Green Bean Porridge - If You Have No Appetite

Greenbean porridge may be the next best alternative besides plain porridge if you are feeling sick or have not much appetite for heavy meals. It normally serves me well and the sweet taste makes it easier to down the whole bowl of porridge. After heavy breakfast and lunch at work during the day, a bowl of sweet, non-greasy and easily digestible porridge will be just nice for dinner.  It can also be served as a tea-time dessert. Most importantly, this recipe is not time-consuming and really simple to prepare.

My Version of Green Bean Porridge

Braised Chicken Wings with 3 Mushrooms Mee Sua - Love for Mushrooms

Recently I have been thinking about food cooked with mushrooms and people who love to eat them. In my circle of friends, Bestie D loves mushroom the most. She loves all kinds of mushrooms will not miss the chance to send them into her mouth at any food place at any time but her husband dislikes them. Haha...

Today there were chicken wings in the fridge and the first thing that came to my mind was Chicken Wings Braised in dark soy sauce with Mee Sua. But what other ingredients should I put? I searched the cabinet and found button mushrooms, black mushrooms and straw mushrooms... Simply fantastic! 

I guessed if Bestie D knows that I have cooked this dish, she will ask "WHEN ARE YOU COMING TO MY HOUSE TO COOK FOR ME?".

Braised Chicken with 3 Mushrooms Mee Sua!

Green Bean N Sweet Potato Soup (with Barley N Chrysanthemum)- Stress Relief!

It was another warm and sunny day in Singapore. Temperatures were soaring and the best next thing to do besides staying indoors was to keep my body cool and hydrated. But there were too many types of drinks and desserts to choose from, so I narrowed down my choices to something that would suit Mum. 

I heard from Sis that Mum seemed rather stressed with her medical condition lately and refused to travel overseas for holiday trips that required long in-flight hours. The doctors did not verify on this so we thought that her worry should be psychological. Thus I could cook up a dessert soup that would help relieve her stress and aid in stabilizing her blood pressure at the same time. 

I had half a packet of organic green beans, some organic barley, half a sweet potato, and some dried white chrysanthemum left in the fridge. These came in handy and I just needed to buy some yellow rock sugar to churn out a pot of delicious Green Bean N Sweet Potato Soup for Mum and family.

Green Bean N Sweet Potato Soup (with Barley N Chrysanthemum)

Before the recipe, here are some short nutritional facts of the dessert soup:

Bean Thread Noodles Salad - Not 4 All, Not So Bad

Cooking for someone else is always a challenging task and the same dish does not mean that everyone will like it. So we always need to cook a few different dishes whenever we invite friends to dine with us, especially for those who do not dare to try new dish. This week, I decided to take up a challenge and asked Ms F to whip up a salad dish for our friend, C. 

Here is a short intro about C (By Ms F) 

C is not an adventurous eater and unwilling to try new creations or food that she has never come across before. When she eats out, only food that she is familiar with will be ordered. If she ever decided to try new dishes, a familiar dish had to be ordered too just in case the former did not fit her tastebuds. She loves Swensen's Caesar Salad and would order it whenever Ms F and her dined there. 

So this time, we thought of making a salad for C but not Caesar Salad, by using ingredients that she might eat. Ms F spent a Saturday morning to make Bean Thread Noodles Salad and brought it out for a movie date with C. How did it turn out? Below is that day's summary provided by Ms F on C's response.

The Verdict (By Ms F)

Today I made Bean Thread Noodles Salad for mei (aka C). Somehow in my heart, I know that maybe she is not be able to like it but still have to give it a try. Hmm.. her 1st reaction was looking at me with ?_?, and asking what was that? She asked me what were the ingredients inside? I told her bean thread noodles, ikan bilis, dried shrimps and etc. She did not know bean thread noodles can be made into salad and felt that the ingredients I used were all so weird. 

I asked her give the salad a try then tell me what she thought of it, and to give truthful comments. She ate 2 mouthfuls and told me,"I do not know how to appreciate this salad. When you tell me dried shrimps, ilkan bilis and parsley, I did not like it already. I prefer normal salad. If you give me fruits salad, I'm sure to finish it." 

SAD! She really did not like my salad at all. Well, I did let other people and myself try the salad and it was not so bad like mei said. Though the challenge failed, it was not such a bad dish afterall.

The Sad Salad Challenge!

Avocado N Peach Yoghurt on Biscuit - Stomach Soothing

Lately my friend, S, tried baking cheesecakes and while looking at her recipe, I had craving for the bottom crust of the cheesecake. It was rather odd, just that I have never fancied cheesecakes except for the crust below. So I thought of making a snack out of such a crust someday, and no baking would be needed. No cheesecake for me though... at the moment.

Anyway, today I needed something to soothe my stomach from the Chicken N Duck Yoghurt Rendang dinner, so a fruity and smooth dessert would be great. I bought some avocados, peaches, and lemons a few days back and now they would come in handy! I mixed them with the un-used yoghurt bought for the rendang meal and topped the creamy mixture onto the biscuit crust.

