Roasted Fragrant Orange Pork Ribs (香橙焗排骨)

"I cook this whenever my craving for some refreshing meat dishes kicks in, and it'd easily prepared and cooked even in those busy nights."

Serve this simple-to-assemble tangy pork ribs on a bed of leavy greens, or enjoy it as a complete Western meal with soft creamy mashed potato and lightly salted blanched mixed vegetables.

You may prepare the marinating the night before, for even greater flavour to be yielded... When ready, simply roast it in oven and you will be able to get this served in a flash. Whet your appetite with the zesty and mild saltiness of hoisin sauce flavours in the ribs even in the busy weeknights!

Serves 2 - 3
Ingredients
One slab of prime ribs or baby back ribs with 5 - 6 ribs (about 400 - 500 grams), cut into separate ribs
6 tablespoons of Hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons of fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon of orange essence
½ teaspoon of potato starch

1 teaspoon of honey

Garnish
Orange zests

Method
1) Season pork ribs with hoisin sauce and fresh orange juice. Make sure each rib is well coated with the condiments. Marinate ribs in refrigerator for at least 3 hours. It's best if could marinate overnight long.

2) Preheat oven to 200°C for 15 minutes. Remove marinated pork ribs from refrigerator. Add in orange essence and sprinkle potato starch on the ribs. Mix well.

3) Now, line one sheet of aluminum foil on the baking tray, and transfer pork ribs onto the tray. Do not transfer or dispose the marinating sauce. Keep the sauce for later.

4) Place the ribs on baking tray on second rack and bake for 20 minutes, or until ribs are golden browned. Then, turn the ribs over and bake for another 2 - 3 minutes.

5) Add and dissolve honey in the marinating sauce you have kept earlier on. Now, brush the honeyed marinating sauce on both sides of each rib, and then drizzle the remaining sauce onto all the ribs un the baking tray. Continue to bake for 2 - 3 minutes. By now, all ribs should turn juicy tangy brown. Arrange ribs on a nice serving dish. Garnish and serve immediately.

Serving of 1 rib in my recipe counts about 180kcal.

Tips: Ribs can be cooked and served in a rack instead of separate cuts, as your wish.
* If desired, choose to roast the ribs directly on skillet instead of baking method.
* Addition of orange essence is to enhance the tangy flavour to it's maximum. However, it's optional if you prefer milder tanginess.

The Perfect-licious Parchment Pasta @ Pizza Hut

“Two new Parchment Pastas, the true decadence of uniqueness and tenderness for your tastebuds @ Pizza Hut.”

One of my favourite foods is pasta and that's why I cook pasta pretty often. I enjoyed eating pasta, for indulging in the great eating pleasure out of its simplicity. It’s not limited to just my own pasta cooking, but I loved having great pasta when dine out, too.

Here come the new additions of two fascinating pasta dishes to the huge pasta family on the menus of Pizza Hut restaurant, which will be served, from today, the 25th August! And, it was my honour to be invited by Nuffnang, the Asia Pacific’s first blog advertising community, and Pizza Hut restaurant, to sample these pasta dishes in an elaborate food tasting session organized by Pizza hut's marketing dept before the launch. This is not only for the purpose of advertorial, but I was long ago a big buff of Pizza Hut food, per se. Hence, getting to know about the new launching, it made me so excited and I was looking forward to seeing how these Parchment Pasta dishes might look and taste like, since they are named, "Parchment"...

When I heard the name, Parchment Pasta, first thing came to my mind had to be the parchment paper. And I guess, some will even be reminded of the Chinese paper-wrapped chicken (纸包鸡) which uses similar parchment paper for the cooking. Yes, these new pastas in Pizza Hut are wrapped and cooked up in the parchment paper, or called it, En Papillote, which simply means "cooked in paper". I think it's really a brilliant idea to adopt this in cooking pasta when I realized how much it helps in sealing the original flavour, and retaining moisture and tenderness of the ingredients in the Parchment Pasta, after tasting it personally. And, not to worry for having some kinds of excessively oily food like the paper-wrapped chicken, these parchment pastas were baked through and not deep fried, for sure.

