Food experiments from my little kitchen

I like to use minced meat in cooking because it is very versatile. That day I decided to try using my  japanese hambagu recipe and tweak it to make something different. So I came up with sweet and sour meat patties! Initially I wanted to make them into meatballs but it is much faster to make patties. Haha I am such a lazy mum. Ingredients approx 150g minced meat   1/4 yellow onion some chopped spring onions sesame seeds (garnish) 1/3 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) 1 tbsp milk 1 egg Fine black pepper Salt  Sauce 1 tbsp tomato sauce 1 tsp vinegar 1 tsp sugar 4 tbsp Water Recipe 1. Finely chop the onion and add into the minced meat, followed by egg, milk and panko. Season it with black pepper and salt. (I added some chopped spring onions because I happened to have them.) Use one hand to mix the mixture well. 2. Shape the meat into patties of equal sizes (or meatballs if you want). 3. Heat some oil in the pan on medium heat and place the patties ...

I prepared this dish because my dear husband is a meat lover. If I don't cook enough meat for dinner, he would ask me why I cooked so little. It happens that I had one chunk of pumpkin sitting in my fridge so I decided to combine it with minced meat. It turned out to be quite a nice combination. Ingredients approx 80g minced meat 1 small chunk of pumpkin 1 dried shiitake mushroom chopped garlic chopped shallots white pepper soy sauce sesame oil Sauce 1 tbsp oyster sauce 1 tbsp normal dark soy sauce 1 tsp sugar  Recipe 1. Soak the dried mushroom in a bowl of water and set it aside to soften before cutting it into small cubes. Do not throw away the water.  2. Cut the pumpkin into cubes but not too small else it will disintegrate during cooking. Marinate the minced meat with soy sauce, white pepper and sesame oil. 3. In the wok, heat up the oil and put in the chopped shallots. Let it cook for a little while and turning translucent, then add in the garlic fo...

For a beginner in cooking, I had many not so good experiences in preparing pork slices. I can still remember my first few times the pork turned out to be thick and tough to chew. But I never give up! I continue to "torture" my husband and son so that I can get better. lol Unfortunate for me, my husband never really likes ginger so I tried to use onion instead. It was great to hear him say, "I like it". Guess that is the real motivation to keep me cooking. Ingredients Approx 200g lean pork 1/4 yellow onion Some chopped garlic Marinade Soy sauce Chinese cooking wine Cornstarch Sauce 1 tbsp dark soy sauce (thick, sweet kind) 1 tbsp oyster sauce 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 3-4 tbsp water  1 tsp sugar (you can adjust to your liking) Recipe 1. Cut the lean pork into thin slices and marinate using soy sauce, chinese cooking wine and cornstarch. Set aside. 2. Slice the onions into thin slices. Prepare the sauce by mixing the ingredients into a bowl. ...

This was an impromptu dish prepared for one of our weekday dinners, all thanks to our friendly uncle manning the residents' vegetable garden. My son loves to visit him and he gave us a lot of spring onions. Usually I will use them for garnishing but this time I had so much I think it will take us a long time to finish it. So decided to try making a pancake to go with our dinner. For Korean cooking, I love to search for Maangchi's website. If you love Korean food and enjoy watching cooking videos, go search for hers in Youtube. For this recipe, please refer to the link -  pajeon ! For your info, this recipe makes one pancake. Ingredients Few stalks of spring onions   Batter 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup water 1 tsp taucheo beans 1/2 tsp sugar  Sauce 2 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp vinegar 1 tsp honey 1 tsp sesame seeds Recipe 1. Cut the spring onions into 3 inch length and set aside. 2. Using a metal spoon, mash the taucheo beans into paste. Add the rest of the ba...

Teriyaki salmon is one of the usual dishes I will order outside for my boy. He loves to eat Japanese food. I ever bought the ready made teriyaki sauce but find that the taste is not to my liking. That day when I had to cook for just me and him, I decided to make this simple salmon dish. To make a complete meal, just steam some broccoli or make side dishes to go along. Ingredients Salmon Salt Pepper Spring onions (optional) White sesame (optional) Sauce 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp chinese cooking wine Recipe 1. Marinate the salmon with salt and pepper. Pat dry with a kitchen towel. 2. Heat a little oil in the pan and place the salmon skin side down. Let it cook for at least 4-5 minutes. Be really patient and do not try to flip the salmon. You will see from the side that it will start turning pink from bottom up. Wait till it has reached the mid-way before flipping. 3. Flip the salmon to the other side and let it cook for another 3-4 minutes. While waiti...

