Friday, May 29, 2009

Kerabu Egg - Egg Salad

A simple Nyonya dish known as "Kerabu Egg". Kerabu means salad. I love all kerabu dishes very much and am glad I have managed to pick up several Kerabu dishes from my grandma and mother. No cooking is required here, just a good mix of sambal belacan (pounded chilly with roasted shrimp paste), lime juice, roasted dried prawns on hardboiled eggs - cut into small pieces. I remembered very well, whenever my grandma prepares this dish, she would picked up her peppermint leaves from her backyard garden and serve with this kerabu...oh, it is truly delicious. The beautiful aroma of the peppermint leaves blends well with this, kind of "fishy-smell" salad. Alternatively, it blends well with cucumber too. This dish is also my girl's favorite and it is always in her request list... :))..just like mummy.






Happy Exploring....n Eat Healthy



Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Spinach Noodle Soup

This is Spinach Noodle Soup. I just love this noodle as it is smooth and has great taste. It comes in dried form and obtainable from any grocery store. It need to be boiled to soften before serving. The soup for the noodle is simple and easy to prepare as it just consist of dried shrimps and eggs with a good spread of chopped spring onions upon serving. The dried shrimps and eggs makes the soup very tasty. Well, the noodle looks simple but most important it gives us great values upon consumption - Yeah, eat healthy!


Look at the great values of spinach which I have extracted from Antioxidants-guide.com


Extract from antioxidants-guide.com


The health benefit of spinach. Spinach...yes a staple diet of Popeye. Unlike the cartoon character it won't give you big muscles and great strength instantly...but it has an extraordinary high nutritional value especially when fresh, steamed, or quickly boiled, and contains vital antioxidants. Click here to read more on the values of spinach



All you need : Serve 4

  • a packet of dried spinach noodle
  • a handful of dried shrimps (hae bee)
  • 2 eggs
  • ginger - cut into fine strips
  • salt - to taste

Simple Process :

  1. Saute the ginger strips together with the dried shrimps till aromatic

  2. Once its ready, drop the ingredients into a pot of 2.5 litre water and let it boil over medium heat for the next 20 minutes
  3. Next, break the eggs into the soup and give a quick stir and bring to boil
  4. Soup is ready for use
  5. Boil the dried spinach noodle till it soften and is ready to serve with the ready made soup
  6. Garnish with chopped spring onion over the noodle

Have a Healthy Meal


Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Red Bean Sweet Dessert - Tong Sui

Simple Ingredients : 300 gms of red beans, 30gms of sago (optional) & 4 screwpine leaves & 80gm sugar (your preference) with 2.5 litre of water (Serve 8)



Red bean sweet soup or red bean "tong-sui" is a beautiful and simple to make dessert. I love adding sago into the soup as it gives a shiny pearl look. It can be taken hot or chilled. My kids love taking it cold, so I would normally store in small cup containers in the refrigerators for them. Alternatively, I do use red beans to prepare a savoury soup by boiling with chicken meat and salt to taste.

Red beans has lots of nutritional values and one of the known qualities is it helps regulate energy in the body and good nourishment for the red blood cells.

Simple Process :

  1. Boil the red beans and screwpine leaves in 2.5 litre over medium heat. It would take about 2 hours + for the beans to soften. Or, just use the slow cooker and let it cook at "high".
  2. Add the sago and sugar after 1 hour boiling time, if much water has evaporated, just add some hot water into it
  3. Once the beans has open up and soften, then it is ready to serve


    Courtesy from chineserecipes.com : "Red beans - there are two types of red beans: the big and small ones. Red beans tastes sweet and ‘neutral’ in nature. Red beans is made into sweet paste used in pastry and mooncakes as filling. High in vitamin B, it’s good for beriberi patients. Red bean sweet soup with preserved tangerine peel is used by the Chinese to drive away ‘dampness’. Elderly previously suffering from swelling feet as the result of water retention can eat congee with red beans regularly to prevent symptoms from recurring.Read more about beans




Enjoy a good Dessert

Monday, May 25, 2009

Dried Soy Noodle n Dried Rice Noodle


The short rice noodle aka loh-si fun is fun to eat. It is kind of slippery and easy to chew, kids would love it. Here is another variety of serving the dried style rice noodle. It is simple and easy to prepare, just right for a lazy mum like me. Alternatively, I also uses the soy noodle for this simple chicken mushroom recipe. The toppings are made up of chicken cut into strips and straw mushrooms which is easily obtainable from the store.