Come, dine in with me now… for the Char-Grilled Chicken Parchment and the Spicy Seafood Parchment…

Presentation of the Parchment Pastas:
What a unique way for having pasta... This pasta was nicely wrapped up with the parchment paper when served. I liked the ‘wrap-up’ presentation as it makes the serving looks mysterious and neat on the table.

Pizza Hut makes their ‘new creations’ even more special by clipping the opening of the wrap with a nice old-fashioned wooden cloth-clip crafted with the curvy words, 'Pasta Perfetto', and diner gets to keep this cute clip as souvenir! :D

As a first-timer for trying this interesting Parchment Pasta, I simply couldn’t wait to reveal the under wrap!

Flavour of the Char-Grilled Chicken Parchment:
Scrumptious spaghetti pasta noodle served with tenderly char-grilled chicken which tossed in light texture satiny cream sauce. The creamy and slight garlicky sauce in this Parchment Pasta yields a good balance of flavour without being too rich, making this cream sauce pasta so likable, and in a way, feeling less sinful for having the entire serving all by my own. :)

To be more specific, I loved its combination of fresh button mushroom slices, capsicums stripes and turkey bacon pieces together with the excessively tender char-grilled chicken chunks in this cream sauce Parchment Pasta. It’s true that the chicken meat tasted so moist and tender, yet, it was so well cooked. Credit goes to their open-secret of baking the pasta through in parchment paper that makes it happened!

As for the pasta noodles, the strands were bouncy (we referred it as, so ‘Q’) to bite. Not being too tough or too soggy in the palate, the noodles were considerably al-dente, to acclimatize to the local preference, I supposed.

Flavour of the Spicy Seafood Parchment:
A delicious and accommodative twist on the standard tomato sauce pasta, here they have the spicy version. This Spicy Seafood Parchment was cooked with some chopped bird's eye chilli which adds extra zings to the palate.

I really did relish its spicy and less-sourish tomato sauce. With the combination of spicy and zesty flavours, it balances up the overall flavour in this imaginably tasty seafood parchment pasta in a perfect manner. For those who can’t take it too spicy, you may request for a reduction on spiciness.

Look no further if you are a seafood lover, like me, this spicy tomato sauce linguine pasta is served with mussels, prawns and squids. It has definitely made a statement with these succulent seafood ingredients where fleshy mussels and interestingly bouncy prawns are found. Even the squid slices were tender enough to chew. And, like I mentioned, all the natural flavour of these juicy seafood ingredients were perfectly sealed in, from the effect of “En Papillote”.

As for the pasta noodles used for this dish, linguine simply makes a ideal staple as it allows the hearty tomato sauce to be fully absorbed into each and every of the broad strand.

As such, I devoured these parchment pastas with gusto!

Summary and the List of Price:
It’s regardless if you prefer an authentic Italian flavour or the local accustomed taste, you can always find a different dimension in these parchment pastas with the tasty combination of flavours found in it.

Look at this delicate and balancing cream sauce based spaghetti pasta. Then, comes the exciting robust and zesty tomato sauce based linguine pasta. You’ll find the wonders of both worlds on this Italian fare, lending a refreshing sense of originality to the new creations. Indeed, these new Parchment Pastas were delectably captivating where its true flavour arrives beyond my initial expectation. The overall flavour and its combination of ingredients in each pasta dish were just so perfect. Moreover, with the slight addition of chopped coriander, it enhances the aromas and taste of the pasta even further!

To order the cream sauce Char-Grilled Parchment Pasta or tomato sauce Spicy Seafood Parchment Pasta? You might end up fighting a battle within self, struggling to decide which parchment pasta to taste first… Well, it's really depends on your personal preference of flavour. Or, I shall suggest you to patronize Pizza Hut again the next day to have it both in two separate visits. After all, these pasta dishes in Pizza Hut are so affordable and worth-while, for the generous portion served in each order.

