This is the first time that i have made spring roll from scratch, i had always bought frozen ready- made spring roll in the past. However, i had recently discovered that they were darn expensive, and feeling being cheated of money when i could have made them myself with only a fraction of the money spent, i decided to do it myself.

To be honest, i was wondering if  i was doing the right thing all the time while rolling the spring roll. I was so afraid that they won’t stay rolled or don’t taste good. If they turn out to be inedible, won’t i  be wasting all my time and effort? Hmm, no matter, here i am, already rolling them, what good would it do to worry now?

Well, after all the hassle, the spring rolls were done. Some of them split open while i was deep-frying them, probably because the oil is too hot. Nevertheless, the rest is quite pretty with the skin translucent, showing the ingredients inside. Little sis took a bite and pronounced them yummy.

Hahaha, i am happy and glad to say good-bye to frozen spring roll!

Homemade Spring Roll

( makes 15 )

Ingredients:

50 g                 radish, shredded

50 g                 carrot, shredded

3                        medium size fresh shiitake mushroom, shredded

2                        sausage, halved and shredded

some                salt

some                ground black pepper

15                      spring roll wrapper

1                        egg white

Method:

1.      Heat 1 tbsp cooking oil in pan,  add in all ingredients and stir-fry until soft.

          ( about 3 minutes ) Leave to cool.

2.      Divide stir-fried mixture into 15 portions and spoon each onto one end of spring roll

          wrapper. Roll up, fold two ends ( right and left ends ) towards each other, dab with

          egg white and press to seal. Continue to roll, dab top ends with egg white and roll to seal.

3.      Place finished spring roll onto clean plate with ends facing down. Continue to wrap the

           rest until finished.

4.      Heat adequate cooking oil for deep-frying. Once hot, gently drop spring roll into hot

          oil to fry until golden brown. Make sure to turn over for even browning.

5.      Remove onto absorbent paper towel. Transfer to serving plate and serve.

Hehe, a simple that’s a breeze to prepare, and delicious to boot. And of course, i cheated a bit and use store-bought ingredients to make my yummy meal. Well, it’s doesn’t really matter to me as long as the food is delicious . I’m no restaurant chef or a fussy eater, and i definitely won’t be complaining about my own cooking.

Simple Udon Soup

( serves 2 )

Ingredients:

300 ml               water

160 g                   udon

10 g                     dashi powder

2 tbsp                 mirin

2 tbsp                 japanese soy sauce

6 large               uncooked prawns, shelled and deveined

Garnish:

1                           green onions, chopped finely

¼ tsp                shichimi togarshi ( seven-spice mix )

Method:

1.    Bring 300 ml of water to boil. Add in dashi powder, mirin, japanese soy sauce to mix.

2.    Add in udon and cook 2 minutes.

3.    Add in prawn and cook until change colour. Turn off heat immediately.

4.    Ladle into two bowls and garnish with green onion and shichimi togarashi. Serve.

Mmm… Juicy, juicy prawns. I quite like to cook prawns as they are a breeze to do, plus it’s so easy to know when they were ready; when they turn blushing pink!

My family likes to eat prawns that were already deshelled. You can guess why, they don’t have to do it themselves! There was a few times when i didn’t remove the tails when cooking prawns, and YS would ask why i didn’t remove the tails too. Hmm… such picky eaters.

Celery Stir-Fried Prawn

Ingredients:

150 g               prawns, deshelled and deveined

2 stalk              celery, peeled and sliced diagonally

1 tsp                 garlic oil

½ tsp                salt

1 tbsp               rice wine

Method:

1.    Heat oil in wok. Add in celery and sauté for 1 minute.

2.    Add in prawns and cook until prawns turn pink.

3.    Add in salt and rice wine, stir.

4.    Off heat, dish up and serve.

♥♥  Happy 2010 CNY !! ♥♥ 

Hehe, it’s been a while since i last posted in my blog. Well, it’s been a very hectic week;  with spring cleaning to do, facebook to play, and CNY cookies to bake. Haha, i’m amazed at the amount of job done. Phew, i have to say lucky it’s only once a year, it’s really back breaking tasks.

I’ve never bake Chinese peanut cookies before or even eat much before,  i found the powdery thick  texture a bit off-putting. It always makes me thirsty afterwards and of course water is drank, and you can imagine how bloated i’d feel. Just for this reason alone, Chinese peanut cookies never make it into my list of CNY baking.

Ahem, that changes after i found one recipe on the internet with many great reviews about it. And so, with equal amount of hope and misgivings, i decided to try it too.

Trying to lessen any waste, i cut the portion into 1/3 of the original recipe, thinking it won’t pain me too much if it’s a flop or nobody likes it. After a bit of mixing and baking, my small quantity of cookies were ready for tasting. After one bite, i started to regret. Why did i made so little? There’s not enough to go around. Hahaha!

