Sweet Potato Dessert Soup with Dried Longan Recipe

"Heart-warming & savoury sweet potato dessert soup with dried longan. Simple recipe and tips to attain perfect taste and texture of this sweet soup dish!"

You do have impression that potato-related food is generally a ‘fattening’ food, don’t you? Would you believe if I tell you only potato is considered as, but not the sweet potatoes? Yes, not all kinds are. Sweet potatoes are not a fattening food. In fact, both potato and sweet potato are NOT high in calorie. The difference is, potatoes contain higher GI (= 56 – 65) (which somehow related to ‘fattening’), while sweet potatoes are relatively low GI (= 48 – 54) food. Check out GI(Glycemic Index)/ GL elaboration here.

How to have sweet potato taken regularly with nice cooking ways, and yet, not causing weight issue? Besides having just the steamed ones, try to have it cooked into dessert soup! Cook the sweet potato in dessert soup might look simple and very easy for some season cook, but it could be quite a challenge to some newbies, to reach the desired taste and texture of the sweet potatoes, too. The key is to control the sweetness in your soup. I never liked my sweet dessert soup to be too sweet (smile), of course, cannot be tasted bland! A successful sweet potato soup, taste of the ginger in it counts, too. I won’t have the ginger tasted over-whelming. Neither would I forgo the spicy fragrance at all.

Don’t forget the sweet potatoes mustn’t be cooked too soft as it will lose its interesting bites and beautiful & glossy appearance. Over-cooked sweet potatoes look ‘aged’ and easily disintegrated upon ladling into bowls. Always test its readiness with a fork inserted into the potato, after boiling for 30 minutes or so.

I had my Purple (and yellow) Sweet Potato Dessert Soup Recipe previously. Last week, I cooked the orange flesh (with yellow flesh) soup, with dried longan pulp added. Dried longan (龙眼干), also called Gui Yuan (桂圆) in Chinese, is rather common in Chinese sweet pr tonic soup cooking. I liked dried longan in my dishes due to one of its main benefits, promoting better sleep, according to some Chinese practitioners. Dried longan looks dry (of course!) and shrinked before it's cooked. Need not to pre-soak it, just wash and put in the soup to cook. You'll have the bulging and chewy textured longan pulps once it's cooked.

Dried longan complements the sweet potato soup so well. My sweet potato with dried longan dessert soup was a hit, when served to my friends and family.

It's indeed imaginably simple, and easy to cook! Check it out now:

Serve 4 - 6
Ingredients
2 regular yellow flesh sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized/ small cubes
2 regular orange flesh sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized/ small cubes
1 palm-sized honey rock sugar (or normal rock sugar, if desired)
1 thick slice of ginger (about 1cm thick, thumb-sized), lightly smashed once
1 pot of water (about 1500ml)

Method
Bring a pot of water to a boil and add ginger slice. Put in dried longan, yellow and orange flesh sweet potatoes, and bring them to another boil. Reduce heat to low fire, add rock sugar, and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes, or until sweet potatoes just soften. Serve hot.

Of course, you can have some sweet potato caserroles or briny-taste dishes, instead of having it sweet. Give me some time, I will have more sweet potatoes recipe in due (trying… winking smile)!

A bowl of this sweet potato dessert soup with dried longan counts about 120kcal.

Tips: Please do not over-cook the sweet potatoes as it will become too soft to yield the right texture.
* Cut the sweet potatoes into small cube size makes the cooking faster. It is also easier for the children to chew. Most of all, it looks much more presentable in appearance when served.
* Do simmer the rock sugar together with the sweet potatoes to attain perfect sweetness.

(Low-Fat) Marble Yogurt Cheese Cake

"Cottony soft steam-baked yogurt cheese cake. A healthy & savoury treat for you & your loved ones!"

Cheese cake is almost everyone's favourite dessert! I had my non-baked cheese cake recipe earlier on.. And learnt this baked one from a baking class recently.