That's right! For all I enjoyed pasta dishes, I focus only the best deals. I always know that one of the best places to go for affordable great pasta dishes is the Pizza Hut restaurant. And I am even more convinced now, after the tasting, I will not be bored to rhapsodize about my eating pleasure on these two awesome Parchment Pastas, just like I did here.

Char-grilled Chicken Parchment Pasta priced at $11.90

Spicy Seafood Parchment Pasta priced at $12.90

It’s not hard to tell, I liked this Spicy Seafood Parchment, for its spicy tomato sauce as my personal preference. I know I'll be ordering these again in my next visit to Pizza Hut restaurant, :) And, I can assure you that it will never be bored to have pasta in a row as each flavour brings a total different eating pleasure to your taste bud.

Wait… there are more to come… Don’t you forget those other gourmet delights in Pizza Hut which provide an equally immense selection of satisfactory goodies that await your indulgence?

Other luscious gourmet @ Pizza Hut:
There are really many other exquisitely delicious choices in the Pizza Hut Restaurant which surely provide you with an ultimate dining experience here. And there are some items I must share with you in particular, which I personally liked it so much (I am sure many do so).

For weight-watcher (or you just feel like having just a light meal), please don’t think that you will be an odd-out in all the fast food restaurants. Pizza Hut has wide range of mouth-watering salad dishes!

Salad is considered a good and refreshing starter to kick-start a sumptuous meal. I tried two salad dishes during the tasting session, the new seafood tofu salad with Italian dressing (and more interesting with the crispy noodle stripes to add crunches), and the well-liked Oriental salad (with crunchy chicken chunks) with Thai dressing. Gazing at the freshest mixed greens and generous amount of quality toppings, it’s indeed a great pleasure to enjoy such healthy food with these bountiful elements on the plate.

If you ask me which is better between these two options, I could only tell you that seafood tofu salad is distinctive as we normally have the seafood tofu in hotpot, but now it’s found in this salad dish, a creative addition to enhance your eating experience of healthier diet, whilst Oriental salad should be your request, if you are looking for a more familiar kind of exotic flavour. It can’t be wrong to go for this subtly spicy-sweet Thai dressing and flavourful fried chicken toppings. And, you won’t fail to realise that these lavish salads are exceedingly worthwhile than what they are priced!

Each costs only S$6.90, for a large salad bowl! It’s definitely a value-for-money.

Wanting more varieties for appetizers?
Look beyond their signature garlic bread, these chicken riblets are ones that can’t be missed, especially if you like fried food. It’s deep-fried, but never too greasy to taste, and I loved the flavour in it which resembles mild version of fried prawn paste chicken (虾酱鸡). Hey, please not to mistaken these riblets as pork, they serve no pork or lard as Pizza Hut is a Halal-certified restaurant (suitable for Muslims). It’s chicken meat. Price: $5.80 for 4 super-sized riblets

Well, for group dining, I’ll surely go for their Hut’s platter which consists of the best out of all in one plate, just to satisfy the crowd. There are four different kinds of goodies, i.e. All-time-favourite – calamari rings, house-specialty - sweet-spicy chicken drumlets, seafood-pleaser – scallop rolls, and the yummy crunch – crisscross fries, serving with simple chilli sauce as dipping. A true crowd pleaser easily feeds 4 – 6 diners. Price: $12.50

Want something more for main entrée?
Besides the main stars of pizza or the must-try new pasta dishes, there are also many other popular pasta dishes, such as, the luscious Basil Crayfish pasta, serving two halves of fresh succulent crayfish with spaghetti tossed in a mild spicy and sweet basil sauce which leaves you craving for more… Price: S$12.90

This delicious looking curry baked rice photo on the menu always allures me and there were so many of my friends told me that their curry baked rice is really good, and I am in total agreement with them, now! An irresistible house-special Curry Zazzle Baked Rice which brings plenty of pleasant surprise to me… It’s easy to tell why this curry baked rice is so immensely popular. The curry sauce topped on the baked rice dish was thick and creamy with a hint of milky taste, but it’s never too over-whelming in the palate, and the spiciness was not over-powering, after-taste. This well-balanced curry sauce complements the tinge cheesy pilaf rice so well. Price: S$9.80

