laypohlas' cooking recipes

Oriental Drunken Salmon

2010-09-04T11:48:00.005-05:00

I was bored one day and decided to create something with little imagination and work. If I can do it, you can do it too! I wanted to finish off the Frozen Salmon Fillets I have in the freezer. Mind you, it's frozen because Lincoln, Nebraska is not surrounded by any form of liquid entity! This is something that I ate with rice, I believe you can eat it just like that but for me I like it with rice because of the soy sauce and rice wine.

What you need:-

Salmon fillet (defrosted, I used 3 fillets)
2 pieces of garlic (chopped)
2 Spring onion stalks (Chopped into 1-inch pieces)
2 tbsp of soy sauce
3-6 tbsp of rice wine (to your liking)
2 pinch of black pepper
1 tsp of sesame oil

What you need to do:-

Heat pan with vegetable oil at medium heat.
Fry the garlic until it comes to a shade of almost golden brown.
Fry the spring onions together with the garlic for about 1 minute.
Put in the salmon fillet and let cook for 2-3 minutes. Flip to the other side and do the same.
Put in soy sauce and sesame oil. Flip the fillet again and mix with the sauce.
Put in rice wine, flip the fillet and mix around. Flip for about 2 more times. Add in more rice wine if you want to, just not too much until you hinder the taste of the soy sauce.

Easy Peesy right? Enjoy~! (:

Stir fry cucumbers with beef balls

2010-09-04T11:47:00.008-05:00

This is a really random dish I made. Didn't want the cucumbers to go bad, had alot of beef balls I don't know what to do with. So what do you do? Make them into a very simple dish. Personally, I would have done a different type of cucumber dish but for now, I'm just going to share a cucumber dish that was really random! =P

What you need:-

2-3 pieces of chopped garlic
1 cucumber (diced)
5-8 beef balls (halfed)
1 shallot (chopped)
1 and a 1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tbsp of water

What you need to do:-

Wash and dice the cucumber.
Cut the beef balls into halves.
Heat the pan with vegetable oil on med-high heat, when hot enough, put in chopped garlic and shallots. Fry this until aromatic or golden brown.
Put the beef balls in and stir fry together with the garlic and shallots for about 5 minutes.
Put in diced cucumbers. Sti-fry for 3-5 minutes. (Make sure the cucumbers are not too hard nor too soft)
Add in oyster sauce and water. Fry for another 3-5 minutes.
Plate and serve!

Pan Fried Honey BBQ Pork Chops

2010-09-04T11:47:00.007-05:00

Went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner one day, had left over mashed potato and bread from the place. So to compliment the mashed potato, I've decided to make pork chops wtih honey BBQ sauce. And this may sound a little too full of myself, but it was a really good amateur BBQ pork chops I've ever had! haha. It's real easy. Here goes it!

What you need:-

2 pieces of pork chop (any size you want it)
A handful of button mushrooms
3-5 tbsp of KC Master's Honey BBQ Sauce
A pinch of pepper
A dash of basil flakes
1 piece of chopped garlic

What you need to do:-

Heat the pan with oil. (olive oil would be an excellent choice for this particular cookery)
Put in chopped garlic and stir fry until almost golden brown.
Placed pork chops in pan. Season with pepper and basil flakes. Add oil when needed to make sure it does not burn.
After 8 minutes or so, flip the pork chops to the other side.
Put in the mushrooms on the sides of the pan and stir fry them by the side. Again, season with pepper and basil flakes.
Once again, flip the pork chops to the other side and keep doing this back and forth for every 2 minute interval to prevent them from burning and at the same time to make sure that the meat cooks. (Rare porks are not advisable to be eaten)
When your pork chops are thoroughly cooked, add the honey BBQ sauce. You could put in two tbsp of water if you find the sauce too thick for your liking.
Keep this on the stove for another 3-5 minutes to allow the sauce to blend with the meat and the mushroom. Make sure you keep stirring during this process to make sure the sauce don't burn on your pan.
Plate by putting the pork chops on the plate first and top with the sauce and the mushrooms.

Voila~! You are done! Easy right? Have fun cooking! (:

Sambal Tofu with Minced Pork Dish

2010-09-04T11:46:00.006-05:00

This is the first tofu dish I've ever made. I've never ever thought of making dishes using tofu but my American-Chinese housemate makes tofu dishes a whole lot and that got me going with making dishes using tofu since then. Tofu are inexpensive and rich in protein (good source for vegetarians). This tofu dish that I made is done using a Sambal paste I got from Malaysia but sambal paste are readily available in local oriental markets, I believe. The one I use is a Malacca Traditional Nyonya Sambal Paste and I really love the taste of it. But I believe any type of sambal works! Here goes the recipe for this easy tofu dish!

