Mum's Spaghetti Bolognese

Other Asian kids grew up eating stir fries but we grew up on sandwiches, pizza, pies, sausage rolls and speghetti bolognese!

I'm visiting my brother in Sydney and convinced my mum to show me how it's done.

My family favorite! Lots of our friends have tried our mum's spag-bo when we were in uni and they still talk about it. Brian just talked about it again 2 weeks ago when we all met up in Taiwan for a high school friend's wedding.

Ingredients
600g Minced beef
2 carrots, shredded
1 can champinion mushrooms, chopped
2 onions, minced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
slash of olive oil
1 can of whole tomatos
1 small tin of tomato paste
Pinch of dried oregano

Method
Heat a medium sauce pan on Medium Heat
When it's hot, add a splash of olive oil
Stir in garlic and onions. Keep stirring
When onions are glassy, add in minced beef and stir till slightly brown
Add shredded carrots and stir
Add chopped mushrooms and stir
Add can of whole tomatos and stir. Mash the tomatos into pieces and stir
Add 1 tin of tomato paste and stir
Add a pinch of dried oregano
Turn to Low Heat and cover
Simmer for 30mins (stir ocassionally)

Turkish Eggplant and Red Pepper Dip

I love dips! This is one of my favorites. It's the best with pita bread...

Ingredients
1 Eggplant
1 Red Pepper
1 clove Garlic, minced
2 teaspoon Chilli powder (I prefer Korean chilli powder)
1 teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoon Salt
Juice from 1 Lemon
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method
Roughly, poke holes into the eggplant and red pepper with a fork
Pop eggplant and red pepper into oven at 200 celcius for 20-25 mins
After the eggplant and red pepper have cooled down, remove skin from both eggplant and red pepper and break the flesh into pieces with your hands. Put all of this into a bowl
Dump in the rest of the ingredient in the bowl and let the flavor develop for 15mins
All done!

Crab in Ginger and Spring onion

This dish is the best when you use live crabs. I bought my crabs from a supplier in Serangoon. Put the crabs into the freezer for an hour so that they go to sleep. Take them out when you are ready to mise-en-place. Put newspaper and chopping board on the floor and lie the crab with the belly facing up. Lift the triangle piece at the bottom (hardest part of the crab), grab a big chopper and chop the guy in half, right down the middle.

Ingredients
2 Crabs (about 600g each), cleaned and chopped into pieces
Cornflour for coating crabs pieces
Oil for deep frying
2 knobs of ginger, sliced
4 spring onions, sliced into 5 cm pieces and separate white and green parts
1 cup Homemade chicken stock or replace with a can of chicken stock
Oil for frying, approx 1 tablespoon
Cornflour for thickening gravy ( about 2 teaspoon of cornflour in a little cold water and mixed till no lumps)
Salt, taste finished gravy first to see if necessary
Coriander leaves for decoration

Method
Coat crab pieces with a thin layer of cornflour
Heat oil for deep frying in a deep pot
When oil is hot, use thongs to slowly add crab pieces into oil. Fry in a few batches if you are using a small pot
Take crabs out when they turn bright red and place on paper towel to absorb excess oil
In a wok,put on high heat and add oil
When oil is hot, add ginger and white parts of spring onion
When aromatic, add fried crabs and add your homemade chicken stock
Stir fry for a while and cover wok
After 10 mins, uncover wok, add green parts of spring onion and stir fry
Add cornflour mixture
Allow to thicken for a few mins
Serve with a little coriander leaves on top

Homemade Chicken Stock to flavor dishes

Homemade chicken stock is great for flavoring simple stir fried vegetables with garlic, sitr fried pork dishes and I have used it for frying crab with shallots. In a typical chinese home, people will use powdered chicken stock but the rich taste from this homemade stock can't be replace by powdered chicken stock.

Simply use the chicken which you used to cook soup (we try to have soup every day) and reboil it in a fresh batch of water. Boil this for 2 hours and you will get a nice cloudy stock.

