Bite On It!

When I was working in Singapore, I would normally pack something for breakfast as I do not have time to sit in coffee shops or hawker centres for a leisure breakfast. If my office is near McD, then I will pack their Big Breakfast as that can last me the entire day till dinner. Other than that, I will either get a packet of nasi lemak or the popular economy char bee hoon.

Now that I don’t go to work anymore, I kind of yearn for those taste so I decided to bring back some memories by preparing my own… This is one of PiggyBeng’s favorite too as both of us went through the same type of lifestyle in Singapore….

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Ingredients

(Serve 2)

• 1/2 pkt Rice noodles (beehoon)
• 1 Red chili (sliced thinly)
• 3 clove garlic (chopped)
• 80g Bean sprouts
• 1/2 can Luncheon meat (sliced around 5mm in thickness)
• 2 eggs
• Black sauce
• Light soy sauce to taste
• Water (to soften the rice noodles)

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Methods

1. Soak the rice noodles till soft. Slightly pan fry the luncheon meat slices till fragrant. Fry the eggs *sunny side up*.
2. Heat up wok with 2 tbsp oil and saute the chopped garlic till it starts to turn golden. Pour in the pre-soaked rice noodles and continue to stir, add in the black sauce to desired tone, stir and add in enough water before covering the wok for at least 5 minutes but stirring occasionally.
3. Add in the light soy sauce and stir before adding in the bean sprouts. Continue stirring (add a little of oil if need be) and when the bean sprouts started to soften, turn off the fire.
4. Serve hot with luncheon meat and egg together with some sambal belacan.

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This is my first time seeing a purple bayam (yin choi [??]) or Amaranth being sold here. In fact, I’ve never even heard of such thing before. It was on one of my regular marketing session at Tesco that I pick up this packet of purple spinach which I find quite interesting.

The look and feel is somehow different from the regular bayam (yuen choy) that I normally buy. It has short stem and it looked more like ti-wang-chai (also short stem and has a sticky gluey liquid coming out from the stem) than the regular bayam but I was told they were from the same family.

Seeing the texture, I decided to cook with dried prawns sambal as I don’t think cooking it in other styles will be suitable. And I was right. It turns out good with the sambal.

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Ingredients

• 1 packet Purple (about 200g) - peel away the end of stems
• 2-3 tsp of Dried prawns sambal
• Water

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with 2-3 tbsp of oil and gently fry the dried prawns sambal till slightly fragrant.
2. Toss in the purple bayam, stir to mix well. Add a little water, stir and cover for a few minutes till the bayam is soften. Serve while still hot.

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I don’t normally eat steamed eggs as I preferred to have my eggs fried. Now that Darrius is eating almost anything we are having so I have to consider him when I prepare our meals.

Steamed eggs is quite simple to prepare and it is not as heaty as fried eggs. Before this, the steamed eggs I used to cook is quite hard as I do not add much water as compared to now. The steamed eggs I am preparing now has more water content which make it really soft and smooth… like the Japanese cawanmushi.

Among the tricks I learned about cooking steamed eggs is, it is recommended to use plates or bowls that have a flat surface as the eggs will get cooked more evenly. The other thing is, always to cover the plate with a string-wrap when steaming so that the water from the steam will not falls on the eggs and scars the surface.

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Ingredients

• 3 Eggs (large)
• 3/4 cup water
• 40g Minced pork (marinate with a sprinkle of salt)
• 1pc Chinese mushroom (diced)
• 1/4 of a Carrot (cut some for garnishing and the bits used for steaming)

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Methods

1. Beat eggs with a little salt and filter it into a flat plate or bowl. Throw away the residue.
2. Add in the water, minced pork, mushroom bits and the carrot bits. Stir and disintegrate them do the minced pork does not clutter together. Then cover with a string-wrap.
3. Put in to steam for about 7-10 minutes. Place the carrot used for garnishing in another small bowl and steam along with the eggs.
4. When eggs are cooked, remove the wrap and make sure the water did not drip on the eggs. Placed the steamed carrot slices on top before serving.

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During my last trip to KL, my mom bought a packet of blueberries muffins premix from one of the local baking supplies shop. It tasted real good as it was not overly sweet and the texture was so cottony that it will make you keep biting.

I’ve tried looking for dried blueberries in the baking supplies shops but so far I’ve never seen any on sale before. Most of them do not carry this item. So the next best thing is the premix. It was not that expensive as it cost around RM5+ a packet and each packet can make around 12-14 muffins on a regular muffin pan.

To make it even more yummy, I added in some cream cheese cubes before I send them to bake. The cream cheese did not melt inside the batter but it is soft after it is baked.

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Ingredients

• 1pkt Blueberries muffins mix
• 130g Butter/margerine
• 117ml Water
• 3 Eggs (medium size)
• 70g Cream Cheese (cut into rectangular cubes)

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Methods

1. Add in water to the pre-mix, stir and mixed well. Add in the eggs one by one till all eggs are well mixed to create a smooth batter.
2. Scoop 1 spoonful of batter into regular muffin pan, stuff in the cream cheese cube before covering it with another spoonful of batter.
3. Bake at 175 degree Celcius for about 20-25 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and cool on rack.

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