Wanton In Chicken And Maize Soup

I saw this on t.v and gave it a try. Wanton soup is a normal dish at home but never with a whole chicken and maize. The soup taste lovely and something different, to me anyway.

Ingredients are maize, whole chicken (I used half only here), wanton skin, minced meat, green leafy vegetables, coriander leafs.

Mix minced meat (I normally used pork) with a bit of salt, pepper, corn starch flour and some chopped coriander leafs. You can also add a bit of chopped water chestnut for some crunchy texture into the minced meat. Leave aside and let it marinate.

Prepare soup by putting water, whole chicken and maize into a big pot. Bring it to a boil for about half an hour or so depending on how large is the chicken. Remove the whole chicken from the soup and set aside for it to cool down.

Prepare wanton. Add about a teaspoon of marinated minced meat on wanton skin and wrap it. You can wrap it in several ways (available on most you-tube about wanton soup). Once all the wanton is wrapped, the chicken is cool enough to remove the flesh by hand. The thickness of each shred of chicken is up to you. Put back all the chicken flesh into the maize soup and bring to boil. Add salt, pepper, sesame oil and soy sauce to taste. Now is also the time to add your vegetables, any leafy vegetables together with some chopped coriander leafs.

In a separate pot, I bring a pot of water to boil. Once water is boiling, add in wanton, not so much at a time. When the wanton starts to float, it is cook. Scoop it into a bowl and add some of the maize and chicken soup. You can also add noodles or pasta too.

Hope you like wanton as much as we do. Thanks for reading and hope you would give this a try. Food like this is best taken on a cooling day. Yummmmmmmmmmy! Drooooooling already.

A Refreshing Healthy Drink

This is not a glass of cow's milk nor soy milk. I was checking the you-tube for recipe and came across this. It is easy to make. All you need is a bowl of raw walnut, a bowl of raw peanut with skin on and a hand full of rice, preferable white rice. Soak all ingredients in water for about two hours. Blend everything together with some water. The more water you add the more dilute the drink will be. I only add water till it reach the top of the blender and that's it.

Pour everything in a cloth bag and squeeze the juice into a pot. Add sugar and bring to a boil, which takes only about ten minutes or so. Serve hot or cold. I could get only four glasses full, just nice for a family of four like mine.

Thanks for reading. Give this a try. A healthy yet yummy drinks for all age.

Seafood Tom Yam (without heat)

This is not exactly tom yam, saw this on t.v and gave it a try. I used seafood like prawns, fish meat and fish cake. As for the soup I used tomatoes, lemon grass, lime leaves, lime juice and leeks. Also salt, sugar, fish sauce and pepper to taste.

The prawns head and shell are boiled into stock. Slice lemon grass, lime leaves and leeks and saute it in oil. Add in tomatoes, prawn stock, lime juice salt, sugar, pepper and fish sauce and bring to a boil. Lastly add in the seafood. And there you have it.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy this dish. It is meant for those who like tom yam without the heat.

French Toast

It has been a while since we made this. Last week we saw on t.v some people introducing food from coffee shops and one of the popular breakfast is this. Yummy but a bit oily and rich too. Well, eating this once in a while wouldn't hurt.

We sandwich two breads with butter and cheese, some with peanut butter and banana, some with butter and jam. Soak the sandwich into the beaten eggs that had been mixed with milk and a pinch of salt and fried them in butter. Yes, yes I know that it is a bit oily but it is sooooo tasty.

Droooooling already. So when was the last time you had French toast? We don't eat this very often because of so much work involved and fattening too. Normal days were just bread and jam etc no frying etc.

Thanks for visiting. Hope you enjoy cooking too.

Bubur ChaCha

My son had been bugging me to make desserts. He found this recipe in the internet from some blog and last weekend we went and bought all those ingredients and manage to cooked it that day itself. We all love eating bubur cha cha but normally we get it from shops. Too many things to cut and wash but since he promise to help, I finally get to cook it for the very first time.

It is easy to cook but too many ingredients to prepare. Ingredients are

Yam - cut into bite size or any shape you like - steam for 5 minutes

Sweet potatoes (2 different colors) - cut into bite size or any shape you like - steam for 5 minutes

Sago - boil in water till translucent then set aside

Cendol - I bought the ready made from the supermarket (optional)

Banana - cut slices and boil in water with a table spoon of sugar for 5 minutes and set aside

Coconut milk - amount depending on how much ingredients you are using

Boil some water and sugar in a pot. Once sugar dissolved, add coconut milk. Once it began to boil add in the rest of the ingredients and serve. It taste nice hot or cold. I did add a bit of cornstarch that had been dissolved in water, to thicken it and it is smoother this way.

