Food experiments from my little kitchen

Our family loves chicken wings particularly just the mid joints! My regular chicken stall at the market does not sell the mid joints alone so I would usually buy it from NTUC. That day they happened to have promotion for 2 packs so I bought and braised it with mushrooms and black fungus. Ingredients 12 mid joint wings 3 dried shiitake mushrooms some black fungus Ginger slices Chopped garlic  Spring onions (garnish) Water Marinate Soy sauce White pepper Cornstarch Grated ginger (optional) Sauce 1 Tbsp Oyster sauce 1 Tbsp Dark soy sauce Light soy sauce Sugar  White pepper Sesame oil Recipe 1. Soak the dried mushrooms and black fungus till soften. I leave it to soak about 2 hours. You may retain the water for soaking mushrooms if you want to use it for braising. Cut the mushrooms and black fungus into slices and set aside. 2. To the wings, add soy sauce, white pepper, cornstarch to marinate. You can add some grated ginger to it. Let it sit in the mar...

I wanted to make a simple yet different sauce from our usual ginger spring onion combination. This sauce is really easy and you can always adjust the sweetness/saltiness to your liking. A dash of black pepper makes it extra yummy. I have steamed some broccoli to garnish the plate. A healthy combination of vegetables and meat for weekday dinner. :) Ingredients Pork tenderloin Minced garlic  Sesame seeds   Black pepper Marinate Soy sauce  Sesame oil  Cornstarch  Sauce 1 Tbsp honey  2 Tbsp Soy sauce  2 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine  Recipe 1. Cut the pork tenderloin into thin slices and marinate using the seasonings stated. 2.  Heat oil in the wok and add in minced garlic.  3. Stir fry till fragrant then add in the pork slices.  4. Cook till the meat is no longer pink then add in the sauce.  5. Stir fry for a while, add a dash of black pepper and it is done.  N...

My usual cooking routine at home consists of a soup and two dishes and I will make sure that we will have one vegetable dish. This is very important as I always feel that when we eat out, we do not take in enough vegetables. But I don't really like to eat fibrous vegetable or vegetable stems. Yup I am a picky eater when it comes to vegetables. So my usual vegetable choices are broccoli, baby spinach (hoi chai), shanghai green or japanese green. Recently I discovered spinach is not bad too! When I am feeling lazy, I would just blanch it. But on other days, doing stir fry is great. :)  Ingredients Spinach Bunashimeiji mushrooms Garlic slices Chicken stock powder Sugar Soy sauce Sesame oil  Recipe 1. Heat the oil in the wok and add the garlic slices. 2. Stir fry till fragrant, then add in the spinach. 3. Stir fry at high heat till the spinach has wilted. Add in some water, chicken stock powder, sugar. 4. Let it cook for a while before seasoning with soy sauce a...

One of my usual dishes is steamed minced meat on egg tofu . Yesterday I tried to steam silken tofu instead of egg tofu and make a minced meat sauce to go with it. My son loves it a lot. I guess for children, you can never go wrong with minced meat and tofu. :) For below recipe, you need to do steaming and stir fry separately. If you prefer just stir fry alone, you can try this minced meat tofu with sauce . Ingredients Minced meat (approx 100~120g) 1 box of silken tofu 1 stalk of spring onion 1 clove garlic Cornstarch solution  Marinate sesame oil white pepper soy sauce  Sauce 1 tbsp oyster sauce 1 tsp dark soy sauce 1 tsp soy sauce water (approx 1 small bowl)  sugar Recipe 1. Marinate the minced meat with the seasonings stated in marinate. Minced the garlic and set aside. Cut the spring onion and separate the white part from the green part. Chop the white parts finely and set aside. Chop the green parts finely and set aside for garnish later. 2. C...

