My neighbourhood

It has been sometime I didn't update my blog due to some personal reasons. Today I have something to say about my neighbourhood.

Every evening, I will mingle around my kitchen to prepare a sumptuous dinner for me and my hubby. I do it everyday except on certain days when we have outings with friends or family. Two weeks ago, I did the same thing in one evening. While I was preparing my meals patiently, I was aware of the busy sounds of preparing meals, smells of food from my neighbourhood. I started to guess what type of food are they preparing. Frying egg? Frying fish? Stewing chicken with soy sauce? It was fun and I enjoyed it. I believe my neighbourhood will feel the same when I'm doing the same thing.

Suddenly, I feel so lucky that I'm living in this peaceful place.

Some sweet stuffs!!

I have to admit that I'm a 'sweetie' person. I like sweet things very much but due to the health reason, I managed to control my 'sweet' consumption.

Today I would like to introduce you a traditional Chinese dessert called 'Steamed Egg'. It's very easy to made and is nutritious too! Hope you enjoy it.

The Ingredients:

• fresh eggs
• water
• Chinese crystal sugar
  

The Steps:

1. Cook the Chinese crystal sugar with water till melt. Set aside the sugar water till it cool. Ready to use.
   Note: Sweetness of the sugar water depends on individual.
   
   
2. Boil some water using the wok/steamer, get ready a steam based/stand.
   
   
3. Beat the fresh eggs evenly using a bowl.
   
   
4. Measure the 'cooled' sugar water using another bowl, the portion of the fresh eggs and sugar water should be 1:1.
   
   
5. Mix well the beaten eggs and sugar water together.
   
   
6. Pour the mixture into several smaller bowls. (can use rice bowl)
   
   
7. Put the small bowls into the wok/steamer once the water is boiled.
   
   
8. Steam the mixture for about 5 minutes.
   Note: The timing for the steaming process may varied due to the utensils used may varied. You need to do some experiments on it to get the perfect results.
   
   
9. Ready to serve.
   Note: A well done steamed egg surface should be smooth and the textures should be tender and milky.

This picture was not a good example as I over steamed it for 2 minutes causing the surface not so smooth.

Let's steam some fish!

I have been eating a lot of fishes lately and it had became the main source of protein for me and hubby. I would like to share with you this simple Chinese style steamed fish. You can choose any fish in the market that you like. We preferred Pomfrets and Garoupas. For fish weighing less than a kilo are suitable for steaming. However, larger fish are best stir fried or deep fried .

The Ingredients:

• A fish
• Some ginger slices
• Some chopped green onions and Chinese parsley
  
• A pinch of salt
  
• 2 portions of soy sauce (*)
• Some sugar (*)
  
• 1 portion of rice wine (*)
• 1/2 portion of water (*)
  
• Some oil

The Steps:

1. Clean the fish thoroughly.
   
   
2. Use your wok or steamer to boil some water, while waiting for the water to boil continue with step 3.
   
   
3. Wipe some salt onto the entire surface of the fish.
   
   
4. Pour some oil (to avoid the fish stick on the plate when cooked) onto a plate (which fit the fish) and place the fish into the plate.
   
   
5. Add half of the ginger slices on the surface and also in the fish.
   Note: The purpose of this action is to get rid of the fishy smell/taste of the fish.
   
   
6. Put the fish into the wok or steamer when it is boiled.
   
   
7. Prepare the sauce by mixing all the * ingredients and the left over ginger slices. Set aside and ready to use.
   
   
8. Open the wok cover and pour out the water and the ginger slices from the plate when the fish is half cooked.
   
   
9. Pour the mixture from the step 7 onto the fish.
   
   
10. Put back the half cooked fish into your wok/steamer.
    
    
11. Sprinkle some chopped green onion and parsley on the fish when is cooked.
    Note: The time for a fish to cook is varied as it highly depended on the size of the fish. You may need to perform some trial and error to get an accurate figure.
    
