Low-Carb Cheesy “Toast”

by PatriCa BB 雪冰

“My toast ain’t bread. It’s low-Carb food. It’s vegetable!”

Yes, having on diet to shed away the final round of my baby weight for the past few months, I learnt to eat low carb food. This is one of the dishes I have learnt to make, to replace high carb ingredients, once in awhile.

You may call this a “toast”, “pancake”, or “Rosti”. It’s made of mashed cauliflower as its main. I liked it a lot as it’s just yummy and doesn’t taste like vegetable. Even my toddler son ate it. To me, it resembled a cheesy pancake meal. :) More

Chow Mien (Stir Fried Chinese Yellow Noodle 炒面) for Toddler

by PatriCa BB 雪冰

“Get a child to get oyster mushrooms in this simple vegetarian Chow Mien? How about having it better by adding the super food, Quinoa, as well as liquid aminos, into his meals?”

My son loves the Chinese yellow noodle (Chinese alkaline noodle), usually being prepared in soup as fish balls noodle soup selling at most of the hawker centers, food courts and coffee shops in Singapore and other parts of Asia.

This thin yellow noodle would also commonly be cooked in fried noodle (Chinese Chow Mien) or the Mee Goreng (Indian fried noodle) style which easily found selling outside. Having that said, these fried noodles selling at the stores are usually over seasoned or spicy. More

Mushrooms & Pea Sprouts Stir-Fry

by PatriCa BB 雪冰

“It’s just the abalone sauce you need in your stir fry!”

In order to fully appreciate the freshest taste and natural sweetness Of the fresh pea sprouts as well as the highly nutritious mushrooms, minimal use of condiment to taste is more than just required. I needed only the abalone sauce in my recipe.

If you are a vegetarian, use the mushroom sauce. Otherwise, the Abalone sauce is the best to go with this stir fry! That’s because the golden spring mushroom (金源菇) used in this recipe yields a tinge of ‘seafood’ taste after cooked. Hence, adding abalone sauce was sure to good in enhancing the flavor of this seafood-tasted mushroom in the dish. More

Stir Fried 2 Mushrooms (Vegetarian)

by PatriCa BB 雪冰

“Sometimes, just cook and eat a simple, quick and easy vegetable dish is great.”

Did I tell you that I was on strict vegetarian diet for over a short period of time? It was done with religious purpose. Hence, I ate only pure vegetarian meals, without garlic, onion and spring onion, this time.

This was a dish I liked during these days. Easy and pure. Yes, unlike my previous Assorted Asian mushroom recipe, I did not cook this with garlic and ginger. Also, used only 2 kinds of mushroom in this dish. More

Vegetarian Burger Patty with Pineapple Teriyaki Sauce

by PatriCa BB 雪冰

“It’s easier to make this vegetarian burger meal than you think it would be. It’s yummy and healthy.”

Seriously. This is the best way to ‘trick’ one that does not eat beans, carrot, celery, and mushrooms. For one who does not like oats, or has to take oats for his/ her purpose, yet would wish to explore a new way to take the oats other than making the viral-recipe, Overnight Oats, this is a great food for ya.

For the non-initiated, I was referring to our vegetarian Western burger meal with my veggie patty and pineapple teriyaki sauce posted up on my FB wall last evening. Yes, you are right. The veggie patty made consists of all the above mentioned, and more.. More

Kangkung, water spinach, water convolvulus

Stir Fried Kangkong with Fermented Bean Curd Cubes (腐乳炒通菜)

by PatriCa BB 雪冰


“Kangkong, in a ‘Hong Kong’ way”

While Sambal Belacan Kangkong is a popular vegetable dish in Singapore and Malaysia, this Kangkong with fermented bean curd is pretty common in Hong Kong.

