Images Sweet Soy Sauce Herbal Chicken

Sweet Soy Sauce Herbal Chicken with Red Dates, Yu Zhu and Wolfberries

Just something I cooked the other day because I was itching to get away from my regular soy sauce chicken recipe, which typically involves only dousing light and dark soy sauce together for taste. It's my lazy-day favourite.

In this recipe though, several natural sweetish ingredients were included to enhance the flavour, like red dates, Yu Zhu (Solomon’s Seal Rhizome - Learn more about Yu Zhu here. ) and carrots. In short, I've complicated the recipe a little for something richer.

The end result is a yummy sweet-salty herbal chicken dish that compliments plain brown rice or yam rice.

This is the recipe. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Ingredients:
- 5 pcs chicken drumstick
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- ½ medium carrot (julienne)
- ½ small cabbage - just a handful (sliced)
- 1 tsp dried wolfberries (rinse and soak in water for 10 minutes)
- 6 slices of dried Yu Zhu (rinse and soak until tender, preferably overnight)
- 2 medium dried red dates (rinse and soak in water for 30 minutes, make a small cut before cooking)
- 1½ tbsp light sweet soy sauce
- 1½ tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp corn flour to thicken (diluted in a bit of water)
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- 2-3 cups water
- Spring onions (chopped) for garnishing

How-to:
1) Heat cooking pan with oil. Add garlic and fry until lightly browned.

2) Add chicken and carrots. While stirring, season with soy sauce and oyster sauce.

3) Add water, followed by red dates, cabbage and solomon's seal. Stir well and simmer until the chicken is cooked and slightly tender (about 45 minutes). Add more water if it gets too dry.

4) Taste and season with a pinch of salt (if necessary) and pepper. Stir the wolfberries in at the last five minutes of cooking.

5) Switch the fire off, add the corn flour while it's still hot and stir well. Serve garnished with spring onions.

Yummy Herbal Chicken

Serve garnished with spring onions!

Images Stuffed Squid with Rice in Lemony Tomato Sauce

Stuffed Squid with Rice slathered in Lemony Sauce

I light up when I see fresh seafood in large sizes - big prawns, big squid, big crabs! It's like being in underwater wonderland. I don't buy it often but when I do, I get as excited and cheerful as Mr. Krabs when he sees a dollar.

With two large squids in my shopping bag the other day...

In me best pirate voice:"Arr...what shall I do with you, calamari beauty?"

I decided to make a one-dish wonder - stuffed squid covered in rich lemony tomato sauce. We eat rice almost on a daily basis. I'm used to cooking several side dishes to go along with it. So, I wouldn't consider this too much work. The only difference? It's all going to be served on one plate!

Check out the recipe below for my version of stuffed squid.

Stuffed Squid
Ingredients:
- 2 whole 8-inch squid (cleaned)
- 3 cups hot water
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- Fried Rice (Recipe below)
- Lemony Tomato Sauce (Recipe below)
- 2 toothpicks

How-to:
1) Plunge squid into hot water and remove quickly.
The goal is not to cook it. I do it so that there's less water seeping out from the squid when it's baking midway. It also makes it easier to stuff.

2) Stuff squid with fried rice.

3) Use toothpicks to pin the squid head back on. Make small cuts on top of the squid (shown in the photo below).

4) Place squid on a greased baking dish. Baste squid with cooking oil.

5) Bake uncovered in a pre-heated oven at 160c for 15 minutes more or less until the squid is cooked.

6) Pour lemon tomato sauce over baked squids before serving.

Stuffing Squid with Fried Rice

Make small cuts across the top and toothpick the head on

Once the squid is out of the oven, pour sauce over and serve

Stuffed Squid - A Meal For One

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lemony Tomato Sauce

Lemon Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped) 
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 2 medium tomatoes (quartered)
- ¼ lemon (for juice and zest)
- ¼ water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp cornflour (mix with water, into watery paste)
- 1 handful chopped fresh coriander
- 1 tbsp cooking oil

How-to:
1) Heat oil in pan. Add onions and garlic. Fry until lightly browned.
2) Add tomatoes, water and sugar. Scrape some lemon zest in, then squeeze lemon juice into the mix. Stir well and cook until tomatoes look smashed.
3) Season with a pinch of salt.
4) Turn the heat off and stir in the cornflour.
5) Add fresh coriander. Mix well.
6) Serve on top of baked stuffed squid.

