Honey Grass Jelly Dessert

"It's the super low-fat Honey Peachie Grass Jelly!"

This is the best cooling dessert to be served in a BBQ party, as a refreshment after a feast of heaty char-grilled.

Grass jelly, we called it 'Cincau' in Malay, or 仙草 (pronounced as 'Xian Cao' in Chinese).

Grass jelly has very high cooling properties that makes it so great to be consumed during hot days.

This Asian herbal jelly dessert is black in colour. It's translucent black when in thinner piece or strands and looks more opaque when it comes in block. The texture of this grass jelly is bouncy, just like any other jello, but the unsweetened grass jelly tastes almost bland. So, it usually go along with some sweetener or sugary liquid. An addition of honey will be my first choice as it makes this dessert even healthier and more soothing to be enjoyed on a sunny hot day.

Most children like this dessert. This is my girl's favorite dessert, too!

Serves 4 - 5
Ingredients
1 block of unsweetened grass jelly, diced
1 can of heavily syruped peach, diced, and retained 100ml of its syrup
1 cup of nata de coco
1 tablespoon of honey
200 ml of water

Method
1) Place grass jelly into a large dessert bowl. Add in water and 50ml of peach syrup. Then, gently stir in honey.

2) Now, add in peaches and nata de coco dices. Keep in the refrigerator to chill, before serving.

For more options: Top grass jelly with canned longan instead.



A generous portion of my grass jelly dessert counts about 90kcal.

Tips: If you wish to add ice to chill it instantly, simply add ice and omit the addition of water so that the taste of the dessert will not be diluted.
* Try not to pre-mix the peaches and nata de coco cubes with the grass jelly as the fruits will turn black by the liquid of grass jelly which tends to affect the appearance of the serving, if you do mind.
* Get the unsweetened grass jelly instead of the pre-packed sweetened kinds.
* All the main ingredients can be purchased off the shelves.





PatriCa posted from iPhone

Sugar Cane Fish Meat Drumsticks

"An absolute kid-pleaser dish.. Fun to see, nice to eat!"

Having trouble getting your kids (or the big kid) to eat more fish?
Cook this to make the fish dish more fun. A way to disguise the fish meat in a fun-looking drumstick-like appearance, the kids will be more than willing to pick up one to try. Yes, it works!

This sugar cane fish meat drumstick tasted very delicate with an aroma of egg coated on the surface of the fish drumstick. I liked the tenderness in the fish meat, too.

This will surely be an impressive snacks to be served to your guests during a casual tea party at home, too!

Serves 4 - 5
Ingredients
300 grams of minced fish meat
2 tablespoons of canned corn kennels
1 arm-length fresh sugar cane, peeled

1 large egg, beaten (For coating)
1 cup of corn starch (For coating)

1 cup of oil (for shallow-frying)

Seasoning:
3 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar cane
1 teaspoon of corn starch
Pinch of grounded white pepper

Dipping sauce:
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
OR
Special sugar cane sauce: Mix 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce with 3 tablespoons of sugar cane.

Method
1) Rinse the peeled sugar cane. Chop peeled sugar cane crosswise into 2 sections, and then, split each section lengthwise into quarters, to create 8 smaller sticks. Set aside.

2) Season mince fish meat with the listed seasonings, stir to mix the ingredients continuously till paste-like consistency. Add corn kennels. Divide paste-like fish meat into 8 portions.

3) Grease your fingers with oil. Pick up a portion of the fish paste and press it on the sugar cane stick, from top till halfway down the sugar cane stick to create a drumstick-like fish cake stick.  Leave the lower portion of the sugar cane stick exposed to serve as handle. Remember to press the fish paste firmly on the sugar cane to ensure adherence. Repeat step till all remaining 7 portions are completed.

4) Heat wok with oil over medium-high fire. Roll the sugar cane stick to coat the fish cake on-stick with egg solution, followed by corn starch. Repeat step for all sugar cane fish cake sticks. Then, place in the heated wok to fry till golden browned. Drain and arrange on serving dish with choice of dipping sauce. Serve.

