ABC Soup

You may wonder... How did this soup got its name. What ingredient represents A, B or even C? My mum calls it ABC soup; my mum-in-law calls the same name too. Hmmm, I guess maybe because it is really, really easy to prepare and it is just as simple as ABC ^_^

Firstly, cut up some carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and an onion (heehee the words rhyme!). If you have Chinese cabbage in your fridge, you can chop some up too! The Chinese cabbage adds sweetness in the flavoring. 

Before that, boil a pot of water with some chicken or pork. Preferably parts with bones such as drumsticks, thighs, ribs or the porky's legs. Once done with the chopping, put all the veggies into the pot. Let it boil for about 20 minutes and turn down the heat to let it simmer for another 30/40 minutes. You can add in a chicken cube for seasoning, or salt / soy sauce is fine as well.

And that's it! Your soup is ready to serve and be eaten! XD

Have a great Thursday and weekend will be here sooner than you think. ^_^

Tata!

Cooking Again - Crock Pot Chicken

Hey everyone!

It has been a while, okay lah... a long while, that I have written stuff in my blog. Over the past year, I've been busy adjusting with a new member in my family - LittleMissPoochi. She has been a bundle of joy to TheLoyalFan and I ^_^ We are truly blessed and thankful for her well being.

Alrightie then, let's get back to more cooking!

With LittleMissPoochi around the house, I find it challenging to prepare a meal. So Mum taught me a recipe that doesn't require much attention... which is cooking with the Crock Pot a.k.a. Slow Cooker.

The thing about this wonderful pot is that one doesn't need to jaga fire - standing by the hob, ensuring the fire is right in order to avoid our dish being burnt. All you need to do is put in all your ingredients and turn it on. So lots of our mothers (and our grandmothers) like using the crock pot as it can stew the meat, making the meat all sooo soft, juicy and yummy!

First, ensure your chicken is thawed and marinate it. Before you marinate, trim off some of the fat from the chicken in order to reduce the oil. I marinated my chicken with 3 ingredients - Chinese wine, soy sauce and white pepper. This is the same marinate method that I used for my steamed chicken. Cut some ginger into thin strips then soak some gei zhee (goji berries) and yoke chook. For the Chinese herbs, I soaked in water, about 2 or 3 tablespoons of water.

Once your ingredients are ready, put everything including the water from soaking the herbs, into the crock pot. Leave it in the pot for 2 hours. I adjusted the heat to high mode.

And after 2 hours...

Tadaaa!

Chickens were stabbed to check whether inside is cooked ^_^

I must say, this dish turned out great! A variation of my steamed chicken and I.LOVE.IT! Well, I'm a very ching chong kind of person. The sauce was tasty and complemented well with rice. Mum and CuteFuzzyBear gave a thumbs up for my attempt (yay!)

TheLoyalFan says: 'Such a good dish to come home to after a long day. Its good to have sous chef back!'

I'm glad that sous chef is back too! : P

Stay tune for more posts on my culinary journey back home. Till then, keep nommings!

Steamed Ribs

This week it is back to Chinese food and while we were planning what to eat, we suddenly thought of steam ribs, those you'd eat at Dim Sum. The ribs would be steamed with ginger, black beans and finely sliced red chillis. And so, we decided to give it a try, with a twist : P

Because our stay in the UK is coming to an end soon, we didn't wanted to buy black beans. Instead, we modified our ingredients. First, marinate the ribs with pepper, Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce and corn flour. The corn flour will give a smooth texture on the rib when it is cooked. Leave the ribs to marinate for about 5 - 10 minutes. Then slice up some garlic and ginger and scatter on top of the ribs. Using a pair of scissors, finely cut the dried chillis and scatter all over the ribs too!

Once the garnishing is completed, steam the ribs for 30 to 45 minutes.

Ready to be served!

At first, I wasn't sure whether it would turn out nice as this is my first attempt at cooking pork ribs. To my surprise, it tasted quite nice actually. The dried chillis were replacement of the black beans and they complimented with the ribs rather nicely. Plus it gives you a slight spicy taste to it, and made the ribs more refreshing, leaving you wanting more. Sadly, we only had 8 pieces of ribs. We will definitely make this again and the next time, must remember to buy more ribs! Hahahaha...

