Mee Suah Kueh

Dinner at home

I have been away for 3 weeks in the US. Weather in Minnesota was erratic, with snow on 2 occasions, accompanied with days of strong wind and even thunderstorms! My colleagues said I experienced 3 seasons all in 3 weeks.

Finally, I am back after 3 weeks of American food. Now I just want some simple homecooked food.

Spinach with Mushrooms and Black Fungus

4-5 stalks of spinach, cut
400g of mixed mushrooms (I used shitake and abalone)

1 big piece of black fungus (soaked and sliced thinly)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1tbsp each of olive oil and sesame oil

fish sauce and pepper to season

1. Add the oil in a heated wok with the garlic. Do not add garlic after the oil is hot as this will burn the garlic before the aroma is released.

2. Add the fungus and fry for 2 mins.

3. Add the chopped mushrooms. Stirfry for 2 mins and add fish sauce and some water. Cover and simmer over mid-low heat. Let the mushrooms absorb the flavour. Salt is not added as fish sauce is salty enough.

4. At this point, heat a pot of water for blanching the spinach and add a pinch of salt. Add the spinach to the boiling water.

5. With the spinach done, check the mushrooms. It should have reduced slightly. Add the spinach and do a quick toss. Spinkle some pepper and season to taste.

6. Dish it up, sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds if desired and serve.

Baked Tilapia
NTUC was selling frozen tilapia fillets at a promo price. Seeing that they were individually wrapped, so decided to give it a try. Just marinate them in salt, pepper, paprika. Bake them on the upper rack at 220 degrees oven for 15mins, with 2 halved limes. When done, squeeze the lime juice over. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil for the additional flavour. Bon Appetit!

Saturday - Breakfast and Dinner

Saturday... a day to catch up on sleep, housework, exercise, office work and whatever you can't finish in the first 5 days of the week. Something that I always look forward on Saturday is breakfast. Not that I don't eat b'fast during the week, but its always eaten in front of the laptop in office. So, Saturday is a great time to sit in a coffee shop; a simple one will do... kopi and a piece of kueh... that's all and I'm satisfied... total cost? $1.10. Damn, could have been a dollar if not for the 10c price increase for the ming jiang kueh...haha...wonderful way to start the day. Loved the way the kueh was done at this stall. The filling is crushed peanuts and sugar, a weekly indulge for me. I can't stand those with a filling similar to peanut butter, gooey and messy, with no fragrance at all. The best ming jiang kueh I had was actually in Cameron Highlands, where the skin is thin and crisp, not like SG's version where the skin is so thick. The ancik will add crushed peanuts, sweet corn and a little condensed milk! hahahaa... sinful rite? But so so good...yummy...:)

Dinner... W is finally back from his trip to Jarkata. Well, apparently he had loads of fun eating and shopping for real Polos. According to him, he ate loads of carbs and well, put on weight of course.

Planned for Sat's dinner two night ago. Decided to try out the chives kimchi I read from a TW recipe book. Also, in order to clear my pantry, decided to do a fried rice cakes. So on Thursday, I soaked the dried chinese rice cakes, changing water daily. As for the kimchi, it was an experience doing it, getting a bit of mess on my t-shirt. But luckily the result tasted ok... none of us had a tummy upset... :) Will be writing up the recipe for these 2 dishes in the next post... for now... need to clear some office work... that's what happens when your boss gives you a laptop...:P

Dinner at Eden Cafe

Scallops in egg yolk and lemon sauce, with the strawberry champange

Penne in Chocolate and Olive Sauce

Polenta cake with sundried tomatoes and feta cheese

Lavender roast chicken

Mahi-Mahi fish with almonds and lemon sauce

Trio of desserts: Chocolate Ganache
Balsamic Vinegar and Black Pepper Moouse Cake
White Wine Jello with Osmathus and ElderFlower

Great Place with great food... and of course great company! Dinner with the lovely bride-to-be and the jie meis.

Venue was held at Eden Cafe, located in Club Street. Though the restaurant was admist all the pub joints, the interior was very cozy and homely. All thanks to June, who knows the Clement, the boss, we were fortunate enough to have a 8 course sampler menu... washed down with a beautiful strawberry champange from Chile.
Lovely ambience, though I think we were quite a nusiance, with our loud garfaws...:P
No complaints about the food... all of us polished everything off the plate. We thought we won't be stuffed since the portions were not big...but...BUT... we were so STUFFED that we just din want to move at all...haha
Well, great place and I will definitely be back... ;)

Friday Dinner

Fridays are special for me. Maybe it's becos in my first job as an auditor in the Big4, we will slog through the week and chill out on Friday. So Fridays are just different.
Now, Fridays are STILL different, haha... esp when W is around. We usually eat out on Friday, but with a fish in my freezer and me leaving on Sunday, means that I have to cook on Friday... Not very exciting, but well... for a change.
Something simple, I don't want to use too much crockery...
Decided to do a fried beehoon and baked the black promfret... It's easy to do, and can be done even when you have very little ingredients in your fridge...:)

Baked Promfret( or any whole fish or fish fillet)
Marinate:
1 tbsp mirin or sherry
1 tbsp black soya sauce
Dash of black pepper
1 tsp of oregano
1 tsp of paprika
Marinate for a good 15mins and place the fish on a double layer of aluminum foil. Wrap the fish and back in a preheated oven of 190 degrees. My oven's temp is abit low, so depending on your oven, you can use 180. Bake for 20 mins.
When 15 mins has passed, take the fish out, open up the foil, and put a dash of pepper/salt mixture on both sides of the fish and let it continue for the rest of the baking period.
Because it's baked, so all the juices of the fish are retained. Pair it with some good chili sauce and its really bliss.