Haven’t done with the main courses yet? It’s time for dessert! Your meal won’t be complete without having their signature dessert! Need not to elaborate much on this warm chocolate cake with ice cream, you probably tried and made it your favourite must-have dessert in every visit to Pizza Hut, don’t you?! Warm, cottony soft on the texture and super moist inside to almost lava-ish, this soft rich chocolate cake makes the best accompaniment to its pairing yummy vanilla ice-cream. Well, it’s just too-alluring for wanting it more! Price: S$6.50

However, if you think it’ll be too full for dessert after that, yet do not wish to give up your affection for dessert. Simply have this, ‘A Tale of Two Temptation’, and let its grandeur helps to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Just like its name which spells it all… having two petite squares of chocolate mousse cake and cheese cake which beautifully arranged on the serving dish, the celebrated dessert seems to have its own indescribable tales to share upon…

These glamorous bite sizes are simply joyful pleasure, not only to the palate, also for the eyes… and the perfect portion for everyone with a sweet tooth. Price: S$5.50

You need some refreshing chilled thirst quenchers by now, don’t you? I will not forget to share with you their Zesty Fruit Delights menus… I liked the exotic Passion Fusion of which interesting aloe vera bits were added to this chilled passion fruit flavoured brewed tea. Not too sweet to taste, I loved to sip it slowly while chatting with a group of friends there... How about something hot? Yes, just go ahead to get a cup of freshly brewed coffee! It’s always the best choice for hot beverage to complement your favourite sweet treats, leaving a perfect ending to your precious meal. Price: S$4.50

And so, given an opportunity like this, I would like to recommend what I have tried and liked. Of course, this includes the two new pasta delights which will be prevalent on their menus. And, don’t forget to bring home with you, the crafted cloth-clip souvenir from any of these Parchment Pastas!

Do leave your comments to let me know how do you like it, after-taste, ok?


Note: To find out the nutritional value in some of these gourmet goodies, click here: Pizza Hut

Century Egg and Coriander Soup (皮蛋芫荽汤)

"Super easy soup recipe that yields super delicious soup of one of its kinds."

You might hate eating food with coriander, and also find it weird and unimaginable to have century eggs cooked in soup... but that's not the case in this soup dish.. Such combination in my soup might sounds unappealing but it's indeed very aromatic and delicious to be consumed. And don’t be surprised, this is one of the most popular options of hot pot soup base to be ordered in many hotpot restaurants in Hong Kong. I was initially in doubt with such soup option, too, but looking at so many of the reviews of experienced diners, they actually well commented and recommended this soup base for hotpot meal. Hence, I think it won’t go wrong to go with the choice of majority, esp the locals' recommendation. I tried the soup when first time I had my hotpot meal in Hong Kong's restaurant named Tao Heung. And, it surprised me pleasantly. It was such a delicious soup with natural aromas and sweetness yielded from the corianders and century eggs in the soup!

I couldn't find this soup when back to Singapore. So, I thought I should try making this impressive soup dish at home. And, here’s the positive result yielded from my home-cooking Coriander & Century Egg Soup!

Besides its refreshing aromas, you wont actually taste much of the coriander from the soup. It's not obvious. And this soup yields natural sweetness with both the main ingredients as well as an addition of water chestnuts that for sure satisfy your taste bud. With the addition of water chestnuts, this soup provides better cooling effects, at the same time, adds natural sweetness to it.

If you are century egg or coriander lover, don't hesitate to cook this soup dish which was well-liked by my family even my girl who doesn't take any of these two ingredients, she loved drinking this aromatic soup though.