.: TIP: if you are not using the stock immediately, freeze in small bags or an ice cube maker. Simply defrost the amount you need :.

Amaa's Curried Potatos

Ingredients
2 potatos, boiled and mashed
1/2 red onion, diced
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon Tumeric powder
oil

Method
Heat saucepan and add oil and mustard seeds
Add onions and stir fry till glassy
Add tumeric powder and stir fry
Add mashed potatos and mix
Serve

Amaa's Curried Eggs

Amaa gave me a good tip today that Tumeric is used in all her cooking. It's good for health and adds a nice color.

Ingredients
6 eggs, boiled and pan fried till brown
1 red onion, diced
Knob of ginger, sliced into matchsticks
1/2 tomato, blended
1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons Sambar powder
1 cup hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
2 sticks coriander, chopped
Oil

Method
Heat saucepan and add oil
When oil is hot, add ginger and stir fry
When aromatic, add onions and stir fry
When onions are glassy, add Tumeric powder and stir fry
Add rest of ingredients and let favors develop over low heat for 10 mins
Serve with coriander on top

Hot Tomato Salsa for Crazy Mich

Mich, Like my play on words :) Hot Tomato!!

Ingredients
3 ripe tomatos, seeded and diced (cut tomato in half and dig out seeds with a spoon)
1 tablespoon white vinegar or 1 1/2 tablespoon of cider vinegar
1 red onion, diced
Handful of coriander (also known as chinese parsley), sliced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon white fine sugar
1 clove crushed garlic
1 or 2 bird's eye chilli or chilli padi
1/2 teaspoon salt
.:: Optional: for richer taste, add a tablespoon of canned or bottled tomato sauce ::. 

Method
Combine all and let it rest for 10 mins
Drain some of the juice that collects at the bottom and serve!

Chicken and coconut soup

Ingredients
1 Spring chicken, cleaned and kept whole
1 Young coconut, dig the meat out
12 bowls of water
Salt

Method
Add a little salt to chicken cavity
Put chicken, coconut meat and water into a soup claypot
Put on high heat for 15 mins
Cover and put on low heat for 2 hours

You can do this in a slow cooker...

Ah Ma's Nonya Ngoh Hiang

Went for lunch at my grandma's house today and made Ngoh Hiang with her. It's my mum's favorite and it's not too hard to make. Try it out! 

Ingredients 
500g minced pork
10 water chestnuts, washed, peeled and chopped finely (Don't chop to finely if you like the crunchy taste)
2 eggs
1 red onion, chopped finely
2 tablespoons light soya sauce
3 tablespoons dark sesame oil (Japanese brands are the best)
3 stalks of spring onion, sliced

2 tablespoons corn flour (corn starch is the same thing)
Dried bean curd skin sheets, cut into approx 12cm by 20cm sheets
Vegetable oil for frying

Method
In a big pot or mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except dried bean curd skin and corn flour.Mix well
Let it marinate for 30mins

Add corn flour and mix well
Time to roll them! Prepare a small bowl of water...
Lay bean curd skin on a flat surface in front of you 
Use 2 fingers to dab into your bowl of water and run it across the edges of the bean curb skin
Put a big tablespoon of mixture in the middle of the bean curd skin
Shape the mixture into a long log
Fold the left and  right sides in
Fold the side closed to you over
Start rolling the other edge to form a log
Put this on a plate and keep going...

Heat oil in a pan and pan fry the ngoh hiang on all 4 sides till it looks crispy
Put the ngoh hiang on a plate with a paper towel to soak up excess oil
You are done!

It's a lot simpler than I thought. You can also use prawns and traditionally they add pork liver but I'm not a huge fan.



Ah Ma said that if you make a big batch, freeze them and when are ready to eat, steam them for 15 mins first and then pan fry it.