What you need:-

85g of Tofu
11oz of ground minced pork
2 tbsp of Sambal paste
2-3 stalks of spring onion (chopped)
2-3 pieces of garlic (chopped)
2 tsp of sesame oil
2 pinch of black pepper
1 pinch of salt

What you need to do:-

Mince the pork. Season with a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper and a teaspoon of sesame oil. Mix well. Set aside.
Cut the tofu into slices. Thickness of tofu is up to your preference.
Heat vegetable oil in pan. Fry the garlic until you can smell it or until it's close to turning golden brown.
Put the minced pork in and break it apart with your spatula on the pan into small pieces. Cook pork for 8-10 minutes or until it's not red anymore.
Add in the spring onions. Stir fry the three of these for 5 minutes or so.
Add in the sliced tofu and mix with the rest of the ingredients for 10 minutes.
Add in the sambal paste, black pepper, sesame oil and salt to taste.
Stir-fry for another 5-10minutes.
Plate and serve!

Enjoy! (:

Creamy Mushroom Sauce Bowtie Pasta

2010-06-20T19:41:00.002-05:00

This recipe was inspired by a pasta dish I had at Cheesecake Factory and also how my mom makes white sauce pasta. It's not a replica of that pasta dish but simply something I created by incorporating what I had in the kitchen. This is really a simple recipe to try out. Thanks mom and Cheesecake Factory! ;P

What you need:-

1 can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup
16 oz of Bowtie pasta (or any type of pasta of your choice)
4 sausages
3/4 cup of frozen peas and carrots
Half a can of button mushrooms
Oregano flakes
Black pepper
A pinch of salt
Chopped garlic (3 cloves)
Chopped onions (1/2 of an onion)
Olive oil

What you need to do:-

Boil pasta in a pot of water until cooked.
Heat pan with 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and fry chopped garlic and chopped onions.
Add in sausages and mushrooms and fry together with garlic and onion.
Add in peas and carrots.
Add in cream of mushroom. Dilute with abit of water. Keep stirring.
Add in cooked pasta. Mix together with ingredients and sauce. Add more water if needed but don't make it too watery.
Add in a dash of black pepper, oregano flakes and a pinch of salt to taste. Mix well and let it cook for another 5-10 minutes.
Ready to serve!

I hope you enjoy making and eating this. It's easy to cook and it's an all-in-one! carbs, protein, vitamins and minerals...I think! xD

Baked Lemon Basil Tilapia

2010-06-20T19:17:00.005-05:00

This recipe is something I just created with what I had. I didn't feel like cooking or have anything asian. I decided to just marinade and let the oven do the rest! It's really simple and requires minimal effort.

What you need:-

2 tilapia fillet ( or any fish fillet of your choice)
1 lemon
Basil flakes
Crushed red peppers (dried flakes)
Black pepper
Salt
Chopped garlic (2 cloves of garlic)
Chopped onion (1/4 of onion)
1 teaspoon of butter
Broccoli (or any other vegetable you'd like to bake together with the fish fillets)

What you need to do:-

Prepare marinade by chopping garlic and onions. Melt one teaspoon of butter. Slice half a lemon and save the other half for later.
Wrap an oven-friendly ware such as a cookie sheet or a brownie pan with aluminium foil. Be sure to have enough foil to wrap up (bag it) the ingredients on the pan.
Coat the foil with cooking spray.
In a large shallow bowl, put the fish fillets in. Add in the melted butter, spreading it all over the fillets. Squeeze the other half of the lemon all over the fillets.
Add in chopped garlic and chopped onions, basil flakes, crushed red peppers, a pinch of black pepper and a pinch of salt. (you can add in more salt if you find it not salty enough)
Add in the broccoli cuts and start mixing everything together. Let sit for 30 mins.
Place all the mixed ingredients into the coated alumium foil.
Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. If you find it still not cook thoroughly then bake for another 20 minutes or until it's cook to your liking.

Easy, no? The lemon helps to get rid some of the fishy smell if you don't like that fishy smell or taste. But this is just something easy to make. Have fun with this!

Kuih Kodok/Banana Fritters

2010-06-06T17:27:00.004-05:00

This was a really random recipe cooking decision. I felt like eating something that's sold at the road stalls around the housing areas. Such as keropok lekor, goreng pisang, goreng cempedak and all those oily, bad for heart but yummy Malay snacks! But being lazy, I've decided to make Kuih Kodok. This is a really easy thing to make. So here goes...

