Crabby dinner

Crabby business.

Bought 2 crabs from Giant (i was on leave).

Costs less than $10.

Bought 2 hairy crabs for $4.50 each... the kind uncle gave me one that has the strings loosen FREE

Cooked 1 chilli crab and 1 steam crab with tung hoon (wrapped in lotus leaf)

for hairy crab, steam on its own with few slices of ginger.

Also made a Guiness beef stew. More about it later.

This is what we had for our anniversary dinner this year.

Stir fry yellow noodles

How can something so gooey and messy taste so good?!! Another of my 1-dish-wonder for a lazy Sunday afternoon lunch. Hubby went for soccer in the morning and i promise a hearty carbo packed lunch for him. The day before i cooked up a huge pot of chicken stock (more about it next time) and want to cook a dish that uses the fantastic stock. Went to NTUC and saw the yellow noodles on sale. 2 pack for $2 i think. So went ahead to buy it. I have the option of cooking noodle soup, fried noodle or noodle swimming in gravy. All versions require the same ingredients, just different way of cooking it.

Speaking of ingredients, i dont have much to prepare as well. Frozen slice squid is leftover from a previous steamboat session i have at home. Sliced and marinated pork is always available in my fridge. Whenever i buy a piece of pork from the supermarket, i will slice them all up, marinate them, pack them in several clean pastic bags and keep them in the freezer. Whenever i need pork, i will just take 1 pack from the freezer the night before, place it in the fridge and by the next day, it will be defrozed and i can use it for cooking. There is ten thousand ways to use it. I use this to cook porridge in the morning when i am in the hurry, cook instant noodles etc.

So I 'prepared' all the ingredients, waited for hubby to come back and ask him what type of noodles he want. He is so tired he opt for something that is easy-to eat. Fried noodles then. No messy gravy,  no piping hot soup to make him feel all sweaty after a cooling afternoon bath, something that can be eaten with just a fork in front of the tv.

What do you need?

- 1 packet of yellow noodles (serves 3)

- some sliced pork

- some sliced squid

- handful of baby kailan

- 1 beaten egg

- 1/2 cup of chicken stock

- Seasoning (oyster sauce, dark soya sauce, chinese wine, pepper, sesame seed oil)

- Garlic in oil

How to do it?
Heat pan and brown garlic in oil. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and fry pork and squid for 1 min (half cooked)
Add yellow noodles, 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1/2 tbsp of dark soya sauce, generous dash of pepper, 1/2 cup of chicken stock and mix well.
Cover pan with lid and let the noodles cook for 2-3 mins in medium heat.

Add kailan. Stir fry the noodles well and wait for all stock to evaporate.
Add chinese wine and fry until all wine is fully evaporated.

Pour beaten egg in cover with lid (no stirring) for 1 min. You will notice some egg will be cooked, some not.
Mix the egg into the noodle, the uncooked egg will coat the noodle into a gooey mess.
Drizzle sesame seed oil over noodles generously and serve.

Serves 2 hearty lunches, with a plateful leftover and i heat it up for lunch the next day! Yum!

Guo Tie

Always a big fan of Guo Tie (Potstick). Love the crispy skin and the juicy meat within.

I basically use the same ingredients as the Siew Mai.
Just different proportions, heavy on parsley and dried scrimps, light on mushroom and white fungus.

What do you need?
- Mince meat 200gm
- Diced prawn 150gm
- 1 chinese dried mushroom (soaked and diced)
- 1 black fungus (i use white, soaked and diced)
- 6 stalks of parsley
- 1 handful of dried scrimps (soaked and diced)
- 1 thumb sized of ginger (minced)
- Seasoning (soya sauce, pepper, wine, sesame oil)

For the skin, i use the receipe and method from Jas's Kitchen.

How to do it?
Heat pan with oil, place the gou tie upright to brown the bottom on low heat. Turn to side to achieve browning on both sides. When done, add 1/4 cup of water into pan, close the lid immediately and let it cook for 2-4 mins until water fully evaporates.

Serve with sliced ginger in dark vinegar (dilute with water and put a dash of sugar)

Siew mai

This is a giantic siew mai, cant tell from this close up picture, scroll to the bottom and upon comparision with the saucer, u will notice its twice your average size siew mai. I am 'forced' to make it so big as the wanton skin is very big. Its actually a dumpling skin. :D Its not normal dumpling skin, its shanghai dumpling skin. Its white in colour and its chewy compared to the normal yellow ones. Another great find in Carrefour!