Fried Rice with Button Mushrooms and Lemon Zest

Fried Rice
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cooked white rice (enough to stuff 3/4 of two squids)
- ¼ canned button mushrooms (out of 425g can)
- 1 handful thinly sliced beef strips
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 1 red chili (chopped)
- Lemon zest
- ½ tsp dark soy sauce
- Pinch of salt and pepper (to taste)
- 1 stalk fresh coriander (chopped)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- A bit of water

How-to:
1) Heat oil in pan. Fry garlic until lightly browned.
2) Add mushrooms, chili and beef strips. Stir until beef strips are cooked. Add soy sauce and a bit of water (enough to help coat the rice brown). Then, add white rice.
3) Season with salt, pepper and lemon zest. Mix well.
4) Turn the heat off. Add fresh coriander and mix well.
5) Stuff this rice into the squid.

Images Braised Mushrooms With Snow Peas and Black Fungus

Truth be told - I splash oyster sauce into most of my braised soy sauce dishes because I 'believe' it compliments the overall taste.

It's also a quick and easy way to add robust flavour into a simple dish of vegetables. A dash here and there into a hot wok of greens and it's ready to be served in minutes!

Below is a recipe for a simple dish I made the other day using mostly gooey sweetish oyster sauce.

Braised Mushrooms With Snow Peas and Black Fungus

Ingredients:

- 10 pcs dried Chinese mushrooms
(Soak in water for 1-2 hours until rehydrated, then remove stem. Rinse and change water once in between.)

- 10-15 pcs dried black fungus
(Small, soft variety - soak in water for 30mins until soft and spongy. Cut away hard parts. Rinse and soak in fresh water until ready to cook.)

- 20 pcs snow peas

- 1 clove garlic (chopped)

- 3 tbsp Oyster sauce

- Pinch of chicken stock granules

- 1 tsp cornflour (dilute in 1 tbsp water)

- 1 tbsp cooking oil

- A handful of fresh coriander for garnishing (roughly chopped)

How-to:

1) Heat oil in pan. Saute garlic until lightly browned.

2) Toss in the wet mushrooms and black fungus. While stirring, season with oyster sauce and chicken stock granules. Coat well with sauce and cook covered for 1-2 minutes. 

3) Add the snow peas in, stir until cooked.

3) Add cornflour into the mix. Give it a quick stir and serve garnished with fresh coriander.

Note: (You can add a bit of water if you want more sauce.

I do not drain away excess water from the mushroom and black fungus before cooking. I usually toss them in wet, dripping with water. This water makes the sauce.)

Braised Mushrooms With Snow Peas and Black Fungus topped with Fresh Coriander

Images Lala (Clam) Soup - A Spicier Take!

Lala Clam Soup

Lala, the Asian soft-shelled clam - one of my favourite seafood. I've often wondered how it got its name..just as hubby's often wondered what isn't my favourite food. Aahh.. I am so easy to please, food-wise.

If I had to use a song to describe this soup, it would be Kylie Minogue's ♫ La la la la lalala la ..can't get you out of my head ♪ for obvious cheesy reasons.

Lala clams cooked in a ginger based soup isn't something new but it is exciting on the taste buds. Ginger is often used to cover up that "fishy smell" of seafood. In this recipe, it also compliments the soup with a more robust flavour.

I  would say that this soup has a deep gingery, sweetish and spicy taste to it. The spiciness comes mainly from the chili and ginger. 

It's a simple recipe, using ingredients commonly found in Malaysian supermarkets.
 

Ingredients:
- 160g lala clams
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 2 thumbs fresh ginger (julienned)
- 2 pc black fungus - medium variety (soak until soft - about 30 minutes, remove woody part and slice if you wish. I left it whole)
- 1 tbsp dried wolfberries or more (soak in water until soft - about 5 minutes)
- 5 green bird's eye chilies (seeded and sliced in half)
- 5 medium grey oyster mushrooms (halved)
- 1.5L water
- 1 stalk coriander (chopped, for garnishing)
- Cooking oil
- Salt and white pepper to taste

The Ingredients

How-to:
1) Heat pot with oil and saute the garlic until lightly browned.Then, add the ginger and green chilies. Stir it about and add water. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.

2) Allow the water to boil for just awhile longer to get that ginger taste out before adding the black fungus, mushrooms, wolfberries and lala clams.

