Soup of the day: 西洋菜汤

What i used:

西洋菜，枸杞子，排骨，蜜枣。

HK wantan Mee soup

I made my own stock with a handful of soya bean, around 4 tblsp silver fish, chicken bones. Boiled for 3hrs... season with fish sauce for taste.

Mr sim said the HK wantan noodles he had @ the HK cafe tasted very nice.. QQ de.. just like the kind he like.. and so i am on the look out for such noodles for him.

Few days back, am shopping @ Jurong point. I saw this noodles and the picture caught my attention.. look kind of familiar and for such a big pack.. it cost $2.50... so decided to buy and let him try it.

@ the back of it, its stated can use it to stir fry as well... mmm well shall tried it next time..

verdict: The texture of the noodles is similiar to a HK brand instant noodles version of noodles. Over all taste not bad.

Presenting to YOU.... Mrs sim. wantan mee....

Step by step: Making of wantan..

For a rough guide:

I used 150g minced meat

1 stalk spring onion

2 water chestnut

1 small finger lenght carrot

For the wantan skin:

i bought it from the market $0.50

(yield 17 pieces)

Homemade chilli paste

Few months back, i recieved an email..asking me am i so & so... it seem familiar but i don't recall who is it. P was my ex-colleague my lunch buddy when i am working. And she will always nag @ me like a mother. Especially with the amount of chilli i took everytime during lunch. This mad Mrs sim even put chilli into congee and she was SHOCKED when she saw that... hahaha

After some catching up, she asked if i am still so mad over chilli... -_-" haha
i told her i would love to BUT i somehow gave up on sambal chilli esp those with dry shrimps in.. due to allergy :(

Ok cut short the story..

she told me, her family had a recipe that is prefectly suitable for me.... WOW... how can i reject.. is family recipe... haha

so i decided to try it out....

P. IF u r reading.. i want to tell u.. I LOVE YOU la... the chilli is as good as you describe to make me so tempted to try it out...
Its only the amount of oil that freak me off... BUT i remembered your advise.. its important to have the oil....

Pasta soup -chinese style

Doesn't know what to eat outside.
so decided to cook some macaroni soup BUT... we doesn't have any macaroni leave.. so decided to replace with the pasta we leave from the previous time... add in whatever is in the freezer...

not very healthy but enough to satisfy Mr. sim.

Braised meat

--------------------
Ingredients:

500g meat
( depends on what kind of meat you perfer)

1 box of quail egg - boiled & removed the shells)
* you can use large eggs if you like.

2 piece of tou foo

1 pack of braised meat sauce
*( take out 4tsp from it to marinate the meat)optional

8 cloves of garlic - smashed with its skin on

1 tblsp cooking oil

800ml water


Tips:

1. when boiling the egg, put it 1 tsp of salt. It will make peeling of the eggs a easier job.

2. Soak the tou foo in water with a pinch of salt before use. It will make the toufoo firmer and won't smash/break into tiny pieces so easily.


Preperation work:

I marinated the meat with 4 tsp of the braised paste. Leave it aside for @ least 30min.

soak the tou foo in salt water while waiting for the meats to be done.

Method:



1. Heat oil in pot and stir fried the garlic till fragrant. Add in the meat to stir fry.


2. once the meat are almost cooked, add in water and braise meat. Cook it on high heat for 10min.


3. Add in the egg & toufoo, make sure the sauce is enough to cover it.

4. Braise it for 1 to 2hr depending on the size of your meat under low heat.


* You can add in other ingredients that you will like to have.
* If you intend to left the gravy overnight, REMEMBER to heat it up before storing it.
* The balanced gravy can be kept in freezer for later use.

--------------------

I used some of the gravy to make braise rice...

Product review: Hai brand braise sauce ( paste).

I had seen this brand of braised sauce(paste) for month and i told myself i must try it one day and this day finally arrived. Its very fragrant & not too salty. I would said its a very good helper to make good braised if you are thinking what to use. Its spice taste isn't overly done. Just the kind of braise sauce that i made myself.

I had an instruction on how to use it and amount of ingredients to use.
And it came in a paste form. If you don't need so much amount, i believed you can just cut half of it and keep the balance in the freezer in ziplock bag or air tigher container.

For those interested to try it, you can follow it but i didn't... i followed my own amount of ingredients and used the paste as my stepping stone.