Saturday, May 28, 2011

Pan Roasting Cod Fillets with Brown Butter Sauce


This dish came in the right moment.  I was wondering how to prepare my cod fillet when I turned on my TV and on the PBS channel was showing AmericanTest Kitchen.  First half of the show was teaching how to sealed scallops and served it with brown butter sauce.  Second half of the show was teaching how to pan-roasting halibut fillets.  So, my cod fillet dish was set after I finished the show.  I was going to pan roast my cod fillets and served it with the brown butter sauce.

I had an accident when pan-roasting my cod fillets.  I forgot to put on my oven mitten when I tried to move the hot pan away and burnt my hand big time (remember I posted on Facebook?).  No only that, I dropped a big piece of my cod fillet on the floor. :-(  It was a burning pain experience for me, luckily the pain stopped the next morning and only left me with a red burn mark on my hand.

So, please take extra caution if you are trying to pan-roasting your fish fillets.  I probably won't be attempting this method again.  Would go for pan-steaming instead.

Verdict:  This dish turned out well and the brown butter sauce is very yummy and goes well with seafood.   But as a health conscious person, I felt that the brown butter sauce might clog my arteries.  :-P Okay, in moderation, not too often would do.


Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Black Pepper Crabs


Rock crab sections was on sales at my local supermarket recently.  I couldn't miss this sales and bought 2 lb. to fry at home.  The crabs sold here were all cooked and frozen.  So, basically I just defroze it and then stir-fry it again.  I do find the live ones or uncooked ones at the Asian supermarket, but I hardly go for that because then I would have to kill it and clean it.  Thus I always go for the easiest I guess.

Anyway, I loved black pepper crabs.  I had it at my friend's house many years ago, seem like a Singaporean dish at that time as well as Chili's crabs.  Strange that we don't have this dish in the Chinese restaurants here.  All they have are steamed, ginger scallion, chili garlic white pepper, and XO sauce.  They might have butter cream but I am not too sure.


Sunday, May 22, 2011

Korean Scallion Salad (Pa-Muchim)


This scallion salad is usually served along side Korean barbeque in a Korean restaurant.  You can wrap this and the barbeque meat in a green lettuce leaf and eat it together.  I made this to serve it with my Hanainese chicken because I thought it would go well together with the ginger sauce and chili.  This scallion salad was indeed delicious and it would pair well with any meat dishes.

I think it is best to make this on the day you want to serve it and finish it in the same day.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Whole Wheat Milk Buns


I played with the Haiji white bun recipe and came out with my own version of whole wheat milk buns.   Even though the Haiji white bun was really soft and fluffy but it didn't make of whole wheat.  Since we are a 100% whole wheat bread consumer most of the times, I just have a love for it.  Even though this whole wheat milk bun is not 100% whole wheat, but at least it has more than 50% whole wheat in it.  See, I am pretty crazy about whole wheat isn't it?  I am as crazy about whole wheat as brown rice these days.  :-P  Start your kids young with whole wheat bread and brown rice so that these would be their staple choice in the future.


This whole wheat milk buns turned out soft and delicious as well.  It stays soft for days and now it is our breakfast and snack for the girls.  I would use this recipe to try on my pullman tin and a loaf pan next and show you my result.

Monday, May 16, 2011

[S$20 Budget Meal] Tom Yam Cream Soup


I always wanted to make the Tom Yam Cream Soup (with added coconut cream) ever since I tried the instant noodle version years ago.  I wondered how I never gotten to make it all these years, perhaps I tried to stay away from coconut milk as much as possible.  Frankly growing up in South East Asia, staying away from coconut milk was almost impossible, especially in Malaysia.  Most food was made with coconut milk either in curry form, kuih-muih, and/or dessert.

Since I had some coconut cream left, I couldn't resist putting a few tablespoons into my Tom Yam soup.  It definitely kick it up a notch being creamier and fragrant with coconut smell.  Instead of shrimps, I used Cod fillets and added a bunch of vegetable and tofu puffs.  Easy one dish meal served with my organic short-grain brown rice.


