Mini Chocolate Cornflakes Cups - Gong Xi Gong Xi

It is still the Chinese New Year festive season and I have already been to a few rounds of house visiting. The good thing about CNY is that we have "valid reasons" to binge on sinful snacks like Bah Kwa, Peanut Cookies, Pineapple Tarts, Kuih Bankit, Love Letters and so much more. This is especially enjoyable when some friends and relatives actually made the CNY goodies themselves. Many of these are not available for purchase off supermarket shelves and bakeries. 

Cheers to my good fortune, there were lots of homemade CNY goodies at V.bro and Uncle Niu's house! I ate to my fill and am down with sore throat and cold now. :[ Well I guess certain professions will be super busy during this period of time due to greedy people like me. Anyway, V.bro's mum doesn't have detailed information on how to make her snacks so I'll be introducing  one of Uncle Niu's goodies; Chocolate Cornflakes Balls. It is simple to make, tastes really yummy, and appeals to kids too! Happy CNY to all!

Mini Chocolate Cornflakes Cups

Vegetables Porridge with Salted Eggs - Mrs. Tan's Method

I wonder why my Piles came back even after embarking on a meatless diet. I wasn't able to sit still in office yesterday due to the discomfort so came home instead. I could only lie down else stand up for the rest of the day. 

Anyway, Pinky asked what's for dinner but I wasn't too sure of what to cook nor the diet suitable for Piles patients. Furthermore I didn't have the ability to sit down in front of PC to Google for information either. So the heck with it , I told her that I had no idea at all and would just cook whatever was inside my fridge. So she suggested Vegetables Porridge, using her Mom's method of cooking porridge. I wasn't keen on the idea because it already sounded bland. Nonetheless, no harm trying since I needed a watery diet so she gave me the instructions on how to go about it. 

The selection process of vegetables was rather tough, and I was faced with the challenge of making the dish sweet and salty without using too much of seasoning. So I chose cabbage and carrots for sweetness, baby bok choy for leafy fibre, and steamed salted eggs + bottled preserved Chye Sim for saltiness. For full vegans, there are other options like adding preserved beans, fermented tofu and other preserved vegetables too. This is a rather versatile dish.

Finally, my Vegetables Porridge turned out quite good. The rice were grainy, soup tasted mildly sweet and lightly salted. And guess what? It relieved my Piles! I wasn't sure at first till I had my second helping later at night. This morning I woke up just with a slight discomfort then ate oatmeal porridge, and I don't really feel a thing now. Thanks to Pinky's suggestion and her Mom that I'm healing fast! Thanks to my other friends for showing their concern too. ;]

My Vegetables Porridge with Salted Eggs

Meatless Kimchi N Tofu Stew - My Vegetable Language

Another 8 days of meatless meals passed by in a blink of an eye. I didn't even find it cumbersome planning the dishes and the dinner table was always full of surprises. I have the vegetables to thank for because none of us knew that they can be cooked in so many ways. ;)

It has been a happier experience dealing with vegetables than meat, mainly because the latter used to be running around but ended up as carcass on my chopping board. Anyway, I gained new insights that in order for my vegetables to taste good, I need to take extra care when handling them. This includes thinking about them and talking to them (need not really talk out loud). Though I know that this sounds odd, I still want to share and use Mr Potato as an example. It goes likes this:

1. Keep Mr Potato in his most comfortable corner prior to cooking
2. Greet him before use
3. Let him know that he's in for one of the best meals in life
4. Bring him to wash and scrub off all the dirt off him with fingers
5. Peel off his clothes carefully with knife without scraping off too much of flesh
6. Bid him farewell and multiply him into smaller but identical pieces with knife
7. Send him into a hot and boiling jacuzzi bath together with his favourite friends
8. A beautiful and happy dish is served!

Enough said of all the above. My 12th meatless dinner was Kimchi and Tofu Stew. I may not be Korean but I love most types of stews regardless their place of origins. The spicy and sourish taste of kimchi tantalizes my tastebuds greatly, whetting appetite up to the max. Usually meat is added into this dish and I was sceptical about bringing out the usual rich flavour. But when the dish was halfway into simmering, I knew that my doubts were unfounded. It took a full 2.5 hours to prepare and cook this meal but every effort was worth it. The idea of meatless seemed texture-less so I used omelette instead of half-cooked egg. It turned out to be really fun to eat!

My Meatless Kimchi N Tofu Stew (Before last 5 minutes of cooking)

Yay! Finally Served!