What you need:-

5-7 big ripe bananas (the more the better!)
1 and 1/2 cup of flour
1 and 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
1 egg @ room temperature
Water
Vegetable oil

What you need to do:-

Break bananas into small pieces and place into a big mixing bowl.
Add in flour, egg and sugar.
Add in a bit of water, I would estimate about 1/4 cup of water. Not too much because you want the batter to be thick and not watery. So I would say add a little first.
Use a big wooden spoon to mix and stir until well blended. Add in more water if needed.
Heat up vegetable oil in wok.
When the oil is heated at medium-low heat, scoop up tablespoons of batter into the heated wok.
You can shape the batter anyway you want it to be. I didn't really care and just put it into the oil. It came out oval-like shape.
Deep fry until golden brown.

Egg Drop Soup

2010-05-21T23:42:00.005-05:00

This serving makes = 10 if you serve in small bowls

This soup is a really common soup in the Chinese restaurants in US. Usually it comes in a lunch set or you can order it on its own. I used to fancy ordering the egg drop soup until I actually made one myself. since then, I always request for Hot and Sour Soup instead of the Egg Drop Soup. I found a recipe for the Hot and Soup Soup but it requires more ingredients and as of now, I'm lazy to go scout for the ingredients! Otherwise, here's a fairly simple Egg Drop Soup recipe.

What you need:-

3 eggs, lightly beaten
6-7 cups of water
1/2 cube of Knorr's Chicken cube, diluted in 3 tbsp of water (chicken stock)
1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
1 cup of frozen peas and carrots
3 tbsp of corn starch, diluted in 1/2 cup of water
1/2 tsp of sesame oil
salt to taste
shredded chicken meat, tofu are optional ingredients

What you need to do:-

In a saucepan, heat chicken stock with water for about 1-2 minutes.
Add in white pepper, salt and sesame oil. Cook for another minute.
Stir in cornstarch and remove from the heat while still stirring.
Slowly pour in lightly beaten eggs and slowly stir with a fork in a clockwise direction to form the shreds of eggs.
Place back the pan on the stove.
Add in peas and carrots, chicken meat or tofu.
Cook until it comes to a slight boil.

Enjoy your homemade Egg Drop Soup! (:

Stir-fry Ginger Wine Shrimp

2010-05-20T00:22:00.005-05:00

Anything with Rice Wine in chinese cooking sounds mighty awesome. I enjoy eating dishes with a dash of rice wine to enhance the aroma and the taste of the dish. Here is a dish I made to satisfy my tastebuds. Quick and easy!

What you need:-

300-500 g of shrimp
2 pieces of sliced Ginger (average sized)
3 stalks of spring onion (chopped)
2-3 pieces of chopped garlic
1/2 cup of rice wine
1-2 tbsp of osyter sauce
3 pinch of black pepper
2 tsp of sesame oil

What you need to do:-

Clean shrimp. De-shell. You can keep the shrimp tail on if you want to.
Heat pan. Fry garlic and ginger until it emits the aroma of both or till it's going golden brown.
Put in the shrimps with the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for about 5 minutes.
Add in the oyster sauce, rice wine, sesame oil and black pepper.
Add in more rice wine for your preference.
Add in the chopped spring onions and stir-fry for another 10 minutes.
Plate and serve!

Honey Dew Sago

2010-05-20T00:01:00.005-05:00

Honey Dew Sago is really refreshing on a hot summer's day. I made this for a potluck session I had with my friends once upon a time. Main equipment needed is a blender! Otherwise, you're good to go after getting the necessary ingredients! I plan to make a creamy version some time in the future but as of now, here goes the recipe for Honey Dew Sago tong sui (dessert soup)!

What you need:-

1 Honeydew Melon
1 cup of Sago (Tapioca pearls)
1/2 - 1 cup of Sugar
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of Santan (coconut milk)
1/2 tsp salt
1 bunch of pandan (screwpine) leaves knotted together

What you need to do :-

Boil the sago for about 5 minutes. Drain it. Soak in cold water 1-2 minutes. Boil again. Repeat until transparent.
Cut the melon into small cubes. (Half a melon) Add 1/2-1 cup of water into the blender together with the melon cubes and blend until it's all liquid.
Dice the remaining half of the melon.
Combine the blended melon juice together with the diced melon from step 3.
Add in the 1 cup of santan.
Add in the cooled sago.
Pour in sugar syrup little by little. (To make the sugar syrup - put 1/2 cup of water and sugar into a small saucepan with pandan leaves and boil to make syrup)
Add salt to bring out the sweetness of the tong sui.

