Szechuan Fried String Beans

Taken from Tumix
Serves 3-4 persons

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooking oil
• 400 gm string beans (remove the ends)
• 150 gm minced chicken
• 1 red chilli (remove the seeds and chop finely)
• 1 sachet Tumix Ikan Bilis

Method:
Heat oil in a wok. Deep fry string beans for a few minutes. Drain. Set aside. Place 2 tbsp of oil in a wok. Stir fry minced chicken with Tumix Ikan Bilis until it is cooked and dry. Add in chopped chilli and string beans. Continue to stir fry for a few minutes. Garnish and serve hot.

Stir Fried Seafood with Mangoes

Taken from Tumix
Serves 3-4 persons

Ingredients:

• 2 mangoes
• 50 gm pine nuts (roasted)
• 200 gm prawns (medium sized and peeled)
• 200 gm fish fillet (sliced)
• 2 dried chillies (diced)
• 1 red chilli (diced)

(A)

• 1 tbsp egg white
• A few dashes pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cornflour

(B)

• 1 sachet Tumix ikan bilis
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• A dash sesame oil
• 2 tbsp water

Method:
Cut mangoes into 2 and scoop the pulp out. Keep the mango cases. Cut the pulp into big cubes. Season prawns and fish fillet with (A) for a few mins. Coat with cornflour before frying. Deep fry in boiling oil. Set aside. In 1 tbsp oil, saute chilli and add in (B). Simmer. Stir in the prawns, fish, pine nuts and mango cubes. Mix well. Spoon mixture into mango cases. Serve.

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: 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: 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: 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-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.

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: stir-fried ABC

What you need:

• 5 small arrowroot, cut into thin strips
• 1 carrot, cut into thin strips
• A small handful of dried cuttlefish in thin strips, from the wet market
• 1 1/2 tbsps scallop sauce
• 1 garlic, minced

Heat up some oil in wok. Fragrant the minced garlic and then cuttlefish strips. Once fragrant, put in both arrowroot and carrot strips. Stir-fry a bit then add scallop sauce and some water (depending how much gravy you want). Cover with hood and let it simmer in low fire. Stir-fry and simmer until cook. Serve it immediately.

Note: I always soaked the dried cuttlefish to ensure it is clean and soften.

Lemongrass Chicken ala Nyonya by Celina Ong Pek Fong

Taken from the Malaysian Women’s Weekly November 2004

Preparation: 30 mins; Cook: 25 mins; Serves 5 – 6

150 ml oil

1.3 kg whole chicken (cut into 6 cm pieces)

70 ml F&N Evaporated Milk

2 tsps salt

2 tsps sugar

Rempah (ground or blended until smooth):

• 20 gm dried chillies (seeded, soaked in warm water for 5 mins and squeezed dry)
• 10 stalks lemon grass (outer leaves trimmed, used only the tender white portion)
• 150 gm shallots
• 3 cm fresh turmeric, peeled and chopped
• 30 gm belacan or shrimp paste

1. Heat oil in a wok over a medium fire. When hot, stir-fry rempah until fragrant, about 10 mins

2. Add chicken pieces. Mix well, then turn fire to low and allow to simmer, covered, for 10 mins

3. Add F&N Evaporated Milk and turn fire to high to bring mixture to a boil

4. When gravy begins to thicken, add salt and sugar. Remove from fire and serve hot with rice or bread

Homemade Nyonya Tofu with Prawns by May Huang Mei Fong

Taken from The Malaysian Women's Weekly 2004

Preparation: 45 mins
Cook: 30 mins
Serves 4 - 5

Tofu:
2 medium-sized eggs
1/4 tsp salt
140 gm F&N Evaporated Milk
4 tbsps oil for pan-frying (use vegetable oil)

Gravy:
4 tsps oil
10 gm dried prawns, soaked in water for 5 mins, drained
1 tbsp minced soybean paste (taucheo)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sour plum sauce
3 tbsps white vinegar
2 tsps sugar
200 ml water
200 gm fresh prawns, shelled and chopped
Diced spring onions to garnish