The thing I liked particularly about this recipe is the almost melt-in-mouth softness. With yogurt added into the recipe, it's not just about adding fragrance and taste, it makes the cake more mellow.

Unlike creamy cheese cake, this cottony soft and moist cake was not too sweet. I have sweet-tooth, but I don't like my dessert to have too much sugar. And, this recipe has the perfect sweetness for me. Thanks to the right amount of sugar added and also the contribution of yogurt taste to it!

Seriously, you may not know, if you don't try this... fragrant, soft, smooth & moist cheese cake, fresh from your oven.. For goodness sake, serve this heart warming cheese cake to your friends and family during occassions and holidays, they won't stop talking about you, and will come back for more.. The problem is, you have to do this everytime... (chuckling).

Marbled it or having just the plain yogurt cheese cake, they both are absolutely good to taste!

Yup yup, I used low-fat yogurt and milk to trim down the extra calories here! Yeah!

Yields 12 - 14 thick slices
Ingredients
250 grams of cream cheese, softened (I used PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese)
125 grams of plain yogurt (I used Marigold low-fat plain yogurt)
100 grams of butter, softened
50 grams of white sugar
50 grams of fresh or skimmed milk (I used low-fat skimmed milk)

30 grams of plain flour, sifted
80 grams of corn flour, sifted
4 egg yolks

4 egg whites, without any stain of yolk
100 grams of sugar
⅛ teaspoon of cream of tartar

1 tablespoon of chocolate essence or cocoa powder

Optional:
1 teaspoon of lemon or orange juice or vanilla essence to flavour

Utensil:
9" square metal baking tin/ 10" round baking tin
1 large deep pan, at least 12" in diameter with 1" in height, for steam-baking.

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 150°C for 15 - 20 minutes. Beat soft cream cheese with electrical mixer/ beater till coarsely blended. Remove from mixing bowl, and place in a large cooking pot. Add in plain yogurt, soft butter, sugar (50 grams) and milk. Boil cream cheese mixture until all ingredients melted, and leave to cool.

2) Add egg yolks to cooled cream cheese mixture and mix well with a hand whisk. Combine and sift plain flour and corn flour, before adding into the cream cheese mixture.

3) Whisk pure egg whites, sugar (100 grams) and cream of tartar in a clean and oil free mixing bowl, with electrical mixture/ beater at maximum speed, until stiff peak (light and foamy texture). To test its readiness, turn over the mixing bowl, the meringue should adhered to the upturned bowl.

4) Combine cream cheese mixture with meringue and fold well, preferably by clean bare hand (or spatula), in repeated upward circular motion until batter looks glossy.

5) Grease the sides and line the bottom of baking tin with baking sheet/ non-grease paper. Pour almost all the batter into greased baking tin. Leave just a little batter (about a bowl) to create marble design.

6) To create chocolate marble design: Add 1 tablespoon of chocolate essence/ cocoa powder into the remaining batter, and combine well. Scoop and top dark batter onto light batter in the baking tin. Place dark batter right at the centre, and scatter it with a stick or chopstick for the marbling.

7) Place baking tin over a larger deep pan filled with 1cm of hot water to perform steam baking, for about an hour on the lowest rack of oven, or until a metal skewer or toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

8) Remove baking tin from oven, and cool for 10 minutes before removing the cake from the tin. Cut and serve warm or store in refrigerator to serve chilled.

A thick slice of steam-baked marble yogurt cheesecake counts about 250kcal. Hey! I've had it skinnier with low-fat yogurt and low fat milk, k?? Laughing..

Tips: Place baking tray on the lowest rack to avoid cracks on top of the cake when baked.
* To beat the egg whites successfully, eggs must be fresh, and the whites must be free from any yolk. Beat egg white in clean and oil-free mixing bowl.
* Cream of tartar: Comes in powdery form, and easily available at most supermarkets and baking supplies stores. In any case if you do not have it, substitute with corn flour.
* Chocolate marble can be replaced with coffee flavour, if desired.

Express Chicken Soup with White Fungus and Button Mushrooms

"Express Chicken Soup with Chinese Herbal Spices from Seah's, to keep your loved ones at thier best, at all time!"

