Home-cooked: malabar spinach soup with anchovies and egg

Nothing beats a harvested home-grown crop! So fresh and pesticide free! As I've just started a mini edible garden, the haul is little but just nice for the 2 of us :-)

Home-grown malabar spinach

I've cooked a simple soup with egg and anchovies:

What I've used:

• malabar spinach, pinched, washed and cleaned
• anchovies, washed and cleaned
• 1 egg
• water, depending on how much soup you require
• some oil
• salt and pepper to taste

How:

1. Heat up some oil in wok on medium to low heat. Add anchovies and stir-fry until fragrant. Then add in the spinach and continue to stir-fry a minute or two.
2. Pour in a bowl of water in accordance of how much soup you require. Cover with the hood and bring it to a boil.
3. Break the egg and add it in the boiling soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let the soup simmer until it's cooked and ready to be served.

Home-cooked: Jamie Oliver's tomato and red onion pasta sauce

Cooked this for hub's birthday recently :-)

Easy peasy, non-hassle and completed in less than an hour. The below is for 2 person.

What I've used:

• 1 bottle Jamie Oliver's Tomato and Red Onion Pasta Sauce
• 1/2 packet San Remo spaghetti
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 potato, cubed
• minced pork (you can use other meat, lamb is highly recommended by Jamie)
• some olive oil
• a dash of salt, sugar and tomato sauce to taste

How:

1. Firstly, boil a pot of water to cook spaghetti. Add a dash of salt and olive oil once boiling and then the spaghetti. Remove and drain once the spaghetti is cook. Set aside
2. Blanch the potato in a pot of salted water. Set aside once the texture is soft.
3. Heat up wok with some olive oil. At low heat, stir fry garlic until fragrant and then add the minced pork. At medium heat, stir fry until pork is nearly cooked and then add in the sauce. Add some water to dilute the texture to your liking and continue stirring. After that pour in the blanched potatoes and let it simmer in medium to low heat. Add salt, sugar and tomato sauce to taste. Once done, it is ready to be served.
4. Optional: add some toasted French baguette to dip in the sauce

Happy birthday hubs!

MPOV: First time using Jamie Oliver's tomato and red onion pasta sauce. Very fragrant but need seasoning to taste or else it's bland. Sauce is thick so it can be diluted a bit for more serving. Priced at RM11.90 from Cold Storage Supermarket.

Home-cooked: easy peasy blanched eggplant

Ingredient:

• eggplant, peeled and cut in chunks
• shallot, peeled and sliced thinly

Method:

1. Boil a wok of water, add in a dash of salt. Add in the eggplant chunks once boiling. Remove and drain once cooked
2. Heat up wok with 1-2 tbsp oil, depending on eggplant portion. Add in sliced shallots and cook until fragrant. Remove and pour over the blanched eggplants and serve

Home-cooked: fruity cooling water

Ingredients:

• apples, peeled and quartered
• pears, peeled and quartered
• red dates, remove the seed

Method:

1. Boil a pot of water
2. Once boiling, add in all the ingredients and bring it to a boil
3. Lower heat and let it simmer for an hour or two
4. Serve chilled or iced or warm

Home-cooked: stir-fry vege with minced pork

What you need:

• minced pork
• a tomato, cubed
• pak choy, cut in edible chunks
• garlic, minced
• ginger, shredded
• some oil for cooking
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Firstly marinade minced pork an hour or two earlier before you start to cook. I have marinated it with some Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce, sesame seed oil and Kikkoman soy sauce
2. Once ready to cook, heat some oil in a wok in a low to medium heat
3. Add in minced garlic and shredded ginger and stir-fry it until fragrant
4. Add in the marinated mince pork and cook until about 80% cooked
5. Add in the vegetables i.e. cubed tomato and pak choy, stir-fry for a minute and then add in some water if you want gravy
6. Cover with hood and let it simmer in low heat for about 2 minutes or until cooked
7. Salt and pepper to taste and it is is ready to be served

Home-cooked: fried egg with baby bitter gourd

Baby bitter gourds from MIL's garden

Ingredients:

• baby bitter gourd - make sure to remove the seeds and sliced thinly
• eggs
• salt & pepper to taste
• a pinch of corn flour (to hold the bitter gourd and eggs in place)
• some oil for frying

Method:

