#onthetable lately

HELLO!

Hehe, it has been a while since my last blog post! Not that i am busy, but I'm just a little laid back over the weekends, being myself and doing things i love like home cooking & baking, very into jam-making lately and also some gardening... and I am starting to really enjoy raggae songs recently, never knew that i would love raggae music, somehow it makes me feel like i'm in vacation!

My favorite fried fish (fourfinger threadfin), this fish is also known as 'Ma Yau'.

Finally, I know how to get perfectly crisp skin now.

We grew up with chinese soups at our dinner table, therefore we always have a crave for chinese soups and this herbal soup is so light & healthy!

Shredded chicken congee as a light weeknight dinner, it's delicious and easy to prepare,
simply throw everything together and letting it all cook! ^_^

 Stir fried broccoli with garlic & oyster sauce, love that the little broccoli florets can hold the

yummy sauce!

Braised trotters with black sweet vinegar & ginger (pork knuckles), this is actually a traditional confinement food. The meat was very succulent and so tender after several hours of slow cooking, really love the combination of ginger aroma, the sweet taste and sourness from vinegar.

#onthetable

If you can't find me anywhere, try look for me in the kitchen! You can see quite a few of prawn dishes here, my parents bought and brought it up from my hometown from a recent visit. I love prawns!!!

 Grilled sambal stingray (p.s. with my homemade sambal chili paste)! 

I never thought I could make THIS at home, was proud for my first try.

 Indonesian style curry prawns cooked in a thick sweet and spicy coconut milk gravy.
Love coconut milk curry-based sauce in anything and this looks so warm and cozy to you? no?

Sambal udang (chilli prawn) goes really well with nasi lemak (fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk)

 Braised fish with fermented black beans & bittergourd - i can't stop eating and keep on adding some more rice on my plate!

 Braised napa cabbage, love those soft napa cabbage leaves that soaks up all the juices and

absorbs the every bit of flavors from the foods around it! Yum~

Stir friend soy sauce-caramelized prawns - its a very homely dish, the easiest recipe ever, and yummiest!

weekend food making

Hello,

As the weather has not be very good with the haze, we stayed home most of the time over the weekend, therefore i cooked & baked food we are craving for!

 Guess what's this little transparent like pearls?

 We call it sago pearls, it is usually made into chinese / nyonya dessert. They soften, and turn transparent when cooked. 

I made sago pudding with gula melaka syrup for dessert!

Boiling Gula Melaka (palm sugar) syrup + coconut milk!

Tada, i couldn't wait, as I took my first bite, I was amazed by just how good it was! 
Sago pudding & gula melaka syrum in this recipe is a match made in heaven!

 
Roselle jam in the making! I always make roselle juice, but have never tried to make fruit jam.

 My first attempts at jam making was quite successful, yohoo! I bet you all will know how it feels~

An incredible homemade jam, come on!!

Canning & preserving the jam for longer storage. Yummy!

first week of july, some random shots

First week of July have passed, do you think life seems to pass more quickly as you get older? the year seemed to come more and more quickly every year, and I'm going to turn 30 next month! People said turning 30 is a milestone in any woman's life, and i hope all things will be good and going to be better and better.

Some of my comforting classic home cooked meals lately.
 

 Stir fried brussel sprouts with oyster sauce, it was addictively crunchy!

My brother visited over the weekend, he cooked us a really delicious dinner.

Stir fried beef slices with ginger + scallion by him!

 My partner's favorite recipe - minced meat & tofu sauce tossed noodles

 Made extra minced meat sauce for the next day packed lunch!

 Braised soy sauce & honey chicken wings for our movie night at home!

Bought some of these locally grown golden mangoes, fair price & yummy!

In love with their strong, sweet, fragrant and fruity aroma.

Made some mango puddings for after meal dessert.

My late night activity, slow-cooking garlic infused oil.

Today, I'm going to do some late night baking~

It's time to harvest my spring onions, gonna make scallion oil noodles for pack lunch tomorrow.

easy weeknight dinners

 Hello,

It has been raining every evening the whole week, traffic was so bad last couple of days. I spent like almost 2 hours in the car every day back home, nothing beats a home cooked meal. Making a simple meals helps me to reduce stress after a long hours traffic jam, but I insisted on cooking most nights. so here's a quick post about what we're eating this week! What's your favorite midweek, quick dinner recipes? 