Thanks for reading. Give this a try. Right after my sons and hubby had their first bowl, they already asked when would be the next time that I will be making this again. It is tastier than those from the shops. I am drooling already. Guess I will be having this dessert very soon.

Simple Fried Spaghetti

This is easy to cook, simple but yummy. Ingredients are spaghetti, carrot, minced meat, minced garlic, prawns, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and fish sauce.

Boil the spaghetti in water. Add a table spoon of salt to the water when boiling the spaghetti. Marinated the mince meat with light soy sauce, a few tiny drops of dark soy sauce, pepper and some sesame oil. As for the prawns, I normally marinated it with salt, pepper, sugar and a pinch of corn flour.

Heat pan with a bit of oil. Fry prawns till both side changed color but not overcooked. Set aside. Now fry minced garlic till fragrant, then add in minced meat. Once meat is well cooked, add in carrots. Add a bit of water, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, pepper, fish sauce and a bit of sesame oil. When it comes to a boil, add in the spaghetti and fry till it dries up and lastly, add in the prawns.

You could add a bit of flax seed or sesame seed before serve. Give it a try. It is simple and yummy. Thanks for reading and hope you like this month's recipe.

Cheesy Squid

I love seafood. Learned this from t.v. Clean the squids, cut it to bite size and score the back criss cross so that when cooked, it would curl up like tiny squids. Pat dry the squids and marinated it with salt and pepper and a bit of corn flour.

Heat pan with a bit of cooking oil. Saute chopped garlic till brown. Add in squids. Once it curl up, add in cheese. I used a few slices of those sandwich cheese. Stir till all the cheese melted. Make sure dish is not too watery. The squid to release some water while cooking. So if it is too watery you can add more cheese or cornflour mix in water, to thicken it.

Thanks for reading and give this a try. It is simple yet yummy. I am drooling already.

Potato Carrot with Chinese Sausage

Learned this from t.v. All you need is potatoes, carrots, Chinese sausage, dried chilly (optional), sesame seed and sesame oil. Cut potatoes and carrots into toothpick sizes. Wash the potatoes after cutting, to get rid of the starch, then drain it. Cut Chinese sausage into toothpick size too if possible. If the sausage were too hard, steam it for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting.

Heat wok and add sesame oil. Fry potatoes and carrots till it becomes a bit soft then add Chinese sausage and dried chilly. Add a bit of sugar and salt to taste. At last add sesame seed (optional). The potatoes and carrots will turn out crunchy. If you want it soft add a bit of water while cooking but I prefer it dry and crunchy.

Thanks for reading. Give it a try. It is easy and yummy too.

Simple Lunch

This is simple, yummy and good for your tummy. Oh yes, now only I realize I don't have greens on the plate. Experts said we should have at least five different colours on your plate every day.

To make sure the omelette comes out fluffy and smooth, I add a bit of corn starch that had been diluted in a bit of water then add into your eggs. Add salt and pepper to the eggs and beat it. Fry the prawns / meat / vegetable first, then place all the cooked ingredients into the bowl of raw eggs and mix well before pouring all into the hot pan.

The surface area of the egg that touches the pan gets cook first so scraped that layer of eggs up and make sure those those raw eggs from the top goes to the bottom. Keep doing this until all is cook. Learned this from t.v from a Chinese Chef. Seen some used milk instant and keep whisking the eggs while they are on the hot pan.

What ever way, as long as it turns out yummy, is always good for me. Thanks for reading and happy cooking. Kinda busy lately to visit all of you. Will visit you gals / guys more often when I have the time.

Steam Eggs ( 3 in 1)

Saw this recipe on t.v. Had heard of this dish but had never eaten it in the past. Wonder why grandma or mum had never tried cooking this. All you need is three types of eggs, that is salted eggs, century eggs and chicken eggs. The portion is up to you. You have got to like eggs to like this dish.

First cut the century eggs and place it on a bowl or plate like the first photo. Then break the salted eggs, separate the yolks. Mash the salted egg yolks and place it in the middle. Lastly, mix the salted egg white with the normal chicken eggs and beat well. Don't have to beat till fluffy, just mix well will do. To me, I didn't add any salt to the dish as the salted eggs are salty enough. Than gently pour it on the plate and steam it for about 15 to 20 minutes depending on the portion.

Serve while it is hot. Normally we do steam eggs like these at home but either just chicken eggs or minced meat steam with eggs. Give it a try, who know's, you might like it.

Thanks for reading and happy cooking and blogging.

Macaroni Pizza

Now a days it is easy to get pizza pastry from "baking ingredients" shops. There is one quite near my house. So we decided to do a special macaroni pizza. I just stir fry some macaroni with minced meat. Then put some on the pizza pastry together with some tomatoes, crab stick, mushrooms, parsley and cheese. Taste kinda nice too.

