肉干 Bak Kwa －－－新年快乐、万事如意

新年的脚步又逼近了。最近看到越来越多人自己动手制作肉干，而且看起来一点也不比外面买来的逊色。他们都说制作过程简单，这也让我蠢蠢欲动想亲自动手试试看。今天刚好和几个新加坡朋友有个聚会。我就决定做肉干让他们解解“乡思之愁”和提早庆祝新年。

制作肉干的确一点都不难。我在网上找到两种做法。两种做法的材料都差不多一样，只是方法上有点不同。一种是先用烤箱用低温烘干肉干，然后剪成小块再用高温烤(grill)至旁边稍微焦香。还有另一种做法是直接用烤箱用高温烤(grill)至焦香。我尝试了两种做法，其实味道没有什么不同。我这个懒惰的人当然是比较喜欢第二种做法。我做的第一批肉干（用第一种做法），一个不小心烤焦了点。我没有加红色色素，但是我用了红麴酱油，加上有点焦黑所以肉干颜色较暗。

颜色难看了点，但味道还可以;p

第二批我差点又搞砸了，因为觉得第一批有点厚，所以就弄薄一点。但是，好像太薄了，翻面烤时有点难。结果第二批的形状很丑;p。

用酱油、蚝油、糖、蜜糖、鱼露、五香粉、胡椒粉、盐及花雕酒腌肉。最好腌隔夜。

将腌制好的肉放在烤盘用汤匙压扁

用烤箱用低温烤干的肉干。还需要剪成小片再烤。

第一种做法（烤两次）：请参考http://nasilemaklover.blogspot.com/2012/01/homemade-chinese-pork-jerky-bak-kwa.html

第二种做法（只烤一次）：请参考 http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/bak-kwa-kitchen-110056570.html

我自己觉得这次肉干的味道只是勉强合格而已。我的那些新加坡朋友都说很不错。我看他们是太久没有吃肉干了所以只要味道有一点像，他们就觉得很好吃。哈哈！不然就是他们太客气了，不好意思说味道还好 ;p

Ayam Pong Teh (Nyonya Style Braised Chicken with Potatoes)

 

Bought some chicken thighs and potatoes for cooking curry but both my husband and myself caught the flu and cough virus so my plan is spoiled. Hmm so I have to change my plan. Initially, I wanted to cook braised mushrooms with chicken but than I wanted to have a change as I have cooked that many times (cos my husband loves to eat that). Searched the net for cooking Chinese style braised chicken with potatoes but in the end the nyonya style caught my attention. To be frank I have never eaten Ayam Pong Teh before. But the ingredients used for cooking this dish are all my favourite-- garlic, shallots, taucheong and gula melaka, and I have all these at home! I must give this dish a try! 

The end product is just delicious! I love it! Just give me a bowl of rice and it will be a yummy meal. Oh by the way I get this recipe from http://www.houseofannie.com/ayam-pong-teh-nyonya-style-braised-chicken-with-potatoes/

 

Ingredients:
1) 2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped (the author suggested to double this amount as she like the flavor of shallots. I totally agree! Must add more the fragrant is just so so nice)
2) 5 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
3) 1/4 cup peanut oil (or vegetable oil will work too), and I have used a little less oil
4) 1/4 cup tau cheong (brown bean sauce)

5) 3 tablespoon of dark soya sauce. I have used Cheong Chan cooking caramel (you can refer to http://jiajiajiuathome.blogspot.com/2011/08/part-2.html to have a look at what it is)

6) 1 tablespoon of soya sauce

7) 2 Tbsp gula melaka, chopped

8) 1-2 chicken thighs, chopped into pieces
9) 1-2  red potatoes
10) 1 1/2 to 2 cups water
11) salt to taste

Method:
1) Pound shallots and garlic into a coarse paste. Set aside.
2) Heat oil over medium heat, add shallots and garlic paste and fry for about 2 mins, making sure not to burn the paste.

