Today I am not using udon or vermicelli noodles, but thin koay teow which is use for soup. I have stewed pork chop canned that I have not use and bought the wrong canned pork. I intended to buy stewed pork sliced canned and got luncheon pork canned instead.
I found there are some leftovers napa cabbage, one broccoli, one packet of thin koay teow and some carrots. Therefore, I decided use them before the expiry dates. It has been ages that I have not had koay teow. This is trial and error cooking it.
This recipe is not a noodle soup but stir fry with flavoured caramelised of both pork. I have to try and taste to see if vegetables are cooked and also with the right amounts to finally able to write it down. As everyone have different taste bud; I recommend that you always check your seasoning well to your taste bud till you get it delicious.
My cheat stewed pork give extra flavour to koay teow along with vegetables and chicken stock caramelised both pork. You can even slurp up your koay teow and feel satisfied delicious with your bowl clean completely. Let’s cook.
Ingredients
500 g koay teow, cook in microwave 1 minutes, then peel into strips 1 1/2 carrots, cut into matchsticks 1/4 napa cabbage, cut into bite size 1 broccoli, cut into florets and stem into bite size 1 canned stewed pork chop, about 420 g 1 canned luncheon pork, about 210 g 3 Tbs oil 1 Tbs minced garlic 175 ml water, plus extra 50 ml 3 Tsp chicken powder stock 1/2 Tbs oyster sauce 2 Tsp soy sauce 1/4 c chicken stock 2 Tsp salt, extra 1 1/2 Tsp pepper, extra Method
Heat oil in wok on medium heat. Brown garlic for 1 minutes. Add napa fry for 2 minutes. Then add carrots and mix well cook for 2 minutes. Now add broccoli and fry for 3-4 minutes. Mix well 175 ml water with chicken powder stock, salt, pepper and set aside.
Next add chicken powder stock mixture, salt, pepper, koay teow strips and 1/4 c chicken stock, stewed pork chops and luncheon pork – cut into bite size with the fat oil that comes with it in the canned. Stir to mix well everything with spatula and a pair of chopsticks or tong. Now add 50 ml water, oyster sauce and soy sauce, toss to combined well. Check seasoning and serve with a glass of white wine.
Note: You can use sliced beef, chicken or fish instead of stewed pork. You can use all chick stock instead of some chicken powder. You may want to follow the instruction on the koay teow packet to cook. You can make it noodle soup instead of frying.
Sai choy is one special dish for Chinese New Year. It does have many different names for it. We always have this dish on Chinese New Year. Grandma used to be the one preparing this dish for us in Malaysia. My grandma makes her with a lot of ingredients. Some ingredients I cannot find here or not sold near me.
The main of this dish is white cabbage. And I love it when the cabbage is braised till it’s soft and the gravy is sweetened with fermented beancurd and sauces. Also, cabbage cooked well actually soaks up the fragrance of the fermented beans and garlic too. There are also other different textures and flavours with a whole range of ingredients like wood ear fungus, dried mushrooms, glass noodle, black fungus and canned mushrooms.
I change the recipe as I couldn’t find the red fermented beancurd, beancurd skin, beancurd stick and dried lily flower. I have use white fermented beancurd. Presentation wise is not colourful and red colour, but it actually tastes even better after all the ingredients have had a chance to soak in the fermented beancurd and sauces. Serve it with rice, a must have for me cut red chilies soaked in soy sauce and char chee yoke (Braised pork belly) for a delicious and comforting meal. Let’s cook!!!
Ingredients
8 shiitake dried mushrooms, soak overnight, cut bite size, reserved water 100 g glass noodles 1 1/2 Tbs minced garlic 3-5 thinly slice ginger (OPT) 700 g napa cabbage, cut into bite size 60 g dried sliced black fungus, soak overnight 8 pieces dried wood ear fungus, soak overnight, cut bite size, reserved water 1 canned straw mushrooms, about 425 g, drained water, cut in half 1 canned whole mushroom about 425 g, drained water, cut in half 4 white fermented cubed beancurd 2 Tbs Shaoxing Chinese wine 2 Tbs soy sauce 1 Tbs oyster sauce 2 Tsp sesame oil 2/3 c water reserved from mushroom 1/4 c water reserved from wood ear fungus extra water if needed
Method
Heat oil in wok on medium heat, add oil and ginger. Let the ginger caramelize for about 30 seconds without letting it burn. Next add in white fermented beancurd and break it up with wooden spoon. Add the garlic, shiitake mushrooms, wood ear fungus, black sliced fungus and stir fry for 2-3 minutes, to get mushroom and fungus coated in fermented beancurd sauce.
Add the Shaoxing wine, 2/3 c reserved from mushroom and wood ear fungus water and bring to boil. Next, add cabbage, cook till softened for 4-5 minutes. Make sure it’s softened. Add other cut mushrooms, sesame oil, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. Toss to mix well, cover the wok, and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
If water runs dry, add more water about 1/2 cup. Let vegetables simmer for further 10 minutes. Before serving, soak glass vermicelli until softened, and mix into pot. Glass vermicelli absorbs liquid quickly, so if you add the noodles too early, they will bloat and there will be too little sauce left. Keep stirring. If you want to have extra sauce add another 1/2 cup of water. Spoon sai choy onto serving plate, garnish with cut chili and soy sauce and serve with char chee yoke. Enjoy with a glass of white wine!!!!