Mushroom Omelette Rice with Vegetables Stew - Simple Anime Version

Tonight's non-meat menu was Mushroom Omu Rice with Vegetables Stew! 4th day into meatless eating! I had been looking forward to this meal all day, despite having Kaya Butter Toast for breakfast and vegetarian Yong Tau Hu for lunch. Rushed home from work and immediately started chopping all the ingredients then cooked them with all my might.

Just a short intro about my Omu Rice; I have tried cooking a few types of Omu Rice but never this version before. The Japanese Anime Version 1.2.3 (named it myself). And I love this the most though it wasn't the prettiest of all. It  all began when I was tv channel surfing and chanced upon this japanese anime. A hungry boy was roaming the streets at night when he met a scruffy looking homeless man. They became friends and both sneaked into an empty restaurant kitchen. When the man heard boy's stomach growled, he immediately took some simple ingredients, frying pan and spatula then began whipping up a tasty + fragrant plate of Omu Rice for the boy. It made the boy really touched.

The Omu Rice in the show caught my eye instantly as it did not look the same as the standard huge dumpling looking types served in Japanese restaurants. The egg was slightly runny and simply topped onto a small mountain of rice... *yumyum* I could not forget it at all, gotta have it. So I began planning for this dish and today was the day to come! I had tomato ketchup yesterday, so I decided to cook a pot of stew to go with the Omu Rice. Nothing else to describe except that it was a really satisfying meal. 

My Mushroom Omelette Rice, Good to Eat On It's Own

My Mushroom Omelette Rice Topped with Vegetables Stew

Spicy Vegetarian Mee Goreng - 3rd Night

It is always easier to plan meals when there is meat inside the fridge. I'd started off my week's grocery with mainly vegetables; Spinach, Carrots, Potatoes, Mushrooms, Winged Beans, Lady Fingers, Bean Sprouts, Silken Tofu, Red Chillies, and Onions. Of course there were other non-meat purchases like Fresh Yellow Noodles, Kway Teow, Tortilla Wraps, Wholemeal Bread and Eggs. I hope this new diet will really help detox my body system and heal those sandfly bites within the next 10 days! Anyway, I'm into the 4th day of being non-meat eater but still do eat eggs and drink milk for my intake of protein. 

I'm starting to miss those dishes cooked by mum badly because of the taste of love, care and efforts in them. I'm on my own now to take care of myself and others, but looking forward to the Reunion Dinner next month to taste her cooking again. This makes me even more determined to keep fit in the meanwhile! In fact nothing can really deter me from whipping up interesting, healthy and tasty dishes for all 3 meals now. I realized now that it is all about creativity, planning and genuine interest in food.

Just to share with you all the dinner I had last night. Had wanted to try cooking Indian style Mee Goreng (Stir-Fry Noodles) which was supposed to be really red in colour due to the Tomato Ketchup Indian stalls love to use. Somehow I didn't manage to get the color I wanted, but the taste was good! Will try cooking this again another day because I haven't had enough of it. If you are on the track of wanting to stay off sinful food yet longing for a munch, hope that you will get some inspiration from this dish. :)

My Spicy Vegetarian Mee Goreng (Almost Indian Style)

Mild Spicy Winged Beans N Lady Fingers - 1st Veg Meal

The past two months up till last night had been almost unbearable for me due to the itch from sandfly bites, waking up twice every night and lack of sleep. I have been staying away from seafood and even fish but that did not help much. This worries me because the once a year Reunion Dinner is approaching and both families usually have seafood and meat steamboat. Perhaps I really need to be good and stay off meat till the bites heal. Hence I have decided to turn vegan for the next 3 weeks starting from yesterday... Anyway Dr. G further motivated me this morning by saying that I may have to visit a specialist to inject those 33 bites individually if not healed within 10 days! Thanks man... =="

Ok, so the first vegan dish started with my Sunday dinner. It was quite a challenge planning for tasty non-meat meals since I will not be the only one eating these. Usually my inspirations start from the bathroom, but this time it was via NTUC (a major supermarket chain in Singapore). I saw winged beans. I have never tried them before but Lil Pinky was always raving dearly about winged beans as her favourite vegetables. Hmm... no harm giving a shot at it?

Well I did not cook it the way Pinky's expert mommy did, simply because I cannot eat sambal belacan (a spicy chilli based sauce that contains dried shrimp paste). But I know that hers definitely tasted fantastic. So, what I did was to stir fry the Winged Beans with Lady Fingers (Okra), Carrot strips, Big Chilli slices, a good amount of Minced Garlic, Light Soy Sauce and Black Pepper. The final dish turned out healthy, crunchy and tasty. This was just one of the three vegetable dishes for dinner yesterday, and I am sharing the recipe / idea with anyone who may like to try. :)

Mild Spicy Winged Beans N Lady Fingers Dish

Chinese Cabbage Day! 大白菜日!

