Beef and bean stew

Inspired by Brazalian Fejioda, this is certainly a lot healthier than the real version. There are many possible variations including changing the beef marinade, type of beans used and vegetables used.

Ingredients
800g stewing beef, cubed
1/2 cup flour
1 can of cannelloni beans, drained
2 carrots, cubed
2 leeks, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 rashes streaky bacon, chopped

Marinade for beef
1 tsp mustard
1 tbsp Worcester sauce
herbs (I used rosemary, sage and parsley, you can also add a bay leaf to the stew)
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp sherry

Method
1) Brown the beef cubes. Set aside.
2) Pour away the excess oil, and brown the bacon. Add the onions and leeks and sweat them until soft.
3) Add the carrots, beef and beans. Top up with enough water to just cover the beef.
4) Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer for a hour, or less if you're using a pressure cooker. I had a pressure cooker failure
5) Serve immediately with crusty bread, or let the stew flavours develop overnight.

Steamed milk egg pudding

Tried this recipe from Cotter Kathy154. Works quite well but I didn't have a chinese rice bowl so used 2 coffee cups, which eventually became 3 in order to accommodate all the liquid. The pudding wasn't very sweet, not as sweet as we get in HK and because of the egg yolk, it was a lot more creamy than the usual egg white "dan lai" that I'm used to, but nice too.

Ingredients

2 eggs

160ml*2 milk (ie 160ml of milk for each egg). You can use skimmed or full cream, full cream would make it creamier although I used skimmed and it was still very creamy.

1 tsp sugar (didn't make it very sweet, might add another tsp next time for every 2 eggs)

Method

1) Beat the eggs and add to the milk and sugar. Whisk well.

2) Strain the mixture into the cup. Use a teaspoon and skim off the bubbles. This is important to ensure that the surface is smooth and not 'pock-marked'.

3) Get ready a pot with boiling water, and a steamer.

4) Steam for 13 to 15 minutes at low heat until set. Test for done-ness, if it's still not set, steam for a bit longer.

Fried Vietnamese rice noodles

I found these miracle rice noodles, which is like bee hoon except its flat noodles. What's so miraculous about it is that you don't need to boil the noodles. All that's needed is to either soak the noodles in boiling water for 2 mins, or in normal water for 8 minutes. Just like bee hoon, but the difference is that it doesn't turn to mush so easily.

I initially wanted to do this as a vegetarian dish, but my family isn't very vegetarian. So in went a few frozen prawns, although you can just as easily add some char siew or minced pork.



Ingredients
1 packet of Vietnamese flat rice noodles
1 packet of baby asparagus (about 200g)
1 packet of bean sprous (about 100g)
1 carrot, sliced thinly like little matchsticks
1 cup of frozen prawns
2 eggs
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic, minced
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp Maggi chicken stock
a sprinkle of sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1 tsp sesame seed oil
1 tbsp rice flour
1/4 cup water

Method
1) Soak the noodles as stated on the packet.
2) This recipe requires slightly more oil that normal to fry the noodles, so don't be overly alarmed. Fry the onions and when browned, stir fry the carrots and asparagus.
3) Fry the eggs and scramble them. Add the marinade, including the water and rice flour.
4) Add the frozen prawns and half the water and and cover.
5) Once cooked (approximately 3 to 5 minutes), add the noodles and carefully toss with 2 spatulas. Try not to break up the noodles if possible. Add the remaining water. Try not to over-mix the noodles but the noodles should still be al dente and moist enough.
6) Add the sprouts, incorporate well and serve immediately. Sprouts don't need much cooking even 10 seconds is enough. It will continue to cook in the heat.

Sausage cassarole

Inspired by bread and butter pudding. The easiest and probably not the healthiest thing to make but its sure fast and instant on a week day night. And highly satisfying too! Ingredients 1 can of Campbells soup (the only canned soup I'll ever drink) 6 slices of bread 1 can of sausages, drained 1/4 cup milk A lot of butter 4 slices of cheese (alternatively, use 1 cup of shredded cheese) Method 1) Mix the canned soup concentrate with the milk. You might want to add more liquid depending on how thin the liquid is. Too thick and its too salty. Too thin and its too runny. 2) This is mostly an assembly piece. Lay half the bread at the bottom. Dot on some butter. Pour on enough soup to cover the bread. 3) Slice the sausages lenghtwise and lay them on top of the break. Top up with more soup and dot with more butter. 4) Cover with the top layer with remaining bread. 5) Finish off with the remaining bread and finally the cheese. Dot on with more butter if you like. Pour over the remaining soup. 6) Leave to stand for 10 minutes for the soup to absorb into the bread. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200 deg C. 7) Bake at 200 deg C for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese has melted and is bubbling. Serve immediately with a side of salad. Note: Its extremely sloppy and hard to wash up, so you might want to line the baking dish or just use a buttered casserole dish.