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
2 century eggs, cut into wedges
A bunch of coriander leaves (also named Chinese parsley or cilantro), trimmed root and rinsed
10 pieces of water chestnuts, peeled and soaked in water for 1 hour
1 large meat bone or bony pork ribs
1 chicken stock cube
½ teaspoon of salt
Pinch of grounded white pepper

A pot of water, 80% filled (about 1500ml)

Method
1) Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add in meat bone, chestnuts, and dissolve chicken cube. Lower heat to medium-low fire to simmer for 30 minutes.

2) Add salt and pepper to taste. Place in coriander and century eggs. Simmer soup for another 10 minutes before heat off. Let the cooking stands for another couple of minutes with lid on before paddling out from the pot. Serve.

A bowl of my healthy soup served with ingredients in it counts about 150kcal. It's healthy, it's light, it's flavoursome!

Tips: Century eggs can be bought off the shelves. Simply peel off the muddy layer outside its shell, and then, peel off the shell. Slice the dark century eggs into wedges. No boiling is required.
* You may like to serve some preserved ginger slices for diners who like having the century egg from the soup with ginger slices.

Dry Wonton Mee Recipe (干捞云吞面)

"Chinese egg noodle with Wonton dumplings, we called it, Wanton Mee, and this is one of the Singapore's hawker delights, the local-style of having delicious fuss-free noodle meal, anywhere & anytime"

Easy-to-assemble Singapore local gourmet to be fixed as dinner or lunch at home. I had the dry version for more flavour, but you can cook it in soup, if wished. Simply omit the listed condiments, add the blanched egg noodle into the same soup used for the wonton. Well, I'll show you the soup version next time..

For some who are new to this Asian noodle dish, wonton, in Chinese, name it as 云吞 'Yun Toon' or 馄饨 'Hoon Toon', is an irregular shape bite-sized dumpling. Its filling often made with marinated minced pork meat, and sometimes, shrimp is added, making into a small pouch of many. These wontons can be taken in soup or eating it as a main side to the Chinese egg noodle dish (both soup and dry versions).

My recipe is considered a mixture of Singapore-Malaysia styles as I added with dark soy sauce (thick soy sauce) where usually Malaysia does but not in Singapore, while chili paste added in only the Singapore's way... But I had both the condiments in my recipe and it was great! However, the choice of input is up to individual liking as these are only flavours to enhance personal eating preference, but not the key flavourings.

Recipe listed below is meant for just one person. Multiply the measurements according to the number of serving you have to prepare:

Serves 1
Ingredients
1 small bundle of Chinese egg noodle, slightly loosen the strands
2 - 3 stalks of Chye Sim (菜心) or any favourite vegetables, cut into shorter length
20 grams (about 10 thin slices) of cooked Chinese BBQ roasted pork aka Char Siew (叉烧), sliced (*See my recipe)

A pot of salted water (to blanch noodle and vegetables)
A pot of iced water (to chill-bath noodles)

Condiments for egg noodle of each serving (for tossing):
1 tablespoon of fried shallot oil
1 teaspoon of light soy sauce
1 teaspoon of oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of sambal chili paste

Accompaniment for each serving:
5 pieces of homemade wonton in soy bean or anchovies soup (*See my recipes)

Method
1) Prepare the Char Siew with my recipe posted previously. Or, get the store-bought cooked Char Siew from Chinese roasted meat stores. Slice it lengthwise and set aside.

2) Cook a pot of soy bean or anchovies soup and prepare the wonton using my recipes posted before. Just cook the soup base first. Blanch the raw wonton in separate pot of lightly salted water till about 90% cooked. Then, keep these 90% cooked wantons in a separate dish, and place in the soup to cook further only when you are ready to serve the meal. My wonton soup recipe will explain all in details.

3) When ready to serve, heat a pot of water over high heat. Dissolve a pinch of salt and place in vegetables to blanch till cooked. Set aside.

4) Bring the same pot of water to a boil again. In the meantime, prepare a clean serving dish and add the listed condiments (in any order) on the serving dish. Set aside the dish.

