Fragrant Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd with Duck Egg

"Don't hate bitter gourd. It's nutritious and delicious. Best to cook and have it at home with my Secret Recipe!"

Hubby's favourite 'rice with dishes meal' will be such combinations of curry chicken, egg and bitter gourd dish to go with a large plate of steamed white rice. So, these few dishes have been my favourite dinner dishes to be cooked at home for years. Just because I cook these for many times, I have to vary the cooking method of these dishes with some new ways, sometimes.

I cooked stir-fried bitter gourd with black beans, and now, I would like to introduce another fragrant and delicious bitter gourd dish here. Don't look at this bitter gourd dish that way, please~ This bitter gourd dish tasted so good and NOT bitter at all, even my girl liked it so much! This dish was delicious, soft and fragrant in the palate, with a secret addition, the raw salted duck egg.

I did not use the usual chicken egg to create the egg drop effect in my bitter gourd dish. A 'preserved/ salted' duck egg was used. Need not to pre-boil the salted egg, but use it straight from raw egg, after washing away the layer of muddy salted charcoal coated on the shell. And no worries, this duck egg will not make the dish too salty like tasting the hard boiled salted duck egg. Instead, adding of duch egg makes the dish much more fragrant. Duck egg white was smoother, and its yolk was more moist and fragrant in the palate while chewing it together with the bitter gourd.

This recipe was suggested by my parents. Thanks to dad and mum!

And so, to avoid any disappointment by having very bitter-tasted bitter gourd in this dish, I will tell you how to choose bitter gourd which is less bitter taste (smile), in case you are not sure..

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
1 arm-lengthed bitter gourd, washed, removed seeds and thinly sliced
1 raw salted duck egg
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
Pinch of salt and sugar

½ cup of water
1 tablespoon of cooking oil

Method
1) Soak whole bitter gourd with salted water for 15 minutes. Slice bitter gourd into halves, remove seeds using metal spoon, and thinly slice the halves, crosswise or diagonally.

2) Heat wok with oil over high heat. Add garlic and stir-fry till golden. Reduce heat to medium fire. Add in bitter gourd and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add water and cover wok with lid to simmer for 3. Remove lid, add salt, sugar and oyster sauce. Stir fry to mix well before cover wok with lid again. Simmer for another 5 minutes, or until water almost dries up (bitter gourd should appear slightly darker green and softened now).

3) Break raw salted duck egg in a bowl and pour on the bitter gourd in circular motion. Quickly stir-fry to combine egg and bitter gourd for 30 seconds and heat off. Let the remaining heat to cook the egg further before dish up. Serve.

Tricks: How to choose less bitter taste of bitter gourd?
Choose bitter gourd with pale green in colour and less wrinkles.

Tips: Turn the heat off when 80% of the egg white turns whitish (some remain runny) and yolk is almost harden with a little runny and still moist.

Steamed Whole Fish with Bean Paste Sauce (豆瓣酱蒸鱼)

"Simple savoury steamed fish with fragrant steamed rice is good enough for simple dinner meal"

I like to cook more fish dishes, for my girl and hubby as fish contains high nutritional values for my girl, while it's also lowering cholestrol level which benefits hubby who was a little high in cholesterol level in the past.

Well, steamed fish is the easiest way to fix a quick dinner meal if you are a working class. Simple, easy, yet healthy choice of cooking. Complete the meal with just a bowl of rice, we have its flavourful sauce here to pair it so perfectly.

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
1 tail of whole Red Snapper, scaled, removed internals and washed.
Few slices of ginger
Pinch of salt and pepper
3 tablespoons of minced bean paste (豆瓣酱)
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of Tamarind sauce (made from 1 tablespoon of tamarind paste with pulps, dissolve in water)

Method
1) Wash and pat dry whole fish gently with kitchen towel. Sprinkle pinch of salt and pepper to season both sides of the fish. Stuff ginger slices into the slit of fish stomach. Set aside to season for 10 minutes.

2) Lay fish on a percelain dish. Spread bean paste, sprinkle sugar and top minced garlic on the fish. Lastly, drizzle tamarind sauce.