I am submitting this to "S$20 Budget Meal"  or "US$15 budget meal" hosted by Cuisine Paradise.  This month specific key ingredient is Tofu or beancurd.  I used tofu puffs in this dish and the estimated cost for this meal was about US$8.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Stir-Fried Romaine Lettuce with Dried Small Shrimps (炒生菜与虾皮)


My friend introduced me to dried small shrimps or 虾皮.  I grabbed a packet when I saw it in the Asian market.  When you shake the packet, the dried small shrimps should be loose, if it sticks together then it is a bad stock.  Because this dried small shrimps hardly have any meat in it so it is very rich in protein and minerals, especially calcium, iodine, and magnesium.  It's so packed with calcium that it's considered a "calcium power house" and said to prevent osteoporosis.  The magnesium in it is said to reduce blood cholesterol level, regulate the blood flow and help in hypertension.  These dried small shrimps/ 虾皮 is so delicious that it helps to improve appetite in the elderly.  You can make it into powder form ( wash, pat dry, pan-fry it a wok with a little oil/without until crispy and brown and then process in a food processor until it turns into powder) and sprinkle on rice or porridge.  

It is suitable for all ages, elderly, pregnant women, people with cardiovascular disease, kidney deficiency, impotence, male infertility and weakness of waist and legs.  But it is NOT suitable for people suffering from allergic rhinitis, bronchitis, recurrent allergic dermatitis in the elderly and people with chronic disease.

One thing worth mentioning though, while doing the research on this, I found that this 虾皮 is not suitable to consume at night or before going to bed.  As the extra calcium that wouldn't be absorbed by the intestine needed to be discharged.  And the peak hours for the calcium to be discharged from the body was 4-5 hours after a meal.  So eating 虾皮 at night might prevent the discharge of the extra calcium through urination as you would be asleep at that time.  So, the calcium in the urine would be trapped and deposited in the urinary tract and overtime would form the urinary tract stones.

I found the above sources from various Chinese sites.  Fill me in if you know more about this dried small shrimps.



Monday, May 09, 2011

Spicy Sardine Puff Pastry


It is not a bad idea to keep some puff pastry in the freezer when it goes on sales.  It can make for a really quick snack or emergency finger food or appetizer.  Not a bad idea to have few canned of tomato sardine in the pantry for cases like this as well.  I always loved the spicy sardine filling, it was a flavor that I grew up loving and still love.  Too bad Evy didn't like the sardine filling, so Edda and I had most of it. :-P


This is one snack that is really easy to make with the frozen puff pastry.  You can get creative with all sort of fillings that you could imagine.  For example, curry chicken with potato, tuna, apple, kaya, red bean paste, nutella, cherry, strawberry, char siew, etc.  As long as you can imagine it, you can make it!


Friday, May 06, 2011

Crispy Tofu with Sauce


For variation,  I sometimes pan-fried my tofu.  Even though it was not as healthy and we all should eat less fried food, but sometimes it was okay.  As long as I kept fried food in moderation.  This pan-fried tofu was crispy, it was great eating it plain with Thai sweet chili sauce as a dipping sauce.  But I wanted to play with a sauce to pour it on top.  I loved the combination of LKK chili bean sauce and hoisin sauce so the above was my result.  Such an easy dish but fulled of flavored and great with brown rice.  Try it and feedback to me ya!


Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Korean Jajangmyeon (Noodle with Black Bean Sauce)


Even though I am Chinese but I never seen this noodle dish before in Malaysia.  I actually learned about this famous Korean Chinese food from watching the Korean dramas.  I got fascinated because this jajangmyeon only served in the Korean Chinese restaurant and it is a Korean fusion Chinese food.   Last year I found out that the Chinese restaurant near my house also featured Korean menu and jajangmyeon was one of them.  So of course I got to buy and give it a try.  But at almost $10 a bowl, it was not affordable.  Recently I saw this recipe at a Korean cookbook and found out that it was actually very easy to make at home.  All I needed to buy were the fresh noodle and the black bean sauce at the Korean market and I was set to go.

Originally this recipe called for pork but I used chicken instead.  Oh well, I only have chicken in my house and my mom also asked me to eat less pork.  Overall, it tasted almost identical to the one I paid $10 for.  So, I am happy that I can easily recreate this dish at home and save some money.  I served it up with the Spicy Korean Radish.

Sharing this with Presto Pasta Nights hosted at Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.

Sunday, May 01, 2011

Haiji White Bread Using a Breadmaker


Since I really loved the Haiji white bread recipe that I tried earlier, I decided to finish it in the bread maker.  It was easier than using a dough function.  I double the recipe for this 2 lb. loaf and it came out all right.


The bread was still soft and with light crust.  With the crust, it was not as soft as using the dough function and finished it in a pullman tin.  As the crust held the bread together.  But if I am seriously lazy, this would certainly do.  I want to play with this recipe some more... :-)