5) When the pot of water is boiled, add in the loosen strands of egg noodle to blanch for 2 minutes, or until al-dente. Then, quickly transfer the blanched noodle to plunge into a large bowl of cold water using a wire strainer, for 10 seconds. Thereafter, return the noodles to the hot water again for 5 seconds. Remove from pot and drain on the same strainer before placing it on the serving dish filled with condiments. May also add 1 tablespoon of soup on the serving dish, if find it too dry. Toss the noodles with condiments till well combined.

6) Arrange Char Siew slices and vegetables on the side of the dish. Serve noodle dish with a bowl of piping hot wonton soup.

A plate of my wonton mee counts about 420kcal (which varies depends on the amount of sides to go with).

Tips: If you do not want to add chili paste, simply omit it, or replace with same amount of ketchup. That's the Singapore style. :)
* If you do not like Chye Sim, feel free to use your favourite vegetables.
* If preferred, arrange the wonton on the serving dish, and serve together just the plain soup in separate bowl.
* Serve and eat the noodle dish immediately before it turns soggy.

Pan-Roasted Prawns (干燒明蝦)

"Sometimes you just need to fix a quick, yet, luscious, dinner meal for the family.."

Go into just about any restaurants of all cuisines, you are sure to find prawns on the menu. But ordering of seafood, especially prawns (large shrimps) dishes, also mean to lighten your wallet before leaving the reataurant. How about cooking up a 'restaurant-style' seafood dish for the family? :)

This is simple to fix and deliciuos to taste large prawns dish, especially if you like the prawns to be packed with robust flavour with mild spiciness in it. Even though the prawns are to be served dry without any gravy, you may actually serve the dish with some cut limes, for squeezing its juice over the prawns upon tucking in, for more zesty flavour. Just to be reminded that with or without the lime, the prawns are juicy and moist enough to taste as it is pan-roasted (in Chinese, we called it 干燒 'Gan Shao', which means dry-roast) where the prawns will be roasted and crisped on the shell, but tender and moist interiorly.

Serve this prawn dish with pasta and baked potato as Western cuisine, or steamed rice as Chinese meal, this recipe makes your cooking a sure to impress!

Japanese-Style Crispy Pork Chop (日式炸猪扒)

"Simple and quick-making Japanese-style crispy pork chops make your lunch box meal one of the best ever. And, remember to serve it with the savoury Japanese curry gravy!"

Prepare this savory pork chop meal in less than an hour time. And learn my tricks in making successfully crisped and coated chops. It is a 99% success rate.

And because it was home cooking, I tend to make it a healthier dish for my family, so as to save some cooking oil, as I do not like to keep the used cooking oil for cooking more than one time. So, instead of deep-frying the pork chops, I chose to shallow-fry them. It will still be crisped, but I had to fry only one side of the chop at a time as the oil in the pan will not be enough to submerge the entire piece. Just make sure that the chop is not too thick, and shallow frying method will be as good to make the dish a success.


Yes, don't forget to serve this savory chops with the easy ready-made Japanese curry sauce!

See Recipe:

Serves 2 - 3
Ingredients
4 pcs of boneless pork chops
2 tablespoons of potato starch
1 cup of breadcrumbs, placed in a deep plate
2 eggs, broke into a deep plate and lightly beaten

1 cup of olive oil (for shallow frying use)

Seasoning for pork chops:
2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
2 teaspoons of Mirin (Japanese rice wine) (味啉)
1 teaspoon of grounded white pepper
Generous pinch of salt and sugar

Gravy for pork chops:
1 packet of store-bought ready made Japanese curry with carrots and potatoes

Optional:
6 cherry tomatoes, halved

Method:
1) Marinate pork chops with the listed seasoning for overnight or at least 1 hour.

2) Pat some potato starch on both sides of each chop. Then, dip the lightly floured chop into egg solution till both sides are well coated with egg, followed by breadcrumbs completely covering both sides. Repeat step for the remaining chops.

