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!

Kway Chap 棵汁 / Braised pork innards stew

Always loved this dish as its like a one pot meal that can go with rice or noodles. Very versatile. Leftovers are also good as you can reuse the gravy.

As I was shopping in Giant hypermart, I came across this premix. So I got it. Yes, it is the cheat method which I seldom use but once in a while, I get lazy and decide on trying it out. Don't worry if you are living abroad and do not have the premix as you can substitute it with 5 spice powder, star anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom and sugar. (If you want some heat, you can add black peppercorns)

Basically for this dish, you simply add whatever you like to eat. For me, I love the pork belly, egg, firm beancurd ('dou gan' 豆干), fried beancurd skin ('dao pok' 炸豆腐皮/豆仆) and my supermarket nearest my place happen to have pig intestines. So I bought that as well.

Ingredients
- 5 TBs dark soya sauce
- 10 garlic cloves (with skin attached)
- pork belly
- eggs
- firm beancurd ('dou gan' 豆干)
- fried beancurd skin ('dao pok' 炸豆腐皮/豆仆)
- pig intestines
- Chinese celery (for garnish)

* To wash the pig intestines, I first wash it in rinsing water till most of the murkiness is gone. Then I wash it with white vinegar to remove any smell. Soak it for a while before washing it off and then pouring boiling water over it. You can also choose to pan fry your intestines after that too before throwing in together with the rest of the meat.

Steps
1) Add the sachet of the premix, garlic and dark soya sauce into 1.5 L of water and simmer.
2)  Add your meat, beancurd, pig intestines, fried beancurd skin as well as egg (I put the whole egg in together with the shell to cook it. So remember to wash the egg first). Let everything simmer in very low heat. The packet said simmer for 1 hour but I realise the pork isn't as tender as I want it to be. So basically, you simmer until you feel the pork belly is soft. I did it for almost 3 hours before I was satisfied. Mid way while cooking, you can remove the egg, remove the shell and put the egg back into the pot so that the egg will be black in colour when serving. Looks nicer.
3) Cut it all up before serving
4) Garnish with chopped celery

I cooked this for dinner. So ate this with rice.

There was a lot of gravy left and a little pork and beancurd. So I decided to put all in the fridge and the next morning, I actually boiled noodles, threw some chicken wings in the leftovers last night together with the gravy and served this for breakfast to my family. They all loved it!

So don't worry if you have leftovers. This make a great dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Enjoy!

Beef Stew (lite version)

Stews are my favourite kind of dish as one dish encompasses everything- meat, carbo, veggies. Its not only healthy, tasty (even without adding much seasoning) but also comforting especially on a cold rainy night.

2 days ago, the weather was perfect for stew. So I took out my beef from the freezer to prepare for dinner tonight. I usually start preparing at about 2 pm. So that by 7 pm, the beef will be tender and the gravy will be awesome.

This recipe is what I consider, a "lite version" as I did not add tomato paste to this and the gravy is not thick. I usually like eating this with rice. For the tomato paste version, I like eating it with either pasta or bread. So, its really your preference. If you want your gravy to be thick, then you just add cornstarch to it.

Ingredients:
- Beef Chuck
- Carrots
- Celery
- Potatoes
- Onions
- Dried Herbs (Rosemary, Thyme)
- Garlic Powder
- Beef stock (Used the cube mix in hot water to dissolve first)
- Water
- Red Wine (Its optional but I prefer with red wine)

Steps:
1) In a large pot, add vegetable oil and cook the beef over medium heat until brown.

2) Remove it from the pot. Then, throw in the onions and scrape the sides from the browning of the beef to add to the onions. Fry until its fragrant and the onions are translucent.

3) Put in the carrots and potatoes in. I prefer to put my celery till the very last part as I like it a little crunchier. Up to you. You can throw in together with your carrots and potatoes if you like.

4) Then throw in your beef together and mix it around.

5) Pour the beef stock, water and red wine in to cover up all your ingredients.

6) Then add in the dried herbs and seasoning with salt and pepper.