What do you need?

Ingredients A:

- minced pork 200gm

- diced prawns 150gm

- 2 chinese mushroom (soaked and diced)

- 2 black fungus (i ran out so i used white ones instead)

- 3 stalks of Parsley (chopped finely - put aside some parsley leaves for deco)

- 1 thumb size of ginger (minced)

- some dried scrimps (soaked and finely chopped)

Other ingredients:

- Seasoning (Soya sauce, pepper, wine, oyster sauce, sesame seed oil)

- 1 tbsp of starch flour

- 2 tbsp of stock

- Dumpling skin

How to do it?

Put ingredient A into a big bowl, mix well.

Add seasoning, mix well. Add starch flour and stock.

Mix well for 5 - 10 minutes until the mixture is sticky and starchy.

Marinate for 30 mins in the fridge.

Wrap meat in dumpling skin. Put a parsley leaf on top for deco.

Heat water in pot, place siew mai into steam when water is boiling. Steam for 15 mins.

Yield 6 giant siew mai. Haha. 

Green curry soba noodles

Another brilliant idea of mine. Dinner for one as hubby is out for company bbq and drinks.

Plateful of leftovers...
- leftover Thai Green Curry
- leftover salad
- last handful of soba noodles

I first cook soba noodles in a pot of salted water for 3 - 5 mins until soft.
Microwave frozen green curry on high until its boiling hot.


Pour curry into plate, tear salad leaves into bit size, toss in soba noodles and mix well.....

Plate of delightful green curry soba noodles. Tastes fantastic!

Thai Green Curry

I always like green thai curry.
A dish that i order quite frequently when i dine at Thai Express.
I like the rich coconut taste, the spice and slightly sweet aftertaste.

Couple of weekend ago my MIL cooked Thai green curry using a singapore brand ready mix green curry taste. $2.00. Taste good.

I know that Carrefour has a corner for Thai foodstuff. Went to check it out and they have a ready made green curry paste that has Thai words on it. Imported from Thailand, must be authentic.
Cheaper than the Spore brand as well. Selling at $1.50.

i have 2 stalks of lemon grass in my freezer, so i decided to 'beef' up the taste a bit with extra lemon grass and onions...

Spiciness level: Singapore brand vs Thai brand: 5 vs 1

What do you need?
- 1 packet of green curry paste
- 1 stalk of lemon grass (bruised and chopped)
- 2 small red onion (diced)
- chicken (~500gm i use half pack of frozen chicken inner fillet)
- half pack of french beans
- 1 pack of coconut milk (small)
- 1 tbsp of sugar







How to do it?
Heat pan and add 1 tbsp of olive oil. Fry onion and lemon grass until onion becomes soft and golden brown.

Add green curry paste and fry for 3-5mins, this is to release the aroma and taste of the spices.

Add 2 cups of water and chicken meat. Mix well, cover pan with lid and simmer on low heat for 5 mins.

i like my green curry with sweet aftertaste so i added 1 tbsp of sugar. Mix well and adjust taste to your liking.

Add coconut milk and french beans. Cook for a further 5 mins and turn off heat. Do not over cook the coconut gravy.

Serve with lots of steaming white rice and 1 glass of ice cold water. Very spicy.

Winter Melon Soup

Another of my favourite soup for the following reasons:
1) its cheap, one piece 1 - 1.5 inch thick costs ard $2
2) it has a very subtle sweet taste
3) its easily available in the supermarket
4) its has cooling properties

What do you need?
- chicken bones of 1/2 chicken
- 1 piece of winter melon (ard 1 to 1.5 inch thick)
- wolfberry (1 handful)
- 5 dried dates
- 2 dried figs
- 6 small dried scallops

How to do it?
Blanch chicken bones with boiling water to remove the bloody water

In a big pot, bring water to boil (approx 2 - 3 litres)

Remove skin and seeds of winter melon, cut into 2 cm thick slices

Wash wolfberry, dates, figs and scallops

Dump all the ingredients into the pot of boiling water, bring to boil.

Cover with lid and continue to simmer for at least 1.5 - 2 hours on medium to low heat.

Can simmer up to 4 hours if you have the patience.

See the colour of the soup at the end of 2 hrs....

Yummy!