3) Heat large sauce pan with oil over medium fire till lightly smoky. Add in pork chops (2 pieces at a time, and do not stack the chops or crowd the pan), and shallow fry till both sides are golden browned. (*Shallow fry one side at a time since the amount of oil used only sufficient to submerge the chops, unless you choose deep frying method instead.)

4) Remove from pan and drain on kitchen towel. Cut crisped pork chops into thick stripes. Pour heated curry sauce with vegetables on the pork chops or serve separately. Serve with steamed Japanese rice and cherry tomatoes immediately, or prepare them in lunch box.

A serving of my Japanese curry pork chop rice (with two pieces of chop) counts about 550kcal.

For more options: Change the option of gravy by serving the pork chops with Thai chili sauce, BBQ sauce. Or simply enjoy it plainly without any gravy. And for this, you might wish to melt some butter (about 1 tablespoon for each frying) into the heated pan before frying the chops, to make it more aromatic with a touch of buttery flavour. As such, you may even reduce the amount of olive oil which used to heat pan, to prevent extra loads of oil intake, you see.

Tips: Shallow fry is too enough for cooking crisped chops. Just don't slice the chops too thickly. I think 2cm thickness is good.
* Get Japanese curry sauce off the shelves. It comes in nice squarish box, with different options of with or without vegetables, and in apple or original flavour. Each packet ranges from S$4.10 - $5.80, and could be found at the Japanese product cells at major supermarkets.
* Serve cut pork chops for more convenient bite, especially for lunch box where most of the time you will be digging in with the disposable plastic cutlery or just a single spoon or pair of chopsticks.
* For lunch box meal, I reckon packing the curry sauce in separate container, since it will not be consumed immediately. This may prevent the chops turning soggy after one whole morning wait. Reheating of 1 minutes required before consume.

Japanese Curry Pork Chop Lunch Box

"Lunch Box Makes Easy"

Busy at work recently, and preferred lunching in most of the time. I had to prepare lunch box.


I bought a new nice navy blue (his favorite colour) triangle-shape microwavable lunch box which comes with a spork (spoon plus fork in one... Ribbons not included) from Robinson, for frequent use. Unique triangle shape, it presents an elegant outlook.
This was one of the lunch box meals I've prepared, the Japanese curry pork chop rice. Cooked this as it took just an hour to prepare and get ready, as a store-bought ready made Japanese curry sauce was used. So, there wasn't a need to cook the lunch box meal from scratch, and I think this ready made curry was delectable and complementing with the pork chops. I had the curry sauce packed separately to avoid causing sogginess to the chops.


Ok.. I will show you how I cook my scrumptious Japanese-style fried pork chop (See recipe)...

Tom Yum Yogurt Cream Pasta

"Place where Thai meets West"

Be sure to serve this mild spicy and refreshing pasta dish with the freshest seafood like large prawns, mussels or squids, and you will be impressed by this non soup version tom yum savory.

I used yogurt as the cream in this recipe, to create healthier and lower fat dish. Otherwise, feel free to use full cream, for more creamy texture.

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
300 grams of dried angel hair or spaghetti noodles
8 x-large tiger prawns
1 large or 2 small brinjals aka eggplants, halved lengthwise then sliced crosswise but do not cut it through entirely, its skin should remain undivided as a base to the sliced fleshes

50 grams of Tom Yum paste
500ml of chicken stock
2 tablespoons of plain yogurt
1 tablespoon of Thai fish sauce
1 teaspoon of coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
Lime juice squeezed from 1 small lime
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
20 grams of butter (or more)
2 teaspoons of olive oil for sautéing brinjal, plus 1 teaspoon for coating of wok before sautéing prawns, and 1 more teaspoon for heating the sauce pan for cooking later, in total = 4 teaspoons

1 large pot of water (for blanching noodles), added with pinch of salt and drops of olive oil

Seasoning for prawns:
1 teaspoon of chicken granule (鸡粉)
1 teaspoon of potato starch (生粉)

Seasoning for brinjal:
Pinch of salt and sugar
1 teaspoon of coarsely grounded black pepper

Garnish
2 Kafir leaves, grated
Or
Few leaves of Cilantro

Method
1) Rinse and trim prawns. Cut a slit on the back of each prawn to devein, but shells should remain intact. Season prawns with the listed seasoning.