Ah Ma's Nonya Curry Chicken for the Lee Family

My grandma always gets request to cook her curry chicken when we have family gatherings. None of us knew how she made it so yummy and she always said its simple. After various attempts following her instructions on a bit of this and that, I watched her cook it one day and here it is!

Ingredients
1 Whole chicken, chopped into pieces
1kg potato, peeled, cut into pieces and boiled
5 brown onions+ 2 cloves garlic, blended
2 pandan leaves, tied into a knot
2 stalks lemon grass, trim off the top leaves
3 Kaffir lime leaves
1 packet instant chicken curry mix (A1 brand)
2 bowls of water
1 firm tomato, quartered
200ml coconut milk (fresh or Kara brand)
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Method 
Put pandan leaves, kaffir lime leaves and blended onions into a pot and bring to boil. Remember to stir occasionally
Add curry paste to the pot and bring to boil while stirring. This should be about 10 mins
Add a little water to curry paste packet to get all the paste and add to pot
Add chicken pieces and boil for 2 mins
Add potato, tomatoes and 1/2 cup water and boil for 10mins
Add coconut milk and remaining water Add sugar and salt and bring to boil for 15mins
Taste and adjust salt

Portions of chicken vs curry paste pack:
1 chicken = 1 pack of curry paste
1.5 chicken = 2 pack of curry paste

Miss P's recipe for super awesome yummy chinese veg

Miss P gave me the best, simple recipe for all veggies.

Ingredients
handful of veg

Sauce
Vegetable oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dark soya sauce
1 tablespoon light soya sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar

Method
Blanch veggies in hot water
Combine dark soya, light soya and brown sugar
Heat oil and add garlic when hot. Fry garlic for 30 secs
Pour hot oil into combination
Pour sauce over veggies

Thanks Miss P! Loved the recipe. I use it every week!

xoxo

BBQ sauce for Mallal the Monkey King

BBQ sauce before heating up

Ingredients
1 cup tomato sauce (use can italian tomato sauce)
3/4 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon onion powder, blend
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoon hot english mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon chilli powder (I use Korean chilli powder)

Method
Combine in saucepan and simmer for 5 mins

Pork Ribs in Black Bean Sauce "Pai Guat" for Crazy Mich

Promised my good friend,Mich, that I'll post this. It's a very simple home cooked meal which goes very well with rice. I'll put a picture up soon.

Fermented Black Beans

Use a wok!

Marinade the pork ribs
300g pork riblets (ask your butcher to chop into bite size)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce (Lee Kum Kee brand)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
 .:: put this all together and marinate in a ziplock bag for 30mins in the fridge ::.

Ingredients
2 tablespoon fermented black beans, roughly chopped (It comes dry in a bottle or pack. Rinse them before use)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 chilli padi, sliced
1 knob ginger, sliced into matchsticks
3 spring onion, cut into 5 cm pieces
1/2 teaspoon corn starch + 2 tablespoons water, mix with small spoon till combined

Seasoning (combine all)
1 tablespoon hua tiao chinese wine (can be replaced with cooking sake)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon light soya sauce (kikkoman brand)
1 cup water


Method
Heat vegetable oil. When hot (you'll see bubble floating to the top), saute ginger and garlic for 1 min
Add white parts of spring onion. Stir fry for 30 secs
Add marinated pork ribs. Stir fry for 5 mins
Add chilli and seasoning and stir fry for a 2 mins
Cover and simmer for 15 mins
Uncover and add green parts of spring onion. Stir and serve!

Call me if you need more details babe! xoxo

Bajan Hot Sauce for me!

This goes well with Bajan fried chicken! Yum!

Ingredients
6 big red chilli
3 small red chilli (use bird eye chilli or chilli padi if you want it spicy)
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoon hot english mustard
2 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup carrot, cubed
1 cup water
S&P to taste

Method
Put it into a saucepan and heat it for 15 mins
Blend it!
Store in sterilised bottles. I like to use squeezey bottle.

