Crispy Shrimp Chili Shrimps Fried Rice

This was one of my lazy lunch.  I had to eat and I have no food in the refrigerator.  Luckily I always make sure my refrigerator has eggs, frozen veggie and frozen shrimps.  Hence, this shrimps fried rice to the rescue.  Shrimp is easy to thaw and with some leftover rice, fried rice is an easy one dish meal.

I found the Malaysian's Spicy Tiny Shrimp Sambal by Mama's Delights at the Denver's Asian market so of course I had to buy it regardless of the price tag.  I couldn't be choosy when they were none to begin with right?  This sambal added a little spice and fragrant to the fried rice and we really enjoyed it.

I cooked this very easily, just add the spicy tiny shrimp sambal, soy sauce, salt, a little sugar and finish it off with white pepper.

Chili Crab Claws!

While I was shopping at Sprouts one day with my elder daughter, I saw these gorgeous crab claws on sales for $5.99/lb.  The cheapest I have seen for sales was $3.99/lb.  But these claws looked big and tempting and it was Chinese New Year.  So, I asked my Evy, do you want to eat some crab claws and she said sure.  Hence, crab claws it is!

I had Chili Crabs in mind when I bought this and since I wanted a really easy recipe so I looked online and adapted the recipe from Food.com.  Of course I made some changes to suit what I had at home and viola, a chili crab claws was created.  We had it with bread as the gravy was so great to mix with bread (I was too lazy to drive 25 minutes away to an Asian market to buy mantau/steamed buns and deep-fried it, thus the alternative.).  Surprisingly my little Edda who was not so keen about the idea of Chili Crab, enjoyed it a lot.  I was quite surprised actually but looking at them enjoying their crab claws really made me happy.  They even requested me to buy more crab next time!  Hahaha...

Kimchi Fried Rice Easy Version

I just made a new batch of kimchi and with a new batch of kimchi and some leftover rice, I couldn't help myself but to whip up some delectable kimchi fried rice!

This is an easy version because it has no Gochujang (Korean chili paste) in it because my gochujang turned to a rock paste in the refrigerator!  I must have left it for a long time for the paste to turn into a rock huh?  Guess I haven't been making any Korean food since last year because of some personal issue. Anyway, in the trash it went and this version is purely using the juices from the kimchi, more probiotic huh?  Haha...

Magic Lemon Custard Pie

I wanted to try an easy magic custard pie recipe and I found this recipe that used a blender.  Just blend, pour and bake, super easy right?  So, with the request of my daughters since they loved eggs custard, I set up to try this recipe shared by Robyn.  It was watery before making, but after baking, it came to have three different layers.  Top crispy crust (turn soft when cold), egg custard in the middle and a base at the bottom.  Next time, I shall play with different flavors.

Seaweed Rolled Eggs

I have learned this version of rolled eggs from watching a Korean variety show, "Dad, Where are you Going?".  Haha...from now you have known that I watch quite a few of Korean variety shows right?  It provided me with a good laugh and it was fun to watch.  I liked those with kids, for example this and "The Return of Superman", it was just too cute!

Anyway, one of the dads cooked this for the kids and it looked good to me and what's best was it was very easy to make.  Without hesitation, I made this for my girls and got their approval.  Sometimes I made this for their lunch boxes, easy and nutritious!  They loved to open it into a strip and eat it like that too.  The eggs won't stick because of the seaweed.

Salted Chicken Egg Steamed Eggs

I made some salted chicken eggs a while back and I had no idea what to do with it.  Haha... you could say that was why I never bother to make my own or even buy salted eggs before.  But since I decided to make some the other day and my family members do not like to eat porridge, so there is no way that I can serve it with porridge.  I didn't want to waste the salted eggs so I made this!    It was so simple and blend well with the steamed eggs and not too salty at all.  I didn't season the beaten eggs for this reason.  Those tiny black dots were white pepper in case you were wondering.  I also added it in fried eggs, like a salted eggs fried eggs and my girls said it was good as well.