This dessert was really easy to make and settled my stomach from the spiciness of the curry almost immediately. It tasted sweet too and I made two versions for us to choose from.  

Avocado N Peach Yoghurt on Biscuit

Chicken N Duck Yoghurt Rendang - from Leftover Cooked Poultry

I received a big packet of leftover braised chicken and duck meat from prayer session after dinner yesterday. It really gave me a big headache because I did not know what to do with them other than reheating again in soy sauce. Usually such meat develop a sourish smell after a day so it would be best to consume them as soon as possible! However our stomachs were too full to take in anymore food so I could only dump the one packet of meat into the freezer first. 

It took me quite a while to decide what to do with those meat in the fridge and I guessed using them to cook curry might be a good idea. As cooked meat are usually dry, they will not emit water during the cooking process and hence dry curry (Rendang) seemed to be a better choice now. As usual, I used yoghurt and skimmed milk in place of coconut milk. And this time round, sweet potatoes were used instead of normal potatoes as the curry would lack the natural sweetness from fresh chicken. I also added hard boiled eggs (red eggs from prayers) and some fresh vegetables to make the curry tastier.

The conclusion: Dish tasted mild and healthy! No clearing of throat was needed after eating too. =)

My Chicken N Duck Yoghurt Rendang

Steamed Chicken in Chicken Soup Mee Sua - Happy Birthday Singapore!

After trying quite a few types of Mee Sua recipes, I did not post one of the most basic ones, Chicken Soup Mee Sua. It may be simple dish but I would usually cook or eat it on birthdays. Today is Singapore's 47th birthday, which means every Singaporean's birthday too including me! So this is a good reason to cook this dish for my family and I for tonight. 

I had not been eating much meat lately except fish due to a terrible cat nightmare. The smell and sight of meat had turned me off quite a couple of times I wanted to start eating some meat again and tried my best to whip up a good Chicken Soup Mee Sua by tweaking the recipe a little. Instead of boiling the chicken meat in soup and all, I steamed the chicken meat and used chicken bones to boil the stock. It may be a bit oilier than the usual boiled ones, but healthy olive oil was used during cooking which helped bring cholesterol and fat levels down by a lot. I also looked forward to my favourite hard-boiled eggs!

The Verdict? Nothing else to say except that it was REALLY good! 

Steamed Chicken in Chicken Soup Mee Sua

Fried Fish Slices N Sesame Salad Soup Mee Sua

The hot weather has been torturing lately and by eating heavy foods like chicken, pork, lamb and beef only made my body even more uncomfortable. The alternatives would be to eat fish, eggs and soy to get the protein I needed for the many activities planned. What fish recipe would be nice to last me through the day?

Fish soup is an excellent and popular choice for lunch with many locals and the fish would usually be available boiled or fried. I usually ordered fried fish soup at hawker centres or coffeeshops as the soup would be more tasty and fragrant. However, the oil used by the hawkers to fry the fish are usually the cheaper and more unhealthy ones which would result in alot of unwanted calories and cholesterol. So it would be healthier to choose the boiled fish version while at work.

As this recipe was cooked at home, the oil and salt used were healthier and in moderation. In addition, celery and ikan bilis were used for the soup base instead, helping to control cholesterol levels. A sesame salad made from vegetables and egg was added as side dish garnishing, giving more flavour and nutrients to this dish than the usual plain boiled greens.

Yummy Fried Fish Slices and Sesame Salad Soup Mee Sua!

Salmon Belly with Radish N Leek Miso Soup - For Mum

Mum's high blood pressure condition has been ongoing for several years and has to take her medicine everyday to keep her blood pressure down. However it isn't good for her body to undergo long term medication so I will cook detox soups for her from time to time. 

I wasn't feeling well today, but still able enough to cook a bowl of soup that could help her body detox and reduce blood pressure at the same time. It had a long name due to all the major ingredients necessary for this dish; Salmon Belly with Radish and Leek in Miso Soup!

The following are some benefits on how these ingredients are able to aid in improving Mum's condition:

Salmon Belly - High in Omega3 Fatty Acids that have mild antihypertensive effects

Radish - No Fat and Cholesterol, high in Vitamin C that eliminates toxins and keeps heart disease at bay

Leek - Contains Allicin that decreases blood vessel stiffness thus reduces blood pressure

Miso - Source of Lactobacillus Acidophilus Lecithin which is effective in prevention of high blood pressure

The Soup for Mum, shared with baby niece

Oriental Pineapple Chicken Pizza - Sweet Day

I was craving for pizza and yet not the usual types. An oriental pizza will be special. Perhaps I could use the leftover tortilla wraps, chicken meat, frozen mixed vegetables, and a slice of pineapple in the fridge. These remind me of one of my favourite foods, Thai Pineapple Rice. Stir frying may be necessary to bring out such a flavour. 

A Crispy Oriental Pineapple Chicken Pizza