There's no cooking like home

Yeap, the title say it all. My dad's Yong Tau Fu, for me is second to none! Not only are the fillings are all based on his secret ingredients and mix of a variety of meat, even the sauce served with it is our own homemade recipe. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

One of our favourite quick and easy to make snack is the Vietnamese Spring Rolls, well, at least our version of it. It's quick, healthy, easy to make and it taste great! One may need some practice in rolling rice paper to get a hang of it.

The rice paper is first dipped entire into a bowl of water, for a mere few seconds, removed and place over a clean surface to work on. Add 1/2 a teaspoon of oyster sauce and prime over it.

 You can add a variety of fresh ingredients to it. Our favourites are bean sprouts, sliced cucumber and carrots, boiled shrimps, blanched Chinese vermicelli, mint leaves and crushed peanuts.

 Rolling the rolls requires some practice. The key is to keep them tight and not too stuffed, to make sure that there are enough surface to wrap it securely.

 Voila!

You can also deep fry them to give it a bit of crunchiness! Our favourite serving is with Thai chilli sauce.

Happy rolling! 

Mushroom Porridge & Chicken

 

Last month, we've attended a Gourmet Abu Dhabi Culinary Masterclass with Chef Daniel Patterson. The session was fun and informative about food, types of ingredients available, a bit of history about his restaurant, his home in California, and most importantly his idea of food.

What we took back with us is a porridge recipe, which is rather interesting and one which I have somewhat modified here with the available ingredients we have and simplified for convenience. I've also added some protein here - chicken -  to make it a savoury course, another modified recipe from my home cooking.

Here are a list of ingredients needed:

For the Porridge:

1. Butter
2. Chopped Garlic
3. Chopped Mushroom & Carrots
4. Rice
5. Mushroom Stock
6. Salt and Pepper
7. Chopped Onions

For the Chicken


1. Chicken Meat (with bone)
2. Shitake Mushroom
3. Potatoes
4. Garlic & Onions
5. Oil & Butter
6. Chicken Stock

Cooking Methods:

Mushroom Porridge 

1. Heat Butter in Pan - very slow fire and let it melt gradually
2. When Butter melted, pour in chopped garlic & Onions
3. Pour in mushroom and Carrots
4. Add salt to taste
5. Rest on slow heat to keep warm
6. In a mortar and pestle, crush the rice grain, but not too fine. This will help to release some of the starch and smoothen the texture of the porridge.
7. In another pot, pour in rice with water & mushroom stock - boil slow
8. Add mix of butter, garlic, onions, mushroom and carrots into the pot of water&rice  
9. Add adequate water to come up with porridge texture
10. Boil in slow heat till the desire texture is achieved, add more water when necessary.

Shitake Mushroom Chicken:

1. Boil water and soak the Shitake Mushroom for about 15 min. Removed from water, and chop them into slices.
2. Chop up potatoes in small cubes
3. Heat up pan in medium fire
4. Add butter/oil
5. Saute Onions and Garlic
6. Add chicken and saute till brown  
7. Add water + chicken stock
8. Add potatoes and chopped shitake mushroom
9. Boil in slow fire till water becomes thick and well cooked - approx 15-20 min

 

Serve both warm. Easy and enjoyable!

Dry Curry Noodle

Craving for some of the food we used to taste back home, my wife and I decided to try to make our own Dry Curry Noodle dish. It's really a simple dish that you can do at home and can be easily improvised to suit your taste.

Ingredients:

Essentially the ingredients can be divided into 3 categories:

A. The Curry Stew

1. Shrimps
2. Instant curry chicken mix
3. Coconut Milk
4. Cockles or Clams
5. Fishcake and Fishball
6. Tau Foo - Firm type, preferably fried

B. The Garnishing 

1. Bean sprout
2. Egg plant
3. Long Beans cut into 2 inches
4. Boiled/cooked sliced chicken meat
5. Caramelized Onions

C. The Dry Noodle 

1. Yellow Noodle - Fresh
2. Oyster Sauce
3. Sweet Soya Sauce
4. Dark Soya Sauce
5. Vegetable Oil

As the ingredients are divided into 3, the right order is that A and B can be prepared together as they take time, C should be the last as this dish has to be eaten warm and fresh when put together.

Methods:

Preparing the Curry Stew
This is a simple curry stew and to save time, we would recommend using a quick mix of curry chicken mix to ease the process.
1. Remove heads from shrimps
2. Braise the heads in water to make stock
3. Heat oil in another pan and heat the instant curry mix
4. Pour in shrimp stock and coconut milk
5. Salt to taste
6. Add in clams/cockles, fish cake and fish ball and tau foo and cook in slow fire.
The stew is then ready to serve when the noodle is ready.

Preparing the Garnishing
Though I call it a garnishing, it is essentially part of the meal that completes it
1. Wash and drain bean sprout - ready to be eaten fresh
2. Egg plant to be cut into small slices, set aside on a try, sprinkled with salt and let it sit for about half and hour. You'll notice water is being drained out, after which use a kitchen tower to dab and dry it as much as possible. Saute it together with the cut up long beans until slightly browned - set aside and ready to serve. Salt to taste if you like.

Preparing The Dry Noodle
1. Prepare a pot of boiling water
2. On a mixing bowl, add vegetable oil, oyster sauce, sweet and a little dark soya sauce to stand by.
3. Blanch the fresh yellow noodles and drain them quickly when starting to soft
4. Mix the noodles into the mixing bowl.
5. Add a bit of pepper powder if you like

Putting the Dish Together 
As soon as the noodle is mixed, place them on the serving plate and have the garnishing over it. The curry stew should be served along side with it. Sambal sauce goes very well with it as well.

Enjoy!