Fried meat slices with preserved mustard

FM dear,

fried meat strips with 'zha cai'

Found this recipe in my latest purchase "Authentic Homestyle Cuisine" by KS Lee, and tried it out last night.  What caught my attention was the plum sauce, as I never thought that plum sauce would go well with preserved mustard ('zha cai'), but it did, and the recipe is so easy you can easily rustle up a plate for dinner. Besides I think you should be able to get the ingredients easily.  Going to try it again with 'ham choy'.   FJ gave it the thumbs up!  

Ingredients :
200 g pork (cut into thin strips)
1 pc preserved mustard ('zha cai')
1 tbsp garlic

Marinade :
2 tsp cornflour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Seasoning :
3 tbsp plum sauce
1 tsp sugar

Method :
1)  Marinade the pork strips with the marinade for about 30 minutes.
2)  Wash the preserved mustard and cut into strips or sliced thinly.
3)  Heat up 2 tbsp oil in wok and fry the garlic until fragrant.  Add in preserved mustard and meat slices and stir fry a while.
4)  Add in seasoning and continue stir frying  until cooked.  Dish up and serve with rice or porridge!

FJ's birthday.

sweet potato onde-onde

birthday celebration in the Hokkien and Cantonese tradition.  2 red eggs and mee sua according to her Hokkien side and  changshou (long life) noodles according to Cantonese tradition.

Dark Lady, My fair Lady and my creation "Pink Lady".  Another amateurish  attempt at cake decorating

Strawberry filling and whipped cream.  Supposed to put in her favourite fresh strawberries but did not have time to run to the supermart to get it.

Watermelon Agar-agar

watermelon agar-agar

I don't know why they call it  watermelon agar-agar, as the recipe do not use any watermelon at all.  Maybe the proper name should be "watermelon" agar-agar.  Been some time since I made it, though I used to make it for the children's birthdays when they were younger.

Ingredients :
40g agar-agar strips
700 ml water
300g rock sugar
1 tsp rose essence
1 egg white, beaten until frothy
Melon seeds, raisins or black jelly
Red and green food coloring

Method :
1)  Wash agar-agar strips and bring to boil with water until dissolved.

2)  Add in sugar and continue boiling on medium flame until sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat and add in the rose essence.

3)  Place a deep bowl in large container of icy water.  Strain the agar-agar mixture into the bowl.

4)  Stir center with a fork while allowing the sides to set.

5)  Gently add the frothy egg white with a fork, stirring all the while and making sure you get the whole mixture in.

6)  Color the center part red.  Use a fork to spread out the red, but try to not to get the sides red.

7)  Add in the melon seed, or raisins to the center.  Chill for a couple of hours in the fridge.  When agar-agar has completely set, turn out onto a large flat plate.

8)  Brush on green coloring on the outside surface.  You got to do it a couple of times to get a dark shade of green.

9)  Leave color to set.  Slice just before serving.

Note :


Nothing too difficult about this recipe, but it takes unrelenting patience especially if you wants to get a even red color in the center.  
The recipe calls for rock sugar, but I use ordinary sugar (which is much cheaper), and you can probably reduce the sugar ( i use about 200 g of sugar), and I increased  the water to 850 ml of water the second time i attempted this recipe to get a softer agar-agar.

My first attempt after a long while.  Niece CK says the watermelon don's looks too ripe.

My second attempt 

Sweet Corn Pudding

Niece wanted a 70's theme for her birthday, and I remembered that we had sweet corn pudding at almost every party we attended then.  Dug out this old recipe from my recollection and re-created this popular dessert.

Sweet corn pudding


Ingredients :
1 cup sugar
1 cup custard powder
2 cups coconut milk
2 1/2 cups water
1 tin (425 g) cream style sweet corn

Method :
1)  Place sugar, custard powder, coconut milk and water in a sauce pan.  Stir till custard powder and sugar dissolve and is not lumpy.
2)  Put to boil on medium flame, stirring all the time till the mixture comes to a boil.
3)  When mixture thickens, add in the cream style sweet corn.  Stir until well mixed.
4)  Pour into a lightly oiled 10" square cake tray.  Leave to cool.
5)  Chill in the fridge.  Cut and serve.

I was so busy preparing the other goodies for the party that I forgot to take a shot of it before cutting it up.

Notes :  I made it according to the recipe, and it was a tad too sweet for my taste buds.  If coconut milk is not available, it can be substituted with fresh or UHT milk.