Stealing Some Time-off for the Kitchen

I was so eager to start cooking and eating normal food again after the one-month confinement month. MIL bought us a lot of stuff too so I had to cook anyway to free some space for my breast milk in the freezer so here are some of my cooking that I managed to do while taking care of the little one at the same time! 

#1

Simple lunch for one: 10-grain rice porridge with minced pork, carrot and potato with a tablespoon of Bovril, served with some boiled broccoli and cherry tomatoes.
Story behind this lunch? Finished in 2 hours while taking care of a attention-seeking baby. FML. :p

#2

Super yummy One-Pot Chicken 10-grain Rice with Chinese Sausage, Shiitake Mushrooms and Edamame! So easy to make, packed with all the needed nutrition yet super yummy!!!

#3

Cooked up this Simple Chicken and Mushroom Porridge to go with some French Beans Omelet for the parent who are now pretty much domesticated.

#4

And then Mamo came to visit Rayden and got the two sisters over for dinner where Mamo took care of Rayden while I cooked up this beautiful table of dinner! Mamo contributed the yummy Fu Chok Soup and Peanuts Soup while I made Oven Baked Chicken Drumsticks, Fu Yong Egg, Stir-fry Mixed Vege and Garlic Butter Prawns. :)

#5

Learned this very simple Chicken Rice recipe from Mamo and made it again when she was around (cos I need her to cut the chicken when they are done. LOL). Goes so well with the bowl of gravy that came out from the steamed chicken. Served with a Stir-fry Watercress with Goji Berry yo!

#6

Same Chicken Rice to go with some Dong Gui Chicken (not homemade), Stir-fry Kailan and ABC Soup. Hmmmm this is making me hungry!!!

#7

Still trying to clear the freezer... Stir-fry Ladies Fingers with Sha Cha Sauce, Ginger and Onion Pork Slices with some 10-grain rice for dinner.

#8

Awesome lunch for one: Leftover Chicken Rice with some simple sauteed Zucchini, Tomato and Minced Pork and a fried egg. So delicious and healthy!

#9

Made some Steamed Minced Pork with Preserved Cabbage and Stir-fry Kangkong (both Deardo's favourite dishes) and a Herbal Soup for another dinner for two. :)

#10

Yes, purposely cooked so much of chicken rice so that I can eat them for lunch when I was alone at home. Same ingredients as #8 you see but different method of cooking. Here I made Steamed Minced Pork with Egg and Sauteed Zucchini with Chili Flakes. Very hearty meal indeed!

#11

Now adding zucchini into porridge is pretty weird but you know, it was only for myself so it's fine! 10-grain porridge with the leftover Steamed Minced Pork with Egg, Zucchini and drizzle with sesame oil. I think it was pretty yummy though!

#12

Pork Ribs from MIL so recipe also from MIL. Here's the first time me cooking Steamed Pai Kuat with Preserved Black Beans (quite nice actually), served with some Shrimps Omelet since we ran out of vege.

#13

Braised Pork Belly, Garlic Butter Prawns and Stir-fry Spinach for another dinner for two.

#14

Making full use of the leftover Braised Pork Belly at #13 and made myself my own version of Ja Jiang Mian with Spaghetti, carrots, cabbage and Omelet! I call this creative cooking yo! :p

#15

Shark Meat from MIL so recipe also from her. Just Fried them up with some onions, ginger and dried chili and it was quite tasty already! Went with a side of Stir-fry French Beans with Shrimps and Turmeric Powder.

#16

Cabbage and Pork Balls Soup with Glass Noodles for lunch for one! Get the recipe here!

#17

Dinner for three (FIL included) in another attempt to clear the freezer! Braised Kampung Chicken with Shiitake Mushrooms and Hard Boiled Egg, Stir-fried Cabbage with Dried Shrimps and surprisingly awesome Curry Prawns and Shark Meat. I said 'surprisingly' cos it was a random curry paste I got from the supermarket and I replaced coconut milk with fresh milk and the dish still turned out to be super awesomely delicious! Yay! More curries in the future! :D

I've come to a realisation that I really prefer cooking over taking care of a crying baby. I mean, who doesn't? LOL. Hasn't been cooking like this since I got back to work though. Shall attempt that again maybe the next few weekends?

Home-cooked for the Hungry Mummy Shirlexia

Hi ya'll! Time for another round of Chef Shirlexia sharing her cooking adventure! No offend lar dear chefs out there, I know you guys don't like people calling themselves chefs when they are not qualified enough but this is just a nickname for myself when I blog about my cooking adventure lar, k?

So lately we have been trying to cook at home as much as possible cos eating out so much shouldn't be good for a mum-to-be I guess. So if we get home earlier from work I'll whip up a quick meal, most of the time porridge. On weekends too sometimes we just have porridge since Deardo wants to eat lighter dinners and he is finally in love with my porridge (now my future son will sure love mummy's porridge since it has gotten the difficult papa's approval too, hehe...), but I'll also cook something different occasionally.

So here goes...