Fried Beehoon
No recipe here. You can add what you like and what you have on hand. Some points to note, after my fry beehoon experience:
- Soak the beehoon overnight, or at least 2 hrs before frying with hot water. This makes frying easier.
- Fry the ingredients first. Dried mushrooms, Black fungus, dried shrimps, whatever. Fry it with some olive oil till its fragrant. If you are adding veg like peas or seafood, only add it just before you add the beehoon. And fry it only for a min of so, cos it will still continue to cook when you are frying the beehoon.
- Prepare a mixture of water and dark soy sauce, about 100-150ml beforehand. Abit of estimation..hee. As you fry the beehoon, it will be very dry and the mixture need to be added slowly and stirred thoroughly.
- A long pair of chopsticks will also help in the process.
- Remember, don't add too much soya sauce in the beginning. If the beehoon is bland, more salt/ soy sauce can be added. If it's too salty... I have no idea what you can add... *wink* Happy cooking!

Dinner for Two

Being back home with W means more home cooked food. I mean, instead of having dinners at my mum's place, I prefer to cook for 2. Time to horne my cooking skills before they go rusty... also before all the stuff in my kitchen cabinets grow mouldy and expire!

Grilled Salmon Belly
These are lovely salmon belly pieces we found at cold storage. How to cook them? Simple. As long as the fish is fresh, I do them in only 2 ways, either steam or grill them. All you need is the following to marinate them:
- half a lime/lemon
- pinch of sea salt
- ground pepper, freshly ground if you can
- handful of fresh herbs. I use coriander. For those we don't like the coriander smell, you can always change to dried oregano, or fresh basil.
Season them for about 15mins, and put them on the oven grill. I put them for about 10mins in the oven.
Out comes the nice, crisp salmon belly with all the omega-3 fat oozing out...lovely.
I paired it with fresh local lettuce, so that the fish smell is not too overwhelming.

Briased Black Moss with Dried Oysters and Dried Mushrooms
This is a dish usually eaten during CNY. I have alot of dried oysters in the freezer, not knowing what to do with it. Decided to be a little bit hardworking and made this dish. If you want it for dinner, it's best to cook it in the morning and let the flavours develop throughout the day.
- Dried mushrooms
- Dried oysters
- Dried Black fungus
The above items should be rinsed and soaked overnight separately. I did not state the quantity as it's up to each person's preference. For 2 pax, i used about 10 pcs of dried mushrooms, 15 dried oysters and 3 pcs of dried fungus.
- Black moss
- 2inch piece of cinnamon bark
- 1 star anise
- 3 cloves of garlic, bashed but still with skin
- 2-3 tbsp of dark soy sauce
- 2 tsp if light soy sauce
- 1 tsp of brown sugar
- 1/2 cup of stock or water

Brown the garlic with olive oil till fragrant. Then, add the cinnamon and star anise. When the fragrance is released, about a min or so, add in the mushrooms, oysters and fungus. Stir fry them for a min. Add the black moss in and fry for a while more. Add in the soy sauce and sugar. Also add the stock at this time. Simmer it over a low fire for about 20 mins. If the liquid is drying out, add more stock/water.
Generally, the ingredients can be cooked quickly, but time is required for the ingredients to absorb the flavours and seasonings. Patience and time is required for this dish.:)
Before dinner time, just reheat the dish and serve it on a plate of lettuce. :)

Dinner for one

Dinner was for one last night, as W went to entertain his korean friends. I was tired of eating out and snacking on biscuits and junk food. In the end, decided to raid my fridge to make something to reward myself.

In my earlier China and Phuket trip, I manage to buy fresh edamame and fresh black fungus! I had never seen fresh fungus all my life! It was quite an eye-opener for me. Also managed to buy fresh straw mushrooms, going to cook that on friday for dinner... drooling already just thinking of it.

Anyway, whipped up a quick meal with the following ingredients:

• 1 small firm beancurd, sliced. I freezed it earlier, thus creating those 'holes' in the beancurd. In chinese, its called 'Dong Dou Fu' literally translated as 'frozen bean curd'.
• Black fungus
• Handful of edamame
• 1 stalk of Tang Oh vegetable (or any veg u have on hand)
• bamboo shoots
• 1 small piece of preserved radish, chopped (adjust accordingly to your preference)
• 2 pieces of galic, chopped
• some dried shrimps, chopped (adjust accordingly to your preference)
• Seasoning (fish sauce, pepper, chili powder, shao xing wine) to taste
• Water or stock if you have on hand

1. Fry the garlic in a heated oiled wok.
2. Add the preserved radish and dried shrimps and fry till fragant, about a min.
3. Add the beancurd, bamboo shoots and black fungus. Give a quick stir fry, add some water/stock, followed by fish sauce. As fish sauce is already salty, don't add salt in this dish.
4. Add the edamane and continue to stir fry over medium heat. These ingredients are generally quick to cook. But I ususally cook a little longer to get the flavours.
5. At this point, you can add the wine, and chili powder. Add more water if needed for the ingredients to simmer.
6. Lastly, add the Tang Oh, turn up the fire, quick stir fry till the veg stalk to soft enough to cut through with the fryer.
7. Add peper, turn off the fire and serve immediately.

Really liked this dish, regretted that I don't have a bowl of rice to go with it...haha
You can change any ingredients above, but the general idea is to have a good mix of crunchy and soft vegetables. :) think i will be recreating this dish on friday... yum yum... :P