Banana leaf cream corn or banana jelly

I remember helping my mom to make this whenever my granny had her church group over for song and praise in the evenings. It is a very easy to make dessert, and goes down very well with the crowd.

Recently, my col took up a cooking class and posted pictures of her experiment on FB. Credits to Yeo Li Li (the instructor). I am just happy to have found this long lost recipe!

Ingredients
Slices of banana OR cream corn
pkt (13g) agar agar powder
300g sugar
1500ml water
5 pcs pandan leaves
300ml thick coconut milk
Pinch of salt
100g hoon kueh powder

Method

1. Mix coconut milk with the hoon kueh powder, salt and leave aside for later use.

2. To prepare the banana leaves, cut 5.5 inch by 4 inch, or 6 inch by 4 inch rectangles. Rinse twice. Boil water with the salt. When the water has boiled put in the leaves. Turn off the heat. Remove the leaves and put immediately in cold water. Alternatively, you can ‘seal’ the leaves over a naked flame on the stove.

3. Boil agar agar, sugar, milk and pandan leaves together. When boiled, sieve in the thick coconut milk mixture and mix well. Boil till thickened.

4. If you are using the cream corn, turn off the fire and stir in the corn.

5. Cool mixture slightly and place a tablespoon or two of mixture on a piece of banana leaf. Place a piece of banana on top and wrap up the jelly. Continue the process till the mixture is used up. Let it set thoroughly in the fridge before serving.

Milk poached fish

I found this new item at the supermarket. (I know its new because the sign said so ) So far we've only got cod, so this is a welcome new addition. It brought back memories of my UK days with other favourite British favourites such as cod, sole, or plaice.

I remembered a common recipe called milk poached fish, which basically uses milk to keep the flesh moist. However, most recipes use haddock (either the smoked or the fresh variety), which we (still) don't have here. Ironically, I never tried cooking fish in the UK whilst I was there, simply because I don't know how to prepare it. Thankfully, we now have ready-prepared fillets.

I adapted from a recipe I found online for milk poached haddock, and adjusted with cooking times which I found for halibut. I used the poaching liquid for a bechamel sauce. The result? The fish was indeed easily forked through and flaked and really quite moist without being mushy.

Ingredients
300g fillet of halibut
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tsp basil (fresh or dried is fine)
1 tsp dill (fresh or fried is fine)
pinch of salt
dash of white pepper
1 cup of warm milk

For the bechamel sauce: 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp flour

Method
1) Place the fish in a baking dish deep enough to hold the poaching liquid. Arrange the onion and garlic in the dish, and sprinkle on the herbs, salt and pepper. Pour on the milk. It should mostly submerge the fish. If not, top up with more milk.

2) Bake in the oven for 30 to 45 mins at 160 deg C. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the fish (my fillet was about an inch thick) but you will know its ready when the fish is easily flaked with a fork. Remove the skin, flake the fish and set aside. Don't worry about lumps at this point. Slowly add the milk, vigorously stirring throughout to avoid the sauce catching on the bottom. It will burn quite easily. Add as much milk as is necessary to produce the 'saucy' consistency you need - neither too gluey nor too runny.

3) To make the sauce, first strain the poaching liquid. You can reserve the onions and garlic if you wish to serve it up. Top up the liquid to 1 cup with more milk.

4) In a saucepot on the stove, melt the butter. Add the flour and stir until incorporated. Don't worry about lumps at this point. Slowly add the milk, vigorously stirring throughout to avoid the sauce catching on the bottom. It will burn quite easily. Add as much milk as is necessary to produce the 'saucy' consistency you need - neither too gluey nor too runny.

5) Serve immediate, drizzling the sauce on top of the fish. Remember, bechamel sauce doesn't keep well. It forms a skin when cool and needs to be reheated over a bain marie, so only make as much sauce as you require.

Sweet, sour and sticky ribs

British chefs always use black current jelly to thicken their sauces. This gives it a velvety sheen and rich flavour. This gave me the inspiration for this recipe, which has heavy influences of Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith.