The "prophecized" Doomsday was just over and we are still safe! So MR, S and I were saying that if we survived, it did be a cause to celebrate!  In order to commemorate this occasion, we decided to create a Chinese Cabbage Day. Anyway, Christmas is just days away so it can be a double celebration with our friends and families. 

Why Chinese Cabbage? Simply because it is sweet and nice to eat! Just the thought of the soft yet juicy vegetable made us drooled... Hence we agreed to post pictures of our creations in this blog. S' recipe can be found on her blog while MR's recipe will posted in this blog post.

We had a good time cooking and savouring our respective Chinese Cabbage dishes with our families. Any day can be a happy day! :) A very Merry and Blessed Christmas to all readers in advance too! 

MR's Claypot Chinese Cabbage Dinner

Claypot Chinese Cabbage with Yam, Fish and Pork Slices

S' Steamed Chinese Cabbage Rolls Lunch

Steamed Chinese Cabbage Rolls with Minced Meat and Prawn Fillings

My Braised Chinese Cabbage Dinner

Braised Chinese Cabbage with Chicken and Shimeji Mushrooms

Spicy Rice Cakes - A Maplestory Food Adventure

Food and games often go together. There are often nice "food" inside some of the games I played. Neopets' omelettes were briefly introduced in my previous post. Now I shall touch on some of the "food" found in the game, Maplestory. It is not just all about monsters!

I sought the help of my friend, oOKopiTehXx to aid me in this Maple Food Search Adventure. This was not just a simple tour because an amount of travel risk was needed to obtain the food screenshots! A number of monsters have also been sacrificed during the entire process... At the end of journey, all oOKopiTehXx asked from me was a plate of Spicy Rice Cakes made from some of the ingredients he managed to gather.

Before I write about his food journey, below is a description of my lil helpful friend and his travel ship. This private ship can bring him to most of the continents in a mere 3 minutes

His journey begins...

Homemade Garlic Bread Toast - Smells Great Breath!

Some Common Kitchen Worries

1. I've got too much butter inside the fridge that's gonna expire in 2 months! 

2. I've got too many cloves of garlic left unused because I bought them in a packet!

3. I've got half a bread loaf left that will expire tomorrow!

That was what happened to me last week. So I decided to combine everything and make a bottle of garlic spread. I can use it for garlic bread toast as well as garlic butter fried rice. It would taste good and I just needed to buy two more ingredients, ie. Parmesan Cheese and Chervil (Parsley can be used too). 

Today I used this homemade garlic spread and made garlic bread toast for lunch as my half loaf of bread would expire tomorrow. The end product tasted really "homemade" and not salty. My breath didn't smell pungent either, just a mild whiff of toasted garlic.. Great Breath!! 

TRY IT? :]

My Garlic Bread Toast (1) - Slightly Toasted

My Garlic Toast (2) - Pan Crisped

Spicy and Salty Fried Noodles - Red Pepper Vs Black Bean

The containers of seasoning (Miso paste, Curry Paste, Red Pepper paste, and Black Bean paste) inside my fridge were nearing their expiry dates. So I've been trying to use them as often as I could during cooking of daily meals but not in large amounts.

Today I was in the mood to fry noodles so these pastes came in handy, I just had to choose two of them. Ignorant as I was, I thought that Red Pepper paste would churn out bright red fried noodles while Black Bean paste would get really black ones. If I wanted to get these colours, a whole lot of pastes had to be dumped in which would be unhealthy. In the end I just had to settle for the tastes instead of my "vision" ;(((

The verdict of my red and black fried noodles was, Interesting and Exciting!  The taste was superb when I combined both types together too. Give it a try with the sauces that you have. 
::.Almost anything is possible.::

Spicy Red Pepper Paste, Fried Noodles

Salty Black Bean Paste, Fried Noodles

Scallion Pancakes Wedges - A Savoury Tea Snack

I couldn't stop thinking about vegetarian dishes lately, especially after going to the Singapore Zoo and saw the animals brimming with life. And last week I was watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain's travel show on TV and saw how a live pig was being slaughtered then served onto people's plates. Of course, most of us usually wouldn't be able to see such things in our daily lives so that makes it easier to eat meat without thinking too much. Even though I wouldn't be able to turn vegan, not in a short span of time, at least I'm more aware of what I'm eating now and would try curbing my meat-cravings.

So, here is another delicious vegan dish that I want to share with all readers.  Scallion Pancakes; It is not boring, not difficult to cook, and very tasty to eat! For non-onion lovers, do not worry as you will not be able to detect the usual bitter and stingy taste nor texture. ;) This recipe uses a mixture of wholemeal flour and self-raising flour to make the dish more healthy. Hope you will want to try cooking it one day too!

