl. Add lettuce, salt and black pepper and toss well before serving.  This salad taste better when served cold.

Baked chicken in avocado boat - Featured in Group Recipes

This dish was featured in Asian Food Channel (Official) Facebook page

on 31st October 2012

I got the idea of putting chicken meat into avocado from one of the foodies in Group Recipes.  Usually we serve avocados as a dip, in salads, or as a side dish.  Very seldom you will find it used in a main dish like this one.  I experimented with this recipe and added a touch of oriental taste.  I added oyster sauce and fried shallots.  I always find fusion food to be interesting and more often than not, they are tasty. This dish definitely qualifies to be served to guests merely because of its beautiful presentation and the experience of a new taste. I served it with chive omellete as a side dish and crusty bread. YUMMY!!

Serving: 4

Ingredients

2 chicken breast meat diced

1/3 cup whiskey

1/2 medium size white onion thinly sliced 

2 tbs butter

2 large avacados half lengthwise 

2 cups chiffonade purple cabbage

1 tbs lemon juice 

2 tbs oyster sauce

5 shallots thinly sliced 

Method 

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F/175 degrees C. Fried shallots till golden brown. Drain all the oil and set aside.  Place diced chicken meat in a baking dish, season with salt, pepper, oysters sauce and add whiskey.  Mix well and then spread out diced chicken meat evenly and top with sliced onion. Dot the the dish with butter. Bake for 30 minutes.  Half lengthwise the avacados and discard the skin. Slice a little off the bottom of the avocado so that it can stand nicely on the plate.  Gently rub avacados with lemon juice and place cut side up in the serving plates. Scoop out the center of the avacados to make a deeper recess to hold the chicken meat.  Take out baked chicken from the oven after 30 mins and fill avocadoes with chicken meat, topped with fried shallots and served with cabbage.

Mango salsa

I was introduced to Salsa by my hubby in 1996 when we were still in the states.  He made a bowl of salsa when we invited my good friend and his lovely wife Linda to our home for dinner one evening.  However, he did not put any mango. When I made it myself, I always put mango and I find that the mango enhanced the flavor more. Oh for those who like it a little more spice, add some Tabasco sauce. I love salsa and find it a very refreshing appetizer and it can vet up a appetite for the main course.

We usually serve salsa with Corn chips as an appetizer but tonight I am going to use it as a topping for pork burger. 

Ingredients

3 plum tomatoes diced

½ mango diced

1 cup choped parsley

½ red capsicum diced

½ yellow capsicum diced

½ orange capsicum diced

½ lemon (squeezed out the juice)

2 tb extra virgin olive oil

½  medium white onion diced

1 ts sugar

Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

In a big bowl put all the above ingredient together and mix well and put it into fridge for at least 1 hour before serving. It taste better eating cold.

Yong Tau Foo - Featured Recipe in Group Recipes

According to Wikipedia, this dish originated in the early 1960s in a restaurant called "Chew Kuan" as "yong tau foo" stuffed with meat paste of fish and pork and that's how this dish earned its name.  Yong tau foo means stuffed bean curd.  Later, when people become more creative and started to stuff vegetables and even "yau char kwai" (Chinese oil stick) , they will still call the dish "yong tau foo". 

My Mum’s yong tau foo and Hakka yong tau foo is different.  Hakka "yong tau foo calls" for mince pork and salted fish in the fish paste.  My Mum's style of yong tau foo only use fish paste and she prefers to serve it dry with toucheo gravy.  You can serve "yong tau foo" in a number of ways.  It can be served in a clear consommé soup with or without noodles, with Curry Laksa or with “Choo Cheong Fun” (rice noddle roll). 

I love the elastic texture of the fish paste and the toucheo gravy makes is so flavorful.  I can eat at least 10 pieces of the "yong tau foo" all by myself.  LOL!

Ingredients:

½ kg fish paste (pollock fish)

½ cup corn starch

1 ts salt

½ cube chicken stock (mashed - without MSG)

½ ts white pepper

½ yellow capsicum5
 ladies fingers

½ orange capsicum

5 tofu pok

1 medium ridged gourd

5 red chilly

Salt and pepper to taste

1 small bowl of salt water (used to smoothen the fish paste filling)

1 tb chopped garlic

2 heap tb toucheo (yellow bean sauce)

2 ts sugar

Method for fish paste:

Cut up the fish into ½ inch cubes. Mix above ingredients except salt and chopped for about 2 to 3 minutes. Form the paste into a ball land toss it on the chopping board till you feel the paste is thick and elastic.  The finished paste should be smooth with no solid pieces of fish.  Put the ball of paste in a bowl and chill in the fridge for about and hour. 

Method to prepare the tau foo poks, chillies , capsicums and egg plants:

Clean all the above. For the egg plant, sliced into about ½ inch thick and slit in the middle (for stuffing). For the chillies, discard the seeds and slit in the middle and pat dry with paper towels. For the tau foo poks, poke an opening at the top surface with your finger (for stuffing). For the capsicums, quarter them and discard the seed. Set aside.

Method of stuffing and cooking:

Stuff the fish paste into the green chillies, tau foo poks, capsicums and sliced egg plants using a butter knife.  Dip butter knife into the bowl of salt water and then smoothen the fish paste. Pan-fried the  yong tau foo lightly with some cooking oil and set aside.  Heat up some oil in a wok and stir-fry the chopped garlic until light brown or fragrant. Add the taucheo (yellow bean sauce) and sugar and stir a little.  Add water and bring to boil.  When the sauce thickens, add the yong tau foo into the wok and stir well. Serve hot.