 Chicken & vegetable stew

{craving for a hearty stew in cold rainy day, it's so packed full of flavor}

Ingredients in the stewed are potatoes, carrot, dried shiitake mushrooms, sugar snap peas, firm tofu & chicken leg & thighs

Stir-fried water spinach with shrimp paste

{i basically love anything that cooked with shrimp paste}

Stir-fried milk cabbage (nai pak choy) with ginger & garlic

{my partner absolutely love this veggie, i pretty much cook once a week lately, hehe}

Sambal Okra (dried shrimp chilli paste lady fingers)

{okra is a very healthy & inexpensive vegetable, the salted & spicy sauce really help to increase our appetite}

 Dried noodle with minced meat sauce
{i made garlic infused oil and fried garlic and kept it in an airtight jar~ its really good in noodle, try it!}

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Reason why we love to stay at home, great movie and homecooked dinner! Dinner and a movie are the perfect pair, but parents might disagree! haha, not for kids ya.

I have watched a really nice movie last 2 days, and wanted to share with you. i love romantic, heart touching, funny movies that can lifts me up when i'm not in a good mood.
Blake lively is just too gorgeous in the movie, every scenes, all the clothing, makeup & hairstyling in the film are so stunning.

The Age of Adeline
Synopsis:
After miraculously remaining 29 years old for almost eight decades, Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) has lived a solitary existence, never allowing herself to get close to anyone who might reveal her secret. But a chance encounter with charismatic philanthropist Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman) reignites her passion for life and romance. When a weekend with his parents (Harrison Ford and Kathy Baker) threatens to uncover the truth, Adaline makes a decision that will change her life forever. 

movie poster source from google
synopsis source from apple trailer

chinese steamed rice pudding

Hello,

I made small batch of traditional steamed rice pudding (缽仔糕) over the weekend, as just the 2 of us at home. I was initially planning to put in some homemade sweet red beans, plan changed when i tried the batter, it will taste too sweet of adding the sweet red beans. Hehe, so sweet red bean paste keep to make other dessert, i will definitely try the red bean version rice pudding again soon.

Here i share the recipe with you, but keep in mind that chinese rice pudding doesn't have very much of 'springy, chewy or bouncy' texture as its mainly made using rice flour. ^_^ This dessert recipe was quick, simple, and delicious.

Ingredients:
A)
• 150g rice flour
• 25g glutinous rice flour (refer to some of other recipes, you may also substitute 25g of water chestnut starch)
• 20g wheat starch
• 250ml water
• 1 Tbsp cooking oil

B)
• 120g brown sugar or golden slab sugar
• 250ml water
• 4-5 pandan leaves

Method:
1. Combine Ingredients (A) together, it will become a runny flour mixture.
2. In a pot, add Ingredients (B), dissolve the sugar in the water, pandan leaves is used to add fragrance in the sugar water. (skip if you don't have pandan leaves at home)
3.  Let the sugar water cool down a bit, then slowly mixing in (B) sugar water into (A) mixture, continuously stirring while pouring and whisking it into a slightly thicken flour batter.
4. Apply a thin layer of cooking oil to the inside of each ramekin.
5. Pour the batter into ramekins and steam them under high heat for 15-20 mins or until cooked, also it depends on the size of the bowl. (you can use a toothpick/bamboo stick to test for doneness, if the toothpick come out clean, meaning that it's cooked and ready to take it out from the steamer.)
6. Cool the puddings down and remove them from ramekins by using a toothpick.

in the process of cooling down, ah~ couldn't wait!

Tada, this is how it's look like! The finished product~ Found that it tend to be a bit harder to unmold by using flower jelly remekins, it will be a lot better if using small earthen bowls.

calamari with thai green curry sauce

hello,

I guess this was a perfect meal for a gloomy, rainy day! Nothing better than a meal containing a little spiciness in a cold cold evening. Heavy traffic due to the rains yesterday and I reached home pretty late. Spent 1.5 hours in the car was really frustrated sometimes, but i try to elevate my mood by thinking what's for dinner tonight, or listening to the funny talk show broadcasts every evening, or watching what others are doing in the middle of a traffic jam! >_<

I don't really have a recipe for this, i mean the ingredients in exact portions. But I'm trying to provide the ingredients used & measurement of seasonings. ***Again, the seasonings are all approximately measured, please adjust according to your own taste. I'm added whatever veggies i think its suitable, of course it must be your favorite one. I've been cooking eggplant like crazy lately, even my soul mate asked me about - "umm, felt like we have been eating a lot of eggplant lately?"