3) Once all the ingredients have been added into the pot, let it cook for a few minutes further. Taste, season accordingly and it's done!

4) Serve garnished with coriander.

There she boils..

There you have it - lala clams in hot, hot soup! Prepare to tissue it out.

Lala Clam Soup - Hot stuff!

Images Baked Fish with Kiwi in Sweet and Sour Sauce

The Asian Seabass - Baked and smothered in sweet and sour Kiwi sauce

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about one of my favourite food, the Thai-inspired Deep Fried Fish in Three-Flavoured Sauce.

I did say that "it would be a matter of time" before I fire up my own stove to recreate a similar dish. It's happened sooner than I thought! And being me, I changed the recipe a little here and there for convenience sake and to suit my visual needs. I've got to go, "Whoa! What a sight to behold!"  ..silly as it sounds.

Finally, I couldn't decide if it could be called the "Three-Flavoured Sauce Fish" although technically, my version also passes for sweet, sour and spicy.

The original recipe calls for crisp fried fish... but my fish was way too large to fit into my electric pan so I did away with that step. I marinated the fish with some salt and black pepper, and popped it into the oven instead.

That's my baked fish - Asian Seabass / Barramundi !

For the sauce? A simple mix of Tesco's sweet and sour sauce with lots of cut ingredients. Typically, this recipe should include cubed pineapples but I figured a kiwi fruit would be more exciting.  It was a wonderful swap. I so loved the vibrant colour it added into the dish and how the sauce evolved into something that is very much alive in yummy flavour!

Here's how I did it, the recipe and how-to.

Ingredients:
- One whole fish (Seasoned with salt and pepper and baked, or deep-fried if you prefer)

(Estimates for a 12-inch Barramundi fish - adjust accordingly)
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 2 medium red onions (chopped)
- 1 lemongrass (sliced thinly - peel/cut away the dry parts of the stem, use only the soft middle part)
- 2 tomatoes (cut into cubes)
- 1 kiwi fruit (cut into cubes)
- 1 red chili (seeded and chopped)
- 1 green chili (seeded and chopped)
- A handful of fresh coriander (roughly chopped)
- 2/3 cup sweet and sour bottled sauce (or combine sweet chili sauce with tomato ketchup)
- 1½ tbsp corn flour (mixed with water, into a diluted paste)
- ½ cup water (more or less)
- Cooking oil

The Ingredients

How-to:
1) Heat oil in pan. Fry garlic and onions (not all) until lightly browned.

2) Add lemongrass. Give it a quick stir and then, add the tomatoes and chilli. Pour in the sweet and sour sauce and some water. Mix well and let it cook awhile until the tomatoes look smashed. Add water if it gets too dry.

3) Add the remainder of the onions and the kiwi fruit. Stir quickly (that is, don't let it cook), to coat it with the sauce.

4) Lift  the pan off the fire and pour in the corn flour mixture. Give it a quick stir. The gravy will thicken slightly, giving the sauce a gooey shine.

5) To serve, plate the fish and pour the kiwi sauce over the fish. Garnish with fresh coriander. 

Last in! Kiwis and Onions - to keep the crunch and freshness

There you go - Baked Barramundi with Kiwi in Sweet and Sour Sauce!

Images Baked Mandarin Orange Chicken with Buttered Potatoes and Apples

Baked Mandarin Orange Chicken with Buttered Potatoes and Apples

Distributing mandarin oranges to friends and family during the Lunar New Year is an age-old practice for people with Chinese roots in my homeland. I received my fair share during the festive season. That said, this is a long overdue blog post, at least two months behind schedule!

Aaah..anyway, back to the oranges. I wish I could have eaten it all as is, peeled fresh and just out of the fridge, but there was more than this household could handle with two boxes in keeping. So, I did what I could to clear it off quicker - I decided to cook it. And this is really yummy stuff although it's a simple recipe! Then again, when it comes to food, I've rarely ever said yuck.

I didn't mess the flavour with too much seasoning. I felt the juice from the orange would be sufficient to pass for delicious and it did.

Ingredients:
- 2 chicken drumsticks
- 2 potatoes (sliced thin, not all the way through)
- 2 red apples (sliced)
- 2 medium red onions (quartered)
- 3 mandarin oranges (Peel skin off from the segments of two oranges. Squeeze the juice out from one)
- 1 tbsp salted butter (softened)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Cooking oil

How-to:
1) Season chicken with a little bit of salt, pepper and some mandarin orange juice.