3) Get ready the steamer or heat wok filled quarter-full of water over high heat. When water is boiling, place fish dish in the steamer, or on a steamer rack in the wok. Steam fish for 10 - 12 minutes. Serve hot.

A large portion of steamed fish with bean paste counts about 180kcal.

Fresh Vegetable Salad with Japanese Seasoned Vinegar

"Fresh vegetable salad with delicious low-fat seasoned vinegar dressing"

I am on diet recently. After a long period of festive feast, I have to go on diet and exercise. Just signed up a 1-year fitness package together with two other female colleagues. We determined we'll stick to our plan, at least twice a week of work-out session at the gym. Eat lesser and healthier. I eat vegetable salad as a meal, sometimes.

Many say eating veggie salad will surely light, but in fact, it's much depends on its dressing. Eating salad with full mayonnaise cream is surely not light. There are so many different kinds of salad dressing in the market. The tastier, the heavier, at large.

However, the Japanese salad dressing, Seasoned Vinegar for salad apple taste, is light and tasty, to my liking.

This watery based seasoned vinegar dressing makes the salad tastes so refreshing. Without a single trace of sourish, I liked its pleasant sweet fruity flavour that refreshes taste bud. This is, of course, low fat with only 14kcal per 15gram of serving.

Next time if you happen to shop at NTUC Fairprice, go to their Japanese products section to check this out. I got a bottle of 200ml at only S$4.90.

To make a salad meal with this Japanese seasoned vinegar:

Serves 3 - 4
A packet of mixed fresh vegetables consists of:
Butterhead lettuce, cut
Red Leaf lettuce, cut
Japanese cucumber, thinly sliced
Cherry tomatoes, halved

Topping:
Sun flower seed

Dressing:
3 - 4 tablespoons of seasoned vinegar

Method
1) Place all lettuce on a deep serving dish. Place sliced cucumbers, cherry tomatoes upon a bed of tossed lettuce, and then, top with sun flower seed. Chill in refrigerator.

2) Drizzle salad dressing and toss well only before serving.

Tips: Get the ready packet mixed vegetables from supermarkets, for more convenience sake. Choose organic types for better choice of eating raw.

Homemade Water Chestnut and Sugar Cane Drink

"The natural thirst quencher to rehydrate body, flavourful and healthily"

Cooked some healthy drinks for the hot weekend, to quench our thirst as well as reduce heatiness in the body.

Homemade version of water chestnet and sugar cane drink has its natural and smooth mouthfeel that sooths the throat wonderfully. This homemade drink is also better in taste, not too strong flavour since it's without additional flavouring. Simply loved its mild flavour, soothing and cooling effects.

My girl told me that she wished to have it everyday. Well, it is so simple to cook this, actually. 10 minutes to prepare, and 30 minutes to cook this healthy beverage. You may keep this drink for a few days, simply store the unfinished portion in refrigerator for next days.

Serves 5 – 6 cups
Ingredients
15 - 20 pieces of water chestnuts, with skin intact. Trim off both ends, scrubbed its skin, washed and soaked in clean water for 1 hour or longer
2 - 3 sticks of arm-length sugar cane, thin rods. Scrubbed skin and chopped into shorter length to fit into pot
100 gram of rock sugar, about the size of a fist

A pot of water, about 1500ml

Method
1) As abovementioned, trim off both ends of water chestnuts. Scrub skin with brush if it’s muddy (Get those ready washed bundles from supermarket to save this step). Wash thoroughly and soak in the water for an hour or more. Drain and set aside.

2) Use peeler or small knife to scrub the thick skin of sugar cane. Then, wash thoroughly. Set aside.

3) Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add sugar cane and water chestnuts into the boiling water. Reduce heat to low fire to simmer for 20 minutes. Add rock sugar and let it slowly dissolve, simmer for another 10 – 15 minutes. Heat off and serve hot, or chilled.

If prefer to have some crunchy bites of water chestnut in your drink, crush the chestnuts with one flat side of the chopper, before adding into the pot.

A cup of water chestnuts and sugar cane drink counts about 100kcal.

