Tag Archives: food

Pasta

Pine Seeds & Basil Lemon Spaghetti

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I cooked this dish just because I have a small pack of pine seeds, lemon and also a small box  basil. 🙂

Toast pine seeds in a pan. Keep low heat. Oil will come out from pine seeds. Toast till they become brownish and the flavor comes out.

  1. Cook spaghetti and drain them.
  2. Heat a pan. Add in all the cooked spaghetti and also add in 1 tablespoon stock.
  3. Squeeze in a little lemon juice. Add in chopped basil, lemon zest and toasted pine seeds. Stir evenly.
  4. Sprinkle in cheese. Blend well.
  5. Season with salt and black pepper.

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

Very fresh due to lemon zest.

https://flic.kr/p/Rj7PiT

duck

Pan Seared Duck Breast

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My husband only like two parts of duck: leg and breast. Just a simple pan seared duck breast with sauce will make him very happy. Don’t forget he is the guy who can never forget about  teriyaki chicken.

I also added pan fried potato as side to this dish.

  1. Prepare a potato. Peel it and cut it into medium thick chunks. Boil some water in a pot. Add potato chunks in and boil for about 10 mins. Or just till potato turns almost cooked and becomes a little soft. Drain them and set a side.
  2. Season duck breast with salt and black pepper. Cut cross on duck skin with a knife several times just to prevent curling during frying.
  3. Heat a pan. No need to add any oil since duck contains much fat. Skin side down. Sear with low heat till golden brown.
  4. Then flip over to sear the other side. Flip again when it turns brown in color. Sear the skin side till it becomes hard and crispy. Set it aside.
  5. You can use the same pan to fry potatoes. Or if you think duck oil is not healthy, you can use another pan. Fry potatoes till golden brown.
  6. For the sauce. In a sauce pan, add in 2 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 tsp fresh lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon water. Simmer to reduce.
  7. Cut duck breast into slices. Arrange them and potatoes in a plate. Pour sauce over the duck

No doubt husband loves it.

https://flic.kr/p/2dFC5Bz

Quick recipe, Uncategorized

Easy Gong Gong (Dog Conch Sea Snail) Recipe

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Dog Conch has a very cute name Gong Gong here in Singapore. My husband told me he never tried gong gong before. We were planning to give it a try when we went to Bintan. Yet, we changed our mind to try local Indonesian food instead.

Today, we saw live gong gong at supermarket. We were very curious about them. it was also the first time for my husband to see live gong gong. And we decided to buy some and cook at home.

We bought 10 gong gong, around 500 g @ S$1.5, very cheap.

I put them in a basin. and soaked them in salty water. After 30 mins, they spitted much dirt. I rinsed them again and again till water is clear.

  1. Boil some water in a pot. Add in several ginger slices and salt.
  2. When water boils, add gong gong in. And boil for 20 mins.
  3. Rinse them under water and wash them clean.
  4. Place gong gong in a plate. Spread some chopped spring onion, ginger and garlic.
  5. Heat a pan. Add in 2 tablespoon oil. Pour oil over the spring onion and garlic.
  6. Serve with chili sauce.

https://flic.kr/p/2f4E244

My husband loved them. He even washed and kept all the shells.

food hunting, Uncategorized

Indonesian Local Food @ Lagoi Bay

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Everytime my husband and I go to a new place, we will definitely try the local food. During our stay in Bintan, Indonesia, we also want to try more local food other than Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng. As I mentioned before, the food in the hotel is not very nice, we plan to have food outside the resorts. And there is free shuttle bus from our hotel Angsana to Lagoi Bay. We took the late afternoon bus to go there. I was thinking about seeing sunset there. Yet, when we got there, it’s almost dark. Too bad we missed sunset.

