Fresh Clams and Mallow Squash Soup (鲜蛤角瓜汤)

"Still clams, still soupy.. And now with mallow squash. Delectable and low in fat, this soup dish is also easy to be assembled at home!"

Seafood and mallow soup dish. Not quite a soup, but more like a soupy dish. Don’t understand what I mean? Ok, let me explain… This recipe was supposedly a moist (but not wet) barbequed dish, but I added with some water to make it a soupy dish. I did not add too much water, just half the amount of the usual soup cooking’s, just to make it more soupy, that's all.. That’s why I called it a soupy dish instead of soup dish.

Liked it with more liquid as the flavor of clams will be fully emerged in the soup. Eating the clam and mallow together with its soup yields even better aromas in the palate, indeed.

I will show you how to make the barbeque version next time, but for now, cook this! :)

Serves 4
Ingredients
1 long mallow squash (角瓜), peeled, halved lengthwise and then thickly sliced crosswise
500 grams of large fleshy clams
½ teaspoon of chicken granule
½ teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of grounded white pepper
1 pot of water, 50% filled (about 500ml)

1 large pot of salted water, for use of steeping of clams before cooking
1 pot of water, for blanching of clams

Method
1) Rinse and steep clams in a large pot of heavily salted water, for at least an hour. Drain with strainer and set aside.

2) Then, bring a pot of water to a boil over high fire. Add in clams and blanch for 1 minute. Remove from pot and drain.

3) In a large pot, add in water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduced heat to medium fire, add in lightly blanched clams and sliced mallow squash. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add in chicken granule, salt and pepper. Continue simmering for 5 minutes before heat off. Ladle soup and ingredients into large serving bowl and serve hot.

For more cooking options: If you wished, steam this soup instead of cooking it on stove with direct fire. Simply add in boiled water, blanched claims and mallow squash into a large bowl to steam on wire rack in the wok filled with water (on high heat), or in an electrical steamer. This way, the texture of the soup may tastes smoother.

A serving of this soup dish counts about 120kcal.

Tips: Slice mallow squash with about 1cm thickness.
* Use chicken granule or powder form.

I Love Mooncakes

"Happy Mid-Autumn Festival 2010 - Have you eaten any mooncake yet?"

Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival is tomorrow, but the stores started selling moon cakes since a month ago (some started promoting moon cakes even two months back!). And for a festive food craze like me, I loved moon cakes very much! So, I have been eating at least 1 mini moon cake or half the normal sized cake every other day for the past 1 month!

I loved moon cake.. I really do! All kinds of flavors, for both baked and snow skins. No doubt, I would never missed eating any moon cakes in the office which were given by the clients. I bought my own moon cakes in both Singapore and Hong Kong. What are my favorite flavors? Hmm…Traditional lotus paste baked moon cakes, white lotus paste baked, red bean with green tea paste baked, lotus paste with macadamia nuts baked, lotus paste snow skin, custard snow skin, mango snow skin, chestnut snow skin, and tiramisu snow skin, especially, etc…! And nope, I do not mind products from anywhere, both the bakeries and hotels, that’s my answer if this is your next question…

Here’s some of the photos of those good moon cakes I have eaten, and just to share with you…

Traditional baked mooncake from Da Zhong Guo Chinese traditional bakery shop. Bagging in paper bag.

Even the wrapping, was simple and traditional.

Looks less appealing and dry, but in fact, it's quite soft and delicious.



From Marriot Hotel:

Nice white lotus paste with double yolks. Not too sweet.

From Tupperware: Bought the mooncake set which consists of Tupperware container and mooncake in it.

Knowing that Hong Kong Lian Xiang Lou is well-known for their lotus paste. So, I got one of their traditional bake. The single yolk bake was sold out when I was there. So, I got the pure lotus paste one. Haven't eaten it yet. :)

From Season's bakery: A gift from my activities club. Single yolk bake. Just got it, and hence, still haven't eaten it yet.

From Shi Zheng Restaurant: This was one of the best I have liked.

Shanghai mooncake. This is deep-fried mooncake with fragrant pumpkin paste in the centre and surrounded by silky smooth yam paste, with flaky crust outside.

One of the nicest Shanghai mooncake with yam paste filling I have tasted.

Lotus-Paste Pandan Snow Skin made by my girl in her school's Mid-Autumn Festive Carnival.

My 2nd favourite for Snow Skin mooncake. Custard filling.

It's from Maxim's Bakery. Bought few different flavours from them during my last trip in Hong Kong.