2) Place the chicken on a lightly oiled baking tray. Add onions, orange segments and the remainder of the orange juice to create the yummy gravy. Sprinkle on a wee bit of salt and pepper.

3) Spread butter onto apples and potatoes. Place in a separate baking tray (also lightly oiled).

4) Bake for about 45 minutes at 175C. Baking time differs. You're done once the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are tender.

I garnished mine with some chopped celery leaves.
 

In the oven - Chicken with mandarin oranges

Baked Chicken and Mandarin Oranges

Images Nai Pak Choy (Extra Dwarf Chinese Cabbage) with Pork in Egg Gravy

Extra Dwarf Chinese Cabbage (Fairlady) in an Eggy Gravy

Extra dwarf chinese cabbage..mmm. Ok, that's a weird translation for"nai pak choy" but it was the closest description I could find on the internet. That, and Fairlady - something I connect only to Nissan..

Nai Pak Choy - it's fresh, it's so fresh!

It has a distinctive thick white stem with dark green scrunched-up leaves. This particular head that I'm holding up for the camera has also been in my fridge for four days but looks as fresh as when it was popped into my shopping cart.

I've often included this vegetable into soups. Soups are a must-have on our dinner table. It's almost a daily affair and I'm surprised I haven't resorted to pulling my hair out yet thinking what to put on the table everyday. When I'm short of time, the nai pak choy comes in handy for making a quick bowl of soup. I'd toss it into a hot pot of boiling water with just garlic, some seasoning and voila! Sneaky, I know.

Today, I wanted to try out an eggy gravy that I so often see served in Chinese restaurants.  It gives the otherwise plain stir-fry green vegetables dish more appeal and more "slurp".

It's a simple recipe but requires some quick work, so I would prepare everything before I even think of lighting up my pan and I would keep things close.

Ingredients:
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 200g / 7 heads nai pak choy (cut stemmed leafy parts away from main stem)
- 1 tbsp dried wolfberries (soaked for 10 minutes)
- 50g boneless pork meat - loin (sliced thin)
- Two small eggs
- 1-2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1-2 cups water
- 1 tbsp corn flour (diluted in 2 tbsp water)
- Salt and pepper to taste

How-to:
1) Heat oil in pan. Add garlic, fry until lightly fragrant. Add pork slices, stir it about.

2) Add 1 cup water or more (just enough to make the sauce). Once it boils, add wolfberries, vegetables and season with salt and pepper.

3) When the vegetables are almost cooked, stir in the corn flour and lift the pan off the fire.

4) Crack one or two eggs in, immediately stirring it but lightly. Quickly serve it out onto a plate before the egg cooks further.

The result? You can taste the juice from the pork, mixed with a mildly salted egg sauce. Along with it, is a tinge of sweetness when you bite into a wolfberry.

The ingredients - Nai Pak, Wolfberries, Pork, Egg and Garlic

Toss the vegs in once the water boils

Nai Pak Choy (Extra Dwarf Chinese Cabbage) in an Egg Gravy

Images Fish Balls in Ginger Sauce

Yummy Fish Balls in Ginger Gravy

Fish balls are easily found in Malaysia and perhaps one of the commonest food you'll see in our supermarkets.

I usually dump them into soups but decided to explore a different angle. This is a simple dish that goes well with Hainanese Chicken Rice. It is a delicious strong flavour of oyster sauce and ginger, topped with the pungent aroma of spring onions.

It took me less than half an hour to prepare and cook this.

Ingredients:
- 15 fish balls
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 2 thumbs ginger (cut into smaller pieces, blend in a bit of water or some chicken stock until fine)
- 1 stalk spring onion (sliced)
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- Dash of sesame oil
- 1 tbsp cooking oil

How-to:
1) Heat pan with cooking oil. Stir-fry garlic until fragrant.

2) Add blended ginger, oyster sauce and a dash of sesame oil. Stir well, then add fish balls. Stir until everything is cooked and well coated with sauce.

3) Serve garnished with spring onions.

Images Pan-Fried Shrimp Corn Cakes

Shrimp Corn Cakes and Tomato Ketchup

Bloom wherever you are planted, and right now my feet is firmly rooted to the kitchen. Hence, the inspiration for this little floral design using shrimp cakes, spring onion and tomato ketchup.

