Miso Yong Tau Foo

 

Miso paste is often used to make miso soup. Today, I used some of the paste to cook with Yong Tau Foo and turn it into a very delicious dish. Reminds me of my late mother-in-law who made her own Yong Tau Foo including the fish paste, and stir fried with fermented soy beans (commonly called "tau cheo") sauce.

Ingredients:

15 pieces of store bought assorted Yong Tau Foo

1 tablespoon miso paste

100ml water

2 cloves of garlic (chopped)

corn starch slurry (1 tbsp corn flour + 2 tbsp water)

Method:

1. Heat up the wok with 1 tablespoon of oil.

2. Pan fry the pieces of Yong Tau Foo until the fish paste is cooked through and the sides of each piece of Yong Tau Foo is golden brown. Remove from wok and drain on kitchen towel.

3. In the same wok with remaining oil (top up if necessary), saute the garlic until fragrant. Add the miso paste and stir to mix in. Add water and bring to a boil. Stir in the corn starch slurry and simmer for a few minutes until it thickens into a viscous sauce. Finally, add the pieces of Yong Tau Foo and mix in. Simmer for a few minutes and off the heat.

4. Transfer to serving plate and serve hot.

Stir Fried French Beans

This simple stir fried vegetable is so crunchy and yummy.

Ingredients:

200g french beans (around 40 pieces, buy the ones that are long and slender, without bulging beans) 

2 garlic cloves, chopped 

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Wash the french beans and trim the ends (watch this youtube). As you will see in picture below, you will be able to pull a string when you trim the ends of a mature bean.

2. Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Cook the french beans in boiling water for 2 minutes and quickly cool in iced water. This is to preserve the colour and texture of the beans. Once cooled, drain well and cut the beans into small pieces.

3. Add some cooking oil into the wok. Saute the garlic and cook on low heat until slightly golden (don’t over cook the garlic, or it will taste bitter).

4. Add the french beans, season with paprika, salt and whilte pepper and stir fry for 3-4 minutes until the beans start to lightly blister. Turn off the heat and transfer the beans to a serving dish. 

Homemade Peanut Butter

自制花生酱

100% pure roasted peanut butter can be made at home easily. No more store bought peanut butter for me!

Ingredients

200g raw peanuts (with skin)

0.5g salt

30g olive oil

Method

1. Roast raw peanuts 200g at 130C for 40minutes until the skin turns reddish brown colour. 

above picture: before roasting

below picture: after roasting

2. Remove the peanut skins once the roasted peanuts have cooled down.

3. Transfer the peanuts to a blender. The first few minutes of blending will be crushing the peanuts. Then as you continue to blend, the peanut oils will be released and the mixture starts to turn lumpy. Keep blending until it comes together into a sticky paste. Add olive oil and and salt, and continue to blend it into a smooth butter. 

3. Transfer to container and keep in fridge. 

Sourdough Pancakes

 

Fluffy sourdough pancakes using unfed starter. So delicious and easy to make. Two key steps to note: do not overmix the batter, and control the heat of the pan.

Ingredients

Wet:

80g sourdough starter (unfed/discard) - 100% hydration

30g milk

11g honey

1 egg (57g without shell)

34g whipping cream

25g melted butter

Dry

80g plain flour

2g baking powder

1g baking soda

1.3g salt

Method

1. Mix all wet ingredients and salt together in a mixing bowl.

2. Sieve plain flour, baking powder and baking soda.

3. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and use a whisk to gently fold in until there is no dry flour. Do not over mix. It is ok for the batter to be lumpy like the texture shown in this video. Rest the batter for 10- 15 minutes.

4. Very lightly oil the cast iron skillet/pan with tiny bit of butter using a sheet of paper towel (folded in half). I use leftover butter wrappers to grease my skillet.

5. Heat up the skillet/pan over low heat. Once it's heated, place the skillet/pan onto a piece of damp cloth to reduce the temperature a little. Then put the skillet/pan back onto the stove and add a ladle of batter. Do not use a spoon/ladle to spread the batter.

