Strawberry Milk Shake

My fridge was fulled of strawberries!  That was what happened when I asked my hubby to do grocery shopping.  Strawberry was on sales for $1/lb and since he was there to get his banana, he asked me whether I needed anything else.  I told him to get me some strawberry and blackberry (which was also on sales) and he returned with 6 lb. of strawberries and two small boxes of blackberries.  How to finish the 6 lb. of strawberries in one week?  Just me and my girls since he doesn't eat strawberry.

Well, I thought milk shake was the quickest way to get rid of 1 lb. of strawberries at one go.  I added zero fat sherbet for extra goodness and of course some syrup to make it sweet.  Edda loved it and she had two glasses at one go.  Sure made a nice refreshing fruit drink for warmer weather! 

Ingredients:

~Use a 5 cups blender~ 

1 lb. fresh strawberry, washed and cleaned of the top part.

1 ripe banana, cut into half (optional)

5 tsp. sugar + 5 tsp. hot water to make syrup (optional if you think your strawberry is sweet enough)

4 scoops of rainbow sherbet (or any variety sherbet)

2 cups of 1% milk

2 cups of crushed ice

Method:

In a 5 cups blender (at least 5 cups), first add in the banana, then strawberry, then syrup, milk, sherbet and crushed ice.  Blend until smooth.  Serve cold into individual glass.

Stir Fried Rice Flour & Wheat Starch Noodle

Another easy stir-fried noodle dish.  I fried this noodle before.  This time I just added a little more ingredients.  When I was shopping at my Asian market, I loved to browse through the fresh noodle section and bought few packets of different variety to freeze at home.  I just thawed it the day before and I will have fresh noodle handy for whenever my mood strikes.

My husband loved to buy lots of fried chicken at the supermarket.  I was trying to cook healthier food and he tried to buy unhealthy food home.  He bought so much that I had to freeze portions for later use.  For the one I frozen, I always peeled off the skin, cut off all the fried stuff and just used the meat in my cooking.  I had used it in my chicken noodle soup before, fried rice and all sort of fried noodle.  Leftover for better use huh?

I'm sharing this noodle with Presto Pasta Nights, an event created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast.  This week host is  Katie of Thyme for Cooking! Check out her delicious round up on April, 30th!

Ingredients:

I packet of Vietnamese rice flour & wheat starch noodle

1 leftover fried chicken breast, remove skin and bone, shredded 

A bowl of washed bean sprouts

2 scallions, cut into 1 inch

1/4 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced

8 fried tofu (taufu pok), cut

1 small carrot, julienne

3 cloves of garlic, minced

Seasonings:

Oyster sauce

Dark soy sauce

Peppers (black or white)

Salt and sugar 

Method:

1.  Heat up a wok, when heated, add in some cooking oil.  Add in garlic and white part of scallion, fry for a little while, add in carrot and red bell pepper.  Stir-fry well.

2.  Add in noodle and stir-fry well.  Add in cooked chicken breast and fried tofu, mix and add in seasonings.  Add in a little water if needed.

3.  Lastly, add in bean sprouts and green part of scallion.  Quickly stir-fry it to cook the bean sprouts.  Dish out and serve hot.  You can serve it with your favorite chili paste, sambal or chili padi.

Brie Tuna Wanton

This recipe came about when I decided to create a recipe for brie.  Usually brie is best to serve it with crackers or even toasted English muffin or bagel but I wanted to think outside of the box.   I wanted it a be a healthier combination and also delicious.  So, I created this appetizer or finger food for party or any occasion.

My idea came from cheese wanton but totally different in a sense that I used canned tuna and a slice of brie and some seasoning.  I wrapped it differently too.  After I done deep-frying, it was the taste test time.  I gathered my girls and asked them to try it.  We all loved it and Edda thought it was pork as a filling, LOL!  It's slightly sweet and savory at the same time and brie and tuna came out well together.  It's hard to believe I was actually eating a tuna wanton.

I was at a friend's house during a Chinese New Year Party and she was serving some crackers with Brie as an appetizer.  That was the first time I had brie because I don't normally had cheese in my house or tried any sort of cheeses out there in the market.  My hubby and I were blown away at how creamy and delicious it was but when asked, the host forgot which brand of brie she bought.  I tried one brand in the market and it was not it and tasted horrible. Then, I think I finally found it, it was this Ile De France Le Brie that she was serving at that time.  This cheese was mild and creamy and totally yummy.  This brand is awesome!

Step-by-Step Pictures Guide:

1.  Mixed tuna, scallion, salt and sugar together in a bowl.

2.  Prepare brie cheese as needed.

3.  Take a wanton wrapper and place some tuna in the middle.

4.  Place a piece of brie cheese on top.

5.  Wet your finger with some water and wet all around the edges of the wanton with filling.  Seal it with another piece of wanton skin on top.