TheLoyalFan says: 'Veli Veli Goods! Super good with rice, tasted super chinese! Got transported back home, for a short while, hehehehe.'

Till then, keep nomming!

Char Kuay Teow

Char Kuay Teow which simply means fried kuay teow, is a famous Penang dish and it is available at almost all coffee shops in Malaysia. But, not every stall is yummy & tasty. We both love Char Kuay Teow very much and used to eat it almost every week! Well, sometimes, more than once in a week... hehehehe.

This dish is quite tricky because you'll need a very hot wok to fry your ingredients. Nonetheless, with a little patience and effort, I think everyone can cook it : )

So here goes the awesome Penang dish... slightly modified by yours truly, due to incomplete ingredients : P

Clockwise from top left: Ingredients are chopped nicely; Bean Sprouts;
Kuay Teow soaked and drained; Prawns soaked in sugar water.

First, fry some finely chopped garlic & some chopped dried chillis in a liquid of hot cooking oil. Then quickly put in your lap cheong and fry them until it is fairly crispy. Add in some prawns and sear it until it is almost 70% cooked. Once that is almost done, put in your kuay teow (or also known as rice sticks) and bean sprouts together. Give it a quick toss.

For the seasoning, you'll need to prepare this concoction before you start the cooking. In a bowl, pour in soya sauce, dark soya sauce, fish sauce, dashes of white pepper, salt and some sugar. However, I do not have dark soya sauce and hence, replace it with oyster sauce : ) Stir to mix well.

After you have toss your kuay teow and sprouts, pour in your seasoning mixture. Then the final ingredient, egg! Push your noodles aside and crack an egg. Once it is cook on the base, mix everything together and it is ready to serve!

Round 1: Fried by SousChef

Round 2: Fried by TheLoyalFan. Looks nicer than mine...mmmm! 

Our first attempt of this was quite good although we have missed out 2 important ingredients - cockles and chinese chives. Nonetheless, the sauce does make it taste like the hawker stall's version. The noodles were well coated with oil, making it looks so glossy and yummy too! I wished that the lap cheong was crispier but it can't be done because the garlic was going to be burnt. Hence, I think for my next attempt, I shall try to fry the lap cheong first, then only the garlic. Hopefully my theory works lah!

TheLoyalFan says: 'Oh Char Kuay Teow... how I love you so! Nom nom noms... I don't know what to say. I love Char Kuay Teow!!!'

The sauce mixture was referenced from Rasa Malaysia. Please feel free to check it out ^_^ Mine is sort of the simpler version.

Till then, keep nomming!

Ingredients: Garlic, Dried Chilli, Lap Cheong, Peeled Prawns, Kuay Teow (Rice Sticks), Bean Sprouts, Egg.

Marmite Chicken

Finally! After contemplating for a couple of months whether I should get a bottle of Marmite, we finally bought one! Yum yum YUMMMMY! I LOVE Marmite very much, especially when I mix it with a plate of porridge. Mmm... the aroma itself makes me drool too!

And since we have a bottle of it, we thought 'let's try to make the Tai Chow's Marmite Chicken!'
Tai Chow = Literally means big fry in cantonese. However in Malaysia, it means a Chinese restaurant that serves simple dishes at reasonable prices during lunch & dinner times.

We managed to google up some recipes that have been tried and tasted by other fellow bloggers. And we decided to try this simple recipe from Pig Pig's Corner...

First, chop up the chicken into bite size pieces. Then marinate with Marmite, honey, soya sauce, a dash of white pepper and some cooking wine. I've put 2 tablespoons of Marmite, 1.5 tablespoons of honey, 1 tablespoon of soya sauce. If the honey that you're using is not a premium quality, like kinda diluted or less sweet, then I would recommend to add another tablespoon for good measure : ) Once marinate is complete, place the chicken back into the fridge for at least an hour.

