Monday, August 04, 2008

Use of Leftovers 3: Stir-fried Soba Noodle


Haha, my hubby was real funny the other night when he saw the leftovers from picture on the left, he asked what are you going to do with this? I made noodle soup the other night and I have a plate of extra ingredients sitting on the table just in case he wanted more (he can always add in with his noodle you see). I told him, I could make something out of it. Now, see how I turned these leftovers from a Chinese take-out and ingredients for noodle soup into a yummy plate of soba noodle.


I just boiled some soba noodle, drained and rinsed with cold water and set aside. Then, I stir-fry all the leftover ingredients in a wok with a little soy sauce and pour them on top of the soba noodle. Mix well together and season to taste with Chinese vinegar, more soy sauce, a little salt and sesame oil. This noodle can be enjoyed cold or warm.


Now, I have a plate of yummy soba noodle that didn't look one bit like eating from leftovers! Serve this up with cut chili padi (bird eye chili) or my chili in oil. Delicious!

I'm also serving this dish to Pesto Pasta Night. This week host is Michelle, from the Greedy Gourmet
, do check out her blog on Friday for the round up.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Strawberry Cranberries Cookies


I was invited to participate in this July Key Ingredient's Cooks Kitchen contest and the key ingredient for this month is berry. Since I just bought a packet of dried cranberries, I thought that would be perfect. I wanted to make a cookie recipe and since the key ingredient is berry, I thought a strawberry flavor cookie would be great. So, I came out with this crispy Strawberry Cranberries Cookies. Well, my daughters both loved it and walloped half of the cookies before it even had a chance to cool down. My hubby later finished the rest. I hope you will like it too!

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.