Enjoy the summer's cooling dessert! (:

Triple Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins

2010-05-16T16:04:00.007-05:00

This serving makes = 12

I've only started baking in November of 2009. Still fairly new with baking. Bear with me. (: Here is one of the simplest muffin recipe I've baked thus far. I call it the triple chocolate oatmeal muffin due to the fact that I had three different types of chocolate chips in the muffins. Milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and butterscotch chips (let's just consider this as one of the chocolates >_<). The muffins turned out really white (I think it might've been the milk? I could be wrong) and it's best eaten warm. really.

What you need:-

1 cup of milk
1 cup of Quacker's oats
1 egg
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
1/4 granulated sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup of white chocolate chips
1/2 cup of butterscotch chips

What you need to do:-

In a small bowl, soak the oats in milk for about 15 minutes or more.
Preheat oven to 375-400F. Usually I preheat 5 mins before I put the tray in the oven. Trying to minimize electricity wastage.
Grease muffin cups.
In a different bowl, beat egg and oil together. Stir in oatmeal mixture.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together.
Stir the flour mixture into the bowl of oatmeal mixture until well combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips into the batter. (you can add more chocolate chips to your liking)
Spoon the batter into the separate muffin cups until 2/3 full.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy! (:

Fried Bihun

2008-08-11T23:30:00.000-05:00

In my previous post, it was a recipe for bihun soup. This time around let's look at how to make another simple bihun meal, fried bihun. This is really easy to make and delicious too!

What you need:-

About 100-200g of bihun noodle
2 eggs
3 pieces of chicken breast tenderloins
2-3 cabbage leaves
1 carrot
3 pieces of garlic
Pepper
Dark soy sauce
Light soy sauce

What you need to do:-

Soak bihun noodle in water for about 15-20 mins until soft.
Chop the garlic.
Wash the chicken breast tenderloins and slice them into pieces.
Wash the cabbage leaves and shred them into long pieces. The same is done for the carrot. I have uploaded a sample picture on how I shreded the cabbage and carrot.
Heat pan. Pour in about 3 tablespoon of vegetable oil or more if you like.
Crack the 2 eggs and fry stir fry them.
When eggs are about to cook, add the chopped garlic into the pan as well and stir fry together.
Then add in the sliced chicken.
About 5-10 mins later add in the carrot and cabbage. Stir fry all of these together for about 10 mins.
Add in the bihun. This is when you bring in chopsticks to stir fry with the spatula.
Add in about a teaspoon on pepper, 3-4 tablespoon of light soy sauce and 2-3 tablespoon of dark soy sauce. Mix them thoroughly with the bihun. Taste and if it's not salty enough you can add more.
Stir fry for about 10 mins or so and your done! (:

Bihun noodle soup

2008-08-11T23:13:00.000-05:00

Feel like eating something soupy but sick of instant noodles? Try making bihun noodle soup then! It's real easy to do too!

What you need:-

About 60g of Bihun noodle
3-4 pieces of catfish nuggets
Pork balls
Fish balls
Chicken stock/chicken bones
Lettuce
One egg
Salt
Pepper
Cilantro
Fried shallots

What you need to do:-

Soak the bihun noodle in water for about 15-20 minutes until its soft.
Slice the catfish nuggets into small pieces.
Wash lettuce.
Using a small pot (the regular size used to make instant noodles), boil water.
When water starts boiling add in 1 cube of chicken stock or if you're planning to use chicken bones.
When the chicken broth is ready, add about half a teaspoon of salt for taste. If the taste is not enough for you add more to your liking.
Then add in the sliced catfish, pork balls and fish balls (quantity of pork balls and fish balls to your liking, slice into half if you must, that's what I did).
Crack an egg into the boiling broth.
When egg is about cooked, add the bihun and lettuce in. Season with a pinch of pepper.
Done! Pour into bowl and garnish with cilantro and fried shallots! yum yum!

Spicy Teriyaki Chicken Wrap

2008-07-31T14:56:00.000-05:00

I've recently started making my own wraps to eat for lunch. So the other day I made spicy teriyaki chicken to put in the wrap. It's a really simple yet satisfying lunch!