#1 Chicken Porridge with Stir-fry Broccoli and Oyster Mushrooms

Most of the time I make my chicken porridge with Mamo's signature recipe, just cut chicken thigh meat and marinate them with soya sauce, Ajishio, sesame oil and a bit of cooking wine, then dump into the porridge with some Tang Chai (Preserved Cabbage) and that's it! Here I added some chopped carrots for some colours.

#2 Chicken Porridge with Stir-fry Water Cress with Goji

Here I also added some Shitake Mushrooms, which is Deardo's favourite. Also recently made all our porridge with unpolished rice which turned out to be awesome! And if you haven't tried frying your water cress then you really should start doing it! Get the younger water cress and I can assure you you will love the texture when you eat it! Water Cress is very high in iron okay! :)

#3 Tang Yuen in Red Dates & Ginger Soup

It was Winter Solstice so I bought some frozen Tang Yuen from the supermarket to go with some boiled red dates and ginger soup in stead of the usual sugar-made tong sui. Tasted pretty good though!

#4 Sesame Oil Chicken Soup with Bihun Served with Stir-fry Nai Bak with Goji

Recipe is almost the same as this, but with changes in certain ingredients.

#5 Complete Chinese Dinner V1

Stir-fry mixed vege (always my favourite vege dish), Lime Leaves Prawns, Fried Fish (first time frying fish at home and Deardo had to do it cos I hate frying stuff that have oil hopping out onto me), herbal soup and the oh-so-yummy 10-grain rice with Chinese sausage. Just slice the sausages and steam them with the rice and OMG the fragrant and the taste you'll get from your rice is so irresistibly addictive! 

#6 Complete Chinese Dinner V2

Made the Chinese Sausage with 10-grain rice again here to go with Stir-fry sliced pork with mushrooms & black fungus, stir-fry cabbage and carrot with dried shrimp (first attempt at making this and it was a success! yay!) plus an old cucumber soup for a wholesome dinner yo!

#7 Yellow Wine Chicken Mee Suah & Herbal Chicken Soup Mee Suah

Well Deardo has been craving for some Yellow Wine Chicken so I said well I can make it since we have the yellow wine that MIL made but I can't take it since I normally add yellow wine into the soup once I turn off the fire (wine that are not evaporated in cooking are still alcohol to preggers)so I made some herbal chicken soup for myself to go with mee suah too! Smart, right? LOL!
Anyway, I didn't do any research on how to make a Yellow Wine Chicken Soup, it was done based on what Deardo said he wanted it to be. So I pre-marinated the chicken with soya sauce, Ajishio and some yellow wine, then add into a simmered bunch of sliced ginger, fried them a little and add water, then the goji and black fungus, plus a little salt to taste. As I turned off the fire, I added about another 3 tbsp of the yellow wine. I didn't try the final product but Deardo was definitely happy with that bowl of dinner so I guess it was a success too! :)

#8 Home Alone Stir-fry French Beans, Carrot & Minced Pork with Sha Cha Sauce over Quinoa

Sometimes I do enjoy cooking for myself a lot cos that's the only time I can cook whatever I like to eat and whatever that is healthier too! I'm a big fan of Quinoa not because it's healthy or expensive (insanely expensive in Malaysia) but because of it's unique texture I just love to chew on. So on a night where Deardo wasn't home for dinner, I indulged myself in this plate of awesomeness and a bowl of 'Bat Chan' Soup for a nutritious, balanced and healthy dinner.

#9 No Carb Dinner Platter

Very yummy oven-roasted HP Sauce (and other sauces) marinated chicken drummets served with a cob of corn and a side of Stir-fry Sha Cha Sauce with Okra. Quite a fusion dinner I shall say. *wink~*

#10 Homey Dinner for the Tan Sisters

On a night where Deardo had dinner appointment, I enjoyed some private time with my two lovely sisters who came over and had a taste of home-cooked food (after some time) that the big sister made for them. So we had a Stir-fry Mixed Vege, Steamed Egg with Minced Pork, Butter Prawns and Herbal Soup to go with some awesome Chinese Sausage 10-grain rice for dinner! :) Always nice to have them with me as they always help in preparing dinner and doing the dishes. :p

#11 Minced Pork Omelet Soup with Glass Noodles

Again, on a night where Deardo enjoyed his Yellow Wine Chicken Soup Mee Sua, I enjoyed one of my favourite dishes that my Ah Ma used to cook, done in around 15 minutes. You can get the recipe here, but I added Goji for some additional nutrition this time around. 

Once again, thank you for watching! 

My Lovely Homecooked Dishes

Hi guys! Been pretty busy lately, some personal stuff, some holiday preparations. So anyway, I'm leaving you guys with some of my homecooked dishes before I go off~! 

At Home
#1 Steamboat with 4e

4e was alone one night so we invited her over to join us for a 3-pax homemade steamboat, which was as usual, pretty awesome! Had our homemade Sui Gao too! Oh yumzzzz! :)

#2 Scrambled Eggs with Avocado

Made some scrambled eggs, topped with bacon bits, then an avocado with some red peppers and zucchini over it, plus a stir-fry broccoli and mushrooms. I think I was just trying to clear food in the fridge. Pretty sure this was when I was home alone or maybe Deardo decided that we should eat light. :p

#3 Honey Mustard Chicken Rice

To bring back some Aussie memory in me. Get the recipe here.