I bought a bottle of garlic black bean sauce thinking how convenient it is to just put the sauce as it is without adding other seasoning. But it did not taste like how I would like it to be (just tasted very salty.. >_<) and so the bottle of garlic black bean sauce was quietly put aside in my fridge until I saw it again during my recent fridge clean-up. Decided to try and use the sauce again and this time it tasted so much better. Ingredient Cod fish (or other white fish) Ginger slices Chopped spring onions Chopped garlic Cornstarch solution  Marinate White pepper Soy sauce Chinese cooking wine Sauce 1 tsp garlic black bean sauce 1 tsp oyster sauce 1 tsp soy sauce Some water (approx half a small bowl) Sugar (approx 1/2 tsp) Recipe 1. Marinate the fish with the seasonings stated in marinate and let it sit for 5 minutes. 2. Put ginger slices on the fish and steam it together with the marinate until cooked. Mine took about 12 minutes on electrical steame...

Marketing can be challenging when cooking for a small family. Like when I buy a cabbage, I probably have to cook it twice in the same week. That day I bought one to make chicken soup on one day, the other half cabbage was sitting in the fridge so I wanted to make something like chap chye but a simpler version with all the possible ingredients I have at home. This is another time saving dish because it allows me to do some quick washing up when the vegetable is cooking. Ingredients Half a cabbage (cut into chunks) 5 small dried shiitake mushrooms Some dried black fungus Sliced carrot Sliced ginger Chopped garlic Sauce 1 Tbsp oyster sauce 1 tsp tau cheo White pepper Sugar to taste  Some water Recipe 1. Soak the mushrooms and black fungus till soft. Remove the stems from mushrooms and cut the mushrooms into strips. For the black fungus, remove the thick part and cut them into pieces. Retain the liquid for soaking mushrooms. 2. Heat the oil in the wok and stir fry t...

Ever since I left my full time work last June, I suddenly took on the additional task of preparing breakfast at home. My boy used to go childcare for breakfast and my husband will buy his own breakfast but now I am the one preparing for them. So I thought it will be a good idea to share some of the breakfast that I made.  Cream cheese spread with strawberries  Peanut butter spread with strawberries  Personally I love the bread with cream cheese spread. I like to add cut strawberries in the bread. Sometimes strawberries are sour and nobody at home likes to eat as a whole. But when it is cut and put in bread, the sour tangy taste goes well with the bread and spread. :) Yeah, for the little boy, he loves to eat peanut butter with bread. Putting fruits in breakfast makes it healthy!

It has been a long while since I last cooked cod. Bought some frozen cod before the Chinese new year but I didn't have much chance to cook until recently. This is a very simple and easy recipe yet my family loves it. To me, as long as I have fried ginger strips, everything is nice. :) Ingredients Cod fish Ginger Spring onions Marinate Soy sauce White pepper Chinese cooking wine Sauce ~1 tbsp Soy sauce ~ 1 tsp Sugar A few tbsp of water Recipe 1. Marinate the cod fish with some soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine and dash of white pepper for at least 5 minutes. Layer the steam dish with some sliced ginger, put the fish on top and cover with some more sliced ginger. 2. Steam the cod until it is fully cooked. I am using an electrical steamer and it takes me approximately 12-15 minutes depending on the cut. (I do not preheat the steamer) 3. While the fish is steaming, cut some ginger into long thin strips and fry them in a saucepan till it turns golden brown. Set the ...

Ginger and spring onion make the best combination when it comes to stir fry. Last night I was still thinking what to cook and this came to my mind since I happened to have some spring onions to clear. Just prepare more sauce to drizzle with rice and your yummy dinner is ready! Ingredients 2 boneless chicken legs 1 knob of ginger 1 stalk of spring onion Marinate Soy sauce White pepper Sesame oil  Cornstarch Sauce 1 Tbsp Oyster sauce 1 Tbsp Dark soy sauce 1 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine  1 tsp Light soy sauce 1/2 tsp sugar  Dash of white pepper Some water Recipe 1. Cut the chicken legs into smaller pieces and marinate them before setting them aside. Prepare the sauce in a bowl. 2. Slice the ginger into thin round pieces. Cut the spring onions into 3 inch lengths. Smash the white bottom part and set aside from the green top part.  3. Heat some oil in the frying pan and put in the white spring onion part. Then add in the ginger slices. Let it cook ...