Bite On It!

With the unusually hot weather since the beginning of this year, I have made it a point to cook porridge or jook at least once a week to cool our body down beside boiling liong-cha. When Darrius started solid some 4 years ago, I will normally cook just a small pot solely for him since PiggyBeng is not a fan of porridge. To him porridge can’t fill his tummies (see the plural?) up so he prefered to have rice with dishes.

To many people, cooking porridge is simple and healthier as there are more water content in porridge as compared to cooked rice. Especially when we are sick, a hot bowl of porridge is so comforting!

I was never a fan of pumpkin until I was living in Perth many years ago. I was staying with my aunt then and there was once her neighbor gave her a huge pumpkin which she grew in her backyard. Both my aunt and I was cracking our heads on how to finish up such a huge pumpkin! So, I told my aunt why don’t we cook porridge with it since the weather was a little chilly then. It was an instant blast!

Then a uni-mate from Norway fell sick and she can’t seems to get food into her. So, I offered to cook her some pumpkin porridge with a few other ingredients and she fell in love instantly and told me she has never tasted anything as good as this!

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Ingredients

• 1.5 cup Rice (wash and drained)
• 3L Water
• 150g Pumpkin (you can put more if you like)
• 1 stick Carrot
• 2pcs Dried scallops
• 100g Groundnuts (washed and pre-boiled to remove dirts)
• 150g Mince meat (pork/chicken)
• 1tbsp Oil + salt to be added into rice and soak for 10 mins
• Salt for taste
• Lettuce & Egg omelette cut into strips for garnishing

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Method

1. In a pot, when water is boiling add in the soaked rice and let it boil.
2. Cut pumpkin and carrot into small cubes, wash the dried scallops and groundnuts before  tossing them into the pot.
3. For the mince meat, add a little salt and oil and let it marinate for 30 minutes or so.
4. Stir the porridge constantly every 15-20 minutes so it would not stick at the bottom.
5. Boil the porridge for an hour and when it gets thicken, add in the mince meat and stir so it won’t be a big lump.
6. Continue to let it boil for a while but constantly stirring to avoid the bottom from getting burnt.
7. Serve hot with lettuce and egg omelette strips.

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.

If you’ve noticed now is the Thai mango season here. We have been buying lots of mango over the last few weeks as all of us love them so much and without fail will indulge in some even when their prices are on the high side. PiggyBeng loves those Green Skin King Mango which is exceptionally crunchy and sweet even when the skin is still dark green in color.

I was shopping at one of the local supermarket chain when I saw that there was an assortment of Thai mango on promotion. Only RM2.90/kg which is so cheap! The Elephant Task looks really nice so I can’t resist getting some and thought I’ll do mango salad with them since I’ve chosen some really green and unripe ones. The sour and tangy feel gave me a really good vibes!

We have been eating too much meat lately so thought a salad dish will be good for the heart and the body!

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Ingredients

• 2-3 Mango (preferably the sour and unripe ones)
• 1/2 stick Carrot (optional) - I added in for color purposes
• 1 stalk Lemongrass
• 2-3 Shallot
• 2 Lime (take the juice and thinly sliced the rind)
• 1-2 Calamansi/Limau Kasturi (take the juice and thinly sliced the rind)
• Some Corriander (leaves only - finely chopped)
• 1-2tbsp Dried prawn - pan fried and chopped coarsely
• 2-3tbsp Dried shrimps (optional)
• 1 Chili padi - sliced thinly
• 2-3tbsp Fish sauce
• 3tbsp brown sugar
• A pinch of salt
• Some chili powder (optional)
• 1/4 cup Roasted peanuts (whole or coarsely chopped)

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Methods

1. In a low heated pan, simply pan-fried the dried shrimps and chopped dried prawns till it is slightly fragrant. Lift up and set aside.
2. Sliced the shallot, lemongrass (just the head), coriander leaves, chili padi, lime and calamansi rinds very thinly.
3. Slice away the mango skin and shred them into thin strips. Do the same for carrot if you are adding them.
4. Put everything into a big mixing bowl and add in brown sugar, fish sauce, lime and calamansi juice and some salt. Mix well before adding the roasted peanuts and mix once more before serving.
5. Best if served right away or else the juice from the mango will ‘wet’ the mixture.

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If you can get hold of some ginger flowers, you can add them in too as they will give the salad a better taste.

I used to buy pumpkin on a weekly basis last time when Darrius was still on porridge. I cut down after he moved on to rice so I only buy once in a while. I normally steam a few slices in the rice cooker and smash it up with the rice and serve it to Darrius. Pumpkin is highly nutritional and good for kids as well as adults.

There was still a big portion left after a week so I decided to cook this dish, one of my favorite pumpkin dish. Not sure where this dish originate from but I learned it from my mom.

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Ingredient

• 200g Golden pumpkin (cut into thick slice)
• 30g Dried prawns (soften by crushing them in a mortar & pestle)
• 1tbsp Garlic (corsley chopped)
• 1tbsp Brown sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• Light soy sauce for taste

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Method

1. Heat up wok with some oil and fry the dried prawns till fragrant. Lift them up and keep aside.
2. Add some more oil to the wok and pan fry the pumpkin slices till golden brown. Lift up and set aside.
3. Add oil to the wok again and saute the chopped garlic till fragrant. Toss in the pumpkin, stir and add in the brown sugar. Add in water, stir and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Toss in the dried prawns and continue to stir before adding some light soy sauce. Lift up and serve.

It was the Lunar New Year a few weeks back and here in Penang, majority of the people will have steamboat for their reunion dinner which is the meal on the eve of the Lunar New Year. However, we did not have any steamboat this year as we went to celebrate the occasion with my parents in Ipoh.

Then we went to KL on the 9th Day of the Lunar New Year for almost 2 weeks. During our stay in KL, my mom managed to whip up a few meals for us to enjoy. During one of the meals she boiled this really yummy Chinese cabbage soup using a particular Chinese cabbage which is only available during this festive season… well, according to her lar!

So, upon returning to Penang, I have to do some marketing to stock up for the week and I found this particular cabbage selling in Tesco. Since the weather is extremely hot here, having cabbage soup is ideal since it has a cooling effect (according to the Chinese lar).

I bought some fish maw during our pre-CNY  groceries shopping and since we did not get to use them for reunion dinner I added them into the cabbage soup instead. These gave the soup more fragrance.

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This cabbage looks a little different as compared to the regular Chinese cabbage

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Ingredients

• 1 whole Chinese cabbage peel and cit into half
• 2 sticks Carrot (cut into small blocks)
• 250g Pork ribs
• 2L Water
• 10-12 Red dates (de-seed)
• 6-8 pcs Dried oysters
• Some Dried cuttlefish
• 50g Fish maw
• Salt for taste

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Methods

1. Heat up water in a pot and put in pork ribs when it boils. Let it boil for a while and remove all the scums.
2. Add in the red dates, dried cuttlefish, dried oysters and carrot and let them boil on slow heat for about 30 minutes. Add in the Chinese cabbage and continue to boil till it is soft… approximately for another hour.
3. In a separate saucepan, boil some water and blanch the pre-soaked fish maw for about 5 minutes. Don’t have to cook too long as the gelatin will melt away.
4. When the soup is done (around 1.5 to 2 hours) add in some salt for taste and toss in the the soften fish maw for another 10 minutes on high heat. Serve.