Scallion Pancake Wedges

Chup Chye (Stewed Vegetables) for Night Picnic - Friends!

Picnic meals need not always be just sandwiches, sushi and salads. We can bring almost anything in smaller portions if packed properly. Sometimes when I went to the beaches in Singapore, the fragrances of curry and barbecued food from the families of picnickers would fill the air. 

Anyway I went for an evening picnic at the Singapore Botanic Gardens last Sunday and we had homecooked vegetarian food. There were Scallion Pancake, Long Bean and Corn Fried Rice, Chup Chye and Mango Pudding laid out waiting for us to tuck in. It was really delicious and we cleaned everything up in less than 20 minutes.

Our Picnic Food

I liked the Long Bean Fried Rice most while Mei loved the Chup Chye most, so I will be posting up the recipe for her dish to share with all readers. Hope that you will try this out and like it as much too!

The Soft and Delicious Stewed Chup Chye

Vegetarian Boiled Bee Hoon - Healthier Version

Today is 15th of Lunar Month again. Many buddhists and taoists will usually turn vegan on the 1st and 15th. Aside from religious beliefs, I find this a healthy practice as consuming too much meat is generally not good for our bodies. 

However, food from vegetarian stalls can be very oily whereby a lot are deep fried. Different preservatives are commonly used as well to make some of the ingredients to look and taste like meat. These will not help us become healthier at all and to me, sort of clashed with the idea of not craving for meat. So one has to carefully choose the type of dishes if turning vegan is for health purpose. Hence, I tend to choose the purely vegetables ones when I want to eat vegetarian on those two days. 

There is this vegetarian stall in Clementi Hawker Centre which I have been frequenting for the past countless number of years. It is my favourite because their beehoon is not stir fried and the ingredients are not oily. However the taste standard seems to have dropped and I did not find as much vegetables  in my plate of beehoon as last time. Price per plate has risen as well.. this is Singapore I guess. A lot of "good old taste" have been sacrificed due to rising rents and ingredients prices. Anyway, I thought I could try to cook a similar vegetarian beehoon dish myself. The gravy that I cooked could never match that of the stall uncle's but it is acceptable and pleasant. Anyone interested can try too, hope it makes you feel healthier :)

My Vegetarian Boiled Bee Hoon

Fresh Mushrooms N Garlic sauté - Fusion Style on Bee Hoon!

My friend, S, was cooking a full meal for the first time for her husband. So I suggested that she do a garlic and mushroom sauté to top over her spaghetti. Anyway she did a great job with her husband giving her 7.4 points out of 10! Seeing the picture of her food made me want to cook and eat it too. Just a few pieces of mushrooms for me though.

I did not pick this recipe up from anywhere, not even through googling. It was  just created from the memory of my one and only Italian restaurant meal with my family almost 20 years ago. The taste has never left my mind since. Anyway I have lots of beehoon inside the fridge so I will use that instead of spaghetti. It becomes a western-chinese fusion then... :S

My Fresh Mushrooms N Garlic saute - on Beehoon!

Claypot Braised Chicken N Yam - Who is Bigger?

Recently, my friend was telling me that she ate Duck with Yam Rice. Just YAM alone was enough to trigger off a chain of thoughts on food like Yam Milkshake, Yam Ice Cream, Taro Balls and so forth. And there was one particular yam dish that I super loved and I could not stop thinking about it for the next 1 week. As schedule was busy of late, I decided to cook it instead of going through the hassle to travel to eat it to satisfy my craving! Just the image of the Yam and Chicken in my mind made me drool even in my sleep. It could be the Yam, it could also be the Chicken. I just gotta have it for real... RAWRZZZ!

Claypot Braised Chicken and Yam, that I almost ate in dreams!

Omelettes on Bread - Neopets Version

There were times when I played Neopets and felt hungry due to all the yummy looking food in there. One of the most common food that I fed my pet was the Giant Omelette. I will never know what type of omelette my pet would get for that day. 

The most common types of omelettes my neopet would get

Anyway I had been craving for omelettes last Friday, so decided to cook some over the weekend (based on inspiration from Neopets) :] Looking at the list above, "Bacon and Broccoli", "Cheese and Onion", "Tomato" and "Ham and Cheese" seemed the best. But cooking up 4 omelettes would be a real hassle and I wouldn't want Neopets to sue me for any infringement of copyright... :X So I have decided to mix some ingredients together and come up with my 2 versions of omelettes, and put them on bread to eat as snack!