1. crack some eggs into a bowl, add salt and pepper to taste
2. then add a pinch of corn flour and whisk it
3. heat oil in wok
4. stir-fry sliced baby bitter gourd for a minute
5. pour in the egg batter and fry it
6. remove it once cooked and serve immediately

Home-cooked: steamed pork with salted fish

What you need:

• Pork, sliced thinly
• Salted fish, in small chunks or sliced, depending on your preference
• Onion, sliced
• Chilli, sliced
• Garlic, sliced
• Sesame seed oil

How to cook:

This is totally easy to cook. Arrange all the ingredients on a steaming plate evenly. Dash sesame seed oil evenly. Pre-boil a 1/2 wok of water. Once boiling, place the ready plate on a steaming rack and cover with hood. Steam for about 8 - 12 mins until cook. Especially for pork, you need to ensure it is really cook and not half raw. Serve it immediately.

Home-cooked: winged beans soup

What you need:

• winged beans, cut into chunks
• red dates, seed removed
• kei chi (杞子)
• chicken bones
• salt to taste
• a pot of water

How to cook:

1. fill a pot with water, bring it to a boil with medium heat
2. add in angled beans, red dates, kei chi and chicken bones, also salt to taste and cover the pot
3. once boiling again, reduce to low heat and let it simmer for an hour or so with the pot covered
4. serve when ready

Home-cooked: simple salad

Simple salad dressing:

1. I've used 2 types of lettuce, some grapes, some tomatoes and hard boiled eggs
2. tear up the lettuce into edible size and placed in a salad bowl
3. add in halved grapes, quartered tomatoes and quartered eggs
4. dressed it with some lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and olive oil
5. tossed it and it is ready to be served

Home-cooked: stir-fried spinach with tomato and pork

What you need:

• spinach, cut into bite-sized portions
• tomato, cut into chunks
• pork, sliced thinly
• garlic, minced
• oyster sauce
• light soya sauce
• water, depending how much gravy you want
• salt to taste

How to cook:

1. before cooking, marinade sliced pork with oyster sauce and light soya sauce for at least an hour
2. to cook, heat a wok with some cooking oil, about 3 tbsp, in low to medium heat
3. add in garlic, stir-fry until fragrant
4. then add in marinated pork and stir-fry until nearly cooked
5. add in tomato and spinach, continue to stir-fry a bit before pouring in some water
6. after pouring in the water, cover with a hood and let it simmer for about 2 to 3 mins
7. after removing the hood, add salt to taste and continue to stir it until cooked and ready to be served

Note:
If you had marinated the pork with enough oyster and light soya sauce, the dish will be tasty as the marinated juice will be transferred to the dish itself. Hence you need to taste it before adding salt.

Home-cooked: Honeyed Pork Chopped

 What you need:

• sliced tender pork
• cubed carrots
• honey
• 1 lemon
• 4 to 5 cloves of garlic
• olive oil
• a dash of salt & pepper

Method:

• marinade sliced pork with salt, pepper and honey
• placed whole garlic, without skin, in between sliced pork too and chill in fridge for about 2 hrs
• once ready, heat pan with olive oil
• squeezed some lemon juice onto sliced pork
• removed the whole garlic from sliced pork and stir-fry it in pan until fragrant
• moved it aside and start pan-frying the sliced pork until golden brown
• once done, put in the carrots and stir-fry it a bit with the garlic until ready and removed from pan
• you can serve it with some hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, grapes and lettuce

Homemade: easy peasy guai ling gou

What you need:
5 pkts guai ling gou powder
6 cups water
1 pkt rock sugar (optional)
3-4 pcs pandan leaves

Method:
Pour all guai ling gou powder into a rice cooker pot, for easy measurement, and mixed with a little hot water. Stir until it's well blended. Add 6 cups of water or you can measure according to the rice cooker pot i.e. filled it up to the indicator line 6. Add in rock sugar and pandan leaves.

Placed pot on a low to medium fire. Keep stirring it until it thickens. Once thickened, you can pour it into clean and dry containers. Cool it down before placing it in the fridge. Ready to be served once cold.

You can also make it without adding the rock sugar. You can then eat it with pure honey which is a much healthier version.

Home-cooked: Stew everything!

Being the creative one, Hubby concocted this dish which is really healthy and tasty too!

Before steaming...

After steaming...