Famous love lock @ Lagoi Bay

We chose a restaurant just in front of the beach and sea – Warung Yeah.

https://flic.kr/p/24qtuwM

There were also many tourists having dinner there except us. We hose a seat outside just facing the sea and beach.

https://flic.kr/p/2dD6g6e

For the drink, my husband ordered fresh coconut water. (He’s a big fan). I ordered mango and lemon squash.

Very refreshing.

My husband also ordered one more drink. He told me the drink’s name is Bintan Coco Drink.

I must say, it’s very sweet.

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

For the food, we ordered the first one Sego Tahu. And it looks ike this.

It’s a tofu dish. The specialty lies in sauce. Sweet and spicy. My husband loves it.

We also ordered a grilled round fish. Outside skin tastes a bit spicy. Flavor goes in so the inside fish is also very tasty. Dipping it in the Indonesian special chili sauce just makes it more yummy.

Here is my favorite Indonesian finger food, called Jajanan Pasar. Outside layer is banana leaf. Sticky rice is wrapped by it. And the filing inside rice is chicken and vegetable. It’s really special. I guess I love all the sticky rice snacks.

The price is very reasonable compared to hotel. And you can enjoy the sea view at the same time.

Ribs, Soup, Uncategorized

My Husband’s Favorite Rib, Lotus Root & Peanut Soup Recipe

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I was born and grew up in northern part of China. Actually, my family didn’t have the habit of having soup during the meal. I know that people from southern part really like soup. Soup to them is a must-have dish on the table.

My husband is a soup lover. He basically likes all kinds of soup. Influenced by him, I start to realize soup’s charm.

There is a chicken rice stall near where we live. If you order chicken rice there, a small bowl of lotus root & peanut soup will be served as well. My husband loves the chicken rice there and also their soup. He mentioned more than once how much he loves the soup with lotus root and peanut in it.

That’s why I decided to cook this soup.

1. Rinse ribs under water.

2. Place all ribs in the pot. Pour in enough water covers and even higher than the ribs.

3. Bring to boil with high heat. Skim the soup.

4. Add in several ginger slices, lotus root chunks, some peanuts. Turn to low heat. Cook for 1-2 hrs.

Nice soup takes long time unless you have pressure cooker.

Season with salt before serving.

The amazing part of the soup is that it tastes a bit sweet even without adding in any sugar.

My husband can have 2 bowls of it.

https://flic.kr/p/2b3tQxq

Fish

Oven-Roasted Saba Fish

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Saba fish is very popular in Japan. And Saba fish fillet is also very commonly seen here in Singapore. I buy them sometimes.

This fish can be easily roasted by oven.

1. Preheat oven to 200 degree C.

2. Season fish fillet with salt and black pepper on both sides.

3. Into the oven for 15-18 mins. Because my husband likes the crispy fish skin, so when I put the fish into oven, I usually set the skin side up. At the last 5 mins, I will turn the fish over and place lemon slice on the fish.

Very easy to cook.

Fish, Soup

Fish Maw Soup

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In fact, I’ve never had fish maw before I came to Singapore. Fish maw is not that popular in my hometown as it is in southern part of China. The story began on one day, my husband received a CNY gift, which contained many traditional Chinese ingredients for CNY and that’s how we got a can of fish maw. Never cooked fish maw before. But I still wanted to give it a try.

Main ingredient of this soup is fish maw. To make the soup more tasty, I made some fresh chicken stock.

Just put a half chicken into a pot with some ginger slices. and cook for 2 hours.

Apart from fish maw, I also used clams. I guess seafood like shrimps and crab meat also goes well with this soup.

  1. Boil a pot of chicken stock.
  2. Take the fish maw out, drain and cut into smaller pieces. The liquid in the can is also edible, so I just poured everything (there are also some shiitake mushroom slices) into the pot.
  3. When stock boils, add fish maw in. Skim the soup when it boils again.
  4. Clams in and simmer for 5 mins.
  5. Dissolve 1 tablespoon starch in 2 tablespoon water. Pour starch water into the soup and stir evenly.
  6. Beat 1 egg into a bowl. Pour egg into the soup while stirring the soup.
  7. Boil for another minute and season with salt.

https://flic.kr/p/R5Dsr4

Soup is easy.