Some might find Chinese soup too bland for the palate. Its taste has been described as drinking "plain water", as Chinese soup is always cooked watery (not in thick consistency), and it does not taste creamy. You may realise, Chinese soup is often taste subtle and light (smile). I love Chinese soup, so as my family!

Tonight's not any soup recipe boiling from scratch, nor it needed long hours boiling. So, one of these great choices you may consider for express and simple soup cooking even on busy weeknights is the Seah's herbal spice for chicken soup! Taste of this chicken soup cooked with Seah's herbal spices was fairly good, especially for how quick it was. Unlike most instant packet spices, this won't make you feel thirsty after taste.

The fragrance of chicken soup was extensively rich in the palate, but I found it a little too salty after boiling for more than 2 hours (which was not required, in fact), on my first trial. It was not terrible, but I've had it better when I cut back to its original boiling hour of 45 - 50 minutes in my subsequent cookings. Nonetheless, this soup was perfect and wholesome, with the additional ingredients, i.e. button mushrooms and white fungus, in it.

Seah's packet for express cooking of chicken soup isn't expensive. It is about S$2 per packet, widely available in most supermarkets and even grocery stores within neighbourhood.

I bought it from NTUC Fairprice supermarket.

Serves 4
Ingredients
4 whole chicken drumsticks or 500g of chicken meat of any parts, skinless and blanched
1 cup of button mushrooms
10g white fungus, soaked in water for about 10 minutes and torn into bite sized
1 packet of Herbal Spices from Seah's
1 pot of water, 50% filled (about 1500ml)

Method:
1) Boil a pot of water over high heat. When boiled, add in chicken and packet of Seah's herbal spices. Bring it to another boil. Then, add in button mushrooms. Reduce heat to low fire, and simmer for 40 minutes.

2) Add in white fungus 10 minutes before heat off. Serve hot.

If you intend to boil it with slow cooker, add a little more water, about half a cup more (150 grams) than usual amount, so that it will not be too salty after boilig almost whole day long.

1 bowl of chicken soup counts about 120kcal.

Tips: This recipe does not require long boiling hour as soup will become too salty to taste.
* If you are using chicken breast meat or wings, cut them into bite-size.

Baked Sausage & Ham Scramble Quiche with Potato Base

"It's a perfect simple dinner, the wholesome and smart-eating meal, for working couple and small family."

EAT the soup in the quiche.. Sounds special huh? It's not only about eating the quiche, you'll get to enjoy the soup, not separately, but in the same food! Yes, cream of mushroom soup was added into this wholesome and delish baked scramble casserole. Most of all, this is so simple and quick to make!

A satisfying and filling 1-dish western meal adapted from a recipe featured in a lifestyle magazine, I baked this dish this evening (it's Monday!) as dinner. Yes, it's Monday blue. Thinking that it's still a long week to go, I was too 'tired' (or lazy) to fix rice-with-dishes dinner meal (laughing).

As this casserole dish is baked with mushroom soup, it is best to eat it cold so that the whole quiche will be able to hold up firmly. However, I served it hot, still. You know... Chinese loves hot meal (chuckling). Yes, it was kinda hard to cut and serve in perfect shape due to the runny mushroom soup. It got only much firmer when I chilled the remaining quiche, and had it cold as lunch the next day. Still, as nice!

There was this thing I liked about this particular recipe is its limited seasoning/ condiments used. Neither salt nor pepper was used, it was still perfectly flavourful!

This yummy goodness supposed to be baked in casserole dish, but I used a disposable aluminum foil tray to do the job. Do away with the scrubbing of stubborn stain on the casserole dish after baking food with egg and cheese, it left me some time to post this recipe up the same day. See!