3) Add tau cheong, dark soy sauce and gula melaka. Stir until sugar has dissolved and liquid has thickened, about 30 seconds.
4) Add chicken and potatoes and the water. Bring to a boil.
5) When the water boils, reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1-1 1/2 hours.
6) Season with salt and soy sauce to taste. Depending on how sweet your brown bean sauce is (some brown bean sauce is sweetened), you might need to add a bit more salt/soy sauce to balance out the sweetness. The end flavors should be a nice marrying of savory saltiness with undertones of sweetness.

PS: I still have quite a bit of left over. So I kept it for the next day and I add tou pok, mushrooms and some white radish and cook it again for 30 minutes and turn off the heat let the ingredients sit inside to absorb the sauce. It really taste fantastic too!

Tomato Basil Soup

My husband and myself like to eat in this Italian restaurant called Carrabbas.  We love the grilled pork chops there. And of course the pasta there has never failed my expectations. One of the news things my husband has tried and love is their tomato basil soup. My husband is not very adventurous with food. Once he likes some food he will always eat that. Very predictable. So one day he ordered something different which surprises me. And he loves it. You might have guessed it, the next few times we went Carrabbas, he will definitely order the tomato basil soup.


Since he like it so much and his colleague just gave us a basil plant, I shall try to cook this. It is actually very simple. I have gathered two recipes on this soup and merged them together based on what I have at home.


Ingredients:

1)  1 cup fresh tomatoes, cored, peeled, and chopped  or 1 cup canned whole tomatoes , crushed

2)  1 cup tomato juice (or part vegetable or part chicken stock) I do not have tomato juice, so I use half a small can of tomato paste (not ketchup) and mixed with the chicken stock.

3)  3 -3 1/2 basil leaves , washed fresh

4)  1 chopped medium size yellow onion

5)  3 cloves garlic, minced

6) 1/16 teaspoon cracked black pepper

7) 1/4 cup heavy cream. (I use milk instead)

8) 1tablespoon unsalted butter

9) 1/4 to taste salt

10) 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

11) 1/4 to taste lemon juice (optional)

Directions:

1) Saute the onions and garlic with the butter and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown.

2) Add in the tomatoes, juice/and or stock in saucepan.

3)   Simmer for 30 minutes.

4) Puree, along with the basil leaves, in small batches, in blender, food processor (or better yet, one of those handy hand-held food blenders, right in the cooking pan). Return to saucepan and add cream (i use milk) while stirring, over low heat. 

5) You can garnish with basil leaves and a dash of black pepper before serving.

皮蛋瘦肉粥 My comfort food--Pork porridge with thousand century egg

 

新年快乐！！ 某些国家已经迈入新的一年。我还得等多7个小时才步入2012年。时间过得飞快，又过了一年。来到美国已经2年了。我可要好好珍惜在这里的最后一年，好好继续当个煮饭婆，尝试煮新的菜色。不然，回国后我想没有太多机会下厨了。

“消失”了一小阵子。可能你已猜到，我又跑到别的地方去渡假。反正圣诞节和新年有很长的假期，索性又“出走”到别的地方开开眼界。这次我们跑到迪斯尼乐园尝试找回童年和到环球影城寻找刺激。走了好几天真的蛮累的。回到家本来想出去吃（因为太累了不想煮），可是想到又要吃西餐就觉得很腻！翻了翻冰箱，刚好可以煮皮蛋瘦肉粥！太棒了即简单又好吃！在冷冷的天气吃有妈妈味道的粥，是人生一大享受！吃皮蛋瘦肉粥让我想起妈妈。因为每次天气开始炎热，妈妈就会煮这个粥。她说吃了这个粥能降火。会不会降火我就不知道了，我只知道我最爱吃妈妈煮的这个粥！

