Bite On It!

During this confinement, I get to drink more soup than my previous one. I told my mom that I wish to try food that I did not get to eat the last time and was glad that my mom was so accommodating!

Besides the shallots and lemongrass soup I had, my mom also boiled some black beans with chicken feet soup. The great thing is, the whole family can enjoy this soup together!

One thing I like about KL is, some of the wet markets around my mom’s place has got good stuff selling. There is this poultry stall at the Yulek wet market which my mom frequent has really nice chickens. I like the size of their chicken wings and chicken feet… always in L or XL size as compared to those in Penang… always in S or M size!

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Ingredients

• 300g Black beans (you can put more if you like)
• 10sets Chicken feet
• 10pcs Red dates (optional)
• 2L Water
• Salt for taste

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Method

1. Dry pan fry the black beans until you can see the husk starting to break up. Lift up and set aside.
2. Boil water and put in all the ingredients and boil for at least 2 hours. Add salt for taste but if it is for confinement, usually we omit the salt.

During my previous confinement I took a lot of glutinous rice wine chicken which was the more soupy version as my mom made her own glutinous rice wine then. This time, she did not have the time to do it herself so she ordered from a friend. The taste was not as good…

Anyway, in most confinement menu, glutinous rice wine chicken is one of the most common dish so that means we could never go without! Since the wine was not as tasty as before, my mom did the stir fried version instead which uses less of the wine.

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Ingredients

• 1 Free range chicken (chopped into small pieces)
• 300g Ginger (coarsely chopped)
• 3tbsp Sesame seed oil
• 1cup Glutinous rice wine
• 1/2cup Water
• Salt for taste

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with sesame seed oil and saute chopped ginger till fragrant.
2. Put in chicken pieces and stir fry till cook and add in some water, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally on medium fire.
3. Pour in the glutinous rice wine and continue to stir and let it simmer without covering the wok till sauce thicken.
4. Add in salt for taste (optional).

I was asking mom why she did not cook any vegetables for me and she said I can’t take any vegetables yet until 7 days post partum. The weather was pretty unforgiving the past weeks with lots of rain which resulted in the availability and rising cost of vegetables in the market. Since mom has limited stuff to cook this time (also due to all the yadda-yadda of not to cook this ingredients or that ingredients), she has to find alternatives.

Luckily in my mom’s small garden, there were some ‘Ngai’ plants growing (I don’t have the scientific name for this plant) but the leaf’s shape is like those of chrysanthemum. It was believed that these green leafy has the ‘wind expelling’ agent similar to Basil leaf. It tasted a little bitter but have a very fragrant aroma. To make it taste even better, my mom added them into egg omelette together with some glutinous rice wine… and it is yummy!

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Ingredients

• 2 Eggs
• 50g ‘Ngai’ leaf
• 1tsp Glutinous rice wine
• Salt for taste
• Sesame seed oil

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Methods

1. Heat up wok with some sesame seed oil and stir fry the ‘Ngai’ leaves for about 1 minute on medium fire.
2. Beat egg, add in salt and pour onto the leaves to form omelette.
3. When omelette is turning golden, sprinkle the glutinous rice wine over and serve hot.

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.

Wow! It has been 2 months since I last posted anything here! My sincere apology!

Well, currently I am 2 weeks post natal and I am still on confinement. There are still a lot of adjustment needed juggling 2 kids now and in another 2 weeks, I will be on my own when I return home to Penang. I can’t imagine my days ahead!

I count my blessings as my mom is helping me with my confinement now so I know I am in good hands. This time we decided to do it as simple as possible since my mom is baby sitting my nephew and also helping me to care for Darrius as I am not allowed to do heavy chores. One of the things I enjoyed during this period is of course those yummy confinement food which we can’t really consume when we are not in confinement! As most of these dishes are rated as ‘extremely heaty’ during normal days, some of us only can take them once in a while while not in confinement.

Since I don’t get to eat these special dishes all the time, I just want to share it with those of you who are looking for some simple yet delicious confinement dishes which you can incorporate into your confinement menu especially for those of you who did not engage a confinement lady to help. One of my favorite is this peppered pork dish which I have been having almost any other day!

The other reason why I prefer to have pepper over ginger is because my baby is suffering from newborn jaundice and I was ‘advised’ by some to limit my ginger intake for the first 10 days post natal.

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Ingredients

• 200g Pork loin (Sliced thinly and slightly knocked with the back of a cleaver)
• 10g Peppercorns (crushed)
• 3tbsp  Sesame seed oil
• Light soy sauce for taste
• Corn starch
• 1tbsp Glutinous rice wine (optional)

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Methods

1. Cut the pork loin into thin slices, knocked with the back of cleaver and marinade with the crushed peppercorns, some light soy sauce and some glutinous rice wine for 15 minutes.
2. Heat up sesame seed oil in frying pan, sprinkle some corn starch onto the sliced marinated pork before frying on medium low heat till cook.