Chinese Desserts

Simple home made Desserts which are popular among many Chinese families are red bean soup, green bean soup, barley drink, sweet potato soup, bubur cha cha and tong sui. These Desserts can be served either hot, warm or cold, depending on individual liking.  

Tong Sui is one of my favourite Dessert.  The ingredients to cook this Dessert varies and here's to share my version of it, and hope you will all like it!

What you need:

• dried lotus seed (wash, soak overnight, remove germs inside the seed, drain and put aside)
• fresh gingko nuts (see tips on how to prepare fresh gingko nuts)
• dried white fungus (soak, wash, trim off the hard bottom,  tear into pieces and put aside)
• Yi Yi Ren/Imported Barley (wash, soak overnight, drain and put aside)
• dried longan (wash just before cooking)
• rock sugar (to taste)
• pine leaves or pandan leaves (wash, tie into knots)

Tips on how to prepare fresh gingko nuts:

fresh gingko nuts

crack the nuts

remove the thin membrane

to get this!

use a toothpick to remove the germs

Notes: The flesh of the gingko can be boiled in water, drained, cooled, tightly kept in a zip lock bag and put in the freezer for use at any time.

Few simple steps to cook this dessert:

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, then put in lotus seed and barley first as they need more time to cook.
2. Once the lotus seeds are slightly soft, add in gingko nuts, white fungus and pine leaves. Continue to let it boil.  The softness of the white fungus depends on individual, some prefer it softer while others prefer it crunchier.  
3. Just as all the ingredients are almost cooked, put in the washed dried longan and rock sugar. Give it a good stir to ensure that the rock sugar is well dissolved.
4. Taste the sweetness of the soup according to your liking.  
5. Remove the pot from fire and ready to serve in bowls, if you prefer it hot. 

Notes: (1) If you do notice that I did not put the exact amount of each ingredients for this dessert, it's simply because it is not necessary to do so.  It's up to individual's preferences. I normally will put more gingko nuts because of it's herbal properties and it's my favourite! 

(2) Seedless red dates goes well with this tong sui, but this time round I did not include it because I prefer to have a more cooling dessert as red dates is considered more heaty! 

Colourful Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
100g butter
50g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
140g plain flour, sifted
30g cornflour, sifted
100g cooking chocolate, melted
Colourful sweets, I use M&M's Chocolate Candies
Paper Cups

Methods:

1. Beat butter, icing sugar and egg yolk together until creamy.
2. Slowly stir in plain flour and cornflour to form a dough.
3. Divide and roll dough into small balls.  Put into paper cups.
4. Arrange cookies in baking trays and bake at 180 degree Celsius.
5. Insert a bamboo skewer to check whether it's cooked.
6. Once cooked, leave the biscuit to cool.
7. Then, pour a layer of melted chocolate on cookies and decorate with colourful sweets on top.

This tempting colourful yummy biscuits will finish in no time!  Once cooled, it can be stored in jars, tightly close.  This biscuits is one of my children's favourite!

Come up with just anything.....

Personally for me, there are times when I don't feel like going marketing, especially during mid-week! What will I cook then??

What I normally do is, take a look at what ingredients is left in the fridge, activate my thinking cap, from there I keep myself busy and this is what I come up with.  I recall my son Aaron enjoying this meal with a 'smile!'  

(1) Chicken Cordon Bleu 

Ingredients:

2 pieces skinless chicken breast meat

2 slices ham

2 slices cheese

1/2 cup flour

1 egg, beaten

1 cup bread crumbs

Seasoning:

Salt

Pepper

Methods:

1. Wash the chicken breast meat and pat dry with kitchen towel.
2. Use a sharp knife to cut into the center of the meat to create a pocket.  
3. Rub with salt and pepper, set aside for at least 15 minutes.
4. Stuff ham into the pocket, followed by cheese slice, then use toothpicks to secure the opening.
5. Heat up enough oil in a pot for deep frying.
6. Dust chicken with flour, dredge with beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.
7. Put the chicken into the oil of medium-low heat for frying.
8. To obtain a nice crunch, just as the meat is cooked, dish up, turn up the heat, put the chicken back into the oil for a minute fry and remove from heat. Drain on kitchen paper.

Note: Frying this chicken needs proper control of the oil as the coated bread crumbs on the outside can be easily burnt!

(2) Hard boiled eggs topped with ham and mayonnaise

This recipe has the same technique as 'Stuffed Eggs' in my previous article "My creation of Finger Food", except that I use chopped, lightly pan-fried ham and mayonnaise for the topping.

(3) Potato Wedges

Just with one potato left in my fridge, I decided to make  simple deep-fried potato wedges. It's just few simple steps : peel the potato, cut into wedges, deep-fried in hot oil, drain, sprinkle some salt over and ready to serve!

My creation of Finger Food!

