Special Bee Tai Mak

Had this once at my friend's house and loved it so much that I had to replicate it on my own. Cooked twice so far for my family and for my cell group and they all loved it! This dish is easy to cook but the difficulty is on the preparation. So what I do is to prepare what I can prepare first so that on that day itself, I do not have to rush.

Ingredients
- Minced pork
- Diced liver
- Minced garlic
- Chopped Coriander
- Sliced chilli padi
- Bean Sprouts
- Bee Tai Mak
- Lime
- Small Prawns (Bought this frozen from supermarket)

What you can prepare ahead
- Minced garlic
- Marinate pork
- Marinate liver
- Sliced chilli padi
- Squeeze lime

I know most people would squirm at the sight or mention of liver. But it is a good element to add as I feel it adds a good twist, richness and depth to the flavour profile of the dish. Anyway, this special dish is self-served. So leave it to your guests or family to choose what they like to add to their plate.

Steps
1) Minced garlic and fry it in pan. Put just enough oil to cover the garlic. Cook in low fire and stir continuously so that it won't brown up unevenly.

2) After the garlic turned golden brown, quickly off the fire, drained the oil and spread the fried garlic on a paper towel to cool down. Once cooled, put in airtight container and leave in fridge.

3) Squeeze the bag of lime with a sieve through to a glass bottle to store in fridge. Set aside

4) Marinate the minced pork with soya sauce, sugar, salt and dark sauce

5) Marinate the chopped up liver with oyster sauce, soya sauce, fish sauce, dark sauce

6) Sliced the chilli padi thinly, removing the seeds

7) Peel the bean sprouts. For it to look nice, you can remove the front and back of it. Blanch it in hot water.

8) Chopped up the coriander

9) Blanch the frozen 'cocktail' prawns

10) Boil the bee tai mak, strain it and set aside. Don't overcook it.

(The above steps can be done in any order)

11) I used the leftover garlic oil to cook the minced pork and liver. Add the marinated pork to the frying pan with oil. Add water to dissolve the pork so that it do not clump together. Finally add flour with water to thicken the gravy.

12) Fry up the liver. I actually added few slices of ginger and spring onions for the taste of liver. So that the smell and taste of liver is not that strong. Up to you. Taste it. Adjust it according to your preference.

In the end, just serve everything separately for the guests to add. Just remember that there are 9 components to this dish, just in case you accidentally left out something or forgot to bring.

It should look like this! (With a few teaspoons of lime in it!)

Then, tell your guests to mix it up properly!

Frankly speaking, this is a very well-balanced dish with spice, sour, salt, sweet. Texturally it is also perfect with the crunch from the fried garlic, prawns and bean sprouts!

Enjoy this unique dish! Do give me any comments once you have tried it!

Simple Teriyaki Chicken

This is a simple, yet tasty recipe for the whole family. Each time I cooked this, my children simply asks for more servings. You will regret it if you do not cook this dish for your family. It is so easy!

Ingredients
- light soya sauce (4 TB)
- mirin (4 TB)
- Sake (2 TB)
- Sugar (1 TB)
- Boneless chicken thigh or chicken leg (do not remove the skin)
- For garnish, spring onions, shredded seaweed (get from supermarket Jap section), white sesame seeds

* You can now easily get mirin from supermarkets under the Japanese section. As for Sake, I did not buy as it is an ingredient which I seldom use in my cooking. So I replaced that with Chinese xo wine which I have. I am guessing any cooking wine also can.

Steps
1) Mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2) Marinate the chicken with salt and black pepper for at least 30 mins
3) use a flat pan, no need oil, place the chicken in the pan with the skin face down, pan fried for about 3 mins till abit golden in colour( medium heat )
4) Add the mixed teriyaki sauce to the pan and allow the chicken to simmer till the sauce is dry (low heat)
5) Keep turning the chicken so that both sides will absorb the sauce
6) Remove from pan once the chicken is cooked and nicely browned.
7) Finally top up with spring onions, shredded seaweed and white sesame seeds

Best served with rice!

Enjoy!

Light Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake

Baking has always been my weakness as it involves accuracy and many steps, not to forget the horrible washing after all the mixing bowls used. Nevertheless, with all the time I have in the day as well as to hone my baking skills, I knew I should do it! Anyway, its a great way to save money when a family member celebrates their birthday as cakes can be really expensive!