食材：（2－3人份）

1）里肌肉 大概200g（pork loin）切薄片

2）干蚝8－10颗切大丁

3）干贝5－6颗，泡水至软然后捏成丝

4）皮蛋一粒，切大丁

5）生菜 几片切条 （我家里有所以就用了。你也可以选择不放）

6）米3／4杯（量米的杯子）

7）水或高汤大概4－5杯

步骤：

1）用蚝油、酱油、绍兴酒、胡椒粉和太白粉腌制肉片大概半小时。

2）把米洗干净然后，把米倒入锅中，加入水煮到水滚开。

3）加入干贝和干蚝，转小火煮到米“开花”。

4）加入肉片，转中火煮到肉片熟透。

5）加入生菜、皮蛋和盐调味，煮2分钟。

6）吃粥之前，可以撒点葱花或芫荽和胡椒粉。

京都排骨

这是新加坡煮炒摊位经常看到的一道菜。我先生不是肉食主义者，但是除了鸡翅膀，就是排骨了。所以我总要学学几道排骨菜肴。因为我不喜欢需要炸的排骨，以前一买排骨就只会做豆豆支蒸排骨。现在总算有另一个选择。京都排骨不需要炸，很简单！我是在http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2007/10/jing-du-pai-gu.html 找到的食谱。我就跟着里面的步骤做，所以我就不把食谱放在这了。我先生还很喜欢这道菜哦！

Or Nee 芋泥

This is one of my favourite desserts---Or Nee! Will definitely order this if it is on the menu. Whenever I attend wedding dinners, I will hope that the last dish for the day is Or Nee (keeping my fingers crossed it will  be good!). And for my own wedding I have this for the last dish hehe! 

I  have made this specially for a farewell gathering for a friend who is going back to Singapore with her 2 girls. I hope they like it.  It is really fate which bring us SIngaporeans together in a foreign country. I have never seen her though we attended the same JC and same course in uni. We joked that we were too low profile (which is very true) ;p  Anyway I will still meet her again soon, this time round in Singapore when I go back during CNY.

Before I made this dish, I have always heard many people saying it is difficult to make cos you have to cook it on a wok and keep stirring so that I will not get burnt. And to make it taste good, it is better to cook it with lard. Since I am a lazy cook, I have search the net for a easy recipe. And to my surprise, I found one which does not need to cook in the wok and taste wonderfully good too!  The 2 secrets to a good or nee i think is  the shallots oil (to replace lard if you want a healthier version) for the fragrance and a good blender for a smooth texture. My cheapo blender died on me when I tried to blend my first batch of yam that's why my or nee was not as smooth as I wanted it to be. In the end I had to use a fork to mash it up than use my blender for cake to mix the oil and sugar with it and hopefully will help to mash my yam even smoother. Phew, luckily I make it in time for the gathering! Oh and I have left out the pumpkin paste as I can't find any near my place. I think it will taste good if there was some. 

If you have a blender at home, you should try to make or nee if you are a fan of this dessert. It is really not difficult!

(adapted from : http://www.chinese-food-delight.com/yam-paste.html)

Ingredients: (Serves around 15 pax)

1)  1.8kg of yam

2)  A handful of gingko nuts (I use the fresh with shells still intact)

3) 15-20 tablespoons of shallots oil

4) 10 tablespoons of sugar (you can adjust according to your taste)

Steps:

1) Remove the shell, skin and shoots from the gingko nuts. Add the nuts in a small pot of water with some sugar and bring it to boil. Lower the heat and simmer for around 30 min for it to soften and sweeten.

2) Remove the skin of the yam and cut it into cubes. Steam for about 30 minutes or until they turn soft. Mash the yam using a fork, a masher or a blender into a fine paste while it is still hot. Add the sugar and oil to the paste and blend well. (As i am making a lot, I have mash them in 3 batches.)

3) Place the gingko nuts and yam paste (if you are adding pumpkin paste add now too) into a steam tray and steam it on high heat for 30 minutes.

4) Enjoy your or nee when hot!

PS: If you like, you can add in coconut milk when serving the or nee. Or you can add in the coconut milk when blending the paste with the sugar and oil.

