Steamed Chicken with Black Fungus

Now that I'm a housewife, I will take special care in preparing food for my hubby. He is very thin, however, he has slight cholestrol problems. So, all you thin guys out there, don't think that you won't have a cholestrol problem... It's better to run some tests.

I was browsing through all the food blogs and considering what to cook. I came across one of my favourite bloggers - Lily's Wai Sek Hong and found this wonderful recipe: Country-Style Steamed Chicken.

I followed her recipe, but added more shallots and garlic as garnishing. I have also added some chilli slices and chopped spring onion.

It really tastes great! However, my hubby complained that the chicken pieces have bones... So, for my next try, I will use boneless chicken thighs.

New House - Living Room

Today marks the start of my housewife days… again… Hopefully, I can be kept busy playing with facebook, chatting and blogging :) I have been occupied tidying up the new place. Here are some of the photos I promised…

The theme of the living room is modern black and white. I love the picture of the leaning Eiffel Tower in the background.

We spent a long time seaching for a black leather sofa bed but couldn't find it. Hence, settled for a non-sofa bed.

The black bar counter is very high, to cater for 2 door refrigerator below. In order to fit an oven in the kitchen, the refrigerator has to be in the living room. And my hubby refused to put it in the open, hence, we have to put in below the bar counter.

A clearer view of the Eiffel Tower.

We have a fan in the living room. My hubby said that it can save energy if you on the fan and set the air con to be at 29 degrees at the same time.

This is our new LCD TV, and we have a "remote control" box :)

Did you see the cute white umbrella stand we have?

Tomato Beef

I realised that we can find a lot of tomato dishes in HK. They have tomato egg, tomato beef, tomato noodles, tomato 拉面… etc. Tomatoes are very healthy food. They can help improve skin texture and colour. They can also help to reduce blood cholestrol. Tomatoes also contain lycopene (the red pigment in tomato) and this is a powerful antioxidant that can help fight cancer cells.

This tomato beef dish is easy to make and it can store for a few days. It can be eaten with rice, instant noodles or spaghetti.

Ingredients

Minced Beef

Tomato

Carrot (Optional)

Celery (Optional)

Frozen Vegetables (Carrot, Corn, Peas)

Minced Garlic

Onion (Roughly chopped)

Seasonings

Tomato Sauce

Sugar

Soy Sauce

Salt

Sesame oil

Steps:

1. Marinade the beef with salt, sugar and sesame oil for at least 10 mins.

2. You can add some water to the beef to prevent it from clumping during frying.

3. Thinly make a cross in the skin at the bottom of each tomato.
4. Boil the tomatoes for about 5 mins until the skins are separated.
5. Cool the tomatoes in cold water, remove the skins and chopped them into small cubes.
6. Add oil to the wok and add in the onions.
7. Add in the garlic and stir fry till fragrant.
8. Add in the minced beef and stir fry till about 80% cooked.
9. Add in the chopped tomatoes, vegetables and water.

10. Add Tomato Sauce, Sugar and Soy Sauce.

11. Simmer the beef till the sauce thickens.

This is my lunch box with eggs, vegetables and tomato beef :) The rice is at the bottom of the tomato beef.

Isn't this breakfast pretty? :p

Goodbye Gold Coast

We have finally completed the move to our new place :) The other day, when I was buying MacDonald for dinner at our old place – Gold Coast, I happened to be impressed by the views and took a couple of pictures.

When we first moved in, we were wowed by the beautiful views and relaxing environment. But honestly, I didn’t pay much attention to the views in the 1.5 years that we stayed there.

Prima Taste - Laksa

As I said before, the quality of food in HK is better than Singapore. For example, there are branches of Tonkichi in Singapore and in HK. I have tried both before and the one in HK is really fantastic!

However, I still miss a lot of Singapore’s local food. That’s when I discovered Prima Taste! Prima Taste has a lot of Singapore's Favourites in Ready-to-Cook Pastes. They are simple to use and really taste very much like the original. I especially love their Laksa and Curry. They only take less than half an hour to prepare.

Beautiful Wedding

I attended a beautiful wedding last weekend. It was my sister-in-law’s wedding :) The wedding was held at a restaurant in Rochester Park, Singapore. They had a very beautiful wedding cake.

It was a sweet and simple affair, which celebrated the union of two wonderful persons.

Talking about weddings, I wished that I had a garden wedding instead of the normal oriental-style wedding dinners. Hmmm…. Maybe I can persuade my hubby to have a garden ceremony when we re-new our vows probably 10 years later! Hee… Something to dream about…

Fried Rice

Fried Rice with Char Siew

Fried Rice with Chicken

Cooking fried rice is both easy and difficult. Easy, because it is just one dish, you do not have to think of other dishes to go with it. Difficult, because it is very tedious work to cook it. You have to slice all the ingredients to tiny pieces, then you have to fry each of the ingredients separately first, before combining them together.

The most important thing is the rice has to be quite dry. You can put the rice uncovered in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours, or cook it with less water. If the rice is wet, it will become “mashed” fried rice, you can’t see the rice 一粒粒. To prevent the rice from sticking to the wok, we need to heat up the oil and “spread” it around the wok.

I have not figured out which is the correct way to “coat” the rice with egg:

• Pour the egg into the wok first and quickly put in the rice and stir so that all the grains are covered with egg OR
• Pour the rice first and then pour the egg over the rice and stir

Please let me know if you know which way is correct or if there are other ways! :)


Ingredients

Oil, Rice
Garlic (chopped)
Chicken thigh / char siew
Chinese Dried Mushroom
Dried Chinese sausages (La Cheong)
Prawns
Frozen Vegetables (Peas, Corns and Carrots)
Egg (Shredded and also some for “coating” the rice)

Steps:

1. If using chicken thighs, remove the skin and rub with salt. Then, blanched it in hot water and marinate with soy sauce, cornflour, sesame oil, Chinese cooking wine for at least 30 mins.

2. Soak the Chinese mushrooms in hot water to soften, then remove the stem and cut the rest of the mushrooms into cubes.

3. To make the prawns more crunchy, first remove the shells and veins, then rub it with salt and cornflour to try and remove their skins. Then, put under running water for 10 mins.

4. Soak the sausages in hot water and then remove the outer skin and cut them into cubes.

5. For 2 cups of rice, normally I will use 4 eggs. Beat the eggs and pour half to make the omelette. Then, shred them.

6. Fry each of the ingredients separately with oil, adding some garlic when frying the prawns and chicken.

7. Oil the wok again and pour in the rest of the eggs, then the rice.

8. Stir well to evenly distribute the eggs.

9. When the rice is golden, pour in the other ingredients and continue stirring to mix the ingredients. Add seasonings - salt and pepper to taste.