My first Scrumptious Homemade Yu Sheng Lo Hei of the Year 2010 from Kwong Cheong Thye

"Singapore's century-old Soy bean products manufacturer, Kwong Cheong Thye, which sells not just the popular seasoning sauce and condiment, they offer one of the tastiest Yu Sheng packages, too!"

I know I will feel guilty if I don't share this great condiment/ sauces shop with you for getting good Chinese New Year dry food goodness.

This shop was recommended and I was brought there by one of my colleagues recently, great for getting CNY food stuff. One of the most popular CNY goodies there has to be the pre-packed Yu Sheng ingredients, of course!

I couldn't wait to try it after getting the first packet of this pre-packed Yu Sheng ingredients. So, we had our very first Lo-Hei last Sunday.

It was indeed scrumptious. The crunched crackers that tops to the Yu Sheng, was extensively crunchy and aromatic!

Thus, I went back to the shop again to get more Yu Sheng packs and bottled sauces as well as some other dry goods for usual cooking use, too.

Coming back to their Yu Sheng ingredients... These are sold in various forms. They offer pre-pack, gift pack, and even individual pack in small and large quantities. What we have gotten are those pre-pack ones serving easily 10 - 12 person. Cost: S$17.90.

This is the prepackage and it considers a value-pack as the portion in each pack is so generous that surely enough for more than 10pax. If you like the super-crunched crackers a lot, go for this Yu Sheng pack as they offer 3 packets of crackers in each pack.

If you have already gotten your own Yu Sheng ingredients, consider getting the Yu Sheng sauce in bottle which costs $3/bottle. Its pleasant sweet and zesty flavour is the main key to elevating the taste of the Yu Sheng dish.

Actually, I am not sure if you are still able to get the Yu Sheng pack as it was selling fast since last Tuesday. However, if you are interest to go there, here's the location:

廣祥泰
Kwong Cheong Thye Pte. Ltd.Add: 61 Lorong 27 Geylang (S)388186, 388186
MRT Station: Aljunied
Tel: 6748 0128
Opening hours: Mon - Sat : 9:30am - 5:30pm (**Open till 7pm during CNY period)

Sun & Pub : Closed (**Open on Sunday till 5:30pm during the CNY period)

This shop is selling more than just the Yu Sheng ingredients, but many different kinds of condiments, prepackaged sauces, dry food stuff and the ingredients for Vietnamese food, Japanese food, as well as all kinds of frozen/ ready made vegetarian food. Even frozen red bean pancake and yam ring are found here!

Tips: 3 minutes walk from Aljunied MRT station. Turn left from the MRT exit gantry. The shop is located in the middle of the stretch of shops, two rows away from the MRT station.
* Prepare your own pomelo sac to top onto the shredded carrot, white and green radishes.
* Add also 1 - 2 tablespoons of peanut oil to moisten the Yu Sheng dish.
* Top with raw Salmon fish slices. Sprinkle some five-spice powder and drizzle freshly squeeze lime juice onto the fish slices before topping.

Chilled Mango Sago & Pomelo Dessert (杨枝甘露)

"Dessert time... Once again, you'll get to see my passion to Hong Kong in my cooking. My low-fat version of this all-time favourite and delicious HK sweet treat, the mango sago pomelo dessert. It's cut down in fat, but never in taste. Serve it chilled!"

Sunday is our 'fruit-juice day'. I tried making this occasion a weekend routine every Sunday afternoon. Firstly, I'll get to deplete the over-stocked fruits in my fridge. Secondly, it's easier to maximize the intake of vitamins and minerals by a glass of fruit juice than just one single cut fruit at a time.

To have the fruit fiber in it, I usually blend the whole fruit instead of getting just its juice. So, no worries about wasting the fiber, in most of My's fruit juice recipes (smile).

Well, the 'fruit juice' we had last week wasn't in the juice form. We had mango dessert as I felt like having this Hong Kong popular dessert, Mango & Pomelo Sago dessert, 杨枝甘露 (in Mandarin: Yang Zhi Gan Lu).

Just sharing my experience here before going further... Two weeks ago, I had the mango pomelo (& sago) dessert at one of the HK cafés at Somerset area, and it was so disappointed. The mango sago dessert was so sweet with watery consistency. Imagine having some kind of mango-flavoured sugared water... and I had to pay about S$5 for the dessert that tastes far from my lowest expectation... Oh never mind, there are still many great stores/ restaurants serving great mango sago dessert. Anyway, I, then, decided to make this at home.

Oh well, this sweet savory might look deceptively complex to make, but in fact, it's just something great you could make deliciously within minutes.

This mango dessert usually made with mango juice and cream or condense milk, but I preferred fresh mango or purée purely from fresh mangoes, with low-fat milk. For a fuller and smoother mouthfeel in the palate, this should be a better choice of ingredients used. And, trust me, it tastes so great (smile).

Making the mango dessert at home, it's simple, delicious, and always better quality with lower cost, to satisfy everyone's need for nutrients, with just less than S$10 (smile).

Go ahead to enjoy this super-licious homemade treat with your loved ones this weekend!