I have been diligent in ensuring that my fridge does not get loaded with leftover cooking ingredients. A spotcheck revealed that it was time to clear off the spring onions which was starting to lose it's shade and some leftover corn kernels which had been sitting there for a week.

With it, I made shrimp corn cakes - a very doable and versatile recipe. It makes for a nice tea treat.

And how did I come about this recipe? I went by blind intuition that surely egg and some flour could stick all the ingredients together!

Ingredients:
- 400g small shrimps
- 1 medium onion (roughly chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)

- 2 tbsp sweet corn kernels
- 1 tbsp spring onions (chopped)
- 3 tbsp rice flour
- 1 egg
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Oil for frying

How-to:
1) Blend shrimp, onion and garlic into thick paste.

2) Add corn kernels, spring onions, rice flour and egg into the blended shrimp paste mixture.

3) Season with salt and pepper. Stir well.

4) Heat oil in cooking pan. Spoon tablespoon-sized paste onto pan. Fry until cooked and browned - takes just a few minutes.

I got 16 pieces out of this portion.

Best eaten with tomato ketchup.

Note: You can double the quantity of corn and spring onions if you prefer or replace it with other ingredients, like chopped boiled carrots or coriander.  

Rice flour, corn, shrimp and an egg

Add spring onions and mix it all together

Fry it

Tadaa..Shrimp Corn Cakes!

Shrimp Corn Cakes on the inside

Images Stir-Fry Butter Cereal Prawns (Instant)

Crispy Crunchy Tasty Yummy Prawns

Who doesn't love big prawns? Most adults love it as much as children - unless they're seafood allergic. :-) One of my all-time favourite prawn dish is the ever popular Butter Cereal Prawns. You can find this usually served as one of the courses for Chinese sit-down course dinners in restaurants.

But, for home-chefs who may not have the luxury time to painstakingly prepare the cereal-mix from scratch, you can get the instant pre-packed cereal mix/seasoning from supermarkets or grocery stores - which is what I had done for this occasion. It cut short half the preparation time and taste just as nice.

Ingredients :
- 10-15 white prawns (sea-caught is better, medium size, approx. 4-5cm in diameter per prawn)
- Curry leaves of about 2 sprigs (you might want to add more if you like it more fragrant)
- 1 or 2 medium size chili (de-seeded and cut into small squares or julienne)
- Butter (a few tablespoons or more upon you're liking)
- Cooking oil
- 1 packet of pre-packed cereal mix


How-to:
1) Heat up wok with a few tablespoons of cooking oil. When oil is hot, add in the prawns and stir-fry evenly until the prawns had turned pinkish-brown and curled up a bit. Remove the prawns immediately as you don't want to overcook it. Set aside. Clear up any oil residue in the wok.

2) Using the same wok, you need not rinse, add in the butter and melt it under medium heat. Once its melted, add in the chili and curry leaves immediately. Stir-fry until its fragrant and add in the prawns.

3) Stir-fry the prawns evenly for a little while, then add add in the cereal pre-mix.

4) Under very low heat, stir the prawns thoroughly until all are covered with the cereal. When the cereal mix had turned crispy after soaking up the excess butter in the wok, dish up the wonderful prawns and serve it hot.

Options :
- I did not de-shell my prawns as I prefer it in its original form for more crispiness. I only snipped off the head's front pointy part where the whiskers are and trimmed the legs.
If you prefer, you may de-shell it but do keep the tails intact - it looks nicer and classier when served, also easier to be finger-picked. :-)
- Instead of normal chili, you may go for a hotter taste by choosing bird's eye chili.
- Instead of stir-frying, you may deep-fry it if you prefer for the ultimate crispy crunch.

Ingredients

Step by Step Stir-Frying

Images Stir-Fried Celery with Black Fungus

Stir-Fried Celery with Black Fungus, Carrots and Dried Shrimps

A bunch of celery? That's a lot for this small family. I cooked five dishes out of it. Yes, five! And ...I'm glad to discover that it lasts, sitting two weeks in my fridge without signs of rot. Now that's what I call a sturdy vegetable.

This is one of the dishes I made, celery stir-fried with black fungus - mildly sweetish. I hope you like it.