It has been a while since I last blogged! Still busy cooking on most days but I have much lesser time and energy to try new dishes and be adventurous. Yakitori is one recipe that I have been wanting to try but never got to doing it. Last week I randomly bought one bag of capsicums without deciding beforehand what I wanted to cook. In the end, I decided to try pairing it with chicken to make yakitori. My reference is from yakitori recipe from Just one cookbook! Ingredients 2 boneless chicken legs (skin intact) Red capsicum (half) Yellow capsicum (half) Green capsicum (half) 8 satay sticks Sauce Soy sauce Sugar Chinese cooking wine Water Cornstarch solution Recipe 1. Soak the satay sticks in a tray of water for 30 minutes. 2. Cut the chicken legs into evenly bite size and set aside. 3. Cut the capsicums into small squares, about the same size as the chicken pieces.  4. Arrange the chicken pieces and 2 pieces of capsicums alternately as shown in the picture. 5....

How do you like to cook your fish? My first choice is always steam because it is easy and does not make your kitchen oily. Next is pan fried - although I love the taste, it always make my kitchen oily. This time I tried to cook my fish a different way - baked in oven with panko. I must say, my boy is really not used to eating fish like this but my husband said it's not that bad tasting. Ingredients 2 portion of red grouper (or any firm white fish / I think fillet works even better) 1/2 cup Panko (breadcrumbs) 1/4 cup grated Gouda cheese  1 tbsp butter 1 tbsp lemon juice  Salt Black pepper Recipe 1. Season the fish with salt and black pepper and set aside. 2. Melt the butter in a bowl and add lemon juice to it. Mix well.  3. Coat the fish in the butter mixture and place on the baking tray. 4. In a bowl, mix the grated cheese and panko together. This time I did not add any oil to the panko and it does not brown that well. I suggest you can add some butter/...

The weather has been very hot these days so it's good to prepare this soup. The apple and Chinese pear make the soup sweet and children friendly. I have added white fungus which is very nourishing for the lungs too.  Ingredients 1 Chicken leg (skin removed/cut into half) 1 Chinese pear 1 Apple (I use Royal Gala) 1 Pc of white fungus (about palm size)  6 Red dates Recipe 1. Put the chicken into boiling water and boil for a few minutes till the scum appears. Drain and rinse it before putting into the slower cooker. 2. Peel the skin of the pear and apple and cut them into large chunks. Add the pear and apple into the slow cooker. 3. Put in the red dates and pour in water to cover the ingredients. Turn the slow cooker to auto mode for at least 3-4 hours.   4. About 30 minutes before serving the soup, soak the white fungus till soft. Remove the stem and cut into desired size before putting it in the soup for 10-15 minutes. 5. Season with salt ...

Just want to share another muffin recipe that I tried yesterday. I wanted to try baking something savory but not too difficult for me and chanced upon ham and cheese breakfast muffins by this interesting blog "She wears many hats". Ingredients 1 cup of plain flour 1/2 tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp black pepper 2 ham slices 2 cheese slices 1 egg 3/4 cup fresh milk 3 tbsp olive oil  Recipe 1. Cut the ham and cheese slices into small pieces and set aside. 2. Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Stir and mix well. 3. In another bowl, put in the wet ingredients and whisk till well combined. 4. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl. Gently use a spatula to fold till you do not see traces of flour. Do not overmix. 5. Add ham and cheese and mix to distribute evenly. 6.Fill the cups to about 3/4 full. Bake in oven at 180 degree celcius for 25 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean when inserted i...

This week is muffin week as declared by my boy. I will usually prepare simple jam or kaya sandwich for him to bring to school but he requested me to bake for him.  With blueberries and yoghurt in my fridge, I decided to try making muffins. Since the steps are relatively simple, I asked him to join me in making them. He had a good time mixing the ingredients! There are many recipes and I decided to try this recipe from Taste of Home - blueberry yogurt muffins . Ingredients 1 cup of plain flour 6 tbsp sugar 1/8 tsp salt 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/3 cup fresh blueberries 1 egg 1/2 cup plain yoghurt 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 2 tbsp fresh milk 3 tbsp olive oil Recipe 1. Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Stir and mix well. 2. In another bowl, put in the wet ingredients and whisk till well combined. 3. Pour the blueberries into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well. Then pour the wet ingredients into the bowl. Gently use a spatula to fold till...

