Lemongrass pandan drink

 A decoction of “Pandan” and “Lemongrass” leaves can make a good detoxifying drink. By the way, “detoxification” or “detox” for short is the medicinal way of removing toxic substances in our body.

Benefit of pandan leaves:
Aside from its aromatic smell and slight flavor when added while cooking rice or making gelatin, “pandan” or “screwpine” leaves can be considered more as an herbal plant. It can reduce fever and relieve headaches. It can also treat chest and ear pains, wounds, smallpox, arthritis and even leprosy as well. It has beneficial aids for stomach spasms and has healing effects on some skin problems with a bonus of strengthening our gums.


Benefit of lemongrass:
Lemongrass might help prevent the growth of some bacteria and yeast. Lemongrass also contains substances that are thought to relieve pain, reduce fever, stimulate the uterus and menstrual flow, and have antioxidant properties.
More information can be found below:
http://lemongrassherbal.blogspot.sg/p/lemongrass-benefits.html


Benefit of honey :
If you wanted your honey to be nutritious with vitamins and minerals, have it raw and pure. The darker the color of the honey, the higher its antioxidant contents. Honey is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and probiotic. It can prevent us from cancer and heart disease, and good for blood sugar regulation. In addition to that, it has the ability to reduce ulcer, cough, and throat irritation. Also good for healing wounds and burns and can help us to have a blooming skin. Still, it wouldn’t be good if you overdose yourself with honey.



Ingredients:
 3 stalks lemongrass
 4 pandan (screwpine) leaves
 500ml of water
1 thumb size of Rock sugar
Good grade Honey
Lemon juice and lemon slices


Methods:

1. For lemongrass,  peel off the the outer layer and cut off  both ends. Slice into half 
2.  Pound till they are crushed so that the fragrant can be released later.
3. Wash the pandan leaves and tie them in a knot.
4. In a pot, add water, pandan leaves , rock sugar and lemongrass. Cover the lid and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat and allow it to simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and strain the drink when it cools
6. Stir in honey and squeeze some lemon juices.
7. You can add in lemon slices as well.
8.  Served it warm or chilled.
9. This is a healthy and easy drink. Enjoy!

Steamed Red Snapper fish



Ingredients

• 780g Snapper fish
• 2 tsp salt - To rub on the fish, 1 tsp at each side.
• 5  slices of ginger
• 5 Dry mushrooms ( soak till soft and slice into thin slices)

For the sauce

• 2 tbsp. Premium Soy Sauce
• 2 tbsp Shao Xing Wine
• 1 tsp crushed Rock Sugar (or just ordinary fine sugar)
• a dash of pepper
• a tsp of sesame oil

For garnishing

• 1 sprig spring Onion, cut thinly and soak in ice water
• 3 slices of ginger, Shredded and fry till crispy with sesame oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped into small pieces and fry till crispy with  sesame oil
• some coriander
• some julienned chillies (Optional)

Method

• Clean fish, pat dry. Rub 1 tsp salt at each side of the fish. Rub some into the stomach too. And then, put 5 pieces of ginger into the stomach.
• On a steaming dish,  place the fish on top.
• Arrange the mushroom slices nicely on top of the fish
• Use a small sauce bowl, mix all the sauce ingredient together
• Bring water in the steamer to a boil. Place the whole bowl of sauce beside the fish, steam fish over high heat for 15 minutes.
• While the fish is steaming, prepare your crispy ginger and garlic by frying with sesame oil till brown and crispy. Take note not to burn them or else it will turn bitter.. I usually fry the garlic first then use the remaining oil to fry the ginger .You can add more oil if you want.
• Remove fish from the steamer, pour away the steaming liquid.
• Pour the sauce on the fish, and place the crispy ginger and garlic over the fish.
• Lastly then pour the sesame oil over.
• Garnish, and serve!

 Separate steaming method - the fish and the sauce are separated, but steam together.

Remove the steaming liquid

If you are keen on this fresh fish, you can order from this website : http://ahhuakelong.com/home-delivery/

Oven baked Crispy Lemongrass Turmeric chicken wings

Ingredients 1 kg of fresh chicken wings washed and drained dry

Seasonings:

Add 1 tablespoon of turmeric powder
Add 1 teaspoon of ground pepper
Add 1/2 tablespoon of  brown sugar
Add 1 egg (beaten mix well)

Add 2 stalks of lemongrass (washed & cut halves and smash them flat to release the aroma)

Add 1/2 tablespoon of truffle salt or seasalt

Method:

Mix all the seasonings and wings together.