6.  When two wanton sealed together, then use a little water and pinch one end together like the above picture.

7.  Use a little water and pinch the other end together like the above picture.  Set on a plate and cover with wet towel/ paper towel and finish the rest of the brie tuna wanton.

8.  Deep-fried in medium heat oil until golden brown and crispy.  Serve warm.

Ingredients:

1/4 of 219g of Ile De France Le Brie (54.5g)

1 canned Chunk Light Tuna in oil, drained

1 scallion, minced

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

20 wanton wrappers for wrapping

Oil for deep-frying

Method:

1.  In a bowl, add in drained tuna, salt, sugar and minced scallion.  Stir to mix well.

2.  Prepare brie as needed, cut a small slice to put in the wanton.

3.  Follow the above step-by-step instruction.  Cover the wanton with wet towel while finishing the rest.

4.  Heat up the oil in medium heat and deep-fry until golden brown.  Drain on paper towel and serve warm.

Easy Microwaved Broccoli with Butter Thyme

I liked the mixed vegetable side dish that was offered at Texas Roadhouse.  It was really simple and crunchy.  So, I tried to create it at home using the microwave.  You can steam yours if you like but for me microwave is easier in this easy dish.  You can omit the salt if you use salted butter and also you can replace the butter with extra virgin olive oil.  When you use olive oil, just make sure you stir and mix the broccoli well with your hands before you put it in the microwave.

This is one easy side dish to serve with your American dinner.  I served with my Chinese dinner with no problem too.  One healthy meal can be grilled chicken with this broccoli, baked sweet potato wedges and a piece of toasted whole wheat bread.

Ingredients:

Broccoli crowns, washed and cut, about 3-4 cups

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into thin slices (you can add more if you like)

Sprinkle of sea salt/ kosher salt

Touch of black pepper

Dashes of dried thyme
Dashes of garlic powder

Methods:

1.  In a microwave safe plate or dinner plate, place the broccoli on top.  Add slices of butter all over it.  Sprinkle with some salt to taste, touch of black pepper and some dried thyme and garlic powder.

2.  Microwave for 4-5 minutes or according to microwave direction or until the butter is melted and the broccoli is soften but still crunchy.

3.  When you take out of the microwave, give it a quick stir to mix well with the butter sauce.  Season to taste with salt if needed.

Note:  If you use salted butter,  you can probably omit the salt or cut down on the salt.

Stir Fried Tang Hoon (Glass Noodle) with Ground Pork

I out did myself as this plate of fried tang hoon (glass noodle) was so delicious!  I added my secret ingredient, minced anchovies just to test how it would turn out.  The glass noodle was not broken into pieces and the bean sprout was crunchy and everything just came so well together.  I used chives because I saw a Chinese cooking show which said chives was really good for our body as it had the ability to clean the poison out of your body system. Listening to that I was sold, we needed to eat more chives from now on.  Chives seem to be very easy to plant here during summer.  Guess I will have more chives recipes coming out too.

My plate of fried glass noodle with ground pork!  Another secret ingredients is the fried eggs, you got to have eggs in this to bring out the overall flavor.  The glass noodle I used for this stir-fry is called Special Grade Bean Thread from China.  It has two red dragons on the cover.  I added it here so that next time I would know which brand to get for stir-fry, if my memory served me right, this brand is not expansive.

I'm sharing this noodle with Presto Pasta Nights, an event created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast.  This week host is Cynthia, The Kitchen Slave! Check out her delicious round up on April, 23rd!

Ingredients:

1 package of glass noodle (250gm), soften in warm water.

1 bowl of bean sprouts, washed

1 small carrot, julienne

6 stalks of chives, cut into 1 inch length

1/4 cup of dried anchovies, rinsed and minced

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 lb. of ground pork

2 large eggs, beaten

Sauce:

Soy sauce (Kikkoman)

Sweet dark soy sauce (ABC brand)

Salt

Sugar

Sesame oil (Kadoya)

White pepper

Method:

1.  Heat up a wok, when heated, add in oil.  When hot, add in half of the minced anchovies and garlic, stir-fry until fragrant.  Add in ground pork and stir-fry for a while.  Add in carrot and chives and stir-fry until pork is cooked.  Dish out and place on a plate, set aside.

2.  In the same wok, heat up some oil.  When heated, add in the rest of the minced anchovies and garlic.  Stir-fry until fragrant, add in beaten eggs.  Stir-fry and add in soften glass noodle with a little water.  Use a chopstick to mix well.

3.  Add in 1 and sauce, stir-fry until well blended.  Lastly add in bean sprouts, give it a few quick stir and adjust sauce to taste.  Serve hot.