I like to buy cabbage and cook it nearer to the end of the week. The reason is simply because I only go marketing once a week on weekends. When I first started this whole marketing/cooking, I was unaware of how fast the vegetables will spoil and always ended up throwing some yellowed vegetables. Through experience, now I know cabbage is one of the more lasting vegetables that I can safely leave it in my fridge for a few days and not having to worry about it spoiling. And it's very easy to cook too! Ingredients 1/2 Beijing cabbage 1 tsp dried shrimps Chopped garlic Bunashimeiji mushrooms Oyster sauce  Recipe 1. Soak the dried shrimps till soften and cut off the bottom parts of the mushrooms. Cut the cabbage into half. Cut off the thick part of the cabbage and cut the cabbage into slices. (thickness to your liking) 2. Heat up some oil in the wok and put in the chopped garlic and dried shrimps. 3. Let it cook till you can smell the nice fragrance of the dried shrimps...

This week has been a little hazy on and off and my poor little boy is down with runny nose and cough. So I have been trying to do steam dishes everyday so that it is less heaty for him. Whenever I steam salmon, I will stick to soy sauce and keep it simple as salmon has more flavour compared to other fish. I was wondering if I could try a different variation of steamed salmon and lemon came to my mind. I happened to have it in my fridge as it is very useful for various dishes. Ingredients 1 Salmon fillet Lemon slices Ginger Spring onion Sesame oil Salt Cooking wine Sauce 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp lemon juice 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp cooking wine  3 tbsp water Recipe 1. Rub salt over the salmon fillet and pour 1 tsp cooking wine on it. Let it marinate for 5 minutes. 2. Prepare the sauce by mixing the listed ingredients above and set aside. 3. Cut some ginger slices and place them on the steaming plate. This is to prevent the salmon skin from sticking onto the plate. Als...

One of our family's favourite is chicken legs. No matter how you cook them, they will be tender and not as dry compared to chicken breast. So whenever I go to the wet market, I am always buying deboned chicken legs from the stall. It really saves me a lot of time when I do not have to debone the chicken. I just have to marinate it and put it in the oven. I have also previously uploaded a few recipes like Baked lemon chicken leg in Italian herbs that I depended on when my weekdays get crazy. Today I thawed the chicken legs but decided to try and steam it instead. Tried to search for recipes online but mostly are for whole chicken and making Hainanese style chicken rice. So I stick to a few basic seasonings and lucky it turned out well received. Ingredients 2 deboned chicken legs 1 knob of ginger  1 stalk of spring onion  local lettuce (optional) tomato (optional) Sesame oil 1 Tbsp Soy sauce Salt Recipe 1. Apply salt on both sides of the chicken legs and set...

I cannot remember when I bought this pack of scallops but I do know it has 6 more months to expiry. Since it is Chinese New Year period, I thought it will be good to cook it for the festive season. I was trying to decide on what recipes to use for cooking the scallops and ended up pairing it with mandarin orange since I have many leftover oranges. Found a similar recipe at Martha Stewart - scallops with orange butter sauce and simplified with whatever I have in my kitchen. It was yummy and my husband was pleased. Ingredients 14 scallops (frozen/Australian) 1 mandarin orange Black pepper Salt Butter Recipe 1. After thawing the scallops, give it a rinse and pat dry using kitchen towel. 2. Season it with black pepper and salt. 3. Heat up the pan with some olive oil and pan fry the scallops for about 2-3 minutes each side. Place on the serving dish once it is done. 4. Peel the mandarin orange. Find a nice piece of the peel and cut some strips using a sharp knife. The peel w...