I enjoyed creating them using some simple ingredients, cut,cooked and put them together - cucumbers, tomatoes, spring onions, prawns, eggs, chicken breast meat, tomato puree, mayonnaise and arranged them on a platter to be served as Finger Food! It's "Simple yet yummylicious" and a satisfying effort!

(1) Egg in tomato shell

To make the tomato shell:

1. Cut a small 'x' at the bottom of a tomato.  Bring a small pot of water to boil.  As soon as the water boils place the tomato in for roughly 20 seconds, remove and put it into a bowl of cold water for another 20 seconds. Remove, drain, and peel off the skin.
2. Cut off the top part to make an opening. Scoop out the pulp and seeds and put them aside together with the top part to make the sauce.
3. Sprinkle the inside of the tomato shells with some salt and pepper.  Set aside.

To make the sauce:

1. Cut the leftover top part of the tomato into smaller pieces.
2. Peel half an onion and finely chopped.
3. some chopped spring onions.
4. In a small pan, heat oil over medium fire, fry onion until soft, add the tomato pieces, pulp, seeds and chopped spring onions, give it a quick stir.
5. Add in a tablespoon of tomato puree, dash of salt and pepper, to taste.  If the sauce is too thick, drizzle a bit of water, stir to mix well. 
6. Once the sauce has thickened, remove from heat and set aside to cool.

To assemble:

1. Get ready a hard boiled egg.
2. Place the tomato shell on a serving dish, stuff either a hard boiled egg or half, depending on the size of the tomato into the shell and let it chill  in the refrigerator.
3. Add 1 tbsp. of mayonnaise to the cooked sauce, stir to mix well and refrigerate to chill.
4. Spoon sauce over egg just before serving.

(2) Stuffed Eggs

What to do:

1. Get ready a hard boiled egg, cut it into half. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each half to get a flat surface for the egg to sit on.
2. Remove yolk, mash it in a bowl and leave aside.
3. Boil water in a small pot with a dash of salt, put in the chicken breast and let it boil till cooked. Drain.
4. Once the chicken is slightly cool, cut into small cubes and put aside.
5. Chop some spring onions.
6. Once every ingredients are ready, put them all in a bowl - egg yolk, chicken cubes, and chopped spring onions.
7. Add a tablespoon of mayonnaise into the ingredients with a dash of salt and pepper and mix well.
8. Spoon mixture onto the egg white to fill up the shallow well where the yolk is before we scoop it out and serve chilled on Chinese Spoon.

(3) Fresh Prawns served on cucumbers

What to do:

1. Shelled some fresh prawns, deveined and leave tail intake.
2. Bring a small pot of water to a boil, put in prawns, once it turn pink drain and put aside to cool.
3. Prepare some sliced cucumbers and spring onions.
4. To assemble, put a piece of cucumbers on a plate, spoon some mayonnaise on the center, place a prawn on top of the mayonnaise sitting on it's back and garnish with a stick of spring onion over the prawn.
5. Serve chilled.

Prawn Bread Rolls

Ingredients:
9 large prawns
3 pieces square white bread
Beaten egg (to seal the edges of the bread)
2 sprigs of spring onion (chopped)

Seasoning:
Pinch of salt, pepper and sugar
Dash of sesame oil and Chinese Wine (Shao Hsing Hua Thiao Chiew)

Methods:

1. Peel prawns, rinse, drain and pat dry with paper towel. Cut into cubes, add seasoning, chopped spring onion, mix well and marinate for 20 minutes.
2. Trim away the edges of the white bread and roll flat with a rolling pin.
3. Spoon a portion of the marinated prawns onto the side of the bread, brush with beaten eggs at the edges and roll up. Repeat until all is done.
4. Heat up oil and deep fry using medium heat as the bread will turn brown easily. Turn the rolls over to ensure the prawns are properly cooked inside. 
5. Remove from heat once it turn golden, drain on paper towel and cut slating into half.
6. Serve immediately to enjoy the crispiness of the bread which combine well with the sweetness of the prawns.

Finger Food

Creating "Finger Food" is something which I enjoyed very much in my comfort-kitchen. As and whenever I feel like letting my thinking cap run wild, I'll just take a peep in my fridge, select whatever ingredients that are of interest to me and there I am, smiling away happily, couldn't wait to see what I'm gonna come up with ~ smile ~

As Finger Food is food meant to be eaten directly using the hand, there seem to be not much of protocol that involves fork, spoon, knife, chopsticks, plates and another great thing about it is that we get to walk around, pick up food using our fingers and enjoy mingling around while munching! It's all about 'nibbling'......

Finger Food differs and varies from one country to another, some are simple, yet there are others which needs much creativity to come up with.  

Will be sharing some of my Finger Food in my next write-up.....