Note: You can add beancurd skin, beancurd sticks or lily flower. Or you can add carrots, baby sweet corns and snap peas like my friends did in their sai choy. You might want it more liquid, so add more stock or water. I didn’t add extra. You can omit cut chili and soy sauce. You can put fried shallots, red dates, gingko or fried tofu. Or create your own flavour ingredients. You can use any green leaves vegetables, or box ready stock or cube packet stocks.
I grew up with curries and have always love them especially chicken curry with potatoes is cooked in every household in Penang, Malaysia; no matter what races or occasions. I remembered going with grandma to dry market in the Indian vicinity and bought fresh paste from the ‘paste man chewing betel leave and spice with red/yellow teeth.
All Grandma needed was to tell the man what curry she wanted to cook, and he would mix the different ingredients for her. As the years went by Grandma made the paste from scratch herself. She is also experimenting her spices and I watched her and there is no recipe written. So, I had to browsed on google too for the amount needed to make the paste. Out there, there are many recipes you can browse for yourself.
Today, I am cooking chicken tofu pok and potato curry. It’s my first time making this curry from scratch – memory of what I remembered from Grandma and other chefs, tasting checking, and adapting the amount to put, and it worked. Let’s cook before my stomach starts growling loudly like a hungry tiger roar!!!!
Do the curry one day in advance. This ensures aromatic flavour develops overnight.
Ingredients
4 Tbs olive oil 8 pieces boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite size 8 medium size washed potatoes, peeled and quartered; parboiled 1 packet tofu pok, cut half, add in when want to eat time 4 curry leaves 165 ml coconut milk 100 ml coconut cream 450 – 600 ml water, if you want more curry gravy salt to taste
Blend spice paste A
8 fresh red chillies, seeded and sliced 6 dried chillies, seeded 1-2 Tbs lemon juice 2 dessert spoons coriander 2 star anise, pounded 1 dessert spoon cumin 1 small piece cinnamon, pounded 1/2 inch fresh turmeric, peeled and sliced
Blend spice paste B
10 shallots, peeled and quartered 3 candle nuts 3 slices galangal 2 cloves garlic 1 lemongrass white part only, pounded, sliced 1 inch ginger, peeled and sliced
Method
Blend all ingredients Spice Paste A and B separately to a very fine paste. Don’t mix the spice paste when blending. You needed to blend them in two separate blenders. If you don’t have 2 blenders. Blend spice paste B first then set aside. Wash and dry blender before blending spice paste A.
Heat up oil in a heavy base pot on medium high heat and stir-fry spice paste B for about 3 minutes or until aromatic; light brown in colour. Next add chicken and stir well. Then add salt, spice paste A, coconut milk and curry leaves. Stir for 3 minutes before adding the water.
Cover pot and lower heat to medium. Bring the curry to boil and then lower the heat, add potatoes and simmer for 20 minutes or so or until the chicken and potatoes is about to cooked. Add coconut cream and allow it to simmer further about 5 minutes till gravy is thick. Add in tofu pok give a stir or two to mix well with everything in pot for a further 2 minutes. Serve the curry with rice immediately with a glass of white wine.
Note: You can omit tofu pok if you don’t like it. You can use ready mix curry such as chicken curry paste A1 Action One, you can get it from Asian grocery. You don’t have to do the curry in advance if you have no time do it on the day itself. You can make a vegetables dish to accompany the curry.
Quick and easy simple lunch for midweek is always packet instant noodle soup for me. I always add leftovers from a day to three days. As you know me by now, I don’t like wasting food. I don’t go marketing every day.
I relied on big bulk packed food, packets and canned for fresh food can’t stay longer than 3 days even in fridge. I have 2 boxes of shin ram yun noodles each had 20 packets. When it has run down, I will get my sister to get me more.
Today, I have leftover kin tok kin which is beancurd pork rolls my mother bought it and it’s cooked with bok choy. I have added the last four pork balls so I can get new packet as I am going to the market/supermarket to get refill for my groceries. My lunch is delicious and comforting. Let’s cook!!!
Ingredients
1 packet shin ram yun noodle soup 4 pork balls, thawed and soak in water 1 kin tok kin, cut into bite size bok choy hot boiling water
Method
Put kettle on. Open the noodle packet and empty it into a bowl with its condiment and add pork balls. When kettle water is boil, pour into the prepared bowl. Microwave for 3 minutes, then add in ready cooked kin tok kin with some bok choy. Microwave again further 3-4 minutes.
By then the pork balls would puff up, noodles softened and kin tok kin with bok choy are warmed up. Give a stir and heat again for 1 minutes. Serve immediately. Enjoy!!!
Here’s another quick simple midweek leftover lunch. Using the leftovers of roast lemon chicken and boiled pumpkin. Nothing fancy just have to eat lunch. I called it lazy prepared lunch.
I love to eat packet noodle for lunch and at time for dinner or late night supper. I always salvage food and freeze them for emergency. Shin ram yun had been my favourite packet noodle as it’s a spicy soup noodle. I love spicy food.
I have added cabbage for some green. My lunch is ready in less than 10 minutes. It’s delicious, spicy and comforting. Let’s cook!!!
Put kettle on. Open the noodle packet and empty it into a bowl with its condiment and add cabbage. When kettle water is boil, pour into the prepared bowl. Microwave for 3 minutes, then add in ready cooked chicken pieces with pumpkin pieces. Microwave again further 4 minutes.
By then cabbage is cooked, noodles softened and chicken with pumpkin are warmed up. Give a stir and heat again for 1 minutes. Serve immediately. Enjoy!!!
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