Homemade Salted Chicken Eggs

This is just a spur of the moment thingy as I don't normally consume salted eggs in any kind, no salted duck egg unless in a mooncake and I don't buy salted eggs.  I made this because I had lots of eggs in my refrigerator, bought too much because I couldn't pass up on a deal.  So, I had to preserve some and this was what I could think of at that time.

It is so easy to make your own salted eggs, after that you just have to wait for a month before you can enjoy it.

Bitter Gourd with Eggs

Bitter food is healthy food especially bitter gourd.  If your body feels heaty, bitter gourd will be recommended to you because it is a very cooling food.  But because it is bitter, I hardly ever buy it because my husband is a picky eater and I am not sure how well it will fair with my girls.

One day, while I was shopping at the Asian supermarket, the bitter gourd that I saw just looked so fresh and inviting that it was calling me to pick it up.  A Chinese chef that I knew told me to pick bitter gourd that has wide ridges, then it won't be that bitter.  I also sprinkled it with sea salt, hoping that some bitterness would come out as well.  Additionally, I took the safer route to fry it with eggs as my husband and girls all loved eggs, and would probably eat anything that contains eggs.

The result:  They all finished it.  My girls did complain that it is bitter, but I told them that's why it is good for you and eat them up and so they did.  Maybe I should also blanch it first to make it even less bitter?

Spinach Mushroom Soup

Spinach is so delicious in soup.  If you haven't tried cooking it this way, make sure you give it a try!  This soup is nutrients packed as I have spinach, beech mushroom, eggs and shrimps, all are healthy for us.  Just add another side dish and a little brown rice and you can call it a meal.  You are welcome to use vegetarian broth and omit the shrimps to make this soup vegetarian.  Happy trying!

LCOM's Hei Jian (虾煎) Shrimps Omelette

One of my childhood favorites is "oh jian" or Malaysian style oyster omelette.  It is one of the hawker delights and usually we would order this in addition to our dinner (usually fried or soupy noodle).  It has a gelatinous texture and kind of gooey with crispy edges.  Normally serve with sambal.  In Taiwan, they have their own version too which is called "oh ah jian" but theirs was ladle with a lot of sauce.  This starch mixture recipe of mine came from a Taiwanese cooking show.  I adapted their flour ratios and played with the water amount.  I failed the first attempt which created a hard starch and not gelatinous.

Okay, now you should have noticed mine is "hei jian" (shrimp) and not "oh jian" (oyster).  Well frankly I loved the eggs and the gelatinous texture but not necessarily the oyster, also I wanted the convenience of eating it whenever I feel like it and not rushing out to buy the oyster.  But of course you can substitute the shrimp with oyster or simply use both.  But this shrimps omelette pancake (虾煎) can definitely satisfied my cravings.

One think I need to note though.  It is not easy to fry an excellent omelette, it takes skill.  I still need to play with it some more as I don't have the feel yet.  Since I love the gelatinous texture, I might want to add more, but more doesn't means good as the outcome with eggs won't come out great.  It needs to have a balance and I haven't gotten it yet.  I got the starch mixture right but I haven't gotten the technique right yet, I still need lots of practices.  If you know how to fry a killer Malaysian style oyster omelet, please share your technique with me.  Thank you in advance!

Korean Fish Patties/ Saeng Son Jon

 

When I saw this recipe in a Korean cookbook that I borrowed from the library, I found it intriguing.  I never thought of adding chopped fish into a pan-fry eggs before.  But after I gave it a thought, actually Chinese also have our version, we called it "Egg Foo Yong", but instead of fish, we used shrimps and BBQ pork.  Since this recipe intriguing me, of course I wanted to see how it would taste like and made it myself.  Chopped fish went so well in fried eggs and this fish patties were actually scrumptious.  But I wouldn't recommend to eat it often as it was a little oily, as with all fried food.  Later I asked my elder girl whether she knew what was in the patties that she loved so much and she had no clue.  After I told her it was fish, she was like ewww.  Well, I didn't know why that was her respond because she is not a fish hater.  I guess if you want to encourage or trick your little fish hater to eat fish, you can make this dish.  Hahaha...