Serves 3 - 4
Ingredients
2 large ripe mangoes, peeled and pitted (leaving half mango to cut into small cubes for toppings)
3 wedges of sweet pomelo, peeled and sac loosen
400 ml of low fat milk (I used Marigold brand)
2 tablespoons of sugar
3 tablespoons of tiny pearl sago
1 mug of ice cubes

Method
1) Precook the sago: Boil a pot of water over medium-high hear. Place in sago and boil for 10 minutes. Heat off. Cover with lid and let the heating stand for another 5 minutes. It's ok if the white starch in the sago is still visible in this stage. Drain on a fine wire sieve, and pour icy water over. Then, bring sago to a boil in pot again till the the sago turns completely transparent, for about 15 - 20 minutes or longer. Heat off and set aside. (May skip last boiling step if the pearl sago has already cooked completely at the beginning step before drainage on sieve).

2) Now, place mangoes, milk, ice cubes and sugar into blender. Blend ingredients into purée form.

3) Pour and divide the mango mixture into bowls. Use a small strainer to ladle the cooked sago and add into bowls. Add in the loosen pomelo sac. Then, fold the ingredients to mix well.

4) Top mango cubes and some pomelo sac. Serve.

Tips: Some use or add ready mango purée or juice. Some use coconut cream instead of milk or cream. I used just the fresh mangoes and low-fat milk. Taste as good, and it's smooth and healthy!
* Make sure mangoes and pomelo are ripe and sweet.
* Low fat milk can be skimmed or fresh type.
* Adjust the amount of ice cubes and milk to yield your desired texture of this mango dessert.
* Add more sugar, if the mangoes you bought are not as sweet and ripe as expected.

8-Treasure Sweet Soup (八宝甜汤)

"An auspicious savory to sweeten up the Chinese Lunar New Year or any day of the year"

The 'Eight-Treasure' porridge, in Chinese, 八宝粥 'Ba Bao Zhou', wouldn't sound strange to many of you in Asian countries. This is an auspicious Chinese food for many Asians, symbolizing eight kinds of good treasure including wealth and health to be brought to one.

Cooking this 'Ba Bao' porridge is versatile. It can be cooked into briny flavor as rice congee dish (an adaption with adding of some rice grains), or make it in sweet broth as dessert.

The version I cooked is the sweet soup dessert dish. So, it's named 'Ba Bao' sweet soup instead of 'Ba Bao' porridge. I liked dessert soup as Chinese believed in having sweet soup regularly for its skin nourishing and throat soothing effects in general. Moreover, it is delicious!

Serves 10
Ingredients
'8-Treasure' consists of:
3 tablespoons of red beans
2 tablespoons of green beans
2 tablespoons of lotus seeds
2 tablespoons of ginko nuts
2 tablespoons of dried longan meat
1 tablespoon of kidney beans
1 tablespoon of barley
1 tablespoon of dried lily bulbs

Other Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of corn starch, mixed with water to make into cornstarch slurry

200 grams of raw rock sugar (roughly 2 - 3 pieces, each about a card-size with 1/2" thickness)

1 large pot of water, three quarter filled (about 2500ml)

Method
1) Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Place kidney beans and reduce heat to medium fire. Simmer kidney beans for 20 minutes.

2) Then, place the balance 7 'treasures' into the pot and bring it to a boil again.

3) Reduce heat to low fire and simmer all 8 treasures for 30 minutes, or until ingredients are cooked and softened.

4) Add rock sugar and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.

5) Stir in cornstarch slurry to slightly thicken and smoothen the sweet soup. Heat off. Serve hot immediately, or chilled.

A serving of my dessert soup counts about 250kcal.

Tips: Instead of adding cornstarch slurry, you may add 2 - 3 tablespoons of tiny sago balls to yield similar consistency of the soup. Add sago at the very beginning for long boiling till turning semi-melted form.
* Soak kidney beans in water overnight, if desired. It helps to soften the beans quicker with shorter cooking time.

Grilled Halibut with Basil Leaves & Asian Mushroom Sauce

"Grilled fish with Asian mushroom sauce that tingles your taste bud"

This recipe was created for my Christmas dinner in 2010. We had chicken chop the year before, and so, I thought of cooking grilled fish this time. I always have craving for grilled fish fillet recently, but I always cook Chinese meals, if not pasta dishes in normal days. So, this Christmas gave me a good opportunity to explore this grilled fish recipe since I usually cook Western meal for Western festivals as it sounds more appropriate to such celebrations. Further more, grilled fish is much easier to prepare and cook. I wanted a quick cooking for this festive dinner so that I could spare some good time for making my own log cake.

The mushroom sauce I've cooked this time is slightly different from the usual creamy mushroom sauce. Mine was cooked with Asian condiments. What to do.. Hubby is more an oriental man than modern westernized type (laugh).