I use a glove and massage the wings

Next, place the wings into a ziplock bag.

Marinate overnight if possible.

If not, I usually marinate in the morning and cook over dinner time.

Method:

Preheat  the oven in grill mode till 220 degrees for about 10 minutes

Coat the wings with self raising flour on both sides

Dust off excess flour and place on a baking sheet

By the time you finish all the wings, the flour should have absorbed into the wings. ( you will see less flour on the wings)

Place the tray into the oven and baked for 30 to 35 mins till crispy and brown on both sides

Remember to turn the wings in the first 15 mins to bake the other side.

Enjoy !



Special thanks to my baking and cooking buddy Christine Tan for sharing her recipe. I did some modification to suit my taste bud. I choose to oven bake instead of frying for a healthier recipe.



Home made prawns mee soup Hae Mee (虾面汤)

Soup Stock:

 Prawn Heads and Shells 1 kg
500g Dried Shrimps (Haebee), soaked overnight
500g of pork bones ( Pre boiled for  2 hours in a slow cooker)
 10 Shallots chopped finely
10   cloves of garlic chopped finely
Light soya sauce
Dark soya sauce
Rock sugar 3 cubes
Sea salt
Chilli powder 2 tablespoon
Cooking oil 2 tablespoon

Methods:

Wash and dry the prawn heads and shells
Heat up your wok with cooking oil
Stir fried the shallots first then follow by garlic
Fry till fragrant
Then add in the dry shrimps. Fry till golden brown
Add in prawns shells first
Then follow by the prawns heads
After frying for about 20 mins, the shells should have reduced in size
And the nice prawn stock should appear.
Next, transfer all the shells and prawns stock
into the pork stock that you boiled earlier and continue on slow boil for another 3 to 4 hours.
After that, remove all the heads and shells
Blended the prawns head and shells into a coarse paste.
This is to extract the maximum flavour from the shells!
Transfer the strained liquid from the blended shells and
 the remaining soup stock into a huge stock pot to simmer and season!
Add  rock sugar, light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, sea salt, and chilli powder.
Leave soup stock to simmer and reduce to desired taste and consistency!

Noodles & Toppings:
Fresh Egg Noodles (Yellow Mee)
Kway Teow / Beehoon
Tiger prawns , Deveined
Lean pork loin / pork ribs
Fish cake
Kangkong
Beansprouts

Garnishes:
Fried port lard
Fried shallots crisps
Chilli powder
Spring onions

Methods:
blanched and precooked all the prawns, fishcake and ribs in the soup stock in order to flavour the soup as well as retain the sweetness of the ingredients.
Noodles and Kway teow can be preboiled
Vegetables  like beansprouts and kangkong can be blanched in another pot of boiling water or steamed.
Arrange the noodles into a bowl and all other cooked ingredients.
Add in the yummy prawn stock
Add in your favourite garnishes
Enjoy your hardwork labour .

 

Old cucumber soup with pork ribs 老黄瓜汤!

Ingredients :

Pork ribs ( about $6)
1 Old cucumber
8 red dates
1 dry octopus
1 carrot
5 honey dates
3 big dry scallops

Methods :
Use a small pot and boil the pork ribs first to get rid of any oil and dirt
Rinse again to remove any dirt.
Presoak the scallops with water first.
In a soup pot ,boil about 1 litres of water

Chop up old cucumber and remove the seeds
Chop up the carrot into bite sizes
Wash the red dates, dry octopus and honey dates
If you have time, you can soak the red dates and honey dates for a while.

When the soup pot boiled, add in the pork ribs, follow by all the ingredients
Simmer on low flame for about 2 hours or till the soup turn darker .
Taste the soup and adjust accordingly to your own preferences

Orh Luak - Oyster Omelette Part 2

Ingredients :

Batter mix:

2 Tablespoon of tapioca starch
1 tablespoon of rice flour
10 tablespoon of water
1 teaspoon of light soya sauce
1 teaspoon of fish sauce
5 drops of sesame oil
A dash of salt ( I omitted)
A dash of pepper

Other ingredients:

Frozen oyster ( soak in water to thaw and drain well)
Some spring onions ( chopped separately the white and green portions)
fish sauce
White pepper
cooking oil
4 eggs lightly beaten
Coriander leaves for garnish
Chilli sauce

Methods:

Heat up the non-stick pan and pour in cooking oil
Stir fried the white portion of the spring onions until fragrant
Pour the batter mix until batter is half cooked ( about 20 seconds )
Add in lightly beaten eggs and break the batter, Drizzle some oil as and when you want the particular portion to be crispy
When it is almost done, add in the rest of the spring onion and drizzle fish sauce on to the batter
Lastly add in the oyster and fry a little while using low heat
Add coriander leaves and white pepper
Serve with your favourite chilli sauce

Specially thanks to Mary Thian for sharing this recipe.