My 1st favourite Snow Skin mooncake! Tiramisu filling. I have tasted the Tiramisu mooncake from another two different bakeries in Singapore, and they were tasted good, too. So, I hope this Tiramisu with Cheese from Hong Kong Maxim's will be good, too.

Have not tasted it yet, but will update you once tasted. :)

Mango filling Snow Skin seems to be one of the most popular flavors in Hong Kong. There are so many different types of mango flavours mooncake, and I got the "Crispy" Mango filling. Not so sure how 'crispy' it is till I taste it... :D 

There are some I forgot to take photo... but I was indeed eating much more than shown here... Time to dieting after this!! :p

Pomelo Cocktail Fruits Salad

"Serve this festive salad this coming Mid-Autumn Festival!"

Heavy meals, overeating, indigestion, often associated with festive celebrations. As one of our Chinese festival, Mid-Autumn aka Moon Cake Festival, is approaching, I would like to share this salad dish with you.

Since we tend to eat generously during festive seasons, it's good to have some refreshing salad to ease your stomach sometimes. And here, I have this nice salad dish where one of the essential Mid-Autumn festive food, pomelo, is used in it.

Pomelo (柚子, in Chinese as "You Zi"), a mild grape fruit-like citrus fruit, with honey sweet taste.

I first tasted this salad during the festive celebration organized by the RC in my neighborhood. My girl and I loved it a lot. And I think it is a very good idea for having the festive fruit, pomelo, in salad. This way makes the pomelo much easier and delicious to enjoy. Some interesting ways to have this fruit now.. And you may even get your children to help to do up this salad dish together!

Serves 4 - 5
Ingredients
3 - 4 wedges of sweet pomelo, peeled, deseed and peeled into small pieces
1 cup of canned fruit cocktail, drained syrup
1 honey mango, peeled and diced
1 Granny Smith green apple, cored and diced
8 - 10 balls of honey dew (*use melon baller to make these small honey dew balls)
1 tablespoons of golden raisins
2 tablespoons of mango flavored yogurt (*or other desired flavor)
2 tablespoons of light Mayonnaise

Method
Mix all fruit ingredients in a salad mixing bowl, including pomelo and raisins. Add in mayonnaise. Stir to combine well, using a spatula. Chill in refrigerator for an hour before serve.

1 serving of Pomelo salad counts about 180kcal.

Tips: Fruit cocktail should contains diced peaches, pears, peeled green grapes, cherries, and etc.
* Choice of using just the mayonnaise or yogurt is also recommended, if desired.
* Just fruits, it's vegetarian! Don't use mayonnaise, for strict vegetarian, as mayonnaise contains egg products.
* Melon baller in stainless steel material can be found in major supermarkets.

Black Pepper Tender Pork Slices with Curry Leaves Recipe

"Signature Black Pepper Pork. I've it cooked with curry leaves, for more exotic flavour. Trust me, you'll like me.. Oops.. Like it, I meant..."

This recipe has become one of my signature dishes.

I had specially cooked this dish for hubby as he commented that he liked it after tasted this from the restaurant we visited for dinner the other day. By examining the ingredients used in their dish, I was confident that I would be able to adapt and fix up the dish at home on my own. And, it had been a success in making the similar dish!

I had cooked this the third time, and my hubby loved it so much that he will be well commenting my dish each and every time he has it.

So, I am sharing one of my simplest but greatest pork dish now! :)

Serves 4
Ingredients
400 grams of deli-thin sliced pork
1 red capsicum, cored and diced in chunks
2 stalks of curry leaves, removed from its brunches and use only the leaves
1 teaspoon of chicken granule
1/2 teaspoon of grounded black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of potato starch
2 tablespoons of store-bought black pepper sauce
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
1 tablespoon of olive oil (for heating wok later)
1 tablespoon of butter

Method
1) Season pork slices with chicken granule, black pepper and potato starch, for 20 minutes.

2) Heat wok with olive oil over medium fire. Melt butter in heated wok. Add garlic and curry leave.
3) Place seasoned pork slices in wok. Stir fry for few seconds. Then, add capsicum and stir fry to combine, for 2 minutes, or till pork slices tenderly cooked.

4) Add black pepper sauce and stir fry to combine well, for another 1 - 2 minutes. Heat off and dish up. Serve with steamed rice or olive oiled spaghetti.

1 portion of my black pepper pork slices counts about 300kcal.