Mmmm! who cares? hehe, I'm the heaf chef at home, keep continue seeking to new eggplant dishes!

how beautiful all of those eggplants are!

Ingredients:

• Calamari (1 large-sized or 2 medium-sized)
• 2 Egg plant (medium-sized)
• 8-10 long beans (cut into 3 inches in length)
• 1 onion (sliced or diced)
• green curry paste (you may either make the paste from scratch or get store-bought one)
* (the green curry paste i used was from my brother, its made by a chef who works in a thai restaurant, quality assured! ^^)
• 200 ml coconut milk  
• 150ml water 
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• salt & sugar to taste

egg plants sizzling in the hot oil!

Method:

1. Deep fry egg plant & long beans for 10-15 seconds or until it looks slightly golden, drain well. 
2. Using a sharp knife, cut the calamari tubes from one side until they become flat. Then score the calamari in a diagonal pattern and cut into pieces. They called this calamari/squid flower carving. When it cooked, the calamari will roll up and the cross hatching texture will catch and hold the sauces together. What a brilliant method!
3. Bring the water to boil in a small sauce pan, add calamari to scald for 1-2 minutes. Until just opaque, drain in a colander and immediately transfer to a bowl.
4. Heat up a pan with some oil, sauté the green curry paste until fragrant. Add chopped or sliced onions and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender.
5. Turn heat to high and put in calamari flower & fried vegetables, toss around until everything is dry and fragrant. Adding water to create more sauces.
6. Add the seasonings and coconut milk. *Remember, always taste your food before serving.
7. Finally step, toss well to combine and dish up. 

It's a dried version of calamari green curry. 

Ready to serve with white rice!

The leftovers were for lunch the next day!

Watched another great Italian movie last weekend, love it so so much! I think you will like it too.
I have also learned a Italian word through this movie -
 domani =  tomorrow

Synopsis from a movie webpage:
When Jan (Christian Ulmen) proposes to his German-Italian girlfriend, Sara (Mina Tander), their small private wedding ceremony is hijacked by Sara's overbearing father and moved to her hometown in Italy. With Jan's up-tight German family in tow, there is an almighty clash of cultures as the two families set about celebrating their children's union in very different ways.

There are 2 english title translated from the original Italian title.
Maria, He Doesn't Like It / Wedding Fever in Campobello

Sneak peak on the trailer here!

haemul pajeon

Have a bunch of fresh spring onion, shrimps and soy bean paste in the fridge, so i made a basic korean pancake for lunch over the busy weekend. 'Haemul pajeon' is a savoury seafood and spring onion pancake. Its very easy to made, taste very yummy and only a few simple ingredients needed. Try it!

Ingredients you already have in the fridge & kitchen!

Ingredients:
• A bunch of spring onion / about 8-10 stalks (cut it into 4-5 inches length)
• 100g medium shrimps / about 6-8 pcs (cleaned and deveined)
• 1 free range egg (beat the egg in a small bowl and set aside)
• 70g flour
• 125 ml cold water
• 1 tsp soy bean paste (as a substitute for both salt or soy sauce)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Dipping Sauce:
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar /honey
• 1/4 chopped onion
• 1/2 chopped green or red chili peppers
•1 tsp roasted sesame seeds

Trying to show the steps, but it wasn't easy to take photo while you are busy during cooking, the food sizzling and oil splashing! Really have to shoot it quick before the food over cook. Haha, but its a great experience.

Method:
1. Clean, wash, and drain a handful of spring onions.
2. Combine flour, soy bean paste & sugar in a medium bowl ready to make batter. Start by adding a small amount of cold water and add more as needed to achieve a batter consistency, then whisk until combined.
3. Heat up a non-stick pan, add about 2 tbs vegetable oil; then spread out the spring onion on the bottom of the pan.
4. Drizzle the batter over the green onion evenly, and add the shrimps on top of the batter, so it can stick on the batter, and lightly pour the beaten egg.
5. Then cook until edges begin to turn golden, then turn over with spatula and cook until other side is golden, about 2-3 minutes each side. Pressing down the pancake with spatula occasionally.
6. Cook a few more minutes until the bottom of the pancake turns crispy and golden brown again, and flip it or turn it over.
7. Once you see pancake is crispy and golden brown both side, they are ready to transfer to a cutting board or plates
8. Serve hot with sauce.

The pancake wasn't looked very good, doesn't hold the shape i wanted, but they still taste very good. The taste is even more enhanced when you dip the the sauce. Yummy!