Once you're hungry (hehehehe...) or ready to cook the chicken, heat up some cooking oil. Pour alittle bit more than your usual frying, perhaps another tablespoon will be OK. Fry some garlic until it is fragrant and then pour the chicken meat along with the marinate into the pan. Keep frying until the sauce has been reduced and you can feel that there is the sticky texture formed due to the caramelisation of the honey.
Taste the chicken and if you feel it is bland, add in some water and some marmite into it. Repeat the frying process until the sauce has been reduced.

Marmite Chicken! Wished it was on a bed of lettuce though...

Marmite Chicken with vegetables, on a bed of fragrant white rice! Yums!

My first attempt turned out quite OK (phew) although it has a stronger Marmite taste. One thing to note is that if you keep frying and not letting the chicken just sit and simmer away, it would give more Wok Hei : P Wok Hei = Translated directly as Wok Smell. A term the Chinese used to describe aroma of the dish.

TheLoyalFan says: 'The sauce was sooo good.Sticky and caramel-ey. My plate of rice disappeared in seconds!'

Mmmm! Marmite, you're the best!

Steamed Egg with Mince Pork

Steamed egg is another 'ching' dish and I really like it very much. The texture of the egg is smooth and silky, at the same time, this dish doesn't make you feel all stuffed when you eat it a lot! Hehehe.

I think there are many ways of cooking steamed egg. The famous Japanese chawanmushi, for example, is also a variation of the steamed egg. As for the Chinese, there are 3 kinds that I know of - the standard steamed egg, 3 types of eggs and the egg with mince pork. LOL! So here goes...

Beat 2 eggs into a bowl and add equal volume of water with the egg. Whisk them together and put it aside. In a separate metal plate with a little depth, marinate the mince pork with soy sauce, oyster sauce, pepper and a pinch of corn flour. Once the marinate is complete, spread out the mince to cover the base of the plate with a fork (or spoon ^_^).

Prepare the pan / wok with boiling water and a steamer stand. Once the water starts boiling, turn down the heat. Pour the egg mixture onto the metal plate and season with some pepper. Place the metal plate onto the stand and steam for about 7 - 10 minutes, depending on the size of your dish. Here's the tricky bit - you'll need to keep an eye on the dish in order to ensure that your meat is thoroughly cooked.

The egg is finally ready! If you fancy, you can garnish with some spring onion too!

Needless to say, this was absolutely satisfying. Although it is not a fancy smanchy dish, it reminded so much of home cooked food and the Chinese restaurant's food back home. A real comfort food for both of us.

Juicy and nice! Om nom noms... 

If you like your egg to be tastier than this version, you can add in some soy sauce and pepper into the mixture before you pour onto the mince. I guarantee you that it compliments super well (yes, super duper well) with rice : P

TheLoyalFan says: ' So smooth and soothing... Makes you miss home.'

Well, it does made us miss home... but this dish does help us cope with our occasional 'home sick' ^_^

Till then, keep om nom noming!

Steamed Chicken

Steamed chicken is a very 'ching' dish. 'Ching' which literally means, clear in english, doesn't just mean it has clear gravy or a bland taste. To the Chinese, it simply means a simple and tasty dish but its flavour is not too overwhleming. Somehow this 'ching' taste comforts one's soul. Well, for me, 'ching' dishes always make me feel happy and all fuzzy inside : P

There are a couple of ways to make this steamed chicken. One is to marinate the chicken with salt and steam it; the other method will be marinating more than just salt. The Hainanese has its famous steamed chicken method where it is boiled in boiling water and soaking the cooked chicken in icy cold water. But today, I found a recipe that is simple yet very tasty.

Firstly, ensure your chicken meat is completely thawed to room temperature. This is to ensure that all areas of the meat has a consistent texture and the meat will be cooked evenly. Give the meat a good rinse and place it in a plate. Marinating requires only 3 ingredients - Chinese wine, white pepper and light soy sauce. For this, I recommend that the soy sauce and wine should be 3 tablespoon each. Scatter some shredded ginger onto the chicken.