Serves 5 - 6
Ingredients
1 tablespoon of butter
4 slices of shoulder ham, thinly sliced into strips
8 chicken chipolata (sausages), slices into 1" thick lengthwise
1 tablespoon of bacon bits (get instant ones off the shelve or fry it crisped with fresh bacon strips)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
½ onion, thinly sliced
10 eggs
½ cup of evaporated milk (about 125 gram)
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup
120 grams of shredded Cheddar cheese
4 small potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed

Method
1) Pre-heat oven to 120°C for 15 - 20 minutes. Grease the base and sides of a casserole dish with some butter (or foil tray).

2) Pre-boil potatoes: Peel and slice the potatoes. Boil a small pot of water to cook the potatoes till soften. Drain and let it cool. When cooled, mash it and set aside.

3) Place the remaining butter into a heated wok/ frying pan, fry chipolata, ham slices and bacon bits till browned. Remove from wok and set aside.

4) In the same wok, add olive oil, saute onions till soft with low flame. At the same time, break eggs into a large bowl, and stir in evaporated milk. Return the chipolata, ham and bacon and add into the egg mixture.

5) Pour the egg mixture into the wok with onions. Stir-fry to combine all ingredients. With medium-low heat, keep stirring the egg mixture until thick but runny consistency. Heat off.

6) Quickly place the mashed potatoes to the base of the casserole dish, and lightly press to firm the base. Then, pour the egg mixture into the greased casserole dish, followed by mushroom soup. Briefly mix the egg and soup, do it gently. Bake for 20 minutes on centre rack.

7) When done, bring it out from oven, and sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. Return it to oven, but place at upper rack this time. Increase oven temperature to 150°C and bake for another 15 - 20 minutes, or until the cheese is lightly brown. Serve warm or chilled.

A thick slice (abt 150 grams) of homemade baked quiche with potato base counts about 410kcal. Oops, it's always the 'cheese and milk business'! Choose low-fat cheese and evaporated milk, please (winking smile)! Forgo the bacon bits, too, if desired. If you haven't noticed it, this helps you to minus off 50-70kcal intake...

Tips: Place mashed potatoes to the base of casserole way beforehand might be better for you, so that you'll not feel pressure when you are trying to cope with the stirring (of eggs) before pouring onto the mashed potatoes base.
* Leave the bake cool and firm for about 10 minutes before serving it in order to keep this scramble quiche in better shape.

Cheese Scone Recipe

"Quick and easy Cheddar cheese scone recipe. Simple to make, delicious to taste!"

Cheese scone is imaginably quick and easy to make. You probably already have all the ingredients needed for making these palatable cheese scones!

I loved the fragrance of cheese yielded from these scones. Unlike those "rocky" ones selling at some bakeries, my scones were fluffy. Yes, light and airy (smile). The amount of cheese using in this recipe was perfectly measured for a pleasant, yet, not-too-strong cheesy flavour.

Quick! Rustle up a perfect tea time with this savoury treat!

Yields 30 - 38 scones
Ingredients
250 grams of butter, semi-melted
30 grams of white sugar
1 medium egg (about 60 gram)
500 grams of self-raising flour
250 grams of fresh or skimmed milk (only 230 grams to be used in the recipe, save 20 grams to brush over scones before baking)
100 grams of Cheddar cheese, grated (I used Kraft brand)
Dash of salt (less than ¼ teaspoon)

Method:
1) Cream butter and sugar at slow speed for about 2-3 minutes, or until blended. Add salt and egg. Continue beating at slow speed to combine all ingredients. Stop beating, scrap the mixing bowl to dislodge any butter residue at the side and bottom of the bowl.

2) Combine grated Cheddar cheese with self raising flour. With low beating speed, blend in the cheese and flour mixtures in stages. Pour in 230 grams of milk immediately after mixing the flour. Beat till all well combined.

3) Remove dough from mixing bowl, and place it on a floured surface/ kitchen table top. Let (cheesy) dough rests for 20 - 30 minutes. Extensive kneading is not required here, just knead to form a dough will do.

4) Sprinkle some flour on the dough before rolling out to about 1 inch thick. Flour a round/ oval shape cutter of 1.5 inches in diameter (about half a palm size big) to cut out the dough. Remember to flour the cutter constantly and tap it sharply so that it goes through the dough, and shape the scones easily. Alternately, cut in squares with knife, and shape it round with bare hands, if you do not have any cutter at home.