Creamy Buttery female crabs with roes Part 2

This round, I bought the fresh female crabs at the newly opened shopping mall called Big Box.

It was priced at $30 per kg and I simply cannot resist fresh female crabs with roes. You can refer to my previous post on the recipe . Enjoy!!!!

 Creamy buttery female crabs with roe

Homemade deep fried soy bean egg curd

Ingredients:

3 eggs lightly beaten
250ml of unsweetened fresh soy milk ( buy from market)
A dash of salt
A dash of pepper
2 tsp of potato starch / corn starch

Methods:

Prepare steamer on medium heat
Mixed beaten eggs with soya milk , salt, pepper and corn starch
Then sift the mixture into a non stick pan or bowl suitable for steaming
Steam for 15 mins till firm.
Cool for 10 min and use a knife to go over the sides of the bean curd
Carefully turn over to a cutting board and cut into cubes as it is still fragile.
Coat lightly with corn flour and deep fry till golden brown on high heat
Do not turn the cubes immediately in the oil or else it will break




Can serve the egg curd as a side or snacks

Special thanks to Angeline Goh for sharing this simple recipe.

Honey Citron Yuzu oven grilled wings

Ingredients:

1kg of fresh chicken wings
1 tablespoon of yuzu jam

Seasonings:

2 tablespoon of garlic powder
2 tbsp. of light soya sauce
1 tsp of dark soya sauce
1 tbsp. of oyster sauce
A dash of pepper
1 tsp of brown sugar

Methods:

Wash and pat dry the wings
Marinate with the seasonings overnight
Preheat oven to 200 degrees grill mode
Bake the wings till both side brown
Brush the chicken wings with yuzu tea ( optional)
Remove and serve hot

One pot braised tau kwa, tau kee, tau pok, mushroom, chicken and eggs

Ingredients:

4 dried beancurd sticks (tau kee, 腐竹)
3 tau kwa
8 long tau pok ( cut into small cubes)
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp light soya sauce
2 tsp dark soya sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp five-spice powder
1 star anise
3 cloves garlic, washed and smashed
2 shallots , chopped into small pieces
3 thin slices ginger
3 chicken thighs chop into 3 parts
5 hard boiled eggs ( de shelled)
10 pieces of Chinese mushroom ( pre soak in water) cut into half
500 ml water ( mushroom stock plus water)

Methods:

 Heat up wok and add some olive oil
Fry the garlic , ginger , star anise and shallots till fragrant
Then place the chicken meat and turn until brown.
Add in oyster sauce , light soy sauce, dark soya sauce , wine , brown sugar, pepper and water.
Stir well and bring to boil.
Add in the hard boiled eggs , tau pok , tau kwa , tau kee and mushroom.
Bring to a slow boil for 20 mins to 30 mins till gravy level lowers and the taste and colour is brown .
Taste and add more seasoning to your prefer taste.
You can add more water if u like more gravy as the tau kee , tau pok will absorb the gravy.

Chicken stew in Chu hou sauce

Ingredients :

4 Chicken thighs
5 potatoes
1 carrots
1 packet of tau kee
Minced garlic
Chopped shallots
2 Tablespoon of chu hou sauce
1 Tsp of rice wine
1 tsp of ginger juice
500ml of water
1 dash of pepper
1 tsp of dark soya sauce
1 tsp of light soya sauce



 Methods:
Wash and chopped up the chicken thighs into 3 parts per thigh
Chopped up the potatoes and carrots into bite size
 Add some oil to pan and  fry chopped garlic and shallots .
 Add in chicken thighs and fry till brown.
Add in 2 tablespoon of chu hou sauce .
 Fry till well mix. Add in 1 tsp of rice wine , Add in 1 tsp ginger juice, 500ml of water ,
Add in 1 tsp of dark soya sauce for colour and 1 tsp of soya sauce.
 Add a dash of pepper . Lastly add in potatoes n carrots and tau kee. Cook till potatoes soft for about 20 mins low flame. Add more water if u prefer more sauce.
Serve warm with rice



The chu hou paste is a convenient cooking sauce, made from quality soybeans, garlic, ginger, sesame seeds and rice wine. It boasts a unique fermented soybean taste and fragrance. This taste first originated from South China. It is best used for cooking, marinating or braising meats and vegetables. However, this product is not halal as it contains 6% alcohol.