想念婆婆的私房菜－－－客家酿豆腐

我先生和他的婆婆的感情很好。可惜，他婆婆很早就过世了。我也没有机会见过她。但是，我们每次清明和新年前夕，一定会去祭拜她。我先生总是说他婆婆做的酿豆腐很好吃。可是我家婆却没有“继承”这个食谱。好可惜啊！

我就“接受挑战”，想做出先生想念的酿豆腐。我问他婆婆的酿豆腐有些什么。他说只记得有酿肉。我问他是什么味道，他却说不出一个所以然。唉。。。我看只能在网上寻找别人家的做法了。找到了几个。有些是猪肉和鱼浆做馅，有些是猪肉和虾泥做馅。我问先生喜欢吃哪一种，他说前者。我就不用伤脑筋想了。我觉得好吃的馅，应该还加了些什么秘密材料。我想可能是咸鱼或扁鱼干（那种有时吃肉脞面会加的炸的鱼干）。果然，没有让我猜错，其中一个食谱就是加了咸鱼。我第一次做的时候（我写这文章时是做了第二次了），不是很成功。首先，我先生说馅料不够多，吃不出味道。我自己觉得我买的咸鱼不好。我还把咸鱼拿去炸加入馅里，但是就是没有味道。这次我决定用扁鱼做。我还“翻山越岭”找遍很多超市才找到的。做出来的味道会比上次香，更能带出肉的鲜味。

做了这么多次，我先生还是觉得不太象他婆婆做的酿豆腐。我说我已经尽力了。下次，我再想想怎么改进吧！

馅料食材：（5 人份）
1） 450克猪肉末
2）300克鱼浆
3）扁鱼片5片
4）2 汤匙酱油
5）1汤匙蚝油
6）1茶匙麻油
7）1茶匙胡椒粉
8）1汤匙太白粉

馅料做法：
1）将扁鱼冲洗一下，然后用餐巾纸擦干。用少许油涂在扁鱼上，然后放在烤盘上。将烤盘放入烤箱（烤箱用200度预热）烤至稍微变金黄色（大概10－15分钟）。你也可以拿去炸。但是我懒惰，用烤箱烤厨房比较干净 ;p
2）将烤好的扁鱼磨成碎片或碎粉。
3）把所有材料倒入大碗里，搅拌均匀。然后把馅料用力摔打在碗里（大概10次）。摔打越久，馅料就会更Q。
4）让馅料腌制大概半小时。

这是两人份的酿豆腐。食谱是5人份。第3份送给我的美国邻居。这是他最喜欢我煮的食物之一 ;) 第4和5份就成了我和先生明天的午餐！

其他材料
1）新鲜冬菇10朵（你也可以用干的冬菇）
2）新鲜豆腐半盒切成厚片
3）豆包10个
4）茄子一个，切成20片（我买的茄子很大所以可以切成20片）
5）腐竹1－2片，用热水泡软后，切成10片
（这些主要材料，你可以随你喜欢更换。我很喜欢吃秋葵，每一次做酿豆腐它一定是“常客”可惜那天刚好没有买到）

调味料：
1）1 1／2 汤匙豆瓣酱 （tau cheong sauce ）
2）1 汤匙豆豆支酱
3）1 汤匙蒜茸
4）1汤匙蚝油
5）1汤匙糖
6）水少许
7）太白粉水

步骤：
1）将肉馅酿在豆腐（一定要把豆腐抹干）、豆腐皮、茄子、豆包（先用刀切一个小口）和冬菇里。在酿豆腐、豆腐皮、冬菇之前，在材料上面放一点太白粉，这样肉馅在煎的时候才不会脱落。
2）用少许油煎好所有酿好的材料（除了豆包）。
3）在锅里热少许油，将蒜茸爆香。
4）然后加入豆瓣酱、豆豆支酱、蚝油和糖炒香。
5）加入水。等水煮开后，加入煎好的材料和豆包焖一下，让材料吸收一些酱汁。
6）水再次煮开后，加入太白粉水勾芡。
7）上桌前可以撒上一些葱。

配上sambal chilli 更是一绝！

PS：“无汤不欢” 的我也用黄豆和江鱼仔熬了少许汤。汤很鲜甜，因为黄豆的关系。yummy!