What you need:-

Tortilla wraps
Chicken breast
Basil flakes
Pepper
Chilli powder
Teriyaki marinade sauce
Lettuce
Shredded Parmesan cheese

What you need to do:-

Wash the chicken breast and slice into strips.
Marinade the chicken strips with one and a half tablespoon of chilli powder, a pinch of pepper, a pinch of basil flakes and 2 tablespoons of teriyaki marinade sauce. Leave overnight in the fridge.
Next day, spread butter/margarine on the tortilla wrap and heat in pan for 2-3mins on both sides.
Take out and put on plate and spread the shredded parmesan cheese over it while it's still hot so it would melt eventually.
Fry the chicken strips until cook.
Put cooked chicken strips onto the wrap and add in few leaves of lettuce.
Ready to eat!

Peking Pork

2008-07-15T15:18:00.000-05:00

This is one of those easy made dishes with the aid of Lee Kum Kee's sauce. This time around I tried the Peking sauce to make a Peking style pork dish.

What you need:-

300g of pork meat
4-5 pieces of Garlic (take note: not cloves)
Ginger (about 3-4cm long, sorry didn't measure weight)
Pepper
White onion (sweet onion) or Leek

What you need to do:-

Wash the pork meat and then slice them into pieces.
Peel ginger skin off and slice ginger into pieces.
Chop garlic, or you can leave them in big chunks of garlic.
Slice onion/leek. (I used onion)
Heat oil in pan.
Stir fry the ginger and the garlic first until it turns into a tinge of golden brown.
Then add the onions and the pork meat.
Now stir fry all together for about 10-15 minutes.
Add in Lee Kum Kee's peking sauce.
Stir fry together with sauce for another 10 minutes or so.
Add in a little water if you want to.
Ready to serve. Garnish with cilantro. Ta-dah~!

Cilantro pork balls

2008-07-05T23:17:00.001-05:00

Only because I have excessive Cilantro, I decided to use it whenever the chance I get to do so. Today I did a potato pork ball dish. However I forgot to snap a picture of the potato dish so I won't be posting that recipe for now. But here's how I made my cilantro pork balls. If you don't like cilantro then you could just leave them out.

What you need:-

Ground pork meat
Cilantro
All purpose flour

What you need to do:-

Mince the pork until you're satisfied with how minced it is. It's entirely up to you on how many pork balls you would wanna make.
Chop cilantro. Really chop them finely.
Take a fair amount of minced meat and fill it with a small pinch of cilantro.
Shape the minced meat into a ball.
Roll/cover the pork ball with flour.
Done!

You can simply just fry the pork balls and eat 'em just like that or make a potato dish with it, like how i did it. However if you do decide to just fry and eat it, remember to put a fair amount of salt into the minced meat and mix well. I would suggest a pinch but it really depends on how much meat you have. So do estimate properly. Other than that, enjoy you're very own homemade pork balls! with cilantro... :P

Mushroom Omelette

2008-07-05T14:15:00.001-05:00

This is an omelette dish I made to eat with rice but if you'd like to eat it just like that it'll taste just fine too. This dish is made for days when you have no meat to give you the source of protein you need! :P or just when you don't feel like eating meat.

What you need:-

2-3 eggs
Sweet onions
Button mushrooms
Parsley
Sugar
Soy sauce
Pepper

What you need to do:-

Crack eggs into a bowl. Add a small pinch of sugar and 2 tablespoon of soy sauce.
Beat the eggs together with the sugar and soy sauce.
Slice the sweet onions into thin strips. Wash the button mushrooms and sliced them.
Heat frying pan with vegetable oil.
When heated, throw in onion strips and button mushrooms.
When the onions and mushrooms are turning into a light brown color, pour in the beaten egg to fill the whole pan and set the heat at medium.
Sprinkle 2 pinch of parsley and a pinch of pepper.
Let is heat for 5 minutes before you start flipping the omelette to the other side.
Keep doing this until you are satisfied with your omelette.
You're done~!

Teriyaki Chicken

2008-07-03T13:43:00.000-05:00

Well, this dish is really easy to make. Really easy. At least I think so. Simple yet satisfying. Let's just cut to the chase. (:

What you need:-

Garlic
Lee Kum Kee's Sauce for Teriyaki Chicken or any other teriyaki sauce
Ginger
Chicken

What you need to do:-

Clean chicken.
Finely chop 3 pieces of garlic.
Slice ginger. Get ginger the size of the length of ur thumb? Sorry, I'm really bad with giving accurate measurements. I cook based on estimation. ):
Throw in your chicken meat (I used chicken thigh but your are welcome to use whatever chicken part you desire).
Thoroughly cook chicken, test with fork for confirmation.
Heat pan with oil, throw in sliced ginger and chopped garlic when the oil is heated.
Stir fry the chicken together with the garlic and ginger.
Then pour over the Teriyaki sauce and stir fry for 20 minutes-ish. Add water if you want more gravy. I overdid it but still works.
Garnish with cilantro if you must. You're done now!

