Bite On It!

Supposedly the Malaysian Northern regions have very fresh and juicy beansprouts especially in Perak. My mom used to buy 2kg back to KL each time we went back to our hometown near Ipoh. If you’ve been to Ipoh, their Nga-Choi-Kai or Chicken with bean sprouts is one famous dish. People will order a plate of stir-fried bean sprouts to go with their chicken rice/noodles. Normally we have to pay at least RM4 a plate but if we do it ourselves, it is less than RM1.

We folks in Penang do not get to have such good quality bean sprouts all the time. We do get them occasionally but not all the time. Most of the time we get the longer and skinner type/species. My PiggyBeng loves bean sprouts regardless of their size.

One of the weekend he bought a big pack home but he forgotten about it after keeping them in the fridge. I was looking for ingredients to cook a few days later saw them and some are about rot so decided to quickly cook them. I was lucky I still have my last bit of Kurau salted fish with me.

 .

.

Ingredients

• 100-150g Bean sprouts (if you have the time, pluck away the roots)
• 3pips Garlic - coarsely chopped
• 1/2 Carrot - cut into thin strips
• 1″x2″ Salted fish (preferably Kurau) - sliced thinly
• 1 Red chili - cut into think strips
• 1 stalk Spring onions/Coriander leaf - cut into 2″ long sections
• Pepper & light soy sauce for taste

.

Methods

1. Heat up wok with some oil and light pan fry the sliced salted fish till fragrant, lift up and set aside.
2. Add some more oil to the walk and saute the garlic till fragrant before stir fry the carrot strips for 2 minutes, toss in the chili and fry for another minute before tossing in the bean sprouts and fry for 2-3 minutes.
3. Sprinklesome pepper and some light soy sauce to taste before tossing in the spring onions or coriander leaf.
4. Lastly add in the salted fish and mix well before serving.

One funny thing about pregnant women is they tend to have food cravings! It is one thing that no medical experts can explain why pregnant women have such needs. Well, this is one thing I could not dispute either as I do have different cravings at different time of my pregnancy.

Recently I started to have cravings too (you should be able to guess why!!!) and I just want to have my kind of ‘comfort’ food. Though the morning sickness has yet to kicks in but I have been thinking a lot about food that I will hardly want to cook or eat on normal days.

Besides craving for Asam Laksa this time, I just wanted to eat something ‘warm’ and with lots of ginger. I’m not too sure if it is good to consume too much ginger during the early stage of pregnancy since there are no proofs/evidences that they are. I don’t cook food with too much ginger everyday so guess it should be fine.

.

.

Ingredients

• 200g Lean pork loin (Yuk-Ngan in Cantonese) - sliced thinly
• 50g Old ginger (you can use young ginger too so not that heaty) - sliced thinly
• 1 Tomato (optional) - remove seeds
• 1tsp Garlic (optional) - finely chopped
• 1.5L Water
• 1.5tsp Corn flour
• 1tbsp Fish sauce for marinade
• Pepper for marinade
• Oil for marinade (soften the meat)
• Salt for taste

.

Methods

1. Marinade pork slices with corn flour, fish sauce, pepper and oil and leave for at least 30 minutes prior to cooking.
2. Heat up wok/medium sized pot with a little oil and saute the sliced ginger till fragrant before adding in the chopped garlic as it gets burnt quicker. If you can’t stand the smell of garlic, you can omit it.
3. When both ginger and garlic are well sauteed, add in the water, cover and brings it to boil.
4. Add in the sliced pork and stir so they will not stick to each other before adding in the tomato.
5. When it started to boil, add in salt/fish sauce to taste.

Sometimes I just don’t know what to cook especially when I am in my ‘lazy mood’. If the dish required some additional ingredients and I do not have them at home, I’ll just forget about it. Since my Ah Beng is getting more ‘health conscious’ lately, he has requested that I do minimal frying if I could help it and have steam fish everyday… Don’t think I can eat steamed fish everyday though!

Come to think of it, if a dish is ‘healthy’ it is usually not so flavorful as ’sinful’ dishes… What do you consider as healthy except salad or maybe a bowl of oatmeal? I really can’t think. So, what I do best is to think of all the not so healthy food when I am trapped in such situation! Call me evil if you like!

Here is one such dish…

.

.

Ingredients

• 4oog Pork belly (cut into 1″ cubes together with skin)
• 1 Red chili (sliced strips)
• 2 Shallots (sliced)
• 1tsp Fermented black beans
• 1tbsp Taucu (fermented soy beans)
• 1tbsp Black sauce
• 1 cup Water
• Light soy sauce (optional)

.

Methods

1. Heat up wok (best if using a non stick) and pan fried the pork cubes until 50% cooked. Lift up and set aside.
2. Heat up a medium corning ware or a clay pot with at least 3tbsp of oil and saute the shallots chili till fragrant.
3. Add in the fermented black beans and soy beans and continue to stir. Toss in the pork cubes and add in black sauce, stir and add water. Cover.
4. Once it boils, turn to low heat and simmer for another 30 minutes or until meat turn soft. Add in some light soy sauce if it taste bland.

I know that many people prefers to have fruity cakes than some plain ones as they like the extra fruity bites. Personally I like fruity cakes especially those contain fresh fruits. However, it is not easy for us to get suitable fresh fruits here to bake anytime we want. So, we have to make do with canned ones… most of the time.

Here is another of my favorite… peachy cake/cupcakes. I have been using this recipe for a long time. Before the cupcakes fad, I used it to bake full cakes. This recipe is also perfect for a 7″ or 8″ cake. The wonder is, the tangy taste from the peach helped to diffuse the sweetness from the sugar.

 .

.

Ingedients

• 180g Butter
• 120g Sugar
• 180g Plain white flour
• 1tsp Baking powder
• 1tsp Baking soda
• 3 Eggs
• 1tsp Vanilla essence (optional)

.

Methods

1. Cream butter and sugar till white and creamy.
2. Add in eggs, one at a time till well mixed. Add vanilla essence.
3. Sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda and fold into the batter slowly.
4. Pipe batter into muffin tray lined with cases.
5. Bake at 160 degree Celsius till cooked or when inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I have been looking for a good recipe for meat balls for quite sometime. I found many recipes using breadcrumbs but I’ve never bought any before so was quite hesitant to buy a big packet only for making meat balls. Since I am into bento now, it will be another good finger food to store and  pack!

While I was flipping one of the many recipe books in my collection, I discovered one recipe which is quite easy. Though it has a lot of ingredients but I decided to do without most of them except some core ones. The recipes asked for water chestnuts, dried prawns and spring onions but I don’t have those with me so I omitted them. Instead I added shallots and breadcrumbs.

I was truly surprised with the results. It tasted better than I’ve anticipated! I guess what is more important is, they don’t disintegrate when I fry them… which was what happened to some of those I did in the past. Finally, I discovered the masking ingredient, which is the good ole white bread!

.

.

Ingredients

• 200g Lean meat (I used pork loin)
• 2 Shallots (finely chopped)
• 1.5pcs White bread (removed crust & cut into mini squares)
• 1tbsp Sunflower or Olive oil (original recipe asked for sesame oil)
• 2tbsp Corn flour
• 2 Egg yolks
• 2tbsp Breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper for taste

.

Methods

1. Clean and minced the meat until very fine and mix with all the other ingredients.
2. Use a spoon and scoop wanted amount and roll into balls. Compact the meat balls by throwing the balls into your palm a few times (this will help hold all the ingredients together).
3. Heat up a medium pan with half filled oil and deep fry the meat balls till cook and turned golden brown. Lift up and place them onto paper towel to absorb excess oil.