Bite On It!

The other day we went to the old Sunshine Farlim which has been converted into a warehouse style of wet market cum hypermarket to get some stuff for the coming Lunar New Year. The place was rather quiet though it was about 5pm in the evening on a weekend.

Though the conversion was less than a year, a few tenants have moved… probably due to the poor patronage. There used to be a few vege sellers occupying the ‘wet market’ area but now it was left with 2 or 3 sellers only. Business was brisk that day though..

After we gotten what we intended to buy, we went to check out some of these vege stalls and I saw some very fresh ku-chai or chives. It has been a while since I cook chives and I kinda miss it so decided to get a bundle.

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Ingredients

• 2 Eggs
• 50g Chives
• 50g Shrimps (shelled)
• Salt & pepper for taste

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Method

1. Heat up frying pan with some oil (put more if you’re not using non-stick pan).
2. When oil is hot, toss the shrimps in and stir fry lightly for a minute before tossing in the chives (cut into 1″ section) and stir fry for another minute.
3. Beat eggs in a bowl, add in some salt and pepper.
4. Pour in the fried shrimps and chives into the bowl of beaten eggs and mix them well.
5. Add new oil into the frying pan and when it is heated up, pour in the egg mixture and fry the omelette till golden brown.

I think more and more people are taking soupy dishes for their confinement these days as preparing soup is more convenient compared to other stir-fried dishes. However, many of the more traditional lots still believe that soup should only be taken earliest 7 days postpartum. That also depending on the types of ingredients used in the soup.

This time round, my mom prepared this simple and easy soup using shallots and lemongrass. She told me these two ingredients has the function of expelling ‘wind’ from the stomach so it is extremely good for me since I have a natural birth. I was lucky that my mom managed to buy some free range chickens for preparing this particular soup.

After taking this soup I can feel my tummy starts to work… yeah…. can feel the gas escaping!

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Ingredients
(2 meals)

• 1 Chicken (medium sized free range chicken)
• 10-12 bulbs Shallots
• 4-5 sticks Lemongrass (use the head and slightly smashed)
• 1L Water
• Salt for taste

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Methods

1. Wash and cut chicken into  sections. Remove skin if you want a less oily soup but most free range chicken are never too fat…
2. Boil water and place shallots and lemongrass in and let it boil for 20 minutes before placing the chicken pieces in and let it boil for another hour. Alternatively, you can place everything into a double boil pot and double boil for about 2 hours.

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.

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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

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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.

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.

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Ingedients

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

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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.

We had steamed fish at least 2-3 times a week, at the very least. Sometimes we had it like 5 times! My PiggyBeng feels that steamed fish is better as the juice from the fish will not ‘evaporate’ away so the nutritional value will be in the sauce. Well, I’m not too sure about that but I kinda get sick of steamed fish if we have it too often.

Another reason for steaming food is that our kitchen will stay grease free for a longer period. Therefore, there will be less cleaning up to do.

So, to get away from the ordinary, I decided to do some pan-fried fish for a change. Something simple and something my Darrius will like. Which is something with ketchup!

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Ingredients

• 1 slice Fish fillet (I used Barramundi/Siakap)
• 1/4 cup Frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 Bombay onion (the purplish type) - sliced
• 2tbsp Ketchup
• 1tsp Corn flour
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1tsp Light soy sauce
• Dash of pepper

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Methods

1. Wash the fish fillet and dry it with a paper towel. Sprinkle some corn flour all over both surfaces (this will avoid the fish from sticking to the frying pan)
2. Heat up frying pan with some oil. Make sure the oil in the pan is hot (you can see steam coming up) before you lie the fish on the pan. Fty till both sides turned golden brown. Lift up and set aside.
3. Using the same pan, saute the sliced onion and then the mixed vegetables until 80% cooked.  Pour in the ketchup mixed together with corn flour, light soy sauce, water and a dash of pepper and cook till boil.
4. Put the fish fillet onto the sauce and let it boil for a while before lifting it up and serve.