Enjoy your Teriyaki chicken!

Spring onion & oyster sauce fish

2008-06-20T22:57:00.000-05:00

Here is one fish dish I put together myself. It's simple and I basically just threw in whatever I had in the kitchen that time. Anyways, I got some surprisingly good feedback on this dish in which I simply made out of impulse.

What you need:-

Fish nuggets/fillet (I used catfish nuggets)
Oyster sauce
Sugar
Soy Sauce
Pepper
Parsley flakes
Sesame oil
Oyster mushroom
Water
Garlic
Spring onion

What you need to do:-

Clean the fish meat and cut into pieces/nuggets if you bought fillets.
Finely chop 3-4 pieces of garlic (not cloves!). Slice oyster mushrooms to your desired size.
Heat frying pan with 2-3 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
Fry the garlic until it has just begun to turn golden brown. Now add the fish nuggets and stir fry together with the garlic.
When you notice the fish meat starts to cook/turn white, add in the oyster mushroom and stir fry together.
Now add a pinch of sugar, pepper and parsley flakes. Mix well and stir together with the fish and oyster mushroom.
Add about a tablespoon of sesame oil and 3-4 tablespoon of soy sauce and about 1 or less tablespoon of oyster sauce.
Stir fry all the ingredients together. Add just enough water to give your dish a gravy. I would say probably 4-5 tablespoon of water.
If you taste the gravy and it does not have any taste, add on abit more oyster sauce or soy sauce.
Chop the spring onions while you allow the fish dish to simmer on the stove for about 10-15 mins.
The fish should be ready by now. To test the meat stick a fork through it. Turn off the stove if it's well cooked if not leave it on for another 10 mins on medium heat.
Finally, when ready to serve, garnish with chopped spring onions.

I hope this dish works out for those of you who try it! :) happy cooking!

Greek Salad

2008-06-12T20:27:00.001-05:00

One of the things I enjoy doing is tossing salad. Here's a recipe on one I tried out lately.

What you need:-

Romaine lettuce
Baby spinach
Canned chicken chunks or shredded chicken breast
White button mushrooms
Shredded Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Balsimic vinegar
Salt
Pepper

What you need to do:-

Wash 2-3 bundle of Romaine lettuce and chop the leaves into 3-4 pieces, or if you'd rather buy the packaged Romaine lettuce.
Wash the baby spinach.
Because I had no salad bowl, I used the pot I boil soup with instead. Throw the Romaine lettuce and baby spinach into the pot.
Stir fry the chicken chunks on a frying pan for about 10 mins adding a small pinch of salt, pepper and parsley flakes.
Let the chicken chunks cool at room temperature.
Wash the white button mushrooms.
Once the chicken chunks are cooled, throw them in together with the lettuce and spinach. Add 2-3 tablespoon of olive oil and toss for 3 rounds. Add the button mushrooms and the shredded cheese with 4-5 tablespoons of Balsimic vinegar, a pinch of pepper and a small pinch of salt. Now start tossing.
After the tossing is done and the salad taste and flavor is not to your liking, you could add more salt or balsimic vinegar.
Your salad is now ready to serve. You can always top your salad with Ranch, Honey mustard and what not to your liking.Enjoy!

Bak Kut Teh

2008-06-07T12:54:00.000-05:00

Here's something really easy to make and convenient when cooking for large numbers.

What you need:-

Pork ribs (It's up to you how much you want to feed)
2-3 cloves of gralic
Fried tofu
Mushroom of your choice
Lettuce
Oyster sauce
Soy sauce
Dark soy sauce
Pepper
Bak Kut Teh spice mix

What you need to do:-

Boil about 2 litres of water in a pot.
Throw in 2-3cloves of garlic and the Bak Kut Teh spice mix. Boil for 15-20 mins.
Throw pork ribs in. Add 2-3 Tablespoon of oyster sauce and soy sauce. Add 2 Tablespoon of dark soy sauce. If not enough taste, add more of oyster sauce and soy sauce to your liking.
Stir to make sure the sauce mix well with the pork ribs. Let boil for 20 mins.
Throw in chopped mushroom and fried tofu. Let the Bak Kut Teh boil for 30-40 mins.
The Bak Kut Teh is done. The lettuce is soaked in the Bak Kut Teh when it is served. This is to ensure that the lettuce does not get too soggy or worse disintegrate into the Bak Kut Teh!

And with that you are ready to feast on Bak Kut Teh with your friends!