My boys love adding the topping themselves, actually it was their idea to add the macaroni. Wonder what else we could add. Too lazy to make the pastry on my own when I know I could get ready made ones.

Thanks for viewing and hope you like it too.

Sweet Sour Potato Carrot

This is a simple Chinese dish that I learned from t.v. All you need is carrot, potato, dry chilly, Chinese sausage, sesame oil, a bit of cooking wine, some black vinegar and a pinch of sugar. Cut every ingredient in match stick size. Heat wok and add sesame oil.

Stir fry potato and carrot. Add some cooking wine, follow by Chinese sausage and dry chilly. Lastly add vinegar and sugar to taste. Dish should be dry with no gravy.

Thanks for reading and hope you will like this dish.

Sweet Sour Chicken With Cucumber

My own version of sweet and sour dish. I learned that when you add ketchup and light soy sauce to cook a dish , it taste yummy. The above is just another simple dish, a "what you can find in the fridge" dish.

Ingredients:

Chicken thigh (debone) and cut in cube

(you can use chicken fillet or chicken breast too)

Cucumber - cut into bite size

A bit of carrots to make it look colorful

Chopped garlic

Sliced onions

Ketchup, soy sauce, salt, pepper, sugar - to taste

Vinegar / cider (optional)

Saute onions till soft. Add garlic and saute till fragrant. Add chickens, stir fry till chicken is cook. Add in carrots and cucumbers. As for the sauce, if you want it dry, don't add water. If you intend to pour over pasta, then cook with more sauce. In the end add a bit of corn starch diluted in water to make dish a bit shiny. It would taste a bit soury sweet. If you you want it to be more sour, add a bit of vinegar or cider.

My mouth is watery already. Thanks for reading and hope you like this dish as much as I do.

Pumpkin snack

Got this recipe from The Reader's Digest. Remove the seeds from the pumpkin, rinse to separate them from the stringy pulp, pat dry and cut it into cubes. Toss with olive oil and salt. Bake it at 180C for about 25 minutes until it is slightly puffed and a bit golden. I don't think mine was golden at all, but it did taste nice for a snack.

Since it is going to be a long school holidays (for Malaysians), maybe I should bake this more often and leave it on the table as snacks rather than my kids snack on junk foods.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy this as much as I do. Happy holidays to some of you and enjoy your Christmas shopping, cooking, baking and preparing for Christmas to all my Christian friends all over the globe.

Fried Chicken (own version)

This is my style of fry chicken. You can use chicken wings, chicken thigh or the whole chicken. I normally would use chicken thigh, more meaty and better texture. The above are actually chicken thigh cut into 3 parts.

Ingredients:

Chicken cut into bite size
shallot (pounded - just need the juice) - about 1 table spoon
dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sesame oil
a bit of sugar or honey - about 1 table spoon

Marinate the chicken with all the above for about 1 hour. I normally don't use salt when I marinate but you can replace the light soy sauce with salt or add both salt and light soy sauce. For this recipe, it is best you used non-stick pan as there are sugar and it caramelized very fast if you used normal wok.

Medium heat, don't have to add oil on the pan as there are sesame oil in the marinate sauce and the natural oil from the chicken. Pour all the chicken and the sauce that you used to marinate, into the pan. Keep stirring once the pan become hot. Cook until all the sauce dried up and stick to the chicken. Those dark burn parts on the skin are actually caramelized sugar. Those part does not taste bitter but sweet, so no worry, it is not burned or overcooked. The aroma released by the dish while you were cooking will make your mouth watery, guaranteed.

Thanks for reading and hope you like it as much as my family do.

Pumpkin cook with meat

This is a simple dish. All you need is pumpkin, chicken or pork, had not try with other meat yet, and some garlic. Cut pumpkin into cubes. Cut meat into cubes or in slices. Marinate meat with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, a bit of corn starch, pepper and a dash of sesame oil.

Heat pan and saute minced garlic. Add meat. Stir fry till all meat are properly cook. Add in pumpkin. Add a bit of water, soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Cook till pumpkin becomes soft. When it is hot, the pumpkin is not so sweet. Once it cools down the pumpkin is sweet. So this is kinda sweet dish.

Thanks for reading and hope you like it. Happy trying.

Tofu with prawns

This is easy to make and taste lovely too, provided that you are not allergic to prawns.

Ingredients are prawns, tofu, minced garlic, fish sauce, salt, sugar and pepper to taste.

I normally buy tofu that is pack in boxes. Cut the tofu into your desire shape and size. Place it on a plate. Leave it to sit for a while on the plate and you will see water sipping out from the tofu. Drain the excess water away with a serviette.