All you need : Serve 4

  • 2 pieces chicken breast meat - cut into strips
  • 1 can of straw mushroom
  • 2 Tbs oyster sauce
  • 1 Tbs dark soy sauce
  • 5 pips of garlic - chopped

Simple Process :

  1. Heat a little oil in a wok and saute the chopped garlic
  2. Add chicken strips, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and stir mix
  3. Add a cup of water and allow it to simmer till chicken is cooked - abt 15 mins
  4. Add in the straw mushroom and stir mix.
  5. Just make sure gravy is sufficient, you may add in some water if you need more gravy
  6. To thicken slightly the gray, add a little cornstarch.
  7. Blanch the soy noodle till soften, dish out and drip a few drops of cooking oil to avoid soy noodle from sticking together.
  8. Serve with the soy noodle or blanch rice noodle with the chicken mushroom topping
Have a Happy Meal ^ _ ^

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Happy Bun


We have been longing to have this "Happy Bun" (to be exact I dont know the name of the bun) for a long long time. We last had it many years ago in a restaurant in Ipoh. I was overwhelmed when I came across this awesome delicious bun while shopping at a frozen goods store, yeah, I found it! For those of you who are good in making bun or dim sum pau, I believe this happy bun can be easily produced at home...oops, but not me cos' I am very poor at dough making...

Anyway, this is the easiest and fastest meal I have ever prepared. We all like mackerel in tomato sauce. So it is just purely, smashing up the mackerel and add chopped onions with lime juice and spread on this "happy bun". I have another variety, that is using the spicy pork cubes from the can. Cucumber and green lettuce are added too.

So this is another new meal by me - a lazy mum, for sharing...... You agree it looks like a happy bun on the plate... ^_^


Beautiful and appealing !!



Simple yet Yummy!




Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Mami Fried Rice

This is one of my simple recipe for fried rice. There are many ways to prepare Fried Rice and this happens to be my boys favorite. It contains simple ingredients like prawns, chicken meat and garnished with omelette strips and chopped spring onions. Sounds simple right?

Fried Rice can be made from overnight cooked rice or cooked rice that has been cooled.


Simple and tasty, these are all you need to prepare this Fried Rice.




All you need : To serve 4

  • cook 2 cups of rice

  • 2 pcs of chicken breast meat - cut into cubes

  • 300 gm prawns - shelled n leave tail

  • 3 eggs - make into omelette n cut into strips

  • spring onions / scallions - chopped

  • 1 big onion - chopped

  • 5 pips garlic - chopped

  • 3 Tbs fish sauce

  • 1 Tb dark soy sauce

Simple Process :

  1. Heat the wok with a little oil and saute the onion and garlic till aromatic

  2. Add in the meat, prawns and stir fry till chicken is cooked

  3. Add in the cooked rice, fish sauce, dark soy sauce and dash of pepper (optional)

  4. Stir fry the rice and mix well with the sauces and ingredients for the next 10 minutes over medium heat

  5. Dish out, garnish with omelette strips and spring onions


Wow! A simple Tasty Meal.....



Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Vegetables Fritters

To one of the "Anonymous" who has dropped by my post of Penang Mee Rebus recently and requesting for the recipe of making Vegetables Fritters or cucuk, here is your request :) Enjoy trying and perhaps if you have a much more interesting way of making, do share with me, I love to explore too. This is my mum's recipe so it all goes by bowl no weighing machine...hahaha...

