Stuffed Cabbage

Stuffed Cabbage
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Healthy yummy dish, long cabbage leaves stuffed with minced pork, seafood and dried mushrooms, folded into rolls, steamed and then dressed with sauce and garnished with spring onions.

I have a new idea; I would try to fold them into cone-shape next time.

Lontong In Broth

Lontong In Broth
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

While I prefer “lontong”, compressed rice, either with “satay” sauce, home cooked vegetables curry or delicious “sayur lodeh”, dinner was a simple fare today but, unique for ER and me. I went along with his idea of having “lontong” with non-spicy chicken broth and shredded chicken.

“Soto ayam” is a Malay spicy chicken soup that is normally served with “lontong” often available from a hawker centre.

Pasta With Tomato And Mascarpone Sauce

Pasta With Tomato And Mascarpone Sauce
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Delicious quick meal made with the help of a bottle of tomato and mascarpone sauce purchased from Marks & Spencer weeks ago.

ER added some honey baked ham and a soft-boiled egg for YH and then garnished it with some dried parsley.

Braised "Soft" Bones / 软骨

Braised "Soft" Bones / 软骨
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Not an ideal choice for braising as ER and YH put it. This cut was less tasty than spareribs. And there were a lot more loose fragments of bones than expected after cooking.

Stir-fried "Kai Lan"

Stir-fried "Kai Lan"
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

"Kai Lan" is among one of my favourite veggies. This bunch I had used here somehow was a little bitter in taste.

Sweet Potato Soup

Sweet Potato Soup
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Australian sweet potatoes: Too soft after cooking...still prefers the type, much more flavourful and sweet, from Indonesia.

Plain Noodles In herbal Chicken Sauce

Plain Noodles In herbal Chicken Sauce
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

While shopping in the supermarket, ER came to me a little excitingly and said he noticed another new product, fresh wheat noodles without alkali [jian shui]. So, we bought a packet and cooked it for lunch using the leftover herbal chicken sauce which was thickened with sweet potato flour solution and it gave a whole new experience and taste to our plain noodles...yummy~

Fried Snapper

Fried Snapper
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Tofu With Assorted Mushrooms

Tofu With Assorted Mushrooms
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

All the ingredients, tofu, eryngii mushrooms, golden mushrooms and oyster mushrooms, in this dish were supposed to go into miso soup BUT, I told ER that I preferred it to be cooked in this way~

Fried Drumsticks

Fried Drumsticks
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

These drumsticks were quite big. To be sure that they are cooked thoroughly, I steamed them with seasonings for half an hour, cooled and then dredged them with self-raising flour, followed by dipping in lightly beaten egg and then with another coat of flour before shallow frying. This method has caused the meat to dry out. The steaming process has removed a lot of juices from the drumsticks.

Steamed Herbal Drumsticks + Recipe

Steamed Herbal Drumsticks + Recipe
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

For those who like to try this dish, there isn’t a need to pay attention to the exact amount of Chinese herbs used as they were mainly used to enhance the flavours. Just add some of these herbs: wolfberries, angelica roots, dried longans, wai san, yoke chok and chuan xiong. The seasonings are: Dark and light soy sauces, cooking wine, vetsin, sugar, white pepper and salt to taste. Use all the above ingredients to marinate the drumsticks for half an hour before steaming till they are cooked and tender. Small drumsticks will take 30 minutes to cook.

The drumsticks I have used in this dish were from a Brazilian brand, SADIA. These frozen chicken parts were not a bad choice, they tasted good~

Fried Egg With "Furikake"

Fried Egg With "Furikake"
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Japanese condiments are known as “furikake” and are frequently used as tabletop sprinkles. I bought a bottle of wasabi flovoured "furikake" during the Hokkaido trip and used it on fried eggs today. YH likes the new flavour. It was bought for him to sprinkle on plain rice.

Korean Ginseng Soup

Korean Ginseng Soup
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Wolfberries were added to this soup besides the basic ingredients but, without spring onions to add on to its fragrance...I would love to have the later in fact. The glutinous rice being stuffed in the bird’s cavity with red dates, garlic and ginger was flavourful after simmering in the herbal broth for about 2 hours depending on the size of the chicken. Rika and I especially love to tuck in this.

Prawns In Bean Paste Sauce

Prawns in Bean Paste Sauce
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Stir-fried Marrow With Black Fungus + Recipe

Stir-fried Marrow With Black Fungus + Recipe
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

My Version:
Recipe:
Stir-fried Marrow With Black fungus

Ingredients:
1 marrow [600 g] – peeled and sliced
A handful of soaked black fungus - sliced
3 spring onions - cut into 3-cm lengths
50 g golden mushrooms - washed and separated into smaller clusters
1 ½ tbsp dried shrimps - soaked and chopped
2 tbsp minced pork
1 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp olive oil

Seasonings:
Salt, pepper, sugar and ajinomoto to taste

Method:
1. Fried chopped dried shrimps in olive oil till fragrant, add in the chopped garlic and brown lightly and now add in minced meat and stir-fry till it changes colour.
2. Put in the thinly sliced marrow and black fungus, toss these for a while and add in seasonings and the golden mushrooms. Cook t marrow to the right tenderness you like.
3. Add in spring onion, toss and remove to a serving plate.

"Siew Mai" + recipe

"Siew Mai" + recipe
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

The dumpling filling was prepared by Rika. If you like to know, here are the ingredients:

500 g lean pork – minced
8 mushrooms – soaked and chopped
Round shaped dumpling wrappings
50 g boiled bamboo shoots – chopped
200 g prawns - peeled, de-veined and chopped [optional]

Seasonings:
1 tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp soy sauce
Pepper
1 tbsp corn flour
pinch of ajinomoto

Method:
1. Mix all the above into a thick sticky paste and use it as filling
2. Place enough of filling in the centre of a sheet of round shaped dumpling wrapping, gather up the edge and shape each with the hand and then using the thumb and the index finger to create a “waist” in the middle. Finally, smooth the top with a butter knife.
3. Place dumplings in oiled plate and steam them for 20 - 25 minutes till cooked.

Dinner Before Trip To Hokkaido - Braised Bean Sticks And Tofu

Dinner Before Trip To Hokkaido - Braised Bean Sticks And Tofu
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

From my favourite basic braised bean sticks with spices, I had added in slices of lightly browned bean curds and mushrooms in this dish.

Lunch

Lunch
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

Stir-fried Golden Mushrooms And Vegetables

Stir-fried Golden Mushrooms And Vegetables
Originally uploaded by Food Trails.

I have started to use minced pork and dried shrimps to cook vegetables. In my opinion, this combo would improve the flavours of any mix veggie dish you could think of!