Simple steamy dinner

Today's special menu is steaming dishes. Had steamed eggs and a new dish, steam tofu, prawns and glass noodles. Since the dishes are rather bland, I pan fried two pieces of pork chop for my children.

Hubby was out with his friend to dinner celebrating their SCKLM completion. Left me and the children at home. Was lazy to go out so prepared these simple dishes.

1. steamed tofu, prawns and glass noodles

2. steam silky soft eggs

3. pan fried pork chop

Kids were happy coz their favourites are steaming dishes. Although the steam tofu and steam eggs taste are rather bland but it's good to have with a bowl of steaming hot rice.

SCKLM 2016 meals preparation

A month ago, I posted about our family first running event, Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon 2016. It's the most grand running event held in Malaysia and it's very well organised.
My hubby went for the full marathon while me and the children joined the 5km fun run.
To prepare my hubby for his 1st full marathon, I prepared carbo-loaded breakfast and dinner for him. He needs carbohydrates for his run.

The meals preparation started three days before the event. Everyday begins with a hearty breakfast meal.

Day 1: Hearty breakfast

(Sunny sides up + pan fried chicken breast + baby potatoes and romaine salad with goma sauce + fresh tomatoes)

Day 1: Fragrant yam rice

Yam Rice recipe

Day 2: Big Breakfast

(Boiled broccoli + baby tomatoes + pan fried chicken breast + stir fried shimeji mushrooms + Leclassic sesawhite and sesame seed bread)

Day 2: Dinner (Stir fried Brussels Sprouts with prawns)

Brussels sprouts recipe

Day 2: Dinner (Stir fry vermicelli)

Day 3 was a Saturday, breakfast was our casual breakfast at kopitiam.

Day 3: Spaghetti carbonara and spaghetti Bolognese

Day 3 dinner was the most important meals for hubby's preparation for his run. He needs to load with high carbo dinner. The most common meal is spaghetti. I prepared two versions of spaghetti cause my children preferred carbonara while me and hubby preferred Bolognese. Bolognese recipe

Dinner (290716)

It's Friday and I decided to cook for my family. Went to market early morning to get the ingredients. Planned to prepare a simple dinner with simple home dishes.

Menu for the night:

Steam beancurd with crispy fried dried prawns and shallots

Ginger and spring onions stir fry pork with sweet and soy sauce

Salted egg yolks stir fry French beans

Steam beancurd with crispy fried dried prawns and shallots

Ingredients:

1) Silky tofu (beancurd)

2) Garlics and shallots

3) dried prawns

3) seasoning - soy sauce and sesame oil

Methods:

1) Steam tofu over gentle heat for six to seven minutes to warm the tofu, remove and set aside.

2) Heat oil in a wok, fry garlic and shallots till crisp and golden.

3) Remove but leave the oil in the wok.

4) Add the seasoning ingredients to the wok and bring to boil.

5) Reduce the heat and simmer until sauce thickens slightly; pour hot sauce over tofu.

6) Top with the crisp garlic, ginger and shallots, and finally the garnishing ingredients, serve immediately.

Ginger and spring onions stir fry pork with sweet and soy sauce
Ingredients:
1) Sliced pork
2) Garlics, gingers and spring onions (Julienne the gingers and spring onions)
3) seasoning - sweet and soy sauce, salt and pepper

Methods:
1) Heat oil in a wok, fry garlic, ginger till fragrant
2) add in pork slice and stir fry till 80% cooked
3) add in seasoning and spring onions, serve hot

Salted egg yolks stir fry French beans

Ingredients:

1) French beans

2) Garlics

3) salted egg

4) seasoning - salt and chicken stocks

Methods:

1) Prepare salted eggs, boil in hot water just like boiling hard boiled eggs

2) Separate the yolks and whites. Set a side

3) Blanch French beans in hot boiling water till semi cooked. Remove and set a side

4) Heat oil in a wok, fry garlics till fragrant

5) Add in salted egg yolks and fry till bubbled

6) Add in French beans and seasoning, fry till French beans are coated with the salted egg yolks

7) Add in the diced salted egg whites, stir well and serve hot

Silky smooth steam eggs

Steam eggs seems like a easy dish but it may not be as easy as it seems. To steam a plate of silky smooth eggs is a challenge of timing and skill.
I recently gave it a try. First try was a success. My family loved the texture of the steam eggs.

The secret to perfect steam eggs are the amount of water added and the timing.

Ingredients:

1) 3 eggs

2) 1 tbsp of soy sauce

3) dashes of chicken stocks

4) dashes of sesame oil

5) spring onions for garnishing

Methods:

1) crack the eggs into a bowl

2) prepare chicken stocks with water. the amount of water is 3 halves egg shell to 1 egg

3) stir the eggs and slowly add in the chicken stocks water

    note: do not beat the eggs as it will creates bubbles

4) slowly stir in soy sauce, sesame oil

5) Sieve the eggs into the plate for steaming

Cooking:

1) heat wok with water and steam rack

2) place the plate of eggs on the rack when the water is boiling

3) set timer to steam the eggs for 8 minutes

Note: 8 minutes steaming is for plain eggs. You may add in centure eggs and salted eggs but this will take longer steaming time

Impromptu dinner on Monday

It's a last minute home cooked dinner on Monday. After fetching my son from tuition, I drove to my aunt's house to collect dinner but i was shocked, she did not prepare our dinner that day. So the first thing that came into my head was what am i going to cook for my family? It was already 7:00pm....and my hubby should be on his way home already.....oh dear...but before the panic got out of hand, i remembered it was a Monday and my hubby would need to fetch my girl home from her tutorial class which ends at 8:00pm and usually reach home by 8:30pm. That means i have at least an hour plus to whip up dinner before they reach home.