Making an all Korean meal took a lot of work.  So I actually served this with Belacan sweet potato leaves and mint egg drop soup.

Stir Fried Pumpkin with Eggs

Never did I know that stir-frying pumpkin can be so scrumptious.  I saved some of the pumpkin fresh from a pumpkin that we carved earlier.  I had pumpkin porridge before and I really liked it as it was sweet and filling.  But I know my girls don't really fancy porridge so I thought I would try something different.

I stir fried zucchini with this recipe and we all loved it, so why not try it with pumpkin.  It was my first time cooking a stir-frying pumpkin and it was so yummy.  The fish sauce gave this dish an extra boost.  If you have extra fresh pumpkin at home, give this dish a try!  I took this picture at night, so it did not look very appetizing, but don't be fooled by it's look, this is a dish I will make again and again.

Steamed Eggs with Topping

I didn't know how to steam a smooth eggs before but now I know.  I learned it from watching the Chinese cooking show.  I have been watching the CCTV 4 "Everyday Food" Chinese cooking show and learned some cooking tips from there.  I learned this steamed eggs with topping from that show as well.  Have been seeing two different Chinese chefs making this dish with their variation of topping and find it doable!  I have not seen people steamed eggs this way before, we normally steamed it plain or with minced pork or with salted egg or thousand years old egg in Malaysia.  So, this way of serving is new to me.  The chefs guarantee this way of steaming eggs will produce a smooth and silky soft eggs and they made it seem so easy so of course I had to try it myself.

Well, they were right, it is really that easy to produce a smooth and soft steamed eggs.  Now I have a new dish to prepare for my family.  We all loved this easy dish and with the topping, I can even make it a one dish meal.  This dish is suitable for young and old alike as the steamed eggs make it easy to swallow.

Chives Fried Eggs

As I mentioned earlier, I am going to buy more chives from now on as eating chives is good for our body as it said to be mild-antibiotic, anti-inflammation, antioxidant and prevent certain types of cancer.  Just do a search to read more about the benefits of chives.  Sharing with you is another way of enjoying chives the delicious way.  I think this is one pretty common dish for people who eats chives regularly.

This is definitely an easy dish to prepare, even for people who don't normally have chives in their diet, but wanted to eat for prevention, like me who just started.  My girls loved fried eggs and they had a hard time picking out the chives and thus had to eat it.  My elder girl is the worst, she doesn't like green onion, yellow onion (basically onion of any kind), mushrooms (except Enoki), tomato, pieces of ginger and she would just picked it out from the food.  What got me upset was the little one wants to imitate her sister, now she also followed her sister and picked out those food to set aside on her plate (she used to eat everything!). *sigh*

What other delicious way do you cook your chives?  I added it in stir fried noodle, bean sprouts (coming soon), and this fried eggs, what else?

Stir Fried Chicken with Eggs (雞肉炒滑蛋)

We had a beef version of this dish in Denver authentic Chinese restaurant and loved it. The beef was tender and the eggs was smooth. Since I don't buy beef at home and trying to cut down on pork intake, I used chicken breast instead. I added milk in the eggs mixture to give it some milk fragrant.

Growing up in Asia, fresh milk is not in our diet at all. All we had were milk powder and we only consumed it when we were kids. Coming here in America, I noticed that people drink fresh milk all the times, not just for breakfast, but anytime they want. It was a culture shock at first. Even to these days, a lot of Asian can't get use to the taste of fresh milk. In China, in order to let the children or elders have some fresh milk, they used it in eggs or bakes or dessert. For example, instead of water that the recipe calls for, they used milk instead. It makes the food more nutritious and also added the fragrant of fresh milk (奶香). I thought that was brilliant!

