Food experiments from my little kitchen

It has been a while since I posted an entry on this cooking blog. I would love to spend time experimenting different dishes and updating the recipes on my blog. However the reality is ever since I went back to full time work, I am struggling to get dinner done everyday. I have to jump off my seat (literally) when it is 6pm and mad rush to the childcare to pick up my son before going home to cook. Still, I am glad on some days when I have mood to cook, the dishes aren't that bad. Sharing a simple baked chicken dish I tried today. Loved how nicely baked the chicken skin is and lemon juice makes it extra yummy! Here's the recipe I have referenced from - roasted lemon herb chicken . What I loved about the recipe - the ingredients are easy to get and preparation time is short. I could pop this into the oven and started washing up my dishes. Ingredients 2 chicken legs 1 tsp Italian herbs 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp black pepper  1/2 tsp garlic powder 1 lemon 1 Tbsp olive oil ...

Ever since I started cooking, this was my second time attempting fried rice. I still remember the first time I made salmon egg fried rice and this time I tried to make using minced meat. My inspiration came from a youtube video of 阿基師 making egg fried rice. I was so impressed by his method of doing it and seriously it is just easy and yummy! Ingredients 1 1/2 portion of cooked white rice carrot long beans fresh shiitake mushrooms minced meat  2 eggs minced garlic  chopped spring onions Recipe 1. Cut the vegetables (carrot, long beans and shiitake mushrooms) into cubes. Steam carrot and long beans for about 5 to 10 minutes while setting aside the cubed mushrooms. I did this to quicken the cooking process as I was rushing to serve dinner. :p Then, while steaming, marinate the minced meat with sesame oil, soy sauce and pepper. 2. Crack the eggs and separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Place the egg yolks onto the cooked white rice in a bowl and mix well to...

When I have minced meat and tofu on hand, I tend to go for steaming because it is easy to prepare. I really like to attempt mapo tofu some day but am not very keen on cooking spicy dishes for now as my son is still too young for hot stuffs. So, I decided to try experimenting with the sauce to create similar sauce kind of dish. It's a great dish for young kids and those who are not so keen on chilli. Ingredients 70-80g minced meat 1 block of silken tofu Sesame oil White pepper Soy sauce  Cornstarch Minced garlic Chopped spring onions  Sauce    1 tbsp oyster sauce 1 tbsp tomato sauce  2 tsp sugar  1/2 tsp dark soy sauce 1 tsp light soy sauce  Water  Recipe 1. Marinate the minced meat with white pepper, light soy sauce, sesame oil and a little cornstarch. Remove tofu from the packaging and cut into small cubes to set aside. 2. In a small bowl, prepare the sauce by mixing the sauce ingredients listed abov...

My friend introduced me this yummy sweet potato fries during one of our gatherings. Then during one of my weekday lunches, I had Mac sweet potato fries again with my colleagues. It is so yummy! I happened to have one purple sweet potato left in my fridge so I decided to make this for fun. Ingredients Purple sweet potato Cornstarch Salt Dried parsley Recipe 1. Cut the sweet potato into thin long strips. Try to make them as uniform as possible. 2. Steam them till they are turning soft, but not mushy. 3. Add oil in the wok and heat up. Prepare cornstarch solution for dipping. 4. Dip the sweet potato strips into the cornstarch solution then fry it. It takes about 2 minutes to be done. 5. Try to fry in batches so that they can be uniformly cooked. Remove from wok and sprinkle on some salt for seasoning. Sprinkle the dried parsley before serving.

While I was working, I was thinking how should I cook the salmon for dinner? Found a recipe by this cooking blog - white on rice couple (their blog name is so cute!) sharing their lovely recipe roasted salmon with miso glaze ! I am pretty satisfied with the overall taste. We all ate a lot of rice! Ingredients 1 salmon fillet 1 Tbsp white miso paste 1/2 Tbsp sake (I replaced with my own rice wine) 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar 1/2 tsp sesame oil Sesame seeds Chopped spring onions Recipe 1. In a bowl, add in the white miso paste, sake, soy sauce, brown sugar and sesame oil and mix well. 2. Brush the marinade on the salmon fillet and set aside for 30 minutes. 3. Remove some of the marinade off the fillet, leaving a thin layer. (Additional step as I did not want it to be too salty) 4. Bake it in preheated oven at 190 degree celcius for 20 minutes. (In between baking, the fillet looked a bit dry and I brushed it with some olive oil.) 5. Sprinkle the sesame seeds...

Soup is always essential for our weekday dinners. I cannot imagine having dinner without soup. Other than my usual ABC soup, pumpkin soup etc, I cook this soup often because I love the sweetness of wong bok. This time I added in special ingredient - white fungus! Seems like the haze is not fully gone so I thought it is good to add something nourishing for our lungs. :)  Ingredients Wong bok Carrot White fungus Pork ribs Garlic Ginger Salt Recipe 1. Cut away diagonally the bottom thick part of wong bok and separate the leaves. Wash them and cut them into a few sections before placing them in the pot. 2. Peel the carrot, cut them into chucks and add them into the pot. Soak the white fungus for a while before trimming and cutting them into smaller pieces to add in as well. Pour hot water till it is fully covered. 3. Par boil the pork ribs in a separate pot till the scum is formed. Pour away the scum and rinse the pork ribs before adding them into the soup pot. 4. Peel...