Tom Yam Fish

2008-05-20T13:31:00.000-05:00

Here is a recipe I recently tried out. The idea initially suggested by my friend was to make a Tom Yam fish soup but then I thought, let's try something else.

What you need :-

Tom Yam paste
Half a sweet onion
A quarter of a clove of garlic
Cat fish nuggets (or any fish meat of your choice)
Oyster mushroom (6-8 pieces)
A few stems of Cilantro/Parsley
Vegetable oil

Here's what you need to do:-

Finely chop garlic. Slice sweet onion and oyster muchroom.
Wash the fish nuggets.
Heat frying pan on stove.
Add about 2-3 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Let the oil heat a little on the pan.
Throw in the finely chopped garlic and sliced onions and fry till it's almost golden brown.
Then add in the sliced oyster mushroom and stir fry together with the garlic and onion for about 3-4 minutes.
Add the cat fish nuggets into the pan now and stir fry together with the oyster mushroom, garlic and onion.
When the fish nuggets are cooked, add in one and a half tablespoon of Tom Yam paste and mix well with the ingredients.
Add in about 3-4 tablespoon of water to allow the Tom Yam paste to slightly dissolve. Add more if needed.
Continue to stir fry for about 5-10 minutes.
Once done placed on plate and garnish with Cilantro/Parsley.
Ready to serve.

Here's how the dish looks like when I made it.

Chicken salad sandwich and mashed potato

2008-03-29T13:00:00.000-05:00

Today I decided to make chicken salad for sandwich for a change instead of egg and tuna. I used a sandwich maker to make the sandwich because I like hot sandwich. I wanted to get an oven toaster but it was just more expensive than a sandwich maker and thus, I've gotten a sandwich maker instead. Together with this meal I made mashed potato just so I don't get sick of eating too many sandwiches. It's really easy to make and I enjoyed it!

What you need:-

(a) Chicken salad

Chicken breast chunks (advisable to get the canned ones, easier to mash)
Parsley flakes
Pepper
Basil flakes
Butter
Mayonaise

(b) Mashed potato

Potatoes (I used two. Depends on how many you would wanna feed)
Butter
Milk (Full Cream Milk preferably)
Salt
Pepper
Basil flakes
Parsley flakes
Gravy powder

Here's what you need to do:-

(a) Mashed Potato

Peel off skin on potato.
Boil potatoes in water for half an hour.
When the potato is soft enough, put in bowl and start MASHING! (good to release stress. :P)
Once you're done mashing, add a pinch of salt, pepper, parsley flakes and basil flakes. Mix together with mashed potato. Add about 2 tablespoons of milk to the potato while it's still warm.
To make the gravy, you can purchase any brown gravy mix (powder form) from any supermarket. Pour out in bowl, add hot water and microwave for about 2 minutes.
When done, add milk and abit water. Careful not to make the gravy too watery.
It is not necessary to eat the mashed potato with gravy. You can always opt to add another pinch of salt and just eat the mashed potato without gravy. :)

(b) Chicken salad

Heat chicken chunks on frying pan for about 10-15 minutes (for canned chicken chunks). If you're gonna use freshly cut chunks, cook it until meat turn white. (However, using freshly cut chunks requires more energy to mash them) or you can just use a fork and shred chicken breasts.
Once the chicken chunks are hot, pour them out onto a bowl.
Add a pinch of pepper, parsley flakes and basil flakes to the bowl with chicken.
Add 2-3 table spoons of mayonaise to the chicken. (Add more mayonaise if you don't think it's enough for you).
Start mashing!
Once that's done, you are ready to spread them over your bread. :)

If you try this out, hope it works for you! :)

~Mashed Potato~

~ Brown Gravy~

~ Chicken Salad~

~ Chicken Salad Sandwich~

Lemon Chicken

2008-03-22T20:15:00.000-05:00

Here is one chicken dish I tried out not too long ago. I was browsing through the oriental market here and came across this sachet of "Lee Kum Kee's Lemon Chicken" sauce. Eager and curious I decided to buy it and try it out. At the back of the sachet, there are instructions on how to make the dish. I just followed but I could summarize it out right here. :)

Things you need:-

One sachet of Lee Kum Kee's Lemon Chicken sauce
All purpose flour
One egg
Chicken meat

What you need to do :-

Wash and chop chicken breast/fillet into your desired sizes.
Pour out about 1/2 a rice bowl of all purpose flour into a big bowl.
Crack an egg into another bowl and dip the chicken fillet in the egg.
Dust and cover the chicken in the bowl of flour.
Heat frying pan with oil. Once the oil is hot, fry the chicken fillet.
When chicken turns to golden brown/cooked, take them out and blot with paper towl/blot paper to reduce the amount of oil/cholesterol you are about to consume!
Heat frying pan with just a teaspoon of oil.
When the pan is heated, throw in the Lemon sauce and stir in pan for about 5-7 mins.
Next, put the already fried chicken and stir fry in the sauce for 15-20 mins.
Your done! Garnish with cilantro if you must. :)

Have fun!