Anyway, decided to cook this after eating a really nice chiffon orange cake baked by my aunt-in-law. However, changed it to cheesecake because my children simply loves cheese!!

This is a great recipe as its light and fluffy!

Enjoy!

Ingredients (for 9 x 9 x 2 inch square tray):

160 ml milk
80 g butter, at (tropical) room temperature, cut into small pieces
280 g full-fat cream cheese block, at (tropical) room temperature, cut into small pieces
100 g cake flour, sifted
30 g cornstarch, sifted (if you have corn flour instead, use twice the amount (60g)
1/4 tsp salt
140g egg yolks
 4 tsp lemon juice

 350 g egg whites
 150 g caster sugar


The eggs should amount to about 8-10 eggs depending on size.

Steps:

1) Spray the baking tray with oil/butter, then place baking paper on it.
2) Wrap the sides of tray with aluminium foil
3) Heat milk till warm. Then, place the milk in a mixing bowl, together with the small pieces of butter and cream cheese. Mix it evenly.
4) Add the egg yolks and lemon juice into the mixture of cream cheese.
5) Sieve the mixture twice or more to make it very smooth
6) Place the sifted flour (both cake and corn flour) as well as salt into the cream cheese mixture.
7) Mix it really well and even.
8)Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
9) Mix the egg whites with a mixer till it creates soft peaks. While mixing, add in the sugar gradually.
10) Fold gently in the egg whites to the yolk mixture in 3 rounds. Get rid of big air bubbles.
11) Pour batter into the tray slowly to avoid creating bubbles
12) Put hot water on a big rectangle tray, then place the square tray in to act as a water bath during baking to keep the cake moist.
13) Place the tray into the oven and bake it at 170 degrees C for about 50-60 mins.
14) Test it with a skewer to see if its ready.
15) Remove cake from oven and cool it on a rack

Enjoy!

Claypot Braised Pork Belly with Salted Fish

My friend shared this recipe with me as I have been looking for dishes that goes well with rice so that I can just prepare a dish or two just for dinner. Simple and tasty is my goal in cooking. Simplicity takes away the stress of washing up!

So here's a great dish for the family to dig in. You can just boil vegetables like cai xin or Xiao bai cai as a side dish with the rice.

Enjoy!

Ingredients
- pork belly (500g)
- salted fish- the oily ones you use for steaming (50g)
- 2 large onion (Initially, I was sceptical in using so many but its worth it! Sweeten up the dish)
- pepper
- ginger (cut)
- shallots (cut)

Marinade for the pork belly
- 1TB oyster sauce
- 1 TB light soya sauce
- I TB dark soya sauce
- 1 cornstarch

(I didn't have enough pork belly in my fridge, so I added minced pork as well)

Seasoning
- 1 TB oyster sauce
- 1 TB light soya sauce
- I TB dark soya sauce
- 150 ml water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil

Steps
1) Marinade the pork belly for at least 30 mins and place it in the fridge
2) Heat wok, drizzle some oil. Pan fry the pork belly both sides till brown. Set aside
3) Add a little of oil and put salted fish in claypot and fry for a while
4) Add the ginger, onions and shallots and sauté till fragrant
5) Add pork belly and seasonings, then pour water and simmer for 15-20 mins or till slightly dry. I did not wait till its dry as I love mine with gravy for the rice. Your preference!

Serve with rice and veggies!

Oven Baked Shrimp Paste Chicken

This is quite a guilt-free recipe for those who love shrimp paste chicken but refrain from eating so much because stalls outside usually deep fry them

Of course it will not be as crispy as what you find outside but its good enough and more acceptable on the waistline

Enjoy!

Ingredients for 12 wingettes
- 1 TB Shrimp sauce (Lee Kum Kee)

- 1 TB sugar
- 1 TB shaoxing wine
- 1/2 cup of flour (I used corn flour)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- olive oil

Steps
1) Marinate the wingettes for at least 4 hours using the first 3 ingredients (Shrimp sauce, sugar and wine)

2) An hour before you bake, coat the chicken with the mixed powder- flour, baking powder and baking soda. Place them on the rack to dry before you bake an hour later.