Love the mild flavor of pan fried spring onions in the pancake & the crunchy shrimps.

Have a great start to the week.

stir fried leeks with roasted pork belly

Hello mid week!
Let me share a simple & easy recipe of  'stir fried leeks with roasted pork' with you today. The recipe is perfect if you've got some roasted pork leftover, you can turn them to another super yummy dish. Actually there are so many different ways to prepare them (i mean the left over roasted pork or pork belly), we especially love the combination of leeks & roasted pork belly! 

I love cooking with leeks, they have a sweet, delicate oniony, garlicky flavor! (but some people may not like the smell). I brought back these roasted pork belly from hometown, it was meant for food offering for qing ming festival last weekend. Mom packed in a container and freeze them for me. Although its not as fresh as early day, but still taste good. 

So I went to the wet market and get some fresh leeks yesterday evening, and et voila! easily turn them into a delicious delicacy. Can you imagine the fragrant and taste of the stir-fry-until-very-tender-and-lightly-browned leeks & flavorful saltiness of the roasted pork slices?

Ingredients:
• Leeks 4 - 5 stalks (rinsed and sliced diagonal)
* remember to rinse carefully under running water as there may have a lot of dirt can hide in between the layers.
• 150 - 200g roasted pork belly (sliced into bite size)
• 5 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce 
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce (to provide color & richer sauce)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp chinese cooking wine (optional)
• 50 ml water (add more gradually if you want more sauce)
• 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
*the seasonings are all approximately measured, please adjust according to your own taste.

Method:

1. Heat up oil in wok, dry-fry roasted pork belly, the oil will be released.

2. Top up a tablespoon of vegetable oil,  sauté the chopped garlic until fragrant.

3. Add the white portion of leeks first and stir fry for about a minute over high heat. (as the white part is harder root base and requires more time to cook)

4. Add seasoning followed by 50 ml water, stir well and bring the sauce to boil. Close lid and let it continue to cook, open and check to ensure the sauce does not dry out. Add more water gradually (not too much) and cook until the leeks are softened and tendered.

5. Drizzle cooking wine along the side of wok at the end, mix well again. Then turn off the stove and dish out.

Dinner is served, best paired with steamed rice.

I hope you will try it out soon, believe me it's really delicious. Hehe! have a lovely day.

homemade shrimp cakes

Shrimp or prawn has always been one of my favorite seafood! I pretty much love everything cooked & made with shrimp. For example, dim sum made with shrimp, chinese-style steamed shrimp (especially steamed drunken shrimps / 醉虾), stir fried shrimp and veggies, spicy shrimp pasta, garlic baked shrimp, bla bla bla...many more!

Pan-fried shrimp cakes is of course in my favourite list! Here i share the simple recipe with you.

Ingredients:
• 300 g medium shrimps (i took about 8 shrimps out then coarsely chop, the other are finely chopped)
• few slice of ginger (scrape away the skin, finely chopped)
• 1 spring onion (finely chopped)
• 3-4 shallots (I love the sweetness of shallot, finely chopped)
• 2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
• 5tbsp vegetable oil (i'm using sunflower with canola oil)

*(for another great option - we love adding in chopped carrots, water chestnuts; to give a bit more texture & crunchiness to the shrimp patties!)

Seasoning:
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp chicken powder
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• a pinch of pepper
• 1 tsp shao xing wine  

*(you can substitute with rice wine, i just simply love shaoxing wine, its more fragrant!)

Method:
1. First, remove and discard the vein; wash and drain the shrimps and pat them dry with paper towels. 
2. Then lay the shrimp on a flat surface or chopping board, by using a slightly heavy knife, hit the shrimp's flesh until it lies flat and finely chopped it. (remember to take out 8 shrimps to coarsely chopped)

3. In a large bowl, mix together coarsely & finely chopped shrimp, minced ginger, spring onion, shallots, garlic and all the seasonings.
4. Combine all the ingredients well by stirring clockwise or anti clockwise, then marinate & chill until firm in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.

5. Here comes my favorite part! Heat up 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a pan (best to use non-stick pan) over medium-high heat.
6. Working in batches, fry the patties until cooked through and golden brown on both sides, adding more oil to the pan if needed, 3 to 4 minutes each side, total about 6 minutes.

* I forgot to take pictures for the frying process/stage, as i was too excited to see & taste the final outcome, very sorry ~ will try to take all the process picture next time. Hehe...

et voilà, ready to eat! Have a great start of the week, happy monday friends!