Prepare the pan/wok with water and a steaming stand. Once the water is boiling, place the plate onto the stand and let it steam for about 30 - 40 minutes. Occasionally, use a spoon and drizzle he juice in the plate onto the meat.

Once the chicken is completely cooked, drizzle on some garlic oil and spring onions.

Tadaaa!

Doesn't it look yummy? Well, not only did it look so yummy, I was already drooling when I smelt the aroma of it! *slurp slurp slurp*

The chicken meat was really smooth and tasty. It reminded me so much of the 'pak cham' chicken back home at the chicken rice shop. We didn't make any oyster sauce dip as there were lots of good nutritious chicken 'essence' stored in the plate. The essence was tasty and not too salty. Also, it was really nice with rice too. Ooo... what a feeling! *nom nom noms!*

TheLoyalFan says: 'Super smooth chicken and extremely yummy sauce. Our extra helpings of rice did not last long... hehehe.'

*Blushing* Yea... it was really good and I had second helpings of rice : )

Till then, keeping nomming!

Garlicky Pork

Since there is only pork in our fridge this week, I found a recipe on a blog (Lily's Wai Sek Hong) that was recommended by my cousin. Go check them out if you like to try some Chinese cuisine : )

This dish is very simple. First, smash up some garlic, cut them into slices and fry with oil in a pan. Once the garlic is quite fragrant, put in sliced pork (pork chops or pork bellies) and give it a good stir. When the meat has become brown on all sides, season it with white pepper, soya sauce and sugar. Continue frying until the sauce has dried up and left only oil in the pan.
Finito!

Although this is a very simple dish, it turned out to be really delicious! The oil that seeped out from the pork complemented well with rice too! Yum Yum! Also, you might think that the meat would be dry and tough. But it was completely the opposite - it was juicy and tasty... Truly a chinese dish...mmm~

TheLoyalFan says: 'Taste like caramelised siew yoke. The fatty bits were yummy!'

Oh yes, the fatty bits were really soft and melts in your mouth. *slurp*

Till then, keep nomming and have a wonderful weekend!

Steamed Fish with Soy Sauce

I think fish is quite a tricky ingredient or even a dish to cook. First, one needs to know how to select a good & fresh fish. Then one needs to know methods of cleaning and relevant ingredients to prepare a dish. To be honest, I roughly know how to select a good fish but I'm still not sure how to clean it. But I'm sure the fishmonger will be able to help me on that.

I like to eat fish. OK, correction - I like to eat seafood! So anything that is from the sea, river or farmed fishes from the pond, I like to eat them. Yum yum! We tried cooking steamed fish with frozen cods and haddocks but somehow the texture of the flesh is not nice : ( This time, we went to the market to buy fresh fish, specifically cod fish! 

And the steaming begins!

First, make sure the fish is completely thawed to room temperature. Give it a rinse to remove the ice and if you find the fish is too big, cut into half portion and lay them out flat on a plate. Sprinkle some finely sliced ginger on top of your fish and steam it. There are 2 ways of steaming fish (that I know of) - via the microwave or the conventional water steam method. I did the conventional steaming method and timing is very important for fish. If you steam too long, the flesh might become too 'rubbery' and rough. Hence, I always follow my father's method of steaming fish - small fish, 7 minutes; medium, 9 minutes. To be safe, always check the fish whether it is cooked completely. Once done, we can now prepare the sauce!

I've learnt this recipe from my father... hahahaha! Well, my father is really pro at steaming fish. He can even watch TV while steaming it : ) Anyways, fry some garlic and little bit of ginger in sesame oil (vegetable oil is fine too!). Be generous on the oil as it helps the frying alittle, perhaps add on another tablespoon. Then, pour in soy sauce and fry it. Quickly pour in some wine and remove from heat. Add alittle bit of water to dilute the sauce, otherwise, it can be quite salty. And that's it!

We really enjoyed our steamed fish. You can actually 'taste' the freshness and sweetness from the flesh. Plus the meat texture was soft and melts in your mouth. Mmm~ 

TheLoyalFan says: ' There is nothing better than a steamed fresh fish except maybe a bigger steamed fresh fish : )'