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.

Fish Head Noodles

Taken from Tumix
Serves 3-4 persons

Ingredients:

• 1 kg fish head (cut into pieces and seasoned with salt and pepper)
• 100 gm young ginger (thinly sliced)
• 150 gm thick vermicelli (if it's dry, soak in water until soft before blanching in hot water)
• 100 ml evaporated milk
• a few stalks Chinese celery and spring onions (for garnishing)

(A)

• 3-4 tomatoes (sliced)
• 150 gm salted cabbage (shredded and soaked in hot water for 20 minutes to remove salt content)

(B)

• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 sachet Tumix Ikan Bilis
• 1 litre hot water
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• salt to taste

 Method:
Blanch vermicelli in hot water until soft. Heat oil in a wok. Deep fry fish until golden and crispy. Drain and leave aside. In a clean wok, add 2 tbsp oil. Fry young ginger until it's fragrant. Add (A) and (B). Allow to simmer. Add fried fish head and cooked vermicelli. Cover. When boiling, pour in evaporated milk. Garnish and serve immediately.

Seafood chowder

Taken from Maggi. Preparation & cooking time: 20 mins. Serves 4 - 6

Picture googled

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp corn oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 180 gm onion, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 3 potatoes, pared and cubed
• 120 gm celery, diced
• 100 gm carrot, diced
• 1 sachet Maggi Mushroom Soup, mixed with 750ml water
• 100 gm shrimps
• 100 gm squid, diced
• 100 gm crabmeat sticks, diced
• 1 tbsp Maggi 'No Added MSG' Ikan Bilis Stock Granules or to taste
• 1 tsp pepper or to taste
• Paprika powder, optional

Method:

1. Heat oil, then stir-fry onion, garlic, bay leaf and oregano until fragrant
2. Add in potatoes, celery and carrot
3. Stir in Maggi Soup mixture and bring to boil
4. Add in seafood and bring to boil
5. Season with Maggi Stock Granules and pepper to taste
6. When serving, sprinkle paprika (optional) and serve with French load and bread

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: 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: 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: char choy soup

What you need:

• char choy 
• carrot, cut into chunks 
• chicken bones
• black pepper
• salt to taste

Soak char choy for a while to get rid of the salt, in case too salty. Once done, cut it into chunks. Set aside.

Boil a pot of water. Once boiling, add in all the above ingredients and bring it to a boil in medium heat. Once boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer for an hour or so. Serve when ready.

Home-cooked: special cabbage soup

What you need:

• Some dried scallops
• Cabbage, peeled off and tear it into smaller pieces
• 1/2 cube of Knorr Ikan Bilis
• A dash of salt

Boil a pot of water. Once boiling, put all the ingredients in. Salt to taste. Let it boil another round then lower the fire to let the soup simmer for an hour or so. After that, it is ready to be served.

Note: I always soaked the dried scallops a bit before cooking. In a way to soften it and also ensure it is clean.

Home-cooked: choy kwon soup

What you need:

• Choy kwon, literally means dried vegetable but I do not know it’s official name in English
• 3 to 5 red dates
• Some chicken bones
• A few cuts of dried cuttlefish
• A dash of salt

Cut choy kwon into 1 1/2” length pieces. Soak it in a bowl of water. Set aside. Boil a pot of water. Once boiling, put all the ingredients in. As for choy kwon, make sure to squeeze the water before putting it inside the pot. Salt to taste. Let it boil another round then lower the fire to let the soup simmer for an hour or so. After that, it is ready to be served.

Home-cooked: herbal soup from scratch

What you need:

• Chicken bones
• Dang shen (tung sam or poor man’s Ginseng)
• Seedless red dates
• Kei chi (Goji berry or wolfberry)
• Dried longan
• Wai san (Chinese yam, Japanese mountain yam or Korean yam (Radix Dioscoreae Oppositae)
• Fook san – can’t find the alternative name in English but it’s the curled up pieces in the bowl

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add in all the ingredients and bring it to a boil in medium heat. Once boiling, lower the heat to low and let it simmer for an hour or two. Serve while it’s still hot. Easy peasy.

Home-cooked: Chinese Chives Eggsoup

Another recipe with Chinese Chives (kau choy) which hubby concocted ^.^

What you need:

• Chinese Chives, cut into 1cm strips
• Eggs, whisk
• Salt and pepper, for seasoning
• Prawns
• Oil
• Water, depending how much soup you require

Heat up some oil in wok and add a dash of salt. Add in prawns and cut chives, stir-fry a bit. Whisk eggs and pour the batter in, frying it a bit. Add in water once the eggs look scrambled. Cover with hood and bring it to a boil in medium heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. It is ready to be served.