And so the story goes on …. …..  ( baking …, baking …, baking …)

 Chinese Peanut Cookies

Ingredients:

200 g                    ground peanut powder

200 g                    plain flour

1/2 tsp                  baking powder

100 g                     icing sugar

1/2 tsp                  salt

50 g                       coursely chopped peanut bits

160 g                     peanut oil

1 egg yolk + 1 tsp water for egg wash

Method:

1.    Sift in flour, baking powder, ground peanut powder, icing sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add in chopped peanuts bits and mix well.

2.    Add in peanut oil and mix till a piable dough is formed. ( Add the oil little by little to better gauge the dough texture, add more if necessary).

3.     Shape soft dough into mould, arrange onto baking sheet and apply egg wash.

4.    Bake in preheated oven at 170°C for 20 minutes.

♥♥         I used store-bought peanut powder with sugar added to it, so i reduced the icing sugar

              to 70 g. Same with the course peanut bits, they are store- bought too.

              Hehe, the results of my laziesness.

I’ve heard that pumpkin is good for slimming, but didn’t know if it’s true. Well, anyway, i thought that it doesn’t hurt to eat it as pumpkin itself is very nutritious and delicious too.

I find it interesting that pumpkin is both well-like by both sides of the globe; people  from the eastern and western countries have lots of recipes that uses pumpkin as the main ingredient. When i search for pumpkin soup recipe in the internet, there were lots and lots of recipes that include both the eastern and western kind. Haha, what a sweet coincidence, two totally different dish with the same name.

Golden Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

800 ml                 water

100 g                     pumpkin, chopped roughly

1                              corn, remove outer layer and chopped roughly

1                              small carrot, peeled and chopped roughly

some                      meat ball ( optional )

Method:

1.      Put 8oo ml of water into pot and bring to boil. Add in rest of ingredients and let simmer over

          medium low heat for ½ hr.

2.      Add in salt to taste, garnish with chopped spring onions and serve.

RED ALERT! ….. Red is in the range at the moment, hahah, at least during the Chinese New Year time. From China ancient times, red colour is considered as an auspicious colour and its used whenever there’s something to celebrate; may it be birthdays, weddings, or the birth of a child in the house.

As CNY is nearing, i decided to join in the festive mood and cook this red hot dish for dinner. It’s easy enough and it’s a good addition to my very own list of new recipes. Yum!

Spicy Pork Strips

Ingredients:

100 g               lean pork, shredded

½                     red bell pepper, deseed and cut into 1 cm thick slices

½                     Japanese cucumber, sliced diagonally 1 cm thick

2 tbsp               plain flour

1 tbsp               potato starch

1 tsp                 chili powder

¼ tsp                salt

1 tbsp               cooking oil

1tsp                  garlic oil

Seasoning:

50 ml                water

2 tbsp               chili sauce

1 tbsp               tomato sauce

Method:

1.    In a big clear plastic bag, mix plain flour, potato starch, chili powder, and salt together.

        Add shredded pork in and twist to close bag. Toss around to coat pork evenly with flour

        mixture. Set aside.

2.    Heat enough cooking oil for deep-frying, with tong, transfer coated pork into hot oil to fry.

        Once golden, remove to absorbent paper.

3.    In new wok, heat cooking oil and garlic oil. Add red bell pepper and Japanese cucumber to

         sauté 1 minute.

4.    Add seasoning to mix. Lastly, add in fried pork strips and stir to mix.

5.    Off heat. Transfer to serving plate and serve.

Hehe, i had finally succumb to my sister suggestion on joining Facebook and logging in to play the games. I’m hooked! For these past few days, i’m been playing and playing. Ah…. I finally understand what’s the great excitement is about.

Well, have no fear, my heart still lies here and i will maintain my presence here. Haha.

Back to the dish of the day, it’s porridge ( again ). Actually it’s been a while since i last cook up new porridge dishes, and this time, i decided to try the chicken flavour. It’s a delight, i must say….

Chicken Porridge

( serves 2)

Ingredients:

250 g                      cooked rice

1000 ml                water

100 g                       boneless chicken breast

2 tsp                        concentrated chicken stock

2 tsp                         light soy sauce

1 tsp                         sesame oil

1 tsp                         ground white pepper

1 tbsp                      hua tiao wine

1 tsp                        finely chopped ginger

1                               egg, beaten

Method:

1.    Place cooked rice and 500 ml of water in large pan to cook.

2.    Once boiled, add chicken stock, light soy sauce,  sesame oil, ginger, white pepper and

        hua tiao wine. Cook half- covered on low heat for 20 minutes.

3.    Add in 300 ml of water and bring to boil again on medium high heat. Add beaten egg in

        a thin stream, stirring all the while to prevent egg lumps. 

4.    Continue cooking on low heat with lid half-covered for another 15 minutes.

5.    Off heat. Check porridge consistency, add more water if desire.

6.    In another small pan, bring 200 ml of water to boil. Add in pinch of salt and chicken

        breast to cook on hight heat for 5 minutes.

7.    Off heat and let chicken stand in water for 5 minutes. Drain and slice chicken or shred

        chicken with hands.

