Uncategorized, Vegetables

Homemade Spicy Cucumber

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I really enjoy the scene of people eating in the TV show. Recently, I watched a Japanese TV drama, the main character loves spicy cucumber. Every time I watched him eating spicy cucumber, I was drooling. 🙂 I went to supermarket yesterday to buy fresh cucumber and decided to make spicy cruncher by myself today.

Ingredients:

3 medium cucumber

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon garlic paste

1 tablespoon sugar

2 stalk spring onion (cut into slices)

1 tablespoon chili paste

1/2 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon white sesame (toasted)

1. Cut cucumber into slices or small chunks or any shape you like. Put them in a big bowl. Sprinkle salt over them. Set for 30 mins. A lot of water will come out and cucumber will become a little soft. Pour the water out and squeeze cucumbers by hand to let the water out. Then drain them.

2. In another big bowl, put all the rest ingredients in. Mix well.

3. Add all the detained cucumber into the sauce. Toss and mix well.

Look at that shiny reddish cucumber.

https://flic.kr/p/2e4LPYd

https://flic.kr/p/S1niPU

If you want it to be less spicy, you can feel free to use less chili paste and chili powder.

This spicy cucumber is a good appetizer and also a good match with porridge.

You can store them in an air tight container and put into fridge for longer days.

Yum!

Ribs, Soup, Uncategorized

Rib Soup Again! (with Lotus Root and Black Kidney Beans)

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My husband is a crazy soup lover. Chicken soup and Rib soup are two kinds which I always cook for him.

This time, I tried to make soup with black kidney beans.

1. Soak kidney beans in advance. 2-3 hrs maybe.

2. Wash ribs under water over and over again.

3. Place ribs in a pot. Add in enough water. Bring to boil with high heat. Skim all the dirt.

4. Turn to low heat. Simmer for 30 mins.

5. Add in lotus root and beans. Simmer for another 30 mins.

6. Seasons with salt.

mushroom, Soup, tofu

Mixed Mushroom & Tofu Soup

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This post is actually connected to the last one (egg stuffed mushroom).

Egg Stuffed Mushroom

Because I Scratched off the black gills of portoballo mushroom. Didn’t want to throw them away. So I came up with this soup.

  1. heat a pan. Saute 1 chopped garlic.
  2. add in black gills. The whole kitchen will smell great.
  3. add in shiitake mushroom slices. Stir fry a bit.
  4. pour in 1 cup stock. Also add in brown mushroom. Bring to boil then turn to low heat and simmer for 5 mins.
  5. cut in tofu cubes. Simmer for  another 5-8 mins.
  6. season with salt and garnish with chopped spring onion.

Very easy and nice soup.

egg, mushroom

Egg Stuffed Mushroom

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Since last time I cooked portobello mushroom last time, my husband had deeply fallen in love with this giant brown mushroom. He required to buy some portobello mushroom when we went out for shopping.

One of my hobbies is to explore the different cooking method for different ingredient. So I decided to try this dish with this mushroom. It’s quite easy.

  1. preheat oven to 180 Degree c.
  2. wash portobello mushroom gently in water. Then wipe them dry with kitchen towels.
  3. remove the stem. Also use a spoon to scratch off the black gills to save more room for egg.
  4. brush mushroom with butter.
  5. sprinkle a little salt over the mushroom. Only a very little is enough.
  6. place mushroom in baking try, better with a parchment paper underneath. crack an egg onto the gill of each mushroom.
  7. sprinkle cheese, black gills scratched off  and chopped spring onion on egg. Avoid egg yolk.

Into the oven for 15-18 mins. Or till cheese melted and egg is done.

I kind of forgot to take the mushroom out, so my egg was overly done a bit. 😦

But my husband still loves them. 🙂

Beef, Uncategorized

Beef Wellington

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It just came to me that there was still a piece of beef fillet in my fridge last night, so I decided to cook beef wellington today.

Main Ingredients:

beef, chopped shiitake mushroom & carrot (of course you can use the help of a blender), puff crust, salt, and pepper.

1, Sprinkle salt and pepper over the fillet. Rub a bit with hands.

2, Heat a pan, add in some oil. Fry beef fillet till each side turns brownish.

3, Beef fillet in a plate and rest for a while. Use the same pan to fry mushroom and carrot. When the juice comes out, drizzle in a little red wine. (I just want to add a little flavor, if you don’t have red wine, you can just skip this step.) Add in a little dried thyme. Turn to low heat and simmer for a little while. Season with salt.

4. Many chiefs cook beef wellington use ham. Yet, I don’t have . So I just go with my no-ham version. Place a piece of plastic wrap on the table. Pastry crust on it. (I just don’t have crust, so I use Roti Prata instead. Because I tried to use Roti Prata pasty in Apple pie before, and it turned out great. So Roti Prata is always a good replacement of pastry crust to me.)

5. Spread mushroom and carrot on the pastry evenly. Beef in the middle. Roll one end of pastry to the other gently. Tuck in the two sides. Twist a bit with the help of plastic wrap. In the fridge for 30 mins.

6. Preheat oven to 200 degree C.

7. Egg wash the pastry. Cut several lines or any pattern you like.

8. Into the oven for 20-25 mins or till the pastry turns golden color.

Cut it with a very sharp knife. Because the crust is really easily broken. A sharp knife will do a better job. Or you may get your beef wellington just like mine. 😦

Very fragile out layer. But the taste is super.

Soup

Corn Soup

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1. Cut all the kernels from a fresh corn.