All you need :

  • 1 bowl of wheat flour / tepung gandum
  • 3/4 bowl of water
  • 1 tsp of bicarbonate soda
  • some beansprout
  • some spring onion - chopped
  • 1 big onion - chopped
  • salt and sugar to taste

Simple Process :

  1. Put the flour and bicarbonate soda in a bowl and add the water slowly and mixing it well to ensure no lumps
  2. Add in the vegetables and sugar, salt to taste
  3. Heat some oil, enough to cover the spoonful of batter when deep in
  4. Just deep in 1 spoonful of batter each into the hot oil and fry till golden brown
  5. Dish out and drain oil on kitchen roll
** alternatively, you can buy Adabi brand cucuk powder from hypermarket and just add the vegetables and deep fried



Happy Trying ^ _ ^

Second and Third AWARD Received

Post Edited on 19 May


2nd Award on April 16 by Nath


This 2nd Award was given to me by Nath on April 16. Thank you Nath and I appreciate. My apology for posting late, :)) it is better late than never. Nath has been my ardent follower and I like her blog too as it is full of interesting recipes from Indonesia, something we dont get from the cookbook. Once again, thank you Nath and hope you enjoy trying all those recipes you like in my Blog. Cheers to you! Below is a short extract of Nath..

About Nath of Eats Time with Nath


My favorite hobbies are cooking (but not an expert), swimming, and my newest hobby is blogging. I have many recipes collection and I have been thinking how to organize my recipes? So It's a such a good idea if I organize and share them in the same time in my own blog..Thank you for stopping by and don't forget to leave a comment if you like my post...^^

3rd Award on 17 May by Tammy



I felt extremely delighted to received this beautiful award from Tammy of Frugal Southern Mom. Tammy is one of my followers. She too has a wonderful blog and below is a short extract of her. To Tammy, thank you once again and enjoy exploring my simple, easy, delicious Chinese home cook recipes, good luck!


About Tammy of Frugal Southern Mom

Hey my name is Tammy! Welcome to my southern blog. Together I hope we can learn to save money with garden fresh veggies,herbs and frugal tips. My daughter and I love to cook and will be sharing a few southern recipes with you daily.Also a few daily freebies will be listed. You may even find a southern tale to read along the way. Come on by, I would love to hear from you!

These are some of the blogs I enjoy following :

Actuate Life

Breaking Mindset

Modern Vegetarian Recipes

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Penang Mee Rebus

Beautiful Colorful PENANG MEE REBUS
Penang Mee Rebus is just beautiful and rich in color and I would say it IS SO YUMMY - mixture of sour and savoury in taste. The noodles and beansprouts are first blanched and the thick sweet potatoes gravy are then poured into the noodle. The toppings are simple - it consist of fried beancurd, boiled potatoes and eggs then finally garnished with a piece of lime, spring onion and chillies. The famous Penang Mee Rebus can be found at Penang CRC. Mee Rebus is in Bahasa Malaysia, it means blanched noodle.


What makes a good Mee Rebus - it all comes from how well the gravy are being prepared. The northern Mee Rebus is rich orange in color. The gravy are made up of sweet potatoes, tomatoes and is not spicy. The kids can also enjoy a bowl of this noodle without feeling "the chilly hot" in their little mouth.


There are many varieties of Mee Rebus with different cooking styles and ingredients coming from different states of Malaysia - northern, central, southern part. There are times where Penang Mee Rebus is mistakenly identified as Mee Jawa. The difference is Penang Mee Rebus uses no meat.


I have been diligently exploring recently and I finally produce my own mix recipe and I am extremely delighted with the results, what a discovery! I just feel it is an achievement and its worth my effort of exploring deeply and able to produce the results which I called it "almost there" ^ _ * - minus the chilly sotong (dried cuttlefish cooked in chilly) and its coconut fritters. So here it is, the recipe that I am happy to share with those who are far away and longed to eat Penang Mee Rebus... My family gives me a *high 5* :) and hope you like it too...

Instead of the normal coconut fritters served in the Penang Mee Rebus, I have my vegetables fritters instead. See, it taste very good. It is made up of flour batter with chopped onions, spring onions, beansprout, a little salt and sugar.