3) Brush olive oil on them before baking

4) Bake at 200 degrees celsius for 20-25 mins, depending on oven. Turn once during half time.

Note: The shrimp sauce can be rather salty. So adjust it to your own preference.

Enjoy!

Beef with egg and rice - Japanese & Korean Inspired

This is one of the dishes I enjoy preparing for my family as it is not only easy for the cook, it also makes the family happy. A win-win situation! How ideal!

It is also a versatile dish as it works for other meats like pork and chicken.

Ingredients
- beef (I bought the shabu shabu type in the frozen section. I like it because it is sliced thinly for me already and it has a bit of fats. You can also get pork/chicken)
- Korean/ Japanese sauces for marinade
- Onions
- Eggs
- Rice
- Lettuce (saves on cooking as you can serve this raw. Woo hoo!!)

Steps
1) Marinade the beef for at least 3 hours with the Korean/ Japanese Sauce. I used this last night when I cooked this dish.. But other times, I usually use the Japanese marinades. For me, I use whatever I have in my fridge and is in need of clearance.

2) Slice up one large yellow onion. Last night, I used shallots as I didn't have yellow onions at home. So once again, its still fine. Don't beat yourself up just because you lack an ingredient. Cooking is meant to be fun and creative. If you lack something, just be flexible and think of another substitute. The shallots work beautifully too!

3) Add butter into the pan and then add your onions. Caramelise first by tossing it around. I add a splash for Jap sauce on it too. It's to quicken the process of cooking the onions and making it tastier.

4) Add the sliced beef in it. This would not take too long. You would not want to overcook the beef and dry it out. I pour all the marinades in as well so that there will be gravy for my rice.

5) Fry the egg with butter on another pan separately. Sunny-side up!

6) Finely chopped the lettuce

7) Lastly, assemble everything together

8) Add your rice, sunny side up egg, lettuce on one side with the beef on top of it to cook the lettuce a little. Then top the rice up with some Japanese seasonings which I bought and gravy from the beef.

 (By the way, I used normal rice instead. Save cost and trouble from going out to buy specially for Japanese rice. To my hubby and children, it wont make a difference. Still tasty and enjoyable!)

Enjoy!

Lo Mai Gai (Chicken Glutinous Rice)

This dish has been my son's favourite. He simply loves glutinous rice. So decided to make him this. Be warned that the ones sold in shops are really oily. So don't expect that when you make it at home. This is a healthier version since you get to choose what kind of chicken part you want and how much seasoning to add. It is basically quite a straight forward dish to prepare. Have fun!

What you need
- Chicken fillet / De-boned Chicken thigh
- small aluminium trays to put it in
- glutinous rice
- chicken stock
- dried mushrooms/ Chinese sausage (optional)

Marinade the chicken
- sesame oil
- soya sauce
- oyster sauce
- corn flour
- white pepper

Seasoning water for rice just before steaming
- sesame oil
- light soya sauce
- salt
- chicken stock
- water

Steps
1) Rinse and soak the glutinous rice for at least 2 hours
2) Slice the chicken and marinade it
3) After soaking the rice, discard the water
4) Layer the chicken (and dried mushrooms/Chinese sausage) inside the tray first as the first layer
5) For the next layer, cover the tray with rice, packing it tightly
6) Put the seasoning water in the tray till it covers the rice
7) Finally steam it

If you find the chicken dry, I suggest you either use chicken thigh (since it is more tolerant to heat) or steam the glutinous rice first before you assemble into the tray

Some recipes soak the glutinous rice overnight together with the seasoning water in it already. I haven't tried that but I can imagine the rice to be darker in colour and more tasty.


Anyway, just grasp the main idea and tweak it to whatever suits you and how much time you have!

Enjoy!

Freshly Made Pasta Sauce

I was first inspired to make my own pasta sauce when I had dinner over my friend's place. I have never felt so good after eating before (even after eating so much). Because it was healthy and clean food with no processed meats or preservatives (even though we had homemade pizza and fried and chips for dinner with homemade pasta sauce for the pizza base, fresh fish just caught, homemade chips from potatoes, and the best batter I have ever tasted which was light and crisp!). My friend even used chicken breasts for the pizza instead of the usual sausages,pepperoni or ham.