#4 Cantonese Fried Maggi Mee

Cantonese Fried Yee Mee or Hor Fun are quite common. But I recently found out that it goes very well with Maggi Mee! Plus no need to separate the Hor Fun beforehand, which is a big plus point!!! :)

#5 Wanton Mee with Sui Gao

Got those Wanton Mee from Taiping, boil, stir-up in some garlic oil, light and dark soya sauce, sesame oil, then topped with some greens and fried shallots... Voila, Wanton Mee at home! Plus my homemade Sui Gao again, this time in some Sha Cha Sauce Soup! 

#6 Omelet with Salmon Sashimi

Deardo was out for badminton one night and I just came back from a supermarket so I got some Salmon Sashimi to go with my supposedly normal-looking omelet. Oh so healthy yet satisfying!!! :D

#7 The Typical Chinese Dinner

I think I was in a good mood when I cooked this 3-dish dinner featuring Stir-fry French Beans with tumeric powder, pan-fry minced pork (actually leftover Sui Gao fillings) and a fake Chawanmushi on a plate. Hearty, yummy and tummy-filling dinner! :)

#8 Wanton Mee with Minced Pork and Mushroom

This is a recipe I learned from Mamo. Since young she has been doing this stir-fry minced pork and mushrooms with a little gravy to go with Wanton Mee and we always love it! It's so simple to make and you can mass-make and just keep the rest in the freezer!

At Work
#1 Tuna Soba Salad

Lunch box with things I can find in the fridge - lettuce, hard-boiled egg white, cocktail sausages, tuna in oil with some black pepper and parsley for garnishing! Super love lunch like this! :)

#2 Couscous Salad

Baby spinach, avocado, red peppers, hard-boiled egg white for another healthy yet yummy lunch!

#3 Ham, Cheese & Baby Spinach Wrap

Was my yummy breakfast! I actually prefer wraps over breads cos they are lighter to eat and you don't feel so full! 

#4 Scrambled Egg, Ham & Baby Spinach Wrap (with Sambal Belacan yo~)

Added some creativity in the Sambal Belacan MIL made to give the wrap a Malaysian twist and it was really good!!! 

#5 Green Curry Tuna & Spinach Wrap

For a light lunch. :)

#6 Green Curry Tuna Maggi Mee

Leftover Green Curry Tuna? I reheated it and went with some Maggi Mee! And yes, I literally cooked in the office!

#7 Scrambled Eggs with Avocado Open-Face Sandwich

And I had to eat this with fork and knife... Like a boss, in the office! Ha!
By the way, I think I make pretty awesome scrambled egg, isn't it?

In Taiping

Was back in Taiping and decided to cook brunch for the family instead of eating out. So here's my simple version of Big Breakfast and a Cream of mushroom soup, which I will share the recipe later on!
I sure love cooking for the family and seeing their look of amazement! LOL! 

Till then, wishing myself a happy holiday and I shall see you guys after my vacation!
Hasta La Vista baby~~~!!!

Stir-Fry Choy Sum and Roast Pork with Sha Cha Sauce

What do you normally do with leftover Char Siew (Roast Pork)?

During festive seasons Ah Ma would fry them with dark soya sauce and sugar, which I don't really fancy. Normal days we would bring them back to feed the dogs.
But the other day I tried something new. Well, perhaps not entirely new, but because Mamo had a bottle of Sha Cha Sauce (it was vegetarian though), I've decided to add it into the dish. For my earlier adventures with Sha Cha Sauce see here.

So what do you need?

Chopped garlic, Char Siew, shrimps (optional), Choy Sum or Kailan and Sha Cha Sauce.

Now the simple instructions...

1) Heat up your pan or wok with some oil. Simmer the chopped garlic till brownish.

2) Now add in the Char Siew and shrimps. Stir till shrimps turn red.

3) Add in Sha Cha Sauce and stir well.

4) Now add in the Choy Sum or Kailan and fry them until they are cooked. You can add a little water if you wish to.

And ta da...

It's a simple and delicious dish that has both protein (meat and seafood) and fiber (vegetable) and goes perfectly well with your rice. The only thing I didn't like was the vegetarian taste from the Sha Cha Sauce (guess Char Siew are still meant to be bad and meaty, not vegetarian), still pretty much in love with the original Sha Cha Sauce! It's just so yummy!

Anywayz, I absolutely love Sha Cha Sauce! It tastes a little bit like in between BBQ Sauce and Satay Sauce and there are so much you can play with it! Just grab a bottle of it whenever you see them at the supermarket! Add them into your dish, fry noodles with it, put it into your steamboat soup or even just use it as a dip like sambal!

Now I feel like I'm promoting Sha Cha Sauce for the Taiwanese! :p