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. 

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.

Three Cups Chicken

三杯鸡

This is a Taiwanese dish and "Three Cups" in the name of this dish refer to the seasoning used, which is equal proportions of Chinese rice wine, sesame oil and soy sauce.

Ingredients (serves 3-4 pax)

4 chicken thighs (de-boned and cut into bite size pieces)

3 tablespoons sesame oil

3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine (I use huadiaojiu)

3 tablespoons light soy sauce

3 inch ginger (cut into thin slices)

6 garlic cloves

1 bunch of spring onions (cut into 5cm strips)

Method

1. Heat up sesame oil in a wok. Add the ginger slices and garlic cloves into the oil and fry over low heat until the edges of ginger slices crisped up and garlic cloves are light brown. Remove the ginger slices and garlic cloves and set aside.

2. Heat up wok until smoking. Add the chicken pieces and sear/brown them over high heat.

3. Turn heat down and mix in the light soy sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Drizzle the Chinese wine onto the chicken and stir to mix in. Simmer for 5 minutes. 

5. Add the spring onions, fried ginger slices and garlic cloves and mix in thoroughly.

Serve hot!

Stir Fry Pork Belly Slices

葱炒三层肉薄片

Ingredients:

250g Iberico pork belly slices 

1 knob of ginger (sliced thinly)

Spring onions (cut into short strips)

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp salt

Method:

1. Heat the wok with 1 teaspoon of oil.

2. Fry the ginger slices over low heat until the edges have browned, about 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Push the ginger slices aside and add all the pork belly slices into the wok. Cook the belly slices undisturbed over medium heat until some of the pork fat oozes out. Flip the half cooked pork belly, add black pepper and salt, then mix in the fried ginger slices.

4. Stir fry until the pork belly slices are just cooked, turn off the heat, add the spring onions and mix in. Transfer to serving dish and enjoy hot with rice.

Potato & Luncheon Meat

 

Simple comfort food that brings back fond memories. 

Ingredients

1 big potato (I used russet, cut into bite sized cubes)

Half can of luncheon meat (I used Spam Bacon, cut into bite sized cubes)

Half big onion (cut into wedges)

2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

1 teaspoon sugar (I used unrefined brown sugar)

27g tomato ketchup (I used 3 tomato satchels from fast food restaurant!)

9g chilli sauce (I used 1 satchel from fast food restaurant!)

50ml water

Method

1. Heat wok with some oil (sufficient to deep fry potato and luncheon meat).

2. When oil is hot, deep fry pototo cubes until edges are golden brown. Remove the potato cubes from wok and deep fry the luncheon meat cubes next. Once the edges of luncheon meat cubes are golden brown, remove the oil, leaving only about a tablespoon in the wok. 

3. Stir fry the onion wedges until edges are browned, add in the garlic and stir fry for a minute. 

4. Add the tomato ketchup, chilli sauce, sugar and water into the wok. Stir to mix in completely. 

5. Add the potato and luncheon meat cubes into the wok and stir fry with the sauce for a few minutes.

Done! Serve hot!

Tomato Fried Egg Omelette

 番茄炒蛋

Comfort dish at its best! My late mother in law cooked this very frequently and this dish reminds me of her!

Ingredients:

3 medium size tomatoes (can add more if you like tomatoes)

4 eggs

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

Corn starch slurry (1 tablespoon corn starch mix with 2 tablespoons water)

Method:

1. Make a few slits on the tomatoes, put in a small pot and bring to a boil. Then off the heat and leave the tomotoes in the pot for 5 minutes or until the tomoto skin peels away. 

2. Drain the tomatoes and keep 2 tablespoons of the water. Cut the tomatoes into thin wedges and remove the seeds.

3. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add a pinch of salt and beat it vigorously using a fork until well combined.

4. Add two tablespoons of oil into wok and swirl to coat the surface of the wok. Add the eggs and tilt the wok to spread the eggs. Let the eggs cook, over medium heat, undisturbed until the eggs start to set around the edges. Once edges start to set, use the wok spatula to move the cooked egg towards the centre of the wok and the raw egg filled the space. Do this continously until the eggs are just cooked. Remove the egg omelette from the wok.

4. Heat up wok again with a tablespoon of oil. Add the tomatoes and stir fry for a minute. Mix in two tablespoons of water (from step 2), 1 teaspoon of brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir fry for a few minutes, then slowly add just enough corn starch slurry to thicken the tomato sauce. 

5. Return the egg omelette to the wok and stir to mix with the tomato sauce. Add the tomato ketchup and mix in thoroughly. Transfer the egg omelette to serving plate and garnish with spring onions (optional).

Serve hot!

Stir Fried Pork Liver

姜蒜炒猪肝

Pork liver is not everyone's cup of tea but do you know that in Traditional Chinese Medicine, it is considered a tonic for blood. This dish is thus loaded with health benefits! 

Ingredients

200g pork liver

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon dark soy sauce

2 cloves garlic (chopped into small pieces) 

8 to 10 stalks sping onion (cut into 2 inch length)

1 knob of ginger (cut into thin strips)

Method

1. Rinse the liver and dab dry with kitchen towel. Cut into thin slices. 

2. Marinate the liver with sesame oil and dark soy sauce for 30 minutes.

3. Heat up wok with a tablespoon of oil under medium heat. Saute garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add in liver and stir fry quickly for 30 seconds. Add in 1 teaspoon salt and spring onion. Stir fry quickly for 1 minute and remove from wok. Do not overcook the liver!

Serve hot with rice!