The next thing is to figure out what i have at home while driving home. I remembered i cleared up everything in my fridge for Saturday's dinner but i remembered i have some dried noodles (yee mee) but i do not have meats. So i drove to nearby store to get some chicken fillets.

Once reached home, cooking begins....preparation and cooking plus cleaning all done within 45 minutes. Timing is just right.

This was what we had for dinner....

Braised yee mee with chicken fillets and choy sum

I used to cook this dish for our weekend lunch but since my children have busy weekend schedule attending classes, it's much easier to eat out.

Ingredients:

1) Yee Mee (Dried noodles)

2) Chicken breasts (marinate with soy sauce, salt and pepper)

3) Choy sum

4) Garlics

Seasoning:

1) Soy sauce

2) Salt and pepper

3) Oyster sauce

4) Dark soy sauce

5) Dash of Maggie Seasoning

Note: Mix item 1 to 4 in a small bowl with some water and set a side. Seasoning item 5 is to be added when the noodles are almost done

Methods:

1) Boil a wok of water to blanch the choy sum and yee mee till soften

    Note: make sure not too soft else will be soggy

2) Heat wok and fry garlics till fragrant

2) Add in pre-marinated chicken fillets

3) Add in yee mee and seasonings

4) Finally add in choy sum and a dash of Maggie seasoning

Viola, simple, quick and yummy dinner is ready....

Saturday night feast at home

I was in the mood for cooking these few days so decided to cook up a feast on Saturday.

Our dinner on Saturday....yummy......

Dinner on the menu

1. Stir fried vermicelli with porks and prawns

2. Salted eggs yolks French Crabs

3. Stir fried broccoli and shimeji mushrooms

4. Anchovies spinach soup

Brussels Sprouts with prawns

Brussels Sprouts, our family all time favourite but it's very difficult to find here in my home country. We had so much of it during our holiday to Perth, Australia. Almost every meal we would have Brussels Sprouts. We specially like to plain stir fried with some meat or prawns.

It's a very easy dish. Ingredients include garlics, prawns and of cause Brussels Sprouts. Seasons with some salt, pepper and soy sauce to taste.

Simple and delicious dish.

One Pot dinner - Chicken rice

After trying the yam rice, I have decided to cook chicken rice for dinner. Was out having breakfast with my children. We went to a wonton noodle stall and saw nice char siew (roast sweet pork). Decided to buy some home as additional dish to our chicken rice dinner. After breakfast went to nearby market to buy chicken. Wanted to get chicken thighs but what was left were some chicken breast cause it was almost noon. Am lucky too the market is not closed yet.

Chicken rice ingredients:
1) garlics, shallots and ginger (chop lots of garlics and shallots. slice few pieces of ginger)
2) chicken with skins and a little fats
3) pandan leaves

Marinate chicken:
1) salt, pepper, soy sauce and sesame oil

Methods for chicken stock:
1) fry garlics, ginger and heads of spring onions till fragrant
2) add chicken fats and fry till fats melt
3) add water and let it simmer

 chicken stock is prepared in advanced using garlic, spring onions, ginger and chicken fats

Methods of rice:
1) fry garlics, shallots and ginger till fragrant
2) add in chicken and fry for a while
3) add in uncooked rice and fry till fragrant
4) transfer everything to the rice cooker and add in the chicken stock (make sure water is just enough
    to cover the rice else rice would be too soft)
5) add in pandan leaves and seasoning to taste (salt and soy sauce)

Heat oil and fry garlics onions till fragrant

Add in chicken and raw rice and fry for few minutes

Transfer fried ingredients into the rice cooker

Add in chicken stock just enough to cover the rice

Yummy fragrant chicken rice is ready to be served

Garnish with spring onions and fried shallots

Dinner is served for four

Check out my next post for Fried Brussels sprouts with prawns...

Homecooked one pot dinner

Dinner tonight was simple and easy to cook. We had yam rice for dinner....
I have always reading recipe online and one day out of thought, I wanted to cook yam rice. I still remember during our stay with my mother in law, she used to cook one pot dinner yam rice for dinner on lazy days especially Fridays.
It's very easy to cook using the rice cooker. The ingredients are easy to prepare too.