Ingredients
500g of prime ribs
1 tsp mustard (English, of course)
2 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp blueberry or black current jam
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp garlic chilli sauce
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tbsp worchester sauce
Juice of half a lemon lemon juice

Method
1) Marinate the prime ribs with everything. I toss everything in a freezer ziploc bag and mush everything together well. You can also throw in the squeezed lemon for extra flavour. Leave it to marinate overnight.
2) On a lined baking tray (only so that it's easier to wash up), dab the ribs with kitchen towels as dry as you can and place them on the tray, fat side up.
3) Bake at 200 deg C deg C for a further 15 mins, turning halfway through the entire cooking time.
4) Strain the sauce from the bag into a saucepan. Create a sauce by the reduction method. Add more water if its too thick. After the ribs are done and removed to the place, add in the drippings (sans oil).
5) Serve the ribs after they've had 10 mins to rest and for the juices to sink back into the meat.

Mapo Toufu Pasta

This is mapo toufu pasta, or simply put, zhajiang mian with toufu and pasta. I prefer the al dente-ness of pasta compared to the soft ban mian type of noodle.

Ingredients (feeds 2)
300g of minced meat
1 packet of silken toufu (the variety that is suitable for frying)
1 cucumber
1.5 handfuls of pasta (I like angle hair because it cooks in 2 mins but you can use spaghetti or even tagliatelle)
2 tbsp bean paste
1 tbsp chinese cooking wine
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp garlic
1/4 cup water

Method
1) Marinade the meat with the bean paste, wine, sesame seed oil, sugar and corn flour. Blend well.
2) Heat up a wok and some oil. When the wok is hot enough, stir fry the garlic briefly. Do not let it brown. Next, brown the minced pork until well separated. Add 1/4 cup of water, bring to a boil. Cover and let it simmer.
3) Meanwhile, prepare the cucumber by skinning it, then scouping out the seeds with a spoon. You can then use a mandolin to grate long thin strips, but since I don't have a mandolin, I used my peeler to peel out long half inch strips.
4) Add the toufu (cubed) into the work and gently stir to incorporate but be careful not to break up the toufu.
5) In another pot, cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Drain on a sieve and set aside.
5) Serve by assembling - pasta at the bottom of the bowl, mapo on top, topped off by grated cucumber.

Bean Paste Bitter Gourd with Pork Bones

This is my first time cooking 苦瓜Read online that I have to prepare it by first cutting it in half (skin intact), scouping out all the seeds and white pith, then slicing thinly. Salt and leave for 5 to 10 mins. Finally, squeeze out the juice to extract the bitterness.

I didn't have black beans, the original ingredient for this dish, so I used tau cheow instead.

Ingredients

1 packet of pork bones (about 250 to 300g). You can also use spare ribs

1 bitter gourd, prepared as above

2 tbsp tau cheow (you can use slightly less as this is rather salty)

1 tbsp chinese rice wine

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

1 red onion or 2 small shallots

1 clove garlic, crushed and roughly chopped

Method

1) Marinate the pork bones with the tau cheow, rice wine, sugar, and sesame seed oil. Prepare the bitter gourd. After squeezing out the juice, pat the gourd dry with a kitchen towel.

2) In a saucepan, fry the onion and garlic. Brown the pork bones until 1/3 cooked, which will take about 5 minutes.

3) Add the bitter gourd and stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 to 1.5 cups of water to nearly cover the pork bones.

4) Bring it up to a boil before leaving it to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until cooked.

5) Serve with freshly steamed white rice.

Unagi Temaki

Got this idea from Sakae Sushi. Not difficult.

Ingredients

1 packet of ready roasted teriyaki unagi which has 2 halves of an unagi

1 cup of cooked rice, cooled

1/2 Japanese cucumber, sliced up. You can also use a mandolin into thin shreds

4 sheets of sea weed (nori)

Wasabe (optional)

Method

1) Cook the rice and let it cool. Warm up a packet of ready roasted unagi and slice it once in half length-wise, and another time down the spin. You will get basically quarters of 1 unagi.

2) Cut up the sheet of nori into roughly a palm-size square. Roll it up like a kachang puteh wrapper. Fill it up with rice to fill the bottom, then slide in 1 quarter of the unagi.

3) Slice up the cucumber or shred it with a mandolin. I just got lazy, after all, its a late weekday dinner. Slide it in as well.

4) Take the sauce from the unagi packet and sancho and serve as dipping sauce. Wasabe is optional.

5) Serve and eat immediately, otherwise the seaweed gets soggy and chewy.