Since that dinner, I am utterly convinced that eating healthy can be tasty and it makes you feel good! So, I have drastically cut down on any canned food or processed meats since then and also after watching this video!


Making your own pasta sauce is so "easy peasy lemon squeezy" (I learnt this phrase from my children) that you just have to make it. There are no excuses not to. Its not only healthy, fragrant, tastier, much cheaper and its simple to make! (By the way, cost price for this sauce is about $2! )

Here's the ingredients (all roughly chopped)
- 3 large tomatoes
- one large yellow onion
- about 5 garlic cloves
- olive oil
- salt and sugar to taste
- dried herbs (I used basil)
- flour to thicken if you like

Basically, the fun thing about making your own sauce is that you can mix and match. So basically add whatever you like in your pasta sauce and throw all in a blender! I will probably throw in mushrooms next time!

Steps:
1) Throw the chopped up tomatoes, onions, garlic and a bit of olive oil all in a blender and start blending!

2) After blending, put salt and sugar to taste and dried herbs.

Don't worry if it tastes spicy from the onions. Initially, I was also worried as I am sure my children wouldn't like it but I realised that after cooking the sauce, the 'spiciness' from onions just goes away and becomes sweet thus making the sauce so much yummier! So don't be afraid to add the whole onion in!

3) Heat a pot and throw in the sauce to cook it. If you want to use this sauce for spaghetti/baked pasta, I added minced beef first. Fry it up a little before throwing in the sauce. Cook until boiling or when you feel the taste and fragrance is out!

4) You can add flour to thicken the sauce if you like. But I feel its not necessary as if you are doing baked pasta, the oven will make the sauce disappear into the pasta.

Then, you are DONE! Easy yah? I am sure you can do this! To be honest, the sauce reminds me of the escargot herb garlic butter which I SOOO missed! That's probably why I am in love with this sauce.

As you can see the colour is not those dark red ones you find in the cans or bottles sold in supermarkets. That means how much preservatives they must have added to the pasta sauce as if its freshly made, it should be orange in colour. So that really scared me and convinced me that all the more, I should start preparing it fresh!

I used the sauce for baked pasta as me and my children loves melted cheese with the crispy bits at the sides!

 

 

Ngor Hiang- Sweet and Juicy

This was my virgin try on preparing ngor hiang and it was a success, except maybe for the art in wrapping it which I have yet to master.

Decided to cook this as my hubby loves eating ngor hiang. I guess it is probably his comfort food since growing up with it as he is a hokkien and his mum cooks that a lot!

This recipe was shared by my facebook home cooking group which I joined. Enjoy!

Picture adapted from the Facebook Cooking Group

Ingredients
- 1 kg of minced meat
- 300g of water chestnut
- 1/2 kg of prawns
- 2 big onions
- $2 worth of fish paste
- bean curd skin (the soft ones)
- 1 egg

Steps
1) Use a damp cloth to clean the bean curd sheets if not it will be very very salty
2) Steam the bean curd skin by covering with the cloth so that the water doesn't drop onto the sheets
3) Prepare the paste - minced the prawns, onions, and water chestnut. Add the minced meat and fish paste. Crack and egg and mix it altogether. Season with pepper and corn flour. (no need salt as the skin is salty already!) I added spring onions to give the colour and because I had it in my fridge and didn't know how else to use it before it withers beyond its of use.

4) Wrap the paste with the bean curd skin

5) After wrapping all up, deep fry them and voila, nice and crispy sides to go with for your lunch or dinner!

Bacon-Nutella Puff Pastry

When my friend, Esther first posted this dish in Facebook, immediately I thought," What a brilliant idea to add nutella to bacon!" (As I know it will surely go well) The saltiness of the pork compliments well with the sweetness of the nutella and who doesn't like nutella??

I know of recipes like bak ku teh (herbal pork rib soup-local dish) with chocolate risotto suggested by a British Michelin star chef.

Anyway, here's the recipe which Esther shared with me! It is easy and make a great snack for bacon and nutella lovers!