Ingredients:
1) 2.5 cups of rice
2) shallots
3) garlics
4) dried shrimps
5) yam
6) mushrooms
7) pork or chicken
8) green onions and chillies for garnishing

Pork or chicken marinate:
1) salt, pepper, soy sauce and sesame oil

Seasoning:
1) 2 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
2) 2 tablespoon of soy sauce
3) 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
4) 1 teaspoon of salt
5) few dashes of pepper
6) few drops of sesame oil

Methods:
1) wash the rice and keep a side
2) finely chop shallots, garlics and dried shrimps
3) cut yam into small pieces (not too small though cause it will soften when cooked
4) heat up oil and fry shallots, garlics and dried shrimps till fragrant
5) add in yam pieces and fry till a little brownish
6) finally add in the uncooked rice and seasoning
7) transfer all into the rice cooker and add water just enough to cover the rice and ingredients
8) cook like normal white rice timing

 

Yummy yam rice

Very busy Saturday (160416)

Last Saturday, both my children has school activities. We were out of the house by 6:00pm. After dropping my girl, we send our boy to his school. We only need to fetch both of them late afternoon so me and hubby can have our "pak toh" time...
We went to "Yut Kee" restaurant for breakfast. This is a traditional kopitiam serving authentic breakfast such as roti bakar with kaya, butter and soft boiled eggs.

Besides the yummy authentic breakfast, this restaurant also serves very yummy fried mee sua. This dish is one of my favourite noodle dish. The mee sua texture is cooked just right, not too hard nor too soft. Mee sua is a type of noodle that is very difficult to cook. So sorry forgot to take pictures of the dish...was too tempted to eat once it's served :D but I took the pic of the chilies....yum yum

After breakfast, we went home, rested for an hour and off to Pavillion cause hubby wanted to check out some gadgets. We spent around 3 hours there window shopping. We went to pick up my girl from her friend's home around 3:30pm and reach home almost 4:00pm. Hubby had a running event at Putrajaya which flag off at 8:00pm. My son school only dismiss at 5:00pm. We planned to have dinner outside before heading to Putrajaya but don't think we could make it on time. So we decided to cook spaghetti for dinner. Boy, it was a rushed out dinner. Once reached home after fetching my girl, I quickly put the spaghetti to boil and started preparing all the ingredients for the sauce.
As hubby had to attend a running event, he took a nap while I was preparing dinner but before I start cooking, I have to fetch my son from school. There I go rushing out to fetch my boy before 5:00pm.
The traffic was terrible, I only managed to reach home at 6:00pm. That means I only have half an hour to cook and eat.......arghhhh!!!!

When I was about to start cooking, I noticed I did not have the spaghetti ready made tomato sauce....oh dear....what am I going to do ????? Well, I have no time to go out and get the sauce so I decided to fry the spaghetti. And our dinner turned from spaghetti Bolognese to Aglio Olio.... :D

Do you like my beautiful serving plates? I bought them from Parkson. They were having WOW Sales last week and I found these beautiful plates made in Japan for a very low price. Will blog about them in the next post.

Didn't have time to clean, the kitchen was left in a mess when me and hubby went our way to Putrajaya for the event. After the event, reach home around 12midnight....didn't get to sleep right away but clean up the kitchen....

Dinner (8/4/2016)

My family dinner last Friday......easy peasy Grill chicken wrap

We always have rice for dinner. Children were quite bored with it so i thought, why not prepare something different for dinner since it's Friday. Friday has always been the best day for me because it's the beginning for weekend where i can spend more time with hubby and the children.

This is very easy to prepare. Ingredients include

1) chicken breast strip marinated with salt, pepper, olive oil

2) store bought garlic wrap

3) lettuces and tomatoes (any vegetables of your choice)

For the sauce

1) mayonaise

2) mustard

3) honey

4) salt and pepper

5) chilly sauce (optional)

I marinated the chicken for about 2 hours then grill them on a pan. set them aside and prepare the sauce. just mix all the ingredients for the sauce to your taste.

To prepare the wrap, you can prepare to wrap all the ingredients in advance but i prefer to prepare them when everyone is ready to eat. One reason for not preparing earlier is, once you wrap it up with the sauce and leave it there, after a few minutes, the vegetables will become soggy and not crunchy.

Before eating the wrap, it is advised to grill the wrap on the pan till it's hot. Hot dinner is always better than cold dinner :P

I prepare 2 wraps for each of us. My children loves the wrap very much especially my son, who three (yes, i gave one of mine to him)...Seeing them eating so happily and so enjoying, i am already very satisfying.

This is one most motivation that makes me loving to cook for my family.

Dinner tonight

I'll be preparing dinner tonight !
For a long time, i have not been cooking dinner for my family. Most of the time we have our dinner at my grandma's home. But recently children decided to pack dinner home from my grandma's home to have it at our home instead. Reasons? Reason No.1 they are too tired to go to my grandma's home even though it's just 10 minutes drive. Reason No. 2 they felt more comfortable and can enjoy dinner for a longer time at our own home cause they can proceed to do their homework when done with dinner while mommy clean the dishes. Hubby felt more relaxed too to have dinner at our own home.

Recently one of my friend prepared a nice dinner for her family which triggers my lazy bone. Instead of normal rice and dishes for dinner, she prepared something special beyond the traditional home cooked dinner.
Below are some of the ingredients for my family dinner tonight. Can you guess what we are having tonight?

You want to know how yummy this dinner is.......stay tune !