Food Trails: March 2007

Spaghetti

Spaghetti
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Spaghetti cooked in lots of boiling water with some salt and a little oil till al dente and top with home cooked meat sauce is a wholesome meal. Besides beef and minced pork, there was at least a kilogram of freshly peeled ripe tomatoes in it. While I loved chilli flakes to go with pizza, I sprinkled some naturally dried chilli padi flakes on my pasta meal too and sometimes with a touch of grated parmesan cheese. The chilli flakes definitely added “punch” to an already delightful meal!

This evening, I handed a plate of spaghetti and somehow a pair of chopsticks to ER. With a surprised tone, he said: Eating spaghetti with a pair of chopsticks? Oh, then only I realized…of course, using fork is more appropriate! :) This meal was taken while watching TV as the children were still working.

Seafood Udon

Seafood Udon
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

This dish was made up of whatever vegetables that I could gather from the fresh box and the Japanese noodles that I bought on Tuesday from Cold Storage Supermarket. Not enough of veggies for two so only cooked YH’s portion. To top it off a sprinkle of chopped parsley was added. Anyway, it added a refreshing taste.

As for me, lunch was taken at a foodcourt in my neighbourhood before I shopped for groceries.

Black Pepper Garlic Fillet

Black Pepper Garlic Fillet
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

A few days ago, Rika bought pieces of breaded fried chicken laden with lots of black pepper...though tasty to me she found them too hot and spicy.

Black pepper garlic fillet was an idea span off from what we ate earlier minus bread crumbs because they absorbed too much oil when used in fried food.

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Soup
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

The leftover from a whole pumpkin, 1 kg to be exact, was used to cook this. With the addition of 2 cups of chicken broth, 2 cups of water and 2 cups of milk, this yielded about 8 bowls of soup, as shown here, eventually, a little too much for dinner..

Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

On a Sunday late afternoon, while having a game of mahjong with Rika, we discussed what's for dinner. She readily agreed when I mentioned having roasted chicken and pumpkin soup.

The whole chicken was marinated for less than 2 hours and then roasted in the oven for an hour and 15 minutes. Or try this: when the thickest meaty part is pricked, juice runs clear indicating that it’s done. Rika used up the leftover pumpkin for the soup and we ate plain bread instead of rice. Oh yes, YH satisfyingly called this a good meal :)

"Lap Cheong" Omelette

Omelette
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Chinese pork sausages [lap cheong] stripped off their skins and julienned, lightly fried in olive oil and used in this omelette. This is something I learnt from a neighbour. These sausages are also commonly used in fried rice, lo mai kai, popiah and char kway teow, a popular noodle dish in Singapore and Malaysia.

Stir-fried Chicken Fillets

Stir-fried Chicken Fillets
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Can you imagine this as a sandwich filling? Oh well, Rika used this to make her breakfast. And later, used this dish on cooked unpolished brown rice and somewhat her meal resembled clay pot rice!

Stir-fried Chives

Stir-fried Chives
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

These crunchy stalks of chive flowers were bought from the newly opened Giant Hypermarket in Tampines.

Our 1st visit on Sunday, March 18, 2007 was quite an experience. There was such a big crowd! We queued for almost half an hour to reach a cashier! I got what I wanted, so the trip was worthwhile. But, for daily needs, the comfort and convenience still come from shopping in my neighbourhood or along the Northeast Line.

Stir-fried Japanese Pumpkin

Stir-fried Japanese Pumpkin
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Nutritious vegetable and a valuable source of Vitamin A, pumpkin belongs to the gourd family. With its subtle sweet and pleasant taste, ripe pumpkin has been a mealtime favourite. Pumpkin is rich in carotene. It is also said to have diuretic properties that help to reduce swelling of pregnant women and for treating people with kidney ailments. [Please remember, people with such conditions should seek advice from their doctors.]

If you are interested in cooking this dish, click on the photo to see the preparation directions.

Seafood Curry

Seafood Curry
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Not a bad attempt for this new concoction, which is delicious. Prawns and squids cooked with homestyle potato chips and curry ingredients.

Actually before this seafood curry crossed my mind, I was thawing the prawns and squids for using in my newfound recipe of okonomiyaki. We ate okonomiyaki, which is a Japanese pancake-pizza at the food corner at CK Tang many years ago. Back then it was deliciously served with dried, shaved bonito and mayonnaise.