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: Herbal chicken soup in slow cooker

This is totally easy as it takes only 5 mins to prepare. Furthermore, it's a healthier option.

What you need:

• Pre-packed herbs - cleaned
• Chunks of chicken
• Water

Pour the required amount of water into the slow cooker. Add the chunks of chicken and the pre-packed herbs. Never, ever cut the chicken into bite-sized as it will eventually soften into loose pieces. Start it off with medium and switch the slow cooker to low when it's boiling. Let it simmer in the slow cooker for about half a day or longer depending on your preference and serve it once you are ready. Not forgetting, salt to taste.

FYI, mine was about 8 hours.

Home-cooked: Fun Kuot Soup (粉葛 Kudzu)

I honestly don't know what Fun Kuot is called in English. Tried Google search but nothing appeared.
Updated: My colleague managed to get the actual name in Mandarin 粉葛, hence it's called Kudzu in English!
This is how it actually looked like before I peeled and sliced it:

Anyway, it is easily available in the wet market.

What you need:

• A chunk of Fun Kuot
• Some red dates
• Some chicken bones
• A pot of water
• A dash of salt

Peel and slice the Fun Kuot. Fill up a pot of water and boil it. Once boiling, add in the sliced Fun Kuot, red dates and chicken bones. Add a dash of salt to taste. Let it boil. Once boiling, lower the fire and let it simmer for a while. Serve immediately.

Home-cooked: Herbal soup

MIL got this pre-packed herbal thingy for me. Unfortunately, I don't know the name. Those who can read Chinese, you can refer to the photo above.

Very easy to make, what you need:

• Pre-packed herbs (obviously)
• Chicken bones or meat - your preference
• A pot of water

Just fill up a pot of water and pre-boil it first. Once boiling, add in chicken bones and all the herbs. Bring it to a boil in medium fire. Reduce to small fire and let it simmer for about an hour or so. Serve it immediately.

Home-cooked: A simple cabbage soup

This is very easy to cook, for those who prefers fuss-free meals. You can also add in noodles if you want a simple soupy meal.

What you need:

• Cabbage
• Anchovies
• Garlic
• Some water
• A little oil
• Salt and pepper

Firstly, heat up a little oil then fragrant some garlic and anchovies. After that add in cabbage and stir fry for a while. Once about to cook, add some water... amount depending how much soup you want. Cover the wok and let it simmer into a boil. Once boiling, season with salt and pepper to taste before serving.

Leng Ngau (Chinese Lotus) Soup by me

This is one of my favourite soup and it is easy to make too :-)

Boil a pot of water. Add some chicken bones and whole chinese lotus, do not cut it yet. You can also add either tiu phin (dried squid) or red beans for the optimal taste :-) Let it boil and then lower the heat to let it simmer for an hour or so. Salt to taste. You can remove the chinese lotus and cut it into slices before serving.

Winter Melon Soup by me

 MIL gave me some of her winter melon, fresh from her garden :-)

Boil a pot of water under medium heat. Once boiled, add in some red dates, cut winter melons, and chicken bones. After another round of boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer for an hour or so. Salt to taste.

Mulligatawny Soup by Samantha Thiessen

Preparation: 25 mins
Cook: 40 mins
Serves: 6

1/2 tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
2 tsps meat curry powder
3 cups chicken broth or bouillon (use canned)
1 x 400 gm can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup uncooked rice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 green apple, peeled, diced
1 1/2 tbsps fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
1/2 tbsp lemon juice

Method:
1. Melt butter or margarine in a soup pot over medium fire. Add celery, onion, carrots and garlic, stirring for 1 to 2 mins. When vegetables are softened, add the chicken and cook for 7 to 10 mins
2. Add curry powder, broth, tomatoes, rice, salt and pepper. Bring to boil then reduce to a simmer for 15 mins. Add apples and parsley (optional), simmer for another 10 mins. Remove from fire; stir in lemon juice. Serve hot

Eggs with Ginger and Onion Soup by me

A simple soup :-) Good for windy stomach :p

Just slice ginger and onion. Heat up some oil in wok and add both the sliced ginger and onion in. Stir-fry until fragrant. Crack eggs into the wok and scramble it together with the sliced ginger and onion. Pour water in, depending how much soup you want, and cover it with hood to let it boil. Once boiling, add salt and pepper to taste. It's ready to be served.