2) Sprinkle salt, sugar, black pepper and chicken granule on the sliced/ flat side of brinjals. Heat sauce pan with 2 teaspoons of olive oil and sauté brinjals till both sides are browned and softened, for about 12 - 15 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

3) With the same pan, heat and coat with 1 teaspoon of olive oil over medium fire. Melt butter. Place in prawns, but do not crowd the pan. Sauté prawns on both sides till prawns are pinked and its shells are lightly crisped. Remove from pan and set aside. Repeat step till all remaining prawns are done.

4) Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high fire. Add in pinch of salt and few drops of olive oil. Place angel hair noodles in it and boil for 1 minute, or until half cooked (*If using spaghetti, boil it for 3 minutes).

5) While pasta cooks, quickly heat another sauce pan with 1 teaspoon of olive oil over medium fire. Sauté garlic and onion till fragrant. Add in tom yum pasta and stir fry for 2 - 3 seconds. Add in chicken stock, fish sauce and sugar.

6) When pasta noodles are half-cooked, drain and transfer pasta into the pan. Stir fry to combine well. Return sautéed brinjals into the pan. Cover pan with lid and reduce heat to low fire to simmer for 3 - 5 minutes, or till strands are soften and sauce thickened. Remove lid and add in yogurt and lime juice. Stir fry to combine well.

7) Return sautéed prawns into pan. Further stir fry for a minute before heat off. Dish up and divide pasta in each serving plate. Arrange two prawns on top of the pasta and some sliced brinjals on the side, in each serving (*You may now tear the brinjals apart to divide them into the plates, if its skin is still remained intact). Garnish and serve hot.

For more options: Use cream or coconut milk instead of yogurt, if you wish to create more aromatic dish than refreshing flavour. However, do consider the extra load of calories though.
* Add also bird eye's chili, for more spicy flavour. Simply sauté it together with garlic and onion in Step 5.

A portion of my refreshing tom yum yogurt cream pasta counts about 400kcal. If use cream (low-fat or full cream) coconut milk, add extra 80 - 120kcal.

Tips: Get tom yum pasta off the shelves. Add more paste, if prefer stronger flavour.
* If you blanching dried pasta way before cooking into dish, toss it with some olive oil to prevent sticking if strands after leaving for a while. **If using fresh pasta, skip Step 5. Simply add into cooking accordingly.

Easy Bake Pandan Kaya Swiss Roll

“It takes less than 30 minutes to complete the whole process of Swiss roll making, from beating of cake flour till serve on the table!”

These light and fluffy Swiss cake rolls make a great dessert to complete your sumptuous full course meals. It also makes good accompaniment to a cup of aromatic coffee or hot chocolate beverages during your tea session or in-between meals. Or, to save your bucks, make this crowd-pleasing dessert as snacks for your tea gathering at home with abundance of buddies!

This express & easy cake roll is also the perfect easy cake making for the beginner bakers, or busy working groups who simply need a fast and light homemade dessert to be indulged in anytime. Make large roll or individual mini rolls with the same cake mixture.

Linguine with Flower Crab

"An elegant, low fat seafood pasta dish, for light and quick mid-week dinner, that whets your appetite!"

Since the first time I had this similar type of wonderful homecooked pasta dish, I was in love with its perfect flavorful taste.

Hence, with the similar cooking method, I have made several adaptions to it, with slight changes in condiments used, and various side ingredients to go along with it each time, when I felt like having this pasta again.

Previously, we had the claims and prawns, or added with diced chicken fillet version... With both spaghetti and linguine pasta noodle in respective cookings, I had the flower crab version this time (also slight change in recipe)!

And I must tell you that the change of main side ingredients to flower crabs does make quite a distinctive seafood flavour to this pasta.

This pasta tastes simple, but excessively fresh with full seafood flavour in the palate with each of its bite!