6. Cook the pancake until you see bubbles on the surface of the pancake, about 2 minutes. When the pancake edges begin to look dry, use a spatula to slightly lift edge and check the first side. Once the first side is golden brown, flip and wait until the second side is golden brown as well, about another 1 minute. Transfer the cooked pancake to a dish with a lid to keep pancakes warm while you finish the rest of the batter.

Enjoy! Look how fluffy the pancake is! 

Sweet Multi Grain Porridge

 

This is a very healthy and nutritious breakfast dish. It is packed with whole grains and soy protein. To make this, you can buy ready packed multi grains  (五谷米) or put together various grains.

Ingredients

60g pearl barley (from Holland)

60g wheat kernels (小麦仁)

40g buck wheat

20g rolled oats

8 pieces of fresh bean curd skin

1 litre water

600ml unsweetened soy milk

60g rock sugar

Method

1. Soak the grains (excluding rolled oats) using 600ml water and thaw the frozen bean curd skin in fridge overnight.

2. Transfer the soaked grains (including the soaking liquid) to a big pot, add the bean curd skin and remaining 400ml water. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to simmer for 45minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the grains from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

3. Add the soy milk and stir to mix in thoroughly. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add the rock sugar and continue to simmer for 15 minutes. Stir to mix in the dissolved rock sugar thoroughly. Done! 

Pork Ribs King

排骨王

Ingredients

900g prime ribs (deboned for easier consumption)

Marinade:

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp shaoxing huatiao cooking wine

1 tsp sesame oil

1/4 tsp five spice powder

1 egg

dashes of white pepper powder

Method:

1. Rinse the prime ribs, dry with kitchen towel, remove membrane (refer to picture below) and debone. Use the sharp tip of the knife to poke the meat lightly to help the meat absorb the marinade.

2. Marinade the pork ribs for 1 hour.

3. After marinating, coat each piece of pork rib with corn flour and set aside for 5 minutes to allow the corn flour to adhere to the pork ribs. If you deep dry the pork ribs immediately after coating, the corn flour will fall off the pork ribs easily.

4. When ready to deep fry, heat thw wok with sufficient oil until 160 degree celcius i.e. when streams of bubbles rising slowly around chopsticks that are inserted into the hot oil. 

5. Lower the pork ribs gently into the oil and let them fry undisturbed for a few minutes before flipping over to fry the other side. Fry the pork ribs in batches until light golden colour. Place the fried pork ribs on a wire rack. After each batch of frying, scoop up the crumbs of flour from the oil using a fine-mesh sieve. 

6. When all the pork ribs have been fried, turn up the heat for the stove and heat the cooking oil to approximately 180 degree celcius. Fry the pork ribs again in batches until nicely brown. This will take about 20seconds for each batch. Place the fried pork ribs on wire rack to cool.

Serve hot!

Sourdough Discard Crackers With Seeds

 

Below recipe from Bake With Paws. My adapted recipe for small quantity is in brackets.

Ingredients:

300g sourdough discard (100g)

75g olive oil or melted butter (25g)

180g plain flour (60g)

1 tsp salt (1/3 tsp, 1g)

2 tsp baking powder (2/3 tsp, 1.3g)

4 tsp toasted black sesame seeds (2 tsp)

or

4 tsp herbs

or 

1 Tbsp poppy seeds + 20 chia seeds + 20g flax seeds + 50g sesame seeds

Method

1. Mix the dry ingredients.

2. Add olive oil and use dough scrapper to combine.

3. Add sourdough discard and mix in. It will be very wet at first, but don't panic, continue to use the dough scrapper to fold and mix in. Once a dough is formed, cover and rest the dough for 30mins. (Note: The dough can be chilled in fridge overnight.) Divide into small pieces (depends on the size of your baking pan). Place one piece of dough between 2 parchment paper and roll as thin as possible. Use pizza cutter or dough scrapper to cut into strips. 

4. Transfer the dough to a baking pan. Bake at 170C for 15mins until light golden brown. Rotate the pan if necessary, for even baking. Cool on rack and store in airtight container.