Ingredients
- frozen puff pastry. Leave in overnight in fridge to defrost or leave it out at room temp till soft
- nutella
- bacon (fried in small strips)
- 1 egg
- sea salt
- cinnamon powder

Steps
1) Fry the bacon till the way you like it. I like mine crispy

2) Roll out the puff pastry till thin

 

 3) Cut them into rectangles with a sharp knife. Depends on how big you want your pastry to be. I like it bite-sized. So its entirely up to you!

 

4) Lay out the bacon (about 2 pieces each) into the pastry

 

5) Add a dollop of nutella onto the bacon

 

6) Sprinkle sea salt and cinnamon powder on it

 

 

7) Seal it with egg and use the fork to surround it with the pattern lines. Then use your fork to poke holes on it

8) After all done, put in over at 200C for about 10-15 mins or when it turns brown.

Enjoy!

Seafood Mui Fan 海鲜烩饭 (Asian Stew with rice)

There are times I crave for this as its simple, tasty and comforting to eat. To me, this dish is like a stew which goes well with rice or noodles. I simply love stews!! Perfect for rainy weathers.

So if you are new to cooking, try cooking stews first as it is basically 'throw-everything-in' kind of dish. It is also easy to wash up too!

Anyway, here's the ingredients

- garlic
- fish cake
- pork slices/Chicken diced/fish slices (marinate with , soya sauce, salt and pepper)
 (I omitted it this time round as I cooked a pork belly dish separate)
- Squid
- prawns
- Any leafy vegetable / cabbage
- egg
- cooked rice
- Chicken stock
- white pepper
- soya sauce
- crab meat (optional)
- carrots ( I didn't add as I figured it was enough dishes)
- corn flour

By the way, I use the concentrated chicken stock as just one drop and it gives so much flavour already. Can last very long as I leave the bottle in the fridge and take it up in times like this.

Basically, work with whatever you have in your fridge and would like to add in your dish. I didn't have any cai xin at that time when I cooked this, so I used cabbage by slicing it thinly.

Steps
1) Prepare (Wash and Cut up) all your ingredients separately
2) Add oil to your wok, very high fire
3) throw in the garlic and fish cakes. Toss
4) Put in the meat at this point
5) Throw in the veggies (As you can see, you are basically throwing things in one by one starting from the one that cooks longer first or wont make a difference if 'overcook')
6) Add soya sauce and toss
7) Add water to cover the food in the wok and stock. Close up the cover
8) Throw in the fish/prawns/squid last as those cook very fast
9) Have a bowl of water and corn flour ready to throw in to thicken it slightly (your preference to how thick you want your gravy to be)
10) Always taste to see if you are satisfied with it. Balance with whatever sauce you need. It may be more taste. So you add stock or even oyster sauce if you like.
11) Finally, throw in the beaten egg and swirl it one time before switching off the fire


You pour the gravy over the rice/ noodles and sprinkle some white pepper! Enjoy!

Una-Tama (Grilled Unagi Eel and Egg)

I have always been a big fan of Japanese food. There is so much variety that somehow, I will not get sick of eating. The only thing holding me back from eating it everyday is of course, the COST! Its so expensive to eat in Japanese restaurants. The usual one I would go to is within walking distance from my house which has a lunch promotion for only $10 which includes a main dish, a side, and a dessert.
Even the non-promotional items are cheaper than regular restaurants. So that's where I go to for my Japanese food cravings.

Anyway, I bought unagi (grilled eel) from Giant hypermart as it was on offer.

So because of that, I decided to try a dish which is sold in Japanese restaurants in Singapore. If you have difficulty in finding grilled eel, you can substitute it with salmon (cut into cubes).

Ingredients
- Grilled Eel (small pieces)
- Yellow Onion
- Eggs
- Unagi/Teriyaki Sweet Sauce - Available in supermarkets in the Japanese section
- Seaweed and Spring Onions for garnish

Steps
1) Add oil to the pan. I used my happy call pan for the grill effect. But of course, any frying pan will do. Throw in the onions.

2) Toss it and add a bit of the unagi sauce to the onions to sweeten and caramelised it up.

3) Then throw in the eel and toss it. Add more sauce if you like it.

4) Finally, throw in the beaten eggs to let it cover all the eel and onions. I do not like my eggs to be overcooked but slightly mushy. It's nicer.