Clean, wash and pat dry prawns. Season it with a dash of salt, pepper and sugar. Heat non-stick pan with a little oil and saute minced garlic. Before it browns, add prawns. Do not stir so much. Once you find one side is cooked (it change color), turn to the other side. If you keep stirring, it becomes watery. Do not cook prawns for too long. If you have chicken stock or anchovies stock, add a bit into dish. If not just add a bit of plain water. Then add a few drops of concentrated fish sauce. Also add a dash of salt and pepper. If you find dish to be a bit watery, thicken it with a bit of corn starch flour that has been mix in water. Make sure sauce is slightly more salty when you are preparing it because once mix with the tasteless tofu, it will not taste too salty any more.

Pour the above onto tofu and serve. If you prefer this to be a hot dish, you can stream the tofu for five minutes before you pour the sauce on top. My tofu was straight from the fridge.

Thanks for reading and hope you will like it. I know I love it. Yummy!

Simple Pumpkin Soup

I rarely cook pumpkin. Maybe because I grew up never eating pumpkin, don't know why but mum and grandma had never cook any pumpkin dish before. Had tried cooking it with meat (will post it some time later if I can remember) but once it cools off it makes the dish quite sweet.

This however, I like it very much. I learned it from a teenage boy ( my son's scout friends). Those scouts, including my son, borrowed my kitchen to cook for their scout sir to earn a cooking badge.

It is easy to make. Cut pumpkin into cubes and steam it till soft. Dice onion. Blend the pumpkin and raw onion with a blender. Pour the liquid into a pot and bring it to a boil. Add milk while boiling. Can serve while hot or can serve it cold. I prefer the hot one. Wonder if I can add meat in it? Maybe next time I will try.

Thanks for reading and please leave me a pumpkin recipe if you have any. I love trying new food every now and then.

Pork chop with rice

On weekends when everyone is around to help, I will cook something special like this. My own style of pork chop.

1. Cook a bit of carrot rice. Steam shred carrot with rice till cook with a rice cooker or a steamer. The amount of water for rice is the same as how we used to cook normal rice (Refer to my earlier post on carrot rice.) The above I scoop the rice with an ice-cream scoop to shaped it like a ball then put it on top of a lettuce and top with some seaweed cut in small rectangular.

2. I marinate the pork chop with a few drops of dark soy sauce, few teaspoon of light sauce sauce, a bit of sugar, a few drop of Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce and sprinkle some dry rosemary on it. You can also add a few drops of sesame oil when marinate. Marinate at least for a couple of hours. I love the smell of sesame oil but not too much here or it would cover the smell of rosemary.

3. Boil water, add a few slices of lemon into water and add in the wedges. Boil till soft then remove. Once it is drip dry, deep fry it in oil till golden brown. (Learned this from t.v)

4. Heat pan and fry the pork chop till brown. Remove from pan. Saute slices of onion till soft then add in the left over sauce that we used to marinate the pork chop. Once it comes to a boil pour it onto the pork chop so that it won't be so dry.

Serve in any style you like. My whole family love watching cook shows, so when we have the time, we will cook something like this and decorate it like those chefs on t.v. and we will have a satisfying meal together. This is the cheapest and most fun family activities for us.

Try it sometime. Thanks for reading.

Tofu with minced meat on lettuce

Click picture for clearer view.

This is easy to make. All you need is tofu, minced meat, dried shrimps (optional) , minced garlic and chopped shallots or onions. I am using pork here. You can even use minced beef or minced mutton. You can also add mushrooms. I ran out of mushrooms that day.

Marinate the minced meat with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, a bit of corn flour, a bit of oyster sauce if you are not using dried shrimp. Dried shrimp are quite salty. Marinate for about half an hour will do.

Cut tofu into cubes and leave aside. Cut it at least half an hour before you start cooking. After a while you can see water coming out from the tofu. Drain it.

Heat non stick pan. Add a bit of oil and saute garlic and shallots or onions. Before it turns brown, add dried shrimp now, if you opt to use it. Then add diced mushrooms if you have any. Remove from pan. Now fry minced meat.

Once minced meat is cook, add those ingredients that you cook earlier and add tofu too. Once you add tofu don't stir so often, if not you would mash those tofu. As you are cooking, water from tofu will sip out. Taste first to see if you need salt or more oyster sauce or replace it with soya sauce. Now thicken the dish with some corn starch (mix some corn flour with a bit of water). This dish is suppose to be dry.

I normally will get those smaller lettuce where each leaves look like a small bowl. Serve a spoonful of the dish on a lettuce. It looks lovely for parties and it is easy to prepare too. Hope you like it and thanks for reading.