Ingredients:
- 2 stalks celery (sliced small) 
- 1 pc (or more) dried black fungus soaked in water until soft (30mins or so)
- 1 medium carrot (shaved)
- 1 tbsp dried shrimps (soak briefly)
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 tsp cornflour (mixed with 2 tbsp water)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 tbsp water or more (for that bit of gravy)
- Salt and pepper to taste

How-to:
1) Heat oil in pan. Add garlic and fry until a fragrant brown.

2) Add dried shrimps. Give it a quick stir before adding the rest of the ingredients, that is, black fungus, carrots, celery and a bit of water.

3) Season with salt and pepper. Stir until all the vegetables are cooked.

4) Once cooked, stir in the cornflour/water mixture to thicken the gravy slightly and that's it.

Best eaten with rice in a typical setting of one meat, one vegetable, one soup kind of meal.

Stir-Fried Celery with Black Fungus

Images Fish Maw Soup

Fish maw, otherwise known as dried swim bladders, is perfect in stews, soups or braised. It is good with wet dishes largely because it easily absorbs flavour from other ingredients it is cooked with. On its own, it is tasteless.

It is said that fish maw is rich in collagen but whether this is scientifically proven is beyond me. The ones I use for cooking are, after all, dried products.

Fish Maw Soup - Garnished with Spring Onion

Fish Maw Soup happens to be a household favourite, a potful easily gulped away in one dinner sitting! I usually cook this with a lot of pepper. It gives this simple dish a lot of punch.

Here's the recipe, if you're keen to try.

Ingredients:
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 70g / a small bowl of spongy fish maw
(Pre-soaked in water an hour or two until spongy. Rinse away as much oil as you can and then, slice into pieces)
- 200g chicken bone parts (I opted for chicken feet and neck)
- A handful of sliced cabbage
- 1.5L water
- Salt and pepper to taste (Optional: a pinch of chicken stock granules)

How-to:
1) Boil all the ingredients together, until the cabbages are really limp and soft.

2) Season to taste with salt, but be generous with the pepper (optional- a pinch of chicken stock granules). It is fine if you don't want it too peppery, but as we Malaysians say it, "No kick-lah" (No oomph!).

The four ingredients

All in the pot

Peppery Fish Maw Soup - Yummy!

Images Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

The wet weather has been prompting cravings for hot soup to alleviate the chilliness I feel.

I have kiam chye boey, that sour spicy "leftovers" stew, on my mind but cooking that would take three hours at least! Surely too long a wait for this poor soul....and so came about the inspiration for a shortcut, using only some of the key ingredients from the traditional kiam chye boey dish and without the long stew.

Here's what came out of the pot at the end of it all - a clear sour and spicy soup with robust flavours that zapped my senses alert. This was so delicious that I had seconds...SECONDS! Just the perfect thing to have in this cold weather. BrrRrrr...no more!
    

Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

Ingredients :
- 3 pcs asam keping (tamarind peel)
- 2 pcs sour plum (bottled) 
- 6 green bird's eye chili (seeded and halved)
- ½ large carrot (cut into medium cubes)
- 1 large tomato (quartered)
- 1 rib celery (chopped)
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 1.5 L water
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- Fried fish cakes (2 varieties - the kind for soups)
   ~ 1 palm-sized flat square piece (cut into smaller squares)
   ~ 1 rectangular roll, about 3 inches long (sliced)
- 10 baby squids  
- Salt to taste

How-to:
1) Heat oil in electrical cooker (that's what I'm using). Add garlic and give it a quick stir-fry.

2) Add tomatoes, carrots, bird's eye chili, tamarind peel and sour plums. Mix well.

3) Add water and bring to a boil. 

4) Once it boils, add the ribbed stem parts of the celery into the pot (leave the leafy parts for last).

5) Cook covered until tomatoes and carrots are tender (which was between 30-45 minutes for me because I wanted more flavour in the soup). 

6) Then, add fish cakes and the remainder of the celery. Season with salt and stir well. Lastly, add the squid. You are done when that is cooked.

Images Foil-Baked Herbal Chicken

Oh noooOoo.. there goes my decade-old crockpot! It tore at the rim just as I placed the heavy clay pot onto the heating base *sad*.