Tips: You may choose to peel off the thick skin completely, using a proper tool to do this task, if desired. Otherwise, simply scrub a little will do as it’s no harm boiling with the skin intact.
*Same thing, you have the choice to keep the skin of chestnuts or peel off completely. To me, I like to keep skin intact as I personally believed all food skins contain valuable nutrients, too. **Important: Regardless chestnuts with skin intact or not, soak chestnuts in clean water for long hours to get rid of the bacteria/ micro worms hidden inside the chestnuts flesh, especially if it’s to be eaten raw.
* Both ingredients can be found in various supermarkets, e.g. NTUC Fairprice, Sheng Siong Supermarket, from chilled compartment or vegetables section.  Try to request the service staff there to chop the sugar cane for you before bring home. Also available vegetables stores in wet markets, in fact.

Stir-Fried Baby Kai Lan with Garlic (清炒小芥兰)

"Simply delicious and healthy vegetable dish you should always cook at home"

If you like vegetables, you'll sure like Baby Kailan (Baby Kai Lan or known as Chinese Broccoli or Chinese Kale). I've came across some friends, told me that they loved this veggie, but could only eat it when dinning out. Cooking this at home was almost impossible as they often found it tasted bitter after cooked. So, they gave it up, in the end.

So, I am going to share my cooking method of this baby kailan dish, and hope it may help a little, to overcome the fear of cooking baby kailan at home, after this (smile).

There are so many different options to cook this delicious green and it's very simple and quick to complete as this veggie is young and light in taste. The more common ones should be the Oyster baby kailan (耗油小芥兰) and Stir-fried baby kailan with minced garlic (蒜蓉炒小芥兰). So, yes, I cooked it with the later option, and this method is more commonly known as 清炒小芥兰. 清炒 (pronounced in Mandarin as: Qing Chao) refers to stir-fry in plain. Yes, this supposed to be plain (with just some garlic), but because I had some Pacific clams left in my refrigerator, I added it to my stir-fried (laughing). No worries, both eating it plain or with addition of 'delicate flavoured' ingredients, such as, pacific clams, fish balls and fish cake slices, are good, as desired.

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
300 - 350 grams of Baby Kai-Lan, trimmed and rinsed
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of salt and pepper

1 tablespoon of cooking oil

Optional:
Handful of canned Pacific clams
2 teaspoons of oyster sauce

Method
1) Heat wok with oil over high heat. Add garlic and stir-fry for about 10 seconds till fragrant, but not browned.

2) Add baby kailan and sugar, stir fry with spatula in quick strokes. Then, add in pacific clams, if opted for.

3) When veggie starts to soften, sprinkle salt and pepper (and oyster sauce, if added with pacific clams, or if prefer more enhanced flavour in the veggie). Stir-fry to combine well. Dish up and serve.

Tricks to reduce/ eliminiate bitterness in baby kailan dish:
* If you not wish to eliminate the bitter taste of this dish (if any), garlic is one of the key point. Do not fry garlic till browned or burnt, leave it pale with fragrance will do, before adding baby kailan.
* Adding of sugar helps to reach the same effect as well as to enhance the overall taste of the dish.

This veggie dish is definitely healty and low fat. A generous portion of such counts less than 150kcal.

Tips: Do not need to add extra water as gravy is not necessary in this dish. Water from the baby kailan should be sufficient to moist the veggie till it's cooked. If really find it too dry while cooking, simply sprinkle some water with your fingers.
* Fry vegetables with high heat in short cooking time in order to retain its nutrients and keep veggie fresh and grossy bright green looking with more crunchy bites.

Fuzhou-Style Noodle in Thick Broth Recipe (福州淋面)

"Don't mistaken, it's not the common Lu Mian that I've cooked. This is my home 'secret' recipe of savoury Fuzhou Noodle Dish!"

I guess most of you heard or tasted Lu Mian (卤面) which commonly sold in many hawker stores and food courts in Singapore. Lu Mian (Noodle in braised sauce) is one of the Fujian (福建) cuisine, if I am not wrong. However, I am not going to introduce recipe of Lu Mian here, my recipe is more a traditional style of similar noodle dish, with its origins from Fuzhou (福州).