As you know, I am a die hard fan of Hong Kong (and its food!), I will not miss eating and cooking some of these signature Hong Kong household dishes by my own. More

Chrysanthemum & Wolfberry Konnyaku Jelly with Bird Nest

Chrysanthemum & Wolfberry Konnyaku Jelly with Bird Nest

by PatriCa BB 雪冰
=&0=& Singapore weather isn’t as hot as before and it rains pretty much lately, but I was still inspired to make these chrysanthemum & wolfberry (枸杞) konnyaku jellies as I could imagine some kind of soothing, healing, and peaceful feeling after eating it as my after-meal dessert. Arrh~~ Alright… it was also partly because papa had just done his cataract and eye Lasik surgery. So, I thought it would be nice to make some of these chrysanthemum and wolfberries goodies for him. Adding of bird nest was mainly for my benefit, and it sounded perfect for everyone, since we all liked bird nest! Despite the extra effort to boil and filter the chrysanthemum petals and worlfberries, this konnyaku dessert is very simple to make as the konnyaku jelly premix is easily obtainable from major supermarket at a very economical price. I got the Redman brand konnyaku power premix (already blend in malic acid and sugar) from NTUC Fairprice at about S$2.50 for 250gram packet.
Gongju

As for the chrysanthemum , I used the better graded chrysanthemum flower, Gongju (贡菊), which has smaller and more compact petals. These dried flowers are usually packed and sold at any Chinese medical halls or Asian supermarkets for S$5 – $7 a packet. Another type of white chrysanthemum (杭白菊) which has bigger petals is good, too. Its main benefit is to aid for better eye sight, while the one I used is mainly to clear the ‘heatiness’ in the body, and it is less sweet but stronger in taste. The usual yellow chrysanthemum (野黄菊) which yields slight bitterness aftertaste, is also fine to use. Generally, all types are good and beneficial to be consumed, but my personal preference is the small ‘Gongju’, which deemed the best suitable for making jellies.

Alluring bird nest strip visibly appears in the jelly
How about the bird nest? Real bird nest used? Yes, I used the instant Guan Yan Zhan (官燕栈) bird nest from Lo Hong Ka for my daily consumption ever since into second trimester of my pregnancy. Alternatively, use the bottled bird nest (in heavily sweetened liquid). If this is the case, I would suggest an alternate type of konnyaku jelly power which is unsweetened so that you could use the whole bottle of bird nest together with its sweetened liquid. Or, simply don’t use the konnyaku powder! Make your own jelly with the traditional agar-agar (seaweed) strips (菜燕条) or gelatin sheets (or powder form). Simply dissolve your desired gelling agent, and add sugar (together with the sweetened bird nest liquid) into the boiled (and strained) chrysanthemum water (Alright, I will show you the exact steps next time). This is just an idea to share with you… Otherwise, forget the bird nest for this time round as it might be too much effort for the meant-to-be simple dessert making. :) Anyway, Matthew (one of the fans from my FB fan club wrote on my wall) was right. This sounds like a perfect summer snack (smile)! =&1=& =&2=& =&3=& =&4=& =&5=& =&6=& =&7=& =&8=& =&9=& =&10=& =&11=& =&12=& 1 jelly counts less than 10kcal. Tips: It’s ok to leave out a little bit of these edible chrysanthemum petals in the pot. These tiny petals will only make your jellies looked even nicer, and its insignificant amount won’t affect the taste and mouthfeel of the jelly. If you really mind eating even a single petal, use a large disposable tea/ soup bag to boil the chrysanthemum, then. * Some konnyaku jelly brands come with flavour/ colour. Don’t use the flavoured konnyaku jelly powder. Original pre-mix powder is the best as the chrysanthemum tea will yield natural yellowish colour in the jelly which looks very nice and natural. * Do not discard the chrysanthemum just after one time boil for the jelly making. Simmer the same chrysanthemum again in a pot of hot boiled water (for 1 minute then cover pot with lid to let it stand for another 5 minutes) for the second time and to be drank as tea.