7) Let it boil before turning down the fire to let it simmer. I left it to simmer for about 3-4 hours. Test to see if the beef is soft before turning it off. I would throw in the celery at this point.

8) Remember to always taste your food to see if you are happy with the flavours. If not, just add something to it to balance it up. 

9) Finally, I topped this up with my plate of rice with lots of soupy gravy.

Enjoy!

Jamie Oliver's Basic Chicken Stew

Cooked this dish last night as I had all the ingredients in my fridge anyway and also figured, since the weather has been cool and rainy, it's just perfect for a stew.

Stews are great because it's quite idiot proof, cheap and it tastes nicer in the fridge for leftovers. However, sadly or gladly, I have never had any leftovers from stew because the family loves to slurp up every bit of gravy left with their rice or bread.

Ingredients needed for 4 (2 adults, 2 children):
- 1 big carrot, peeled and diced
- 5 stalks of celery, diced ( I put more as I wanted to finish up my celery in the fridge)
- 1 big onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 Tb of flour
- 1/2 can of diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp of dried thyme
- chicken (see which part you prefer. I added the whole chicken by cutting them into different parts. But if you like stew with no bones, you can use the thighs and breasts)
- 1  1/2 cups of white wine

Steps:
1) Prepare all the vegetables
2) Add olive oil to hot pot, throw in the vegetables and thyme. Cook for about 10 mins over medium fire. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
3) Let the veggies sweat down, then add in the chicken and flour. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink on the outside and the flour is cooked off.

4) Deglaze the bottom of the pot with white wine. I used Chardonnay for my wine. Then add the diced tomatoes in as well. Scrape the bottom of the pot to get all the good stuff stuck at the bottom.

5) Add water and chicken stock until it just covers the chicken and vegetables. Bring the stew to a boil. Then reduce the heat once its up to a boil to let it simmer. Put on a lid and just leave it for about an hour to 90 mins. You can return occasionally to give it a stir so that the chicken or vegetables do not stick to the pot.

6) Once the gravy has been reduced to your preference, you turn off the stove and enjoy your stew with rice or bread!

My family enjoyed it and slurped up every bit! What satisfaction to see that! Definitely a great tasty and healthy dish to prepare for your family!

Boeuf Bourguignon- Beef Stew in Red Wine, with Bacon, Onions and Mushrooms

Stews are my favourite kind of meal and cooking as it feels heartwarming eating it as a family, especially on a cold, rainy weather and it is easy to prepare.

Ingredients for 4 people:
120g of bacon
olive oil
lean stewing beef ( cut into cubes)
1 carrot (sliced)
1 onion (sliced)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1.5 Tb flour
2 cups of full bodied red wine
2 cups of beef stock
1 Tb of tomato paste
2 cloves of mashed garlic
1/2 tsp thyme
A crumbled bay leaf
300g of mushroom sauteed in butter

Steps:
1) Cut the bacon into lardons (small strips), removing the rind (skin). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 mins in about 1 litre of water. Drain and dry.
2) Preheat over to 230 degrees.
3) Saute the bacon in 1 Tb of olive oil over moderate heat for 2-3 mins to brown lightly.
4) Dry the beef cubes in paper towels, saute it a few pieces at a time in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Set aside.
5) In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables-carrot and onions.
6) Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with salt and pepper. Then sprinkle the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 mins. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 more mins. Remove casserole and turn down oven to 160 degrees.
7) Stir in the wine and stock so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of stove. Cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2.5 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.
8) While the beef is cooking, prepare white onions brown braised in stock and saute mushrooms in butter. Set them aside.
9) When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the onions and mushrooms over the meat.
10) Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for 1 min, skimming off additional fat as it rises. Taste for seasoning. Then finally, pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables.

You can serve this on a platter with potatoes, noodles or rice. Garnish with parsley.

I chose to eat it mine with baguette. You can also substitute the beef with ox stew, another of my favourite!

I have made many stews in my life and I have to say, adding bacon to this stew really makes a lot of difference!

Enjoy!