Thursday, July 31, 2008

Dry Roasted Edamame


Look what I found while browsing through Cosco. A lightly salted dry roasted Edamame!! For those who don't know Edamame is the green soybeans in a pod commonly eaten in China and Japan. Actually my Chinese friend introduced me to this Edamame. She boils them in lightly salted water and then open the pod and eat it just like that. Edameme is healthy for us as it is high in protein, fiber, vitamin A, B and calcium. She is a vegetarian and thus she eats this for the protein. She also used it in stir-fry.


I only seen frozen Edamame here. But I was too lazy to boil them in water and then open each and everyone of them to eat so I never buy it before. Not until I saw this dry roasted Edamame. All cooked and peeled and even salted for me. Such convenience and I just had to buy it. This indeed turned out to be a good and healthy snack for me! Edda loves it too but not my picky Evy.

Edda Update

Edda is 22 months old and she is still hardly speak. All she is good at is mama (妈妈) and baba (爸爸). Since she is bilingual, I do expect her to be a little late. But she should start saying more words after she turns two. She loves to mimic her sister, almost in every move. Her sister laugh, she laugh, her sister dance, she dance, her sister climb stairs, she also climb stairs, basically everything her sister does, she wanted to do it too. So, we have been asking her sister to teach her words. So far the only incentive to make her speak in word is a bribe of sweet dessert/candy/ potato chips (basically any junk food that kids like). We will ask “你要不要吃?” Say “要”. And then she will say “要”. We will of course take the opportunity to ask her to say more words, like “我爱你”, “ABC”, “1-10” these sort of things. With the bribe in sight, she is willing to say anything. If not, she prefers not to say any word. Most of the time she will use sound and action to let me know what she wants. A little strange right?

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Whole Wheat Spaghetti


Non-spicy one for the kids.


With chillies in oil added, extra spicy for the parents.

Ingredients:

1 (13.25 oz) box whole wheat spaghetti
1 cup imitation crab meats

1 skinless & boneless chicken breasts, cut

10 asparagus, cut into 1-inch

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 carrot, sliced

6 sun-ripened tomatoes, sliced

Olive oil

2 tsp. chicken stock granules

Salt & black peppers


Method:

1. Cook spaghetti as directed by package, drain and set aside.

2. In a saucepan, heat up olive oil. Add garlic and chicken breasts, fry until chicken is almost cooked. Add in asparagus and carrot and fry until the veggies are cooked. Lastly add in the sun-ripened tomatoes and imitation crab meats, stir-fry for a minute and add in the cooked spaghetti. Season to taste with salt, chicken stock granules and black pepper. Mix well to combine. Taste test and season to your liking. Serve warm!

3. Optional: Top with chillies in oil, chili oil or dried chili flakes for the extra kick.

I'm serving this up at Presto Pasta Night. This week the host will be
Ruth at Once Upon A Feast.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Chinese Scallion Pancakes


Actually I was embarrassed to say I never eaten a scallion pancake before. Not until I made it myself recently using the recipe provided by My Kitchen Snippets. Not sure how the texture is supposed to be like because mine was not fluffy like roti canai, but crispy and savory. Guess will have to buy a packet at the store to truly know the answer.


Hmmm...mine turned out to be the mini size pancakes! :P So no slicing required!


I made 15 small scallion pancakes and it was not bad. We ended out having it for dinner. I also noticed that there is another type of scallion pancake (while browsing through U-tube) which was made with flour & eggs batter (softer version) which I would love to try in the future.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Chee Cheong Fun with Sweet Sauce (Steamed Rice Rolls)



When I saw Lily's chee cheong fun made using a skillet, I decided to try it because it looked so easy. Oh yeah, look can be deceiving because something that she made so easily turned out to be a disaster in my kitchen. I couldn't get mine to cook before I burnt the bottom. Frustrated I tried steaming them and the same thing happen, it felt raw on top. Ended out in the trash it went. I was convinced that I would have chee cheong fun for tea time that I already made the sauce. So, I was left with my delicious sweet sauce that I wouldn't want to waste. So, I went on the web again and found another recipe to try. Making chee cheong fun definitely needs skill since we wouldn't want it to be too thick nor too thin. My first few batches were too thick but I got the hang of it in the end. I definitely need to practice more. But I do love the sweet sauce I came out with, perhaps it has shrimp paste ( hae kor) in it, it's just like the one I remembered. :)

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Crisp Lemon Cookies 2



Still not quite satisfied with my last attempt, I played around with the previous recipe and came out with Crisp Lemon Cookies 2. I like this recipe better because this cookies turned out to be real crispy. It would be great with some added lemon zest to kick up the flavor even more. Since the previous cookies I made it really kids friendly (bear shape with color sugar and sprinkles), I decided to try another pattern on this. Great with a cup of coffee!