Do not throw leftover dough away, gather the leftover to form a ball again and cut out as many scones as possible. Repeat step till all used up.

5) Place scones on a lightly greased baking tray and brush the top of each scone with milk.

6) Preheat oven for about 15 minutes. Place scones at middle rack and bake with 180°C for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until golden brown. When baked, leave scones on the tray to cool. Serve or store in a food container to consume later.

1 cheese scone counts about 140kcal.. Well, substitute the fresh milk with low fat milk does help to shed a little calorie intake. The same to Cheddar cheese (winking smile).

Tips: Cheddar cheese - you may get those grated cheese from supermarkets, or get a block of cheese and shred it at home.
* Milk - Any kind of milk can be used in this recipe. I used packet skimmed milk.
* Kneading of dough is not required in this recipe. Otherwise, it will turn hard when baked.

Braised Knuckles with Dried Chillies in Claypot (横财就手之辣椒干卤猪手)

"Believe me, it's the best homemade braised pork meat I have ever tried!"

This recipe was originally featured in a popular magazine. When I was flipping through the magazine, the food picture of this recipe shown on the magazine attracted me for a second look. I decided to give it a try as most of the ingredients used in this recipe were what I already had at home, or easily get it from supermarkets/ grocery shops.

Seriously, it was very delicious! I was so proud of myself for giving it a try (laughing). This recipe does not yield traditional briny-tasted braised meat with five-spice flavour. It was a hot spicy pork dish with a hint of sweet plum taste.

This dish was cooked with pig knuckles. Why knuckles? Having pig's knuckles (猪手) dish during Chinese Lunar New Year is a distinctive way to celebration this occassion as knuckles in Chinese is called 猪手, similar pronunciation to 就手, which means convenient, handy, easy way to get xxx.. So, there is always this Chinese phrase, 横财就手, symbolizes to good gambling fortune, after a knuckles feast during Chinese Lunar New Year. This recipe, is surely a good festive dish for Chinese!

Besides good symbolism, it is still a wise choice to prepare the dish with knuckles in normal days, to get to eat its tender meat with chewy skin and less fat. It was extensively tender and flavoursome after the long braise. Superb! For someone who does not eat pig skin, I think it's worth to have a bite or two of these jelly-textured skins.

I cooked this dish in a large clay pot. Not sure why, but most of the old folks advised using clay pot for long braising meat dishes. I guess, it helps to retain moisture better, in a way?! Anyway, using a clay pot to cook this braised knuckles yielded a more traditional-looking Chinese dish, and it looked kinda alluring, to me (winking smile). It's ok, if you do not have a large enough clay pot, use slow cooker, or even wok.

I have to remind you to deseed the dried chillies, if you can't take spicy food. With 20 dried chillies in the braise, it yields super hot flavour. So, the less chillies you have deseeded, the more spicy taste it will be.


Serves 4
Ingredients A:
1 pig knuckles, chopped into bite sizes
1 tablespoon of dark/ thick soy sauce
3 tablespoons of light soy sauce
4 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of white vinegar

4 eggs, hard boiled

Ingredients B:
5 thin slices of ginger
20 dried chillies, deseed some to reduce spiciness to your desired taste
8 - 10 cloves of garlic, skinned or with skin intact
1 star anise

2 tablespoons of cooking oil

Ingredients C:
3 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of plum paste/ sauce
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
3 cups of water (about 750ml)
Pinch of salt and pepper to taste

For sauce thickening purpose:
¼ cup of cornstarch slurry (made of 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with ¼ cup of water, amount adjustable)

Method:
1) Wash knuckles thoroughly, and marinate with seasonings A (dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sugar and white vinegar) for 2 - 3 hours. You may keep it in refrigerator while marinating. In the meantime, you may boil eggs. Peel egg shells when cooled, and set aside.