Almond Konnayaku Jelly

I promised my girls to make them some Konnyaku jelly.  I always made the konnyaku jelly to bring to friend's house or party and my girls always complaint that they never got to eat it.  Poor thing right?  So, this time I made it all for them.  I have a canned of evaporated milk and I loved almond jelly so decided to make it almond jelly.  I added slightly more water so that it was not as chewy as usually we liked our almond jelly soft.  Almond jelly was best served with mixed fruits or canned longan (picture shown) or lychee.  It was a great party favorite dessert too.  Truly delicious!

If you don't have the konnyaku jelly, just use the normal plain jelly powder and added some evaporated milk or milk and almond essence.  Usually the milk is an added on as this almond jelly should be enjoyed soft.  Read the direction at the back of the box and change according to package direction.

Ingredients:

1 package of Redman Konnayaku jelly powder (10oz)

1 cup of white sugar

950ml water

150ml evaporated milk

1.5 tsp. almond essence

Method:

1.  In a bowl, mix together the jelly powder and sugar.  Set aside.

2.  In a large saucepan, boil the water and evaporated milk.  When almost boiling, add in 1 above, stir to dissolve the sugar.  When boiling, turn the heat off and keep stirring until bubbles become less.

3.  Pour into prepared konnyaku jelly molds.  If not, just pour into a rectangular pyrex pan or any deep shallow pan would do.  Let cool.

4.  Put in the refrigerator to harden, at least an hour.  Open a canned of longan or lychee and serve with this almond jelly.

Brown Rice Fried Rice

Since I switched to brown rice, I haven't really gotten enough leftover rice for fried rice.  Or I mixed it with the take away leftover white rice for my fried rice.  Today, I finally get to try the 100% brown rice fried rice as according to one of my readers, the brown rice made good fried rice.  The brown rice that I got in the Asian store was of high quality short grain variety.  I was lucky enough to receive some BBQ pork from a friend which made my fried rice extra special.  I added minced ginger, dried shrimps and "lap cheong" (Chinese sausage) and I tell you these combination made a good fried rice.

I can tell you the brown rice makes good fried rice too.  Even though I found it on the wet side, I guess we used more water to cook the brown rice, also brown rice has more moisture compared to white rice.  It tasted different and I liked it, a bit like eating the stir-fried glutinous rice in the dim sum shop.  Why don't you give it a try too?   Don't you love my colorful creation?

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp dried shrimps, reconstituted in warm water, slightly chopped

1 inch piece of ginger, minced

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup of cut BBQ pork

1 Lap Cheong, Chinese dried sausage, cut thinly in circle

3/4 cup frozen mixed vegetable

1 big bowl of leftover cold brown rice, about 4 cups

Seasoning:

Oyster sauce

Soy sauce

Salt

Sugar

Black pepper

Method:

1.  Heat up a wok, when heated, add in some cooking oil.  Add in ginger, fry a little.  Add in dried shrimps, fry until fragrant.

2.  Add in beaten egg, when half cook add in cold rice and stir-fry well.

3.  Add in Chinese sausage, BBQ pork and mixed vegetable, stir-fry well.

4.  Add in seasoning to taste, stir-fry well.  Dish out and serve hot.

Barley and Pear Chicken Soup

 
I got this recipe inspiration from  Nasi Lemak Lover.  This soup is new to me as I haven't cooked any soup with fruit before.  I know people used papaya, apple, watermelon skin and pear to boil soup but I never tried making it myself.  I used pear because I had one that had been sitting in my refrigerator for a long time and had turned soft.  What better way than to throw it in soup eh?  This soup turned out to be very sweet and really nice to drink.  Strangely Evy didn't like it but the rest of us drank it clean.


Two days later, I tried it with apple (added Goji berries) and it was equally sweet and delicious.  This soup became Edda favorite as she was the one requested for it.  But Evy won't touch hers at all, I wonder why as this soup was really sweet.

  

Ingredients:

1 pear, peeled and cut

1/4 cup Chinese barley, or barley

2 honey dates

10 red dates

1 chicken breast bone or 2 drumsticks or 1 chopped chicken thigh

1000ml water

salt to taste

Method:

1.  In a saucepan, add in water and chicken.  Bring it to boil.  When boiling, dish out any impurity that you can see.  

2.  Then, add barley, honey dates, red dates and pear.  Turn the heat to low and let it simmer for an hour or so.

3.  Lastly season to taste with a little salt.  This soup is very sweet.

Salmon Noodle Soup

This noodle soup is almost identical to my Chicken Shells Soup.  The only different is salmon was used and I added red bell peppers.  This is the first time I used salmon in soup and I was impressed at how well it hold it's shape and tastes really good.  Now I have new way of cooking salmon as this gives me an idea of creating other soupy salmon dishes.

I really loved these two types of noodle soup, of course you can use other kind of dried pasta that you have at home.  You can easily cook a big pot and enjoy it for days.  Give it a try and feedback to me ya!