Spaghetti Aglio E Olio

 

This is a easy dish to prepare. Watch this very useful video and you will be able to cook Aglio E Olio for your friends in no time.

Ingredients (serves 4 pax)

50g garlic cloves 

240g spaghetti pasta

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

fresh parsley (optional)

parmasen cheese (optional)

chilli flakes (optional)

your choice of protein e.g. sausages, bacon (optional)

Method:

1. Slice the garlic thinly and put into a skillet. Add extra virgin olive oil into the skillet and saute the garlic over low heat until the garlic is light golden in colour (it took about 15 minutes). Stir occasionally to brown the garlic evenly. If using chilli flakes, sprinkle them into the skillet and saute together with the garlic.

2. At the same time, bring a pot/wok of water to boil. Add some salt in it and cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain the pasta and apportion into serving plates.

3. Once garlic is ready, remove the skillet from heat (note that the garlic will continue to cook and turn brown, so make sure you do not over-saute them). Pour the olive oil and garlic over the pasta. Toss the pasta and garnish with fresh parsley and parmasen cheese.

4. Enjoy! Below picture shows a plate of Aglio E Olio with sausages and garnished with dried green laver seaweed (aonori).

Stir Fry Mushrooms

 

This is a vegetarian dish packed with super food - mushrooms.

Ingredients

400g Mushrooms (Shiitake, Enoki, King Oyster and Shimeiji - or any of your preferred mushrooms)

2 cloves of garlic (chopped)

1/2 tsp salt (or 5 tablespoons of sauce from cooking braised pork belly, if available)

Method

1. Prepare mushrooms:

. enoki - trim away roots and tear into bite size

. shiitake - separate the stems from the top, then slice the tops and stems thinly

. shimeji - trim the roots and separate into individual mushroom stalks

. king oyster - trim the roots and cut into thin slices

2. Heat the wok with a little oil, then sauteed the garlic until fragrant. Transfer the garlic to a plate.

3.  Heat the wok until smoking, and add all the mushrooms. Stir fry until softened. No need to add water during stir frying as the mushrooms will release some water. Add salt and mix in. Turn off wok fire.

4. Stir in the garlic and dish up.

Oats Bun

 

This recipe is adapted from Greg Wade. 

Ingredients (makes 9 buns)

Poolish: 45g bread flour, 45g water, a pinch of yeast (about 0.1g)

Oats Porridge: 35g old fashioned rolled oats, 105g water, a pinch of salt.

200g bread flour

60g fresh milk

20g water

25g honey

4g salt

1g instant yeast

Method

1. Make poolish: In a small bowl, combine flour, water and yeast using a fork. Mix until completely combined (no lumps of dry flour left), cover and leave it at room temperature to ferment until the mixture has ripened - look for these signs: bubbly on the surface, volume more than doubled. It will also pass the float test i.e. take a very small portion of poolish,  drop it into a cup/bowl of water and it should float). My poolish was ready in 4 hours (from 5.30pm to 9.30pm).

2. Cook oats porridge: Put the oats, water and salt in a small pot and cook over low heat for 2 mins until the porridge is thick. Stir the porridge to prevent scorching. Set aside to cool down.

3. Combine all ingredients, except butter and salt, in a stand mixer and knead at medium speed until it comes together in a smooth ball of dough.

4. Add butter and salt, and knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Do the window pane test (for gluten development). Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and form a smooth dough ball. 

5. Lightly grease the mixing bowl with olive oil and transfer the dough ball into it. Cover the bowl and let it proof at room temperature for 45mins or until double in size, whichever is earlier. 

6. Meanwhile, line your baking tin with parchment paper. 

7. After 1st proofing, punch down the dough and divide into small pieces. I divided the 566g dough into 9 pieces and shape them into balls to fit my baking pan. Rest the balls for 15 mins. After that, reshape into balls, cover and let it proof at room temperature for 1 hour or until double in size.

8. 15mins before end of 2nd proofing, preheat oven to 190 deg cel. Bake the buns for 25mins. Cool on wire rack.