"Okonomi" means "as you like". This refers to the ingredients, which one prefers to use in the pancakes and they includes seafood, chicken, beef, mushrooms, carrots, cabbage, bacon, cheese and etc.

Beef Rendang With Rice

Beef Rendang With Rice
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Beef rendang is often being described as dry curry though curry powder was not used in this dish. I just found out, in Malay “rendang” means food fried in coconut oil. But in this spicy meat dish I only used peanut oil and coconut cream. The meat, condiments and gravy were cooked for long hours till the liquid has evaporated reducing the contents to an oily paste with tender flavourful chunks of meat with a distinctive taste.

Rendang is a dish that originated from the Minangkabau people of Indonesia. It is also a popular dish in Singapore.

Beef Noodles

Beef Noodles
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Flavourful braised beef leftover from last dinner made a delicious noodle soup for Sunday lunch~

Homemade "Ban Mian"

Homemade "Ban Mian"
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Home alone and this is what I cooked for lunch~ Preferably, I would love to have this handmade noodles with mustard green or another type of vegetable which is my childhood favourite, “xu zai choy”. The soup is made with lightly brown white baits.

Mixed Vegetables With Prawns & Meat & Beehoon

Mixed Vegetables With Prawns & Meat & Beehoon
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Fried plain beehoon/rice vermicelli is mainly a hawker fare. It is offered as a breakfast item sometimes with some bean sprouts that come with it and on customers’ preference; chilli sauce or a sweet sauce may be spooned over it. It is also being offered in “ngoh hiang” or fried fritter stalls.

Today, I have a separate plate of vegetables to serve with it. And instead of mustard greens, I have used Beijing cabbage, carrots, golden mushrooms to stir-fry with prawns and meat.

Mixed Vegetables With Beef

Mixed Vegetables With Beef
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Simple and delicious~

"Ku Chai" Dumplings

"Ku Chai" Dumplings
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Having another round of dumplings…making these delicious dumplings is not that difficult but, it is time consuming especially when I am doing it alone. And though these dumplings can be frozen, I preferred to make fresh batches whenever we want.

Tom Yam Prawns With Honey Mandarin Orange

Tom Yam Prawns With Honey Mandarin Orange
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

This is a delicious simple spicy tangy dish that you can cook. Click here for the preparation directions: Recipe

Dinner With Friends

Dinner With Friends
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

On the 14th day of Chinese New Year: SL, Rika and I were talking while preparing food. Both the young ladies were at the stove making radish cake while I was adding marinating ingredients to the chicken. Somehow, by mistake, I added in a dessertspoon of coriander powder to the bird. Luckily this spice did not ruin the taste!

Seafood Rice

Seafood Rice
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Lunch on the 7th day of Chinese New Year: We have such a varied appetite that anything delectable would do.

Chicken Curry, Potato Chips & Beancurd Skin

Chicken Curry, Potato Chips & Beancurd Skin
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Lunch on the 5th day of Chinese New Year: I was in a hurry to get lunch ready for YH before he went out to work. Usually, chunky potatoes were added in the curry at the last 20 minutes of cooking time. There was not enough time for this so I cooked French fries instead. And because ER wanted to have some beancurd skins to go with the curry, I fried them too. This combo was rather refreshing!

Making Gyoza / Chinese Style Dumplings

Making Gyoza / Chinese Style Dumplings
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

On the 3rd day of Chinese New Year, we finally used the method of cooking that should be done for fried dumplings, minus the boiling procedure, after gaining confidence from watching a chef prepared "shen jian bao" in an open concept kitchen in Vivo City during one of our trips there. Fried dumplings are called "guo tie" in Mandarin.

Rika was especially happy that I have finally adopted the method, which she thinks is faster and easier. She is right! The dumplings were much tastier when eaten hot...well; she was so happy that she took over the cooking while I did the wrapping!

Stir-fried Pacific Clams

Stir-fried Pacific Clams
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

These little clams were nice and had the texture and taste of abalone. It was a disappointment that canned Pacific clams were not easily available this year. By the time ER went back to the supermarket, they were sold out. He was told new stock will be available in March!

"Chap Choy" With Seafood Glass Noodles

"Chap Choy" With Seafood Glass Noodles
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

KR and her family are vegetable lovers; hence I cooked more vegetables for this “KaiNian” dinner. In fact, for this year ER and I were more prepared and had really stock up on vegetables and other food stuffs in anticipations of relatives and friends coming over.