Pineapple Fried Rice

Ingredients:
2 bowls cooked rice
10 shelled prawns
1 cup fresh pineapple, cut into chunk
2 tbsp carrot, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 tbsp chopped garlic
2-3 chilli padi, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp butter

Seasonings:
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tsp. chicken stock granules

1 tbsp curry powder (watch brand)
dash of white pepper

Garnish:
Chopped spring onions and chilli padi 
Crispy fried cashew nuts (optional)

Methods:

1. Heat oil in a wok, add in onion and garlic, fry till fragrant, then add in carrot and prawns, stirring for 2 minutes.
2. Make space in the center of the wok, pour in the beaten egg, stir to break the eggs into smaller pieces, mix together all the fried ingredients.
3. Add rice, butter and seasonings, stir well to ensure all the seasonings are well mixed.
4. Put in the pineapple, chilli padi, curry powder, dash of pepper and give it a quick stir.  
5. Remove from heat, sprinkle some chopped spring onions and chilli padi and ready to serve!

This pineapple fried rice can be served as a meal by itself, but recently I served it together with deep-fried chicken tender, since I have the marinated chicken tender ready for use with sliced tomato, cucumber and shrimp paste which is commonly known as sambal belachan and is the favourite of many Malaysians.

Savoury stir-fried brinjals

Ingredients:
2 to 3 brinjals (depending on the size)
2 tbsp dried prawns (wash, soak, drain and chopped)
1 tbsp chopped shallots
1 tbsp chopped garlic

Seasoning:
4 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp chilli sauce
1 tbsp light soya sauce
1/4 cup water (add more if you prefer more sauce in the dish)

Method:

1. Wash and cut the brinjals into strips just before cooking.
2. Heat up enough oil in wok, deep-fry brinjals until soft or according to your desired liking. Dish up and put aside.
3. Leave 2 tbsp of oil in wok, saute dried prawns, shallots and garlic until fragrant.  Add in seasoning, brinjals and stir-fry till the sauce and the brinjals  are well mixed.
4. If you prefer the dish to be less sourish, from the tomato sauce, then you can sprinkle a bit of sugar and give it a quick stir.
5. Dish up, garnish with  slice red chilli, spring onion and serve!

Brinjals can be cooked in many different ways, apart from the normal stir-fry in Chinese cooking, it can also be baked, boiled or deep-fried coated in batter.  It makes delicious dish by itself as well as with other ingredients.  Will share more of it soon.

Stewed Pumpkin with salted fish

Ingredients: 

300g pumpkin (cut into cubes)

50g onion (finely chopped)

30g dried shrimp (wash, soaked, drained and chopped)

1 red chili (finely chopped)

100g minced pork

1tbsp minced garlic

a bit of salted fish (wash)

a bit of spring onion (chopped, for garnish)

Seasoning:

1/2tbsp oyster sauce

1tbsp light soy sauce

1/2tsp chicken stock granules

splash of ground pepper

1/2tsp fish sauce

Water (150g first, and more can be added if necessary)

Method:

1. Put about 4 tbsp cooking oil into a wok, deep-fry salted fish until crispy, dish out and finely chopped, put aside.
2. With the same wok and heated oil, quick fry the chopped pumpkin, dish out and set aside.
3. With about 2 tbsp. oil in the wok, fry the onion and minced garlic, add in minced pork, dried shrimp, stir them evenly. Next, add in chopped chili, pumpkin and seasoning.
4. Stew till the pumpkin is soft and the sauce thickened. Lastly, add in salted fish, give it a good stir.
5. Dish up, sprinkle chopped spring onion over the dish and ready to serve!

Though this is just a simple dish, but it's delicious.  Recently, my mum is not having much of an appetite for food, since I am cooking this dish and get to send some over to her and surprisingly she ate a bowl of rice for dinner with a smile!

A big HELLO.....

HELLO, Welcome to this blog which is created for purpose of sharing my simple home-cooked dishes. After quitting my job nearly eight years ago, I've been spending lots of my time in my small kitchen, trying out dishes passed down from my elderly; recipes shared among friends; some which I obtained through online and recipe books, magazines, newspapers; as well as from TV programs. 

Like many others, I have experienced many 'trial and errors' which leads me to come up with  quite a number of delicious-yummy dishes which I can proudly share with those who are interested.  

I am so blessed to have my hubby, Lawrence and son, Aaron who are there to be my taster as well as giving me open constructive criticism and suggestions in all the food which I've prepared and present on the table. Each and every person's taste-buds differs, so in the family we knows best what their likes and dislikes in terms of food, ingredients, spices, seasonings, etc.

Unlike many other cooks/chefs who have their recipes with the exact amount of seasonings being measured, such as teaspoon, tablespoon, cups, ml, I would like to inform here that I won't be able to give exact measurements of these items, and to be frank I don't cook based on exact measurements but mostly with my senses.  Whatever it is, I'll try to be as precise as possible.

"Recipes don't work unless you use your heart"  ~ Dylan Jones ~