Bite On It!

Every time I never fail to loathe the pre-Lunar New Year weather. It has always been dry and hot especially up in this tiny island. Rainfalls are limited during this period and I am so thankful that my confinement is over!

Due to the hot weather, Darrius has been coughing again with more phlegm in his throat. I really hate to feed him more medication as his cough never seems to go away. I have cut down all the cookies and chocolate from his diet (he complained that he don’t get yummy treats in his bento now!) to avoid him from getting fever.

Therefore, this mommy has to be more hardworking now. Beside dishing out the regular 2 meals a day, I still have to boil some ‘cooling’ tea for the family.

Here is one of Darrius’s all time favorite:

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Ingredients

• 4 sticks Sugar cane (tiek-jia in Hokkien)
• 10pcs Water Chestnuts (cleaned and crushed)
• 1pc Loh hon kao
• 2.5 – 3 L Water
• 2 Sweet dates (optional)

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Method

1. Split the sugar cane and light crushed them with hammer so the ‘juice’ will come out easily, break the loh hon kao and crushed the water chestnuts.
2. When water boiled, put all ingredient in and boil for 1.5 hours on low fire.

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.

Though confinement is only for 30 or 40 days, it is still very important to have variations as it can be very boring to be eating the same few dishes day in day out for that one month period. During my first confinement, I had almost the same dishes everyday since both my mom and myself were not too sure which ingredient can be eaten at which period. Since this is our second time, things have sure improved.

The only thing is, this time we make it very simple since my mom has to take care of Darrius and my nephew. Therefore, I told her to cook all the simplest dishes she can think of beside the few which I requested. Here is another dish which I really like…

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Ingredients

• 300g Pork (the face section which is very smooth and tender) – sliced thinly
• 50g Ginger – thin strips
• 2-3 stalks Spring onions
• Corn flour + water solution (to marinade sliced pork)
• 3tbl Sesame seed oil
• Light soy sauce for taste

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Method

1. Heat up wok with sesame seed oil and saute the ginger till fragrant.
2. Toss in marinated sliced pork and stir till 70% cook. Add in spring onion which has been cut into 2″ sections.
3. Sprinkle some light soy sauce and stir till well mixed before serving.

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).