I was going to slow cook a herbal chicken dish for dinner but ended up using the oven, going the foil-wrap way. The meal turned out oh-so-yummy but then again, my lack of fussiness is surely a bane to food critiquing and any real assessment taste-wise. I have the genes of a regular mom (although I'm not one myself) when it comes to food and wastage.

This is my version of Foil-Baked Herbal Chicken. It's simple to prepare - just involves throwing everything together and leaving it to cook. The end result is tender chicken in a rich flavoured sweetish soup gravy.

Foil-Baked Herbal Chicken

Ingredients:
- 4 chicken thigh pieces
- 2 large red dates (seeded and halved)
- 2 medium onions (quartered)
- A handful of solomon seal rhizome (yu zhu, pre-soaked an hour)
- A handful of fresh coriander (roughly cut)
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce stirred in 1-1½ cup water (largely depends on baking tray size)
- Pinch of salt and pepper

How-to:
1. Rub a little salt and pepper on the chicken pieces.

2. Line the inside of the baking dish with foil. Spread chicken pieces, dates, onions, yu zhu on top. Pour diluted oyster sauce in at the sides (Add more water/sauce if you want more gravy).

3. Cover the top of the tray with foil, make it air-tight (to steam the chicken). Bake at 180C in a pre-heated oven for just about an hour. Leave to rest for another 15 minutes before opening the cover (Be careful - hot steam will gush out.)

4. Garnish with coriander and serve.

Images Stir Fried Water Apples with Squid and Cabbage

Water apples are known by many names. We call it wax jambu in my household.

I love cooking with fruits and had a little kitchen fun experimenting with water apples when a friend gave some to us.

Water apples aren't as sweet as most fruits but it is juicy so it makes more sense to stir fry it than to attempt baking it with something.

Anyway, here's what I did. Simple, but the outcome was tasty. My other half, the one person who has little love for this fruit has this to say ~ "I never knew water apples could taste this good!" I agree.

Stir Fried Water Apples with Squid and Cabbage

Estimates for two, best eaten with rice.

Ingredients:
- 2 water apples (sliced thin)
- 1/2 small cabbage (sliced thin)
- 1 medium-sized Squid (sliced into ring-shaped sections)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 sprig spring onion (chopped)
- 1/2 tsp corn flour (diluted in 1 tbsp water)
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- Salt and pepper to taste

How-to:
1. Heat oil in cooking pan. Add garlic and fry until lightly browned.

2. Add squid, water apples and cabbage. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Stir fry until water apples are slightly tender. Finish by stirring corn flour into the mix.

4. Garnish with spring onion before serving.

Images The Lunar New Year "Happiness" Drink

I love Chinese New Year. It is a time which inspires us to cook with "auspicious meaning" in mind, usually involving food with similar sounding words that convey good wishes or messages.

For instance, the word Fatt Choy widely meaning 'prosperity wish' in Cantonese closely resembles the word Black Moss (also Fatt Choy) in the same language. For this reason, many Chinese include Fatt Choy into their New Year menu.

In our family, it is no different. On the first day of Chinese new Year, Tua Soh (eldest sister-in-law) prepares the "Happiness Drink" for our household. It is a sweet concoction of typical auspicious Chinese ingredients like the Pak Hup which is noted for unity, lotus seeds for fruitfulness, gingko nuts for wealth and so forth. The sweetness of the drink makes it a pleasant experience that keeps us happy. This is the message that it carries.

I share the recipe below, courtesy of Tua Soh. There are no quantifiable measurements for this recipe. You're free to follow your heart ~ the key is simply that it must be sweet and every cup served should contain at least one of each ingredient.

Happiness Drink

Ingredients:
- Dried Lotus Seeds
- Gingko Nuts
- Pak Hup (Dried Magnolia Petals)

- Honey Dates

- Dried Longans
- Dried Red Dates (Cut in half and seeded)
- Cane sugar (To taste)

How-to:
1. Boil dried lotus seeds, gingko nuts and pak hup together until tender. Then, drain away the water. We don't use this water because it is bitter. Leave aside.

2. Boil honey dates in sugared water, drain and leave aside.

3. To make the longan soup, boil dried longans with water (enough to serve the number of people required) for 3-4 minutes in a large pot. Add red dates and cane sugar. This will be the base of the drink because of the fragrant smell.

4. To serve, combine longan soup with ingredients from 1. and 2.

Pot of fragrant goodness

Yummy Honey Dates

I hope you enjoy this drink as much as I do.