What you need:

• Ladies fingers, sliced
• Tomatoes, sliced
• Ginger, sliced
• Chili (if you prefer some spiciness), sliced
• Meat i.e. pork or chicken or fish or prawn or squid, sliced
• Olive oil
• Pepper and soy sauce to taste

Method:

1. You can use any type of meat as you like, no particular choice. Arrange it evenly on the steamer tray at the bottom. 
2. Sprinkle a dash of soy sauce, i.e. about 2 tbsps.
3. Then followed by the vegetables on top, arrange it evenly.
4. Add another dash of soy sauce with some olive oil  and pepper.
5. Bring to a boil a wok of water for steaming. Once boiling, place the tray of everything for steaming until cook. Roughly about 20 to 25 mins.
6. Once cooked, serve immediately.

Home-cooked: stir-fry spinach with fish cake

What you need:

• Fish cake, sliced thickly
• Spinach, cut into edible size and wash cleanly
• Some garlic and shallots, minced
• Oyster sauce

Fragrance minced garlic and shallots. Add in fish cakes and stir-fry for a few minutes. Then add in spinach and continue to stir-fry for a few minutes. Pour in some water for gravy and oyster sauce. Cover with hood and let it simmer for a few minutes. Salt to taste. Stir-fry until cook and serve it immediately.

Home-cooked: sweet corn & potato soup

What you need:

• fresh corn, cut it into a few cobs
• potato, cut it into chunks
• chicken bones, cut into chunks
• big onion, cut it into chunks
• black pepper

Fill a pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add in all the ingredients and let it boil first before lowering the heat to let it simmer for an hour or two. Once ready, serve it immediately.

Home-cooked: Chinese cabbage with pork

What you need:

• Chinese cabbage, sliced
• pork, sliced thinly
• garlic, minced
• shallots, minced
• chilli, sliced
• a dash of Chinese cooking rice wine

1. Marinate pork with oyster sauce, light soya sauce and a little corn flour for at least 2 hours
2. Heat up some oil in wok
3. Fragrant minced garlic, shallots and chilli
4. Add in marinated pork and stir-fry for a few mins
5. Add in Chinese cabbage and stir-fry for another min
6. Pour some water for gravy
7. Cover wok with hood and simmer on low fire for about 2 mins
8. Remove hood and cook for another min or so
9. Add a dash of Chinese cooking rice wine before serving

Home-cooked: char choy with tofu soup

What you need:

• char choy, cut into chunks
• tofu, cubed
• chicken bones
• salt to taste

1. Soak char choy for a while to get rid of the salt, in case too salty. Once done, cut it into chunks. Set aside.
2. Boil a pot of water
3. Once boiling, add in chicken bones, cubed tofu and char choy chunks
4. Not forgetting, salt to taste and cover with hood to let it boil again
5. Once boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer for about an hour before serving

Home-cooked: stir-fried pork with ngaku

What you need:

• pork, sliced thinly
• ngaku (arrowroot), sliced
• garlic, minced
• shallot, minced

1. Marinate sliced pork with oyster sauce, light soya sauce and a little corn flour for about 2 hours at least
2. Once ready, heat up some oil in wok
3. Add in minced garlic and shallot, stir-fry until fragrant
4. Add in marinated pork and stir-fry for a few minutes
5. Add in sliced ngaku
6. After cooking for a few minutes, add in some water for gravy
7. Cover with hood and let it simmer in low heat for about 2 minutes
8. Remove hood after continue stir-fry for about a minute before serving

Home-cooked: stir-fried angle beans with sambal belacan

What you need:

• angle beans, cut into 1 cm length at 45 degrees angle
• garlic, minced
• shallot, minced
• ready made sambal belacan

1. Heat up some oil in wok
2. Add in minced garlic and shallot, cook until fragrant
3. Add in sambal belacan and stir until fragrant
4. Add angle beans and a little water for gravy, stir-fry for a min or so
5. Cover with hood and let it simmer on low fire
6. Remove hood and continue stirring for another few mins before serving

Home-cooked: stir-fried snake beans with tofu in cincalok sauce

What you need:

• snake bean, cut into 1” strips
• tofu, cut into smaller cubes
• cincalok
• garlic, minced

1. Heat up some oil in wok.
2. Add in minced garlic, cook until fragrant.
3. Pour some cincalok, according to your liking, stir a little.
4. Add in snake beans, continue stirring and add some water for gravy.
5. Cover with hood, let it simmer in low heat.
6. Once snake beans soften, add in tofu. Stir-fry until cook and ready to be serve.
7. Season according to taste as cincalok itself is very salty.