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: 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: 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: 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

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: 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: 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-fry honeyed wild boar with ngaku

Stir-fry honeyed wild boar with arrowroot

As I still have a chunk of marinated wild boar meat with honey, I thought of cooking it with some arrowroot. So here goes... what you need:

• Marinated wild boar meat (you can find recipe here), sliced thinly
• 3 small arrowroots (ngaku), sliced thinly
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Salt and thick soy sauce to taste
• Water for gravy, depending how much you want

Heat up some oil in wok. Fragrant the minced garlic. Add in the sliced meat and stir-fry a bit before adding in the sliced ngaku. Add in some water, salt and thick soy sauce to taste. Cover with hood and let it simmer in low heat until cook and meat is tender. As wild boar meat is hard, it does take a while for the meat to be tender. Serve immediately once ready.

Home-cooked: wild boar meat in honey

Hubby’s recipe

What you need:

• A chunk of wild boar meat
• Some honey
• Sugar
• Light soy sauce
• Pepper
• Onion, cut it into slices

Marinate the wild boar meat with honey, sugar, light soy sauce and pepper overnight as wild boar meat has a distinct smell.

Heat up some oil in wok or pan. Place meat in and let it cook. Once almost cook, remove it and let it cool down a little before slicing the meat. After slicing it, place it back into the same wok and continue cooking. Add the sliced onion for some zest and stir-fry it until cook. Serve when ready.

Note: make sure you slice the meat thinly as wild boar meat is very rubbery hard.

Home-cooked: White radish soup

What you need:

• white radish (white lobak), cut into chunks
• red dates (hoong chou)
• chunks of pork with bones
• salt to taste

Boil a pot of water. Add in white radish chunks, red dates and pork chunks once boiling. Let it boil again then lower the heat and let it simmer for an hour or two. Season with salt to taste.

Radish

Home-cooked: Steam eggs with minced pork

What you need:

• 1 salted egg
• 2 normal eggs
• minced pork
• a dash of pepper, salt and light soy sauce to taste
• 1/4 glass of water

This is totally easy and convenient. I steam this while cooking rice. Yes, killing 2 birds with 1 stone ^.^

Do this when you are about to cook your rice. Whisk all the eggs, minced pork and seasoning. Once all the batter is even, pour into a steaming plate, including the water. Place it in the steaming tray on top of the rice cooker and hit the cook button. Every once in a while, do let off the steam to avoid 'bubbles' on the eggs. Once the rice is cooked, the dish is also ready to be served!

Home-cooked: Stir-fry pork with potato

What you need:

• Sliced potatos
• Minced pork
• Chopped garlic and shallots
• Oyster sauce, light soya sauce and a dash of corn flour for marinade
• Sugar and salt to taste

Marinade minced pork much earlier with some oyster sauce, light soya sauce and a little corn flour, for about 4 to 5 hours. Set aside.
Heat a pot of water, add a dash of salt. Once boiling, blanch the sliced potatoes. Drain the water and set the potatoes aside.
Heat up the wok with some cooking oil, cook chopped garlic and shallots until fragrant. Add in marinaded minced pork and stir-fry until almost cook. Pour in some water, depending how much gravy you want. Then add in blanched sliced potatoes. Stir-fry about a min and then cover with hood. Let it simmer for a while. Add sugar and salt to taste before serving.

Stir-fry Wild Boar by me

Got a big chunk of wild boar meat from MIL, had a tough time defrosting it :p Slice wild boar meat into thin slices as the meat itself is very firm. Marinade it with oyster sauce, soya sauce and a little corn flour for at least 6 hours.
Mince some garlic, shallots and ginger. Heat some oil in wok and add garlic, shallots and ginger. Stir-fry until fragrant. Add marinated wild boar meat. Add a little bit of sugar and stir-fry until it’s cook.

Hawaiian Pizza by Samantha Thiessen

Preparation: 10 mins
Cook: 15 mins
Serves: 4

1/2 cup pasta or pizza sauce
Ready-made pizza dough or crust for 4 (thaw before baking if buying frozen)
1/2 brinjal, sliced thinly
1/2 cup diced tomato (optional)
3 slices pork bacon, cut into strips or squares
1/2 cup diced pineapple (canned and drained or fresh)
1 cup low-fat mozzarella or cheddar cheese, grated

Method:
1. Spread tomato sauce thinly on pizza crust or dough. Arrange vegetables and pork bacon on pizza
2. Sprinkle pineapple and cheese over top. Bake in a 225'C oven for 10 to 15 mins or until edge of crust is golden brown and topping is bubbly

Hokkien Meat Dumpling

Taken from The Malaysian Women's Weekly June 2003 Issue (Pic Googled)

Preparation: 40 mins (excludes soaking time)
Cook: 2 hours
Makes: 20 dumplings

1kg pork loin/ belly, cut into 20 pcs
1 1/2 kg glutinous rice
40 small dried Chinese mushrooms, stalks removed, soaked in water overnight
3 tbsps oil
2 tbsps minced garlic
40 dried chestnuts
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
Bamboo leaves, soaked in water for 2 to 3 hrs and wiped dry