2) When marinating is done, heat large clay pot with 2 tablespoons of oil over high fire, stir fry ingredients B (ginger, dried chillies, star anise and garlic) until fragrant. Then, add in marinated knuckles.

3) Stir-fry knuckles until almost dried up, add seasoning C (sesame oil, oyster sauce, plum sauce, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, salt, pepper and water) and combine well. Add in hard boiled eggs. Cover pot with lid, and bring it to a boil.

4) Reduce heat to low fire, and simmer for 2 hours, or until meat become tender.

5) When it is done, stir in cornstarch slurry to thicken the gravy. Serve hot with steamed rice.

I have to thank to whoever created this recipe. It made my dinner an excellent 1-dish-meal. My hubby and my girl enjoyed it so much, even though it was so spicy for my little one (as I did not deseed any of the chillies at all). For goodness sake, please give it a try (smile)!

A portion of braised knuckles with one hard boil egg counts about 525kcal.

Tips: Deseed half the amount or all of the dried chillies, if less spicy preferred.
* Thicken the gravy with cornstarch slurry towards the end of cooking. Use less slurry if more gravy preferred.
* If 1 portion of knuckles is not enough to feed 4 diners, or for some who don't take knuckles, add some shoulder butt meat (about 250 grams) into the dish. Need not to increase the amount of condiments/ seasonings, just remain as it is.

Taiwan-Style Shredded Chicken Congee (台湾式鸡丝粥)

"Have a quick-fix dinner for you and your loved ones with my simple and delicious shredded chicken congee with dried scallops and (shredded) carrot recipe (干贝萝卜鸡丝粥)!"

I personally think cooking congee/ rice porridge is the easiet dish. Simple and quick to fix a warm and nutritious light meal.

This is not so simple shredded chicken congee, but added with dried scallops for better flavour. I was glad that carrots were also added to the cooking, not only making it a better balanced-diet dish, the overall taste was enhanced with natural sweetness yielded from the carrots. Shredded carrots, instead of adding it in pieces, made a better food presentation with its bright orangy scattering. It surely makes the food more appealing, not to mention that pleasant subtle taste of this congee. For one who does not like vegetables (carrots), this is the best way to have it!

In Taiwan, eggs are sometimes beaten into it to thicken it to a gruel, with much silky-smooth consistency. Eggs will not be added too early or cooked in the congee for too long in order to have it well-emerged into the congee, and I did the same here. Such cooking style is adopted quite often in my porridge recipes, where you probably won’t get to eat the (solid) egg so much, but it was the fragrance and taste of the eggs that count! Taste of eggs was pretty in evidence in each mouthful of congee! Indeed, beating the egg into the congee made it smoother and much tastier than having without it.

If you have not tried it before, do it tonight as dinner or late supper. Forget to remind you that, this conngee is also a good breakfast choice (winking smile)!

Serve 4 - 5
Ingredients
1.5 cup of rice grain, rinsed
1 large piece of chicken breast meat part/ fillet (about 200 gram)
10 mini-sized (about size of small finger nail) dried scallops (rinsed with water) / or 3 - 4 chunky thumb-sized dried scallops (soaked for 15 minutes till softened)
1 carrot, finely shredded
¼ teaspoon of mashed ginger (姜蓉)
2 medium eggs

1 tablespoon of fish sauce (鱼露)
Pinch of salt (about ¾ teaspoon) and generous amount of ground white pepper
1 large pot with 8 cups of water (about 2000ml)

Method
1) Rinse rice grain 1 to 2 times. Boil rice grain with a pot of water over high heat.

2）When boiled, add in dried scallops, and whole piece of chicken breast meat/ fillet to cook for 10 min. When chicken is almost done, remove from pot, and let it cool.

3) In the meantime, reduce heat to low fire. Stir the rice porridge constantly in order to achieve smooth consistency.

4) When chicken meat is cooled, shred it. Return the shredded chicken meat into the pot. Add in fish sauce, and stir to combine. Simmer the porridge and chicken meat with constant stirring until the rice breaks down and becomes fairly viscous congee, about 20 - 30 minutes.