I'm sharing this noodle with Presto Pasta Nights, an event created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast.  This week host is Daphne from More Than Words! Check out the delicious round up on April, 16th!

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1/2 white/yellow onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

8 grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 red bell pepper, thinly sliced or chopped

1 salmon fillet,cut into cubes, marinate with white wine and white pepper

1/2 cup shells 

1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetable

Dash of dried thyme
Dash of dried oregano
Dash of dried parsley

Salt to taste

Black Pepper

Chicken or vegetable stock

Method:

1.  In a medium size saucepan, add in some olive oil, about 1-2 Tbsp.  Add in onion and stir-fry until fragrant.  Add in bay leaf, stir-well.  Add in grape tomatoes and red bell pepper and stir-well.

2.  Add in frozen mixed vegetable and stir well.  Add a little salt to season the ingredients.  Add in chicken or vegetable stock, quite a lot because it is a soup and you want to cook the shell pasta too.

3.  Add in the shell pasta, stir and let it simmer until the pasta is cooked.  When cooked, add in the cubed salmon, carefully stir into the soup, cover and let the salmon cooked, just few minutes.  Uncover and season to taste with dried herbs and black pepper.

4.  Take out the bay leaf before serving.

Nam Yee and Red Bean Dumplings/ Ham Chin Peng/ 油炸面包

Firstly, this is not my recipe, I couldn't possibly invent a Ham Chin Peng recipe.  I saw this recipe at my friend's house while reading her cookbooks' collection.  This recipe was from a cookbook called Pasar Malam Delights.  When I saw this recipe, I got to have it because it has my favorite Ham Chin Peng recipe which the book called Nam Yee and Red Bean Dumplings.  What got my attention was the easy one step method (no starter, no ingredient I couldn't recognize) and furthermore, I already have all the ingredients at home.  You know me, I don't attempt any difficult recipe, anything too complicated, too troublesome, I passed.  If you are like me, this is one recipe you should look at and try. 

The end result, crispy skin, soft fried bread, sweet red bean paste and Nam Yee smell in the bread.  Next time, I will try the savory version using this recipe, just replace the red bean paste with salt and five spice powder and wrap it differently (I liked the savory one more).  I have a little step-by-step pictures in my next page and tips/note.  Living abroad and everything have to make ourselves, this recipe is good enough for me.  The one we get at the Vietnamese bakery store in Denver is plain, unlike the ones in Malaysia.

Ready dough waiting to be deep-fried.  I made only 13 pieces.  I didn't bother to measure 30g each.

During deep-frying.  Remember to stretch the round dough wider before putting into the hot oil.  Peanut oil recommended.

Deep-fried until golden brown like above.

Note/Tips:  The dough will be sticky.  I floured my hands before shaping the dough and added in the filling.  Also remember to stretch the ready bread again before adding it into the hot oil to deep-fry.

I got the recipe from Pasar Malam Delights cookbook at a friend's house.

Ingredients:

300g  plain flour (or 2 cups)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp shortening (I used butter)
2 pieces nam yee
200ml water

Filling:
300g red bean paste (I used canned red bean paste)
divided into 15 portions
some white sesame seeds

Method:

1.  Sift flour and baking powder together into a mixing bowl.  Add in the remaining ingredients and knead into a smooth dough.  Cover with a piece of damp cloth or plastic sheet and rest for 30 mins.

2.  Divide dough into 15 portions (35g each) and wrap in filling.  Shape into ball, flatten it and rest for 15 mins.

3.  Brush a little water onto the dough and sprinkle a little sesame seeds on top.

4.  Heat up oil for deep-frying, deep-fry dumplings with medium heat until golden brown.  Dish up and drain.  Leave to cool before serving. 

Stir Fried Broccoli with Straw Mushrooms

Broccoli is good for us.  If I cannot get to shop in my Asian store for my Chinese greens, I would buy broccoli.  Broccoli and cauliflower are more expensive in Malaysia and it was normally served on special occasions and during Chinese New Year.  My mom loved to mix broccoli and cauliflower together for the veggie dish she served on CNY.  Whereas, over here broccoli is pretty reasonable and we have it all seasons.

Sharing with you a dish that anyone can cook at home.  I think some of you have been cooking this at home too since it is a common home cook dish.

 

Ingredients:

Broccoli, about 1 bowl, cook in microwave for 2 minutes and set aside.

1 carrot, cut

Straw mushrooms, drained and rinsed (1 canned, get it at any Asian store)

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce

Method:

1.  Heat up a wok with some canola oil.  When heated, add in garlic, stir-fry until fragrant and slightly golden.  Add in broccoli and carrots, fry well.

2.  Add in straw mushrooms and mixed well.  Add in oyster sauce and a little water.  Stir-fry well and dish out to serve.