Rempah (Ground or blended):
2 buah keras
4 red chilies
2 cloves garlic
60 gm shallots

1. To prepare the tofu, beat eggs and season with salt. Stir in F&N Evaporated Milk. Pour into a shallow steaming plate, about 18 cm wide. Steam over a low fire for 20 mins. Allow to cool, then cut into 2.5 cm squares. Set aside
2. Heat tbsps oil in a pan over a medium fire. When hot, add tofu squares and fry for 5 mins until golden brown. Drain, and set aside
3. To prepare gravy, heat 1 tbsp oil in a clean pan and fry dried prawns for 2 mins. Remove, cool and chop into small pieces. Set aside
4. Heat remaining oil in the same pan and stir-fry rempah for 5 mins. Add taucheaou paste and continue stirring for 1 min
5. Add chopped dried prawns, oyster sauce, sour plum sauce, vinegar, sugar and water, and mix well for another 5 mins
6. Lastly, add fresh prawns and tofu squares. Stir-fry for 3 mins until prawn are cooked. Add a little water (about 2 - 3 tbsps) if the gravy seems too dry
7. Garnish with spring onion and serve hot with rice

Home-cooked: Stir-fry beans with sambal belacan

What you need:

• long beans, cut into 1" length or bite-sized
• cili padi (bird's eye chili), cut into small pieces
• shallot, minced
• garlic, minced
• sambal belacan, a Malay style sambal which can be bought of the shelf

Heat up some oil in the wok. Add in minced garlic and minced shallot, stir-fry until fragrant. Add in the chili padi then sambal belacan. Stir-fry non-stop on low heat to avoid the sambal belacan to be over-cooked. Once fragrant, add in the long beans, cook for a few seconds then add in some water. Cover with hood and let it simmer on low heat until long beans are cooked. Stir-fry a bit and serve while it's hot. 

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.

Home-cooked: Stir-fry chicken with bittergourd

What you need:

• Shallots
• Garlic
• Bittergourd - sliced
• Chicken - sliced or chunks, up to your preference
• Oyster sauce
• Soya sauce
• Sugar
• Cornflour
• Oil
• Water - depending how much gravy you want

Heat up some oil. Add in shallots and garlic, stir-fry until fragrant. Add in water, oyster sauce, soya sauce, a little sugar and cornflour. Add in sliced bittergourd, stir-fry and simmer until almost cook. Remove bittergourd and set aside. Add in sliced chicken and stir-fry until nearly cook. Add in bittergourd again, cover with hood and let it simmer for a bit. Don't simmer for too long or the chicken will be overcooked.

Stir-fry Red Spinach with Prawns by me

A very simple and healthy dish. You just need to marinate the prawns first with salt, ensure to unshell and devein it. Then proceed to heat up the wok with some oil. Add minced garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add prawns and stir-fry until almost cook, then add the red spinach. Cook for a few mins then pour in some water mixed with oyster sauce for taste. Cover it with the hood and let it simmer for about 2 to 3 mins. Stir-fry a bit then remove it and serve immediately.

Stir-fry Sliced Chicken, Leng Ngau with Nam Yue by me

First time using Nam Yue (Fermented Red Beancurd). Thankfully under MIL guidance, I got it right the first time :-)

I have saved half of the chinese lotus from the soup earlier, you can view it here, for this stir-fry. Marinade sliced chicken with oyster sauce, light soya sauce and a pinch of corn flour for about 6 hours.

Heat wok with some oil. Fragrant minced garlic and shallots. Add cut chinese lotus and some water, stir-fry. Add a little nam yue (fermented red beancurd) for the optimal taste. Lower heat and let it simmer for a few minutes. Stir-fry and it is ready to be served.

Stir-fry Minced Chicken with Potatoes by me

Marinade minced chicken with oyster sauce, light soya sauce and a pinch of cornflour for about 6 hours.

Blanch potatoes in a pot of water with salt. Set aside.

Heat up wok with oil, fragrant minced garlic and shallot. Add marinated chicken and stir-fry until almost cook. Add blanched potatoes and some water. Let it simmer in low fire until potatoes are soft. Season with light soya sauce and sugar to taste.