Miso Seaweed Soup

My girls and I loved wakame while my husband won't touch it. He doesn't like the texture and taste of wakame at all. Oh well, more for us. :) Wakame is the edible seaweed that mostly consume by Japanese and Korean. It usually sold as dried seaweed and need to be constituted in cold water before cooking. It will expand when soak and need to cut into smaller pieces before cooking. It is green color, slightly chewy, slippery texture and taste of ocean (to me). It is very good for health, rich source of omega 3 fatty acids and has high level of calcium, iodine, thiamine and niacin. Traditionally and to this day, Koreans eat seaweed soup on their birthday. Sharing my easy way of preparing this miso seaweed soup.

Lemon Grass Shallots Soup

My mom cooked this soup for me during my confinement month. It left me with good impression as the shallots made the soup sweet and it had a hint of lemon grass. Now, I cooked this soup because I just learned that lemon grass is very good for our general health and anti-cancer. I added ginger just because it is anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory. This soup definitely brings no harm to us so I will be cooking it more often, just for prevention and general health benefit. Best of all, it tasted great. You can eat the shallots with the soup as it will be really soft with a tint of sweetness.

Seaweed Soup with Fish Balls, Tofu and Chicken

I was so happy I found another way to enjoy the Chinese seaweed. Before that I only know one way to enjoy the seaweed with eggs and dried anchovies. It is definitely a benefit for me when someone posted pictures of the food they eat while vacationing in Malaysia or Singapore. It gave me ideas or ways to cook a certain food that I have not thought of before. My hubby loved this type of seaweed, which I called Chinese seaweed instead of the Korean green seaweed. He just won't touch those at all. So, I was glad that I found another way of preparing this soup.

Everything In Soup

Are you wondering why I named this soup Everything In? For pure simple reason because we needed to go away for a 4 days vacation to South Dakota and I needed to clear my fridge. I had some tofu leftover, half open canned of button mushroom, some leftover baked chicken breast and a packet of Enoki mushroom that won't keep long in the refrigerator, so I just dumped everything in a pot of chicken stock. I added a canned of corns, a bundle of "Tang Hoon" (vermicelli) and 2 beaten eggs. I also thicken the soup with potato starch and tada, a bowl of yummy and feeling soup to last us for a day. So good for cold weather too!


Closer look of my ingredients.

I made similar soup before which was named Golden Prosperity Soup by a reader. I made that for Chinese New Year.

Asian Mustard Green (Gai Choy) Soup

The Asian mustard greens sold in the Asian market here came in a big bag. I still left with half bag of mustard greens from the "chai bui" I made earlier. So, what was I going to do with so much mustard greens? I never tried stir-fry it before so I was not sure about the taste. I did an online search but I couldn't find any recipe neither. So, I made this recipe up because I know it was good in soup. My recipe didn't fail me as this soup was so delicious even both my girls loved it, they loved the soft sweet carrots and the mustard greens. My hubby loved the peanuts and I simply loved everything. By the way, how do you normally cook the fresh Asian mustard greens? Is it good in stir-fry?

Chai Bui (Leftver Vegetable Stew)

This dish is widely popular in a Hokkein household. Usually it is cooked the day after a wedding banquet, on Chinese New Year or whenever there is a lot of leftover. I remembered I always picked the Asian mustard green and siew yoke (roasted pork) to eat. This hot and sour dish is easy to cook, everything in it will be the leftover food except the mustard green. Of course today, we don't really have to depend on the leftover in order to cook this dish (I never have so much leftover in my house). So, I enjoy this dish without much of the leftover. Whenever I buy a whole roasted duck, I will save the bone, neck parts and freeze it in my freezer. Then, I will add it in with some lean pork and lots of Asian mustard green to cook this dish.

Tofu & Corns Soup

I made a big pot of chicken stock for my noodle soup the other day. Had some leftover chicken stock for my tofu and corns soup the next day. I love to make this soup with my leftover chicken stock as the soup will be very sweet and pretty healthy for the kids, considering tofu and corns were used.

Bakuteh

Some like the Singaporean version of white pepper bakuteh (pork ribs soup), some like the Malaysian version of dark herbal taste bakuteh. As for me, I prefer the Malaysian version and thus I decided to give Tean's Gourmet Bakuteh a try. I bought few packets from mytasteofasia.com as I hardly shop at Denver anymore. Oh yeah, MyTOA is going to close down its' business for the unknowing time being and the last day to take your order is Nov. 26th. So, go grab whatever you want before it's too late (if you haven't done so already!).