Seasoning for pork:
3 tbsps dark soy sauce
3 tbsps light soy sauce
2 tbsps salt
1 tbsp cooking wine
2 tsps five spice powder

Seasoning for rice:
4 tbsps minced garlic
3 tbsps salt
2 tbsps dark soy sauce

Method:
1. Season pork with dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, salt, cooking wine and five spice powder. Set aside
2. Soak rice with enough water to cover for 4 hrs. Drain well and fry with garlic, salt and dark soy sauce. Mix well. Remove from the wok and leave to cool
3. Boil drained Chinese mushrooms in water to cover. Add 1 tbsp sugar. Allow to cook until soft, about 3 to 5 mins
4. Heat oil in a wok over a medium fire. Stir-fry garlic until brown and fragrant, about 5 mins
5. Add chestnuts and mushrooms. Mix well. Add dark soy sauce and mix well again. Dish out and allow to cool
6. Once the dumplings are folded, bring a large pot of water (it should be large enough to hold 20 dumplings) to a boil. Or bring 2 medium-sized pots of water to the boil. Once it comes to a rolling boil, add the dumplings. The water should cover the dumplings completely. Boil for 2 hrs over a high fire. If the water runs low, add more fresh boiling water. Never add cold water to the pot

How to fold dumplings:
A. Fold bamboo leaves into a shallow cone
B. Place 1 1/2 to 2 tbsps rice into the hollow of the cone. Add a piece of pork, 2 mushrooms and 2 chestnuts
C. Top with another 1 1/2 to 2 tbsps glutinous rice
D. Fold into a triangle and tie with string. Continue the process until all ingredients are used up

Stir-fry Pork with Mui Choy, Yellow Squash Soup & Fried Egg with Onions by me

Stir-fry Pork with Mui Choy (Pickled Chinese Cabbage):
Rinse away the salt from mui choy so that it would not be too salty. Sliced it to bite-sized portion. Set aside. Marinade sliced pork with light soy sauce, cornflour and oyster sauce for a few hours. Heat up some oil and cook garlic until fragrant. Add marinated pork and stir fry for a few mins. Add sliced mui choy and stir fry for another few mins. Add some water, depending how much gravy you want, and cover with hood to allow it to simmer for about 15 mins or until cook. Salt and pepper to taste.


Yellow Squash Soup (Low Wong Kua Soup):
Half yellow squash and remove the seeds. Slice it into chunks and place it in a pot of water. Add pork ribs or chicken bones. Add cuttlefish, optional. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring it to a boil and then lower the fire. Let it simmer for awhile. Serve when ready. 

Fried Egg with Onions:
Whisk eggs with a little salt and pepper. Heat up some oil and add sliced onions, cook until fragrant. Pour whisked eggs and fry until cook. Serve immediately.

Fried Egg & Bak Kut Teh by me

Fried egg:

I used 1/2 onion and 2 eggs

The easiest to make, heat up a little oil, stir fry some onions, add whisked eggs (flavoured with some salt and pepper) and fry. Serve once cooked

Bak Kut Teh:

I used 1 pkt of A1 Bak Kut Teh Spices for the herbal soup, 1kg pork meat, 5 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp black soya sauce, 2 tsp of white soya sauce, 1 tsp oyster sauce, a pinch of salt and 5 bowls of water.

Boil a pot of water. Put in meat chunks (don’t slice it yet) and A1 Bak Kut Teh Spices once boiled. Cook it under medium fire for 30 mins. Once meat is cooked, add the rest of the ingredients above and let it simmer under low fire. Once done, add a dash of pepper and slice the meat before serving.

Pork & Potato Spaghetti with Carbonara Mushroom Sauce by me

Serves: 2

1 can of Prego Carbonara Mushroom Sauce
Spaghetti for 2 person
Some minced pork
1 potato, cut into small chunks
1/2 small onion, cut into small chunks

Method:
1. Bring to a boil 1/2 pot of water, add salt and potatoes. Drained and set aside once cooked
2. Cook spaghetti as per the instruction of the box. As usual, add some olive oil and a dash of salt into the boiling water before adding the spaghetti. Drained and set aside once cooked
3. Heat up wok with some olive oil, add the onions. Once fragrant, add the minced pork. Once cooked, add the sauce. Cook for about a min and then add the potatoes. Cook for another min or 2 and it is ready to be served

Cod Fish & Pork Spaghetti by me ;-)

Serves: 2

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 slice of Cod fish, cut into chunk blocks
Some minced pork
1 bottle of Prego Pasta Sauce, Traditional flavour (250 ml)
1/3 box of spaghetti
Salt
Olive oil

Method:
1. Boil a pot of water with salt. Add Cod fish chunks and let it cook. Drained and set aside
2. Cook spaghetti as per instruction on the box. Add some salt and olive oil to the boiling water before adding spaghetti. Drained and set aside
3. Heat up wok with some olive oil, add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add minced pork. Once cooked, add pasta sauce. When it started to boil, add Cod fish. Cover it for about 1 min or until the sauce started boiling. Cook for another 1 to 2 mins and it is ready to serve