5) Remove from pan neatly and garnish with spring onions and seaweed (I used my ready cut up seaweed from a packet)

This dish is great with rice! You can actually place this on top of the rice. You can also make miso soup to go with this meal.

Enjoy!

Pan-fried Squid with Miso Sauce

In my opinion, having a box of miso paste is a must-have in the fridge. Miso paste is very versatile. As and when I feel like cooking noodles soup, I add miso paste to the soup and it instantly taste nice. You can also use this paste for marination, like how I am going to show you in this post. Or even use this paste to cook Kang Kong Vegetables if you do not want the usual sambal belachan version since you have young children at home. So, do keep a tub in your fridge. It is quite lasting!

Basically, the Shiro (White) Miso is a milder type as compared to the Aka (Red) Miso. The Aka one is stronger in taste. So its your preference.

Apart from miso, I also have Japanese sauces in my fridge which I love. I use it when I fry salmon, marinate beef or pork slices if I feel like cooking Japanese. Below is actually a Yakitori sauce, but it works well. Basically I am going for the teriyaki, sweet sauce type of taste.

Here's a miso soup with noodles recipe for you if you are interested- Egg Noodles with Chicken Miso Soup

Anyway, below is a recipe that is so simple yet tasty. I am sure everyone can cook this at home.

Ingredients
1) Miso Paste
2) Teriyaki/ Japanese sweet sauce
3) Squid
4) Yellow Onions
5) Dried Parsley or spring onions for garnish

Steps
1) Wash and slice the squid. Here's a step-by-step picture guide on how to wash and cut it! Very informative!

2) Then marinate it with miso paste.

3) Slice up the whole onion

4) Throw in the sliced onions into the frying pan with oil

5) While frying the onions, I squeeze in a bit of the Japanese Sauce marinate to let the onions cook faster and make the onions tastier.

6) Then I throw in the squid and toss quickly since squid cooks very fast. Be sure not to overcook it as it can become rubbery. At this juncture, you can also squeeze some Japanese sauce onto it for colour and taste.

7) Taste it and see if you are satisfied before switching off the fire.

8) Finally, garnish with dried parsley or spring onions

You can eat this with a bit of gravy or minimal gravy. It's up to you. Just make sure the taste of the gravy is to your liking before you off the fire.

ENJOY!

Kid's Friendly Milo Tiramisu

Not a huge fan of tiramisu considering that I am not a coffee drinker. So decided to try a milo version of it since I LOVE milo and my children love it too!

Ingredients (for 9x9 inches container)
- 1 1/2 cups of whipping cream
- 2 TB of condensed milk
- 1 packet of 3-in-1 milo (make 1 cup)
- 28 ladyfinger biscuits
- 250g of Mascarpone cheese (room temp)
- Milo powder for dusting
- 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract


Steps
1) Whip the whipping cream in a mixer until stiff. Do not overdo it so always keep an eye on it. Add the condensed milk midway

2) Put the mascarpone cheese in a mixing bowl together with the vanilla extract and mix it around

3) Pour the stiffed whipping cream into the mixing bowl together with the mascarpone cheese.

My darling helping me out to mix

4) Pour the ready made 3-in-1 milo drink in a bowl big enough to dip your ladyfingers

5) Start dipping the ladyfingers both sides into the 3-in-1 milo drink. Do not soak the ladyfingers for long if not it will just disintegrate and disappear. So you basically, dip and lift quickly.

6) After placing the first layer of dipped ladyfingers, you spread out the cream on it. Make sure that you reserve half more for the next layer. Don't use up everything.

7) After spreading the cream, you dust the milo on top by using a sieve

8) Then, continue the same steps again by dipping the lady fingers and start the next layer

9) Spread the last batch of the cream on top of the second layer of ladyfingers

10) Finally, dust the milo powder over

11) Chill it for at least 6 hours.

You can add strawberries when serving! It will definitely go well with the chocolate powder and whipped cream!

Enjoy!

Chinese Wolfberry Leaves (Kou Kee) Anchovies and Minced Pork Soup

This is one of the soup I would crave for once in a while. However, it is not often you find the kou kee leaves. So if I happen to see it, usually, I would grab it!