Below are the toppings for the Penang Mee Rebus. They are fried beancurd, hard boiled eggs, boiled potatoes. To make the Penang Mee Rebus complete, lime juice is a must and garnish with chopped spring onions and red chilles.....



So what is in the kuah or gravy? Try this and see if you like it (serve 5) :
  • 500 gms sweet potatoes (pale orange species), 2 large tomatoes, 1 big onion
Simple Process :
  1. Boil the sweet potatoes till soften, keep the sweet potatoes stock *
  2. Boil the tomatoes and onion till soften , keep the stock *
  3. Blend the soften sweet potatoes, tomatoes and onion
  4. Put all the blended stuff into the sweet potatoes, tomatoes, onion stock *
  5. Add a little salt to taste

Lasty : To boost the flavour to the kuah/gravy, you need a small amount of the following :

  • ground together a small piece of lengkuas or galangal, 3 chillies and small piece of shrimp paste
  • Heat a little oil and fry the grounded stuff till aromatic, then add it into the sweet potatoes, tomatoes and onion stock.
  • To thicken the gravy, add a little cornstarch (to your preference)

^ _ ^ Have a Enjoyable Meal.....

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Soft Beancurd with Baby Anchovis



This is one of the simplest dish to add on when you run out of ideas what to have with rice. I usually have a spare pack of this soft beancurd (soft taufu) in my refrigerator...hahaha, just in case, yep... It is fast and easy to prepare.

All you need to do is just put the soft beancurd in a steamer for 3 minutes and put aside. Next just prepare the sauce and fry the baby anchovis for garnishing. Simple as it sound, right?

The sauce consist of : 4 shallots - sliced it, 1 Tbs oyster sauce, 1 Tbs dark soya sauce + 2 Tbs water

Simple Process :
  1. Fry the baby anchovis till golden brown and dish it out
  2. Heat a little oil, saute the shallots till aromatic, add in the oyster sauce, dark soya sauce, a little water and bring to boil
  3. Pour it over the steamed soft beancurd
  4. Garnish with the fried baby anchovis and chopped spring onion

^ _ ^ So Simple and Yummy! Eat Healthy too...


Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Bread n Egg Affair


Well, am glad my kids dont just need to depend on instant noodles when they are hungry, at the least they are able to prepare a healthy meal to overcome their hunger...
good initiatives...

It is a bread and egg affairs as the picture tells.... The Egg Mayo Sandwich is my girl's masterpiece and the Half boiled eggs on Toast is my twin boys' masterpiece.... :) Well, it is an effort the kids has contributed and mummy appreciates and feel proud to have it posted in her blog... Yes! Simple and Yummy, makes the Tummy happy... Good as breakfast or tea-time.. Enjoy ^ _ ^

Half Boiled Eggs on Toast with dash of pepper and drops of soy sauce
Egg Mayo is made up of hard boiled eggs, smashed up, goes with a dash of pepper and salt, some butter and mayonaise to mix with, spread on the bread and garnish with slices of cucumber and tomatoes.


Be Happy and have A Happy Meal........




Monday, May 11, 2009

Fried Rice Tom Yam

I got this nice porcelain plate from my SIL recently and just cant help to use it immediately... :)

Yum! Yum! Yummy! Simply Delicious....



Yum, yum, this is lovely! If you like something sour and a little spicy, you must go for this dish :) TomYam Fried Rice. It is simply delicious and easy to prepare. My family just loves it and I know I always have something to opt to if that "laziness" creeps in once a while....hahaha, yeh, - Tom Yam Fried Rice..... The same tom yam paste which I used for Tom Yam Fried Beehoon in my earlier post. If you have small kids at home, minus the amount of tomyam paste and add a little sugar, anyway, it is not that spicy after all, unless you add in chilly padi.