    
12. Ready to serve.

p/s: Sorry no picture for this post as the picture taken was spoilt due to some reasons.

Steam minced pork with seaweed

The other day I was checking out with my hubby what he preferred to have for his dinner. He is a pork lover and he said he would like to try Steam minced pork with seaweed! Sounds delicious and nutritious huh! Indeed it is. This time is really a challenge to me as I never tried this recipe before. Of course I did it! ho ho ho... and he likes it! Please try this:

The ingredients:

• 400g of minced lean pork
• a piece of seaweed
  
• an egg (optional)
  
• a pinch of salt to your taste
  
• some soysauce to your taste
• pepper powder to your taste

The steps:

1. Marinate the minced lean pork with salt, soysauce and pepper powder and set aside for about 30 minutes.
   
2. Clean the seaweed if necessary and chop it to smaller pieces.
3. Mixed the marinated minced lean pork with the seaweed evenly (add an egg into the mixture if you like)
4. Boil water with your pot or wok and place a steam base into the pot/wok.
   
5. Spread the mixture evenly on a plate and place it on the steam base.
6. Steam it for about 25 minutes.
   
7. Serve it with rice.

Before mixing

The mixture, spread it evenly

Cooked, okay la:-)

Something that i missed!

Hi there! I think I missed something rather important on the list of the kitchen setup. Please add 2 more items on the list:

• Cutting board
• Knifes
  

Let's start with some soup!

After getting your kitchen setup, I think you are ready to start cooking some simple dishes. Why not starting with some delicious and easy making soup? I would like to recommend a water cress soup. Please refer to the recipe below:

The ingredients (for 2 persons):

• Water Cress (450g)
  
• 300g Pork rib
• 20 Red dates (to remove the seeds)

The steps:

1. Boil about 2.5 liters water with your pot.
   
2. Wash and clean the cut pork rib and put into the pot.
3. Wash and clean the red dates and remove the seeds then put into the pot.
4. Wash and clean the water cress and pluck the water cress stalk into 4 to 5 cm each.
5. Stir in the water cress into the pot when the water is boiled.
   
6. Boil the soup for 2 to 2 and half hours long with medium heat. (Stir the soup once a while to ensure the ingredients are spread evenly in the soup)
   
7. Add some salt to taste.
8. The soup is ready to serve.

Benefits of this soup:

• Suitable for everyone in the family.
• Nutritous and Nourishing.
• Easy to make.

Kitchen setup

To setup a simple kitchen (in order to cook simple dishes). I recommend some of the 'must have' instruments/utensils as below:

• a gas stove (get a reliable brand to ensure safety)
  
• a medium size iron wok with it's cover (iron wok is more long lasting than the normal steel wok)
• a medium size pot (if affordable, it would be best to invest in clay* made pot)
  
• a wok spade
• a soup scoop/stirrer
• a steam base
  
• a set of bowl, plate, spoon, fork, chopsticks (the quantity depends on the family size)

* clay pot is good to retain heat and also the taste of the food.

Besides the above, some of the basic flavourings/spices which you need to buy are:

• salt (it would be good to invest in rock salt or sea salt for health purpose)
• sugar
• soy sauce
• pepper and pepper powder
• cooking oil (to choose vegetable/low cholesterol oil eg. sun flower seed oil, rice bran oil, olive oil, etc)

I believe the above is sufficient to setup a basic kitchen. You'll need to stock up your kitchen when there is a need arises.

Always make sure that all the cooking instruments/utensils are clean and arranged nicely and tidy all the time. For the cooking flavourings/spices, please keep it in the air tight containers and always keep it dry and clean. You can label the containers for easy recognition too.
Remember that a good kitchen need effort to maintain it's cleanliness. Always keep it clean and dry to get rid of all the unwelcome friends (mouse, ants, cockroaches, etc). So friends, don't be lazy!!