5) Add shredded carrots, mashed ginger, salt and pepper. Continue to simmer for another 10 minutes. Heat off, immediately beat two eggs into the congee and stir vigorously to combine well. Cover pot with lid for 1 minutes before serving. Laddle into bowl(s), and serve hot.

Congee can be garnished with scallion (spring onion) and fried shallots. Paired it with fried fritters (fried dough sticks 油条) may be done so for better taste and varieties, but no, not this time. I felt contented with its original flavour, and the subtle taste yielded from such gastronomy.

This liquid of congee will present fairly yellowish with a touch of orangy in colour due to the mixture of shredded carrot and egg yolks. I think it looks more alluring that way (chuckling). Anyway, just to remind you that a bowl of my shredded chicken congee with dried scallops and shredded carrot counts about 250kcal. Pretty low in calorie huh!

Let's dig into this delectable chicken congee happily!

Tips: To cook the shredded chicken together in the congee, please remember to shred the chicken meat thinly. Otherwise, return the cooked chicken meat shreds only at last stage of boiling in order to retain the tenderness of chicken meat.

Prawn Noodle Soup with Prime Ribs (排骨虾面汤)

"Prawn noodle soup with super tender pork ribs in slow cooker"

It has been years since I first made prawn noodle soup (see my homemade Prawn Noodle Soup recipe). It is so simple to cook and devour on your very own "home-taste" prawn noodles. Moreover, prawn noodles are definately healthier choice than having curry laksa noodles.

This time, I cooked a slightly more 'complicated' version of prawn noodle soup, with pork ribs added, too. Steps remained, but the soup base was cooked with additional ingredients which makes the soup a special one. It was adapted from recipe of Ms. Yvonne Soh, which has been featured under Taste column of The Sunday Times last week (thanks). The mention of "using cloves, star anise and black peppercorn" in prawn noodle recipe caught my eyes. Never thought that these spices will go along with prawn flavoured broth, so I thought I should give it a try!

Yes, it turned out fabulously. I love the taste of soup with a hint of dried anchovies and spices. The intense flavour in the soup was enhanced by slow cooking method. As I need to work, and wish to cook the ribs till very tender which can be achieved only by hours of cooking. I cooked it first in the wok, and then, transferred over to slow cooker, early in the morning before leaving the house. Goodness! The pork ribs were so tender which almost melt in the mouth. To me, it taste better than the outside stores.

Both my hubby and my girl loved it alot! If you ask me if there is anything to be commented, I would say.. 2 teaspoons of brown sugar might be a little too sweet. If you prefer more briny taste, reduce the sugar adding to 1 teaspoon instead, as desired. Other than that, this prawn noodle soup is a near perfect creation.

It might look deceptively complicated to cook, but it wasn't the case at all. Simple steps with ingredients easily available at the supermarkets or wet markets. You, too, give it a try!

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
24 medium - large prawns *(Do not discard prawn heads and shells)
300 grams of prime pork ribs
50 grams of dried anchovies aka ikan bilis (Chinese translation: 江鱼仔)

3 cloves of garlic, crushed and coarsely chopped
1 star anise (八角)
4 dried cloves aka Syzygium aromaticum (丁香) *see right pic
6 black peppercorns

1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
2 teaspoon of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground white pepper
4 tablespoon of cooking oil
5 cups of water (about 1000 - 1200ml)

300 grams of yellow noodles
200 grams of rice vermicelli aka bee hoon
50 grams of Kangkong vegetables aka Water convolvulus (空心菜)
50 grams of bean sprout (optional)

Garnish:
Fried shallot
Fresh chillies, julienned

1) Wash and shell prawns with tail remained intact. Cut a deep slit at the back of the prawns to devein, and keep them refrigerated to reserve for later. Then, trim prawn heads. Set aside the heads and shells for use in boiling soup base.

2) Blanch the pork rib by placing the pork ribs in a large sieve/ strainer, and pour hot water over it slowly. Reserve ribs for later.