For more options: Mix minced fish meat with minced shrimp meat or mince pork for more comprehensive biting pleasure and taste, if desired.

A stick of fried sugar cane fish cake counts about 160kcal.

Tips: Use store-bought ready fish paste, for convenience. However, expect much softer and moist texture in the fish meat.
* Use packet sugar cane, if you have difficult to get fresh sugar cane juice.
* Use shallow-frying method (to save oil usage) over deep frying as fish meat is cooked faster and easier.

'Safe-for-All' Steamed Fish Fillet in Egg Paste (老少平安蒸鱼)

"It's a steamed fish, also a steamed egg dish. 2-1, you have got the best of both!"

Here we have a healthy dish to be categorized as an easy and fuss free cooking. This steamed fish in egg paste surely is one of the best fitted dishes in this category. I learned this recipe from one of the TVB cooking shows I have watched and this, is an adaption to their recipe.

Why is it named 'safe-for-all'? The reason being (which explained by the chef in the show), this dish would be an easy-to-consume fish dish for all ages. From the aged to young diners, there is no need to worry about nor watch out for fish bones while having fed in large mouthful scoops.

This is simply a delicious soft fish-egg dish that pleases everyone here!

Serves 4 - 5
Ingredients
200 grams of boneless fish fillet, sliced (Use any kind of white fish. I used Red Snapper)
1 block of silken tofu
2 fresh Shiitake mushrooms, trimmed and diced
50 grams of Char siew 叉烧 (Chinese roasted BBQ pork), diced
2 - 3 tablespoons of prawn paste (Get the store-bought ready paste will do)
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
½ teaspoon of sugar
Pinch of salt and grounded white pepper

Garnish (Optional)
Scallions, julienned
Cilantro, julienned

1) Mix eggs, prawn paste, tofu, mushrooms, Char siew, oyster sauce, salt, sugar, pepper and cornstarch together in a bowl. Mince with metal fork to combine well.

2) Place the paste-like egg solution evenly on a large dish. Arrange fish fillets on top of the egg paste.

3) Then, steam on a wire rack in wok with water just slightly above the rack, with lid on. Or, place in electrical steamer. Both methods using high heat, steam for 5 minutes.

A portion of my fish egg dish counts about 150kcal.

Tips: Do not over steam the dish to retain the correct tenderness of the fish and egg.
* Make 101% sure that the fish fillets are bone free, before cooking.

Vegeroni with Fish Fillets and Mushrooms

"Just for a quick & casual dinner, with whatever available in my kitchen"

Wanted to deplete the stocks of my pasta, I had my quick dinner fixed with some of these available staples.

This packet of assorted pasta shapes used in this recipe was bought from NTUC Finest weeks ago, was to be added to my storage of pastas. I eat pasta quite regularly, to replace having rice instead, as pasta is lower in GI so as to feel fuller for longer. And, I liked this Vegeroni because it's colorful that makes it imaginably appealing.

The Vegeroni, "Veggie in Macaroni", comes in different colours, shapes and flavors with the additions of vegetable powder. The green Vegeroni pastas were added with spinach powder, orangy red ones with tomato, plus the common wheat macaroni. It's a healthier wheat pasta!

As for the sauce, it is a combination of my previous recipe and an adaption from recipe listed the back of the pasta packaging.

Added just some fish fillets and fresh Shiitake mushrooms to keep the dish simple, yet, flavorful without being too creamy. The use of milder cheese such as Edam cheese is to avoid the heaviness that might creates any sickly feeling, too.

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
250 grams of colourful Vegeroni pastas
300 grams of white fish fillet, sliced
6 fresh Shiitake mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
500ml of chicken broth
200ml of thick cream
100 gram of Edam cheese
1 teaspoon of coarsely grounded black pepper
Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter

Seasoning for fish fillet:
1 teaspoon of grounded white pepper
1 teaspoon of chicken powder
1 teaspoon of potato starch

1 large pot of water with pinch of salt and olive oil (for blanching pasta)

Garnish:
A small bunch of parsley
Grated Parmesan or Romano

Method
1) Season fish fillet with pepper and chicken powder for 15 minutes. Then, combine well with potato starch. Set aside.