Serves 2
Ingredients
2 pieces of Halibut fillet
1 tablespoon of olive oil plus 1 tablespoon more for browning mushrooms
1 tablespoon of butter plus 2 tablespoons more (or amount enough for both fillets and mushrooms)

Seasoning for fish fillet (A):
5 - 6 leafs of fresh Basil Leaves, chopped
Pinch of coarsely grounded black pepper
Pinch of chicken powder
Pinch of salt

Pinch of corn starch

Ingredients for Mushroom Sauce:
4 fresh Button mushrooms, halved
2 fresh Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 Portabello mushrooms, sliced
2 dried Chinese Shiitake mushrooms, soaked to soften, trimmed and sliced
1 small onion, peeled and sliced
200ml of skimmed milk

Seasoning for Mushroom Sauce (B):
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
½ teaspoon of dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon of sugar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of grounded white pepper
Pinch of coarsely grounded black pepper

½ teaspoon of corn starch, mixed with 1 tablespoon of water to make corn starch slurry

Garnish
Chopped Basil leaves

Method
1) Clean and pat dry fish fillets with paper towel. Season fish fillets on both sides with the listed seasonings A (except for cornstarch) for 15 munutes. Set aside.

2) Heat large frying pan with olive oil and butter over medium fire. Sprinkle cornstach on both sides of the fish fillets. Place fillets in the pan to sauté till both sides are cooked and browned. Adjust fire to low-medium, if fillets are large and thick. Dish up.

3) Clean the same frying pan, heat with olive oil and butter. Place mushrooms scatteredly in the pan and lightly brown them. Do not crowd the mushrooms in the pan. Brown the mushrooms in batches, if necessary. Then, brown the onions.

4) Transfer the sautéed mushrooms and onions into a pot away from stove, add in milk. Use a handheld blender to blend the mushroom mixture well.

5) Bring the pot back on stove over low heat, stir in the listed seasoning B (except for corn starch slurry). Bring the pot to a light boil. Add in corn starch slurry to thicken the sauce. Heat off. Laddle sauce and pour it on the fillets. Garnish and serve together with any other side dishes.

A generous serving of my grilled fish fillet topped with Asian mushroom sauce counts roughly around 320kcal. It's pretty healthy!

Tips: Browning of mushrooms is not a must, but it will elevate the aroma and flavour of the sauce, if done so.
* Use of handheld or electrical blender, simply transfer the mushrooms and onions into the electrical blender and add in milk to blend well. Then, transfer into the pot for boiling on stove.
* Sauté the fresh Basil leaves till crisped for a more aromatic garnishing, if desired. Otherwise, may use the pre-bottled chopped dried Basil leaves instead. Simply sprinkle some on the serving.

V-Day Special - Romantic Pinkie Dragon Fruit Juice

"If you aren't a alcohol drinker, this healthy & low-fat romantic pink fruit smoothie should be your top option for this coming V-Day."

I had this similar fruit juice smoothie at the Golden Shoe hawker centre at Raffles Place. Its unusual flavor wasn't that impressive when I first tasted it, but it didn't stop me from giving it a second try since my close colleague had constantly reminded me how delicious was this special fruit juice. Ok, I finally agreed with her and started liking it more and more after a few tries. It is priced at $2.20 per big cup, and this considers a very good price for a superior type of fruit juice selling at Raffles Place district. However, it is still not that economical to have a few dollars beverage on daily basis when I can simply drink some kinds of tea or coffee beverages provided by my office (smile). Oh well, I made this by myself at home now. I did not want to deliberately buy so many different kinds of fruit just for this, but it happened that I had given a big basket of fruits hamper as my get-well-soon gift after my surgery treatment. I, then, had most of the fruits I needed to make this beverage. So, here it is to be shared in my blog, especially V-Day is just next month!

Ok.. This is very simple to make, what you need to have is a blender for the following recipe. But, not sure why, my fruit juice is not as strong and sweet taste as the one I have tasted from the store. Are some kinds of fruit essence or sweetener added into the juice? Or is it simply due to the sweetness of the fruits used? I am not quite sure though.

So, I am going to remind you that my special fruit juice might not be as sweet and flavorful as other fruit juices. This combination of fruits juice tastes simply subtle and you will really like it only if you prefer plainer type of smoothie-like fruit juice. Otherwise, use honeydew-flavoured milk to make the juice tastier, if you want to.

Anyway, this romantic pink smoothie should be one of the top choices for you and your loved ones on the Valentine's Day or any other occasions.

Yields 4 glasses
Ingredients
½ red fleshed dragon fruit
1 white fleshed dragon fruit
4 wedges of ripe honeydew
200 ml of low fat milk
1 mug of ice cubes

Optional:
1 tablespoon of honey (*This is not necessary if honeydew flavoured milk is used)

Equipment
Electrical blender

Method
Peel and cut all the fruits into chunks. Place fruits, ice cubes and milk into the blender. Blend all ingredients into smoothie on medium/ high speed. Add honey and blend it on low speed for a more few second, if preferred. Serve immediately.

A glass of my special dragon fruits juice (with honey added) counts about 90kcal. Minus off 20kcal for the juice without honey.

Tips: Honeydew has to be really sweet to get better flavour in the drink.
* You may also replace plain low-fat milk with honeydew flavoured milk instead.
* Reduce the amount to half for serving of just two glasses.