2. Put corn in a pot. Add in 1/2 cup milk. Bring to boil then turn to low heat and simmer till corn is cooked.

3. Pour all the corn with milk into a blender. Blend till smooth.

4. Pour back to pot. Turn to low heat. Keep stirring while heating. Bring soup to boil again.

5. Season with salt and pepper.

Uncategorized

Centrum Vitamin Review

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mathtuition88's avatarMathtuition88

I used to think that with a balanced diet, there is no need to take vitamins. However, recently I read several articles that due to soil depletion, there is lack of minerals in the soil that is used to plant the crops. According to the Bible, the soil is supposed to rest every 7 years for the Sabbath, but I doubt many countries practice this as it will lead to total loss of income for that year.

By the way, Northern China has a type of rice called Dong Bei Rice that is considered one of the best type of rice, certainly superior to Thai rice. I have tasted Dong Bei Rice in Liaoning Province, it is absolutely delicious. The reason it is so good is because due to the harsh winter, the soil there is forced to rest once a year during the winter. Hence, the soil…

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food hunting, Uncategorized

Probably the Best Yong Tau Foo I’ve Ever Had

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Yong Tau Foo is a Hakka Chinese cuisine. Yet, I have never tried it in China before. Yong Tau Foo stall is quite similar to Chinese spicy hot pot (malatang). All the meat, vegetables and seafood are displayed on shelves. Customers can choose whatever they want to add in their Yong Tau Foo. The main difference I guess lies in cooking method. Malatang (麻辣烫） includes 3 Chinese words. 麻 （ma）means numb, it refers to the feeling caused by pungent spices like Sichuan pepper corn. 辣（la）means spicy, it refers to chili, chili powder and chili oil. 烫（tang）means hot. Because malatang is always served very hot. I still remember when I had social linguistic class, my teacher taught us malatang could be translated as “3 hots”: hot, hot, hot. 🙂

I have tried Yong Tau Foo several times after I came here. Since I really missed malatang and I couldn’t find it here in Singapore ( now I can find some). And also because I can choose my favorite vegetables to make my unique Yong Tau Foo.

Today, out of some reasons, my husband took me to Rochor. We have a habit. Whenever we go to some place we don’t often go to, we search good food there. And we call it “food hunting”. Google map told us there is a good hawker center “Albert Center”. How we decide which stall to try is very simple. We just observe which stall has a long queuing line. And this stall definitely has the longest line in front of it.

There is only “百年” (a hundred years old) on the signboard. We were very curious and found it a Yong Tau Foo stall. Why are so many people waiting there? We wanted to figure it out. And my husband queued, I went to find a seat. And wait, and wait and wait……

And here finally comes the Yong Tau Foo.

This one is different from the ones I had before. This stall doesn’t have shelves with meat and vegetables on it. Their set contains soup, glass noodles, tofu, fish cake, shrimp, meatball and bitter gourd. The first sip of soup really amazed me.

Soup is light, but also tastes a bit sweet. Tofu is so fatty and juicy. Both my husband and I couldn’t resist the soup.

And fried chicken is also included in the set.

Crispy shell, tender and juicy meat.

Whole set is S$5.80. Totally worth it.

My husband told me Rochor is famous for beancurd  dessert. Since we don’t come here often, we definitely need to try the beancurd.

We chose this stall. My favorite is red bean. too bad, red bean is sold out. So we tried Lotus ginko beancurd.

We loved it!!!

Beef, mushroom

Steak & Portobello Mushroom

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This is the first time for me to cook Portobello mushroom. They are really big and look like a giant brown umbrella.

For steak:

1. Season both sides with salt and black pepper.

2. Heat a pan. A little oil in. Sear the steak for about 3 mins.

3. Flip the steak over. Cut in a cube of butter. And add in 2 cloves of garlic and dried thyme (fresh thyme will be better, but I didn’t have any at that time).

4. Fry for about 3 mins. Use a spoon, to scoop better and spread over steak. Sear the edge side too.

Steak in the plate and rest.

To cook Portobello mushroom:

Remove the Portobello mushroom’s stem first and wash clean.

1. Heat a pan. Cut in a small cube of butter.

2. When butter melts, add the mushroom in with cap side down. Sear for 3 mins. If your mushroom is really really big, probably you will need 5 mins. Keep the heat low, don’t burn the mushroom.

3. Add 1 drop of soy sauce onto the stem hole of each mushroom.

4. Flip the mushroom over, sear the other side for 3 mins with the lid on.

5. A lot of juice will come out. Use a spatula, and press the mushroom gently to squeeze the juice out.

6. Flip over and squeeze the other side. Keep cooking till the juice evaporates.

Serve steak with mushroom.

Mushroom is really juicy and tender. Portobello Mushroom just became my husband’s favorite mushroom. He couldn’t stop saying “delicious”. 🙂

Fish

Cod Fish Fillet

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My husband loves fish, especially fish from the deep sea. We often buy salmon. We don’t buy cod fish that often. Last time when we went out shopping for groceries, he saw the frozen cod fish fillet. He asked if he could buy some. I was a bit hesitant because I didn’t cook cod that much. He told me just to cook it in the same way of cooking salmon. OK, then. My husband always tells me to cook seafood in a simple way with less condiments, even though he almost never cooks.

As he said, I just pretend I am cooking a salmon fillet.

1. Season cod fillet with salt and pepper.

2. Heat a pan, drizzle in a little oil. When pan is hot, place cod fillet in.

3. Sear the cod fillet for 3-4 mins. Then flip over. Sear for another 3-4 mins. I also added in a clove of garlic. Fry both sides till a bit brownish.

4. Don’t forget to sear the edge side of fillet. Fry each side for another minute at last.

Please be gentle while cooking cod fish. I guess I was too careless, I kind of broke the fish. 😦

Well, my husband still loved it.

Cooking & Food & Recipes & Life