My Draft Omelettes - Guess what flavours? lol

My Cooked Omelettes 

"Broccoli, Tomato N Bacon" and "Ham, Onion N Cheese"

Black Bean Sauce Fish Slices Stir Fry - Ginger and Onions

The rainy season is here again. The weather is cooling and sleeping becomes more comfortable too. However, friends have been falling sick and coming down with flu. The best preventive measure will be to keep our bodies warm inside out during this time of the year. 

Eating a hot bowl of plain porridge on cold, rainy days will bring warm comfort to our bodies. I do know that not everyone likes plain porridge as it is too bland unless eaten with more savoury dishes. Salty and spicy ones go best with it. 

I cooked some plain porridge for lunch today, not just because weather has been cold the past few days but also due to my craving for Stir Fry Black Bean Sauce Fish Slices to go with it... It had been years since I ate this dish and I have never tried cooking it myself before. Let's see how it will turn out!  :S

Black Bean Sauce Fish Slices Stir Fry, with Ginger and Onions

Fresh Yellow Noodles Soup - Simple Tradition

I did not like fresh yellow noodles since young because of the strong ghee taste and smell. Even those sold for 30cents per bowl back then (in my Primary school's canteen) tasted horrid to me. Mum rarely cooked it for us too,  and the final straw came when she tried to whip up prawn noodles soup which made me give up on eating fresh yellow noodles completely. 

It was only in recent years when I went to IL's place and FIL cooked me a bowl of fresh yellow noodles soup. I was sceptical at first and stared at it for at least 5min before deciding whether or not to tuck in. I have never eaten  nor seen a bowl of fresh noodles soup mixed with so many ingredients in a yellowish soup stock. Then I was told by him that this was how the older generation (grandparents) used to cook their fresh noodles at home. Hence I took my first mouthful, and in less than 3 minutes realized that I had gobbled up the whole bowl of noodles including the soup.

Their place is an hour's journey away and it is not that feasible to go back for this dish whenever I crave for it. I guess the only way is to learn to cook it myself. It is not exactly a healthy dish as frying with lard and pork belly is needed in the original recipe. So I had a few tries at tweaking the recipe (to be much healthier) and finally got close to the taste I had at IL's. Hereby, I will like to share with all of you reading. It's nice. Really! Lol.. :D

My bowl of Fresh Yellow Noodles Soup

Fried Kway Teow with Black Sauce - Singaporean home version

Fried Kway Teow aka Char Kway Teow/Char Koay Teow (CKT) is a common dish with many variations in Southeast Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia. It is considered one of the most savoury street delicacies. My favourite ones are Singapore CKT and Penang CKT. The Singapore version is darker in color and is sweet-salty , while the Penang version is lighter in color and salty.

Standard Singapore Foodcourt CKT (Picture credit to Food)

Standard Penang Stall Version (Picture credit to Lil Pinky)

In fact, I find that CKT serves as a good culinary dish in defining the tastebuds of the people of different countries as heavy sauces and wide range of ingredients are found in it. I know that there are a lot more types of CKT out there eg. Pad Thai, the hotplate CKT in Kuching, and KT Goreng Mamak. Many people tend to compare the different types of CKT and see which comes out tops. However, no matter what the reviews are and how people raved about other types of CKT, I still find the one that I grew up eating the best. I believe that this is the same for most of us. 

Anyway, I don't eat much CKT as it is considered an unhealthy dish as it is very oily and due to the seasonings used. But when the craving for it comes, it becomes unstoppable. So it is good to be able to cook CKT myself at home, though not as savoury as the ones sold outside, it is way healthier. Below is the healthier CKT cooked from home during the weekend and I am sharing with everyone reading this post. :) Hope that you will give it a try some time and tweak the ingredients according to your likes!

- A Singaporean Home Version Char Kway Teow -

Mini Sausages in Sweet Tomato Miso Sauce - Super Easy Dish

My right eye and stomach have been giving me problems of late, pushing off all my plans to whip up many other dishes. Yesterday I had wanted a better feast at home but as both of them acted up again, I was unable to. Still, dinner had to be served... so perhaps something simple. 

Recently I ate an appetizer dish that was quite delicious at a korean restaurant and thinking that perhaps I could try cooking up something similar and tweaked in a healthier way. 

This dish came in handy now as it was very simple to make, definitely for amateur cooks and busy people. So I cooked it yesterday and took me only 20 minutes for the whole process. Then I ate it together with some porridge and stir fried eggs. Hereby, sharing with my friends and readers the recipe. I am not sure what the name of the dish was so will just post it as the ingredients being used.

My Mini Sausages in Sweet Tomato Miso Sauce