3) Heat wok with 2 tablespoon of oil over high fire. Place and stir fry prawn heads and shells for about 5 minutes, or untill shells turn deep orange and strong fragrant.

4) Reduce heat to medium fire before adding dried anchovies and brown sugar to the shells, continue to stir fry for 3 minutes. Add garlic and stir fry for another 3 minutes.

5) Add water to the mixture, return to high heat to bring to a boil. When boiling, add in star anise, cloves and black peppercorns. Let it boil for 2 minutes before adding dark soy sauce and pepper. Mix all ingredients well, before heat off. Transfer all ingredients together with broth to a slow cooker. Add in the blanched pork ribs, too.

6) Set slow cooker to auto/ low shift. Let the prawn soup and ribs simmer in slow cooker for as long as desired, till you are ready to serve your dinner.

7) About 10 minutes before serving, scope out and discard the shells, anchovies and any surface scum. Sprinkle salt, and stir well.

8) Thinly slice/ chop shallots, and fry in 2 tablespoon of oil over medium fire, until browned. Immediately remove from wok, and drain on kitcken towel. *Do not over-fry to allow standing time. Reserve for garnishing later.

9) Return prawn meat from refrigerator, and blanch the prawn meat with boiling water till pinked. Removed and set aside. Discard and change to another pot of boiling water, blanch noodles and kangkong (and bean sprout) for about 2 minutes. Remove noodles and vegetables with a sieve/ strainer, and plunge into a large pot of cold/ iced water for 5 seconds. Then, return to the hot water again for another 5 seconds. This is to let the noodles remain springy and a little chewy (Chinese called it: 过冷河). Drain and divide into 4 bowls.

10) Add cooked prawns and laddle broth into each bowl of noodles. Garnish with shallots (and hot chilli). Serve hot.

No slow cooker? If you are not intend to use a slow cooker, skip the transfer! Simply remain with wok and let the stock simmer for 1 hour, or until pork ribs are softened.

A bowl of prawn noodle soup with prime pork ribs counts about 370kcal.

Tips: Heads and shells from 24 prawns are needed for the soup base. However, if 24 prawn meat to be consumed are too much for 3 - 4, store the unused prawn meat for future cook or other dishes. Alternatively, "save" prawns shells/ heads gradually over 2 - 4 weeks. if you do not wish to get so many prawns at one time. Store the shells/ heads in a large zip-log bag and freeze it (in the freezer). Simply thaw the shells/ heads 30 minutes before cooking this dish.
* For easy removal of prawn shells and dried anchovies in the broth after cooked, you may first put the ingredients in a disposable soup bag, boil the broth with the soup bag of ingredients.
* Alternate way of handling prawn meat: Prawn meat may also be cooked first, before storing in the refrigerator. Blanch the prawn meat in boiling water till pinked, after removal of shell & head, and deveined (in step 1). Then, store cooked prawn meat in the refrigerator. Cooked prawn meat can be taken out from refrigerator at step 7. Just plunge the required amount of prawn meat in the soup for 30 seconds (to warm it up) before serving it on bowl(s).

Measuring Dry Ingredients vs Liquids

Just some tips on measuring ingredients, for your reference:

Measurements system of dry and liquid ingredients are slightly different. It's more difficult to gauge dry ingredients as compared to liquids. Even dry ingredients itself, the exact unit might be varied from ingredient to ingredient. For example: 1 cup of water equals to 250ml, but it's 210 grams of caster sugar, 200 grams of coarse sugar, and 11 gram of icing sugar.

How to put dry ingredient on weighing scale?
When measuring dry ingredients such as flour, it's best to scope the substance with spoon and put it in the measuring scale until it reaches desired amount. Do not push the flour down or shake into the container in order to get more accurate measurement. don;t push the flour down or shake into the cup.

When measuring liquids, use a clear measurement cup indicating metric levels.

Small Note:
Size of egg use in cooking - always use medium eggs (55 - 60g) when eggs are required in a recipe, unless specified.