2) Heat large pan with olive oil and butter over medium fire. Sauté fish fillets till fillets turns white and lightly browned on both sides. Dish up and reserve for later.

3) Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Stir in salt and olive oil. Add in Vegeroni and cook for 6 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3) In the same large pan of Step 1, use remaining fat to sauté fresh mushrooms over medium fire. Then, return cooked Vegeroni to the pan. Add in chicken broth. Cover Pan with lid and simmer for 4 - 5 minutes, or until broth reduced and thickened.

4) Stir in cream and cheese. Season with salt and pepper and stir fry to combine well.

5) Reduce heat to low fire, return sautéed fish fillet to the pan and gently stir fry to combine all ingredients. Heat off. Dish up and divide into plates. Garnish and serve immediately.

Variations: Use pork slices, chicken fillet stripes or prawns instead of fish fillet, as desired.
* Choice of pasta types to your preference, too.

1 serving of my Vegeroni pasta counts about 450kcal.

Tips: Replace thick cream with low-fat milk ( may thicken with adding some corbstarch slurry into the cooking after added milk in the wok, if find it too watery before dishing up).

Asian Soy Sauce Young Ginger Chicken Recipe

"Simple & hearty weeknight home cooked dish that comes with a WOW factor!"

This is one of the many versions of soy-sauced chicken stir-fry, and this is the best I liked among the variations, ever since my first cooking of such with a similar recipe found in the apps of my iPhone..

Not only having chicken as the main ingredient in this dish, the young ginger has also taken the lead here. For both its exotic flavor and eating pleasure. Yes, both the chicken and ginger are the main ingredients for the dish here to be savored on!

Afraid of the pungency in the ginger? The step of dredging and pre-sautéed gingers in this recipe is to help creating a more fragrant and crunchy texture that makes it taste so nice without much of its pungency flavor. So, eat the ginger as one of the mains, too.

And don't forget, consumption of ginger helps to expel the excessive gas in the stomach as well as providing warming effect to our body, especially in cold and rainy weather.

Serves 4
Ingredients
Half chicken, chopped into pieces
300 grams of young ginger, briefly scrapped away its skin and thickly sliced

2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
1 lump of brown rock sugar (table tennis ball sized)
50 - 100ml of water (Optional, for more gravy preferred)

3 tablespoons of oil

Seasoning (A) for chicken:2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of ginger juice, freshly squashed from the young gingers
1 tablespoon of rice wine

Seasoning (B) for chicken:1 tablespoon of potato starch
1 teaspoon of sesame oil

Preservation for young ginger:1 - 2 tablespoons of salt (preferably coarse salt)

Method
1) Rinse chicken and briefly pat dry with kitchen towel. Marinate with the listed seasoning (A), for at least an hour. Then, combine well with sesame oil and potato starch (Seasoning B).

2) Dredge young ginger with generous amount of salt. Set aside to season till ready to cook, and then, rinse away salt and pat dry ginger before cooking.

3) Heat wok without any oil over medium-high fire. Add young ginger in the dry heated wok and stir fry till lightly crunched and fragrant. Remove ginger from wok and set aside.

4) Add oil into the same wok. Brief sauté chicken for 1 minute, or until chicken turns white with trace of browning on the outer. Return ginger to the wok and stir fry to combine well.

5) Drizzle light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Stir fry to combine. Add some water, if more gravy preferred. Add in rock sugar. Cover wok with lid and reduce heat to low fire to simmer for 20 minutes, or until chicken is well cooked.

6) Increase heat to high fire to cook the sauce till lightly thicken, for about 1 - 2 minutes. Otherwise, you may stir in a small amount of corn starch slurry to help thickening the sauce.

A portion of my young ginger chicken stir fry counts about 360kcal.