Special Fried Eggs

Why is this fried eggs so special? Because I added black sesame seeds in it! Sesame seed has antioxidant and anti-cancer properties and rich in iron, magnesium, copper, calcium, manganese and contains vitamin B1 and E. It is pretty hard to incorporate sesame seeds into our diet unless we use sesame oil frequently or eat cookies or bread made with sesame seeds. So, one day when preparing my beaten eggs for stir-fried, I saw my bottle of black sesame seeds in the cabinet and thought why not. I could hardly taste the sesame seeds at all, so my girls ate it with no problem. Well, unless of course you have an allergy reaction towards sesame seeds, this will be another way to consume sesame seeds.

Evy had some sort of reaction like swelling of eyelid, face and lips and hives on her body. We took her to her pediatrician and he said it was an allergic reaction. Now I am wondering whether it is the sesame seeds. Since she started having diarrhea after consuming some toasted sesame seeds noodle, but what strange was she had sesame seeds cookies, sesame chicken, sesame seeds oil cooking before and never encountered any allergic reaction. After two days of observation, I finally discovered the cause, and it was the new non-stick pan that I bought. Now, it's all fell into pieces as she started having diarrhea when I started using the new pan. After that, she started having hives and swollen lip, etc. I gave her the allergy medicine and it was all gone, she was having the sesame chicken and peanut butter & jam bread with no problem. And then, after she had some fried eggs cooked with the new pan, her condition resurfaced. So, that was how I found out it was the new non-stick pan, otherwise, I would not have thought of this. As this is the only new thing that I bought recently and used. So now, back to my good old wok. At the mean time, also wondering what's in the new non-stick coating that made her have such an allergic reaction.

Scrambled Eggs with Shrimps and Asparagus

Have you tried scrambled eggs with asparagus or asparagus omelet? Let me tell you, it is delicious. I happened to discover it by accident three plus years ago when I was trying to finish few asparagus left in my refrigerator. Now, I used it often to fry eggs. Try my omelet recipe here.

Ingredients:

• Asparagus, about 10, chopped
• 8 large shrimps, cut into small pieces, 4 in 1
• 1/2 carrot, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 cup of chopped cilantro (optional)
• 3-4 large eggs, beaten, season with soy sauce and white pepper
• 1 tsp. chicken stock granules
• Oil for cooking (olive or canola)

Method:

1. In a wok, heat up some cooking oil. When heated, add in garlic, fry a little while, add in shrimps. Cook until shrimp is almost cooked, add in chopped asparagus, carrot and chicken granules. Stir-fry until asparagus is cooked.

2. Add chopped cilantro (if used) in the seasoned beaten eggs, mixed well. Pour it on top of the asparagus and shrimps in the wok. Stir fry the eggs and mixture together until eggs are cooked. Serve hot.

Eggs Zucchini

Another of my newly created eggs dish with zucchini. I never cooked this dish before because this version of the eggs were more soggy and soft. But I wanted to try something different again. I think I really converted my hubby from not eating zucchini to eat zucchini because he never liked it before. Now I used it to stir-fry and even in cooking curry and he ate it all. This simple dish turned out to be surprisingly delicious. I will sure to cook it again.

Chai Po Tan (菜脯蛋) / Salted Turnips Omelet

Chai Po Tan or 菜脯蛋 is one common home cook eggs dish at my house. My husband and Evy love anything with eggs, either boiled eggs, eggs in soup, scrambled eggs, omelet or stir-fry eggs. This salted turnips omelet is something I had when I was small so naturally I love to buy and cook this for my family. Here's my recipe to share, for newbies who doesn't know how to make this easy dish. :P Good with rice or porridge!

Scramble Eggs with Sweet Snap Peas and Preserved Veggie

I was left with some sweet snap peas, not enough to make a dish, just enough to use it as a side to a dish. So, I was cracking my brain again and decided to try it in scramble eggs. I love this crunchy snap peas and thought it would be great in scramble eggs or an omelette. I also have some preserved veggie (chai por) that I needed to finish so it went into the scramble eggs.