This is how the packet looks like. Overall, I still prefer Yew Chian Haw and A1 bak kut teh premix. If you are buying this, don't follow the salt amount indicated in the packet because it will turn out too salty.

Korean Spicy Tofu Stew

Remember the other day I bought lots of bay scallops and finding way to use them? Since I also bought some imitation crab meats and tofu, I just combined them into my spicy Korean soup. The key ingredient here is Gochujang, Korean red pepper paste. You can easily buy this at any of the Korean grocery store. This paste alone is pretty spicy but I always want an extra kick and added a few dashes of cayenne pepper powder. Guess who besides the parents loved this soup?



My little Edda enjoyed this spicy soup very much. Even me the mother thought this soup was spicy and yet this little fellow finished a bowl and requested for more! I had some leftover for the next day so ladled the rice with this soup and some tofu and crab meat for her and she finished everything in her bowl. WOW right? As for the big sister, she won't even dare to touch the soup!

For recipe, click here. Oh, I also added an egg into the soup this time.

Cream Cheese Chicken Soup

Cooking cream cheese soup is my other way to use up the leftover cream cheese. This is fairly easy to make and should be ready in 30 mins or less. A bowl of creamy soup for lunch, anyone?

Golden Prosperity Soup

This soup has:

Dried bean curd sheet
Dried bamboo Fungus
Dried lily buds
Tofu
Tang hoon (Bean Thread Vermicelli)
Egg drops

I cooked them in Swanson chicken broth for ease. You can use homemade chicken stock of course.



One bowl of this can serve as lunch already, as it is quite substantial. I love this soup so want to share it with my readers, now you have one new soup to cook for your family. I think this soup is great to serve during Chinese New Year. You can substitute dried bamboo fungus with dried fish maw or simply put both. Hmmm...would be good with crab meats, imitation crab sticks too huh?

My Dry Version Pan Mee + Soup

I wanted to try something different. And since I have a packet of Ina Pan Mee and some ground pork, so I was thinking of making Pan Mee but the dry version. I have seen some dry version emerging from some food blogs lately but I have never tasted it before. Can't even buy it here if I wanted to, so how? Have to make my own lor.



So, here's my version after mixed it together. Just like ko lor mee/wontan mee sauce but using this pan mee noodle instead. I used oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce, dark soy sauce, white pepper and garlic oil.

I made this soup with the seasonings came with the Ina pan mee. Added chai hsin (green) and frozen dumplings to boil it together. What a satisfying dinner it turned out to be. Oh yeah prepared some cut chili padi to eat with the noodle, hor jiak!

This is the picture of the Ina Pan Mee, taken from mytasteofasia.com. I like the Ina Yee Mee too, very good!


Announcement:
Lots of out of stock products have been back in stock so grab yours before it's gone again. Expect to see more new product arriving this week too. :)

Lotus Root Soup

Lotus root soup is a comfort soup for me because my mom used to cook it for us. So, when moving here and started to learn cooking and starting to buy my own grocery, of course I couldn't resist not buying the lotus root to cook it myself. I realized that a lot of people cook this soup differently and this is how I cook mine. Pork ribs is definitely a plus in this soup instead of chicken drumsticks because it added the extra sweetness to the soup and matches so well with the lotus root.

Gochujang Soup

I am crazily in love with this soup! This is my latest tofu seaweed Gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) soup. Everything that is good for us are in this soup and it's so tasty with a hint of spiciness. I can have a big bowl of this soup as it's soooo good.

I have already posted my recipe here. But this latest version is with the seaweed instead of napa cabbage. They match so well together. You should give this spicy soup and the combination above a try (if you haven't already)! *wink*

Hmmm...next time I should add Udon noodle in it and make it a Spicy Udon tofu & seaweed soup huh? Then, my lunch is "kau tim".

Sundubu Jjgae (Korean Spicy Bean Curd Stew)

Sundubu Jjgae is a Korean thick and spicy bean curd stew. Traditionally people crack an egg on top of the stew before serving, many still do it now. Some serve this stew with clams, clam juice, seafood, onion, enoki mushroom and other vegetable. This stew is normally served boiling on the table over a hot fire in a Korean pot.