Tips: Drizzle water, if find the ingredients too dry while cooking, but do not add too much of water as some water in the chicken meat will be extracted during the simmering process.

'A-Balling' Peanut Soup Dessert (Glutinous Rice Balls in Sweet Peanut Soup)

"An iconic Singapore Hawker Dessert made at home"

Not sure why this is called 'Ah Balling' or 'Yah Boling' in Singapore, but apparently this Teochew dessert soup is so popular and well liked by the people where it has become one of iconic hawker delicacies in Singapore for the past decades.

Since weather here was pretty cooling as it had been either raining or pouring, it might be good if we had some piping hot beverages or food to warm ourselves. My girl loved glutinous rice ball and she requested for it when I asked her what would she prefer to have for hot dessert. The combination of ginger soup and glutinous rice balls is always her favorite, but I was thinking of a change in its soup for this time instead of making the ginger soup for the rice balls repeatedly. This famous Ah Balling just came to my mind...

Initially, I was afraid that the peanuts wouldn't turn melting soft like what I had from outside stores as I remember it took day-long boiling in slow cooker for softening the peanuts in my lotus root peanut soup which I used to cook, and I wasn't having such extensive hours to do so for making the sweet peanut soup just for dessert. Luckily, I called my mum to find out if she had any tricks in this. She taught me this, then! To steep peanuts in advance, either overnight long, or simply add alkaline solution or baking soda in the steeping water to steep peanuts for just an hour or two. And that will give me the desired melting soft peanut consistency.. Here's it! :)

Don't like glutinous rice balls? How about cooking and eating just the sweet peanut soup on its own as after-meal dessert, then?!

Something about Peanut:
Many thought that peanut is fattening, but you didn't know that peanut is a good source of monosaturated fats which benefits our health emphasizing on reduction in risk of getting cardiovascular diseases. So, eating peanuts in small quantity regularly or just having it moderately once in a while is good. It may even help in weight management in long run because by eating nuts as snacks, it prevents you from stuffing unhealthy junk food and even helps to curb your appetite for not overeating in actual meals. So, don't condemn peanuts, ok?

Cook my peanut soup, it's even healthier with addition of unsweetened soy milk. :)

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
250 grams of raw peanuts, peeled and halved
1000ml of water (about 5 cups)
200ml of unsweetened soy milk (about 1 cup)
150 gram of sugar (about 3/4 cup)

12 pieces of store-bought 'Tang Yuan' aka glutinous rice balls (with choices of peanut, red bean paste or black sesame seeds filling)
Or
Homemade plain glutinous rice balls using my recipe posted previously

For pre-soaking of peanut:A large pot of water mixed with 1 tablespoon of alkaline solution ('Jian Shui' 碱水)

Method:
1) Rinse and soak peanut in room temperature alkalined water for at least 2 hours.

2) Drain and replace with clean water, continue to soak for another 20 minutes. Repeat step for 1 - 2 more times to wash off ant trace of alkaline residue in the peanuts, if necessary.

3) Bring a pot of water to a boil over high fire. Add in peanuts. Cover pot with lid titled, and bring it to a boil again.

4) Lower heat to low fire to simmer for at least 2 hours, or till peanuts are cooked and softened. Add soy milk and dissolve sugar.

5) Increase heat to medium fire to bring the pot to a slow boil. Add in glutinous rice balls and gently stir the rice balls immediately to avoid sticking. Reduce heat to low fire now and let rice balls cook in the peanut soup till all rice balls float up. Heat off and serve hot.

A portion of my glutinous rice balls with mashed peanut filling (3 balls) in sweet peanut soup counts about 400kcal.

For more options: You may cook the peanut soup with just the plain water or entirely with soy milk, but use low fire for such long simmering to avoid burning of soy milk.

Tips: To shorten cooking time, use pressure cooker to cook the peanut soup (about 45 min to an hour).
* Alkaline solution in bottle is available in baking supplies shops or supermarkets (baking items cell). If not, use baking soda. Or, you prefer overnight soaking instead, but it may not be melting soft unless long simmering time takes place.