P/S: Does not look like Lemon Chicken but sure taste like one. :)

Siew Pak Choy

2008-03-22T19:27:00.000-05:00

From my first post, I mentioned a simple vegetable dish that I would introduce and this is it. You would be glad to know that this dish saves you a whole lot of time. Preparation and cooking is really easy. This dish is best eaten when it's warm and better with rice. (Hey, I'm just suggesting.) Anyways, "Siew Pak Choy" is one of the famous leafy vegetables consumed by Malaysians specifically the Chinese community. I somewhat regret not taking a picture of the vegetable before it's cooked because I realized some might not know exactly how "Siew Pak Choy" looks like. As soon as I make a new purchase of the vegetable I would post the picture up. Again, this is really easy to do. You'll enjoy it! By the way, the amount of stuff used may not be accurate because usually when I cook I add spices, sauce and what not based on estimation. So, what I "suggest" under method may not be the best estimation. So, you could go by trial and error. That's how I learned.

What you need :-

Siew Pak Choy ( 3- 4 bunch)
Red Onions/Shallots
Garlic
Oyster Sauce
Soy Sauce
Sugar

Here is what you need to do:-

Separate the leaves from the stalk and clean vege thoroughly.
Boil a pot of water.
Once water is boiling (bubbling vigorously), soak the vege in the boiling water and take off after 1 minute or so (until it turns slightly a darker shade than before soaking in the boiling water).
Lay on plate however you wish to arrange them. :)
Finely chop garlic and shallots. (Chopping the shallots may be challenging, here's a tip : try not to breathe through your nose when chopping. That's what I do and it helps)
Heat frying pan. Pour oil in.
When oil heated, throw finely chopped shallots and garlic in. Make sure to stir fry these under slow fire. It will turn black if you don't. (-_-'')
When the garlic and shallots start turning to golden brown, throw in 3-4 tablespoons of Oyster sauce (this amount is usually for 3 bunch of "Siew Pak Choy").
Stir to mix. Add one teaspoon of sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of Soy Sauce.
Taste your sauce, is it's too salty add abit of water. A little watery wouldn't hurt.
Make sure to make your sauce under slow fire at all times.
Finally, when your sauce is ready, pour over the readily laid-out vege.

Together with this recipe, I've included the picture of the "Siew Pak Choy" dish I made. Looks good, no? :)

Introduction of the amateur chef

2008-03-22T19:11:00.000-05:00

I'm a student currently studying abroad originated from Malaysia. Malaysia is definitely "Food Haven" for us Malaysians. Because our country is one of multicultural ones, we have a wide diversity of food. The famous ones would be "Char Kuay Teow", "Nasi Lemak" and "Roti Canai". The thought of these delicious food names have got me drooling already.

Anyways, because I'm living off campus recently in a 2 bedroom apartment, my meals are taken care by MYSELF! I had to start cooking to feed myself. I would say I definitely enjoy cooking but only when I have alot of time to kill.

I picked up most of my cooking skills from my mom by watching her and helping her out in the kitchen. Aside from that, I get ideas and inspiration from cooking shows. Yes, I watch cooking shows. They can be very interesting especially Jamie Oliver. What I like most about Jamie Oliver is that, he makes the simple and easy meals look like a high class dish. I just love him!Sometimes when I browse through the internet I can find recipes that I could try and alter myself. However, this does not happen often because my kitchen supplies are somewhat "limited". What can I say? I'm just a student learning how to be independent.

Anyways, I just hope that by doing this recipe blog I can help other students living on their own and learning how to cook would have a place for guidance. Most of all, I actually like blogging and blogging about my life has been boring lately. Time for something new!

my first step

2008-03-22T17:01:00.000-05:00

Okay I have finally taken the first step in creating a recipe blog and that is creating it! I would need some time to actually get everything together. For now, I would be posting one simple vegetable dish recipe. This blog would still be under construction. In the mean time, check for updates on the food I cook at www.tasteoftheteenspirit.blogspot.com/

However, the updates may not come as often. My apologies. Thanks for your patience.