My husband loves it very much.

Oh. For the chicken I used to make chicken stock, It can be served as one dish. Just cut in into smaller chunks. Mix 2 tsp light soy sauce and 2 tsp sesame oil. pour the sauce over chicken.

mushroom

Butter Garlic Mushroom

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Just like me, my husband is also a crazy mushroom lover. That’s why I cooked this dish on his birthday.

  1. Preheat oven to 200 Degree C.
  2. Wash mushrooms (I was using white bottom mushroom). Remove the stems.
  3. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a pan. When butter melted, add in mushroom. Fry for 2 mins with medium heat. Flip over and fry for another 2 mins.
  4. Season with salt and pepper. Add in 1/4 cup stock or water. bring to boil..Simmer with low heat for 3-5 mins.
  5. Prepare a baking pan. Spread chopped garlic at the bottom. Place mushroom with stock over garlic. Then top with some extra chopped garlic.
  6. Into the oven and bake for 10 mins.
  7. Garnish with parsley.

Smells and tastes very good.

Potato, Soup, Vegetables

Vegetable Soup

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Before anything. Yeah! That’s a whole potato in the soup.

It’s a rally light and simple soup. And of course, it’s also healthy. Even my husband, a 100% meat lover, falls for this soup.

Ingredients (serving for 2)

potatoes 2 (peeled)

carrot 1  (cut into thick strips)

onion 1 (cut into quarters)

1/4 head of cabbage

celery 2 stalks

bacon 5 or 6 slices

salt

black pepper

stock 1 cup

water 2 cups

  1. Place peeled potatoes, carrot strips and onion quarters into a pot.
  2. Add in water and stock. (You can adjust water and stock according to your preference. You can even use all water or all stock). Also add in 1 pinch salt and 1 dash black pepper. Turn to high heat. Bring to boil. Turn to low heat. Lid on and simmer for 15-20 mins.
  3. Put celery strips, bacon slices and cabbage into the pot. Same procedure. Bring to boil with high heat and simmer with low heat for 25 mins.
  4. Season with salt and pepper.

https://flic.kr/p/SGV271

It can be served with baguette or any bread you like.

Even though no sugar is added to this soup, it still tastes a bit sweet. I cooked this soup on my husband’s birthday. And served it with garlic bread. He really loved it.

banana, Cake, Uncategorized

Upside Down Banana Cake

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I tried banana cake before:

Banana Cake

This upside down banana cake is kind of an improved version of banana cake. It’s a combination of banana cake and caramelized banana top.

Ingredients:

Butter 80g

Sugar 120g

Egg 1

Flour 140g

Milk 1/4 Cup

Baking Soda 1 tsp

Baking powder 1 tsp

Ripe Bananas 2

Vanilla 1 tsp

Salt 1 pinch

Cinnamon powder 1 tsp

Butter 3 Tablespoon

brown sugar 1/4 cup

vanilla 1/2 tsp

Banana 1

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

2. Add in egg, vanilla and baking soda. Stir well.

3. Add in 2 mashed bananas and milk. Stir well.

4. Add in flour, salt and cinnamon. Mix them well and set aside.

5. Preheat oven to 180 degree C.

6. Add 3 Tablespoon butter and 1/4 cup brown sugar into a sauce pan. Turn to low heat and stir till sugar melts.

7. Cut an another banana into slices and arrange at the bottom of baking pan.

8. Pour the butter & brown sugar mixture into the pan.

9. At last pour the batter in.

10. Into the oven and bake for 30-40 mins.

Cool down a bit. Cover the cake with a plate. Then flip it over.

And voila!

https://flic.kr/p/2dK55G3

Really moisture.

My husband loves it.