So, what's the difference between Fujian and Fuzhou? I think Fujian is a Province of China, while Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian Province. What I am sure was both Fujian and Fuzhou dialect groups speak different dialects, they are not the same pronunciation at all! Most people in Singapore belong to Fujian dialect group instead of Fuzhou. So, Fuzhou cuisine might not be as familiar as Fujian cuisine, to us. And, my mum's dialect group, happened to be actually.. Fuzhou. So, I get to learn some special dishes from her/ or grandma (smile).

This Fuzhou noodle dish does not named as Lu Mian, though. It has its own name even though the look and texture of broth were similar (but Fuzhou noodle dish has utterly different set of ingredients for broth and side ingredients used as compared to Lu Mian dish). It's called 福州淋面 (Pronounced in Mandarin as: Fu Zhou Lin Mian), with its direct translation as Fuzhou poured noodle or 'pouring on noodles'. I guess it was because this noodle is taken with the thick broth pouring on top, and hence, it's named as it, in tens, hundreds or maybe thousands years back.

I loved this classic noodle dish, for its subtly rich-bodied broth which creates smooth mouthfeel in the palate. The Fuzhou stuffed fish balls (fish ball stuffed with minced meat) I have added are unique and delicious, too. And, of course, cooking this Fuzhou noodles dish at home yields hearty atmosphere, also, warms the heart of our loved ones who get to appreciate the 'long lost' taste of such classic savory.

For more tender, and not soggy bites, remember to blanch and add noodles just before serving.

Served 5 - 6
Ingredients
For thick broth:
1 large bowl of prawn shells and heads
1 whole chicken bone
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
4 tablespoons of plain flour or corn starch, mixed with water to make
into slurry
A pot of water, 50% filled (about 2500ml)
300 grams of cooked flat yellow noodles (also called Hokkien noodle), blanched
Side Ingredients:
1 pieces of chicken fillet, cooked and shredded (*May replace with deli-thin shoulderbutt pork slices)
200 grams of prawns, shelled and deveined, blanched
10 - 12 Fuzhou fish balls (stuffed fish ball), cooked
Handful of beansprout, trimmed and blanched
Handful of lettuce, shredded

Garnish:
Spring onion, julienned
Corriander, briefly chopped

Condiments:
Black vinegar (Optional)
Sambal belacan chilli paste

Method
1) Bring a pot of water (in large deep pot) to a boil over high heat. While boiling, heat wok with oil. Add prawn shells and fry till pinked. Heat off and transfer fried prawn shells into pot of water once boiled (May put shells into a soup bag first before adding into soup). Then, add chicken bone. Reduce heat to low fire, and cover pot with lid to simmer for 1 - 2 hours.

2) In the meantime, get all side ingredients ready. Heat another pot of water to blanch/ cook side ingredients e.g. Bean sprouts, chicken fillet (or thin pork slices), prawns and stuffed fish balls (Fuzhou fishballs). Reserve for later.

3) Return to the simmering soup after 1 - 2 hours. Remove chicken bone and prawn shells. Add in fish sauce and dark soy sauce. Then, slowly stir in plain flour/ corn starch slurry till soup is thickened to the right texture.

4) Break eggs in a bowl, briefly beat with serving fork (beat no more than 5 strokes). Slowly swirl eggs into the soup (in few stages). Stir constantly till egg-drop forms. Keep the thick broth in mild simmering stage.

5) When it's about time to serve, blanch noodles, and divide into bowls. Add and arrange side ingredients and shredded lettuce nicely in each bowl. Laddle thick broth into each bowl. Garnish with spring onion juliennes and corriander, and top condiments by the side. Serve hot.

To enjoy better flavour: Mix the condiments together with all ingredients. Toss the noodles to combine well before digging in!

A large serving of my homemade Fuzhou noodle dish (with consumed of thick broth) counts about 500kcal.

Tips: Reason to use plain flour slurry than corn starch to thicken the soup is because the soup thickened with plain flour slurry may keep the broth remained thick in consistency, and will not turn watery so easily.
* Noodle type: This dish supposed to use thick rounded noodles, but it is very difficult to buy that. So, I used Hokkien flat noodle type instead. However, choose any type of noodles, as desired.
* Fuzhou fish balls are available in major supermarkets. It usually comes in vacuum packed of 10 balls.