I came to love this soup while dining in a Korean restaurant. I just love the spiciness of this soup and the flavor of Gochujang. The silken soft tofu with the Gochujang made me want to drink this stew non-stop. This stew is especially good while eaten during the cold winter days because it will just warm up your body instantly. Therefore, it will be my favorite soup to cook during winter. What a surprise, my hubby loves this soup too!

Winter Melon Soup

I went shopping at the Asian Market the other day and spotted the winter melon which was actually looking fresh, so I bought it to make soup. The cooking time for this soup is about 30 minutes, a quick and easy soup to prepare.



Ingredients:

1 bowl of 1 1/2-inch cubed winter melon pieces
4 Chinese dried mushroom, soften and sliced
4 slices of fresh ginger
1/2 pound of ground pork (marinate with light soy sauce, Shao Hsing cooking wine, sesame oil, garlic powder, white pepper, salt and sugar, mixed well and let it marinate in the fridge for at least an hour)
3-4 Tbsp canola oil
4-5 cups of water

Seasonings, to taste:
Light soy sauce
Salt
Sugar, about 1 tsp.
White pepper

Method:

1. In a saucepan, add in cooking oil. When hot, add in sliced ginger, stir for a while then add in sliced mushrooms. Stir for a minute, add winter melons and water. Let the water comes to a boil.

2. When boiled, scoop the ground pork with a small cookie scoop and drop into the soup. Add in seasonings, turn the heat to low and simmer until the pork balls cooked, about 20 minutes.

Note: Hubby didn't touch the winter melon at all. Love everything else especially the meat balls but no thanks to winter melon! Picky right?

Yong Tau Foo Soup

Yong Tau Foo in Ikan Bilis Soup. For the filling, it's the frozen tub fish meat emulsion, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator and marinate it with chopped scallion, carrot and sesame oil. Mix well and stuff your veggie and taufu pok.

My short-cut ikan bilis broth recipe:

1/4 cup of ikan bilis (dried anchovies)

4 cups of water

1 or 2 tsp. of chicken stock granules

Dash of fish sauce, to taste

Crispy fried shallots

Method:

1. Add a little oil in a saucepan. Pan-fry the ikan bilis until brown and crispy. Add in water. Let it boil.

2. When boiled, add in the yong tau foo, seasonings and crispy shallots. Turn the heat to low and let it simmer until the yong tau foo are cooked.

3. Serve in a bowl and sprinkle more fried shallots on top. Serve warm.

Also the repeat, Yong Tau Foo with Sweet Bean Paste Sauce. The bean paste sauce recipe is courtesy of Rasa Malaysia. I simply love it!

Black Bean Soup

This is one easy and delicious soup to whip up. I even feel embarrass to give out the recipe!! Well, for the newbies I guess.

Ingredients:

3-4 pork ribs or pork loin bones
1/2 cup of black beans, washed
5 cups of water
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Boiled the water over high heat. When boiled, add in the pork bones/ribs. Dished out the inpurities and add the washed black beans. Turn the heat to low and let it simmer for 3-4 hours, or until the pork turned tender. Season to taste with a little salt. Serve hot!

Crabmeat Cream Corn Soup

Featuring one of my home cook dishes.

Ingredients:

~ 1 egg, lightly beaten
~ 1 canned of creamy corn
~ Shredded wood ear fungus
~ 1 small canned of crabmeats
~ 1/2 cup of cubed tofu pieces
~ 2 canned Swanson chicken broth

Thickening:
Potato starch + water

Method:

In a big saucepan, add in the chicken broth. Turn up the heat and let it boil.

When boiled, add in the above ingredients except egg. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

Turn the heat off and add in the beaten egg, when pouring the egg, write 8 with it with a chopstick so that it has the egg drop effect.

Lastly, add in the thickening and stir until the soup thicken.

Hot and Sour Soup

Want a bowl of hot and sour soup? This is also an Americanize dish. Not sure whether you can find it in M'sia.



This recipe can be found at Lily's blog. I omitted the bamboo shoot and char choy and added cut baby corns.
I also added dark soy sauce and chilli paste into mine to make it real spicy. Also thicken the soup with potato starch.



This hot/spicy and sour soup is really suitable for winter. The sweating helps to keep you warm. :D Thanks Lily for the recipe!