All you need : Serve 5
  • 2 cups of cooked rice - cool it before frying
  • some prawns
  • 1 pc chicken breast meat - cut into cubes
  • 3 eggs - beat to make omelette
  • 1 big onion - chopped
  • 6 pips of garlic - chopped
  • 3 Tbs tom yam paste - add 2 Tbs water
  • some fish sauce, salt to taste



Simple Process :

  • Heat some oil in a pan, get ready the omelette, when cool, cut into strips - set aside for garnishing

  • Heat some oil in a wok, saute the chopped onion and garlic till aromatic

  • Add in the prawns, meat and stir fry till meat is cooked, add in the tomyam paste and stir mix

  • Put in the rice, few dashes of fish sauce, some salt to taste, lower the heat

  • Stir fry the rice and mix well, dissolving any lumps of rice found in wok and mix well with the ingredients for next 10 minutes or till fried rice is dry.
  • Here you are, Fried Rice - Tom Yam!


Enjoy A Wonderful Meal......


Sunday, May 10, 2009

Tapioca in Palm Sugar Syrup


Well.. it is nice to indulge in this sweet dessert once a while. I remember when I was a kid, right behind my grandfather's big backyard, we have plentiful supply of tapioca plants and my mum will cook this sweet dessert for us, wow, so yummy. I love the thick yummy coated gula melaka (palm sugar) on the soft tapioca. This is my 1st attempt, though not that perfect, but it taste okay lah! I felt the palm sugar is not thick enough, perhaps if its slightly thicker it would be marvellous...... anyway, good try! ^ _ *


Look at this tapioca which I got from the hypermarket...try to pick the thin ones, so that it cook easily....


Simply, wash and peel off the skin of the tapioca and boil it with some water till it soften..the picture shows it is almost ready, it took about 35 minutes..




Once it has soften, get ready the melted 2 pieces gula melaka (palm sugar) with 400 ml water and add into the pot of soften tapioca. Let the palm sugar syrup slowly coat the tapioca over low heat. Keep turning the tapioca around the syrup till it is completely thickens.
Use low heat to avoid burnt, once the syrup is well coated on the tapioca, it is
READY TO SERVE!
Enjoy it!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Goodie Fish Ball Noodle Soup


It is a long time we have not had fresh noodles aka yellow mee for lunch. So as it came as a suggestion from the kids, I just go for it, hmmmm, why not? ^ - ^..lazy mum as usual, going for something quick and simple to prepare. Aha... here comes the beautiful fishball noodle soup that I have prepared for them... yes two types of fishballs, white and brown ones. The brown ones are fried fishballs. I have boiled the chicken breast bone together with the fishballs as the soup for the noodles.

Look at the colourful bowl of noodle, it is a must to have the fried garlic and garlic oil in order to give the soup a great boost of good flavour. The bowl of noodles were garnished with chopped green lettuce and red chilly slices....looks beautiful isnt it?




All you need :
  • 1 packet of fresh noodle - serve 4
  • 15 fresh fishballs and 15 fried fishballs
  • 1 pc chicken breast
  • 2 clove garlic - 1 clove for the soup - 1 clove chopped finely for fried garlic
  • some green lettuce

Simple Process :

  1. Heat 2 litres of water in a pot and boil the chicken breast bone with 1 clove of garlic, some salt to taste over medium heat for 30 minutes
  2. Add in the fishballs when soup is almost ready and bring to boil or till fishballs are cooked
  3. Heat some oil and fry the chopped garlic till golden brown - dish out for garnishing
  4. Blanched the noodle and add the cooked fishballs, garnish with chopped lettuce, and most essential, the fried garlic. Add in adequate soup to the bowl of noodle

....Serve the Noodle Soup hot! Enjoy your Meal........


Thursday, May 7, 2009

Chicken Garlic Bean Soup

Look at this "clear soup"...simple and easy to cook and taste good. According to my mother and late grandmother, this is a very nutritious soup as the "red skin beans" has plentiful of nutrients that helps to strengthen our backbones....hahaha...my nephew-pharmacist would be asking - any scientific proof? Oops...if you are reading in KW, sori! Anyway, we have been drinking this great soup since small and ahem..so far so good, guess it works..who knows, hahaha! No harm trying. Well, just in case you see this red skin bean in the local market, do give a try. The beans taste good when cooked with chicken and garlic and its very aromatic... good to try!