For more options: Use beef slices instead of pork, if desired. Same thing, the meat has to be thinly sliced with quick stir-cook to retain its moist and maximum tenderness.

Tips: Sprinkle some water if find it too dry while stir-frying it.

Stir-Fried Spicy French Bean and Bak-Kwa with Silver Fish

"Turn this common vegetable dish into new revolution to your tastebuds"

Our most popular Asian snack, bakkwa, the thinly sliced sheet of dried meat tasted salty sweet, and its texture is similar to jerky, but our bakkwa is more moist.

Now that with the bakkwa added to the French bean, this stir fry has turn into a total new revolution to the tastebuds, it's true!

The cut bird's eye chilli has also plaited an important role in delivering extra zings that complement the dish as well as giving a fulfilling flavour as a whole.

Also don't forget the healthy aroma enhancer to your palate, the crisped fried silver fish, imparts crisp and fragrance.

Such combination yields unimaginable aromatic greens dish which becomes one of my girl's favorite veggie dishes, despite the spiciness in it.

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
400 grams of French beans, removed fiber on the sides and cut into shorter length
2 slices of BBQ pork slice aka Bak Kwa (肉干), diced in chunks
1 tablespoon of dried silver fish aka noodle fish (银鱼), rinsed and pat dried
2 bird's eye chilli aka chilli padi, chopped
1 clove oh garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon of chicken granule
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of water

3 tablespoons of cooking oil

Method
1) Heat wok with oil over medium high fire. Place dried silver fish in the heated wok to shallow fry till crisped and golden browned. Remove from wok and drain on kitchen towel. Set crispy fried silver fish aside.

2) Remove excessive cooking oil to leave only about 1 tablespoon of oil in low-medium heated wok. Add in garlic and chilli padi to stir fry till fragrant and garlic is lightly browned while chilli padi yields pungency.

3) Add in diced Bak-Kwa and stir fry for few seconds before placing French beans. Stir fry for 10 seconds. Drizzle water and cover lid to simmer for 30 seconds. Adjust heat to lower, if necessary.

4) Remove lid. Sprinkle chicken granule and salt. Stir fry to combine. Increase heat to high fire to give it a quick stir for 2 - 3 seconds before heat off. Dish up and top with the crispy fried silver fish. Serve hot with steamed rice.

A portion of French bean dish counts about 250kcal.

Tips: Dried silver fishes are the silverish white tiny fishes which can be found in many provision shops or dried food stores in wet market, neighbourhood area or Asian supermarkets. Silver fish tastes saltish, but simply rinse and pat dry before frying it.

Egg Mayo Salad Sandwich

"Egg mayo cum salad in a form of sandwich for a satisfactory meal, for breakfast, lunch or early afternoon snacks"

This is a great way to use up your eggs before they get old. For hearty and filling breakfast or as easy quick lunch on busy weekdays.

Though egg mayo sandwich is very common, but its taste created from my recipe is unusually delicious. I learned this from a chef friend who taught me to make the egg mayo this way. The addition of butter to the mayo smoothens the egg mixture even further.

And I considered this egg mayo sandwich as an egg salad sandwich. More vegetables and tomatoes to go with it, for more balancing diet. The extra crunch also yields refreshing flavour in the palate, just like having a salad bowl in the sandwich.. Try and you will like it!

Makes 2 sandwiches
Ingredients
4 thick slices if white or whole meal sandwich bread, trimmed away crusts
6 cherry tomato, halved
4 Romaine lettuce leafs, rinsed and patted dry
4 medium eggs, hard boiled
3 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of butter
Pinch of coarsely grounded black pepper
A touch of salt

Method
1) In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise, butter and salt. Using a fork, mash hard-boiled eggs together with the mayonnaise mixture in the bowl. Sprinkle salt and black pepper and mix well. Chill thoroughly.

2) For each sandwich, place 2 lettuce leafs, followed by cherry tomato halves onto 1 slice of bread. Spoon over 2 tablespoons of chilled egg. Top with another slice of bread. Repeat steps for another set of sandwich. Serve or pack to work/ school.

1 generous serving of egg mayo thick sandwich counts about 340kcal.

Tips: Avoid over boiling the eggs in order to retain more moist in it. If find hard boiled eggs too dried after mashed in, may add 1 teaspoon of milk to add moisture into the egg mixture.
* Use low-fat Mayonnaise, if desired.
* Serve with chilled egg mixture, or reheat the whole sandwich in a microwave for 1 minute when ready to tuck in. I personally like it warm.