Decided to cook this soup today when I glanced at my window and saw an imminent thunderstorm approaching as dark clouds loom the sky.

It's a very easy and nutritious soup to cook for the whole family! However, some ingredients may not be the normal stuff you find in this kind of soup. I tweaked it according to what I have at home and how I wish to use it to compliment my dinner dishes.

Ingredients
- Dried Anchovies
- Salted Egg
- Dried Chinese Wolfberries
- Chinese Wolfberries Leaves (Kou Kee Choy)
- Minced Pork soak with a bit of water, soya sauce, white pepper, sesame oil, fish sauce, salt (to loosed up the pork so that its all disintegrated)
- Shitake Mushrooms

Steps
1) Boil the dried anchovies in a pot of water
2) Add the Chinese Wolfberries in after a while
3) Add the Shitake Mushrooms. (Reason why I added this is not only because I have it in my fridge but because I feel its a good balance to offset the saltiness of the soup from the anchovies)
4) Separate the salted egg yolk with the egg white. Cook the egg yolk and break it up into the soup.
5) Then pour the egg white over the soup while its still boiling
6) Put the leaves in
7) Finally, pour the minced pork in
8) Off the fire so that the leaves and pork do not overcook
9) Taste it before serving

I did not add the usual egg in as I will be cooking fried egg for dinner. So I didn't want dinner to have so many eggs. So I just added a salted egg in for this dish. But of course, you can also throw in a beaten egg just before you off the fire. And if you like century eggs, you can consider adding this so it will become a triple egg dish but a soup version.

Anyway, enjoy!

Strawberry Jelly Hearts Cheesecake

I first tried this when my friend bought it from Downtown East EHub at Pasir Ris. My whole family, including my children loved it! So since Valentine's Day is just tomorrow, I decided that it was timely to learn how to make it and surprisingly, it is not difficult. Another plus point is that the washing is very minimal too!

Pls note that you need about 2 days to do this recipe comfortably. So do it way in advance. If you want to do it within a day, it is also possible. Just be sure to start off the day early doing it as you need time to chill.

Ingredients
- Digestive biscuits (Need about 10-12 pieces)
- Butter 80-90g
- Gelatin Powder (1 TB)
- 1 block of cream cheese
- 50g of icing sugar
- 6 strawberries cut in halves
- 90-100g of strawberry Jelly (Jell-O)
- 9 x 9 inch square tray
- 1 tsp vanilla essence

Steps: Base
1) You can either crush the digestive biscuits in a food processor or in my case, I transfer it to my tin tray and smashed it up by using my potato masher.

2) Melt the butter in a saucepan over low fire.

 

3) Pour the melted butter over the mashed up biscuit crumbs. Then flatten it with a spatula or in my case, I use my potato masher to spread it and flatten it. Then put in the fridge for at least an hour for the base to be hardened.

 

 

Steps: Cream cheese filling

1) Add gelatin powder to 1 cup of boiling water. Stir it till completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.

 

2) Add the block of cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla essence into the mixer and give it a good mix

(Be sure that the cream cheese is in room temperature before mixing so that it is not hard)

 

3) Add the cooled down gelatin water in together with the cream cheese a little at a time. Keep mixing

 

 

 

 

 

4) Finally, the mixture should look like milkshake- runny smooth liquid with no lumps

 

 

5) Use a fork to prick holes all over the biscuit base. Pour the creamed mixture into the tray



6) Place your strawberry hearts even spread out in rows. Then leave it to chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. This is my first time trying. So as you can see, the strawberries are facing the wrong side.

 

Steps: Jelly

1) Mix the strawberry jelly powder with 3/4 cup of boiling water. Mix it such that the powder dissolves completely.

 

 

 

2) Then, add 3/4 cup of cold water to it. Mix well. Cool it down first before pouring into the tray if not the cheese will melt.

 

3) After pouring the mixture in, chill it for at least 4 hours for the jelly to set.

 

 

 

 

To cut this, you need a sharp knife with a thin blade. Prepare a bowl of boiling water to dip the knife, wiped it and cut it to ensure a clean cut. Always wipe the knife off before doing the next cut.

 

 Enjoy this dessert with your loved ones! Happy Valentine's Day!