Have you seen these beans before and wondering how to cook it, try this Chicken Soup recipe...





All you need :

  • 2 pcs of chicken breast meat - chopped

  • some of the redskin beans

  • 1 clove of garlic

  • some peppercorn - optional


Simple Process :

  1. Boil 1.5 litres of water in a pot, drop in the chicken, garlic and beans over low heat for 40 minutes or till beans soften. Add salt to taste.





Happy Trying....

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Roti Bak - Bread with Minced Meat


Roti Bak or Bread with Minced Meat - it can either be pork or chicken meat. The one in this photo is chicken meat and it is one of my signature dish. It is easy to make, comes with a simple recipe...sandwich loaf, minced meat with onions and eggs...... Just spread the minced meat on the bread, coat with beaten eggs and fry it. I cant help telling you that it is extremely appetizing especially if you were to dipped in LP or worchestershire sauce with chopped chilly padi and fine slices of shallots.....yummy, yummy!


Anyway dipping in LP sauce is optional as the minced meat itself has the sauce in it. What makes this Roti special is the LP sauce, without it, it is incomplete. This is suitable for home parties.






All you need :

1 sandwich loaf - about 12 pcs
2 pieces of chicken breast meat - minced
2 big onions - chopped
3 Tbs LP sauce
1 Tbs cornstarch
4 eggs - beat it up


Simple Process :

1. Heat some oil in the wok and stir fry chopped onions and minced meat

2. Add a little salt, 3 Tbs LP sauce, a little water and let it simmer for 10 mins or till meat is almost dry, add in 1 Tbs cornstarch - Dish out to cool


3. Spread cooked meat on bread and used woodpicks to hold the 2 pcs of bread together

4. Dip bread into the beaten eggs, ensuring sides of bread are coated with eggs too

5. Fry the egg coated bread on a pan with a little oil only.

6. Dish out the bread once it is golden brown


Have a Happy Meal!


Monday, May 4, 2009

Pancake with Mushroom Chicken


I have been wanting to prepare this delicious pancake for quite sometime and finally I have it made. Well, though I didnt managed to get the crispy look pancake just as much as I wished, but it does not matter as I felt it still taste wonderful. The reason for the "non crisp" is because I have reduced the amount of bicarbonate soda to be used....oops! ran out of stock... issshh! Alternatively, you can use self raising flour.


We had a good meal - brunch - and everyone enjoys it, something for a change :) It is a simple recipe and fast to get it prepared. And...it is truly filling.




These are the ingredients for the mushroom chicken :
  • 2 pcs of chicken breast meat - cut into small cubes
  • 1 carrot - cut into small cubes
  • some button mushrooms - cut into small pieces
  • some frozen corns or peas
  • 1 big onions - cut into small pices
  • 3 pips of garlic
  • a packet of instant mushroom soup or 3 Tbs of canned mushroom soup (add 1/4 cup water)




All you need for the Pancake : Make 8 pieces

  • 100 gms flour or self raising flour (then no bicarbonate soda)
  • 2 tsp bicarbonate soda
  • 250 ml milk
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 1 Tbs oil

Simple Process : Mushroom Chicken

1. Heat a little oil, saute the chopped garlic and onions till aromatic

2. Add in the chicken meat and stir fry till white, add the carrots, button mushrooms and corns

3. Stir fry all together for another 5 minutes, add in the mushroom soup mixture and allow it to simmer over low heat till gravy thickens

4. Dish out and next prepare the Pancake

Simple Process : Pancake

1. Mix the flour by pouring in slowly the milk and the beaten eggs

2. Mix it well till batter is smooth, add the oil in

3. Heat the pan and pour in the batter, making thin pieces of round pancake, take it out once it is golden brown

4. When pancake is ready, put some of the mushroom chicken onto the pancake and fold into quarter

5. Must Serve Immediately...

Enjoy Your Meal !