Bajan Fried Chicken for Ms. Annie S

My favorite fried chicken! Not greasy and mmmm mmm yummy!

Start with the Bajan Seasoning! You need to do this a week in advance... you can half the recipe and replace the fresh herbs with half the amount of dry herbs.

BAJAN SEASONING
Ingredients
450g brown onions, chopped
140g spring onion, chopped
8 garlic cloves
4 big red chili
2 small red chili
60g fresh thyme
60g fresh parsley
60g fresh marjoram
1 1/2cup white vinegar
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauces
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoon salt
Optional
Add a green mango

Method
Blend everything!!
Store it in a container and put it in the fridge for a week min before using.

FRIED CHICKEN
Ingredients
As much chicken piece as you would like... 
Some potato starch

Method
Marinate the chicken in the bajan seasoning in a ziplock bag overnight in the fridge
Next day, coat the chicken with a little potato starch and fry it! I use a high saucepan to prevent splatters and fry the chicken. Use a long big needle to poke the chicken. If juices that flow out are grey, it's cooked... if it's red or pink, you need to cook it for longer.

This chicken is super yummy with Bajan Hot Sauce. Check out the next post for the recipe.

Hope you have fun cooking this Annie! Tell me how it turns out with the sous-vide!

xoxo

Roasted Chicken with Jus for Ms. WOoooo

Optional prep
Brine chicken in salted water for an hour before cleaning and cooking
Brine = 1 tablespoon salt : 1 liter of water

Ingredients
Main
1 x 1.8kg Chicken
200g chicken wings
oil
s&p
Butter
Thyme
Bay leaf
Leek green leaf
Jus
1/2 onion cubed
1/2 carrot cubed
1 shallot
2 garlic cloves
Oven
200 C pre-heat

Method
I like to soak chicken in a salt water bath so that the meat is tender. Soak for 1 hr.

Prepare chicken by cleaning and use a blow torch to burn off any stray feathers followed by using paper to clean off the remaining feathers
Tie Thyme, Bay leaf and Leek leaf together - Aromatic Garnish "AG"
Salt the inside of the chick and put AG inside and a knob of butter
Truss chicken so that it remains juicy while cooking. To see youtube instructions => how to truss a chicken
Chop up chick wings and lay at bottom of baking tray to form a bed for the chick. You can add the chicken neck as well.
Put chicken on the side on top of it's bed, add knobs of butter and put in pre-heated oven for 15 mins.
Baste chicken and rotate to other side and baste for 15 mins.
Baste chicken and rotate to presentation side up, add JUS ingredients, and baste for 15 mins.
Check if chicken is cooked by turning chicken up over bowl to see if the juices are pink. Cook further till juice is grey.
Remove chick on tray, covered with aluminium foil for 10mins.
Take pan with chick juice and heat over stove for about 5 mins. Strain out Jus into a small pan and add cubes of small butter.
Heat Jus till consistency will cover the back of a spoon (a la nap)

Enjoy your chook honey bun! See you soon!
xoxo

Claypot rice with chicken and korubuta Taiwanese sausage

Ingredients
250g chicken thigh chopped to bite size
Marinate chicken for 30mins with ginger juice, mirin, oyster sauce, sesame oil, light soya sauce

2 Taiwanese Korubuta sausage, uncooked "lup cheong"
2 strips salted fish
Knob of Ginger, sliced thinly into match sticks
3 stalks spring onion
Dark soya sauce
Sesame oil
Cooking oil
2cups rice, cooked 50%

Recipe
Heat oil and sesame oil in Claypot
When oil is hot, add ginger and white parts of spring onion. Fry for 30 sec.
Add chicken pieces and salted fish and fry till all sides are cooked.
Add Taiwanese sausages and fry for a few secs.
Add half cooked rice on top. Pat down and cover claypot. Simmer for 10mins.
Uncover pot and stir everything together. Add green parts of spring onion and add a little dark soya sauce on top of the rice.
Done!