It has been a while since I steamed cod fish because I did not have time to go wet market to buy from our usual stall. This is a simple recipe that I used many times! Very simple steps and the ingredients are easily available at home. I think I said it quite a few times but steaming dishes are good for weekday dinners because you can prepare another dish while steaming this to save time. Ingredients 1 slice of cod 1 knob of ginger 1 Tbsp of wolfberries Chopped spring onions Soy sauce Sesame oil White pepper Water Recipe 1. Soak the wolfberries in a bowl then discard the water after it has softened. 2. Cut the ginger into strips and arrange some on the steaming dish. 3. Place the cod on the ginger strips and add some more ginger strips on top. 4. Put the soaked wolfberries on top of the cod and around the dish. 5. Put a dash of pepper on the fish and drizzle some sesame oil on it. 6. In another bowl, add in some water and soy sauce. This will be the steaming sauce. You...

Hotplate tofu is one of my favourite dish to order whenever I go Tze Char. Although I do not have the hotplate at home, I tried to recreate the dish without the hotplate and my son loves it very much. Mine is a lot simpler and sometimes I will try to clear the leftover vegetables in the dish. This time I did not have much vegetables in my fridge hence I used only the carrot. Ingredients 1 pack of egg tofu 80g minced meat Carrot Spring onions Garlic 1 egg Sesame oil Soy sauce White pepper Cornstarch  Sauce Soy sauce Oyster sauce Sugar White pepper Water Recipe 1. Marinate the minced meat with sesame oil, soy sauce, cornstarch and white pepper. Cut the carrot into small cubes and spring onions into short strips. Cut the egg tofu into small round sections. 2. Add oil and pan fry the egg tofu in a saucepan. It takes about 2-3 minutes for each side to brown. Set aside once it is done. Prepare the sauce in a bowl. 2. Heat the wok, add in the oil followed by...

I bought a pack of mid-joint wings from supermarket that day, wanting to make some baked wings. But my husband suddenly fell sick and was not feeling well. In the end, I decided not to bake as baked wings can be quite heaty. I switch to steaming the wings instead and it turned out just as yummy. Ingredients 1 pack of mid joint wings (approx 10 pcs) 2 dried shiitake mushrooms (pre-soaked) 1 knob of ginger Spring onions Marinate 1 tbsp oyster sauce 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp Chinese wine  1/2 tsp sugar  Some sesame oil  Dash of white pepper Recipe 1. Prepare the marinate in a bowl and marinate the wings for 15 minutes.  2. Slice the soaked mushrooms into strips and slice the ginger into thin pieces. 3. Smash white part of spring onions and cut the spring onions diagonally into strips. 4. Place the white part of spring onions along with some ginger on the bottom of the steaming dish. 5. Arrange the chicken wings on the dish and ensure there is no over...

Steamed fish is a very comforting dish especially when I have been sick for the past few days. I usually will steam the whole slab of fish but this time I decided to cut the fish into slices before steaming. This will shorten the steaming time and save some time. Ingredients 1 pax portion of fish fillet (I used red grouper) 1 stalk of spring onions 1 knob of ginger Some wolfberries Soy sauce Water Sugar White pepper Marinate 2 tsp Chinese cooking wine 2 tsp Soy sauce Cornstarch Recipe 1. Marinate the fish slices using the marinate ingredients stated above. 2. Soak the wolfberries to soften. Cut the ginger into stripes. 3. Smash the white part of spring onions and cut them into parts. Cut the green part of spring onions diagonally into strips. 4. Place ginger strips and white parts of spring onions on the steaming dish. 5. Arrange the fish slices on top and add some more ginger strips. 6. Sprinkle the wolfberries and green strips of spring onions on top of the...

Chicken wings are one of our favourite dishes. Preparation time is short and the result is always yummy! For busy working mummies like me, I would marinate the wings in the morning before going to work and pop them in the oven once I reached home. Sharing this easy recipe that I frequently used to prepare the wings. Ingredients 10 chicken wings 1 Tbsp honey 1/2 lemon   Marinate Minced garlic 1 Tbsp oyster sauce 1 Tbsp soy sauce Dash of white pepper Recipe 1. Put all the marinate ingredients in a bowl and mix well. 2. Marinate the chicken wings for at least 4 hours. 3. Preheat the oven and arrange the marinated chicken wings on the tray. 4. Juice the lemon and drizzle over the wings. 5. Bake in the oven at 190 degree celcius for 15 minutes. 6. Brush the chicken wings with honey and continue to bake for at least 5 minutes till done.