8.    Ladle porridge into bowl, arrange chicken on top and garnish with fried sliver fish. Serve.

 ♥  When cooking porridge, stir frequently to prevent porridge settling on bottom and burning.

I had tried cooking sweet and sour pork before, but the results always disappoint me. The pork were stiff and dry compared to what i had eaten outside, and i couldn’t understand why. Haha, it was only until when i read from a chinese cuisine cookbook that i came to know that this dish requires a different kind of pork meat, or i should say, different part of the pork.

Hehe, now that i learned my lesson, the problem was quickly rectify. I really have to give thanks to the local supermarket that supply the frozen section of the pork which i needed. It was ridiculously easy, they had already marked out the required section meant for cooking sweet and sour pork. IT WAS PRINTED ON THE WRAPPER !  Yeah!!

I just have to defreeze and cook as i have before, and yummy, the taste and texture was what i wanted for all this while. Hip, Hip, Horray!!

Sweet & Sour Pork

Ingredients:

300 g                 pork cube , defroze

½                        onion

½                        green bell pepper

½                        red bell pepper

3 rings              canned pineapple

1 big                  tomato

→   Wash and chop all ingredients into bite size.

Batter for frying:

2 tbsp                 plain flour

1 tbsp                 potato starch (flour)

¼ tsp                 salt

1                           cold egg

50 ml                 cold water

→   Mix all ingredients together and chill in fridge.

Seasoning:

1 tbsp                 rice vinegar

1 tbsp                 sugar

2 tbsp                 ketchup

¼ tbsp               light soy sauce

→   Mix all ingredients together.

Method:

1.        Wash pork cube and mix together with frying batter. Heat enough oil for frying in pan.

2.        Using chopsticks or thongs, drop coated pork cubes into hot oil to fry.
            Gently stir to ensure even frying.

3.        Once golden, remove to absorbent paper and set aside.

4.        In wok, heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Add 1 tsp of chopped garlic and onion to sauté 1 minute.

5.        Add in bell peppers, tomato, pineapple and seasoning to mix. Cook another 1 minute.

6.        Add in fried pork cube and stir to mix. Off heat.

7.        Serve.

I recently bought a cookbook featuring japanese cuisine. It’s just a small cookbook with some twenty odd recipes of japanese everyday simple meals. I took a liking to it immediately as the recipes really look easy, plus the photos printed on it looks so appetizing. Yum!

Well, you know what will happen next. I bought the book and came home to cook. Hehe!

Pork Tonkatsu

 Ingredients:

200 g                          pork chop

2 tbsp                          light soy sauce

2 tbsp                          mirin

50 g                              plain flour

1                                    egg, lightly beaten

some                            bread crumbs

Method:

1.    Put pork chop in zip-lock plastic bag and pound slightly with rolling pin.

2.    In a bowl, mix light soy sauce with mirin. Add in flatten pork chop and mix and let soak

        15 minutes.

3.    Prepare one plate with 50 g plain flour, one bowl of lightly beaten egg and one tray filled

        with adequate amount of breadcrumbs. Take one pork chop from the soy sauce mixture and

        coat with plain flour, then dip it into the bowlof beaten egg. Next, transfer to breadcrumbs

        tray and coat with breadcrumbs. Press with finger to ensure thick coating. After coating,

        place on clean plate. Continue with rest of pork chop.

4.    Heat enough cooking to deep-fry in pan. Gently place prepared pork chop into hot oil to fry.

        Deep-fry until golden brown, turning over during mid-fry.

5.    Remove to absorbent paper towel. Transfer onto serving plate and serve hot.

        Serve with tonkatsu sauce on the side or drizzle tonkatsu sauce on top.

Truth to say, i’ve never eaten red bean paste before, probably because it gives me the feeling that it’s super sweet. And me, i don’t have a sweet tooth, i can’t stand foods that are over sweet.

 To my regret, this misconception has led me to miss one of the good food that is both delicious and healthy. Ah, all the years wasted.

Well, better late than never. From now on, i will welcome red bean paste with open arms. Hahaha.

Red Bean Creme with Lotus Seeds

Ingredients:

200 g                      red beans

200 ml                   water

2                                orange peel

80 g                          rock sugar

100 ml                    water

20 g                          lotus seeds

Method:

1.    Wash red beans and soak 2 hours. Drain water away.

2.    Put red beans, orange peel and 150 ml of water in pan. Cover and bring to boil.

3.    Reduce heat to low and cook 1 hour. Stir and add water if necessary to prevent red beans

        from sticking to base.

4.    Transfer hot red bean mixture to blender and pulse to make puree.

5.    Pour back into pan and add the remaining 50 ml of water to blend. Add in rock sugar and

        stir to dissolve. Once dissolved, off heat.

6.    In another small pan, mix 100 ml of water with lotus seeds and bring to boil.

7.    Cook for another 15 – 20 minutes to soften lotus seeds. Split seeds into half and remove

         center stem.

8.    To serve, ladle red bean crème into bowl and top with lotus seeds.